MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Fight Island 8

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

On the 28th episode of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Wednesday's UFC Fight Island 8 event in Abu Dhabi. Future matchups were discussed for Michael Cheisa—who picked up his fourth straight win by defeating Neil Magny in the welterweight main event—Warlley Alves, Ike Villanueva, Viviane Araujo, Matt Schnell, Lerone Murphy, and more. In addition, they give their reactions to a slew of reader suggestions following the fight card. 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next one, MMA Fighting's Matchmaking Podcasts as we try to answer the what's next for the notable names coming out of UFC Fight Island 8, which as we record, this just wrapped up a couple of hours ago, following Michael Kiesz's dominant decision win over Neil Magni. Hope everyone enjoyed the early morning slash afternoon hours that this event took place. I know I did, but I am a. I am Mike Heck.

And joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the Prince of Positivity himself, Mr. Alex K. Lee, aka, we're like the Hamzat Shemaya for podcasting. Just quick turnarounds everywhere, my man. My best friend, I'm glad that I get to do these shows with you and Jose and E.K.C. Leiden and whoever else that's popped up, probably people that I'm just imagining at this point. Because, yes, we've done quite a bit of show, online show stuff over this week. There's only more to come.

But this is always my favorite part of the week, our little podcast we have here. And now we're going to get to do it three times this week. So I cannot complain. I cannot complain. And yes, I certainly couldn't complain about some of the really solid action we saw today. And early in the day, which was strange, but somehow it worked out. Yes, I agree. Before we get into the matchmaking, this special midweek edition of On to the Next one is brought

to you by ESPN Plus. As you probably know by now, if you're listening to the next one, this program. Connor McGregor makes his long away to return in a rematch against Dustin Porier at UFC 257 this Saturday, January 23rd, only on ESPN Plus, and UFC 257 is exclusively available to ESPN plus subscribers for 699. So it's available to ESPN subscribers for 6999. Or you can sign up now to get UFC 257 and an ESPN Plus annual. plan for just 89.99. So you get the pay-per-view plus one year of ESPN Plus.

That includes all the UFC fight night events, all that good stuff, all the programming, everything for a year. So basically you're paying 20 bucks for a full year of ESPN Plus. So save some money right now and order UFC 257 by going to ESPNplus.com forward slash PV. ESPNplus.com forward slash PPV. So that is UFC 257. that's coming up on Saturday.

Let us talk UFC Fight Island 8aK. Michael Kiesa in the main event returns for the first time since his win over Jafiel Dosanjos. It was right around a year or so ago. That fight took place. He looked strong, healthy, a force in the grappling. And on top of that, he cracked Neil Magni a few times on Wednesday. His striking has gotten better in his time off.

He looked great, man. There were a lot of questions heading into this fight, and he answered every single one of them en route to a pretty lopsided. unanimous decision wins. So he calls out Colby Covington, AK, doubtful he gets that fight, but what fight do you see him getting after probably the biggest win of his career? Mike, I am not as doubtful as you are. I know it's a long shot relative to some of Covington's other options, but I think guys like Covington I've reached this point where they're holding out for certain things for so long that at some point they are going to have to accept a fight

against a high ranked opponent. And I think that opponent could be Keiza. Again, It's not, it's not coming to his number one choice. It's probably not one of his top three choices, if we're being honest. But, but again, the UFC, you know, they're not in the making Colby Covington happy business. You know, I don't think they're afraid to throw him a tough fight. And I think Covington, again, he has been holding out for, obviously, for Roaring Mosvah, which is a fight with a lot of us want to see. But a fight doesn't come along at some point, I do think he's going to want to stay busy.

So they've seen some of these matchups, like a Mazvado fight, it feels like we all want to see it happen next. it feels like it could happen down the road, right? So even if he lost, let's say he fought Keza and lost, I still think people want to see that fight. So there's reasons not to take it, but I like that Keiza did the call out. A lot of us kind of thought it might have happened. There's been some sort of chatter about that before.

So glad he did it, and I'm for it. I think Keiza did our jobs for us, and I'm not going to complain about it. I like Keiza and Covington. So that's your pick? I have a couple of others, but that's my number one. If I have to go on record for a future check the tapes, yeah, Colby Covington. All right.

Well, there are some options out there, right? Like, there are some folks that have hit us up already and said, how about Kiesa versus Damien Maya? Interesting idea. I would like to see how that plays out. Other folks have said, and this seems to be the popular one, Michael Kiesa versus Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. That one makes a lot of sense as well.

And after that performance, I think he's earned a shot against a top five guy like that. should the UFC choose to go that way. But here's how I see it, A.K., I'm going to blow you away with this one. I'm going to give you a name that you didn't even think of. To get those fights that you want, how about you take on the guy that for so long has been attached to both Wonderboy and Colby Covington? Sure, this man is on the Schneid, so to speak, but he's got the number, he's got the name, and he's a former champion. and with this division looking like it's looking, why not do Michael Kiesa versus Tyron Woodley, A.K.,

what better way to entice a guy like Colby coming today, K, than to say, hey, bud, you know what? You know that win over Tyron Woodley you were so proud of? I did it too, and I did it better. I did it better than you did. I'm not saying Woodley would go out and lose, but you have to imagine Kiesa would go in there as a pretty sizable favorite,

and Woodley would likely be fighting for his job at that, point which makes the fight super important for him and he's not in any position to turn down any kind of a fight so yeah okay you want to you want to earn your right to get a wonder boy fight or get a covington fight take that step take out a former champion and get you some that's what i think uh i am saying that tyrant would would lose that fight uh i anything can happen in mb may if i would i would see if i were the one setting the betting lines i would have keys of going in maybe as a three to one favor in that fight. I know that's so disrespectful to a former UFC champion.

I know how this sounds, all right? So if this gets mixed into time, Widley, I apologize and advance it. I know this sounds disrespectful. I think Kaysa would definitely win that fight. I just don't know if Woodley can deal with a grappler that caliber right now. I know he's had success against grouplers in the past,

but I just don't like that. Plus, I also think Kaysa, like I said, he's improved a lot in the feet, and he's shown he can be, in the right matchups, he can, he's fine standing. and throwing high volumes. So he could do kind of a poor man's impression of sort of the Colby Covington,

Kamarouzman method of fighting Woodley. I get it. I did see this a lot. Jedmishu, I don't know if you know, or college, Jen Michoudna, recommended that right away.

He said he's, I think, something of the effect of, Keza, you don't want Covington. Trust me, Woodley's the name that you want, not Covington. I think, I guess he thinks Covington would handle Keza.

But it makes sense in a lot of ways, Mike. I don't love it. Woodley, three straight losses. Keza, four straight wins. I get it. Woodley, probably theoretically still higher ranked. I just think Woodley loses that fight.

But if you're Kea's for sure, I mean, you'd have something to gain from it. And I think a very favorable matchup. Who else were you thinking of? Just Maya. And then, which as you said, a lot of our, we've got a lot of people reach out this already. A lot of readers liked it. And I thought maybe, maybe an outside shot.

And I guess it would depend who the loser was. The loser of Edwards and Comzat. Yeah. It just depends if Hamza lost, I don't know how the mass breakers would view him. I don't know if they would still say, well, we put him in there. Let's say, went to a decision. I don't know. He's like, well, we put him in there with the top five guy and he went to a decision.

We still see him as we still see Hamza as a top 10 guy, right? They're very high on him. If you got finished, maybe they'd bump him down further, maybe way further below Keza. So it's kind of a wild card there. Edwards, if he lost, I think it would probably actually make a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah, it's just interesting. It's just that log jam right now.

It's just really jammed up. So it's kind of until some of that clears up, these Walter Reed fights are going to be tough to make. But Colby, if I was making the calls, Colby. Yeah. I kind of was a Wonderboy and Colby. I mean, there's just so many. Sure.

I mean, there's so many fights to make. It's, you could do Wonderboy versus Mazadol easily. There's a story there. But we just got to make some of these fights. The big problem with 170 last year is just nothing happened. Nothing happened. We had the title fight. Burns had a good start to the year.

And then he was on the shelf the rest of it, trying to figure out whether he's going to fight Oosman for the belt. And then we had Covington versus Woodley, and that's it. That was the entire year for the Walterweight division. So that needs to change. We need to get some fights on the books and open this thing up. I'm interested to see the end of the year looks with this division. But we did discuss Neil Maggi on the post-fight show, A.K., we won't do that here.

I won't anyways. And the main reason I'm okay with that decision is there's literally 15 different options that would all work in the rankings, out of the rankings. But I am still, for those who miss it, I'm going to let you say your select. because as George Costanza said so eloquently on Seinfeld, it's back, baby. It's back. It's not me, Mike. It's the voice of the people.

As I was going through the reader submissions later, so I won't mention this later in the readers submissions because so many people brought it up that yes, hashtag Neil on Neal is back in play, both Magny and Jeff Neal coming off of losses still in that top 15, top 20. So Neil, I know I had said on previous shows. I kind of moved on. I was a fool. I'm back. I'm back.

the readers want it. Everyone's still talking about it. Hashtag Neil on Neil. If that fight gets booked, I cannot wait to see your reaction on Twitter and on the Slack page everywhere. That's like the ultimate check the tapes right there. Co-main event, we saw Worley Alves coming in as a pretty sizable underdog, and he body kicks his way back in the wind column for the first time since May of 2019. He derails the hype train of the very handsome Munard. Muneer Lazzez. I picked Muneer, and I knew he would lose the first round, and it would be a no doubter because literally anybody who fights Worliávez loses the first round. Every single fighter. And it was going the way I expected it to go. As the fights going on, I'm like,

this is classic Wurley Alvas. This is what we see every single time he fights. And even you posted on one of our Slack channels, there's no way you can keep this up for three rounds. There's no way, which is why I picked Moudier. They don't have to hear about that. They don't hear about that, Mike. Right. That's private conversation. There's nobody. Right. But still, I'll throw that out there, but I think everybody said that too, okay? Yes.

So that's why I picked Bounier. But then he threw that trifective kicks to the ribs. And that was nasty, and it was a rap. Very aggressive, very impressive performance. He goes out and calls out Nate Diaz, which I appreciate, but I have a better chance of winning mega millions this week and becoming a billionaire before that happens. Like, it's just not happening.

So I'm going to propose a. matchup that could happen that would feature two very aggressive individuals. We do Worley Alves versus one, Chaos Williams. Because I'm not ready to give Worley a top 15 guy. I'm not even ready to give him a top 25 guy. Let's give him Chaos, who lost a super close decision to Michelle Paheda. This is what I want to see. This hit my brain.

As soon as that fight ended, those two guys would just throw absolute steam at each other. I want to see it. What do you think? Worley's in a strange spot. You know, he's got, if you look at his resume as a whole, there's, of course, the Colby Covington win. That's probably the biggest win he had in his career. And if anyone who has never seen that fight, like, this was a really fast, like, clean win.

He almost took, like, Covenant's head home with him that day, the guillotine choking threw up on him. So this wasn't like some, if you go back, it's like, oh, some sort of fluke win. It's like, no, no, no. He soundly beat Colby Covington. And there was a reason why, once in a time, Worley was thought of it was to be, like, one of the most promising prospects to come out of the ultimate fighter, one of the most promising welterways to come out of Brazil.

and then just kind of hit some uneven, some uneven territory. Lost the guys like Usman, you know, good fighters, James Krause. So it was really cool to see him kind of bounce the way he bounced back. And just like you said, that opened it, that first round rush of Worley that we used to seeing, but actually sealing the deal. It was all on the Maniazazza's bandwagon. I totally bought the hype. I chewed on the hype.

I chewed on the hype. And I still think he's a good fighter, but obviously, Warley, maybe a bridge too far. And then you add in the fact that his last win before this. This one was over two years ago, and it's really hard to kind of place them. So I went with, and I saw a lot of readers recommend this as well, so I'll give them, I'll give them credit. But I think I would have gone with this anyway. I like, I like the Muslim Salikov matchup. I saw a lot of people recommend that, the King of Kung Fu.

He did, Salakov had to have his draw from a fight recently due to COVID symptoms. Hopefully that's nothing serious. And he'll be ready to be rebooked sometime in the next two or three months. And I think it makes a lot of sense for, for war. There's some other options too, but that's that again, that is my number one, I think. Yeah, that's a good pick too. Again, can't really go wrong. Throw them in there with another exciting guy and good things will happen.

Mike, what do you think of, and then there's a couple of matches I'm looking ahead to that you could face the winner of. Winner of Bilal Muhammad Diego Lima, U.S. 258 in February, or winner of a Jake Matthews, Sean Brady, U.S. 259 in March 6th. You think those guys, if they win, are way ahead of Worley, if any of those guys win? Muhammad, certainly, because he's ranked. I would say maybe the Brady Matthews winner would make somewhat sense. I still think it's a little too far, a little too high. Just because, I mean, listen, Manor is a good fighter. He came in on short notice, got a big win on Fight Island.

But, I mean, we got that, that was the samples. That's the UFC sample size right there. So it's a night, I mean, good win for Worley Evans. I'm not taking anything away from him, but I think he needs, like, one more before he start talking about fights like that, but if they gave him the winner, Brady versus Matthews, or even the loser of that fight, I'd be okay with that. All right, well, let us move ahead to one of the stars of the show, a man who deserved a $50,000 bonus, but did not get one.

He ended the fight with a ferocious walk-off knockout of won Venetius Moret. He got over the four-minute mark, like you put on Twitter, aka, what do you think is next for the hard-working blue-collar man named Ikeville and Oweva after his first you UFC win? I only had one option. This matchup took me like 30 seconds to make. I updated my rankings. I glanced them.

I saw a name right there. I said, this is the fight that has to happen. I'm going with a guy that had his own recent feel-good story. I want to see Eichville and Dave and Dustin Jacoby. I think that's the fight to make. They're both one and two in the UFC, both. Jacobi took a little bit longer for him to get that first UFC win. So they have the same record.

Jacoby just got his first UFC win. But Jacoby got it nine years after his first UFC fight. He debuted with UFC back in 2011, lost a couple of fights, got cut, went into some kickboxing, went on some other organizations. Very winding path, then came back, and he beats Justin Liddette this past October. So I'm put in two feel-good stories against each other. Give me my Biennueva and Jacoby matchup. I like it.

However, I think it's going to be a future fight, because from what I understand, and I don't know who we, he's fighting. I believe Dustin Jacoby has something in the works for his next fight. I have no idea who it is. But it seems like he's got something coming up in. First of all, let me just say this. Ikeville and Oweva is a great guy. I'm very happy for him. Just getting to the UFC is quite the story. And to see him get a win like that on a big stage, on a main card, pretty damn cool. As far as what's next, man, the road is not going to get any easier, unfortunately. And, And I went into this fight picking Ikeville and Oweva for the sole purpose that I like the guy.

He is a grinder. But if he was going to get a UFC win, this is the one. You know what I mean? This was the one. I'm not saying he can't be anybody else. But if he didn't be Venetia Morera today, it just wasn't going to happen for him. I'm sure he's fine with the road getting more difficult. But I want to give him not very much of a step up.

I want to give him a fun fight. I'm thinking somebody like Alexa Kamer, AKA is a good option. Like Alexa's looking at Bonsback. He had his first pro loss to William Knight. I think that makes the most sense. Honestly, unless he wants to drop to 185 again, but I'd rather see him stay at 205.

But physically, man, he looked the best he's ever looked. Like, he looked spelt. He looked in great shape. But we'll see what they do next. Nice win for Hurricane Ike. I'm happy for him. But I think it's Alexa Kamer and that's probably it. I mean, if they did Jacoby, that'd be fun, but, man, I don't like Ike's chances in that fight at all.

I'm just saying, Ike, stay in shape. You're like I said, it sounds like we have a Jacoby matchup online, but you know what? Stay in shape, Ike. You never know what could happen. Maybe he comes in on a short notice and can take, get step in there. Yes. Well, let us head to 125 pounds for the next two fights, AKie. We got, we had Viviani Araujo pick up her second straight win.

She defeats a gritty Roxanne Mataferi. She looked outstanding. And she deserves a step up. A.K., she deserves a step up in competition, and I'm ready to give it to her. I am ready to give her a matchup in the top five based on what I see. It appears, if you look at the division, that Juska Andrudge will probably fight Valentina Schifchenko next for the title, which means right behind her, you have Lauren Murphy, and there would be two options for her. It would be the rematch with Caitlin Chukagian, which I think would be the best option, in my opinion, in the likely option,

or they could do Murphy versus Cynthia Calvio, which doesn't do a ton for Murphy besides keep her active and fight somebody that she has a little bit of heat with. So if they go with option A, which I think they will, you do Araujo versus Cynthia Calvio. I think that matcha makes perfect sense. And if Calvio is really a title contender like she says she is, and she could be,

she's going to have her chance to prove it against another talented fighter in the division who could get there herself, in my opinion. That's the fight I like, AK. What do you think? I thought for sure we were going to say the same thing, especially with the way you built that up. No, I'm going with the woman who just beat Calvio. I'm also staying in the top five.

I want to see Arrujo and Caitlin Chukagian. And this was another easy one for me because going back to an older episode, I had said, I wanted Chakigan to get the winner of the Arrojo Modafari fight, which I think was a version of the originally scheduled for the 30th, when there was a card in the 30th. And obviously that got changed. So, yes, I'm sticking with that plan, making things easy for myself. Chukagan, I want a Chagenaing to fight the winner of Wednesday's matchup. Chukagin Arrojo.

But I think we're in agreement. She's ready. She's ready for a top five challenge. I'm not saying I'd favor her heavily in any of these matchups. Depends who it was, whether it's Chukagian, Calvio, or someone else. But she has earned it. She really does look like a potential top five contender. Yeah.

If they book Murphy Calvio, give Arruzur Chikagin. I'm totally fine with that. So basically, like, whoever doesn't get the Lauren Murphy for, fight should fight arousa and i'm okay with either of those how about uh i calderwood winner from the saturday uh this coming saturday yeah that's fine too that's fine too but i i honestly think she's above both of those girls right now wow i do i think i i she her stock is higher in my opinion i would buy a lot more arroo stock than no offense i like calderwood and i but i would put a lot more stock into arousa over either of those two she looks sharp she'll be sure she'll

looked sharp today. What about Jennifer Maya? Well, I A certain possibility. Is there? Well. But I think Maya is close to, what was, sorry, I got to look up. My memory is completely shot.

What was Maya's last fight? Title. Right. That would be a big, that would be a big step up for Orgio in terms of reputation to go right against someone who just fought for the title. I think our previous suggestions It's possible, but I think our suggestions of Chukagin and Kovia are a little more fitting. Yeah, I think you're right.

It's out there, though. Just speaking a lot, I'm trying to just double check to see if they're teammates or they train together. It doesn't look like they are. So, okay, so that's an option. But on the other end of the 125-pound spectrum, Matt Schnell returned to the wind column, and he looked damn good doing it on the feet against Tyson.

If you told me, and again, that Matt Schnell was going to outbox Tyson Nam for 15 minutes and the fight wouldn't touch the Matt at all, probably would have thought you were smoking a little something, something. The devil's lettuce, as Esther Lidd and said on the post-fight show. But Tyson-nam looked pretty darn good in the fight as well, but Matt Chanel gets the win. Danger gets it done. He's now won five out of six in the super fun flyweight division. What do you want to see for Daddy Chanel next?

First of a second, you know, we love us some Tyson Nam around here. Concert professional, always a fun guy to watch. We kind of saw the bad Tyson today, that we've seen the Tyson that has fallen short in some big opportunities before. He's just a little too obsessed with looking for that big chaos. So I was, I was unfortunate. It was unfortunate. But great job by Schnell. Again, yeah, Chanel, like you said, outboxed him.

You know, this wasn't, this wasn't, he went in with a game plan. He didn't need to, he's a great grappler, didn't need to use it. Showed off some really, really fast hands, great night performance. I had a little bit of trouble here because, well, it's hard to gauge how good the NAM win is because Tyson was coming off two straight wins. at 135, which I guess we're essentially flyweight fights anyway. But he's also technically 0 and 3 at flyweight in the UFC. So it's kind of a weird win to gain. But I'm a believer in Chanel.

I do think he deserves a top 10 guy. A few names cross my mind, but I think once this guy's healthy, I think it could work out. Let's go Schnell and Rovail. Okay. Yeah, it's kind of tough, man, because it's unfortunate for. Matt because getting a fight with somebody ranked above him is going to be really difficult because most of these guys are booked already and I love the Roy Val idea. That fight would be sick, but he had or is about to have surgery.

And from what I understand, he's going to be out, just on the recovery alone, six to eight months. So we might not see Roy Val until late summer, early fall. And that's thinking as positive as possible. So I don't think Schnell is going to wait that long. So just kind of process of elimination. Hali on Piva seems to be like the highest rank guy that isn't booked. I mean, there's Alex Perez sitting there,

but I don't know if Perez is going to want to go that far back after finally getting to a title fight. Yeah, so I'll go with Piva, process of elimination. Yeah, Perez was the other name I was thinking of. If only because I think the last time we talked about Perez, I was kind of hoping he would get a Cody Garbrand fight, but that was more of a fight. What fight would I make,

as opposed to what fight do I think it's going to happen? I don't think we'll be seeing that fight anytime soon, if ever. So Alex Perez, my other choice. I do like Piva. Yeah, I agree if you're just going by the rankings and kind of going to go in who's available. He's up there. My other one would be, again,

probably a little too far in the distance, March 6th, Yost 59 of Pi, Fran, and Jorgeo Bontoran. But, yeah, I don't know if Chanel's going to have to wait that long. That, again, could be a four-month, five-month wait to get booked. So, yeah, I think, like we said, Roy Val, it's going to take a while, so maybe Perez or Paiva. The main card kicked off with Lorone Murphy.

And yes, I know technically on the broadcast, Omari Akamadoff kicked off the main card because the prelims went a little long since there were 86 preliminary fights. But I'm just going to say this now, Omari Akamadoff, congratulations on the win. But he's going to be thrown into the wild card pool and will be a small. selection should we choose to do so. Congratulations on the win over Tom Breeze. It was very impressive, but let's be honest, we got UFC 257 coming up on Saturday. We've talked a lot, and we're going to talk a lot more by the time that weekend even

comes to an end. So Lorone Murphy is a main card matchmaking pick because he was scheduled to be on the main card originally, and it's not his fault that he didn't get to open it up as planned, but he looked damn good today against Douglas Androj, gets a second straight UFC win and a lot of people and rightfully so are very excited for this kid's future as am i this was kind of tough but i'm doing it i'm doing it i'm going to be selfish here because i'm going with the fight that i want to see because murphy as he said on what the heck is in no rush to get to the top 15 and i consider this guy to be ranked fairly close to murphy i mean after that win maybe

Murphy's like five or six spots ahead of him. But I'm telling you, I want to see a world where Lorone Murphy and Bill Algio get in the octagon and start throwing punches and kicks at each other for upwards of 15 minutes. That fight just screams excitement immediately when that fight ended. I'm like, oh my God, I want to see Lorone Murphy versus Bill Algeo. I don't know. I just love the idea. And if you're going to do it, you got to do it now.

So I'm throwing out the fishing line and I'm trying to reel in a 26 pounds scrap and a half, my best friend. My best friend, that is a, that's a bold pick. I, in my super secret, top secret rankings, I have Lorone Murphy, actually, I didn't realize how highly I had him ranked going to this fight because obviously the quality of competition he's faced, Ricardo Ramos and Zubara Tukugov. So I had him very high. He's already in my top 30.

He's actually in my top 25 now, I think, after today. I had Bill Aljo down like 63. He should be higher than that. No, well, obviously in these rankings, keep in my top 30. you know, there's a certain cluster of guys. So, like, 63 is really tied with, like, 49. Like, it's really, like, everyone from 41 to, like, 65, you're pretty, you know, picking nits at that point.

You're there's little, you know, you're just ranked them, I don't know, alphabetically. So I'm not saying he's actually, you know, obviously that much better. But I do have them far apart in my rankings, even if I were to, like, list them as a tie. I don't know. I don't know if I can have Murphy take that fight back and go that far back, what I perceive to be that far back. but I'll say this I think of all the non

non-main event and non-co-main event fighters I think Murphy is the person we got the most reader suggestions for the readers are really excited about the possibilities of Warren Murphy and I totally understand after today but you know what it's funny I just said you're going far back I have a guy who

name-wise again isn't quite that big in the UFC yet but I do have them actually pretty high again strong strength schedule so far and I think I suggested this on previous show that I would want to see this maybe unfold. So I'm going to go Lorone Murphy and Ilya Tuporria. Ooh. Yes, because I have Tuporia also in the top 30. He's got some big wins already.

Just outside of the same. He's got some big wins already in the O.C. So they're pretty close for me. I like that one. Again, I know a lot of people are high on Lorone Jackson, so they might want to go with someone with more name recognition. I'll get to some of those later. Some names might surprise you.

But yeah, I'm like you. I'm like kind of don't want to go too far ahead. So I'm going to go to Poria, who, I don't know, maybe he's in the range of Algeo and I'm overrating him. I don't know. But yeah, that's probably my pick for now. I'm ready to throw, I mean, I think I said on the post-deporia last fight episode that I wanted to pouria, like, in the top 15 fighting guys of that caliber. Or at least right, oh, no, I picked Toporia versus Andre Fili. That's the fight I wanted to see.

Yeah. If they want to do that fight, best believe I'm watching it. And that's going to be. We kind of prospect versus prospect, right? Which some people don't like, but I'm into that. Well, it is now time for the wildcard round, where we will each select a fighter that we have not match made for yet, and we will do it right now. So, AK, what is your wildcard selection coming out of UFC Fight Island 8? Well, first, some of my usual quick hits, Ricky Simone, love the Keller her call out.

I'm all into that. Marcus Perez, listen, bring back Maluko. Bring back the Joker. We don't need a kinder, gentler, kinder, gentler, those are words. I don't need a kinder gentler Marcus Perez. Okay, we want the crazy Marcus Pres back. I'm all for personal growth, but I'm a crazy man. And then Sumernergy, just a little, you know, I want to see him work a little bit on using that extraordinary range he has at 125 pounds because it was a good performance.

But let's give credit to Adeshav, who's quite a bit more inexperienced in MMA. He actually had his moments. He got his licks in against a much taller fighter. So Sumed Ergi, please do not become the next, do not become the flyweight stuff on Struth. That's all I ask. I'm going to bite on the hype train here. Another hype train, Mike, because I don't learn. Let's talk, Kumar.

Let's talk Kumar. Let's talk Kumar, Normago Medov. Came in with a ton of hype. Biggest favorite on the card, despite this being his first EOC fight. He was facing another debutante, but he was facing someone with international reputation, former M1 Global Bantamweight champion Sergei Morozov. So, but his performance was great. Should he have gotten 50 Gs over Eikwanaweva?

That's another story altogether, but his performance was great. I'm on the train, but I also want, I'm managing expectations here. So I do want to talk about it. I do want to match him up. I got some boring options here. I got some boring options here. I got some boring options. I do.

I know. I will have you know that I am also going with Mr. Normaga Madoff. So I'm curious. I'm curious where you're going with this. Oh, I'm sure your pick is more exciting than mine. Because when I say I'm high on him, I mean, in such a way that I want to see his career managed properly. And I would like to see at least one more sort of stiff,

veteran test or a tough prospect that's around his range. So my number one, I've got a stiff veteran. I'm going, I want to see him fight Davey Grant. I like Davey Grant. He's got UFC experience. He's a well-rounded fighter. Good grappler. Showed he that little pop

in a recent fight. One of his recent fights got a nice knockout. So yes, I know people have a lot of people there who are back on. Davy Grant, who is that? Well, look, again, he's fought in the UFC six times. He's a veteran. And I think he'd be a good test for Umar at this point his career. David Grant is booked

on March 13th against Jonathan Martinez Oh In that case Kyeong-ho-ang You made me break glass in case of emergency Mike

Mr. Perfect Kyeong-ho-Kang That's fun Yeah So I had I had two choices for Umar I had one that I was like sure about And then I

And then I said no And it changed my mind And went with maybe a more interesting option. So, like you said, I'm going to mimic everything you just said. This guy looked like every bit of a five to one favorite over a guy that I didn't think he'd look like a five to one favorite against. He made it look easy.

He was devastating. Great on the feet. Good on the mat. Guy's a problem. It's going to be a problem at 135. So damn impressive. And this division is just so, so good that you can slow roll him to a point. But there's like no way you can truly.

you slow roll him. You have to put him up against, like, high-level competition. You just have to. So my pick is you give him a veteran. I want to see it. Umar Namaga made up versus Lewis Smolka. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Because Smokka is an interesting cat because he's got a ton of potential, but he's so inconsistent. And he looked really good in his last fight, but can he string together a bunch of wins? Now, if Lewis Smokka can go out there and beat Umar Namaga Madov, off, good Lord, he's off to the races. Like, he's a win away from the top 15 probably because of the hype he would garner off of a win like that. My other option, and I said no, because I don't want to match up. I don't mind up matching two prospects, but I feel like these may be the two best

prospects at 35. I was thinking Normaga made up versus Jack Shore, but I said no to that one, and I went with Lewis Smolka instead. But let's see who the next guy is, because whoever wins that fight is sniffing top 15 at the end of 2021. There's no doubt about it. My prospect pick would have been Maynes, Nate Manus. Yeah, that to me was. Yeah, similar record, similar experience level. And that's about not looking at their competition. I'm just stricken looking at win-loss records. So, I mean, some might argue that Omar's competition was maybe better. I don't know. But yeah, I like that one. But yes, it's fun. You know, and Lewis Smolka would love the chance to

try to derail this guy. You're right. He's so consistent, but he gets up, if he gets up for, fight, man, he looks like a top 20 guy. You know what I mean? If he has a fight that he's properly motivated for, you really feel like Louis Smoga could beat anybody. Like, you feel like, I feel like, honestly, on a good day, I feel like he could give Piotr Yan a fight for his money. Like, that's how talented this guy has always been. I'm not saying he'd beat him, but like, but like, I wish he could go, someday he could go in a run and we could see that. I know we probably won't. But you're right. He is the perfect test for guys like, like, like, uh, like, uh, no mega met him out of

at this point. So, uh, yeah, yeah, I like, I like it. I didn't, I didn't bring up Lewis's name myself, but, uh, he would. be so for that matchup. Yeah, that's a banger. I like it. All right, so let's go to the peeps. Oh, my gosh. So many.

So many. I'll say this. This may be the last week. I always try to read everyone who contributes, but thank you guys, everyone who's sending your suggestions. You guys are so good. But there's a lot now.

Now, you know, our podcast has become so big. I'm like, no, I'm just saying. But we have certainly gotten quite enough that I may have to start kind of culling more selectively and may not be able to read everyone. So people bring your A game. You guys are always bring your A game.

And I will always try I get around to your suggestions. But this week, this three-fight week, maybe the last week where we could be so thorough. So a couple of names that we mentioned on the site, we asked for Worley-Alvez fights and Buccaza fights. So for Worley-A-Laviz, someone said, Carlos Condit. There's no reason for Condit to take that. I just don't see a lot of veterans clamoring to take a fight with Worley, which is unfortunate. Because he is a veteran himself, but I just don't.

He still doesn't have that name value, right? It doesn't do much for Carlos I mean like even if he wins that fight doesn't do a whole hell of a lot for him Just way more for Alva's and it does Condit Of course and even for fans like we talked with us on the last episode He's in that stage where we just want to see rematches We want to see Condit kind of avenge some of these losses or put on some of these exciting fights again that he's had in the past And so that was from at ESPN Harry W

And then C-level Aldo suggests he wanted to just see Alves fight the winner of the main event And again which I don't see happening I mean, must be a worldly Alva's fan or a training partner or something, but listen, listen, well, Alphas look good, but we got to keep our expectations at a certain level, okay? Alva's versus Mike, like, that makes absolutely no sense for Michael KS to even, like, consider that. Like, imagine, imagine Michael KS was asked that at, like, at the press conference.

Like, the reporter would have been like, what? Why would you even ask that? I'm not trying to be a butt head, but I mean, we got to manage our expectations a little bit. This is, he just beat a guy who had one UFC fight that he took on short notice against the guy who missed weight, you know?

But does, but does Keisa, I imagine he's also probably indulges in the devil's lettuce, right? So he's probably in worldly office of sights, right? For that reason alone. That's a good point. I'm just saying, so it's, you know, he's worldly office is on a mission, right? Don't you drugs. For the main

event, we have, for Keza, the winner of the Amen, I just want to mention this. We got a verified actor. I don't know if you know this guy is. Brandon Perea, who has been on the star of the Netflix show, the OA chimed in. And he just said he'd like to see Woodley, Thompson, or Maya. So we have a celebrity, celebrity admirer of Eminemay fighting. That's always nice to see.

Woodley Thompson or Maya for Worley? Or Keza. I'm sorry. Oh, okay, okay. For Keiza, yeah. So, which is, again, the three of the popular names have been seen. So thank you, Brandon, for chiming in. look forward to your next film project

people you can find them IMDB, I'm just saying. There's a celebrity that chimed into this show. But the rest of the sessions were mostly people saying that Covington was a bad call-el and they feel like Coventon would destroy Keza. There's quite a few of those people. So more reason to make it happen. Ike Feldman, who I believe tagged both of us,

said he wants to see the Maya fight. So there you go. A lot of steam behind the Maya Keza fight. So thanks, Ike Feldman and of course our regular regular listener contributor at Money Magic Mart he likes he as a wonder boy again another popular one Lorone Murphy Alex Casaris

I like it Casares is booked but I like it Who's Casasus by Kevin Kroom? Oh Casas will fight anybody but I guess he's always kind of he's never really going on a big win streak so I guess he'll he's not too picky but he'll fight anybody. He's one of those guys

I think when people are always shocked and he's He's bought like 20 times in the UFC. They're like, wow, really? I mean, that fight's February 27th, I believe. So it's not that far away. Could be the winner, yeah, winner of that fight. But no, again, I think we've, we've have ideas. But it's funny.

He said to give him a vet test. I think De Silva, it was a vet test. But I don't know. And also a former Bantamweight. So kind of filled that role. And then he wants to see, of course, the Simone Keller, her rebooking. Young Rabbi 86 hit us up with a bunch suggestion. So I'll run this by, I'll run this real quick, some of them

I liked Umar versus Hunter Azure, Nathaniel Wood, Montel Jackson. So he's really, really putting Umar out there. Mason Jones, who of course we haven't had a chance to talk about. He was on the losing end of that amazing fight with Mike Davis, who I hope, I hope I have some suggestions for him as well. He wants Mason Jones versus either a Roosevelt Roberts or a Faris Ziam. I think the Ziam matchup is perfect. I like that young rabbi 86. Well done.

This was a popular one that came up with a bunch of people. Amari Akmeadov and Sean Strickland. That's fun. That's fun fight. Yeah, I like it. I like it. I understand. And again, sort of similar level of experience.

Worley Alvese versus Nicholas Dalby. That's a scrap. I like that one. That's a scrap. Yeah. Again, it's a big drop-off from a Nate Diaz callout, but Dalby is so much fun. I would love to see it. And then he once see Manor Lazaz taking step back.

I think a lot of us do. You know, that win over Al-Hassan kind of maybe raised our expectations a little too high. So he said, he's got a bunch of names. One of them I liked, Christian Aguilera. I'm like, yeah, sure. Great striking matchup. Yeah. Email.

We've got a couple of emails, regular email guys now. Of course, we have Tristan Gordet, and then more recently, Matt Bradbury, who looks like he's ready to make a run for a reader contributor of the year in 2021. He's had a ton of suggestions for both the winners and losers. I'll run a few here. We mentioned this on the post-fight show, Menon-Firo versus Justine Kich. Good one. I like that one. We said stylistically, it's a good match-up.

experience-wise is the right match-up and don't count out Keish in that one either but yeah good test for Menau who made a huge impact in the first fight of the night Francisco Figuerato brother of Davidson we haven't talked I don't know about this matchup I get it they're both one fight into their UFC careers both want to know

but I actually feel like this suggestion would be heavily favored Figurato Jimmy Flick oh boy that's fun although it actually makes more sense rankings-wise than the fight I would pick figurato which would be figurato versus NAM

Oh So you think NAM That would be at flyweight, that's right We sort of, yeah, we sort of, okay Figure, yeah, I would love that for Tyson NAM And Figurato, I'd like it for both guys But that would be a fight for me though If NAM can't beat Figurato

Then I think like he's done at flyweight in the OCE I mean maybe he permanently moves up to 135 Or maybe it leads to release but and it's not not saying figurado is bad i'm just saying we get we'd get a very firm idea of what nams sort of sealing in the ufc is if he couldn't beat uh francisco figurato so yeah i like that one too but flick is interesting but i do feel like they're they're much higher on flick at this point than they might be of uh francisco so but that that goes my head i love this is very creative so i like Sumerereg versus Jake Hadley, who is the currently the Cage Warriors Flyweight champion.

So he's not signed to the UFC, but I like that kind of thinking outside the box that if they brought him in, it'd be a good test for Sumergy, Sue Muriurgy, excuse me, and also for Hadley potentially make a good debut. So I like that. Bradbury, very creative. Oh, you'll like this one. You'll like this one. I'm going to skip the others that he had a lot. But this one I really like because I had not even thought of this. Ricky Simone probably deserves a step up. It was kind of a weird matchup, the Catano Porello thing.

It was supposed to be, it was supposed to be boom, boom, right? So he wants to see Simone take a big step, what I think is a big step up, and see this suggestion take a big, a bit of a step back. He said Simone versus Marlon Marais. Hmm. Hmm. Interesting. I wouldn't do it, but it's interesting.

Why? Why not? Because I think, he's not that. He's not that. He's not. hold on oh hold on I don't know if you can hear weird on

he was thinking really hard there guys so he did like a motion he had to he was so been thought on and plugged the the headphones came out of the mic and just all sorts of craziness all right

I don't know I don't love it I don't love it Rob I mean well we want we want Marlin on Marlin so really anything yes that's that's part of it you got to do You got to do the Kalaher fight.

If he beats Kelleher, then yeah. I think Marius has hurt if memory surgery correctly. I think there's some sort of possible surgery. I think our own Gareemay Cruz reported something of that nature. I could be wrong. I think you got to do the Kalaher fight first, and then, yeah, maybe we could start talking about those kinds of match us, but, yeah, I don't know. I'm not a lot.

I don't love it. I don't love it. I was just trying to shock you. I was just trying to shock you. little shocked. I'm a little shocked. Yeah. I certainly was. So thank you for those ones. Matt Bradbury and then Tristan Gordaad of course, regular contributor. He likes Keyes

a Wonderboy, so that's out there. Why don't what I hadn't thought of, and a fight that I would favor Magni in. Magni versus Vicente Lucke. Huh, that's a fun fight. I'd favor Magny. That makes a lot of sense. I'm down. I'm down for that one.

I like that one a lot. And then sort of along the same lines, you're probably even match up for Schnell. He likes Schnell versus. versus Dvorak, which is again where I put sort of in the same range. That's a good fight too. That was one of the names. Yeah. Okay.

All right. All right. I got to get. Man, I forgot how much of these things are. Okay. So I'll try to run through Twitter. A lot of Twitter DMs. So one of the Twitter DMs fairly quickly.

Eranski said, first he was like Keiza versus Covington, Masvedal loser. And I think that was moments before. I think that was right after the decision was read. Or maybe when the fight was, excuse me, when the fight was winding down. and then he immediately sent me a second message and said, no, I want that Colby fight ASAP. Forget it. This is the one to go.

The call out works. It changes minds. We had Michael Perugini who said, oh, I like this one. Ricky Simone versus DeVallish Reilly matchup. Maybe Dematch. Rematch, excuse me. Maybe DiWallich really has moved past this fight probably.

But the fight was three years ago, a long time ago, so I don't hate it. And if any remembers, a very controversial fight with Simone picking up a last second technical submission in a fight that he was going to lose by decision because DeVoschville, he was caught in his guillotine and kind of his feet were moving, but it looked like he was out, and then of course once the choke is released, he pops back. It was a very strange fight for anyone who he doesn't remember. So I don't mind that. I don't know if Marab wants to get that win back, now it would probably be the time to do it.

I like that idea. Marab was just on what the heck, and he's down for anything at this point. He was supposed to fight Cody Stame in February 6, but he had overcome a pretty serious bout of COVID. He got, I mean, he got laid out by COVID-19, so he's good to go now. He tested negative, so he's good to go. And I think he would take that fight in a heartbeat. Yeah.

And again, I think like I do see Marab as a future, if not a future champion, I do think a future title contender. And a lot of the great fighters, I like, I always like to see when they kind of are able to erase, a race, as it were, those questionable fights or fights that they, Like, they couldn't have won at that stage of their career, but I kind of like to see where they've come along. So if he, like, comes back and just soundly beats Simone, we kind of remind us that, you know, maybe DeVosch really has really surpassed him and is on another level. So that's cool.

That's a good suggestion by. So thanks, Michael Perugini. Pergini, excuse me. I specifically asked him for pronunciation and then did that. Thank you, Michael Perugini. Harry Lipski, I'm bringing this up because he mentions you specifically, Mike. Worley Alves versus Shavkat Rakhanov. And then he said, Mike's definitely going to veto this.

And I can't remember why. Do you have some issue with Rachmanov matchups? No. That's weird. Let me look at his comment. No, I don't, I don't, I don't, no, I like it. I think the only thing I've said about Rachmanoff is he's not getting enough credit for his win over Cowboy Olavera. That matchup is fine.

That's actually like, shit. That might be like the best one of all. Oh, I don't think it's fine for Worley. That's unfair. Why is it unfair? He's only what, one and no in the UFC, right? Yeah, but I mean, listen, I understand. understand that you call a Nate Diaz and you're hoping like it's like when you it's like when you

make it offer to buy a house and it's like way lower than asking price and they come back with something higher and you meet in the middle like maybe that's what he was trying to do with with the Nate Diaz like we go a little bit lower and then we meet in the middle rock Monoff's probably like damn he's he's probably a top 25 guy right now after that win over Alex Olivera like I think he is he is a legit threat at 170 pounds that's a scary fight for Worley-Avas. No doubt about it. He just beat a prospect. Yeah. That's why I don't want to see Worley have to fight him. Well, you know what? Harry Lipski, you read this all wrong because Mike is super down for the question. I actually dig it. And I'm the one. I'm the one who's thinking

like, what? I don't know about this. So you were right. Someone, one of us was going to object, apparently the wrong person. I just want to bring out another I could be anewa matchup from Harry Lipski because I just think we've got to talk about I can be Inouva. He likes Mike Rodriguez, Danilo, Marquez winner. They fought on February 6th. Sure. Yeah. And this is a, I don't know about this. Akhmadov versus Ian Hynish, Calvin Gasolam winner, U.S. 258, February 13th. Didn't Heinzsche fight Akhmath? Am I crazy?

That's a good question. Didn't they fight? They fought like last year. They fought before Heinish knocked out Miershaer, or Gerald Mershah, right? You are correct. Yes. I just, I just have to look at it up. Ian Hynish, UFC 245, just a little over a year ago, December 2019.

So, and he won by unanimous decision. So, yeah, maybe be more if Gassalm wins. That's a tough fight for Gassolm. I think he can win it. I'm just saying it's tough. Tough fight low reward. A very popular one I saw is Akhmada versus Jack Hermanson. Yeah, yeah.

A few readers suggested that. I like it. That's a good one. I think it makes a lot of sense. Redwood Rebel is another. one I had to bring up because there was these our readers are starting to add these conditions and comments which I really appreciate. Redwood Rebel said

Worley Alves' Al-Anne Juban rematch from November 2014. This is apparently a wound that has been lingering for Redwood Rebel for some time. I got November 2014. He said Juban was robbed. I admit my memory of the fight is a little sketchy. Mike,

you're nodding your head. You seem to remember this. One million percent Joe Bad won that fight. I of course went to MMA decisions to check it out. And sure enough, one out of 13 media members that scored the fight, scored it for Alvesz, the other dozen, all for Juven. So I guess there's something to this.

Redwood Rubble, you're not the only one who thinks that this. And I would not be against that fight at all. Again, we're talking rematches. Look, when you're around the UFC long enough, it just makes sense to fight guys again. So, hey, why not? I like that. I'm in.

Let's do it. Deep cut. That's a deep cut. This is why we do the reader's suggestions, because I would not think of these things. I'm over it. I'm over the Alves Juvan fight. But you know what?

Maybe some people are. That's why whatever I've talked about Worley Alves and run down his credentials, I never mentioned the Al-O-O-Bah fight because I thought that there's like robberies and there's like hose jobs. Like I feel like Ho's Job isn't quite like robbery. This is a robbery. Joe Bang got a robbery review this. He said I should rob the Redwood Rebels said I should robbery review this.

Oh, dude. Oh, this is an easy one. Damn. I don't remember. I have no reflection in that fight. And that was Worley's first post after winning the Ultimate Fighter fight. Sorry, the ultimate fighter tournament. It was in Brazil.

So there is kind of all the makings of maybe some questionable officiating, some favorable officiating. Wow, I don't remember this at all. Christian underscore D05 on Twitter says, this is one I had not seen anyone else suggests. It burns, lives to Usman. Kesa Burns. You know what? I like that one a lot. Really?

And I'll tell you why. Michael Kiesa, and this is so funny about Michael Kiesa, because I've always really liked Mike. Like, I always thought he was a great interview, excellent insight. When I found out that he was going to be part of the broadcast, I was like, this is a absolutely perfect pick to add to your broadcasting, because every time I've interviewed Kiesa, it was mostly just to, like, talk about fights. Like, we never really, like, talked about any fight that he was in. We just talked about fights.

And like earlier in the year, when he came on what the heck, he just came on to like talk fights. Like came and talked about like where he was at. He was about to have surgery. He wasn't planning on fighting during the COVID lockdown and anything like that. So we talked about that. And then we just talked about fighting. But people like back then for some reason, I don't get it. They just that interview got like down liked so many times just because people like, I don't like this guy.

I don't like this guy. I'm like, how can you not like this guy? I just don't understand. And I feel like his stock has grown. since then. I feel like people like him a lot more. They're starting to understand who this man is. But one of the things he said in that conversation, the first time he was on what the heck was that he feels that Gilbert Burns is going to be his arch nemesis throughout his entire rest of his UFC career. And not in like a call you out, I don't like you, but just in a respectful, like,

anything you can do, I can do better, like little poke and prod kind of thing. He feels like Gilbert Burns is like his bitter arch nemesis, like competitive rival and will be. for the rest of his career. So if Michael Keyesu was offered that matchup, he would probably, honestly, if they offered him like Burns or Covington, I think he might jump on Burns first, to be honest.

Wow. It'd be a great fight. It would be a great fight. And it really would make a lot of sense if Burns because it's the kind of fight that, again, it elevates Keyes if he wins. That is the finally, he wins that fight. He's in line for title shot.

And it's for Burns. He wins that fight. Keeps himself in that, that, well, you know, he beats Sikiza. I'm one or two fights away from getting another shot at whoever the champion is. So Christian underscore D-05. Well done, sir.

I also like his suggestion of Magni versus Nico Price, which is another fight I think would get Magni back on track with respect to Nico. And then a fight that's so middleweighty. It's delicious, I had to mention it. Omari Akmedov versus Christoph Jocko. That's a, oh, that's a, that's a 185-pound fight if there ever was one.

And also, shocking to me, that Jocko's on a three-fight win streak. I like Christof Jocko, and I totally forgot. that he's on a three-fight win streak. And I could not name... Can you name one of the person in that street? Eric Anders.

I did not remember that at all. My memory is terrible. I'm aware of this. I've copious notes, but my memory is terrible. I remember because Eric Anders, I don't know if he was the co-main event, but he's on the main card for the Walt Harris, Alster Overeem card.

And like, Anders and Harris were going to fight together on the same card for the first time since the regional scene. And then Andrew's lost, and then Harris lost. It was a rough night for the Alabama crew. But, yeah, Jocko looked pretty good in that fight, too. He always looks good.

I just forgotten that he had won three straight fights. So, and I have to shout out one special person, our first-time contributor through Twitter, at Sean Irish Murphy. I imagine the only Sean Murphy, I think, in Ireland or in the Irish community. So, you know, I'm sure he'll stand out when I mentioned his name. He's a big fan from the UK,

and he's big on Lauren Murphy, so much so that he had three suggestions for him. and I think he's even higher than we are on Mr. Murphy. Andre Fili, oh, you said Andre Fili, I'm sorry. And then Mac Juan Amirconi. And then maybe he said Cub Swanson, if we want to go with another. But I don't know if Cub would want to take that fight. But Cove will fight anyone.

Yeah, I don't think Cub is choosy at this point. I think I like the Swanson. I like the Americani one. What was the first one? Feeley. Did you know I mentioned Feeley? Feeley for Tuporia. Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Right. we had mentioned Phile before. So, Fili, which would be, that would be a huge test, huge test for Lonn Murphy.

Hmm. Yeah. I don't want them to rush Lerone. You know what I mean? I don't. Yeah. Like Teporia, like Teporia,

like Teporea, I think we can rush. You know, I think we can. I think he's ready. Lorone, I'm not saying he's not ready, but he feels like he's not in a rush either.

Like Teporea is like, I want to be a champion in like a month. Murphy's like, I'll be a champion, but I'm in no hurry to get there. So give him fun fights, let him be himself and just have some fun. But yeah, I mean, even Amirhani is a tough fight. Yeah, sure.

I mean, if they do that, sir. I like all. I like all. Murphy has opened up a lot of doors for himself. With the three fights that he's taken, the two wins and a draw, he's opened up a lot of himself. And again, like I said, I think the most reader suggestions I saw this week for Lorraine Murphy, which I would not have guessed heading into this card.

So great, great for him. Great for him in his career. So thank you, Sean Murphy. That's the Trudems. And I'll close out. You know, I don't favor our Instagram DM guys, Mike, but they just always coming in with some wild stuff. And they got to close the show.

I'm not playing favorites. And we had some great Twitter suggestions. So maybe next time I'll close up with those. But frigging Jay Steiner and Jacob Best, just some wild stuff. So first up, Jay Steiner on Instagram. I like this one because I want to see David Zavada get another chance. He likes Munir Lazaz and David Zavada, so I'm down for that.

I think Zavada is really good. Just had some tough luck, tough matchups in the UFC. Villanueva versus the Roundtree Prachneau winner. They're fighting this Saturday. Yeah. Maybe a little bit higher experience than Vianueva, but sure. Arrejo versus Calvillo, as you suggested. Tristan Gordet also suggested this one.

Ricky Simone versus Saeed Nirmagomedov. Is this a thing? Is there a feud there or something? think what is it's just two to two uh intelligent readers having the same thought that yeah i mean it's just kind of where they they're at like rankings wise they're probably around around the same spot i think saeed would definitely would definitely jump at that and then uh umar versus hunter azure i think someone else kind of just before mike davis finally did we talk about mike davis at all no finally mike davis i saw some some good mike davis one i saw i think mike davis

bobby green from another reader oh yeah it's fun and then uh this uh jay steiner would like likes Mike Davis versus comma worthy. Oh, damn. Mike Davis is fun. I think, I don't know if there's a lot of bad badsips are there from Mike Davis, frankly. God, there are a lot of good ones. What about Mike Davis versus Joel Alvarez?

Yes. Wait, did we say Joe Alvers was booked? Who did we talk about earlier? No, he's not booked. I'm being confused. Oh, Jonathan Martinez we talked about, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes.

Now, Jacob Best tried to top that. He actually would like to see, he liked to see Mason Jones fight commonworthy, and he added Jones won he feels Jones beat Mike Davis so if anyone is worthy of worthy

he believes it is Mason Jones not not Mike Davis so a little a little feud there between our

favorite Instagram fight suggestors I have to I have to bring up Jacobs comments here because there is he has a

he has to explain one that's coming up so Jones Conworthy we saw this another one is well a few people I think

Ahmed of and Sean Strickland. I can't remember if I brought that up already, but it's been, that's been thrown out there. So, uh, so I could see that. And then this is, this is the one I had to close the show with, because Umar and Armaghometa, Mike, look, we were, we're high in him. And we, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what's the right match for him. And we got pretty high. None of us aimed this high as far, as far as name recognition. Okay. None of us aimed this high. Frigant Jacob Best, uh, says, he wants to see Umar and Magametteov and Sean O'Malley. Oh my God.

Yeah. Now let me, before you say anything, let me, he wants to try, he, he wants to rationalize this because I told him it might shake both of us. Yeah, Jacob Best says, this might be a crazy one, but I do really like the idea of straight up doing Nomagomeda versus Sean O'Malley. O'Malley is a huge name. Umar is known as an Uber prospect and the surname will serve him well with a quick push. Plus, he's very well known himself. If O'Malley wins, it's a very credible win that would put him back on track. if Umar wins, imagine the fast stardom he could reach, and it's stylistically a great and

interesting matchup. Matchup for matchup's sake, I couldn't love it anymore. Like, I could not love it anymore. But Sean O'Malley would be 10 times higher than he is right now if he were even to consider that fight. If I'm Sean O'Malley, I'm like, hell no, I don't want anything to do with this man. Maybe down the road. If I'm John O'Malley, I'm staying away from that guy until we fight for the title or something.

Like, you stay far away from that, dude. Far away. But if you look at, like, rankings and where these guys are at and potential, God, that's a great fight. Who would you think? If the UFC booked that fight, if the UFC booked that fight, who would be the favorite? Oh. Uh, recency bias, Umar.

I think Umar would be favorite. I think O'Malley would open, I think O'Malley would open as the favorite. I think he'd open a minus 150 or something. But by, but seriously, by the time they fight, Umar could be like a minus 200 favorite by the time they actually fight. Yeah, there's something. I like who are what Jacob's thinking here, though. Obviously, he sees something special in Umar, as clearly the UFC matchmakers do,

as clearly a lot of fans do. It's not just the last name. The performance was very, very strong. Again, someone I think was a good, good opponent for him to debut against. So Jacob Best, you are madman. If you were running the UFC, you would be shocking a lot of people. You certainly shocked Mike and I. So that, I think, is very worth it.

I almost had it, Mike. That, I think, is a very worthy reader submission of the week. So Jacob Best, I think he won some before. Here's another. Here's another for the absurd. Foreign or Matt Brat-O versus Sean Romalley's suggestion. People said, I always forget to do this at the end of the show. So please send in your suggestions to, you can find me on Twitter at Alexander K. Lee.

On Instagram at Alexander K-K-K-Lee, that's two K-Ks. And or hit me up on my email, Alex. Dot Lee at SBNation.com. Send those just in. And bother Mike, too, all right? Mike's stuff is all out there. Okay, bother Mike on Twitter, please. On Twitter, where you can find them.

If you can find Mike, send him a DM. Yes. I am at Mike Heck underscore JR on Twitter. One of my resolutions was to get better with Instagram, and it's funny that I would give my Instagram, but I don't even remember what it is. I post out it every so often. I don't remember what it is.

I want to say it's M underscore HeckJR. Let me just make sure. Yep, M underscore HeckJR on Instagram. My goal is to try to get more active on that, but I would do such a terrible job. But so hit us up on that. Find him. Yes, find me, DM me.

Don't tell me to drink battery. acid like the guy who didn't like Calvin Cater the other day. But join us later on this week as we matchmake following UFC 257 going down Saturday night, headlined by the big one, the rematch between Dustin Porier and Connor McGregor. Michael Chandler's UFC debut going down on that card as well. He takes on Dan Hooker in the co-mate event. Should be a lot of fun. We're going to be talking all about it.

By the time we record the show on Sunday, AK, I might not have a voice. I might not have a voice. But we're going to do the best we can and we'll fight through it. Of course, between the lengths goes down. On Thursday, 5 p.m. Eastern time, Jed Mishu versus Stephen Morocco. We have lots to discuss on that show. We got Wayans, AK, 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Eastern time on Friday for UFC 257. We've got the press conference going down Thursday morning.

By the time you hear this, the press conference might already be over. So who the hell knows, just stick with us at MMAfighting.com for all that good stuff. In the meantime, friends, for Alex K. Lee, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us. And remember, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. and we'll have more fun following UFC 257 right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.