MMA Fighting - On To The Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Paris

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Is Renato Moicano ready for the top of the lightweight division? More importantly, is the top of the lightweight division ready for "Money" after he ran through Benoit Saint Denis in front of a rabid UFC Paris crowd? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what's next for Moicano following an absolute drubbing of Saint Denis. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Nassourdine Imavov who continued to roll by beating Brendan Allen, William Gomis after improving to 4-0 in the UFC on Saturday, along with fellow main card standouts Bryan Battle, Morgan Charriere, and Fares Ziam. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee  Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody. And welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns are back following UFC Paris, following a little hiatus. UFC had a rare weekend off last week. We did at Misfits Boxing 22, but we can't matchmake misfits boxing 22. And then we had a show two weeks ago, but it was without my best friend. And it's going to be great to reintroduce him to the program.

It's great to have him back. And it's great to be with you all. I am Mike Eckin. Joining me once again, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. And my best friend, gosh darn it. Welcome back to on to the next one, Alexander Cayley, AK, how are we doing, buddy? What an introduction. I'm back, my best friend.

I'm back. Great to see you. Great to see you. Thank you to Jedmishu, by the way. Jedmishu did an excellent job, as usual, filling in as an auto matchmaker. So I couldn't have done a better job myself. I thought some of those picks were very inspired. And he brought his usual pizzazz and brilliance to the show.

So thanks guys, thanks for guys for holding that down. Yes, I was on a little vacation in Italy, northern part of Italy. It was beautiful. It was a bit of a rush. We did like five cities in like 12 days. But for like as an Italy like taster menu, I thought it was fantastic. It's with such a great time. My wife is a genius.

She did, of course, most of the planning, and I did my best to sort of assist where I could. But we did Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Venice. It's pretty good. Venice, really wet, by the way. Really wet. Oh, boy. Moist.

Moistee. What was the best one? I like Florence. I like Florence. But my wife picked a really good spot. We were right next to like Ponte, Vecchio's very famous bridge there. It was just very convenient. A nice place to walk around, good food.

There was good food everywhere. But, yeah, a nice place to walk around and very picturesque. So, yeah, it was a great time, man. This was kind of like our anniversary slash like the honeymoon, but didn't really have a honeymoon. They didn't have a chance to have a honeymoon before. So I'm a happy camper, man. And I came back to some great MMA.

I mean, I know I missed a lot of stuff, but you see Paris. Damn, that was fun. That was a fun card. Yes, Italy is a great travel destination. France, more specifically Paris, the city of Romance. the city of fighting. Like Paris might be the official city of MMA because that fan base,

the ones who attend these shows, whether it's UFC or PFL, even WWE, they are just the best crowd of the world. Like it's, it's just nothing like it. There's just nothing like it. They're so passionate.

They're so into it. They're going to be the crowd of the year every single year. It's unbelievable. And it just adds, it just adds so much. much to the event when you hear a crowd just so into stuff like this, right? Imagine if this was the first time you'd ever seen Umar C fight.

Imagine we'd never heard of Umar C fight. Oh, cool. Who's this guy? Like he's opening up the main car. Oh, no, that was the prelim closer, right? Um, yes. Imagine you're just tuning in and you're, you saw this fight. You would think, holy crap, who is this guy? Like, he's in his third or fourth UFC fight.

How am I not familiar with him? And you would think he's the biggest, one of the five biggest stars in the company. Like the crowd was truly, truly insane for that fight. And he delivered all. All the French fighters won. So this is one of those nights that couldn't have gone better from a booking standpoint. I think they put together an elite card. I hate that we lost the Pitbull Los Angeles and Cato fight.

But, I mean, in a way, maybe it's better. It might have been one too. But definitely that would have been a nice one, too. And the atmosphere for that one would have been crazy. But everything worked out. Fingers crossed for Ceda that he's not released. I know there's a lot of rumors out there that he might be done before he's even begun. but Dave Shaw said afterwards that as far as he knows,

it's not like a done deal that they're cutting Keda. And Dave Shaw's never wrong. Mike, Dave Shaw's our inside man. He's always giving us the on-point analysis of what's going on behind the scenes of the UFC. So, yeah, otherwise, other than that little blemish, man, just home run weekend for the UFC, home run weekend for Paris and the French fans. That was a great show. Yeah, it really was.

And it was capped off by Nasserdine Imov, taking on Kyle Baha'alio. This kicked off sort of the two-pack challenge, if you will, to determine who will be Hamza Chabayev's first challenger for his newly won middleweight belt. As you heard Data White say a couple weeks back when he announced the RDR Fluffy Hernandez fight, this fight, not the number one contender fight because we have to wait and see what happens on October 18th. And nationally move off front of a home crowd, got a bit of a boost from his pal Benoit Santini who just runs over Mauritio Rufi. We'll talk about him in a moment. And then Imovov takes on Rufi's teammate, Kyle Bajalio. And this was pretty much one-way traffic.

This was really never in doubt at any point in the fight. Kyle Bajalio's game plan was not the best, but he did okay. But Yovovov was just a step ahead of him all night. It was an impressive win. I don't know if this gets him the title shot, AK. This seemed to be quite the topic yesterday, just based on what we know about the UFC and how they matchmake and considering they have a big star as a champion in this division right now. We'll see how the UFC proceeds.

We'll see what October 18th looks like. But how do we move forward with Nasatin Emovoff after another great win? Because this dude deserves a title fight. He's deserved one for a while. he probably deserved one before Hamzad got it. Will he get one now? Yeah, listen, he did enough not to hurt his standing.

If, as you said, Mike, we're kind of going it. We went into Saturday with like, oh, this was his spot to lose. Like, he didn't lose it. He didn't lose the spot. He didn't cement it either. Like, he didn't make an ironclad case. And that's so unfair to say that because, like, I know people are going to be really critical of Baha'aio.

Bahio is a tough opponent. And he did kind of pick it up at points in the fight. Like, this is a really, really tough opponent who, as Imov pointed out, 7 and O in the UFC, really had lost a fight in like 10 years. So it's like styling on him would have been great, but it's not as if we should have assumed like, oh, well, if Imovov's number one contender,

he should run through Baha'uilio. I think just winning a convincing decision against him was pretty impressive, right? Now again, I'm saying this from sort of a media standpoint, a little bit as a fan, how will the UFC matchmakers look at it? Yeah, their socks probably weren't blown off. So like I said, he held his spot,

but he did not make an ironclad case. And certainly if RDR or Fluffy, one of them gets like a first, first second round finish or just, you know, bulldoze to the other guy. That spot is there for the taking. And then it will come down to timing. And unfortunately, probably also come down to

which fighter makes less demands for the title shot, assuming there's any negotiations in that regard. So, but let's not look at it that way. Mike, can we not put a pin on this? I don't know. Were you able to do you have a plan? Do you have a plan? Do you have a pick? Did you look ahead and also kind of make a pick

for fluffy RDR to decide where Imovov's going to end up. I kind of put a pin in it, though I have a loose answer. So we talked about this yesterday. It would not shock me if Yemov has to fight one more time. It wouldn't surprise me. And there's only one name it could be. It's trick as two plus C. Like that would be the fight that they would make.

However, I choose to live in a world where things are fair. Okay. I don't think I think he has outside of just something crazy happening and Fluffy RDR being the worst fight

being in Ganu Derek Lewis-esque he is not getting the next title shot it's just not happening whoever wins that fight is going to have more buzz even if it's a competitive one there's no way that fight's going to stink either way is no way that fight's going to be slow or boring

or a chess match It's just going to be two absolute lunatics trying to kill each other for as long as that fight goes. And because of that, the winner of that fight is going to fight Hamzaat Shamaif. Both those guys are bigger names than Nasdaini Mavov right now outside of Paris. And it's just the way that it is. They're going to put one of those silly gooses in there with Hamzat Shamaa first. Having said that, Nassadine Mavov should not have to fight again. He should be on deck to face the winner of that fight.

his, Yimov's next fight should be for the belt. He's going to have to wait a really long time, A.K., I'm talking, he's going to have to wait over a year before he fights again. If he chooses to wait, and this is a fair world, he fights the winner of Hamsup versus the Fluffy RDR winner, but it's going to be in Abu Dhabi in October of 2026. Can he wait that long? I don't know.

But I think he probably should. So that's where I'm at right now. He will face the Hamzat Fluffy RDR winner for the belt in about 14 months time. Damn, this is like the most tepid friends forever we've ever had. We're not going to do it. Again, I came to the same conclusion. Like, I think it's only fair to let him wait. If he wants to, if he wants to, if he wants to fight again, like he said, BDP, probably the way to go.

But man, having to go through trick is to play Cito, just to earn. a title shot, even to have to go through Coyote to earn a title shot was rough. I went a little further. Like, I'm predicting Fluffy to beat RDR and then... I'm thinking fluffy as well. Right. And then I'm going with a fluffy Shemaya of winner. But you're right.

That will... It's going to be over a year. It's going to be Ivan even on the shelf over a year. He's not like super old, you know? He'll be 30 if this timeline managed to work out for him. Fingers crossed. And that's fine because he's still in his prime. I like to think I'm involved has made a decent amount of money fighting that he can hang

on the site. Maybe he takes some weird grappling match or something, like just to stay busy. But yes, I want him to get a tell a shot. I want to see him get a tell shot. I want to see him fluffy or RDR get a tell shot, preferably both of them someday down the road. We just got some like really nice middleweight contenders, you know. There's a, does the Paulo Costa rumored, rumored to be fighting Sharra bullet? We have not confirmed that. Nowhere near confirmation on that, but they say they might fight in Qatar and Apollo Costa can't tell us that, which would be so funny. Um, so yeah, I, I hope even if Bob does not get like jumped over by too many people if he decides to wait. Because I could see that happening, right?

He decides to wait and then other fighters were more active, just give a shot instead. And that would suck. Um, but it would also suck for him to fight DDP and lose that. And then the title shot gets even further away. So yeah, I guess we're both taking a sit and wait. Yeah, I was kind of curiously how Hamza was going to react to that and did so in a very classy way. Just good fight. Well done to Nasrudeen.

if Hamzaa had come out and tweeted like, all right, you move off, you're next. We'd be probably having a different conversation right now, although it still wouldn't shock me if the UFC would a different direction. I think Hamzat does have a little bit of say in this, but I think he's probably looking at RDR and fluffy as well,

thinking like, oh boy, chaos will ensue and it'll probably be the fight that draws a little bit more eyeballs. And, you know, it's unfair that he move off, but it's true. This is the UFC.

Like if even Vov spoke some more English, I think that would help, his cause a little bit. It's just, it's just one of those things, man. And RDR's gotten over and Fluffy's gotten over. And Nemvov just work been like, man, just getting the job done over and over again.

Shout out to Casey Liden, never jumped off the imovov train. There's always been the driver of the truck. And he may be rewarded with watching his guy fight for a world title in the fall of 26, which is pretty wild to say. That was impressive, AK. Ben Wasantini was also.

So very impressive. The thing I was looking forward to the most on this card, the biggest question I had was which version of Benoit Santadie was going to show up a UFC Paris? Was it the guy who's just like, yeah, I'm going to train in my garage with my pals? Or is it the, hey, I'm with the team, and we're going to go back to just suffocating you

with pressure and punishment from the start of the fight until it's over. And we got the ladder, AK. This dude did not get Mauritia, not get Marisha Ruffy a second to breathe. The second that fight began, BSD took his shots, just overwhelmed him. You could tell probably halfway into the first round,

Riffie wanted out of there. Definitely in the second round he wanted out of there. And BSD just dominated. Finished him, back on track. I was so pumped as a fan of the lightweight division to see that performance from Ben Walsantini. And now we're going to get a delightful fight finally i think we're it's going to get paid off i go back to this one i've been going back to it the last

couple times these gentlemen have both fought it's bsd versus a tutu shamrod let's go we need it we need to have it and i think we're going to get it this time that's a great matchup it's great matchup uh bsd rap super fun to watch on saturday he he did that thing that like and this of course easier said than done but sometimes we get frustrated when we know guys have like a significant advantage of one area and don't do it. He literally just tackled Rufi from the beginning. Yeah, I'm going to get hit. Yeah, he got hit a few times. You know, some leg kicks, body shots. He knows he's got a good chin. So he's like, yeah, I'm going in. And stuck with that, did not deviate, did not get cute on the beat. Actually was probably benefited from Rufi,

like, deciding to stand the fight up. I mean, you know, again, messing around with Bios and the end of the ground, probably wasn't a good idea either. But Rufi probably gave up on ground fighting a little too easily. And then BSD was just fine with that. He's like, cool, you're on top of me. Now you're not anymore. Guess what? I'm going to talk to you again.

So great stuff from him. He said afterwards that like he felt like he's back. He said, he said, I lost myself. He said, I lost myself ahead of the Dustin Porre fight. And then, of course, the Moikano fight was even worse. So, yeah, Michael, like you said, maybe no more trading in the garage, man. Maybe he is focused. He's saying all the right things.

I'm focused. I'm back. And he looked great. I went like in a weird direction. I think I just keep, I want to see this guy. I fight. So maybe I just keep throwing opponents at him and just hoping one will hit. Like I was okay with the idea of him fighting Armand. Like I don't know what they're going to do with Armin.

Because there's other good matches for him too. But like he has to fight someone. And I think BSD would bring out the best in him. I think they'd be a great matchup. I don't, again, this is a shot in the dark. I have no clue what their plans are for Armin. But if it's BSD, I would be very happy to see it. Yeah, I just don't see a world where that happens.

Armin Surrican should just sit out forever as opposed to fighting BSD. I would pick Armin to win that fight, but it's just way too risky considering the position he's in. BSD versus Gachy would rock to, but again, Gachy, no need for him to take that fight. So, yeah, there's, I mean, there's so many ways to go with this. You want to do BSD Hooker. Cool. I know Fiziv is fighting Charles Olivera, but someday we're going to get BSD versus Raphael Fiziv, and that is going to be incredible.

I'm surprised BSD didn't call for Michael Chandler. I actually would have been that would have been a terrific call-off for MSG because I think that's a fight that could happen if he should have been more specific because he was saying like, oh, give me a top 10 guy sometime in the next three months. And if he had said Chandler, that might have been good. Listeners are all over that one. I'll tell you right now. I don't know if you saw.

If you've seen. Yeah, that's a popular one on the end. They want that. They want that. Let's go to the light heavyweight division. a mdestis bucassus finishes paul crag right at the buzzer of round one with the elbow from hell the elbow as they said on the broadcast

and ends the career of one paul craig in the process but that's because bachoscus this guy what a just what a fun ride it has been for medesis bacoscus on the second go around with the ufc cage warriors champ guy found a lot of success comes into the ufc gets the Andres Michaelitis treatment gets the quick finish. And then he gets Jimmy crude and Michaela Xeachuk. And we know what happened in the Cleo Roundtree fight and the long layoff and the rehab to come back. And then wins the Cage Warriors belt again.

And then he's back in the UFC. Six and one, AK, six and one, four straight wins, finishes in three of his past four. And now this guy might be sniffing maybe tough 15 opposition, AK. the Baltic gladiator just out here doing the damn thing. And I get to tell you, couldn't happen to a nicer guy. And I really truly mean this. Very happy for Modestis Bacoscus, been interviewing him for a long time. Where did we go in this just loaded and incredibly fascinating light heavyweight division with Modestis Bacoscus?

I think we got the same guy. You think so? You want to do it? You want to do a countdown? I think so. I don't know if we did. But if we did, if we did, I'll be pretty surprised. Wait, how? Did you pick a top 10 guy or a guy who was at least recently in the top 10 maybe before?

Let me see where this fight. I think, I don't know if he's ranked or not. Oh, maybe we didn't pick. Oh, he is. He is. This gentleman is ranked. Yeah, yeah. He's definitely ranked. Okay. But if you had to look, I think we didn't have the same guy. I don't know. Now I truly don't know. All right. Ready? Yeah. I think I'd know where you went with. Yeah, yeah. I think we're floating around the same neighborhood, but I don't think we're at the same front door. All right. All right. One, two, three. Alonzo Lampfield. Oh, that was my, you know what?

Alonzo would have been, was my first choice. Actually, it was my, because I have, I have them right next to each other in the rankings now. I have, I actually put Modustis a notch above Alonzo after that win. He's streaking. Maybe I've just forgotten Alonzo's recent fights. I don't know. Alonzo's also won his last couple. So, yeah, I have Modestis just inside my top 15 of a light heavy weights.

It's UFC only. You have C only. If you include other people, he's probably outside. But UFC only, top of 15, looking good. I hate to just use I've always like Krolab. I hate to just use him as a guy as like a gatekeeper now

as someone who like whose spot is there to take but I kind of think that's where his role is. He's not even an old guy like Krolav I think is actually quite a bit younger than a lot of the light heavyweight division

but he has a lot of experience a ton of fights so he's old he's quite old in in cage years and I think he has to give a guy like Modestis a shot so there you go that's wrong with that. How dare you forget about Alonzo Meadowfield's

fight of the year fighter of the year contending 2025 so far. It won a bonus. He sure did. They won a fight of the night. He, oh my God. He holds a victory over one Umar C earlier this year in June at UFC Atlanta. So we can't forget about that.

And before that, yes, fight of the night against Julius Walker at UFC Seattle. It seems that there is no more apex for Alonzo Meadowfield. They're just putting them out in front of Christ. crowds, but he's one two straight. And I kind of, I think we just need somebody to push Alonzo into something a little more compelling and fun. We thought Umarcy could be the guy. It just wasn't at that time. So I don't know. Well, let's, let's see. Those are the two, the two horses there. The what I really wanted to do was, was Ming Yang Zhang, but I just don't think he's going to be back anytime soon after the Johnny Walker loss.

So because that would be super fun. But I don't think we're, we're there just yet. I think we might have to wait until 2026 for that. So I think we're both on the right path. He jumped over Zhang and my rankings Bukascus with that win. He jumped over him. Yeah. He's a, you know, not to say anything wrong with Zhang, you know, he was facing a ranked guy

and Johnny Walker. Supposed to be a step-of-fight. Didn't quite work out. It's fine. These things happen. But Bukascus, good winning against Paul Craig. Happy trails. Happy trails to Paul Craig, by the way, man.

What a character. What a career. Almost 30 pro bouts. Wins over Jamal Hill, Shogunhuah, and yes, Magoamette, Ancalaev. What a strange. That was still one of the strangest fights. We would just go back and watch that fight. Very clear decision winner was going to be for Ankaliab.

And in the last, literally in the last second, there's a trial which opened by Paul Craig. It doesn't look super tight. Like it almost feels like if Ankylov had been more aware of the time he could have survived. I feel he just didn't know how much time was left. And Angolae have tops out with one second. And then ever since then, he hasn't lost since. So very, very strange thing, but great notches on Paul Craig's resume. Obviously a proud face of Scottish MMA.

And we wish him nothing but the best man. You know, tough stretch to end his career. These things happen. And I think he's walking at the right time. I hope he does stick to this retirement. I 100% agree. I don't want to see him doing like misfits boxing or anything. No, no.

We all, we, we, Jed had a great idea for the post-white show and the listeners just really put the cherry on top of the Sunday. Paul Craig should be not all the time, but Paul Craig should be on the desk, just a different personality to trot out there for a UK card. And when you introduce Paul Craig for the first time, you have Dan Halley and you have a solo shot on him. And Dan Halley's like, let us introduce all of everybody on the desk. Here is Chris Wyden and Chris waves to the camera. Hi, everybody. And Dean Thomas, Dean Thomas is like, hey, everybody. And then there's Paul Craig full makeup.

I mean, full makeup, the whole nine, but a suit on, like dressed to the dyes, but still get the makeup on. It would be incredibly funny. And I hope they do that. Let's have a little fun with this. But yes, happy trails to Paul Craig, one of the great personalities of the sport. I thought you were going to say they should have him come out of a tunnel with like a bloody baseball bat or something. I was like, that's a bit, that's a bit morbid. I don't know if we need to

reference that. That Scottish accent would be tough, though, I think, for American audiences. I, I speak fluent Scottish, so I understand him. I understand him completely, but I do, I do think he's quite a thick accent. Yeah, I mean, you can't do it for like UFC Vegas one. Oh, okay, but like UFC London in 26th? Absolutely. Let's do it. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister.

This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. Let's go to Mason Jones, AK.

This guy, what a fight that was. Dude went through the ringer and he gets hurt. Belagiochi looks like he's going to have the big moment. The fans are going crazy. And then Mason just comes back. Gets it done. Nasty elbows. Gets the finish.

Much like Modestis Bukascus. Second go-around. A lot more successful for Mason Jones. Now 2 and 0. Got the win over Jeremy Stevens. Just gets the finish here. I went a little high here, AK. I'm giving him a shot.

I don't think he's ranked right now, but certainly in name, a guy who has gotten his share of opportunities over the past year, year and a half. I'm just curious what this would look like. Let's do Mason Jones versus Ignacio Baja Mondays. I think that's fun.

I saw several listeners recommend that, big fans, big fans of that matchup. I went a different direction. I went, I want to say lower, but maybe not that much lower given Saturday's events. I went with the young man who won on the undercard. I think Mason Jones and Kawey Fernandez would be absolute fire. I don't know what we have without these guys. I do think Mason Jones has the potential to be a top 20, even a top 15 guy.

But we're in no rush, I feel like to push these guys. And I'm not saying your pick was a rush either because Ignacio is probably, again, what, somewhere in the 15 to 25 range. So, yeah, that feels right for Mason Jones. I just went a bit lower. But I don't know. Kowah, again, also could be that guy. I've kind of asleep. I'll be honest, I'm kind of sleeping on him a little bit.

But boy, he chopped up dude's leg real bad. That was just so nasty and so impressive. And I'm eager to see both guys fight again. I hope within the next four months they can get booked, and I'd love to see them get booked against each other. That'd be a great fight. Let's talk about Axel Sola, AK. You know, some people were not happy with the way he won this fight.

No, no fault of his own. People were pointing the finger at good old hokey pokey-pokey herb. Although I didn't hate the stop it. I have way more of an issue of Herb Dean's performance in the co-main event than I did here with him hokey-poking with the let's stop the action due to the was it a foul? Was it not a foul? That shit just annoys me and drives me nuts. But I didn't have an issue with the stoppage here. Reese McKee was in big trouble, ripped to the body.

He was badly hurt. He was not defending himself. And then right when the stoppage happened, he grabbed a leg and got pissed off. And like I understand not the best stoppage, but certainly not the worst. But Axel Sola, AK, comes in. Looks like somebody to watch. What are we doing with him at 170 pounds? Well, you know, it's funny.

I didn't realize to the listener picks that reminded me that he's technically not really at 170 or right. I mean, so my pick for him is a welterweight. I think he can compete a wealth rate for now. I think it's fine. I just, he's what, 27 or something. Like, I just want him to not have to worry about a huge weight cut right now. I'm sure he makes 155 comfortably.

He's been doing it for many years. That's where he won his title. So if he drops down to 155, wouldn't surprise me at all. But I do think, again, maybe the first couple of fights, just stay at Walter, wait, have fun, don't cut weight, enjoy your life. So I went in that direction. I'm just going Chuck Buffalo, Charles Radkekekeke, fun matchup. What?

No. Cue it up, baby. No. Cue it up. Well, the band is totally unprepared for this. They were not. They don't even know Axel Sola is. They spit out their coffee.

Three, two, one. Friends forever. Wow. That is stunning. That's one of the most random ones we've had for sure. Yeah, Axel Sola getting the Friends Forever moment. There we go. Is something else.

I went with Chuck Buffalo too. I think it makes a lot of sense. It's good. Maybe there's a Canadian card coming up. We could throw that on there. Keep Chuck Buffalo versus Canada alive versus the French Canadian connection. I love that. I love that.

Well, yeah. Yes, Omar C did not open the main card, okay? Because there's only one man who could have opened this main card. And it was William Gomi, who was coming off of an absolute heater in his previous fight against Hider Amil. And we kind of got the old William Gomi back. 14 minutes into this fight, a fight actually broke out. And it was pretty fun. And then 15 seconds later, we were sort of back to business as usual, beats Robert Ruhalla,

which I thought Robert was going to put on a little bit better performance. It just was not meant to be. But nice win for William Govee. So, AK, I have a question for you. Yeah. I have no clue what to do here. Oh, I do. Really?

All right, I'm going to let you go because I might have a super hot take pick here. Oh, I think that's what my pick is, but I could be wrong. Oh my God. If we're Q in the band again, this will be a stunt to me. This will be even more shocking than Aco Sol. But please go. Well, this was one of the hardest picks to make.

So this one is probably, I found the rest of the card pretty easy. This one I think I probably spent the most time on. Because I just did the usual thing kind of looking up the rankings. And I'm just like, I don't want him to fight this guy. I don't want him to fight this guy. That's a horrible fight. That's a horrible fight.

Like there's just so many bad matchups from like, this could be a snoozer. And I get it. It's go me. Like with him, unless you're fighting a hideer meal type guy, it's like an 80. 25% chance is going to be a snoozer. Before I make my pick, Mike, and this is a horrible thing to ask by any fighter, but

is he the least entertaining fighter in the UFC right now? Probably not. I mean, I know people are going to go after my boy, Torres Finney, and how dare you? But, like, top five is, like, when you see his name on a card, are you like, this is not going to be good one? Is this top top five? Is he top five? I think like for me like almost and again let me just say this again

William Gomi all the respect in the world winning is winning winning is when he is five in one in the UFC the Hydera meal fight was a split call he's a very good fighter William Gomi is a very good fighter will probably have a number next to his name at some point but from an entertainment standpoint I imagine most would agree who watched him fight more than once that like the fights are dreadful they're dreadful he's very he's very Tim Duncany sure yeah and I love to Duncan but I love Tim Duncan, but I get what you're saying. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I'll say yes. Yeah.

Come after us, Come after us. I know you're out there. William Gomy, if you're, if you can hear this clip and you know what, I deserve whatever mean things you have to say. Would you rather watch William Gomee fight or Sean Strickland fight? I mean, probably Strickland because it'd be like, you know, I know Strickland will be fighting a top 15 guys, so at least there's like some intrigue there. I don't know. But I will say, I would rather see Gomi fight my pick than any Sean circling fight. Oh my God. There we go.

Look at that. Oh, my God. Look at that. This can't be. There's no way. Well, I went with Aaron Pico. Oh my God. We did it.

Do it again. Oh, my God. You won't the van. Oh, man. Do it again. Oh, my God. That is so funny. Three, two, one.

Friends forever. I love it. I did the same thing. I was like, you know what? this might be the one because I've been struggling trying to figure out how to book Aaron Pico

and like yeah I was joking about Muhammad Yaya like just throw him out there and let Pico just tune that dude up and knock him down a hundred times but that's not going to do Aaron any good let's give him a top 25ish guy

who is solid who is if there's anyone who has like this who has Lorone Murphy isms to him to a lot of degrees it's William Go Me, but at least we know William, and we know with Lorone, too. William is capable of having a fun fight. Yes. Because we've seen it. I think this is the one. I think this is the true Aaron Pico Lipko litmus test. I love it. And there's no way, Aaron Pico, winner, lose is never in a boring fight.

Just never is in a boring fight. He would absolutely force Comey to fight him. And if Pico beat him, boom, that hype train, I think is back on track. And if Comey wins, like I said, this guy's probably going to have a number next to his name at some point. And I don't think beating Pico does it, but I think it earns him a top, like top 12 guy, a top 12 opponent. So it just makes sense, Mike, like we did it. I think we solved it. I currently have William Gomi ranked higher than Aaron Pico. Yeah, as do I.

Okay. Yeah, definitely. Okay. Just making sure we're kind of on the same page. Wow. Back to back, Fred's forever with Axel Sola and William Gomey. Maybe our wild card too? Dude. It's possible.

Like, it is on. the table, I think. I don't think. Oh, God. Yeah. All right. You're, would you go with Sampage? You would say, no, I should have, though. I should, I should have that or should have gone with, uh, Delicia. But I went with, uh, Renot, Renot, Rott, Rott Puckertino. Oh, my God. Oh, no. Sorry. It is on the table, okay? It is on the table. I'm gonna introduce the wildcard. We're here. We are so here. If this, is this the first time? This could happen. I'm in a row. I actually feel confident. You go for, you go, you go then. I want to give him a step up. I want to give him the step up. I don't want to go too crazy with this. I need to look. I'm looking.

I have to look at the UFC rankings right now. I have to see if this guy is ranked. No, he is not ranked the UFC rankings. But a perennially ranked guy. Normally, this is the type of moment where Neil Magny is called upon that did not happen here. and if he did, I would not give him that. Renov Akritinov has fought hitters this entire time. Yes, he's had some weird wonky fights, maybe some questionable decisions.

But what he did to Andreas Gustafsen, no one predicted he was going to finish this guy in under a minute. Just nobody saw this coming. So Renov Akritinov will now face a man. Many of us have known, many of us have loved, many of us have enjoyed compete in the welterweight division. His name is Vicente Lucay. That's where we're going.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I went with a ranked person, so I knew, I'm fortunate, I knew we weren't going to friends. Ah, that's, oh, Luque, that is good. I think that's, I think that's like a good step. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to give him D-Rod or anybody like that or Gilbert Burns or anybody there. Like, not yet.

But he goes to beats Vicente-Luke. Then we can, we can have these conversations. I'm so high and Renot, Mike. I went with Buckley. Oh, geez. Wow. I said top 10. And if he loses, he loses.

That's okay. That's fine. It's not the end of the world for Bertino. But I don't know what to do with Buckley now. I think Buckley, like, we always talked about great turnaround. Great turnaround from like a couple of terrible promos. Got all the right matchups. Even the Usman matchup, even though he lost, like that was the right matchup.

We were all like, yes, we were all like, this is his opportunity. If he wins, boom. He's a title contender. If he loses, guess what? He lost one of the greatest multivates of all time. Didn't go his way. That's fine. So now I'm not sure where they go with him.

Again, I don't think you just use him to build up other guys now because I think he's still in his prime. I think he still has put together another string of wins to possibly earn a title shot. And I would count Renat among that. I think if he beats Renaud, that's a huge statement. That's a huge statement of him saying, guess what, there are levels to this. This guy's got a great record coming off a great performance. But I am, he's not a top 10 guy.

I am a top 10 guy. And even if he doesn't matter how he beats him, if he wins like a convincing decision, gets a highlight real knockout. And that's a huge statement for Buckley. And yeah, and let's also leave the door open for Renat to say, hey, guess what?

I've been a top 10 guy all along. Here's my, now give me that number. So there we go. Wow. I dig it, man. I dig it. I thought about for a moment Jeff Neal,

but Jeff just got badly finished, like not that long ago. So maybe give him a little breather before we start matchmaking for him. but yeah, I dig it. That'd be a badass one for Buckley to come back to after losing to Kamar Usman. So yeah, I would put him over for taking that fight. That's for sure. Let's go to the peeps, AK.

I didn't get a lot. Usually you're the guy who gets most of them. So when I do a first timer, right out the gate, shout out to Chris Kerry. Chris Carey, first time submitter. Welcome to the party, pal. Welcome to the party, pal. So here are my picks for UFC Paris. Imovvv versus DDP.

He's just throwing him right to DDP. Got to fight one more time. But that's the one. Like seriously, that would be the one. And that's a tough ass fight. But if you're going to fight anybody, Drickstupilcy would be the guy to fight, certainly. BSD versus Gamrod,

Bcoskis versus Nikita Krilov. Is Krylov booked? I don't think so. I think I had to look this up. I'm pretty sure he's not. He is not booked. Let me double check. real quick.

No, because he just fought the July. That's right. That's right. He'll be back. He'll be back. Mason Jones versus Manuel Torres, left that fight. OMRC versus Dustin Jacoby. Delia versus the Almeida Volkov loser.

Sola versus this guy is booked, but this was kind of an under the radar booking and it just happened. So I'm not going to give any doo-do here. He said Sola versus Puna Soriano just, I mean, just announced. He's fighting Nikolai Ferrettenikoff at UFC 320. So, yeah, there you go. But thank you, Chris. Good start.

Again, the Puna one flew super duper under the radar. So I'm not going to ding it for that one. John Ray, our old pal, Sam Hughes versus Ketland Soza, Fokritina versus D-Rod, Ritech versus Eric Anders. I don't know if Eric's fighting still. What's going on there? I think he wants to retire. I think the next fight is the last fight.

Oh, that's right. I'm not mistaken. So, yeah, I saw because I went to the same top process. So that's Breitcheck, Breitchuk versus Anders. I mean, Eric feels like he's angling for a bit of a name, right? Like, I don't think he has that much leverage with the UFC. I mean, Chris Wyman, not that long. Yeah.

What else does he want? I don't know, maybe one because this could be, this is like his last, like last, last, last fight. Yeah, but you have to do the fate. You have to do the thing on the way out. You have to maybe put over somebody on the, on the rise. Yeah, maybe he'll do the right thing. I don't know. Patterson versus Injokwani?

Yeah, I got a lot of that. I don't know if we can book Cheaty at 170. He made it. No, I think he made it in his last flight. I thought he missed by a bunch. Wait, did he have a fight canceled? Hold on. Now I have to remember.

I know he, I know he did fight at 170, the last fight that he actually made it to the cage. I'm just trying to remember after that. Oh, yeah, no, you're right. Okay, he pot Jake Matthews. He fought Jake Matthews. Didn't he, was this one where he missed and then like he

remade on the comeback. Oh gosh. And he like he made us wait or so. Is this the one where I was like waiting for like hours after and I'm like they just never updated it? Okay. He did. All right. That's fine. But officially, officially he did fight it well to wait. Yes. A lot of Manuel Torres love here. John wants Fernandez versus Manuel

Torres. Bangor. Absolute heater. Love that one. Delia versus Derek Lewis Fight Night Birmingham main event. just throwing it out there. I'm going to butcher this so many times. Delia mania is sweeping the nation, Mike. It is sweeping the nation.

He essentially, I think people want to book him as like Tom's bodyguard, right? Because I think people know, obviously Tom was literally there cheering for him. I think it's well documented him and Tom trained together. They seem to be good friends. I don't know if they wouldn't fight each other. But I do see a lot of people like already just saying Delicia top 10 opponent. So I don't know if they, Mike, they might be trying to stop the Derek Lewis Aspinall fight. they might be having anti-protecting

Tom Aspinall from Derek Looke. You know what? That is a very possible thing. And I feel about that. Although that marching Taibora dude looked, he looked pretty rough in that octagon yesterday. I'm not trying to take anything away from him. That was a great moment,

but March he looked like he didn't even want to be in that cage. He looked so slow and just, it was tough to watch. C versus Jacoby, go me versus Cub Swanson. You know, I don't think. for a guy like Cub Swanson, who's like, I don't know if I'm a key fighting, but if I do,

it's got to be something that really excites me. I don't know if William Gomy is the guy. Just throw that out there. Just show him the Hyder Emile fight. Because I guarantee you, Cubs Swanson has never watched any other William Gomi fights. I guarantee it. Just show him that one fight and say, yeah, this is the guy. Yo, look at this. Okay. Cubs wants you should be fighting Harry Hardwick because did you see what he said? So someone, someone tweeted out. out. I'll pull this up. I talked about this on the, I don't know if I talked about this in the show. We talked about before. But anyways, someone tweeted something out about Harry Hardwick losing and it was like a heartbreak emoji. And Cub Swanson, without prompting or anything,

his response was, and I quote, he might be the worst fighter in the UFC. That was bad. Cubby. Good old cubby. Damn. Yeah, just throwing. And look, that fight went pretty much exactly the way I thought it was going to go. Like, I think Harry is just like a good, tough, gritty guy, but not a dude that is going to fight for a belt or even be ranked or anything like that.

And Kyle, he just, as soon as that first light kick landed, he was just done. And he tried to grit through it. But maybe we do that. Maybe we try to get a little, Harry gets a little revenge on the Cubs swans. Those are fighting words. I mean, Harry, yeah, not elite guy, but took the fight on like five days, four or five days notice. A weight class. Yeah, he's not a lightweight.

He is in Cubs Swanson's actual weight class. So that would be so random, but also oddly intriguing now. I can't believe the betting lines are that close in that fight. I really am. I was stopped by that way. I picked Hartwick, so I can't see. Oh, okay. That's one of my misses.

One of my misses on, I had pretty good night. That was one I missus. Sola versus Fuget, Jones versus Ashmoosh, sure. Another Buccascus, Kryla, BSD versus Brian Ortega. How about that? I don't know what's going on with Brian Ortega, but that would be weird. That would be so weird. Brian Ortega should want to get a fight like that.

Yep. Bahalia versus Costa mirror match. Imovop, Better Hope, Fluffy, and RDR is indecisive or boring. Yeah. And we'll end with Harry and then we'll go to you. for the lion's share of this. BSD versus Grant Dawson is the real fight,

but it'll be Gamrod. BSD Dawson would be pretty... I like that. It would be pretty interesting. I like that a lot. Baccoskis versus Menafield. Jones versus Michael Johnson. Sure.

I like that one. Michael Johnson coming off that big win. He's on a roll right now. Axel Rose Sola versus Markell Maderos at 55 or Siokyung Co. at 170. So he booked him in both of the video. I like this.

Go me versus Jose Delgado. C versus Tucco. Tokos. Yeah, I kind of like that one. But if you have to do that one in Paris, though. Axel Rose is alive, right? Yeah. Okay.

He's weirdly like how, I'm glad. I'm saying this a good thing. He's weirdly like I don't see him in like social media. I don't see him doing like a lot of weird reality shows. He seems kind of like he's gracefully. I guess they're still touring. still be touring with some iteration of Guns and Roses. But, like, I don't see, I'm just happy Axel Rose is controversy-free.

I guess is what I'm saying, as far as I know. Weird. That was such a weird pull. Like, I was such a huge Guns and Roses fan when I was younger. And that weird reference just jolted me, like, yeah. Anyway, I hope Axel and everyone involved with Guns and Roses is okay. That was strange. I like this fight, Kowie versus Tiago Moises.

Sammy P. versus the Matthews' Neil winner. Oh, yeah. Jake Matthews, Neil Magny, you're fighting. I think so, yes. I saw someone mention that. Yeah, yeah. Robbie B versus Pulae F, Renati F versus D. Ronati F versus Dron.

Sam Hughes versus Jess Goddrage. Really? Wow. Okay. Give her the step up. That was, if I was a climber, Sam Hughes would have been my climb. Oh.

Oh, yeah. Well, she wasn't a massive favorite, though, was she? She was like minus 350 or something. Okay, depending on me. Oh, that's still pretty. Okay. It's pretty big. Pretty big.

Yeah. And another, Harry ends with a, I mean, anti-fever trying to, trying to ruin the dream. Another anti-Di-Di-A versus Derek Lewis made a better. Yeah. What is your, so that's the last one, Mike? That was it. So I'll run off against some of the picks or locals shared. But so these were four popular ones for Delia, Delicia.

Delicia, Delia. What are we deciding on here, Mike? Delicia. Delicia. Delia. Delia, Delia. I'm going to wait until John Anick says. I need Anik to weigh in on this, for sure.

Anty. So these are the four picks that were a lot of different people sent. Cortez Acosta, Gazeve, Lewis, as you read multiple times, and Sergey Pavlovich. Of those four, Mike, which one do you like the best next for Ante? What are the options? Salsa Boy, Gaziv, Lewis, Pavlovich. None? Or none.

You don't like any of those? Pavlovich is kind of interesting because I just don't know where I like I don't know I kind of feel like I like that's how we booked this right like I think that's how I booked it anyways now that I think about it because Pavich won and he's fought everybody else so I think it was the winner of that fight was going to get the Pavlovich fight based on like the rankings and such um I kind of feel like Derek Lewis is the way they're going to go but yeah I don't know it's not salsa boy Well, no, I was going to say crystal ball. I think it could be a little. I'll go salsa boy, but selfishly, I need this to happen like immediately because I need to try to get some fantasy points out of salsa boy. Okay. I assume, I assume Auntie will be ranked come Tuesday, so that'll be extra points for the ranked

win. So, yeah. Other popular picks, of course, Imovar Shemaya, people just want to see it. Santini Chandler, I love it. Bukaskas Krillov, a lot of people on that train as well. See and Jacoby, I think that's a really good one. I think that's actually a great way to capitalize on the sea heat. A lot of people want to rebook Kauway and Fresium.

I agree. I actually still want to see that matchup. So good stuff around here. All right. Let's go to our emails first, Mike. We got Toke, who is like, he seems to think there's some beef with you. Like, I'm confused. Like, is this a one-sided?

Like, I don't know. I don't know if, like. What I have beef with him? I don't know. He said, I tried to broker a peace treaty two weeks ago. It seems to peace broker was on hi-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a- It's a shame. With his Paris card, I will keep being bold, but still remain on Mike's good side. So I don't know that.

We have a competitive relationship. I have no beef with Tocke whatsoever. That is good. That is good. He had a little bit of a doo-do. He forgot that Bukas, that the fight with Craig was a light-heavyweight. I think he was thinking of Craig. So it was a middleweight.

So anyway, he said Buccas-us versus Mansen. Tulk, I'm sorry for the call-out. We sort of- Oh, my God. He forgot. He accepted his doo-do already via email. I emailed him. the doo-do um solo versus carlos leo which actually thought about as well but again now i keep thinking he's going to go back to lightweight now so maybe it doesn't make sense gomi and nerden becki

nerden becki uh so he wants him take a step back it's just he is not rewarding gomi with the top 20 opponents uh delisia versus almeda volkov loser oh my gosh yeah there are a couple of those wow uh let me go to tristan gordon let's keep going with the emails here tristan gordon Patterson, Jacoby Smith, Brechek, and Holayev. So good stuff, Tristan. Thank you. On to the Instagram, Geri Jorjian, some excellent picks here. Wait, Patterson, Jacobi Smith?

Yes. What do you think of that? Is that too soon for Jacoby? No. No? I'm more on the, like, I just want to give San Paterson. I'm all in on San Patterson. So should we veer more towards like top 20 than rising prospect?

I don't know. I don't know if I want to go there yet. Okay. He is very, what is it? I think, four or no? Because his one loss was at lightweight. Like, he should not have been finding it lightweight in the UFC. Yeah, he's got four first round finishes in a row.

Yeah, that's pretty damn good. He does still need a name. And Jacobi Smith is technically not that name, like as much as he has a prospect. Like, he's not super well known. I don't hate it. I still don't hate it. I still don't hate it. I still think it could randomly happen, but I get why you're questioning it, though, yeah.

On to Instagram, Jared Biagin. Some we've mentioned already. He's with us in Sol of Red. He Gomi Naimov and Umar C versus Julius Walker. That is purifier. Um, we haven't like fully confirmed this yet, but I think that I'm off is already booked. But it's not like you'll see. It'll be coming.

Okay. Okay. Harry Newhouse, uh, Bahaio versus RDR fluffy loser. Sure. Yeah. Okay. Sure. Probably.

Probably something happens. Uh, Rufi Rebovitz. Love it. Uh, what else? we got here. Patterson, Chaos, Williams. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Sam Hughes, Fatima Klein. More prospect killing for Sam Hughes. I kind of like the idea of giving her Jessica Andrage Moore. Actually, I thought that was a dream. Yeah, that'd be it. I think you have to do that. That has to be an MSG if you do that fight.

Androge and Hughes? No. Oh, he was in Klein. Klein. Because Klein is from, what, Jersey? Or she's from New York. Blanchield's fighting on that card. They're two- Okay, okay, okay. We're both on there together. Right, right. Yeah, I think that would work. I'd be down for it. I'd love to see that he was inclined on the MSG.

Okay, good. And then onto Twitter, DGB, Sam Patterson versus Chris Curtis, Ben Juan Santonite, Dan Hooker. I don't know what's going on with Hooker. He keeps getting these weird, like, he keeps getting banged up in weird ways. And he just obviously has been fighting for a long time. I think it's hard for him to fight frequently.

I also don't think that's the top 10 name that Santany has been looking for, though I guess he is top 10 in the UFC rankings. I mean, that'd be great for Benoit. So there's, I've talked about this before. I've talked about this before, but there's, there are reports that there's a fight in the works, quote unquote,

between Dan Hooker and Armand Serukian, possibly is the main event for UFC Qatar. That's not like wholly accurate. There's no like, And, you know, for those who miss it, like, I'll explain how this works from a journalistic and a reporting standpoint. In the works means it's the same as targeted. What that means is both sides have been officially offered the fight. A UFC matchmaker has said, hey, we are officially offering you this opponent on this date.

What do you say? And both sides have to say yes. Okay. contracts are not signed, but both sides have been officially offered a fight, and both sides have said yes, and everything is done but pen to paper. That is not what has happened here. Has this an option potentially on the table for both guys? Yes.

Is there been an official offer for this fight? No. Does Armand Sarukin possibly want something else? Of course he does, but he may not get it. So the fight is not done. Could it happen? Yeah. But to say that it's like in the works or we're even talking about this being a thing is just not true.

So that's around right now. And I think if you're Dan Hooker, that's probably what you're hoping for is you get Arm and Surrogate. I'm into, I'm so into whatever they have next for Sons. And I hope it's not like any of the names you mentioned. I hope I could see them going like some rant because he said he wants to stay busy. I could see them giving him like someone outside the top of Dean, which is fine. but I do think he deserves a chance to rank up again. So we'll see.

We'll see. Braden O'Neill, Jones versus Kaii Fernandez. Like I said, I love that. Sola versus the Vrenticov Soriano winner. Braden on top of that one, the one that we didn't even remember what's happening. Gomi Fili, he wants Krilov for Umarcy. Okay, I could see that.

Again, I don't know if I want to, I just don't know if Umer C is a top 15 guy yet, but we'll see. Fokritina, Jeff Neal, Sam Hughes. Toledo Alan Carr. Marcus McGehy. He's like us, just TBD on Imov, kind of. Like, I don't know if this doesn't even want to commit to what could be next until we know what happens with the UFC Vancouver main event.

What else we got in here? Sola versus Tom Nolan, Charlie Campbell winner, UFC Perth. Okay. Gomi Sabatini, Delija Pavlovich. What else we got here? Carly Fernandez, Terence McKinney. Where's Terrence McKinney? Where is it?

Everyone wants a piece of Terrence McKinney. Everyone wants a chance to either finish or get finished. Terrence wants a Michael Chandler fight. He ain't going to get it. That's so good. God, I wish he would get that. He's not getting any right. But I want to see that fight happen someday, but probably I don't think we get it.

Barry O'Reilly wants to claim an Otno point for Boe-Nichol versus Hadoffo of Vietta. You know what? Go ahead. You know, Barry, you can. I have a feeling you're not the only person who suggested that, but I've been telling people, you want Notting a point. Just remind me that you made a pick. Guess what, Barry?

That's your point. You got, you got no point. Yeah. We haven't fully confirmed that yet, but it seems like that's where we're going. The point is in, you know, it's in the mail. It's in the mail or it's in a, you know, a transaction. We can always cancel the transaction should this fight not actually have it. Patterson versus Zelisky.

Okay. I like that. Gomi Sherrier, a little French on French crime. Ooh. Sola versus, so going down a lightweight for Chase Hooper. Oh. That's a big test. That's a big test.

For who? I think for so much. For both? For both, sure, but I don't know. Like, I don't mean, I don't know enough. I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. I don't hate it at all.

I just mean I don't know enough about Solius. BSD and Joelle Alvarez. You know, we've been calling for this one for a while. It was supposed to happen at UFC 315. It was. That's right. That's why we want it so badly. Damn, I want that fight.

It's not going to be next. It's not going to be next. But I do want that fight a lot. For corner sports, I'm a var versus whoever the middleweight. champion is. He thinks that Dana will select the winner of RDR Fluffy. Yeah, that's, that's, yeah.

I love this pick from four. You know, we give Four Corner Sports a lot of crap for some of the doo-do picks. I love this pick so much. It's so weird and it won't happen. Kyle Bahalio and MVP, Reco Phenum page. It will not happen. It will not happen.

But I don't want to lie. I just think that's such a fun, stupid fight to make. I think fun and stupid is like the right way to describe it. Yeah, it really. I don't honestly, like, I'm, I'm actually like, My brain is fried. Yeah, it's weird. I don't know what that fight looks like.

I really have no clue. MVIA has said, like, I have no interest in chasing a title at 185. Like, I'm just taking interesting fights at 185 if they offer them, but like he's not saying like, oh,

I want to become the middleweight champion. Like if he fell into a title shot, of course he'd take it, the money would be good. But he's not angling for top five, top six guys. So that's why like this is so weird. But if it happened,

I think it would be cool. Like I would just love to see. I think it'd be a really weird matchup. Very tough matchup for Bahaio. I know Bahalia would have a bit of size and he's been very good so far up until this loss, but the guy, I don't know if he is so tricky. Last couple of people here, Frod, Bohalia versus Strickland. Now, this is interesting, Mike, because they have trained together,

and I only remember this because John Strickland literally tweeted a few hours ago, like blasting Kaya Bahalio. The story's already up by the time people listen to this podcast, stories off at night.com, slamming him for apparently. when they were training together, they couldn't train much because at the time, Kayo was signed up as a backup for GEOC 319. So he was focusing mainly on weight management as opposed to like, you know, gearing up for UFC Paris.

And Strickland is saying like, you know, it really affected like his preparation. Like, again, we don't want to take anything away from him involved, but, you know, it is possible that doing two weight cuts in, what, six weeks? That's tough. That's a hard thing to do. But Holly is a big guy. So, yeah, maybe not. not a terrible point by Strickland.

And I don't think they're so locked in as teammates that they wouldn't fight each other. So like I have weirdly intrigued to see if that fight would happen. I think that, and I think it could. I think it could. I know they've trained together. But they're not like locked into the same camp, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, sure. That'd be a, yeah, that'd be a super interesting fight. Kind of, right? Again, I don't know what it would look like. It would be like two giraffes fighting each. other. What would that look like? A little stiff, little prodding. Uh, sure. I mean, that, that would make sense. Like, that's kind of what I want to see Strickland do if he's not going to fight Izzy or Whitaker next. So, sure. Yeah, that was inspired. I don't know if Efraud's aware of all this

drama. And that's why, why they made this pick, but like that I think is really smart. Uh, lastly, Speezy 32, Bukas, Johnny Walker. Like we said, Bukas is kind of, um, taking the Zhang, the Zhang Mingyang rising light, light, have voice spot. What else? Chase Hooper versus Mason Jones. Oh, that is interesting. Sola and Yoros Medici, excitement, I mean, guaranteed excitement. C versus Zhang, Delicia Curtis Blades. I don't know if I want that. I don't know if I want that, if I want that, you honestly. Patterson, Lee, Jing, Liang, Brecheck, and Cesari Olexey-Se-Chuk,

Sam Hughes versus Ketland-Suzza. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone who send in picks. Please do send in picks for next week's card. We're not going to have a pay-per-view until October. So, yes, do send in picks for next week's card. You can hit me up, guys, at Alexander K. Lee on Twitter, at Alexander KK Lee on Instagram, and email, Alex.com. My email is open. My DMs are open.

Mike, where can they reach you? On IGM underscore, Heck, J.R. Next Saturday is going to be insane because we got Crawford-Canllo. Right. And Nocha UFC. That's all happening next week. I was hoping Noch UFC would be like super early. So there's like no overlap at all.

But of course that is not the case. Because why would why would these people not just have us watch these two things separately? But okay. And for Nocha UFC AK, this might turn out to be like a fun card. But lineup wise, this is. Yeah. It's a great main event. We got Diego Lopez versus John Silva.

A co-made him, it was supposed to be Rob Fott versus Raoul Roses Jr. Still, interesting. David Martinez, good fighter, stepping in to fight Rob Fott, big opportunity. Feature about is Jared Gordon versus Rafa Garcia. It's a fine fight.

Calvin Gaslum versus Dustin Stoltzvus. Like, we might be bringing back the middleweighty, middleweight crown. I don't know. We get Alexander Hernandez, is Diego Feheda. That's going to happen. That actually should be pretty fun.

We have Santiago Luna versus Kwong Lee. That's a main card fighter, okay? Okay. Okay. And then we got Jose Medina versus Disko Todorovich. We got Claudio Pueyes versus Joaquim Silva. Tatiana Suarez, Amanda Lemos, she's on the prelims. What is happening?

That can't be true. This card can't be finalized. Let's wait until Monday, I think. Let's wait until Monday. Let's see if they, I think, I think the card has been so in flux. They have not put down like a finalized like that order, would be my guess. They, they did. Tadian Soros Beda-Labosh is buried on the pre-lil.

It's Sunday, it's Sunday. Wait till tomorrow. Wait till tomorrow. Wait till Monday. Well, I mean, that fight's not going to be all that competitive, I don't think. But it's okay. Jesus Aguilar versus Luis Scouroulli. Zach Reese versus, you know what?

Screams Noche UFC. Zach Reese versus Cedrique du boss, okay? Nothing. dreams no J UFC more than that match. Moving on. Alessandro Costa versus Alden Korea. How many fights are on this card?

We got two more, okay? Including the main event. You have read off like 20 fights. We have the UFC debut of Alice Pereira. Yes. Yes, she is making her debut at 5.0. 19-year-old Alice Pereira. Can we check putting that.

that into our articles. Not related to Alex Predada. Alex Panetta has a sister who is fighting in kickboxing and M.A. It is not. It is not Alice. Not Alice. Alice is fighting Monster at Rendon. And then in the main event of Noce, UFC, the first fight of the night.

We finally get to crowd a tough welterweight champion. Rodrigo Cessinando versus Daniel Donchenko, AK. The weight is finally over. I am shocked. You remember the weight class. That was impressive. It's because I'm looking, it says one sentence. Still, even then.

That is 14 fights, A.K. That's a lot of, that's weird. It's like, that's normal. That's a normal amount. It's weird. As you're reading them off, it felt like so many. Paris was 13 fights, but like in my eye, in my mind, reading off the Paris lineup,

um, it felt like it was 10. And then even in execution, it felt like it was 10. You know what? There's a big chance for, a lot of these fighters in this card to step up there you go step up and have a moment mike i admit i'm not familiar with some of the names that you said but we will be by the time fight night rolls around i assure you and again and hopefully after flight night we'll be talking about a lot of these fighters who uh you know proved us wrong proved us wrong and said yeah you don't know my name now but uh i just did a highlight

roll knockout or submission or something and uh we'll be talking about you on onto the next one but you know what's great okay after no joe ufc ends there's no ufc event the next week there's no UFC event the next week. Get a week off. Another week off. Well, I mean, it might be time for another. I don't want to promise. It might be time for another ask me anything.

We'll see. We'll talk about that. It's possible. And then we go to Perth, which right now has 15 fights, could be more based on what Dana White said on the contender series. Then it's UFC 320. Then it's UFC Rio. Then it's UFC Vancouver. Then it's UFC 321.

So no apex until November 1st. So get excited. Very cool stuff. going on. So buckle up for lots of combat sports action on the horizon as we get ready to end UFC ESPN pay-per-view era heading into this new non-paperview UFC Paramount era in 2026. But thank you so much. Good to be back in the chair with my best friend, Alexander Kay Lee. Hope you guys enjoyed it. We'll be back next week following NoJ UFC right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talked to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question.

Allison after Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify.