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

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

Sean Brady made a loud statement in Saturday's UFC London main event, running through former welterweight champion Leon Edwards and making it clear he's coming for the 170-pound title and a rematch with Belal Muhammad. Has Brady done enough to jump all the way to the front of the contenders' line? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss where to go with Brady after his career-best performance at O2 Arena in London. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for would-be light heavyweight title challenger Carlos Ulberg after an uninspiring win over Jan Blachowicz, Kevin Holland in his triumphant return (and hopefully, stay) at welterweight, plus impressive main card winners Alexia Thainara, Chris Duncan, Nathaniel Wood, and more. 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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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns have returned following UFC London. And that was a card that certainly happened on Saturday at the O2 Arena. Just tough scenes. But there were some positive things that happened, including Sean Brady, just absolutely running over Leon Edwards before putting him away in round four with a choke. What a performance for Sean Brady mixes things up in a big way at 170 pounds. We'll discuss what is next for Sean Brady.

and more following UFC London. I am Mike Heck, and joining me to do exactly that is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, Alexander Cayley, aka how are we doing after such a thrilling card in the UK? My best friend, we're doing good. You know, it was a nice midday,

sort of a midday card. I guess that's where I would describe it, but it just kind of seep into the night. Like it kind of, you know, not the same as like, one of those West Coast cars, but yeah, it was, it took up some time. That's a pretty, like, not great endorsement of what we watched on Saturday. I had given U.C. London a degree of difficulty score of, like, seven, which I don't regret. Like, I think if, I think if the card had been better, we would be looking at it, like,

as, like, oh, this was a really good fight night event, great return to London, good times. But yeah, it was mostly forgetable, right? It was a mostly forgettable card. I will say this is kind of what happens when you create cards with competitive matchups. You know, you can't fall to matchmakers for that. Like, I think a lot of us are pre-line, our pre-event evaluations were pretty accurate. Like, I think we looked a lot of these, like, oh, that's a competitive fight.

And these two people, like, you know, one of these, one of these fighters could be a top 15 fighter in the future. And I think that's true, actually, have a lot of, like, the people. we saw fight. Sorry. But yeah, we just got some style matchups that weren't that appealing, unfortunately. We had some disappointment outside of the main event as far as like results that would push the UFC forward, push the divisions forward. We didn't exactly get that.

We got, we didn't get, we didn't get the most exciting contender outcomes. So yeah, it definitely did not live up. It was not a seven out of seven. It was maybe, boy, maybe like a 4.6. It didn't nail the, Mike, it stumbled in the runoff. It tripped over the pommel horse. It didn't nail the landing. It was a bad night entertainment-wise, I think, for the UFC.

It was one of the least entertaining cards I've seen in a long time. And, you know, I felt bad for the fans that ruined their Saturday, essentially. I mean, honestly, beautiful day, springtime's coming. Daylight savings is in effect. and you stayed home to watch that for 14 hours. And you left there just being like, ugh, why did I do that? Immediate regret for most people that I spoke with and that have hit me up via the magic of direct message on social media. But shout out to any of the, they announced 18,583 people were in that building from honestly people that I've spoken with via the magic of

DM. I don't feel that that's an accurate number. They may have broken the gate record, but it certainly didn't feel like a sellout to those who were in attendance. And it was the, it was the quietest I've ever heard of London crowd for any MMA event that I've ever seen. Cage Warriors, any sort of event that's taken place in London, BKFC with like 3,000 people had way more energy. This place was just zonked out, zapped of energy. They were just tired of the, the, the, the slowness of the card. It should have been called UFC London,

try not to lose. Like, that's how fighters fought. They were just like, I'm just going to try to not lose today for the most part, except for the occasional fighter, Sean Brady,

Chris Duncan, and some others. And there were some good fights. Like, the Nathaniel Wood and Morgan Cherry Air fight, good fight. Like, there were some good fights.

This wasn't awful all around, but it's just, you're like, when is this going to end? Even the prelims, they went over by like 20 minutes. It was crazy. Bonus coverage.

Mike. You got, you what I mean? You got bonus coverage. That's what they called it. We got bonus coverage of Chris Padilla versus Jai Herbert. Oh, man.

Like, Loner Kavanaugh was fun. But we got Marching Tybor versus Mick Parkin. Oh, that boy. That's like, yeah, and Christian Leroy Duncan and Andre Pooley.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Stinkball. Shana Bannon and Puget Tomar, which. Well, that was what it was. The first round was one of the worst rounds

in UFC history. Those whatever kicks that Shauna was throwing were just so irritating to watch. And they were somewhat working, or they weren't, apparently according to the judge's scorecards before the finish in the second round. I think Puja was up two cards to one after round one. I thought she won the first round. I thought Puja won the first round. She was landing way more headshots. Again, really, Shauna was just landing those weird sidekicks that were just like, again, and the fact that Fujit Tamar was actually warded off by them,

just made the whole thing worse. But anyway, sorry, we don't want to need to harp on that. Yeah, but, yeah, I don't really know what to say. Let's just get right into this. Let's just say, last thing I'll say about it, because I don't want to come on here and just be negative. No. Man, like, and I, because my role yesterday was dirty,

I was the dirty boxing guy. So I watched the dirty boxing card. And immediately, like, the first prelim that dirty boxing had, I was like, this is way more exciting than any of the UFC fights. And it went to the cards and it went to a decision. but like you saw two dudes who like let it all out there and it was a weird event it got real sloggy there were some bad fights on that as well they started super late so not like the best intro for dirty boxing but yeah there's just a lot of fights a long day of fight watching for your friend mike i missed the first fight and then watched every ufc fight and then all the dirty boxing fights waited till the dirty boxing was supposed to start at 530 it's didn't start till 7.30. That's when the broadcast actually started. One of their streams died. They had to create a new stream. They said, we're going to start right at 7. They waited until

Sean Brady beat Leon Edwards to start the show. Why? Why are you doing this? It's not like Yol Romero is hanging out in the back ready to make the walk. We don't want Yoel fighting at the same time as Sean Brady and Leon Edwards. Like, get the freaking prelims who nobody knows out of the way. So when the UFC card is over, we can go right into the names you know. Why? more East Green get knocked through the ropes by Rockheem Cleveland. Like that should have been like the first thing we saw as soon as the UFC event was over. But who am I? I'm just a man behind a microphone.

And I'm a man who is about to set you up, AK, because I'm very intrigued by where you're going to go with this. Because we mentioned the hero of the day, not your own marrow. He was kind of a hero too. Sean Brady. Sean freaking Brady rolls in to London, England, somewhat short notice. he was not supposed to fight Leon Edwards. He was supposed to watch Jack Della Madelana fight Leon Edwards, and Jack Delamadalana was supposed to watch Shopcott Rachmanoff fight below Muhammad

for the UFC Welterweight title. JDM shifts over to the title fight. Shafcott is injured. Sean Brady gets this opportunity, finds out the day he's leaving the hospital with his newborn child and his wife, that this opportunity is on the table. He flies across the globe to get this opportunity. and he just bodied Leon Edwards. I thought he won the first round,

clear 10-8s in round 2 and 3, in my opinion, and we're on our way to another 10-8 in round 4 before Brady got the tap. He just, he broke Leon Edwards in the second round. And when I spoke with John Brady, he told me exactly what he's going to do. He said, watch all the fights Leon Edwards has lost. It's the same thing every time.

You make him go backwards. You pressure him, you take him down, you get on top of him, and you will see this man start to quit. And that's exactly what happened in this fight. Sean did everything perfectly. Even the takedowns, fall the Balal Muhammad blueprint to an absolute T. And this was about as good as it can get for one Sean Brady. This is not a flash finish. This is not a come from behind victory.

This was pure and utter domination from the opening bell until the tap. Where does Sean Brady go here at 170? because we have a title fight lined up. We have Shafkat Rachmanoff sitting there. We have Joachim Buckley. We have the Kamar Usmans in the world who have not fought in a really, really long time, but are still big names.

Ian Gary has a lot of buzz, even though he lost to Shafcott. A lot of options here for Sean Brady. Which one did you choose? I want to praise Sean Brady some more first. I know people have probably had enough it over the last, you know, however many hours since UFC London. It's really great to see someone who was a blue-chip prospect coming to the UFC

just pan out in the best possible way and bounce back from a really devastating loss to Muhammad. I mean, that loss, I don't remember what my immediate reaction was to the Brady-Mohamed fight when that happened. I'm sure I offered some platitudes of like, well, you know, it happens. Sean Brady to Sean Brady could still be a great top 10 contender for the next four years. But, you know, maybe we've seen his ceiling as a someone who could win the title someday. And I think clearly that was wrong.

I think the ceiling may have only gotten higher after somehow because we see all the time of this business. Like it's not always how you look when you're on a win streak when you're just trucking people. It's how you bounce back from that loss. I see since that was the first and so far only loss of Sean Brady's career. And he's not old, right? He's 32, I think. He would have been, you know, just 29 or 30 when that Bala Muhammad fight happened. Plenty of time to learn.

Plenty of time to grow. and some of the greatest champions ever take that first loss and just go on a run after. And maybe that's what we're seeing with Sean Brady. Again, I'm not saying he's like, you know, George St. Pierre, a fighter who he was, you know, somewhat compared to when he was coming up to the ranks. But this is a champion's mentality.

I'm not saying if he runs into Balal again that, oh, it'll just turn things around and Brady will dominate him. Like, it could be the same result. But it's certainly a fight I want to see in the future. And I think the break, I will say the Brady we saw on Saturday. I think is 10 times better than the Brady that just got, you know, completely outclassed by Ballol that first fight.

So kudos to Brady, kudos to his team, his whole support system. Like, this is how you bounce back from a loss and you come back looking stronger than ever, getting a higher ranking than you've ever had. Spectacular stuff. Mike, I'm going to go with Buckley, Wachene Buckley. It's kind of a follow-up pick because when Joaquin won his most recent fight, I want him to fight Leon Edwards. And then, of course, then Edwards ended up getting the Delam Adelaina fight slash now Sean Brady fight. So I guess he kind of a transitive property thing.

Now he takes, now Brady takes that spot. Both guys, I think would be compelling title challengers. Brady can also wait. I think theoretically Brady can wait. I don't think he should. I think you want to keep fighting this just because, again, this division is so unpredictable. If you wait, it could be nine months. It could be 2025.

26, excuse me. We honestly don't know. And he's hot right now. He is hot. And I think it's, and Buck. Buckley's a very tough matchup, don't you're wrong. That's a huge high-risk matchup. But as a fan, I want another clear-cut number one contender.

Like shop cuts out there, of course, waiting for the Ballal JDM results. But give me Brady and Buckley in the meantime. Brady's going to fight again, which I think you should. Yeah, I'm not going to friends forever this because that was my pick after Buckley beat Colby. Yeah. Like he's just in a weird position right now. And I think it's a really interesting fight. They're both in pretty similar spots right now, although I think Brady is,

the way he beat Leon. I mean, it's hard to put Buckley above him right now in terms of like whose stock is higher right now, although Buckley had a, had a great 2024 startup real bad, just from a microphone usage perspective, but turned it around in a good way. And I think this is the fight to make. Let me just, I'll go ahead, please. Please. No, you're going to talk about what I want to talk about.

Yeah. Yeah. Are you want to talk about the Shafcott thing? Like that's what I want to talk about. How he compares to Brady right now? Well, I see a lot of people say, well, what are the options that should happen or this is the fight that should happen is that Sean Brady should fight Schofcott. Oh, no, no, no, no, no interest. No, I'm a no one of that.

This is this, this might be one of the most assinine takes of 2025. What in the world makes you think that that fight makes any sense? So we are here. Just think about it in this sense, okay? Shafkat was scheduled to fight for the belt in December against Balaamah. The dude had a title shot locked up ready to go. Balal gets hurt and cannot fight Shafqqad. Shafqad doesn't say, F you, F, UFC, I'm off the card, I'm done.

They say, who, he says, I'll stay on the card, I'll fight anybody. And we all said in the buildup, it should be for an interim belt. Like, we hate interim titles, but in this sense, like, He wants to stay on the card. It's essentially a glorified number one contender fight. Let's let these guys make a little bit of money. Who does he take? He takes the hot shit, undefeated prospect.

Ian Machado Gary wins the fight. Wasn't the most thrilling affair, but he won on short notice against a new opponent, helped the UFC out, and he's dinged up. And from all accounts, he was badly hurt heading into that fight, but he battled through it,

fought one, and you're going to penalize him for helping the UFC out and staying on the card and fighting Ian Gary on short notice after getting guaranteed and promised a freaking title shot? What sense does that make? That is just unfair and ridiculous

to even throw that out there. Shopcott deserves better. I know availability is your best friend, but I'm sorry, when you do the UFC a solid like that and you stay on the card because UFC 310 needed it bad because they needed that fight to happen,

you can't just you can't penalize him you cannot do that Shavcott should not have to fight anybody else he should get the winner of the title fight even if he has to wait to like October to do it does not matter he is next in line he gets the winner of that fight that's it and Sean Brady is just going to have to wait and Joaquin Buckley is going to have to wait

now if I am Sean Brady I am on the horn with the UFC and I'm telling them look what I did to Leon Edwards No one has ever done that to Leon Edwards. Even Belal, the champion did not do that to Leon Edwards. If something happens to either of those two guys, I'm in. I want to be the backup fighter. If JDM gets dinged up, something happens.

Sean Brady should be the first phone call that is made after that performance. And then we get Sean Brady fighting for a belt. So if that's him, I'm staying ready for May. I'm getting my passport ready to go. Make sure it's up to date after the UK trip. maybe we head on over to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and maybe we fight for the welterweight title. But in the meantime, go fight Joaquin Buckley

and stop with the, oh, he used to fight Schaftar, because Shafkaa didn't look tremendous in the Ian Gary fight, so he has lost his title shot. That is insane. Sorry, I just want to throw that out there. Sean Brady and your team, buy the plane tickets now. Buy the plane tickets for La Belle Provence. It is gorgeous right now this time of year.

Go train with GSP. Like I said, he got a lot of GSP comparisons coming up. Get in there, get a few rounds in with the retired legend. Get ready for this fight. Be in the audience. Be there on way in day because Sean Brady, you are the call if something happens to JDM or Balamohama. You will be fighting on May 10th for the UFC World Tradeway title. The shopcott discussion I wanted to have was like, is it crazy to rank Brady ahead of him right now?

Because I know some people on our staff are like, well, we all agree shopcott is the next shot. for all the reasons you outline, Mike. It just doesn't make sense to take the shot away from Shobot. But rankings-wise, like if you were just doing a rankings of who is the, who deserves a higher number right now, I feel like you can make a strong case for Brady. There's a bit of MMA math. Also, it depends how people feel about Leon after Saturday. Because objectively, Leon was ranked high, is and was ranked higher than in Machado, Gary, right?

So you say Sean Brady beat the higher ranked guy. I wonder how people's personal rankings will be after Saturday. They might just drop Leon. super low. They might be really discouraged by these two losses. I don't know. I still wouldn't. I think I would still have Leon ahead of Gary, but that's me. You could argue, I'm just looking at their last three fights. Edwards Burns, Gastilum, has a stronger, you know, past three wins than Gary, Wonderboy, Neil, right? Because Burns is ranked higher than Thompson. I think Neil's a little bit probably a higher, better win than Gasolm, but it's not like that crazy. And then, of course,

how much how much how Brady finished Edwards and shop cut struggled against Gary so we're not doing like just we're not doing a formal rankings update anytime soon we'll probably wait till after 314 but off the top of your head Mike who would you rank higher if we were doing some sort of shake up this week would you rank who would you rank shopcott or brady shopcott you still rank shopcott well I mean I have I have currently heading into Saturday it was belal shop got Leon that's how I had it yeah so he just he just doesn't Brady will jump to three Brady's going to jump to three. Shafcott will stay at two and we'll go from there.

I mean, but he, shopcott has not lost to anybody. The Gary fight was, the Gary fight was interesting. It got close. But Sean Brady got, he got dinged up bad by the law.

Like that, he got, he got, he got rinsed in that fight. I know it was a few years ago and I know he's not the same fighter, but Brady's not the most active guy. It's not like that fight was nine fights ago. It was like four fights ago.

Yeah. So, so yeah but dude top three at welterweight and by the way what a freaking draft pick by me i had to do one thing right oh my gosh shout out to me uh i needed that one after yon bovich got robbed and we'll talk about that in a second yon got robbed you lost uh easy molly points okay we'll get to that later too you were supposed to get i would have got two molly fights out of her golly you were supposed to get like two hundred molly mccann stomping estella nunes points last year draft you had the uh match now who did you have that was supposed to fight

mcelsandro costa that was going to be like 200 points right there and then instead also oboeia sweeps in and you've you've had some bad luck but the our draft so far like you've had you've had some very bad luck yeah but hey sean brady's in a pretty damn good discussion right now so shout out to him what a performance and you know what they say and we bring this up all the time seems cliche when you become a dad you see things more clearly you're your motivation changes, your goals become a little closer, a little clearer. The glasses come off. You have 20-20 vision, and that's what Sean Brady has.

He called that fight exactly what was going to happen, and the man laid it on the line and did the damn thing. So shout out to Sean Brady. His stock rises tremendously with the big win. I'm not sure how much Carlos Ulberg stock rose after his big opportunity against Jan Behovich, co-main event. A lot of people thought this is a title, Eliminator fight. I did not because of how the

everything transpired at UFC 313. Carl Seldberg quote unquote wins the fight against Jan Boehovich. I thought Jan won. It's not a robbery. I joked earlier, but boy, this was a tough watch.

This is just, this fight personified what this card was. All in all, it just wasn't, thrilling. and Carl Selberg's like I'm not doing anything else I'm fighting for a belt

I'm 100% fighting for the title I hate to tell you Carlos you are a handsome man much more handsome than I your looks and getting you a title shot here because that performance did not warrant it so we're gonna need to see some more from you I was so upset with this fight AK

I wanted to give him like Alexander Rackage I wanted to drop him down to fight like I mean I wanted to go wicked low. And at one point, I had him fighting rackage, and I wanted to go lower. I wanted to go with like Min Yang Zhang after he beat

Anthony Smith, because I was so upset by this. But then there's only one answer here, because we just need to see this. And if Carlos Oldberg is going to fight for a light heavyweight title, I need to know who this guy is as a fighter, because I have no fucking clue

who this guy is. I have not learned a single thing about Carlos Olberg in two years. I have I just do not know who this guy is. I do not know how good he is. He's fine. He knows how to outpoint guys, and he knows how to find wins.

And that's huge. But I don't know anything about him. I just, I don't know what to think of him as a possible title contender. But there's one man in this division that will teach everything you need to know. And I don't even think we need the band for this. I think everybody in the world is on the same page here. It's Carlos Lelberg versus Yuri Perhashka.

Yeah. I'm afraid that O'Berg will make Yerry boring. No way. No way. But then, yeah, the more I think about it, Uri can't be boring, gets absolutely anybody. But at least we will,

we will know one way or the other, whether Carlos O'Berg is a guy who could be the light heavyweight champion. So that's the fight, and I'm sure you're with me on this. Yep, it's Erie. It's got to be URI. We got to test him out.

We've got to make this guy get into a fun fight. I mean, he's had some fun finishes. He's had some fun results. But, yeah, we need to get a little more, get a little more entertainment. out of Mr. Carlos Olberg. Mike, this card is kind of like why when we do previews and things like that, we do, there's a lot of ifs.

We do have a lot of if statements. If this happens, if this happens, well, this could happen. This could happen. I know that annoys people sometimes. It's like, you know, they just want us to make a call either way. Like, stop sitting on the fence or say, this is going to happen. But you can't in this business. You can't.

Like, I think one of the big questions is, oh, well, Leon never get a pedal shot again if he loses. And I was like, ah, he's still a former champion. He has that luster. I'm sure he could get, you know, two wins away even if he loses to Sean Brady. But after the, but the way that fight played out, now I think Leon will never get a Walthamated title shot.

I think he's like a million miles away, not in the UFC anyway. Same with Albert. Oldberg-Yon, we were talking, it's just a title eliminator. And I think part of us was thinking like, it depends on performance, but even me, I didn't think like, how bad could it be for the winner to not, you know, put themselves into good position for a teleshot?

Apparently, real bad. apparently real bad because, yeah, Carlos, you know, I thought Carlos Arborne no matter what would put himself as at least on the short list for a number of contender. But no, man, no, it was bad. It was bad. It was the worst thing the UFC likes to. They don't mind you. They don't like you losing and they don't like you winning in a boring way.

And this was, this was rough to watch. And then Jed was saying yesterday, and I know we'll talk about this more, but he didn't think Molly McCann was going to retire. That was asked on one of the pre-fight shows. And he said, no, she's not going to retire. But then based on the results, yeah, she retired. So this is why we're always, like, kind of figure out every possibility, you know, going to these cards instead of just like saying, oh, this will happen, this will happen.

Because, boy, when it plays out, it can change your expectations so dramatically. It's hard to have expectations for this next fighter that we're going to discuss. A man who has been banned multiple times on this program for obvious reasons. No, Mike. Kevin Hollande, okay. No, no. Kevin Holland. He's not banned again.

He's not banned again. It's not banned again. At least he gave us, at least he put us in a position where we can think about where we want him to go. Because normally it's like, yeah, man, I'll fight next week, whether it's a lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light, heavyweight. I don't care. I just want to make that money. That's not what he said in the post-fight interview with Michael Bisping and not Paul Felder, which I don't even want to get into that whole thing. but Kevin Holland looks much better at Walter Wade.

He just does. He could be the quote-unquote weight bully. He just looks so athletic at that weight class. He looks so strong. And at middleweight, like, he's as tall as a lot of these guys, but he just gets hossed around by these dudes who are just way bigger than him overall. And goes out there and thumps up Gunner Nelson proper.

This is a great performance from Kevin Holland. This was a real solid showing, great bounce back and this is what he said A.K. He said, look man, if I'm a fight at welterweight, I'm not fighting until July. Plain and simple, I'm out fighting till July. If it's at middleweight and some guy who's a striker wants to fight me

I'll fight next week. So you can either match him up against a middleweight striker or you can match him up against any welterweight. So where did you go A.K.? Did you even match him up? Third option, I can match him up against whoever the F I want. How about that? How about I don't get one of those?

Because I don't give a crap what Kevin Holland says. I don't believe him. I don't trust him. He said the right things. He's said the right things in the past before and fooled us and taking dumb ass matchups. Like he was when he was saying like, yeah, put me up there. Like when he says put me in there against a middleweight striker,

it's almost as of like, oh, well, it's not my fault. The UFC sent me contracts. If I grapple was like, you don't have to. It kind of is your fault, Kevin. It, you, you, I know there's a stigma against turning. down fights. I understand that. But I get the sense that he's, he's just left the door open, like, yeah, put me up against anyone at middleweight. It's really since, like, if he was going to move up the middleweight rankings, you have to, there are some grapplers up there. You got to do

what you got to do. So no, Mike, I don't trust him. And I'm upset that you made me pick for him. I did not want to. This is under, this is under protest. So here's what's going to happen, Mike. UFC Kansas City, April 26th. Icarov is going to stub his toe, something like that, misses taxi to the airport, can't make it to Casey,

and I'm going to make Kevin Holland fight Andre Moodie's. How do you like that? You want to make me do a Kevin Holland pick? How do you like that? There you go. Have fun. Have fun, Kevin Holland. Kevin Hollins don't win that fight, by the way.

Tackle. As you should, as you should. As everyone should. I'm keeping him a welterweight and he's going to fight Brian battle. Yeah. I mean, that's really it. But again, that could change tomorrow. Yeah.

I matched a battle last week. What was I saying? I was going to play. Someone missed away. Oh, I want him and Enjikwani. But I saw some listeners recommend Holland Enjikwani, which I think would be amazing. That is awesome. That's an awesome match.

That's not a bad one. Towards the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host, rapid cozy cashmere. throw from HomeSense for their spouse, kids toys for $6.99 under the tree, and crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee, a baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue, and a nice $599 candle, perfectly priced just for you. Happy holidays to all, and to all a good price. HomeSense, endless presents perfectly priced. A.K., I'm not even going to say her name right now.

I'm going to let you keep praise upon the woman who retired Molly McCann, dusted her up, and broke my heart. Not even with the fight from a fantasy draft perspective, but as soon as they announced her name as replacing Estella Nunes, I knew what was about to happen. Literally knew it, was pissed off about it, but I want you to say her name, praise her, and then, then let the world know what you would like to see next. And why is it a title fight against Chung Wei? Alexia Tynata, my new favorite fighter. She's just, she's fantastic. And by the we're not, this makes it sound like, oh, we're happy that she retired.

Molly, no, that's not what it is. Happy trails to Molly McCann, very solid UFC run, very solid MMA career. And again, going out on her own terms, frankly, like, I loved Molly's post-fight speech. just being very honest. Like, listen, after that performance, I just don't feel like compete anymore. And maybe she changed her mind in the future. But in the moment, it felt very genuine. And I do think it was the right thing to say.

So she had some crazy highlights in the UFC, very popular fighter back home. I know, I know she takes a lot of crap for like, oh, they just keep putting it in there with easy fights in London or somewhere in England. Yeah, so what, guys? That's the fight game. You're trying to just please the fans. And she's sending a lot of fans home happy. So good for her. If she decides to fight again, whatever.

but if this is the last time we see Molly McCann, big, big tip of the cap to her. Give us a lot of good time. So congrats Molly on a fine career. But yes, we now move on to Alexia Tainado, who right out the gate just bringing the energy. I did a lot of research on this fight for some reason. I think just because I'd never heard of,

I frankly had never heard of Tynada before. I didn't even watch her Contender Series fight until this week. And I was just fascinated. I was fascinated. On the regional scene, she's pretty much just like tackling overmatched composition, opposition, excuse me, which I thought looked hilarious. Like, you guys can watch some of her fight.

Literally, one of her fights is just like grabbing the other woman and just throwing it to the ground and submitting her with an arm bar in eight seconds is great. Brought that same energy Saturday. The dancing just went on forever during her entrance. I saw a lot of people on Twitter complaining about it, which just made me laugh. She was doing way too much. She did way too much after the fight. More dancing, jumping in the air.

She was wild, man. She was wild. But she could fight. She can definitely grapple. We know that much, man. And she's game to strike, even though maybe she shouldn't be. That might cost her later. But I'm so entertained.

I need her to fight again within the next two months. I can't wait. I can't wait the normal three months. I think this fighter is such a star at 115. World title contender, I don't know, Mike. I don't know. But let's put her in there. Let's put her in there with.

I want to move her up in the ranking. So I think she gets the Vanessa Demopoulos, Tallita, Alan Carr winner that's on April 5th. And I also considered Sam Hughes. But Sam Hughes is such an upset specialist. I don't know if I want to, I don't know if I want to inflict that upon. But Burgunessa, I probably must be pronouncing her nickname, but, but it's possible. I think Sam Hughes would make a lot of sense too.

But I'll go with Tha Mopoulos Allen Carr winner. Well, I ended up with Sam Hughes. She was not my first, she was not my first choice, though. My first choice was Luana Pinero. who is somehow ranked, even though she's lost three in a row. And apparently Luana Pinera is about to fight Tisha Peddington. Right. So, uh, AG fight just reported that.

I don't know. I saw, we haven't officially confirmed it, but no, AG fight's usually pretty spot on when it comes to that kind of thing. Uh, so I landed on Sam Hughes. I think, uh, I don't think Tyner is worried about any sort of Sam Hughes curse or heavy favorite curse. I think she's just going to dance her way to victory against anybody right now.

What momentum? She might, I'm worried, she might, I'm worried, I don't know what, it might be a good thing. She might be the Michelle Pereira of 115. Nowhere near as experienced as DeMolador was before coming to, Delamolador was like 35 fights into his career before coming to the UFC. She, I think she has, what, 10, 12, 12, 12, 12 fights, 13 now.

But as far as, like, having this insanely spectacular debut, against a British fighter also coincidentally and then maybe hope maybe I hope she doesn't fall short fall flat in her second fight like Michelle did but there was a similar energy there's a similar energy to what to what Michelle Panetta did in his debut against Danny Roberts and what what Tanada just did but we'll see we'll see if that's that's how it goes I was gonna give her Angela Hill for a second I'm like she can't she's not ready for that she's not ready she's I actually Hill would be her as a hill would be her she's she would she's not ready for that

And shout out to Molly McCann to one of the great overachievers in the UFC without question. She did a lot more than I thought she would. She was one of those fighters. Like when the UFC signed her, I was like, I don't know, man. Like I just, we'll see. And she got some wins over some pretty decent competition. When they got back to London, she was a big reason why it was so successful early on. They just gave her the lowest ranked fighter in the division, and she beat the shit out of all of them and got highlight real finishes and knockout of the year contenders, spinning elbows, like just craziness from me ball Molly.

And then you kind of they threw her in there with Aaron Blanchfield. And I thought that was still to this day one of the best pieces of matchmaking that the UFC had ever done because it was one of two things is going to happen. We were going to realize who Molly, like Molly is who she is, or she's going to go fight Valentina Shepchenko for a title in her next fight. Like, it was just brilliant matchmaking. And the former happened. But here's what I always loved about Molly McCann. Yes, she was a little brash.

Yes, she was confident. But she is about as real as it gets. And this to me, and I tweeted this out, this was one of the all-time great retirement speeches. This was not, hey, I'm just getting over. Hey, I don't love the sport anymore. This was essentially, hey, I'm not good anymore. I'm just, I am not of UFC caliber any, any longer. The UFC deserves better.

I deserve better. The fans deserve better. The fighters deserve better. Like everything she said, I was just like, man, like, it's heartbreaking to hear somebody like just come to this realization. But at the same token, I can't remember another fighter coming out and saying anything like that. It just was awesome. Everything about this was great.

And, you know, happy trails. What I will say, though, and I hope the UFC employs Molly McCann. I hope they employ her as, and I know they love, God bless David Shaw. I love trotting him up there to be like sort of the face of these international cards. Go easy on my boy. You know with Dan White there. Go easy on my boy. They still try up, David Shaw.

Like, just throw Molly up there as sort of like the UK face of the UFC, the ambassador, if you will. Let Molly go up and answer the questions about the card. Like, at least we get honest assessments of things as opposed to, yeah, I wish I had a better answer for you. I don't know anything about that. I was out of say, we got the entire press conference from David Shaw. I was going to say she could probably, Dave, I love you, man. She could probably give the same amount of info that Dave gives in his average post-fired press conference. If we're being, we're just calling a spade a spade.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. But shout out to Molly. Happy trails. Molly roasting Jose for his Nando's order is still one. It's my favorite media scrum day, media day thing ever. It's so good. He posted a different one the other day on his socials.

I don't know if he posted all the Molli stuff he's done, but there is one which he just blasts him for his first trip to Nandoz. And it is so good. So, so good. Congratulations to Molly McCann. She overachieved in a big way, and hopefully she stays involved in the sport because she's a great face for it, no doubt about it. Let's go to Chris Duncan, AK. We just, we just never believe in this man.

I know. I pick against him every time and he always wins. He's good. So I just, I think almost like for the sake of his career, I'd see to never pick him to win. But he calls out Terrence McKinney. Terrence McKinney says, sure. And that sounds like a great fight for me. And I don't know if I I pick against Chris Duncan in that fight. I just don't know if I can. So yeah, that's the fight. I'm cool with it. Did you have anything else? I can't. I, I, I picked Terrence for Alexander Hernandez last week, I think. So I still want to see that one. I kind of just went random here. I think like, I think like Kauai Fernandez, but he would make a lot of sense. You know, I know it's lazy to do the oh, two lightweights one. It makes a lot of sense. Him and, frankly, him and Chris Padilla or him and

Kawe would make a lot of sense. I just didn't want to go that way. I think some of the listeners did. So I'll just go very random. Nicholas Mota. That's it. Again, this is a dart throw. I'm not ready to jump Chris up the rankings yet. This is now 2 and 0 in the UFC, I think, right? And I have my, it's 2 and 0, right?

Oh, 4 and 1. Well, anyway, one. Good job by me. I have all these notes, Mike, and I still just read lies. 4 and 1, but I'm not quite a room. I'm not quite right. Let me put it. Three wins in a row.

I don't want to see three, necessarily just three wins. wins, three wins in a row. So let's see if he puts on a show against Nicholas Motta, there you go. I'm ready to bump him up. But lightweight is so deep. It's real tough. It's real tough to make any movement. But yeah, good for him.

I also picked against him. And hopefully Jordan Vucenna gets another chance. Let's go to Nathaniel Wood, gets it done. I thought to me, like, if I were to bet on one fight on this card, it would have been on Nathaniel Wood and I probably would have emptied the entire bank account on him. I just couldn't believe the odds were this close for this fight. To me, this is just such a mismatch. No disrespect.

I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything. But like Morgan Cherry is a fine fighter and deserved his shot on the roster with the fine work he did for Cage Warriors. But seeing that this is a pickam, I was like, oh, my God. I'm so mad I didn't bet on this because this just seemed like the easiest bet of the card. And it goes out there, it was a fun fight. It was probably the best fight on the card, if we're being honest. And Wood gets it done.

And what does he? Two wins in a row since the Mohammed Naimov loss, which a lot of people still kind of question because of the cheating of Muhammad Naimov. But honestly, brilliant, because they don't call anything. So in a different sort of an alternate universe where rules were enforced, then you would be 5 and 0 at 100 or, 5 and 0 at 145 pounds, AK. Like, this guy is just quietly rising the ranks. So I'm going to give him a shot, AK. I'm going to give him an

opportunity. Coming up at UFC 314, there's a featherweight matchup between one Dan Igay and Sean Woodson. The loser of that fight shall fight Nathaniel Wood. I like it. I eyed. I was almost going to go like Sean Woodson, win, loser,

draw. I was eyeing Sean Woodson as a next logical sort of step up for him. Though I guess if Sean Woodson beat Stanley Gay, I guess he would be in the UFC rankings. So yeah, maybe he doesn't go back like that. Though, again, you could argue Wood also deserves a top 15 guy right now. I was way more conservative with this. So for me, he's kind of stuck because of the Nymov results. He's stuck in this cluster just at the edge of the top 25.

I have Nymov top 25 in the UFC. I have my head of Wood, but I have Nymov behind Felipe Lima who beat Nymov. So there's this, I want to sort of get this sorted out. So I'd like to see Nathaniel Wood fight Lima. I want to see Nathan would fight Felipe Lima. Awesome matchup on paper, just like really fun to watch. Again, if people say Nathaniel Wood deserves a higher ranked guy, I completely get it. But if he beats Lima or if he beats him, one of these guys breaks out of this, I think,

and I would jump them into like the top 20, or at least a little bit closer to the top 20. This is featherweight, so it's really dense once you get up there. But yeah, this is really just also a great fight I want to see. I'm not as concerned about rankings movement or anything like that. Let's go to the wild card round, AK. We'll select one fighter we've not match made four. and we will match me for them right now. So who is your

UFC London wild card participant? I owe this man an apology. I owe his buddy, E. Casey Lighten, an apology. I picked against Taco Padilla. I didn't just pick against Chris Taco Padilla. I picked Jai Herbert to get a,

I said he would get a hometown performance of the night bonus when he knocked Chris Bidia out. That is not what happened. We got a competitive contest, Padilla taking a split decision nod. Congrats to him. So I owe him

some mic time, I'll have him some attention. Let's make Chris Padilla the wildcard pick and give him a tough matchup in 2-0 in the UFC, Nerulo Aliyev, Nerulo Aliyev. I still don't know how good Taco is.

It's not like he's beating top 30 guys here. You know, he's beating guys in his range in the UFC right now. I'd put Aliyev a little bit ahead of him, but he beats Eliov, you know, jumps maybe into the top 35, top 30. So, yeah, and again, just going for fun matchups here. And respect to Taco. A win is a win. A win is a win.

Yeah, I did not pick against Taco. There's just a certain crop of past Cage Warriors fighters that I will never pick your invites. Shout out to Jai Herbert, but he is one of them. And I was right. I saw some people say that that was a bad decision. You're just wrong. It was a great decision.

The judge just got that one right. I went with the lowest hanging fruit because I'm just going to put this out. there. And this is the last time I'm going to put this out there because this fight could this fight has never made more sense than it does right now. Because every time we throw this out there, people are saying like, oh, it doesn't make sense. It's just going to be a one way traffic. It's going to get a, it's going to be a washing.

Now how do we feel about it? Now there's no other fight featuring this man that I have any real and true interest in watching right now. Honestly, it's Leon Edwards, a Horio Mazb at all time. Enough is enough. Like, let's just do it. Can we stop with all this? Just book the fucking fight.

Come on now. Mazadol is coming back to fight. Just do it. Just do the fight. Leon is so out of tight. He will never fight for a title again. It's over. The door is slammed.

The lock has been the deadbolt. Even the little hotel thing that you clip open to like double lock your hotel room door. That is thrown too. It's all gone. Let's milk whatever is left out of Leon Edwards. let's give Leon what he wants. He's wanted to avenge this one forever. Mazadol wants it.

Just have him fight. This could main event a fight night in front of a crowd. It could be a co-main event on a pay-per-view. Like, just do it. Enough is enough. You're going to end up with Mazbriol, Nick Diaz, co-made event, UFC 317. We're going to end up with Mazadol versus like Carlos Pratchis or something.

And it's just going to be, like, ridiculous. Okay. This is the last time you're going to tell them to do this. So this is it. We're not going to bring this up anymore. Because I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying you're right. This is Derek Lewis, Jarzino all over again.

They don't care. They don't care how badly you want it. They don't care how much it makes sense. So March 23rd, 2025, Mike, I'm putting a pin on it. You cannot, after the show, you cannot bring this up as a potential matchup again. So I really hope this happens. So we can talk about it, you know, on BTL and preview shows. But on to the next one, no more.

No more Mazadol-L Leon talk if they don't do it. I might ban both them. from the show to avoid it all together. It's promotional malpractice if they do not make this fight next. Without, like, without a doubt. You're not going to have Mazadol fight in Miami, first of all, which is real dumb. Like, what are we doing? This is so easy.

Just, just do it. Just do it. All right. Let's go to the peeps. Is there anything? I'll let you know. I'll let you know if someone checked the tapes on me, but I didn't see anything. All right.

We have a newcomer, AK. His name is Dan Tris. Trenta-do. So shout out first-timer. Welcome to the party, pal. Yes. Hey, Mike, long-time listener, first-time matchmaker for Otno. He likes Christian Leroy Duncan. God, I forgot that fight even happened. And now I'm sad again.

Versus Shara Bullitt, AK. What do we think about CLD versus Shara Bullitt? That could be... I'm still not convinced that Shara is a, like, consistently entertaining fighter. Like, I know we've got some good ones, obviously, with a crazy knockout with Petrojan. That could be stanky. That could be a stanky-ass fight.

I would be very concerned. If I'm Christian Leroy, Duncan, I'm just doing nothing but tackling that, man. Just tackle them, lay on top of them. It's a win. Kevin Holland versus Colby Covington, AK. What do we think about this? There's a big lineup to fight Colby. God, I don't know how Colby does this.

Somehow, he just keeps his name out there with people just wanting to call him out and get a fight with him. Yeah, and it makes sense for Kevin. I wish Kevin Holland had called for something like that. Like I, I know we said we appreciated, you know, Holland's sort of at least kind of drawing a line in the sand as far as his middleweight and welterweight, you know, plans. But a name would have been nice. A name would have been nice. But maybe he likes Colby. Maybe he just didn't want to call Colby out.

But, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. That could absolutely happen. Chris Padilla versus Chris Duncan in a Battle of the Chris's respect. Leon versus Ian Machado, Gary. And Dan just want to throw this out there. knows this isn't a realistic thing, but this is one of his big takeaways from the main event.

I know this is several fights away, but I cannot get the idea of Sean Brady versus Islam Makachev out of my head. Just for the grappling exchanges, two hosses. Yeah, sure. We are a long way away from that,

but it would obviously be a fun fight. Knuckles. Hey, Mike, here's my picks after UFC London. Sean Brady versus Bilal Muhammad, no matter what happens at UFC 315. If he wins, he'll have to wait until after Shafcott, but Brady isn't super active anyway.

So he's saying win-loser draw, UFC 315, Brady versus Muhammad 2. When loser? So he is skipping Shafkot. So he is saying Brady jumps the line. No, he's not saying that. Wait, when-loser draw, Brady, Muhammad, too? If Muhammad wins, he'll have to wait until after Shafkot,

Brady isn't superactive anyway. So I think, I think, if I'm to take something from this, that he is not said is that he believes Balmohamaamaamaud will beat Shafcott okay okay that was my confusion okay I guess that's why I got confused okay yeah weird okay and certainly possible certainly possible another Edwards versus Gary

I'm only gonna mention the Carl Sleberg Yuri Prahashka fight once because everybody said that everyone yes and you're all correct you're all correct by the you're all right Janbovich versus the Hill Roundtree winner why are we giving Janbovich the winner of that fight isn't he like one and four or like one three and one in his last five and we're just going to give him the winner of this main event.

I just don't, this is such a popular choice. I don't, like, why? Why are we doing this? Man, you know, it's kind of scary. And I don't mean to disrespect, Jan. So his last win was Rockich. That was 2022, so almost three years ago. And that was a knee injury.

Now, I mean, you could argue that, you know, Blockovitz was going to go on to win that fight anyway, but I don't know, man. That was the middle of the fight. There was still over two rounds to go. Who knows? Who knows how that would have went. But so there was that. And then he had the Glover loss for that.

His last like win-win was Israel. Israel, I just in, yeah, March 2021. So it's been a long time. It's a tough. It's a tough. It's tough to match Yan up right now.

And I get what you're saying. Like does, does he still have the cachet to get one of these guys? I don't think it's a crazy pick, Mike, but I understand you questioning it. Yeah. Like he should be fighting Johnny Walker or Osamat Mirza Khan off. Maybe.

These are the fights for, for Yan at this point. Kevin Holland versus the Brown Dalby winner. Tynauer versus Yasmin Haughtigee, Nathaniel Wood versus Hyder Amiel. Love that one. Kavanaugh versus Azat Maxim. Sure. Harry Kaui versus Daniel Zellhuber.

Man. That's a Guram to Zellhuber. That is a nice little up-and-comer murder's row right there. Kalin-Lakron versus Elijah Smith. CLD versus the Tullio Gore winner. Tybora versus Waldo Cortez-Costa. By the way, Martin Tibora revealing in his post-fight scrub, free agent.

He is a free agent. Hotest free agent in the game. By the way, if Marcin Taibora does resign, he's fighting Sergey Pabalich at the UFC Apex in an event. But Harry believes that they will probably cut him, given how things have gone at heavyweight. He likes Kavanaugh versus Felipe Bunes, Padilla versus Satikoff in Aizir Bayjan.

So there you go. Which apparently the UFC is going there in June. Apparently. According to reports. Wood versus Chepe for a ranking spot seems most likely to me. It's good fight. Duncan versus McKinney. That's the only time I'm going to mention that one.

Holland versus Salakov co-main event in a summer card, Brady versus Buckley title Eliminator. Robbie, let's get Otno boy. Sean Brady versus Camaro Oosman. We're going right there. JDM and Blah are tied up. Well, please. I just don't want to factor in Kamara right now.

I just don't know what his plans are. I don't know who he wants to fight. I don't know where he thinks he is in the rankings because he is, I know he has a name and the U.C. does it all the time. Well, they brought Henry back after friggin, what, three years and fought for a title immediately. And Kamar was certainly on that level. But it's just weird. He's just the longer he stays out, boy, this division, like, actually has some movement to it.

and I don't know if he can, I'm not interested in matching Kamar up right now. Kamar Usman should fight Ian Gary and nobody else. That's the only, that's the only, that's the only fight that makes sense. Or Buckley, but like,

is, I'm as well as to ask this. Is Kamar Usman the welterweight Henry Sehudo? Yeah. Where it's just like, come on already. Like, I get why he's sitting out. And he has never said, like,

I'm retired, I need more money or anything like that. But it's getting to the point where it's just like, like the Shafcott situation at UFC 310. Kamar Usman, even at like 75% of what he was, had to have watched that fight and thought to himself, I screwed up bad not taking this fight.

Because all that did was just get him further away from a title shot. Yep. Ian Machado Gary lost and he jumped, he leapfrog Kamar Usman in the conversation with a loss. That just goes to show you, where this division is right now and how the UFC has moved on from Kamar Usman.

He has no shot calling ability whatsoever. He's lost all of that and all these opportunities where he could have stepped in and done some cool and he did that with Hamza which is badass. But him going back to Walter we wanted to fight for a belt again

like boy he's going to have to win multiple fights before that happens. But Brady would be a good one. Hasn't. Hasn't fought at 170 since the third Leon fight, March 23, hasn't had a win since November 2021, the

Colby rematch. It's tough. Again, we sort of did a similar thing with Yon, right? It's just, it's tough. The U.C. moves so fast now. It moves so fast and and there are people arguing with me that he deserved the title shot over Shafcott. Like, you guys are insane.

Like anyone who, I'm not even going to get down that, real, because that's just ridiculous. All right. You're going to give a guy at a three-fight losing streak who hadn't won a fight in four years, a title shot over a guy who's finished everybody he's fought at that time. Just absolutely ridiculous. His explanation for Brady versus Uspin is Jadiam and Ballar are tied up. I presume Shofka will get the next shot.

A key busy fight win against a respected former champ but elevate Brady to a title shot. Sound reasoning there. We'll see if it happens. Ulberg versus the Hill Roundtree winner. Cool with that. This I'm okay with. The Big Mouth Who Shall Not Be Named versus Vicente Lucke.

Tyner versus Carolina Chris Duncan versus the Huh Hold on Oh That's not right You got a sour look on your face My best friend

You got a look on your face Because I don't know what he's talking about He's doing some research He's researching What? Oh He's he's Oh

Wait what is happening right now Mike what happened Give me the play by play here What's I'm sorry What is the proposed matchup Okay I don't know what you have to help me here, I will help this. This is either I don't know.

This could officially be the biggest doo-do in the history of the show. Okay. You ready for this? I'm braced, yeah. First of all, I'm going to go with the Nate the Train versus Nathaniel Wood fight, which is fine. And the wild car to fight, nobody actually wants to watch, but makes sense. Maybe for the heavyweightiest heavyweight title, marching type bar versus Shmiel Gadsia. So we get a little spattering of doo-doo with that one

because Gadsieff is fighting Sergei Spivak May 17th. What's going on with that May 17th card, though? Because I did get other, it's not in Qatar anymore, right? That is being moved, right? Yeah, I don't think the UFC never announced. It never announced. Okay, okay. Yeah.

So as far as we know, none of the matchups have been affected. Because like, you know, some of the matches and I think we looked at and we were like, oh, yes, that makes sense for UFC Qatar. So as far as we know, again, I don't think they even announced an official lineup for that card yet, right? But those reported vouts have not been moved or altered. Yeah, I'm just going to say, like, these two are fighting each other, just TBD. Chris Duncan, AK, listen to this. Chris Duncan versus the Mark Chakasey Gadsi Rabadanov winner. Say it again?

Chris Duncan. Yeah. Versus the Mark Jacasey Gadzi Rabadanov winner. Mike, I'm, uh, I just off the top of my head. That fight is, not happening inside the octagon. Am I mistaken? No, it's not happening in the UFC. It's happening in the freaking PFL smart cage, part of the world tournament. Oh, so are you telling me that Chris Duncan is now a wild card for the PFL lightweight world tournament? What is this pick? Wait, who is this? I don't understand. Who's this? Who sent this in? It's one of our favorites. It's one of our favorites, our guy, Robbie Ryan. No explanation. Where is this coming from? No

explanation, none. The winner of that fight, he says. The winner. So Chris Duncan has gotten, not only is he in the world tournament part of a different organization, he gets a buy. He got a buy into the next round to fight the winner of this fight. Wow. That would be some bold cross-promotion if they like, he's like, yeah, we'll work with you, but just our guys get, you know, our guys get buys into the second round. They're favored. Um, that's confusing. Rob be I'm confused. Please message Mike. Is this the biggest doo-doo pick in the history of the show? It's so creative, though, I almost, and so abstract, I almost don't want to call it do-do.

Like, that's- Okay. He's going for something, I feel like. He just didn't explain it. You know what? We are not seeing the vision. You and I are the ones who are wrong here, I think. We're not seeing the vision. Robbie, here's my message.

You have one week, one week to provide explanation. Don't do it like in the middle of the week because I will not see it and probably not remember it. When you submit your picks for next week's show after UFC Mexico City, please provide a detailed explanation for this pick. And if you admit doo-doo, I will respect the hell out of it. And we'll leave it at that. Let's go to Chris. Otno, London, quote, pretty shit card.

That's saying it lightly, my friend. Holland versus Gabriel Bonfeme, Wood versus Calvin Cater. Interesting. I like that fight. Duncan versus Ishmael Bonfeme. So we're just getting the Bonfemes in the mix. Do it. Kavanaugh versus.

my nemesis alexandro costa c ld versus mab pulia versus ozi dyes kaiwi fernandez versus the garcia vince pichel winner cl d and mab boy we're getting middleweight we we are that he's sneaking into that middleweight middleweight middleweight title picture he might be the first british middleweight middleweight middleweight jam he's sneaking in there he is the bow nickel of middleweight middleweight like just just strap the rocket So this man that Pullia fight sucked the life out of whatever life there was in that building sucked the auction right out of there. It was funny because I was Kaposa was like feeling how we were feeling about all of these. Like the Shauna Bannon Pugetomar if I was happening were like man this might be that might have been like the worst round in UFC history.

And then the fight like explodes and ends the way that it did. And then we get like a round into that middleweight fight. And he's like, okay, maybe this is the worst round in UFC history or something. something to that effect. Such a bad fight. Those are the two worst rounds of... That was probably as a whole the worst fight of 2025 so far.

Oh, God. And that's saying something. Was that worse than the Amanda Lemoche fight? I thought you were going to say Alberg-Yon, because I feel like we're not... Al-Bergian was not as bad as the CLV fight. It gets bonus points, I think, for the expectation. Though a lot of people were saying

that that could be a bad match-up, Alberg and like from an entertainment standpoint there were people who said ahead of that fight like they're they like that it was made like it makes sense rankings wise but that like that could be a stink bomb but even then you I don't know you hoped so it's I only put Vlakovich and Ohberg up there because of what was potentially on the line and just how disappointing that result was if you expected entertainment which I guess some didn't but yeah so I'll say this was worse I think this was worse than than Lamoche and this is worse than the Lomboch yeah CLD number one that's the gold medal winner

Lemosch, the silver medalist, Albergian, with the bronze, but only by like a couple of decimal points. So those are the three worst fights 235, but two of them happen at UFC London. Max, Brady versus Bilal, JDM winner. Sorry, Shafcott.

It's a what have you done for me lately business or whatever the saying is. Maybe a hot take from me, AK. I would be more okay with Brady getting the shot before Shafcott than Brady and Shafkot having to fight each other. Yeah. The only reason I say that is because it would just be because Shafkot is still hurt.

Yes. But there's no reason for Shafcott to have to fight John Brady. I could not be less interested in Brady fighting Shotskot right now. It's a great matchup for the future. It could easily be made in the future whether one of them wins the title, one of them doesn't win the title, both them come off losses. Like there's just so many ways to get to that fight that doesn't need to happen in the next six, seven, eight months.

So if you want to see that fight, it's a great matchup. just be a little bit patient with it. These guys have other business to settle. Holland versus battle. Tynara versus whoever. They just want to see a fight. Tynara mania. Chris Duncan versus Mick Tebeck Oralbi.

I love. Great. Love that fight. Chris Duncan's another guy who is becoming like appointment television. Very exciting fights. Very exciting. Bonus. Leon versus Leal.

Just for the. a little hashtag. Just for the hashtag. Yeah, I'm into it. That's where we are with Leon Edwards' career. Two fights ago, he was the USC World Trade Champion. And now we're making meme matchups, boy, that is. Love it.

We close with Dawson Boyd, Nathaniel Wood versus Sadiq Yusuf, Sean Brady versus the loser of Ballal JDM. Brady has definitely done enough for a title shot. But with how logjam the title picture is, he may need to take one more if he doesn't want to be sideline for too long. I think Dawson won the Alexia. Tyner are sweepstakes because I love this fight and I'm so pissed I didn't think of it because it makes so much sense.

Alexia Tynaara versus Fatima Klein. That's it. That's the fight. I just, I mean, I haven't spent much of this show saying she's like my new favorite fighter. Like, imagine McClain is like a blue chipper. Like she is, you know, she fell short on your CW, whatever different weight class. She is a blue chipper. Like this is a very highly touted young prospect.

But maybe it's the right time for it. You know what? Maybe it is the right time for it. Let's throw these two fighters in while they're early in the UFC careers. Whoever loses, it happens to this business. You know, they can always rematch further down the road when they're both a little more seasoned. Yeah, it's a great fight. I'd love to see it.

I think Fatima would be a pretty big favorite. But I don't know. I don't know what the gauge is on her because she bounced back really well in her second fight for sure, back at 1-15. Yeah, I don't know if I want to see it now. But yeah, okay, I see the logic behind it. All right. Well, on to you, my friend. All right, all right.

I'm not going to read all these just because we got a lot of repeats for sure. One that I think, I don't know if I heard from you, but I loved. We got a few people sending this in. CLD and Shabazzian. Like, I think that could actually be an entertaining fight. God, I don't know, man. Does CLD just try to tackle him and win? May, can he?

I mean, he's tackled people before. He can. And Christian Leo I dug it. Did you? Oh, no, it wasn't him. It was, who was it? I was thinking about Sherryor. Okay, no, I'm getting my cage warriors, people confused.

Cage warriors or whatever promotions. Anyway, I like it. I like it. That's one that kind of jumped out of me that more than one person said. Okay. Let's go to Thomas Collins on Twitter. Thomas Collins, the title fight for Elberg. Not for me, guys.

Holland versus, oh, this is DUDU. Okay, so, oh, is it? I don't know, Mike. I know, I know we haven't confirmed. this yet. Randy Brown, Nicholas Dolby. I mean, that is happening.

Apparently, that's a go. That is a go, right? Like, we've got some pretty good sources saying that. So, Thomas picked that for Kevin Holland. So that's a little bit of doo-do, Thomas. I'm sorry. But I get it.

Maybe it's not widespread reported yet, but a little bit of doo-do for sure. Check out topology. It's on topology, at the very least. Barry O'Reilly. He likes Lockgren versus Peyton Talbot. Seana Bannon, Melissa Martinez. as Tabura Walter Walker.

Okay, Nathaniel Wood, Edson Barbosa. Okay, okay. Just to go back real quick, Randy Brown, Nicholas Dalby is listed on the UFC website as part of the UFC Kansas City lineup. There you go, guys. This is officially due squared. It's on dot com.

We also have that with DGB, who liked Tabura and Gazeve, because Gazeve is booked, right? Who do we say Gizabeth is fighting? the great Sergei Svecac yes that looks like that's happening again maybe not in Qatar but whatever this wherever this May 17th card lands this matchup has been reported so

did you be sorry but a duty for you as well Holland Neil Magny Leon Edwards versus Neil Prachis winner your C 314 I mean if you're Carlos Prachis that'd be a great and you beat let's say you just beat Neil boy that'd be a nice fight to get but I think Leon's going to take a long break

I don't know if we see Leon again for a while until they book the Mazadal fight finally and then you go right back January 2026 Liam Perry Lockren Sopai Tabura Cortez-A Costa

We've got that before Some we've seen here before Chris Bidia and Michael Johnson Actually had them really close together In my rankings There's just such an experience gap I don't want to put Taco with him right now And Liam was someone who recommended Holland

And Chia Kewanee and Jokwani So I love that Liam I love Holland and Jokwani I think that would be such a fun matchup. Probably gets shoved in the apex, but that's a fun-ass matchup. Damn, that's a fun matchup. TAC MMA, this is a straight-up dude.

Holland versus Michel Pereira. Michelle Panetta is fighting Abbas Megamatov in Kansas City. Guys, what are we doing? What happened this week, Mike? What happened with our normally astute listeners? So, like, normally I would, normally I would just go to town,

but at the same token, like UFC London Zapped the brains and souls out of everybody So I'm a little more forgiving I mean look look at what we got We got a lightweight matchup Submitted by one of our all-time regs Who has been here since day one

Matching up against the winner of a fight from another promotion Like not just a random One-off but in the middle of a lightweight World Grand Prix tournament He is given a UFC fighter a buy in a $500,000 grand prize tournament against the winner of Mark J. Casey and Robudanov. I mean, that's what this card did to people. I blame the UFC, not the listeners. I still think it's brilliant. I still think that pick a secret is brilliant. I just don't,

I don't know why, but I know Robbie will explain to us. Mike, you know how you almost want to spite book Ulberg against Rockich? Well, you're in good company or bad company with Four Cornersports. who also said that because I was about to like when I made my notes for this big I was going to slam it I was like this is like one of the worst books I've ever seen rocket just lower ranked so you fight losing streak he doesn't want to fights this 2021 and then he's putting up against the guy who now has the longest win streak at light heavy like that just seemed insane to me but you said uh maybe that's what he deserves for that stink bomb of a win on that Saturday I still don't like it but you and four corner sports are on the same page man uh he's

he's he's freaking Brady versus JDM after he loses oh I was I said he beats below. You know, he's assuming a, a, uh, JDM loss and then Brady gets JDM. Nah, he should not do that. I don't like it. Leon Edward Stephen Thompson. That makes so much sense. I, I, that, that fight is there. That fight is getable for Leon. That fight makes sense for both guys. That's a winnable fight for Leon. Oh, that could be rough. Oh, to watch. Yeah. Yeah, I'd be a tough watch. Speezy 32. I just throw a ton out in there with Bannon. Yeah, sure. It makes sense. Chris Duncan, wrongsue. There goes.

exciting fight. What else we got here? Nathaniel Wood versus Brito Pat Sabatini winner. They're fighting April 5th, maybe. Chris Padilla, Matt Fravola. That'd be a nice depot. I actually really likes Spizzi's picks this week. Kavanaugh and Ray Saruya.

I like that. Lockron and Gaston Bolognaz and Kaui Fernandez, Terence McKinney. All good, all good match-up species. Very good stuff. Mike, how do you feel about this from Braden O'Neill-Oberg and the Krillov-Dominic-Raeus winner, the Friday of 314? Does that tickle you at all?

sure yeah it's not bad chris bidia tre ogden kevinaa and riposo sumeriteergy winner also going down 314 tabura volkov two who fire banon versus sheming shiming where you at sheming and marcus mcgayhe last one from twitter holland lukeh one of those fights which like i thought had happened before but has no it's nothing like leroy duncan stoltsvus al-hassan winner may 17th tinar sam hughes kairnandez sadakov Leon Edwards and Masvedol, Magic wand pick, Mike.

He knows this needs to happen. He's waving his magic wand. Very good, Marcus. Let's hope your combined powers with my best friend can actually finally make this thing happen. Quickly jump to Instagram. Gerard Biaghan, let's see if there's anything new here. Chris Duncan, Joachim Silva, Nathanielwood, Danny Silva. Look at Silva's out there.

Chris Padilla, McKinney. Yeah, McKinney, man, McKinney has so many fun matches ahead of him. I do wonder where he's going to go in his career. Um, Tabura Pavlovich. Yeah, people want it. Harry Newhouse.

Carl's Ulberg for the title. I mean, you know, also wants Holland and Jukwani. I love it. I love it. Nathaniel Wood Cubs Swanson. Nathaniel Wood Cubs Swanson.

Um, I don't think Covey takes that fight. I'm saying I like it, but yes, what's the incentive for CUP right now? Not that can be too picky, but yeah. Oh, gosh.

People really are digging into CLD, middleweighted, middleweight champ, him and Jacob Mal Coon, my man. Boy, I will black out when that fight happens. Colin Lockren, Kieland Lockhart, excuse me, Dan Argoetha, and some other pictures we have more. Thank you, Harry.

And Tino Alvarez, Juan, CLD, Eric Anders, perfect, perfection, perfection, Lonner and, Lonnie, excuse me, Alessandro Costa, Nathaniel Wood, Cater, Kevin Holland, And Chris Curtis, like Kevin Holland and Chris.

I thought about that. Did you? I hadn't, but I wish I had that. Interesting. Teno, I like that. I did think about that. Yeah, it's not bad. I like that, Tino.

I like that. Okay, and we'll close out with our pal, Tristan Gordet via the emails. Tristan, what do you got? I have not looked at this. We got Tristan. Shana Bannon Ashiming, that's the second one calling for that. Kauai and Rongjou, Kielan Lachran, Mouin, Gaffarov. solid deep cuts just and really appreciate it.

Guys, we have another non-paper view next week, so you can certainly send in your picks. You can reach me at alex. at alex.lee at SBnation.com on email, Alexander K. Lee on Twitter and at Alexander KKK Lee, 2Ks on Instagram.

Mike, how can they get to you? Send me up on the gram, as the kids say. M underscore heck J.R. That's where you can submit your picks. For next week, we have the UFC's return to Mexico City, where the same amount of fights that will happen in the Octagon will probably happen in the crowd. And we'll probably have some video of all of those things, as we typically do whenever the UFC heads to Mexico City. This should be, I'm actually kind of low-key excited for this one. I know it's not the most stacked lineup.

But you know the crowd's going to be into it. Brandon Moreno's fighting in the main event against Vinnie Sigs. Manuel Torres versus Drew Dober, the co-main event. Kelvin Gasselm versus Joe Pfeiffer, the featured bout. Raul Roes Jr. is back against Vince Morales, David Martinez versus Simon Olivera. Ronaldo Rodriguez, one of the exciting up-and-comers in the UFC Flyweight Division, fighting Kevin Borjas. We got Edgar Chiraz versus C.J. Vergara.

Jose Medina fighting Atiba Gautier. Melchazio Costa is back, fighting Christian Rodriguez. Palastri versus Lupi Godineas, Rafa Garcia versus Vince Pichel, Jamal Emmer's, Gabriel Miranda, and Austin Hubbard versus Markel Maderos for UFC, Mexico City. What do we think in AK?

Into this one? It's all right. It's all right. The vibe will be better than London, I think. Not that I'm blaming the crowd, but I'm not blaming the London crowd because it just wasn't a lot for them to sink their teeth into, right? Like if they'd gotten some big finishes,

they got some big back and forth battles, then you would have had, you know, you would have had a typically lively London crowd, you know. I don't, uh, I don't fault them. So hopefully Mexico City gets off to a hot start and we just ride that to the rest of the night and nothing but positive vibes when we're doing that post-fight show and not knowing all that stuff. Yeah. So there you have it, everybody. That is UFC Mexico City.

And we'll be back next week to discuss the follow from that. And take your matchmaking selections. And Robbie Ryan cannot wait for next week to hear your explanation. for your Chris Duncan pick but we'll have to wait seven days for that so thank you all very much we appreciate you for AK I am Mike Heck always remember the golden rule

don't take this stuff too seriously MMA is supposed to be fun and I hope you have C, Mexico City is fun back next week right here on onto the next one the podcast You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network Unwrap holiday magic

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