MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Kansas City

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

Ian Machado Garry showed once again he can hang with anyone in the welterweight division, gutting out a five-round win over the white hot Carlos Prates in Saturday’s UFC Kansas City main event. But should fans be concerned about Prates nearly putting Garry down in the fifth? Does Garry need to fight again to cement a title opportunity? 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 Garry as he plans a trip to Montreal to be the backup for Belal Muhammad’s welterweight championship defense against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Zhang Mingyang after he sent Anthony Smith into a bloody retirement, featherweight dark horse contender David Onama, Randy Brown following his Knockout of the Year-candidate against Nicolas Dalby, plus middleweights Abus Magomedov, Ikram Aliskerov, and more. All that and the Eddie Hall matchup that HAS to happen. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠@AlexanderKLee Subscribe:⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠ Read More: ⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Wi-Fi available to AeroPem members on equipped flights sponsored by Bell, conditions apply See Air Canada.com to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The Matchmaking Crowns have returned following UFC Kansas City, which turned out to be a pretty fun event. I mean, not everything was fantastic, but for the most part,

this was a good card in KC. It's nice when you leave the world's most famous Apex, just a different energy, the effort levels go up, all sorts of things that we have been preaching. and others have been preaching for for years now, but the road show continues next week. We're here to discuss what happened this past Saturday in KC. I am Mike Eck and joining me to matchmake for the big winners from Saturday's card

is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, Alexander Cayley, AK, how are you, sir? Hi, boys. Hey, what's up, my best friend? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I feel like we're in a pretty decent run of shows. Like you said, it helps being on the road.

I think KC was solid. Definitely going to U.C. 14th was solid. Mexico City. There was the, you know, there was the apex card in between, which was fine. It was inoffensive. It wasn't, like, you know, we said it wasn't going to be a great card. It wasn't a great card.

That's how these things go. But yeah, so far, the road show's been good. I feel, I think we've, we and the rest of their main base have had, like, a lot of enthusiasm. And it's been well met. Saturday was Saturday in general just was like a ton of fun for combat sports. It delivered man. It was a long day. I think anyone

either working in, of course, the combat sports industry like us, or anyone that's just like an avid fight fan follower who wanted to catch all the major events that day, probably a little tired, but it was well worth it. If you tuned into KSW, Eubank, Ben, and UFC

Kansas City, you had a good time, man. I don't think there was any point during that day where you'd be like, oh, man, I wish I wish I had, I'd skip this. I hadn't watched this. Like, no, it was, it was really good stuff top to bottom. Yeah, I think, you know, we'll talk about it. There's one fight in particular on UFC Ken's City where I was like, man, I wish I was literally doing anything else, getting stitches between my fingers.

And that was the very middleweighty fight that didn't see. But we will get there. We'll get there. But yes, it was a great, great combat sports day. Eddie Hall. Oh, man. Star 1, 2, and 3. he gets all three spots on the podium,

but that's not saying that the rest of the day and night didn't deliver in some way. But we'll probably touch on all of those things. But let's get into UFC Kansas City, AK. Let's discuss the main event, which ended up being a really good one. Ian Machado Gary gets it done against Carlos Pratchez. 17 or so minutes of fighting,

I would not have said this was a compelling main event at all. This was one-way traffic. This is the Ian Machado Gary show. He was doing essentially whatever he wanted in there. And then Carlos Pratchez figured it out. Started getting going, stung him in round four. And then round five almost gets him out of there. Some people scored it a draw.

In fact, on our post-fight show, our own E.KC Lydid and made a poll was, how did you score it? 50-50 at the time of towards the end of the stream, scoring it a draw, giving Carl Charles Pratchez a 10-8 round 5, but in the end, Ian Machado Gary gets it done. Unanimous decision 248-47s and a 49-46. He says, I'm the backup fighter, and then Dana White did his post-fight press conference and said, yes, Iamachita Gary is the backup fighter for the UFC 315 title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Delamadal, which is coming up in now less than two weeks. I don't believe this for a second.

I do not believe for one second that this guy is going to be the back. I don't see how there's any world where the UFC would even put him in this position. There's no way he would even be able to fight, right? Like he was dinged up a little bit. Looks like his nose got cut up. Brennan Fitzgerald mentioned some swelling on his forearm. I just don't know if this happens if it does good on him. But even if he is the backup, I believe Jack Delamette will fight, which means I'm

Machado Gary will probably have to fight as well. What happens next for the future? I too was surprised by Dana White's post. fight declaration because again, I don't think they've had backups for any of the fights this year so far. We've had multiple title fights, and I think they've avoided designating backup. I'm not entirely sure why. It's just since there's been some names in there with like some, if the, you know, health history, way in history. But this is the first one.

Ian Machado Gary said it right after his fight and I was already like, are you sure you're official? And then Dana White backed it up. So yeah, an interesting choice, especially given how the fight went, the damage taken in that final round. boy uh gary got busted up something fierce he was saying later like oh he wasn't really that hurt and i'm like my man you were you were hurt and then there's no shame in it you were hurt you got you got cracked by some shots um i'll say this if i'm sean brady i would also be asking if i'd uh you know they would want me to attend ufc uh 315 because well no one is uh clamoring for a balaul mohammed sean brady rematch uh i i'm just saying i why can't john brady be the backup it's it's it would be the

be the least compelling main event, UFC pay-per-view main event of the year. I get it if by some chance they had to sell Brady-Mohamed two on like a 48 hours notice or something. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. I think Sean Brady is more likely to get in there right now than Eam Chado Gary.

But good on Dana White for at least putting that possibility out there if Eam Chado Gary is healthy enough. At least you're planting some sort of seas for a story there, a story there for IMG ends up. stepping in. I'm assuming, I think as you are, Mike, that he is going to have to fight again. And in that case, I'm going with the gentleman I just named who's also the, you know, the alternative for a backup. It's Sean Brady. It's not right. Because I think Sean Brady has to fight again, too. I don't remember how I matched up Brady after his win. Oh, I think I did match him up

with the winner of this fight, if I'm not mistaken. I'd go to check my notes. But it's all, oh, no, no, here's, sorry, I had an explanation. It's all very convoluted. So after walking Buckley beat up Colby Covington, I wanted to fight Leon Edwards. Then Brady got the Edwards fight because Jack Delamandelion got moved to the UFC three-turned Maine, 315 Maine. Then I wanted Brady for Buckley, but Buckley, we was just announced to be fighting Kamar Usman. So in a very weird way, I've kind of landed on Gary versus Brady if they are to fight again. I think both guys have done it up, like I said, where they could step into a title fight if needed.

but more likely they do it but again and I think that's the only option that really makes sense right now. I agree. I'm willing to listen to other options, but you're just wrong if you go anywhere else, Sean Brady here. And I give Gary credit for a number of reasons. One, just surviving the late onslaught from Carlos Pratchez and battling through. And two, he's getting the backup spot because Sean Brady didn't ask for it. So he stepped in, asked for it, and got it. Now, I know Matush Gamrot was a backup fighter and it did not go very well for him.

He did not get the next title shot, but at 170, typically the backup fighter gets the title shot. Colby Covington. Just ask him, the man, vanish off the face of the earth for 13 months, was the backup fighter for a fight and then got a title fight nine months later. So it's not out of the realm of possibility, although this division. is much different than it was back then. It is a much different division. You can make a strong case for like four or five guys fighting for a belt right now.

And you can make a case to three or four of those guys probably deserve it more than JDM right now. If we're being honest, no disrespect to JDM. He just hasn't fought in forever. And he beat Gilbert Burns, which is a fine win. But he was losing that fight until he got a sort of a miraculous comeback down the stretch. there so yeah Ian Machado Gary just continues to to do the thing and he evokes emotion one way or the other I just don't see a world where he ends up beating the backup fighter for this fight because he's dinged up man like just go watch this post-fight press conference those cuts all that shit

it's got to take forever to heal up on that man so but good on him he's he's definitely out there took the fight on short notice gets the big win and we'll see what's going on for the future let's go to the light heavyweight division, kind of a sad ending for one Anthony Smith, but not for Anthony, AK, not for Anthony. He said, I can't be upset. I can only be happy about what I've accomplished over the years.

He ends his career in a puddle of his own blood, essentially. He ends his career, getting the blood wiped off of him, flipping off a fan in the crowd, and then almost leaving the cage to fight this man. and apparently a Nebraska sweatshirt or something. Pretty wild stuff, but our worst nightmares came true. Most of us believe when they booked this fight

between Min Yang Zhang and Anthony Smith that Smith was about to get battered and beaten and finishing the first round. And that's exactly what happened. I picked against that because I wanted the M.A. gods to smile upon us. And Min Yang Zhang gets the win, gets the first round finish,

and then cuts up promo that was kind of, of a choice, I guess. Like, I thought the first half of it was like, okay. The second half was terrific. I just don't know where he goes from here. So I think we just have to have the most fun possible and do Min Yang Zhang versus Bogdan Goosekopf, aka I think that's just a, a fun fight. And you know what?

We never got Anthony Smith versus Bogdan Goosecoff. So how about Min Yang Zhang fights Anthony Smith and Bogdan Goosecoff back to back? What a story that was. be a little confusing but yeah um i had the chance to pivot from a previous pick so i wanted alonzo men i think after alonzo mennefield won that uh main card opening about against julius walker this past february i was just like uh give alonzo you know the winner that's a winner sorry give alonzo uh jang win loser draw win loser draw versus anthony smith i still like that matchup alonzo is i believe announced for ufc atlanta i think i think he's fighting umar c

So I will pivot a little bit. I will go the winner of that fight. I get it. I think if like C wins, they might want to go in a different direction, I think they might want to build him and Zhang as like, you know, away from each other and try, like, get some fresh blood going in the light heavy division.

But the light heavy division is not that deep. I don't think we're in a position where we can protect, protect anybody. And I don't think Zhang or Umar are like such blue chip prospects that we need to be like, oh, we need to coddle them. I think they could fight each other. I think it'd be a really entertaining fight. And I think, you know, win or lose, it's not knocking anyone out of. They're both in their late 20s, which for light heavyweight is like early 20s.

So I'm fine to make that fight happen. If Alonzo wins, definitely. Definitely him and Zhang, I think, is the perfect matchup. Umar might not fit as neatly. But I'll go with the winner of that, uh, that fight. I think it's June 14th. Sure. That's fine.

That'll certainly do the trick. Let's go to the featherweight division. And now the rest of the world can feel like I do because for a long time, and I mean this in the most respectable way possible, I just did not believe Giga Chikato is a top 15 featherweight. I just didn't believe it, especially not globally, because featherweight is just such a good division. There are so many really good fighters at 145.

And I just felt like Giga was a fine fighter. He just wasn't one of the 15 best fighters on the planet at 145 pounds. And to be fair, David Onama, who defeats Giga Chikaze, I also do not believe he is one of the 15 best featherweights in the world either. But a win is a win. It's a really good win for David Onama. It's not a fight. We will go back and rewatch. But he did what he needed to do.

He got the takedowns and won the fight. So at least in the UFC's rankings, AK, David Onama is probably going to be like the 12th or 13 ranked featherweight in the world. And what a spot for him to be in. I just don't know. This was tough for me, A.K. How did you book David O'Nama? Is he getting a ranked guy, or is he going to have to fight outside of the top 15? Yeah, this was the toughest, I think, of the non-wild card picks we had to make.

He's also been doing a thing where he's kind of like bouncing between featherweight and lightweight. I believe the lightweight body took. That was only because it was some short-noticed thing, right? I mean, his fight before this one with Roberto Romero at 309. I don't remember how that came about. He was. Oh, he was supposed to fight Lucas Alameda. Okay, okay.

So, you know, whatever. He kind of had to go back of 25, temporarily. But yeah, it's weird. He hasn't really been able to find his rhythm at featherweight. I'm glad he got the Giga fight. Like we said, whether we agree or not, he was ranked in the UFC rankings, Chikaze, that is. And what's hanging on to the MA fighting rankings,

but when we do a full update after UFC 315, pretty sure Giga is going to be out of there. I think that may be the end of Giga. We're having an airing of the grief out. if he ends up a tie for number 15 with like Aaron Biko or something. I was like, no, no. Yeah, it's, it was, I, I wasn't as adamant about Giga not being ranked because I think I, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the reasons he was still number 14 heading into,

heading into this fight. Because again, you know, I just looked at like who he'd lost to. I think he lost to good fighters. But then I had to remind, when I was making my pick for this fight, I did pick Onama. Because the last time he really looked great was Edson Barbosa, maybe, I'd talk on Giga. And that was August 2021. So it's been a while. It has been a while since we have looked at Giga as truly like, oh, wow, this guy could be a contender. That's a long time. And like you said, in a division that has rapidly moving month by month has like new guys coming up and and

jumping to the top of Dean, top 20, top 25. So yeah, he's going to, he's going to fall. He's going to fall. I went with, you mentioned it's David Onama top 15. I don't know. I think we got a call upon the gatekeeper here. Had a recent win. Denigay. Let's see Onama and I mean, okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm just like, I'm just regoing through Giga's resume. Yeah.

In the UFC. Jamal Emers, by the way, I will take this to the grave. He lost that fight. Ah. He lost to Jamal Emers. He beat Irwin Rivera. Yep. On short notice.

He beat Omar Morales. Yep. He beat Jamie Simmons. He did. He did. And then he beat Cubs Swanson and Edson Barbosa. who were certainly on the back nine. Respectable.

Three straight bonuses. Three straight bonuses. Respect. Respect. True. He got a fourth straight bonus for being on the receiving end of one of the all-time

great ass whoppings in feathering history. It wasn't quite Max Holloway versus Calvin Cater, but Calvin Cater just obliterated that man. Calvin knocked him out of the octagon for a year and a half with that fight. then he beats Alex Casares, another guy who is probably on the 17th hole of his career. And then loses to Arnold.

And then loses to Arnold Allen and David O'Nama and missed weight on top of it. Yeah, he's out. So, yeah, he's, I figured he would definitely be out of your record. He won based on him missing weight. But I don't want to dump on Giga. Like, he's a good dude and he's a fine fighter. He's just not a guy who's going to fight for a world title or be a top 10 guy. And that's okay.

So as far as David O'Nama goes, he's not getting a rank guy. I can't give it to him. I just can't. I'd love to just see him in Yusuf Salal fight each other because I think they're both kind of in positions with their, they both won interesting fights that they needed to win, but neither blew the doors off the world in doing so where it's like, oh my God, we have to match him up against this guy. We have to match him up against this guy.

So he's fighting Nathaniel Wood next. That's the fight. Oh, okay. I remember you were saying on, I think, on the one of the preview, the Q&A or the preview show, no, you weren't on the preview show. I don't know which show you said it on. Probably the Q&A. No, the Q&A.

You had, you had Onama something like heading into this like 30-something, right? Like you're 36. 36, 30-something in your rankings, yeah. Just behind Billy Quarantillo. Right, right. I think I had him a little higher already. So for me, he's a bit farther ahead of Nathaniel Wood. But when I say farther again, I'm talking about that,

that like 20 to 35 range of featherweight, where you could, where 35 is like extremely close to 20. It's just like one of these, someone in this cluster needs to string together like two or three straight wins to break out. Onama's right there. Like I said, he's got four straight, four straight doubles now. So, yeah, we'll see. He's not close to like a top 12, top 13 fight yet.

But looking good. developing i think as we all hope you would i have nathania wood at 21 oh wow okay that's not yeah that's not far for me yeah that's not far for yeah he's he's in the he's in the hider remil steve garcia sort of range kind of in that neck of the woods where you can kind of like pick and choose chepid merescal kind of like in that in that ilk so yeah i think it would be a good fight and let's give Nathaniel what his opportunity to to now crack into the top 15 so yeah good win for David Onama gets it done it was just a smart game plan in order to get victory so do we need to spend a lot of time on a boost maga man off come on man this fight was was not good it was

it was a tough watch I'm not going to fully blame a boost for this because we got the complete opposite of what made us fall in love with Michelle Pereira as fight fans. We just got a guy who just clearly did not want to be there. It just seemed that way to me. There's a guy just who did not want to get his lights taken out in the fight. And Abuse wins maybe the most middleweighty decision we have had in 2025. This was a tough watch. If you did not watch on Saturday and you're listening to the show after the fact,

and you're thinking to yourself, man, Abouz Magamato versus Michelle Pereira, had it been a banger, have to go back and watch this fight, do yourself a favor and do literally anything else. You will do anything else, and you will be in a much better position. So because of this, AK,

I am going to penalize Abus Magavadov by giving him a man who has already booked. And again, I just don't understand. I think the UFC matchbreakers do a terrific job all the time. They really do. But there's certain,

fighters, they just stink at booking. Joseoaldo being the king example. But the second biggest example of terrible matchmaking is the way they have booked Edmund Shabazzian over the years. It's been so bad. Edmund's doing

fun things. He's getting big knockouts. And the plan for us all is, let's just keep this man away from grimy grapplers. And who do they book him against next? They booked him against Andre Petrosky, who is like, Nothing but the grimy grappler.

So, Abus Magamatov is going to get the grimy grappler next. He now has to fight Andre Petroski, win, loser draw against Edmund Shabazzian. That's what we're doing. And Petroski's probably going to beat Edmund Shabazzian, and then he's going to call a bow nickel, and no one will care,

and then he's going to fight Abus Baga Madoff. I'm not looking forward to this fight that you just made happen. Sorry. It's not fun. That is nasty. I didn't pick a great fight either. Jack Hermanson, I don't know where this guy's been.

He's a very, his name comes up on our show all the time in the listener picks. I try to avoid breaking out his name because it's a pretty versatile name you can use because I don't know if he's in the UFC rankings. I think he is, I'm pretty sure. But he fights infrequently. He's, I think, getting a bit closer to the end of his career. Still has a name. Again, possibly still a number.

So it's easy to use him. I think I'm breaking the glass right now. He's not ranked, by the way. He's not ranked. Okay. They must have given the inactivity boot, which is very, very selective for yeah that's fine i think also i mean there's been enough movement for people to just jump ahead of him right in middle way who's who's there 15 14 let me see uh yeah copy love

yeah michel pereira yeah michelle pere was doing fine for the anthony hernandez fight and whatever the hell that was on saturday reiner reiner came in okay so you know it's possibly he just like they didn't give him the official boot but just names jumped over him so that makes sense um but he could he could certainly uh get that spot back and i think he certainly has some cachet uh But again, a matchup with Abis could be ugly. Could be ugly, but I like Abis in theory. I think they pushed them a little too quickly at first. Remember, I think it was his second fight with Strickland was like a fight night main event.

You know, I think they got a little dazzled by some of his outside the UFC results. But there's a good fighter in there. No, you're not a super exciting fighter. Not a guy who we need to keep throwing on main cards, though him and her Manson probably would be a fight night main card, especially depending where it is. so I'll go with that but yes I don't think anyone anyone's clamoring for Ava's Mega meta up to fight anytime soon

and again not entirely his fault at all very disappointed Michelle Pineda and the man cost me a perfect card my god it's 13 out of 14 and Michelle it's probably one of the more fights I was confident about too I actually really thought

like I did not bet any money in this card I wish I had now but I would have bet on that fight I would have lost so that's disappointing I've been real close to perfect cars lately so close white yeah if you guys need to put some respect on any case for his high picking abilities it's it's it's a it's been outstanding don't jinks it incredibly impressive run so don't jinks it yeah let's go to the welterweight division shout

out to randy brown right now i mean i haven't gone through like every single knockout that's happened in 2025 this has to be one of the three best thus far walk off knockout against Nicholas Dalby, Randy Brown, let me just say this into a live microphone so that the world can understand and hear what I'm saying. Randy Brown got screwed last night. He should have got the double bonus. And I know it's very few and far between. If anybody deserved the double bonus, it was Randy freaking Brown because fight of the night, him and Nicholas Dalby far and away was the fight of the night. And then Randy Brown has, at worst, the third best knockout of the year so far. Just give the man an extra 50K.

This is craziness. Double bonus in my heart. And sometimes maybe that's more valuable than in the bank account. But what a knockout. What a crazy fight. Rani Brown just shatters Nicholas Dolby's nose. Dolby's corner puts it back in place in between rounds. And then Brown with the walkoff, just nastiness.

Incredible performance. People are very high on Randy after this win, AK. He called out for Carlos Pratchez. The one way I will ding him is the post-fight interview is just not good. You got to be ready. You got to be prepared. You know you're going to get asked about who you're going to fight next or who do you want next. You've got to be ready.

You've got to have some confidence. You've got to have some gusto. And the Carlos Pratch's fight could happen. I didn't give it to him. Did you? Nah, I'm going. I think he has to fight Chip Neal at some point, right? I mean, it just makes sense.

I don't a lot of people like Randy as a fighter, me too. I think he's like, again, he could give anyone in the top 15 a run for their money. The problem is he's just always been missing that signature win. What is, what is Randy Brown's biggest win? I'm going to his record right now. Was it Nicholas Dolby? Was it? I think, I think if Randy Brown retired today, I think this Dalby win is going to be his, the one we look at.

Okay. with like with with the most shining light yeah and it's a good win and it's a great win but that doesn't say you're a top 15 fighter right and he's been close i think he's definitely had a number in the ufc rankings i think he briefly was in the uh you know lower part of the top 15 of our rankings that could be wrong um he just he just it's unfortunate he's always missing out on these like some of the so some of the big names he's had the chance to fight bala mohammaa a bit earlier in his uc career he lost that one Vicente Lucay lost that one. That would have got him in the rankings.

JDM, he fought at 284. I think that would have got him in the rankings. He lost that fight. So he's closing these nice runs, winning streaks, putting on quality performances. Again, even when he loses, I feel like a lot of the time he's competitive, he just can't actually beat someone

with a number next to their name. So that's kind of why I'm just throwing Jeff Neal out there, want to give Randy Brown a chance. He deserves it. He deserves it. He's a really good. fighter and I don't know if he ever gets a title shot or if that matters but let's let's make a run in earnest here let's let's give him a top 10 top 15 name if he wins we aim I'm willing to take a

big jump higher just to really see what he's got and then if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out he's had a good career but I'm surprised Jeff Neal fight has never has that happened yet and Jeff Neal I know people are going to say he's injured I think he himself is aiming for a summer return so perfect yeah randy brown's 34 he's going to turn 35 in july so clock's kind of ticking time is now i went in like a somewhat similar direction but it's kind of at least in my eyes this is kind of a it's kind of a win-win there is a main event coming up very very soon as a matter of fact uh 20 days from right now at the greatest venue in all fight sports the world's most famous apex between Gilbert Burns and Michael Morales,

which is a good fight, very intriguing matchup, big chance, big opportunity for Michael Morales. Randy Brown is going to fight the loser of that fight in his next battle. And I think it's going to fight Gilbert Burns because I think Michael Morales is going to win. So it's not a bad name to having the resume,

even with Gilbert Burns on a three-fight losing streak or four. It would be four, right? Yeah, it'll be four. It is what it is, man. Gilburn's proper belt. He was seconds away from winning the title. That Sean Brady fight. I've went back and rewatch that one recently.

Gilbert's is like a lot more competitive in that fight than I thought he was. Like upon like the live viewing, Gilbert's still a quality win and be a nice name to have on the resume. So yeah, I'll go with the loser of that fight. Mike, here's my UFC, uh, welterweight top five heading into, uh, well, Des Moines, but I mean heading into 315, obviously. Uh, Val, number one, of course.

Shavkat, number two. I have Brady number three. I still have Leon at number four. I don't know how much people dropped him after that loss to Brady. And vice versa, I don't know if they didn't put Brady as high

because they dropped Leon. Like, I don't know if they just put Brady above Leon and then kind of like, you know, notched them both down. I have JDM 5, Gilbert at 6. Would you put,

would you already put, um, Gary over Gilbert? Oh, yeah. I've had him. You have, okay. Oh, you have him. I've Gary.

I've Gary five already. before, even before what I saw. Where do you have burns? Where do you have burns? I admit eight. Oh, he's dropped a bit. Okay. I can't quit him.

I don't know. I am notorious for letting veterans, like having veterans hold on to their spots even during losing streaks until like they lose to someone lower rank than them. So I probably like if he loses to Michael Morales, of course, that's going to be a huge drop for Gilbert. And again, I probably should have dropped him. Like I met you have Buckley ahead of Gilbert as well, right? I had Buckley ahead of Gilbert.

Yeah. That's probably right. Yeah. Now, if we were, if we did a shakeup right now, uh, I would also put Carl's Pratchez above Guber Burns. Ooh, damn. It was a good effort on.

Yeah, it was a great effort. Uh, Ian Machado, Gary, I would also bump him higher than Jack Delam Adelena. So I would bump Gary to four, JDM to five. Brady goes to three, maybe two. I don't know, but Leon probably drops like six or seven. Damn. I mean, it's just, this division is just,

just so different now. That's good. That's good. It's good to have movement. Like I said, I'm very, I'm very like, it takes me a long time to like shake up my rankings. So yeah, I probably have Leon too high, probably have Gilbert too high. Yeah, I should be given, I think, a little more respect to Brady, Jada. I mean, you know, some of these up and coming guys.

And yeah, Michael Morales, if he beats Gilbert, boy, he's gonna- up there. He's gonna be up there. That's, that's a real wild stuff. A guy who I believe will be in the top 10 at middleweight, or at least in the middleweight division, probably in the next 18 months or so, Icramal-Scaroff. This guy is a very good fighter. I've been very high on him for a long time.

There are a few fighters who have competed on Dana White's Contender Series for a UFC contract when I thought to myself, why? This dude should have been a straight signing because that's how good he is. And there were some concerns after getting knocked up by Robert Whitaker, but sometimes, especially on short notice, when you have to make weight two times in a week span and you fight a guy like Robert Whitaker, you might lose that fight. It just kind of comes with the territory. And Icram Alisgare fought Andrei Muniz, who at one time, Mnayfiting.com, as a website, we're ready to crown Andreemuniz as a future world champion.

Like, we're all very, very high on this man. But Icrum does the thing, weights, hits a nice short little left hand, stumbles, the delayed stumble of Andreemonez. And then he goes out there and just obliterates him and gets him out of there. First round knockout for Icarathe. big win. And now we have to give him the, we have to give him the grime test, a.K., the true grime test at 185. I still believe I believe Icrum will be maybe a minus 500 favorite in this fight. But still, a fight that would be much, I believe will still be much more competitive on paper, at least has the strong possibility

to be. It's Chris Curtis time. Berkham Rousker-Karoff. he can't take Chris down and Chris don't go away man I need to see I need to see this I know I'm going to look so much bigger than Chris Curtis probably more skilled than Chris

but Chris is just one of those dudes you just cannot get rid of him and I need to see Icrum win a fight like that so that's where I'm going with I'm taking the action man at plus 350 I'm taking the action man of plus 350 I'm definitely taking the over. I'm probably definitely at least taking the over,

it would be like plus, like, plus 175 or something. I'm definitely taking the over in that. Yeah, yeah, so many good fights for Chris Curtis with that. Like, I know he's viewed as kind of a, not even like a stepping stone at this point, but, you know, litmus test. Let miss test, I think, is fair. I'd love to see that fight.

I'd love to see it. I went a little more wild, a little more adventurous. I like him to have, take on either RDR or Bo Nicol. Bo Nicol and Reiner are fighting this coming weekend in Des Moines. And the loser, excuse me, the loser of that fight, not the winner. I think if Bo Nicol beats Reiner, he's going to get a pretty strong push. And same with RDR. He's got that, you know, one championship history, which they've been strangely respectful of.

And if he wins, he's probably getting, you know, someone else in the top of the team, top ten. So I need the guy who drops out of that. I wouldn't need the guy who drops out of that to get tested against Alaskarov. because yeah, I still like Icrum. The Whitaker fight, I think you're right, was not a real gauge of where this guy is. I still have him in my top 20. He's not far from a top 10.

I don't know if beating the loser of that Des Moines fight makes him a top of ranked fighter, but he'll be close. He'll be close. So the timing works out, assuming the timing works out, I'd like to see him take on the loser that one. If we were doing a middle-weight shake-up today,

I would, I would be number 15. Oh, I have to, I have to think about that. I think about that. Yeah, Michelle Pereira would be, would be ousted and I would put increment. I just think he's that good, man. I really, really do. And if, if Dana White called me right now and said, hey, Mike, you're booking Ikramal Scarf Sex Fight.

You book whoever you want. I would give him Sean Strickland. Like, I, I, that's what I would give him. Because I think that's kind of where Sean is at this moment. You know what I mean? I know he just fought for the belt, but a lot of people didn't feel like, he deserved that opportunity. And again, this is just, this is more of a, hey, is Icrum the guy?

Is he this dude? Is he as good as he looks? And, but again, he's getting Chris Curtis, which is a very similar kind of a fight from a guy who doesn't go away, keeps pushing forward. I would love to see that fight at some point. There's zero chance that happens. But if we're up to me, I would just throw him to the wolves and see what happens. But good win for Ikema Alaskaroff.

So let's go. Oh, please. I was going to say I have RDR 15 in my middleweight rankings right now. If Beau beats now, I'm trying to think, what I give, would I just give Bo the 15 spot and where to put Icrum in there? I guess it depends how it happens. You know what?

So that 15 spot is up for grabs. RDR can hold on to it or Bo or Elscarov can jump in. I've already already 14 currently. Yeah. Yeah. These divisions are going to look much different than they did at the start of the year, I think. Thank goodness. Things are shaking up.

There was barely any. Mike, the last time we did the rankings, there's barely any movement. Like nothing happened, nothing was happening in any of the divisions. But yes, I think we'll finally have something to talk about on our next ranking show. Thank goodness. After 315. Jadem wins the belt and holy crap. We're, uh, things are going to get real weird.

We might have to just rank, you might just have to rank Islamakachev at Welthorweight. I think because he's going up. He's going for it. He's going up. He's going up. He's eating a big meal. He's eating a big meal that night. He's packing on five pounds that night in food just to get ready. Yeah, I would 100% agree.

Let's go to the wild card round, A.K., let us select a fightter to match week four that we have not matched made for yet. Who you got? I was tempted to do Desmond Blackshare again. I've already said I wanted to fight Cody Garbrand. He's got this great Cody gimmick going. By the way, he is now 4-0 against fighters named Cody or Aletang-Hiley. So if your name is Cody or Al-Tang-Hiley and your book to face Demone, I'm just saying it's a wrap. Like I would just don't sign that contract.

All you Alatang Haile is out there, don't sign that contract by Demo Buccia. I was tempted to do Jocelyn Edwards. I don't know if this is where you went. I feel like she deserves it. I mean, my goodness. One, she made weight. Two, she's, she's a woman's band-a-weight who scored a first-round knockout? What?

How did this happen? This was the most unbelievable. Of all the amazing dramatic things that happened on Saturday, this was the most unbelievable thing. Justin Edwards and Chelsea Chandler both make. they're both making weight and the fight barely lasting half a round. That was crazy. That was so crazy.

But I think I've matched up actually a few women's bantan weights with my wild card pick this year already. And so I'd think about my limit. Let's go with Malcolm Wellmaker. Let's go with Malcolm Wellmaker. Jed has said many times he's a bit, you know, he's not bullish on, you know, Wellmaker being like a real promising bantamweight prospect because he is 30. this is a division where of course you know it does youth and athleticism are pretty necessary

I know people might point to you know Marab being sort of the champion right now he's up there in age but Marab was only 26 when he made his USC debut so keep that in mind like he he was considerably younger than Wellmaker when he had his first fight he's also genetic freak wellmaker again looks looks like a great prospect skill wise physically and I am like more gauging in MMA years. So he was an amateur in 2018. So he's only six years old, guys. If you want to talk about like MMA age, that's not terrible.

I don't think him being 30s the end of the world. I actually do think there's a lot of upside there still. I'll go with another guy pretty close to him in age, actually, 29 years old, who just made his debut, kind of unproven. I'm not sure how they're going to book him because he has a name, like literally he has a name. I want to see Malcolm and,

Alexandre Tuporia. I'm very curious to see how there goes. Yeah, I'd like to see it. I don't think they should protect Alexandria. Like, I don't think that I know they might want to. Just again, I know he's he's, you know, he's Ilius brother. Again, a good fighter, but like Malcolm, he's a bit late as far as being a bantamweight debuting in the

UFC. So, yeah, I say let's put them to the test to show them in there. I just think it's a fun fight. I think Tepore would be favored. I just wonder how much that would be because of his name. And, yeah, I want to say how good he actually is. Nice debut. Let's give him another guy in his sort of his experience and age range. Wow.

I love that idea. I don't think it's a right now fight. Not because it couldn't happen, but one thing that I've learned about Alexander Toporia is that he will literally put everything in regards to his own fighting career aside to help his brother. True. So if, if, like, it would not shock. If Alexander Tuporia does not fight again the rest of the year, it would not surprise me. And if he does fight, it probably won't be to like the fourth quarter of the year kind of thing.

Maybe October, Abu Dhabi, who the hell knows? But I love that idea. That's a great one. I have chosen nobody from UFC, Kansas City. I'm just going back to the well because the hero that we all needed, the hero that MMA has needed, the spark. that the 2025 mixed martial arts calendar year needed was given to us by Eddie Hall on Saturday. The man saved the year. It's been just a going through the motions type thing where it's just like, oh, it's another

Saturday, another fight night card, another apex card, yada, yada, yada. And people keep saying like, Mike, you're so, you've been getting negative. What's going on? What's the problem here? And I think the monotony of the sport just kind of gets to us at times. And then we get things like Eddie Hall versus Marius Pugnowski. And our excitement levels come back and it reinvigorates us. It reminds us why we began to love this sport in the first place.

Because, AK, I think of you every time I thought about Eddie Hall versus Marius Puginowski. Because MMA is supposed to be fun. This is what you've been preaching to the world for a while. And you know what? I feel like the fun having times are few and far between, at least since the COVID era. Obviously, the fan base has grown. The UFC has promoted and catered to a fan base that is not us. They are looking to the influencer era.

They are looking for those fans that are catering to them. So what does KSW do? They give us what we want. They give the newer fans, what they deserve. and they gave us they gave me excitement because casual fans long time fans combat sports fans pro wrestling fans family members all reached out in droves over the last week saying how can i watch eddie hall fight marius puginowski and i haven't had that happen to be a k since jake paul versus mike tyson and we all know how that fight went we did not get this with eddie hall marius

Pugianowski is everything we deserved and more. And now we need to build upon this momentum. I have faith in Don Davis today. On this Sunday, Don, I know you can do it. I know you can do it. Martin Lewandowski is confident he can do it. He wants to do it. He wants this.

Don, I need you to meet him halfway. Just deliver 50% of the same passion that Martin Lewandowski is giving us in regards to Eddie Hall versus Francis and Gano. Just do it. I don't care how you mix up the rules. I don't care if you call in an exhibition. I don't care. Francis and Gano might have one MMA fight left in his entire career. And I am here to tell you, I do not want to see him fight Dennis Goldsoff or, and I do not want to see him fight Vadeem Nemcoff if it's only one fight left. He's not fighting Derek Lewis. He's certainly not fighting John Jones. He's not fighting anybody else. Just do the weird, fun thing.

And for the first and probably only time in your promotions existence, you will sell 100,000 pay-per-views if you book this fight. You can charge $7,99. I still would be willing to wager that they will sell 100,000 pay-per-views if they do Francis de Gano versus Eddie Hall. So for the love of God, for the love of everything that is holy, support our hero Eddie Hall and give him this fight with

Francis and Ghanu. Sell 100,000 pay-per-views. Make the weirdest poster you've ever seen. The Battle of the Giants? This is the Battle of the Giants. You can just repackage the Head in for Arrow promos. Just repackage them. And just have Eddie Hall marching up and down the streets

crushing buildings with bare hands. You can do this all over again. It's not going to cost you a whole bunch of money to Photoshop Eddie Hall on those spots. Do the thing. Do it right. grow your fan base and so what Francis is going to dummy him in 35 seconds but so what let's just have fun for that entire build and for that entire 35 seconds so done do the thing you'll be a hero and that's all uh this and also the post fight show with you and jed like the the passion and some would say desperation in your voices to make this fight happen is inspiring also a little

scared. I am very scared to what will happen to you and Jen, and really the rest of us as a collective, if this fight isn't made. Like, I think it's so logical, it's so exciting. And like, it's almost not fair for us to be like, I will be disappointed because it's not like it's booked or anything. I hate to tell you this, Mike. Don Davis has not tweeted since that event started. His most recent tweet was before. I think KSW went down and it is about how PFL is the first global M.A League and talking about, and has a nice graphic of how fighters go from their regional tournaments to the PFL, the thrilling stuff. Sadly, he did not react to the KSW main event. That would have been lovely, not in the people's main event of KSW 105. That would have been

lovely. He has not mentioned it yet. Yeah, we need it. That was great to watch. I was out for lunch with people and other M.A fans, thankfully people who people follow M. And by the time, like, two o'clock or two 30 world around we're all kind of looking at like yo we got to go we got we got we got to go home i got i got something to do literally appointment viewing which again uh we we work in the industry so that that happens to us you know obviously we're on a schedule but as a fan i think most fans these days i would are not locked into like i got to you know tune to this uc event from the first prelim or i got to tune in exactly for this fight like this was literally we were setting our clocks to boy i hope i get home in time and i think i was

15 minutes or something like that before before that fight started and boy that was exciting stuff he he was throwing puds around throwing him around that's not possible or i thought it wasn't possible before i just saw it with my own eyes uh yeah him him and francis would just be such a wonderful matchup and i know we're saying francis will likely murder him but there's just this spark and by the way this has to be super heavy weight. Please don't. I mean, I don't think any of a whole. Oh, no. Yeah, throw the holes in the window. He's not coming close to 265. This is open weight or super heavy weight, whatever you want to call it. It needs to be done. It needs to be done. It's magical stuff. God, that was a great way to start the day. And let me do give a quick shout out

to Chrissy Bank Jr. and Connor Ben, because we didn't get to talk about it being in the show. I imagine you didn't touch upon. I don't think you touched upon much on the, you didn't get to watch that fight. Did you make? Really? I did watch. I did watch it after the fact. I watched it. I had to watch Joshel Edwards fight. That had to happen. Of course. I was watching it. I was watching it on my laptop while I was watching the U.S. on the TV.

And dude, from that, from Eubanks's entrance on, it was just, it was so electric. This was, New York, Rick is fully justified. He's been saying like this is the most, his most highly anticipated boxing match for the last like four years or something like that. And, yeah, obviously there's a great story

with their fathers, you know, just being two you know, two British stars. the bad blood felt very legitimate. Stylistically, I think people were looking forward to it. There was the whole, you know, a bit of a size difference which people thought was intriguing, and it certainly looked that way. You know, as soon as they entered the ring, like, yeah, she ranks frigging huge.

But the fight itself told a great story. There was questions about both guys. I think they're gas tanks because it got really intense later on, and they were clearly huffing and puffing, but they still were throwing. Awesome fight. One of my favorite fights of the year in any combat sport. That's just great stuff. I hope they run it back.

I don't, not necessarily right away, but it would shock me if we don't see Eubank and Ben get to get to throw it down again. Look, if someone wants to swoop in, I'm talking to you, DeZone, even Turkey, if you want to do this, we could do Eddie Hall versus Chris Eubank Jr. and Connor Ben in a two-on-one match. Like, we could just do that. Like, I'd be fine with that, too. In an MMA 201 fight. Love that idea. And that would do great, too. I was hoping Francis would come out and interfere in the Eddie Hall-Puzanowski fight.

In the classic WWE, like, you know, when they're like, oh, it's a number one contenders match. And then the heel interferes. And he's like, ha-ha, there was no winner. I don't have to defend my title. And then the committee, whoever commission was up, you fool. Now you have to fight both guys. Like, it's been done so many times. I would have loved it.

And then just Inganu shocked and doing like the, no, no, I had a plan. And then I, and honestly, I'm not sure Eddie and Marius could be in a fight. but I'd love to find out. I would love to find. Eddie, Eddie calling for the rematch was one of the funniest things you've ever heard.

It was absolutely theater. He was like, you know what, Marius? I want a rematch, but I want a two-minute rounds after winning in 30 seconds. It was just, everything about it was just absolutely hilarious.

And we need more of this. We just need more of this. Let's just do the thing. This is the most fun 30 seconds we've had in combat sports all year. and we need to just keep this train moving. So there you go. I should win our draft because I gave the UFC this fight.

I gave it to the UFC in our promotional draft. And the electricity was just off the charts. You threw that UFC, Kansas City before the main event? Oh, my God. You threw that in there instead of Avis and Michelle Pereira? We'd have the fight card of the year. It would have killed the main event, though. I mean, the crowd would have nothing.

It was only 30 seconds, though. I will say. If it went out the same way, it's true. It would have been a nice appetizer. This is true. This is true. But the KSW made him, it was incredible. It was incredible.

Their Welterway title play was fantastic. That guy's Bartizinski. Bartisinski? Yep. He's legit. He honestly probably, probably should be ranked. He might be. He probably should be ranked.

Welterway is really good these days. So it's not like it's a tragedy for him not to be ranked, but I'm just looking at, I don't know if he's a far, but he should at least be a far like he's really good he's really i pick him like yeah because this is interesting like when i pick him against jason jason would i pick him against kura maga adoff i'm yeah i have some pfl guys ranked really highly and i am wondering if i'm maybe giving them a little too much credit and not giving a ksw's champ enough credit yeah well there you have it let's go to the peeps okay let's go right to him i didn't get a ton so i'm just going to rival through

these uh shout out to everyone who listens and submits their picks uh we'll start with jimmy lloyd who is with us and i think this is just the most obvious choice although there are more options for i and gary than i thought gary versus sean brady title picture so crowded with shop and possibly islam waiting for their shot islam moving up would be a nightmare for sean brady it's just he would have to wait forever to get a title fight you'd probably have to fight two more times, which is insane to think about. Min Yang Zhang versus Volkan, Ozdemier, I don't mind that. David O'Nao versus Chepa Merskull, Abis versus Alaskaroff, and Randy Brown versus Wonderboy,

and Eddie Hall versus D.C. Can't be Daniel Karmier. Can't be. I mean, who else could it mean? Don Corleone. I don't know. What do we? I'm trying to think.

I was trying to think of someone else in case. He'd do it. I think he'd do it. Give him, give him, give him out of retirement. Give him six months. Give him six months. I think he would do it. Okay.

All right. I just didn't see that one coming. You threw me off there. I welcome it. I welcome these matchups. I love that. Robbie Ryan. Good day, you blokes.

Let's get Otno. Ian Gary versus Leon Edwards. I don't love it. Not right now. I think, man, Leon's stock is just so low. And it's not fair. Yeah, Leon cannot be in a position to disrupt the title picture in all right now. Sorry.

Damn, that's harsh. It's harsh, but it's true. It's really, UFC does not want him anywhere near any other contenders right now, not remotely close to any other contenders. This might be a hot take. Randy Brown versus Leon Edwards is more interesting to me than he and Gary versus that would have been such a good call-off for Randy. It would have been.

Randy, that's the, he would have won. Oh my God. He would have gotten an A plus on Saturday if he called it Leon Edwards. He was so unprepared when they asked him who he wanted to fight next. How can you be? Unprepared. Oh, it's so frustrating. Oh, Randy.

Damn, Leon would have been good. That would have been really smart. Even if he doesn't get Leon, at least it would have given them some idea like, oh, he's aiming for this range. But like, yeah, he really gave them. Yeah. He would have been like, oh, that's a good call it. He might not get, he probably isn't going to get it, but that was really good. They might even consider that, but it is what it is.

Jing Ming Yang versus. Asmat Mirza Kanoff. Is Azmat booked? No. He is? He booked against Johnny Walker. Didn't that fight fall through? But I think it got rebooked.

Do not know. Johnny Walker, UFC 316. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. So we have our first bout of doo-doo. Oh, no. Through the festivities.

Well, I do, yeah. I still like to match up, but yes, you're right. That's booked. Yes. David O'Dobb versus Calvin Cater. I got to tell you, I have zero interest in this fight. Yeah, I'll pass on that. I get where you're coming from.

I'm not trying to dog you. Just me personally, no interest in that fight because David and I'm just going to try to tackle Cabin Cater for 15 minutes, and I don't really have a lot of interest in that. Aboos versus Brennan Allen. That could be interesting. I thought about it. Yeah, I thought about I'm, I thought about Icrum versus Brennan. That too.

But you got to do Brennan v. Marmatorium on that New Orleans car. you just have to at this point alaskaroff versus the paolo costa roman copyloff loser if you recall ikram alaskarov i believe his second ufcf they wanted a book him against paula costa for salt lake city and paul costa's like yeah no i'm not doing that why not the winner of that fight i guess roman would be on a pretty good run i guess he deserves a higher ranked guy but paula costa if he wins i don't think he i know he has the name value but i don't think he like needs to get a top 10 opponent after i'd look i think i think costa could win and still

ikram just still get him yeah i mean i would have been okay with that yeah but because randy brown doesn't call leon edwards we get granny brown versus gabriel bonfeme as an option tough that's that's that's just tough after getting one of the knockouts of the year wild car chris gutieris versus adrian yannes which i think is fine fine fight yeah chris london gary versus the buckley uzi Usman winner. Gary versus the, man, if Buckley beats Usman, doesn't he, no, he won't, he won't, it's crazy. Like, he, again, he'll join this list, this ever-growing list of guys who are eligible to, like, be, you know, selected for a title fight, but don't have an airtight case. Right.

It's a long list right now. Like, again, Sean Brady's in there. Enochadegh's in there. Michael Morales might be in there if he beats Gilbert Burns. Like, none of these guys feel like, oh, well, you have to do in the teleshot. And yet, if any of them got the title shot, I mean, JDM was in there. I think JDM was in there before he ended up getting the Bala booking. We're kind of like, yeah, he could get it.

We didn't think he would. So, yeah, yeah, it's not that it's too unreasonable. This has become like a talent show where it's just a big tryout. Like who has the best performance? If Joachie just destroys Kamar Usman, like he goes out there and just dummies him and finishes him, it's hard to deny it man like because what would be the more like impressive memorable thing Ian Gary beating surviving a late onslaught from Carlos Pratchez or Joaquin Buckley running over Kamar Usma and Hamzat Shamaev couldn't yeah but that would be ridiculous but then if

you're Brady you're like well I just ran through Leon Edwards right so it's it's tough yeah it's a really like dense up there in a good way like I think like they have a lot of good options so hopefully they don't do anything like I hope the UFC doesn't not mess around with the wealth of rate division and gives at least a couple of these guys we've mentioned a chance somewhere down the road um yeah no no shenanigans with like bring back i don't know veterans i can't think of anyone they realistically bring back right now that could interfere with this um but you see just be smart here just be smart yeah keep colby away from all of this i didn't want to say i didn't want to say yeah just i mean polvi can fight it's fine do him in mazadol again

or something like that like totally fine but yes keep him away from this process versus randy brown Zhang versus Jimmy Crout. Boy, that's a tough night of the office for James Crout. Maga Maddof versus Chris Curtis. We're doing Abus versus Chris. Come on. I have Abbas and Icrum kind of in the same range, so I don't know. All right.

It says Obama. David Onama versus Nathaniel Wood. It's done with the phone. I get it. Alaskaroff versus the nickel RDR winner. How about that? Schnell versus 10. Kemmer off, boy.

Matchanel finally gets a win and he doesn't get finished and we're just going to chuck him to the best, most least known guy in the division right now. I think whatever it is, it has to happen on that New Orleans card. I think people are trying to final destination Chanel right now. I think like he should have, they thought like, oh, when he retired, like he should have. Because he never officially retired, right? He left the gloves in the cage. Yeah, he retired and then like a day later is like, yeah, just kidding. But he never did a post or anything.

I never, am I just not online enough? Didn't he never do like that social media post? Like, oh, thanks for it. He never did that, right? I don't remember. I, because I remember because I was checking, I was Schnell's Instagram for like, for like the next week.

And I was like, okay, he's going to say something or he's going to do some sort of interview with someone. And I don't think he ever did. And that's what made it so weird was he did do the ceremonial hanging up the gloves. But because he lost that fight, he didn't get a scrum after. And I was like, did he retire?

are maybe the gloves were just too tight anyway obviously a lot of us perceived that as his retirement and i wonder now yes a match up with the timorov is like you know final destination like you you thought you dodged the retirement bullet but now we're going to retire we're really going to retire you yeah yeah it was i think people were just so relieved that he retired because you just getting oh man badly finish and all these and there's a part of me that want to be like wicked selfish and just do matchinella versus alessandro costa the rebooking so that's the next draft I can trap else up a cost again. Maybe you'll cash it on that.

He owes you points. He owes you points. Dude, he sure does. Chris Gutierrez versus DeMond Blackshare. Wellmaker versus Jonathan Martinez. What do you think about that? Too soon? Or just do it.

Wait, what? Malcolm Wellmaker versus Jonathan Martinez. Oh, no. I don't know. I like well-making. Way too soon. Like I said, I like Well-Maker. Like, I think he has more years as a prospect

than some are giving him credit for. But also, he's less experienced than people think he is. He is 30. He's only been pro for three years, I think. I think amateur for six years, pro for three years. I don't know. It'd be interesting. And if he wins, boy, you have an instant star in your hands.

But I think I would go Martinez all the way there. Yeah, Martinez on a two-fight losing streak. But there, to Jose Aldo and Marcus Begui. So, and oh, no, Chris, doo-doo. So much, a little bit of doo-doo. What is it about this name that people just don't remember that she's booked to fight? Jacqueline Amher versus Tisha Torres, now known as Tisha Pennington. May 17, Tisha Pennington is fighting Luana Pinheiro.

This happens every week now. This is a weekly occurrence. Tisha is booked against a strawweight winner, and she's already booked. Oh, boy. Let's keep that in mind. This has become the Brennan-A-Gerald-Mir-Shart thing of 2025. And we wrap with Left Lane. Carlos Prochus versus the

Kevin Holland Vicente Lucke winner he's assuming that it will be Holland and you can trust Kev for a quick turnaround. I thought about that as well. I feel like Prochis Holland has been mentioned either by us or by

listeners on this show before. It just sounds right. It sounds so right. But by the end of this year, Carl's Pritchis and Kevin Holland have to fight. I feel like. Even if Holland loses, you can do that fight. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Zhang versus Krylov in China, maybe in the summertime, if they go back there. Onama versus Josh Emmett?

Yeah. I guess. He's getting up there, that range, yeah. I like this more than the cater fight. Yes, definitely. I definitely like more than the cater fight, yeah. No one mentioned Onama versus Lorone Murphy. I wouldn't have, honestly, that's not a wrong possibility either.

I know, but it just feels like Lorone, again, he's, almost what we kept saying about the welterweight division has he not done enough to earn a title shot i know he's not there i think even in the last time we matched me for him we said like he's got to be won away but it feels like gosh it feels like he's at least done enough to be on the short list or be you know uh the first guy they call if um some some featherweight title fight falls through i don't know man it's tough because he lost i i still think he lost a danny gay yeah he beat josh emmett but it was not memorable at all and in this division it's it's very very tough so Abis versus the copuloff cost a loser, assuming that fight's happening.

I mean, I think it is happening from what we understand. Randy Brown versus Wonderboy. Not sure if you're going to love or hate that choice. I'm almost indifferent. I'm almost indifferent. I had, you know, when I was looking with Randy Brown, like, matchmaking for him this week, I took like sort of a very empirical. Like I just went, okay, I have Randy Brown.

I think I'd like 17 or 16 in my ranking. So that I went like 15, 14, 14, 13, blah, blah. but Thompson is number nine in my UFC-only rankings right now. Quite a few spots ahead of Randy. I think it's a matchup that does make sense, especially if, as I was talking about earlier, we want to see if we can get a proper number next to Randy's name. I just don't think Wonderboy would be interested at all.

I just can't see him. I'm not saying he'd say no if they offered it, but he's certainly not going to be suggesting it on his own side. I don't hate it. I'm mostly indifferent. I'm most indifferent. Yeah, Wonderboy is going to fight names. You know what I mean?

Like, not saying, I mean, Rangney's just not that. It's just not, because Wonder, like, Wonder Boy is in such a interesting spot where, like, he does not have to fight at all. So he's either going to fight, like, Michael Morales has a better chance of fighting Wonderboy than Randy Brown does. It'd be like an up-and-comer killer that nobody wants to fight. those are the guys that Wonderboy wants to fight are just a legend. Like if Buckley beats the hell to Kamar Usman, then you can do Wonderboy Usman if you want,

like fights like that. You can do Wonder Boy Mazadol too. That makes sense. Like there are things you can do here that I think would get Wonderboy up in the morning a little bit quicker if that makes sense. He likes Icrum versus Chris Curtis, Schnell versus Loneer Kavanaugh, Elder versus Slava Claus, Gutierrez versus John Matsumoto rebooking. Boy, left lane and AK just on the same page. Blackshare versus Cody Garbrand.

Honestly, this is what he wrote. Don't take any other selection that isn't in favor of continuing the Cody killer gimmick, AK, he's right there with you. We all want it. But I think I don't know if the UFC recognized it. The Alting highly retro match it was so random. I'm like, guys, you've got two coat. You've got Cody Garbrand.

If you want to go way back, you got Cody Haddon, you got two Cody options here. That's true. wellmaker versus miles Johns I like Malcolm a lot but I feel like you just got to go with him two more this year ranked opponents start 2026 boy jons is an interesting one so much more experience though

so much more experience gap is crazy yep quamba versus Morgan Chariarer shout out to Timmy Kualamba I feel like no one's mentioning him I tweeted this I had to ask Mike do you know the answer the first Timmy to ever score flying knee knockout in combat sports has to be

stumps I'm saying We don't call Timothy Elliott, Timmy, Ellie. This is... He is listed on UCD.com as Timmy. We didn't make this up. On UCD.com, he is Timmy Quamba. He's chosen to be billed as Timmy Cuamba.

So he's the only Timmy I'm aware. It's such a great name. It's such a great... It really is the best. You know, it's not, honestly, if you were going to be a professional fighter, I would have been like, are you sure you want to go by Timmy? But again, like I just said, maybe the first Timmy in combat sports ever to score a flying knee knockout. And you know why? And it's because he made,

he made the bold choice to go by that name. So Quamba, good for you, man. First win in three UFC tries. Tip of the hat, man. God, it's such a great name. And you have to just go with the whole South Park gimmick. You just do the timor, timor, tim. You just got to sing the song.

It's the best, absolutely the best. Jocelyn Edwards versus Carol Hosa. What about this, AK? And we'll turn it over to you after this. Jacqueline Amarin versus Marina Hodriguez. after she loses next weekend. Oh, Jacqueline Amarim versus, yeah, I think that's right. I think that's the right.

I think they might have something with Amarim. I like, you know, I'm one of the people who has been like, I like strawweight a lot. I think I've been pushing it as one of the top five divisions for a long time. Nobody seems to believe me. But like I said, I've seen more entertaining UFC strawweight fights and I've seen UFC heavyweight fights in the last like two years. Like I don't think it's close. So yeah, so I'd love to see if they can make something. out of Ammarim.

She has a very obvious skill set. She finishes fights. Yeah, there's a lot to like that. That'd be a huge jump for me. Her rankings kind of screwed up by that weird upset she had to Sam Hughes. She probably should be in the top 15 already. She's won four straight fights. So, yeah, it's not a huge jump to go get Marina.

You're out my best, brother. All right, I got a few here. TAC MMA just had one. MVP Randy Brown. We didn't mention this, did we? Anything, Mike, no. No MVP? just a bad like not a fun matchup

I don't hate it I just think you know MVP just is just again Randy calls for that fight I think he has a chance of getting it but MVP beating Sharra bullet the way that he did just kind of thumping him up like he's just got so much more buzz

right now and even with Randy getting the knockout that he got like Randy's about as high as he's probably been in the UFC in a lot of people's eyes I just I don't know if that one gets him MVP calling out Colby, like I could see that fight happening before I see a Randy Brown fight happening. At DGBMMA, Blackshare Font.

Brown versus Renot Fokritinov. Renat just beat Delby. Abis and Tulio. I think Abis is a bit higher than that right now. Prochus. One UFC fight. Come on. Prochis Morales, winner losing against Burns.

Gary versus winner of Usman Buckley. Yeah, people seem to not mind that matchup. Finn Hamilton writes, I go to the University of Oregon. Shout out to the Ducks, and we had our spring game today. I'm severely sunburned and in pain, but I mustn't let Otno go by the wayside.

I love you, you, too, Finn. What else we got here? Wellmaker versus Ricky Tersios. Get him a highlight in Atlanta. Oh, that's right. That's right. Wellmaker is from Georgia. Yes.

Wellmaker and Ricky Tersios at USC Atlanta. that's pretty good that's pretty good uh fin is with us shout out to malcolm gets to quit his job now after getting the bonus so good on him uh well maker is is full of electricity man

like i i i've said this before i've seen him fight on the regional scene a couple of times that's just what he does man he just he gets you and get you good and get you real fast he's he's just full of electricity by the way i just saw this i don't know if you saw this min yang jang had a call out Yuri Perashka

but it wasn't like in the in the cage or anything which means it means absolutely nothing too soon I think Yuri would kill a Zhang Ming Yang right now yeah don't do that sorry sorry Zhang

um Blackshier Cody Gerbrand yep Finn's with us on the Cody Cody Aletanghai Lee train Dan Bergliata versus a job application yeah we don't know what's going on with Tan Dan and that

that Clapper twice two different fights two different fights two different fights Two different vices to clapbring. And then the main event, I don't know if this was his fault. There was one round that had like five seconds left, but someone did hit the butt. Like this wasn't his fault.

There was the horn. Someone hit the horn. But the on-screen graphic, and not just the on-screen graphic, I think Laura Sanko was saying in the building, you know, the clock they look at. There was still like five seconds left. Something was going on that day. I saw someone suggest maybe Big Dan was looking at like a timekeeper or something

and not paying attention to the sound. So maybe it was a timekeeper issue. I don't want to point fingers. It was extremely a extremely bad look, the first two fights. Thankfully, I think, did not affect the outcome of either fight, but it could have. It could have. It was a strange, strange moment. And Vic Dan has been around forever.

So to confuse the clapper and the horn is, seems nearly impossible. But what else we got here? Pereira versus Piper, win-luser draw versus Calvin Gasselam. I like that a lot. I just think if Piper wins, they probably don't. I don't think Michelle gets him. I like the idea. I like the idea.

I think a loss or draw. Yeah, I don't think it went. I don't think he's going to get that one. Happy trails to Anthony Smith. Absolutely. Mike, let me say one thing quick about Anthony Smith is like, and I'm biased. I've always said I'm a fan of Anthony,

one of the first people, I think the first person I interviewed when I got the MA fighting job. But when I was starting off with the MA fighting and before he got known as a quality talking head, like people didn't know much about Anthony Smith. So we kind of came up a little bit together. I like the thing.

So I'm a bit biased and I'm very fond of his career. The discourse got a little bit uncomfortable for me last night, at least on social media, with everyone just going like, yo, this dude's not a legend, this dude's not a legend. Oh, why are we calling him a legend? I agree. The UFC pushed it way too hard for sure. Like we do not have to accept the UFC's narratives. I completely understand.

UFC, ESPN, whatever it is. I know. I know it gets a bit exhausting when they try and frame fighters in a certain way and we don't agree. But it got almost the point where people just like, we're like shitting on him. I almost feel like got the point where going like, oh, Anthony Smith is like, oh, he never did anything. I can't believe we're even talking about this month. And I'm like, all right, everyone just calm down. Yes, it's being oversold, but let's just like, we could still tout the man's virtues.

We still be, you know, be proud of the man's accomplishments and like what he did. Because he has said it himself. It's not him who's putting forth this narrative, right? It's the people around him. And he's whatever. He's welcomed it and that's fine. But he himself has always called himself an underachiever. His post, he literally did after the fight was something like, I was never good enough to be here.

I think it was the exact words was, I was never good enough to be here. And this is the guy that we're crapping on and going like, God, I just not. a legend. I hope he never comes close to the UFC Hall of Fame. Yeah, fine. I agree with all that. But like, we can calm down the negativity around the Anthony Smith parade. Like, it's fine. It's a fun thing. Should it be done for other fighters who have accomplished more than him? Yes. I understand the frustration there. But let's not blame him and bring him down because of the UFC's inability to recognize, like, more of its talents properly. So that's all I want to say about that because it got very negative, very, very negative, right? I don't know if you saw a lot of

these comments. Some people were so down on him coming out and being like fedded. Yeah, it just let him have his day. You know what I mean? It's it's it's it's they do this all the time. Like they do it all the time. The term legend consensus greatest like you hear that with with everything. Shout out to to my good petty John Annick. But just let him have his moment. Like let's just let it breathe. comes out to return of the Mac. Let's hope he doesn't get hurt and that he can just go hang out the family after. Anthony Smith, one of the great,

he is a Mount Rushmore overachiever in this sport. This is the guy who even said himself. There's no business being in the position he's in right now. I was interviewing him before the UFC return when he was fighting on the regional scene after he got cut, fighting the Josh Neers and fighting for the victory FCs and the RFAs and the RFAs.

and just CFFCs, and this is like way before CFFC was what it is now, just fighting Tim Williams every weekend. And he was always the same guy, like just well-spoken, just an interesting dude, a guy like I wanted to talk to all the time, if we're being honest.

And to see him get to the UFC again and go on a nice run and fight for the belt, he basically, and Jed, I think, brought this up, and maybe or maybe it's case on the post fight show Anthony Smith paved the way Anthony Smith walked so Joaquin Buckley could run Anthony Smith's road to a title

is exactly the same as Joaquin Buckley's right now he just beat all the the former champions and older guys in the division and then gets a title fight like that's what Joaquin Buckley is doing exactly right now and Anthony like just the man's career is going to be incredible as a broadcaster. He's so good on the desk. He's going to get the chance to call fights.

He deserves that opportunity. And I said this on the post-fight show as well. We are going to look at Anthony Smith five years from now the way we looked at Glover-Teshirea when Alex Pereira was rising. As a right-hand man, as a coach, as a corner man, just he's going to be one of those guys where hey don't go to commercial break ESPN plus I want to hear what Anthony Smith has to say to his fighter in the corner and a guy who could be a coach of the year in our awards like I can just absolutely see that happening for Anthony Smith

so look you want to call us negative because we think the apex sucks as a venue for fist fights let's not rip a guy when he's making the final walk for something like that and I know some of our colleagues did it too, but that's just kind of their gimmick, but we're not immune to this at all either, but there's just no need to go crazy because of this. Yeah. You know, who knows if he's going to get a Hall of Fame now?

He probably won't. But who gives a shit? Like, who cares? This is a good moment. His speech at the end was fantastic. It was all good. Yeah. Because, yeah, this definitely goes out to my homies in the media as well.

Like, let's not become so cynical that we can't enjoy a little cheese. I enjoy a little cheese. It was over the top. It was over the top. But I don't. My message to the U.S.P.N. or whoever the next broadcast partner is, is not to have less, you know, these Anthony Smith moments. Let's have more of these fighter celebration moments. And for some people who aren't necessarily company men, who aren't necessarily just, you know, people who are well-liked backstage and people who are part of the broadcast team, like, you know, that's part of the reason why I think Anthony got such a nice send-off is, let's expand. Let's expand a range of people that we choose to celebrate. So I want more celebrations, not less, and happy trails Anthony Smith.

Great career. Great career. I don't care about debating his ranking one of the all-time legends, blah, blah, I honestly do not care. Could not be bothered. But, yes, let me move on. I'm sorry. I had to say some words for Anthony.

I had to defend the man. Not that he needs it. Not that he gives a shit. Braden O'Neill. Braden O'Neill with some picks here. Onama, Chepa Mariscal. I don't mind it. I don't mind it.

Like, I get it. I get that Onama will have a UFC number next to his name, and Chappe is probably not as close, even though he's on a very, very nice win streak. But Chepa at some point deserves to, again, he also deserves to have someone higher up in the rankings. Maybe it's Onama. Maybe it's the freshly numbered Onama.

I don't know. A lot of good hyplixier brain, so I can't read all of these. Oh, wait, did this not happen before? Monez and Mershirt? I don't think so. It might be time. It might be time.

That might be, I don't know where to... I almost threw a... boost to Mirchart after that, that fight. Right, man. Punishment? You got to fight GM3. Sure. That's fine.

Well, Maker versus Shao Long. Yeah, there was a number of recent UFC signings who were like 1 and OHA. I was like, yeah, maybe just throw them in with there. So that kind of makes some sense. Okay, good picks, Bram's right. I can't read all these guys. I'm not going to go. SpeeC 32.

32. Hope you and your family had a good Easter. I think we did have a good Easter. Thank you. Brandy brown Jeff Neal yeah it just feels time matchnell versus O'Day Osborne that was honestly I was joking about the cost of one just like to be an ass but if I was going to do a wild card it would have been that fight like a serious wild card it would have been match now O'Day Osborne UFC 318 Ammarine versus Angela Hill time for the test yeah I mean

listen people are throwing out marina I actually think that's the perfect fight yeah that makes make more sense jocelyn edwards yanna santos misha tate winner assuming the winner whoever doesn't retire um i would have loved jocelyn do that call out interesting not bad speedy not bad paul has sent in questions before i believe this is your first time sitting in picks paul so welcome to the party again went with two wild cards because elder and blackshire looked good blackshare would actually be top 15 good now he's close very deep division uh jang was deemir i guess, so a lot of enthusiasm there. We're sharing a lot of these picks, Paul.

Onama, Ige, Abbas, and Hermanson. Randy Brown versus Kevin Holland, win loser jar versus Lucke. I've wanted this fight forever. Elder, Terrence McKinney, Blackshear, Marcus McGee. Four corner sports. Carlos Pratchez-Jep Neal. There's anything new here.

Onama and Barbosa. Okay. I like that stuff. four corners. Nothing's jumping out at me. No shame in that. Marcus McGee. Elder versus Quillen Salkild. Okay. Icrum versus Gregory Rodriguez, not against. Onama versus Duho Choi. Magic wand pick. Oh.

Not bad. That's not bad. That's not bad, Marcus. That's not bad at all. Blackshear versus Jonathan Martinez. Yeah, that makes more sense to me. When you mentioned a wellmaker Martinez before, I'm like, why doesn't Desmond get that fight instead? What else we got here? Let me move along. Let me move along. Thomas Collins.

Match making suggestions below. Ian Gary, Kamaro's my Buckley winner. David and Outline Cater again. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I'm like Matt Schnell versus Charles, Johnson, Randy Brown, Gabrielle Bonfine. Yeah, that's unfortunately where he is right now. On the Instagram, Gerard Bioggan, what is up, Gerard?

Pratchez Wonderboy. That'd be interesting. Traditionally, Prachis has been the kind of opponent that, like Stephen Thompson diffuses, but he might also just get knocked the F out. If I'm wonder why I would actually strongly consider that. David Onama and Bryce Mitchell, I don't know about that. I'm good. Match and Alvers Alessandro Costa.

Mike McChannel versus Alessandro Costa. Chris, oh, Mike, what do you think of this? Let me see, hold on, actually. I'll pause here, is there. Alaskarov, what we got here? Alessar, Brennan, I'll come back to this one. Chris Gutierrez and Raul Rosas Jr. Gerard, let us think about that for a second.

Martin Grisham. Prattis versus JDM when he loses to Bilal. Wow, not a lot of faith in J.D.M. Onama Danigay, I agree. Abis versus Christian Leroy Duncan. Yes. Yes. That could be ugly.

Boy, that could be ugly. And he's with Mike on Icrum and Chris Curtis. Mike, let me get your opinion on something here. Oh, sorry. Yeah, no worries, no worries. No, I want to finish reading all those. I circled back to this one. Chris Gutierrez, Raoul Rosas Jr.

Ooh. I still think it's too soon, but I don't know. He's no longer 19-year-old Raul Roses Jr. He's now 20-year-old Rolesis Jr. So maybe that's not. I'm trying to remember who I booked Ricky Simone. Was it Ricky Simone? Did you?

No, did you? You might have. I mean, you look through the whole family, man. Vincent M. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I think that's what that was a justification for it. Who did I book him against? I'll say this.

Oh, no, I booked. No, I booked Royal Rost Jr. versus DeMond Blackshare. Oh, okay. I just went back to that. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. You had done your homework. You forgot your homework, Mike. You'd already done it. I don't mind matchups like this because it's a sort of thing where I wouldn't book this with like, oh, Rao Roses is going to run through Chris Gutierrez. I would book it as another, you know, Raul Roses bounced back well from the Christian Arriga's fight. Let's get it. Let's, you know, push forward a little bit here and see where he is. Because if you lose to Chris Gutierrez, again, no shame in it. Okay. Now we pull him back a bit. Now we get a stronger gauge for where he is in his career. The only thing is stopping stuff like this is, you know, role being very clear.

He wants to be the youngest EOSC champion ever. So I'm sure he's pushing for, like, even if he lost Chris Gutierrez, he wouldn't go back far, he'd be like, no, give me another guy in the top 25 or something like that. And I don't know if that's good for him at this stage he was career, so you might need to save him from himself. But in a void, I don't mind

the Chris Gutierrez match up. It's interesting. It's not bad. Last one here. What is up, Jane Donagie? Happy Trails, Anthony Smith, the Ultimate Overachiever. we'll always remember that knee to Rashad Evans' face. Gary, Sean, Brady, end of year, number one contender fight. I like the timing suggestion.

I don't know. I don't know what it would have to be the end of the year. I think you could happen earlier and you could set up one of them fighting for a well-to-rate title, whatever that situation is by the end of the year. But actually, but, Jay, you might be right. We don't know the title situation. So maybe the best thing can hope for before the end of 2025

is to be the number one contender. Mike, Zhang and Bogdan, Gouskov Mago Medov, Jack Kermanson, thank you, Jay is with us, man, Jay's a long time matchmaker. Brown and Wonderboy, Alaskarov Robocop, Wild Card, Amarim, and Lupi Godinez. So guys, really, you know what? Really, nothing insanely crazy this week.

I'm a little disappointed we didn't have more Eddie Hall picks, but, you know, we should have kind of, maybe we should have made it clear. Everyone knew. No one wants to offend you, Mike, by saying anything besides Eddie Hall and Francis and Godd. They don't want to risk your ire. So maybe the right call.

Next week, I want to see a list of nothing but. Okay, yes. Because Mike, I don't know. I don't know how much we're going to have to talk about after Des Moines. But yes, guys, please send your picks. My DMs are open to Alexander. Why am I blanking right? I always forget which one I have.

No, I listen. Alexander K.K. Lee on Twitter, Alexander KKKlee on Instagram. And Alex. Dot Lee at espionation.com email. Any of those are good, guys. a DMs are open. Yes, I would give you mine, but I don't think I'm going to be on the show next week. Oh.

So just throwing that out there. Okay. We'll forget that. Yeah. So it's going to be an interesting week next week. We're going to take, you know, kids end in the school year. Just had his 12th birthday. So we're doing a little, a little few day trip to Orlando to Universal Studios.

So we're going to drive out Thursday night. We'll take him to a park on Friday. Saturday we'll do a little of something. But I'll be working the Saturday card, Des Moines. So I'll do the Q&A and the post show and all that stuff. And then Sunday we have to make the long journey back home. So I may or may not be on the show. I'm not really sure.

It just depends on when the hotel kicks us out. But there you go. Either way, we will have a program. And got to tell you, Des Moines, pretty good. This is pretty good. Corey Sandeggan Davis-Figuero. Terrific made event. Really looking forward to this one.

RDR, Bo-Nickel, co-main event, Santiago Ponsonibio versus Daniel Rodriguez. I forgot that fight was even happening. My boy, Montel Jackson is fighting AK. Montel Jackson is fist fighting in 2025, fighting the undefeated Daniel Marcos. That's a really interesting matchup. I have been high on Montel Jackson for a while.

Perhaps this is the year we get him into the octagon multiple, multiple times. Cameron Smotherman versus Sir He Sadi The Return of Jeremy Stevens A.K. What? The return of Jeremy Stevens. Next weekend.

What the hell of this happening? I thought he was a I thought he was a return of Mason Jones. BKFC and GFL signing Jeremy Stevens is fighting in the UFC next weekend. What? Yes.

What the hell is happening? That's the main card. That's crazy. The prelims. Misha. Tate in the prelimbs against I wonder, I think that's going to get bumped up. You think so?

I think Smotherman and City is going to get, I don't see the justification for having Smotherman and City on the main card instead of Misha Tate and Yon. Because one fight is probably going to be much more fun than the other. You're talking about Yana and Misha Tate and you're saying it's so fun it should close out the prelims, but I understand that argument. Yeah. Of course.

We got to keep people sticking around, right? It's a lot of ban to women. reaction on this card. Men and women, five bantam weights fights. Jesus. Osmott Bekeyev versus Ryan Loder of tough fame, right? Hey, I think his first, yeah, his first, I think his first fight since winning. There you go.

Now, this fight being on the prelims is a little surprising. Marina Rodriguez versus Julian Robertson. Yeah. I'm a little surprised. I'm actually a little surprised. I'm actually a little surprised this fight is not happening at 315, considering Julian Robertson is Canadian. but be that as a may gaston balanos versus quang lee oh god we're getting we're giving heavy weighty heavy

wades a k oh my goodness this is this might be this is not this is not mo usman versus hamdi alde will hell this is a this is not that but this is like the vice president of that fight don't tell maize versus thomas peterson and kicking off the festivities the return of another tough competitor, aka Juliana Miller is back for the first time in a long time. The 3 and 3 pro will face Ivana Petrovic to kick off UFC Des Moines. There you go. This is a weird one. Yeah, not a bad looking card.

Boy, this is there could be some, the prelims are, this is a funny set of prelips. Like you have some big names on there and then you have some complete randos. This is interesting stuff. hold on a second i have to look this up real quick please tell me it's a four seven be a four seven for the love of the lord you can do this you could do this ufc do the thing oh now your website wants to freeze on me but we're got we're got to figure this out right now please be a four seven i am by the way i am taking the over hard on peterson i may do one bet next weekend peterson may's over it's going to be good you're actually going to get good odds on it for once to because i think

both their last fights they lost in the first round. So I think we're going to back, oh, both their, I think if you're, if you're, seven, 10,

I'm so sorry. I'm so, wait, wait, wait, wait, you hear about the PFL. Yeah,

way to hear about the PFL this Thursday. What do you hear? What is like 5 p.m.? Same thing, seven free limbs, seven o'clock free limbs, 10 o'clock main card. Yeah,

but it's not like a four fight main card. Yeah, it's a Thursday. It's a Thursday. What are they doing? Dude, they did it a, 11 p.m. main card the night before you used to 314.

That was truly insane. 10 p.m. east, 10 p.m. main card. Don, we got to talk, man. Don, we got to talk. Boy, UFC, what are we doing here? That's, I don't know. But it's still going to be fun. Just get a bunch of sleep Friday night and maybe get a nap or two in on Saturday. But we will be here for that card and throughout the week.

As we always are, ladies and gentlemen. So thank you for joining us. We appreciate you for AK. I am Mike Kek. As AK always says, the credo of this program, don't take this stuff too seriously. M-A is supposed to be fun. And we'll have more fun following UFC Des Moines right here.

On onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.