MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC 325

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

Alexander Volkanovski put it on Diego Lopes for 25 minutes in their rematch for the featherweight title at UFC 325 to pick up his eighth UFC championship victory. Following their second meeting, what's next for the champ Volkanovski, and Lopes — who falls to 0-2 in title fights in less than a year? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be awaiting both headliners following Volkanovski's one-sided win in Saturday's main event in Sydney. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Benoit Saint Denis after stopping Dan Hooker in the co-main event, Mauricio Ruffy following his statement knockout win against Rafael Fiziev in the lightweight featured bout, along with fellow main card winners Tallison Teixeira, Quillan Salkilld, and more. Plus, matchmaking suggestions from the listeners. 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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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One, the matchmaking crowns are back following UFC 325. Hope you're all having a wonderful back end of the weekend. I know UFC 325 was not the greatest event of all time, but some things happened. And once an event happens, these fighters who competed, especially the winners, they're going to have to face somebody else.

And that's what we're here to talk about on today's program. I am Mike Hacken. Joining me is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, friend. There he is. The King of the North, Alexander Cayley, aka, how's the winter weather treating you up north? Do you have snow on the ground? What's going on up there?

My goodness, my best friend, we got 70 centimeters last week or something. It was impressive. It was impressive. We actually have had sunny days the last couple of bits. So fingers crossed, but I believe there is still more to come. Our winter is not remotely close to being over. So, yeah, but it's been fine. Nice, soft, fluffy snow, perfect for jumping around in. You get some go tobogating and stuff.

It's all good. It's all good. Everything's great. Mike, did something happen on Saturday? Did anything really happen on Saturday? I think you tried to put it as, like, broadly as you could. Did anything really happen? I don't know.

Yeah. I mean, hashtag lightweights rock. I mean, we'll throw that out there because they obviously stole the show. We had a main event that nobody asked for and nobody wanted. And the biggest reason why nobody asked for it and wanted it is because it went the way that it did last night, not competitive. I actually, I went back and rewatch that fight this morning, A.K. I feel more confident than I did last night that it was a 50-45 performance for Alexander

Volcanovsky. Oh, you're the one who rewatched it. Okay. Yes, I rewatched it. I don't think he was. And I will say, Diego Lopez should be so thankful that the UFC gave him an extra $100,000 because I had a lot more fun watching Ty Toeivas and Talas and DeShera than I had. watching that fight oh boy that is how about tourist finney macoon actually tourist pinie macoon

probably actually was better than no no i won't know yeah i mean look it i was one of the people who like did i was like this card is is good not great essentially and everyone's like no this card stinks it's really bad stop being so positive and i don't know really which direction to go anymore do i just be do i be the truth teller but try to have some positivity or do i just be a negative nancy all the time You can't please everybody, AK. I choose to be more positive here in 2026. I don't want to be the grump who just begrudges every single thing the UFC does and every single card the UFC puts together.

This is a tough pay-per-view. There's zero hype for this card. It didn't pass the mom test, the brother test, the best friend test. Didn't pass any test. Nobody asked me about this event at all. And it just wasn't great. Like, great performance from Mersia Ruffy. great performance of Benoit Santini Volcanovsky just destroyed Diego

Lopez that fight was not competitive for more than 10 seconds and it was just like a card that came and went and we have turned the page it's it's weird to have a number to vent AK like by the time we get to BTL like no one's even going to want to talk about it anymore it's it's just a weird feeling being in our positions is not yeah we didn't even have room to breathe after 324 right I understand the scheduling things right um you know you you you're you're you're working overseas i don't know what the venue situation is with kudos bank arena maybe they're just booked solid for you know the first two months of um 2026 and this is where the ufc slotted in you got to do what you got to obviously

they save wolkenoski for this card i think that's why you know i think he was very open to fighting in like november or december of last year probably against a laron murphy or something like that but um uh the ufc knew they had australia coming up so they had to save both right we always say the ufc builds uh events around usually does not build a event around youc does not build events around fighters, right? It's not like how how boxing was for so many years, right? We're like, you know, you have stars and you try and then you get the stars first, figure out when they can fight, then you try to find a venue for them, find a location. The U.C. doesn't work that way. Guys, they knew they had a date and they said, well, we got to save all for that. That's how it is.

So, Mike, you know, they won fight of the night again. Right. Sure. You remember the first fight also won't fight at the night. The first five was a lot more fun than the second. The first fight was more fun than this one. You know, like, I was telling Jed, I messaged Jed on Slack today. I was like, down the road, they're going to try and sell this. Like it was some classic series. You know, they're going to try and say like, oh, man, back-to-back fights, both fight of the night, just 10 epic rounds.

And to be clear, these are not bad fights. I would never watch our of these fights in this goal and just go like, oh, terrible fights. These aren't USC-level fights. No, the first fight was more exciting. Second fight, a little more lopsided, but still enjoyable to watch. I love watching Volcanovsky. I think Diego Lopez is like just dangerous to Nova Chenevich.

where there's that little bit of tension that he can maybe, maybe explode, maybe like, you know, land a good shot. He finally did. He landed one good counter. Was it round two or three where he actually like dropped Volkinovsky to a knee? So there's that element. But these aren't like all time great fights. And I know that's a weird criticism to make to say like, oh, why wasn't your fight the one of the best of all time? But again, I just were, I'm just, you know, looking ahead to the optics of how it's being viewed. And like, again, why we're so frustrated with the way this fight was booked and with the way it was positioned like it is it is put in a position to be scrutinized and that's no fault of alexander polkonovsky and there's no fault of Diego lopez and i i just hope that um you know

the sydney crowd got a good pop out of out of everything that happened on on saturday not not all the uh oceanic uh region fighters but you know at least they got i think they went home happy at the end and uh they certainly had some highlights from some uh some australian fighters there's this it was a c minus like it was a c minus and the only reason why is the c minus is because Paramount did such a really good, like they did so much better. They listened to the people. And I mean, again, this isn't really equate to you, AK, because you're watching it on pay-per-view still, which is kind of crazy.

But we saw all the walkouts of the main card. We saw them all, every single one of them. The pacing was way better than UFC 324. Like, it just flew by. It was, it was good. Like I said, I had a blast watching Taitou Vast and Talosin DeSera, because Jed and I were on opposite sides of the spectrum. in terms of picks and our little fantasy drafting that we have going on for the watch parties.

But I'm glad we can turn the page here and we can move forward. We're back at the world's most famous Apex. We'll run down that mighty card at the end of the program. And then we're off to Houston and then we're off to Mexico City. And then it's UFC 326 with Max Holloway versus Charles Olivera, too, in the incredible co-main events between TBD and his arch rival, TBD or her art rival. We don't know yet. We don't know. It's very true. It's very true. You know, props again, though, I see people in the comments mentioning. Yeah, props is Zach Condito,

the UFC production team and Paramount and everyone. They, listen, they knew. And I think even we after like, you know, we were hard on a lot of the stuff that happened in the first Paramount Brock. Well, I mean, I didn't, again, I didn't experience it the same way you guys did, but certainly the pacing. We obviously had the same pacing up here. Yeah, this felt so fast, felt so brisked that one hour like last week the one hour earlier start almost didn't register by the end of the night this one totally felt it it was 1115 I think people were saying walkouts for the main event uh great stuff yeah so in that sense an enjoyable show hopefully more of that going forward and um I mean listen there's some positives plenty of positives to take away

from this card certainly just no just no really high highs I think who would agree there's no high highs there's no like big moment on the card that will be remembering at the end of the year much less what like a month from now I don't even know I'm trying to think what we'll look back on. No, we're going to move on very, very quickly from this event. All right, well, today we're talking about the aftermath of it. Let's talk about Alexander Volcanovsky. He is still the featherweight champion of the world.

He did not really struggle at all. He was not in really any danger. There's one moment where Diego landed like a short uppercut and Volk dropped to a knee for like a half second. Other than that, this is just this is one-way traffic. This is about as lopsided of a title fight as it gets. And Volk gets a done. He now is eight championship wins at 145 pounds. He now has six title defenses in this division.

The UFC is really pushing this narrative that it ain't Josealdo. Volk is the all-time great. They're really just shoving that out there. Jedmishu loves these conversations, by the way. And now Volkovsky in a weird spot because this fight should not have happened. I think, especially watching the aftermath, we all understand why this fight shouldn't have happened. It should have been Mobsar of Lov.

It should have been Lorone Murphy, one of those two guys. Maybe they're fighting each other. Maybe they're not. I don't know what's going on. We still have not had this fight announced, and that worries me to no end that we are less than two months away. We don't have a main event for UFC London. And I know the rumor and innuendo is that fight, but how do we do this for Volkovsky right now with no fights on the books? What happened?

What are we doing? You're muted. Yeah, that's weird. Sorry, I've been muting, I've been alter, something I'll start between muting the device and muting the, you know, the program we're using. We have to just stay hypothetical here. Monsar versus Lerone makes so much sense. I mean, preferably, I wish both guys would just get a title shot, but we know that's not the way the UFC works.

I think too much time has passed since the Lerone's last win. Certainly too much time has passed since Mosecars fought. And obviously, if for some reason they are unable to compete against each other and Volkanowski is ready to compete, you know, within the next four or five months, then, yeah, they could just pluck one of those. those guys out and throw them in Volknobsky. But I think their preference is, of course, to have a proper headliner for U.C. London. We don't know if this is the case.

But Murphy v. Molsar just makes a ton of sense. And again, and whoever wins that, I don't think it like eliminates, sorry, loses, excuse me. I don't think it eliminates them from title contention like forever. It'll just be a good competitive fight. I think it would be a competitive fight. And then, you know, the losers will have to get one or two wins and they'll be right back in the talks. And featherweight, I mean, that is a lot to ask. You know, it's certainly no guarantee that.

whoever loses can claw their way back to a title shot. But I would bet on either of these guys have a good chance of getting their crack like next year. So not booked yet, but I'm making an assumption of Bloia Murphy happens. And then I'm making an assumption that the winner that fights Volkanowski. That's all I can go from here. I'm not taking anyone else that's unbooked yet. Yeah, I'm just going to go with the Bloyev and just carry on with. I mean, is he back? Is he fighting?

We don't know anything right now. We really don't know anything. So I'll just say a Vloyf because I think if a Vloy of a Murphy fight, I would pick a Blythe to win, and we should go there. I see some people saying John Silva, you cannot do John Silva. You can't. You just can't, man. They can't, but they could. They could.

You know they could. I mean, I can't. With this division and them rebooking this fight so quickly with Lopez, they could. It's just a bad idea. And they have a champion involved who literally, he talks up every challenger. I mean, before Diego, he was saying, give me Murphy or Bloyal. Like he was like the one thing no one can be grudged Volkanowski for when it's said And then done is like like if he never fights those guys they can't say like oh man you know both second run didn't matter he never he dodged those

He was trying he was telling the UFC hey I want to fight murphy he thought remember he publicly said like yeah I'm pretty sure I'm fighting murphy in December And then the UFC was like nah you're not he's like yeah he wanted bobs on before that he was like let me fight this dude the guy who's undefeited And nobody wants to fight like that's who I want to fight yeah and he's like okay I guess I guess yeah and then uh jean sylva I think he was asked about that uh after the fight so he's talked about jean sylva He doesn't dismiss anyone. He never goes like, oh, no, we're not talking about Jean Silva now. That guy's not near. He's like, oh, cool. Yeah, I'll answer your question about John Silva.

And if that fight happens, that fight happens. So the UFC, he's a big boon to them in that sense. Because, Mike, if they make that fight happen, you know, Volcanowski will do his best to sell it, right? There's a lot, some champions who will just definitely shoot down certain contenders. We've seen it many, many times, especially in recent years. No, he'll do that. So if the UFC wants to do it, they'll do it. They shouldn't.

It makes zero sense. But they'll try. And Vulc wins that fight by a billion, if they make up. No disrespect to John. He's just not ready for it. He's not ready for this. He's not. So let's season them up a little bit.

Let's build this thing up. All right? Build it up a little bit. And then we could throw John slip in there. John Silva versus Algeman Sterling is the fight to make. And if John beats Algebra and Sterling, sure, we could start talking title fight. But just to throw him in there now, I mean, he got 10 aided by Diego Lopez and then finished a round later.

Yes, he had a moment in round two. But, like, he got. dust it up by Diego and then it gets one win over a lower rank guy and now we're just going to throw him in there with Volkovsky and jump the rest of the pack like what are we talking about here it's crazy uh let's talk about Diego Lopez I think this is probably the easiest piece of matchmaking we've ever done on the history of the show AK obviously we have we have some feet injuries for one Diego Lopez says he broke both feet uh I mean you have to imagine because Volk checked 97% of the kicks that Diego Lopez threw in that fight.

But you got to feel for Diego. And again, this matchmaking, you cannot, we don't blame Diego Lopez for this. He's not going to say, yeah, you know what, I'm just going to turn down the championship payday because I want to step aside for Lorone Murphy and Mozart. He went in there, gave it his best shot, broke both his feet, and now he's going to be out for a little while, which makes this even easier because, yeah, you're out. Riga seems to be hurt like all the time anyways. So now we'll give Yair some time to,

to heal up. This is like the biggest rivalry in the division right now. The fact that they didn't make this fight yet is promotional malpractice to me. So now you just go ahead and book Diego versus Jair. Let these two dudes punch each other in the face. Do it for Noche or something. I think the timing

will work out. And I know Jed hates to hear that as a man who has Diego Lopez on his fantasy team. But that's where we're at right now. I'm afraid to even waste breath on it because we know. But hey, you know, if we keep pushing hard enough, you know, I checked back to the, I think both of us the last

time, whoever was Charles, who taught more recently? Charles or Max? Charles, right? Charles? Yes, Charles dusted up in Tushgamrod. And I swear for like two years, we've just been saying, do the rematch. Do the rematch with Max and Charles. Do the rematch with Max Charles? And it have been. So guys, as a community, maybe if we keep, I see it already in the comments too, a lot of, yes, we all saying a year in Diego.

Yes, you can book it anywhere. It doesn't matter. If you can book it in Mexico, Fantastic. If you, sorry, anywhere but the apex. Excuse me. Anywhere but the meta apex, please. You put in Mexico? Great. You want to put it in Las Vegas?

Great. You want to put it at some other road show. Preferably one, of course, with a large Hispanic community. Great. Just do it. This is one of those fights. If it never happened, I would just be shaking my head and just wondering, like, man, I really feel like that one got away.

You know, it's just, this is the time for it. Yeah. What are we doing? Let's just do this. They should already have sent contracts, main event of Notcho UFC. Like that, what are we doing? Like, send them out, sign them. We're all good.

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Two counts of sleeping and makeup. One count of using disposable wipes. I knew my routine had to change. So I switched to Garnier-Missler, water. It gently cleanses, perfectly removes makeup, and provides 24-hour hydration. Clear away the evidence with the number one Missler water worldwide by Garnier. Let's go on to the co-made event. It was Benoit Sonsidie taking on Dan Hooker and very fun, kind of competitive first round. It looked like BSD kind of pulled away a little bit.

And then BSD was just like, you know what? We're done playing this game with Dan Hooker. We're just going to smother this guy, take him down and just beat the hell out of him. and that's exactly what he did. It just goes out there and finishes Dan Hooker in round two. Fight went the way most people expected it to. BSD called for Arm and Saruki, which I love the callout, A.K. I think it's a terrific callout. It makes all the sense in the world.

He says he'd rather fight the BMF belt than the lightweight title. I think that's one of the things that happened that was said last night, but Benoit Santini, obviously in a very interesting position after a massive win. So, AK, what is next for Benoit Santini? Yeah, it's boring. I actually tried to dance around the Armand matchup. I was trying to look at what I had previously asked for Armin. And I think after Armin, obviously, ran through Dan Hooker, I was like,

oh, give him the Ilya Toporia title shot. Such a magic wand thing, like not, you know, they just don't want to do that. We don't know when Ilya is coming back. Armand doesn't seem, obviously wants Ilya, but doesn't seem like focused on waiting for it. You know, he keeps taking all these great side quests doing the wrestling. He's going to become an RAF champion before he gets near another UFC title opportunity. So good for him. So yeah, maybe BSD is sort of their way

helps the UFC up. Maybe he fights Armand. If he beats Armin, UFC would be so happy, man. I think they like Van Wals Santanya a lot. Obviously, fans do. Such an exciting, fan-friendly style.

I mean, the guy isn't joking when he says, sometimes he just has to lock into seek and destroy mode. And you can see it. Like, you can see when he literally starts going from broke and just eating shots, going in on takedowns from, like, not even setting them up, just goes in, just goes to grab the guys.

Like, yeah, you know what's coming. I'm just going for it and I'm going to muscle you down if I can. Again, will that work once you reach the level of guys like Armin and stuff like that? We sort of saw some of the limitations against Porre and Moikano. But he is saying all the right things about him, you know, sort of being the next version of himself, right, having improved, which I do believe, I think if you look at his two UFC losses and you look at his current windstreet, there's definitely improvements, right? Fundamentally, he's still who he is.

So maybe that hinders him. But I hope not because he'd be really fun to see in a title fight. someday, even though he doesn't need five rounds. I mean, the fight would not go five rounds. So, yes, let's do Armin. I just feel like that's where it's going to end up. And if you're Armin, I'm probably pretty happy to take that matchup too. It is a guy behind you in the rankings, but you have to believe if he can handle him,

it would send a big signal to the UFC that, okay, I've served my penance. I won't head, but anyone anymore, pull me back on the towel shot. And Armin wins that fight. I think, of course, of course. He's like a minus 275 favorite. He's a big favorite, big favorite, for sure. He mentioned Ari, didn't call him out specifically, like, here's, hold on a second. Let me pull up the exact quote.

Yeah, yeah. Because it sounded like a call-out to me. Sounded like a call-out to me, but let's, let me pull this up real quick, just so we have it. Okay, here's what he said. For me, there is only Max Holloway, Charles Oliver, Justin Gator, Eager, Iliu, to you I have in mind. And then, you know, sounds like a list of names. Then he goes, Armin, I'm going to take your effing spot. I'm here to be the champion. That is a callout. That is a call out to be. He even said in the post-fight interview, he's like, I'm not,

like, I'm not getting the BMF title fight right now. So let me do take fight Armin and take his spot. I think it's the 100% absolute best callout he could have made. He's not going to get that fight. But he's still going to get a good one. He's going to, the one name, he's going to get one of the names he mentioned, A.K. He's going to get one of the names he mentioned. Because after Max Holloway puts on a striking clinic against Charles O'Levara, Charles O'Levara is going to fight Benoit Santini. And that fight is going to be awesome.

Very much excited for that. So he's still going to get somewhat what he wants. And it's going to be Charles O'Olaver after Max Holley beats him. Cool. I love that. Lightweights, the best division in the sport. It is. It is.

I was just thinking about yesterday. I'm like, this was a showcase for it. And I'm like, you know, other divisions were flirting with it at the time. But I could say, you know, as a big bant of white proponent, it has fallen off slightly. Like sort of the depth and the intrigue of the contender picture has fallen off a little bit. There was there was a point where it was like neck and neck, lightweight, you know, the longtime king is right back on top right now.

Lightweight is incredible. Yes, he called him out after every other person. He literally called him out. He did. He literally said, I want the fight for the BMF title, but I can't get that fight. So I'm going to fight Armand and take his spot. That's a callout. Yeah.

That is a callout to me. Like every, when he mentioned, like this guy, like this guy would be fun, but I effing want to fight that guy. I want to take his effing spot. And it was Armin that he did that too. I thought he did the thing. I was at the thing. He did great. Yeah.

He did great. And he might get the Armine fight. But I mean, that was a terrific call out. 100%. Let's continue on to the man who probably stole the show at the end of the day. Baricio Ruffy taking on Raphael Fazeve and

Raphael Fiziv to me, AK, was the MVP of UFC 325 Fight Week. This guy stole the show. Like I said earlier, and I mean this, like, I'm not trying to be a grump.

I'm just telling you like it is, there was no hype, no buzz for this event whatsoever. This is about as lackluster as it gets when it comes to like, oh, let's go. I can't wait for Saturday. But the one guy who got us

at least a notch closer was Raphael Fiziv, who did that incredible little speech to Marisha Riffie during the final faceoff. I am this guy. I'm the son of him. I'm from here. I'm going to hit you with my hands, my feet, my elbows, my knees, my toes, my nose, every single thing.

I'm going to hit you with all of it. He goes, this is the kind of energy I want to see. It was so good. And for about three and a half minutes of this fight, A.K., Raphael Fizziv was backing up everything he said. And then he decided to stop fighting. He just decided, you know what, I'm going to throw one body kick every 90 seconds. and then he let Maricio Rofi kind of figure out the timing and figure out the distance.

He stopped being as active as he was the first three and a half minutes of the fight. And then Rufi just landed that straight right hand right down the pipe. And Fiziv could not recover. Just a killer instinct from Rishi Rufi gets the biggest win of his career. Love that. What a performance. Matush Gameron. I mean, I don't know where to go with him.

So I'm just going with Matush Gammat, AK. What do we think? I have a very uninspiring follow-up. Actually, I should double-check if this person got booked. When I was looking at this last night, I just kind of like checked it off. I was like, oh, this is what I did last time this guy fought. And I don't. No, he's not booked.

My first thought was sort of where you went with BSD. I was like, oh, maybe he gets the loser of the, you know, BMF title-fized, some of that. So that was an option for sure. And it's still in play, right? It could be BSD, could be who we'll see. People are going to hate this. I just, I really want to see this. this fight. I just think, and I understand who he may have moved beyond it with that win.

I kind of want to see him fight for Ress Ziam. I just, because Ziam, he deserves the top 10 guy. He deserves top 10 guy. I must have made this pick before Huffy the Ziv got booked. Maybe. So I guess I should don't, I don't have to stick to the follow up, but I will, but I will. I want to see Ziam get a big fight. Probably not on Hufi's radar. Probably not the UFC's radar right now. But, you know, cards get filled out in weird ways. So I still think it's possible. Definitely more of a magic wand pick than something that I expect to necessarily play out. But I'll stand by

it. I would love to see that fight. I just don't want Ziam to become the forgotten man in this division, which at the moment he kind of is. He kind of only pops up in people's minds when he's booked and when he actually fights. And then after that, he just like disappears. He's a dark horse contender. Could be. Could be. He's got some work to do.

But yeah, this is a great performance, man. He did the thing and got it done. Let's go to the heavyweights, AK. This was another fun pick for me. I love, oh, I love this. Talos of the Shera versus Ty Tuvasa. Just what, I had

go back and rewatch the watch party. No fight was more fun to watch on this entire card than that one. Tie tried. He was a trier. I thought he was going to get finished in a minute and a half after Talasin took him down. But that's not what happened here. We made it to the end. A lot of people

scored it a draw because of the possible 10-8 from Ty to Evasant round two. People just didn't want Ty to lose. I think that's really what it came down to. Battalison gets the win. It was a decision win. And no one expected that fight to go through rounds.

And it did. Here we are. What was the over? What do you think the over one and a half was on that? It must have been like plus 200 or something, at least. So I had the under one and a half. It was minus 290. Minus 290.

Okay. So I bet plus plus 200 plus 250. I should have taken the over. I had an inkling because I'm like, I think heavyweight overs are back. And this had, I mean, you're right, this seemed like a very obvious underpick. Talosin Descher had never fought past the first round or never passed like past the middle of the second round. I think there was a stat that said, I think there was a stat that said he like after he got to like the 38th second of round one.

It was like the longest fight of his UFC run. Crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. No, it was a smart bet. But I for fun, I should have taken heavy weight overs because heavy weight overs are hilarious. Um, uh, bring back Homdi, bring back Homdi, bring back Hamdi of Delba have. Um, yeah, that was a smart.

man, that was nasty. That was a nasty fight to put on the main card, man. And I get it. Taito Vasa, you know, if you had won that fight, what a moment, Mike. What a moment that would have been. Shooey's all around, kudos bank arena. That's not what happened, Mike. We got what I had thought Malcoon Fini would become.

So I don't know. I don't know. It's a good thing or bad thing, Mike. What did we go? Where did you pick for Talism? I'm going, let me hear your pick first. I'm going full comedy. Welcome to the UFC Gable.

Oh, gosh. At the White House. Damn. After Gable just wrecks the poor guy. He's going to fight in Mexico. Uh, you throw him right in there with the, the 12th ranked guy in the division. Damn. Oh, right. He's, he's gonna smoke Talas and DeShara in like less than two minutes. You're completely bypassing the, uh, Alicia Ellison's and the Alvin Heinz's and the like Brandon Harris is just, Alvin Heinz is suspended. So, is, What did he say? A drug thing? Yes.

Oh, I didn't. Oh, I totally forgot about that. Okay. For Brando Perichish, you know, he's holding out for that Gable Stevens and fight. Mike, how could you just, wow. Yes. Wow. It's got to be Gable. It's going to be Gable. That's what I would do.

That's what I would do. How tall is Gable? How funny is like the height contrast? Oh, it'd be gigantic. Gable is, I'm saying they list them at. Gables list that six foot. Oh, okay, he's not tiny. I thought he, yeah.

Oh, actually, that is smaller, six foot one. But that's like, that's not tiny. I think he's taller than Kormeim, right? Corme is like 510, right? I mean, it depends. It depends. Gable is fighting. Gable is fighting, by the way, Hugo Lazzama, February 19th at Mexican Fighting League

3. And the winner gets Towson to share. You're saying if Hector wins, he will be signed and he will fight Towson to share. Okay. So it's a WL, it's a WLD thing. It's a WLB thing. Okay. Yeah.

I went with, this guy, if he doesn't win this fight, I mean, I'm going with him. No, man. Tourist thing. Mo, justice for Mo. Marcus Bucce. Oh, God. I think that would be hilarious. And I would love to see this fight.

Give me Bucce in Towson. Wow. Yep. In front of people. In front of human beings who have paid attention. ticket to watch fighting. I mean, side me up, I guess. Like, we would have a great time. And it has to be, that has to be the first fight of the card. Yeah, of course, we can all watch it together. Of course. That would be the funniest. That would be one of the funniest fights of all time. That would be tremendously funny. Wow. Heavyweight overs would certainly indeed be back. Let's continue out with the best division in the sport by a country mile. Uh, the lightweight division. Kill and Sal Kilkilde might just be the next the next guy to keep an eye on at lightweight goes out there. Yes, it was Jamie Malarkey, but he went out there and just smashed

them, made it look easy, had a good time with the crowd, uh, kind of showboated a little bit. Did everything you kind of want from a guy on the come up, especially fighting in front of a home crowd? He came off looking like a superstar, uh, crowd went crazy for him. So, AK, what are we doing with young Kill and Salkild? Do you think he's definitely going to get a top 15 guy? I'm giving him a top 15 guy And you went to the UFC rankings And you plucked a name out of there

I sure did Okay I struggled with that man I struggle with that Probably because there are other So I'm looking at the fringes There's obviously some names Who I don't want to see them

Like matched up yet Like I think there's guys who are coming up And I'm like no I don't I don't want to see him fight them yet There's older fighters Are we in that stage And we want to throw them sacrificial lambs So I went outside the top 15 mic

I went with a boring choice he probably does deserve a top 15 guy I want to test him one more one more like really legitimate test against um jukar close I'm going jaccar close very very tough test sadly not I know if he beat choucar close it's not going to like the world on fire he'll be almost in the same position where people will be saying well

gotta be a top 15 guy next but I'm not I'm not in a rush with cooling yet but I love what I've seen love the he's got natural power and again he showed off he is a grappler right he showed off he is a grappler I had uh I'd correctly sussed out Quillen by first round sub because I think everyone just assumed he was going to like one punch K-O Malarkey and that's that's not really who Quillin is. Great athlete, capable of finishing on the ground and on the feet. Just I want to see him tested a little more. But yeah, who's the top 15 guy? I'm like, if you had to take a guess, who would you guess?

Manuel Torres? No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Oh, no, you say GANW or someone else. Michael Chandler? I would do that, but that fight will. We'll never happen. Well, I'm not going to say it'll never happen. It's not happening right now. You didn't pick Ziam for him, did you?

No. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. We are going with Benile Darius. Oh, no. This is what we're doing. This is where Benny is now?

This is what Benny is for? Yes. This is exactly who he's for at this point in his career. He got knocked out in like six seconds in his last fight. He got punched once and the fight was over. This is where he is right now. If he wants to continue fighting, this is who he's going to have to fight. So he's 26.

Look, if he, there's, he could go out and lose a decision to Benny. It could happen. And if he does, like, he'll learn valuable lessons from it. And he'll go back to the drawing board and make his way back up. Like, yeah, he's fine. But I think he kind of, kind of, you got to go with him at this point. People are very, very excited about him. He's a big dude.

Hits real hard. Let's give him a shot. I think I would pick him. He's, he's going to be a huge favorite against Betty. He would be like a minus three something. Which is crazy. Can you go like, you can see the gap in experience. shouldn't be gap in experience gap in reputation quality competition but you know at some point

uh we mentioned there's a lot of fighters like there's that just youth and athleticism gap and boy man quillness explosive that throw that's throw to end the fight he just i was like oh man he's having a little bit trouble he's having a little bit trouble taking him down nope throws him down immediately takes us back guys when we talk about fighters being athletes like we bring up a lot of heavyweight because it's usually like when there's athletic heavyweight they stand out so much it's a little less evident at lightweight which is filled you know filled with more plus athletes but like i think Silk's Quillan's in the upper tier of that. Like I think he is a really, really explosive athletic guy.

And like combined with his growing skill set, holy crap. Like he's, he's going to be really good. I won't be defy him for a long time. Yeah, I see a lot of people throwing off Perez. I'm hearing there's something in the, in the oven, so to speak, for him. That's all I can really say right now. But what I will say, for everybody who is saying, you know what,

for as I am deserves a rank dude, like you should be fighting a rank guy. If this fight that I'm hearing is being discussed, you're not going to be happy. Oh, no. Good fight. It's a good fight, but it's not against a rank dude.

I thought that was a positive tease, Mike. I mean, it could be, depending on who you, what side of the, what side of the fence you're on. But Zell Huber's already booked for those throwing out. names. It's not that. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What?

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6-531-2-60 or visit Comex Ontario.ca. The scorebed app here with trusted stats and real-time sports news. Yeah, hey, who should I take in the Boston game? Well, statistically speaking. Nah, no more statistically speaking. I want hot takes. I want knee-jerk reactions.

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about your gambling or the game. of someone close to you. Please go to conicsontario. Dot, CA. All right, let's go to the wildcard, AK. Let's see who you have here. Let's pick one fighter. We've not matched made for yet.

Let's match bait for him right now. Where the hell did we go here, AK? Please tell me we both picked Torres-Finney. Come on. I trust me. I didn't. No? I didn't.

Is Torres-Fini, like, is he bad? No. No. He's... bad to the bone. Yes. He's, he's,

he's, he's, he's, yeah, he's, he's not a UFC fighter. He heard, whoa,

he hurt his leg. He heard his leg. He heard his leg. He is, he is, he is, he is, oh,

you think in losing, in losing, he was, the way he lost that fight, he won the belt. Didn't you see Joel Gartner

announced on Twitter that Torres Fetty won the scoring system? Oh, he is, Torres Fitty is what this, what this, what this championship was made for

how can someone so big and so strong just like I don't get it like not just be haussing people or hitting a hard it's so weird it's so weird lazy bed saying he tore his MCL was that did we did Torres say that on I did not see any injury

he definitely got injured he definitely got injured he definitely got injured um I don't know he got hurt he got hurt pretty quick in that fight did he was on Instagram did it was there ligament tear are we dealing with a ligament tear here uh I could certainly see I'm going I'm literally looking at his he said okay this is from his

Instagram stories he tore his LCL LCL I'm not a doctor That's not the same thing as MCL right either way It sounds like definitely heard it's like we all saw it Mike this fight doesn't even count as a Grabaca Hitman Rebecca Hitman pointed out on Twitter They took him out of the apex

He's an apex creature That's very true right You don't you can't take him out of his home and say Oh go fight like you normally So far away Australia It's another planet They took a creature out of the apex took it to another planet and said, go fight.

I've seen this man fight live. Yeah. Not once, but twice. And luck. There's no need to brag, my best friend. And non-UFC fights. And outside of the apex at the wonderful and vibrant Savannah Convention Center, convening for GameBred MMA before the club started coming off.

That's when I was first introduced to Torres, Finney. And I got to tell you, A.K., when I first watched this band fight, he, I was so blown away by him honestly he just ran dude over i'm like this guy is built like a freaking brick shit house and then he just tackled the dude and beat the hell out of him in like 60 seconds then he cut a great promo on the mic and try to dude be the rock it was great and then he fought again like a couple months later at savannah convention center got another finish but like this one this one was tough because it was very much like the finny fights that we all know and love as a ufc fighter and he just just like sat he would just get takedowns and do nothing and then eventually in the third round he's just

like all right i'll get this dude out now and it was just like a terrible fight until he got the finish you just never know what what guy's going to show up but i think i think he is done so no way and uh i think pfl should jump all no way he's one and one or the or the apparently soon to be returning uh global fight league uh according to reports he's one and one and one in the UFC. Shout to Jacob Malcolm for taking care of business, whether Finney was injured or not. Great job, Jacob Malcun. Just put it on, put it on him for three. Should have got a finish probably. I mean, but I do think Finney's like, is just, he's pretty tough. Like, he was just literally walking into headshot. I think there was no head movement, no footwork, just straight up eating headshots.

I think, I don't know if his ESPN or someone tweeted out the graphic after. I think 111 significant strikes in the fight. And I'm like, 109 were headshots. And I'm like, how is Torres Finney alive? So he's got to work on the defense a little bit for sure. I'll really work on everything. But yeah, big credit to Malkoon is a really good performance. And for Finney, I don't think he's done yet, Mike, but I do think you have to throw him back in the apex. He is not ready for prime time. I'll say that.

And he gets ultimate fighter champion Ryan Loder. This one's for me. This is for me. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Main card, apex card sometime in the second half of 2026. The only fight I would entertain for Torres Fini right now is Christop Jotko for the, I mean, just the, the greatest, the greatest, the greatest middleweighty middleweets of all time.

Mike, Jockco would annihilate Doris Phiddy. I don't think you realize that. Can we do, could we do 50 versus Barb Vittori? Can we do something like that? That would be the weirdest. That might be the weirdest fight I've ever seen. Votrary would, I mean, should kill him, but also like, I don't know, it's Marvin. He doesn't really kill anyone.

So Torres minus 550. I didn't know where to go here. I mean, Dan. I can't imagine who you picked. I have no idea. I mean, Dan Hooker versus Patty Pimble makes like all the sense of the world. That's happening. I want Tai Tui Vasa to have one more fight.

Mike, explain yourself. I know I mentioned this. It was not even really like a true thing here. But this is what we're going to do. UFC White House. June. 26, double retirement fight, the rematch, Taito Yvasa, Derek Lewis, 2 on the White House lawn,

double retirement fight. If President Donald Trump did a shooey, I think that would be absolutely incredible. So maybe I, I, yeah, Mike, I'm like, I felt nothing, but it makes as, sorry, excuse me, it makes as much sense as anything. If I think of the promotional packages around this, two beloved fighters who hit very hard.

Like Derek's not going to try to tackle Ty. Ty's not going to try to tackle Derek. We're just going to go in there and throw bombs until somebody falls. And then both guys drop their gloves in the middle of the octagon and say, we're done here. Thanks for the cheese. We're out of here. And that's it.

I think that would just be a fun way to go out. Because guess what? I don't want to see Tai Tai Tai Tai Vasa fight anybody else who can actually have any threat of a takedown. The booking of Tai Tuvaa has been atrocious. It's been absolutely. atrocious over the years. Like, we really threw this ban into an apex main event with Marching Taibora. What the hell are we doing here?

And everyone gave me so much crap when we didn't do Tai Tuva versus Rebellus to Spain. That is the fight that got away. Yeah. What are we doing? Like, that would have been perfect matchmaking. And I wanted that after Rebellis won his UFC debut. That's what I wanted. So one more fight.

Tai Tuva, Derek Lewis, on the White House lawn. And let's just be done with it. someday my best friend when I'm an old man I'll be explaining having to explain to the children how Lopez the Volcanovsky-Lopez feud was not a classic you know they'll be looking up on Wikipedia and be like oh wow just a fact-backed by a night just what they will try to make yeah you're absolutely right about I'm to explain that I'll explain that and I'll also have to be explaining that there was a time when Taduivasa was literally one fight away from fighting for the UFC undisputed title well I guess I can I can remember he lost the CILA gone I think no but he shouldn't have been a

fight away. They should have just given it to him. They should have just given it to him. Correct. You're right, right. He was on a very unlikely, like, five-fight winning streak. He just knocked out Derek Lewis. Everyone was doing shoo-ies. People were doing shooies across the globe. It was sweeping the nation. Again, this was so long. This was literally three years ago, so I don't blame anyone for not remembering this, like three years ago in today's time is like 30 years ago. But it was. This was a real thing. Tied to Ivasa. I think, I don't know. I can't speak with a group. I think I had them as high as like number three. I think in my.

heavy weight rankings i don't remember if he made it there consensus but i had him as like highest three he was right there and there was a time now i mean everyone just thinks that's a joke but it was real man it was really it was close they should have done an interim title fight that involved tie to evasa in that year they should have done it like what a story would have been like no one expected him to win but what if he did what if he became the interim champion of the world what if he just think of the trajectory of his career if he had fought for the interim belt a k and won and then francis went to pfl ty to ivasa would have fought john jones for the heavyweight championship he and he would have been the a side he would have been the

undisputed champion fighting top fighting john jones he would have been the guy with the belt getting championship money and pay-per-view points on a john jones pay-per-view night holy crap wow what uh what that's like all right that's like dominic reyes getting the correct decision against john John Jones. That's like another whole road we could take. Mike, you talk to me into it. I want to see him fight in the O.C. one more time. All right. Yeah. Fine. We had some, we've had some good time. All right. Uh, let's turn it over to you guys. What do you guys want to see?

Throw your matchmaking suggestions. Uh, we'll do that for the next 10 or so minutes. And then we'll run down UFC is this UFC Vegas 113, AK? You're muted. I think it's 113. I want to say what I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I live. I'm, you know, I literally have it right in front of me. 1.13 for whoever keeps track of these things. Yes, it is 113. Mike, someone made a great comparison between Torres, Finney, and William Knight and chess.

Yes. William Knight awkwardly waddled to the ring so that... New England Zone. ...Noenny could run, New England Zone. New England's own, William Knight. Yes, what a contender series debut he had with Cody Brundage, by the way. And then got... I think he's the last guy.

He might be the last five. that got a developmental deal on the later night yeah yeah and he used to fight he would fight like every two weeks because all you had to do is fight on a card that ufc fight pass aired so he'd fight at like c s one week and then two weeks later fight for cfc and then go back to c s and they'd go back to cfc it would just fight all the time and he loved it so much because he's like i could just fight whenever i wanted as long as it was it was something on a card that was airing on fight pass so So I gained some experience. And then, yeah, you know, things happen the way that it happened.

So Casey Carpenter, what a suggestion? How about Torres-Fini versus Israel-A-Sania? Something happens with B. Joe Pfeiffer? Do we give Torres the call to step in and headline in Seattle AK? Is that what we're doing? I don't know if I'm ready to realistically discuss anything for Torres right now. I just, I'm still emotional after that loss. Like I was helping the fight would be, it actually, because again,

it actually turned out to be like a dominant performance for one guy. That's not what I want to see. middleweighty billy. I want to see controversial scorecards. I want to see booing from the crowd. I didn't get any of that. Yeah. Masters, could we discuss Oban Elliott? Two loss in a row, but I thought it looked better than ever.

Made improvements. Just wasn't enough against a tough opponent. What's next for him? I think you'd give him one more chance, right? Yeah. I mean, for me, this was like definitely said more about how good I think Jonathan McAuliffe is than necessarily like a, oh man, Oban's like not a great fighter. I think Oban's had to fight some pretty tough opponents, if I'm being honest.

I think Basil Haphaz is tough. He beat him. Obviously, he lost to Sokiyanko, who's really kind of, you know, kind of a hidden talent here. And McCullough, I think McCall is a great grappler. And, yeah, I agree that Obon did not look terrible. But yeah, this is a difficult division. If you're a step behind in any of these fights, you're going to catch an L. That's just kind of how it is.

So it really depends what your expectations are for Oban. Like if you were very high in him and you thought he was going to be like a top 15 guy within his first four fights, obviously you know you've got to ramp those expectations back can he be a top 15 guys someday even then that's looking a little sketchy and again not nothing against him it's just um it's a it's a deep division it's a tough deep division and he's talented but talent only takes you so far so there's a lot of justice he's going to have to make but um yeah i wouldn't be discouraged but i would by i saw them caliphite like i said i think uh michaelov i say sorry i think michaillev is really good um but you know we know what improvement he has to make he cannot just he's not

going to cruise to a ranking at any point now. I mean, if he could turn around for London, you should probably do that. Definitely. Uh, Gerard, Volk of Loyaf, Murphy winner, Lopez Sterling, BSD, BMF loser, hooker, Ruffy. Yeah, sure. Fizzis versus I am, uh, Talism versus Shabil Gadsieff. God. That is what, I don't care if the over is minus 17 million.

I'm taking it. Uh, tie goes to BGFC or dirty boxing. I said, yeah, Beaky, Dirty Boxing. actually really good for Tai Tupasa. Sal killed versus Klein, Elycana versus Meadowfield. That could get real rough. Boy, that could get real tough.

Leighthaveno. Light heavy as the middle weight. Light heavy is the new middle weight. Let's be honest. Elicano was traveling down that road of, uh-oh. We're heading back to the Ebo fight. And then he was just like, all right, we're done here. Because all he was tackled this guy and he finally did.

By the way, shout out to Junior Tava. I didn't realize he got so spelt. Oh my gosh. He looks like a different person. I got so confused because I always mixed him up with Justin, obviously. And then Justin is the one who missed weight, you know, at heavyweight, like the first guy at ever, you see history to miss weight at heavyweight. And I thought, and I thought like, whoa, how did Justin lose?

I'm like, but junior was again, did fight at heavy. And so, yeah, good for him. He looks like he can drop another weight class, if I'm being honest. He looks really good shape. Rossum versus Nardiev, Malcun versus Jimmy Suss. Ooh, wow. Malcolm is actually like not bad. And I don't know, I'm always kind of like, I've always joked about like, oh, he's just this fighter who I just can't remember.

He kind of just keeps strained together wins. Like I have him my top 30 at middleweight. So really, I probably should not have picked Torres to beat him because that would have, if Torres had won, he would have jumped something like 40 spots in my rankings. So I guess I should have known maybe the odds were odd points. But, yeah, I don't mind that. That's a lot of tough tests for Malcun. I think one of those guys, they will always view him as that as a test guy and not something they want to push. but hey he might win uh you know eight of nine ufc fights someday and just fall into a title shop axe

um a caliphersetulotov roston versus a taba goatee hmm uh rossin is is is not bad yeah i don't think you want to i don't think you want to make that fight because he might just get obliterated by atava because he's he's going to go after him and that's not going to go very well for him but i think it's a good test for a taba too like i i i i'm very curious what they do with the table after Pulaev because I think I think a lot of people ahead of that fight too. Yes, expected to knock up. But there was definitely a lot of us saying like, well, like Pulaev's like a legitimate test and could this could, you know, take the over here.

And it did go to a decision. So I'm wondering, do they try and set them up for a squash or yeah, do they look for another competitive fight to kind of keep pushing a table as a legitimate, you know, future future champion? Solar servant Volk, Bovzar, Murphy, Rodriguez, Rufi Gamrott, to share Gadsiav, to Ivasa, Span, Fiziv Hooker, BSD, B, B, B, MF winner, Southfield versus I am. I don't think they're giving BSD the BMF title shot.

I don't hate it. Where does the winner go? Do you think the winner of Olovae, yeah, Holloway-Olivares, two just waits for what happens with the title picture, see if they can kind of get a title shot after that BNF title fight? Maybe, yeah. Especially if Max wins, like, you can't give it to Charles. You just can't. I mean, I know he has a win over Gagee, but he, like, he just fought for the belt.

Yeah. And lost. Yep. Badly. Didn't stop Diego Lopez. Didn't stop. That's very true. All bets are off now.

Like, apparently you just need to win one fight and it doesn't matter what happened to the first one. Armin is like their, armine might right now be their most like overall. I'm not going to say he's the most popular fighter, but he might be the most popular guy in that division right now. So especially with the media run he's been on. But we'll see. Boza, Joseph Boe versus Silva.

Why are we pushing for this? Why are we pushing for Volk versus? John Silva. Because again, I'll defend it in that, like, John Silva is a personality. He's a, he's very meme worthy. I think there's, I think there's some crossover appeal.

Great highlight reel. You know, great highlight reel. Very easy to sell that way. I'm with you, Mike. I would not do it if I was doing the matchmaking. But I totally see, I totally see the rationale of like why the UFC would just push for it and try and sell it. Kind of another win, man.

He beat Arnold Allen who hadn't fought in like two years. Listen, they opened with, by giving Diego the rematch, they have literally said, we don't consider anything to be unreasonable when it comes to the top five or six of Featherway. We will throw anyone we want in there with Alexander Bokonovsky, and we will expect you to eat it up and enjoy your Paramount Plus. Log in on Paramount Plus, or if you're outside, pay your 799-799 Canadian, whatever that may be in other regions where you guys have to have to buy paper views. So, yeah, there is no, like for me, there's no incredulous. I'm trying to think what would be an incredulous opponent for Volk right now. down the top.

Diego Lopez three. Yeah, well, well, he did break both his feet, AK, so. And Vulcan office

can't finish him, Mike. He can't finish him. Okay, we, we have 10 rounds of evidence so he cannot finish Diego Lopez.

So, I mean, you know, run it back until someone falls, right? Ruffy versus Gamrot, Tashara versus Blackbeast. Joseph,

Joseph, Joseph. You want to see Taloson to share it by Derek Lewis again? We just, we just saw it. Joseph, It just happened. What are we doing?

It just happened. Again, you know what? Maybe he's going to, maybe he's going by the Diego Lopez Corollary. Again, it's like it's, we're both guys have fought since. It lasts in 30 seconds. Killet versus Bedwell Torres. Okay. Yeah.

It might be it. Ruffie versus Patty. What was Ruffie's speech? He said like, oh, oh, he also did like sort of a Benwals Santini like name salad thing. He said, I think he translated the post fight. It was that he asked Connor McGregor, obviously. And it was like, oh, I'm a more exciting, I'm a more exciting, uh, fight for Connor than Connor versus Chandler.

So that was one call-out. And then he did mention Patty as well. Z, I'd be a chance that either of those. Really surprised. I'd be really surprised if that was, uh, in the, in talks. Cause I just, it doesn't mean you make a ton of sense for either guy right now. BSD Armin, Hucker, Pimblet, Rofi to replace Ortega and fight Moikano, uh, Fizzie versus Manwell Torres.

You know what, man? I'll get back to the Moikano thing in the second. Salkild versus the winner of King Green Zell-Huber, sure. Makkah versus Charles Ratki. I don't mind that one either. Wow, nice. If I'm Marvin Surukian, I am literally jumping into the UFC's emails and saying, I'll fight with Hanoano.

I'll fight him in a month. Just go in there and clobber him. Just go in there and clobber him and save the fight. I didn't even think about that. And what a nice little sort of neat, like full-circle moment that would be, because Moikano, of course, the one who replaced him to fight to Islam. So that would kind of close that loop, I would hope. Close that.

Go do that. Yeah, definitely go do that. And it's a week a week after RAF. So you can go in there, do RIF and then fight Moycano a week later. What a tremendous run that would be. I like, damn. Mike did the snow melt? No.

We got like two or three inches. And now it's like friggin freezing out. So like everything's like frozen over. And there's no plows and no salt and that stuff. Why is the New England era? New England area following you to South Carolina. How did this happen, Mike? You left that your beloved home for literally warmer pastures.

And still. Now why we moved down here. Not why we did this. But it is, yeah, it is, it's a wintry wonderland out there. But it's just all frozen over. And the wind chills like in the single digits. It's just, this is not what we signed up for. Let's see.

Vizee versus Hooker could be a good scrap, short versus tall. Sure. BSD versus loser, Max versus Charles, winners should fight Armand for a true number one contender fight. I don't even know what true number one contender fight means anymore, guys, in the UFC. I really don't. The true number one contender is Armand Zirki. I mean, what are we talking about here?

Fizzi versus Chanco. That would be a big step up. I know they want to give Chenko slash Sean Pork the hard push at some point. I don't think yet. I don't think so. uh bsd versus patty please there's a reason why that fight has never happened folks yeah unless they're like just done with patty and they don't want to push him at all uh they're never gonna make that fight that's that fight's gonna go so badly for patty uh we already did that one uh wildcard

jacobalcun versus edmund shabazzian do do do do embin shabazzi is booked that says thinking okay as first reported by m a fighting com fighting the iron turtle april april 4th jun young park so yeah joseph sabbana you're have a tough day my my my my guy tough day topology guys come on topology topology sure dog come on uh Hank with sank once bsd versus patty sure i mean the ufc is never gonna make that fight fatty has that chance nobody runs through patty let me tell you this mic nobody runs through patty i don't know that's true well no one like finishes him right right at least yeah yeah

Justin Gagie I mean about as close you can get him he knocked him down I know he got credit for two knockdowns which is absolutely atrocious and ridiculous he just knocked about like five times in that fight you only got credit for me Matt Mike slippery mat Mike slippery mat I I would

take Patty at plus if if the odds came out he was like and I don't think because of how famous he is I don't think he would be a huge underdog against he would definitely be the underdog but I bet you it would be like plus 175 or something I don't think it has plus 200 Yeah, maybe.

That's why I wouldn't be juicy enough. But if the line moved like plus 200 plus over plus 200, dude, that Patty? I think Patty's so tough, man. Zach, Volk Murphy, BSD Olivera, Ruffie Moikano, replacing Otega, Tashara Hocet, Salkil Dawson,

Wildcard Rousin versus Abuse. Man, I would just love, they just gave Lauren Murphy that title shot. I think there's almost no chance that happens now because why would they have just done it already? But he deserves the shot. He deserves. And it's a shame that him and most

are probably going to fight and then wait and wait and possibly not get it right it could it really could as optimist as is as i'm for both guys to eventually fight for it we know how this fastest game moves you know it's possible it doesn't happen tie to evas a versus gable steveson stop it john ray shame on you shame on you we're not that's not what tie is for that's not what time shame on you mean mean why we like no no no no man you know that's what they're gonna do because let's just book up against dude we'll tackle him in 30 seconds tie is number 12 in the uc's rankings official rankings crazy and also like and i don't know honestly i don't know how far he can drop because they just don't have any heavyweight so he's ahead of he's ahead of he's ahead of mc parkin

walter walker and tulles so at the very worst i bet they dropped him to 15 i bet you tied to vasa still has a number next to his name um come tuesday and certainly yeah if they wanted to they could insert him in there with gable and gable beats him guess what third third am made by gable you're 15 heavy weight and they could justify it like that oh just sounds horrible um like a quick trip not duncan oh no no no we get duncan at home baby we got it to chuck it into the curate guy's coffee maker we got back up so we're ready to go uh armich cut to 1 45 and 5 vote isn't it where i would love to know he's making 145 i know he keeps saying i can make 145 i've stood next to that man i don't see unless he cuts a friggin't leg off i ain't i don't think he's making 1 4405 i know he's making 1 445

I mean, he could do it, but he would not look good. He would look, he would feel horrible like just, though. Yeah. What else we got? What else we got? What else we got? Did you see a ace boogie just just come in, come in hot with a, there you go. You have to do you D.A.A.A. right now.

Yes. We should have done that. We should have been doing that a year ago. We must. What was the Noce? What was the most recent Noce UFC main event? John Silva and Diego Lopez. Oh, yeah.

That just felt weird. I mean, they got the Diego part, right? We're just like, where's he a year? Well, they wanted Diego to headline. They offered him like a bunch of different fights. And then the John Silva, they came about. And I don't know. Both guys are having a hard time finding fights.

And they were like, Diego, if I'd fight John Sylvie, he's like, okay. And then, yeah. So, I mean, that's your, that's your note you main event this year, right? It's going to be... Diego and fighting for a little bit. No, man. They're going to do Yair Yair. They're going to do the opposite.

They're going to have that year. They're going to have that year. Yeah, yeah, John Silva. But he's me fighting, like, I'm just looking here. He's me fighting like Malki Costa or something. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Just keep teasing us.

Just keep messing with us, right? Like, oh, you keep saying, you guys want Diego and Yar year in the main event. We're giving you Diego and yeah, you're in the main event. It's not the same card. Joseph, could we get AK's thoughts and mics on the potential co-main for UFC 326. Mike, who's fell in those TVD's. I have not even seen the scuttle butt. What is the internet rumor around the TBD identities?

I have no clue. If I have no, I have no insights as whatsoever. If I had to guess, Josh Van versus either Minnell Cop or Tetsu Retire. Oh, and that would be the co-made to a BMF title fight? As it should be. That, I mean, fair, fair, fair. You know, I'm not going to clutch my pearls on this one. Yeah, of course.

That should. there's no chance they just okay i'm looking at the existing kind of reported slash like officially announced fights like they can't they can't try it out like they can't just make caio and rdr the co-main right that would be messed up right well i thought that's what they were going to do but like that graphic last night literally said co-main event tbd versus tvd okay so like they're trying to fill that spot so to me it's it's three options or four it's it's van versus cop or van versus tyra mackenzie durham versus jang we lee or valentin shiffchenko versus natty ice and that seems a little quick for natty ice after just fighting a week ago but that's that would be

my hunch is it's going to be one of them one of those fights the the cynical part of me you can just see them lowballing like they're just exchanging emails and texts with um tyra and cops cops cops management right now with like hey cop is willing to fight for like this amount and then But hey, Tara, when you fight for this amount, for those listening to the podcast, my hands are getting lower and lower, as I'm saying. I hope that's not the case. I really hope that's not how the negotiations are going. I do feel like whoever is willing to fight for a little bit cheaper, we'll get that, which is just such a stupid way of doing things. But yeah, that makes sense, though.

Yeah. But if they, like, a lot of people saying, well, I thought Moikano was the main event. That wasn't going to be the co-main event. Moikano versus Brian Ortega was not going to be the co-main event for this car. Come on. Two, Mike, too. Again, another rematch, people just dying for. Well, that one actually makes sense, though.

It does. And enough time has passed. I'm actually kind of interested in seeing that. Yeah, it's certainly not going to be like Rebovich. They're not going to do that. Although, like, that's, that's a banger. He wants it. Well, yeah.

I mean, well, I mean, somebody wants it. Somebody wants it. It's the manager who wants it. Cutlist. Yes. Twivas. Tafa, Malarkey, Brundage, Road to UFC losers. Well, technically the road to UFC losers are not even signed to the UFC yet.

So they're not cut. They just not, they just did not win the tournament, did not make it. So, yes, they're cut. It wouldn't surprise me if maybe they brought some of them in, depending on, you know, geographically speaking. I'm not sure what their plans are first of the year, but I'm sure they have the phone number of Kim Sang Wook and Sebastian Zillet and Sue Lang Rangbo.

But yeah, you probably won't be seeing them anytime soon. Mike, you already, I want to get your opinion on these, though. Mike, you already said to Yvasa bring them back, junior tougher uh he has not had a great run of success um i was stunned i didn't even think he was still in the ufc so probably yeah two and five in the ufc now oh and two since he dropped down to light heavyweight but i mean like they go they're going australia twice a year there are other australian fighters mike but they like him i know i like him too i love the taffa brothers but at some point don't you have to pass a certain bar of quality yeah but like at least you know a junior

like he's going to get God or he's going to get somebody. Like that, we're not going to the cards with the junior Tafa fight. Yeah. Malarkey will not get cut. He did them a favor guys. He stepped in for Rongju. He will definitely at least get one more.

If there's any justice, I'll get one more opportunity. And Brundage, boy, Brundage could, still, I'm just one of the strangest guys in the roster. Always a tough scrap, I will say. Always a tough scrap. He's a tricky guy. He does not go away. loss is last two I don't think he gets cut

what I just don't think they're paying you that much money so sorry Cody if you're out there I hate to put you on glass like that I just I'm sure you're not making 50K to show 50 to win I maybe I'm wrong I hope I'm wrong I hope you made 50K or more last night sir but I think he's not that big on the budget list

so they're just like yeah keep Cody on I also feel I also feel and I want you to I want you to use my terminology here like in the right way, there's value to Cody Breddage because again,

his fights don't go to the cards. If they do, it's always super weird and gives us things to talk about. Yep. So like, you can feel how you feel about him as a fighter. I know a lot of people, like, say he's a quitter and stuff like that. I'm not going to go that far, but

he creates controversy and drama every time he fights, or he just gets obliterated or somehow finds a way to get like a comeback. Dude, has like a power bomb knockout win in the UFC. And, like, did it a fight after Dracar closed it. So, I mean, I don't know. I think they keep them. I think so, I think so, too.

He fights to two weight classes. He'll jump up to 205. He literally fights anybody. They ask him to, yeah, you keep guys like that around. Unless he goes on some three, four, five fight losing streak. Even then, I just don't think they care. He's not hurting their wallets that much. I don't need jobbers.

I don't need squash matches. The UFC builds squash matches. like this is what they do this is what they do that's how they build that's how you get talent over you put them in there to get highlight reels you put them in there to look good that's how it all works

but like Cody Brudge gets to say that he was a UFC fighter good on him many times it's fun like almost like what he's fighting on the Michigan regional scene for lights out championship there weren't many people saying like you know what that Cody Brunch guy he's gonna be a UFC fighter he's gonna be there for like eight or nine fights

not a lot of people would have said that not a lot of people there he is fighting on paper views fought at UFC 300 I mean the man has has done some stuff so okay I think we're done here I'm sorry you brought up some questions

I talked over I'm sorry you brought up there was a question about Oh UFC UFC says they're going back to Macau AK Oh yes we said as announced yeah Going back to to Macau Could they do The Jean-Weilly Mackenzie Dern Oh I'm sorry

McKenzie Dern versus Jean-Wa-Dadee. Get it right. Title fight. The main event of a fight night in Macau? I think they should absolutely do that. And they should. Don't just throw this randomly as a co-main on a numbered event. Like, what is the point?

You know me, I love my straw weights. I love Jean-Wea-Lie and McKinsey-Durne. It's not like if you put on one of these numbered events that they're selling extra pay-per-views around the world. I mean, I shouldn't say that. And maybe that's exactly the reason you do it because there are people outside of the U.S. to still pay for paper paper-papers. but I don't think it moves the needle that much.

Yeah, Macau, Zhang Wili, if you're ready for it, that is your day. You tell them that's when I want to fight, Mackenzie Dern. You're calling the shots. You're the real champ. Let's be honest here. So yeah, very good suggestion, and I hope that's how they do it. That or it'll be Zhang Ming Yang. We'll probably just call him up to combine.

I mean, shout lazy bad. He wants quality over quantity in the UFC roster. And I get it, man. We all do. We all want this. But we are so far beyond that, it's not even funny. when every year the contender series

produces more contracts than ever before and by the way the last couple years of contender series like some of the fighters who got contracts are like legitimate talents

where it's like all right this dude's pretty good like could do some real stuff killing Salkin's a perfect example but there are many many many fighters

who are not UFC caliber who somehow get contracts and they fight three or four times and they're gone so guys you just I hear you lazy bed I wish I wish we were back to where we were in 2017 where when you fought on contender series like even if you got a first round finish like didn't necessarily mean you were getting conscious Chris Curtis you're not UFC level you're not you know they're

Chris Curtis Gaddy Austin Vanderford Brennan Lockdain no no you're not good enough you're not good enough uh Mike we just saw literally three technically non UFC fights on a number of event lineup those first three fights of the card were you were road to uc events which are considered separate from the uc like they literally actually threw that as part of a lineup that people paid they true they they but but even like in the post fight it was so funny as they treated it like it that that's a separate event that that's how they're viewing it and by the way those fights weren't even bad by the way actually thought i actually thought all three uh road determined finals were pretty good but to lazy bet's point like it like they're literally people paid tickets for that part of the show like

i mean the people who showed up that was a non those were three non-UFC fights on a UFC card. So that's where we are. That is honestly where we are with this roster and with this product. And that's okay. And if you still enjoy it, then that's fine. You're accepting that this is how it is. But yeah, lazy bed, man, they're not going to suddenly cut like 200 people off the roster. Like, it's just not going to happen. You know? And fine, fine, you know, because I would never, I don't advocate for people being removed, you know. So fine. But yeah, yeah, as obviously as a fan, as a spectator, you are well within your rights to question, like, what are you watching

sometimes. Dude, Aaron Tau, like, cheated more than anybody have ever seen on the scale. And they're rebooking his fight. Like, they're rebooking it. Shut up. John Gooden said on the broadcast, they're rebuking it. He said it on the broadcast. They're rebooking it. Mike, I'm pulling on my rope. I'm pulling on my rope. I'm done. Get me out of here. Get me out of here. But it's okay, everybody. We will be getting a week off from UFC action, but not next weekend. We'll be getting a week off the first. following week so that everyone can enjoy Valentine's Day. Yay. But of course, ladies

gentlemen, the world's most famous meta apex debuts for the UFC in 2026. Of course, if you just miss the meta apex, if you miss it so much, Zufa Boxing 2 going down today. I'm sure it's going to shatter viewership records. But UFC Vegas 113, here is the lineup, A.K. I got to say, I'm just looking at the top five fights. Not horrible. Main event, Mario Batista, Venetius Olivera. Not too shabby. Love it.

Co-main event, Amir al-Bazi versus Kioji Horaguchi. What? Yes. Why is this happening at the apex? At the world's most famous meta-Apex. Kogi-Huraguchi was fighting in front of like tens of thousands of people in Risen. And now he's going to... Now he's fighting in front of 400 at the Apex.

I'm sorry. I'm meeting myself. I'm meeting myself. I love reading with. And look, for the low price of $400, you can go watch this co-bate event. The featured bout AK, Jailton Almada versus Rizvon Kudiev. All right, so far, so decent. Then we're going to the middleweight division.

Mikhail Olegzecichuk is now fighting Mark Andre Barrio. So that's happening. Maybe I had some doo-do last week because I wanted to take a go-de-to-fight to fight Mikhail O'Elele-Zechek. But that might have been a late edition. I don't know. John Matamoto versus Fareed Basharat That fight rocks

I'm very excited for that one Then we're heading to the And then you know Things You know we're like Not a bad roller coaster ride But but you know like a kids roller coaster ride Dustin Jacoby

Julius Walker Alex Maroto Danil Dunchenko Bruna Brazil Ketlin Soza Saeederbaughameada versus Javid Basharat Tong Wang versus

Eduardo Morra Mouin Gaffarov versus Jakub Wiklaks and Priscilla Cacuera versus Claudia Seguula. That's UFC Vegas 13. I gotta tell you, A.K., not the worst

apex card we've ever seen. In fact, you can make a case top to bottom, take title fights out of it. If you remove Volcanowski-Lopez 2, this might be a better card than New C2-325 was. I don't know if I can go there.

I will say this is a perfect... You can make a case. This is a perfect meta-Apex 1. I think we need to restart. the numbering. So I'm not calling this UFC Vegas 113. This is UFC meta-Apex 1. What a debut. This is, if you were to

ask AI to generate a first card, first meta-apex card, this is what it would look like. So well done. So I got to have a shout at someone. Gregory, Gregory, Monspach in the comments saying, they should call the meta-apex.

The meta-pex. It's not terrible. It sounds like a Pokemon. So I don't love it. It sounds like a Pokemon. But if you guys want to start throwing out there, have at it. I'm going to stick with just probably just apex. For those wondering, the prelims begin at 5 p.m. Eastern, the main card 8 p.m. Eastern for this event. So main card starts an hour earlier than the two numbered events did.

And we have a one, two, three, four, five, six-fight main card. Six-fight main card. Okay. Sure. So hopefully the pacing is way quicker here. I am curious. Yeah, this is not a number of events. I wonder how much bells and whistles have been different.

And yeah, the pace. I think they've, they've known, I don't see why it shouldn't be paced, it should be paced any differently than they did, 325. But I'm wondering it's presentation, though, how that's going on.

I mean, may have some fights to talk about. It's not like we're a week before a pay-per-view, so we don't have to, like, pump up. You have to see 326 or anything of that nature. There's a week off the following week. So, like, we should just, we should just hammer these things out.

It should be, like, dirty boxing pacing. Not quite R-AF pacing. That's like too fast. Maybe some dirty boxing pacing. We'll get one into the other. But thank you all so much. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Stay warm, everybody out there. And we'll get you ready for UFC Vegas 113 throughout the week. We'll give some follow-out stuff on UFC 325. Perhaps some data-wide announcements this week. So stick with us at M8Fighting.com for everything you need for AK. I am Mikeak. Appreciate you. we'll see you we'll see you this week

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