MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Shanghai; Plus, Perry vs. Jenkins Fight Week Recap

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

It was a wild week in the combat sports world, and in the world of the UFC, another massive upset took place inside the octagon as Song Yadong brutally knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov to pick up the biggest win of his career. Did Song punch his way into a title fight after the stunning knockout victory? 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 Song following his massive victory. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Denise Gomes after her big stoppage win against Yan Xiaonan in the co-main event, along with fellow main card winners Kai Asakura, Sumudaerji, Ce Liu, Bilal Hasan, and more. Additionally, the show begins with Mike's recap of being on site for the Mike Perry vs. Dillon Danis card, which became the Perry vs. Brandon Jenkins card, to all of the good, and the very bad of the event. 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns are back following UFC Shanghai, which saw not only a shocking upset win by Song Yadong, but a shocking conclusion to that fight. He holds Umar and Amagamata picks up the biggest win of his career, perhaps a championship opportunity, a win. weights following this victory and UFC Shanghai. There's an early morning wake up. It was an early morning watch, but I think anybody who did had a pretty darn good time watching it.

But here we are matchmaking it. I am Mike Heck and joining me to do some matchmaking. And to converse about some other things that happened this past weekend in the combat sports world, he is the co-host, co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity and my best friend, Alexander Kaylee, AK, how we do it? We're good. What's not my best friend, Mike? I'm glad we're doing another Monday show. I need a little bit of the weekend to recover from getting up at 3 a.m to do U.C. Shanghai stuff live. It was a great show. It was a great show. Was not looking good for the Chinese M.A. seen early on the prelims, three knockouts. Like, it was just, even the decision, you know, my Canadian boy, Cameron Nelson beating Meng Ding was like, oh, God, I knew. I knew the Canadian guy was going to win, but it was not a good performance for Meng who, like, has won. one of the most inflated records in the UFC. I would be surprised if you gets another fight.

But hey, main card, bounced back, Lutu and Sumerji. Not so great for Jan Chownan, but Sang Yidong, of course, capping things off with, like, one of the, it's not the biggest upset, I don't think. It's just, it's a big moment. It's a big upset. And it's also like the moment felt so surprising. I don't know. I just feel like a lot of people, you know, one reason this card is being overlooked was that the main event kind of felt like. like a, you know, done deal.

We're like, ah, you know, Umar is going to win either the same way he's won his last two fights, like a methodical decision. Best case scenario, maybe Umar gets a finish. Like, I think we're all giving, you know, Song a puncher's chance. But he just had fallen short against top five competition so much. We just hadn't seen evidence that he could beat a top five guy, much less, I think, a pretty unanimous top three guy. And that puncher's chance came through.

Like, boy, that puncher's chance came through. That was an incredible thing. So I said on the post-fight show, I think the UFC is really on a roll with some of these cards. I'll be honest with you. I'm probably forgetting some one or two that maybe didn't deliver. We're kind of tough to get through. But I think that's the mark of, you know, when you're doing 44, 45 shows a year,

are you doing like three out of four are much more on the positive side rather than the forgettable side? I think they're doing all right, you know, miles may vary. Miles may vary. Depends how you feel about, you know, some of these squash matches. I'm seeing some of these older fighters, obviously getting sort of unceremoniously ushered out of the octagon, as it were. But for me, this is sort of the cycle of life, and this is sort of how, if you're going to have this many cars, it has to go.

You need showcase fights. You kind of need to move out some of the older fighters, as sad as it sounds. And yeah, you need a little upset. You need a few upsets here and there. And, boy, we got him this year. You know, Sean Strickland Hamzot, of course, Justin Gehci and the Toporio, which I still think the biggest upset of the year. And now, song taken down under Mago Medov, Mike. I would not have predicted it.

I did not predict it. He's the two in 20 and two. and the one, the only one to finish Umarna Magamette up. So impressive stuff. Mike, how was your weekend? Did you do anything on the weekend, Mike? I did.

Did you know? Before we get to that, the one thing I want to say is, yeah, they've been on, I'm agreeing with you for all you, all you do is shit on the UFC. Since Abu Dhabi, they've been on an absolute tear. Like, they have just been on a tear. Like, 3.30 was really good until the two titles. fights because they weren't that

compelling, I guess. I mean, I thought the main event was kind of compelling because it was such a close fight. So, and just the thought of Islam may lose if I-Michita Gary doesn't hug him, then or, you know, that's how people viewed it. But yeah, the ankle-live, goose off card was very forgettable,

but then we came back with Belgrade, and then the apex car would Gamrod and Sal killed. Like, that was a good one. 3.30 was good until the two title fights. And then Sacramento was great. Shanghai was great We're on to Paris Which that crowd always shows up

So that's gonna be fun Then it's noche Then it's 331 And then it's back to the world's Most Famous Apex Which actually sounds so much better Because there's more people in there So yeah

UFC's on a bit of a role right now I know You know there's not a lot of storyline Coming out of these cards For the most part But man They've had some very entertaining events And some shocking

moments and some main events. Speaking of shocking, AK, you want to do this now? Yeah. You want to talk? I think we have to. I think we have to.

Can we talk some dual arena, Mike? We can talk some dual arena. Perry versus Dennis. Oh, no, wait. So,

yeah, I, I woke up Sunday morning and even this morning, it's Monday as, as we're talking and recording right now. So as this comes out,

it'll be on a Monday. And I woke up to some, to some, to some DMs with people saying like, please talk about what you experienced at dual. And on the other side of, you know, man, like I'm a fan. I've been listening to your stuff for a while. But yeah, you go into this event, like was pretty disappointing. And so I figured I owed it to the, I owed it to everybody to talk about my experience

with Duel Arena 1. And AK, you're here too. So if you have questions, I would love for you to jump in. and I'd be happy to answer them. But let's go. So here's how it all kind of came about. They announced that this Mike Perry, Dylan Dennis fight was happening.

I thought it was just like a joke in a troll job and not real. And then I found out who sort of was promoting this event back end. And I'm not even going to say his name because especially after what happened on Saturday, I think he'll be thankful that I did not say his name, but as someone who I've, he has no,

and I want to make this. perfectly clear in case you figure out who I am talking about. He has zero affiliation would duel. He was brought on to do a favor because they don't know how to put on an event, a fight event. This gentleman has experienced putting on events. He's been doing it for a long time. They asked him for a favor.

He said he would do it. I think he regrets doing it. I think I would actually, I know for a fact he regrets doing it, but we live and we move on. He confirmed this, told me what was going on, said it's real. And I was like, well, I mean, location, location, location. My parents live an hour from there.

It gives me an excuse to one, visit my parents and two, go cover Mike Perry versus Dylan Dennis. Why the hell not? So I agree to do this. A week before this event happens, I spoke to this individual on the phone as I was driving from Cleveland, to Columbus to go play golf with Matt Brown for swing rounds, which should be coming out in the next couple of weeks,

had an in-depth conversation about what this event is going to be, how it's going to be laid out, what times things are happening, who do I need to speak to about public relations and things of that nature, which there was none, by the way, because no one would actually sign on to do PR for this event, which totally understandable, I get it. So I let him know point blank because I was very well aware it was on this card.

I was very well aware of the co-main event. And I let him know point blank. In my mind and in the minds of MMA fighting, that co-main event does not exist. That co-main event is not happening. We will not be covering that. You will not see them on any social media clips from us. At best, the only thing you're going to get from us in regard to that fight is the result of it. like on the live results page.

And even then we were we were contemplating, not even doing that. But we were just like, yeah, it's part of the card. Whatever. We didn't use their nicknames or anything. Whatever. And he was like, yeah, I get it. He goes, this is kind of how I viewed it.

I said I would only come on if they only, if they would book Mike Perry versus Dylan Dennis and they agreed to it. So here we go. Fight week. I show up Thursday for the press conference. And I walk in there. I run into the people that I've been talking to, and I run into, I guess, the liaison that was brought in to be the guide,

who I know, I know him, and we've met and talked and stuff. And I do want to say that him and his team that he brought there, which again, has no affiliation with duel, were fantastic. They were tremendous. They gave all the access I wanted. They were great. So I want to shout out them in particular, even though I can't really say their names.

I get there and I noticed something earlier in the day, okay? I was preparing for whatever the fuck this is going to be. And I realized something going through the social media pages. Everybody's arrived except one notable person. I did not see Dylan Dennis's arrival. And I texted the gentleman that I've been dealing with. I said, hey, is Dylan Dennis in Orlando? I got nothing back.

And I was like, uh-oh, got a feeling. But you never know. So I drive to Orlando. I walk into the room. And the liaison is like, yeah, I'm glad you're here, whatever. And I was like, is it cool if I set up here? I was like, by the way, is Dylan Dennis here? And he goes, I plead the fifth.

I'm like, is he going to be here? Goes, that's the plan. I was like, I'm told. And I was, what I was told was, he's getting on a plane now. and I was like, okay, so he'll be at Wayans tomorrow. And I was told yes. I'm like, okay, so I set some stuff up. I get there.

You know me, A.K. I mean, we've never met in person, but this one thing you can know about me is that if doors open an hour early, I'm there two hours early. If you're on time, you're late. And that's the way I view things. Just in case there's traffic or whatever, I leave super early.

And if I get there super early, so be it. And I'm just kind of waiting around. I saw Wade Plem, who I've obviously, met a few times and we were talking about this whole card and he had no idea what he was walking into and i tried to warn him about some stuff uh and if you watched his reaction video as you know the old bobby hean and i'm not the kind of guy who says i told you so but i told you so and about 15 minutes for the press conference starts the liaison walks into the room and he has he has this look on his face and i look at him and i said i don't like that look

and he goes yeah something's coming I'm like can you just tell me what's happening he goes no because I don't want you to leak it I'm like dude I'm not going to leak it I'm like just tell me so we can be prepared I'll let you guys announce and do whatever you're doing but like we want to be ready for it

and he goes Dylan's not fighting Brandon Jenkins is he's getting on a plate he just said yes he's about to hop on a plane and fly over do an overnight flight a red eye to get here so we can weigh in tomorrow he goes Mike's about to announce it So I let everybody know.

Mike comes in and announces it the way that he did. And we find out Brand Jenkins is out. Then they do the press conference anyways. And as you notice, kind of going back to what I was saying earlier, you did not see outside of Mike Perry announcing that the fight was off. We didn't do anything with that press conference. We didn't, I didn't even really record it. There was nothing that we were going to use from this.

There was a near fight between Patrick Clark Jr. and Ryan Pownall, which I think probably in hindsight, maybe we post the clip where he jumps back in and breaks the table. But other than that, like, we didn't do, and even that, like, we didn't even post that. We didn't do anything with the press conference. I was just there, and I was like, well, if something happens, like, we'll be there. If Mike Perry comes back in or something, like, we're there. And then the plan was, I'm going to talk to Mike Perry afterwards.

And then I'm getting the F out here. So I sat around, kind of waited for Mike. He went out to dinner with his family. And then I was told Mike doesn't want to talk today. He's a little too pissed off. And I was like, okay. I was like, can I talk to him after he weighs in tomorrow? Otherwise, like, there's no point in me coming to Wayans or any of this stuff because I don't really want to be here.

I was like, but I'll come and talk to Mike. And he goes, he goes, yeah, I'll make it happen. I'm like, can you text Mike right now and make sure he will do this? And can you show me the text where he says, yes. I'm like, it is not easy to get here. And if I don't have to come all the way here, I'm not going to. He said, he said, yeah, Mike. good. And I saw the tax and we were good to go. So then I come back the next morning,

go to Wayans, and I'm in the room. They moved the Way Inn room to this tiny room, and I just see kind of everybody weighing in and like, it was going to see Jimmy Manoa in, like, spectacular shape. And then, of course, like the co-made adventures weighed in again, to make this perfectly clear, we did nothing with it. I think the only clips that you saw from us from Wayans was Mike Perry, Brandon Jenkins, and Jimmy Manoa. And the only reason I posted Jimmy Manoa because I was like, Jesus Christ, this guy's 46 and he looks, he looks like he's 35. The dude is in the best shape I've ever seen. I was like, I'm going to show the world how good of shape this 46 year old looks. And then I talked to Mike. We do the interview, which

did really big numbers for us. And he tells me about the pay cut thing. And I didn't want to, I didn't have enough time to really like, Mike was pissed and I was just happy he was doing the interview. So I didn't want to like push him on the whole pay cut issue. And I saw the tweet Ariel put out that Mike was taking a 50% pay cut, which I don't think is true. Like full on, he definitely took a cut. I don't think it was 50% pay cut. I was also told there was like some other things in the mix that Mike was offered like a, I'm not going to get into it, but Mike, Mike was offered an alternative and he chose to fight. So I'll, I'll, leave it at that.

Here's some things about the whole Dylan Dennis situation that nobody knows. And I was told that it was okay to say these things. And I'll say it. And the back half of this, I will say,

because I saw it with my own eyes. Apparently, on Thursday, before the whole Dennis is out of the fight thing, Dylan had reached out to the promotion and said, hey, can we do a catchweight at 180 pounds instead of doing it at a welterweight? and then all of a sudden his arm got bit by a shark or whatever that was and i was like all right whatever and we just kind of figured this is dillen b and dylan friday rule and

here's how i think a k at being a pro wrestling fan part of the reason i wanted to go to way and this friday in the morning was one to talk to mike and the other one was like wouldn't it be spectacularly funny if dylan dana shows up and just steps on the scale and fights and by the way, I was told all night Thursday, most of Friday, they were trying to get Dylan Dennis to show up. As a matter of fact, I saw with my own eyes a letter from the Florida State Athletic Commission clearing Dylan Dennis to fight that if he got his blood work done by 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, he would be okay and cleared by the Florida Commission to go fight Mike Perry on Saturday. So I was like, wait a second. I was like, so if Dylan does this, gets blood work done, it's approved by the commission, and then flies tomorrow to Orlando to fight Mike Perry, they're going to let him fight.

And I was told, yes. So they, even at the umpteenth hour, they were trying to make this happen. I was also told that there were other names in the mix before they settled on Brandon Jenkins. Tyron Woodley was the name that was discussed. Anthony Pettis was a name that discussed. Brandon Jenkins in my interview with him after the fight said he was told Nick Diaz was a possibility. I didn't hear that name in particular, but if Brandon says that Nick was on the table, then I believe him. But I know Woodley was discussed.

Anthony Pettis couldn't do it because of a family thing. And then they ultimately go with Brandon Jenkins. And then we go through the way in, ceremonials, whatever. and again, the only things you saw from ceremonials were Mike Perry and Brandon Jenkins, Jimmy Manoa, and Chase Sherman. And then the other one, which I thought was kind of fun, was the magician versus the juggler because it was just fun. Yeah, that ruled.

Card tricks and, like, dude was juggling, and it was, like, quite funny. And, like, I will say that I talked to, I met both of, and, like, had brief conversations with both of those gentlemen, like, super nice guys. like really nice dudes like I know why they were put on this card they know why they were put on this card they wanted people to kind of like make fun of them

and that's fine and they were like accepted it and they were good with it but like I posted that nothing else nothing else we didn't again co-main event non-existent and at this point

through the proceedings AK I'm feeling like you probably saw this they post they did something to Dylan Danes is part of the standing lanyard where the press conference was and where the ceremonials was. I'm not even going to repeat it here. So I was at that point, I'm like, okay, like, I'm a little, I'm a little annoyed by this,

but like, unless you really look at it, like, you don't know what this is. And I was like, this is friggin stupid, but we're just going to ignore it. Should have looked at the writing on the wall, literally. So Friday's done. I go home. play golf on my dad Saturday morning and I'm still like not sure what's happening here

so I show up at the Kia Center I go into the arena and again shout out to the guy I was dealing with who is again no affiliation with dual whatsoever outside of doing them a favor to help promote this event and they put two media members

at the very front against the ring canvas one is me and the other is I'm sure you've seen clips of him uh Fred the red shirt who wears the red shirt fred talks fighting who i met and it's like a really nice guy so shout out to fred he knew where i was at with this whole thing fred is a content guy he went after

all the stuff that i wasn't going to go near and uh shout out to him conversations i had with him very pleasant guy watched fights with him we had a decent time watching the fights and uh yeah i was like this is pretty crazy and we're watching like the short person fight early on and I was like, okay, you know, it's kind of fun. And like, the short person was really cracking the other dude that I guess they cosplayed as like the owner of duel or something. And then we kind of just got into it a little bit more. AJ Cunningham had like the sick spinning back elbow.

M.MA and a ring AK is just so much better, by the way, especially from a viewer's perspective. Phil Roe goes in there and has a boxing match with Giovannis Ross, beats him, Orlando Crowds Happy. Alex Nicholson wins. Orlando Crowds Happy. and we get Patrick Clark Jr. Ryan Pownall, which is probably like a work shoot, but I don't know. End up being a DQ.

And we're kind of going through all this. And I don't really remember what else was there. There's other stuff. And then we get to the co-main event. And I'm like, if we can just get through this without like any chaos or stupidity, then like all is well. but I started having a feeling deep down on my stomach that this is going to be awful and I can tell by a lot of the crowd that was there and what really got me were the entrances AK

the losing comes out they're just booing him out of the building and then the other dude comes out and they're cheering him like he is Donald Trump in Florida I was like what is happening right now and then the damn bell has to ring and these two dudes get into a tepid kickboxing match in a fight that duel was saying was like, this is the fight of the century. One dude outweighed the other guy by 35 pounds, and it was just like,

it was just bad kickboxing. And then dude does the Nazi salute at the end after he wins, and I'm just like, what the fuck is going on here? And I was like, I was so livid at this point. I'm like, I'm so glad that like, we didn't do anything with this fight. But deep down, I was like, this fucking sucks. And if Mike Perry wasn't fighting next,

and I didn't want to do this for Mike and like give him proper coverage, as opposed to this bullshit that was going on around me, I would have left right there and then. And I also told Fred, who was sitting next to me at the time, I said, not only am I concerned about this fight morally, but I'm concerned of what's going to happen around me afterwards. And he goes, nothing's going to happen.

I'm like, dude, do you even understand what's going on right now? As this fight's happening, I'm seeing, Cedrici Dumas, other UFC fighters, other MMA fighters, they are surrounding the ring. And I think something bad's going to happen. there's also like 40 streamers around the ring who are live streaming P-O-V streams of the entire event. I was told there's going to be 90, but like 40 of them showed up.

And as soon as the fight ends, the guy gives his little speech, and I was like, fuck this. I was just, I was so mad. And then the brawl ensues, which I'm sure you've seen the clips on social media. Sidriki Dumas is involved. There are other fighters involved. Spilled out to the eyes. highways. It just, it was bad. It just sucked the life out of the event. And I was like,

I was livid about it all. And then we get to the Mike Perry fight. Mike Perry comes out. He's just, he's full of energy. And I'm like, please, like, we need this to cleanse us all. Like, what we just saw was a fucking disaster. It's like, just let's just let these dudes go out there and beat the shit out of each other and let's have a good time. Mike's probably going to win. and then I can go home. We can do whatever you got to do and we can go home. Mind you, I have not been made aware

about anything else that is going on from a social media perspective. So I want to throw that out there before I continue this story. Mike Perry goes out there and fights Brandon Jenkins. He's looking pretty good. Brands land some shots.

Mike starts like kind of teeing off on him in the corner. And there's this exchange where Mike does the one-arm tie plumb and then he pulls away after Brandon elbows him and his, I thought his arm snapped in half. The way he reacted, he was chicken winging back to the corner and he's telling the referee, I'm hurt, something bad's happened. Referee just stands there while Brandon Jenkins puts his shin right in his rib gauge. And it was right next, it was like right here.

As close as these two screens are, that's how, so I'm watching Mike go to, and Mike goes down in a heap because this is a brutal body kick. And he's just unloading on Mike. but Mike is just an absolute maniac. And he stands back up and he's trying to fight out of the corner and he gets a little separation. And Mike Perry, being Mike Perry, throws an elbow with the injured shoulder.

The one that has popped out of place, Mike is willing his entire body to throw his elbow in the sky to hit this dude in the face. I'm like, Mike is such a maniac. And then unfortunately, Brandon kicked him in the body like 10 seconds later and the fight was over. Brandon gets this big win and it's like, all right. And I'm still already pissed off about the co-mate event and everything that it, that had transpired.

I already fell to keep up the whole thing. I go back to the press conference and someone from Duel like grabs, not grabs me, but he's like, hey, hey, where are you going? I'm like, I'm going backstage. He goes, there's one more fight. I'm like, there is? He goes, yeah, there's one more fight. SpongeBob's fighting.

I'm like, first of all, I don't give a shit about any of this. I'm like, I'm going to the back. I was like, thanks for telling me I'm going to the back. I'm sure you've seen clips of it. They did the one more fight. It was like the dude dressed as SpongeBob, who I think was like an actual professional fighter, dressed as SpongeBob, beating up this dude in the middle of the ring who has no business being there.

It was brutal. Colvicular was the referee and it was just a shit show. I'm in the back. I go in the press conference room and I see media chairs lined up. There's two cameras up on stage. production team was like, yeah, you put your camera up there because that's what I've been doing for all the other events. And there's a table, three chairs, and one microphone.

And that's it. And I go up to the production guy, I said, hey, where's the media box? There is none. Okay. Where's the speaker? There is none. I'm like, how are you going to do a press conference? Because we're just feeding the mic into our camera.

I'm like, who's going to be there? And they're like, the guy who won the co-made event, someone from Duel, and Jenkins. And I was like, nope, out of here. And I packed up my stuff and then I got out of here. And then I hit up the dudes that I've been dealing with who were great. And I was like, listen, I'm not going to this press conference. I was like, can I just talk to Jenkins so I can get out of here?

And he goes, yes, I'll make that happen. He goes, get your stuff, maybe out there. And to their credit, brought me back to Brandon's locker room and let me do the one I want with Brandon Jenkins in the last. locker room. So I was very thankful for that. Do the interview, starting to get it ready. And one of our coworkers, our colleagues, decided to drop some screenshots in our channels about some of the shit that Duel was tweeting out throughout the night. Behind you, I was not looking for this because, one, I was busy. And two, the only thing I've seen

socially from Duel, for the most part, is like stuff on Instagram. But again, when you're covering event, you're trying to shoot content. in clips, you're not focused on any of that. If something weird is happening, someone I work with is going to post the weird thing that's happening. I didn't know about these tweets, these blatantly racist tweets, until after the Brandon Jenkins interview ended.

And my plan was I was going to sit there and I was talking to Brandon Jenkins. I was talking to his manager, Lance. I was talking to his head coach, John Wood. We're just in the locker. I'm like, just shooting the breeze. having a conversation. Just wow, this is wild, and they're telling me how this all came together.

And John flew in this morning, and Brandon was like, yeah, I'll go do it. And Lance was showing me like where Brandon weighed when he accepted the fight, but still had to cut like 15 pounds. So we were just having conversations like this. And then I saw the screenshot and I was like, yeah, I'm out of here. And I just posted the video and I left. Could not wait to get out of there. And the whole ride home, I just felt awful. I was like, why did I do this?

I should have went to friggin Fenway Park and covered BKFC. But at the same token, trying to find positives. Like, I got to spend some time with my parents. Mike deserved the promotion. Yes, I was well aware of what the co-man event was. But in our eyes, that fight, that wasn't even on the card. We didn't do anything with it. Go find any of our stuff.

Outside of us actually posting who won the fight, we did nothing with that. At one point after morning weigh-ins, somebody from duel came up to me and said, hey, do you want to talk to the dude who won the fight? Whatever his name is, yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to say it. And I was like, no. He was like, you're saying no?

He said, yeah. Goes why? I was like, because I'm not going to talk to him. I was like, we're here for Mike for the, for the MMA fights. He goes, I don't think you understand that like everything this guy touches is like a million views. I'm like, I don't care if it's 10 billion views. I don't want them. I'm not doing it.

So I refused interviews with both of those guys. I was like, I'm not here for that. I'm not doing it. I don't care how many views I'm going to get from it. I'm not doing that interview. Like, I've made it perfectly clear to everybody that my role is. And I was like, if they don't want me there, I won't go. That's fine.

If, like, I have to promote that fight, then I just won't come. Like, it's not the end of the world. If I miss dual arena one. because you want me to know so again go back look at the coverage and find one thing where we promoted those two guys and you're just not going to find it anywhere because we refuse to do it i will also say this before i i give you the floor i can if you have any follow-up questions if i could go back into the delorean and do it again wouldn't have gone and I can assure you,

as disgusting as I felt walking out of that arena, I don't care if Connor McGregor fights Connor McGregor. I don't care if he clones himself and the two clones fight each other. And it's happening across the street from where I live.

I will never, ever, ever, ever, cover a dual arena event ever again, ever. Pretty definitive, Mike. Yeah, that's a lot of that sounds pretty damn horrible. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. And I get people want to come after you. It's fine. It's not a lot, though. I will say. It's not a lot.

Whoever did, whoever did. And people, it's fine. If they want to criticize, hope it's not too personal. We crossed a lot of moral lines covering combat sports in general. I think people have to realize this. And we understand this, guys. We accept that this is part of the gig. There's people, characters, promoters, people backstage behind the scenes that we're going to interview that like, you know, guess what? Some people are going to have issues with how they present themselves and their beliefs and stuff like that. But we accept that this is, we accept that this is part of the game.

Now, I think dual arena, you know, obviously this co-main event of the fighters that shall not be named. I think this would be on the pale, honestly. But I think Mike explained it pretty well, why we felt like, you know, for the most part, there was at least a main event that was worth covering, which unfortunately we then lost that main event. But, you know, Mike's already there. It seems a bit senseless not to not to stick around and cover. But, yeah, and really the best you can do is not amplify sort of the more unsavory parts of this.

I think there's some people who might not understand what we're talking about. And guys really just, if you're really curious, I would just advise you to look it up again. We don't really want to give any oxygen to these guys involved in this fight or the fight itself or duel arena for putting this fight out there. So you're going to have to look at it for yourself. Apologies if it's like a little cryptic, you're not like completely sure what we're talking about. You'll, you can fill yourself in in 30 seconds and you'll never want to think about it again. Again, I guarantee it. So, Mike, again, I don't blame you.

You're out there. You're doing your job. We get criticized sometimes for not covering certain parts of, of M.A. People say, like, oh, why don't you cover all this? And blah, blah, this is morally questionable, but you don't cover this, which is also more than questionable. And you know what, guys, we're always working on it. We're always working on figuring out, like, what's worthy of coverage, what's not.

Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. But we know it's always a tricky dance. You know, I mean, Connor McGregor, we've written 50,000 Connor McGregor articles in the last decade. And he's, in my opinion, like, one of the most morally reprehensible people in all of combat sports. I'll say that right now. And I've written many, many, many, many Connor McGregor articles. But there is a level of interest that some people have. And they have to be covered. So I think that's a very obvious case. Something like Dula Arena, Mike Perry, Dylan Dennis, maybe a little more gray.

But I think, you know, I think we handled it the best we could. I couldn't believe. Like, I understood people be like, like, there's no way Dylan was fighting. But I was just like, dude, this is a win-win for him. Like even if he went out there and just got battered by Mike Perry in 90 seconds, like he would have been known as it wouldn't even, I don't think it, like there would have been some people out there have been like, ha-ha,

you got what you deserved. But I think most of the people in the space would have been like, all right, man, like tip of the cap. Like there aren't a lot of people who are going to be willing to get into a fist fight with Mike Perry. Like, and he showed up and did it.

So even if he lost, like he would have gained something from it. And if he somehow beat Mike, which if he could, got him down, he could have beat Mike. Like, there's a strong, there is a possibility Dylan Dennis could have won. He could have been like, I'm the king of violence forever. Like, I didn't see a downside to him not fighting.

Unless it's just a moral, unless he was taking a moral high ground, which, you know, I would respect that too. Yeah, unlikely. I never thought he was going to fight. Never, I never thought. I never think he, I, this is not a, you know, I think most people like me. They never think he's going to fight what his name pops up. And much of the screen of our editor, I think I said that to him a few times the weeks leading up to the event. Because he would remind me like, oh, you know, there's E.C. Shanghai and then there's, you know,

dual arena later that day. And I'm like, oh, right, Danison Perry. I'm like, you know, he's not showing up for that. And I think it broke her editor's heart when that became a reality just days before the event, unfortunately. Yeah. But there you go. Just wanted to give my side. And by the way, if you were into the cold main event, if that's the kind of thing you like, then that's the kind of thing you like. But it's not for me. It wasn't for us. And that's it. Like, we're here to cover the MMA fighters. That's what we're here for. We were there to cover the UFC vets and the young Blake Anthony.

That was the other, the other fight that I forgot about. Blake Anthony, uh, now eight and no in MMA, uh, fought a pretty tough dude and, uh,

looked pretty good, got the win. So there were like some good things on this card. There were some decent showcase stuff. Don't forget the magicians and the jugglers. Oh, yes. I want more of this.

You mentioned, I mean, you mentioned it while you're talking about, but I'm saying right there. That's the other thing where we're here. cover the M.A. And we're here to cover the magicians and we're here to cover the jugglers. So magicians and jugglers looking to get M.A. We're all over that. Just want to let you guys know. You want to go have a boxing fight on an M.A card? Like we'll be there. We'll be there.

You want to have fun face-offs and, you know, clean banter back and forth. Like, I'm in. But yeah, that was my dual experience. And that'll be my only dual experience. Well, thank you. More than likely. So just want to give, just say that. I felt I owed it to people. and that's where I came from and yeah, if I could do it again, I wouldn't be there and I can assure you, there are many others, including those who I dealt with at the event,

who are not affiliated with Duel, who will probably not be working with them again either. So, yeah, and I just want to reiterate one more time, had I seen or was aware of those tweets earlier in the night, I would have left. I don't care who was fighting. I would have been out of there. So that was kind of a bummer that,

it took so long to see. But, and, uh, yeah, and last thing I want to say about this. Uh, and then I'll, I'll take the follow from you. Uh,

shout out to Brandon Jenkins, man. I mean, this dude, this dude was retired at the beginning of the year. He's like, yeah, I'm just not going to do this anymore.

He was going to coach, help over at, uh, syndicate MMA. Unless like fun stuff comes out. He gets the Chris Avila fight, goes and beats Chris Avila and like a pretty fun fight, honestly,

like a fight that over delivered. And then was supposed to fight Chris on this card in a boxing match and it didn't come to fruition and gets the call on Thursday flies from Vegas to Orlando for Wayans and then goes and beats

Mike Perry on Saturday. So like good for him. Like he deserves all the credit in the world. I wouldn't be surprised if Brandon Jenkins made more money this year from combat sports than he has in like any other single calendar year.

I'm trying to see. Oh, I think that's probably quite true. I guess he, no, he's, when he was with the UFC, he fought twice. I don't think he even fought twice one year when he's using the UFC. Yeah. So good for him. Anyone who didn't see it, check out Mike's interview. You guys had a little chat after.

I think he was drinking a beer while you guys were chatting. I'm not sure. I think he was kicking back for cold one. He was, he was drinking a celebratory cold one. He looked relaxed. He looked, so good for him. He looked and sounded like a guy who just is kind of in, like, not in disbelief, but just kind of like rolling with it.

He's kind of like, yeah. Yeah, this happened and here we go. Yeah, their whole team was like, what, their whole team was like, what is this event? Like, I can't believe we actually fought on this card. They were like disgusted by it all too. And it is what it is. That's, uh, that's dual arena one. So Mike, um, who is Song Yadong fighting next?

Marabba Welsh really. That's what's fighting next. Yeah, let's let's chip gears. But yeah, that's my segue. That was my smooth segue to Sun. Brandon Jenkins to Song Yadong. Yes. Yeah, he's fighting Marab.

Win or lose. If Marab wins the belt, he's fighting for the belt. If Jan beats Marab, then he's fighting Marab. And if he beats Marab, he fights whoever is the champion at the time. That's smart. I should have said that. That's what most of the listeners said, too, that I got. It was like, yeah, it's obvious a Mara win losers.

I don't know why I didn't think about that. In my mind, I was playing the whole, oh, if Jan wins and what do we do with O'Malley? And I guess I didn't really need to think about that. Because then I was like either Batista, Bautista, who I've already kind of booked, I think, would make a lot of sense or the like Raoul Roses Jr. Howany Barcellus winner

but that would be so unfair to Oh my God, that'd be like a disaster for him. But it wouldn't be unfair for like Howney like I feel like if Howney wins he deserves a top he deserves a ranked guy but I don't know, we'll see.

Roald Roses would be really weird. I think making song fight Royal Roses would be very strange and maybe not good for either guy because like it might be too much too soon for Aul or the opposite or might you know if Rul wins and oh you know

how disappointing is that We finally got Song, a very talented guy who's been around the UFC forever in position to get a title shot. And then he loses it because he loses to Rororosis. Yeah, that would suck. So I think you're all right. I think you guys are right. I think it's Maraub no matter what. Yeah.

Umar can fight. I went with something else. But if you're going to throw Hione in there and give him like a huge fight after, he should fight him. It should be him and Umar next if Hione beats Rall Rosh Chud. I think we'll have a really good pick for Umar, but you'll see. We'll get to it in the list of picks. I think. Okay.

Yeah. I have a pick for more too. That's coming up in the wildcard selection. Uh, we'll spoiler alert. It's nothing fun. Yours is going to be way more fun. But let's go to Denisey Goams, AK.

Yeah. What a, what if she showed out, man. Damn. John's right on obliterates her quickly. And she becomes a big player in this division now. So we have the Tatiana's. We have the Fatima Klein's.

Now we have the Deniseie Goomses of the world. Where are we going? This is all good for McKenzie Dern, by the way. She can, she can really put together a championship run. especially if Zhang Wei doesn't come back or even better

Zhang comes back she beats Zhang and then she goes on this run and fights the Suarez and the Gomes and the... I think she just has to fight Tanara.

I think I booked this before too. I think I said Tanara fights the winner of this fight on a previous episode. So easy for me. I love both women. It's a shame.

Like again, one of them is going to take a step back in their title fight hopes because I think the winner of that fight has to be the number one contender, Zhang or no Zhang.

And sometimes they just got to scrap it out. And I don't think the loser is removed from like talks forever. I think Tainar is 28 or 29. Gomes is 26. So they can lose. It's okay.

They'll have other chances to get the number one contender spot. But I'd like to establish that now, especially since we're assuming Jean-Weilly comes back. And again, you can make a case that Tatiana maybe gets one more win and she's there the shot instead. So I'd love to see, I'd love to see Gohams get the title shot, but she didn't even call for it. She didn't even call for it. She gave the old whoever the O.C. wants for me.

So it doesn't sound like she really wants to. fight McKenzie yet and I'd be very intrigued to see that fight frankly yeah I think I've sort of laid out how this all should go down we get Dern versus whaley tautiana versus Klein Tyner versus Jillian Robertson and now we have Deney Gohams versus Verna Janjerobo like that's where we're going I see and uh that's an interesting fight we'll see how Denise he does with that she can go out there and like finish Verna damn yep like that is that is a statement no doubt about it speaking of big finishes Kai Asakura, AK.

We've been waiting for this. He's up in Banimway, doing really fun stuff. Great matchmaking with him at 135 so far. Cameron Smotherman and then, oh, is it Cameron Smotherman? I always, it's Cameron Smotherman, right? Yes. I'm not crazy, right? Cameron Smotherman and then Aririchielang, yeah.

Great matchmaking. Perfect matchmaking. And now, AK. I think, hold on, I think we're going to friends forever this. You think so? I think so. All right. Because I really need to see this fight. All right. Let's see.

All right. Let's count it down. One, two, three. Rob Fon. Adrian Yon, yes. Damn it. Damn it, Mike. That's very fun, too.

That's very fun as well. That's actually really good. I mean, I think either of those wins. Those are both really good. It just depends. Like, if you want to give, I think Fon's still ranked. So if you want to give Esakura, like, a shot at like a lower end top 15 ranking, you go with Rob and.

If you think he needs to get one more win before that happens, you know, with Adrian, then he can go with the guy like Rob Fon. But either way, like, Asa Kerr and Rob Fon is just going to be, Kai ain't going to be trying to take Rob Fon down and vice versa. Those two are going to get in there and just slug it out. That's like super fun. And him and Yonah is super fun too. So, yeah, both are great options.

I love Kai 135. I'm not like focused on like, oh, how do we get him to top 15, top 10, top five? Don't care. Don't care. If he somehow, you know, just does his thing. and gets this way to a title shot, puts strings together, four, five, six straight wins.

Cool. But I think where I'm with Kai is, like, just keep using this guy to put on exciting fights and don't worry about title shots and stuff like that. He'll get there. He had his EOC title shot on his debut.

All right, he's got a taste already. Let him work his way back to it slowly. We don't need to rush him. Yeah, and fights with other stand-up guys. Just let's focus on that. It's all good. Sumedherjee puts Alex Perez behind him, okay, goes out there and gets the UD.

What did you do here? The next two fights are just like we need to see a wins a fight kind of situation, but where did you go for Sumerji? Well, Sumederyi, I landed on Asu Almabayev. This is very impressive by Sumedaregi. I wasn't like super blown away by his

previous wins, like Hesu's Iguilar and Borjas, even though he's high off that Andrei Lima win. But it didn't look great. Mitchipo was also in there, and that wasn't like a dominant victory. So I was like, okay, he's on a three-fight win streak. And I know Subid erogy's always kind of been intriguing because of his size. But I wasn't convinced. I didn't think he's going to beat Alex Press.

But really good performance, really, really good performance. I would probably say the best of his UFC career. So yeah, let me give him a ranked guy. Pretty sure Asu is ranked. I know he just wrestled for RIF, but I'm pretty sure his, and he lost, but I'm pretty sure his UFC standing is pretty solid. Yeah, he's coming off like an incredible win in his last fight. Right, right.

Oh, yes. Yes, yes. So he's number, okay, he's definitely right. He's number five in the meta and number seven in the media. Okay, so there you go. Sumida-R-G, this is your shot. You've been around long enough. Take you, this is your shot. Let's get a number. I wasn't quite there just yet, even though, like, if they do it, I'm fine with it. Because there's other guys that there's one guy in particular who might be in the same conversation. In that fight, he's going to be fighting again like a week and a half's time. Edgar Shirez is fighting Bruno Silva. Winner that gets Sumerji. I think Shires is probably going to win that fight. Sumer Daryrdi versus Edgar Shires, and the winner gets a Ganasu-Lam-Bai-f type fight next.

So, yeah, I'm in for that. Well, Edgar Shares is fighting Tim Elliott. He is? He fought Bruno Silva. Oh, really? Oh, geez. What has... What has...

What has dual arena done to you? I get it. He's fighting Tim Elliott and Ochi-O-C. Okay. He fought his last. And he tapped him. He tapped him. That's right.

I thought that was like, got up a weird one. That damn dual arena. I can't actually. All right. So your beautiful brain. Sumer Deerge gets the Edgar Chiris, Tim Elliott's winner. There you go. Perfect.

There you have it. Say Lou beats a guy who can at least tell his grandkids. He's a UFC fighter. at some point in his career. And now he's... He told Guillermo, he's going to be a three-division champion, all right? Levi, everybody goes that he will be a three-division champion. Don't count about yet.

It's too early. Yeah. I don't think it's too early. I think we kind of know. Salu is going to fight the Christian Edwards Hedolfo Vieira winner. I mean, I don't know what else to do. What is that? Wait, that's a fight?

That is, I believe, a fight. Oh, is that at light heavy weight? I think so. I mean, am I just missing Teppal? Like, no, no, no, Balato. Belato, yes, I fucked that up. Belato, September 26. Jesus.

You are not allowed to even talk about you. After this, after this week, you just, you know. Adolfo Balato. Adolfo Balato. Okay, okay. As I was going to say, if Adelfo Veda is fighting, because everyone's admit, light, headway, that'd be so crazy. I think he's fighting Robert Prejuk.

I think Adolfo is. Belas, that's right. That's right. That's a lot. Yeah. Yes. Oh, okay. Oh, I went higher.

I went higher, Mike. Mike, this is a former. K-1 champion, man. I mean, we got to give him some respect. He's the Chinese Go Kansaki. Okay. I'm giving him, I think it's time because I think this guy is, and we always say this every year and he always finds ways to win, but I think he's finally on his way out.

I'm giving him Jacoby. What? Yeah. Kickboxing battle. Let's go. Lou is not like super young. I know, but I don't think Lou is super young. He's a lot of kickboxing experience.

Is this old? That's not old? Oh no, light heavyweight. That's like a baby. He's like 19 for as a light heavyweight. You kidding me? Holy cow. Push him now.

Push him now. To go from Igor Barabanov to Levi Rodriguez Jr. to Dustin Jacoby. That seems like a bit of a bridge too far. A two and five guy to a five and one guy to a, what's the guy? guys are like a hundred fights. It's time. Okay.

Hey, listen, if they make it, they make it. Maybe give them one more and then we can start talking about putting the ghost of Dustin Jacoby back on the golf course. But I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how it all plays out. I think a lot of people are excited about Balah Hassanik. This dude is. He is something.

You want to talk about good matchmaking. This is actually excellent matchmaking. You got to struggle a little bit. got to get tuned up a little bit, but then came back and delivered a sensational knockout in the second round. And it's time, A.K., now it's time. Now we can take a, now we can do it. Before we can get to, like, the top of the division,

and I don't think this guy is ranked, but I feel like when you have somebody, when you got a guy that is on the way up, sniffing top 15 stuff too early, but you don't want to rush them. There's only one man you can put him in the octagon with as the true test, so to speak. Bala Hassan versus Cody Durdon coming up next. Oh, Cody, bringing a little Cody Durdon.

Yeah, I think that's, man, Cody just keeps getting fights. Get him one more. Do you know any fights Cody Durdon has had in the UFC? 15. More. What? 18? He is at 17 UFC fights, I believe.

Dang, good for him. He's bought a lot in this, yeah. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I was kind of dark throwing here. I'm going with someone also who's just, I think, one in no or one in one in the UFC. So I went a little less UFC experience. Lucas Rocha, Lucas Rocha, I think.

Yeah, yeah. But Hassan has got a ton of star power. You know, normally some guys, I know can be a little bit too gimmicky. But listen, he likes Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson's birthday, you know, he won on. That was pretty crazy. And I think that he had, like, I know people will say, think like rojas was like i think rojas is actually pretty tough so i actually love that the like

you said i think that was a really great matchmaking and uh rojas will go on to do good things but hasan could really be a contender if they if they match him up the right way big fan big fan yeah he's he's he's good man that's once in a while they throw a guy on contender series and you're just like why yeah like he should have been a straight siding but yeah then he got to be a minus 15 000 favorite and absolutely obliterate somebody and debut three weeks later so it has kind of worked out like that's a rarity, but like if they can have that, Anthony Witt, we kind of saw us do that too, right? If you can have that happen more often, awesome. That's great.

Yeah. They have something special with Bala Hassan. Like I think everybody knows it. Wint is just something. Like he's at heavyweight. So like automatically that, you know, you have a heavyweight that's like in shape that can finish fights. That's always an exciting thing. But if I'm going to invest in one of these gentlemen,

in the short and long term, it's probably going to be below Hassan, even though Wint is that heavyweight. But Wintz can get there. I just think he's super green. And I think Hassan is like way beyond his years in terms of talent and maturity at this point. So, yeah, fun times, fun times. Let's go to the wild card round day, K. I want to do Martin Magamadoff.

Okay. I'm just going to get this out of the way because it's really not that super fun. But this is a really really. bad loss rumor. Someone asked on BTL, you know, is this a must win? And Jed was like hesitant saying it was a must win. Didn't put it at like do or die territory,

but he was like, I don't think it's that, but the road becomes super long if he loses this fight. I think, Umar, he's 30, so I'm not, I'm not locking the championship door behind him,

but God, Cully, man. He is, he's got a road to travel and he ain't, he was in a car, traded it in for a moped. The moped just died, found a bike on the side of the road. The back tire just popped and now he is walking his way into where that championship town is going to be and he's got a long way to go. So tough loss man and obviously a super talented guy, but obviously not a guy that he's not like super. superstar. So, like, they're not going to push him too quickly as opposed to, like, the Sean O'Malley's of the world. And he looked really good in this fight. There were some things that I was seeing from him in the rewatch or I was just like, damn, like this guy is a, this guy is like an incredible athlete.

If he could just put it all together and then he just got obliterated. So let's see what he's got. And I want to put him against a guy who he was supposed to fight earlier this summer. David Martinez is fighting Dan Igay at Nochi UFC. I think David Martinez is going to win. I think, again. This is spectacular matchmaking because Dan is going to get in there and chuck him with David Martinez and he's going to give him a really hard fight. But David's going to win and he's going to look pretty darn good doing it.

So give me Umar versus David Martinez so I can see how good David truly is. And let's see if Umar can start slowly working his way back into the championship conversation. Yeah, I think it's got to be the call out for Martinez if he wins. So if he wins an impressive fashion, just call him out. I know it sometimes feels weird calling a guy coming off a loss, but I think when the rankings come out on Tuesday, Umar will be no lower than fifth. I mean, this is still a top five guy.

This is still a guy again who's 20 and two. His only losses to Marab and a very good, I think, version of Song Yadong. So yeah, Dave Martinez, that top five spot could be yours if you want to go and get it. And like you said, it's not unreasonable because they were booked before. So why not? Let's close that loop. I had to go with my Canadian boy, Cam Nelson. I didn't show him enough love before, Cam.

I think the fight was added a bit late. That's my excuse, so I just didn't look into it that much. First guy ever from PEI, first guy to appear in the O.C. First guy to PI to win in the UFC. Beautiful Prince Edward Island. Great shout to his coach Matt McGrath. My old roommate Mitch Sanderson is actually out in PEI these days working. And he reminded me about Matt and sort of like, you know, what he meant to the community and stuff like that.

So hopefully I get a chance to, I might get a chance to reach out to some of coaches, friends and family. and reach out to Cam. We'll see. We'll see. I'd like to follow up on that. But yeah, big, nice emotional win. Just keep him going. I'm just finding another guy.

Match him up with Theodore Berggrin. Theodore Bergren. I don't know if they can be a late addition to UFC Edmonton. I think that'd be super fun. I think that card is pretty locked in. When is that? Edmonton is in October 17th.

And it wasn't an easy fight out there. I don't think it was like, I don't know if Cam wants to get back in there, but if he wants to make a quick turnaround, we'd love to see him in there and just fly. fly bergren in for uh hopefully a favorable hometown booking for for camp nelson congratulations to canada yeah well done we're back on the board we're so so back so back uh i didn't get a lot of submissions

here a k um i do have a meeting i got a jump to in a second for for everybody but uh i'll run down my picks real quick and then uh i'll i'll turn it over to you before we get on yeah and i'm actually just i'll just read one sorry sorry to all the listeners we'll we'll pay you back in the future but i and i want to I need to ask you a question at the end. Ask me a question. At the end, yeah, yeah. But go ahead, read what you got first and then all. All right, Knuckles.

Song Yodong Mara Batista, Gomez versus Swars, Janjuroba winner. Yes, I know it's not official, but I'm confident that fight's happening. Asakur versus Jakob Wicklach, Maderjee, Amir al-Bazzi, Seleu, Iblah, Blasan, Adjali, Adjali, Al-A, Adelausan, Adjali, Rajasan, Adelauson, Jariya, Srii, Erseg. Sean Woodson, Santiago, Pulasia, Pulas, Adelian, Nelson, and Billy, Billy Ray Gough. There you go. John Ray, Palastry,

Brita Brazil, Woodson versus the Pitbull Doho Choi winner, Saria versus Reposo, Lima Aguilar, Hassan, Daniel Barras, Lou versus Junior Rafa, I assume he's Jr. Tafa. Sumerji, Amir al-Bazi, Asakura versus Yonaz, he's with you. Gomez versus Tynar. He's with you again.

Umar versus Basharat. Easy fight to book. Same manager. Song Yadong versus Mara if he wins if he loses, then do Song Yoneng versus Mara Batis and title eliminator. O'Malley rematches John win or lose. You're probably quite right about that. Left lane.

Song versus Maraub win or lose. Umar versus Peyton Talbot after he beats Figgie. Ooh. I actually don't mind that either. If we're doing that with David Martinez, I don't mind giving Peyton Talbot that shot. I think that you said Umar versus Peyton, right? Umar versus Peyton after the Spigy fight.

That's what Jed wants. I think this is what Jed suggested. I can't remember it. I'm good with that. Gomez versus Verda Asakura versus a hobby. Sumer Dereji Moreno with a win against Morales. Louis versus Julius Walker after the Gerald Mirschar fight, Hassan versus Borjas, Rhea versus Perez, Hubert, Nuzzi Thickness, Santiago Blackshare,

Palastry Beachi. Also clarifying by doo-do from last week on a matchup with Spivak versus Volter Walker. You guys assumed I meant Johnny my bad for not being. clear. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. I forgot there's two walkers. Yeah, and have your weight now. All right. So those are my picks. We'll make a little to you. What's your question? Real quick, I just want to say,

Umar versus a hobby was a pick I've learned throughout a lot. And actually that makes a ton of sense. Actually, that's where they're going to go. Sure. I was heartened. A lot of people like to ask her Vizianez. And also, to anyone who said Lou versus Lucas Fernandez, no, because Lucas Fernandez will be fighting I'm sorry, Luke Fernandez will be fighting Lucas Fernando. So no.

I will not be accepting any Lucas Fernando or with Fernandez picks going forward. Mike, Eli Hitala, I'll read some of his picks real quick. Nirmagamato Basharaj, Sumedare, Alessandro Costa, Suria, Ulan Bekhov, Pallastry, Sam Hughes. Eli wants to know, Mike, an homage to The Daily Departed, Tim Curry and Dolly Parton. What is your favorite Tim Curry movie and your favorite Dolly Parton song?

I need a little DJ Mike here. DJ, reach into your catalog here. Oh, man. I mean, I mean, Dolly just had like such a good, voice that anything she touched was really good um joleen is probably the one that like if there's a song that's like perfect for a voice it's that one yeah i'm pretty basic right i'm pretty basic i also like her you know she didn't write this song but i also like her and kanny rogers islands in the stream she didn't that's she didn't write but i love their their version of that song yeah that's a very

good one tim curry i mean rock euro picture is a classic um i mean home alone too is like it's so yeah like He's, he was meant for that role. He was terrific. That scene where like the Grinch smiles and it goes to him after he found out the credit card was stolen. I mean, it's just magical. Only guy, the only face who could pull that off, I think. I really, the only face he could have pulled up. Yeah, he's just like, like, he's so likable and dislikable at the same time.

It's just perfect acting. So, yeah, tough, tough run. I'll just say, uh, Congo. Anyone who hasn't watched Congo, it's not a great movie. I'd say it's a bad movie. But I love Tim Curry. It's super cheesy. He plays a Romanian guy named Horkabarhamoka,

and he's looking for the little city of Zing. So you've never seen Congo. There's a talking monkey in it. I will also say the other movie that, like, I remember him in, and I had to, like, Google to make sure that was him because I was pretty sure it was him. There's a movie that very few people have ever seen, but I watched it like years ago. It's called Times Square. It's a 1980s movie, and it was like filmed before, like, I don't know,

I was way ahead of its time, so nobody really watched it. And Tim Carrey just has a super small role in the movie. It's about like two women who moved to New York City, and they don't know what to do, so they start a punk band. And Tim Carrey plays this, like, over the top, like, radio disc jockey. And he's so good in this movie. And, like, the couple of minutes he's in it. So the movie's really weird and kind of interesting.

You can tell it's, like, way ahead of his time. But, yeah. pretty wild stuff. Damn. So go check that out. So, uh, all right.

We got to get out of here because I'm being yelled at. I got to get to this meeting. The UFC is in Paris. This coming Saturday. The main event is Saladin Parnasming. U. His UFC debut against Dan Hooker. Uh,

I don't have time for the full rundown, but thank you all very much. And, uh, we appreciate you kind of a different show. Obviously with the first half of it, but we got the matchmaking in and, you know,

back to normal, back to normal beginning with UFC Paris. It's going to be a fun time. Back to covering R a F and, and those fun events moving forward for a kai mike we'll see you next week mike heck we'll see you next week damn dual arena we'll see you next week after ucc paris right here and on to the next one the podcast you're listening to the vox media podcast network