MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 116

Episode Date: April 26, 2026

Aljamain Sterling wants his shot to become a two-division UFC champion. After dominating Youssef Zalal in the main event of Saturday's UFC Vegas 116 card at the Meta APEX, the former bantamweight titleholder has certainly made a case. Did "Funk Master" do enough to leapfrog Movsar Evloev earn the shot at Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight strap? 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 Sterling following his lopsided decision win over Zalal to pick up his third win in his new division. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Joselyne Edwards after upsetting Norma Dumont in the co-main event, Rafa Garcia following his impressive win over Alexander Hernandez, along with other main card winners Davey Grant, Raoni Barcelos, Ryan Spann, and more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Well, hello there, everybody. Welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. The matchmaking crowns are back after UFC Vegas 116, a card that, at least historically, will go down as one that happened at the world's most famous meta-Apex. 11 decisions out of 13 fights, we were knocking on the door of some history and not the best. best kind, but I will say I got to watch as a fan, not the entire card, but I don't know. It was not one we'll be talking about after today, more than likely, but big win for Al Jermaine Sterling. That at least creates some sort of conversation about the featherweight division, and we'll

see where Al Jho goes and where some of the other big winners go from the UFC's most recent fight night event. I am Mike Heck, and joining me is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, Gosh darn it. My best friend, the one and only, Alexander Kaylee, aka the Prince of Positivity. How positive are we following UFC Vegas 116? Mike, I'm also fired up.

We win this history. We went to history. 11 decisions, tied, tied, 11 decisions, varying the most on a UFC card. Well done. It's well done. Matchmakers. You almost sounded like you were at a loss for words,

Mike, to begin the show. You were so astonished by the action you witnessed at the apex. Yeah, this was, listen, this was the perfect storm of just, like, mediocrity. And it's, like, a lot of the fights weren't even bad. That's the thing. Like, I know, I was saying this on the post-fight show. A lot of people just kind of glanced at, like, the Wikipedia and be like, oh, look at all these decisions. This must have been the worst card ever.

It wasn't great. I'm not trying to, I'm not telling me it was great. But some of these fights are pretty good. Victor Valenzuela, Max Griffin, I thought was nice. Cody Darden, Jafel Filio was kind of fun, too. Michelle Montague, Marvino-sova was fun. Like, honestly, a lot of these fights that were. went to distance.

Pretty good fights. I would say more so than I. If I'm forgetting, then guys, those are the one, and I'm not mentioning them, those are the ones you can kind of assume that they're not great. It didn't open. The Alancar Palaschi wasn't a great opener.

That's fine. But otherwise, good decisions. Like a moderate amount of stakes. I guess we'll see how much. I guess that's a point of this show. Like depending which direction, Mike and I and you guys go with the matchup picks. You'll kind of get a vibe of like,

okay, well, how meaningful were some of these? But I like that they had fighters on win streaks, facing other fighters on win streaks. So you might have been disappointed, depending on who you were rooting for, but you also kind of saw people kind of continue positive trends. And we theoretically, Mike, we theoretically got two like people who should legitimately be in the title mix from the winners of the first two fights. But again, I have to emphasize theoretically. Yeah. I'm with you.

This wasn't bad. Like, again, I wasn't working. I just sat back and like watch the main card and some of the other. fights. It just, it just, I don't know if it's the production or what it is, but it just seems like I'm watching fights for four days. And it's nothing against the athletes. It's just kind of how I feel sometimes because I didn't think the main car was that bad. Ryan Spam Marcus Buccia, I was having a damn good time watching these two Hoff and Puff so hard after 45 seconds of action. I mean, these two guys were dying in there. Did you see? And then Span delivers the

Did you see Spans way? I did after you let us know on the Slack channel. Yeah. What was going on there? He's beefy. I told people he packed on like he came in at 252 for his last heavyweight fight, 264 for this one. So 12 pounds.

And I would I would not say 12 pounds of all muscle. I think would be the nice way to put it. But effective. We'll talk more about it later, but that fight was hilarious. It was very fun. and the finish is absolutely vicious. So good. With stakes, though, I think we had,

the UFC's going to trim their roster after this event. Like, there's just no doubt about it. Just like the movie is spring cleaning, the TKO spring cleaning? Yeah, this card, I think, is going to serve as we're going to snip some names off this roster. We had three, in my opinion, we had three loser-leaf town matches.

Okay. Marcus Bucch is gone. Yep. Even though I think he's the funniest fighter in the roster. Head off of here has got to be gone. I mean, he just kind of asked him. Whoa. He let that one slip away.

You can't be out here losing to Eric McConnellco. No disrespect to the man. But like, if you, if you, the Gilbert Burns way of looking at things, like, if he can't be Eric McConico, you should probably, you know, beat feet out of there. You know what I mean? And Sidrigue Dumas, I think we're done here. I was even around is the question. Yeah. Because whoever lost that.

fight was gone. They might just boot both of them anyways, but the one, honestly, the one name I'm I'm confused about after this. Don't say it. Don't say it. What do we do with Meyerbrana Silva? Stop it. You keep her around. You keep her around. Eight fight contract. Eight fights. Because we have to, we have to let this take of like, she's the number one bad and weight in the world. She's got to be the champion. We have to let this take age out in our favor, right? So bad. August, 2023, or August or September. I can remember when we did a rankings update after she beat Holly Holie Holm, which was later overturned, by the way.

Yeah, we had her number one. It was a weird time. It was a weird time. I think Amanda had left. I think we were like, well, we don't want to put, like, I think Juliana Pena had not fought in a while. I think we knew, like, obviously, she was going to be involved in some sort of title fight at some point.

Raquel Pennington was there, but we're like, ah, does Raquel Pennington have as good to win as Holly Holm on her resume? Like, she fought home twice and lost. We kind of have to put MBS above her. So, yeah, at some point, we had MBS, 2023. We had her as our number one, uh, that did not last long.

That did not last long. So, uh, I think both her and Vietta, if there's fights left on their contract, they just let them fight it out, right? I think if they're,

I think you're correct. I don't know their contract status. This was their last fights. Yeah, it might be their last fights. Yeah. And good winner from Michelle Monique. I don't know how much attention she's going to get after this event,

but, uh, I learned a lot about Michelle Moniqueu. Mm-hmm. I'm like, she's, she is a force. She is she's big and strong and powerful And I don't know. I don't know

I'm very confused about Michelle Monacoe Like I don't know This is a good win She is a force but I mean if she goes I wonder I wonder how she would do against like a Raquel Pennington Or uh or uh or Jula had a painy right now Very curious I don't know if I'd pick her to win those fights

No not yet but no The fact that she's a moderately athletic women's 135 her gives her an advantage over half the division. That's very true. It's crazy. She came out like a shot guy. I had never seen a women's man to make move that fast in the first minute of that fight.

I was like, whoa. I was like what's going on? Yeah. Since like, honestly, I know this is a bold comparison. Since like Rhonda Rousey, I had not seen someone explode out of the gate like that at 135. Yeah. Well, let's get into it.

We will be talking about the thriving women's 135 pound division very quickly on this program. But first let's start with the UFC featherweight division. It was a big one in the main. event. Former Banimoy champion Al Jermaine Sterling facing Yusuf Salal's first main event. Zalal was the favorite. Aljo opened as like a pretty decent favorite and money just poured in on Yusuf Zalal. No respect for the Funkmaster. None. Everyone just pouring money on on use of Zal. And I got to say, okay, this fight went exactly the way I thought it was going to go. I didn't think Zlaal was going to win. I thought this is a little too much too soon for him. Josh,

It's a great win, but it's just a, there's just levels to this game, as the great Daniel Cormier once said. And there was a clear path to victory for Aljo. And he took it. He found it. I actually thought he's going to finish Yusuf Zal. I was actually kind of impressed with Yusuf just being in, when he was in tough spots, I thought he was just going to be all squirrely and just kind of find himself into a submission mistakenly.

And he almost did a couple of times, but that was mostly because Al Jalj Mdrami and Dernern. Sterling did such great work. But yeah, judges, all three judges sought the same way I did 49, 45 with the 10-8 in there. And shout out to Zalal for hanging in there until the very end. But what a win for Al Jemaine Sterling, A.K. So the question is, what are we doing now at the top of this division? Because we have Alexander Volkovsky, who does not have an opponent right now. Movesar Voiv defeated Lorone Murphy in a very, very close fight.

A lot of people still feel to this day. Al Jermaine Sterling included that Lerone Murphy won that fight. John Silva's out here saying Volk's ducking me. I think it's the most ridiculous stuff I've ever heard in my entire life. And then we have Al Jemann Stirling, former Bannemweight champion. A lot of people feel like he is the greatest Bannemweight ever because of the title defense streak he was on and the wins he garnered. He's at least in the conversation.

What do we do here, A.K.? Do we do former champion versus current? two-time champion? Do we give Movzar his flowers? Or do we go, maybe John Silva can beat this guy and we can have an absolute lunatic holding the title in one of our deeper divisions? What are they going to do here, okay? What are we doing with Al Jermaine Sterling? I don't know. First, no, a terrible answer for a podcast. Bye, everybody. No, first, I'll say, Zalal, I just want to say he will be better from this fight. He will just become a better. I know it's such a cliche. I'm sure it's not what Zalal wants to hear right now, but give him a week and he'll like, they'll watch this

footage and be like, okay, here's so many things we could learn and what we need to work on. And he'll just get better. He's only 28, 29, 29, 20s his prime. As for Aljo, Mike, he can't leave Frog Mobsar, right? Mowbrosear beat Diego Lopez. And Diego Lopez got two title fights. Moussar beat Aljo, a very close fight, very close fight. He beat Al Jemaine Sterling.

He has a win over Al Jemey Sterling. And Al Jol Mitz Sterling jumps over him. That's three title shots that he's been passed over for two guys. that he has beaten. That's insane. Like, I just, that can't be. That can't be. So I can't do it.

So what to do with? So I'm sticking with Evloia. My gosh, I need to book this Volcanovsky title fight at some point. This is getting ridiculous. And for Aljo, I think this is a fight I've suggested before, and I'm still interested in it. Let's dig up Yaya Radriguez. Don't know where he is.

If A year has been, you know, is an opportunist, is waiting for the right opportunity to fight a, I would say a winnable fight that keeps him in the title picture. Al Jel's right there. So yeah, you're going to do whatever you're going to do. Tell your manager, start calling out Aljo. Let's make this fight happen. And we'll reassess what's to do with both these guys.

Should that go down? So Mobsar should get the title shot. So I'm going to give him this. Give it to Mozar. Eventually, I'm going to cash it on the Mozar wins the belt thing. I'm putting it like, and I'm going out to Maine Stirling versus John Silva. Like that fight just makes sense. The winner of that fight like fights,

winner of Moves-Arin Volk. There's just no other way you can go about this. Melke Costa, great. He still has work to do. I know Steve Garcia is fighting Diego Lopez, but Steve is just not the most interesting guy in the world, even though he's a really fun fighter. And I kind of think he's going to run the F over at the White House, but I could be wrong. And so I kind of feel like we've narrowed the field here. You do Al J. Silva. That's the next in-line fight. No, what happens in these next two fights. And Melchie Costa beats Zara Lalan and Steve Garcia beats Diego Lopez or however you want to slice it, the two winners can match up and they can just have like a fun fight.

And if the right guy wins, then we can catapult them, however you do it. But thinking from the UFC's perspective, AK, I feel like John Silva should not be even in this conversation right now. I mean, he got nuked by Diego Lopez. It was a very fun fight, but he got obliterated. And yes, he got a win over Arnold Allen And it was a decent scrap And it was a fine performance

But this just It just wasn't the type of win That you're just like, yeah, let's throw him in there For a title fight So I don't feel like he should be in the discussion right now If you're the UFC, if you're sitting in the war room right now And your main focus is Let's book Volcanowski in the most interesting fight

That will have fans saying you know what, that's pretty interesting. Are we going and excited, I guess, if we're trying to get eyeballs here. Are we going Mosa? Because of the intrigue, but he's not that active. Are we going John Silva because he's a maniac?

Or are we going with Al Jemaine Sterling? Because, I mean, that is, to me, that is the most easy fight to promote because of the lineage Sterling had at 135. We're basically ushering out, we're soon to be ushering out that entire era of championship MMA because Volk doesn't have a lot of time left. I don't think Al Jalda has got a lot of time left either. How would you do it if you're sitting in the UFC seat?

Man, I mean, I kind of like the scenario you laid out. Like, I love the idea of having Malki Costa and Arnold Allen in the conversation and Steve Garcia and Diego Lopez. Like, I want that Steve Garcia-Digo-Lopez fight at the White House to have stakes. Like, it's just a great fight. Don't you're wrong. I'm not going to harp on like, you know, we're doing the preview for that fight eventually. Like, oh my gosh, what does this mean for Diego Lopez and Steve Garcia's title? Like, we shouldn't care that much.

No. Boy, it would be nice. Like, you know, Steve Garcia won that fight. Melchie Costa won his fight. Again, they're not next in line. But, you know, we head into the back end of 2026, early 2027 with this like very healthy contenders line. Because if Diego Lopez wins, no, we're not. Sorry, we're not.

Please, for at least 18 months. Can we keep Diego out of the title fight conversation? If Arnold Allen wins, not so bad, not so bad. Like, again, not a lot of mainstream cachet, but a guy who has certainly built quite the resume. Did you mention Lorraine Murphy? He's out of the equation right now, I guess. Not out of the equation, but it's tough.

He's out. I mean, not forever, but he's. That was his big moment. I know. He's like, do you remember the excitement people had when he was fighting Aaron Pico? Not a lot there, honestly. And the UFC killed, yeah. And then the U.S.

killed whatever came out of it. when it's actually an exciting finish. Pico, Pico has to be in the conversation. I don't know. I don't know. I'm excited about where it's going. I don't know the neatest, best way to book this, like pro rast and style. I obviously want Evloev to get it.

If they can keep Sterling or Silva in line, that's great, like you said, by matching them up together. But I think Evloy just has to get in there first. Whatever happened with Sterling Silva, great. I feel like you can't lose. I think one of them is a very logical challenger. I do love the champion versus champion thing, very easy to sell. But give me an employee, then give me the Sterling Silva winner next. And then we'll see from there if there's like Malky Costa and Arnold Allen or a Steve Garcia in the mix.

Or someone else. Someone else are probably, we're probably forgetting. I'm trying to look at my rankings right now, but I feel like there's a name. I'm forgetting. Or someone who just is maybe two wins away from having a name. I don't know. Yeah, maybe. So, yeah, interesting times at 145.

We'll see what happens with Volkovsky. I'm not used to him just like sitting out so long between fights. Like I know he just fought in February, but it was like he barely fought that night because he just like ran over Diego Lopez without really trying that hard. So hopefully we see him this summer, early fall maybe. And we get some answers and try to move this division along. How about Jocelyn Edwards? By the way, who won our picks last night? Did I win?

I definitely wasn't me. I think I was like, Hawaii, honestly, it's like, four. out of, I was four or five out of 13. Just checking real quick here. Where is it? Do you feel like, oh, how did you know? How did you know? Were you keeping track?

No, because I picked like, because I picked Jocelyn Edwards. Okay. And I picked Tolita Allen Carr, who were like big underdogs. Yeah, yeah. And I felt like a lot of the stuff that did not go the way most people thought, everybody else went in that same direction. So kind of feel like I had good. chance last night. I believe

eight underdogs won last night or something. There was some close ones too. There's somewhere like plus one 10 or something, but that still counts. Like I was Aljo. Aljo wasn't underdogs. So you, that counts. I also only eight underdogs. So not a good night guys. If you were like doing big like favorite heavy parlayers or like that, boy, not a good night. Now if you're like me and you did a six legger of, I picked six like fights that will go to the second round, you did just great. It was a good time. Yeah, yeah. It was great. Jad has told me this before, like,

the worst part of those parlors is you're rooting for a fight to, you're rooting against excitement. You're essentially like, oh boy, I hope this does not end in a first round finish. And like, what a horrible thing to do. So I don't know, not the most fun thing to do. And a six-legers are stupid guys. Don't do six-legs. It's just dumb.

Like, that's just, you're essentially on only rare occasions are you not just giving money to these betting sites. So that's just bored. I want to say, Mike, also there was a poll. Sorry. Most are of Loyab on our site. 70% people think he's going to get the next title show. Okay.

So there you go. So there you go. I'm sorry, Mike. What was the original question? We were talking about Jocelyn Edwards. Yeah, I was just wondering if I won because I did. Oh, and yes. Oh, yes.

Eight out of 13. Well, well done. Well done. So I don't know how you did that. I could not pick this car at all. I thought Joshson had a really good chance. Norma Dumont's reaction to that was astounding to me. I was like, were you in the same fight?

There are multiples like this. Martinelli as well after the Davey Grandfly. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, how is this even a question right now? But either way, Jocelyn Edwards gets another big win. She is just coming through in a big way. And now, AK, she is about to get the biggest fight of her life, biggest fight of her career,

one where she could become a massive baby face and potentially set her up probably not to fight Kayla or Amanda, because I think both of them are going to be done by the time it gets to this point, but Jocelyn Edwards is going to face R-A-F color commentator Juliana Pena

in a massive fight for her, and I think Giuliana Pena actually watched last night. I was like, you know what? I might be able to beat her. I might come back and fight her. This one makes sense. So I think Penae was watching very closely. Like, yeah, screw it. Let's go. So I think that's the fight we're getting. Can we do a

friend's forever? Is this too obvious? Yeah, probably. Are you, I'm so sorry I did it with Jay last time. Is that, are we okay? Are you and I okay? We're okay. I didn't think Jay was a singer. He was great.

Jay did a great job. Shout out to Jay Anderson for helping out with the show after UFC Winnipeg. I have, by the way, I'm going to do some behind the scenes stuff here. I asked the group, I need a women's band to wait update just for, you know, we're the little graphic for it. I was denied. People said they will not do it. Well, we'll talk about this Monday's meeting, guys. don't worry, we'll talk about this.

But I will say, I updated my women's 135 rankings. And I have Johnson Edwards. I put her above Banya. I put her number two. This is what, five straight wins now? Four. Five, five straight. She did miss weight for the first

fight of this. Okay, so it's fine. The Tamaris Vidal fight, if you don't want to count that. Four straight fights where she's made weight and won. Three of those were finishes. You know, Nora Cornoli, probably the biggest win before that. Avenged to win, which really, loss excuse me which we always like to see and then now norman dumont who was i think pretty

firmly in our top five and juliana pain just has been active so i have her number two behind kela harrison so yes um if pania wants her title fight she's got to go through uh she got to go through jocelyn edwards in my opinion this is wild man yeah it's ugly it's ugly i've also mike's looking at it right now and i've had to remove like certain names just for inactivity Raquel Pennington's out, Irenna's out, Panic Yanzaad was in our rankings for a long time. It's bad, then, it's bad. There's just not a lot of women's van der Weitz,

and they're not particularly active either, so it's bad. Yeah. Yeah. Melissa Croton. Oh, no, Montague, Michelle Montague, I'm sorry. Oh, I might have to be Moniqueue. Okay. Guys, you're watching a live, or you're listening to a live ranking.

Michelle Moniqueue is the 11th. ranked. 11. I might have to, I mean, she just beat the number 11. Our former number one. She's still behind Bia Mosquita, though,

in my rankings. I think the only one who doesn't have Bia right now. I need to see. No, man, I just, she's beating Monsi Rendon. What do you want? So you have Melissa Crodin in there, but you don't have Bia mosquito.

Melissa Crodin, who has a loss in the UFC. Daria Zalaznaikova is a better win than Moncy Rendon. and whoever be it beaten her first fight who i can't remember right now i'll say this bull i'll say this with no backup to my no evidence i'm just saying it you know what canadian bias how about that welcome back to the rankings nora cordoli yeah welcome back in she's in her 10th i had a welcome macy chase on back into the rankings as well good for her i'm also keeping nbs in there so.

Yeah, MBS is out. She is officially out. She's gone. All right. I have updated the rankings because I'm a team player. Jocelyn Edwards will be the number three

ranked women's Vandum White behind Harrison and Pena. It's still pretty good. Pretty good place to be. And luckily for Norma Dumont, nowhere to drop her. Nowhere. No, I can't put Caitlin Vier above her

or Yanna Santos or Carolosa or Elyne Perra. I can't. I can't do it. So, yeah, what a night for Jocelyn Edwards. Good stuff. Let's go to lightweight division, A.K. Fun one, Rafa Garcia.

It's kind of dominated Alex Hernandez. Like, Hernandez was a trier, and I'll give him credit for that. But Garcia just, Garcia looks like two Alex Hernandez is in there. He was just so long. Hernandez couldn't get near him. It ended up being like a pretty scrappy scrap in the end. But clear win for Garcia. dude is rolling right now.

Lightway rocks, okay, where are we going with Mr. Garcia? Yeah, he's so fun. This is great matchmaking. I feel a little bit, was I wrong to believe that this was finally going to happen for Alexander Hernandez.

I believed as well. I mean, I didn't think you would like go on a title run or anything, but yeah. He's in his prime. He was on a good run. He's finishing people. He was able to shrug off

this stupid betting odds, you know, controversy, which I genuinely believe was not his fault, like, getting, you know, whatever. That line movement is just, you know, too many loose lips, too many loose lips in his camp or whatever. Or in his gym. And then, yeah, just kind of, you know, if this is the first

time you'd seen Allison Hernandez's fight in a while, like if you hadn't been paying attention to his win streak, he would have been like, oh, yeah, no, this guy's not a, this guy's not going to be a top 25 lightweight. And that sucks because, I don't know, we've always kind of, we've always, we've followed this guy from a very young age, as it were. And, you know, he's a talented guy.

But Rapha Garcia, he's a story, man. He looks great. He's such a fun fighter. Again, one of those guys you play with anyone. I want him to run it back with Nazrat Haqparas. Nasraqparas. Give me it too. Yeah, give me this rematch.

It's been a while. I think Nazareth probably needs a little more time to recover from that cell killed KO. Maybe I'm not. Maybe he's ready to jump back in. But give another couple of months, then book the fight if Raphaa Garcia can stand to wait just a little bit, just a little bit. And I'm sure he would love to get that fight back. Um, I mean, the beauty of sort of missing out on things is, um, like, I haven't masturbate for Tofique Maasiof yet. So now I can. Because I wasn't on the UFC Seattle edition of On to the next one. Okay.

So, uh, Rafi Garcia versus Tofeyk Mossive. Let's go ahead and have some fun. Bangor. Yeah, there's no way that fights bad. There's no way that fights bad. Just like there's no way this, this fight is going to be bad either, okay? Davy Grant, 40 years young, the man is just a hero. Guy's not going to win any belts, but there's no chance that, like, you know when Davey Grant fights, it's going to rock. And you even said in our Slack channel, like, this fight's going to be a banger. And it was with Adrian Luna, Martinetti, who just had a damn good time in there. But Grant's just, he's just such a dog. He's just an absolute dog.

Goes out there and gets the win. And now we're going to get Davey Grant versus Adrian Yanis. and it's going to rule. Yeah, that's a great, guys. There's so many ways you can go with Davey Grant. There's some rematches that are pretty intriguing. We'll get to that with some of the listener picks. Who did you pick, Mike?

Adrian Yannos. Mike, that is a two. Two. Two. Yes. No, I'm not. I'm saying it now. Okay.

We're going to do it again. You can edit this later. You can edit this later. You can edit this later. Again, I didn't want, I was working last night, so I forgot. That's fine. But I just want to see them fight again. Thank you.

This could be a five, and I would still pick it. Again, I just want to see Dave, but grant anyone. I love Adrian Luna Martinetti. Yes, he just kept running into David Grant's punches, which is all we want from him. That's all we want from a young prospect. I'm going to keep going in. I'm getting countered. I'm getting pieced up.

But guess what? I'm going back in. And it's great. And it led to a great fight and an extra $100,000. So good for you. Good for both guys. I will say, Kaposa had a hilarious. hilarious tweet where he was just like, no, sorry.

Well, he said, like, I feel bad for him because after the the Lockton fight as well for Contender Series, this is just kind of what people will expect from Luna Martinetti now. Like, if he ever has a boring fight now, even if he wins, he's like, oh, boo, like, you know, the reasons this guy's on the roster is put on like Bantamweight banger, but like, that's not good for his long-term health, you know, at some point he may want to be more strategic, but I hope not. I want to just see him keep smashing in there.

David Grant, got a bit of a dream fight here, Mike. Really, really would love to see Davey Grant fight Victor Henry. Win-loser draw, I think. When-loseer draw, I know he's fighting Bryce Mitchell, U.C. Vegas 118 on June 6th. I'd prefer coming off a win, I think. But I don't think it matters. I think I would just really really like to see this match-up.

So, Davey Grant, Victor Henry. Let's go. Yeah, man. Boy, that June 6th card's looking pretty decent, huh? Yeah, yeah. That's one of the better, it's one of the better Apex effort. in quite some time, honestly. Like, that whole main card is pretty good.

Balban-Bahn-Fem, Alan Shabazian, which you guys know how I feel about that fight. It's silly. But still, it's the co-main event. Ewo's back against Billy Al-A-Cana. Yeah. Love that. This should be on the road somewhere.

Like, I think this is just silly. Yeah. Foresiam, Tom, I don't know why Fores is fighting Tom Nolan, but... So weird. So we did not have that in our Otno. I'll tell you, I'll go through all the Otno picks, I don't think any of us picked for S. Z.D.M. and Tom Nolan.

Very strange. They're really trying to make Tom Nolan happen. And he's good. So, like, I get it. This is a big opportunity for him. Bryce Mitchell, Victor Henry, Marcus Begige, Jakub Wicklax, Chelsea Chandler, Priscilla Kachewara? I mean,

that's got to be a loser-leaves-taxed match, even though you guys know how I feel about Priscilla Kachuaer. Jordan Levitt, Joe Anderson-Brito. It's a fun one, man. It's a fun card. So shout out to the UFC. doing the thing. They didn't really care too much about this one, but they certainly did a great job booking June 6th, which I really, really like. Let's continue on to maybe my hero of the of the hour.

Hione Barcellos, AK, what can't this man do? The 40s, the Banimate 40s. I'm so proud of them, just representing for us oldies, going out there and getting it done. Montel Jackson loses another splitie. It's pretty clear of Barcelos on this fight, but, you know, one of the judges saw it differently. Start not pretty rough for good old Ione, but Barcellus is such a, such a gamer. Where are we going here, AK? This guy deserves another ranked guy or at least somebody that's motoring up the division right now. Where are we going here?

Man, Mike, you know, I picked Montel to win this fight. And we had, you know what? It was my fault. I didn't think properly. We had dueling birthday magic. Are you aware of this? I did not know. Montel turned 34 on Friday, the day of the way ends.

How many turns 39 next Friday? So he had his own birthday match going and I did not take that into consideration. He's got, he's just rocking the gray hair too. He's got some gray hair up there. He's like, yeah, I'm almost 40. What do you want? And guess what? I can still kick ass.

Yeah, another tough split he lost for Montel. This one a little bit more encouraging, I think, than the figurato loss, which I just found like depressing. But yes, I'll congrats so how to it. Congrats to Houdi. He's now won five straight. He should have been ranked already over Talbot. I still think people ranking Talbot over him is freaking crazy.

I gave him. Oh, yes. So this is, I realized he actually helped me solve a problem because there's a fighter out there who I've been trying to figure out what's next for him. And I think, and I did pick Song Yodong for this guy. Last time Song Yadong is now booked. So I'm freeing up Farid Bashirat again to fight. Barcellos. That's what I want to see. That's a real test for Farid. That's a huge step up in

competition, I think, for Farid. And even if I know people hate this guy going decisions all the time, but even if you win a decision over Howony, man, that's really, really impressive. So let's be, and if you're how many, boy, you beat Fried Baccharat. It's no joke, man. We're talking he's in the title picture. Like I just, it could be, man. It could be a late title charge. I don't know. So I didn't go in this direction. I actually thought the guy who's picking was ranked, but he's not. I'm kind of surprised by this. Let's see what Charles Dordane's got for him.

That's what I'm going with. There's a little bit of spark, a little bit of excitement for Charles Dordane. Let's go with that. Frasurats, like, you know, he gets to fight another rank guy, but Barcelos is going to be ranked. He'll be number 14. It'll get to defend his ranking. The other one I was thinking of, AK, but I don't think the UFC would do this is Raul Roses. Junior.

I love that idea. I do, too. I think the UFC looks at this and is like, boy, he might just go out there and beat Raoul. And I think I'd pick Hyoni to beat him. I would too. And he'd probably be like two to one underdog or something. I'm like, I'm jumping on that.

I'm jumping on that. I know he wants to fight Figgie, Barcellus, that is, which I wouldn't hate that either. But I don't think they're going to shoot him up that quickly. So, yeah, Jordane's good. There's no wrong answer. to this, okay. Really just pick a band and wait in the top 20 and we're cooking with gas here. He's great. He's great. He's great.

Ryan Span fought last night, AK. He's also great. He's also great. Yes. Just keep doing this. Just 264 Ryan Span. Don't even give him a training camp. Just give him like a week's notice and throw them in there with dude and you'll get a funny result. Something funny will happen. And Ryan Span went out there and just just nukes poor Marcus Bucccecha. who's got to be out of the UFC after this. Like, this is just, we got to have limits here on what a UFC fighter is that I love Buccecha, but I mean, come on now. This is, this is insane.

I don't know how Ryan Span's going to feel about this fight, because I don't know if he wins it, but at least it'll be fun until it's over. GoCon, Saracom, AK, versus Ryan Span next is where I'm going. No. What is? No, they did. What is that? I hear a symbol being like someone's tapping on the symbol?

Is this, is California dreams on? What's going on here? Oh, no, it isn't. It's just the band. It's the band. Three, two, one. Friends forever. Suck it, Jay Anderson.

No. Just kidding. No, I'm just kidding, Jay. I'm sure you suck like an angel. But yeah, why not? It just makes sense. Yeah. Winnipeg.

A lot of Winnipeg to Vegas. biggest 116 matchmaking, but there's no way that fight is not spectacularly funny. Heavyweight is back. I mean, no. I mean, this type of matchmaking, the Ryan Span, Buchetcha matchmaking, I think fans are just embracing what heavy weight has become. And we're just having a good time with it. Yep. And that's really all you can do.

It's really all you can do. It's back. It's back. Time for the wild card round, AK. I'm very curious to see where you went here. We're going to pick one fighter. fighter we have not match made for yet we'll match big form right now who did you go with ak michelle montague i knew you were going of course you knew uh i'm not going crazy with it again

this is my three fights rule i like to see you have three fights in the oc for i know what you are a win over mbs even this stage of mbs career still very impressive i think a more experienced opponent again someone who's had high stakes fights so well done well done and not not particularly close either it's not like i know she didn't finish her but like this was a pretty convincing win for Michelle Montague. So I'm just going to go, we're just staying around the lower half of the pantomimate rankings.

Claudia Segula. It's just a free body. This is a fight. This is a showcase fight for sure. I'm like wanting Montague to either have a dominant decision with like a 10-8 round in there or get a finish would be nice. She'll be a minus 800 favor in that fight probably.

And I want to see her and that's how she performs that scenario and deliver. So Claudia Segula, you are you are I'm sorry you're getting called up prove me wrong prove me wrong make some people some money getting upset I don't know but I want to see if Montu's is close to being the real deal and then after that I'll probably do make her the wild card pick again if she's not the main card and give her a ranked point you know how earlier you were like I needed this result to solve a mystery for me to kind of give me an

answer the main event gave me the answer I needed okay because I kept coming out of WFC 327, I was like, how do we matchmake for Aaron Pico? How do we do it? Because we have to be very careful here. Because we can't put him in there with like a dude who, and I'm not saying that Yusuf Zalal can't get him because he probably, he could. But you kind of just run into that with every single dude Pico fights. Like if he just gets hit clean, he's cooked.

I know Pico will disagree with that sentiment, but it's just when Petrival, Pet Bowl is barely hitting you, sitting you at 60% and wobble in your ass, uh, you're gonna have some problems when you move up this division. However, the UFC is not gonna waste time here. I, you and I, AK, have been on the same page. Aaron Pigo versus William Go Me is like perfect. He ain't gonna get hurt in that fight. He's gonna get tested, but he ain't gonna get hurt.

He certainly ain't gonna get slept in that fight. And I'm trying to like look at this division to, see what makes sense. As much as I would love to see, I mean, I don't, the only fight that like made any sense was Aaron Pico versus Josh Emmett, because Josh is just up there in age. But even then, like, Josh might just clobber him with a big shot, even though Pico wins the entire fight until that point. But after watching what Al Jameen Sterling did to use of Zal last night, like this might be the best case in error for Aaron Pico. I don't know if I'd pick him to beat Yusuf Zalal, but if you're Yusuf, if you're looking

at names in this division that can quote unquote get me back in the title picture, I think Aaron's the guy, man. I think he should go out there and shoot for the shoot for that dude. Go on every show, talk to Damon, call out Aaron Pico. That's the one. And if I'm Aaron Pico, I'm calling for Yusuf. There is a, you, you saw what Al Jem Sirling did. All you have to do is tackle this man and you're winning. You're beating this. You're going to beat him. And guess what? Al Jemate Sterling was winning striking exchanges with Yusuf Zalaal, which I didn't see that coming either.

So I actually think if the UFC is going to try to do some of the Arniko, Pico, and they're going to. This makes the most sense. Gives him a top 10 guy. He might get clipped. Chances are he probably won't. And of all the guys that are up in the division that he could realistically fight, I think he's got a shot against Yusuf Zalal.

I wouldn't pick Pico against Maw. I wouldn't pick Pico against Maw. mostly anybody else. I might pick him against Yusuf after what I saw last night. Yeah, this is the way to go, I think. A lot of listeners, I'll just give a little preview here. A lot of listeners sent that one in. And first, I don't know.

I guess I just wasn't thinking about it. I was like, oh, I guess. And then, Mike, you've laid it up perfectly why this is a good choice. They have something with Pico. Belator has something with Pico. I think everyone knows this guy is the right set of matchups away from being a very convincing and exciting title challenger. I mean, just his highlight reel is crazy.

I mean, he just has such an awesome highlight reel. He has an anti-highlight reel as well. But if you just take his best moments, you're like, this dude is a world beater. Like, this guy is so, so, so talented. And I know it's almost damning him with faint praise at this point, because at some point people keep saying you're talented, you're talented, you're talented. And it's almost like when we started talking about how someone has like, oh, a great chin. It's like they're not delivering the results that they should be.

So maybe that is a lot. Maybe that is the result that can get people. Pico, again, sort of not just viewed as a fun fighter, but someone who can beat like a really fellow talented guy who's in his prime. I like it. I like it, man. I think I would like to see this fight in front of people, hopefully not like headlining an apex card or something.

But either way, yeah, make it happen. Because I do want to be five rounds, though. Not that it, I mean, you probably won't go the distance, but I'd like it to have the potential to go five rounds. Yeah, I mean, that could be a road show car. Like, if they go back to, like, New Mexico or something, Sure. That's a good main event.

If they go back to Denver, that's a good main event. It's a solid one right there. So, yeah, made event. Let's do it. Let's do it. All right. I didn't get a lot from the peeps, AK. I only got three.

So, I mean, I'm kind of here. Sometimes I'm not. I'll be here for the next several weeks. Yeah, I did have someone sent to me because our pal John Ray sent to me because he wasn't sure if you'd be around. So you can count that. He said to me as well.

Okay. Oh, Alison, you're already counting that. I'm counting this one. Okay. All right. Speaking of the great John Ray, here we go. Tolita Alancar. By the way, four and one in the UFC, three-fight win streak for Tolita Alancar.

Just kind of the, just underrated, no one giving her much of a chance. She's a big underdog last night. And she went out there and got it. Alan Carr versus Mizuki Inouye. I like that. Valenzuela versus Carlson Harris, Durden versus the Beres-Garul winner. Monagyu versus Macy Chia. McVeigh versus McConaughey.

That's got to be a Luce Lise Town match. Oh, God. I'm saving this for the end. Barcellos versus Cheeto Vera. I like that. Grant versus Chris Gutierrez. I like that. Garcia versus Baja Mondays.

Probably at Noche. I like that one. Edwards versus Pennington. Zalal versus Pico. Better work on his wrestling. Sterling versus John Silva, unless Lopez beats Garza. Garcia, then Sterling is getting the next title shot.

Wow. Okay. Are you trying to say, John Ray, that Steve Garcia is going to get a title shot if he beats Diego Lopez? Because I think you're crazy. I think you're crazy if that happens. This man, this man's got to work on his microphone skills. And then we can start talking about this. He's just going to call out, who's he going to call out?

Charles Oliverer for the BMF title if he beats Diego Lopez? He certainly ain't going to call it the right guy. What do you think about this, AK? John Ray suggests, and a heavyweight matchup, Ryan Span versus the man who won and then two minutes later lost, Marcine Tibera. I think it's possible from a ranking standpoint. Martine, unfortunately, man, the dude's been such a stalwart at heavyweight. I do think where, like, he's been ranked, I think, since we started doing our own rankings, which is like three years ago. I don't think he's ever left the top of the end, pretty even firmly in the top 10.

This might be where he's at now, though. I think, you know, he is just a spot to be taken. Very tough test. Don't you wrong. I'm sorry. This is so disrespectful to Burrow because I know he probably would be an underdog to span after their recent, you know, just based in the directions they're trending in. But he's a really tough fight.

He's almost not as good right now. He's almost the Haone Barcellos of heavyweight. Just very clearly skilled, all around, very experience, has been, has fought ranked competition for years really has fought relatively better competition than um bosello so i mean again your average bantamweight is very average heavy weight so i i don't mind it did this shock you this is you think you think it too too strange no it's like just think of the fight yes i love how that plays out picturing it right now uh what's god i hope it's over one and a half because i'm just slamming it oh my god could i not slam that harder uh knuckles

Yo, Mike, haven't chimed it with picks in a while, but here we go. Yes, it has been, when was the last time you made picks? March of 2025, so it has been over a year for good old knuckles. Good to have you back. Aljo versus Lorone Murphy, Zalalal versus Vajahos. Boy, that's interesting. I think Kevin's got to get a bigger name than that, though. Yeah, I think so, too.

I think he's going to fight you here, Rodriguez. Edwards versus Pennington, Garcia versus Hockbaras, Grant, versus Rob Fawn, a fun old dude fight. Trudette. Another Barcellas versus Cheetos Spann versus Thomas Peterson. Boy, oh boy. Span matchups. Lots of over one of the halves here.

I love it. I got a lot of span matchups, and I'm like, man, I did not think we'd be talked so much about Ryan Span this weekend. And we end with left lane. Aljo versus John for the next shot after Mozar, Zalal versus Pico, Garcia, Garcia, versus Duncan. Another grant font,

Barcellas versus Basherat, because the UFC don't respect either. Oh my lord. Span versus Mario Pinto. Good, great. Do it. What is happening? I mean, I'm not like saying any of these are wrong,

but like, whatever they book Ryan Spanin next, it needs to be the first fight of the card so we could watch it after the people's free fight. show. We could do like a live watch along of it because that I mean the the chances for greatness here are very high. McVeigh as the next layup for Atteba Gautier or Jimmy Suss at UFC 328 or after UFC 328 not even going for a point here. Uh, shout out to Durdin for saving his job, but even I who often does every fighter on the card and not matchmaking for these

prelims, uh, left lame with some honest criticism. And that's it, A.K., on to you. Fair. Yeah, I got a lot of popular picks here. Sterling, Murphy, Sterling a year, Sterling, Jean Silver, were the best, sorry, the most popular picks I saw. Sterling also, of course, versus Volkovsky. Some people just said, he's done enough, but Evloyev should get the shot first, and then Sterling can wait for the winner. Yeah, I'm okay with that. A lot is Alpico, as you mentioned. It's just, it's the way to go, I guess. And Span, I got Aspland, I got Aspland, got some people recommending Aspland, Petrino, you know, kind of another former light heavyweight, I get it. And, yeah, DeBerrard came a few times. So there you go. Tristan Gordette from the emails had a couple of picks. One I just wanted to read. Ellen Carr versus Sam Hughes, the spoiler. Man, I like it.

Eli Hittala, Alexander Hernandez versus Sadikov. Davy Grant versus Felipe Lima. That would be so fun. God, David Grant is great. Barcelos versus Sondondon after he beats Figgi at U.C. Macau. So the winner of that fight, but maybe not the one that Barcelos won. And Eli Hitala called the Span-Assan fight. It's one of the first fights he says he ever submitted and he still wants.

This is a dream fight for someone, Mike. This is a dream fight for Eli. Give me Concrete versus Superman. Like that. Thomas Collins sent me up on Instagram, Jocelyn Edwards versus Ionis Santos. Davy Grant, Cheeto Vera, three. Mike. Can we peek here as the three?

He says this year is the 10th anniversary of their first fight and their second one was five years ago. So every five years, these guys have fought before the end of the year. Can we make this happen? Can we? I love this. And then... This is a great idea. 2030. 131. 2031. You run it back again. Thomas Collins, Mike also says, Ryan Span as Gable Stevenson's debut opponent, International Fight Week. I don't think Span should be thrown into that, right? Like he shouldn't be just a sacrificial lamb after this. Dude, Span might beat him.

I mean, that's, I think it's too quick. Okay. I mean, look, I, I get what we're trying to do here. Yes. But I think you're taking a big risk if you throw him in there with Ryan. Because Ryan, like, Gable's going to be able to tackle his ass and chuck him around. But if Span hits him, he might just cold him. Like, Gable's been hit.

He bounced back and got a win. But this is from, like, a 40-year-old. journeyman kind of fighter. Ryan's got like UFC level one hitter quitter, quitter, knock you on your ass power. I think you're, I think you're taking a big risk if you do this. Now if you want to do,

now if you want to put Marcus Buchetcha back in there for one more, you could chuck him in there at Gable and that's okay. I, I know you're suggesting that because you think Gable would run through Buchetcha in like he would absolutely annihilate him. I, he's very inexperienced. So was Marcus Buccecha. This is true.

He's more experienced in combat. Oh, no, I mean. In one discipline. Much like Gable, who's better at his discipline, the Buccecha wasn't his. I guess that would count as a combat sport, as they say. Yeah, I guess, God, or that could be super ugly, though. No, he'd finish him.

But if he didn't, though, that could be a stink bomb. I do not, Yose, do not keep Wuchecher around for Gable Stevenson. I know I'm nixing this. You guys can't see anything. So he's gone. I try to save your job, Marcus, but A.K. said, no, fire him. Fire his ass. I think Marcus is okay with being free to go back to Jiu-Jitsu or whatever else he wants to.

Or one. Or one. Nice, Mike. Nice. Go to Twitter real quick. Tack MMA says, I'm a massive UFC fan. I've met a lot of fighters. Nobody is better to the fans than all Joe.

So everyone that loves MMA should agree with this pick. Sterling versus Volcanovoy of winner. No one's better with the fans, Mike. I don't know. I've never met Alja personally, so it seems like it has a good relationship with fans. Yeah. DGB, Barcellus versus Jordan. Yep, I like that.

Grant versus Font, Rafa Garcia and Drew Dober. I keep thinking this fight happened because for some reason I'm always confusing Rafa Garcia with Raphael Alves. They're not the same person, but I do not know why every time I'm thinking of. And I really love that Alves, Dauber fight. Grant versus, oh, okay. Mike, what do you think of this? Davey Grant, Elijah Smith. Boy, that's interesting.

It's a scary one, though, if you're trying to build Elijah out. Right. I don't think he's ready. I do not think he has the, I use this phrase a lot, the striking vocabulary yet for Davey. Like, I think you need, I know people are saying like, you know, youth and athleticism and power. Davy's fought a lot of bangers, man. And he's actually pretty tough to put away. So I don't think Elijah's run.

If he does, dude, amazingly impressive. But Davy's never been K-O'd. And maybe Elijah could be the first. Maybe Elijah would be the first. But I thought that was interesting. Because I get it. I get it. It's, you know, we want Elijah to get a step up in competition.

Maybe it's Davey Grant. David. Let me see some of the ones here. McVeigh, Justko Todorovich, Francis Marshall, and I'm sorry, I keep saying it that way. Francis Marshall and Jai Herbert's. Interesting. Valenzuela, Austin Vanderford. Alan Carr and Tisha Pennington.

She's like quasi-retired, right? Like, I don't think she's retired, retired. I think she's pretty much done. Okay. But I don't know. I know she's taking time off. She definitely said after her last loss that she was like, oh, I'm definitely like taking time off.

And she did a lot of posts that were sort of retrospective, like, oh, what a great run it's been. I just don't know if she's retired, retired. So I'm not going to put called DUDU on that. I think she comes back for the right fight. Maybe it's not to let Alan Carr now. Four Corner Sports. Zalalal versus Steve Garcia if he loses to Diego at the U.S.

White House, sure. And Martineti versus Quinoez for Nocha UFC. I had a few people sitting up like Nocha UFC fights. John Ray, you read, Frod, Frod, F. Zalalal versus Sabatini, if Sabatini beats Gomi at UFC 328. And then you make that part of the main card of UFC Philly, Pat Sabatini and Yusuf Zalal. Hmm.

I like the thing. Interesting. Yeah, I like the thing. Yeah. Martinetti, Ricky Tersios. I like it because I get it. That's the, you know, let's keep putting him in bangers. But Ricky's kind of a weird one.

Like, he has bangers or he does a lot in his fights, but his fights aren't always good, if that makes sense. Like, he's a very busy fighter. He's not always the most effective fighter, but I get where that's going for. Lastly, Barry O'Reilly. Another trilogy out of nowhere, guys. Alan Carr, Luciano, 3, Mike.

How would you let's see that fight three times in two years? sure why not sure why not uh this to me seems like a huge step up valenzuela and randy brown that's a little crazy i'm not i mean i'm not super familiar with valenzuela but people seem very confident in putting him in there with more with veteran competition i guess because he just beat a veteran guy so fair he beat a 40 year old dude who has lost five out of six correct and now six out of seven i believe uh he's like he'll go in there and try he just doesn't have it anymore I think taking a lot from this is pretty wild, honestly, especially when, by the way, we reported this news,

and a lot of those same people are like, the UFC will just sign anybody right now. The guy he lost to in the contender series don't have a fight, but they put him in there for a fight. Like, what are we doing? And now all of a sudden, like, he's like, oh, let's throw him in there with Randy Brown because he beat Max Griffin.

It's hilarious. No, too soon. Why doesn't the guy he fought have a fight? What's going on there? That's a great question. I think it was like a hand or an arm injury. Oh, that sucks. I like this.

Cody Durden, Imanel Rodriguez. That's clever. Montague and Josian Nunes. Where's Josie? Where's Josie? McVeigh, Abdul Malik. I said that like it was one name. McVeigh versus Abdul Malik.

Excuse me, guys. McConnell versus Dante Johnson. There's the Barcellus versus Roses Jr. I just want to read Barry's commentary on this. Two guys at either end of their fight careers. Barcellus is great at Jiu-Soo. I wouldn't expect him to necessarily. be dominating the ground.

And a win against a fan favorite will get Barcellus the one thing he's missing on this impressive run. Some casual recognition. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I like that. Ralph Raffa Garcia-Emmanuel Torres, banger. Mike, the last one I'm going to bring up. Davy Grant, Ethan Ewing.

Oh. Too soon, though. Again. For who? Ethan. What? He's only had two UFC fights. Dude, I would throw Ethan out there like a tough 15 guy right now.

I mean, I have him close. I think I have been my top 20. Don't you're wrong. He's looks damn good. I probably haven't ranked higher than Davey Grant. No, I have a few spots behind Davey Grant, but same range. Yeah, I get I gosh, I'm fine with this one. I love it.

I love any Davey Grant fight with this like chunk of mid-tier bantam weights. Like, oh my gosh. Like they're all great matchups. I don't know why. I almost like the Elijah Smith one more, even though I think Ethan has a better chance of beating Davey than Elijah does. but yeah i kind of want it to maybe i want to test eliza more i'm not sure okay so not bad not bad uh it could happen eithing has a lot of options so very good stuff uh mike that's it uh people

we will be back next week at the time is a weird that's going to be a very early perth card mike i don't know if you and i are going to try to record otno maybe in the middle of the day after perth i'm not sure maybe you i believe you'll be coming my way till the next yeah you might be in a coma yeah you might be in a coma Yeah, you might be in a coma by lunch Eastern time, so it might not be the best idea. But guys, anyway, regardless, try and figure out the timing. Send us your picks on Saturday if you can, obviously. You can hit me up at Alexander K. Lee on Twitter, Alexander KK Lee on Instagram, Alex Dotley, nespion.com email.

Yes, UFC Perth. Here is the card. Jack Delamadalena versus Carlos Prochis, the main event. It's a good main event. Benile Darius versus Kill and Salkild. Co-main event. This is like, this is picture perfect matchmaking. This is exactly what you need to do.

Uh, Tim Elliott versus Vinnie Sig, Steve Erseg. Shemiel Gadsia versus Brando Perichich. Boy, that fight. I don't know. I don't know what to think about that fight, honestly. Uh, Tide Tuivasa versus Louis Sutherland. So we got back to back. Main card heavyweight fights.

Nothing screams. breakfast in fighting like back to back heavyweight fights you gotta win you gotta win and louis sullen is like not bad louis sullen is replacing shan shiraph and so

it's a way tougher matchup it's a way tougher matchup like i would have drafted tie to ivasa with the shan shiraf fight on my fantasy team this is like me drafting molly mccan and then tynara comes in and takes the spot and you're like oh no i mean he has so much he has so much more ufc experience

It's right. Like he should win this. Then again, he had way more U.S. experience than Talasin to share it too. And that was just, ugh. Well, let's see what Louis does. If all Louis, Louis, honestly, if your team is not telling you sprint and tackle, then you have to leave there, Jim. Stand and bang.

Stand and bang, Louis. I mean, give to, if you want to be unselfish, stand and bang. Cam Raustin versus Robert Breich, Jr. Tufa versus Kevin Christian is a fight that is happening in, 2026 in the UFC. Jacob Malcun versus Gerald Mirchart, Colby, thickness. Middle weighty. Middle weighty.

I love Malcolm Mirshart. That is middle weighty. It's real middleweighty, but God, I hope Mirchart's okay. He's just getting up there, man. Thickness versus Vince Morales. Actually, I think he's going to be really fun. Man, Vince Morales, hang in there. This dude is a UFC survivor.

Anytime people glance at this guy's UFC record, they're probably wondering, and this is his second stint with the company. Second or third stints, it's weird. They just keep bringing them back. And I like me. I think Vince is such a nice guy and I actually really enjoy watching a fight. He's just always getting put in these situations where like he's expected to lose. That's just kind of what they're using for.

We have West Schultz versus Ben Johnston. Okay. Jonathan McAlife versus Temba Garimbo. Mad, what has happened with Temba? I don't know. The rock bottom of house. This guy was like, I'm going to fight for the belt this year. I'm going to fight Kamar Usman for the end of the year.

And now he's the second fight at you. UFC Perth? What does that happen to this man? Do you know I drafted him once? I drafted him in one of our... You did? I think it was the rock thing. I think I was like, oh, this guy's got like some buzz around him. I was a, that was not a good pick. I think I was like PFL or something. I don't remember. I don't think those... Great story. Great story. Great story.

The blood diamond story is absolutely insane. And then the opener as of right now is Cody Steele versus Dom Marfan. Love it. Cody, do not mix the martial arts. Don't worry about it. You don't know need your grappling just stick to stand to stand and throw it's all you know you can grapple you have nothing left to prove with your grappling going and throw over this guy uh i think we also we're trying to keep marwan rahiki on the card fingers crossed we don't know yet oh yes he was supposed to fight jack jenkins but uh i don't know it's a week away they could just reschedule marwan for for for some roughs but so yeah maybe they throw them in a lightweight fight uh what's lucas breton

doing send him back in there man get back in there send him back over so there you have it has ufc perth And then the week after, it's UFC 328, and we're all excited about that. And then the week after, the UFC is going to try to hold an apex card at the same time as the most watched MMA event in the history of the sport. So that'll be a thing that happens as well. So lots going on. So stick with us, nbafighton.com. It's a terrific website for a.kai. I am Mike Eck.

Back next week. We'll see you then on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.