MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 17

Episode Date: December 20, 2020

In the 23rd episode of On to the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Saturday's UFC Vegas 17 event at the UFC APEX, the promotion's final event of 2020. Future matchups were discussed for Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, as well as the man he defeated in the main event Geoff Neal, Jose Aldo, Michel Pereira, Rob Font, Marcin Tybura, Anthony Pettis, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to the final matchmaking edition of On to the next one here in 2020. This is not the last show of the year. More on that at the tail end of the program. But the UFC just had their final event of 2020 on Saturday, UFC Vegas 17, which ended with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson picking up a absolutely vintage, impressive, unanimous decision win. over the surging Jeff Neal. Now, before we start playing Matchmaker with all of you, let us take care of some business.

I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always in this venture, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and most importantly, the Prince of Positivity, Mr. Alex Keeley, aka we get a reprieve from the matchmaking for the next few weeks after this. How are you, buddy? Mike, my best friend, it's a shame that after today's show, you and I will not talk again until the next year of C.

We will not talk for like three straight weeks, I think. We're best friends, but I think people should know. This is literally the only time we talk to each other is during this podcast. But, I mean, you know, that's how our relationship works. You know, best friends come in all shapes and sizes. So, you know, I mean, it's a shame. But I hope people won't miss us, won't miss us that much. And maybe I'll send you the occasional text or DM on Twitter.

I don't know. But, but yes, it's partying such sweet sorrow, Mike. Of course he's joking, folks, because we have some things planned and we'll talk about those. We will talk about those later on. But let us get right into this thing and start with Wonderboy Thompson, who successfully defended his NMF title against Jeff Neal. He swept the scorecards, exceptional performance from the soon-to-be 38-year-old who fought like he was a 24-year-old. And to me, A.K., and I'll give my take more on this in a minute, man, I feel like Wonderboy's place in this division is kind of tough. It reminds me of Charles Olavera in a way.

Like, I believe Olivera deserves a massive fight, maybe even a title shot after what he did to Tony Ferguson. But what I think might happen is he remains sort of the odd man out at 155, out of the equation, unless the UFC calls this crazy audible of some kind. Now, I don't think Wonderboy should be fighting for a world title next, but I do believe he deserves a matchup with someone else in the top five. The problem is those matchups could be very hard to come by. So with that said, A, are you thinking the same way? and B, what do you think is next for Stephen Thompson?

Yeah, I think I am thinking the same way. And not just for this, for not just for the results in the main event. This whole card in some ways almost created more questions than answers. I think I needed some of the guys looking to get over that hump, that sort of contenders hump to win. Like I think Jeff Neal winning would have made things pretty easy for us to make some matchups. I think Chito Vera winning would have made things easy.

It did not go that way. So I think people will see throughout the show where, There'll be a lot of hemming and hawing. And it wasn't just that. There's a lot of, there's a, I think maybe even, I think maybe even if Chaos Williams

had beaten Michelle Paheda, I think it might have been a little bit easier than trying to figure out Paheda. So for Thompson, this is why I kind of went with a matchup that doesn't have a lot of sizzle. I know people are not, and there's not, no, people aren't clamoring for this,

but I like the idea of Stephen Wonderboy Thompson versus Santiago, Ponzovino. Ponzino just lost out on the Muslim Salakoff fight. He needs a new opponent. He's on a seven-fight win streak. I love the matchup stylistically. I think Ponziwe, I know seven straight wins in the UFC.

That's huge. I think he is a big enough name to intrigue Wonder Boy. I do think that Wonderboy would take that fight if it came up. This is just so tough, man, because there's just so many unknowns, right? Like, we don't know what's going out with Mazadal or Covington. I mean, we assume the UFC is going to try to make that fight with everything in their power. Same with Usman versus Burns for the title. same with Leon Edwards versus Hamzaat Chimayev.

Michael Kiesa has a fight booked. We just don't know with who yet. That could be, it could be Kiyasa versus Damia Maya, could be Kiyasa versus Taryn Woodley, could be Kiyasa versus Neil Magny. I have no idea. So the short answer here, and this is boring, and I feel like this is such a cop out of my part,

but we need to see how some of these matchups shake up first. Like, not just the in-cage product, but the matchmaking product itself, because there's just so many, unanswered questions right now. So my guess is, and this is with the hope that Wonderboy's knee is okay in the long term, I think

he either gets Damia or Neil Magdi. Depends on, I have a feeling one of those two guys could get the Kiesa fight, and then whoever's left over, that's who Wonderboy fights. But again, I have absolutely no idea. None. No clue. Yeah, it's like I say, it could depend who shakes out of some of those rumored

slash confirm. Because as you're right, some of those matchups are not even confirmed to be to be rebooked again. Like you said, Hamzat and Edwards, we don't know. I think they're aiming for January. I believe that's the plan, but has not been officially announced. I don't think we've been able to officially confirm it. So that is, we don't know.

And again, Wonderful has said a lot about how a lot of, he's talked a lot about sort of not being crazy about how quickly Hamzat has risen through the ranks. He has not really buying into the Hamzat hype. It doesn't sound like a fight he'd be interested in. But maybe if Hamzat beats Edwards, that changes things, I don't know. But yes, there's a lot of uncertainty. Like there's really anyone in the top 15, we named, I'm looking at my own top 15. I think we named almost everyone as possibilities for someone to, if his knee is fine,

so for someone that Wonderwork could fight in the next four, five, six months. So it really is wide open. Like I said, I like Ponziabio and you like, you said, Maya. Maya is a fight I've wanted for a while. Good style match up. I mean, sorry, crush styles, clash of styles. Yeah, it's interesting. They're both, they're both legends.

in their own way, I just feel like the respect factor between those two guys would just be amazing. There'd be like the opposite of the Covington-Mazid all build, like the total complete opposite. So that would be a lot of fun. But I don't know. I threw out to Nate Diaz, remember on the post-fight show the other day, only because, you know, we don't know when Nate Diaz is fighting. But, you know, you get some of that NMF versus, if we can't get NMF versus the official BMF, how about NMF versus A BMF, you know? So I think, and fans would definitely tune in.

Fans would definitely tune in for that. And that's a fight if Diaz signed on Wonderboy would be down for that 100%. He would love to fight Nate Diaz. So throw that out there for his sake. Yeah, I feel like they're going to book Covington Mazadol. I think everybody kind of feels that way. But if Colby starts playing his, I want this, I want this, I want this game. And they can't come to terms.

I would have no issue with them slotting Wonderboy in there for the rematch with Mazadol. But we will see what happens. There's just so many unknowns. Now, for Jeff Neal, he suffers his first loss in the UFC. He's had himself a crazy year with his health. Only competed once in 2020 like Wonderboy. Comes up with the loss. Clearly, the guy's uber talented.

There's no doubt about that. And honestly, AK, I hate to start the show on a sour note, but you're going to be upset with me. You're going to be mad. I have to end my part of one of our campaigns here. I have to close the door on lobby for, Robbie for Tim Means and shift lobby for Robbie

to Jeff Neal and I know I didn't necessarily want to see that matcher for Robbie Lawler after Lawler's last fight because we didn't know what the hell was going on with Jeff Neal at the time but I think after that loss to Stephen Thompson I would like to see how he bounces back against a former world champion

a guy with the name and a guy who probably won't try to wrestle him or point strike him for 15 minutes I think those two guys will stand each other in front of each other and throw hams at one another. So that's my pick AK. This is kind of a tough one, but I feel like the UFC still has a lot invested in Jeff

Neil. And I feel like Lawler's the kind of name that will keep Neil motivated. And it's kind of a win-win for the UFC. Okay. I'm fine with maybe putting a pause on lobby for Robbie for now for Tim Means. I thought you were going to say we're giving up completely on Neil on Neal. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, well, in that case, I mean, then I'm sticking.

I still want to see that fight. I still want to see that fight. For Neil Magni, it loses a bit of its luster because I think, you know, he would want to say I was, you know, when they were booked, I'm sure a lot of the appeal was I could hand this guy's first loss. That means a lot for me. That's going to be up. I still think it's a good matchup. Again, it's one that was supposed to happen. I am not moving on from Neil on Neil.

So, yeah, that is my pick for that one. There was some really good reader suggestions, so I don't, which I saw, unfortunately. Normally, I try not to look at the reader suggestions too much before we do the show because I don't want to steal them. But I will say there was some good ones. I'll keep my words short on Jeff Neal for now, but there was some good, there's some really good readers suggestions later, which we can elaborate on. I'm not giving up on Neil and Neil. I don't want to see Neil and Neil right now. I think I've made the analogy of, you know, you date somebody, you feel like it's good, but it's the future, just not right now.

I feel like that's what Neil Anil is. I feel like Neil Magny is a nightmare matchup to like to take coming off of your first loss in the UFC. So yeah, I was there. I don't know how I feel about that. But now we must go to one Jose Aldo. He delivered the night's quote unquote, y'all must have forgot moment. He defeats Marlon Cheeto Vera. Fantastic third round.

We had Jiu Jitsu Aldo getting it done in Las Vegas last night in the co-made event. Calls out T.J. Dillishaw after the win. Do you like that idea or do you have something else in mind, AK? I mean, I think it's a good idea. I thought it was a cool call it. He said people had been talking about it before. I don't know why. Did I miss this?

Did I miss some chatter between the two or some, some, a report that there was, I don't remember. He said they'd been talking about it. I had no idea. Yeah, maybe he meant him in his team. Maybe he meant like an internal thing. Because that, for me, my ears perked up. And I'm like, yeah, I like this match up.

It wouldn't be my number one choice. Dill shot is not short of options. I think people are seeing that this week, people calling him out, him kind of responding, him kind of, you know, he's, he has his pick of the litter. So I don't know if he would pick Aldo. It's certainly not a bad one for him. I just don't know if he'd pick him right now.

So for me, I like, I really want to see, this is kind of a dream matchup for me. Joseo Aldo versus Dominic Cruz if Cruz beats Casey Kenney on March 6, which is by no means guaranteed. I haven't seen the odds for that yet. It would not surprise me if Kenny ends up going to that one as a favorite. But I, you know, WEC, furtherweight champion versus WEC Bantamweight champion. I just think it would be really cool. And I think, I think, again, we're on this whole legacy fight stage for a lot of these guys. I think Cruz would be interested in it, especially, I mean, if Cruz wins,

he probably called for a title shot, but I think he'd be won away, and I think Aldo would be a good name for it. I'm just going to go ahead and knock two names off the list right away here. Yeah, okay, do it. I'm going with Jose Alda versus Rob Font. Sure, yes. There are some who say, well, you know, maybe Font isn't there yet, and I disagree. Even though Marl Marius has had a tough stretch, he's had a tough 2020, it does not change the

fact that Marl Marius was ranked number three in the world heading into Saturday night. Rob Fon earned himself a fight with a big name or somebody in the top five. Aldo is a big name. He's not in the top five right now. Font might even be ranked higher than Jose Aldo come Tuesday. And I know Dillishaw is coming back. I know both those guys called for that fight. But like I said on the post-fight show,

I think you do the fight with Uriah Faber and finally put this alpha male feud to rest once and for all. It's a big fight. People will care. People will watch. They want to see Faber still a name. He's still a star. And people just want to see this rivalry play out for good.

So give me Aldo versus Fawn, AKA. I think that's the way to go. Marais was about a minus 150 favorite going to that fight. So you're right. So to take credit away from font and people were just saying like, oh, Marais is, and again, I'm sure there's fans out there who were picking font. But clearly at least there's a general, there was a general, you know, not consensus, but I was quite a few bit of people who thought that Marais was going to win.

I was one of them because I'm an idiot. But no, and I think Maris skill-wise is still absolutely a top five guy. Well, now Fond has taken his spot. Um, so, oh, I guess we're not moving on a full on font talk yet, but I was going to say, I did, I do like the Aldo matchup. Obviously, it made a lot of sense. Um, I'll have someone else for Font when we, when we bring it up. But that is definitely killing two birds with one stone. Makes a lot of sense for both guys. Would Aldo, is this a fight Aldo? Yeah, I don't know. I think Aldo would do it. Although has been somewhat picky, but I don't see him as someone who says, just straight up says no to matchups. I think if it's floated to him, I think he'd have a lot of respect for Rob Font. And I think, I think he'd, uh, I do think he'd take that fight. So, yeah, I'd love to see that one. Yeah, I mean, he just fought the number 15 rank guy. So I think he'll probably fight a guy that probably be ranked a spot ahead of him come Tuesday.

But we'll see what happens once those crazy rankings come out. But now we head to the calm down and very tactical version of Michelle Perjara, who defeated Chaos Williams on Saturday. It was a very close fight. Chaos Williams still believes he won that fight. There's a lot of people who thought Chaos Williams won that fight, but it was very, very close. The fight was not as wild.

as most had anticipated, but Pihara gets a big win. And although Tim Means may have lost out on the Robbie Loller fight on Mike Hart, A.K., let's give him Michelle Paheda, because, man, that would be a lot of fun. So that's my pick. Paheda versus Tim Means. What are you going with? Yeah, I mean, I should have been just looking for the most wild possible match. And again, the readers had some really, really good ones.

But for some reason, I, you know what? Maybe it's because of his new style, his new approach. I'm like, you know what, Michelle Pahedda? If you want to be taken seriously, fine. I am going to try and seriously book you and not just try and make matchups that will produce the craziest and most, you know, viral highlights.

I should have touched this before. I think I'll say this. My notes were a little bit incomplete. And now I remember why. Why not? Why not Michelle Beheada? Why can't he fight Jeff Neal? Interesting.

You know, again, if you're Jeff Neal's team to go from a karate guy to another completely unorganized. Orthodox wild guy. It might seem a bit, might seem a bit odd. But I do think Neil is going to learn a lot from that Thompson fight. I do think he has not having his head coach in his corner mattered.

I'm not saying he would have beaten Wonderboy if he did have him. I just think his performance, I think we would have seen a little bit of a better performance, maybe not so lopsided. That's a very, that's a very difficult got to fight when you don't have your head coach, especially he won as good as Syphsod. So I kind of like the Jeff Neal thing.

I do want to see if Jeff Neal with his, with his, hopefully with his coach in his corner this time, can deal with someone who's so unorthodox. So I actually really like that one a lot. And I like it from Paheda too, because I think Jeff Neal, I have him somewhere in the top, I mean, going into the fight, I had been like top 20. You just for what, 5 and 0, right? Top 20. I think that was fair. But I'm sure a lot of people will see that how badly he lost to a top guy and say, well, you know, maybe, you know, question his other competition.

I don't want to do that, but I'm sure people will. And also for Paheda, I mentioned Alan Juban in a previous show. I still kind of like that one. I don't know. Because I just don't know. The win, this win over chaos just didn't move Paheda that much in the rankings for me. So I like that matchup.

The last time I'm going to fight. I like it again now. I also like the Anthony Pettus callout, but we'll talk about Pettus a lot more later and why that fight probably isn't going to happen. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not opposed to that. I like the Joe Bannon. I want to give Paheda a veteran that can, and I'm not trying to be mean to Diego Sanchez, but a veteran that's just not going to run away from him. the entire fight. Diego wanted nothing to do with Michelle Beheada after like two minutes of that fight. His defense, though, his defense, you saw the video, Mike, posted by our good pal, Fabia,

Josh Fabia. If anyone hasn't seen that, Josh Fabi did a great, I assume he's the one who had a great breakdown of how nothing that Paedah through landed, apparently. Our eyes deceived us. Everything was deflected, and it's a kung fu movie. He was actually deflecting and slipping everything so quickly we could register and was not actually touched in the Beheada fight. Yes, how dare you disrespect Diego Sanchez.

I know, what a jerk I am. But I already made my pick for Ron Fond, A.K., he puts away Marius. He's gotten over the big moment, the big matchup hump that has eluded him for all these years. So what is your selection for one of the founding members of the New England cartel? I like the Aldo fight, but I also like him. Maybe getting the winner, Corr-Sandhagen, Frankie Edgar, February 6th. The winner? Wow.

I don't think that the winner of that fight is necessarily guaranteed a title shot. Let me put it that way. I think any three of those guys, Flaunt, San Hagen or Edgar, will be worthy of title shot with another win. I just don't know if they're going to leapfrog. You know, Cody Garbrand's coming back to Jillo, Jolie Aldo. I feel like one of these veteran names is going to get that first shot at the still to be. Was it announced now? Sterling?

It is finally announced, right? I don't think we have a date for that one just yet Well, whenever that fight Hopefully becomes official Yeah, we'll look that up real quick I think they'll end up facing a veteran first Whoever wins will probably call out a veteran I mean we don't know

We don't know what kind of champion Piotrion will be or what Sterling could be if he wins But I do fear once they get a win They might go the Henry Sehudo route And go like just start calling out veterans and legends Hopefully not hopefully we can be established a proper hierarchy at 135, but be a little pessimistic and wondering if they're going to go the veteran hunting.

But yeah, I like Font v. Sanhagan, Edgar, winner. And one of those guys, I feel, is very deserving of a Teletas shot, whoever that is six months from now. I like it. It just depends on how long Font wants to sit on the sidelines. That's the thing. Because, I mean, he just took a full year off, had a quick finish. So we'll see. I mean, he's, that's that New England cartel mentality, man.

like Calvin Cater just wants to fight whoever they give him. And if they offer font a name, he's just going to take whoever they give him anyways. But yeah, I mean, I'd be down for either of those fights. I'm surprised he didn't know, he didn't all the own post fight, any of his post-fight interviews. I'm surprised that he didn't think of that. I know. I'm not sure. I know when I talked to him for what the heck he talked about Aldo before Dillishire or anybody else.

So maybe just take, listen, maybe, who knows? I thought Fonz interview was very interesting because he was just like, yeah, I know there's T.J. Dillowel, but I don't care. I don't care. Where would they give me all? I'll take. That's just, it sounds like cater.

Yeah. And he wants the headline. And he wants him and his boy cater. He says they're going to fight. They're going to fight for a title in 2020. They'll both be fighting for titles in 2021, he says. So we'll see, Mike. We'll see.

We shall see. We head to the heavyweight division. Marchine Tybora wins his fourth stray fight. He puts away Greg Hardy and the, second round. This is a tale of two fights, AK, because he weathers a giant storm, and Tabora has become a player in the heavyweight division, AK. This is a tough one for me, because Tyborra has been around for a while. He's fought like everybody already. Yep. But I settled on one name after a lot of pondering. I'm going with Augusto Sakai. He has some buzz. After beating

Greg Hardy, Tibora does pronouns pal. Let's give him a top 10 guys. guy and see if he can keep this thing going. So that's my pick, because I just really didn't know where else to land. This is a complete dart throw, and Sakai is where it landed, my friend. Now, he has fought Sakai before. Right, but he's, my other, my first choice is Andrea Olavski, but they fought too. I don't know what to do. And we also, uh, they have, oh, that I didn't see, see, now I'm the one who forgot because I didn't pick Arloskey, but I was definitely, it was definitely in the mix. Uh, I just, I, yeah, I totally forgot about the idea. He beat him. Okay.

But, and I think we've also, we just matched up Barlovsky recently, I think. I was going to my, I was going back to the archives with this year. I've mentioned our, I feel like we mentioned our loss in like maybe three separate shows, obviously including the one that he, you know, the fight he won. So, yeah, it's hard almost not to give him a rematch at this point. So I, I don't mind, yeah, I don't mind any of the rematches. Again, the Sky Fight was September last year, which seems recent. But I'm sure, I'm sure Toboro would love to run that one back.

So I went with, sorry, I lost my spot. Okay. Maybe, I'm looking at this February 6th card again. Alistair Overim, Volkov winner. It's a big jump up, but man, he's won. Look, people, I know it's something that sound weird to people. He's won four straight fights, Tobora. He's tied for the longest win streak in heavyweight.

He probably deserves some sort of fight that pushes him towards title contention. And that's the one. again, overream, he probably wouldn't be too thrilled about fighting Tabura. It might see that as a step back, but he shouldn't because like I said, DeBura, four straight wins. And Volkov, I think Volkov would make a lot more sense. I think Volkov would be totally open to it. So, yes, I'm also not against Olinic. He's fighting Chris Dachos, though.

Yes, if he beats Chris Dachus February 20th, I don't like it so much the other way. If Dacus beats Olinic, I don't really care for a Daucus-Berr a matchup. But Olinic, if he gets back in the win column, yeah, yeah. let's give that a shot. But yeah, Toboro is definitely I would say one of the hardest guys

to match up. Thankfully again, he's also strikes me as a person who'll fight on. He's not going to talk trash about, oh, I'm going to four-fight

Winston Duke. I only want to fight someone on the top. That's Toborra's just not going to do that. And he did have one of the best calls the night, though,

joking afterwards because Greg Hardy on Media Day had been making overshovers towards possibly boxing in the future and said, yeah, I'm going to knock out

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. And then so Tobora said, oh, now that I beat now that I beat Hardy, Maybe I should be the one who gets Joshua or Fury. So I love that call out. So good for DeBora. He's got a lot of good options ahead of them.

And yeah, a shockingly great 2020 for Martin Tobura, 4-0. I mean, Walt Harris makes sense, but I don't want to see Walt Harris fight Marching Taibora right now. I want to see Walt Harris, like, fight somebody outside of the top 15, maybe even outside of the top 20 at this point and try to get back on track. Like, I don't like that matchup for him at all. And like just look at the resume. of Tybor and the UFC is kind of puzzling because I didn't even realize he was in the UFC like for so long and he's fought all these guys, fought Timothy Johnson, fought Victor Pesta,

fought Luis Henrique, beat Arlofsky, fought Verdoom, fought Derek Lewis, fought Stefan Stroove, fought Shemiel Durahimov, fought Augusta Sakai, and then Spivak,

Grish, Rothwell, and Hardy. I mean, he's, I don't know, and I, like,

JDS was something that popped in my mind, but I don't like that one for JDS either, like if he sticks around. Also, that would be four straight wins versus four straight. On paper, it makes perfect sense because we have someone in Tabura who's not a super heavy hitter. So fingers crossed, we wouldn't have, it wouldn't be one of those junior fights we've had recently where we're just waiting for Junior to get smacks. And then, you know, it's horrible.

It's a horrible experience watching Junior fight some of these up-and-coming heavyweights. Toberra would, I'm not saying he doesn't have some pop, but he's a heavyweight. But I think that would be a fight that would at least probably go to a decision. It's a fight that Junior could win if we're being honest. But I just don't like to opt just of four straight wins versus four straight losses. So I had to pass on that one. But that was one definitely, actually near the top of my list. Yeah, I almost won with, there's a part of me that almost jumped on the surreal gone train.

But I think gone deserves a top five guy after that performance. Although I would like to see how gone in Taverora look at this point in their careers. But maybe down the line, maybe down the line. But we'll see what happens. But as you mentioned before, A.K., we're going to discuss Anthony Pettis because he defeats Alex Marono. final fight on his deal. We saw kind of like with Wonderboy and although he saw some vintage Anthony

Petis, some spinning stuff, some craziness and he looks pretty darn good after that first round. And I believe we're on opposite sides of the spectrum here, A.K., I don't think he's going to be back competing in the UFC. I think he's off to Bellator. I think he needs a new challenge. He'll get it there. His brother is there finding success. So

that's what I believe happens. At least on the post-fight show, you didn't necessarily agree with that, right? Is that accurate? Yeah, I at least think there's a chance he stays at the UFC. I just think there's still, I just, you know, it's still the premier organization. It's still where the best competition is, which I think is, is going to factor into Pettus's decision. He, just looking at all the interviews he did, and I spoke to him as well during the week. He was very sly about how he's handling, how he's sort of handling the last

fight. He never made any commitment towards saying like, oh, I can't wait to, you know, assign a new contractor to this or or who I'm going to fight next. the UFC. Even his post-fight speech, I think on Saturday was something to the effect of, like, I still want to fight the best at 155, which he doesn't necessarily mean that he has to stay in the UFC, right? He could be saying the best 155 and other promotions, right? So he was very sly. He's learned a lot. Anthony Pedison's 10 years of promotion. He's learned how to talk the talk. So I like, if he stays in the UFC, he said he wants to go down a lightweight. Dan Hooker. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

interesting that's fun I don't know how Dan Hucker would feel about that one maybe you would like it I don't know I don't know because I mean he is because Pettis isn't even ranked and he wouldn't be not at lightweight no yeah that's tough I will say this you mentioned Pettus's interviews and he was sharing an

awful lot of stuff especially the one to do with the SPN about being sober and depression and all sorts of stuff he's sober for like three months now which is like the longest stretch. He's been sober in like a decade. So good on him. And one of the things I looked at was how he was going to look physically. Like when he walked to the cage, when he took a shirt off,

not that I'm like sitting there just, you know, looking and studying how these guys look without shirts on. But Pettis, Pettus looked pretty good, man. He had the abs coming out. Like he was looking good. You could tell his spirits were high. He was in a good place mentally. And I think bigger than the win itself over Alex Morono, that's what stuck out to be more than anything.

So at this point for Anthony Pettis, after all he's done in the sport, and after all he's done for the UFC, I just want him to be happy with where he's fighting. And I want to see him continue to compete. So if he's happiest in the UFC, good for him. If he's happier in Bellator, great. If he's happier in one or Risen, although Pettus and Risen would be a blast. Oh, my God. We could throw soccer kicks and all sorts of crazy.

I'd love to see that happen. It won't, but I'd love to see it. If he signs with Bellator, can't there be some Belator-Risen crossover, right? They're cut. You make a good point. You make a good point. I saw people mention that on Twitter, mentioning, but like, oh, like, mentioning them separately a lot, but I didn't think, I'm surprised people don't just say he should sign with Belator

and then, you know, participate once they start to travel more and do some more of those crossover shows. Yeah, I would love, yeah. I saw a lot of people saying they want to see soccer kick, grounded knees, fetus. There's a guy in Risen, Yashuke Yachi, and Drake Riggs on Twitter brought that matchup up, and I was like, holy crap, that's the map job. You've ever seen this guy, Yachi, he's just a wild man. That's a match.

I would kill to see. So I feel like the Beltor deal would entail some appearances for Risen. I'm sure Pettus would want to. He would love to fight in Japan, right? That's like a dream of so many fighters. So I think those go hand in hand. I don't think he needs to sign exclusively with Risen, and I don't know if he would either. But who do you like for him, though, in Belator?

We threw out a few options the other night. I like the Benson-Henderson idea. Really? You and Jose. What, I'm sorry, wait, what is the... Okay, go ahead. Explain to the readers and viewers. What is the appeal of the third Henderson fight? I just want to see it again.

I just would like to see it there. I just think it's a good... I just think it's a good fight for both guys. You know what I mean? Like, there's a story there. I know you can't show the showtime, kicking the promos. It's all good. Like, it's a...

I think Pettis wins that fight again. But I kind of want to see it. Like, give Benson Henderson something the chase, give Pettis, I'm not going to say it's a tune-up fight, but it's a tough matchup, but I still think it's a fight Anthony Pettus can win. And it's a fight that can draw some eyeballs just because everybody knows those two guys. And especially in 2020, there's probably fans of Bellator and fans of the UFC who probably don't even, outside of just watching the promos in the Showtime kick, probably didn't even

know that they fought multiple times. They probably have no clue. So I kind of want to see it. I just think it makes sense. It can be a main event easily for one of those Mohican Sun cards without fans. It's fine. I'm cool with that. And then if he wins, then you can get Pettus a title shot or, you know, give him a bigger fight.

And I kind of liked Jose's idea. If he wants, you know, they throw him MVP at 170. I'm cool with that too. But I feel like there's so many good options for him there other than what we would get in the UFC. Because it's either, like you said, we throw him in a bunch of rematches or we feed him to, you know, a surging contender at 55 or 70. And I don't know. I feel like the best thing for the UFC would have that would be to have that contender

sort of run through Pettus to get to that next level. With Bellator, it's not really, doesn't really matter, you know? Oh, Showtime versus MVP. That's a poster. I'm just imagining the Showtime versus MVP. Oh, it's magical. That'd be sick. I'll say, I wouldn't be, I'm not looking, I'm not like as high on this trilogy bout

with Henderson. So you guys are, but I wouldn't be against it. I think, like you said, most people only know about the show. time kick and maybe the arm bar you know in their rematch because it was such a short fight that first fight was a forgotten classic it's a really really yeah brand anyone when that's fight pass and has only seen the the showtime kick watch the whole fight it's so freaking good it's so so good and so competitive and really a coming out party for pettis because i think that people before that fight henson henderson had never lost in wc and so there was kind

of like peterson's kind of the next big thing and it's like oh is he going to step up to this moment and man pett has stepped up to the moment in like the biggest way possible it's such a great fight. I like him, Patruki, Petruke Pitbull, I think, and then set up, set up a fight, future fight, of course, with Tritio, whenever Petitio's done with the Featherweight Grand Prix. So, I want to see him go to Belator. I'm just thinking he stays in the UFC. That's so what I want and what I think is going to happen are just different here. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see if the UFC, you know, ponies up, if they think he's worth the investment. Because you know Petis ain't making 50 and 50 right now. He's probably making, I bet he's making a half a mill or around

there to compete for the UFC without a windbone. now is the time to ask though Anthony now is the time to ask if he knows he has an option to go to bell toor obviously now's the time to ask and if the OC is willing to pay then you stay that's it ask for a milly if they say no ask for a milly beat feet feet get on out of there um let us head to the wild card round for the final time in 2020 AK and for those who are new to the program we're going to select one fighter winner lose that we have not match made for yet and we're going to do so right now. So my best friend, final wild card selection until January 17th, 2021. What you got? Like this one isn't even for me. I am doing the UFC matchmakers

a favor. I am solving a problem for them. Jimmy Flick, I loved Jimmy Flick's debut. My goodness, that was so much fun. Lived up to the high. Everyone was like, oh, this guy's got a crazy, you know, we hear sometimes like, oh, this guy's got a crazy submission guy because of a crazy striker, and then they debut and something just doesn't click and they don't get to show what they can do. Jimmy Flick shows. that he is a scary, scary submission guy. That was the billing coming in. That's what people saw in the Contender Series. Like for most people like me,

the first time I ever saw him was on Contender Series. I was like, oh, this guy's fun. And then he breaks out a friggin' first round, flying triangle against a very tough Cody Durden to win. So look, Mattias Nicolaaj just got brought back to the UFC. He was supposed to fight ULenbekov, Tagir, Ilan Beccov. Unfortunately, Olinbekov with Drew. And this is UFC 257, January 23rd.

Throw a flick in there. It's a very, very tough. for him. But I think Nicolao needs a good opponent, an exciting opponent. Flick's right up there. I've just done your job for a UFC. I don't think Flick took that much damage in the fight. Next month, Flick, Mateus Nicolao. Let's go. I will say this. That was the first thing I thought of when I was kind of rifling through these ideas in my mind. But then I knew my best friend was going to choose that exact fight. Oh, you know me so well. And I think it's perfect for both guys because one, Nikola gets to fight,

back of the UFC and two this is the kind of opportunity that makes stars like you you get a win you create this crazy highlight and then you come back a month later and you try to do it again and if you do then you're off to the races at 125 look at brandon roival there you go perfect example of what he did in 2020 jimmy flick could start up 2021 doing something very similar but i knew you're going that way i am going to stick with 125 though i'm going to go with tylo santo's a because what an impressive performance on Saturday night against Gillian Robertson. She has looked really good in her last two fights. The win over Molly McCann was an eye-opener because I think everyone had that bad taste in

their mouth from the Mara Romero-Barrella fight. We're just like, what the hell are you doing, Tyler? Like, are you seriously going to lose this fight to Mar-Ramara-Barrella? And I'm not sitting there dumping on her, but that was a fight, Tyler Santos. Like, everyone expected her to cruise in that fight. And she just, the moment overcame her. And that happens. I get it.

I get it. But the McCann win showed me a lot. So I'm going to do it. I'm going to roll a two fighters who have turned my perceptions upside down this year in 2020. Tilos Santos versus Antonita Shevchenko, A.K., both of these ladies are on the cusp of taking that next step forward. And I've been very hard on Anthony. Yes. Actually, I haven't really been hard on her.

I've been hard on the matchmakers for putting her in these ridiculous types of situations. Like the Ariane Lipsky fight, those were the kinds of fights she should have been having. She shouldn't have been fighting the Roxanne Mata Ferrys and the Caitlin Chugans of the world. She should have been fighting the Arianna Lipskies of the world. Now her confidence is sky high. She looked great. She fixed her mistakes. So maybe in a way the UFC did the right thing because now I think we're going to see the best Antonina Shevchenko moving forward.

But both of these ladies are in a really prime spot. Anthonya looked amazing in her last fight. Let's match them up. One of these ladies is going to emerge as the next legit threat at 125. That's what I'm going with for this final selection, AK. I am amazed. I feel like you have been shooting down Antonina matchups all year. I feel like every time we get to the reader portion and someone brings up the Anthony

instrumental by this person. I always feel like Mike's like, nope, hate that matchup. Anthony, you know what? I am glad you are ending this year with like a reconciliation with the elder, with the Eldershavchenko sister because she is a very talented fighter. I think fans like her. Again, you know, the results in the Octagon have been mixed. It hasn't always been great.

Some of the fights have been a little lackluster, for being honest. But I am glad to see that you see the value in Antonina Shepchenko, and that, yes, yes, maybe it is time for her to fight to Talas Santos and see, again, I'll kind of see what we have here with Tyler. Because, like, two very strong performances back-to-back, two performances that showed how well-rounded she is. You know, striking battle with Molly McCann, obviously. And then out grappling, Gillian Robertson was really, really impressed.

I don't know if there was like a straight-up grappling competition. Maybe Gillian Robertson would win. but in MMA, Santos's strategy was just perfect. It was a really outstanding performance because you know, Jillian Robertson, her game plan was to get to the ground, and she did, and Santos still won, so.

Yeah, yeah, she's, but yeah, she's someone who definitely coming out of this card, I don't know how many people are talking about her, but she could be a serious contender in 2021, Tala Santos. The whole thing about that fight on Saturday between those two ladies was I was like, this is the fight we're going to see

who Jillian Robertson is as a fighter because when Jillian Roberts had fought Macy Barber and she got hit once everything changed. She was just like, F this, I'm done. I don't want anything to do with this anymore.

And I felt like Tyler Santos had the kind of power on the feet to do that to her as well. And I was interested to see like if she takes a couple of shots, can she get this on the ground and maybe pull off a submission? At that point, then I'm like,

I am all in on the Julian Robertson train. But this matchups scared me if you're a fan of Julian Robertson. and I didn't like it for her. I really didn't. And to see Tila Santos do what she did on the ground without having to throw anything off on her feet was amazing. That just shows how good she really is.

She didn't have to strike on the feet, and she's a ferocious striker. So I think that's a good fight. Antonia Schochenko, you've changed my mind. But you know what the UFC's going to do? They're going to probably throw her in there with freaking Cynthia Calvio and give her an L. I don't want to see that. Like just slow roll Antonina.

Let's build her up. Her sister is already the champion. There's no need to throw her in there with top five people. I never had a problem with you, Antonina. I had a problem with the matchmakers. I didn't like the way they developed you, but maybe it was at the end the best thing for you because we saw the best version of you've ever seen on Fight Island.

So not sure if we ever check the tapes, AK, but do we have a check? We have a reader. We have a reader telling us to check the tapes, Mike. All right, let's do it. We got a reader. I mean, well, I don't remember this at all. So Jacob Best, one of our Instagram contributors,

he says that he called, for the recently announced Hafei Ellis and Sal, or reported anyway, Hafeilis and Sal, Rownie Barcellos fight on February 27th. I don't remember this coming up ever. I don't remember that because I figured I figured Barcellos

versus Marab. I figured everybody was on Barcellus versus Marab, right? Because Marab needed an opponent. Barcellos made quick work of somebody and they did exactly that. And then he was suspended and for some reason no one thought about that and the fight never happened. So Jacob Best is not lying. This actually did come up on a previous show.

don't know. I don't know. I don't remember that because I figured everybody was on Barcellus versus Marab because Maraub lost Cody Stamen as an opponent. So everyone's like, oh, just throw Barcellos in there with Marab to Alish Willi since it was like a month later. And then they did that. Like that was the, UFC turned around and booked that fight. And then Barcellus had a medical suspension from the previous win. And they're like, nope, fight ain't happening. And I find it crazy that Barcellus got booked at a fight before Marab did. Poor Marab! The guy can't get a fight. Well, nobody wants to fight him. That's for damn sure.

The way he's performed his last couple of times, I wouldn't want to sign on that for that guy. Jacob says, quote, unquote, I was laughed at for this one. I think I don't know. Jacob, I don't know who laughed. We don't laugh at people on the show, especially our readers for matchup ideas. So I don't know what happened to Jacob. But, you know, if someone did laugh at, I guess, Jacob, you know what? You shoved in their faces.

But if anyone else wants to check the tapes and tell us on Twitter or leave in the comments on M. Mayfinding.com or wherever you want to reach out to us and say and verify that we laughed at Jacob or mock that that signing by all means do it. But I don't remember this at all. It's, I'm not crystal clear on this, but it's starting to come back to me a little bit. Really? I have had moments on this program where readers have suggested matchups that on paper they make sense, but it's terrifying for the higher ranked fighter. And I don't think I was laughing at Jacob being like, oh, you suck as a matchmaker.

I think I was just like, why would you do that to pour a half-yellow Sun-Sau and this guy after getting destroyed by Cody Garbrand? And that's kind of how I felt when I confirmed the fight. I was like, ugh, I don't know. That's a tough one. But listen, this is not to shame a Sun-Sau. I just feel like these guys are in two totally different roads,

but a Sun-Sau could do what Josiah did or did what Wonderboy did or Pettist did on Saturday night. But I probably heard the matchup after the knockout of Garbrandt, after Garbrandt knocked him silly. and was just like, no, don't do that to this man. Like, let's give somebody else. All right. So there's some truth to this claim possibly again.

People go back and check the tapes yourself. But Jacob, Bess, if you did call that one, good for you. Reader, you know, readers deserve credit and check the tapes too. I'm taking partial credit, Mike, for the Edgar Sanhagen fighting, that fight that was booked. It was not my number one choice after Sanhagen's last win. It was not my number one choice. But I did mention as I did mention as an option. I think I wanted San Hagan Dillishar.

Which I still stand by. I still think that's a good matchup. But I guess obviously probably won't happen now that the Edgar fight has been rebooked. So I'll take a little credit for that. I'll take what I can get, Mike. I'll take what I can get. I actually think when Edgar got the win over Munoz, I think I suggested Sanhagen, like right away, just to rebook that way.

No, I didn't. I said Dominic Cruz. I'm wrong, completely wrong. But I think we both mentioned Edgar because he had called out, Sanhagan called out both guys, Dillishaw or Frankie. So I think it made sense. And I like the fact to rebook him this fight. It makes sense for both guys.

It made sense. Okay, so readers. Shall we move on to the readers, Mike? Yes, because I think the listeners should close out the show, because I do want to say one thing real quick before we do that. I want to give them a big shout-up because you may not even know this AK, so I might be breaking some news to you. Since we started doing the show, now 23 weeks ago on M.M.A. Fighting's podcasting network, right after the first trip to Fight Island, on to the next one, has consistently become the most listened to podcast. on the network.

Every week, the numbers continue to be great, and it's beating everybody. Listen, there have been some post-fight shows after Habib retired. There have been some post-fight shows that have eclipsed it. But for the most part, onto the next one has consistently been the most listened-to show of the week. So we appreciate that very much. And let's give the peep some shine here, AK, for the last time in 2020. Mike, I'm emotional now.

How can I proceed? I'm acclimped. I need to gather myself here. Talk amongst yourselves. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. Rhode Island, not a road, Nord Island. I'm sure you do too.

I get a lot of straight compliments about the show, just like random DMs like, oh, great work guys. Again, it's only a few people. So I just, I have no grasp of how many people are actually listening. I just assume it's like, oh, a nice, positive vocal minority. So I'm like, okay, cool, that's great. I did not know. Yeah, you're right.

I was not aware of how well the show's doing. So yes, thank you. Everyone so much who listens. It's been so much fun to do. And the readers have been a huge, huge, huge part of it. So, yes. So, Tyler Santos, Mike. Not too many suggestions, but some person, I'm a little sad.

This was spoiled because I was already to have a discussion about someone bringing up Antonina at Ephane Smallfoot on Twitter, said Antonina. And I thought like, oh, Mike's going to hate this. But no, you're on the same page. Smallfoot, big brain. Small foot, big. That's well done. Anthony Pettis, quite a few suggestions came in. I don't know how many people.

I think some people said, yeah, Bellator. someone said Woodley they're friends I think I don't think they would fight I I don't have actually training to actively training together anymore but they're definitely friends I don't see that happening um Bobby Lawler I'm so down for that still yep yep what do people say what do it oh I equinta the name I quote is the name we brought up many times on this show we just don't know when he's gonna fight again I know right we don't there's a lot of good lightweight like veteran lightweights in that Anthony Pettis experience range who we're like oh I La Quinta perfect

Alia Quinta, perfect. I think we've done that at least twice, and there's just been not a peep from the Iaquinta camp as far as when he's going to fight again. So Iaquinta's suggestion is always good. I honestly just don't know when that's going to happen again, but that's certainly welcome.

Dan Hooker and Bellator and other people saying Patrick Pitbull, MVP, or I think Casey, was it Casey on the show the other who said throw him right in there with Douglas Lima? Yes, that was Casey. Golly. All right, well, nothing wrong with that, I guess. Toboro, we had a couple of, quite a few suggestions for DeBur as well.

This DeBur train's big enough some steam, Mike. How do I mean? I don't know whether to read the first name or their at, because it's just so. I'll go to the At Midnight Author. Not even going to bother to explain the spelling. There's a number in there. Cedial Gahn. So he does like the CDLGon thing.

It's hard to say no, because I keep bringing up. Tabara is technically on a four-fight win streak. So to say that like, oh, so Gond has. past that matchup with the JDS win. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. And another, a lot of, a lot of suggestions for this one. This is from at Goggles, Gb, on Twitter.

Blago Ivanov or, and sorry, it's the second one that keeps coming up. Sergei Pavlovich. I looked at both of them. Yeah, I'm fine with either. I don't know. Blagoi thought about us. I was just like, wow, they haven't fought. and I don't think he's fought Pavlovich either.

So, I mean, either's fine, but I feel like, I feel like Tibera getting a win like that over somebody as polarizing as Greg Hardy. I mean, Tabora was a hero last night to a lot of people. Like Twitter is still, I was, to pull back the curtain, it is 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time on a Sunday as you're recording this. And I was on Twitter right before he hit record. And there are still people tweeting out the replay in case you missed it last night. Marcy and Chibor, you're a hero. He's got buzz right now. And I feel like throwing him in there with an Ivanoff or a Pavlovich,

sure, it's great in the rankings, but I feel like there's just not a lot of buzz there. It's hard to go from Greg Hardy, who's a big name and people know who he is, to Sergey Pavlovich. Good fighter, but I feel like nobody, they'll just be like, all right, sure, why not? Mike, I don't like to see the downfall of anyone, as you know. I'm not a spiteful man. I will just say, Bravo, March into Burra

and leave it, leave that at that as far as that result goes. Two things. First, I don't know why I keep getting Ivanov and Sakai confused.

They literally have nothing in common other than that was Sakai. Sorry, Evenov's last fight was Sakai. They have nothing in common. I do not know why. Did they both fight for,

no, Sakai came from a Beltor. Yeah, Sakai came. Well, they both fought for Beltoe once upon time. But I don't know why

I keep getting them mixed up. My issue with the Pavlovich matchup is definitely, it would be so clearly a, We think Pavlovich is a stud, which he is, and we're using Taburra to, like, build him up. And I don't like that for DeBurra. I don't think that's fair for DeBurra.

I think he deserves a veteran and deserves to get his little bit of his own shine. So I can certainly see it happening. I absolutely see it happening. I just don't like it for DeBurra. I don't think it's fair. But what is fair, right, Mike? That's true. Rob Fonts.

We had a couple of good Rob Fonts suggestions. People like Garbrand. One person's throat, I don't think we mentioned this one. This is from Steve Cardin on. Twitter. O'Malley? No. He's passed. He's passed. I mean, O'Malley's not even ranked.

Like here, okay, here's, I'm going to throw a little, a little mystery one here, because Garbrand has been a popular name for some of these fighters, okay? Yep. Garbrand's going to need something to do before he goes to 125, right? Because he wants to, he wants to go to 25 and fight for the title. He wants to fight figurato, and the draw killed him and killed those chances. Cody Garbrandt, I don't care what anybody says. He's a name.

He did knock out Hafeu La Sensa, which was impressive. The guy is not a contender right now. He's not. He's not a guy that I look at right away and say, if Cody Garbrant wins his next fight, he should be fighting for the title. I don't think that.

I really don't. So if he wants to keep himself busy and fight at 35 and get himself some buzz, give Cody Garbrand at the Shot O'Malley fight. That's the fight to make. Especially if you're going to 25. We're not giving Rod.

Like, Rob Fon's staying at 35. He wants to be the champion at 135. and only the champion at 135. I don't like the idea of giving Rob Font to Sean O'Malley, although I think Rob Fon would, I think he would beat Sean O'Malley pretty easily, if we're being honest. But give O'Malley the Gar-Brand fight this heat there.

That's the fight you make. And then he could drop to 25 after we figure out this figure-a-versus Moreno thing. Gar-Brand and O'Malley were on the same card when Gar-Brand had that big knock, his comeback knock-or. That was also the O'Malley-Wiland when he knocked out Wyneland? Yeah, that was like the...

Yeah, those are two knock-up. out of the year candidates on the same time. Yeah, and I thought it made so much sense then to consider match. I know Garbrand, again, probably is like, oh, I'm too big a name for this kid, but really, there was so much heat there. And now, of course, they're going, right? And now, fast forward to now, they're going back and forth on social media, talking all this crap.

Yes, that is a great, great, great fight. The UFC should be putting the gears in motion for that. They should be latching on to this trash talking and saying, hey, guys, if you're going to talk, we got contracts ready. Let's see if we make this happen to that. Let's see if the price is right. So, yeah, I'd love to see that. Oh, by the way, it just popped in my head.

I don't mean to interrupt you. But people have been asking me about this. There are reports out there that Kevin Holland and Derek Brunson are fighting on January 30th. Let me just say this. There's no truth to that report. By the way, I've talked to people. There is no truth to that. I mean, I'm not saying it won't happen.

But as of right now, there's been no discussion about that fight for January 30th. Where did this come from? Does it come for a fake account or something? Is there a fake Halwani account out there shooting out some crazy? No, there was a piece written. There was an article. Fighters were tagged. There's no truth to that. I will say that. I have a feeling that's the fight they're going to make. But as of right now, that report is, it's very premature because no discussions have been had about it. But I just want to throw that out there because people keep asking me about it. Yes. Thank you. Mike. Hit him with the real news. The hashtag real news. We've got some straight. We've got some people tagging us on Twitter with some matchups. I don't like this one. But I think. has you down for it. This for Anthony Pettis from Bobby Adkins on Twitter. On to the next one

he said winner, Petis versus Islam Dober winner. Dober would be really fun. Yes. That would be fun. Actually, you know what? I like both of them. I like both of those fights. Islam, though. You know, I still have that whole

can Petis really deal with wrestlers thing going on. That's true. I still think it's a cryptite of him. But it would be a really good test for Islam for sure because Islam has looked great. And again, we keep kind of using him as a hubib proxy, which we shouldn't do. You know, they're different people, but it'd be kind of like a little bit like a pettist versus poor man's hubby, whatever would think for me to say.

But yeah, I don't mind it. Thanks, Bobby Ikins. I don't mind that suggestion. Chris Stiles on Twitter, he threw out a couple of good ones, which ones jumped. Oh, I don't know how I didn't think of this. Paheta and Nico Price. Oh, sure. Yeah.

That's if they don't run back the Seroni rematch. Right, which is certainly possible. Price, though, what happened? That got overturned to a no contest, right? Was it was the wacky tobacco? Yeah, it was a Giraudu, no contest. Was it because of the, was he smoking the weeds? Yeah, you spoke.

As the kids say? Yes. You guys, you guys know how hip I am. Smoking the weeds, you know. The gange, as the kids say. I got to write, Mike, I got to write that one down. I'm not familiar with that one. Oh, you can't.

Slow down. Yeah, slow down. The flower. The flower. Marlon, Morais. This is Song Ya Dong. Ooh. That's tough for Marlon, though.

another heavy hitter for what else is going to do I know and look I think Marlon is really good he should win a song fight he should I think he should but now I don't know what to expect

I don't know what to expect I don't know what to expect Marlon anymore I really don't I wonder if he is part of the 60 whoa I'm not saying that's the case I'm not predicting it

I wonder though three out of four he's not a title contender it won't be for a long time it's kind of tough It's sad to think about because Marlon is the man. He's such a nice guy. All right.

I'm going to take a quick. I got to take a quick detour here. I apologize. I'm not, no, it's fine. You caught me off guard. His last record, again, these are not as well, this was been two fights ago. His last recorded payout for a win.

Wow. $220,000. So one, one 10 to show, one 10 to win. So 110 in the minimum, one 10 to show. That's a lot of money. And 35 is ridiculous. ridiculous. Like Casey Kennedy is going to go into the Dominic Cruz fight.

At best, he's probably making 40 and 40. Would be my guess. I could be wrong. But that's probably, like, he probably got a new contract to take this fight. But, I mean, it can't be much more than that, can it? Look, one thing we've talked about a lot, us in the media, I've talked about over the last few weeks, and kind of jokingly, but is like, oh, how many of these veterans, when you cut them, how many contender series signings is that worth?

And $110,000, that's, again, that's a lot of fighters that the UFC could sign up that money instead. That's 11. That's 11. Right. Maybe 10. Guys who, as opposed to again, like you said, a guy who has lost three or four. I don't, by the way, like you said, you're just speculating. I strongly doubt I strongly doubt that he gets released, but that we're even discussing it.

It's kind of scary. I know. It sucks. It makes me so sad. So Chris Diles, I hope we see the song Yadong match up instead. Me too. Yeah. Wow.

Sounds better. out, doesn't it? And did we talk about Neil Lucke? Did other of us mention that? No, but I like it. I'm into it. Yeah, I saw a few people. It's definitely come up a few times. Luca's name in general, I would say, is probably one of the most popular we saw we've seen since starting the show, Mike. I think

Luca gets tossed around a lot. It's this very exciting style. He's kind of right in that, like, right in the ranked, like 15, 20 range. So it's just, there's so many people who canceively either fight him to go up or veterans who, like, maybe coming off losses could use a fight with, I don't know. I do know that. I do know that,

before the Wonder Boy fight became a thing. Neil versus Luke A was being discussed. Was not, Penn never went to paper, but that was, that was discussed. It was close to being done, but it never, never got made. I, uh, Devin LaFave Woods on Twitter wants to, I don't know if this is going to happen, but Cheeto, Cheeto versus Garbrand?

I don't mind that one either. I don't think Garbrand's going to do it. I that's a tough fight for him I mean that's O'Malley makes sense because O'Malley and I'm not saying Cheetos not a draw because he is a draw people people like Cheeto yeah O'Malley is a bigger fight it just it just is and I

and if I'm Cody I want nothing to do with that fight like I think he he probably feel strongly he could beat shot O'Malley but I don't I don't think he would have like the same overall confidence fighting a Cheeto Vera and not just a Cheeto Vera but a Cheeto Vera coming off a loss in a fight he feel that he screwed up in that third round. But Devin, I like the suggestion.

Me too. And I'd be surprised if Cheeto doesn't bring it up if he hasn't already. He's called out a lot of people. I feel like he must have mentioned Garber out at some point. And if he hasn't, he probably will. And this last one I have to call out because, so this comes from an account called at J. Clyman, one on Twitter, which has joined in August 20, that joined Twitter on August

2019, has never tweeted before by like until this weekend. Yes. Someone started this account over a year ago and did not use it and then decided, no. Now is the time. I must contribute to onto the next one. And with not a bad suggestion, Michelle Panetta versus Munir Laziz. So, thank you, Jake Lyman, for breaking your Twitter silence and having us be reasoned for it. That's pretty cool.

That's nice. It's pretty cool. We got our regulars, our regulars on Twitter, of course, through D. DMs never let me down. I'll run through these quick. Mike, tell me if any of these, well, I actually got quite a few because I do want to spotlight.

I'm Marcus McGahey, who had a lot of good suggestions. But Barry O'Reilly, who felt bad because we shot down his one suggestion. Last time, I think he wanted Ryan Hall and Chase Hooper, and I think we had to break it to him.

That I'm pretty sure they're actively training together these days. Probably would not fight each other. He also likes Paheta Leszez and Petis Luque. I'm getting all these things mixed out. We didn't mention Petis Lucke, did we? No. Yeah, so that's another.

Again, Luke's name, very popular. Again, that would be a, Petestate at Welterweight. Yeah, he might be interested in that, but I do think he's looking for either big fights at 155 or, like we said, might not even be in the O.C. Right. Yeah, if they made it, I'd watch it. A name we haven't mentioned yet, Mike, but a lot of people

liked what they saw from Tefan and Chukwe. So from Aronski, he wants, I think these are a little too veteran for him, but he likes Chukwe versus Darren Stewart or Drickus DuPlacey. That's a little, I don't think he's ready for those. Oh, boy. He looked very advanced for a guy in his fifth pro fight.

He looks very advanced. I do not think he's ready for either of those fighters. Yeah, definitely not do Plessy. No way. And you know what? Speaking of fighters who really impressed me and turned me around, I'll be honest. We make our picks for M.A. fighting. I thought he was going to lose.

I thought I didn't like that he was dropping 85. I didn't like the opponent. And I didn't like the fact that he was such a heavy favorite in that fight. Huge. Three to one, over three to one, I think. But I will tell you what. And also, and another thing is because I listened to a whole bunch of different shows and, you know, to show my support, one of them is a betting show. And I feel like you could just look at a page and you could be like, oh, he beat William Knight.

He beat William Knight. So he's, he's already there. That William Knight fight told me nothing because the stoppage was BS and Knight kind of got the big fat hose job on enemy territory fighting for CFFC. not his fault, not CFFC's fault. It was just, it was an early stoppage. The fight could have gone on. And I feel like too much stock was put into that win when it shouldn't have, in my opinion. But man, and Chukwe, well done, man.

You flipped me in a big way. That was a veteran performance going in there, no jitters. You walked that man down. You bullied him around. You showed that you were the more experienced guy, even though you had three times less experience. It was impressive. and I want to see more. If there's one guy at middleweight that I'm buying stock in

and paying heavily, I'm, it's Tafon and Chukui. I have completely changed my mind. Whoa. I'm mad that I made that pick against him, and I was so impressed with him last night. Like, he's not a chair.

I'm not saying he's fighting for a belt in 2021, but he's a guy that if the UFC can develop him correctly and have him avoid matchups like Darren Stewart and certainly DuPlessi, this guy's got a bright future, really bright. Man, readers, you guys have gotten Mike churning right now. has been, you know, this is your moment, but you guys have gotten going. And there are more

Chukwey matchups coming out, which are a little more suitable. But thank you, Oronski, for that suggestion. Yes. Harry Lipski, another regular. He mentioned Wonderboy Woodley 3. They're never booking that fight again. I've never. After that last three, man. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, there's just, not. I'm not saying it doesn't make sense as far as like, oh, where they are in their careers? Like, sure, rankings-wise, okay, whatever. That's the way that that second fight went. I'm sorry. It's just not happening. Unless they put them, unless they put them, like, in the middle of a tire, they're never going to book that way. he wants to see a real step up in the rankings for Paheda.

He wants to see Paheda Sean Brady, Jake Matthews winner from March 6th. I don't know. We're taking Pahed to that seriously? I think either of those guys, well, Brady I would obviously pick. Yeah, maybe if Matthews upset Brady, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to gauge at Jake Matthews. He's a really good fighter.

But again, I've just seen him so much. I don't know what his ceiling is or if he's just again, a mid-tier guy. Rob Font versus Jimmy Rivera Pedro Munoz winner January 30th. I think Fond, I thought that was the direction that Fon would have gone for the comeback fight. Like you fight Rivera, you fight Pedro. That's over right now. Unless somebody goes out there and does something spectacular. I mean like 30 second knockout or some kind of crazy submission,

I think Fond has leapfrogged both of those guys at this point. So I think it's a tough sell. But you never know. I don't hate them. If they did that cool, Font would say yes. There's no doubt of my mind that he would say yes. But I feel like with that performance, putting away Maro Morais, I feel like he is leapfrogged both of those guys. That was a stock raiser, if I've ever seen.

Mike, what a way to end the year, right, for font. Holy cow. And plus, he's fought Munoz already. So maybe Rivera. See, I totally forgot. Yeah. Totally forgot. What was the, let me see.

What was the, oh, three years ago. Yeah, it's a lifetime ago. Yeah. Good, I can see that rematch happening. Let's see. So thank you, Harry Lipski, for those suggestions. And then Marcus McGee, I have a bunch of Mike. So just, I'm going to look at your face.

And then I'll stop if I see you kind of like Rayjo. This is obviously one that's been discussed. Wonder Boy versus Edward Shemaya of winner. So we kind of talked about that January 20th. Paheda, Barbarina. Someone mentioned that on the show, on the Post-Fite show, right? No, I said chaos, Barbarina on the Post-Fite show. Oh, okay.

Poor chaos. The guy has been left out of this because he, so I would like that to you. But again, he says, Paheda, Barbaran. He's also on the Tibera Pavlovich band. Maybe I got a hashtag this one too. We'll see. We'll see on Monday. You know, I like to get some hashtags going.

Tyler Santos and Marina Moros. Another grappler. Another grappler. I don't know. Sure. It's kind of proof. I don't mind it. This one I didn't even think of.

But I feel like maybe you mentioned it before at lightweight. Pettus and Alex Hernandez? Wow. That's good. I like it. Pettys has kind of said he's not like picking and choosing fights. Like he said, wherever he goes, he's going to want to just kind of fight whatever, you know, gets it, build things up the old fashioned way.

That would be an old fashioned resume builder. And kind of Hernandez throwing, you know, he's, after the Soroni loss, there's a lot to prove. And I think he has reminded people why he was such a hot prospect. So maybe throwing him in there, this is that kind of again, okay, here's your shot, another veteran. Let's see where you are now. Kind of just, we kind of get to keep, you know, retesting him. So that makes sense there. Chukway versus.

Philip Rowe gave Green winner February 13th. I like that. Sensible. Are they now? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yes. This is a thing.

Is this not a thing? These are welterweights, right? Oh, let me, hold on. Let me look this up. It is a welterweight. Did Philip Rowe not fight at middleweight before? No, he was always a Walterweight. He's had his debut set like a million times.

It just hasn't happened. Well, I guess we're just assuming. that Chukwe will cut down 50 more pounds in. He doesn't need to cut down 50 more pounds. You know, Mike, there's a lot of flab there. I think a lot of flab there that he had cut. I think one more weight class down is a way. So sorry, Marcus McGehy.

And also, I apologize for everyone else. I should have screened that one. I don't know why that one made. And there is another Chukwe one coming up that I guarantee you will love. We got to show some love to Christos Gagos. We haven't mentioned in the show, of course. Kutuzlatsi. Yeah.

Good veteran chance. Pudalate, yeah, I'm into that. And I thought of this one. Penny Kianzad, this is a big step up, versus Juliana Pena-Sara McMahon winner, January 16th. You know what? I really like that pick. Yeah.

That's a good one. Markham Gahey, you've redeemed yourself for that Chukwee-Roe Green nonsense. So thank you, Mark McHaghy and the other people who DM me on Twitter. Tristan Gordad, of course, always hits me up on email. He likes this fight would be freaking sick. I don't think they'd book it. I think they're going in other directions, but Baheda and Shavkat Rockmanov. Oh, that'd be sick.

I thought about that one, but I couldn't do it. I think Bachmanov beats him. I'm high. I'm Rachmanov. I think he's legit. So thank you, Tristan. He had other suggestions, you know, but there's some repeats. So thank you, Tristan, as always.

Instagram DMs. Our two boys on Instagram, Jacob Best and Jay Steiner. I close out with them a lot because I don't know, they always kind of throw something in there that gets me thinking. I don't see this one happening. This is from Jacob Best. Wonderboy, this I think what Wonder Boy would want, though. Wonder Boy versus Usman Burns, loser. Yeah, I'm down.

Love that. That's definitely, Wonderboy would be campaigning for that. He should start campaigning now, actually, if he wants to get one more shot of the title, right? And then, why did I think of this? Michelle Paheda and Alizu Zaleski. That's fun. I like it. Capoeira, Capoeira versus Pageta.

Kind of rhymes? I don't know. My pronunciation is probably way off. I'm making it rhyme. Jay Steiner. Man, he might have taken, you know, we've given this guy so many, so many props. Chukwe and Haas. Jesus.

The matchup that will just make us all feel terrible about not exercising. If you saw, if we want that's a matchup you see those guys step in the cage, we'll all, we're all going to put that extra slice of cake back in the fridge. If you ever see those two guys face off, it was like, wow. I like that. I can't do it. I can't do it. It's too. It's too.

It's too soon to give Inchukwe a guy like that. Like, Phil... Say what you will about Phil Haas' record. I know he doesn't have like 35 fights, but listen, that's too soon for Inchukwe. It is. Like, you can't go from a fellow contender series guy to Phil Haas. Like, Phil Haas has been a big fights. He's paid his dues.

I'm not saying Enchukwe couldn't beat him. That's a fight I want to see in the future. but not now. It's too soon. It's just too soon. Fair enough. Good. Good futures pick.

Slow roll. Slow roll on Chupree. Another good Tyler Santos pick, I think. People had a lot of good suggestions for Santos. Calderwood, Jessica I winner. Again, another big step up. I would come cool with that too.

And when I say step up, I mean, in terms of ranking. I do think Talas Santos is really good and maybe would even be favored against either of those fighters. I probably wouldn't. But as far as rankings and experience goes, Calderwood, I, a lot of these

names that have been mentioned are certainly more well known and have had more UFC experience. But yeah, I mean, those things were recover. And last one, Mike. This one, I, how did we not bring this up? I'm embarrassed again. Readers, stop making me look bad.

I'm sure we have good reason not to consider this one, Mike, but I got to get it going. Jay Steiner, he recommended. Marlin on Marlin. Ooh. How did I not? A.K. That man, that's, that's too easy for you.

I mean, there must be good reasons not to match them up, right? I feel like that's, actually, that's perfect for both guys. Damn it. How did I miss Marlin on, are they, are they friends or something? No, I don't think they're friends at all. Why do I not think of Marlon on Marlon? That's the fight. Damn, you, Chase Steiner, you've done it again.

You've done it again. Wow. And they were both in the same card. And I literally matched up the two winners of those fights. It's been a long year. It's been a long year. We've done a lot of shows. We're allowed to miss some easy ones, okay?

We do a lot of matchups, a lot of matches. So hashtag Marlon and Marlin. Look for that on Monday, people. Let's get that going. Keep those suggestions coming if you choose. Hit us up on Twitter. Amazing. A.K. is at Alexander Cayley.

Yes, I keep forgetting. I get people all my stuff. Yes. At Allen, what am I on Twitter? What am I on Twitter? Alexander K. Lee on Twitter. I got it, Mike, I got it. At Alexander Keeley on Twitter.

Alexander KK Lee on Instagram, 2Ks on Instagram, and Alex.com. Atl.com, on emails. Tristan's the only one who emails me, and it's very welcome. But if anyone else wants to email me, please do. So, yes, I realize starting now, I really do to do a better job of letting people know where to send these things. Yes, we appreciate that very much.

You can follow me on Twitter at Mike. heck underscore jr now you may be wondering are you done until january no we are not in fact we have some shows lined up for you for the first couple of episodes of 2021 we're going to take a look back and a look forward so we're going to take a look back at some of the whiffs of 2020 fights we should have gotten but didn't in this crazy year it's not going to be like an hour long show probably like 30 minutes or so but then the following week we're going to take a look at like must make fights that we should see in 2021 that haven't been booked yet.

But next week, and I am so excited for this, A.K., this is news to you. We've discussed the concept, but we're going to do it next week. For those who have been following my work for the last few years pre-M.A. fighting, I have hosted a look-ahead kind of a show where we take a look at some of the burning questions, heading into the following year. We make future predictions. We buy, sell a bunch of random yet fascinating topics, and we try and look deeper into 2021 in just a weird way,

not just from matchmaking standpoint. So there's probably going to be very little matchmaking, but then we're going to spit like hot take, fiery, bold predictions for the year. And then next year, we'll take a look back on those predictions before we make our predictions for 2022. So this has been and will continue to be one of my favorite shows to put together of the year. And AK, I am excited to share this. with you next week, my friend, for the first time.

Mike, I just want to say this. I love this, love doing this show. Love doing all the shows. It has been a pleasure, Mike. It has been a pleasure working with you this year. I'm so excited for 2021 and like all the stuff we're going to do and the shows we have to preview 2021.

It has just been, it's been a hell of a run these last 24 weeks with all this UFC. It's been a hell of a year, you know, and I hope, I hope everyone, I hope we could have provided some sort of entertainment, some distraction for some of the, some of the more miserable moments that I know people have been struggling through this year. So thank you everyone who's joined us for sure. That's really a lot of I have to say. Again, I said, we're not going anywhere. You know, I say, I sound like we're saying goodbye. Guys, we're not going anywhere. We're going to be with you until the end of the year. When you're with you when the year starts, we are, we are here. So please keep tuning in. Will we record these on Sundays? Probably not.

We might record them a few days in advance. So for, you know, the news changes, you know, so be it. It is what it is. Yes. Yes. But until then, we are out of time. We'll have some fun next week to wrap up the year on onto the next one. So happy holidays, everybody. Enjoy the time with the family and friends. We'll have some different takes. We're actually having some different takes on a few of our shows coming up this week as well. So stay in tune for that. So for Alex Kaylee, I am Mike Hack and remember, do not take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. And we have had a blast matching fights with all of you here in 2020. So we'll see you right here next week for a different variation. One of my favorite shows right here on onto the next one.

The podcast.