MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC 286

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

After Leon Edwards defeated Kamaru Usman to retain the welterweight title to cap off Saturday's UFC 286 event, UFC president Dana White announced that Colby Covington would be getting the next shot at Edwards. With contenders in play, and notable divisional matchups in play, is that the fight to make? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee attempt to answer that question following the promotion's pay-per-view event in London. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Usman after his second consecutive loss to Edwards, Justin Gaethje following his Fight of the Night win over Rafael Fizev, along with fellow main card winners Gunnar Nelson, Jennifer Maia, Marvin Vettori, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Following UFC 286. Appreciate you guys, check it out the program. as we're discussing the aftermath of UFC 286 from a matchmaking perspective. We are back on this Sunday morning. I am Mike Heck, and the matchmaking crowns are back following the UFC's return to London. And speaking of crowns, let us introduce the Prince of Positivity himself. He is the co-host, co-matchmaker, and he's our best friend, damn it. Let us say hello to Mr. Alexander Kay Lee.

Good morning, AK. Happy Sunday. Hello, Mike. Thank you. Hello, Mike, my best friend. Yeah, and I'm feeling pretty positive. Listen, I know the, we're going to talk about this for sure. I think it's going to pop up in the comments a lot.

It certainly did even before yesterday's show, our preview show, a lot of comments about a certain individual who made their unexpected return over the weekend. And, you know, some people might not be feeling super positive about where said person is, has been positioned in the Walter Weta title picture following last night's main event. Some people will be super positive about it, though. I will say, there's a lot of supporters of this man out there. So, again, I may be speaking for myself and some members of the media and some critics, but, hey, the common man, a lot of the common man seems to enjoy the work of one Mr. Chaos, Colby Covington,

Colby Chaos Covington, and whatever you want to call him. So who am I to judge? Who might have judged? And say that that's a negative. That might have been the cherry on top of what was a pretty good pay-per-view, you know, not top to bottom, not a pay-per-view that we're going to remember probably as one of the best events of the year. But some compelling storylines and some good results for a lot of veterans who I think myself and several others might have been counting out. Yes.

And yeah, the Colby thing has been incredible in terms of reaction. It's been the biggest story since Friday. Coley, just being in London and getting the shot, people are asking them from in the hotel lobby. You're darn right, I'm in the hotel lobby because that's where all the action is. You never know what's going to happen on this live show. So here's how this is going to work. We'll talk about each of these fights. If you have matchmaking suggestions for the fighter that we are discussing,

throw them in the chat, we'll pull them up on the screen, and at the end, we'll take like 10, 15 minutes. We'll just run the gauntlet of all of your different matchmaking suggestions, mostly in terms of fights we have not discussed. So you mentioned it, AK, Colby Covington, announced by Dana White as the next in line for welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, defeats Kamar Uzi. A lot of scorecard discussion when it comes to this.

But I think the judges, I think there's only two ways you could score this fight. You could score it a draw, 4747. I don't think you could score this fight for Kamar Usman. I just don't see it. If you want to make the case, sure. But to be, I scored it four rounds to one for Leon. I thought he lost the second round. I thought he won one, three, four, and five.

Obviously, he lost the point in the third. So 48, 46, I scored it. If you scored it three rounds to two for Leon in a draw, I got no issue with that card. Didn't really see it for Uspen. I just think Leon did a lot more in terms of damage. And Usman was pushing forward. Usen was going for takedowns.

But even when he got him, he couldn't hold Leon down and do a lot of damage with them. So it looks like we're getting Leon Edwards versus Colby Covington. Do you think this is the fight that is actually going to happen, especially with Mazadol and Burns about to fight? Because you know if Jorge wins that fight, I just don't see how that is not an option at this point, especially to make this announcement

around three weeks before this fight's even going to happen. But Dana, the UFC seems steadfast. It's going to be Colby. Do you think when Leon steps foot in that octagon again, he will fight Colby Covington? I'm really kind of hoping this is one of those Dana-Sez moments where the UFC president has a sketchy track record of guaranteeing things saying something's definitely going to happen,

something's never going to happen, and then that thing ends up happening or not happening, if you know what I mean. Like he's he's he makes these broad statements, uh, rarely makes matches on fight night. That's a lot of people who mentioned it in the comments. All of people were saying this in social media last night. Oh, I thought he doesn't make fights on fight night. And yeah, this is a very, it was very strange that he's so adamant.

We know he's a fan of Kobe Covington. We know they align philosophically in many ways. So it's not all that surprising that he's, you know, willing to put Colby in that position. they clearly value him as a competitor, possibly as a draw as well. I've always been skeptical as to like how much of a draw is he. I think he's done some decent ratings on flight nights. There's no real proof that he's this big pay-per-view draw.

But on the other hand, we don't have a lot of concrete pay-per-view data to work with over the last couple of years, sort of since the ESPN era started. So I don't know. Maybe he's a bigger draw than I think. If you ask Colby, he's the number one draw in the business. Maybe that's all that matters to Dana White. He talks a big game. and that's the sort of thing, Dana and a lot of the suits of the UFC appreciate. So I will say it's a better than good chance.

If I had to bet if it's strictly like yes or no and I got about like 20 bucks, I'll lean towards yes. I'll lean towards that it is going to happen. I don't know why. Again, I'm normally someone who's very skeptical when Dana White makes these declarations. But as soon as Colby kind of showed up to weigh in, it just felt like there was something funny in the air. And as you said, Mike, whether we think he deserves it or not, there is some kind of. kind of buzz when this guy, when this guy shows up, when this guy does interviews, when he fights, when he does press conferences. I'm not saying that views always translate directly into

paper view buys or television, but we do know as far as social media goes, he has traction there. And listen, that's that that is a metric that businesses have to take into account. So there is some interest when, when this guy shows up. Again, I cannot deny it. I think denying it would just be false, you know, it would be false. So I certainly don't want to see it happen. doesn't deserve it. To quote Damon, our pal, Damon Martin, L.OL. Bilal wins 9-0, knocks out Sean Brady and he has to fight Shavkat.

Colby sits out for a year after being Mazvedal, who was on a three-fight losing street and equals a title shot. And when you lay it out like that, it's completely absurd. But M.MA is the circus of absurdity. And if Colby Covington was announced for a title shot in the next two weeks, I mean, would any of us be surprised? I've been trying to tell you guys on heck of a morning that if Leon wins this fight, Colby was in play. I didn't think he'd be next, but there we are. I do think this fight's going to happen. And I do think the more people are negative about it, the more that it's going to be pushed into happening.

So I do think this fight's going to happen. So that is, I guess, my official pick. I know Dana talked about it, but like you said, just because Dana says it, it doesn't mean that it's 100%. We've seen it even with like actual fight announcements from the UFC. Just because they announce a fight does not mean that it's done. Sometimes it's done for negotiations and different things. But I do think especially the response Colby got on Friday, he was the biggest story of the week.

Him stepping on that scale on Friday was the biggest story of the week heading into a big trilogy fight for all the marbles. And that goes to show you. And Dana probably didn't even expect that. I mean, when he did that scrum on Friday, you could tell. Like he didn't expect the buzz Colby got. And I think that's just kind of pushed it over the edge even more. So there you go.

I think that's where we're going up going here. Now, if Mazadal just obliterates Gilbert Burns, maybe that changes the discussion. But I don't know. I think we're going to see Leon fight Colby next. We're not even doing our friends forever on this again. No. Showed up with the backup.

Dana White said it's probably going to happen. There's really no predicting happening here. If you're doing a crystal ball pick, it's a pretty strong crystal ball pick. If you're doing magic wand, then obviously I'm leaning towards Burns, Mazvedo winner. It just makes so much more sense. Both got Burns definitely more deserving.

Masvidal, not so much. But Masvadole, probably even less deserving than Colby, frankly. Unless he beats Gilbert, that'd be huge. But let's not forget, Colby did beat Jorge pretty convincingly in their most recent fight, even though it was over a year ago now. But the most important thing Mazvedal has is that he has that history with Leon. And I still think that's there. I know there's people who will be like, that happened so long ago now.

Are we still talking about the three piece of soda? And yeah, people still talk about three pieces of soda. It gets referenced all the time. I see people, anytime someone lands a combination on the regional scene, you know, I'm doing misfists. So many three, three pieces of soda references on Twitter and things like that. So, yeah, people still remember it. There's just a very strong, legitimate beef there.

Covington, for sure, there with him and Edwards as well. He's invented the whole Azzanine Leon Scott thing. I can't believe I'm even repeating it. It's so dumb, but it's so dumb that people grabbed onto it. That's how this works. But yeah, I would much rather see Burns or Masvedal Burns because he's much more deserving than both these guys, Masvedal, because, man, I've always wanted to see him, Leon actually properly throw down in the cage and now's the time to do it. So, yeah, just talking about these two possible contenders makes me even more down on the possibility of, the likely possibility of Covington getting a teloshot. It's getting a little crazy down here.

So we'll keep seeing you on. I knew it. I knew it. I mean, they knew the show's happening. So here we go. Umar Usman, he's in a weird place, AK, because I have no idea how the UFC views him, like, in this picture overall. And obviously he won't get a title shot at any point with Leon as the champion. But if they do put this Edwards Colby Covington fight together and Colby wins,

Usman has two wins over Colby. And I know for a fact, Colby would love to try to get one of those wins back. So I can see a world where he just calls out Kamar to run it back one more time. But despite being the second best Walterway. of all time. Usman's probably going to have to win a fight either way because he's just not like a massive star and he doesn't have like a lot of the same momentum with the casual audience that some of these other fighters have in this division.

So he'll take a step back certainly. I had two options here. One last night I actually felt pretty good about it. The other I actually kind of seen the UFC doing this or at least trying to do it. So my original thought was a name that you brought up earlier. Like Usman takes a break. There's a guy in the division healing up from an injury, maybe do Usman versus Sean Brady. Like I think that's an interesting fight.

But what I landed on is Kamara Usman versus Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. Because Wonderboy is coming off the big win versus Kevin Holland. And if Wonderboy at 40 years of age wants one last run at the belt and it seems that he does, beating Uspen would put him in a pretty damn good spot. And Wonderboy is very, very popular. So I landed on that. Yes, Usen is more of a wrestling. Wonderboy says he doesn't really want to fight a wrestler,

but there's much more to gain from Wonderboy fighting Usman that he would fighting a Shafkat Rockvah Mottov or a Hamza Tchamai F or somebody like that. So that's my pick, what you got? Mike, start queuing up that music and tell that hotel lobby, that shut up! I'm also going with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. One, two, three, four, friends, forever. Yeah, it's a great matchup.

There's a lot of other options. Again, if you're Kamarro, there's people who have been calling to fight you for years, you know, when you're on top, they might not be so eager to fight you now, now that you're still, again, probably one of the top three welterweights in the world. Very difficult matchup for anyone and now don't have a title on the line. Like now there's, you fight Usman, you're not guaranteed that, you know, that pay-per-view championship cash boost. So some people will be more reluctant.

I don't think Wonder Boy is one of them. I think Wonderboy has always thought that he has, which could match up well with Usman. Again, this kind of talk came when Usman was the title holder. So it could have just been Wonderboy again trying to get that title fight. But as far as high risk big names go, this is about as good as it gets. Like it doesn't make sense for Stephen Thompson to fight some of the lesser known wrestlers in the World War II Division. There are a lot of grapplers who, again, we've seen can give him problems. But if you're talking, again, a top five guy, top three guy, I think it makes a lot of sense.

And listen, Thompson would have a long shot. I think he'd be at least like plus 200, plus 200, plus 250, maybe plus 200 by the time fighting that rolls around just based on how we've seen his fights go against people who can wrestle lately. But, you know, Camaro's kind of diversified his game. There was a stretch there where he really wanted to prove that, you know, oh, I'm a well-rounded striker, too. I can box as well.

And the results were mostly positive. So if you try to do that with Stephen Thompson, then it's a pretty even fight. If we see, you know, a little bit more if we saw on Saturday, we saw Kamaru kind going more and more to his wrestling as the fight went along, then it's going to be a bad night for Wonderboy. But either way, yeah, that's a high wattage fight. The U.S. should be really interested in putting that together.

That's a pay-per-view co-main events. I don't know. You throw it on there. I think so. I would hope. I think these both guys are beyond fight nights at this point, at least as far as that matchup goes. Mike, what did you think of maybe,

and I'll probably bring up this name later, RDA? I can see that. Look, I see a lot of people in the comments. Oh, he should fight Shopcott. He's not going to fight Shafkat. Usen is not fighting Shafkar Akhmato. He'd rather, like, what does he gain from fighting Shafkar Abana?

Nothing. Gains nothing from fighting Shopka Rokvato. He's on the tail end of his career. He wants, he wants fights with relevant guys that, I don't know. He's just a weird place. Like, I guess there's really no wrong answer here, but if you think Kamarwis says going to be like, you know what, it would be a fun fight, that Shafkot Rakmato fight. why would he take that fight?

Why would he take that fight? Makes those sense. No, if he does, he's the man. He is a freaking man. If they say, Husman, you got to fight Shavcott and a fight that probably doesn't even guarantee him

a title, like another shot at the world title, and he just says, yeah, I'm just going to do it for the challenge. Big applause. Big applause for Karu'sman. I don't know how people feel about him, whether you're a fan of his or not. I don't see how anyone can hate him if he took a fight with Shavcott.

Like, again, the most dangerous man, one of the most dangerous guys of 170 right now and who again doesn't have a lot of cachet with the casual audience so usman among the hard course again we give him a ton of respect we gets it but it's not like it's not like people uh you know it's like shop cuts a household name and and usman would have so much to lose in that matchup uh the other name i was thinking was neil magni you take the you take the guy with the most uh wins in welter rate history versus one of the best you know welter rates in mhm history i don't know maybe maybe maybe just it's a winable matchup for usman

But that to me doesn't scream a pay-per-view, like, big paper-view fight. That's the only problem. It's missing. If he wants to fight, like, one more time, like, if it's like, all right, I'm just going to do one more, then maybe that one makes sense. But if he wants to, like, keep this train going, yeah, I think I think Wonderboy's all right. Like, I don't think it's a bad pick. I don't think it's a bad pick.

A lot of people saying Bilal, but it seems like they're going to give Shafkat to Bilal. I mean, if we're taking Day and out of Zord, the law's fighting Shafkar Akv. And we've been saying on this show for a while that if Leon Edwards wins, that's who Bilal Mohammed's going to have to fight. So that's where we're at right now. We shall see, I don't know. Listen, Ousman's in a weird spot.

We can't look at Kamar Ouspin as a three-fighting year kind of a guy right now. He's the second best welterate of all times. Legacy is set in stone. He was a long-reigning champion. Leon's the champs. We ain't get a title shot as long as Leon's the title holder. I don't know. he might take the rest of the year off.

I would not be surprised if Kamar Uzman doesn't fight again this year. Yeah. That might have been lost. I think he fights again, but I wouldn't. Listen, he's made a lot of money, a lot of title fights, made a lot of money. His reputation is, again, whatever happens, I know, is, M.A., if you hang around too long, people start to, like, nitpick you and question your credentials and your legacy. But for me, it's like, let's just take this chunk of Kamaro's career, the 15 straight,

victories the five straight title defenses uh okay he's lost twice to leon that's fine but he's again at worse we said this going in the result of salary doesn't change this he is as of now the second best worth of weight of all time um if he wants to become the greatest ever i mean he'd have to go in a hell of a second run uh you know winning the title back and then defending it a few more times and that's a lot of work for a guy who uh turns 36 in may again has accomplished a lot has made a lot of money I think has the option to just live, retire and live comfortably without taking further damage, should he choose to do so. And listen, I'd love to see Kamarv fight again.

But if he doesn't, or at the very least, doesn't fight again this year, wouldn't surprise me at all. And again, I said with like sort of betting the Colby thing, with Colby get a title shot, I feel the same way with Usman. If you're asking me, will he fight again in 2023? Yes, just straight up yes or no answer? I would actually lean towards no. I don't think he fights against him. A.K. Justin Gachey versus Raphael Fiziv was so much fun.

What a compelling fight. And in the end, Gachie is showing some technical prowess in the third round. But took that chaotic style, kind of toned down a little bit. Blended jabs. He was floating out there. It was impressive stuff. And that third round in particular was enough to get him to win on the cards, even got him a 10-8 round from one awful judge who judged a little.

lot of fights on this card and had a lot of questionable scorecards. But it was a great fight. I feel the stocks of both guys rose from it. But Gaichi said what he wants. He wants a rematch with either Dustin Porre or Charles Olivera. Charles Oliver is obviously booked to fight Benile D'Arius. On May 6th, so less than two months from right now. So are we doing Porier?

Are we doing Olivera? Or are you going a different direction here? Porre is the obvious picks. Of course I went in a different direction. I also don't like the olivera match. I think it's too soon. Plus, listen, there's no guarantee Olivera wins that. Unless Keith's saying I want Olivera win or lose because he said, I love Binald,

there are he said, I guess I don't know if they're friends or he's just a big fan or they've trained together. But either way, he said he really doesn't want to fight B'Neil. He did use the words, I love that guy. So pretty strongly does not want to fight Baneal if he wins. So Olivera win or lose, especially if Olivera loses, I don't know why Gatesi would necessarily want to take that one again. It really wasn't that long ago that they fought.

And poor A2 just makes a hell of a lot of sense. I'll talk about that more in a second. But I will say I have to stick with a previous pick I had made after Maturice Gamrod's most recent win. I said he should get the winner of this fight. So I won't back off from that. The matchmaking has been made for me. So the Gamrot Gat G.

Stryker versus, Grappler versus striker matchup for me next. That's sort of more of a magic wandie picked. I'd be a little surprised if that is how this shakes out. I'm going with the Pory rematch. They're going to make that fight. So I'm going for the cheap Otno point. They're going to make it.

Pory will take it. Pory will be up for it. And both guys are entitled contention right now. They are. With Islam as the champ, both guys are entitled contention right now. The winner of that fight, it would not surprise me if they got a title shot in 2024 coming off of that one. So you could do it in Abu Dhabi. That could be on that 280 car when Islam fights, whoever he fights.

Or you can put it on the same card as the Connor McGregor, Michael Chandler fight, because that would be pretty cool. So plenty of time to make that one. But I think that's the direction they're going to go. It's an absolute freaking firefight. It's got to be on pay-per-view this time. I mean, I'd love to if it was on free TV for people. But I think they've come to the level.

This should be a pay-per-view co-made event at, you know, a main card at the very least. The last time they fought, Mike, UFC on Fox, 29, April 14th, 2018. at the then Heela River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, now the Desert Diamond. This was a long time ago. When I was thinking about picking this one, I was like, has it been that long? Yes, it's been five years. It'll be five years come April. They main evented.

That doesn't parade, B. Justin Gaiti, fourth R. TKO and one of the best fights of the year. I don't know if it won M.A. fighting in spite of the year. I believe it did. I believe it did. It did on several websites, I believe. The co-main was supposed to be Carl's Condit and Matt Brown.

The fight didn't happen. Alex Olivares stepped in and actually beat Carlos Condit. Israel at Disney at Marvin Vittori won. That was a main card free fight, free main card fight on Fox. And Michelle Waterson was also on the main card. Still just Michelle Waterson at the time. She was married but had not added on the Gomez yet.

So yeah, this is a weird, it's a weird card to look at. Brad Tavaras, Christop Jocko and their middleweighty, middleweight prime, Mike. What a matcher. What a matchup that was, Gilbert Burns on the fight pass prelims. This was a long, long, long, long time ago. So it does feel like at Arjan Bula. Arjan, one champion, heavyweight champion, Arjun Boulard was on the prelims, the fight past prelims, losing by Omo Plata to Adam Vichorech. I know I've butchered that name.

Apologies to all the Polish listeners out there. This is, there's a long time ago. We're definitely in the area where we can run it. back. Yeah. Yeah. Fight is going to be incredible. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.

Alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move.

Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.CA. Gunner Nelson got the fight to the ground against Brian Barberina, and once he did, the fight played out the way most people expected it to. It's okay. Yes.

Thank you. Oh, thank you. Live television, everyone. Live television, let's go. For the podcast listeners, I had it over there. Yes. Something just got knocked off of Mike's down. or work area and Mike are you okay I'm okay I'm okay I'm okay thank you okay thank you

yes people just want to hear our matchmaking suggestions a lot here in New York City but as soon as the fight got to the ground Gunner Nelson did what we thought he was good at it submits Brian Barbarina the St. Paddy's Day weekend warrior gutter Nelson always fights on the St. Paddy's Day weekend it seems if you go back here his tap apology page. But this is pretty easy for me. He was supposed to fight Daniel Rodriguez on this card originally before D. Rod had an injury.

He's going to be out. So let's just rebook that one. Thoughts on where Gunner Nelson goes. And look, just to say, because I know I promise to get another microphone, we tried. We tried.

I had it hooked up and then it just didn't work. So we're stuck where we're at right now. So what do you want me to do? All right. What do you want me to do? We deal with the elements, aka I'm going Gunner Nelson versus Drod. What's say you?

Yeah. I think that's the easy choice. Gunner Nelson is not the most active fighter, so we can certainly wait for Daniel Rodriguez, excuse me, to recover from what's sidelined him. So I don't mind that. I went with a more, just in my mind, a fight I really want to see.

And again, I know this man is saying, I am a welterweight from now on. So I assume he's not being super picky with his voluntary matchups. So I don't know if he'd prefer a top of people. fighter but i would love to see gunner nelson and uh rda a raphael de sagnos fight um it's where was it this is essentially the uh we both beat brian barborena so now we must fight each other you know as i which is you know it's a great it's a great title it's a great title to have uh who

who was the better fighter who beat brian barborena recently so that is the that's another unofficial belt we're making but otherwise i just think stylistically and we're at where these guys are in their careers uh it's a fun match up it's a fun match up again i don't know if it quite tickles RDA is fancy, but I can't imagine him saying, just flat out saying no if they offered him, Gunner Nelson, you know, on a prominent spot in a card somewhere. So, yeah, hit me up with that.

Maybe the next trip to London. I don't know, maybe the next trip to London. If Gunner Nelson's ready for that, we can have him an RDA fight there. It could be fun. Yeah, it's not a bad matchup at all. So we'll see what happens. Jennifer Maya killed some parley's,

A.K., saw it all over Twitter. She just killed a bunch of them. A lot of people thought she'd be the next sort of stepping Stone for Casey O'Neill. And the Wiley veteran said, not today, folks. We're not going to do that. She looked great.

Casey obviously is a dog, very competitive. But Maya was moving around great, landed the most strikes she's ever landed in a fight. She gets it done. And now we can do Casey O'Neill versus Joanne Wood. But that's besides the point, we can settle that beat. But where does Jennifer Maya go after getting her second straight victory at K? Yeah, I think Jennifer Maya broke up our dear Jedmishu's Scottish parlay. if I'm not mistaken, because what do we have here?

Joanne Wood, who was from Scotland on the card? We had Joanne Wood, Chris Duncan was successful. I want to say Casey O'Neill was the last leg on that. Yes, I believe Casey O'Neill was the last leg. And probably the leg that he was most confident about. I don't know. I was listening to No Bet's Bard. I can't remember if it was that confident about it.

Though a lot of us agreed that Jennifer Maya, the odds were a little bit disrespectful. And she certainly proved that. So even though I had picked O'Neill to win, man, I should not have been surprised that Jennifer Maya did what she did and won a pretty convincing decision against the 2021 M.M.A. fighting rookie of the year. But listen, tough to come back from a from any injury. Casey O'Neill is going to be fine. I went with Caitlin Chukagian trilogy, Mike. Too many unanswered questions. No, I'm kidding. I would never, I would never pray that someone gets Chukagian once, much less twice, which Jennifer Meyer already has. imagine if she had to go through that horrible ordeal third time.

I'll go with Amanda Hebas. Amanda Heba is kind of bouncing between 125, 115. She doesn't seem to have a problem fighting it either. I don't know where to place her. I think I have her ranked in both divisions. She just is a really strong and consistent fighter, a good fight finisher. So let's see what she does against Maya.

She's really serious about making a run at a UFC title. Maybe it's a 125, and that would be a good test for her. Yeah, that's a pretty solid pick. I think John Ray just put this out there. I think Lauren Murphy makes a lot of sense. You got two vets, two past title challengers. Makes more sense now that Alexa Grasso is the champion. So there would be some divisional stakes in that fight.

And oddly enough, these two have never fought each other before, which is crazy to think about. And Lauren had a little bit of beef with Jennifer Maya getting a title shot over her. when Maya fought for the belt. So we get some sound clips from Lauren Murphy's, uh, big rant of the media, uh,

in Abu Dhabi. So you got some stuff there. Yeah, I think that fight makes some sense and we'll go there, but 125 is pretty interesting right now. And there's, uh, there's a lot of different things.

Yes, I know there's too much back or noise, but what the hell do you want me to do? Uh, main card kicked off with Marvatori, defeating Roman Deleadze, uh, unanimous decision.

The 3027 Vitori score card was just plain awful. This was, uh, A close fight. 3027 Vitori just sucks, dittily Ux, as far as the card goes. But it was pretty split. I looked at M.A. decisions on this fight this morning, and it was pretty split down the middle.

So I certainly don't think this is a robbery or anything. But middleweight is, it's interesting right now with Pereira's champion, is getting ready to fight Adisania again in 20 days. I kind of feel like they're going to do Vittori versus DDP, but I already went a different direction with DDP. So I think we're going to. to be friends forever on this one. I'm not doing DDP.

No, I'm not. He's just in such a weird spot. Like, I don't know what to do with him. So this is probably outside of the box and it probably won't happen, but just looking at it right now, if Chris Curtis beats Calvin Gasselham,

I think that's the fight they're going to do. But I'm not confident in any Marvin Vittori pick right now because Marvin's fought like everybody in this division. He's fought almost everybody. So, I mean, I just don't know what really else to do. You said only if Chris Curtis beats Calvin Gasol, not the other way. You don't want to see Calvin Gasolm versus Vittorri of Gasoline beats Chris Curtis.

You know what? Yes, I'll go with the winner of that. Winner of that fight. That's what I'm going to go. Thank you, A.K. UFC 287. Yeah, cover your bases. Oh, I thought we were going to be friends forever, sure.

I thought Jared Kennear was like an obvious pick. I got that from a lot of listeners too. And I was just nodding my head. I'm like, yep, Jerry can. Just rankings wise. They haven't fought. That fight might, and this is just where the middleweight division, like, is kind of going. That might be a super terrible fight.

I honestly don't know. I don't know how people felt about the Vittorite deletes fight. I mean, by the end of it, Michael Bissing said the fight was fantastic. I was kind of, as people know, when we're doing fight nights, we're working, we're kind of working and mostly watching, but there's just a few, you know, balls were juggling. We can't quite focus on it as a spectator as much as we'd like to. I didn't find the fight particularly compelling. it was a very middleweighty matchup considering these are ranked guys normally it should be that middleweighty but that's what happens in this division it doesn't matter how good you are how skilled you are

you get in there with another 185 or and something just becomes this weird blob and i think that might happen with maturion canner as well but listen both guys are in the top 10 top seven i'd say and it just makes sense to have them been matched up and um you know it's it's just a good fight to keep both guys uh keep both guys in that contender circle and see who's closer to maybe getting intelligent Yeah. It's such, like, I thought about doing the cannoneer fight, but that might be the, that might be for like the Hall of Fame middle-weightiest middleweight title. Like, that is such a middle-weighty fight, those two guys.

So I saw some people say, like, well, Vittori is an extreme couture guy now. He's trained there, but even he said leading in, like, he wasn't representing extreme couture. He had Dewey Cooper in his corner, and I think Deleide's is more extreme coutour-ish than, than Marvin was. So I don't think that really comes into question here. I just think he worked there for a little bit. And Marvin's trained pretty much everywhere. So at this point, like, he's,

anybody he fights, he's probably somebody he's trained with at this point. So it's a weird, yeah, he's all over the place. He doesn't strike me as a, I will never fight such and such person guy. I'm sure someone can throw an exception,

but I don't imagine he's like that. Yes. So now we've got to go to the wild car round, okay? We're going to select one fighter. We have not match made for yet, and we will match bait for them right now. And then we're going to turn it over to the peeps. And then you guys could just start firing off different matchups. We'll pull them up on the screen.

We'll react to some of them, and we'll take as many as we can. So, AK, who is your wild card selection for UFC 286? Much like Leon Edwards did several times in the main event on Saturday. I kind of cheated here, Mike. I kind of cheated her a little bit. I had asked you before that, you know, we're planning this. show and I'm like should we do of course we're going to do the main event winner and loser should we also do the same for the co-main and we kind of agreed let's just do the winner so only gate

you but because the wild card rule we can do whatever we want i do want to make a matchup for rachel fazeve and i mean i'm even doing some more finagling here because some pieces have to fall in the place for this to happen i really really want fazeve to fight true dover i need to see this This Drew Dover is booked to fight Matt Frivolta at U.S. 28 on May 6th. That is not a guaranteed win for Drew Dober at all. Matt Favola is a really difficult matchup. But Dover will be favored, and I will pick him to win now. I know it's a long way to go before that fight actually rolls around.

But should have to stay together and I have to make a prediction. I won't change it. I won't change it. I'm picking Dover because I want him to fight Fiziv. That would just be – listen, I know we just got – we're spoiled. We just got Fiziv and Gateji, and now we've got a little Gatheed Jr. if you want to speak of Dover in such reductive terms. But that fight would just be so, so, so insane.

And yeah, listen, a good opportunity again for both. It's relevant in the rankings, I would think. Especially if Dober gets that win. I don't know where he is in the rankings right now, but it's got to be solidly in the top of Dean if he beats Vosla. And Fiziv would be a super excellent matcher for him coming off that. He might even call for it. I could see him beating for Vola and calling for that

if Fiziv already isn't like if there's an already a fight for Fiziv in the works. that fight would be sick i like that fight a lot uh so i want to think a little bit outside of the box uh it was i see lorone murphy back in there yesterday great fight with gabriel santo i said that would be the low key banger and i was i was seemed to be correct on that one a lot of people like gabriel santo won that fight i'm not really hating on it uh but lorone murphy shaking off some of that rust gets the victory uh i went with lorone murphy versus alix casares aka I know Bruce Lee Roy was supposed to fight next week at UFC San Antonio against Nate Landware. Sarah's had to withdraw for some reason.

So when Alex is ready to come back, let's give Lorone Murphy a fight with number 15 ranked Alex Casaris. Because I think it would be ridiculously fun. And I just want to see Lorone Murphy kind of make up for lost time if he can. Because just what do you think he's starting to get going? He just slows down or there's injuries. He's out for a while. So I want to see if this is a year where he can feel. fight multiple times and let's give him some opportunities with some some fun matchups and let's

see what this guy can do a lot of people have very eye on him for a while I know I'm one of those guys so let's go ahead and do that fight what do you think I thought you would have gone with laurent Murphy versus god because I don't know what I don't know what I don't know what laron Murphy did in a past life if you believe in that sort of thing or what he did in this life to deserve something that's happened to him we all know of course well documented that he was shot in the face before becoming, I think it was before becoming an NBA fighter. Yes, before he becoming a fighter.

That's like one great horrible thing that should be, that's it for your life. You got shot in the face, nothing bad like that should ever happen to you. And then he just recently said, going to this fight, he got into a pretty serious car accident. It's one of the things that kept him on the shelf.

He hasn't fought since October 2021. So I don't know. I don't believe in luck or anything like that. You guys know that. But something is, there's some bad juju surrounding Lauren Murphy. And hopefully he's just hell. healthy. I love the suggested matchup Mike, but hopefully he's just healthy. I just want to see him

fight three times in 2020. It would be a miracle. He hasn't fought three times in the years since before the UFC back in 2018, didn't fight 2022 at all, twice in 2021, once in 2020, a couple of times 2019. So this guy, listen, Gabriel Santos is great. And sure, people scored for him. That's fine. But I do think Laura Murphy is a guy who's going to, if not be a contender, stick around in the UFC featherweight division for at least a few years and just be giving people a tough fight. you know, for a while. So I thought you were going to go with him against the MMA gods. I mean, he's already won. He's already won that battle. That's true. That's true. He's already done it. All right. So for the next like 10 or 50 minutes, let's get your picks in the

chat. We'll pull them up. We'll react to him. Let me quickly shout out a couple of first timers, crypto crabs on Twitter. Keep the martial arts separated in his profile. Excellent work. I agree. Just one pick, Yanal Ashmoos versus Gabriel Mogli Benitez. That's a big matchup. That's a big veteran matchup, but I like it. And Hermann, Herman from also from Twitter, Edwards versus Colby. Don't think it should happen. Probably will.

Gachipori, too. I'm not going to read all these. Sorry, Herman. Maya versus He was, Vittori Canineer. I just ripped this guy off, really. Let's be honest. Shore versus Ege, Macaiah versus surgery. And Mike, thank you for the great work to both of you, AK and Mike, as well as the whole

M. M.A. fighting team. found your YouTube channel about a year ago, and it made MMA even more enjoyable for me. Thank you very much. So a little bit of positivity before we get into the picks, which are hopefully will be positive. Very nice.

Thank you very much. All right. Let's get into this. A lot of people want to see Leon versus Bilal. And if this is Bellator, this is the fight we would get. They are a meritocratic promotion. The UFC is not.

And that's where we're at right now. Yeah, that's the truth. That's true. Muhammad Baha'u for refusing to hit flyway and unders I don't think Muhammad Bukhyap is a human being, okay? That was insane.

He probably should have tapped to something to, and listen, there's a little controversy in round one that maybe that injured shoulder appears was getting tweaked a bit. It did look, you saw the video, Mike? Oh, the tap video?

Yeah. Yeah, I saw it. It was very weird. It really, I mean, I don't even say it looked like a tap. I don't want to say it looked like a tap. Like, that's a tap. If the ref had seen that, the fight's over.

The fights are whether Makaiov meant to tap or not, whether there was some involuntary thing. It wasn't like, we've seen like people do like the one, sometimes one, even like a two, like maybe their hand is flailing or something. That's a multiple tap thing. For anyone who hasn't seen it, you guys can just, I'm sure, find on Twitter,

Makayev tap. Someone did kind of an amateur, like a, you know, they kind of just filmed it on their phone. But it's a very clear view. There's no ambiguity to it. And again, I'm not saying he meant to tap out, even if it was involuntary. but if you're the referee and you saw that,

like that fight is, that fight is over and he is no longer undefeated. So very strange. There'll be a post about it going up on M.A. fighting today, I think I did a little write-up about his response. Of course, he denied it. He said, no, that wasn't a tap. I definitely didn't tap.

And that's fine. You guys can be the judge for yourself. I'm not saying, I'm making no aspersions. I'm just saying what I saw. And listen, the referee didn't see it, so it doesn't matter. The official result is a Mikai of win. It's very talented guy, tough as hell. yeah but I'm not I'm not entirely sure where he goes now but yes people if you're if you're

fans of uh no bets barred he's the one guy that you don't bet a guaranteed flyweight under on because he is he is now he is now a bet on him to finish the fight that it won't go the distance but not under one and a half or under two and a half he's kind of weird in that way so there you go yeah jed might have to have words with him uh michael and thomsap versus colby i mean that's the fight I think should be made, but it appears, at least according to day in a way, Hamzot's going to 1.85 and he's going to fight a top three guys. So we'll see what happens there.

Where the heck's Mike at at the hotel lobby? And it is a freaking party down here. Scott McCrae, morning, guys, this won't happen, but if I ran things, I would pull Chandler and make Connor Gaichie won. Gachie's value far outweighs what he makes, let this man

finally have the Connor pay day. What do you think about that? Your thoughts on maybe an audible being called, A.K. Well, let me tell you something. Scott, thank you for the message. Excellent work. I would say that's very possible. And if I'm Gathe's team, I'm kind of keeping an eye on the buzz surrounding the taping and what's going on.

Because up until recently, I will say recently the Ultimate Fighter series has had a pretty good record of keeping the coaches matchups together. But there was a long stretch. There was a long stretch of seasons where the fights just kept falling through. There's some got injured. At the timing just didn't work out. And I'd say if you look overall, it's probably like 50-50. It's probably like a 50% success rate of having the coaches actually fight each other. So definitely if you're Gatesji, man, you eye that because you are the perfect guy to step in.

And it's not as fortuitous for him. If it's Connor who falls out because, again, he just fought Michael Chandler. It was a great fight. I'm sure fans would like to see it again. If you're Gaet, you're like, I really feel no reason to revisit that right now. But definitely if for some reason it's the Chandler side that falls out, I love that suggestion from Scott. I think Gachi has to be ready. And if you're, I'm going to tell you something,

it'd be a weird thing because fans would probably be looking more forward to Gagee versus McGregor than Chandler versus McGregor. So I want to see Chandler get that fight too. But now I kind of like Scott's suggestion. I kind of want to see this happen. Vittori, Kedineer, Deleidzee, Duplase, Maya versus Murphy, O'Neill, Marina Morose, Gunner versus Randy Brown, Barbarina versus Dirod, Gajee versus Dyerad, Gajee versus Dura, Usa, versus Shemai, at 171,85.

Mike Boar. tons of suggestions right there. Thank you, Michael. Jack Shaw versus Bryce Mitchell to welcome short of the new division. Bryce Mitchell has a fight. He's fighting JSP. UFC 288. And he has already been welcomed.

He was welcomed by the very predictable, predictable Macquarad Amirconi. Maybe a proper welcome, a proper welcome. At that first round, I saw like one or two comments like, oh, maybe moving up to 145 was a mistake. And I'm like, people, you've seen Macwan Amir Cani fight before. Stop it. You've seen him fight before. You know where this is going. And that's exactly where it went.

Exactly where it was. He's great for like four and a half minutes and that's it. Jed on No Bet's Bar had said, if you're the kind of person to jump on live betting, jump on live betting and that second after the first round, jump on Jack Shore, put everything you can on Jack Shore to win and he was right. I think it was, I don't know what I think Armacani was like plus 200 or something

after the first round. And if you cashed in that, good for you. Shemai versus Vittori from Caleb, not a bad idea for thinking about top three four matches. It's just not going to happen. It's just, I just don't think it's going to happen. I love the, I wish it would. I just don't see it happening though.

Tristan, Veronica Hardy, you looked incredible versus Maria Agapova, Jackshore, Pat Savatini, Ashmos versus Rebechke, Romadee versus Nassardine Imovov. Yeah, I saw a lot of that. I like that one. I think that's logical for both guys. I think if you're Delete Sain Yemov, you should be working towards that. It makes a lot of sense. More Vorty versus DDP.

I think that that's the fight that's got to be made. Yeah, we had people calling for that last time, DDP versus the winner of delete say Vittori, so that makes sense here. Barberina versus Nico Price. Can't really get upset about that. Fight of the night, let's go. Gutter Nelson versus Kevin Lee.

Now, Kevin Lee had said in an interview with Helen Lee that the UFC is targeting a matchup. up between him and Tony Ferguson for the international fight week card. Of course, they fought already. Tony finished Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title a few years back. Kevin Lee back with the UFC. I don't know. I don't know what's true and what isn't.

It's not on MAAfighting.com, so we haven't confirmed it, which means that it ain't done. And it's not probably in the works at this point. But what do you think about maybe Gunner Nelson versus Kevin Lee for Lee's return to the UFC? First I'll say I 100% believe what he told Heleney that it is probably being talked about. I don't know if there's any like actually paperwork being thrown out there. I do believe it's being talked about. It just makes a lot of sense for both guys where they are at their stage in their careers. And it'd be fun to have it at 170.

So neither guy has to worry about cutting weight. I think making it a lightweight fight is just honestly pointless. Tony's not a lightweight contender anymore. Kevin Lee has always had trouble cutting to 1d5. He hates it. And the first fight was competitive until it wasn't. So yeah, I'm fine with that. I'd actually like to see that.

And then this suggestion of Gunner Nelson also makes a lot of sense. Like I said, I think they're talking about Tony, but I don't think that's set in stone at all. The thing with Gunner, again, is just how active is he going to be? Because he's the kind of guy. He just takes his time getting back in. He's fought, I think we said, once a year, the last couple of years. Maybe it's dealing with injuries. Maybe it's, you know, not getting the right matchups.

I don't know. I think Kevin Lee would be a great carrot to dangle and a really good matchup for him. But I just don't know. know where Gunner is as far as his calendar. Sean Brady versus Kabar Usman. That's one that I thought about. Muhammad Makaya versus Matt Chanel. Again, sorry for the backguard noise.

Everybody's surrounded me. There's a whole lobby where people can sit anywhere. It happens every time. You know what's a great spot right next to the guy that's clearly doing the show right now. This happens every time. I want to talk about Makayev. I got a comment from Liam Perry on Twitter.

He says, I know Makayev now an officially an enemy of the flywood unders, but you can't deny his toughness. My leg was hurting watching that submission. A lesser man would have crumbled in position time to up the competition. I like this. I have to mention this, Mike. Makaya versus the Manel Kopp, Alex Prez winner, depending how busted up the leg is. So that's true.

We do have to see injury. But I like it because Manel Kopp's taking a slight detour from his alliteration assassin tour to fight Alex Prez. Because it's an important matchup. He needs it. But after that, he needs to get back to assassinating alliterative fighters. And Mahometh Mikhail might be next on that list. So I just want us to keep that. I don't know if it's next,

but it feels like they're destined to run into each other. Shore versus Barbosa, Billy Q, A.K., a winner that's plate. That's a big step up, though. That's a big step up for MacOne. I don't know. I don't know if I'm with that one. Let's see. Demar wants a Gaichi Olivera rematch.

Oliver is fighting, obviously, Vanil Derey, Daryuge. K.C. O'Dill, Viviani Arrujo, A.K. Yeah, I think that's sort of the right step back, as it were. I shouldn't even necessarily say step back Because I think in my rankings I probably have Arujo Higher Yeah I have them right next I have Arrujo at 12

KCu O'Neal at 13 So yeah If you're going listen to this from Ashutash Bashpai If you're going just by MMMA math that to me adds up It's so loud You know Ashmas versus Ishmael Bonfee That's a pretty good fight

I've got that's the second person To recommend that so I like that fight Yeah. Votory versus Allen battle of elite middleweighty middleweets and Fizzie versus Turner for the vibes. A lot of a lot of Fizizier Turner. I thought about that. The only thing is, and it's this shouldn't matter because both guys, whatever happens,

they still have bright futures ahead of them. I just, I don't like the optics of one of them being put on a two-fight losing streak. Again, that's a, listen, that's a terrible reason not to make a fight because that fight is awesome. But that's the only reason I shied away from it. Because Jalen Turner actually was my first thought. And then I was like, I'd like to see them both find a way to get back back in the winning column, as it were. What else we have?

Brian Barbarita versus Ian Gary, AK. I feel like this has been suggested many times, and I'm totally down with it. I think that's a really tough test for Ian Gary. But we're at the point where we need to test Ian Gary. He's 4 and O in the UFC.

I don't know if that kind of crept up on people. And I know he's not fighting like top 30 guys. So, you know, that 4 and O doesn't like tell the whole story. But this is the kind of guy who we're going to keep saying, well, he's only 25, he's only 26, It's only 27 and we're matching him up with so again, lower tier guys. And eventually he's going to be, he's going to be like, you know, 28, 29, 30. And then are we going to wait that long before we give him some of these veteran names?

So I like the matchup a lot. It's definitely a big step up, but very good suggestion. Jack Shore versus Dan Ege. What do you think about that? I actually, I don't know why. Ike is arguably as much of a tough step up as Bryce Mitchell, but I kind of like that one. I kind of like Ege more. I don't maybe it's because he's he's older and I think shore has a has a chance to like that gap could be in his bed that age gap could be in his benefit but it's also a tough matchup so it's weird it's hard to explain I like the e-game matchup for some reason I like the Bryce Mitchell matchup less both of them are again a really really tough test for Jack Shore but um Jack Shore he might be due for a tough you know a big leap in competition just because he hasn't looked bad in the UFC so far I mean other than a few lost rounds here or there but he looks like a lot of

you know, like as he was hyped to be. So you might only be able to push him up and up and up. Jay Cadley versus Charles Johnson. I like that fight. Jake Hadley is. Jay Cadillardle real good. That, that body shot was friggin nasty. That was, he got a bonus, right?

No, he didn't get a bonus. He did get a bonus. Ash Ross didn't get a bonus. He deserved one more than anybody. I tell you what, he was a pretty considerable underdog too. So that was kind of screwed up. Charles Johnson is fighting Cody Dern, we should say. He was fighting.

I can call you during April 29th. Looks like it's an eighth card. But not a bad idea, though. O'Neill versus Molly McCann, AK. Interesting. I don't know why. I obviously I didn't match me for Casey O'Neill. I don't know if I would have even thought of that.

But again, that makes a lot of sense. And I would think people are sort of looking ahead to the next, you know, London card as well. And I'm sure Casey O'Neill wants to get back in there soon. So, yeah, it's a good suggestion. Jai Herber versus Terrence McKinney from James. Good stuff. That's good fight. Yep.

Gunner versus Kevin Holland. Kevin Holland is booked right now against Santiago, Ponziabio. Three weeks, April 8th. UFC 287. That one's going down. Another Wonderboy versus Camaro pick. It's out there, man. It's out there.

Sean Brady's not good at all. Oh, stop. How dare you? Covington versus McGregor. Machiaev needs the Tim Elliott test. Tim Elliott is booked against Alon Nasimento in June. So maybe the timelines line up, depending on how bad Mikhail's leg is. Yeah.

Makhaev said he wanted that one. He wanted the Tim Elliott fight. He was actually disappointed that when he heard, Elliot was booked against Nassimento. I have Sylvester Correa saying Veronica Hardy versus Joanne Wood. If anyone can answer this question, I was wondering, is this the first time two women who have changed their names via marriage? have fought in the UFC after having previously fought under, sorry, I fight on the same card after having previously fought under a different name. You know, we knew Veronica Hardy as Veronica Macedo before.

And of course, we knew Joanne Wood as Joanne Calderwood before. And they had very lengthy, well, Joanne Wood had a very lengthy UFC career as Joan Calderwood before before becoming Wood in the last couple of years. And Veronica Macedo was, you know, just came back from a long layup and was Massedo before and came back as Hardy. so I don't know if a card has ever had two women fighters who had changed their names after marriage. I know, this is a completely useless stat. I apologize for wasting everyone's time. But if anyone knows the answer, go ahead and throw down the comments. I'll keep an eye on.

I mean, I think we're kind of getting to the end because I'm seeing Derek Lewis versus Cody Garbrand matchmaking suggestions, which is hilarious. Maya versus Andrage, I just saw. Androge is booked, by the way. fighting Jan Jonan. Let's see. A lot of Hamzad suggestions. Another Brady Usman. Let's see.

Do we have anything else? Do we have anything else? Veronica Hardy versus Antonina Shavchenko, AK. Yeah. Antonina, she hasn't looked bad lately, Mike, your favorite fighter, Antonina Shepchenko. What happened in her most recent fight? I have no memory of this.

She beat Courtney Casey by split decision. Yes, and one of the, I'm sure, most memorable fights of 2022. Yeah, no, it's good. Yeah, I don't know where to go with Veronica Hardy because she could be a completely different fighter from the one we first saw. Julianna Miller turned out to be a much better matchup than we thought. There's just that, you know, experience gap between the two of them. And, you know, listen, Julianna is what her first. fifth pro fight or something like that so there's going to be consistency issues early on sorry her yeah her

it was her fifth pro fight and uh Veronica Hardy to her credit listen looked like the more experienced fighter the more well-rounded fighter the more seasoned fighter and I don't know where to go with her maybe she's good I don't know if she's good enough to fight the top 20 you know at 125 pounds or if if she should stay around sort of that range sort of that lower tier range that um that she just fought in on on Saturday so yeah you can go you go really in any direction with Veronica Hardy Casey O'Neill versus Tracy Cortez-A-K What do you think about that? I like, you know, this loss to Jennifer May is going to hurt.

I understand it, of course, I'm sure it hurts. Everyone wants to be undefeated. Nobody wants to lose when they have this chance to, you know, take a top 10 spot when they're coming back from a long layoff, all these eyes on her. But this loss might actually have been a good thing for her. It's not like she looked horrible. I think Jennifer Mai just looked really good.

And we just saw, you know, how much further Casey O'Neill-Konest, go to get to the level and that's fine. So this loss, I think, is one she's really going to bounce back from. And again, it kind of recalibrates our matchmaking expectations for her. So maybe the Tracy Cortez, that range is a better, a better spot for her. So it's a good, good suggestion from Oscar Laro. All right. Last one then we're going to go because the noise being crazy.

This might be the winner. This might be the low, this might be the low-key best match of all. Now there's the popular ones. But I just saw this one from the Drusio. And I just got fired up. You know, Ashma, versus Trevor Peake, AK. Let's go. Israel versus Arkansas.

What's Jarpeak? Arkansas. Arkansas or Alabama? Arkansas. Israel versus Arkansas. Let's go. It's the match up the world wants to see. I'd love to see the two guys hanging out before.

I'm imagining some amazing clash of cultures there. But yeah, that's a great fight. And that's the right range. both guys very early in their careers, both one known in the UFC now, both brought a ton of excitement to their debuts and a sophomore meeting for those guys would be fantastic. So that's great. Love it.

I love it as well. All right. We're going to get out of here. You guys are great. Thank you so much. Oh, Mike, let me tell you all because we probably get a lot of first time viewers with this. And I had someone asked me today how to send us picks.

So please, you guys can hit me up on Twitter at Alexander K. Lee. Again, we didn't read a lot of those today, but we normally do. on non-paper-view shows. At Alexander K. Lee on Twitter, at Alexander K-K-Lee on the Instagrams, Alex. at www.com for my email. You can help you on any of those.

Mike, they can hit you up. M underscore HECJR on IG. Just that should be a DM there. And we will get your picks on the program. I put you that. M underscore HECJR. M underscore HECJR. Yes. So we're back next week for the pod,

recapping UFC San Antonio. We got Marlon Vera, Corey Sanhagen, Holly Holm versus Yana Kunitskaya, now Yana Santos, Landware, Nate Laborer, Austin Lingo, Andrea Lee, Macy Barber, Alex Perez, Vidal Cop, can't wait for that one. Chidi and Jokwani versus Albert Jariath. Daniel Paneda, back against Tucker Lutz, Stephen Peterson, Lucas Alexander, Trevin Giles, Preston Parsons, C.J. Bergara versus Daniel De Silva.

Maywell Torres versus Trey Ogden Venetia Salvador versus Victor Altamorano and Tamiris Vidal versus Haley Cowan. That is UFC San Antonio, everybody. So we'll be back next week to recap that card. And that's it.

UFC 286 in the books. And in 20 days, it'll be UFC 287 time. So thank you all very much. Appreciate you joining us. Always remember, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We'll have more fun. week right here and on to the next one the podcast good night everybody