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

Episode Date: July 14, 2024

Rose Namajunas picked up her second straight main event victory this past Saturday at UFC Denver, earning a dominant unanimous decision over Tracy Cortez. What's next on the road to a hopeful flyweight title shot for the former strawweight champion — and is in a shot at 125-pound gold immediately? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what's next for Namajunas following her victory over Cortez. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Muslim Salikov following his co-main event split decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio, Jean Silva after his thrilling stoppage victory over Drew Dober in the featured contest, Gabriel Bonfim after winning on the scorecards against Ange Loosa, along with fellow main card winner Julian Erosa, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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-by 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?

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Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of on to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns have returned. turn following UFC Denver and in the main event

the former Stroudway champion, Rosenami Yunis, at least in her own mind, staked her claim for a title shot at 125 pounds. Will she get her wish? We are here to answer that question and much more. I am Mike Kek. And joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity.

He's my best friend, gosh darn it. A.K. Alexander K. Lee. What's up, buddy? That's not my best friend. feeling good man feeling good uh up late because of a dastardly uh pay-per-view-esque start time for ufc denver i guess there is the time difference so i understand you have to you know they're on the road which you always encourage and if you're going to go on the road you know and that sometimes means you're going to have start times that don't accommodate us east coasters but man it really feels like they could have started this one a couple hours earlier i don't know i don't know

this is better for the good people of denver in that crowd that's fine the crowd was the crowd was pretty good I think there were moments where they booed, but I don't think they're necessarily unjustified in booing, even though some of that ire was directed at my fellow Canadian, the victorious, Jasmine Yasidavishis, but it's fine. I think crowds are allowed to boo sometimes. There's some fights that aren't super exciting. This is how it goes. I think Andre Petroski got it to the main event, which I thought was fine.

It wasn't a banger, and I thought the crowd was pretty respectful of that. I think for a fight that wasn't like, you know, nonstop action, thought the crowd was pretty respectful. And you consider this the end of the night, like maybe there was gas too. I don't know, because any crowd that's been there, if you've been there from the beginning, you've been staying down for like six or seven hours. But overall, I think I thought like Denver showed out well, thought the fighters, of course, most importantly showed out well. And it was a really solid fight night card.

Yeah, I agree. There was very few things that were bad. The co-main event was not great. Forgettable. The Bonfim Losa fight, not great. Everything else, though, was pretty good. That was pretty decent. So let's get into it, A.K., let's start doing some match faking.

Let's talk about Rose Nama Yunus. She dominates Tracy Cortez. This fight was really not competitive. Rose got out to a hot start, just kept winning rounds, winning rounds, and winning rounds. Seemed like Rose just kind of took the fifth round off, and Tracy, at least on the official MMA fighting scorecard, wins round five, not by much, but classic Rose Damiunis performance, A.K., she gets on the mic and says, I'd like to. to fight for the belt or do a women's BMF fight.

And let me just say this before I get your pick, AK, because I know what you're all thinking. You're like, Mike, I know exactly where you're going. It's the same place you go for this woman every time. And it's the same place you go for this other woman every time. I'm here to tell you, I'm not going there. I've given up on it. So with that being said, AK, what's next for Rose?

We're looking far ahead here. I know Rose seems to be in good shape, seems like she wants to fight again for the end of the year. but she does have like a reputation for you know taking her time getting back in the cage which i always encourage if she has the resources and she has the time and she has the health to you know not necessarily fight three times a year more power to her i don't blame her i know it's frustrating for fans but she has a name she's put herself she has put herself into position for a title shot she should not jump to the front of the line even if this had been macy barber that she beat

instead of tracy cortez i still i just don't see a world where she should jump men off mural and Les Menon is completely unable to fight for like a long period of time. Then, of course, Rose can slot into a title fight. She can take on the winner of Grasso Shivchenko 3, which we assume will happen as fear or if not as fear sometime this year. It's certainly in doubt a lot of our pre-fight talk was saying, could someone just, you know, slide into that title shot if Shurchenko is not ready for whatever reason? But I do think that flight's going to happen.

I think there's just some bumps along the road. Ultimate Fighter, as we know, Alphabet fighter, coaches fights. Always happened, Mike. Without delay, without drama, they just, you know, you sign up for the only fighter, boom, you're locked in. Michael Chandler, of course, can attest to this. He's got nothing but guarantees in his life. So I think Rose, in a roundabout way, is going to get her Menon rematch. Again, not before Menon gets a shot to fight for the title.

But I'm going big time crystal ball here, Mike. Menna will fight the winner of Grasso-Shevchenko. She will beat the winner of Grasso. Grasso Shipchenko, and Rose, somewhere down the road will get that title shot that she, and the rematch that she has mentioned so frequently. That was a journey, A.K., I love it. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. Yeah, this is, this would be being journey-free on this Sunday.

Just rebook the Macy Barber fight. There's some heat there. Let's just do that. It's fine. Are there not concerns about, like, because we don't know what's going on with Macy's health, right? I'm not saying like she's going to, she's, her career is over, but it could be a while before we see her again, no?

But I guess it could be a while before we see Rose again, too. Yeah. I think maybe the end of the year, we do something. Hopefully, hopefully. Rose gets the call to fight for the belt. Yeah. At Sphere for some weird reason. But it's just, I don't know.

This would be, this would be a pretty egregious title shot. It would be pretty, it wouldn't be as bad as Chandler getting a title shot. But it would be right there. I'm okay. We're knocking on the door. If, like, if Menon is injured or something. If for some reason, men off the fight. That's the only way this is acceptable.

Yeah, yeah. It's the only way this is acceptable. But she should not jump over her. I just can't. I don't know why. I see people who mentioned this on social media all the time. As I was saying, it's like, is Rose and Macy a number one contenders fight? I'm like, no, no, because Manda exists.

It's like a number three contenders fight. At least the sweet should be. And it's not like she hasn't fought. So she beat Aaron Blanchfield after who's like way higher rank than Rose at 125. So how can Rose jump over? Please, no. Give men on her title shot. You do Rose versus Blanchfield.

Don't hate that either. but we'll see how it plays out for Rosamai Yunus. Let's go to the King of Kung Fu, aka Muslim Salikoff. Boy, did he look 40 years young in there against Santiago Ponziadio. It looked like a fight between two guys with a combined age of 77 years of age. And wouldn't you know it, two of the judges scored it for Muslim Salikoff. So what a birthday present it was. And it's not a fight I'll ever go back and watch again.

So you know what we're going to do, AK? Just to take the theme of fights We're never going to go back and watch again, I'm going to match up two guys who both competed on Saturday in fights were never going to watch again. Call it lazy, call it what you will, I don't care.

Muslim Salikoff versus Gabriel Bonfeme is where I'm going. Like, let's just do those two guys in a fist fight and someone's going to win. What could I say? Mike, I put it, I wanted to, it's hard to say. So before, I think,

anyone to listen to the preview show. We did a lot of talking about like, well, if Salakov loses, he'd have to look in the mirror and maybe retiring. I think a lot of us were leaning towards Ponzo Nebio to win. After the fight, I think a lot of people were leaning that Ponziivia won. I'm just checking and made a decision. It's like not a robbery. I don't know if it's a robbery. I thought

that Santiago won. Yeah, and the scoring was definitely a little funky. If you go look at the round by round, there's definitely some head scratching. Like, wait, how did that round go to Muslim Salaco? But, you know, based on like, again, we said it wasn't the most like incredible fight, memorable fight. I think Santiago should have won as well. But, listen, judges, judges went with the King of Kung Fu.

So I was a fan of the age-appropriate matchmaking. I think Ponzi-Nibos was, what, 37, 38? So I'm sticking with that. I think if you're going to keep Muslim around, that's what you do. Just keep, just, it's not, don't use him as fodder for contender. It's not like he has that big of a name that you can throw him in there with some up-and-comer. It's like, oh, they beat Muslim Selikov, pushed him to the top 15. So let's just keep giving him fights with other.

decision machines. Let's go with Max Griffin. Full Max Griffin's now. Max Griffin, 37 years young. There we go. I'm like, I'm not done with my 77 year old matchups if we want to put it that way. Sal Ak could be the 77 year old king. We should go, like, we need to stop going weight classes. We need to start going age classes. And I think Muslim can be the best welterweight 37 enough. I know that sounds crazy. I know that sounds crazy. But I do feel like that Salakob has that opportunity. And happy birthday to him, by the way, turned 40 last Tuesday. Tuesday before fight night.

So I have birthday, mostly. HBD. Yeah, I'm looking at M.A. Decisions right now. I don't love the Scalachov card, but I will say this. 2928 Salikov is far less egregious than 3027 puns in ABO.

327 puns in ABO is one of the worst cards I've ever seen. That's real bad. Like, Salikov clearly won the first round. There was no. I don't think there was one, was there? I'm talking, and I'm looking at M8 decisions right now. There's a 3027 on there, and it's a bad 3027. You don't want to call this person out?

No. People can go look it up, but it's a very, very bad card. Terrible. Terrible. But let us move on. Did you have anybody for Bonfam before we move on? Oh, right. Yes, let's go to Bonfim right now.

Yeah, I want to move this guy up a bit. So I said, screw it. I said, give him the Li Jingleang, Carlos Pratchez winner. I believe they're supposed to be fighting U.C. 305, August 17. Damn. I'm a big bond theme guy, man. But I like both Bondfim brothers. Like you said,

and Lucy, I also think is tougher than people give him credit for. I know, I say this all the time. Like, he looks like a guy who should knock people out left and right and just hasn't been doing that. He went to his wrestling a lot on Saturday, which wasn't the worst strategy. I thought it was a little dangerous because Bonfeme was such an incredible grappler. But, you know, Lusa had a plan. It didn't work out. Again, Luce is strong enough of a grappler that just wasn't going to work.

work against him over three rounds. But a decent win for Bonfim gets him back on track, a guy who had a lot of hype when he was undefeated. So I don't think I'm doing anything crazy by giving him Jingling and practice. I understand the winner of that will be like a top 25 guy. But maybe Bonfam is the top 25 guy. So I'd like to know sooner rather than that. So I'll give him the winner of that.

Let's move on to Gian Silva. Wow. the star of the card. That fight with Drew Dober was absolutely insane. It was just, it's very rare that because, and especially at this sport, the expectations we give things, whether good or bad, they're just unreasonable. They're not fair. They're impossible to reach. This fight leaped over the expectations and then just ran another five miles in record speed. This fight was incredible. Drew Dober, all time tough, Gian Silva, all time tough. two huge wins in three weeks, AK.

UFC 303 knocks out Charles Ordain, comes up a weight class, about a week's notice, stops Drew Dober. One of the worst cuts I've ever seen. That fight is incredible. Everybody just wants to see more from John Silva. We have questions, AK.

Do we want to see him at 155? Do we want to see him at 145? Do we want to see him jump up and down and just fight as much as possible? I'm curious to see where you landed for another fighting nerd. up and comer. This team's doing something right. Yeah, I would love to just ban him from the show, frankly, Mike,

and make him like the Kevin Holland rule. And because, I mean, that sounds bad. But if we do that, it's only because it means a fighter staying active. And they're fighting like every, like, six weeks and jumping between weight classes. And that is like a beautiful world for John Silva. But for the purposes of keeping this simple, I'm assuming, obviously, back down the featherweight. This was a short notice thing to save a lightweight fight. But hey, he looked like he could compete at.

at feather, at lightweight, though he was noticeably smaller. He is a featherweight. This is destiny. There's so many dream fights I want for him that he's so far away from. Like I feel like somewhere down the road, I need to see him in Toporio fight. I think him and Topori would just be an insanely sick fight. But that's just not happening anytime soon. To Perth is not fighting anyone anytime soon because he has these dreams of fighting like,

I don't know, Connemer Greger or some crap. And I don't blame Topporo only at UFC too. I don't know what they're doing with this guy. Get to Pioriori back in the cage, please. We're losing the steam from that Okonovsky win. I mean, the business moves so quickly now. But yes, I want to see John Silver Fight so many guys in the top 10, top 15, top 20. And I don't know where to rank him now because when you miss weight for a fight,

I don't like to move you up for the rankings. That's what happened with Charles Jodin. And if you fight in a different weight class, I don't move you up the division that you're normally in, right? So he won a lateweight fight. But I can't move him up the featherweight rankings for winning a lightweight fight, can I? But Charles Rodane's a top 30 guy, Drew Dover's a top 20 guy. And so theoretically, John Silver should be like a top 20, 30 guy in both divisions.

I don't know what to do, Mike. Mike, I don't know what to do, Andre Fieling. I love it. Yeah. I don't know. This was a math thing. This was like looking at names, who's booked, who's not booked, who is, again, in the top 25. I think Andre's still in there.

I don't mean to throw Andrew Fili to the wolves here. But it's not like it's a fight that Andrew Fieldy can't win. He'd be a pretty big underdog, given how hot John Silva is right now. I think it goes far as they're like, he'd be like close to minus 300. Oh, sorry, plus 200, excuse me, probably like plus 275. And I know that sounds crazy given their huge difference in experience. But I think that's how people kind of view them, would view them there in their careers. But I would like that for feeling because I think he could prove a lot of people wrong.

So that or Jean Silva beats him and properly moves into the top 25, top 20 of the other very, very loaded featherweight division. it's Nate Landware I wish I mean I don't even say anything else Is he not I just we've matched him up so many times I just feel like I can't pull that card anymore That's another guy who just wants to see him fight everybody at 1.45

I don't think he's booked I did look at this No he's not he hasn't fought But he I mean It's like he's been out for a year He's been out for three months Yeah three and a half months He fought the end of March and knocked out Jamal Emmer's

So that's so good It's great fight. Love that one. It's going to both camps. Let's get after it. Sticking with feather weights, even though that fight was a lightweight fight, but John Silva typically a featherweight. Juliana Rosa, Juicy Jay, gets it done, AK.

Gets the sneaky gilly submission. You just can never count this man out, even against Christian Rodriguez, who has looked really good as of late. Gets the sneaky tap with 11 seconds left in round number one. This is not a lot of gigantic thought. process here. This fight coming up next Saturday between Steve Garcia and Sung Wu Choi. We do

J. versus the winner of that fight, but I think Steve Garcia's gonna win. What say you? Oh, making the call. I think so, you know, where am I gangly freaks at? Mike? Where am I gangly freaks at? I want Juicy J and Sean Woodson. This is what I want. Give it to me now. I originally, I

think when Woodson won his last fight, I wanted him in Brito. Brito has been booked. I don't know how official this is, but he is expected to fight William Gomi all the way in September. So, Jaranson Breeto is not free, which means to me Sean Woodson is free again. Let's get him in there. Again, great test for Sean Woodson.

A great veteran name for him. If he wins, you know, again, creeps him that much closer to a top 20, top 15 ranking. And if Juicy Jason keeps the good times rolling, man, I don't know, maybe he's got some weird late career surge in him. And again, that fight is just going to be frigging awesome. So this is just a fan-friendly matchup. And, you know, get my tall boys. Give my tall boys some shine.

Anything else you want to add to what you just said? Are they teammates? No. But maybe you should add a number to that. Wait, what? This happened? It sure did, A.K. Not just in my dreams?

No, no. This happened. When was this? It was a long time ago. It was in 2020. Stop. It happened. No.

No. It was the return fight of Julian O'Rosey. Took the fight on short notice. June of 2020 was losing and then came back and landed a dars on Sean Woodson.

I have no recollection of this. Oh, when you say return fight, you mean oh, this was, oh, one of his... This is stints number three in the UFC for Julia Rosa. The winding road of contender series veteran, Ultimate Fighter veteran, everything you can name.

I don't know if he did looking for a fight at some point. I totally forgot. What a run this guy's been on? Like, his, Sean, he finished Sean Woodson Nate Landware in his first two fights back. That's insane. He's good. But when you have his like go for broke style, sometimes you're going to lose to Fernando Padilla. He's going to take your spot. Like, it's really tough. So I'll take the doo-do on that. But also I am sticking with the pick.

Yeah. It's certainly been long enough that I think I think Erosis should get that rematch. I mean, I don't know, I guess Woodson should get that rematch. Yeah. Yeah. He's the one who probably want to run that one back. Because I think Woodson, I don't know how people keep their rankings, would be higher than Arosa now. So Arosa would be fighting to take what's in spot, what's going to be fighting to avenge that loss. So a little doo-do for me, but I still like it. Yeah.

I'm down for that. Race the runners. Raise the sales. Raise the sales. Captain, the unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait.

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The Home Depot. Smart homes start here. Let's go to the wild card round, AK. We'll select one fighter we have not match made for yet. We'll match bake it for him now because we're not going to do Abdul Razak Al-Assan versus Cody Brundage because there's a no contest, which means we do not match make for you.

I don't even want to see the rematching these. you guys. I have no interest in it. I think Al-Hassan is the better fighter, and I also think Frendage should have won by his qualification. So, yes, to me, there was no questions need to be asked. Al-Hassan kind of holds onto his ranking. Friendage, I don't even... Do you know any main card fights Cody Frenge has had in the UFC?

Like, how does he keep doing this? And I like Cody Vrendage, but what is it... I guess it's the people he gets matched up with. That's why he... And he's sort of a good B-side? because he's fought what are we are at here? That play was not going to the cards.

Like if he no. If he got out of the first round he would have tapped Abdul Razakal asan within a minute of the second round. That's why that's just how it works. That's why Abdul went for those elbows

to the back of the hayes. I got to finish this now. I got to get out of it. I don't know time my shots. Like I just want to. But like Brendanj, what? UFC 300,

Bo-Nicle main card. I think his fight with Jacob Malcun was a main card fight. No, no, no. No, that can't be. That would be weird. People look back. He has like four main card fights for someone who is not like a great middleweight.

But I just like that. I like that he just keeps doing it. Cody Brunge just keeps doing it. He should have a disqualification win on his resume. It would have been two disqualification wins in his last like four fights or something. So keep being weird, Cody. He's super weird. He's got the DQ win, a power bomb knockout win,

fights bow nickel UFC 300 and then a no contest for illegal shots of the back of the head. That's MMA. This man is MMA. Cody Brundage, you are MMA. I hope you get a new contract or a contract extension. I hope they get you eight more fights for you.

Are you booking for Darius Flowers, A.K. Listen, I want Darius Flowers. I want to Moan Blackshare. I want these guys around forever, Mike. You need these weirdos. You need these interesting weirdos who are going there and very likely going to get got and make other fighters look good, but that's okay. I want, you know,

I want all these people to, uh, to have jobs in the UFC. So who's the wild card? Oh, who's the wild call? Sorry, did I say, did I randomly throw Darius Flowers by accident? No. I did. Oh, you did. Because, yeah, I was trying to, to nudge you. No, no, no. I'm going Montel Jackson. Are you going Montel Jackson? Of course. Action Jackson. I mean, quick, sorry to say quick. There isn't Action Jackson. Sorry, Damon Jackson. quick quick Mike I want quick to fight song you don't oh wow top 15 this guy's a top this guy's a top 10

phantom who just hasn't had a chance to get in there so let's give him a I probably not ranking him high enough I give me a high enough ranked opponent frankly song you know I didn't go that high I want Pedro Munoz sure I think it's just a good man he's so he's so good he's so good he's so good people just get in there of DMs I got from people last night when they're like, you're right, Mike, hats off to you. You told us about Montel Jackson. That's just the issue. He just never fights.

But when he does, it is electric. 18 seconds. Dude, I mean, just go back and look at the photo. He's got bigger hands than freaking Francis and Gano. He's like Banimouet. That's ridiculous. This guy and Mike Davis, if they fought twice a year,

would be competing for a title in their respective divisions, but they just have bad luck. sometimes their opponent is falling out. It's them falling out. It's just bad luck sometimes. But hopefully we see quick in there before the end of 2020. I thought for sure you're going with Jazz and Jasso-Jvisius. I don't know.

I don't know where to go with her. But that was a great win. Great win over undefeated prospect who, you know, obviously was fighting up in wait. But still, I think she was the underdog. By the time, fight night rolled around Jasmine. No, she became the favorite. She opened as the dog.

She opened as the dog. She opened as the minus 160 favorite. I don't know who it made that line, but I thought it would go the other way, but it's all good. Jasmine and the 6 and O, and they were wrong. Yes, Fatima is a straw white, and she's going to be super fun. She'll be great. Let's go to the peeps.

I didn't get a ton here, but someone did nail the right matchup for Jess and Jazz de Vizius, and we're going to get there in a matter of seconds. Seth is a newcomer, AK. Oh, welcome to the party, pal. Welcome to the party, Seth. Otno picture this week, Rose versus Barber, rebook. Salikoff versus Gabriel Bonfeme. We're two for two.

Sympathia. Oh my goodness. Giancilla versus Dan Igay. Let's go. I love that idea. Juliana Rosa versus Andre Feeley. Charles Johnson versus Mateus Nicolau. Jazz DeVizius versus Amanda Hebas, not the one I was going with.

Montel Jackson versus Ricky Simone two. Well done. Nice. Nice. Luana Santos versus J.G. Aldrich. Evan Elder versus Francisco Prado. Evan Elder Darius Flowers might be the most random fight ever put together. Why?

Outside of Cody. Stamen versus Terri-on-Ware for a pay-per-view, two guys who made their debuts on like less than a week's notice for just reasons that I cannot explain. Guys want to fight. Guys want to fight. Guys want to fight. Got to get paid. Yes.

They want to get paid. Shout out to Evan Elder. John wants Petrosky versus Chris Wydeen. And the biggest reason why is he definitely won't injure Chris. Petroski can finish people. I know he hasn't like looked that great in his life. last, what, two, three fights? He can't finish people. He's a finisher. Yeah, but he's not saying he can't finish him. He's saying he can't injure him.

Chris won't suffer long-term effects from that fight. You'd be surprised, people. You'd be surprised. Luarez-Varrensa versus Veronica Hardy. Montel Jackson versus Jonathan Martinez. I thought about that one. But this is the correct answer for Jazz with Jazz DeVeceas. Shout out to John. It's Jazz and Jazz DeVizius versus Caitlin, don't call me Chukagin, Cermanara. Oh. Yeah.

Yeah. I like it. Makes awesome. Charles Johnson, who by the way, shout out to Charles Johnson. This guy is an absolute savage. What a chaos. David DeVorak, who I don't,

I don't think he's in the UFC anymore. At least the roster bot put out that he's not in the UFC anymore. Check real quick. Keep going, Mike. Keep going. Juliana Rosa versus JSP. Bonfim versus Salikoff.

Again. Oh, Giancel. versus Jalen Turner. I kind of don't want to see that fight. Don't really need to see that one. And Rosemunis versus Aaron Blanchfield. And Harry, our last one, Evan Elder versus Austin Hubbard,

Ketroski versus Edmund Shabazian if he beats Gerald Mearschart. Why? Why are we doing this to Edmund? Stop doing this. Why are we booking Edmund versus Gerald Mearshout, by the way? I don't care what the betting odds are. I know that Gerald Beershart's going to be an underdog, And I'm going to bet on Gerald Sharp for sure.

Do they know Edmund is a striker? And like, do they know Edmonds? Why do they keep matching up with Grafflers? I don't know why they keep doing this. I don't know why they ought to know people keep doing this. Just let him go in there and kickbox people. Let's have some fun with Edmund. Caesar Almeida.

What are we doing here? That'd be fantastic. They might be teammates. Let him kickbox. Yeah. Stop mixing the martial arts for Edmund. Oh, man. Johnson versus Nicola, Orosa versus Lucas Almeida.

Gian Silva versus Sean Woodson, AK. Yeah, I see it. I see it. Bonfine versus Phil Rowe, boy. Dober versus Clay Guida. And it's very rare we get him match making ideas with a question mark at the end of them.

But Harry asks, not suggest, Muslim Salakar versus Tim Means. Yeah, again, age appropriate. Age appropriate. I want the 30, and up, 170 pound champion. We have to find out who it is. We need to determine this.

UFC, this is marketing gold. You're welcome. Yeah, he didn't, I mean, Tim never lobbied for Robbie, but perhaps he can, I don't know. I was trying to find a rhyme for Salikoff, but it's not happening. Stuff. Good. You keep working on that. AK, go ahead.

Yeah, Devorak, I checked. I thought I saw him booked for like another promotion, but no. So don't know. But yes, we saw roster bots say he's no longer promotion, so we'll see. But, I mean, that doesn't mean he can't come back. As far as I don't, not booked anywhere else yet. Thanks, Seth and Harry. Great picks, guys.

Very comprehensive, great picks. Tristan Gordette, a regular. Also wants Montel Jackson, Jonathan Martinez. Got a matchup for Fatim McLean. Josephine Conutson, of course, back down in 118. Jason Cortez, Karine Silva, and Jasmine Yasidavis, and Ariane De Silva, the former Ariane Lipski. I like that.

I like that. Very good. Jason Dernay. Rebooked Namibus Barber, Salakov, Carlson, Harris, Shore, John Silva, Mohamed Naimov. give featherweight one more try. I think he's going to get featherweight more than one try, guys. I don't know if that weight miss was like indicative of him being someone who just can't make the division. He's not a huge. He's really not a huge guy.

Rebook, Brundish Al-Hassan. No, Jason, stop it. Band. Band. No, no, Jason, you're not banned. Charles Johnson, Tim Elliott. Montel Jackson, Kyler Phillips, sure. A lot of some similar ones we've seen before. Petroski and Joe Piper. I don't think. Oh, come on, man. No, I'm dropping the doo-doo hammer. What happened? Did you watch the fight? I didn't watch the way.

Joe Piper was taking pictures with Andre Petroski after the fight. Yeah, yeah. That's something about that rang. No, that's do-do. We've already done this. We've done this song and dance. Jason, you're cut off. You're cut off.

I should have started with it. Tough day. I should have started with that one. Hey, I didn't catch it right away, but like this shows how much I'm paying attention. Harry Newhouse, Navidunis, Andrage, three for the women's BMF. Yeah, I still like the idea of seeing them fight against him. I don't know, we need the women's DMF in the line, though. John Silva, David Onama.

I think John Maddenk. Wait, who does he say? Rose versus two? On Jessica Andrage three. Yes, love that fight. That's the one I gave up on. However, Jessica Andrage currently slated to fight September 7th against the future champion Natty Ice. Oh, geez.

That's right. That doesn't even come up during the post-fight press conference when she was asked about Jessica and Josh. People sleep on us. People are sleeping on us. People are sleeping on your girl, Natty Ice? That Jessica Jans are going to win that fight? I don't know, Mike.

These are fighting awards. I mean, I think, see, what they're doing is they're waiting for MAAfighting.com a terrific website to officially announce this fight. They know the golden rule. I don't think we have officially confirmed this one, but from all signs, it seems like it's a thing that's going to happen. So, I said, this is Harry Newhouse, not to be confused with your Harry. Harry, this is a, that's a fine, that's a fine pick then, because we have, we haven't reported it. Mancha Jackson, Mario Batista.

I thought about that. I thought about that. Yes, definitely. Tough fight for Mario, but he's got to fight somebody. I'd rather he fought up, but I got to fight somebody. Charles Johnson, Mattes, Nicolao. Good way to get Charles Johnson to the top of Dean. I think he wins that one.

Let's move on here. Jard Biagin. Anything new here. Muslim and Nico Price. I like it again. Age appropriate matchmaking. Arosa, Landward 2. Interesting.

I don't mind that. But we have so many. But you know what, Mike? we have so many matches we want for Nate that it almost feels like a waste to throw him in there with someone who's already bought, so I guess we can't do that. Anjay Petroski, Bruno Silva, quite the clash of styles there. Thank you, Gerald. I like that.

And I'll close up with Twitter here. Owen. Owen, we got Muslim Salakov, Brian Battle. That is not Asian pro for a matchmaking Owen. Bonfine versus Jake Matthews. Okay. I thought about that myself. Yep, yep.

I like it. Johnson versus Ulan Bekhov, Montel Jackson versus Victory. Henry, I think Victor might be behind him in the rankings. I don't know. Very, very fun matchup. Very fun matchup. So I can't hate on it. Four Corner Sports, Rosamunis, Shepchenko.

If Valentina decides to decline the trilogy with Carasso, I don't, again, I don't think she's declining the trilogy. I think she's declining the circumstances. So I don't see why Valentina would take that fight. And I ultimately don't think she's going to decline all together. No. She wants a crazy. She wants a title fight next.

She wants a title fight next. She's not getting a title shot if she declines. Yeah. Like she's out of, she's going to have to win another fight. So why, and why would she do that? I don't know. Jude Dover, Michael Johnson. I like that.

Christian Rodriguez, John Castaneda at 135. I guys, I, Mike, I like the thinking here before you say anything. I like the thing here because I do think Chris Rodriguez is like size wide. He looks small. He looks small in there. Well, Julian Rose is huge. But that's going to be a problem at 145. I wish he could magically drop down to 135.

I still kind of want to see him stick around 145. maybe grow into that weight class as opposed to trying to make 135. 135 was tough for him, guys. He did not have, he did not come close to comfortably making that weight a couple of times. So it's bad. It's a real bad situation for him. Krzner Regas, super talented. Got to figure out what weight class he's in.

Mr. Senior Man, Jean Silva versus Julian Arosa. Eh. Giavo Bonfam, Erosse Medici, and Anja Petroski versus the Christian Leroy-Duncan Robocop winner, Gregor Rodriguez. Okay. I'm into that. And last here from Barry O'Reilly.

I'll read a bunch of these. Evan Elder, Francisco Prado, Petrosky Widman. Petrowski-Wadman, people are talking about it. Santos, Ariane, Michael Jackson, Collar Phillips, Jasmine Justavishis, Viviani-Arrejo, Rebooking. Charles Johnson, Asu Amabayev, Erosa, and Andre Philly, fun fight between two vets, I agree. Gabriel Bonfim, Nur Sultan Ruzabov. Yeah. If he stays at 170.

That's pretty sick. That's pretty sick. Jayon versus Nate Landwer or Mick Tilbeck Oralby. This is oral buys of, is this, is this two featherweights or is he doing a featherweight, flyweight hedge thing here? Orby's booked anyway. Orby's booked anyway. Mosom Salikov, yours, Medici, Burr, Foy, Macy, Barber, fight made sense and should rebook be rebooked. Thank you, Barry.

Thank you, everyone for sending in your picks. We'll definitely need more next week, Mike, because I don't know what we're going to have to say after UFC Vegas, whatever, whatever. So guys, hit me up. Hit me on Twitter at Alexander Keeley on Instagram. at Alexander KKK Lee and Alex dot Lee at Espination.com on email. Sorry, the second one was Instagram, guys. And Mike, where can they reach you? Like taking a nap for a week and a half?

Come on, Mike. No, just kidding. Look, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let's just be honest with ourselves. We are not going to care one iota about this card. That's not true. I mean, we're going to care enough to let you know what's happening. But let's be honest.

No one, all eyes are going to be on Tampa. Florida on Saturday for the wild crazy Jake Paul Mike Perry fight. This is just going to be a thing that's happening like outside of that. And boy, what a card it is, AK, holy cow, Amanda Lemoche versus Vandahraubo. Great fight. Great fight. Great fight. Good main event. It'll be a number one contender fight at 113. I like this fight a lot. Co-main event. Iron Turtle fans, stand up. Brad Tavaris versus John Young Park. They're out there. There's so many, Mike.

Don't say that. Don't get them started. Don't get those Iron Turtle fan. The Iron Turtle Army started. Feature about high stakes, as you just heard in the program, the winner could win the Julian Arosa sweepstakes.

Steve Garcia versus Sungwu Choi. If you watched the watch party from UFC 302, Sun Woo Choy a favorite of the watch party because we have 18 of his tops cards because we just kept getting Sungwu Choy cards at every pack. AK, as an Ultimate Fighter fanatic, you will be excited about this main card fight. Kurt Hollabo, yes, the Ultimate Fighter.

So excited. So excited. He takes on Canaan, Khrushuski, Cody Durdin versus Bruno Silva. The Korean Superboy is back. He's back. Duhu Choi versus Bill Algio. And then we got Haider Amil,

who I like a lot, taking on Jung Jung Lee. Brian Kelleher back against Cody Gibson, Miranda Maverick versus Deoni Barboza. Loik Radzabov versus Trey Ogden, Luana Carolina. We've got a lot of open fighter on here. Yes. Juanah Carolina versus Lucy Putalova. And look, if none of those other fights, wet your whistle or got you excited,

if there's anything else you need to get you to tune into your television screens at 5 p.m. Eastern for the first fight of the card, It is for a guaranteed heavyweight over as Muhammad Usman takes on Thomas Peterson and what should be an absolute slug fest that goes to the scorecards very, very easily. So I don't know what the over two and a half is going to be for that fight, but you should better take it because that is UFC Vegas 95. Tough 30 champion. We have two tough 30 champions on here.

Kurt Hollow, tough 30, sorry, not tough 30, just ultimate. Fighter Champions, Kurt Hollaba and Mo Usman. What a treat. This is your kind of card, AK. This is. I'm saying, you don't speak for me, my best friend, when you say we won't be talking about this card on Sunday morning. You don't speak for me, sir, because I'll be talking about Mo Usman and Thomas Peterson

for at least 15 minutes in honor of the fight going at least 15 minutes. So I will, let me tell you that right now. And again, I don't bet on MMA, but guys, if you want the surest bet of the year, it is Moosman, Thomas Peterson, over one and a half rounds. Are you telling the fine listeners of this program that your wild card selection is going to be either Mohammed Usman or Thomas Peterson? I just do both of them. What is happening here, folks? I mean, we just gave you a reason to tune in next week.

We gave you a reason to tune in following UFC Vegas 95. We love you all. And then after UFC Vegas 95, we're on the road to Manchester. UFC 304, Leon Edwards, Balaamah, Muhammad, too, Tommy Aspinall, Curtis Blas. to Patty Pimbleau versus King Green. Yes, no, no longer Bobby Green. And then we got Arnold Allen, Giga Chikaze. And that, dude, that main card slaps.

It's a great car. Very much looking forward to that. Very much looking forward to coming back. And speaking with all of you next week, so for AKI and Mike Hack, thank you for listening. Back next week, we'll have more fun because that's the golden rule here on this program. Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. Have a great rest of your weekend, everybody.

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