MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC 290

Episode Date: July 9, 2023

Where does Alexander Volkanovski go following his one-sided main event victory to retain his UFC featherweight championship in the UFC 290 main event? What about the challenger Yair Rodriguez after getting stopped in the third-round by Volkanovski? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee attempt to answer those questions from a matchmaking perspective, and discuss whether Volkanovski's best potential option is another featherweight title defense against Ilia Topuria, or a lightweight title rematch with Islam Makhachev. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for new flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja and now former two-time champ Brandon Moreno, Dricus Du Plessis following his shocking finish of Robert Whittaker, along with fellow main card winners Dan Hooker, Bo Nickal, 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

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

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

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network.

I'm muted. We're live, everybody. Welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. I am Mike Heck. That is my best friend, Alexander K. Lee. And we are back with the matchmaking, crowns on following in incredible UFC 290 event last night at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas. The card delivered in spades. I look a little darker because of lighting in here.

And I don't even care, baby, because that card was incredible. My best friend, what a card it was. You gave a gymnastic scale of 9.0. And normally, we don't, it's either it hits or it exceeds. This one had to have exceeded. the 9.0, right? Like for the first time since maybe we've introduced the gymnastics scale, I think we exceeded 9.0. I think the level of difficulty, I think the UFC, you know, rocket shipped over that 9.0. Did they not? You know, it means that the genetic score was wrong.

I admit it was wrong because technically you can't, you know, the way gymnastics works, you can't go over the score. So this just means, you know, didn't gauge it right, didn't gauge it right. This was much better than 9.0 on paper. I probably wrongly clustered it together with some of the mediocre fight cards we've had recently. Look, I've said in the last, I think, month or so, like the scale's a bit weird. I think I overrated one card, not overrated it, but was overly optimistic about one of these, you know, random UFC apex cards. And then that's kind of thrown the whole thing off since then.

So maybe after I've had some time off, we'll mention, we'll tease that later. It got a little vacate coming up. Maybe the scale, you know, I could take that time to do some research and fix the scale because, yes, this should have been higher than a 9.0 on paper. This was if everything went right, which pretty much everything did, this was much closer to like a 9.6, 9.7 degree of degree of difficulty. I really should have raised the degree of difficulty because the trick is to play C-fight. We'll talk about more of that, you know, we get to the matchmaking is a perfect example of if everything goes right, awesome matchmaking by the UFC and they've set up a grudge match with Izzy Adisina. If everything goes wrong, if Whitaker just tuned them up for five rounds or something, then that's, you know, then that that doesn't mean that the degree of difficulty should be lower. It just means it didn't come close to hitting that degree of difficulty score.

In this case, it did. my math was off I was so wrong should have been more optimistic should have been more daring in what I thought that this card could deliver because it delivered

in so many different ways it was just a pleasure to watch from beginning to end it was a fantastic card it was amazing and we're going to talk about this from a matchmaking perspective I just want to throw this out there

I have like a half of a voice right now this side of my throat is like it's just swollen and I can't even like really swallow on that side. I don't know if it's allergies or whatnot. So I'm literally just going to battle through this and this will probably like the last of my voice for the next 72 hours. So, but I'm here for all of you guys as is my best friend where I'm very little sleep. Let's get into this for a matchmaking perspective.

This is how it's going to work. It does not be your typical show. This is the show right here on the right here on the YouTube channel. So as we're talking about fights, if you have suggestions and I think a lot of lot of this is kind of obvious. Throw them in the chat, pull them up on the screen. At the very end, for about five to ten minutes, we'll just run through a gambit of your matchmaking ideas and selections.

And AK and I will react to them until I have to get the hell out of here and check out of this hotel room. So let's start with the main event, AK, Alexander Volcanowski just runs over Yeo Rodriguez. This fight was not really all that competitive. Yayer Rodriguez had a moment where he landed a couple of good shots but this is the Alexander Volcanovsky show

just proving he is at worst the second best fighter on planet Earth just destroys Jaya Rodriguez finishes him in the third round was able to get takedowns early establish his dominance, establishes game plan but now he's in a very interesting position A.K., because if you ask me this question on Friday

of what would be next for Volkanowski I would have said, it's definitely Ilya, and there's nobody else. But now, Charles Oliver may not be ready for October to fight Islam Makachev. There's a glaring opening right there. And Volkovsky said, after the fight, it's got to get a little surgery. It's not a major surgery. And he could be ready to fight in October. So where are we going here?

Did anything change for you since this week? Are we doing Volcanowski-Tuporea? Are we doing Volkanovsky-Machachev? What are we thinking? We're doing Volcanov-Torio. We're doing Volcanovs-Pura. I loved Volkanowski-Machchev the first fight before this weekend. It was probably the fight of the year.

Now it's maybe third behind two of the fights we just saw on Saturday. But still, an amazing fight, an amazing high-level fight. And amazing in a different way. Like, the Turner-Hurko fight was amazing in its own way. the Pantosha-Morano fight was amazing in its own way and the Volcanowski-Makachev fight a totally different beast. It doesn't quite have that wild energy of the culminate on Saturday, but just a technical masterpiece, and it's a wonderful fight to watch.

I've re-watched it already. I had to for a quote-unquote robbery review, and it was just really, really cool to see those two guys. But we don't need to see it again so soon. I hope they run it back someday. I hope they run it back some day. I think they can because I'm pretty confident that Volkanowski can run off another couple of title defenses.

I'd like to see Islam run off a couple of title defenses. I don't have an answer for what Islam should do now if he plans to fight Abu Dhabi, which has been the plan probably since he won the Volkanowski fight, right? I'm sure his team was looking ahead to that. But I don't have an answer to that. I really don't. I really don't. But if I'm the matchmakers, I just, well, I was going to say,

I was going to say, don't worry about it. No, that is a UFC matchmaker problem to worry about. That's not an on to the next one matchmaker problem to worry about Mike. We can do whatever we want here. Islam, they got to find someone fine. But to prepare for me has done enough. Could he do more? Could his resume look a little bit stronger, a little bit beefier?

Sure. Are there guys above him in the rankings that you could logically match him up with to give him that, that, you know, one more win? Yes. But I'm ready to see that fight now. I think Volcanos should stay at 145. I'm like Shaheen Al-Shadi. I'm so much more in favor of champions staying in the division. putting together dominant title runs, knocking off every possible challenger.

And that's what I want to see next. So this is not a crystal ball pick because Volkanowski, Maka Chiv too, very much in play. This is a magic wand. I want to see Toporra Volkanowski and not the Volk Islam rematch. Not yet. I mean, I'm not going to do Friends forever. It's Volk Toporia, end of the year. No need to rush it.

I'm with you. I don't need to see the Islam fight. The olivara stuff kind of open the door. I think it's honestly, I think it's up to Volk. I think if Volk wants that fight, he's going to get it. But it seems like he's more on the Toporier train. I think he wants to kind of beef up that resume a little bit more. I think the conversation for featherweight goat is getting a little closer now.

Some people are like fully ready to say he's the greatest featherweight of all time. Others are saying, okay, there's a conversation now and others are saying one more, win if he beats deporia. Now we can have that conversation. Dude, it's just so good at fighting. So I think it's Deporia. I think the Heslomachchev's going to fight friggin Michael Chandler, baby. I think that's the fight that's going to happen. Because who else is available, man? Like, who else is available? I know Dustin and Justin are fighting in three weeks. Those two are going to beat the shit out of each other. I just don't see a world where either guy is able to turn back around in two and a half months.

I don't see a world where Armand Saruki and gets the title shot. He's going to be like the highest rank guy coming off of a win that's available. And if this Connor McGregor fight ain't going down, the UFC loves Michael Chandler. See, this is, David, you're crazy. I'm telling you, it's bananas from a meritocracy perspective, but it is not bananas in this world we live in in the ultimate fighting championship. This is a very strong possibility. and if Michael Chan, guess what,

if Michael Chandler somehow, some way beats Islam Makachev, you know who's going to start selling Michael Chandler out of nowhere? Connor McGregor, because he ain't selling Michael Chandler at all, at all. He doesn't even acknowledge Michael Chandler's existence right now. Connor wants nothing to do with that fight. It's crazy. So, I don't know. Hopefully this gets figured out,

but it would just do not be surprised if Michael Chandler gets his title shot. No one should be. No one should be surprised. No one should be surprised. He already got himself a vacant title shot. What was Chandler's third fight or something? In the UFC, he was like, what, one in one or something? It was after the hooker knockout, right?

Was this first or second? Oh, maybe was his second? Yeah. I mean, he obviously came in with his first, excuse me. He got the Dan Hooker. He beats Dan Hooker. It cuts a lengthy, well-thought-out promo and then fights for a vacant lightweight title. He's a master of pouncing on circumstance.

He is an opportunist. He's a company man. The UFC loves him. They love what he, they love what he brings to the table. Again, watch how much he's been showcased with the ultimate fighter and doing post-fight shows and everything. They want to put Michael Chandler in these situations. And again, he's not their number one choice for the Makachov fight, but given that it's not Olivera, given that Chandler-Raeck Gregor, I think, is on ice for now.

Or, no, it's on ice for now. I've noticed this December talk. It's super likely that's going to happen. Again, I have to look more and see what other options they have, but no one should be surprised about Chandler for sure because that title fight. Yep. Now, on the flip side, there's Jayir Rodriguez, who has worked so hard to get to this position became the interim champion.

Everybody was excited for this fight. They thought what the style Yaya brings to the table, he could give Volcanowski fits. did not happen he's got to take a step back i think it's going to be a long road for him to get back to a title shot or at least as long as volkanowski is king of this division this is pretty easy for me we do yaya rhodriguez versus arnold down i think that's the fight to make i feel like we're going to be on the same page this is another kind of friends forever that should be a friend's forever because it's easy no real yeah so okay i thought so a little too obvious little too obvious um you these guys are so high level there this is what sucks when you kind of either get that title

fight. I feel like Arnold Allen, you fall just short, you go on this huge run and you fall just short of earning that title fight is you can't take that many steps back. So now it really is just facing other contenders. And this is how you win it with weird situations where you have like top six, top seven guys on two fight losing streaks, three fight losing streaks. And that might be what happens to one of these guys, unfortunately, because the fight makes so much sense from a, from a stature standpoint, name standpoint, it can headline a card, a fight night. If that's how UFC want to go with it, it can be a prominent fight on a pay-per-view. It's, you very that's i think this is a magic wand pick this is a crystal ball pick i think the match

rangers have to be eyeing it uh if you're arnold allen definitely fight you want you beat yair you're right back in there yeah year probably don't get an immediate tell shot right away but it puts you one more fight uh by one fight away keeps his name in the mix who knows what happens at the top bokanowski makes a permanent move up to lightweight vacates the title you know yeah year's right back in there so yeah i hate to see either guy take another loss or going to what would be you know technically a losing streak um assuming it doesn't end a draw But this is, again, this is what it's like when you're at the top of the UFC. You're cashing big checks and just facing nothing but big names.

So some other suggestions that I don't dislike at all. Yair versus Calvin Kater is a fight. I think we have to see at some point. And someone's also suggested doing Yairir versus Al Javier versus Al Javier. Should Al Javier make the move up to 145? Don't dislike that idea either. So, but I honestly feel like if Algebra makes the move up, they are going to make a life very, very difficult for Aljo.

As difficult as humanly possible without giving him a title shot, whether that's Yaira or somebody else. I don't know, but both they're interesting ideas. Let's go to the new UFC lightweight champion, or flyway champion of the world, excuse me, Alexander Pantosia, aka what a friggin fight between him and Brandon Moreno. Third time they met, we knew it was going to be a war. this thing delivered in spades is actually better than I could have possibly expected this fight to be. In the end,

Vantosia is a freaking zombie. You can't hurt the man. It's impossible to hurt the man. Moreno tried, gave it everything he could, but in the end, two of the judges got it right. One judge got it completely wrong. 49-46 Moreno is just an egregious scorecard. I disagree.

How? I have to know. If you scored a 48-40-6, okay, go ahead. I went 48, 47, Moreno. I don't think 49-46 is crazy. I don't think it's crazy. I honestly don't. It's not the best card. I didn't think it was crazy.

I would have gone 48-47 because I gave Pantosia the last, and I gave him the, which was the other? What was it? I have to look at my school. I thought one was clear Pantosia. Five was. Two was Moreno and five Pantosia. That's how I scored it. Right, right, right.

Okay. I think those are the only clear rounds. Three and four, maybe. I don't look at this. Okay. I also gave Pantosia round one. It was close. I gave Moreno two and three, two, three and four. And then I gave Pantosia five. I think what's what's confusing about it is, you know, again, we see that we see the back control. And I think we assume every round that he had. But again, I was watching really closely to see how much damage he was doing. And yes, the two rounds where Pantosia got back control were similar. But I do think he was a little more effective and a little more, I guess, controlling in one of them, the other. Again, I don't blame. I'm fine with the decision. I tweeted this before it even happened.

I was like, Pantosia decision would not surprise me. I think Pantosia did more than enough to win the fight. But I think a lot of the exchanges were much more on the feet, were much more in Moreno's favor. Both guys were landing. I mean, Pantosia was landing some killer shots. The uppercut was there all day, throwing in good body shots. I just thought Moreena was a little better in the striking.

And I just would have like to seen a little more, I guess a little more damage, not damage, a little more impact, a little more like, because Moreno's defense, even when Pendosa had his back, was really, really good. He actually runs himself for being in danger a lot. And Jed and I joke all the time, like, how can you not give a guy around where he has any sort of significant back control? Because it's the most dominant position you can get in M.A.

Like you, there's no super back control. That's the joke we always make is when we brought it up with the Makhachev fight. We're like, how could you not score that fight for Mokachev? because he had back control for a lot and it's like what else was makachchev supposed to do um but and even though i scored that one from makachab i do see the argument uh people we're making there was kind of like you still have to do something with that position you still have to do something it's suck it's it's not fair i think i think the though the rules do tell the judges of course give credit to effective grappling it corrective grappling is very important the emphasis is

still on impact is still on what's like what has a greater um immediate effect on ending a fight and that's always going to be detrimental to grapplers enforcing. That sucks. That's just the way the scoring system is. So I have no problem with people. I get it. And I'm not saying people shouldn't be like are unjustified and criticized the 4946 score. Because again, the optics of it are if you think back control of, again, pretty sustained back control in some of those rounds immediately gives you the round.

Then you scored it for Pentosa. No question. But I don't, for me, back control is not automatic win the round, especially if there's other stuff to score in the fight, which those, again, those rounds were not just back controlled by a pentosia. There was a lot of stuff going on the feet. Watch those exchanges on the feet. Did Moreno, didn't Marino win most of those exchanges?

I think he did. So I had a 48, 47 Marino, but I think round one was, you could have even given me a 49, 46 Pentosia, and obviously I wouldn't have a problem with that. That's how close and amazing this fight was. So yeah, I get it.

I'll put my neck out there. I'll put my neck out there with Ben Carlet's. Ben Carls is a very good judge. Ben Carlin is very good judge. He's one of the best. I know a lot of people didn't like this one. Yeah, I don't like that car at all. 48, 47.

seven right now i can i can live with that i can listen to a conversation with that um but 49 46 is just outrageous it's outrageous um what we do with fantoja there's two options aka we could continue on this year of the raw dog that's one option like okay is that where you're going we're going right here mike it's a year i'm not going to say it i'm not going to say it but it's the year The year of who? It's Brandon Royvow's year. I've got to do this because this was one of my bull, when we were doing the champion predictions, who is going to be the champion at the end of the year, I went out and

said, I said, you know what, I got a feeling Roy Val's going to make it somehow. I'm feeling I wasn't sure who he'd beat. I wasn't sure if he'd be Moreno, Pantoja, someone else. I thought he'd have a chance. He gets that sweet, sweet backup spot, which according to Dana White, by the Kobe Covington rule, guarantees you a title shot, right? So if Pentosia's healthy, and I mean, that was a hell of a war, he might not want to fight again for the end of the year.

But if he does, give Roy Val another shot at him. And I think Roy Val gets it done. So I'm going as far as predict that it is really, really going to be his year. And maybe my wild prediction, one of my wild predictions will actually come true. So I can't really go back on what I said after the flyweight main event we had a not too long ago. The way I viewed Amir al-Bazi's win was if Brandon Moreno beats Pantosia, there's no chance of Mirabazi gets the title shot. It's going to go to Brandon Royval.

But if Pantosia won, there's a chance he gets it because of timing. Because the UFC is going to Abu Dhabi. Abazi would be over in Abu Dhabi. You would have a lot of support should he fight for the title in Abu Dhabi. And I think the UFC would pony up a couple extra bucks to put that fight on that card underneath Islam Makachev versus TBD. So I'm going with Ali Pants versus Amir al-Bazi. even though that fight was a war.

If they're going to make Al Jermaine Sterling turn around in three months time, they're damn sure going to get Allie pants to try to turn around three months time as well. So I'm going Pantosia versus Al-Bazi in Abu Dhabi. Brennan Royval gets the winner of that fight. But there is a world where the UFC just says, screw it. We're just going to give Moreno the shot right back. But I think the UFC is going to try to get Al-Bazi fighting for the belt on that card in Abu Dhabi. because they're going to need to get a second title fight,

and then, you know, someone the locals can cheer for. So I think that's how this is going to work out. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Boarding will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 1-8665-3-3-1-2-600 or visit comex Ontario.ca. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Now for Brandon Moreno, AK.

How do we do this? I have a suggestion. I'm going to throw this out there. I threw this on the post-fight show. A lot of people may not agree with this, but I'm going to throw it out there. I'm going to throw it out there. I say, let's get Brandon Moreno out of the title mix for one fight. Let's just get him away.

So I'm going to do something else. He's been in the mix for this belt for three plus years. Okay? Let's do something else. Let's settle the rivalry. let's just settle it once and for all. Let's move on with our lives and let's just have them fight each other.

Let's just do Brandon Moreno versus Henry Sehudo and just get it out of the way. Because if do it at 135, Sehudo beats Moreno, they could play the hole. You know what? He got a win at 135. Now they can, if they want to shoehorn him

back into a title fight, they can. Moreno gets to settle the beef. Then he could stop talking about Sehudo forever. Let's just do that. Let's just do that fight. who gives a shit? It's a fight. There's a rivalry. It could headline a fight night in front

of a crowd. We can do this. It could be on a pay-per-view. Let's just do that. Who gives a shit? Can I say, I don't care of Henry Cood ever fights again? I'm sorry. I'm a hater. I'm a hater. And I don't plan.

Our ranking panel looks like a bunch of a bunch of A-holes now because now he's ranked because of a split decision loss to Al Jemeyer. Which you could make KC1. It was a great performance coming off the layoff. No argument there. And now he's injured and we don't know when he's going to fight again. So he's just, congratulations, rankings panel of MMA fighting.

You just created a new squatter at Banton Wade. You just created a new squatter. He might not fight against us the year. We don't know when he's coming back. And he's going to hold on to the spot off the loss, bumping off a deserving Bantamweight because, oh, we have to give him credit for a great fight, a great fight that he didn't win. He didn't win officially.

But now he's ranked. Now he's ranked against all these guys. I'm still mad about it. and I like I do want to I think him and excuse me him Moreno is a great matchup if he does fight again but I honestly don't care I don't I just don't care if he comes back and fights and I want to see moreno do other things this is a bit easier for me because again I know you went with albazi so for pentosia I didn't so I'll have moreno fight albazi I mean speaking of split decisions I thought obazi did great against kai car France but that was a fight I a lot of people went the other way they weren't super super convinced that he was the next guy to challenge for the title i'm fine with it again i thought

he won fair and square kai kair france looks great abazi just it was just his day just slightly you know slightly better on the scorecards didn't have any real issue with the scoring there um but yeah i'm going with him from marino the one thing that i think neither of us well you you touched upon it but neither of us are really gung-ho about and i don't think it makes sense for the uc right now would be an immediate rematch with Pentosia because I hate I hate that the only reason we really don't want to see it. No, there's multiple reasons. One of the main reasons we really don't want to see it is we just San Marino fight the same guy in four of his past five fights. And it seems silly to again have him do another rematch.

He's kind of happened with Frankie Edgar too. He just wanted to run up. He'd fight. He'd fight. He'd fight. He'd fight. He'd rematch. And it was fine.

But I do feel like we lost out in some Frankie Edgar fights we could have had. And I'm sure there's other people who would want to fight Frankie. he didn't get the chance. So a rematches in the Mentosia would be awesome. I want to see this fight again so badly. It was my favorite fight of the year so far. It's just weird. It's just because of the way things have gone.

He's fought Pentosia three times now. He just came off a tetralogy. I just want a fresh child. So I'll go with Albaazi, but I don't know if that's the way it's actually going to go. Yeah. I mean, I like Moreno, Nicolaou, if they just want to keep things within the division. But listen, the UFC loves a story where friends become enemies. and then enemies can become friends after.

And this is exactly that. These two were thick as thieves. Then the ultimate fighter rolled around. And oddly enough, Suhudo picked Pantosia with his first pick and not his friend Brandon Moreno. And the friendship has never been the same. Shit talk left and right.

Let's just mix it up a little bit. Who cares? You can sell it. We can sell it. Easy peasy. You can sell it. Let's go to Holy cow, man.

Jerk his duplice did it. The man did it. He defied the odds. He did the thing. More than anyone this year, he may have done the thing. We've been preaching this since October of 2022 after UFC 280, do the thing. That has been our mantra for M-A fighting. Do the thing.

And you might be right, A.K., I don't think anybody has done the thing better than DDP did. Only one person believed in this man, maybe two. It was DDP and Jedmishu. Nobody else was even getting... We were talking on the preview show about what would be more surprising. DDP, a top five middleweight, beating another top five middleweight, or Bo Nickel losing to a guy he was favored minus 2,200 or whatever the hell it was.

So, geez, Louise, man. DDP did the damn thing. We get the cringy face off with Israel-Ad-Sanya, which I wish we never really got to see. But I will say this. DDP did the thing in that as well. Good little line. He no sold Izzy.

He knew Izzy was in the cage the whole time while he was talking to Joe Rogan. Finish the answer. Probably extended the answer by another 30 seconds. And Joe Rogan goes, well, now we know what could be next to you. There's the best middle weight in the world. And then so nonchalotly, DDP goes, I don't really know about it.

that. It was so good. And then Izzy just went on the Izzy tangent. DDP just kind of laughs at him and no sells him. So he probably won the first face off. But DDP did it, AK, DDP did it. It's got to be title shot next for him, right? I don't know if he fights Izzy and Sydney, but it's got to be title shot next, right? Yeah. Whenever that one can be booked, whenever DDP is healthy, make it happen. If they can make Sydney, awesome, if it has to happen later. Sorry, Australia fans. I know it just makes so much sense to have Izzy fight, you know, close, you know, I say close, but like in a neighboring New Zealand.

But it's, if it can't happen, let's not force Izzy to fight someone else next. This is the fight to make. The heat has been there for a while. It's good heat for the most part. Of course, I think as with most people, I'm a little uncomfortable with the racial and political overtones of it. you you you you danced around it very well my best friend uh it i didn't i hated izzie's approach to it i've said for the longest time uh israeli disney is not this great trash talker he's not a great

like he's not a super great promo guy he talks a lot he talks a lot and he's not the only one this isn't just calling out izzie this is a problem with a lot of supposedly quote of charismatic people in m m ms it's not that they necessarily are good at talking it's just they talk a lot and say there's stuff with conviction. And sometimes that turns out great and you get some great sound bites. Izzy's had plenty of them. Connor McGreg has had plenty of them. And sometimes you don't get, you get the other side of it and you get some

some moments that are just like the most embarrassing things. Again, Connor McGregor has said some super embarrassed things in the cage and outside of it. And Izzy, I don't know what he was doing, dropping all those end bombs on, it's a pay-per-view. It's fine. I guess you do whatever you want. I feel like he was trying to goad DDP into saying something, you know, totally off and that could have gotten really, really, really ugly. So thankfully, that didn't happen.

It might get worse in the future. I don't know. I wish that, you know, I could say that they're not going to play that up in the future. We know it has, it's going to be a big part of the hype. It's just unavoidable. So I love the matchup. I'm glad we got it. DDP looked incredible.

I was someone who was giving him a really good chance to win and I still picked against them and I was shocked. And I still was shocked that he won the way he did. because I think that was pretty dominant. I think he was getting hit. Sure, he was getting tuned up, but he looked like a truck just walking through some of that stuff and was landing the bigger shots until the finish came.

So I'm really impressive. UFC, don't drop the ball this time, and you got to just do it. Yeah. I mean, for the first three minutes of that fight, we're like, oh, this is just awful booking. What are we doing here? Fights going exactly the way we thought it would.

And then DDP just chucks Robert Whitaker to the ground and just punches him over and over again and beats the hell out of him, busts them open. You could tell Whitaker was not the same dude coming out in round two. And then there was just the DDP show. He looked, this is not a flash KO. This was, he beat that ass. So props to DDP. Here's the thing.

Izzy is going to fight in September. It's happening. There's no way he's not fighting in September. I don't think he's fighting DDP though. I actually think he will fight Sean Strickland. I think he'll defend the title against Sean. There's no need to rush this fight. Izzy, look, I understand, you know, maybe Sean Strickland wins.

Maybe that happens, then it kind of ruins it. Not really, because if Izzy loses, like, you do DDP Strickland, and DDP probably wins, then he can fight Izzy anyway. So that fight is going to happen. But Izzy's going to fight in September. Otherwise, what the hell are we doing? So I do think we'll get Izzy versus Strickland because there's no need to rush DDP and then

end of the year, beginning of next year, Izzy probably beats Strickland. We get Izzy DDP. We can build it up, give DDP a proper camp, no need to rush him back. And let's just do that. But either way, DDP's next fight will be for the belt.

The man deserves it. And if he wins the belt this year, let me ask you a second. If drink is duplicity, if D.D. freaking P. after beating Robert Whitaker, let's just say he fights Izzy next,

beats Izzy and wins the middleweight title. Is he the fighter of the year? He has to be, right? Listen, your boy, Annick, said that if he does the turnaround and beats Izzy in Sydney, that he's the greatest achievement in all of MMA history. So I guess he would be the fighter of the year.

And by that wasn't even, Anik is the best, because that wasn't even the most outlandish thing he had to say that night. He also later had to say, man, we've got nonstop action coming at next week, Holly Holie Holme versus Meyer Brno Silva at the U.S. and I'm like, I can't, like, I couldn't do that.

I couldn't. We praise the OSE broadcast team all the time, but I can't do it enough because, listen, they have a job to do. They have a job to do. I could not do that with a straight face. I could not have sold that as we just saw one of the greatest cards in U.S. history. And next week, you want to see that, you want the good times to keep rolling,

tune into this U.S. Vegas card headline by Holly Holm and Meyerna Miano Buenoselva. The only thing he could have done better was say it was an unofficial Bantonweight title fight. That would have made it even better. But yeah, him and him and Megan Alevi, I'm always amazed by the stand-ups. I just blows my mind how well she does those stand-ups. Like with the fighters coming up, sorry, I'm going off a tangent here, I know. Rogan and D.C., the less said the better. They were in fine form on Saturday. Let's put it that way. Mike, what was the question again? I'm sorry, we were talking about it. There was really no question. I'm going to pull this up because someone's calling me a joke for

even suggesting that Sean Strickman gets a title shot. Is this like your first month watching the UFC? Izzy's fighting in September, dude. He is fighting in September. 100%. And yes, we would love to live in a world where DDP is like, you know what? I'll turn around in eight weeks and fight this guy

after beating the number two middleweight in the world. But Izzy is going to fight on that card. And if DDP says, you know what, I don't want to turn around in eight weeks. I want to get a full training camp to fight this guy. But Izzy is going to fight on the card who else is he going to fight Sean Strickland is in play

he's coming off of a win these two guys have history the build to that fight will be ugly and weird and something the UFC would love to see you don't think they would book that fight I think there's a very good chance that they booked that fight very good chance

why would I don't think it's great it's not crazy at all I hope not because I feel no I can't stand Sean Strickland but it's certainly not crazy that it's going to happen I think we said after Strickland's win, we thought it was likely, right? We said it was a likelihood. I don't know if it wasn't my pick, but I was like, it could very clear.

I was really since we thought DDP was going to lose, we're like, oh, wow, the path is really clear for Sean Strickland's title shot. And it's not as clear now, but it was in play as recently as a week ago. So it's not, it's not crazy. But I don't want it, but you're not wrong. DDP went to the post of our press conference, said, I'm not even talking about Izzy right now. I'm celebrating this big win over a legend. That's what I'm focused on. I'm not focused on turning around in eight weeks.

Maybe you'll do some media this week and talk about it. Believe me, I would love to see the UFC just postpone everything and just do Izzy DDP and give it a proper build. Like that's the main event in December. But then why are we going to Sydney? What's the point? It's going to be a pay-per-view.

Who's going to headline if it's not Izzy? How are you going to sell? sell tickets. If it's not Izzy, how you can do it? Do you turn the September 16th card into the pay-per-view and just turn that into a fight night? It's kind of tough, right? When you're trying to sell tickets, going back to Sydney for the first time in a long time, it's tough. But we'll see how this all plays out. Either way, DDP's one last note, I want to make one last note. He right, he is getting the tail of shot. It's crazy. Going back to Izzy's like last time he was on the at the mayor hour, he said, I'm going to manifest

DDP winning this fight. He said he wanted to fight so badly. He said, I'm going to manifest him winning this fight. He said in the first round, it wasn't the first round, but I'm going to manifest his fight. And when he does, I'm going to be right there in the case so he can turn around in September. So the power of visualization is very strong.

I'm just telling you. And people like Izzy tend to make these things happen. So if you believe in that sort of thing, and if you saw the look on Izzy's face when the knock on happen, I think there was some sympathy for Rob. I think there was some like satisfaction like, oh, I'm going to get to fight this guy. And I think he was also having a moment of like, holy crap, I really just made like, he probably feels like I really helped to make this happen.

And again, I don't know if that's true. Again, what's that book that everyone talks about, the secret or whatever? I know this is that stuff, that kind of thing. If you're easy, though, you were definitely having a moment where you felt like you just changed the universe and gave yourself the title fight you wanted. Yeah. First of all, Jedmishu gets all the credit for that. He manifested that well before Israel Adasani did.

He's so happy right now. He's the happiest man in MMA media right now. He came right on the watch party and did the damn thing. He's the BTL champion forever and ever. He can't lose now. He can't lose right now. But DDP, we need to just put out a new award. Who did the thing best award?

It's GDP. Even if Izzy just absolutely washes him, it's still DDP. It's still DEP. Incredible stuff. Let's go to another incredible fight that may not get enough attention, coming out of UFC 290 because what this card was all about. Dan Hooker and Jalen Turner. What a friggin' fight that was.

Dan Hooker, he's got that animal in him. I can't think of what it is of the K-9 variety AK. What am I trying to say? When he posted an x-ray later, get well soon, when he posted x-ray of his wrist, I didn't look at it at first, what it said, and I wasn't paying attention to people saying he might have gotten injured during the fight.

And we posted the x-ray. I was like, oh, my God, this is another one of those stupid dog in the body x-rayed me. jokes like please no i'm not even going to say it i'm not even going to say it he does but i'm not going to say the line i'm not going to say the line mike dan hooker's made of steel i think he's a zombie and for those who are like oh he's he doesn't have a chin anymore he's dustiporri stole his soul apparently he didn't because at one point in the second round jalen turner front kicked him to the face like adam venetary kicked a game winning field goal

in the Super Bowl, as hard as he could. And Dan Hooker's like, all right, dude, I'm still going to keep fighting. Dan Hooker wins the decision. Completely understandable. Well done. This is easy AK. It's a broken wrist, so he's going to be out for a minute. But it's not an injury that's going to, like, keep him off for the rest of the year.

It's Dan Hooker versus Grant Dawson. It's going down. November, December. That's my pick. I love it. I think that was my first. option but we just I think I picked for Dawson last week I wanted to see him fight oh Fizzie Fizzis so I can't go back and I'll hold on to that for now I do think the hooker matchup makes more

sense right now I wish I'd had the foresight to just say hooker you know turn or winner but here we are um first of all someone in the comments AL just said got that dingo in him and that that I can get behind that I can get behind just just just mix up the animal like the dude says oh we do we always have to say dog uh so yes since I had to go a different route. I like him and Hanata Moikano. Makano is recovering from an injury. I think he's doing better now.

It depends when Hooker wants to turn around. But this could have, I think this could happen before the end of the year. And I haven't been keeping a close eye on Moikano's recovery. But yes, as far as I know, I just kind of did a skim of his social media. Seems to be up on Adam, you know, getting back to some kind of training. I don't know if he's ready to fight by the end

of 2023. But if so, him and Hooker, they're around the same spot. Fun fight. Moikano, it's a money fight for you, buddy, Hooker. still got a name. So yeah, that's a way to go with it. But I like the Dawson matchup as well. Booker for Zeeves fun. I don't mind that one. You do Turner Dawson. Could you turner Moikano? There's lots of like there. Lots we can do. Why? Because lightweight's the best division in the sport. It's the best division in the sport. And there's so many different options for both of these guys. The most popular name I've seen in here, AK, in the comments that we haven't talked about is Bo

nickel. Bo Nickel kicks off the main card, just runs over his short notice opponent in Val Woodburn, just trucks him, didn't even need to take him to the ground. It was just all striking, all punching, knocks him out viciously, and just put the main card off to a pretty ferocious start. So I'm curious, AK. He was scheduled to face Trashon Gore, tore some ligaments. That's why Gore couldn't fight. Do we go back to that? Or do we move on from Treschen Gore and go a different direction? The amount of suggestions and the variety of suggestions and the range of suggestions that I have seen are everywhere. I've seen everything from rebooked Treschen Gore to let's just throw them in there with Sean Strickland, AK. I have a feeling you're somewhere in the middle.

Maybe not. I don't know, but where are you out with Bo Nickle? What's his next move after this quick win? Yeah, you can go anywhere with it. He's he's not your average normal prospect. I see a lot of people frustrated a little bit with like, oh, how many, you know, quote-unquote cans are we going to give him how many, you know, three and O, four, no, seven, and no, whatever guys were so low experience we're going to give me. And it's like, I mean, technically, you could give him a couple more. He's only five, I may fight. Five MMA fights and just pro career seven, a couple of amateur bouts, right?

That's not a lot, but we can't ignore the hundreds of high-level amateur wrestling vouts, which, again, to me, it's not MMA, but that is a lot of combat sports experience. And the way he's looked at M.A., just going based on results, no one's made out of the first round with him yet. He's been an absolute destroyer. He's looked as advertised. He just looks super legit. So I actually leaned more towards the aggressive side with this matchmaking. I went with, I did go with Sean Strickland, which is why I didn't bring him up earlier,

has a possibility for some of our for uh for anyone else for the yeah and i'll say it again i don't like sean strickland i don't like them i don't like them so this is this is me this is me wanted to see bo nickle smashed this dude into the dirt however that's not guaranteed shot strickland has a lot more experience than bo nickle uh and that matters that that m ms experience matters like i i think nickel going favored i think he'd be like probably at least minus 200 i think which is crazy when you can go out again he's five and oh in m-ma shan strickland is 27 and 5 the 32 if bow nickel were not bo-nickle again he didn't have this other you know combat sports background that's so well known so well recognized in the u in the united states um he would like you wouldn't

sanction a five-and-o guy versus a 27 and five guy that's like crazy and shan strickland could very realistically win this fight uh uh uh nickel nickel probably takes him down nickel is again a really striker who knows we know we know we know he's got hands now maybe nickel has more power maybe nickel um can't come out but i mean in a striking battle you you can't say he's going to overwhelm john strickland like you can't just assume that's going to happen and shang strickland doesn't have terrible takedown defense either so he's never dealt with a uh a bo nickel coming at him but so i like it's intriguing i like because it's a way to to fast track bow nickel uh it's a way for nickel again to take out a guy who has a pretty pretty divisive fan base some people love john strickland some people

hate them either way people are always talking about them and at the same time it could also just be a reality check maybe sean strickland takes bo nickel out and then and then we get a real gauge on where bown nickels at so i'm totally ready to them in there with the top 10 opponent and and uh shan strickland makes for a great choice i don't know i just don't see it um at worst i think strickland gets whittaker if he doesn't get the title fight but strickland is i don't i just don't think he's going to take like strickland is just like yeah dude i'll do whatever but at this point, like with the fights he's taken, him stepping in on like a week's notice to save main events,

fighting a boost magamatoff, fight that somehow got him reward, but very little in terms of like appeal from the casual viewer. And then to go fight Bo. Now if I'm Sean Strickland, I'm calling for that fight because if you're going to get him, I'm going to play the rule that you said about Hamzaat Shamaia, you go and call him out now because the more he fights

and the more his confidence grows, the more dangerous he's going to get. And usually I'm the one willing to give more of the step up and you're more of the safer pick. I'm more of the safer pick here. It's not Treshaun Gore. It's not Sean Strickland. I'm probably going right in the middle of those two.

An exciting veteran who is not going to be afraid at all to get in there and mix it up with Bo Nickel. Not great take down defense, but a dude who's got some chaos that will push Bo back a little bit, or at least attempt to. because I want to see a guy turn, just go after Bo Nickel. We have not seen that at all yet. It might not be the most popular pick, but I think it's a good step up.

Puna Soriano. Let's do Puna. Get him in there. Get the crazy Hawaiian in there after him. Bo will probably win that fight. Goes and beats Puna. Then we can go top 20, wins that fight. Then we can start talking top 15 and giving him a push.

But it doesn't seem like the UFC is really in any rush here. To get him up there, it doesn't seem like Bose in any rush. I see a lot of suggestions, a lot of doo-do picks. Gerald Mearschart, booked. Fluffy Hernandez, booked. Jack Hermanson's interesting, but I think if there's a rank guy, it's probably Hermanson. Brennan, Allen, no. Vietnam, maybe.

Keefer? No, they're not going to do that. Yeah, I think we could do a boost. winner of Jariah versus young not bad i think punna is a good one i think punna is a good one if he wins that maybe we do gregor Rodriguez or somebody like that wins that then we're off to uh then we're off to the top 15 okay yeah that's that's around the right level again for me i normally do like the you know your three if you go three and oh i give you the bump up so i'm i'm definitely being a little more aggressive with bow than usual he's only two and oh plus a contender to a couple of contender series wins

if you want to i don't know add that to his uc resume i don't think it's a separate thing uh two things on this though. One, I'm not, I know Whitaker's, I know Strickland's probably going to fight Whitaker. I am not ready, Mike, to see Robert Whitaker lose a split decision to Sean Strickland in an empty UFC apex. I'm not at that stage in Robert Whitaker's career. That's going to make me super sad. Sadder than seeing him get just like smoked by DDP. I mean, DDP, at least that fight was really fun.

I just think Strickland Whitaker could be okay. But if Strickland beat him in an empty apex, what a does. disservice that would do to this legend's career. And the other, what else? Oh my gosh, what was the other point I was going to make? It's lost to me, Mike. Let's move on. I had some inane gag I was probably going to make.

It's not important. Don't worry about it. Yeah, Mierrechard is fighting Andre Petroski in Boston, August 19th, the Oc 292. Flavier-Hernandez fighting Chris Curtis, September 16th in Las Vegas. So as someone suggests, Brad Tavars. I don't mind that. I don't mind that one.

I just remember what I was going to say. There you go. I had a horrible thought I was looking at my rankings. What if they matched them up with like, like Edmund Chabazzian? That would be the most sadistic match making in Edmund history, right? That'd be like, we know Edwin, if that happens, it's like we know Edmund made someone angry.

Like Edmunds. Yeah. Okay. To go from the lowest ranked middleweight to, all right, now we boost this confidence. Let's throw them in there with a suffocating, grappling machine like Anthony Hernandez. And that we'll give him to Bo Nickel.

Oh my God. That would be wild. Listen, you got to test that developing takedown defense, right? This is for Edmund. This is doing Edmund a favor, I think. Maybe they'll call Kevin Lee and be like, Kevin, you want to stay in the UFC?

You're going to bump up to 85 and fight Bo Nickel after just getting run by by, we're not Fokritino. Good Lord. Let's go to the wild card round, AK. We're running short on time, so I want to give the keeps some time. We will pick one fighter we have not matched made for yet. And we'll matchmate for them right now. So peeps, get your stuff in.

Let's go. What's your wildcar pick for UFC 290? Yeah, let's give one of our peep some time now. Let's go. Let's segue into it. Because I, I, I, Denise Gomez, I've mentioned every underdog possible on a preview show, Mike. I was like, I was like, man, it's like, could Cameron Simon lose to Terrence Mitchell?

And the one underdog I miss mentioning is the one who did, again, I think, the biggest upset behind DDP. Denise Gomez is running through Jasmine Harrogi. That was fantastic. So is it going to happen? Is this it? Is this it? I don't know. Is this the first one?

Did we, did you do Corey McKenna? No, I did it. I did McKenna. I don't know where Kenna's been all year. She has a spot since December. They're both 23. Gomez is actually younger. Corey McKenna looks like a baby,

but Gomez is actually younger than her by a few months. And it just makes sense for both them at the stage of the career. So that's why I want it. But Mike, before you give your Gomez pick, no, go ahead. You give your Gomez pick. and then I want to mention something of a listener sent in. I try for the most part to get fighters to match up that are both coming off of wins.

But in a division like this, we're moving up the latter. We need to get some name value and a step up in actual competition. Julian Robertson. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. If she wins, she's in the top 50. She beats Gillian Robertson.

So, yeah. That's the right step up for D.C. Gillian needs a little bit of a course correction after that lost. to the baby shark. Yeah, that was not a good fight. I still think, Jillian, she's just inconsistent. I still think there's a contender in there somewhere, but, you know, she's 15 fights for the year's E career, maybe as not happening.

But I like the, she's going to have to be on her P's and Q's that she's fighting Denise and Gomes. So that's for damn sure. That's for damn sure. I just want to shout to Chase Kala who said, give me Denise Gomez versus Michelle Waterson Gomez. I said, Gomez on Gomez. He said, winner keeps the name and gets spelling preference because Deniseie Gomez with an S,

Michelle Waters and Gomez with the Z. And then I up to the ante. No, Denise has to add Waterson to her name if she loses. If Denise Gomez loses to Michelle Waterson Gomez, she becomes Denise Denisi-Waterson-Gomez. That is what the people want, naming rights. So shout to Chase Kala. Thank you for that listener's suggestion.

All right, let's get into this. Menafield Roundtree, Dawkes winner, Tyra versus Sumadherjee, Simon versus Zahabi. You like Simon versus Zahabi? I like that. I like it a lot. I don't know. I like, I'm a mark for Alaska. in the MMA.

I think I picked Alaska and MFAires to win their debuts a lot. And I keep reading. Maybe it's not the hottest, hottest scene. But shout out to Alaska and M. And shout out to the amazing Robbie Lauer retirement package. We waxed for about 30 minutes about that on the post-fight show. But what are your thoughts on?

I loved it. It was fantastic. We saw Robbie, they finally got him. He was kind of keeping it together. He finally started crying. And I was making this joke too. I just want to shout out someone sitting in their first pick. Justin with a Y.

Welcome to the Party foul. He says, Robbie Lawler versus Mike Perry and Bearknuckle. It's not going to happen. Oh, no, no, no, no. It's not going to happen. Robbie's done fighting. I want to firmly believe this.

But if it happened, I'd watch it. Yes. Everyone was. Gohams versus Luke Boone me. Don't mind that. Gohoms versus Angela Hill. I don't mind that. Angela Hill will take any fights.

And she probably, I would favor Angela Hill in that fight. I like Denise. was a lot. I just think that's, that's a big step up. It'll be Izzy DDP, Volkilia, Hooker Moikano, Turner Randy Brown at Welterweight, Nickel, Kayo, Barallio. Could do that. Simon's a hobby. Bahayos mentioned him, right? I think he said, he spoke to Guilla, I think, about said, like, he's guys hype or something, right?

I don't want to put words in Kyle's mouth, but. Yeah, I think when Bo needed an opponent, Kyle was like, I'll do it, but pay me more money. Tyra and Asimento, Rivaich Naimov. other Tyra Nassimento here. Tristan Hadeghie versus Belbita. Still believe in Yasmin. She just got.

She got the shop. Denise Gomez had the perfect game plan. Just come out and start firing. Just come out and start. Because she was an underdog. Maybe. Maybe Yasmin is a more skilled striker. I don't know because Nisi's an awesome striker.

But you wouldn't have found out on Saturday because De Nisi Gomez did not give her a chance to set up anything, set up brain, set up counters. Get in there. Start throwing fists and hope for the best. Rebook Simon Rodriguez. sure. Tyra versus Alex Perez. I'd watch that fight.

I still think it's too soon. I love, and I'm not dogging Tyra for gutting out a tough decision win. If anything, this was great to see for a guy who's only, I think, 23 years old still. He's so young. That's the kind of test you need at this stage of your career. I don't think he's ready for Alex Perez yet. I think that's a, it'd be interesting, but I would heavily favor Alex Perez. I'm curious what Alex Perez is up to and what his plans are.

Oh yeah, good, good point Someone mentioned Gomes already fought Luke Boone and Luke Boone beater And that's true And I have Luke Boon Me, I want to see Loma fight Carolina So Yeah, I like that

In my mind they're in my mind They're booked even though that's not actually a real fight yet More a bow-nickel Hadolfo Vietta That'd be so interesting I do think his wrestling's way too much for Adolfo Veda As much as I love Veer's ground game I know it has that intrigue of like

Oh, what do you really really? want to go to the ground with Hidalphal? Well, listen, we know he doesn't have to because he's shown it. This wasn't the first time he's like shown hands, by the way. He'll watch the contender series fight. He's got he's got the hands. It's not it's he is a amazing athlete too, which is we always say in MMA is a huge plus.

He's a top he's probably one of the top athletes in UFC right now. And that gives you a big advantage. You saw poor poor, poor Woodburn, credit to Woodburn for not getting taken down. But that dude was moving in slow motion compared to Bonick. It was, it was crazy. He was so slow compared to Bonickle. And that's not an insult to Woodburn. That's just how I.

athletic like phone nicholas is wild all right two more minutes uh some fireless picks in alex wick adam uh fantasy welterer at book jalen turner versus jean turner win or lose against ian gary be interesting mike let me shout out someone from an email just because they're from australia obviously very invested in watching this card uh zoe shout out to zoe from australia first time picks go easy on me hopefully no do-do wolkenovsky versus makachev sure we're fine Rodriguez, Arnold Allen, Pantoja, raw dog, too. Who's the raw dog, Mike?

Who is this guy? Moreno, Kai Kar, France, 2, DDP, Izzy, Whitaker, Brendan Allen, now that he's no longer the middleweight, he's no longer the middleweight, hooker, Fizziv, Turner, Priscilla, Milneafield, and Zuchuku, Woodburn, Al-Hasan, Gomes, Yoder, Simon, Cody Stamon. Thanks, guys, for all the great content.

You gave us day and doubt. We love you in Australia. Mike, they love us in Australia. Nice. Simon Cody Stamon's interesting, by it. Yeah. That's a good one. He called over Cody Garbrand.

maybe he gets that i don't know uh kio versus bull the right answer nico price versus mike malott or brian battle sure yeah props to nico for for for coming forward by the way and taking those robbie luller punches uh i'm not saying he did the job like in pro wrestling but he certainly gave robbie every chance to knock him out and uh that's exactly what happened so nico you're a hero i hope you got a big bonus backstage price milada's good shout i picked uh kevin lee versus Mike Malat. Like if they're going to give Kevin Lee one more, put him in there with Mike Malat.

Yep. Name value. Malat beats him. It gets the name value rub. If Kevin Lee wins, that's like a pretty good win. Mm-hmm. When is Gamrodh Fizziv happening?

Nothing has been announced. Yeah. Simon Rodriguez, Rebook Grievich, Torres, Nickel, Greg, Kopp. Ooh, I thought about that too. Look on Asimant. Okay.

I think, I think, I think, Gregorik, great choice. I just like Gregory Rodriguez a lot. So I didn't want to see that happen, but it's a logical next step for him as well. Someone suggesting maybe Ian Gary getting the Jailen Turner fight. Bo, Nicol, Julian Marquez. I thought about that one. That's not a bad, that's not a bad pick.

I actually rank Puna slightly higher than Marquez. Not a lot, but slightly. So, yeah, Nersulton, no. I actually think like Nersulton, yeah. there's something's about to put the boots to aboos probably that's how i would book him after that win i like the suggestion though just because of five mama fights versus like 50 mhmma fights i just think it would be cool look it would look funny on the screen but no probably that's crazy i don't see that happening yeah jaylon turner matut trebekicke

would be whole wow yeah are we i like i like i like the people suggesting though that turner go up to i i think you should go to welth row as well It's hard. He's 28 now. I mean, he was, you know, when he, it's, when you're, the older you get, it's a tougher it gets. That's hard for him to make that. He's, he's, he's an enormous, props to him for making as many times he did, but maybe

it's time to stop making that cut down on 155. It affected him. It affected him in this fight. I, you can't convince me otherwise. More Bob versus Strickland, Whitaker versus Strickland, Jalen Turner versus Wonder Boy 170. Wonderboy's booked. All right.

I think we're done because I have to check out of here. I don't want to get in trouble. So great picks guys. Great picks, everyone watching. You're the best. You're the best. Amazing stuff.

Amazing stuff. Amazing stuff indeed. So thank you all very much. We're done. M. We'll find out the lineup in the morning. I'm sure it's going to be a damn good one. And you guys are just the absolute best.

So, AK, you're my best friend. When are you on vacay? Starting tomorrow. So guys, you'll probably hopefully Mike have a guest host. I know you can handle the show by yourself, but hopefully maybe Jed Mishu,

you know, he's ably filled in a couple of times. So I will miss at least a couple of on to the next ones. But I will think of all of you fondly. And matchups will be dancing in my head as I travel around Japan. So it won't be long. Don't forget, guys, tough hang too. Tough hang.

Mike, Mike, I believe you'll be doing some alternate fighter coverage on the website. Yes. My best friend. Thank you so much. Just for you. anybody else I wouldn't do it. You're the best.

But for my best friend, I will absolutely do it. But all right, we're done, everybody. Thank you so much. Back next week for onto the next one. We'll have more fun. We will recap UFC. Vegas 77 headline by the highly anticipated Hollyholm versus Myra Bueno. Still the matchup, all that much more next week,

right here on onto the next one. The podcast, oh, my voice is done. Have a great rest of your weekend, everybody. You are the absolute best.