MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 18

Episode Date: February 7, 2021

On the 30th 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 18 event at the APEX, the promotion’s first event of 2021 that took place in the United States. Future matchups were discussed for Alexander Volkov—who delivered one of his most impressive performances in the heavyweight main event with a second-round walk-off KO—Alistair Overeem, Cory Sandhagen following his incredible knockout win over Frankie Edgar, Clay Guida, Alexandre Pantoja, Beneil Dariush, 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 back to a brand new edition of On to the Next one, MMA Fighting's Matchmaking Podcast. We missed you all last week. And instead of doing this show, because there was no UFC event to matchmake for, my wife and I took our son to Chuck Echise, where a kid can be a kid. He had fun. I broke the basketball shooting game high score mark on not one, but two different. machines because I've been compared to the likes of Chris Mullen and Mark Price with my outside shooting. That's an old man reference for those of you who have been longtime NBA fans.

But we're back this week to matchmake some fights coming out of UFC Vegas 18. I am Mike Heck and joining me as always the co-host, the co-mashmaker, the best friend and the Prince of Positivity, Mr. Alex Keeley. Welcome back, AK. What is up, Mike? What's up my best friend? Was this one of those places where they hadn't like updated the machines and you just stand next to it and it's like take the balls that someone give you the ball and you just dump

them right in staying next to it like we used to do when we cheated with uh what was ski ball was that was that game where you throw the things up the roth the things up the thing into the circles yes that is ski ball yes do you remember when they didn't have the they didn't have barriers back then you just oh my gosh my big brother ever he used he did that I was shocked and appalled uh I believe in your shooting skills but I'm just I want to make sure everything was above board here uh I'm that's that's good I I'm I'm a lonely man Mike, I did not spend my Sunday with some of my family, but not, no, no children, no wife, and just a strong sense of existential dread. But otherwise, I'm feeling really good.

It's an amazing mood. So I can't wait. Can't wait to do today's show. Man, this is like back-to-back shows for you where you started off a little, little dreary, AK. Well, I have a good excuse after Saturday's show, which I'll get to later. So if you are new to the show, later on in the program, we're going to. going to turn it over to you guys and gals that left your suggestions on social media using the hashtag OTTNO or Otno as we'll go from here. And then the other forms of suggestions

you hit us up as well, DMs, emails, et cetera, and some breaking news, A.K., please, from you, for people hitting up my Instagram DMs have worked. I got a few to read over and we'll do that a little bit later on in the show. But right now, A.K., let us discuss the fallout of the main event of the evening on Saturday. Alexander Volkov looked phenomenal. He knocks out Alistair over him in the second round. It was a walk-off K-O. And he gets it done.

Two straight wins, two straight finishes. He's now seven and two in the UFC. And this win will certainly throw him in the top five, AK. So where does he go from here? I don't think there's a lot of controversy with this pick. I have a feeling we might agree on a few of the first few picks here, Mike. So hopefully this is still. entertaining listen for our viewers, but again, and I think they're going to be on the same page

with us as well. I don't see, I'll give them an alternative after, but I mean, I think it's a far distant alternative to Volkov getting the winner of the February 27th heavyweight bout between Jayaer Rosenstruck and Cyril Gan. It just makes too much sense to me. I think that's the way to go. It has contender implications. It'd be an exciting fight. It's fresh. This seems easy to me. Mike, what did you go with? Yeah, I mean, listen, the unfortunate thing for Alexander Volkov is that this is a good news, bad news win. You know what I mean? Like, the good news is he wins.

It's going to get in the top five on Tuesday. But the road to a title shot, not just for him, but for a lot of these guys is a long, long road. Because Steve A is about to fight Francis and Ganoom March. We have the massive John Jones factor looming over this entire division. And you have to assume that John is the favorite to get the winner of the title. fight. So like you said, there are options here, but I think the two most sensical options are, like you said, Rosenstrike versus Zero gone, contender eliminator fight of some sort. That's like the likely scenario, even though he made a compelling case to be further along. He just isn't there

based on the landscape of the division. So yeah, I'm with you on that one. I mean, the other way you could go is like maybe the loser of the title fight, but I mean, that's pretty much where it's at. I think you hit it spot on. And that's Volkov. Now, on the other end, which makes things a little interesting, you get Alistair Overeem, who was on this great run, but ran into a buzzsaw. I mean, Volkov just looked so good. Took a lot of damage in that fight.

He wore that damage. Probably a broken nose amongst other injuries. I think he continues on here. I think he does get another fight in the UFC. And he'll probably either fight the loser of Rosenstrike versus Gunn, or if Curtis Blades beats Derek Lewis later on this month, you do the Derek Lewis fight, that would be my first choice. I assume we're probably in the same ballpark with this one, AK. We are. I like the Lewis fight. So would you not want to see the Lewis fight if Lewis beats

blades? Do you think of Lewis beats blades and he's kind of skipped past over? Because that's a fight we've discussed on at least one of the episode of on the next one. We really just think at some point over him and Lewis have to fight. It's just be such a cool fight and an easy, an easy fight night headliner, right? I guess it was, I guess it was easy to say that I think when both guys might have been coming off losses. I don't know. That would have been a while ago. I think I just want to see the Lewis fight no matter what.

I think even if Lewis wins, I don't know. Again, ignoring rankings, I think Lewis might already be, I don't know if Lewis's already higher than him on my own rankings right now. But, you know, whatever. They've both been in the top 10 forever. It's still a fight I want to see. And I don't think it matters to me the result of the Blades fight. Obviously, if Blades wins, you know, we're not seeing him in over him again.

It's senseless. But Lewis, if he wins, I think he wins, I think he, And he'd be down for it. He might even call for it. It might be something that Lewis wants to do. He's not one to really, you know, he does a lot in the mic. He's really not one to necessarily call for specific opponents. But I'm just checking here.

Yes, I do have him ranked higher than over him. So it'd be a step back. But from a reputation standpoint and just something to add to his own legacy, speaking of Derek Lewis, I still want to see that fight. So that's for me, that's my number one pick, regardless of what happens against Blades. I mean, I'll say this. if Derek Lewis beats Curtis Blades and puts him away, he's the guy. Like, John Jones is still there, but Derek Lewis jumps Alexander Volkov.

He jumps everybody because of his popularity too. People love Derek Lewis. And if there's some way, like, if Derek Lewis beats Curtis Blades and John Jones is like, listen, I'm still bulking up. I'll be ready in like September. Derek Lewis is getting the next title shot. It's no doubt about it. You reminded me of something that when you brought up kind of how messy the title

picture is right now. Not just a heavyweight. This is probably a UFC thing in general. We had a saying, I don't know if you remember a guy drafted by the Raptor, the Toronto Rap, you're a Harker Toronto Raptors fan, as I am, Michael, of course. We had a young man drafted in the first round some six, seven years ago, named Bruno Caboclo. And I can't remember which scared it was that said. I can see his face in my mind with analyst.

And the famous quote of Bruno. This kid is, he's from Brazil. He's like 19 years old. He's not ready for the NBA now, but he's two years from being two years away, which if you think about it, which if you think about it makes sense, and it became a mantra up here in Toronto. He never panned out, by the way. He kind of had a moment in Memphis. I was about it. But yeah, and it kind of makes sense you think.

It kind of means like, I guess, two years from now we can assess where this person is and if they are, you know, two years away. That's kind of how the title pictures are for a lot of the divisions in the UFC. You're one fight from being, it seems like you're always one fight from being one fight away. you reach a certain point. Some of the divisions are a little more clear cut than others, but I'd say even bantam weight right now. We'll talk about that more later. If it feels like you're one fight from being one fight away, middleweight because Israel, Addis and yes and yes, it's up at 205 now, so we don't know there. And then as you said, heavyweight. Is John Jones getting a title shot right away?

Is he not? Is he going to fight overreying? Some people have said, why doesn't that fight happen now, you know? So, yeah, sadly, it reminded me of that, of that quote. And a lot of guys, one fight from being one fight away, maybe more. So when we say fights have title implications, pretty much always put an asterisk next to it because there's no official, as we've seen in the past, even quote unquote, number one contenders bouts don't necessarily mean what they're supposed to mean. Well said. Well said. Co-made event, we got, AK, I know this hurts you to talk about, but we got at worst a top three KO of the year in 2021. When we're talking about awards in December, this is going to be on the list.

Corey Sanhagen, the flying knee heard and seen around the world of one Frankie Edgar. That was absolutely insane. 28 seconds into the fight and it was all over a scary scene, terrifying, if you will. But Sanhagen creating highlight reels left and right, AK. So there's two options, I would say. What say you? First of all. I know I already cried about it on the post-fight show he did.

I'm a big Frankie Edgar fan. I had picked him to lose. This is the worst case scenario when you see a legend get surpassed by a prospect. This is, this was, this was, I have to compare it to, I probably wasn't as huge a fan of this guy back in the day, but obviously Chuck Ladell, amazing fighter, legends. When he got taken out by Rashad Evans, when Richard Evans landed that, right, I think his overhand right on him, and just popped his head back. And Lidel was out cold. One, it made people hate Rashad Evans forever.

And two, it was a really scary moment. And I can only imagine if you were a hardcore Adel fan kind of just seeing his fight life flash before your eyes. This happened for me with Edgar. This was a younger guy, clearly, you know, on the upswing and a different trajectory since his career and just landing the knockout of a lifetime

or would have been the knockout of a lifetime if he also hadn't just had a spin kick. And it was scary. They didn't show, you know, they didn't show Edgar for a while. Obviously, that's not something people need to see on the broadcast, you know, how difficult was to get to. Thankfully, when they came back with the commercial, he was up at the, you know, and for the decision to be read out.

But I just want to say, as an Edgar fan, it was horrible to see. But as a fan of M.A., what a moment for San Hagan. Give him the Piotr-Jon-Aljermaine Sterling winner. He shouldn't have to fight again. This is bull crap if someone else fights for the title before him. He's the number one contender. Yeah. Listen, I saw this a lot on Twitter, people trying to be too cute with this.

I could not disagree with the idea more that he should have to fight T.J. Dillishaw or any, anybody else not holding the UFC Bannonway title after that performance. Could they do the Dillosh fight? Yeah, I mean, I guess it's possible. Could Dillashah get the winner of Piotr and Al Jemade Sterling? Yeah, it's possible. It would be unequivocally wrong, but both of those options are possible. But Corey Sagan couldn't have possibly drawn it up any better.

Because let's be honest, if Frankie Edgar had won that fight on Saturday, he's probably getting the next title shot. Like, he's probably jumping the line. He's Frankie Edgar. Like, that's what most people thought heading in. And now that Corey Sanhaghan did that, he should absolutely get the winner of the title fight on March 6th, the UFC 259, regardless of who wins that fight. Even if Al Jemaine Sterling wins, because, you know, there's a story there that's easy to sell

because Aljo just put Sanhagen away in the first run at UFC 250. And, yeah, it's recent, but that loss lit a fire under the Sandman. Like, this is a different guy. Like, just aggressive. open it just made him a little more a little angrier so to speak but listen he's next i'm not wavering on this corey sanagan's next fight will be for the belt because this wasn't a doctor stoppage this wasn't a referee stopping a fight too soon this is a 30 second knockout that we will be seeing forever and ever in montages video packages etc when fans and media are back in the arenas and the

ufc is playing that baba o'reilly before main card video montage that knockout will be in that video forever and ever until the UFC is no longer a thing. He gets the title shot. Let's not overthink this. Stop being silly. I saw it in my nightmares about what felt like 10,000 times last time. I'll be honest with you. It was just over and over again, over and over again.

And in my dreams, Mike, I was in the apex. And I was like, I could see myself reaching out to the cage. And like, Frankie, watch the knee. And he never heard me. he never no matter how many times I said it just happened again and again and again and again and again so I'm in a mood people okay Mike is right I'm in a mood Mike before we move on to the past the two of the headliner and the co-headliner was there any other alternatives you had for Volkov ovarim or sanhagen no okay well for sanhagen I'll say

look we don't want to see the tj de l's show thing but that would still be a great fight for him a great opportunity for him I think it's a winnable fight I also think it's insanely tough fight. For me, for me, Dillishaw was the undisputed best guy at 135 before, you know, popping for the EPO. And again, whether was it because of the substance he's using? Yeah, quite possibly. But I'm just saying as far as in cage product goes, he's a great fighter. And I think that win would still meet a lot, but also very tough. So I hope San Hangangans doesn't have to do that. But I think if you're a fan, you're not like objecting if that bite gets booked. Dominic Cruz, if he beats Casey Kinney. What do that?

For Sanhagen? For Sanhagen. No, that's too far, man. That's too far. I mean, I mean, Listen, it's a fun... Well, they're both part sixth. Yeah, listen, it's a fun, cool fight to have at some point in your career, but I mean, if Dominic Cruz, like... I mean, if Dominic Cruz goes out there and blast Casey Kenney and finishes him, like, Sanhagen finished Edgar or something like that, yeah, maybe.

Like, if he has to fight one more time, I think it's a favorable matchup. If Dillishaw, and I don't want this to happen, if he got the title shot instead, Cruz is probably the best. Cruz beating Kenny and then fighting Sanhagen. It's probably the best option for Sanhagen, right? probably yeah i mean if he has to take other the fight yeah for name value he'd probably be like

San Hagg is probably like a six to one favorite in that fight against dominic cruz right now like it just it just is what it is so it'd be a big name and a favorable matchup so i think yeah that would be good for him uh overreem uh i i think some other people mentioned this maybe i saw on twitter something shamil abdorakhimov

uh that guy's he didn't fight in 2020 he had two bookings with gone that didn't happen 20-20 39 39 years old a little bit closer to Overim and age, I think we'd like to see. So I think that's, you know, it's not the sexiest matchup, but it's certainly out there. And for Volkov, one name I thought maybe if he doesn't get that what I got, I think is the extremely logical matchup. Martin Tobora? 4 and O in 2020?

I apparently, I was checking my own notes, I apparently did mention for Tobora that I would like him getting the Volkov Overeem winner. I think because, obviously, I think, because I was anticipating an Overeem win. So I think I was really looking more forward to a Toborov one convincing fashion. Maybe you make that fight happen. So I could see that depending on, again, how Run the Street, Gahn shakes out, whether those guys just do a call out for someone else. But there's options. But I think the three matchups that we both kind of agreed on is most readers, most listeners and fans would agree with as well.

Yeah, I think there's a lot of options for Volkov because he's not going anywhere. It's just unfortunate. And, like, he could knock out the next two or three guys, and he's probably still not getting a title shot. It's just the nature of the beast. So if the plan is to stay active and cash those checks, Tibor is a fun fight. Also, a pretty dangerous fight, too. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots?

You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey-crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost. the fall bake off to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver.

Service fees exclusions and terms apply. We'll see what happens there as we head to the gritty, 39-year-old Clay Gwita, who defeats Michael Johnson. Just a fun blue collar scrap, AK, and the carpenter gets it done. And he goes out and he calls for a fight with an up. He doesn't call for a title shot. He doesn't call for the biggest name in the division. He calls for a prospect. I love it. And there's certainly no shortage of those at 155 pounds. And there's a fight AK that sticks out to me. It checks all the boxes for the carpenter.

It's an up and comer, a guy who's 2 and O in the UFC, a guy that people are high on. But he's not a guy that's like right now a top 25, a top 30 guy. Like he's on his way up there. and he would get a nice boost with a win over a season veteran like a Clay Guida, a guy that if Clay gets to the ground, the Carpenter's going to have to mind his P's and Q's a little bit.

So how about we do Clay Guida versus the new dad, Joe Selecki. That is my pick. Let's give Joe Selecki the vet test and see how he handles it. I think that's a fun fight, especially when it gets to the ground,

which it will get to the ground at some point. What say you? That is such an incredibly specific pick. I swear I saw someone else. I can't find it when I was looking to my reader's suggestions. And I swear some reader also threw that out there. And I was just like, why? But I guess, you know, you've laid out why. Yeah. And certainly based on Guida's criteria, 2 and O in the house he sounds perfect for him. I mean, look, this was for me probably one of the most wide, based on what he said, one of the most wide open selections. Because I would have gone with pairing what was someone

with similar experience. That's sort of my default. But yeah, he said, he said, ah, maybe not another, like 20-fight veteran next time. Maybe someone who's,

who's young, I'm like, Guida, you are a true original. You're a true original. So I waffled a lot here. I went, I picked three tiers of guys. So I picked one, like,

lesser experience, middle experience, and then equal to Guida. So first I was thinking, February 27th, Alexander Hernandez, Tiago Moises winner. So that's kind of,

that's about as inexperience I got. Now that's not even that in experience. It's like that's about any experience I got. Then for the longer range one, I've just shocked these two hadn't fought before. Francisco Trinaldo. How's that fight not happened? I know. I guess Guido was down to featherweight for a bit, kind of dancing around for a little bit. So maybe they kind of missed each other during that time. I think that fight will happen at some point. Maybe not even in the UFC,

maybe when they're both moved on. But the fight, my number one pick, I went mid-range. I think this would be a really fun fight. Him and Gabriel Mogli Benitez. So not quite as experienced Clay Guida, more experienced than Hernandez-Moisus as far as UFC experience goes. So right kind of in that middle range. So I settled on that. I settled on. I don't know if maybe Guida wouldn't be happy with that, you know, not inexperienced enough.

But that is my, yeah, I'll go with that. Fun matchup. But you can go, like, Guida, you can go right now 20 different directions. Yeah, like I saw, I saw like the, like, Sarukian being thrown out there as a possible opponent. I saw Raphael Fiziv as a possible opponent. I think those guys are like a win away from getting into the top 15. Like that's how good those two guys are. And I'm not saying Joe Selecki's not good.

I just feel like the line of work, the resume, what they have done in their careers, the competition has been better. And it's been good. And Joe Selecki, his last performance, the standing rear naked choke submission, outstanding. I mean, just an outstanding submission. I just don't feel like he has the experience that those other two guys have. I don't think the hype is quite there like those other two guys.

but I mean, Selecki goes in there, he beats a guy like Clay Guida. I think that's fair. I think that's a fair fight. Clay Grita, great win over Michael Johnson, but to give him a guy that's like in the top 20, top 25, I'm not a fan of that. I don't think he's the man. I love Clay Guida, but Clay can fight anybody and it makes sense. But we'll see what happens. I love that he calls out a prospect in the deepest division on Earth, which is something else.

What a guy. But we will head to the... He moves like he's 29. I know. He's 39 years old. He moved like he's 29 in there. It's insane. Even in his post-fight interview, he's still bouncing around.

Like, he didn't even get into a fight. The guy is an absolute madman. And Clay Guides is in my personal fighting Hall of Fame, just because he's the man. We head to the always exciting flyweight division, aka Alexandre Pantosia, goes out there inside the UFC apex and goes on and spoils the UFC debut of Manel Cape or Manel Cap. whatever they want to say, he will always be medall-cape to me. It was a fun fight.

Pantoja looked really good, super patient, and that patience led to a big win over a guy that had a lot of hype heading into this fight. So, A.K., this one seems relatively easy in my mind. Was it as easy for you? It wasn't. I think I might have gone a little bit outside the box. Well, the first thing is whenever, I guess it depends when Fickadeo, Moreno 2 is booked, which he would assume is the fight that's going to happen.

He has to be an alternate for that fight. That's the first thing. as soon as that fight is officially booked or even before if him and his management get an inkling of when that's happening you tell the UFC will be in shape will be on wait I'm ready for either guy God forbid something should happen but if it does you throw me in there

I am ready for a title shot even if it's as an alternate put me in there otherwise I thought about it maybe a little too much because I kind of want him to wait I've really looked ahead to this March 6th UFC 259 card a lot maybe it's just because I want a fresh match up, but I want to see him and the winner of the Kai Kar-France,

Jorgeio Bantorin fight. That to me would be my number one choice this week. Interesting. I think it has to be Alex Perez, right? That's what people said. Yeah, that's the one. Pantosia is number five. Perez is number four.

Perez coming up to Lasta Figito. Perez just became a dad himself, so it gives Pantosia a little time to, you know, heal up a little bit. gives Perez a little time to be dad and this could be a good little early summer fight throw this on any card and people like it I think that's the one. Don't have to add much

more to that but flyweight's awesome you can put Pantosia in there with anybody and it's fun A.K. He looks so good. He looks so good. I think as people also, I'm usually I know I just contradicted myself earlier with the I don't care what happens if Derek Lewis wins or loses he should fight over him thing but I am

I definitely skew towards winner facing someone you know I like people in the winning column both facing each other So Perez coming off loss, of course, you know, no shame in that. But I so, yeah, I'm just trying to keep winners with winners. But obviously Perez, yeah, rankings-wise, they're very close to each other. So, yeah, that's no issue with that. Now we head back or actually, yeah, back to a lightweight division.

That's right. Green and Johnson was a lightweight fight. But, uh... Oh, before anyone says me, I have to remind myself, Patoja did beat Kai Kar-France on the ultimate fighter. So it would be a somewhat fresh matchup if that fight were to happen. I'm just saying, you know how the readers are. You know how the listeners are, Mike.

They don't give us a second. As you'll see and check the tapes later, guys don't miss anything. All right, fair enough. Don't miss anything. So in the lightweight division, the fight I was looking forward to the most, allured in spades,

Benal Dereyush, wins his six straight fight, earns a decision against a very, very good fighter in Diego Faheda. Faheda's six-fight winning street comes to an end. And this was the pick that I sort of prefaced on the preview

show that might get me a little heat, AK. But there's a method to my madness. Sometimes I like to go on these little journeys. And allow me to take all of you on a journey right now. Buckle up, kids. The pick for me, AK, is Benile Darius versus Charles Olivera. And I'll explain why. First off, these two were supposed to fight in October.

Olivera was the one who withdrew from that fight. Darius got put on ice until now. Oliver obviously got that big opportunity. Tony Ferguson got a huge win. But since then, AK, he has reportedly turned down not one, but two fights with Michael Chandler. And let me just say, I don't blame Charles Olivera one bit for turning those fights down, especially the second one because the UFC wanted to book that fight for next weekend's card. At UFC 258, super short notice.

And when you're that close to a title fight, I get it. I get the trepidation, so to speak. But the other reason they said no was not just because of what I just mentioned. Oliver and his team is like, no, we're fighting for the belt. We're fighting for the title. And in this situation, with everything so loaded up and so many questions that need to be answered,

Oliver in my mind now goes from a guy that could fight for the belt next, but probably won't to falling to the absolute back of this pecking order. Because when Dana White, and I don't agree with this, has said, time and time again, time and time again, when that phone rings, when that knock on the door happens, it is best for business that you answer it. You said no once.

Okay, I get it. But twice, that's unfortunately going to be frowned upon. And the penance for such crimes against the UFC and their matchmakers will be a fight with Benile Darius, which could put a monkey wrench into everything. And Darius deserves a fight like that. And for all of those reasons I just laid out, that is my picket. Hey, hey, because if Oliver wants to play the, you know what, I just won't fight them. Card, if he wants to throw that on the table, it's not going to work.

It's not going to work. So I think at some point, he's going to have to take a step back and fight a dangerous guy. I'm going with Darjeu. I'm giving it to him. I think he deserves it. And it's not fair to Olivera. It's not fair, but I think, I'm thinking on behalf of the UFC here, and it makes me a little sick to my stomach to speak like this. But this is the fight that I think makes the most sense.

And I think will happen. Wow. That was a sobering fight pick, Mike. That was real. That was real talk with Mike Heck right there. That's our new side segment. We have another segment called Real Talk with Mike Heck. He's got a little sample of that. We're just testing that out.

So listeners, I keep saying readers. Readers and listeners, the same thing. So listeners, let us know what you thought of that. Because, you know, sometimes this man can be too real. You know, I've started recording. I know how real Mike can get. I know it's too much for some people sometimes. times you know but but hey that was nothing but truth you were spent nothing but but

truth fire truth flames you know as the kids say I think the kids are going to start saying that if they aren't already so yeah no I I agree it could definitely happen and you made me think of our poor Jerome Rivera who fought for anyone who I don't know who maybe missed the first prelim fight of the night you missed something spectacular because Odie Osborne scored a 26 second one-punch knockout I think I think it's 26 was faster than San Higgins win and it happened to come against Jerome Rivera, who I know isn't exactly a household name, but

has fought three times in the last, I think we said, five or six months for the UFC. Two of them were short-noticed opportunities, maybe all of them. I know at least two of them were short-noticed opportunities. Three different weight classes. He's a natural flyweight. He fought at phantom weight, he fought Tyson-Nam, and he fought Francisco Pado

in his natural weight class, lost that one, and then was knocked out with one punch at a feather-weight fight against Osborne. So it has to be some sort of record. Three UFC fights and three different weight classes in your first three appearances for the promotion. I think it was Jay Petrie from Sherdog, who reminded me that Jason Reinhart had apparently also fought

in three different weight classes in his first few appearances. It was across two separate, that's a deep cut, across, I think, two separate stints. I think it was like his first two fights, he lost, got cut, came back, fought in another weight class, and then lost it got cut again. So it's certain, sort of happened before, but Rivera's still a unique case.

And I bring him up because I imagine he's someone who, after losing his first two, fights said, I can't say no to the UFC no matter what. I got to jump on any opportunity there is. I just want to get back in there. And it's almost like a no-win situation. It's like if he, I don't know if they called him or if his manager, maybe his management reached out when they saw there was an opening. But I mean, he kind of had to take those opportunities. And and I don't blame Rivera and his team at all. Like I'm sure, again, I'm sure there's other ways to handle the situation. But they saw something that said, hey, we get this win. We got

our new lease on life as a UFC fighter. And yeah, just to tie what you said to Oliver, man, There's just a lot of things that when you're dealing with the UFC, you've got to, there's a certain behavior you have to have, a certain attitude you have to have. And sometimes, again, it leads you into more trouble than you were in before. I don't know, it's a big gamble, you know, and sometimes you double up and it doesn't pay off. So with Rivera, didn't pay off this time, clearly.

With Charles Olivera, remains to be seen. But I think as we learned from the Leon Edwards experience, the Leon Edwards experience as well, all this kind negotiating and finagling, when you don't have like the most, leverage doesn't doesn't not work out for you in the end yes so we'll talk yeah like heck and alex lee oh man i thought about it as soon as the fight was over and and derrish like cut that promo when he's like i should you know faheda should be fighting a top five guy i should be

fighting a top five guy and immediately i was like you should you were supposed to fight charles olivera like you were supposed to fight him already so let's do that um oh i didn't give a picks yeah i was just going to say i was just going to say i don't need i i like the idea of a hot fight of Dasonios. I was hesitant to do it because I've also said I really like the idea of Dosanos, Justin Gaitzsche, which I don't think is off the table. I still feel like that's out there. So I shouldn't I shouldn't pull him from that that fake pick yet. But if that doesn't happen, and I think this may be more likely to happen now, I think RDA. RDA is top 10, not top five, top 10. And so good fight for Darius, great style matchup. Two respectful guys, very classy fight. And another fight that could steal the show. So that would be a Dary or or maybe Dan Hooker, but I think you would. and I have said, we just want to see Dan Hicker chill and enjoy time with his family until at least the summer, maybe end of summer, fall. So, yeah, so I went with RDA, but I think you're, right to, he might be the guy that they give Charles Olivera to kind of send a message. Okay. Now, I want to throw this out there as a preface. We know the main card was officially

opened up with Danila Marquez submitting Mike Rodriguez, but we are invoking the, it wasn't originally on the main card, so it technically wasn't a main card fight rule here. But Marquez with the win, even Mike Rodriguez with a loss, both of them are thrown into the wild card pool, which is a perfect segue to the wild card round, where we

will now matchmake for someone that we haven't matched made for already coming out of UFC Vegas 18. So, A.K., kick it off, my friend, your wild card pick. Listen, we got to talk about Manel Cape, all right? I'm going with Cape for now. I wouldn't, again, I wouldn't call his performance disappointing per se for anyone who's sort of a fan of his Verizon work and was kind of expecting him to storm through the flyweight division.

He was given one of the best fly weights in the world to fight in Pantosia, a guy who's very well versed. And who actually I thought was his grappling, I thought would be the foil of Cape, but it was actually, of Cape. But it was actually, actually very fought a very high volume, strategic striking battle. And that's how we got the winning against Cape. Cape looks really comfortable, very smooth in there. He was doing a lot of shuffling his feet and kind of like doing the kind of outside, the inside calf kick, the kind of very inside like calf kick thing. He had a lot of cool moves. And I think he was very comfortable.

Maybe, you know, maybe too comfortable, too confident that he would land a kill shot at some point. So I said, I've said at the post fight show, I want to see a matchup he can style in. I honestly don't care if he fights top 10 guy, top 10 flyweight or top 15 fly or top 20 flyweight. I actually want to see him fight someone who is yet to get a win in the flyweight division Mike, but someone who I'm a big fan of and who I think would be a really fun style matchup And I think even though again like said he's 0 and 2 at flyweight in the UFC I still see him as a really as a really quality 125er And this is a fight we probably could have seen outside the UFC

Like a like as of like 18 months ago give him Give him Tyson now I want to see Ben Tyson yeah I think that's exciting I think it brings out the best in both guys it might not necessarily be the showcase fight I'm thinking for Kate. Like I don't think this is a guy that Cape can run through but I still would like Cape's chances

and I think Tyson would definitely engage him and someone someone's almost definitely getting knocked out. So not, you know, I may not have given an easy matchup but I still like it for Cape. So Cape Tyson Nam. Yeah, let's see that one happen. Maybe that's the next way to go.

I like it because then, I mean, listen, especially in this era of the UFC where spots need to be filled, if both decide to, you know, just jump on an opportunity. You could do it at 35. You can do this at 35. You could do it at 25? I think that's a great fight.

I think it's good for both guys. It would be a good one. It would be my pick-for-fight of the night, regardless of what card it's on. This was tough because there's so many ways to go with this. But in the end, I'm going with the first wild-card gut feeling I had on Saturday night. And I'm going with the – I'm going with Devante Smith. First fight in 18 months.

This guy has been through a lot. Achilles, surgery, rehab, recovery, stuff in his personal life. The combo worthy loss was a tough one. But I get it. I mean, he's human. I know he took a lot of crap for the combo worthy loss. But, you know, when things keep getting switched up on you, you're, this is like, this is a huge opportunity. This is a big pay-per-view.

You're the featured prelim. You're going from John McDessie who talked all sorts of. garbage, a guy you wanted to just punch in the face so badly. McDessie falls out. Then the UFC comes to you with, we're bringing back Clay Collard of all people, back to the UFC. He says, okay, I'll fight Clay Collard.

Clay Collard has a Usada issue. He is pulled from the fight. And then, like, the Monday of Fight Week, he gets a phone call. Hey, we found you an opponent. Oh, yeah? Who's that? It's your good friend and former training partner, Kamaworthy. What?

I mean, that is a lot when you're a guy, a lot of people have pegged as the next big thing in a loaded division like 155 pounds. So I get it. That's just a lot to take. In hindsight, and I've asked him about this before, he would have said no and just fought on another card. But hindsight is what it is and that's that. So he gets Justin Janes for his return. He's supposed to fight Alex De Silva. I didn't love that matchup for him.

Wasn't a big fan of it. I liked the Justin Jane's matchup. I think that was perfect because Justin's a tough dude who always brings it. And Devante looked really good. Yeah, he had to shake off a little bit of rust, but once Devante got going and got comfortable, there's nothing James can do to stop it. With that being said, there's a fun scrap I have in mind.

Let's give Devante a little bit of a step up. Nothing too, too crazy, but a step up nonetheless. Let's get a fun scrap that people love to read about when we would eventually confirm this booking. Devante Smith versus Nasrat Haqqparast. I think both of these guys are right around the same. Top 35, top 40 in this division, which, like, you hear that, and you're like, what? Like, that's not even that good.

But at 55, that's like being top 20 in, like, a lot of other divisions. So that fight would be a scrap, and that is my pick. Ait. Devante Smith versus Nasrat Haq-Perhaps. I love it. I love it. No, I have no. Devante, probably, again, if it wasn't for my, how intrigued to end by Cape,

Domante definitely would have been my wildcard pick. Like I said, all the circumstances around so that the worthy loss. And his person, I think they really have a star in him. I think there's a personality there. He was, he was as lively as usual post-fight, though I think he withheld sort of necessarily calling anyone out or making any big, like, proclamations again. He's a pretty smart guy. I think he's like, you know what, this was my kind of my comeback win. When he starts stringing together wins, I think a lot more people are going to become

familiar with Devante and his personality because he really does have that guy kind of guy like you put him on a live mic post fight he's going to have a moment he's going to have a moment it wasn't last night like I said it wasn't on Saturday because he's going to be humble he was humble you know he was humble as he should be and then but just wait wait till he gets string together a couple of wins you're going to see a lot more than person it did it did when he was on his first streak you know before the worthy fight I think a lot of poor started to see um what a star devonte could be so yeah I love the hackprass matchup and uh you mentioned sort of man lightweight that that that cluster of guys from like you know 30 to 50 any of those guys capable of putting on an amazing fight highlight real knockout and it's maybe just like two wins away from jumping into like the top 25 depending on on the matchup right so yeah I think it makes a lot of sense and either of those guys is really a lot closer to top 20 ranking than I think people would would would expect just looking at their names on paper and kind of who they're clustered with but yeah great great stuff 155 is so good so ridiculous it's so good so where we going now are we going to do we have have a check the tapes this week? Yeah, we got a couple. We got a couple of our regular listeners

and matchmakers shouting at me. My ZMs say, hey, I called this fight. This was like last week. So these will, I guess they knew we weren't recording an episode. So they had to find a way to pester us, Mike. I don't know if you heard from this. Our regular listener of all of our programming and matchmaker Tristan Gordette wanted to remind people that he was one of the people who called for Darren Till, Marvin Vittori, which happens in April, 10th. I don't know if he was the only one, but I certainly had made of in my notes I had made. I think I had pointed out to as Tristan and mentioned that. So I checked the tapes. Yes, Tristan, well done. And Harry Lifke, he might be the only one who called for this.

I'm not sure, but he definitely said Paul Craig Jamal Hill, which is going down on March 20th. So Tristan Gordette, Harry Lifke, well done. Tip of the cap to you, McMaynor and Sean Shelby. They owe you a drink next time they see you. So yeah, that's the check. Mike, do you remember checking any tapes for any matchups that were made recently? Not that, like, stuck out to me. I'm trying to think, because there was a couple that... There's a couple of new ones that I was like, ooh, I think I might have said something, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Parker Porter. Did you want Parker Porter and Chase Sherman? I did not. I mean, I love it. I thought, I didn't know, I know Chase Sherman was having USADA issues and I didn't know how long he was out for. Parker Porter, I forget who I had him matched up. Oh, I had him in there with...

Oh, what's his name? What is his name? The guy used to be a middleweight, and now he's a heavyweight, and a really fun heavyweight. Oh. What is his name? Collier? Yes, that's what I wanted. That's what I wanted.

Jay Collier and Parker Porter. Yes, that sounds familiar. Yeah, and I think some readers had liked that one, too, but yeah, I like Porter-Shir makes a lot of this. I think I wanted one of them to play Tauffa or something. I don't know. But yeah, that's so we, and did none of us, I was checking my nose, did none of us, like you, me, or the readers want Whitaker and Costa? None of us book this?

I didn't like it. Me neither. I remember not liking it. Yeah, because at the time, Whitaker should have been, Whitaker's next fight should have been for the belt. And this is before the Jan Blahovic thing, like, was an actual thing. So, yeah, or, you know, if they were going to do, I think, like, the alternative was if they were going to do, like, an interim title fight

if Adasani moves up, then that makes sense. And even that didn't make sense. actually wanted Vittori to fight for the interim title against Robert Whitaker. I thought he earned that. But here we are, the fight that Robert Whitaker said, I have no interest in taking. Again, had to take. He had to take this fight. There you go, Charles Olivera.

Take a glimpse into your future, my friend. And it sucks and it's unfortunate. But what are the peeps have to say, AK? I saw some of the suggestions on Twitter already. They were just coming in rampant on Saturday. I said last week that I was going to streamline this, so I'm lumping. together some of the most popular options. The matchup that I saw by

far, this is, I don't know, I think like almost every reader had this in their in their matchups. People want to see Benil Terraeus and Tony Ferguson. Ooh, I like it. I like it. I think the reason you, neither you are, I don't know why I didn't pick it is, like I said, I'm a

winners versus winner guy. This is a six-fight win streak versus two-fight losing streak. Yes, Tony Ferguson, look, the 12-fight win streak of Tony Ferguson for me is still fresh. even in this, what have you done for me lately business? And considering how badly he lost his last two fights, I get it if people kind of say like,

oh, well, that 12-fight win streak doesn't matter. To me, it still does. So that 12-5 win streak, to me, still stacks up nicely to what Darius has done, the six-fight win streak he's on. But again, like I said, normally I go winner and winner, but readers, I bolded this one. This was the reader consensus pick of the week.

Benile Darius, Tony Virgins, and people really like it. I think stylistically obviously is perfect. Volkov, we had a few suggestions there. Oh, well, okay, again, and the other popular, everyone was with us, like I said, Rosenstruck Gone Winner. It just makes too much sense. I saw two people mention this. One person maybe doesn't remember they fought.

Volkov Lewis Rematch. Mike, what do you think of that first? Derek Lewis versus a garbage can. It's awesome. You know what I mean? Like, Derek Lewis against anybody is just weird and fun. And even if they fought like two weeks ago, just having Derek Lewis in there and the unpredictability of what he brings to the table is just always So I have no issue with Derek Lewis being thrown in any kind of a fight.

And it won. There's been enough time, I think, since the first fight. And also, as everyone recalls, Volkov was clearly winning that fight until Derek Lewis went Derek Lewis on his ass, as he tends to do in the final round and got the knockout. So I really remember people, it's one of those, this time probably loose a couple of times, people saying after, yeah, Lewis won, but was he really the better fighter? Derek Lewis, I guarantee he does not care whether people say that he does not care. He walked out with the win.

he walked out with some extra cash and that's all that mattered to him. So yeah, I'm not against that rematch. Pantoja, Alex Prez for sure was the most popular selection amongst the readers, though. One or two people mentioned Joseph Benavides, which I really like, except Benavides has to get past Ascar-A-R-A-R-A-R-F-Rost, which is not guaranteed by any means. But that to me, if Benavitas does beat Ascarov in a convincing way, I would love to see Benavitas and Pantos. Yeah, that's fun too.

random random vich pachal siding but again multiple people will call for this pachal clay quidda sure yeah experience for clay dude it's not what he wants it now I mean would that

would that fit in the press somebody Vince Wichel's been in the UFC for a while but he hasn't been the most active guy oh so how many like how many fights has he had in the UFC like five or six nine? He's had nine fights not oh right like there was like a break in like

I know there was a big break in you might be right I'll check right now. I have my Vink Pichel information on me at all times. Eight. He's six and two in the U.S. Six and two. But yeah, I know what you mean.

There was, what, a two-year gap in there? Yeah. Like a two-year gap. It's a motorcycle accident. Yeah. So, yeah, six and two, which is, but you're right,

he's got the years of experience the UFC, but not the fights, so it would be real. But, yeah, no, again, if that fight was made, would not be surprised. Again, Guida was probably the most difficult guy to match up and also the easiest fight to match up this week,

because he could be literally anyway. And the last consensus pick I want to mention, this is a wicked matchup if it happens, Defonte Smith and Mike Davis. Oh, Jesus. Damn. Good God. Damn. That's a good one.

You know what's crazy about Mike Davis? Mike Davis, I don't know how long he's going to be out for. I guess he just had some surgery. Because when he went into that Mason Jones fight, if you haven't seen the interview on what the heck, it's forget. wild. I mean, he said he was only like 50% for that fight. So he had so many injuries, like, but he had to fight. He had no choice. After everything he went through in 2020, he had no choice but to fight. And which I could not believe he said this into a live microphone,

he says he can get to 145 easy, easy. I could still get to 145, easy. So, I mean, he could fight a featherweight, he could fight a lightweight. I'd rather see him at 55 because I think he's a huge 55 are already. God, Davis and Donde Smith. It would be fun. I don't know if I'm ready for that. I don't look if anyone is.

Off of the MMA fighting solicitations that we put out through our Twitter account. Let's see. For Darius, I want to know what people thought if what should be next for him. And I saw, I want to ask your opinion. This is from at Kyle 514-87731.

Rolls right off the tongue. Great tag there. Is there any chance that we see Paul Filder and Darius? I guess there's a chance. I don't think I don't think Derry should be that excited about fighting a guy coming off of two losses.

Yeah, again, that's another, like, why it's kind of out of my, my, uh, my, uh, my selections as well. Uh, for Clay Guida, I'm just trying to see if there's any, I didn't mention already. At RTW 579, Connor, I get out of here.

Yeah. Get out of here. Uh, at guru underscore scout says, that he should fight Dustin for the bacon belt. All right, people. There's no serious suggestions here. This is what I get for giving the people a voice, Mike.

We get the people of a voice sometimes. See, these are non-dedicate. See, our dedicated readers don't play around like this. All right. These are, this is a random people who are replying to our truth. Listen, they're not, listen, they're wrong, but they're not wrong. Like, at this point, Benil Darius has, he has the longest win streak in the division now, right? Outside of Hubib.

Yes. Oh, sorry, no, but those are Clay Guida's. Oh, these are Clay Guida suggestions. I'm sorry. Wow. Okay, never mind. These are just horsing around. There's just horse play, Mike.

You know what's funny about Clay Guida is he's competitive with like every single guy in this division? Like he's competitive with everybody. Sure. Sure. Like he doesn't beat all of them. He probably beats very few of them. Let's be honest. I love Clay Guida and all.

He's giving him a hard time. Not an easy guy to fight. I think Michael Johnson was definitely little. I don't think he overlooked him. I think he overlooked how explosive he still is because Guida just came out throwing out right hands. I don't even know if he was setting them up. I think they were just naked right hands,

just whipping these punches out and connecting over and over again. And I think Mike Johnson right there is just fell behind so quickly and was just never going to be able to catch up. If you fall behind against Kuwaita, let me tell you something. It's real tough. It's like falling behind like 20 points

against like the Lakers right now, right? It's just you're not coming back. Corey Sanhagen. Oh, well, sorry, I rephrase this question differently. Should he be next in line for the UFC Pantamweight Championship? resounding, obviously, support for it. A few people, of course, like, out Tj's name.

Otherwise, people are just saying, yes, this is... So a lot of support. UFC, listen. They're into a San Hagan fight, all right? I think you mentioned the post-fight show, Mike. Like, how much... Oh, no, you were comparing it to Dillishaw Faber and Dillishaw, I think,

I think it's getting a title shot. But, yeah, I think, like, if I'm comparing Dillashogne getting a title shot to Sengh, I don't think there could be that much more interest in Dillishaw. Again, like I said, I think the UFC sees it that way, but I'm just trying to read that he leaves here. I don't know how, like, if we're talking pay-per-view buys, how much of a difference could it really make? Especially with the ESPN Plus format and everything. Anyway, so yeah, Sanhagen all the way.

Volkov, not a lot of support. Actually, I, so I solicit for Volkov, no. Here, I'll just read the comments. That was sad, I guess referring to Overeign's performance. Wow, excellent comment. What's next for him? And then they said, getting wrecked by any top. three heavyweight. Oh, disrespectful.

Someone said, top five contender and then belts. Thank you. And then someone else just said, Overeign wasn't 100%. So, man, what a weird way to win the main event and somehow not get the support of the people. So that's a little discouraging. A little bit. Thank you on, people. Let's do better than this. I believe at Young Rabbi, 86, added both of us.

And I think the one that's over for me is, I like the idea. Again, we've just got in a lot of shows. we just don't know when he's fighting again. Faheda versus Ally Aquinta. Perfect match. Yep, I agree. We just don't know what's going on with the British Nell whenever he decides to fight again. So it's really hard to sort of pick him.

I'll come back to Twitter, but I actually wanted to end with them because I think they had some strong moments here. And I'll run these down quick. Max Block likes Darius versus Kevin Lee, another guy in our we have to wait to see when he's ready to come back scenario. Oh, Jacob Best. Oh, sorry, I told me I should read out this message. Jacob Best on Instagram For his pick Let me read this

The one that I really liked He wants to see Cape and Francisco Figuerado He said I justify this as Cape is clearly a top five flyweight And lost due to inactivity It had been a while since Cape had actually fought Let him absolutely style On Francisco and build his hype back up at flyweight

By destroying Figgies brother I would favor him heavily in a Francisco figurato matchup. He's a three to one favorite, I would say. At least. You're right. Based on he is coming off a loss,

it would be shocking if it was more than that. But yeah, three to one is a lot already. So I like that. So Jacob Best, he always has one pick usually that he gives an explanation for. So I'm into that. That's a little less competitive, I think, than the NAM fight in my mind.

And like I said, I do want to see him get a matchup where he can show off a little more. Jay Steiner, one I didn't think of for some reason. Faheda versus the Dober Makachev loser, U.S.C. 259, March 6th. That makes sense. Yeah, because, I mean, Fahedda was supposed to fight Dober at least once last year.

Maybe twice. Maybe twice. Right. Yeah, so that makes sense. And Makhachev, yeah, that's a tough about it. And he wants to see Edgar versus Cruz, and he said, no matter how that Kenny fight turns out. He says, win or lose for a cruise, he thinks he's still, and we've mentioned this a lot times readers will mention it.

How does Edgar Cruz fight never at least been attempted to be booked? So I don't know if I'm that. If I'm if I go of Cruz wins, should you fight Edgar? I don't think. Cruz wins. I can't. I don't think the Edgar fight makes sense right now. Loses?

Yes. Yes. All the way. Yeah. I mean, I think either way you can make that fight and that's fine. Just because, I mean, Frank, Bano, which is so crazy. Frankie's title hopes have, unless he comes in, like, on a short notice opportunity, Frankie's not fighting for the Bannamoy title anytime soon.

So now it's just like fun fights. Let's get paid. Let's make some money and do that. Like the title is gone. At least, I mean, unless he wins like his next five, four or five fights,

the title's just not there for him. So if you want to do him and Cruz, I mean, whew, that's just so fun. But of course, Cruz has got to fight Casey Kenney and we'll see what happens there.

And even if he loses to Casey Kenney and you're going to keep Cruz around, you can still do that fight and it makes sense. Mike, did you want to dip into any of your Instagram, DMs right now, or do you want to save yours until after? We could dive into them. John George reached out all the way up in Alaska.

So this is a big fan of the show. Oh, hi, John George. He said, I think Corey Sanhagen deserves, excuse me, the next shot if Jan wins. But if Alja wins, as much as I love Corey, I think it should be Alger versus T.J. And Corey, I believe it says Corey should fight the winner of the proposed, perhaps, fight between Cody Garbrand and Jose Aldo. And then the winner would fight for the belt. He said also, Frankie isn't done after this. Him versus Cody Stamen would be fun.

It would be a good step up for Cody and a good ride into the wind win for Frankie if so. And I let him know that Cody Stamond would love that opportunity because Cody said if he fought Ascar Ascar and won his fight on the microphone, he was absolutely calling out Frankie Edgar. So that would work. But I think Cody probably wants to fight a little bit sooner. I hope Frankie takes several months off. but knowing him he'll probably fight in freaking April because he's such a madman so I like that

Dylan Bernstein says he likes Binald Darius versus RDA also random scraps Devante Smith versus Jalen Turner Ode Osborne Ode Osborne versus Zeruk Adashev or Zalgis

Zuma Gulov if he were to go back to flyweight and either of those guys were to stick around some interesting picks there Good main card pick. A couple of deep cuts on the card as well. So thank you for your DMs.

Who was the first guy, John George? John George. I'll segue into the emails here. I like the Edgar. Sorry, he said Edgar Stamen matchup. I like that much better than, well, one Mr. Matt Bradbury, a new regular email contributor said he said Edgar versus Walsh Veeley. Oh, come on.

Come on, Matt. Why are you trying to hurt me? Why are you trying to hurt me, Matt? I'm vulnerable right now. They got to be like, I mean, I'm sure those guys like train together and stuff at some point. Like, I'm sure they know each other very well. Sure. And I just, no, why?

Who wants to see it? Come on. Matt Breber had a deep cut too. I did not remember that these fights had happened. Timor Vallev versus, he wants to see Timor Vallev versus Chris Gutierrez three. He said, complete the trilogy. Yes, I agree. I was like, I was like, I didn't remember at all.

I had to go back, and I remember that the first fight was controversial, a Gutierrez decision win. They rematched immediately, and then Valliev won. I think that closes the door for me, but I get Bradbury, a big fan of the World Series of fighting, apparently. So many unanswered questions. So there we go. That was one of the more interesting. Matt Brewer has a lot of deep cuts. He likes Procopio versus Firo, Mike Rodriguez, Khalil Roundtree.

If Mike Rodriguez gets another chance, I would love that. If Mike Rodriguez gets another chance, yes. Throw him in there with Roundtree. and I want to see one of these dudes just way along the other. I think that'd be so much fun. That's fun, but it's sad too, because that is like the ultimate loser leaves town match. Yeah, and probably they're going out and they're probably going out bad. Yes.

If we're being, if we're being honest. Tristan Gordette had a bunch of picks, but the one that I really like, because we got a shout out, you know, you mentioned. We kind of cut this guy because he wasn't really a main car, technically a main card to winner. It wasn't supposed to be. So Danilo Marquez, apologies that we did not match me for you. But Tristan is how you covered.

He says Marquez and Roman Doliceezee. I like that. Yeah, it's fun. That's covered. Thank you, Tristan. Thanks for saying that one. And we got a new email contributor. I'm going to, I don't know if this person's for America, because I'm going to read out their name as in North American as I can.

So Harry Dwoskin, Dwarskin. Could be Dvoskin, but I'm going to go, Harry Dwaskin. He likes Sung Mood, another person we didn't match up, but Sung Wuchoy versus Austin Lingo, very cool matchup. And he went wild on me with a guy who I guess, I don't know if this guy signed to the UFC or not. And I know I wasn't aware. he says Clay Guida versus Alexander Shabbly Man

Yeah What do you got? Yeah I have nothing I have nothing I had to look it up This is a deep Maybe he got signed it I don't know

He's 27 year old out of Russia This is why I think Harry might be I assume he's from Russia Is why he knows what this guy Has fought for fight nights global Other Russian promotions Kuhn Loon fights That's such a really good

European promotion Or should say Asian Pro FC which is also out in Russia. So yes, he is, he's well known out there, I guess. 19 and 3, a four-fight win streak. So maybe Harry knows something I don't, and this guy is ready to come to the UFC.

But I'm almost done here, Mike. Did you get Twitter DMs as well or just Instagram? Just Instagram. There are some sites out there who have reported that Shabli signed with the UFC in November. Oh, okay, okay. Well, well done, Harry. I think that's a great call.

And that sounds like exactly what Clay Green. Give me this 19 and three Russian kid who no one has heard of. That's what I want for my 30, what would be my 31st UFC fight? He would do it too. Of course he would. Oh my gosh, Clay Gruey. Stop it. Stop it.

So I'll go run through quickly to the Twitter DMs. Aronski likes the Devonty Smith versus Draccar close Jai Herbert winner February 20th. Barry O'Reilly likes Wang Wucho versus Shane Young or Chase Hooper. And then again, there's so many Guida matchups out there. He likes Guida versus Gamrodot or Mark O'Madson. Michael Perugini, wait, oh, I wrote down Michael's name here, but I, wait, he must have said something besides. I should have made a little note to myself. He wants, why don't I mention this here?

Volkov, Volkov, oh, Panto. Oh, sorry, he's one of the people who mentioned Pantosius, Joe B. Okay, so I had to make a note. So, yeah, the Pentagia, Pantosia, Joseph Benavides, fight is out there. C.D., that's just what his name is on Twitter. Guida versus Venada. Yeah, that's fun scrap. Not sort of the match of Guida was hoping for.

I mean, yeah, I'd watch it. I'm thinking about this Alexander Shoblay thing. Now I can't get out of my head. Now I just feel like it's going to happen. That'll be the ultimate check to take. Terry, Dostkin, Drew out there. That's a big time. I will remember.

Believe me, if that fight gets. made, I will remember, and the tapes will be checked. From a, it looks, sounds like a name, but I believe they're a fan of the New York Knicks Center. A Mitchell Robinson Stan, like Devante Smith and

Christos Gagos, and he had a Michael Johnson matchup. There's a go. There's something we haven't matched up. Michael Johnson and Brock Weaver. He said, if Michael Johnson isn't released, he should fight Brock Weaver. I didn't know that Brock Weaver hadn't been released. For some reason, I thought he had been, but as far as as I know, he's still on the roster?

Yeah, I even heard that he's been cut at all. Yeah, he's had some strange. He's had an eventful three-fight UFC career, to say at least. And then I'll give closing on, sorry, Mike, no other DMs or emails for you, anything like that? Nope, I'm good. I'll give our closing reader moment to Redwood Rebel. He likes Pantosia versus Garbrandt. He likes Timor Valliev versus Nathaniel Wood.

Yeah, that's a scrap. Pretty cool. And then he had a question for us. One last question. One last matchmaking question for us, Mike. Who should Eminem fight? Now that Eminem has literally stepped into the ring for that higher music video and cast the Eminem curse upon everyone, including poor Alistair Overeign.

He should have to answer for his actions. Him and Dana went to answer for their actions spreading the Eminem curse. Who do you think Eminem should fight? Now he's on the roster. I mean, I'm so happy this question was asked. Oh, here we go. This is so easy. This is so easy.

The answer is Casey Liden. I mean, it's the fight. We have so many clips of Casey and tweets. I mean, we could just build the fight with Casey Liden tweets from Saturday after that video aired. And on the post-fight show with his reaction to Eminem's pretty awful song. Let's be honest. This is not the Marshall Mathers or the some shady LP that we're talking about here. This is 20-21 Eminem.

And you got to make a buck. I'm never going to fault you for that. But the song is not good. It's not good. It's bad. Wow. Gosh, MMA fighting going in on Eminemm. It's bad.

It's a bad. Bad song. I don't comment on it. He's a great artist and, you know, we all make different decisions later in our careers. Eminem versus EKC. I like it. I just kind of throw out, I'm not hip with it. I don't know what the kids was into these.

I throw out to Bad Bunny. I saw him appear at the Royal Rumble last weekend. And Redwood Rebel, I mentioned this time. I'm like, I'm like, yeah, Bad Bunny, whoever that is. And he explained to me, Bad Bunny is a very, very popular regaton artist. He's a huge, apparently he's a Redwood Rebel, a huge bad guy. Bunny fans. He's all he's totally down for Eminem versus Bad Bunny UFC 264 I don't know you know somewhere down the road but dude you gotta do Nick can't the Nick Cannon fight

Machine Gun Kelly I mean did that not get resolved weren't they weren't they be he's huge though there's no way they're in the same way class yeah I mean Eminem's taking him down like the MGK versus Eminem is like Sanahagen versus Edgar like that's like the size discrepancy like six foot four something that's huge I was a job freaking giant. I don't see MGK being able to do much. I think Nick Cannon, I don't know, we do that. Let's do that. I mean, they're both thrown out distracts at each other, left and right. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's, I forgot about that. I forgot that few, because that few ended so quickly. I was like, it was just, it was over. Did Eminem ever answer him back? Nick Cannon?

I think so. Did he? Because I was say, I thought the best response was just ignoring him. I thought, I remember that it took a while, and he was just like, Eminem's not going to answer. It's just, it's beneath him. I don't know. I don't remember. I know he answered MGK with Killshot. That was really good. That's why that one came to my mind first because I was like, oh, yeah, the, that's like the Nicanin feud happens. But yeah, thank you, everyone, all the readers for your questions. And thank you, Redwood, Rubble, especially for letting us talk a little,

a little M&M matchmaking. A little M&M for M&M, you might say. Tushay. I will mimic what A.K. said, you guys rule. Keep those suggestions coming and let everybody else know about them. Hit us up on the Twitter. He is at Alexander Kaley. I'm at Mike Heck underscore J.R.

A.K., do you want to throw out the rest of your info for the piece? Yeah, yeah, like I said, at Alexander K.K. Lee on Twitter, at Alexander KK. Lee on Instagram, alex.com, at e-mail. We'll probably start putting this stuff in the post, right? We should probably support this in the post on the site, right? Our information. Yeah, maybe. Or you just, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. It depends if you're using your personal DMs. If you're using your personal DMs, maybe not. Your personal Instagram, maybe leave it. Yeah. I will. I'll throw it in there.

People, people, I'm an open. book. You can DM me whatever you want. I'm sorry, when you want. Not whatever you want. Don't DM me whatever you want. So I'm sticking to Twitter, right? There you go. Stick to Twitter. I mean, if you find you just want to DMS, great, we're in. Oh, those are Twitter. Oh, I thought those are Instagram. Oh, those are from Twitter. The suggestions you got.

Oh, no, those are Instagram. Mine's at M underscore Heck, J.R. On Instagram. I barely check it, and I'm bad Mike. Bad Mike. You know, my goal is to be more active on Instagram. I've just done an awful awful job with that but uh there you go join us next week as we discuss the fallout of ufc 258 the welterweight title is on the line a division that needs a boost incredibly bad

kamar usman defends against gilbert burns very interesting title fight there i'm looking forward to it from a matchup perspective but welterweight really needs to get the rocket ship strapped to it and make some movement macy barber returns against a luxa grasso calvin gasolum takes on Ian Hinesh, Pedro Munoz versus Jimmy Rivera, and much more, should be some fun matchmaking to come out of that event at the UFC Apex. But until then, we are out of time for AK. I am Mike Eck. Thank you for listening.

And remember, as always, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We will have some more fun next week right here on onto the next one, the podcast. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.