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

Episode Date: March 12, 2023

Merab Dvalishvili dominated Petr Yan over five rounds to pick up the biggest victory of his career and make a compelling case for a bantamweight title shot — a belt currently held by his close friend and training partner Aljamain Sterling. With everything in play in the loaded 135-pound division, where does Yan go from his main event victory at UFC Las Vegas? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on the matchmaking hats to discuss what could be next for "The Machine" following his one-sided decision win. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Yan, who has now lost three straight and four of five, Alexander Volkov following his quick finish of Alexandr Romanov, Nikita Krylov after stopping Ryan Spann in the first round, Jonathan Martinez following his upset victory over Said Nurmagomedov, along with fellow winners Mario Bautista, Vitor Petrino, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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as the matchmaking crowns return following UFC Las Vegas, the go-home show for the second UFC pay-per-view of the month, UFC 286, which goes down this Saturday. And yesterday, Marab de Wallis really dominates Peter Jan and adds himself as a very interesting wrinkle to this already loaded up, Bannamweight title discussion, but I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always,

the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, the best friend, and the president of the Pleasure Man fan club, Alexander Cayley. What's up, A.K. Yes, my best friend. Hello. Yes, the Pleasure Man cometh to Las Vegas. It was great to see. He did not win. We'll talk about Mr. Anton Tercali, the pleasure, Tricals, Anton Tricals. the pleasure man more.

But I have to tell people, besides that fight, I kind of had the evening off schedule-wise. So I watched most of the prelims, and then I watched the Pleasure Man, of course, fight Victor Petrino. And then I kind of dipped. I had real life to deal with. I don't regret it. And I liked the card on paper. This wasn't one of those cards while I was looking forward to like, oh, thank goodness.

I don't have to cover this one. Like, I like this card on paper, and hopefully I will get a chance to, to rewatch it sometime this week. I will see this time tomorrow, Mike, I will be in, I will be on the sunny beaches of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as I had to head to that great province to see AW's debut in Winnipeg.

So, yeah, I'll have time to catch up, I think. I will have some time to catch up. But yeah, from what I saw from the results, a lot of upsets on the main card. I think half of the, four out of five, four out of six, I want to say, four out of six maybe maybe three out of six days so half half but that's a lot i mean already on the main card that's that that that's a lot and um some of them are pretty considerable like a few

i think jonathan Martinez i think was two to one underdog um what was the other one mara was a over two to one yeah i'm looking at topology plus plus 210 and uh volkov was also an underdog not like a huge underdog but but slight so kind of an unpredictable card but also I think the results were very telling but that's good I'm actually again I apologize to everyone I didn't really see the fights I saw some highlights I read of course the great recaps on enmafighting dot com

and I got a general vibe from social media how certain things went so I'll speak on as much as I can but I do want to talk about what this outcome you know as of course we match to make for the winners Mike but I'm interested in some of the losers but it's kind of what direction this kind of sends them in yeah that that's kind of what was one of my big takeaways is like

I actually am more interested in some and where some of the losers of these fights go especially the main event. And we'll get there right now because we'll start with the winner. Marab de Walsh, Willie, AKA you didn't watch it, but as you know,

it ain't always pretty when Marab fights. But damn, his style is effective. And this was his best performance top to bottom more than likely. Peter Jan had no chance in this fight. He had no chance to get going. Marab just turned his marobness up to like a 20

and he just dominated sweep the cards. It was a massive win for the machine. He was a lot of the takedown attempts. He was striking very well. He's out striking Piariana on the feet, which was pretty crazy. The leg kick game was on fire. And he's in a really interesting spot right now with this training partner and confidon.

Al Jermaine Sterling is the champion, getting ready to defend against Henry Sehuto, May 8, the UFC 288. We have Sean O'Malley seemingly next in line. We have Cheeto Verre versus Corey Sanhagen coming up in less than two weeks. And once again, and. I'll just throw this out there because on the post-fight show, everyone's like, oh, Mar-Rab's getting the next title shot. Mar-Rab's getting the next title shot.

And I'm trying to tamper their expectations because this is not our decision. This is not Mar-Rab's decision. This is the UFC's decision. And Dana White's going to have something to say about this. And sure enough, after the paper view that shall not be named, he spoke with the media and kind of threw a little shade on Marab, being like, hey, if you want to travel down this road, If you look back in history, this is probably not the road you should be traveling, essentially.

But I don't know where Marab goes from here. It's a really interesting place. I have my thoughts. But where are you out with this? I didn't see the Dana comments. Was he alluding to like Marab's fighting style or the road of I don't want to fight, I don't want to fight my friend? More of the, I don't want to fight my friend.

Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, because Dana has spoken many times in the past about guys like, I remember there was that time like Josh Coscheck, Josh Fitch, and John Fitch, excuse me, and I think Mike Swick and whoever else from A.K.A. was like, oh, well, we're just not going to fight each other. And then I'm like, okay, whatever. That's your problem. It won't be great for your career.

So, yeah, he's always kind of bristled at that. And listen, I'm with the fighters, obviously, but I understand fans' frustration when they see a lot of good fighters and they just happen to be from the same camp, but they also fight in the same division and they're knocking off other contenders. Marab is maybe the most extreme example we've seen of this. I mean, I think he became pretty disliked. Not for anything he did, but because he won that kind of controversial decision over Joseo which, of course, sends us down this darkest timeline we're currently in with the otherwise

fantastic bantamweight division. The title picture just, I don't think it's what it could be. So I think Marab, people still, I'm forgiven for that. And now, again, he has this high pressure style against, against, Peter Jan and he doesn't have a style that's like I think he's frustrating because I don't think people believe he's like necessarily trying to finish his opponents

he's just like he's smothering them he's putting the pressure on them and for me like if he's winning fights that's what matters but I understand the fan frustration I understand why Dana also like I think that aspect like we said it's the friendship thing but Dana also probably looks this guy and is like do I want this guy to be headlining pay-per-views

this super grinder his best trait is is his endless cardio, which doesn't exactly pop off the paper view poster. So for me, so Mike, you're right. Marab probably isn't guaranteed a tile shot. He's done everything you can to get one other than not be Al Jemaine Sterling's friend.

But I am going to go crystal ball on this one. And it's going to leave another clear-cut contender out of the picture for now. I think Marab will fight Henry Suhudo after, I can't believe I'm saying this after Sehudo beats Al Jermaine Sterling at UFC TV. I don't I don't want this to happen but I think I've slowly been talking myself

into I mean from the moment the Suhudo rumor you know came up of him fighting Aljo I'm like that's like that's a winnable matchup for Suhudo like I would at first I was like favoring Aljo and then I'm like but obviously Sehudo could beat him just skill for skill if he's in shape if he comes back and fight shape

I don't know that that Aljo's a more skilled farther than him so I'm going to go crystal ball. I also just want to see Marab fight for the title, so maybe that's not projecting. I think Aljo is ready to change divisions at some point. And again, we're in the darkest timeline. I'm not a pessimist, Mike. You know I'm not a pessimist. But there's a part of me that sort of can't deny this deplorable direction that the title picture has been going in. And I feel like it's been heading to this. It's been heading to Henry Sehudo coming back, doing nothing, and then becoming a UFC champion again. We've got John Jones back already. You've got

Connor McGregor about to fight. It's just, you know, let's do the time warp again, right? So I think Suhudo is going to come back and win. I think that's how Marov gets his tail of shot. As for Sean O'Malley, he just has to fight again. I think he fights Cheeto Vera, obviously. That rematch happens if Cheeto beats San Diego. Yeah, I, you know I love you, AK, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I think, dude, Sean O'Malley's fighting for the title in his next fight. He's going to Sean O'Malley. But he should have gotten the shot at 288. The fact that he didn't get the shot at 288 is what makes me concerned. But that's also not his fault. That's not his fault. No, it's not at all. It's not his fault at all.

That's what I'm saying. It's not even the UFC's fault. It's Algebraed Sterling's fault. It is his fault. It is his fault. But it is the UFC's fault. UFC could have made that fight happen if they wanted to. Well, we know, I think we all kind of understand what the UFC is trying to do here.

I think they want to. And I'm only saying, and I only say this because he's talked about it too. I think the UFC one wants to live in a world where Al Jermaine Sterling is not a UFC champion. I think that's the world they kind of want to live in. And if that means putting the bell back on Henry Sehudo, then so be it. They would rather live in that world. But if Aljo wins, and I'm picking him to win, I think he's going to stick around and fight Sean O'Malley because he's insane if he doesn't because that's the biggest bag he's going to get at 135.

So why, like, why move up when that fight is just looming over you? And I also believe that if Henry Sehudo wins, he's also going to go after that bag and get the biggest fight possible because Henry Sehudo versus Marab is not, I mean, that is a co-main event at best or like the first of three title fights on a pay-per-view. That is not drawing anything. So I don't think that happens. I feel for Marab because he is in a situation where I think he could beat pretty much everybody in that division. He's a nightmare matcher for everybody. but the problem is, I don't think he has the promotional backing, and I don't think he has the appeal to just immediately jump over the biggest star in the division,

who is Sean O'Malley. So my pick, and I don't love this, but this is what I believe is going to happen. He is going to fight Corey Sanhagen next. Either way, no matter what happens. Because if Sanhagen wins, you can't just throw Sanhagen. And I know the UFC loves Corey Sanhagen. You can't just throw him into a title fight. You just can't.

he's coming off a couple losses you have to slow him down somewhat so if san hagen wins you do him versus marab that's the next contender fight if san hagan loses this keeps marab busy because to me marab's going to need at least one more win anyways before he gets a title shot maybe even two so that's my pick but again this division is a mess right now and until may 9th rolls around we're really not going to know anything and plus we need to need to see how this Cheetos Sanhagen fight plays out as well. So, Peodor Yan, though, I mean, what a reverse a fortune for this guy. Three straight losses. He's now lost four out of five, which includes a disqualification

that cost him the title. Two splities. He arguably won one. I thought he lost the other, and then just gets run by Marab de Walsh Willie. So this was actually an easier pick than Marab. there's another big 135 pound fight that we did not mention that is coming up in less than a month it's coming up in miami april eighth rob faunt versus adriannez the winner of that fight will take on peyodor yon next what's the you're so we're so close to friends forever you're so close you're on the loser i have the look on the loser i definitely one of those guys i feel like it has to be someone from that matchup it just has it the timing just works out if you look at the other names peyote yon has fought a lot of them already i mean listen

I'm fine with rematches, but I don't think a lot of the guys he's fought in the top 10. It has been long enough that we need to see him run it back with any of those guys. So it has, I do want to see a fresh fight. I really want to see him fight Adrian Yanez. I think they're two, again, they're arguably the two best boxers. I think like in the entire UFC, I'm talking about any pound for pound in the UFC. I think they're like two of the best boxers. So that's like a dream matchup for me.

Jan Yanez has to happen sometime. But Rob Fon will be a great fight too. Rofan be a super exciting fight, and I'm certainly not counting out Rob Font against Adrian Yannes. So I think either way, we're going to be right. One of us is going to be right, Mike. I think it's going to be someone from that fight. I don't know the winner.

I don't know the loser. I don't know Fon. But that's a very logical fight for Piotr Yanez. Unless for some reason he decides to take time off. Because you're right, this is a weird... You mentioned when you were talking about Marab that like the UFC, it feels like they don't really want Aljo to be the UFC champion. They were very reluctant to push him on the way.

I remember how long it was. He couldn't even get on the main card for some reason. And I guess it wasn't necessarily the worst thing because it was the ESPN era. So I was like, oh, you know, half the time he was fighting on ESPN anyway, what's the big deal? And I'm like, okay, but there was an optics thing where it's like, do they not see him as a main card fighter? Do they not see him as a pay-per-view fighter? And eventually he just won enough. They had to give him the title fight.

And there's a world, Mike, where that knee doesn't happen. And Peodor Yan wins the fourth and fifth round of that fight. And we don't even have, like, we don't have Al Jermaine Sterling as a champion. maybe he fights his way back to a rematch Piotr-Yon and he beats Fyodor Yan and we end up sort of in a similar path anyway but there's a very good chance that this rain just doesn't happen and Piotr Yan

you know is still strings together maybe two or three, four successful title defenses instead we're in this weird muck where yes he loses the title of view of disqualification he looks great against Corey Sanhagan I think a lot of people we're assuming man if he beats if he fights Al Jogaine he's going to beat him

really tough fight did not walk away with the win and the rematch and then the shot him out. He's on a three fight losing streak, three out of his last four. I said, a lot of us said, going into this fight, sorry, four out of his last five now. He went into this one with losses in three of his last four,

and we said, this doesn't really reflect who Peodorian is. Like his performance, like you have to watch the fights to understand how good he is. But now when you lose four out of your last five, three straight, now we have to start asking, has he peaked?

Did we see his peak? He's not super old, was he, 31? he's not even old he's not even old in fight years it's like 20 something 21 pro fights we're fighting for less than a decade i i'll say obviously just based on that i don't think he's done i probably just need again he might end up taking a break maybe just needs some sort of shake-up in training camp i still believe in this guy as as a top five bantam weight he'll probably still be in the top five my rankings uh when we do the next full division overhaul. But I would understand fans having seen sort of him not quite able to, whatever,

just get over that hump, get over that scoring hump, maybe losing faith. But I think he'll be back. I think there's another Peotre Jan run coming. Could be, yeah, that knee, him making the decision to throw that illegal knee. That's one of the biggest what-ifs in the history of the sport right now. I mean, honestly, he's probably, Peter Jan with the run that he was on and the way he was looking in that fight, it's probably still the Bannamweight champion today if he doesn't throw that knee, which is just crazy to think about. And then even throwing out Adrian Yannas's name

when it comes to Maraub, if Adrian Yannes beats Rob Fon, they are strapping the rockets to him. Like, that's the reason he's getting this fight. How many Bannam weights are getting this kind of an opportunity that Adrian Yannis is getting on a pay-per-view main card in Miami against a top seven or eight guy. If Adrianianas wins that fight, he is in the mix. Like he's legit in the title mix and he's going to get there real quick.

They're going to give him a massive fight. Whether it's John or somebody else, they're going to strap the rockets to Adrianianas if he beats Rob Fon. So, Marab, really interesting place. I hope he gets a shot eventually, but it's going to be a long road.

This has got Benil Darius written all over it and just be prepared for that, everybody. This is a bellator. I can't believe that being friends forever with someone could actually be to the, you know, be to the detriment, the career detriment. Being friends forever is such a beautiful thing. Like, you and I know this. Some people may never have this feeling.

You and I know this. And I'm glad that Marab and seems to have this relationship with Aljo. But in this case, it's actually really holding him back. Maybe Marab just realizes that belts are props. Maybe his best friend told him that belts are props. That prop is worth some money, sadly. So I hope he's, I hope. Rob's well-compancyed.

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Alexander AmperSand Volkov wins the battle of the Alexander's. He stops Alexander Romanov quickly and easily I hate to say this but Jose Young's is right Romanov looked and fought like a big bag of soup so I'll make

this simple since I picked this already the winner of this fight after Sergey Spivak defeated Derek Lewis I said he would fight the winner of this fight so let's just make this nice and easy Sergei Speedbag versus Alexander Volkov because Volkov just said whatever the UFC wants, that's what it will get.

And I can see these two guys headlining a really crappy UFC Apex card in the near future. With Augusta Sakai versus someone in the co-main event. For sure. Doing his Las Vegas presidency. Cue the music.

One, two, three, four. Friends forever. Easy thing, right? Sergei Speedback. It's the only one. way to go. There's some ugliness I would hope would be avoided with, Spivak is, his, uh, fights out of Moldova, he's Moldovan, but I believe he has some sort of Ukrainian heritage. He's been asked about it before. He's spoken about it before.

So that's the only one icky thing about it is you kind of bring up this Russia versus Ukraine. But again, it wouldn't be a huge deal. It's just something I'm sure it would come up, um, a little bit during fight week. But yeah, that's, that's kind of just the way to go. Spivak's on the way up. Volkov is neither on the way up nor on the way down. He's kind of just always holding on to this top 10 spot and good for him, good for him because I'm one of those people. I didn't pick Romanov to like run through him

but I thought he'd be able to Volkov doesn't have like the best takedown defense so I thought this was like a really solid matchup for Romanov to bounce back and yeah, for him to get finished the first round we're talking, again, we said we've got to talk about some of the losers and asking questions.

I don't know what the upside is for this guy now. Clearly some limitations as a striker. The March and Tobor fight probably shouldn't have been a draw. You've mentioned this before. But either way, he definitely didn't win that fight. We can definitely say he did not win the March and Toboro fight. His striking is not where it needs to be. And I don't know what to believe now because I was like, I'm glad he was a beef, a beef, beef boy again on Friday, 264.5 pounds, like 20 pounds heavier than the fight with Tabura.

Not that good. He's caught up back at a more comfortable weight, but arguably looked even worse. Again, we're not body shaming, by the way. You can look like whatever you want. But, I mean, we're trying to draw conclusions like super muscular of Romanov didn't look great against Tabura and now sort of more natural weight. So maybe that's something to do with weight. I think it's a skill thing. And I don't know where we go.

We had him outside the top 10, most of us anyway. I know one panelists had him, I think, like top five or maybe dropped him after the Subura fight, but have him like top five at some point. And I've always been advocate. Listen, as much as I love seeing guys cloud the charts and imagining what they could be. Jackson Almeida, I normally need to see them sort of prove it. And now Romano has had two step-up fights and neither has been particularly encouraging as far as what, you know, him becoming a future world champion. So listen, it's heavyweight.

He's young. He's 32. That's like being 20 at heavyweight. But I mean, we need to see a big, a drastic shift in his approach because it looks like his ceiling's pretty clear. I'm not sure if you're with me on that one. Yeah. this is a guy heading into the Taibora fight.

I thought I was very confident he would be fighting for a UFC title within the next 18 months for sure. And very good chance of winning it. That's how high I was on him. But man, I don't know if there's an injury. There's got to be something. That just, that performance was pretty awful. So we'll see. Maybe he was hurt.

Maybe there's something going on. We'll see how he bounces back. but I don't know who the hell he's going to fight next. But Nikita Krilyov, AK, submits Ryan Span in the first round. He's now at a sneaky under the radar, three-fight win streak. And with his division being kind of a mess right now, we are living in a world where Nikita Krilov is a player at 205 pounds, AK. What is next for him?

I mean, it's not crazy that, like, if Jamal Hill's ready to fight, know very, very soon. And he wants to teach, you know, he wants to start racking out tell defenses, get those, get those championship checks. It's not crazy. Like, Khrlov is in there. I don't think it should be next, but, you know, I want to see Yeri. I wanted to see after Jamal Hill won the title. I'm still, I was assumed by now they would have rebooked Ancolaev and Blakov, assuming that's what they'd want to do. Maybe they're, maybe they just don't want to rebook that matchup, but I thought that would have at least been in disgust by now, and then he would get the winner of that fight.

But that hasn't happened yet. Yeh Prakashkar, we still don't know when he's coming back. Krilov is really right in there. Again, yeah, if Chimal Hill, Mike, if Chamele Hill was like, listen, send me a contract, I wanted to fend my title. And then the UFC's like within a week to have to find him a challenger, it would be Krilov, right? Probably Ankleav.

You think they just pick Anka Lov? even though it was a draw? Probably. I don't think they're too happy about it. Yeah. But yeah, I think it would be Angolaev. But Krilov is legitimately like he doesn't need to, he'd be on the list, right? He'd be behind Ankaliv.

He'd be behind Blockovich. But he'd be on the list. Oh, yeah. He'd be on the list. That's so weird. Like, to me, if Ryan Span won that fight, Span was one win away from fighting for the belt. Yeah. And I don't know if Krilov is in that exact same boat, but he's very close.

anyway so for him i didn't quite that was my first thought was like just give him jama but yeah i think i think jama hill still can get one of those bigger names at 205 first whether it be yon whether it be uh ankylaev or if hey you know a few weeks from now he's like guess what my shoulders healed healed much better than i than i faster than i expected i can be backed by international fight week or whatever and then jama hill waits for him and you know waits for that because that's a huge fight i think hill's team would probably want that one over anything right We couldn't want the Yuri fight. So yeah, I didn't quite, wasn't quite ready to throw Krilov in there.

I'm going to go with, by the time Krilov's ready to fight again, maybe Alixenter Rockich is back. So I'm with Krilov Rockich. Not like my, not like my number one matchup, but again, this is kind of looking at the rankings. Krilov fought so many of these guys already. There's certainly some rematches that you could do. But I just didn't want to go down that road yet. So fresh matchup, Rockich.

I'll say this. I mean, if I'm him, I am, I have, me or my, My team or coach or whatever has already been in contact with the UFC and said, hey, I will be on standby for the Anthony Smith Johnny Walker fight. Someone falls out, pick up the phone, call me, I'm in. And outside of that, like you mentioned, this is kind of tough because he's already fought pretty much everybody. Like him versus Ankelyev makes sense, but I don't think they're going to do that. You could do the rematch with the Anbelhovic. That makes sense.

But I don't think they're going to do that. So I just landed on Anthony Smith, win or lose against Johnny Walker. But this could go so many different ways. So I'm just going to say he fights Anthony Smith next. No matter what happens on May 13th or May 20th, whenever that fight happens. He just got to fight Anthony Smith. That's a name. You beat Anthony Smith.

That means something to the UFC and the matchmaker. So I'll go there, but not confident in really anything at 205 right now. That's for damn sure. That's so, they have not fought him, Krillov and Anthony Smith? Nope. That's so weird. I swear it's one of those light heavyweight they've just both been around for so long

I guess, okay. Wild right? What a victory for the silence behind the violence, aka Jonathan Martinez getting a decision win in a very close fight against Saeed Naraga Madoff. TSBTV might have a number next to his name in the UFC rankings

after this victory. He calls out Dominic Cruz. It was very realistic about it. Yeah, it's probably not going to happen, but I'll fight either Dominic Cruz or Davis of Figuero. And we know Figgi v. Cody Garbrand is the only fight to make. So we could just leave that right there. Cruz is interesting but doubtful.

So I decided there's only one way to go at this, A.K., there's only one way to go for Mr. T.S.B.TV. And Shiloh understands it. Let's gimmick this up, A.K., let's gimmick this up. Because imagine, if you will, if this man, who very rarely speaks, graduates from the dragon to TSB TV to the Nirmaga

Madoff Slayer, A.K. How about he takes a shot at knocking off two Nirmaga Madoffs in a row and you battle Umar Nirmar Madov. Let's go. The Nirmaga Madoff Slayer. You have snapped.

The Nirmaga Madov nemesis, Mike. They would be hugely. The Nirmagomeda Madov nemesis. That is, I mean, if you're just again, going up the rankings and taking off names that makes sense, that's certainly the one you would probably get to. I'm looking, okay, so I would have Jonathan Martinez after, I haven't quite updated my rankings. After last night's win over Saeed, I already had him, oh, no, I had him behind sight. Okay, so I had him a couple spots behind site. So John Martinez would probably be my 14, oh, and half-flas and Sal just retired. I also had him above John's Martinez. So he's definitely my top 15.

And then you go up and like we said, Yanez is booked, Pedro Munoz is booked, Ricka Simone is booked. Or he's fighting Songadong, right? Yes. I think so, right? Dominic Cruz, he's not going to fight Dominic Cruz, I don't think. And then Umar. And then, so Umar is like, I have about seven spots ahead, but everyone between is booked or their Dominic Cruz. If you want to move Jonathan Martinez up, that's really like the only way to go.

Assume if you're finding someone who hasn't been matched up. So I went in a different direction, Mike. I went with the Pedro Munoz Chris Gutier as a winner. They're fighting UFC Kansas City on April 15th. So I'm going for like a slight incremental move up. But if you are looking for a big jump up, it's really Umar. And then everyone else above that, again, is either booked or they're pretty much in the title picture. And I don't think Jonathan Martinez is quite there yet.

That's interesting. A.K. I love you. That's a good gimmick. That's a good gimmick. I mean, I think, again, I think Umar would be, I think, again, I think Umar right now is the best maybe the best bantam way in the world. So he'd be favored.

But again, you're right. If you're Jonathan's fortune favors the bold. The TSB TV, I mean, that brand, if you want to push it, you've got to take big risks. Because you're right, he's not a guy that's a fire. He's not a fiery guy in the mic. I love it. I'm not going, like I said, I'm going Munoz Gutierrez winner. But that's him and Umar, boy.

That would be something. And Umar would love to, I mean, Umar probably wants a big name, but Umar is also the type like, okay, hey, throw someone at me. I'm going to make an example out of them. So, that's good. Well, I mean, we're kind of in the same position with Marab and Aljo because Martinez and Gutierrez aren't going to fight each other. They're like buddies, Goodyear's.

And see, I was in TSB TV's corner last night. So. Oh, wow. See, that's how you know. I didn't watch the card. Well, these two, these two just trade like kicks at each other on a, on a daily basis. So, uh, maybe Pedro Muño's, that makes sense. But is, do you get it, dude.

Is Ratino's Factu X now? Oh, he is with Factu X now? He's been there for a while. Yeah, he's been there for a minute. Dude, on my part, listeners, I have called out fighters, I have called out listeners before for saying, how could you tell them to fight someone who's in their corner? So I guess I have to say Pedro Munoz, if he beats Chris Gutierrez.

I think if he loses, Peter Munoz might, I don't know, he might get released. He might retire. Dude, just jump, just jump on over. You can, you can hop along. You can hop along the U-Matran. I have to take my doo-do and sit in it. So I apologize to listeners. for that.

Oh, man. Well, let's go to another streaking 135-pounder, aka Mario Batista. He takes on 43-year-old Guido Kennedy last night and gets him out of there

in the first round. I believe he was the biggest favorite on the card. Some lines had him at, like, minus 1,100. And he lived up to that. So where does the MMA Lab standout go from here

in this fun and loaded bantamweight division? Did I do another dude of inadvertently? Oh, well, you'll never know because I'm not going to read it out loud. I'm going to take it back before I say it. First, let me say when someone asked on Friday,

Friday's preview show about like, was Benson Henderson getting disrespected because Usman or Megamatta was a minus like, depending where you look like minus like 2,000 favorite over him. And I said, listen, you never know what can happen in these things. And I think that

it was slightly disrespectful. Throw five dollars on Benson. Obviously didn't work out that way. Usman took care of business. If you would ask me the same question about like, and you wouldn't because it's a totally different situation, Grito Kennedy is not Benson Henderson. But if you'd ask me like, you know, it's a UFC main card fight. And, you know, Guido Kennedy's been around.

He's an older fighter, but he's shown he can, he's coming off two wins. He's not a two-fight win streak. And his opponent's like minus 1,000, minus 1100 favorite. I would not have said that as being disrespectful. I would have said, yes, it's very accurate. and I would have predicted that it would turn out as it did. So I don't know if I can't, I think on the picks or on the website, I'd maybe said second round.

Maybe I perfected out that. But either way, listen, Mario Batista taking care of business, he's well, he's, it's, it's time. It's time to move him up. I have to change my pick. And Mike, you probably know already the doo-do pick I had that I won't say out loud now. I guess you give him, it's weird because he's, he's so clearly talented. he just hasn't beaten anyone super highly ranked yet. Mike, how do you feel about Sergey Marozov?

Sure. Yeah, this is how you think it. What was the doo-do pick? You could tell. You can tell it. You'll figure it out after the show. People probably know if they're thinking about it for like two seconds. After, when you have time.

You're in mid-show. Mike, people are listening right now. I think if they think about it, they're like, oh yeah, he thought matching up this guy's good idea, a wouldn't idiot. So it's another teammate thing. Oh, okay, okay. Well, this one's lazy and I don't give a crap.

Give me all things Mario Batista versus Victor Henry, AK. I need to see that fight. That fight rules in so many ways. That's the one I want to see. Victor Henry, good win over Tony Gravely. He's got the nice win over Highony Barcellos. Had a tough one in his middle

fight. But Mario Batista's had some hiccups as well. Mario Batista got knocked. up by Trevin Jones. That has not aged well at all. But I mean, golly, Mara Batista and Victor Henry, that's a good fight. That's a top 20-ish kind of a fight in a division that top 20-ish is like top 10 in a lot of other divisions. So yeah, I love that fight. That's what I'm going with after watching those two do work last night. There were 10 bantamates fighting on Saturday's card. I do wonder how much

How many of these guys will get matched up with one another It just makes sense As long as no one has any You know unavoidable long-term injuries Like how over under two and a half How many of these fighters How many of these fights do you think end up producing You know

Fights just from guys on this card From Bantam weights or just in general Yeah of the five Bantamweight fights do you think we get at least three matchups that are like, you know, Jonathan Martinez versus, like John Martinez versus Victor Henry or like Davy Grant versus,

I don't know, Maraub, not Mara, obviously, Peot or Yon, something like that, I don't know, that's not going to happen, but how many of these, how many, how many fights do you think get produced

from, from these 10 names that compete out, sorry. I would say, I would say we'd get a combination of two, whether it's winners, winners versus winners, or, yeah, I think we'll get two.

I mean, a lot of them are very high level, a lot of them are like just outside the top 30 so I should say only 9th I'm sorry I since I'm retired so I can't count I'm not technically 9 eligible yeah I'm sorry I since I retired 2 yeah I'll go to 2 okay yeah but now let's go to them this is gonna be a tough one for you I can I know the man no no listen here I like to be Tor Petrino okay that's the thing yeah so I said on Twitter yeah I said on Twitter it was not a pleasure man

but if anyone was gonna beat if anyone was going to beat the place pleasure man. I'm glad it was Vitor Petrino because he's he looks like a lot of fun. I don't know if he's a contender. I honestly don't. But he's a fun. He's just a fun addition to the light heavyweight division, which again, a division that needs some life. Again, what his ceiling is, who knows, but fun guy, great, very plus athlete just goes in there with a, he's got a lot of power. I mean, the guy just throws bombs. I like him a lot. Undefeated. Has he really been tested yet? I mean, he had to show something in a fight. You know, he had to show some certainly you're dealing with a wild man in uh in uh in uh antar carl's but uh no i was happy i was happy for

beat trodreino as well i like him so where does he go from here okay again there's my reaction to no it's just he's a debut right it's a debut contender series signing undefeated guy uh you know beats someone who wasn't previously technically in the light heavyweight division to Kyle's was coming off that kind of weird heavyweight slash catchweight bout with um with the um with the um with uh gelatin umeda so i went just a little bit up the rankings and i said him and maxim grishin think that would be fun kind of a stand-up I imagine that'd be a stand-up battle for the most part there's a huge experience gap I understand I think grishin has like five times in my experience he does but the UFC experience eh christian's got four

fights. Vitor Petrino now has one. I think that's more what the commission's look at. There's a huge age gap too. I think Vitor is what, 25, 26, and Christian is 38? So there's a big age gap there. I think the commission would make the fight. And again, it's like Henry, it's very funky. You're going to end up with weird matches like this where again, you have guys with two or three, sorry, nine or ten pro fights facing guys with like 25, 30 fights. It's just how this division is. So that's just my pick. But you, I don't know, Mike, you go any. direction. Yeah, I'm going with Vitor Bertrino versus the dualist, Ehor, Petoria.

Ah, yes. Well, this guy's fun. Let's give him a chance. And if he goes out there and beats Ehor, he's, you know, he gets a little bit of a little bit of a rub. I think people would appreciate Vitor for that because the highlight of Peterea knocking out Shogun and dancing over him would be played in the build. and I'm sure Vitor would be asked about it a lot

and maybe there's a part of him that feels like he's trying to get one back for the Hall of Famer so we got a story here we got ourselves a story so I like that one so let's go to the wildcard AK we will select one fighter we have not match made for yet

and we will match make for them now there's a lot to choose from here but I landed on something that's just money but I'm curious what you have to say oh I will see the floor too quickly because I went sort of what you did with Batista, and I just said match my wild card pick with someone else in the card.

I want Davy Grant versus Victor Henry. Davey Grant is super fun. Victor Henry is super fun. Again, this is sort of why I was asking for how many of these names do you think kind of get shuffled and put against each other. I agree. I think we get at least a couple of matchups

from the nine bantam weights who've competed on this card. And I think Davy Grant versus Victor Henry could be one of them. So just a fun fight, whatever contender implications, stuff like that doesn't really matter. Who knows? but these guys just listen they get finishes they rack up they put on fight of the knives they rack up bonuses so uh yeah throw them in there together

jett and i have have talked about this for a long time that the ufc should just do tournaments and it doesn't even need to be like for titles just do like a banam weightiest ban on tournament with like you can use all of these guys that were on this card and to do a little banam weightiest ban on way tournament yeah and who's gonna complain do you watch football do you watch football the soccer Excuse me, Association football, sir. Once in a while, not really. I'm a big football head now. As you know, so I speak the lingo. So for, I think there's a lot of people out there at me, out there like me who either don't follow, you know, a soccer or, you know, sort of casually do it.

And like, one of the hardest things to understand is I just understood this this year. And if you're, all you footie fans out there, feel free to laugh at me. I'm a dumb North American. I need a, I need a regular season. I need a playoffs. That's what I understand. That's how sports works for me growing up. You know, like, Association Football,

they do like, they have all these mid-season tournaments. And they're just like in the middle of the season. And they're not even all the way, they're not even, and they're just broken up and scattered among the regular season game. Did you know this, Mike? I did not know this. It's so bizarre.

So it's like they have their regular season ongoing. And then this random weekend, it's like, oh, but this weekend is the quarter finals of this tournament starts. And it's not like the season pauses and then they do the whole tournament. It's they play the, okay, here's the quarterfinals. this week and then they play the quarterfinal matches and then okay back to the regular season and then like a month later here's the semifinals and then it's like oh but then there's and then six weeks later they play the finals so the tournaments are broken up it's so bizarre and and i didn't

understand this for long and a time i know people who have been following soccer all their lives are like yeah that's how soccer works dumb ass i i didn't get it this is why it took me so long to get into it it's so it's so like for me it's so unstructured and weird but i guess it's just how this works so i'm with you mike like i wish the uc would do that or i mean i'm M.M.A organizations in general, just have these weird mid-season, even like four-man tournament. It's like, you won the Duval Cup. Oh, they're holding, you have a couple of events in Jacksonville. Duval Cup winner, Marav de Valishvili, you know, while you're waiting the title.

And again, or if the champions want to, and there was like a good cash prize in the line, you could participate in the cup if you want to. So you're like, Al Jemann Sterling ended the year as with two title defenses. he won the Duval Cup because this is what happens in soccer it's like you win the league title and you also won this oh the English Cup or whatever they call this thing

so there's all these like multiple like there's the main title and there's all these titles you chase in between and yeah it's just fun to win things it's fun for the fans to say okay whatever hey this guy never became a UFC you know Marab's not didn't become a USC champion but he won a couple of Duval cups I mean listen he's a great he's an all time

great fighter you know he would have won the championship if he wasn't friends with So I'm so for it. What was your, I didn't mean to break up your, your, your, your, your, your, it's cool. Yes. Okay. The prime energy drink holiday tournaments, like just something like that. Like, who gives us?

Yes. Just do it. The prime prime gold medalist. Yes. Alexander Volkov. He's. Why not? I love it.

And it makes the fighters more money. Then go, please. More power to them, you know. I absolutely love it. My pick is with the fly weights, a fight that will guarantee us a flyweight under. Oh, yeah. After Bruno Silva easily got the flyweight under. Lock of the year so far.

Lock of the year that fight was not going fast, one and a half rins. Bruno Silva is just super fun to watch. We missed him. I didn't realize how much I missed him until he brutalized Tyson NAM last night. My pick is Bruno Silva versus Match in L.A.K. holy potatoes those two are just going to beat the soul out of each other so that's my pick those two are just going to fight and it's going to be epic and flyweight under betters are going to win money so there you go has that not been i thought that was booked i never booked my memory i don't think so yeah that's no they haven't thought that should be booked that should be booked that's the fight absolutely the fight boarding for flight 246 to toronto is delayed 50 minutes oh what like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea.

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but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. All right. Do we have any extracurriculars? I mean, we could just go right into the list. Yeah, let's go. I'll read the extra curriculars as they come along.

I did not really have a chance to vet some of these listener picks. So we'll just get right into it. All right. Do you want to disclaim? Yeah, people, listen, I just did it. I just did it. We like to focus on people, you know, on handing our Otno points to people who have somehow made, you know, were the only ones who sussed out a potential matchup.

It very rarely happens these days. But we'll keep in our eye out. Again, feel free to nudge us if you feel you have a claim to an Otno point. And secondly, guys, just try and pay attention if people have fought before. If you're trying to match them up with someone who's already booked, this just happens all the time, wrong weight class, someone who's been released and has been gone for a while. And of course, teammates, as I just did, with, with potentially with Chris Gutierrez and Jonathan Martinez. So big, big whoopsie on my part.

Don't do what I did. Don't be like A.K. Lee. And of course, in general, put some time to your picks, guys. Just don't, don't give us do-do. All right. Let's do this. John Ray. Carlson Harris versus the Gunner Nelson, Brian Barbarino, winner.

Victor Henry v. Barbarina Batista. Ariani Lipski, she looked incredible last night against J.J. Aldrich. that was probably the performance of her career. Lipski versus the Wood Carolina winner, which goes down next Saturday, UFC 286. Lipski was almost a 3 to 1 underdog, man. And I'm with that. I picked Alder's to cruise to a decision.

I thought Alder's going to make easy work of this, but good for Lipski. Great stuff. Silva versus Ulan Bekhov, Grant versus Phillips, Martinez versus Munoz, winner, lose, Krilov versus Smith, Span, I think he meant Smith Walker.

Cryoff versus the Smith Walker winner. Right, right. Volkov versus Tai Tuivasa, Yan versus the Font Yana's winner. Gerard DeVos Raleigh versus O'Malley. In any case, Sterling will move up to 145 of winner-lose. I saw a lot of this last night on the post-fight show. There's no way in hell, Sean O'Malley's fighting Marab de Wallis, really,

unless it's for the belt. And even then, I think O'Malley would be like, eh, maybe I'll see if Marab, like, fight somebody else and loses, and then I'll go in there. O'Malley, if you're, if you're, If you're out there, if you're out there, and that fight comes out, you tell them, give me $5 million,

and I'll fight him Rob DeWalshreli. And then you can sign on. Otherwise, no. Yeah. Don't do it. Volkov versus Spivak, back-to-back, Moldolvins for him. Nikita Krilov v.

Versus alex, Pondas return, so he's with you there. Silence behind the violence versus Umar and Morghumarov. Let's go. Oh my gosh. I forgot that Romanov is also Moldov. I think he's one of those guys.

I keep calling him Russian. Yeah. That's right. So we've already, okay, right, he is mold open. Okay, right, go on. Mario Batista versus Javid Basharat, Davy Graham versus Kyler-Philip. Victor Henry, Sergey Morozov. There you go.

Carlson Harris versus Ian Gary, AK. What do you think about that? Wait, who was the, say it again? Carlson Harris versus Ian Gary. Carlson, I'm sorry, I heard Carl Williams, and I'm like, I don't think they're the same way. Carlson Harris versus Ian Machado Gary. Yeah, that's a good, yeah, that's a good. There's a lot of good mid-tier test for Ian Machado, Gary.

I think Carlson Harris is certainly one of them. I wish I thought of that last week. I said the winner of this. I guess I didn't know that Carlson Harris would still be fighting on the card. Okay, anyway. Yeah, good thing. Bruno Silva versus Tim Elliott.

Fun fight. Drew Hilty. I don't know what to do with Marab. Really? Have to see what's going on with Aljo O'Malley Suhudo. My guess is Marab versus the Cheeto Sanhagan winner. Perhaps. Jan, if I saw that, I want to get your opinion on this.

I'll go to this last. Volkov versus Jailton, fast track him. I need the possibility. possibility of Jones versus Jelton, kind of do-do because Jailton's fighting Jarsini Rosenstrike. Martinez versus the song Simone loser, Batista versus Barcellos, Petrino versus the duelist, Ehorpe Batoria, Victor Henry versus Javierat is the perfect test for Bash. The other one is Peodor Yan dropping to 125 if he can make it because he's not getting

a title shot at 135. His magic wand pick is Peodor Jan versus Manel Kopp winner. or lose against Alex Perez. Now, that fight would be great. I just don't know if Pierre Riyadh. Pierre Yahn was looked bigger than Maraub in there last night. Yeah, Marraub is one of those. I don't think it's possible.

And by the, I also don't think, oh, I think Maraub sort of talked about that, possibly going back, going down in the event that Al Jazeerao, like, sticks around at 135 for another year. Yeah, I could see Maraub going to 125. I can't see, I don't think Piadriang can get there.

But there's no way it's ideal for Maraub. Like, I think he is at his ideal weight, plus. I think he could make 125. I just think it would be so rough for him and we wouldn't see

the best version of him. So why do it? I don't know. I don't want to see either guy dropped to 125. But that's, listen, this is what happens

when the top of the division is so screwed up right now. Yeah. Let's see. Toby, let's see if we have anything new. Jan versus Cruz. Romanov versus Olinick.

Is he still around? I still don't. I don't think. he officially retired. I have to... Is he gone, though? Oh, is he released? That I don't remember. I know. I believe he was listed on the... Oh, he got, you know, the roster watch. I think there was definitely a roster watch thing.

We said, okay, sorry, we reported this. Our man, Damon. He was removed from the rock. He completed his contract. He did complete his contract. So, technically a free agent, you know, not just like gone, gone, but he is a free agent. Could come back. Could come back. come back. Krilov versus Yon 2. Petrino versus Linz. Williams versus Spino.

Oh, boy. Yeah, that would be, I think that would be kind of an rough night for Mr. Williams. Where is Juan of Spino? That's a great question. When did, oh, I, okay. This is the second time you guys mentioned

Krilov, Blowicz, too. And I was like, when did they first fight? Almost six, five and a half years ago. Jeez. 2018, yeah. Grant versus Casey Kenney. Oh, where, oh, where? is Casey Kennedy.

Apparently is going to try to come back this year. That's fun fight. That'd be a good one to come back to. Josh Frem versus Jacob Malcun. Victor Henry, Kyler Phillips. Lipski versus Natalia Silva. I believe Natalia Silva is, I don't think it's official,

but I think she's got something cooking from May. So we'll hold out for that, but I'd watch the hell out of it. Dan versus Tyra. I still kind of want to see that fight at this point. Silla versus Chanel. Gooden versus Fialo, Harris versus Renauds. You know what's crazy is you said Framd versus Malcun, and I felt nothing.

Like my soul left my body for a moment. Like I, it's such a weird, like I, it was a great job, Josh Fram taking on a big underdog against a debuting guy, pretty hyped debuting guy from, from Contender Series with a checkered pass. So, way to go, Josh Frammed. like it's rare like anytime you we're going through these listener and matchups like something like anytime we like I'm not going to react and this way but like something twinge is like in my mind is like oh good bad cool like a word pops up you said frem'd malcun and I experienced zen I experienced my mind like people you know people always say oh you can you can you can you can you blank your mind and think of nothing it's like impossible it's possible you're always going to be thinking of something

you said friend malcun and I just felt the void in a good way for like a split second, but a split second that felt like eternity. And I was at peace. Like, what a weird matchup that will probably happen. And I just have no thoughts about it. It's like, oh, I'm not going. It's like a thing. Okay, anyway, I'm sorry.

I went in a little departure there. I felt nothing. And I felt nothing. Wow. All right. Let's go to Marcus, Davy Grant, Daniel Santos, Mario Batista, Cody Garbrandt. Surprise. I don't know, buttee.

I didn't see Bautzis call out, but that actually would have been a really good call-out for Cody. You like that? Oh, great. Oh, good call-up. Yeah. Is it a good fight? I don't know. I think, but I think Bautista like clears him.

Yeah, because Cody's going to fight. And Codes going to fight James Figueroa. Yeah. So why is this even coming up? Okay. Petrino versus Negamariano. Jonathan Martinez versus Javitt. A lot of Martinez, Bachelat.

So are you very high on Johnny Bajarat. I'm super high in Javid. So tough, that's a tough. But listen, listen, Jonathan Martinez, I think he, like we said, he was the underdog against Sadie Nermagamatov, not like two to one, but close to one.

So yeah, listen, you're saying, so he could be a real spoiler of Bantamate. He could be a real spoiler in this division. Yeah, he could hurt a lot of up and covers. He likes Krylov v.

Roundtree. I actually like Span versus Roundtree a lot. That'd be a nice little bounce back. He likes John Cruz. Wow. How about this? Going right back to it. Marab versus Umar Nirmaramaidov.

After that win over Peter Yan. Hey, Marab, great job. now you have to fight Umar to Manga Madov. I was going to ask you, Mike, because Aljo has like the sweetest gig at 130 of the UFC champions because he has his bodyguard. Yeah.

And this is a chance he would never have to fight Umar if if Marab is able to beat Umar. Again, I think Umar is the best. But I think Marab is a tough matchup for anyone at 135 pounds. When you have that level of cardio, I mean, you're just going to be a problem for everybody. So, uh, maybe he just keeps playing his bodyguard role and keeps Umar away. from Aljo because again if you're if you're me man I'm picking Aljo to beat almost everyone and that includes Al Jermaine Sterling so

maybe Maraub just step in there take that bullet yeah I mean yeah that would be just crazy he goes out there and just washes Jan and then he has to fight Umar like a win away from fighting for the belt that's crazy

Tino Alvarez Harris versus Milots Silva versus Odey Osborne Lipsky versus Jillian Robertson if she beats Pierre Rodriguez Henry versus Bacherot again Wow everyone likes this one Frem versus Soriano

Williams versus Pogues Can you imagine how bad that fight's gonna be Holy smokes That's a flight night cold mate event right there That's really terrible Petrito versus Prachio Batista versus Grant Martinez versus Umar there you go

Cryloff Rackage Volkov to Ivasa Rob versus Corey Sanhagan if he beats Chito Vera Robbie Ryan Good day fellas Martinez versus the Munoz Gutier's loser we already established Won't be Gutierrez. Yeah, so Munoz. Span versus Walker 2.

Walker's booked versus Anthony Smith. So did Span and Walker? Yeah, they did. Volkov Spivak. Ideally, Marab should fight Vera Sanhagan winner to establish next title contender, but it sounds like he intends to sit out until after Sean O'Malley fights

Al Jus Huda winner. That will likely be over a year from now. Perhaps Figgie in the meantime. I don't think Figgis is going anywhere near that fight. Chris London. Holy hell the machine. continue to do smaller venues like that and get out of the apex. I did like the flow of the theater at the Virgin Hotels. I did like that. Jan versus Figgi, Romano v. Almeida. That's kind of

due to because Almeida is booked against Jardzino. Krylov versus Smith. Smith is booked versus Walker, but I pick that fight too, so maybe, I don't know, maybe I'll give you a break. Span versus Metafield. Now, that would be interesting. Two guys who have trained together many times, I believe Meadowfield is no longer part of the Fortess MMA squad. He's over with Pat Berry and company. So that could be fun. Little former team, little team split action.

That can be fun. Yeah, I like that. You mentioned, sorry, I was going to wait for you to finish because I wanted to talk about Jeltsona as always. Sorry, is that the end of this person's picks? No, there's more.

Oh, I'm sorry, wrap that up, but I'll come back. Jonathan, another J.M.R. versus Umar. Saeed versus Saeed versus the Shore Amir Kani winner. So, Syed's going to move up to 45? That's a weird. Yeah, I don't think that's a, that's a doo-do pick. Well, Shores up, I mean, this is new. Shore is moving up to 145. It's not new. People should know by now.

We reported this like, like eight months ago. Feathers have been injuries. Shores and fought in a while. Man, come on, man. And Amirconi's not a fan to wait. So there's no excuses here. Williams versus Mays. Batista versus Stamen. Ah, another dude, Stamon's book,

May 13th, Douglas Silladay Androge. Jared Gooden versus Blood Diamond. Okay, sure. All right. I'll read these last picks, and then you can go. Dad Jackson, David Grant

versus Cody Garbrat. You like that? Sorry, who versus Cody Garber? I'm sorry. Davy Grant versus Cody Garbrant. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Yeah, fine. I just, I don't understand.

I don't understand you. Figgy's a bridge too far because you don't want him to get hurt. But Davey Grad, who just lights people up, that's okay. I love you. I mean, that could at least, I think he has a chance against Davey Grant. I think he's like going to be. I think he's a chance against Figgy. I don't know if he, I think he has no chance.

I don't think there's a world where Cody Garbrandt feeds Davis and Figurato. Oh, man. I hope they make that fight just so I can go on the pre-year-old. review show and pick Cody Garbera to win. I also want to see this. I also want to see this fight happen so that you could, you could feel bad. You're like, why did I ask for this? Oh, no.

I actually am openly rooting for this fight to happen now, because now we have to know. We have to know. Batista versus Saeed, Martinez versus Cruz, Kryla versus Roundtree, Marab versus Suhudo. There you go. Okay. You're up. Oh, that's all those. That's all my picks.

All my picks. So I wanted to mention one that came up, Jelton Alameda, and, getting picked a lot. And we were like, oh, we had to remind people he's fighting Jarzino. You know what, Mike? I'm lifting our thing on saying, like, listen, you shouldn't book someone throwing a fight. Because I like, but Cheltson Alameda, you just assume he's going to win whatever fight he's in next.

So guess what? He's a free pick. He's a free pick. I don't care if he's fighting like next week and someone says like, oh, Jelton Alameda, and don't mention like Jeltslemaida if he beats whoever, whoever. You know what? If you pick Jeltenameda, you're probably with me and you just assume he beats everybody. So yes, you can speak.

People, don't, if you're making a gelton and made-out selection, don't even look ahead to see these books, you're right. He's probably going to win anyway and can fight the fighter of your choice that you're picking for. So, all right, I didn't, Mike, did you read out Marcus, our graph sending pal Marcus? I don't know if I hurt you. I did. We had back-to-back graphs.

They did back-to-back graphs. Toby and Marcus both did graphs. What? Using the same, like, format? Or they have different kind of graphs? Different kind of graphs. I didn't read all of Toby's because he literally math. match makes for everybody.

Like any UFC fighter there's even an attendance got match made for in his graph. Thank you, Toby. Yeah, we love you. Okay, I'll go to the Instagram first. Matthew Jemasey, I haven't heard from this young man since last summer.

What's up, Matthew? Oh, no, so he did, oh, he did the doodoo with me. This is a double do-dudu. Double-dudu? There's a double-dud. John Martinez, so he didn't even say versus like Gutierrez, Paige Munoz, you know, winner or loser.

He just said Martinez versus Gutierrez. Oh, do-do-do-do-do. Hey, Jamaisi, don't worry. We're sitting in that dude. Come plop right down next to me, buddy. We're sitting that do-do together. Krilov versus Anthony Spanth, who is fighting Johnny Walker. Volkov, Tye Tuvasa.

Yeah, I'm cool with that. I know that one keeps coming up. I'm cool with that. And Mara versus Vera Sandhagan winner. Sure, sure. Martin Grisham is with me on Krilla versus Rockich. Romanov versus Chris. Docus, yeah, that might be the right move for him right now.

Chris Dawkins, I don't think is booked, right? From what I can recall. That might be the right move for him now. And then some others that have already been read. Our pal, Michael Conifrey, no, an MMA fighting memes. I want to read, I'm back, haven't had any time to listen to the podcast this semester. Michael.

No excuses, playing a champion. He also likes Carlson Harris versus Ian Machado, Gary. Not going to lie. I thought Mike was completely within. reason to throw Garbrand to Figgie. Cody needs to shit or get off the pot as Mike wants elegantly put it. But if you think that's too much, I think Henry would make a Victor Henry would be a good matchup for Cody Garbrandt.

Oh yes, I'm more with that. Davy Grant versus Hauny Barcelos, fight a night, run all over it, would like to see Mario Bautista fight, Ricky Simone, if he loses the song. The two most powerful wrestlers in the division. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Hold on. The two most powerful wrestlers in the...

Bantamway has a lot. of good wrestlers in it. The two most powerful, Mike, what do you think of that statement? Mario Batista and Ricky Simone, the two most powerful wrestlers in the division, the Bantamweight division. Yeah, I think Aljo, they're up there. Henry Suhudo, the gold medalist might have something to say about that. Yeah, he's technically back, exactly.

Maybe he's excluded, you know, not technically, you know, he hasn't fought yet. He's not back yet. Umar is a very good wrestler. I mean, we talk about Umar is a great striker, too. He's a very good wrestler. very, very good. I like that, though, but that's bold, Michael, Michael Conifer. I like that.

Respect. Matt Bradbury. Let me see what we got here. Arani Lipski versus Marina Moros. Another, Javid Basrat's name coming up again, this time for Davy Grant. Jonathan Martinez, versus Font. Yonaz loser. Kula Blachovic, two.

By the way, I apologize. I've pronounced Jan Blahovich's name five different ways since we started the show. It's one I can never get right, and I don't know why. I will pin that down. Mike, how do you say? It's Black Govitz. Blahovich? You say Blahovich?

Yeah. I don't know. Okay, I'm going to have to go back and listen to some people saying it. If John Annick, if John Anick says it, then I follow it. He says Blahovic. He says Blahovic. The Blahovic it is. Okay.

Okay, and again, a lot of the same pictures we've already had. All right, let me hop over. We got one email from our pal Tristan Gordette. Piotrion versus Song-Simone winner, April 22nd. Bruno Silva versus Alan Alain Nassimento. You've mentioned this. I don't know if it's possible. Ariane Lipski versus Natalia Silva.

Silva might be booked. Josh Framd versus Joseph Holmes. Somehow that gets more of a reaction for me than Josh Fram and Malcoon. I don't know why. Victor Henry versus Mario Batista. Thank you, Tristan. Let's go to the Twitter machine real quick here. Ooh, I like this from Chris Dragon Slayer 2.

Always just sends me one pick. Carlson Harris versus Matthew Samplesberger. That's it. cryptocurrency wanted to know Mike did they show your tweet on the air did you catch that i did not okay he said did they just show mike's tweet do you remember tweeting anything provocative maybe during the main event was there anything did you have a take did you have some sort of tidbit fight take no just that barrab was was rolling and that you know maybe there was like a little there was like inside baseball

podshots because like there were some people that was actually he he he tried to explain it as he was just like trying to get a reaction but there was somebody, there was a media member who was scoring the fight for Piotr-Yon very publicly. And so I would be like, it is clear as day, Ford was to one from Robb. Oh, that kind of is a reaction. But I don't know if that made it on. I had better tweets than that.

The pleasure man walking out to Sexy Back was probably my best tweet of the night. It may have gotten on there, but I don't care if I'm on the broadcast. There are a lot of people who really care if they're on. Oh, I know. I know. personalities change once those cards start it's hilarious this fight as a banger hashtag UFC Las Vegas I've done it I've done it I'm not gonna I'm not calling anyone out by the way

this came at 812 p.m I assume that's around when the main event rolled up started or yeah maybe I'm trying to see here I'm now fascinated about this so oh this might have been it you tweeted oh no no oh you tweeted yes sheesh Alexander Volkov just ran over Alexander Romanov and made it look effort list. That could have been it. That could have been it. And then you had a few, yeah, you had a few tweets about the, uh, during the main event. So, uh, yeah. So I, I think it was maybe the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the answer to that question. Dax at Pike Putt. I would hate to see Ramana fight Sakai, but that's what's going to happen. Unless in Las Vegas

residency. That's a great choice. I'd love to see a Bruno Silva. I would love to see Bruno Silva, either the 125 or 185 version fight match now. I'd love to see my Chanel fight Flindado Silva. That'd just be bizarre. That's great. Dumas is not a good thing, but what can you expect anymore? Okay, yeah, well, listen, he, he, uh, unsuccessful in his first fight. So if anyone was praying for his downfall,

you got a little, uh, little bit of, uh, charge there. Hayes with third, always writing a lot. Okay, I'll read a bit of Hayes here. Marab, wow, one impressive showing. His card is insane. I'll go ahead, give him a prediction that Henry beats Sterling, and I think Moral will get the next title shot at Henry. That's right, Hayes.

Friends forever, I agree. Let's see what else. got here. Martinez. I thought Sayyed edged out, but it was very close. Great fight overall. It was definitely impressed with TSB TV, as Mike called him before. I actually liked the Cruz call-out, but there are other matchups.

I'd like more for Cruz. So I'll go with Song-Simon Liser for Martinez. Petrino Paderea. Mike, this might happen. We're hearing a lot. You said it. A lot of people are recommending it. Silva Sumerrechi.

I think the Schnell matchup makes more sense, but that would be a fun one. I don't think it's that. Alex McCatum. Lipski versus Molly McCann? This sounds so familiar, but I don't think it's happened. Was it? There's too many fights. There's too many fights.

That might have been at one point, but I like that fight. There's too many fights. Or if they don't do Molly versus Jazz and Jazz DeVizius, then I'm cool with Molly versus Ariane. Oh, okay. MMJ, right, right, right. Vito Bertrino Philippe Lins. Yeah, I could totally see that happening.

Again, very apexe fight. Just book it for the apex, no problem. Romanov versus Ivanov, he's still, I hate when I have to ask this because it sounds so mean, but he's still in the UFC? That's great question. He's probably on like a four-fight win streak. I don't even know. I'm sorry, guys. He's.

Blagoia, he's messing around somewhere, isn't he? He, what happened? He was, when was this? Oh, this is, oh, wow, his video entry. I'm sorry, look at his Wikipedia entry. It is so outdated. So, yeah, I believe Blago is still still. He hasn't fought since.

He's lost three out of four, so. Wait, he just fought? He fought Marching Tibera on that, I believe the Derek Loo. Oh, yeah, it was on the Derrick Luzer. Five weeks ago? Yeah. That was the, yeah, that was like the heavyweighty, heavyweight fight. Yeah, I was going to say.

Two in the morning before the made event. I have no recollection. Thank you, Austin, McAnnever for reminding me. Ramano Bivenov, totally happen. If you don't remember it, it's literally, like, if you could imagine what that fight looks like, that's exactly what the fight was and Martin Taibora 1.

I don't remember it and yet now that I'm thinking about it, the imagery is vivid in my mind. Thomas Collins, Volkov versus Derek Lewis too. Yeah, I'm amazed they haven't just tried to make this one happen. Maybe neither guy's interested. Because yeah, I was actually just rewatching that fight and I'm

like, Derek Lewis was 10 seconds away from losing and it was so cool how we came back. I'm into that. Oh, Mike, what do you think of this. I don't like this, but I don't know what to do with this guy. Davy Grant versus Raul Rosas Jr. if he is victorious at UFC 287.

Hmm. Like, my first thought is too soon, but maybe it's not. I don't know. I don't know. I need to see how he fights Christian Rodriguez first, and then I'll make my decision. But I, my gut reaction right away is that it's too soon. and I don't want to see it right now. Maybe another fight, maybe like two fights from then.

But, yeah, we'll see how he looks. If he just kills Christian Rodriguez and the fight's not competitive at all, then sure, I'm in. Step up time. Irene Lipski versus MDLR, Montana Del Marosa, Victor Henry versus Stamen, Douglas de Siva, Diann-Jraj, winner. Look forward to the show. Thanks, Thomas. And we're closing out with our pal, Barry O'Reilly. Also has quite a bit to write.

So, thanks, Barry. Happy Sunday. Let's go Celtic. That's right. us to Alastair Johnson getting a big assist in yesterday's 3-0-0-1. Mike, did yesterday's venue give you old-school kind of ECW vibes at the walkouts and the wooden floor around the octagon? It was Monday Night Raw at the Manhattan Center.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I loved it. I loved it. Was that not the same venue that ECW ran occasionally? No. Same kind of, same kind of looking venue. Okay, right, right. They ran the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Yes, Hammerstein Ballroom, of course. So yeah, Bear, you're not inaccurate. There was a weird sort of pro wrestling smaller venue vibe to it. Loved it. Love it. Carlson Harris versus Mike Malott, Bruno Silver, Sumidaergy. Let me skip ahead here. Josh Fran versus Julian Marquez.

Wow, step up in competition, big step up in competition for Framed. Teammates. They are team. What, are they really? Marquez is at Factory. I know so little about Josh Fram. except that I wish his name Oh, his nickname is the Big Yins

Not a play on friend I'm not your friend I mean the best friend There's so he could have he could have He calls up the best It's like a double nickname It's like oh I'm the best And also I'm the best friend Josh

You love that You're really missing out He's a good dude I like Josh a lot But yeah After the James Kraus situation Julian went to Factory X Ah yes yes

Okay okay Well anyway I did not know that So, Barry, listen, I'm with you in thinking that that fight was possible. Carl Williams versus Parker Porter. Sorry, Mike. This is another winner-go-home fight with Porter's job on the line. If he can hold on and survive the wrestling in the first round, he should be able to outlast and beat Williams.

Mike, if you lost that fight, we think that's it? That's the last receipt of Parker Porter? No, he's got, if anybody has job security in the UFC forever, it's Parker Porter. I mean, that guy, I mean, how could you not love that guy? Yeah, I don't hate it. Pack is probably a little higher than that. But yeah, that'd be a grueling gruel fest between those two guys. That might be the inaugural heavyweighty, heavyweight title fight right there.

Petrino, Poteria. Boy, that is a popular pick. Jonathan Martina. Barry, Barry, Barry. So he likes Bratista, Chris Gutierrez, and Jonathan Martinez, Ricky Simone. Again, great picks. Barry, you got these guys are booked. Gutierrez is booked against Munoz.

Simone's booked against Song. Come on, Barry. Come on, Barry. Come on, please. Great matchups, but great matchups, very likely matchups that will happen with those guys win. But we got to be specific here. Krilov versus the Rackets, yeah, again, that's where I landed too. Volkov, Tuibasa.

Volkov has fought nearly evident heavyweight, gives him a chance to be in a bigish name, while Ty would regain a lot of credit with the revenge win over a Russian shore. And Marab, the Wildish Philly versus Umar, Nirmagomeda. I am with Jed. Marab is effective, but not entertaining and shouldn't necessarily be punished for that. But he shouldn't be punished for the Aldo, but he shouldn't be punished for the Aldo fight. Want to see what he can do against someone with the Dagestan background.

To quote the Uso's, I've been down for this fight since day one-ish. So there we go. WrestleMania, we're only a few weeks away. It's very appropriate, Barry. So thank you, everyone. That's it. That is it for the picks this week. I have listener picks.

All right. Well, next week will be live again. We were just live a week ago. And now we're going to be live again because. another paperview two paper reviews in two weeks 14 days it's happening

UFC 286 the UFC heads across the pond to the UK Jose Youngs our own Jose Youngs is heading across the pond probably by the time you hear this he's already traveling on over

to London for coverage of UFC 286 the good news is AK and I will be back Sunday morning to do on to the next one after UFC 286 but the good news is

will be a little more well rested because the main card starts at 5 p.m. Eastern, which I freaking love. Whoa. Isn't that? Did you not know this? Pip, Pip, Cheerio. That's what I got to say about that. I'm so sorry.

I'm very excited. I'm very excited. English listeners. Yes, 1 p.m. Prelim started at 1 p.m. Eastern. And then 5 p.m. Eastern main card. Of course, the main event, Leon Edwards, Kamar Usman 3 for the Walterway title. Justin Gagee versus Raphael Fiziv that fight absolutely rules.

That's the co-main event featured about. Welterweights, Gunner Nelson versus Brian Barbarina. Main card fight, 125 pounds. No longer Joanne Wood versus Luana Caroline on the main card. The UFC made the right call here, and it's undebatable. The return of Casey O'Neill versus Jennifer Maya has been bumped up to the main card. The opening main card bout, Marvin Vittori versus Roman DeLizze, big one in 185 pounds. Jack Shore, Machuanamir Connie.

We have Chris Duncan, Omar, Morales, Sam Patterson, Yanal, Auxon. Yanal Ashmas, Mohamed Baha'iahe versus Jafel Filo. Lorone Murphy will be fighting after all. He will fight Gabriel Santos, Christian Leroy Duncan

versus Disco Todorovich. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We have a Chris Duncan and Christian Leroy Duncan I'm familiar with. We have Christian Leroy Duncan and Chris Duncan. We sure do, A.K. No.

We sure do. No. Yeah. You can't just do that. Chris Duncan, the lightweight. Christian Leroy Duncan, the middleweight. This is like a pro no self of a situation. Higher way class.

More letters to the name. Oh, I'm not from Chris Duncan's fought for Bellator. I do not recall this. And fought a contender series. Wow, I don't recall any of this. Okay, I apologize to the Scottish Chris Duncan for not knowing your game. Congratulations on making your USC debut. Again, I'm much more familiar and high on Christian Leroy, Duncan.

But okay, cool. That's going to be super confusing for the broadcast. It's going to be great. I love it. Jay Cadley, Malcolm Gordon, Joanne Wood, Luana Carol. is on the early preliminus now. Jai Herbert v. Ladovitt Klein. That fight just is not going to the cards.

And the opener, the curtain jerker for UFC 286, women's flyweight matchup, Veronica Massado, or Mesaido, excuse me, against Juliana Killa Miller. What a weird. Since the ultimate fight. That's a weird fight to have on a London card. Ultimate Fighter 30 champion, Julianna Milla. I would have loved to have seen that, like on a fight.

She should be on a fight. main the card, not on the early prelims. And so the prelims, what time to the earliest prelims start? Mike, do we know? I believe 1 p.m. Eastern is when they started. That's a weird time. Well, anyway, tune in for Juliana Miller. Veronica Massado, fighting for the first time in three years.

I just thought she was done. Yeah. I guess she was retired briefly, but she's back. Okay, cool. That's a very, that's a peculiar. I really need to tune in for that first fight because that is a peculiar. I have no, I think it's like, I. I have to imagine Miller's a massive favorite,

but boy, I don't know what direction that fight's going to go with. Well, let's take it Gander. Well, let's just do it right now. Let's take it again. Julianna Miller, minus 450, AK. Yeah, I would think so. You were right on the money.

Again, she looked great on the ultimate fighter, look great in the finale. And again, fighting someone who hasn't fought in three years? She is the, she's tied for the third biggest favorite on the card. obviously Muhammad Mahayev is the biggest favorite minus 800 Jack Shore minus 550 favorite against Baku and Marikhani and then Giuliana Miller Juni Lana Miller minus 450 Gunner Nelson minus 400 against Brian Barbarina

so we get some uh who's uh who's a shock here whose favor in the main event uh Kabar Usman as of right now minus 245 to come back on the end of hers plus 205 Wow that's wild right what do you think I mean I believe it Take a guess on what you think Fiziv Gaii is right now. Gatji is favored? No. No.

I have no guessed that. I don't know. Raphael Fiziv, depending on where you look, as high as a minus 260 favorite against Justin Gage. Damn, this is Justin Gajee. Isn't that crazy? Barim Vittori, minus 275 favorite against Roman Delizze. Casey O'Neill, minus 185 favorite against Jennifer Maya.

That's probably where I would put it. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Any other? weird lines. Jake Hadley minus 375 against Malcolm Gordon. That seems a little cray. Like I like Jake Hadley a lot, but minus 375 against Malcolm Gordon. What did you say

Maccahav was again? Maccahav must be like... Minus 800. Only? That's actually, like, that should be in the the, yeah, Batiste Kennedy range. That's going to get juiced up. That's probably going to get juiced up. I think the cold, right now the

closest betting line fight is Klein versus Jai Herbert. Oh no, Omar Morales, Chris Duncan is like a pickum. The Scottish Duncan. The Scottish Duncan. I'm so confused already.

I'm already saying. I get it. One guy is going to be Chris Duncan. One guy's going to be Christian Leroy Duncan. It's not the same name, but I mean, just them being on the same card. It's tripping me out.

Okay, whatever. Even like, there's no like official line for Lorone Murphy, Gabriel Santos, but right now one, one side has it at minus 175 for Lorone Murphy, which is...

So take that, bet, bet your ass up on that one. disrespect to Gabriel Santos, but I think Laurel Murphy is the real deal, but it's just been so long since the scene of the man fight. So lots of look forward to. UFC 286. We'll have your coverage all week. And of course, I'll

be back in New York for the watch party. Some early watch partying, 5 p.m. or 4.45 p.m. Eastern and the start of the UFC 286 live watch party. And I'm pretty excited for UFC 286. I'm pretty excited. There's some, this ain't the biggest star

quality pay-per-view of the three. I think everyone was looking at 285, 286, 287, kind of those three cards. This is probably the weaker of the three, but this is still a pretty damn good card. So, very excited to get ready for that. And watch it all play out. Let's see if Maruzen get his title back, or if Leon Edwards can pick up another win in front of his home crowd. A lot to like about UFC 286. And we'll be back live next week.

So thank you very much for listening to the program. And always remember, ladies Jim, the golden rule of onto the next one, don't take the up too seriously. MMA's supposed to be fun, and we'll have more fun following UFC 286 next week on onto the next one, the podcast.

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.