MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 103

Episode Date: March 2, 2025

Manel Kape ended up with a replacement opponent, took care of business in emphatic—if somewhat controversial—fashion and now looks to still be on track to fight for the UFC flyweight championship. Has he done enough to spoil plans for a rumored Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France title fight? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss whether the UFC should make a hard pivot to Pantoja vs. Kape, a rematch of a February 2021 bout that Pantoja won by decision in what was Kape’s UFC debut. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Cody Brundage after a wild win over Julian Marquez, under-the-radar lightweight contender Nasrat Haqparast after he scored his fifth straight victory, plus where to go with the undefeated Hyder Amil and the streaking Sam Patterson. All that, plus an avalanche of outstanding listener picks. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome. to a brand new edition of on to the next one yes the matchmaking crowns are back on following ufc Vegas 103 the ufc's unforgettable return to the world's most famous apex and while the card was absolute garbo on paper it actually over delivered in action 10 fights bunch of fun ones some good finishes i would say nine out of the 10 fights were pretty darn good And Minel Kopp just goes out there and beats the hell out of Asu'al Mabayev. A little bit of controversy behind it. But at the end, it goes down as a green check mark next to Minal Kopp's name in his first main event.

But I am Mike Kekin joining me to discuss the follow-up from this car from a matchmaking perspective as the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. And gosh darn it, my best friend. He is Alexander K. Lee, AK, happy Sunday to you, sir. What's up, my best friend? Very happy Sunday. happy Saturday, happy Sunday, happy weekend. I hope for everyone. It was a good time.

I bet when you logged on for that post-fight show, you didn't think that, oh, no, you probably did know. I just say that whatever happened at the conclusion of Vegas 103 wouldn't be the biggest story of the night. It was a wild night in combat sports. We had, because I think when you were doing the show,

it was in the middle of, had the main event of Tank and Roach started? No. No. So I think the event. I think the walkouts were happening at the time. tail end. Yeah. So the main event of that box, sorry guys, we'll talk Vegas more Vegas a second, but the main event of that boxing match hadn't even started. I hope I'm not spoiling this for anyone,

incredibly controversial about Lamont Roach, a great title challenger for Tank Davis. And I assume most people have at least seen the clip of the knee, the taking of the knee. So I feel like we should be talking about this more than UFC Vegas 103. What an insane crazy moment. Majority draw, by the way, for anyone who didn't see. Majority draw, Tank Davis retains his WBA title. And elimination chamber, can we spoil Elimination Chamber too, Mike? I mean, again, I assume people

I mean, the whole world knows. Oh my God, yeah, again, because I wasn't even watching live. I was just like glancing at Twitter and my entire feed was John Cena has turned heel. I thought you're going to say Jade Cardgill came back and she turned hill. I mean, that was, wait, so isn't she not the heel on that story? I thought they're the heels. I have not been following close.

No, but didn't they ambush her? Didn't someone attack her or something? Somebody did, but there was a mystery on who it was. Okay. Yeah, but aren't they the heels for attacking her? I don't know. See, I haven't been following closely. I haven't following totally closely.

Maybe she just thinks that they attacked her. Maybe. I'm Team Jade all the way, so I don't know. Maybe I don't know who's the paper. But we definitely know at the end of the night. John Sina, the Rock. Travis Scott. My God.

What a... I saw a lot of Bash the Beach memes. This is the new, you know, Razor Rhone, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan. I don't know which one. Travis Scott is in that equation. Maybe he's Razor. Maybe he's Razor. He's that's crazy.

Yeah, that makes way more sense. Yes, he's the latter-day NWO of tennis Rodman. Crazy, crazy. That's honestly, I could talk a whole show about, again, even for someone who's only casually following WWE at this point, I could talk all day about the turn and the timing of it and what it means and how white-hot this storyline is going to WrestleMania, but I get it.

I get it. This is neither the time nor the place. One more thing, I was out for much of the day. I was at a show across the street from Elimination Chamber. in Toronto, I was at Smash Wrestling, Smash Wrestling event, local Ontario indie promotion, just at the rec room across from Rogers Arena, Rogers Center, Roger Center. I'm sorry, I guess so bad. And it was great, amazing show. I hadn't been to any show in maybe three or four years, maybe something like that. And it was fantastic. Great, great, great show. I loved it.

Shout us to all the Smash Wrestling crew. Some XWB people were there, former Jinder Mahal, now Raj Dizzy and former, what was she? in W she's Cassie Lee now she was her and she was with the Iconics I can't remember what she was in her name was in WW episode my apologies for that but Cassie it doesn't matter Cassie Lee now married to a fine Canadian boy

so we definitely claim her but yeah I had a great I had a great Saturday Mike I had a great Saturday I'm not I'm assuming you did as well yeah I mean Roach should be the champion right now and he got screwed like he absolutely got screwed Jason Herzog should feel terrific so Mike Beltran should really feel terrific

about the referee in the boxing made it. Steve Mills, I believe his name is. Boy, that guy, just terrible. They're going to have to investigate him. Like, you're going to have to. There's just no way you cannot investigate that guy. But the John Cena thing was terrific. Loved it so much.

Didn't see it coming. I mean, as I was watching it go down, because I had it paused while I was doing the post-fight show. And people were throwing it into the chat like a joke. I believe that's what it was. And then it ended up happening. So I was like, oh, so I was like doubly surprised because people were saying that they were just joking about it. And he does it.

But let me tell you my favorite part of all of it, AK. WWE does the UFC thing, but a hundred million times better than the UFC does with the post-fight press conferences. They like, they make a big deal out of it. The questions are awful. I'll throw that out there, but that's very similar to the UFC press conferences. Where they just, you know, they ask like six, seven questions. Each person gets a question, which I love that. But John Cena walks in and just takes the mic off the stand,

drops it and walks out. It was terrific. I was like, oh, that is so good. Now I have, like, I have to tune in for sure the next time he does something.

So God, please, WW is just on fire right now. They are just on fire. Nobody in the UFC do that. Please don't do this. Please don't try and copy what John Cena did. For both,

it'll come off as corny and also for the sake of our, our editors, a skin will burn on fire if he sees a fighter who we like we need we would like to see get quotes and get a story from just drop it and drop the mic and not talk uh yeah it won't go well so please nobody copy that yeah nobody copy that but copy the wwe model of doing the post fire press conferences like oh yes one question yes we just we get them in we get them out call it a day just because you're there and you want to hear your voice on the ufc stream like if someone already asked the question you don't need to ask it again that's the beauty of the wbc post

by press conferences, but that is neither here nor there, A.K. It is time to talk UFC. It is time to talk about what happened at the world's most famous apex last night. And the card ends with Manel K. Doing Minel Kopp things. This is the guy, AK. This is the guy that we have been hyping up for five years. When he signed over from Risen, we were pumped.

Then he loses his first two fights. Gets a couple quick finishes against lower level fighters. And then some of his wins were forgettable. He has the Mahama Mahama Ma'amai fight. and we're just like, man, this guy's so close. Like, we know it's there. Where is it? Then he goes to Tampa, Florida in December,

and beats the holy hell out of Bruno Silva. People thought Cop would win, but no one saw him just running over Bruno Silver like that. And then Manel Cop is booked in his first main event against Brandon Royval. And you have to think winner of that fight is getting a title shot. Royval gets hurt. Insert Asu Amabayev,

the relatively unknown outside of the hardcore fan base surging flyweight who had a 17 fight win streak four and o in the ufc this is his fourth fight in pretty much exactly a year and this was his first bait event it was a big opportunity and this was one of those fights if you did not watch it you knew about two minutes in exactly where this fight was going you knew menel cop was going to beat his ass and it was just a matter of when this fight would end would he just sort of torture poor assulamabaya for 25 minutes or would a stoppage eventually come? It turns out it was the latter.

Round three, Cop gets them out of there. However, a little bit of controversy. I poke in round two. This one annoyed me worse, more so than the third round I poke because they actually went to a replay official and the replay official looked at and said, no foul.

But then on the broadcast, they show the replay in as clear as day. I mean, it couldn't be more clear that Minel Cop scraped that dude's eye with his finger. And again, to Copp's credit, what's he supposed to do? Stop? So he kept going.

Round three, another eye scrape happens. Asa Ossu Lamaif reacts to it. Doesn't say anything because every time he said something, Mike Beltran's like, no, no, keep fighting. And then he sprints across the cage, like Chelsea Chandler, like Usain Bolt, and Cop chases him down, just starts cracking him. and Mike Beltran, in a mercy kind of a stoppage, ends the fight, ends Ossewoma Biav's night, and Minal Cop gets on the mic, cuts a promo like only Minel Cop can,

brings his daughter into the Octagon for a nice moment and says, I want the title shot, I want Pantosia, I'm hearing things maybe Kai Kar, France. Either way, I'm getting the winner of that fight. So, AK, we took a journey to get here, just to recap for the fans who watch, and some who didn't. What's next for Minel Cop? Yeah, give him the title shot. Give them the title shot.

We've got all those Pentosia, Kikar Fransomers, and I have no problem with that matchup. If that's in the works, if that's, we don't know how close that is to actually being finalized. If they're like near the finish line and that's got to get done,

fair enough. What are we hearing, Mark of that, Newark of that, maybe Newark is that this is the buzz going around, the scuttle butt, but we don't know, right? It's not attached to any particular card yet,

but it's possible. Yeah, I mean, that's what people are saying. Yeah, it's not a picture. But this is also reported for, this is supposed to be in Miami. than it was supposed to be in Montreal, and now it's Newark, potentially. Like, at this point, until the UFC announces it,

I don't know, but please continue. Yeah, and after last night, I mean, again, if it's not close to being finalized, I mean, if you're the matchbreakers of the UFC and Pentosius management and COPS management, you've got to be looking at shifting away from the Kikar France plans. Carc-Kan's very good fighter. it'd be great to see him.

He fought for the vacant title or interim title. He's fought for an interim title, right? I'm not making that up right. He fought for an interim. So, okay, he's been in a UFC title fight, but it would also nice to see him get to fight for an undisputed title. And he's, you kind of want to say he's done it up overall.

He's only coming off the one win, this diverse fight, great performance, of course. Then, you know, a couple of losses before that. One of them was the really close fight with Albaazi. So, again, if you just take the breadth of Kai Kar, Kair, Francis, work. Like, okay, he's deserving of, with hell of shot. That's why none of us would have an issue with it. He's fought

Pantoja on the ultimate fighter, but no one remembers that. So this is essentially a fresh matchup, uh, Kikara, France and Pantosia. But after seeing Kopp, his last two performs is my goodness, how can you not want to see him take on Pantosia? If this version that pummeled Bruno Silva and just beat Asse Ombio shows up, I give him as good a chance as anyone to dethrone Pantosia. All the buzzes with this fight. Again, I'm so sorry to the rumored of Pantosia of France, There's just, there's no buzz about it at all. I just don't, other than, again, the rumors of when it's going to happen, I just don't feel anyone is clinging,

scraping to see this fight happen. If they book cop, this would be one of the most anticipated flyway fights in years. Like, this is just a match with the people want. So people know, I've been so critical of cop, both some of his early performances, some of his, I think, dumb post-fight comments, you know. So I have no particularly biased towards the man, but he is performing. I'm glad he got the performance bonus. I know some people are like,

oh, they weren't satisfied with the stoppage. But again, performance should reward someone for not just the final seconds of a fight, but their overall performance. And he was outside of the fouls, fair and fair to call those out. He was dazzling. He was dazzling in there. That striking is so fun to watch.

So I'm glad he got the 50 Gs. I don't begrudge Beltran too much for the stoppage. Again, I don't think Beltran is a great official. But where was that going for Asu? He was clearly getting outclass and feet, couldn't get a take down. So overall, I'm glad that some of these controversies, Mike, are kind of a footnote. Maybe mileage may vary on that. Some people may be more nifted with those than others.

But I hope we can move on. And I hope we can move on to Manel Kopp and Pantosia sooner rather than later, which would also be a rematch, by the way, but whatever. I said this in the post-fight show last night. I'll say it again. If they have not signed a contract, Pantosia and Kikar, France, then don't even send Kikar-France a contract. I'm sorry.

Like you just Kai is fun And he's a good fighter But he's one and two in his last three He's three and three in his last six He's only five and four in his last nine Like there is And his best streak in the UFC

Was Hajario Bontarim Not in the UFC anymore Ascar Ascaroff Not in the UFC anymore But that was a fun ass win And then Cody Garbrand Who moved to 125 and got newked like that's been his best run in the UFC

and then he fights Brandon Moreno and gets finished Fights Amira-Bosian loses I thought France Kai Kar-France won that fight but regardless he did it lost to Brandon Moreno lost to Brandon Royval like he's gotten opportunities to fight these guys Midel Kopp hasn't

like Monell made a great point and I know Monell is not innocent in some of the reasons why he didn't fight because there were weight cut issues and he missed weight a few times and there were things that have happen along the way. But this guy has been booked with a lot of really good fighters that all

pulled out on him. Alex Perez, Davis and Figurato, Kai Kar, France, Mateus Nikolao, Brandon Royval. Not that it's like they were afraid to fight him, but for one reason or another, he did not fight the people he was supposed to fight. So he's sitting there and he fights Muhammad Mahayev. He fights Felipe Dos Santos on short notice, who is tough as hell, and people are learning that. was supposed to fight Roybal, fights Asu al-Mabayev, who... I don't think there were a lot of flywates on the roster. They were too overly excited about fighting Asu-El Mabayev, especially in a five-round fight.

And he stepped up and looked great. In his last... One, two, three, four, five... He's six and one in his last seven. And his lone loss during that streak is the Mohamakaya fight, which I thought he won. He should have a seven-fight win streak, in my opinion. Cop is way more interesting. you will sell this fight.

I wasn't a huge fan of what I saw in the post fight show. Like, I'm not looking for fake drama. But like, come on, man. They bring pants on and Manel's sitting in there without a shirt on. And pants just, it's not going to sit there, it'd be a phony baloney,

but he cuts like a nine-minute promo about how great Manel cop is and how he's the best and he's focused. And Manel's just sitting there kind of laughing, like, what is going on right now? And then Kamar Usman, like, right, like, at the point we're like, all right, let's just move on.

because this is awful to watch. And Kamar Usman's like, all right, Manel, tell me how you can beat this guy. What are his flaws? And Copps is like, yeah, man. And he, like, lists the flaws. I'm like, all right, now we're getting interesting. But this is the fight, man.

Like, it just is. And if they, again, if they signed a contract, you can't do it. But if this is just, like, agreed upon, you flip plans immediately. And if Manel Cop can fight in June, you put his ass in Newark, New Jersey, and let's let these guys fight. Or wherever it happens.

Who cares? And I think for me, I think Pantosia needs to defend this belt one more time and then he can go up to 135. He could vacate and go to 135. He's not a spring chicken. This dude has fought and beat literally everybody in this division already. It's time to freshen things up.

If there's one guy in the UFC right now, I think you can throw his al-Machachev in there, who says like, hey, I want to fight for a second belt. Pantosia is probably at the top of the list right now. And Pantosia versus Barab to Wallace-Willi would be very interesting to watch. And even Ray Longgo thinks the same thing who is Marab's head coach.

So yeah, do the cop fight. And if not, cop gets the winner and we move on. He should not have to fight anybody else. So there you go. Full agreement, full agreement, Mike. Now break out the dartboard

for the rest of this. I don't know what you got. Well, the beautiful thing is I already, the penultimate fight, excuse me. By the way, shout out of Cody Brunge and Julian Marquez. What a fight.

Yeah. This is, everything I knew it would be. This is why it's there. Oh, why is this in the co-main event spot? Exactly for that reason. Because these two guys are not great fighters. They're two of the 65 best middleweights in the world.

But this fight was there because he knew it was going to be a quick ending. It was going to be crazy and weird and wacky. And that's exactly what we got. Cody Brundage gets in much needed to win. Julian Marcus, I saw a lot of people, AK. I saw a lot of people DM'd. I saw a lot of people in the comments saying, All right, enough is enough with Julian Marquez.

And here's my message to all of you. How dare you? How dare you say that? Julian Marquez is a valuable member of this roster. He is probably one of the 15 most valuable middleweights in the world. Oh, my gosh. Do you want to know why, AK? Because, one, this man is never in a boring fight.

Absolutely never. Fair. Two, when he beats people, he beats him in terrific fashion. But maybe the most important reason, AK, is that he gets got, real good, like real good. And there is value to a guy like that on your roster. Uh, that makes him just such a valuable commodity to just go out there. He gets her get, gets got. And then you trot him back out there 17 months later and, and it happens again. Like, he is a terrific member of this roster. You should not go anywhere. So Cody Bridges goes in there,

gets the win. Please, okay. Oh, I, no, I'm just looking at his record. I was just like, uh, yeah. And he's, he's not great. No, of course not. But like you do, that's not the point. That's not, that's not what you're saying. You were not saying to the Marquez. is a world beater title contender guy you did not say that all yeah two decisions career one of the ufc which i don't think anyone remembers i'm looking at him and de kiroko split decision win for i do not remember this fight at all marquez missed weight apparently this was a long time ago but yeah uh since 2016 uh one fight gone to a decision everything else knockout or submission for him or his opponent just a lot of highlight there was some good highlights in there too i remember so

sure sure i have no problem to keep julian marquez around um at some point you had to protect a man from himself, but also if the paychecks are good and he's okay with it, then I guess you keep him on. Maybe he needs to call for a date with Miley Cyrus again to like reverse jinks everything, because ever since the Miley Cyrus asked, I want to go on a date with you promo, hasn't want to fight since. So let's just keep that in mind. But Cody Brutage gets it done. The father of two gets the finish, weird fight, mouthpiece gate, Mark Smith being weird and wacky.

and Cody Brudge gets it done. And look, this is easy because I already teased this last week. Mancer Abdul Malik was going to fight the winner of this fight. And now he gets to fight Cody Brandage. That's why that sounded so familiar. That's what popped into my head as well. And I'm like, did we like, did I like, did I see this on Twitter or something? And I'm like, oh, no, why would I, my best friend is the one who came up with this.

Yeah, we won't go friends forever because I'm pretty sure. Like, I think inadvertently, I'm pretty sure I got this from you. Yeah, that's just the way to go. This is just where Brundage is. He's, I won't go as far as he's like an enhancement. talent like Cody Brundage is a jobber or something. But he is a guy who has a lot of experience who the UFC probably doesn't see as someone that they're pushing as like a top 10 guy.

And that's fine. Again, there's room for all kinds of fighters in the roster. And that's where Brundage is. He's a test. He's a test for people. Or he's a guy you throw on like I said with a Marquez for a fun scrap. This would be, of course, a test for Abdul Malik. This is I think a guy who the UFC could invest in in the future.

Very raw, very athletic guy, potentially very exciting. if you can get past a veteran in Brundage, then you kind of step up and say, oh, maybe we see if, Man, sir, I mean, he's so young in the game. I still wouldn't put him against someone in the top 20, but someone, a few spots higher than Brundage.

We can go slowly with this guy. But I would love to see it, because I don't guarantee it win against Brundage. I think Malik would be a huge favorite. He'd probably go in, like, minus 500 or something like that, just because of the buzz around him and sort of how we perceive Brundage.

But that would be an upset way to happen, man. I mean, I'd love to see how many people would, uh, would jump on that brundage underdog money because you don't know. Experience a hell of a thing. Experience a hell of a thing. And, uh, I don't know if Abdul Malik can overcome that with just his raw talent, but I would love to find out. It was just good seeing Cody kind of have that kind of a fight because he's kind of gotten

the quitter label and, you know, takes the easy way out. And there are many moments in that four minutes and change where he could have just taken the easy way out and just been like, all right, I'm done with this. gets his mouthpiece knocked out. He's just getting lit up by Julian Marquez and he battles through it and gets the finish. So good on him. Very emotional media day scrum.

Cody's a good man. He's a good dude. I've been interviewing him well before he got into the UFC and so shout out to him. Good on him. Let's go to the lightweight division, a.k. Nasrat Hackperast pulls off the upset against Esteban Riebevich.

Full disclosure. I think the judge's got this one wrong. I thought Esteban Rievich won this fight. but this is not a robbery. It was just, it was so good. It was just a high level mixed martial arts contest. Esteban Rievovich rules.

Nazrat Hackbarast is very good too. And AK, this man has won five fights in a row. Nazareth has won five fights in a row and nobody knew it, which is wild. And now he beats Estabon Rievich one half of a fight many considered to be the fight of the year in 2024. Huge win for Nazrat. Where does he go from here? I would love to hear what you're saying right now.

Sorry, my button's a little funky. I'm just saying at M-Aidocisions.com. And as you mentioned, probably not a robbery, but most people scored for rivets. And so your name is not on this list, Mike, but I'm sure if you had done a score out there on the social media's, that's where it would have gone. But I'm seeing, I think, 10, 10 rebivits and two hack-press scores. But five in a row is five in a row. Officially, it's in the books. Yeah, I'm very curious.

I will listen to you on the post-fight show. I think I heard the name you kind of suggested. I don't remember if you landed on it. Definitely not the same name as me. I would like to throw him in there with Rubechki, Mateus Rubechki. Oh, okay. I know Rubechki is lower ranked than him,

but he is coming off a win. He did have a setback, bounce back with a W, 4 and 1 in the UFC so far. I think it's a fair test for Nazareth. One of the things you brought up, Mike, was like, it's just hard because we like Nazareth. We all like Nazareth. We all like Nazareth.

Pretty exciting fighter. You're definitely getting a solid 15 minutes every time he goes in there. But there's not a lot to sell. It's hard to market. His biggest gimmick is, hey, it's the guy who looks like Calvin Gastilum, which hilarious. Hilarious. He's been writing that for like two years. Great stuff.

Great memes. It's not a great way to sell to the casual fan. It's not putting butts in Cs and forth. You're not buying a ticket to see the number one Calvin Gasselm look like in the world. Again, which is a shame because on his own merits, he's a very good. good fighter, very interesting. I wish people just, you know, watch his fights and said, hey, I like how this guy fights.

I want to see more, but we know that's not necessarily how combat sports works. You need some sort of hook. He doesn't have big finishes either. Like he has good fights, but he hasn't had a lot of big finishes. Again, you need that too. So the marketability is tough. But just keep going on there with tough guys. Let's see.

He's not an old guy. He's 29. He's not even 30 yet. And I know he's got a lot of experience, but he's got good experience, still in his athletic prime. There's a contender. there somewhere possibly. So unfortunately, he has to stay in this mix of the middle, like 15 to 30 lightweights. Maybe he gets on a, he's on a run.

Maybe he continues this run six or seven straight wins. And we start talking about him as top 15. It's a really tough division. It is. His three losses since 2020 are to Drew Dover, which 2020 drew Dover is, there's no shame in that. Even 2025 Drew Dover is not shame in that. Dan Hooker, who is about to fight Justin Gaichie and King Green, who is fighting on that this Saturday and has beat a lot of really good guys.

So he's on a nice run, man. Like, John McDessie is a good win. John McDossey is a very historically hard guy to beat. Landon Kenyonee, Sher, Jamie Mularky, knocks him out in the first round. Jared Gordon, I didn't think he won that fight, but that's okay. And I didn't think he won this fight either,

but still competitive with both guys, five fights in a row. So I'm going, let's do a little streak versus streak A.K. do a little under the radar win streak versus under the radar wind streak. Nazareth Hackperas putting his five fight under the radar win streak on the line against Ludwig Klein who has a six-fight win streak, seven fights unbeaten. What? Let's go.

Yeah. Stop it. How about that? I swear to God. Mr. Highlight. Mr. Highlight has not lost a fight since getting choked up by Nate Landwehr in October of 2021 wins against Devante Smith,

Mason Jones. They draw against Jai Herbert, a win over Ignacio Baja Monde's AK, which might be the most impressive win of all of these. A.J. Cunningham, K.O., Roosevelt Roberts' decision, win over Tiago Moises. Damn.

After, straight, unbeaten? He lost a Mike Trezano. Then Nate Landlare, and then he hasn't lost since. Those are, and those are 145, so I think you don't even really look at that as He returned lightweight and is undefeated since.

Yeah, 6-6-0-1. Holy cow. That is, you know, it's so crazy. And I always, so after fights, you know, we have a little chat. We have our, you know, people know, we do rankings. So I like to keep, you know, I try to keep everyone updated on our rankings and notable results. And I put, like, people who are on streaks. I didn't even mention Nasrat.

Didn't even I totally forgot. Didn't mention Nasrat. Maybe because I don't think he's going to get ranked anyway. Like, I just don't want to bother you guys if we're probably not going to put a numbers next thing. But it's worth mentioning. You never know. Maybe someone out there will look at the, their number, 15 spotted lightweight and say yeah nazarat's nazrat's uh deserves to be put over this guy so i don't know

totally totally did not know that i make notes before every event and i i haven't written down here he's he had one four straight heading in but just completely skip my mind my best friend see under the radar nobody knows it it's just one of those guys and that's just it's just a problem it's just a problem with a guy like nazrat and another guy that i'm going to talk about a little bit later on but we'll let's let's continue moving on let's go to the featherweight division really fun fight nice upset win for Hyder Amil remains undefeated defeats William Go Me

and Hyder O'Meel might be a hero A.K., this guy might be an absolute hero to us all because not only did he pull off the upset, not only did he beat William Go Me, but he did something that no one thought was possible. He made William Go Me fun.

Really, really fun. Because my little brother had a bet on Hyder Amil. Calls me on the phone. He's feeling a little good. feeling you know feeling feeling feeling good out there having a good time out in the world in Massachusetts calls me up we're talking on speaker phone and we're watching this fight together like he's on speaker world we're synced up on the TVs we're just having a great time and he's like I'm a bet on hider am meal I think he's going to win and I'm like he could get william

go meet all over that octagon like there's a very real world and two and a half minutes into that fight I'm telling my little brother I'm like see this is this is him getting go meed he's just holding Hyder Amel up against the fence. He's thrown like little knees to the thighs. I'm like, this is the quintessential go-meeing going on. And then Hyder Amiel just turned it into an absolute dog fight. And who knew William Go-Me had that dog at him, A.K., I know you hate to hear that, but he certainly had it.

And it was fun to watch. In the end, we go to the cards. We take a trip to Splitty City. And Hyder Amil gets the nod. And I agreed with it. I thought Hyder won rounds two and three. gets it done and now he's going to fight Nate Landware

AK and it's going to be incredible how many how many times he matched up Nate Landware in this show Mike I feel like we have to have a limit I need to take a check mark of how many times he can't break him out he gets booked he gets booked

like the guy match him up with gets booked he's not booked what was his last fight duo Choi oh yeah that was good that was good he lost right

oh he sure did got smoked he got dominated he got Domit and I believe he got finished. I got to remember this. Yeah, I'm always hesitant to put the Nate car. We never get, we've matched up with him so many times.

I feel like we never get it right. So, yeah, I would love that. I mean, God, Hider. I don't, I hate to object to by fighters. Handsome man, deeply handsome man. This guy is Mark and World's hell. Very entertaining puncher. The only shame, and there's nothing wrong with being,

he's 34. He's 34 years. There's nothing wrong with being 34. But in this featherweight division at that age, it's a shame. I just feel like it's a shame we didn't get to see this guy a bit sooner. He started his career. I'm just looking out, like 2017. And I'm not sure why I wish we had just gotten this guy in the UFC sooner.

But timing works out how it does for a reason. He's put on a show now. Again, I don't know what's the bigger upset, the fact that he even won the fight, or was he favored i don't think so no he was like almost a two to one underdog damn so i don't know just winning the fight or the fact like like you said gave us a william gomi fight that will actually remember i mean all love in the world to gomi who i referred to as the featherweight a leon edwards which is like a really great compliment but that is kind of like i think how people felt about leon his first maybe first few fights with the ufc so uh we'll see if william can bounce

back but hider is trending onward and upwards got a nice shiny undefeated record I know I said he's 34, but we really just don't need to be throwing this guy up so quickly. I landed on, it's a tough fight, man, this tough fight. But I'm trying to build up this guy as well. So this is knowledge of being a hiter. Naimov. I think him, Muhammad, Naimov would be awesome. One of these guys, again, this is kind of what we just said with Hock Peras.

Like there's this 15 to 16 to 30 range at featherweight, and it's just killers, man. It's all killers. It's all guys who are going to have to climb over each other for a shot at the top. hopefully when you know maybe some of those featherweight spots get freed up by some fighters moving on like we know volkanowski he'll probably retire within the next 18 months right we don't know maybe sooner depending what happens with his title fight so spots are going to open up in that top of dean and by the end of the year i think we'll help we will have some fresh blood in there and it could be hider it could be naimov it could be a number of other people but i do think you have to start matching these guys up unfortunately i'm just going to match up nat landworth every single you'll get it eventually that's not in my first it wasn't my first choice Because, like, I don't even know if I could throw out my first choice. Yeah. Because we just don't know what's happening. I want to see Hyder Emile versus Cub Swanson.

Like, that's what I want. But Cubby, like- The experience gap, though. It gives a shit. You know? Let's just see it. Like, Cubby's got one last fight. There's no way that fight is not fun.

And here's the thing about Hyder Emil that I was telling my little brother about, and it's something that, like, Jed and I talk about in our shows all the time. Hyder Meal has a skill that is just really tough the fact that you can't hurt him because William Gohby was cracking him like he was hitting him with everything he had and just nothing faced him he just kept coming forward

very ddpish and in some respects just he's got little pieces of these just crazy ass fighters he's the living to win he's the living giga-chat meme man like the chin is that's a Drew Dober asks like chin uh yeah it doesn't surprise me you can't crack that thing

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Let's go to Sam Patterson, AK Three wins in a row now Another upset win to kick off the card He was a pretty sizable dog He was a big ass underdog I believe Against Danny Barlow And now he's got three wins in a row Three first round finishes in a row, AK

Guys climbing up the ladder But this is the dart throw addition Of on to the next one So for the For entertainment purposes, AK I say we do the one, two, three Yeah. Let's see if we can get the band.

I got a good feeling. I got a good feeling. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was to say that he definitely doesn't train with this person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no. I don't know why.

I'm texting the band leader. I'm just saying be ready. Just saying be ready. Just a call in. They're not in the studio today. They're not in the studio today. We'll have a couple of them call. We'll do a WhatsApp, a group call and just have them very.

You owe us one. Yeah, yeah. All right. Ready? I think, God, now I feel so good about this. One, two, three. Obon Soriano. God.

Darned! When you said, like, I hope they don't train together. I was like, oh, we're a go. We're a go. The Welsh gangster, but I like the Pudu fight too. Yeah. I like it. I love Oban.

I just, I wonder if, I feel like there's a lot of marketing push behind Oban. So I just wonder if they see him in higher, at a higher tier, which you really shouldn't be. Like, I think they're close rankings wise. I just wonder if they see Oban at a higher tier. It's the talking. It's the talking. Or Bon, Obon does a lot of talking, a lot of talking, a lot of

interviews, a lot of media. So he's pushing himself, too. I think he's doing a good job marketing himself. I don't know if Sam Patterson is there yet. I do love the results. I do love what I see again. He's, he's, you know, he said, one three straight, first round finishes.

His loss was when he was trying to fight it lightweight. His UFC debut just should not have been fighting it lightweight. He knows that now. He says, like, I'm not climbing down to 25 ever again. So I like that, too. I think Obanelli is a great matchup. I just think they have bigger plans for Oban. Just because of how he marks himself.

I think he marks himself as a little bit better than Sam. But yeah, I landed on Puna. Just veteran tester, Sam Patterson. Don't know what we have yet. Don't know what we have yet. Normally, I have the you win three fights, especially in impressive fashion, and you get to, like, take a bigger jump up the rankings. But I think we're talking welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, and below, like, or really just, and to ban to those four weight classes. There's a lot of depth there, and you probably need three, four, five wins before you're talking about, like, really going up the rankings.

But, yeah, it depends how people see Obon for your pick. So, not sure. Yeah, Obon's fun, but, like, yeah. This might be a hot take, and I don't think it is. What Sam Patterson did last night is the best win either of these two gentlemen have. Oh, San Patterson's in cage results are more exciting than Obon. And Oban's not a boring, although the Basel win was pretty impressive.

Yeah, Oban's not a boring fighter. I'm just saying, like, if you took Oban's Mike Skills and the way, again, he's being promoted and you combine it with San Patterson's finishes, I mean, he'd be fighting top of D. That combined fighter would be fighting top of Deng guys right now. So maybe you do. maybe you do match them up, Mike, to see who's the real deal, right? To see, oh, who's the real guy who should be, you know,

be getting this push. But, yeah, I think I'm just decided to see Sam Patterson next. I picked Barlow. I think a lot of people did. And I definitely didn't think Sam we can't have the first round finish. And definitely not by knockout. I did not see a knockout coming. So, holy crap, just surprises.

Really surprising card overall, man. Good, good for the fighters involved, you know. And, hey, for the matchmakers, they must have known something was up, right? They don't make these cars by accent. Well, sometimes they do. Let's be honest, they're just throwing bodies in there. But it's on the fighters upon a show.

And, man, a lot of these people this year. So far in 2025, a lot of fighters putting their best foot forward in Bows, that people are, like, overlooking. So huge, huge credit to the athletes. And I know I'm preaching to the choir, but can we just get out of the frigate apex? Come on now. Like, this card, this card would have gone over so much better

if it was anywhere else. I heard the crowd was going, the 12 people, they were going wild for the Dominic Cruise appreciation video. Like, what a scene that way. Oh, my God. We all thought it was a Hall of Fame now and it wasn't. Boy, it's a shame that they're not having like an actual event in the next seven days that they could have played this video at. Like what I guess because so he's not doing commentary for 313, presumably, right?

No, he won't be the Cormei, Anik, Rogan trifecta. But Cruz could be there. He could be at, unless they know for some reason he's not going to be in Las Vegas for the then then maybe it makes sense they did it here. but so awkward, so awkward to do a video like that not in a place where there's actually fans. Very strange. Maybe he can't be in Vegas next night. Maybe he can't be anything.

So let's, let's, I'll pick him that. Yeah, I would, Dom seems like a very busy guy. But on top of that, like, if there's one retired fighter that you don't need to make a highlight video for, it's Dominic Cruz because he don't care. He's just ready like, he was like, thanks. And then John Nick was trying to ask him questions, like get him to have some kind of emotion.

He's just like, cool. Sam Patterson's up next So maybe it worked out Maybe this was the best You know what? Maybe this was the best way to do it Okay, so maybe we should I will say this though And I mentioned this in the Post-Fite show

Dominic Cruz should be his own Color guy Like it should be two-man booth For every Apex card And Dominic Cruz should be the color guy He was awesome way He was so good last night And I know Anik knows him so well

But like DC just has has to hog the spotlight. Bissving's the same. And even if they have to like poke and prod Dominic Cruz, because they know what Dom's going to do. He's just going to fire back at him in his just a motionless kind of way. But I thought Cruz is tremendous last night. And that's like, that's the position you need to put him in.

So just a little suggestion. You don't need three guys for an apex card. You just don't put Cruz in there. Give him some reps in there. Some people are really good at doing like the banter with their, you know, other color people, other analysts. he's just never been good at it you can tell it's it's some people know how to Josh you know so you know how to Josh and joke around like friend groups have this right friend groups have this

some guys are great at kind of you know just taking jazz people making everybody laugh and some people are really bad at it when they try and fire back either it's too personal or you can tell they're taking it too seriously and then it just gets awkward for everyone that just happens with dominic all the time and it's not his fault like that's not his skill that's that you shouldn't be putting a position we're like oh yeah dom just do more witty banter with uh with dc or do more witty banter with with Bisp being like, why? That's not his specialty. Why would you make him do that?

I don't think he's, I don't think he's comfortable with it. He's great with Felder. Sure. Yeah, he's great with Felder because Felder's in the same way. Like, fellas got a little more personality, but like Felder's not going to attack Cruz's personally because he said something about the rules that DC does.

I don't know. I like his suggestion. Two men. Yeah, two men, two men. I mean, sports went with, had two-man broadcasts broadcast teams for years. I don't know when this broadcast team inflation thing started. But yeah, suddenly it's like three.

It's still not the norm everywhere, but a lot of a lot of sporting organizations doing broadcastings. I should say sorry, doing three people are like, you don't need three. You don't have to have three. Thanks, WWE. Screwed us. Screwed it up for all.

Let's go to the wild card route. We'll select one fighter we have not match made for a match bake form now, AK. Who did you go with today? Mario Pinto? All right, we're not going to have the same one. Okay. The street continues.

The five-year streak of not having a friend's forever on the wild card rolls on. I'm trying to look at the names now. I'm trying to wonder where you went with it. Okay. Anyway, I went Mario Pinto. Hey, you know, Contender Series signing, great debut. Did what he was supposed to do. Everyone was saying, well, actually, we all said first round knockout.

But took an extra, what, 39 seconds? 39 seconds, got the job done anyway, as expected. Good for you, Mario Pinto. So let's move this guy along. No, sorry, let's not move this guy along. Let's keep him right where he is. Mike, I'm inspired by one karate combat, Robillus to Spain. Like, I feel like, one, he should still be in the UFC,

and they just matched him up correctly. Though, again, you know, hey, they did give him Austin Lane. So, you know, it's true. What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? They did give him Austin Lane, and it didn't work out. So maybe Mario Pinto's can fill these boots instead.

But yes, let's do what they're doing with Robles and karate combat. Just giving people who he can knock out in seconds. I don't know what we have until he's 26 years old. That is a spring chicken in the heavyweight division. Could be a lot of good years ahead of them. So I like him. Here's a name you never expect to hear on. the show.

Mike, Sean Sheriff. Give me Sean Sheriff and Mario Pinto. He of the 4 and 1 a pro record. Give me him. Sorry, sorry, Mr. Sheriff. I'm doing this obviously because I think Pinto win by knockout, but that is just how the fight game goes.

Mike, am I am I being overly optimistic with the state of possible up-and-comers at heavyweight? No, because there's 19 of them on the roster. So anytime we get excitement from any heavyweight, it's great, especially a 26 year old who seems to have a little bit of personality and can just light your ass on fire with one punch.

The last time we got this excited, there was like Romanov, there was Christakis, there was Tommy Aspinall, Almeida, and we were like really, we felt like something was coming along. And it kind of did. Like Aspinall won an interim title. Almeida, you know, two steps forward, one step back. I still feel like he's coming up. Doc just didn't work out. That's fine. You know, someone in this group had to lose the other guys. So that's just how it goes. Like, I feel like I'm just looking at some of the names here. We've got like, okay, so we got, we just got Pinto. We got Talas and Deshera, kind of like him. Again, young guy. Who's ranked? He's ranked.

He has to be, Mike. He has to be. I mean, what do you? Like you said, there's no name. One fight. He's rings. What do you want? Gazee. Gizu's kind of exciting. Mick Parkin, probably maybe not the most exciting guy, but four and no in the UFC, 10 and Got a fight coming up. Am I, this isn't exciting as the batch I just mentioned, but can we have some optimism that within the next,

for the next two years, like maybe heavyweight can move somewhere? Can we have some movement as far as compelling heavyweight guys? Maybe. Maybe. Maximum Prince of Positive. We still got Mohammed Uspen. Yeah, still.

You're saying that as a positive. Sure. I'm sure everybody can't wait for, was it May 17th when he returns to the hallowed Octagon. That is, I will be lie. I told you, I'm live blogging him in Hamdi. That Hamdi.

Oh, yeah. That is the most sinister matchmaking. Like, I don't, who put this fight together? If any of you on onto the next one, because I don't always write down all the listener picks. Send me the receipts. Nobody picked this fight. I don't remember.

I don't remember. If you sent Hamdi Abdel Wahab versus Mo Uzman, let me know. Send me a screenshot or send me, uh, no, even better. You can fake screenshots. Copy and paste, whatever you sent. Just give me some sort of. because I don't believe anyone anywhere. Ask for this fight.

Listen, if you get that screenshot, I want you to send that screenshot to me. And then next week when we are live, I'm going to come on this show into this microphone and ban that person for doing this to us. Because it's because of you that this happened. But the over two and a half of that fight is going to be minus 1,700.

Like, it's just, it's just going to be unbelievable. Handy might knock him out. Handy? No, you don't think Handy could. get a handed there no and they're going to make it a co-main event and we're just going to what is going on here

like what are we doing uh all joking aside I went with Chepa Mariscol AKK uh who much like Nazarad Hackperast quietly putting together a very nice wind streak fun fights all around the problem is

no one cares the personality does not match up to the fighting style and therefore it's going to really slow row him to a to a point where it's like, okay, this guy's won like seven in a row. Because we have like the Joseph poses of the world are like, oh, this guy's won five in a row.

He has to get a ranked person next. I'm like, no, he doesn't. Because you want to know why, AK? Because Chipey Mariscull was literally set up beautifully by the great John Anick. Hey, man, you're undefeating the UFC. You have to think ranked opposition is in your future. Who would you like to fight next? And what do you think he said, AK?

What do you think he said? Whoever the UFC gives me, uh, that's what I want next. Yes, because that's what the world wants to hear, right, AK? And that's exactly what he said. And now he's not going to get a ranked guy. And unfortunately, the guy he's about to fight doesn't say like a lot of interesting things either, but he nukes everybody he fights. And he got a ranked guy.

And unfortunately, he did not get to fight ranked opposition. So now he's going to have to fight Chepe. Let's do Chepe Mariscoe versus Steve Garcia. And let's just have some fun. And the winner moves on and gets. ranked opposition and the guy who doesn't doesn't there you go if that fight happens and the winner gives us the whatever the UFC thinks for me is best that's what I want I'll take I'll take on anyone I I'm done man I'm done with these and I love Steve Garcia I love Chappay I'm done with these guys

that happens like please we we don't want everyone to be like freaking connor McGregor on there on the bike but it doesn't hurt to have a name even even if you don't get that name we have seen so many fighters who they don't get the name. I know I know there's a contingent of media who say like, oh, the post-fight interview doesn't matter or they don't put a lot of weight on it. I think for certain... I'm a young. New Yorker.

I think New Yorker. But it's case by case, too, you're right. For some people, it isn't going to matter. Absolutely. For some people, it isn't going to matter. But I think when you're in this tier, like you said, Mike, you brought out guys who are in these low-key winning streaks who just no one cares about or don't even know them on these winning streets, then it is on you. I'm sorry, you have to say something. And it doesn't have to be

trash talk, just have a name. And you might not get that name, but if you get someone in that range, maybe two or three, four or five spots lower in some of these loaded divisions, that's good. That's forward progress in your career. That's movement. And then you will find yourself eventually in the top of D and top 10. I'm not saying, I'm not saying like Chep Bay or Steve Garcia are guaranteed to have that because the featherway is just so rich in contenders. But can we at least, at least give us the hope, guys, because it's great you're winning. It's great you're collecting checks. Whatever is making your life work fantastic but you know selfishly as fans yeah we want to see more we want to see we want to see

you guys move up the rankings and fight more meaningful names you know steve garcia called out after his last win danny gay threw a name out got edson barboza yeah get to fight him but he got the fight great matchup he did get offered the fight so yeah it's it's kind of tough for steve because he got such a big one and now he's going to fight chepe but yeah chepe wins he's like yeah man let's whatever the ufc wants like come on man like do better like just throw a name name out there. I will tell you right now, if Chepin Mariscoll got on the microphone and said, hey, Calvin Cater, respect you, great fight. I know your luck hasn't been great lately. Let's fight each other. We'll see if you can get your luck back on track. Like, it wasn't a shit-talking promo.

It was like, hey, I want to fight this guy. He's ranked. Like, let's challenge ourselves. He probably gets that fight. I would guarantee you he gets that fight if he called out Calvin Cater, or somebody of that of that ilk. But look, Sean Woodson. Called out for a rank guy. He's pissed off. I'm winning all these fights. Give me somebody. I can beat Iliate Tuporia right now. Just saying a bunch of wacky shit.

But guess what? Now he's fighting Danny Gay. Because he did the thing. It is important to do the thing. Mario Pinto doesn't need to do the thing right now. He's too new. But, yeah, the Ludwig Klein's... Ludwig Klein does the thing on Twitter,

which just doesn't work. Now he's calling him Matoosh Gamrot. He's not getting that fight. But I don't know. Do better. And you'll get the fight you want. Let's go to the peeps, AK. I'm shocked how many entries I got from the peeps.

I'm really truly stunned. The matchmaking monsters are out in full force these days, Mike. They are on the streets. They know these are the kind of cards. Yeah. And if you're going to get points, like these are the ones. So let's fly through these. We do have a first timeer, AK.

Dawson Boyd, welcome to the party, pal. Awesome. Welcome to the party, pal. first time long time ought no listener hopefully no doo-doo and we know when we get hopefully no do-do

is probably two or three do-d don't say that don't say that I'm not looking Sam Patterson versus Obon Elliott first of all I mean just a genius flick

you're already off to a great friends forever right you have a new friend forever right away you want to co-host next week Dawson Boyd we'll live oh okay alright

I'm just kidding Patterson mentioned wanting a quick turnaround for London if the UFC wants to give him that I feel like England versus Wales could be a good addition. If you follow Oban Elliott,

ladies and gentlemen on Twitter, the man wants a fistfight, and we can make that happen. He likes Hyder Emile versus Darrett Alkins, winner lose against Juicy J. The damage doesn't fight super often anymore, but Amil mentioned a torn ACL

as the timing may line up. I don't know you mentioned some injuries. Torne ACL, shit. Who's got the torn ACL? Hyder Amiel, apparently. as a torn ACL. That's not good. Look, I'm going to check that right now.

Nazar Hackpras versus Benwassantini. Cody Brundage versus Cesar Almeida. Menal Cop versus Ali Pants. There's not a whole lot of other options, even though I don't like him getting a shot off that stoppage. Hashtag bring back the new gloves. Wild card, Esteban Riebovich versus Batush Rabetschki. This fight would be so dope.

Inject it into my veins. It would be dope. And I like all those picks. So welcome. Well done. We are doo-doo free. Speaking of do-do, there's a gentleman that was, I would say, the uncrowned prince of do-do in the history of this program.

Haven't seen this name or heard this name in a while, but welcome back, Dad Jackson to the on to the next one picking. Mike, it's been a while. Hopefully I'm not too rusty and bring too much doo-doo to the party. Thanks for all the work you and everybody does. Shout out to Jed for helping feed my very small-scale game. gambling bug, L,

M-A-O. He likes Mario Pinto versus Walter Walker, AK. I don't mind that. That's good. We're off to a good start. Sam Patterson

versus Jacoby Smith. These are all, you're cooking. Dad Jackson's cooking right now. Hyder Meal versus Doho Choi. Okay. I'm surprised.

As right. I'm surprised that we haven't. Well, you know, I won't say, Maybe one someone will mention. I'll mention after you've done your picks. I haven't heard this pick yet.

Nazareth Hackperas versus Mick Tebeck Oralby. Very good. Hey, Nazareth, you've won five in a row. Great job. Now you fight this friggin' name. This absolute zombie who is just so tough. This is interesting, AK. I don't know how I feel about it.

I actually feel like this makes sense. But there is a world where this could be bad matchmaking. And I don't. Maybe it's so good. I don't know. Cody Brundage versus Edmund Shabazzian. Brundage can wrestle. Doesn't he wrestle?

Yeah. But as you've seen lately, he doesn't wrestle all that much. True. And I thought Dylan Butkev's going to wrestle too. And he didn't. And he's got murked. So I don't know.

Sure. Yeah. It's not a bad pick. I don't think it's a bad pick. No. I don't mind it. Not too bad. Welcome back, Dad.

Well done. Maybe you need a little time off. That was it. You need a little time off. And we're back. Harry Daweski. Oh, boy. All right.

I'm going to go bottom to top here because this, I'm about to freak out on you, Harry, because this is just out. This is ludicrous. Read, read, what I'm reading right now. Read, Mike. Temeroff versus Bruno Silva. Fine fight. Shout out to Temerov, man.

That dude just throws with vicious intent. He is nasty. Sleeper, man. He just snapped a four-fight win streak, Charles Johnson. I mean, this guy is dangerous looking. That was a fun. fun fight. Really, really good.

A lot of people thought Johnson won that fight. I'm not one of those people, but Tamarov's got to get that cardio in check because if he's getting in five rounders, he's got to get, he's going to be in some real trouble if he doesn't get a finish. Silva versus Bogdan Grad, Chepe versus the Onama Giga winner.

That's right. Someone asked where Giga Jekazzi is fighting David Onama. Pinto versus Sean Sharafe, A.K. How about that? What in the world? Great minds. Amel versus Cater. Nazrat Haqparast versus Benil Daryush. I don't mind that one.

I don't mind that one. If you think it's time for him to fight a top 10 guy, I think Benile would still be in the, I don't know if he's top 10 in our ranking. I think he has to be still in the U.S.C., right? He's definitely ranked. He's top 10 still. He is number nine.

Yes, he's number nine. So, yeah, if you're going to push up, that's probably the name. I would say there's a 3% chance that fight happens, but I don't hate it. If you're going to give him ranked oppositions, probably Benny. Brundage versus Stoltzfitt.

this this this is outrageous okay menel cop not for a title shot not against brandon roi ball not against brandon morano can i year albazi what in the world harry dooski what did minel cop do to you that after two incredible finishes and two dominant outings you're going to throw him in there with ameer albazi who just got thumped up around the octagon for 25 minutes What are we doing here? This is bad. I'm sorry. Love you, Harry.

Rest, or fine. This. This is just, this is bad. Very bad. Maybe he forgot Albazi's last fight happened? I don't know. That's a weird. Does not remember the Moreno fight?

Even Jed forgot that fight happened because he was like, Brandon Marino has Brandon Marino's lost a bunch of fights in a row. He was in one in a while. I'm like, he just beat Amir Albaozzi goes, oh yeah, I forgot that fight even. So Harry, you're good. coming to you. You may have just forgotten that that fight happened. Okay. If that's the case, I forgive you, but if you remember

that fight happened, that's okay. That's, I mean, even Jed, people forget things. Yeah, we do this all the time. So yeah. Less egregious, but come on, Amirabazi, give me burned. This is insane. You want to do Moreno? I don't, I hate, I don't like it, but I don't hate it. Any other name outside of Brandon Moreno or a title shot is just absolutely

incorrect and wrong. If Moreno. Or maybe Roy Ball. If Marino beats Ursaic. And then I don't need to see. I don't, yeah, yeah. And if Ersseg wins, I don't think you make him fight. I don't think you make cop fight him.

No, God, though. That's weird. All right, let's move on. John Ray, Temeroff versus Amabayev, Aldrich versus Mara. Yes, JJ Aldrich fought him's card. I won. Her 10th UFC win. Andrew Lee, breaking records, AK, six straight loss.

And that was the last five under deal, so I don't expect. expect her to be finding in the UFC again. 10 and 6 in the UFC. Gosh, darn it. Wow. Good for her. She got her blackout. I think she's been like three in a row.

hasn't you? Three out of four? She's a nice little row right now. Three to four, I think. Silver versus Feeley, Marascall versus Barbosa. Pinto versus Dantel Mays. Dante Males seems like right in the wheelhouse of what we're thinking here. Okay.

Amil versus the Nathaniel Wood, Morgan Sherry winner? I don't mind that one. It's good one. Hack Brass versus Dakar Close. Brundage versus the Silva. Mark Andre. Barry Alt winner. Okay.

Which sounds so terrible. Oh, Bruno. Bruno, right? Brindado. Blendado. Yeah. Blendano. Yes.

And left lane, I believe is the last one I have. Cop versus Roy Vall. This is egregious too, but it's not as bad as Amir al-Bazi. I think cop's done enough to do it. Yeah. To skip over it now, right? Like, we know it obviously it was supposed to, that was supposed to the regional main event, but sorry, Roger.

dog like it sucks you just sometimes the opportunity to just pass you by and again he's had his chances to fight for the title so yeah I don't think we need that right now Brundt versus Malik Marquez to the GFL or Antonio Tricoli Marcus never never changed during that's quite a range of

I don't know what it's like it's either he gets another fight or just you just go to a league that's never going to hold a show that's quite a range of hey listen you might get a million dollars who the hell knows Esabon versus Dober, winner lose against Torres, Hackbaraz versus Rebetsky for a ranking.

Emil versus Searrod after the Macasio Costa fight. We'll get an undefeated fighter to beat Rodriguez. Should be Garcia, though, because it would be fun as hell. Gomi versus Woodson after he loses to Ige. Patterson versus Trey Waters, Barlow versus Gilbert Rubina, Pinto versus Lucas Brechke on the London card, do it short notice, Cheppe versus Duho Choi, Danny Silva, Fernando Perdia, Tamirav versus Perez.

Crystal balling this for the UFC Vegas 11 main event or something like that. And then he likes Charles Johnson versus Bruton Silva. So, okay. Temerat versus versus Perez could absolutely be an apex made event in 2025 without question. So those are my picks and they're sticking to them. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first. Ah, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Caro, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome, and I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals.

I guess that was the idea, was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer, was an album about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus. Okay, I haven't looked at my picture yet, but I'm surprised I didn't hear. Is there any possibility of, do you think, Hyder and Chepe?

Sure. Because you didn't mention it, I didn't mention it. I didn't think any of your, I don't think any of the pictures read, I mentioned it. I'll go through my books now. I think we all thought about it and we're just like, we could save our laziness for cards that truly matter on this person. program, no disrespect. But if they made that fight, it'd be fun.

That'd be a really fun one. All right, boy, I got a lot of, I got a lot of picks here. Okay, Finn, I know, good, good. Guys, we love you sending in. You guys are absolute maniacs and very good at making fights. So, Finn Hamilton, after he sent a pick, he said, the fact that I watched this card made me realize I have too little going on in my life. No, Finn, don't think that way.

You have a great, fulfilling life, and you're able to, you're able to fit cards like U.S. Vegas 101. in it and you're rewarded with a pretty entertaining card so please fin don't think that way um tirmirov versus urseg with a moreno loss i'm going to try to skip ones we've already done a pinto versus janata denise yeah i'm okay with that patterson versus randy brown that's a huge step up um i don't like it sorry i don't like it uh he's with you amel versus nate i don't want to die before seeing this fight so god wow i really hope this fight happens now uh gomi versus is Casaris, yes, sure.

Hackpress versus Grant Dawson. I think you said on the show, post-flight show, Mike, like if he was going to get a ranked guy, that's probably the only name he could get, but not likely. I would sound likely. I agree. Yeah. See, the difference between Nazareth and Grant is like Grant tries to do the thing. He's just not good at it.

And Nazareth doesn't do anything. So it's just neither can find like that happy, happy middle ground. He says, Brundage versus Pereira Megamadov loser Wait, which matchup is this? Hold on.

Bruno Farhead. Wait, hold on a second. Yeah, what's going on right now? Hold on. Abuse? What matchup? Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, Michelle Padrethas.

Thank you. I was like, I was like, Michelle Pereira, that's right. Yes, Michelle Padetta. Yeah, no, I was thinking, I was like, did Michelle Padetta versus Sharra get books? Like I was like, no, yes, yes,

it is, thank you. It is Abis and it is Michelle Padena. That's interesting. You have some Kansas City. either of those matches Pretty fun I'd love to see Cody fight Abis I think I'd just be exciting as hell

Confantosia tooth Yes of course Amaviev versus the Van Silva winner Joshua Van is fighting He's not fighting Josh Van is not fighting Bruno Silver He's not fighting Brno Silva

He's fighting Ray Suria right Yeah he was supposed to fight Oh but it was booked Okay okay okay sorry guys So yes he is fighting Seru is taking the fight on short notice Yeah this is next Saturday This is 313 right

313 yep Okay okay so this is yes This is news for people Okay, yeah, so no problem, but not DUDU. I don't know if people even know this happened. Yes, Josh Havana is fighting another, an undefeated flyweight in race for you. DGBB MMAA, what is up? Chepa versus Giga.

I'm a winner, Shore. I think we read a bunch of these already. Riebovich versus Bonfeme, whichever the one that's in his division. Amabai, Charles Johnson. Yeah, that makes sense. Cop title shot, yes. Hope you have a good Sunday. DGB, I hope you had a great weekend.

Artur, Artur, at Crazy B Artur on Twitter. Let's see if we've got any new ones here. Amabayev Ulan Bekhov. Yeah, so we've got to talk about another guy who's on an impressive, impressive run. Oh, so you got here that's new. Hyder Amel Sadik Yusuf, another step up. Again, I'm so, like, and these aren't even bad. I just, yeah, I don't know where you go with Hyder because I think the reason you mentioned,

he is a bit up there in age, especially for featherweight. So we don't know how much time we have to, like, build him up the traditional way. So that might happen. I mean, you could see him thrown in there with Siddique. Especially since Gomi, I had like top 25. So Hider has to jump up there. Charles Johnson versus Honolado. Ronaldo Rodriguez, excuse me, guys, if he beats Kevin Borjas in his next fight.

Yeah, okay, okay. Cheppe, oh, Mike, what do you think of this? Chepe Zalal 2. This was a rematch from LFA, which I actually don't recall this. So I will go very quickly look this up. this was a rematch from a lot of 2019 they're both very young in the careers uh eustace zal was six and oh undefeated so chepa took his uh chepa won a unanimous decision chepi was eight and three so i do we just had that with uh fredin allen and fluffy so that would be kind of fun

yeah yeah you think ysuf is a bit up there now oh for sure yeah yeah yeah like you say he's more likely to get the person who lost the the the usuf uh cater fight but but i mean but yous performance was so like not well received though i do wonder if they're going to make him like well i thought they're going to like penalize him with the gion sylva fight but yeah i don't know i think it's just like eh okay sure like jeffes i think chepi needs doing like two or three more like people remember what us of solal has done over the last year way more than what chepi merescal has done in the last year if that makes sense so Yeah, I think Jeppe's got a little more work to do.

Gustavo Martinez. He likes Nazareth-Rackbras versus Foresseum. I love that. I think that's good. Another Emil Nate Landmarker at Mike, the people are caught. They need to see Hyder and Nate fight. They need to before it's all said and done, they need see Hyder and Nate fight. Goods me.

San Patterson and Lee Jingleon, the leech. Again, I could see Sam Patterson getting a big jump up just because three, three and O at Welterweight in the OEC, three straight finishes. It does get the gears moving. Again, I think it's too soon. He's not an old guy. I don't think we need to. I think he's, again, normal athletic prime range. Let me check his age real quick.

How old is Sam Patterson? San Patterson is 28. Yes, we're not in a rush with this guy. You could go two more years of him fighting, you know, upper mid-tier Walter race before getting to some of these names. Or maybe that's where they think leeching Liang is, which is fine. And I say that. And the next pick also has Speezy 32 also wants to see Sam Patterson and the leach. So maybe you guys are on to something.

Mario Pinto, Junior Tafa, Cody Brundage. My Cody Brundage, Sezar Almeida. Yeah, someone threw that out there on my picks. That's okay. You're okay with that. Not great, but it's fine. J.G. Aldrich, Luana Santos.

I like that. Tamirov, Kai, Asakar. Ooh, Tamirov, Kai, Akasakur. I would like to see Kai not fight it flywood anymore. Not that I think he can't make it, but I just don't think he needs to. I think he's a guy who can do really well at 135, which is essentially really what he competed at in Japan.

If you're going to keep him a flyweight, that would be a great matchup, but I don't know. I don't know. And he says, congrats on Patty versus Chandler. You're who I thought of when I first. Speezy, I'm still on a high, trust me.

And I can't wait to the line. Don't listen to anybody else, okay? I know there are media members that are marching around saying, oh, without me, this wouldn't have been a thing. BS, my best friend was the first. by a long shot. I don't know. I don't know, Mike.

I don't know. If you say so, it has to be a fact. So, you know, you don't, you don't, you would never lie to America. Marcus McGahey, what's up? He calls this the running from a, the running from a cop edition. Okay, that's topical, I guess. Wow, that's great. Very political, Marcus.

We got, what's good here? Brundage versus Reese Todorovich winner. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. No, okay. I was thinking, no, Cody Brundage didn't fight Zach Reese. Mark, oh, yes, he did.

Yes, he did. He slammed him on his head. Oh. Back-to-back slam. Yeah, because I was like, I was like, Marquez fought him, right? I'm like, oh, they both bought him. They both bought him.

So, okay, Marcus, you've got to put a two next. That's not the worst thing. I kind of get what you're saying, Reese Deervich winner, but I don't really need to see like if Reese won that fight. I'm not like, yeah, let's see him run it, run it back with Cody. No, I'm sorry.

Oh, Hyder Amiel versus Kyle Nelson, one of the spoilers of the featherweight division. Canadian content, which I like. I don't think I want to see that right now. I don't think I want to see that now. Didn't Kyle get finished his last week, fight? Did he get, I think he did? I think it was a fight where he was a heavy underdog and did not spoil it. You're supposed to fight.

Oh, Steve Garcia. There you go. The aforementioned, the main machine. But that's okay. Again, he's scrappy and I don't know. Hyder would be a huge favorite, but again. And Kyle misweighed by two and a half pounds for that fight. Oh, he did.

That was unfortunate. Pinto versus Voivodkin, as a contender series guy, I assume. What's that? Pinto versus Voivodkin. Voivodkin. Boy God. Marcus, who is this? This is a contender series dude that we hasn't debuted.

Oh, Danilo. I'm sorry. So I apologize to Daniel. I'm sorry. I'm not up to date on all of my contender series guys. Yes, this was a signing from the most recent season. 7 and 0, 7.0 heavyweight. So sure.

Yeah, maybe that's the right direction to go. Chepe also likes Chepe as Alal 2. We're not matching up Silva. I know why we have that in there. Aldrich versus Wang Chong. We're not matching up Silva? Why? Oh, this is Danny Silva.

I'm sorry. I was thinking of De Silva. I got confused, right? Who did not fight on the card. I was thinking of Douglas Silva, Douglas Silva Dada, because he wrote it as D.D. Silva. And I was thinking of, you know, De Silva, you know, Douglas Silva D'S De Silva. Fair, fair, fair. My mistake.

I got, so, yeah, that's fine. Danesil versus Isaac Delgarian, sure. Yeah, Alder versus Wang. Sure. Yeah, that's, again, but this is upset city, guys. This is like, I like, I like Wang Tong. And I wouldn't make that fight. I wouldn't.

You would. No, I wouldn't. Oh, you wouldn't. The gap, the gap in experience. Like, we just saw. win probably probably like i understand the thinking here like if if wang delivers on like you know the promise that we think she has like and has truly bounced back from you know whatever she had that she had that she had that loss maybe people seen that as a blip but i also think that was sort

of an accurate gauge of where she is she doesn't have a lot of mama experience um i know she's been in combat sports for this while but ms experience a different thing so yes it'd be cool to my because you just mentioned give her a win over someone who's fought 16 times in the o'c has 10 wins nice feather in the cap of wang but she could easily just lose that fight and it might not be good for anyone. Thomas Collins, just a few picks here. Yep, cop. Cop, whoa.

Mike Cop in Cai Carre, France, main event of U.S.C. Perth. That's bad, right? I mean, aren't we now just taking two people off the table? What does Pantosia do there? Is this Pantosia going up to 135? Is this for the bacon belt? Oh, okay, okay, okay.

You know what, Thomas? Let's give you the, I don't know. Yeah, that's a, yeah, because we have to, cop has to fight somebody. When's Perth happening? Is that, that's not even, is that a rumor? Is that a, no? So they haven't, they haven't booked a card.

They just announced a deal that W. It's a TKO takeover. Oh, yes. And UFC is, right. I think the next three years, there will be an event in Perth at RAC Arena. Okay. Thomas, you got to, if you're thinking that, again, he makes sense, but I just don't see why you would take two people who should be fighting,

Fentosier off the table. But honestly, like, if Pants wanted to go fight Marab right now, this is like the right time to do it. Yes, yes. Because then you could, yeah, you could do an interim title or do a vacant belt. Like, cop and Cairo France is like in a real meritocratic fighting world is the fight you should make. Great fight. There's an argument on like who should get a title fight.

But Pants is like ready to go now. So it's like availability is your best friend. but I don't know. Thomas, I need this explain to me, though, Thomas. If that's what you're thinking, I want you to write it out. Hold my hand like I'm a child and explain it to me, please. Because I can't assume what you're thinking.

Toby Kinsella also likes brundage and Edmund, so I don't know what's out there. Amil Wood Chapa winner. Patterson, I don't think they're going to do this because I think they like this fighter. Patterson and Garimbo. It makes sense. don't think they want to do that. I think Sam clears them. Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Thank you, Toby. Barry O'Reilly, good win for Celtic yesterday. Damn straight. Celtic, of course, the only Celtic that anyone cares about. Ramazan Bakhtamira versus Tyra.

Whoa, big step up for Tyra. Johnson is very good, so he deserves it while Tyra needs a slight step back after his last fight. Either way, we get a newish contender. It could happen. It could happen. I mean, maybe. I mean, from what I understand, the UFC still thinks very highly of Tetsu Roitair. I'll leave it at that.

So, yeah, continue. J.G. Aldrich versus MBS, Miro Brunelva. While JJ isn't a terrible fighter, if MBS can't beat her, maybe she's not UFC quality anymore. Ouch, harsh, but kind of fair. You said Chepa Steve Garcia, right? Yes. Is this a two? Someone says, okay, Barry saying this is a two.

They fought on the, did you mention that? They fought on the, I assume so. LFA 80, January 2020. TK. There we go. We got a rematch anyways. Round two, Rown two TKO win for Chepe.

So we got a story here. Yeah, you know. Again, maybe this is the year of LFA rematches. I totally don't. Sure. Maybe this is the year of LFA rematches. I like that. And I like the,

when this is a year's gap because like, yeah, there's just like enough time. These are different people now. Just jumping ahead a bit here. Thank you, Barry. Nazareth and Mateo Trabeschi. I love it. Cody and Asimat Bekojev. Honestly, I thought of this one too weirdly. And Cop versus Pentosia caro France winner if that's why it's even happening. So thanks, very great picks. Four corner sports, what is up? Also likes Aldrich and Wang. Mario Pinto

Thomas Peterson. No, please God, no. Please get no. I know. I'm not interested. San Paris and Puna. Thank you. I'm with you. Peterson gets got good. sometimes sometimes shemiel gatsy have got him yeah Danny barlow that was that was good match making it Danny borlo Kevin just said

hi there's a hideer meal Kyle Nelson I don't know I don't know and I don't know again I don't know if people are doing this because they think Kyle has a chance to spoil him they want a test hider or if they think this is a like or if they want how to just roll over him

and keep the hider push going either way I think either option either reasoning makes sense okay sorry guys a lot of picks just a few more here let's go to uh Instagram really quickly Jason Dernay

What is that my friend Brundage Petroski That's middleweighty That is Hey maybe Brundage can draw Like an amazing fight out of Petrosky too I don't know I don't know

That's not Bo Nickel What are we doing here Hack Pras and CDF Yeah okay A lot Pinto versus Mo Ousman No Jason Mo Ousman is booked

With Hamdi How dare you Big doo right there How dare you know We haven't confirmed it I will say We did not announce it We have not confirmed it.

So, okay, fair. We don't know. Yeah, management teams are announcing it. So I would assume. Did they both? Even both there. Yeah. Let's let's not, let's not lie to America.

Even if we did confirm that fight, is that going on the website? Probably not. Just throwing that up there. Editorial note. Okay. So do you know what Jason? I'm sorry, I bought this. Not do, dude.

That was me just being so excited about the like 90% possibility of Mo and Hamdi that I got a upset. apologize jason i was out of line uh gerard bioggin assu and tim elliott yeah that might be the direction is heading i actually would love to see that i would think that'd be a great fight um lots lots we've got already sam patterson carlson harris again fighting him probably a more experienced guy but i don't mind it uh really good picks here guys again a lot we've already read thank you gerard and i just got one email i think Lucas Cortes well let you close the show Lucas uh he said i think the car was way better than

jenn and mike expected look because it was a lot better than a lot of us expected uh not every single single human being expected. Let's be honest. And if they're telling you that they, I told you this can be great, they're lying to you. Mike, don't you know every car that the media and like people don't hype up as

always turns out to be good. By the way, that losing two fights on Friday help this card tremendously. Oh, yes. You really did. I, you know,

I'll always wonder what if, I'll cry if we never get Luana, Carolina, De La Rosa, but sacrifices must be made by sacrifice. Lucas. I'll read just read all yours out Mars called do ho choy hide it amiel Nate Landwork because that'll be a war yeah people want it You want it tamirov Kai skur again I like that Hockbras for a ziam brundage iron turtle cap pantosia despite the clear iraig and weird ending always cheat

Yes that is the lesson we've learned over the last few weeks guys right that's the lesson we learned from uh but we might just learn that from roach and tank I don't know I don't know what the hell's going on there so uh cheating guys it's only cheating if you get caught guys if you don't get caught guess what it's called winning often it's called winning or at least retaining your title. Guys, next week, no submissions. We also live next Sunday for on to the next one following UFC 313. I'm not going to run down this entire card

because I don't want to. The main card's pretty solid. prelims have some interesting things, but for the most part, it's fine. We all know what the main event is. Alex Pereira versus Maghamed Ancalaia for the light heavyweight title. Justin Gachie versus Raphael Pizzi,

to the co-main event. Amanda Lemosch versus Yasmin Lucindo, King Green versus Mauricio Huffy, Jalen Turner, Ignacio Baja Mondays. That is your main card. It's a pretty darn good one. Prelims will feature fights such as Bruno Ferreira versus Armand Petrosian.

I have no idea what that fight's going to look like. I'm truly fascinated by what that could be. We will also see fights such as Myron Santos versus Francis Marshall, Curtis Blades versus Risbon Coonnier, Ray Saruia versus Josh Van. It's going to be a fun time. This is certainly not UFC 314.

This is probably a touch more interesting to the casual audience than UFC 315. But that's kind of where we're at right now. We'll be live next week to recap and do some matchmaking following the Pereira versus Ancolaa fight card. And we thank you for joining us as always. Back next week, always remember the golden rule.

Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA, it is supposed to be fun, and we will have more fun matchmaking live following UFC 313 right here on on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

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Bye.