MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 101

Episode Date: January 12, 2025

Mackenzie Dern finds herself in a very interesting spot at 115 pounds following her impressive submission victory over Amanda Ribas in the main event of UFC Vegas 101. Where does the highly skilled jiu-jitsu ace go after her second straight win in a division where she's fought almost every contender already? 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 Dern after exacting some revenge against Ribas nearly five years after their first matchup. Additionally, future fights are discussed for Santiago Ponzinibbio following his third-round finish of Carlston Harris in the co-main event, Cesar Almeida after his Knockout of the Year frontrunner moment against Abdul Razak Alhassan, along with fellow main card winners Roman Kopylov, Christian Rodriguez, Punahele Soriano, and more following the promotion's 2025 debut card. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The first matchmaking edition for 2025, as we discussed the fallout from a matchmaking perspective, from UFC Vegas 101, a fun card at the world's most famous apex. But that means we are officially in UFC 311 fight week, but we have to put a bow on UFC Vegas 101. And that's what we're going to do today. I am Mike Heck and joining me as always the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and most importantly,

my best friend, Alexander K. Lee, AKA, how are you, my friend? My best friend, we are back. We're having a good time. We had an entertaining fight night card. We had a few more like storyline implications coming out of it than I expected. We're just in a good mood.

It was the perfect, just as UFC Tampa, what was Tampa, right? UFC Tampa was like the perfect dessert to UFC 310. This was the perfect appetizer for UFC 311. Like, I think, again, if you tuned in, you were very happy. If you just watched the highlights, follow it on the coverage on MAAfighting.com, you're pretty happy to. I think you got a pretty good grasp with what was going on.

For a 14-fight card, like, I didn't think it was that tough of a watch. Even the first few fights, like, they weren't super exciting. But it was just kind of good to have, I guess, UFC action back, for one. Not to say that there wasn't other MMA going on the last few weeks. But also, again, this was a card that we said was going to showcase sort of up-and-comers and also, you know, possibly give us a gauge of where some of the older fighters are and how much they have left in their UFC careers, at least. And I think it's sort of that purpose really well. So, you know, some of the younger fighters showed out. Some of the younger fighters showed how much farther they have to go before possibly becoming, you know, top 30, top 20 fighters.

And some of the older guys put on some really, really entertaining contests. So cannot complain about UFC Vegas 101. Yeah, it kind of accomplished everything we needed to accomplish. The biggest lesson we've learned is stop taking undefeated prospects and throwing them in there with Christian Rodriguez. That's probably an important lesson for the UFC matchmakers, but perhaps we can help them along. Today on the program, let's get right into the matchmaking, AK. Let's start with main event McKenzie Dern. She goes in there, faces Amanda Hebas, a fight from a rematch from a fight that happened nearly five years ago.

It was Dern's first fight after becoming a mom. And Amanda Hebas kind of pieced her up on the feet. And this is a very competitive affair for two rounds plus. And then Mackenzie Dern was able to sweep and get a dominant position, try to get an arm bar. She mounted, readjusted, and then eventually locked in the arm bar gets the quick. tap with just a few seconds left in round three and mackenzie durn a k has now won back-to-back fights but she's in a very weird position because she's fought pretty much anybody who is anybody in this division that is not named jang we lee or tautiana sweres and those two ladies are about

to fight for the shraway title in a little less than a month from right now so where do we go with mackenzie durn after this big win yeah uh this was easy for me only because i think I had previously picked, this is like a follow-up pick for me. A straw weight recently had won a fight in the last few, others in November, October, November. So I am going with, and I picked this fighter to fight the winner of this one. So I'm going with Jillian Robertson. Again, it's a tough situation. Like you said, she's fought everyone ahead of her except for the two fighters who are about to fight for the title.

Rematches certainly aren't out of the question. She was talking about a post-fight. She, of course, was asked, is there a rematch she prefers? She doesn't really have one in mind. And again, why should she? There's really no reason to campaign for it. I don't know which one of these fighters wants to rematch her, whether they beat her or whether they lost to her.

I don't know. I don't know who's kind of just behind her in the rankings who might make sense. So I went with, again, I went with Gillian Robertson. She's streaking. I think it's an entertaining fight with McKenzie Dern. I think there's something there with Robertson 1-152. Like I don't think we necessarily need to just be looking at, well, how do we get Dern towards a title shot?

I'm sure the UFC would have no problem with that. They've invested a lot of time in her for a marketing standpoint, given her a lot of main events. So clearly she is viewed as more of like, she would be viewed as the A side in a matchup with Gillian Robertson. But an upset wouldn't be the worst thing either. Then you get yourself kind of a surprise contender with Jillian. So yeah, that's where I went.

Not the highest profile matchup, probably another fight night main event, depending where it happens. If it's apex, sure, it's a fight night main event. But it'd be nice if you'd get them in front of a crowd, they wouldn't really be in a main event, probably. depends where they go. If there's a card in Canada, maybe.

But yeah, I like that match. And let me just praise Mackenzie Dern real quick. I thought her striking looked pretty good. I thought her use of leg kicks was outstanding. The boxing obviously still needs some work. She's always had a bit of raw power. But seeing her mixing those leg kicks really work, I actually think it threw Amanda Hibos off a lot

and it changed the complexion of the fight. And then, you know, once she got to the ground game, it took some work because Amanda Hibis is great down there as well. But, yeah, Dern did the damn thing. So I'm not saying McKenzie. Dern is back, Mike. I'm not getting on the McKenzie Dern champion 2025 bandwagon, which I'm sure is mounting again. But she looked good.

And she'll, you know, she's someone who's just going to be a mainstay, going to be UFC for a while, whether she fights for a title or not. So good stuff. So a lot of first this week for the UFC first event of the card. McKenzie Dern in the first main event. She's the first main eventer to get a victory. It's our first matchmaking show of 2025. and AK, it's always good when we can start things off by queuing up the band right away.

No breather, no breakfast, no nothing, because my initial thought doing the post-fight show, I went in two directions. One is you could do the rematch with Vernageroba, but Vanner's like right there, and she's called out Janjohn-on. And to me, that seems like to her, the only fight she would take

if she was going to fight somebody else, if she doesn't fight for the belt. maybe McKenzie Dern because she could avenge a loss and still get a title shot so she can kind of kill two birds with one stone. But after hearing McKenzie do her post-fight scrum, she even said it. Like, I'm not in any rush. I just want to keep fighting. I want to keep extending this winning streak. Gillian Robertson seems like the right choice, AK.

So cue up the band in a three and a two and a one. Friends forever. We've done it. Jillian Robertson. And the show. End the show. Good night, everybody. We'll see you next week.

We're going on a high note. Going on a high note. But look, the UFC's going to, reportedly going to Miami in April. That's not too far from where Jillian Robertson resides and trains. She's at the goat shed, I believe. So there you go. She still gets sort of the hometown affair, not quite Canada, but pretty darn close. And it's a big fight for her.

So let's see what she can do. and I don't hate that idea at all. So we're already one for one. Let's go to Santiago Ponsanibio. And I said this on the post-fight show. Santiago Ponsonivio was kind of in a tough spot because he lost some split decisions. He's getting up there in age.

She's got a lot of responsibilities. And when he fights, you kind of, it's not quite like watching Tony Ferguson, but he's such a good dude. You just want to see kind of good things happen to him. You don't want to see him get just annihilated out there. And maybe three minutes into the fight when Ponziadio got dropped by Carlson Harris, I was just like, man, I don't really want to see Santiago Ponziabia fight anymore.

Like, this is, this is just tough. This is my biggest fear coming to life. And then the man just comes back and takes more punishment. And then he goes out and finishes Carlson Harris in the third round. And I was like, damn, AK was 100% right in our Slack channel. He said this is perfect matchmaking, perfect. perfect age appropriate matchmaking. And I kind of want to keep doing this with him.

So there's some options. Like the first one that popped into my mind was, let's do Santiago Ponziadio versus Jorge Moss at all. Like this could be the comeback fight. But I think they train together. They're both an American top team. I'm sure they have a bit of a relationship. So I didn't go in that direction.

I saw some people suggest Tony Ferguson. I don't hate that idea either. So what I landed on, AK, was, I know Ponzi called out Vicente Lucke feels like that's a good fight. I don't dislike that. It would make sense. I went with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, A.K. That's what I landed on because Wonderboy is a popular guy.

Yes, he's in the rankings. He's a little high up there, probably comparatively to where he should be right now, where he like realistically sits in that division. But, you know, little Ponzi versus 41 soon to be. 42-year-old Wonderboy Thompson, I'm okay with that. Yeah, as long as we're keeping age-appropriate, that's really where we are. I actually think that's a smart fight for Wonder Boy to take because the reason he's retained his ranking is every time he kind of falls short, him and his team are smart.

They get someone who's respectable, but not like, we're going to overwhelm them. Like Jeff Neal, Luke A, you mentioned Luke A. So those are two, like, those are two pretty convincing wins for Wonderboy and are why he is, you know, why he still holds on to his ranking. and Ponziabio could be another one that would help him hold on to his ranking. So it makes sense. I went another veteran

well to write. I'm going with Daniel Rodriguez. I think they were booked. I think Daniel Rodriguez and Ponziabia were booked to fight once upon a time. I believe Rodriguez popped for something unfortunately, causing that to not happen. But Daniel D. Rod is unbooked.

I think it's a fun striking matchup. Again, it's guys who are, I think, at the same age, 38 years old. So, yeah, that's. just where I'm going with this. This is, this is, we, there's actually a lot of, some of the names you mentioned, some names we haven't mentioned yet. There's, uh, well, too, it's in a weird place right now. Um, there's no really like spicy hot up and comers, maybe Michael Morales. Shotcott, I guess you consider him an up and comer, but I don't consider him an up andcomer

anymore, obviously. Uh, and there's a ton of veterans who are like really quality, um, have been around for a long time. A lot of guys in that almost like 15 to 20 UFC fight range. And I was surprised, like some names I'm surprised haven't been matched up yet. So, even though, you know, going to this card, I was saying like, oh, if Ponziadivio loses or whoever Carlson-Herson loses, you know, this could be the beginning of the end for them and their UFC run. There's like so many other fighters who are like an similar position that if the UFC wanted to, they really could just keep throwing them in there, throwing them in there together. So yeah, I like Ponziahua Wonderboy. I like Ponziio, Daniel Rodriguez.

Luke A wouldn't surprise me. Again, as all of these are good. I just, I hope they never start using guys like Ponzi and them for like up-and-comers just to like build them. I don't like that at all. So let's, let's keep it, uh, let's keep it age appropriate. Yeah, the other, I, the other thought I had was doing a rematch with Neil Magni. Like, let's give Neil Magny a breather from fighting the Michael Morales of the world and the Carlos Prakis's of the world. And let's give him some age appropriate matchmaking for, for the love of God, because I think he deserves it at this point. So that's Santiago Ponziabio. Let's go to thus far, the frontrunner for knockout of the year in 2025, Caesar Almeida. What a,

come back. What a vicious knockout of Abdul Razak al-Hassan just flatlines him. Pretty scary knockout. Brennan Fitzgerald was saying when they came back from break that Al-Assan was out for several minutes and then finally got back up and he was sitting on the stool and then he got out of there, but Cesar Al-Meda gets it done. And I don't really know what to do with this man, A.K., I've landed on something. I don't feel great about it, but he's just kind of in a weird spot because if he fights a grappler, he's probably going to lose or anybody who has really any grappling capabilities. He's probably just going to get tackled and lose because that's how you beat this man. But where did you land on for Sizer Almeida?

Yeah, he's in this weird spot where like he's very new to the UFC. He has a lot of combat sports experience. We know this. And he's clearly exciting. He's clearly like if you give him the right matchup, you're going to get highlights. It's not always true. What was the fight before this? Armine.

no i'm sorry ior yor um that was fine that was just a weird fight that was a weird fight the coppel off fight was okay to this was what the UFC was hoping for when they brought in uh...

Cesar al-Meda so where do we go with him I say we keep giving him opponents that are get or get got you know fights that are getting in a finish this guy isn't quite as like guaranteed a you know that you're not going to the judges as I would like but I also think he's in the range so I'm sticking with

Abbas Mago Medov Mike I can't about that I go with some, yes, Abus. It's not a bad one. Yeah. Yeah, it's probably better than mine.

There is a fight coming up on Saturday at UFC 311. And like crystal ball, like I'm going to just play both sides just to be safe and perhaps get an out of no point other way. I'm going with the Zach Reese versus Sederique Dumas winner at UFC 311. And if it's Zach Reese, oh my God. That fight is going to be absolutely insane.

So, but if Dumas wins, you could do that as well. So, yeah, the winner of that fight gets Caesar Almeida, and then we can go from there as we stick with the middleweight division, Roman Coppulov. First of all, AK, would you like to make a public apology to Roman Copulov? Because you just continue to disrespect this man. Again. And you bet against him. And you're just like, how is Chris Curtis an underdog against this bum? And fairness.

And you go in there. And fairness. I was disrespecting Roman because Chris Curris. Curtis was being disrespected. So someone was, I had to disrespect to fight to disrespect. I still think Chris Kerr should not have been a whatever minus 180. I was sorry, plus 180, excuse me, underdog. I thought that was so. I think he opened the week higher a little plus 190, plus 200, I think even if you go back to like all the way to last weekend. So we moved. So there was probably because of fools like me who were telling people like, oh, Chris Kerr shouldn't

be an underdog. I guess the money came in on the action man. But again, it was competitive. I do think Koppelov would have won 29, 28 anyway, especially with the knockdown. with the knockdown. And if it was a close round, which, again, I think he was winning, that knockdown, let's say the stoppage isn't called. It's still 29, 28, Koppelov. I'm pretty confident. And the scores, if you look at the official scores, it was, I think, 10-9 Koppel-Ov round 1, 10-9,

Curtis, round 2. So I would have been very surprised if any of the judges gave Curtis the third round after that knockdown, the stoppage wasn't called. But, yeah, Koppel-Ov looked great, man. Koppel-Lub looked great. He just doesn't, you know, I just have never seen him win a really convincing decision. I think that was probably the issue. So I thought, and I was like, okay, and the level of competition was so different

between him and Chris Curtis. I was like, okay, well, what, like, this is going to go the distance. This is going to go to the steal. To go three good rounds with Chris Curtis, who I consider to be, like, technically a better fighter. But Coppolaup looked great technically. And you mix in his power. It was just an awesome and toughness because he took a lot of shots too, didn't wilt, didn't back down, didn't gas out, looked very good.

So yes, Roman Coppulop. I owe you an apology again, I think, because I think there's other shows where I picked against you and said, I think it was after like his second straight loss in the UFC. I was like, I was so disappointed. Like, I was like, this guy's not going to make it. And then he went to run, got a bunch of finishes. Now he's got to finish of Chris Curtis. I mean, quote unquote finish.

It's on the books. Only the second guy ever to finish Chris Curtis via strikes again officially. So, yeah, good for him, man. I'm happy. I'm happy we're picking for him. So I think Jose Young's on the post fight show had like the best answer. And one of our listeners submitted that answer. answer, so I'll save that one.

I am still happy with mine, although when I heard Jose say the other name, I was like, oh, man, that actually, like, might be the actual right answer. But I went with, let's just get as weird as possible. And let's do Roman copulat versus Paul Craig next. Oh, okay. I saw some of that. Yeah, I know the popular pick you're talking about, too, because I think I had like 10 people send me the other pick you're going to mention.

Which is right. We'll save that for the listeners. We'll say that for listeners until definitely be mentioned. I went with Roman on Roman. I want Roman Delete today for Roman Coppola. Just give me the hashtag. Wow. Yeah.

And this is almost like maybe a move, sort of a move Coppola of the rankings thing, which we don't need to. Again, Coppolaub, I think, is a fun middleweight guy who like, you know, if he accidentally strings together for Fort Fight Winstreet and ends up in the top 10, great. We don't need to be throwing in there with like ranked people. But I think if we're going to go for the name gimmick and a guy who I think would make for an entertaining matchup. So there you go. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking. and savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today

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Christian Rodriguez does it again, just continues to take these O's from these really good fighters, these up-and-comers, Raul Roses Jr., Isaac Dolgarian, and now we can add Austin Bashi to the list. And the best part about this, AK, and I think we're in agreement on this, is not that Christian Rodriguez,

is one. And it's not that Austin Bashi lost. It's that Jenmishu lost on the fantasy team. We know. The first L of 2025 in our fantasy league. He goes on Austin goes with Austin Boschie. And I was just like, that is maybe the riskiest picked of the entire draft. One, considering the opponent and two, kind of untested. And if he wins, he probably isn't going to finish Christian Rodriguez. But Christian Rodriguez, but Christian Rodriguez styled. He profiled. He was flipping people off in the crowd. He was, he was doing Christian Rodriguez things and gets a victory. So are we going to continue this trend with Christian Rodriguez, where we give him up and

coming prospects, or do we shift gears a little bit with Crod, AK? Yeah, listener picks were all over the place with this. Some people want to see him keep taking on prospects. Some people are like, you know, it's time throw him in there with a top 20, top 15 guy all over the place. I just can say I want double check here. I believe he's never. Oh, no, that's not true.

I was going to say he never lost against someone with zero losses. Very, very early his career, he lost to a two and O guy. But after that, since then, if you have zero losses, he's taking that zero. He's done it to Isaac Delgarian, Cameron Simon, Rola Roses Jr., and a couple of other people on the regional scene, who are like 2-0-0-3-0. I feel like, can we give him, can we just give him Ilya? Like, I mean, just like, he takes zeros. If you have a zero, you're not beating Christian Rodriguez.

A Mosar, you're in trouble, Lorone Murphy? I mean, I'm just telling you guys, watch out. He's coming for that zero. But keeping with the theme, because I think it's fun, I do want to keep putting him in there with undefeated people. Well, I wanted to do Hyder Amil, who's 10-0 to and O in the UFC. He's booked.

He's fighting William Gomes on March 1st. But either way, as I say the winner of that fight, and the gamework would kind of work. Gomes is not undefeated, but he is undefeated in the UFC, four and O in the UFC. So give him the Gomez-A-Mil winner. And then, yeah, either way,

I feel like we get this fun. Oh, my gosh. Another person with that unblemished record, again, in the UFC. And let's see what that. what C-Rod does with that. So, I mean, there's probably more logical options, but I love me a good gimmick, and I think we've got to keep this going. Yeah, I mean, it's a dart throw for me. So the dart landed on. Let's do C-Rod versus J.S.P. Jonathan Pierce. Let's just have a fun

little scrappy affair between those two guys, and I think that'll be a lot of fun. Let's go to the new mythical fighter, aka Welterweight Puna Soriano. This guy is. is just feeling himself out there. Miguel Baezza and now just goes out and annihilates Euros Medich in 31 seconds. Now 2 and 0 at 170 pounds in the UFC. And it's time. It's time to make this happen. And it has to be in May, AK.

It has to be in the month of May. Otherwise, this fight just can't happen. So let's do Punis Oriano versus Chaos Williams in May because that's in Chaos Williams fights. as you let the world know not that long ago. Yeah, I wanted to go there. I just, I'm a little worried. What if, like, where is Chaosville? He's just, he literally disappears for, from May to May.

You just don't hear anything about him. And I haven't heard any buzz about like a rumored fight. I mean, I know it's still, okay, it's still some ways away. All right, it is like four months away. Plenty of time to book him against a Quinelli Soriano, for example. But I don't know. I don't want to chinks it. I think, I think I picked Cass Williams last year for someone else.

And I'm like, you know what? I just like, I'm not going to mess with it. But let, let, let, when he's ready to fight, he'll let us know, I don't have a, I don't have a pick for Casab Williams anytime soon. Let's say, I didn't love doing this, but it'd be a really fun fight. So Mike Malat, Mike Malat. I, you know, I like Mike, obviously a Canadian guy, a guy, he's got quite a bit of hype just for being a decent welterweight out of Canada.

I think Soriano is a win-able fight, but vice versa. I think this would be opening odds. I think Soriano. No, no, I think a lot would be favored, but nothing, like minus 150, something like that, nothing absurd. If it got to minus 200, that should be crazy. You can think Soriano looks decent. I think the cut to 170 has been very good for him. And again, I'm not interested in protecting either guy as far as like, oh, why put them against each other?

Like, don't you want to give them? No, guys, they're both, they're both veterans. There's no, there's no time to dilly dally. And again, we're just in interest of putting on fun fights, not necessarily building either man towards a title shot. So yeah, let's go with them and Mike Moll. I picked two Canadians this week, which I rarely do. Yes. All right.

Let's, for the first time in 2025, we have a wild card pick, AK. Yeah. Let's start one fighter. We have not match made for. We'll match make for them right now. Who did you go with for your first wildcard pick of 2025? I'm going with a prospect that I do want to build up. Young Fatima Klein.

She's what, 23 years young, I believe. 24, excuse me, she turned, she turned the ripe old age of 24 this past July. So she won't be, won't even hit age 25 until the summer. And she looked good back at 1 15, back with the proper training camp against a, I'll say, a favorable opponent. Like, I mean, I think there's a reason she was a massive, massive favorite. So it was a good, and it was a good performance. Took care of business, showed off that grappling, showed a bit of a main street, finish the fight.

That's what you want to see in a young fighter. But let's not go crazy. We don't need to push her towards more experienced opponents. yet, if anything, I'm dipping into the loser's pool. I had to double check to see if this person was still with the UFC. As far as I know, they are, even though they're 0-2 so far. But I think they're probably going to have one fight left. And Mike, you might, I hear, oh, I, sorry, I asked the band.

They've got a special song playing. It's just another Monick Manet. Oh, my God, dude. We are, we are breaking out Marnik Man. to uh as resume builder for young fatima client with respect to marnik i'm just saying i think again this would be another uh fatima favored minus 700 minus 800 some of that people are very very high on her uh and you've got to give her bodies to work with you've got to give her experience put her in there with marnik and let's know it goes was it's just an excuse for me to sing that song yes it was uh will

i do so again when marnik man is actually booked yes i will the theme of let's not get too crazy continues with my wild card selection because while I think this guy's a very good prospect, I know he's 29, but we don't need to rush him too much. The one guy who got some points for one Jed Michoud, Jacoby Smith, who just annihilated Preston Parsons, did what everyone kind of expected him to do. Jed gets the first round finish points. No bonus points, which I'm kind of surprised about. Like none of these contender series guys, none of these first time winners in the UFC with

like really big finishes. are getting bonuses. Even Puna Soriano didn't get a bonus. He had a 31 second knockout as an underdog and didn't get a bonus. But I saw like a lot of wacky suggestions for Jacoby Smith. Like let's just fly him up the ladder. I think that's absolutely insane. I mean,

I think that's truly one of the most insane things ever. I'm not saying we need to like bow nickel him and just have him fight a bunch of like the worst guys in the division continuously multiple times to build him up. But I do I do want to see him. against a lower level ranked guy, but somebody who can take a little bit of punishment and make him work a little bit. So I think the perfect opponent for him is we go

to the United Kingdom, March 22nd, and we do Jacoby Smith versus Reese McKee. Let's just let him pound away at Reese McKee for 15 minutes. And let's see what happens when he hits a guy real hard and he doesn't fall over. And Reese McKee is one of those dudes who just is really tough to get out of there.

So yeah, let's let's let him learn some life lessons. And let's let him get in there and get a win, but work more, like work a little harder to get it. Maybe he has to go to a second round in order to stop a Reese McKee. That's what I'm going with. Reese McKee is still on the roster.

I was not always. I know they brought him back late 2023. Okay. Yeah. yet to get a win. Some tough, you know, Hamzat,

that was a tough one. That was a tough match. This is a tough one. He's gone in the distance a couple of times. Yeah, okay, no, that makes a lot of sense.

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, Jacoby Smith, as you said, we'll get to the listener picks. People are very high in him. I don't blame them. Very exciting guy.

A lot of charisma, knockout power. But I did see some people saying, like, boy, they really want to see him like, and against a top 20, top 30 opponent already.

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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. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things. Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on TELUS' five-year rate plan price lock.

Yep, it's the most powerful iPhone ever, plus more peace of mind with your bill over five years. This is big. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at TELUS.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. All right. Let's go to the Peeps, A.K. for the first time this year. I'm going to give a point.

an ad yeah i'm gonna get a point let's start off the year but giving out a point a scorching hot otno point to janeke for brensen hibero versus d'r nergojai uh which is apparently reportedly going down marshal phaing i do not think we have confirmed this one i don't remember i don't know if it's in our database but uh either way reported and i i'm inclined to believe it so j you get the first otno point of 2025 oh i'm about to give away the second otno point oh but that'll that'll be in the in the listener's elections so okay uh let's get right into this john ray has a suggestion for jacobi smith he says temba garimbo it's a little early for that jacobo and uh i don't think they want to get one more win one win and then we can go there

let's get another win and then we can go there press and parses the temba is kind of a big jump yeah i agree agree agree uh tiago moises versus drew dober like it soriano versus chucky Buffalo Ratkey. That's just a chaotic fight waiting to happen. Rodriguez versus Sungwu Choi. Copulaf versus the winner of Kelvin Gaslam versus Joe Pfeiffer, Mexico City on March 29th. Copy.

Oh, we said that one. Almeida versus Dustin Stoltzvist. That's pretty fun. I saw a lot of that. I think that's just a lot of people expecting a Dustin Zolschildes to get straight up chaoed. And you know what?

That's cool. Sure. Ah, John Ray might actually have like the right answer for Santiago. Ponzo Nibio? Ponzoibio versus Elizu Zelaski-Dos Santos. Yeah. That might actually be the right.

That actually might be the right one. It's not bad. Yeah. It's not bad. Amanda Hebas versus Tabitha Ritchi and McKenzie Dern versus the Zhang Wei-Tatiana Suarez loser. How do you feel about that?

I got a few of those suggestions as well. I think that could work. She just said she, the only thing is she would have to, if Zhang loses, they wouldn't give her an immediate. No, no, you wouldn't do an immediate rematch. I think they probably, I don't know. Someone suggested that that could be a possibility. And I'll let you reveal that one in just a little bit.

Let's go to left lane in MMA. Dern versus the Verna versus Jaunan loser in a rematch. He's saying, admitting that this is a crystal ball pick. He's expecting Verna and Jan to be booked. And then whoever loses that fight, Dern would face in a rematch. Okay. There's a lot of waiting for Dern. There's like a lot of waiting.

I don't know. I don't know if she wants to wait this long. We'll see. Ponzi versus Hafeild dos anjos, AK. Ponzi versus Hafeo dos anjos. I hadn't even thought about that. What was RDA's last fight? He got hurt.

Did he not? Didn't he fight at 308? I have to look. Did he get like badly hurt at 308? What was it? Guys, this is how you know. it's 2025 and there's already in my mind too many fights Jeff Neil oh leg and dream ah that sucked yeah he's he gonna be out for a minute so but who knows maybe that's

that's what we possibly might wait positively uh Almeida versus Bruno Farhara winner lose against arm and Petrosian copulah versus Sharra bullet with a loss to MVP Crod versus Movesar let's see how far he could take this undefeated fighter slayer but he's but he was joking was he was he though prentzies prezies but in all seriousness the hider amiel william gomey loser loser no no no that's going against the gimmick what are we doing he's going with the gimmick with me punis soriano versus chaos williams he didn't add in may but it's okay uh bunez versus mitroposo i feel like i love Mitch Reposo, dude's real good. Excited to see him back, but I feel like

that's kind of a step down from Jose Johnson if we're being honest, but I don't know, that's the issue, it's pretty nasty. Tullio versus Dumas with the lost to Zach Rees, Moises versus the Freziaa Mike Davis, loser, Smith versus Basel Hefez, and Elia versus Ashmoose.

Let's just go ahead and rebook that bad boy. Micah, Smith versus the Patterson Barlow winner, Moises versus Guram Kutata Latsi, Rodriguez versus Joannison Brito. That's fun. Soriano versus Mike Ballot. Coppola versus Bo Nickel.

That's the one that has, that's the one that Jose said. And I was like, ooh, that's actually really good. Oh, that's what the Jose said? Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. Because by far, the most popular Coppola pick I got was Michelle Palletter. That's a good one, too. I got so much of that.

And I was like, I kind of love it. I love the Bon Nicol idea, though. That's really good. Curtis versus Antrimanese after he loses to Icaramela Scaroff Another Almeida versus Shara

Well, Elmada versus the Shara MVP loser Ponsadabia versus Leach Rematch or Zaleski Harris versus Dalby Hibas versus Jillian Robertson Robbie Ryan McKen

Sizer Almeida versus the I got the I saw that one too The Sharra bullet pit That's a bit of a jump up Isn't it? I mean he fought Roman and

yeah Romans like right around same is this is i guess so man i don't know like and i get it he's an older fighter he's not he's not a young spry prospect like you you you want to start putting him in there with name guys sooner rather than later but i don't even say he can't win those fights but it just i don't know it feels weird it feels like they in terms of notoriety he's so far behind uh sharp bullet and and uh an MVP right like if sharer bullet wins uh sorry was that saying the winner the fighter loser the loser the loser okay i I think I saw that too.

Loser. Yeah. Okay. Loser. I don't know. It should be weird. It'd be weird. Ciz Almita.

Since Armada and MVP would be super weird. I just can't see it happening. This looks bizarre. I don't. And MVP would have no interest in that fight. Okay. I don't know. Anyway, people are talking about it.

And I got those two. It's just weird. That's weird. Yeah. Robbie. McKenzie Dern versus Janjan on two, I guess, with the I don't know emoji. Ponzi versus Tote Ferguson.

Almeida copi loft two. He says, let's just run that one right back. But I think that's one of the silliest ideas I may have ever heard on the show. How long ago was the first fight? It was a year ago. What? Less than a year ago.

What are we doing? Get out of here. Yeah. Why would we do this again? We already know exactly how that fight's going to go. I'm just going to tackle him and beat him again. Like, that's exactly how the fight goes a second time. Christian Rodriguez versus Ricardo Hamos, Puneasoriano, Mike Malad again.

Medich versus Garimbo, as the wild. card. Harry. Aliaeuf versus Rebekchi. Okay. Klein versus Pierre Rodriguez, Lopez versus the Balato-Crut winner. Smith versus Anglosa as a featured apex fight. I think you guys are

being a little cautious with Smith a little bit on the post show. He is 10 and 0, even if it's mostly jobbers. Let's just, look, man, I just want to give him one more. Let's get him one or two more, like lower level guys, and then we can start having the conversations about throwing him in there with top 30 dudes.

How many like people, how many contender series and whatever regional champions do we need to see fall flat at the UFC level for fans to finally be like, oh yeah, maybe we shouldn't push these guys. Yeah, like I'm sure we only remember the success stories guys, but for every Sean O'Malli, I'm trying to think a better example than Sean O'Malley. But yeah, well, anyway, for every Sean O'Malley, who actually wasn't even pushed that quickly if we're being honest. Um, there's like- Yeah, look at Sean's resume. Jesus Christ. He beat up like every, he beat up like the lowest ranked dude for, like five years.

Yeah, and he was criticized for everyone was like, oh, just trying to feed him, and I'm like, yeah, because they're building him up properly. Once upon the time, guys, this is how we built up contenders.

They didn't get one knockout. And then we said, oh, wow, they're a future champion. They went undefeated on the regional scene. Like, no, we had perspective.

We had, and the roster is so deep. It's not like, uh, and clearly the multivate roster, especially. It's not like, oh,

he's one or two wins away from retaliation. Let's push up. This isn't like men's flyweight or women's bandom weight or something. It's like, reason to force him into that line when there's so many other people in his range to fight. Yeah, I want to see him get into a second round with somebody and then we can go for. I love this idea, though. For every bad idea, there's a great one.

I like Tiago Moises versus Mick Tebeck Oralvi. Like that is. Yeah, that's really good. That is excellent matchmaking. Tullio versus Nardiev, C-Rod versus Ricardo Ramos, guys, Battle of Guys who got front choked by Julian Arosa. Okay. Populov versus Jack. Kermanson. I think Jack is still out for a bit and copy lock will need a while to recover.

I don't mind that. That was my first thought. It's just I think I've used Hermanson on the show a bunch of times and never gotten any of his matchups right. So I'm like, I just need to stop matching for Jack Hermanson. That was my very first thought before I moved on. I like this idea. Cesar Al Mata versus Eric Anders. I don't mind that one.

But I think Eric Anders has a pretty clear path to victory here. Just tackle them. Just do the tackling. You've done a lot of it over your life. He's not that good at tackling. I mean, I mean, he's not good that good at MMA tackling, though. Not as good as you would think, right, for a guy again, the former football player and like who always talks about his grappling. There's so many fights where I feel like, maybe he could grapple more. I just worried that would be ugly. But I also thought Almeida,

Al-Hassan could have turned ugly. And it was ugly, but in a really fun way, ugly in like the best possible way. Harry gets a point for suggesting Nathan Fletcher versus Colin Lockren. So there you go, because you have to be the only person. on planet Earth who suggested that. So I would give you the points. Who is this again? This is Harry Daweskin. Harry Daweskin, congratulations.

Great, great point. That's how you get points. That is how you get points. You go off the board at this point. The show is just at this different level now. Alex Dern versus the Lemosch Lucindo winner. Ponzi versus Max Griffin. Don't mind that. I didn't mind, I don't mind Ponzi versus Michael Kiesza,

but that's gonna be like a month turnaround. exactly i thought about it i'm like yeah it's too soon it's too soon he likes roman copulat versus abuss maga made off rodriguez versus lima soriano versus nicholas dalby that's interesting and i did get a couple on instagram uh asked some people who was next for mackenzie durn some yon jana and someone threw out natty ice and i was in a doo-do but they responded with sorry if not natty ice if she goes up then it should be the jean down on versus derr and two so shout out to him and then Carlos Burr Crod versus Chepe Mariscall Ponzi versus Brian Battle what do you think of that idea

I would like it as almost like a punishment for Brian about I I didn't say punishment because I think some people would view Santiago as being still higher ranked than Brian Battle I don't know I don't know how people have I'd be very curious to see like a hundred people's individual rankings if people of fans even keep those and see where they have Brian Ballot because I know some people probably see him as like top 25. Again, I just can't get there because the weight miss, the less to convincing performance against Randy Brown.

Two weight misses, by the way. So, like for me, he's outside my top 30, but I get it. Just based on, you know, being on a win streak, is he top 25? Maybe I'm not there with him. Yeah, I don't know. I'm really curious to see what they'll do with him. I didn't like his attitude about the weight cut either,

but I'm not sure if the UFC will care that much. So I could see the positive you'll fight happening, but maybe not next. maybe not next for both guys. He also likes Roman versus Roman. Sazer Lameda versus Mikhail Oaxechuk, Puna Sauriano versus Kass Williams, Jacobi Smith versus Kanan Song.

So Kanan Song, so this is how I map out Jacobi Smith. We go Reese McKee, then we go Kanan Song, and then we start sniffing the top 25. Like a baby step, like, you know, let's take a couple baby steps, and then we can take the leap if he's just dusting these dudes in the first round. So, AK, I turn it on over to you.

I thought you were going to say your other, your other on-up point was going to go to, uh, listener, Jed who gave us a suggestion. I don't know. Did we have to read this out in the air? He's, all right.

I'll, I'll, I'll read about it. Go ahead, please. Yeah, Jed, Michoud, yeah, I don't know if you guys are heard of this guy.

He's named Jedd Michoud. Yeah, his name is Jedmishu. He thought he was going to just jump the line and, and just jump over everybody. But Jed has, has listened to these programs long enough. There's one thing you,

you can learn about Jed is he picks things up very quickly and he knows how to get ahead in this game. So he took us on a little bit of a journey to get to his pick. And usually that that's basically the the Nathan Fletcher, Colin Lockren, Otno point way of getting on the show. Pretty much guaranteed. My Otno pick, very specific. Jed says Tatiana Suarez beats Zhang Wei Li. Then they run an immediate rematch. And then it's Dern versus John Jerobah two booked for that same card as Swares Wei Li too.

So there you go. Oh, booked on the rematch card. Also booked for that card. Yep. So we have both rematches taking place in the same card. Oh, I see. Rematch mania. But see, yeah, rematch mania, which I like the gimmick.

But again, as you mentioned earlier, McKenzie Dern is probably waiting till November at the earliest to fight if that's the case. Because if there's one thing, look, Waley fights once a year. And Suarez, if we get her once a year. every two years, that's like a good run for her. And I say that just because just look at mathematics here. So you're talking about two

very non-active fighters getting ready for a rematch. Like this, if that's the case, this turns into what women's flyweight was two years ago after Alexa Grasso beat Valentina Shipchenko. They run it back like months later and then, you know,

could be another year before they fight again. So it could be, it could be a long, way for dern but who knows maybe that's that's good for her i don't know so that's jed suggestion what you so you think we don't see durn again until november if if jed's suggestion runs true if swara's beats jang we'llie and the ufc's plan is we're running this right back and giving jang an immediate rematch those two women and and then durn fights verna in a rematch on the same card as the other rematch, that title fight rematch probably isn't happening until November.

Because we need Zhang and Tatiana to fight in February and then fight again later in the year. And it's not like they're going to fight six months later. They're going to fight like 10 months later because that's how it works for these two ladies. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait that long.

She can't. She has to fight again. She's got career momentum. She's got steam going. She's starting off the year. She's everyone's to this. if she has a good year, maybe she's like, you know, I don't know if she gets a telethop.

Maybe like, maybe she has like a three and a year beating other contenders and like sets her, maybe it's time for her to get a tell shot in 2026. Instead of time with this great three and no campaign she had in 2020. She says she's in no rush. Like she's aware that they could call her on short notice. She's aware that like she has a name and she's on a win streak. They could put her in the teleshot if everything else falls through. But she also is saying the right thing like, you know,

I want to be prepared to win and become champion, not just like slip into a title shot. I hope we see her fight again within the next like, you know, but, but, like, summer of the latest. I hope we get to see her fight again.

She's, she's got, she's got a lot of good things going. I thought she looked great. Yeah, but, let's do the Jillian Robertson fight. I think we're both on to something.

We already, we already, the band. So, yeah, book it, April, Miami,

let's party. Yeah, don't let the band down. We don't get, we don't get to hear from them too much these days. So, yes, I said some of those popular. The two biggest,

Copel of Michelle Padetta, Jacobi Smith, Jeremiah Wells, a ton of people send me that. Any other is worth mentioning? You mentioned C. Rod Mearscall, people like that. I think it goes with the undefeated theme as well. I think Chepa is undefeated in the UFC, right? Yeah, 4-0. So, technically, you know, not undefeated his career, but UFC career.

So I like that one a lot. But yeah, a lot of people have some good overlapping picks. Well done, everybody. Happy New Year to everybody. You guys are crushing it. We'll go to email first. Jay Donaghi gets to go first. I gave him a point.

Andy gets to go first. So Cizalameda Mirschard, Copa. Love, Nicol, Christian Rodriguez, Billy Q, Klein, and Loma, Luke Boon Me. I think that's a little too soon. I guess people are assuming she has a grappling advantage, right? Because she looks so strong with her wrestling that I think a lot of people are just thinking, like, you know, there are more experienced opponents you could face who have grappling deficiencies, and that would make up for it. But again, we've seen stuff with this happen before, where one person, one fighter, a young fighter seems

to have like a great skill, but that skill when you fight more experienced opponents, they learn how to deal with that stuff. Loma, actually, like, if you watch her, has developed a lot in her grappling. Probably defensively needs a lot more work, but yes, she's a kickboxer. But she's been in this combat sports game for a while. I don't mind it. I can see them making it, actually. I just don't like it if your plan is, well, I want this to build up Klein. That might not be ideal.

Tristan Gordaette says Klein versus Josephine Knudson. Yeah, I like that one. Thanks, Justin. That's good. That's fine. Let's build, let's build, guys. just build. Let's build. These are good, these are good picks. On Instagram, Harry Newhouse,

Ponziadio, Max Griffin, Cesar Almeida, Jacob Malcun, okay. Jason Dernay, Aleyev, Machete, Klein, and Melissa Martinez. And again, another matchup, Mike, what do you think of Klein and Super Melly? Is the Super Melly buzz, like,

is it gone? I mean, she's also so young. She's younger than that? Super Melly. Shout out. to Super Melly who cashed my biggest bet of 2024. Really? Last year. Oh, yeah.

She was an underdog. She was like a slight favorite. But she should have been like in my eyes, she should have been like a four to one favorite. So I loaded the clip on Super Melly who basically gave me my best betting day ever after the PFL card, like cashed very well for me. So yeah. I mean, I don't, at least for me in my heart, there's big buzz on Super Melly. but maybe for the for the casual viewer perhaps not so i don't mind that one i think that's that's a fun fight yeah and neither fighter again it's not like whoever wins like oh they're definitely going to be

a champion the other person's like out of contendership forever they're both insanely young so uh not bad i'm not going to read all these uh soriano soriano liang actually like a lot caesar almeda and uh blendado sylva brino sylva i like that uh gerard bioggan durn versus marina hadriguez two um You know, before Saturday, I would have said I hated that. But also because, look, I thought Amanda Hewis was going to handle Dern again. So, you know, my first thought when I see Dern versus Marina, too, I'm like, oh, well, Marina's going to handle McKenzie again. But again, I thought the same thing about Saturdays made events.

That's not terrible. Cesar Almeda, oh, Michael Alexeyech. There we go. I didn't think of that. Tiago Moises, Ignacio Bahamande, is very good. Tino Alvarez, Alia versus, this is a reported about, Kurt Hollabaw, Alexander Hernandez winner. That is a fight.

That fight is happening. Okay, sweet. That's going down March 15th. And he's with me on Sariana and Malau. Thanks, Tino. And we'll close up with Twitter. Braden O'Neill. Pontinebio, Randy Brown, one of those fights I can't believe hasn't already happened.

Cesar Almeida, Treshan Gore. Bunez Maxat Axum. I totally butchered that. Bunez versus Azat Maksam. My apologies, Azat. Bruno Lopez, Navajo Sterling. These are light heavyweights, right? Yes, Navajo Sterling is a light heavyweight.

That just feels middleweighty. Like that just, is light heavyweight the new middleweight? I think heavyweight's the new middleweight. I think heavy weights is heavyweight still. I don't know. It's, I mean, when did we ever talk about heavyweight overs? Like, it just became a thing like two years ago. Yeah, every other.

Like, those are bad fight. Like, heavyweight is awful. Light heavyweight's awful too, but. heavyweight's like way more awful i never want to hear people complain you know you always feel like this one one bad women's fight but oh there should be worse through me listen i'm not sure that we're heavyweight fights than i'm honestly not sure if you if we want to go to this other than you know like the elite of the elite we want to go down this road i tell you i've seen way way way better uh women's strawweight fights in the last year way way more good women's

charades fights last year than i saw good heavy fights i will stand by that and the year before that too probably uh sorry guys is a little tantalue Finn Hamilton. What's up, Finn? Klein versus... Oh, so this is crazy to me. Klein versus Luana Pinero. Now, I know Pinero is on a losing street,

but she's pretty experienced, and I think she was ranked at some point. And not too long ago. So I don't know if that is a good idea. I think that to me is too much too soon. If you only two... Yeah, no need to rush her, man. No.

This one, though, along the same lines, but kind of makes more sense. Jacoby Smith versus... Matthew Semmelzberger. I don't mind it. I don't mind that one. That's as high as I would go. Okay.

With Jacoby. Moises versus Dawson and Diego Faheta winner, UFC 311. Now, Moises and Dawson are both ATT guys. And their teammates. They are close buddies. It's not happening? Oh, that fight. Oh, sorry, Ben.

Well, you know what, listen, Finn, you should have made it if Diego Fadda beats Grant Dawson and he fights Douglasson. Because, yeah, I was learning. I knew there was a connection, Dawson, Moises connection. I'm like, okay, anyway. I'm not going to quite do-do that. You know, we almost have like a- same management team, everything.

I mean, that might make it easier to put it together, yeah. Soriano, Randy Brown. Yeah, again, it's a jump-up, but I'm into it. I'm into it. Christian Rodriguez, Abrito, I think you mentioned that one.

I'll scroll down a bit here. Ah, he blessed with Robert, I think you mentioned that one's one. Thank you, Finn. Marcus McGehy, Copelov versus the Iron Turtle, Jun Yong Park. Did this not happen or was booked?

And I am, I can not keep track of these things anymore. They were never booked. No, nothing. Okay. Yeah, that makes, that works. Christian Rodriguez was Darren Elkins going the other way instead of prospect, the ultimate veteran, like the guy at the most featherweight fights in the UFC history. I kind of like that, though.

It's not bad. I thought about that one. It's just like, it is legitimately the, the complete opposite of the last fight. Yeah, that's fun. Tiago Moises versus Druckhart close. Love, love, love, love, love, love. Keroskeiti versus Jamie Lynn Horth. Yeah, sure.

That's about the range. Bruno Lopez versus Ivan Erslant. Yes, because we've missed out on Ebo, Ivan. We are, though we are getting Ebo, Yuan, Kujilava, which is Yuan, which is, okay, you know, not bad. Fun in this own way. This is good. This is good. Klein versus the Puja Tomar, Sean Abandon winner, UFC London, North.

Yes, yes, perfect. Whoever wins that. Yeah, I like that. Great next opponent, which race right. Four corner sports, Panzanibos-Lesaleski. Like you said, like you said, my perfect one. Christian Rodriguez versus Hakim Dawadu. A little random.

Like, I can see it, a little random. Suriano versus Jeremiah Wells, Medici versus Kiosmert. Barry O'Reilly, some interesting ones here. Klein versus Kovilkavich, Mike. Klein versus Koval Kavich. Barry writes a big step up, but Klein is young enough that a loss won't ruin her potential while a win against a bet gets her a lot of shine. I would favor Karely.

But that would be two losses in three fights. Yes, I know. It would look ugly. And I favor Kareliana. Just again, just the experience, guys. I just don't think you can you can put a price in the amount of the huge experience gap that Carolina has compared to Fatima McClain. And then, dude, like, she gave Denisey Gomez, like, some hell in there.

Like, that was a, that was a close competitive fight. Carolyn has looked good in, like, her last, like, three or four fights. So it's not like she's washed up. Like, I don't know. I don't, not crazy about it. Yeah, I don't, I don't love that. Jacobi Smith versus Chidi and Jukwani. I love that.

I think that's So Cheetah's supposed to fight on that Seattle card. Oh. So Kiesa is versus TBD and then Cheetah is versus TBD. I'm wondering why they don't just throw Kiesa and Chee D together since they're in the same way class. Or maybe they're just working on separate things for both guys. I don't know. So yeah, maybe you throw Jacoby in there with Injoquiani.

Because, I mean, just quick fight, turn right back around, go to Seattle. Barry also throws out Mike Dern versus Rose Namad Unis. Rose should drop back down to 115. This is a fight that will test her, but also potentially get her back on the telepicture with a win, while it gives Dern a big name on her resume, should she win? I made a face when I first saw this, but if Rose comes down at this point,

I don't think she gets an automatic trilogy belt with Jane. Right? No, right? I mean, you could, of course, you can always make the argument. She's 2-0 against Zhang. But she... That'd be... she I mean she's rose and the UFC loves her I know but it just it'd be it'd be pretty egregious

yeah so maybe she's pretty damn egregious so maybe she needs a win and maybe she fights mackenzie sure I just don't think she has any interest in going back to 115 no I think that that's the issue really she's still like as long as Valentina shivchenko is the flyway champion she is never out of a title the title conversation at 125 and never if If Chevy just starts beating people and like Tatiana wins the strawaway title, Rose can literally beat anybody at 125 and she probably gets a title shot. They are waiting to make that title shot. Like they just want,

they would love to see Navajunos Chepchenko on a market. Yeah. Give Rose like, like if Rose fought like Lauren Murphy and beat her, which would be a tough fight honestly for her. Because Lauren's like a pretty big flyweight and very athletic. Like in Val and Val like beats Manon and then beats. Natty ice.

You know, maybe Rose Natty Ice. I don't know. I don't know. Now we're going to get on a natty ice tangent. And I'm just not ready to do that right now. It's too early in the air for that. Yes, yes. But yeah.

Chiros is still, Rose is probably in the same place in both divisions. If that makes sense. Yeah, sounds right. Toby Kinsella, Dern versus Tabitha Ritchie. I think it's too much of a step back.

That's way too much of a step back. Also, because Ritchie, I think, is on a losing streak, right? It's not quite. She's lost. Yeah, it doesn't make so much sense as Robertson. Robertson's... She got her opportunity to fight up. Like, she got a chance to fight way up in the rankings,

and she got dominated by Janjanon. Christian Rodriguez, Nate Landwer, unless any late Landward fight is fun. But that wouldn't be... You know what? That wouldn't be near the top of list, though. I think there's so many other Nate Land War fights I want. But I get the reason.

And Speezy 32. First timer. Welcome to the party, pal. Welcome, 2025. New, new contributor, Dern, Jan Shanan, 2. He bust, Tisha. Pennington, Ponzi, Dalby, Almeda versus Ball Craig, Roman Coppola, Michelle Pereira, Christian Rodriguez, Kyle Nelson,

Punaheli, Soryano, Charles Radke, Ketzeke, versus Eduardo Amora, Felipe Bunez versus Lonnie Kavanaugh, Tullio, Furno, Josh Fram, Jacoby Smith, Jared Good, and Tiago Mois, Tylo Moises, Jalen, Turner, Bruno Lopis, Tocco, Betima, McLean, Emily Ducote, Aliye, Jai, Harbour. I don't mind the Duket. Hold on, hold on. Emily Dakota is in Invicta, yes, but I would get the sense that

she is not far off from like the UFC calling her up for a return if they needed an opponent for someone like a Bretti McLean. So I don't hate that. I don't hate that there. That's not even why, whoa, whoa, whoa. I would, whoa, because of Togo, Tokos. Who against Tugo? Bruno Lopez.

You're making some sounds right now, my best friend. I don't, I don't know because Tucco's there for a reason. Like, he's there to get. to get obliterated. Yeah. And I just don't know if Lopez is the obliterating type, you know? I think he's more of like, which I don't fault him for this.

He's more of a let's just get a win how we can get it kind of guy. Like I actually would prefer seeing, what's his face? And pull it up. uh, Gadja Zula fight Tuko because Tugo like try to fight him. Okay. And just like stand in trade and just get obliterate. But then Tuko also fought Navajo Sterling and his goal was just to not get finished. So like you just, I don't know, maybe.

Okay. It's not as bad as I first thought, but I just feel like Tugo Togo should not be getting match made on this program. But that's just me. If he gets it. Hey, that's a point. That's a point. That's a smart strategy, actually. If you see Bruno Lopez and Tuko Tokos get books, I will remember this for sure. And your very first submission, Svee, you could get an auto point.

That is very slight. Yes, thank you. Thank you for sending in for the first time. Thank you, everyone who sent in. Don't worry about it next week, Mike. We will be back. Save your picks. Yeah, back live.

Save your picks. I mean, listen, send it in if you want me to just read them and we can, you know, have a little chat about it. That's fine. But we won't be reading them on air. are most likely. Oh, no, because we be Oh, so live next week. On onto the next one.

And then after that program and after that work shift, I am gone for the next 10 days. Very excited. Taking an actual vacation, going to Punta Kana. It's going to be a great time. I'm very excited to just get away from MMA for a little while and just have some mic hack time, if you will. So, but before that happens, there's no way in hell I was missing UFC 311 because what a damn card that's going to be.

It's going to be a busy week. Of course, we got, we'll have a timeline coming up from Makachev and Saruky and 2. That will be coming sometime this week. I do have an interview out with Marab de Walsh, really, who is defending his title for the first time against Uyarnemaga Madov. If you could find that on the YouTube channel. We will have BTL on Tuesday this week. We will have town hall partners. two with PFL founder and chairman Don Davis.

And boy, the list of questions continue to add up. So get ready. 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday live on the MA fighting YouTube channel. Of course, we'll have media day for 311 on Wednesday. We'll have weigh-in show on Friday. We'll preview show on Friday. Official or ceremony of way-ins on Friday. People's pre-fight show on Saturday.

Watch party on Saturday. The first watch party at 2025. Jed Mishu will be here in command. center 4.0 more gimmicks more excitement more fun on the watch party and then that will lead into onto the next one live on the youtube channel following ufc 311 and just look at this frigging card islam makachev versus armin suruki into the fight i have been waiting for for several years now we got marab de wallis really versus umar namaga made off for the badamway title in the cole main event. The most interesting non-title fight that I can think of in quite some time,

Yuri Prahatska versus Jamal Hill, the pressure on Jamal Hill's shoulders is got to be the size of 18 Mack trucks. So I'm very curious to see how he handles himself there. Kevin Holland versus Riney to Ritter is just going to be belly laugh, hilarious and fun in so many ways with the middleweighty middleweight title. It's not even on the line because RDR is the forever champion. I don't care if he gets knocked out in 30 seconds, he will still be the champ. Benil Darius versus Hanata Moikano, Rinyan Nakamura versus Mouin Gafferob. Jailton Almeida, AK makes his 2025 debut against Sergei Spivak, Carl Hosa, versus Eileen Perez, Zach Reese versus Redi Dupac, Peyton Talbiz versus Hione Barcelos,

Riky Tersios versus Bernardo Supai. The third fight of the card is Grant Dawson versus Dumae. Diego Fehera. That just shows you how deep this card is. We got two ranked lightweights battling on the third fight of the night. Tagir Ulanbeka versus Clayton Carpenter. That is a low-key banger.

And Bogdan Gouskoff no longer fighting one Jonathan Walker. He is fighting newcomer Billy Ellicana. So that is where we are at right now for UFC 311. As of now, it is going to remain at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. will that change, perhaps, but we will keep you posted here at M.Afighting.com throughout the week

as we prepare for just an incredible pay-per-view offering to start off. 2025. We will be live next week here doing the matchmaking, so why don't you join us and just stick with us all week long for UFC 311 coverage.

So for AK, I am Mike Eck. Thank you for joining us. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take the stuff too seriously. M.A. supposed to be fun. More fun next week live right here. And on to the next one. the podcast.