MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 19

Episode Date: February 21, 2021

On the 32nd 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 19 at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Derrick Lewis following his incredible second-round KO win in the main event, Curtis Blaydes, Yana Kunitzkaya, Darrick Minner, Chris Daukaus, Phil Hawes, Tom Aspinall, 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. Welcome back to a brand new edition of On to the Next One, MMA Fighting's Matchmaking Podcast. Thank you for joining us once again as we try to put the puzzle pieces of the future together coming out of UFC Vegas 19 this past Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was capped off by Derek Lewis doing Derek Lewis things, brutally knocking out Curtis Blades in the main event. all having a wonderful day, everybody. I am Mike Eck, and joining me, as always, is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the Prince of Positivity, the legend, Mr. Alex K. Lee,

aka, how are you, sir? I'm great. I think this is one of the easiest weeks I've had. I don't know if you had the same experience. I think that's one of the easiest weeks I've had making fights for the show. I breezed six-fight main card, so, you know, you know, we should feel us to know where you do all six winners in the main card. I breeze through it, man.

a breeze through it. I'm not saying there's all matchups that I'm like, oh, these are all killer matchups, but like just consulting my own rankings and kind of reading the tea leaves. I was like, some of these things just fall into place.

So I'm excited. I'm always excited for today show. Always excited to work with you, you know, my best friend. But today, I think it's going to be a nice, relaxing Sunday show.

It's going to feel like a Sunday, you know what I mean? I don't know when people are going to listen to this. It's going to feel like a Sunday. Yeah. I don't know. I'm kind of like in the middle. Like this isn't really hard, but it wasn't super easy.

It was like right in the middle. And I guess compared to a lot of these shows, yeah, it was a pretty easy week. So I'm with you on that one. By the way, I will do my best to edit all this out. But if you hear a vacuum upstairs, my wife decided this would be the perfect time. Start vacuuming the floors. So apologies for that. Never.

Do not apologize. Not apologize, Ms. Mike Heck. All right. Do not apologize. Yes. She's the best. But I do want to actually start. show by issuing another apology, aka if I may, because I said on this program many times in

2021 that it was my mission to be better with Instagram and be better with Instagram direct messages as it relates to this here program. And I missed some last week. I have to be better. Someone messaged me who said they tried to message you. So I suck. And I want to go back and shout these folks out coming out of UFC 258. So do it. Real quick, Joshua Abouquet. Let me know if any of these people. It's Josh Abukai. I know this.

Abukai. Because poor Josh messaged me saying, I'm paraphrasing here. This is not exact words. Alex, why is Mike not, does Mike hate me? Why is he not reading? My messages on air. He came to me. I provided a shelter in the storm.

I will be, if you want to read his suggestions now, I don't know, but I will be reading his, I will be reading his suggestions later. Okay. He didn't send me. He didn't send me a follow. but I apologize, Josh. It's fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He suggested Chris Gutierrez versus Charles Jordan, if Gutierrez wants to stick at 145,

Julian Marquez versus Impa Kasang and I. Bilal Mohamed versus Benil Daryush. I don't know if that would happen since Dariush is a 55er, plus Bilal is not fighting Leon Edwards. So maybe you put some good vibes in the air for Mr. Mohamed, Joshua. Gabe Green versus Lyman Good. That's an interesting matchup. André Yule versus Josh Keelebo. Ricky Simone versus Elia Teporia even though Simone probably go back to 35

you'll hear what Ricky Simone wants on what the heck by the way on Tuesday Calvin Gaslm versus Edmund Shabazzian like that option and then Ian Heinish versus Brad Tavares so there you go and then Sean Bradley actually

reached out to me as well I apologize Sean and then coming out of UFC 258 he said I think the fight to make it well to wait with everything how it played out right now is Nate Diaz versus Hamzat-Chimayev. Nate Diaz fighting Poria, Oliver, aren't going to work out. And Diaz for Hamzat would be an incredible scrap. Book it once, Hamzat is healthy, and the winner fights burns. It burns isn't booked soon.

So there you go. I apologize, gentlemen. I believe there is one more. I think Nate is crazy. That somehow gets floated down Nate Diaz's way, and there's a decent paycheck attached to it. He's crazy not to take that fight. I'm not saying he necessarily wins because I actually do think Hamza is pretty good. And again, Nate Diaz at Welterweight is a mixed bag.

was not something we're talking about a wrestler, but he should, he would have to do it. Because it's also a very winnable. He's so much more experienced. I don't know. I'm not sure who I'd pick in that fight. I would probably lean Diaz, just for the experience factor. But I like, I'd not heard, I don't think I'd heard that suggestion anywhere. Yeah, that was a good one.

And then Patrick Austin has DMed a couple of times. He said the big winner coming out of UFC 258 was Belal Mohammed. Said, Belal, just put Joe Rogan in his place. He's the real winner tonight, regardless of any other outcome. And clearly he was. because he just got himself the biggest fight of his career on March 13th versus Leon Edwards. Patrick does have some other suggestions. I will be reading those on the program later on when it's time.

So I appreciate that. Again, my apologies. I will be better with this for those hitting me up on the DM. Enough apologies. Well done, Mike. Well done. Well done. That was some lovely reading of readers suggestions.

And thanks, of course, for the readers. Yes. We'll have more readers later. Yes. Everyone's favorite segment. Yes. So let us talk some matchmaking on our end, A.K., in the main event, Derek Lewis, as a three and a half to one underdog as the window closed,

stops Curtis Blades, one of the most vicious and violent knockouts you will ever see watching the sport. The man is incredible, AK. He really is a huge win for the Black Beast, and a lot of the pre-fight shatter was surrounding Curtis Blades and how he's kind of stuck in this division with the win because of everything going on at the top of the division and the heavyweight title picture. But Derek Lewis said, you know what? I'm just going to go in there and change the game. the narrative across the board. So I ask you, Mr. Lee, what is next for Derek Lewis?

Well, let me first say that Blades is no longer stuck in the top five, or at least in the heavyweight title picture. He has been dislodged. He was dislodged from both his consciousness and from any sort of hopes for a number one contender spot. He's at least like two fights away now. So he's not stuck anymore. So I guess he can, in a roundabout way, he can think Derek Lewis for that, though certainly this is not certain this is not how he wanted to have that cleared up for him. I have to go, look, we've been championing this for most of last year. I said in a previous episode, I don't care necessarily about who wins in the Blaise Lewis

fight. This is the fight I want to see. This is who I want to see Lewis fight next. I'm still championing Derek Lewis, Alastair Overim. I love it. I'd love the matchup. They've both been around forever. I keep thinking they have fought, but of course they did.

I'd certainly remember. there's at least some playful animosity there. Lewis is very realistic. I mean, if you heard his post-fight speech yesterday, he didn't even bother calling anyone out. He knows there's a whole situation in front of him that he can't control. So he's just like, he threw it like John Jones,

which I think would be great. I don't think it's going to happen. And for me, the next best thing would be a fight with Alistair Overeem. Win streaks, losing streaks don't matter. I know Lewis's four-fight win streak. Overeem's coming off a loss, but the name value of Overeem is always going to be what it is.

The matchup is always going to be what it is. And I think that's the fight to make before it's too late, before we, you know, before the Ream retires. So Derek Lewis, Alastair, over-ream. I've been on it and I'm sticking with it. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned how this is kind of an easy, breezy episode. This is probably the easiest, breeziest fight on the entire card because it's two options. One, he's the backup fighter for the title fight on March 27th.

Like if something happens along the way to either Stipe or Francis Inganu, Lewis subs in, he wants to stay active. There you go. And the other option, like you just said, A.K., give the man what he wants. He wants Alastair Overeem. Say, thank you, Derek, for making our jobs easy. Give him Overeem. That's it.

It keeps Lewis active, does him solid, gives Overeem a fight he wants as well. There you go. No need to overthink this. Did you match up Curtis Blades at all? I didn't even think about that. No, I completely forgot. Like I said, I was probably in the mindset of,

I would like to see Blades hopefully get a longer than, you know, sometimes when these guys, guys get these chaos and they don't suffer any other, uh, extraneous injuries. It's just like, it's just like, oh, uh, six weeks, uh, no contact or something. I would like to see Blaze take some time off. I'm sure he wouldn't want to. I'm sure if he has a clean, uh, mostly clean, you know, uh, medical suspension bill.

He's just going to be like, yeah, put me in as soon as possible. That was a nasty, nasty knockout. He hasn't been, I'm like, I'm even thinking of like the second, the second in Ganu knockout. It, you know, it wasn't like this. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't like this clean, one shot chaos. So, uh, for me, it's just Blaze takes some time off. But I'd love to hear what you think. when he's ready to come back, what should be next?

Yeah, I've been kind of thinking about this since the knockout ended. And after the post-fight show, I was just like, he's just a big part of this story. And you kind of hit the nail on the head, A.K., and it might even be worse than how you said it. This is a tough pill to swallow for Curtis Blades. His stock takes a tremendous hit from not just this loss, but really any loss because of what this division looks like right now. So I was kind of like thinking about it because a lot of people were like, like, well, let's give him the loser of Cyril Gahn versus Garsina Rosenstrike. And I don't disagree with that, but I kind of do.

Like, if Cyril Gahn beats Jarzina Rosenstrike, then you do Blades versus Rosenstrike. I'm okay with that. But if Gahn loses, you can't throw him back in there with Curtis Blades. There would be like a giant stunt to his development, in my opinion. Like, if you're all in on the Cyril Gond train and you think this guy could be a heavyweight title contender sooner rather than later, if he goes out and loses the Jarzino next weekend, you can't just throw him back in there with Curtis Blas. I think that's a terrible idea.

But if Jarzino does win, I like the idea of maybe doing the the winner of the Marching Taibora versus Blagoi-Evenoff fight, especially if Taibora wins, because it kind of gives us the chance to see if Tybora would be, you know, I think he'd be on a five-fight winning streak.

Let's see if this guy's the real deal. I mean, there are lots of options. You can make arguments for a lot of things, but that's kind of where my mind's taking me. A really bad loss in a really bad spot had a really bad time for Curtis Blades. Yeah, it was, and again, especially, I think this is maybe the most buildup. Well, there's quite a buildup, I think, before the, the Gone Every match as well.

But since then, this is probably the most buildup Blades has had for a fight. And, yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of eyeballs in this loss, which, again, which is in this case was, you normally say, you know, for better, for worse. In this case, was for worse for Blades. But, yeah, it's funny, you mentioned the Gone Rosenstruck matchup, which, because I think that's going to resolve a lot of sort of this, the other part of this sort of this heavyweight equation outside of the contender championship picture. Who wins there and who loses there?

It's going to affect, I think, a lot of some matchups that get booked in the next four months. And thankfully, that fights next week. So we'll find out soon what to do with those guys. Love when that happens. We get like three pivotal heavyweight matchups coming up in the same month. This is huge. Just like they drew it up, Mike.

Way to go, UFC matchbreakers. It's a beautiful thing. Co-main events, we saw Yana Kunitskaya pull off a pretty big betting upset against Ketland Vieira, big final 30 seconds of that fight. she's on to a to a bigger fight you'd have to assume a k but how big where does she go from here uh this i don't know if this was no it wasn't that i was going to say this is the most difficult but again i didn't think any of them were super difficult this week uh so i don't know i like i like the germane derandami uh pick if only because we all thought that gDR was going to run it back

with holly it made so much sense but then we just found out and i don't know if it was just friday the last couple days that it's uh sometime this week we're getting holly home and Atlanta Pena, which it really got a collective like push a tea like, from like the, the MMA community from what I saw, which is no disrespect to Holmer, Pena, again, both good fighters. And it's on paper, it's like kind of an intriguing matchup. But based on kind of how we thought the 135 pound like contender picture was shaping up, which just didn't make a lot of sense.

So anyway, so yeah, if GDR is free, I mean, she needs an opponent. Look, couldn't this guy really impressed me? And I would favor Duran to me in that matchup. but I also favored Viata in the matchup. So Kuniskaya keeps kind of being a little bit of a world beater, and I think this is the next logical step, if she's going to kind of keep that world beater theme going. So, yeah, I'll go Kuniskaya and Durandami.

This is an interesting kind of option because I saw the Durandami thought because she is the number one rank contender at 135. So I don't know if Kunizkaya has gotten to that point just yet. I mean, she's close, but in my mind, I think she needs one more win to get in that discussion. Then when you look at Durandami, and you see the matchmaking between Holm and Pena,

you're thinking one of two things, or at least I did. One is that the UFC is viewing her as the next contender at 135. Even though she just fought Amanda Nunes, they think that if Amanda goes in there and beats Megan Anderson and keeps the featherway title, goes back down at 35, maybe we run it back with Duranami. And the reason why I think she might be favored is for two reasons. One, it could be the last time we see Amanda Nunes fight.

one more title defense at Banimate, there you go. The other, Jermaine Durand and me was on what the heck, on our platform and said, if I fight Amanda Nunes one more time and lose, I'm done. I'm leaving. I'm retiring. I will have no regrets. I am done. So you book that fight, someone's retiring, maybe both of them retire, which would be massive.

And then we can open up the division right there. So maybe the UFC has that in mind. Who knows? That's just kind of my thing. But for me, in regards to Kunitskaya, it's Erina Aldana. She's looking to get back on track after the loss to Holly Holm. If Kunitskaya beats Aldana, she's definitely now in that conversation with the Holmes and the GDRs and the Juliana Panias. Maybe with the Amanda Nunes's, but I think she needs one more big win to get to that range, JK.

Yeah, I like the Aldana matchup as well. A weird part of me thought, let's say, let's say, you know, Nunez just blows Megan Anderson out of the water and just kind of leaves no doubt. She's one of the greatest fighters of all time and then just hangs it up right there. Is Akunitskaya Aldana Battle for the vacant phantomweight title? Is that sellable at all? That's not for the vacant title.

No, you think they're waiting one of Holmorpena and then someone else. Yeah. One of Homer Pena likely in the equation. Nunes is a big piece of this. Obviously, she's the champion, but I mean, depending on what happens in two weeks time, like maybe she's,

Maybe she's got one more in her, and then she's going to be a mom and be done. And then it opens things up, and then makes Holm versus Pena very fascinating, because the winner would probably get GDR for the vacant belt. So that's probably what they do. But there's a lot of questions here. In terms of the matchmaking, you could do GDR, fine. You could do Aldana, fine. But those are the two options.

I don't think there's really any other way to go unless you want to give her a big step back. But after the way she finished that fight, step back's not really fair. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I was impressed by Kunitskay. I'm on a Kunitskaya high now, but yeah, I agree. Maybe we're still one fight away from any sort of title picture, whether it's an actual shot with the champion or a vacant title,

or even interim. I'll tell you the fight matchmaking concept that I've maybe had the most fun with. It's this next one, featherweight division, and the combination of Derek Minner, James Krause, in Glory MMA and Fitness, has been super impressive. I believe in our Slack channel you called James Krause a cheat code, which makes so much sense. It's not fair.

It makes so much sense. But man, Minner goes out there on Saturday and sheds that whole first-rounder bust stigma that has been attached to him for so long, and he goes out and thoroughly dominates Charles Rosa on Saturday. You know, is Bryce Mitchell-asked maybe even better than what Bryce Mitchell did? I mean, this is a pretty incredible performance against a super-tuff, durable guy like Charles Rosa.

He beat him up. He bloodied him. And we talk about it all the time on this show, A.K., The featherweight division is just so loaded. There's so many options for a guy like Mr. Minner. And as much fun as I had looking at these matchups, there's one fight that hit my brain as soon as the fight ended. And it was like King of the Mountain.

All these featherweight matchups kept trying to climb the hill, but this matchup just kept pushing them back down. Even though this man is coming off a loss in his last fight, the fight to me, Derek Minner versus Billy Q. Sounds like just so much fun. It's just like dusts flying around the octagon. rolling around all sorts of pace. I love it.

Billy Q versus Derek Minter, the pace in that fight and be ridiculous. Let's see it, A.K., what do you think? Well, I'll tell you this. There'll be some Quarantillo chatter later. He comes up in the, very popular name among the readers.

So a little bit of a teaser for that. I, you know me, I'm not that adverse to matching up fighters who share a car. I know you think it's a little, I know you think it's a little gauche, Michael, I know it's a little boring sometimes. The other issue is,

until we see, like, again, medical suspensions and things like that and maybe fighters making statements like oh you know that's a great win i'm going to take some time off it's it's kind of it is kind of like pointless to try and match up guys in the same car you don't know one guy could be able for three months one guy could be over six months one guy might just say oh i'm not i'm not planning to fight until the summer and then and another guy says turn me around dana white i'm put my there's a card here in two weeks let me i'm staying in town let me so yeah it is pointless but i got lazy here and i said this is a breezy card for me like

I want to see him in Julina Rosa. I think Julian Rosa is another guy who's kind of turned things around, who's kind of had a winding road to the UFC, going through every possible, like, UFC-affiliated program and thing that you can, including the UFC itself and then going back out and the coming to come back. And now it's trying to get unlikely to fight win streak. I'm surprised, which is, I shouldn't be because he's a talented guy. So I'm totally down with Juliana Rosa.

I think that would be my number one pick. A Rost, of course, for people who were watching last, on Saturday. He beat Nate Landwer with the impressive flying knee. And then my other option, I just, I don't know where this guy is, but Herbert Burns, I think, would be an interesting matchup. Herbert Burns is going up to 55 to fight somebody. I didn't know that for something. I have to, I have to.

Oh, is that temporary? Is that just like, he's been off for a while and he's kind of, it's just easier for him to come back at 55? Well, you had a big weight miss for that last fight, too, did he not? Against Paneda. I forget who he's fighting. I know he's going up to 55 for his last, for his next fight. I'll figure it out.

He'll fight out. Oh, he did. He missed. Right. And his first fight before that was a scheduled catch weight. That was him and Evan Dunham, both weighed in 150. And then that's right. And then he still came in close to 150 for the Paneda fight, which was not a scheduled

catch weight. You're right. That was a featherweight bout. And Burns came in 3.5 pounds over, 149.5. So, yes, maybe the lightweight move. Maybe that makes a lot of sense. It's being reported that Gilbert Burns is fighting Alex Munoz on May 1st. Oh, okay, okay.

At 155. Sure, sure, sure. But you never know. Maybe something happens and we do Herbert Burns versus Derek Miner. That's a fun fight. You can even do the Daniel Panetta idea. That's not a bad one either. Sure.

Panetta coming up to the last cubby. sticking with the Rosa then. All right. Well, I will say I like your answer because it makes you feel better about the wildcard round that we won't have the same fighter. So there you go. Another tease. We're just planting seeds all over this episode.

Let us go back to the heavyweight division, aka Chris Dawkes, is now 3-0 in the UFC. Three first round finishes. He stops Alexia Lennox in the first round. And good old Herb Dean, let that fight go for a round. I don't know, a dozen strikes too long. But the Philly Police officer goes in there and gets a big way. and he will be a ranked heavyweight come Tuesday. What do you think is next for Mr. Christakis, sir?

Mike, I did it again. And look, I'm down with that. It's not a lot of people who are in social media, and I was down for it, like, almost after, as soon as it happened. Throw them in there with Aspinall. I don't care about protecting prospects. I don't care about, well, that's not true. I care about developing prospects the right way.

I'm on this audio clip Alex Lee says he doesn't care about protecting prospects. That's not true. prospects need to be built up the right way I understand you know you don't want to rush them too quickly

I don't I don't believe in protecting their records there you go maybe that's what I should be saying I don't believe in protecting their records I know it's cool

to have two three and O heavy weights in a division that has been you know pretty it's slow to introduce new talent

let's put it nicely Docus now three and O the UFC Tom Aspinall is now three in the UFC I would just love

to see them fight I don't care a loss to me does not diminish either guys promise. I think both guys look like future top five guys, definitely top ten. Dachas might already be in the top ten, depending on the ranking

shake out this week, because he took out Olinnick who was ranked. But otherwise, it's okay. Losses are okay. I think it would be an awesome fight. I think it would give us, it's always good to see a gauge of kind of like, you know, who's a little bit more head here? Because like I said, Docus might be higher ranked. I think, I think

people, though, might be higher in Ospinol as a prospect. But I don't know. You throw them in the cage. That's the only way to decide which one, which guys really further along right now. So I'm knocked off to my pick. I'll have another, I'll have more to chatter about Aspinall later. I'm not, I'm not cutting this segment short. And I have another option for Doccas as well.

But my first choice, I don't care. Docis Aspinall, give it to me, give it to me. I'm not wait, I don't want to wait a year. Give it to me now. I know Aspital has been a popular choice. And if they make it, I'm watching. I'll be excited about it. But here's the thing.

I think there's probably more future. upside in Tom Aspinall, and that's not discrediting what Chris Dachas has done. I just think there's more, I don't know, the ceiling is higher, I think, for Tom Aspinall this early in his career. But right now, February of 2021, Chris Dachas getting a win like that over a guy like Alexiolinich, he's ahead of Tom Aspinall right now, absolutely. And I said this on the post-fight show that I had a pick for Chris Dachus, and it pains me to say it, and people may not like it, but.

I think it's the right fight to make at this point. I think what they have with Chris Dacus is a bonus. They didn't see this coming. And now that you have it, people are digging him. He's a very popular name right now. I think you've got to try to give him the rub as best you can. The fight is Daucus versus Junio Dostos, AK. If the UFC really sees Chris Dachas at this point,

they're seeing everybody get behind him. And they feel like, oh man, maybe we got. got something here. Maybe this guy could be a legit contender in this division. A good story. He's a police officer. What a guy. If the UFC wants to get behind this guy, give him the JDS rub, see how he fares against a former world champion. That's my pick, AK. I also saw Aspinall at JDS. So JDS was a name that came up yesterday. Again, both guys are on like obviously similar career arcs right now. So a lot of the suggestions were kind of, I think in people's minds were kind of interchangeable, which is, I guess it is in the eyes

the matchmakers could be. So Jadius, I saw more in my feet kind of come up for Aspinall, but obviously, Docas would make just much sense. I'm not matchmaking for Junior DeSatos. I know he's not retired. I know he's not a baby. You know, he's a grown man. I'm sure he has no problem with people fantasy matchmaking for him and with tough fights being

thrown his way. I just don't want to think about it right now. I think I probably favor him to, you know, match up with a veteran, I guess. That's part of how I'm looking at things. But Junior has never said no to younger. point he's fought tons of younger guys over last few years and really hasn't gone his way so uh i don't mind it like i like it i think it's a cool fight i just i'm not matchmaking for jds right now my heart my heart can't take it like yeah i kind of feel like in a kind of a gut-wrenching way

spivac aspinall and dacus were like all fighting for the jds fight oh and like whoever had the best performance, like won the JDS fight. One of them is probably going to get it, aren't there? There is a very good chance that JADS's next fight is against one of, one of those three names. Oh. I know. My other thought for Doc, again, we mentioned the Gone Rosen Struke fight.

I would like to see maybe the loser of that fight, but specifically gone. I would like to see Gone fight, Docus. But obviously, if Gone wins, it probably moves on to something else. But if Gone loses, I think him and Doccas would be perfect. So again, next week, guys, we'll see. Yep, it's a good one. To the middleweight division we go, aka Phil Haas, improves to two and O in the UFC, but he had to work for it.

He earned a hard-fought majority decision win against a game, Nassardine Imovov. A lot of people score this to draw, have no complaints. One judge agreed with the vast majority of folks, but either way, this is a fight that Phil Haas is going to learn a lot from. So what would you like to see next for Megatron? Yes, judges, please use your 10-8s. Don't be afraid of your 10-8s. I know, do we know which judge-in-well?

I'll look up real quickly which judges was. We should praise them, but yes, guys, don't be afraid to use your 10-8s. That was, Imov won the most definitive round of the fight. It was often criticized Junichiro Camijo. So there you go. There you go. Let's give credit where critics do. We're going to criticize Junichiro Camijo when he does wrong.

I think he was right with the draw here. I think he did a good job because Imov had the most definitive round or the third round. I think it was a 10-8. I think he's really putting it on Haas and he heard him. But hey, credit to Haas for surviving. I like what Haas showed here, showed toughness, showed he's not just a guy who's going out there and swinging. A little bit in the first round.

And the first round, he was definitely headhunting. But after the first couple of minutes, when I think when he realized that CO wasn't coming because Imovar's really good, you know, he went to a grinded out style. And I know fans don't like it. Sometimes that's what you got to do to win, or in this case, at least avoid a loss. But he did win.

So for me, though, he hasn't earned a big step up yet. I'm a three, I'm a three fights. Let me see what you got guy first. There's only a second appearance. Two and O, still real good. And again, I think, I think he, whatever, on the cards, he won against a tough opponent. So keep him in this range where he's at now. Don't jump him up big.

Let's throw him in there with Dalcha Lungiambula. I think that would be a fun fight. Might get both guys, I think that will likely produce a K.O. Or could produce another grind that I'd fight. I'll be honest, too. After yesterday, we, you know, we can't be sure. But on paper, looks like a, looks like all the recipe. for an explosive knockout.

So I like that one. This might have been the toughest one for me because Haas is a ton of upside and you don't want to rush him like too too much. Although I do think there's something there. But he's also a very experienced guy. Like he doesn't have like 30 fights or anything, but he has paid his dues a lot more

than a lot of these guys in this division. And like throwing a guy like Joaquin Buckley. And this is no disrespect to Joaquin Buckley, but Phil Haas has paid his dues way more than Joaquin Buckley has with the level of competition this man has had he was like the legit prospect in MMA for a long time

he's finally putting it all together so I don't think you can avoid giving him like a decent step up like Nassarine Imovov was a step up this guy is a really good fighter and I think a lot of people got to see that very undervalued and there's a bright future for him as well as you saw in that fight especially in that third round

so I do want to give Hawes like a good step up, but nothing like insanely crazy. Like I don't want to throw him in like the top 25 or anything like that. I want to see Haas versus Alessi DeKirico, AK. I know this is like, it's a tough matchup because we just saw what DeKirico did too buckley and stopping that train. But I think Haas got that grueling fight he needed to build his resume. Like he didn't get a quick flash knockout against a guy he was heavily favored over.

We know Haas has the ability to finish fights for. very quickly, but he also knows how to get himself out of dangerous situations, which he saw, which we saw on Saturday night. So I feel like with his experience level and where he's at in his career, I think this fight makes sense, man. Let's see how he does against the guy like DeKirico. Yeah, I think DeKirko is the right test for a lot of these guys in the UFC now with like maybe just one or two impressive performances.

DeKirko's definitely the guy at a test like if you're the real deal. I had him matched up with Darren Winn, I think, on a previous episode, probably the only reason I didn't bring his name up. Let me float this one for you, Mike. What do you think of a Julian Marquez rematch? Huh. Contender series, August 2017. So it's been a while.

It's been over three years now. Of course, Marquez smoked Haas with a head kick. This is one of many previous Phil Haas, like, oh, this is the time he's going to step out. He's going to make it to the UFC. Again, unfortunately ended up the wrong end of a head kick. Marquez, the one who would end up getting the Contender Series contract. Haas would get it on his second runs with a contender series with an awesome performance in his second time on the show.

So Marquez got a lot of heat right now, obviously his name because of the Miley Cyrus stuff and just having a great come from behind win. So I think Marquez would probably be targeting other things, but it's just a thought I had. I thought if you were going to do this rematch, you certainly, now certainly would not be a bad time for it. Yeah, I don't dislike it. I think the UFC kind of is looking at that one is how can we sell this one at some point?

Because if they both keep winning, they're both great stories. You can match them up, put them on a main cover. maybe a co-made event somewhere down the line. If they can keep getting wins, I like it. It's a good thing. But we'll see what happens to Phil Haas. Very exciting guy. He wants to fight either Chris Wyman or Uriah Hall.

If he thought Michael Bisping was funny. He goes, oh, you're rooting for guys to get COVID. I see what you're trying to do. That was an awkward moment. Very awkward moment. Maybe the bell of the ball. One of them anyways, Tom Aspinall, E.K. Oh, bars.

Bars. Bars. Hey. Bars. Dang. To see a guy, take down and submit Antriar The way that he did in that second round was super impressive. He deserves a fight with the ranked guy for sure, A.K.

I mentioned Tybora and Ivanov. If you want to give him the winner of that or maybe even the loser, that's fine. I'm in for the Sergei Spivak fight, man. I want to see that one. I don't know. It's up and comer versus up and comer, and I know that peeves people from time to time, but I like that fight, man. I want to see it.

Both the guys seem to want it. this seems to make sense. And I know people probably look at Aspinall is a little bit higher on the pecking order at this point. Future contender should be fighting top 10 guys. But let's just have him fight Spivak. You know, let's give him that. No need to rush him too much. And Speedback's a tough customer, man.

You could argue that Sergei Speedback is a top 15 heavyweight right now after that performance. I know Jared Vandera is like not the biggest name, but look at the guys he's fought over the years. Look who he's fought in the UFC. You can make the argument that he's a top 15 guy right now. I like that fight, AK. What's say you? Yeah, look, Sergei Speaker, we'd be like four in the UFC if he fought some of the guys that Aspinall and Daukas fought. And again, no respect to those guys, but they've fought easier competition.

This is not a subjective statement. Objectively, they have fought easier competition than Sergei Spidback has. You know, I'll be a little disappointed, actually, if, like we said, one of these guys maybe gets JDS, I'd be a little disappointed if the other two didn't get matched up. I do think Spidback Aspinall, Spidback, Aspenol, I think those would all be fun and logical matchups. Again, I also have no problem with all of them continuing, like the master's just going out of their way to book them against veterans and, you know, and quote unquote gatekeepers. I wouldn't have a problem with that either. But I think it would be cool if you just right now, let one of them test themselves against one another. So, like Aspenol Dachis.

My other option for Aspenol now would be a fight you brought up before. The March into Burra, even off winner in March 27th. So again, so that's all in the mix. So that's in the mix as well. As we said, like it's kind of nice in this next month or so. we're going to get results and we're going to get a fresh batch of potential matchups. So for me, Aspinall Dock is still number one, but I like Spibak and I like him maybe getting the Tabora even off winner.

I think that would be, especially if it's Tabora, if we're going to go five-fight winstreet street versus a three-and-o in the UFC, I think that'd be easy to sell. It was a great night, very good night for the UFC heavyweight division on Saturday. Just like last week with the middleweights, today was with the heavyweights. Way to go. Way to go divisions that have, let's mind sometimes we've been a little critical of these divisions of sort of the lack of kind of fresh blood in these divisions. But middleweight last year, I think, was already starting to get really good.

And then I think 28 last week was a showing of how strong, how deep that division is becoming. Now heavyweight finally getting some young blood. I dig it. I dig it. As we move ahead to everyone's favorite segment, it's the wild card round here and Auden to the next one, where we choose one fighter that we have not matched for yet. And we go ahead and do it right now. So, AK, you be the Ricky Henderson here.

He's played for both your Toronto Blue Jays and my boss in Red Sox. You lead us off. What is your wild card pick for UFC Vegas 19? Well, listen, Ricky, Ricky's going to cheat here. All right. Ricky, Ricky's going a little outside the box here. And I picked Chaz Skelly. I cheated.

I cheated. I picked Chaz Skelly. An unofficial winner on Saturday. Certainly a winner with his singing skills. Guys find that that clip is out there of him singing. Sinatious D's F-Hur. F-Hur gently. Effer gently.

Oh my goodness. Sorry, guys. This is 18 plus show, right? It's 18 plus show. The classic Tenacious D song, Effergently. A stirring rendition, really. He really went for it. That's not a sign you can half ass.

He really went for it. So, anyway, quick recap for anyone who for some reason didn't hear by this on Saturday. Skelly makes the walk to the cage. His opponent, Jamers, does not make the walk to the cage. It's reported live in the broadcast after a bit of a delay. Emers suffering from back spasins and, of course, pulled from the fight. So hopefully Emers is okay.

Skelly said afterwards, you know, he, I mean, any fighter, I think, who doesn't get to fight wants a quick turnaround, but he is a big $1.45er. His very, it's very a deliberate, you know, a method to getting to his weight. It's not an easy thing to just kind of turn around next week and do it again. So I love Al Jermaine Sterling recommend on Twitter that Skelly face somewhat at $1.45, but you kind of do what's like Brian Keller and her has been doing, Cody Stam's doing, and just fight a weight class up. So you just take two feather weights, put them in a 155 pound bout. I assume Sterling was trying to advocate for some of his maybe featherweight teammates. He didn't name names. But I like the idea.

Luis Pena would be a good suggestion, of course. Pena threw his name out there on Saturday saying, hey, can we book this in an hour? If I'm around 155 maybe, so Skelly is, you know, today is his fight day weights, 155-ish, which they can happen. So I think that's really good. I think if they can make that fight happen in the next, like, and Skelly really wants to go in the next, like, three weeks or so. Let's try to make that happen. Otherwise, further down the road, maybe Macquaran, Ameriacani,

if Skelly wants to make a trip to Fight Island and a name we brought up earlier, Daniel Paneda. And again, I suggest all these things at 155, by the way, 155. Skelly, it's difficult for him to cut weight. Don't make them cut weight. Won't you fight? 155-pound fight for Chaz Skelly next. That's what I want to see. Yeah.

Marab de Wallis Willie is also. in Las Vegas right now, getting Alja ready for Peyodor Yan. So maybe that's where he's looking. But again, I don't feel like Skelly should have to cut again. I mean, I don't know where Marab weighs. Plus, God.

I mean, Emmer's is a tough matchup as it was, but now you have to switch and fight freaking Marab. Good God. I think maybe Aljo was saying, hey, Marab, go up to 155. Go up to lightweight. Go up two classes and take out. No, I don't know. There must be someone else

who referred to. I'm not sure. But I like the idea. So you mentioned, his name, and I will say I am enjoying very much so, the career resurgence of Julian Arosa. It has been pretty amazing to watch. Dare I say inspiring to watch, AK. He takes out another very tough customer in Nate Landware, takes out Sean Woodson the fight before. Basically was brought in on less than a week's notice to fight this tall, rangy, undefeated

guy in Sean Woodson. And what does he do? He outlasts him, outworks him, and finishes him in the third round. and then gets a flying knee knockout against Nate Landware in his second fight of this stint. This is his third run with the UFC. I dig this prospect killing tour he's on right now, AKA, we can market this and do something with it. So here's where I'm going. There's a little bit of a journey, but just bear with me here.

There have been reports out there that Ilya Tuporia is going to fight Ladovitt Klein in May. I have dug into this fight, obviously, because once I saw it, I was like, holy potatoes, this fight rules. What I've been told is that Ladova Klein got the boat agreement. He signed it. He's in. But on the flip side, AK, it seems as if Teporia has not signed on for this fight. I'm also told he did not get a boat agreement for this fight. And I'm told that even if he does get a bout agreement for this fight, he wants somebody closer to or in the top 15.

So chances are, as of right now, those reports are not wholly accurate. If that is the case, and this fight is not made, I want to see Julian Oroza versus Lidova Klein sometime in the spring. That's the fight. I want to see it. If Julian O'Rosa beats Ladova Klein, I can't. I mean, good God. Where could he go in this division? To run out, get wins, especially he finishes the Dova Klein over Sean Woodson, Nate,

Landware and Ladova Klein, he's a top 15 guy right away in his third stint of the UFC. That's my pick. That's a juicy matchup for JuicyJ. I like that is, that is something else. For people who don't know, by the way, what we're talking about with the Julian Arosa journey, Ultimate Fighter back in, this is the McGregor season, McGregor favorite season, back in 2015, wins his U.S.D.D.U.C. debut his first, whatever, you know, on the Ultimate Fighter finale. And then it gets knocked up by Ishihara.

And then that's it. He's done with the UFC. He's gone for, I'm looking at his resume right now, about three years. And then contender series beats Jamal Embers, who we just mentioned. And then loses his, and then gets a contract off that, loses his next three fights. Devante Smith, tough guys, Devonte Smith, Grant Dawson. At 55, he had to fight Devonte Smith on less than a week's notice. So his second run, O and three, takes one fight in the regional scene, I believe, comes back on short notice to fight Sean Woodson in a catchweight bout.

And as you said, a prospect killer, because Woodson was heavily favorite going into that fight. Arosa finishes him, then it finishes the Atlanta where, and now you're right, we're suddenly talking about him and potentially be on a three-fight winning streak if he could beat a tough guy in Tuporia. So it was just Tuporia, right? Klein. Klein. I'm sorry, Ludovic Klein. Klein. And Ludovic Klein.

No, no. This is no. If you had told me this two years ago, I'd be like, I'd like, no, Julianne Rosa is not coming back to the UFC. He's not beating anybody. Why are we talking about this? And yet here we are. You never know. You never know.

He's so, and really, it's funny, though, because if you watch any of his footage, he's the kind of guy, like, if you watch any of his fights from outside the UFC, it's like, why is this guy not in the UFC? You know, you watch any of his, catch any of his fights, like a Julianne or Rosa fight on YouTube. And you're like, like, this guy should be in the UFC. This guy looks like, this is a UFC level guy. And for the longest time, he just couldn't quite, like, establish that he was. Never give up, you know.

And I mean, a lot of guys only get one try. He's in his third try and thriving, thriving in his third try. He's not just hanging around. He's thriving. Unreal. I remember it was January of 2020. A. Rosa's team reached out to me and said, do you want to interview Julian Arosa?

He's fighting this guy, A.J. Bryant at Cage Sports 60. Regional guy. I think you'll dig it. I'm not going to get into specifics, but I think you'll dig it. I was like, okay, I'll talk to him. And he's like, and A.J. Brian was a, you know, he's a guy that in the Pacific Northwest, sort of a featherweight to keep your eye on, really good fighter. And I remember Julian Neroza said, I spoke to my manager.

He goes, I was cut from the UFC before the Julia Arce fight. They brought me back in just for that fight. And I got knocked down in the third round. I got released again. So I got released twice in like a matter of three weeks. But then he said something to me that really stuck out. And I didn't know if I believed him or not or if like he just got hit in the head too many times. He goes, I talked to my manager.

He goes, my manager told me, I'm like, the relationship. ship between the UFC and me, it's, it's not over. Like, it's not even close to being over. Like, if a spot opens, I'm in. And I was like, really? After those three losses, I was like, okay. I mean, listen, you want to stay positive? And then sure enough, he gets the fight with John Woodson. And it turned out that he got offered a bunch of other fights before that, but for some reason or another, whether it was COVID related or, you know, someone just got the spot, like, before him. Like, he got offered a lot of fights along the way after the A.J. Brian fight. So good for him, man. What a good guy, very happy for him, and to see him having success and getting these finishes.

Freaking awesome. Love this sport, AK. 33 pro fights. He's only 31. He's 33 pro fights. This man has been through it. He's been through it already. And again, hopefully has many healthy years left in competition.

So, yeah, I'm glad we've got a lot of Rosa talking here. The guy really is kind of one of those underreported stories. You've interviewed him. I've interviewed him. His story is just wild. Good dude. Wow. Yeah.

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. I, of course, the peeps love to chime in here, but I believe you have a check the tapes, A.K. Yes. We must check the tapes because I was correct on the fate of one Viviana Araujo, who I had hoped would be matched up with Caitlin.

Chukagan, sure enough, May 15th, Caitlin Chiggan versus Viviana Arjo. Makes a lot, made a lot of sense when I said it. Makes a lot of sense. Even more now that it's reality. Fingers crossed, everyone's healthy. Everyone's healthyness in top shape. And that fight does not fall to her because May 15th is a long, long, long, long, long time away. We mentioned how big of a gangster, Julianna Rosa is?

How big of a gangster is Caitlin Chukagan right now? I mean, my God. She's not, like, she even knows I'm not fighting for a title anytime soon as long as Valentina and Shepchenko is the champion. but she's just taken on everybody, man. She's taking on Jessica Andraj. Now she's taking on Viviani Araujo, who is just a dangerous up-and-comer right now.

She's taking out literally everybody, AK. It's impressive. Look, it's not the easy path, but if she knows, if she's confident in one of these fights, she's kind of like, look, I'm holding on to this spot, this top number two or number three spot. I'm holding on to this spot until someone takes it from me. At some point, I'm going to get a tettle shot.

Maybe against Valentina rematch somewhere down the road. Probably not. But maybe Valentina, again, has one of those dominant runs where there's just no challenges for her. And, you know, she retires or changes divisions, goes back to 135. And guess what? Chagin is going to be there. So you're like, oh, you need it, you need one half for an interim or vacant title.

I'm here. I've been knocking off all these, all these people you've been trying to bring up over me. I'm here. So, yeah, she can absolutely. So you don't find a lot of people who, like, are enthusiastic about being a top five gatekeeper. She's totally for it. She's just like, yeah, I get it. People want to use my name to get up here.

Well, let's come bring it. Let's see if you can. She is not politicking for fights or anything. I really dig it. Good stuff. What are the peeps say, and AK, coming out of UFC, Vegas 19? I saw a lot of stuff up there. Well, I'll run off.

Here's the five most requested, most sort of repeated matchups. A lot of people said, Derek Lewis versus Gone Rosenstruck winner, that was maybe the suggestion I saw the most. Ashton-OVirzdaqas, as I said, very popular. A lot of people with the Haas versus Lungiambula train, I'm sure. should read someone's specific comment for it. I did not want to put it in such base terms, but it said,

it's from Barry O'Reilly said, this would be for the best body in the UFC title. Sure. Hey, look, listen, I don't view the world that lens, okay? I don't view these fighters in a superficial way. I hadn't even know. Is Phil Haas in great shape? I hadn't even noticed.

I had not even, that's okay, I guess. He's a special athlete. Yeah, he's a professional athlete. I assume, again, I don't, I don't look at to consider these things when I'm looking at these bodies up there. game you know but hey we want to talk about it that's and that's none of my business and then uh so you said billy q before i saw this was multiple people billy

q for erosa oh that's fun to listen that's fun too at least like four people i saw it come up once and i made note of it for the specific person who asked for it and then i saw it come up over and over again i'm like well i guess is a this is a popular choice and then of course as we've said mobile times if you know kunaskaya versus uh deronda me so uh kunuskaa al-dana was also was also the, I would say, the second most popular choice. So it does feel like it has to be one of those names. Lewis versus Overeem, Aspinall versus Spivak, Aspinall dos Santos, Aspinol da Samos, Dacostos, Dacos.

Dacus versus Walt Harris? I don't know, Mike. How do you feel about that? Listen, Walt Harris's next fight should be against a guy he is heavily favored against. And this is like, I know Walt wants to, like, fight the best and all this stuff. He's top 15 guy, but we've got to get Walt to win. Yeah. We just want to see him get back to work, you know.

And I'm not saying he can't be Chris Dachos because he could be Chris Dachas, but that's just, it's a scary fight right now. It's a high risk and kind of a lower reward fight. And again, it sounds insulting to Dacus. But Dacus, even though it's 3-0, I mean, his name isn't quite, I would say Walt Harris is a bigger name. So I don't know how much Walt would want to take that one. KC. O'Neill, again, one of the hot new names at Flyweight has a successful debut on Saturday. People want to see her in Laura Procopio.

Okay. Excuse me. I'll answer for that. Derek Minner versus Bill Algeo. I saw it come up a couple of times. I like it. I like it. Amon Zahabi, another big winner on the card

who we haven't brought up yet. Tony Kelly, that would be so much fun. Yep. And then I saw Kasanganae's name thrown out also for Haas, but people like Kasanganae and Imov. That'd be a tough test for Kazanai coming back, trying to get off a loss.

But I'm not against it. Multiple people ask for it. Yeah. There were so many names to offer for Aspinol just on our website. Some of Mory's Green. I think it's behind him now. Greg Hardy, definitely behind him now.

Volkov, maybe too much. Tanner Boser, Overeem, and Taito Havas. So people are talking about Aspinol. That's all you need to know. People really want to see more Aspinol. Chris Stiles on Twitter hit us both up, and they liked Spivok versus Pavlovich. Has that matchup been booked before?

I just feel like it's been booked, but didn't happen? I don't know. It's a good question. Yeah, but yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I like that. has not no I don't think it's been booked okay so that was uh yeah so thank you crystal for that suggestion and then at rencredible on Twitter hit us both up and said that they would like to see I deciphered this tweet this tweet was a little um a little garbled

but Lewis versus meyotish and Ghanu loser or uh or Lewis replaces the winner of that fight who presumably would go on to fight John Jones so he kind of wants to see Lewis Jones happen in a roundabout way if Miyaj Mion and Ghani, whoever from that, assuming, assuming some from that fight gets it, they can't make it, Lewis just takes their spot as opposed to having to fight one of them. So that's, that's

interesting. It's not too bad. Yeah. Should I stick with Twitter? No, I'll have to come back to Twitter because I want to end on a special Twitter note. Let's go to Instagram, like, did you have, did you want to read from your Instagram guys again? Yeah, I only I mean, not a lot of faith in my Instagram reading, and I get that, so I only got one suggestion. Oh, I actually got a few suggestions. I got a few suggestions from Patrick Austin, who I

mentioned earlier. Tom Aspinall versus Blago Ivanov, I guess that assumes what happens there. Andrei Lovsky Oh, versus Alexander Gustafson. Yeah, I keep, you know, I saw Gus's name come up a lot.

I saw him come up for other people as well, so I'll pass on mention that from the future, but yeah, I saw him mention for, I think, a doc, oh, so for Aspenol as well or some of that. And I'm like, oh, right, like, I had to be reminded that he is at heavyway now. Is there no chance he goes back down to 205?

He probably could, right? if you. You probably could. But why? Why do that to yourself? It's true. He's a big guy. And then the other option is Phil Haas

versus Joaquin Buckley. Yeah. Could that happen? I thought about that too. Could that happen? Could? I just, I don't know. It seems like, hey,

Joaquin, like we built you up. We just put you in a tough match with Leslie DeKirica. Let's throw you in there with Phil Haas now. I don't know. It doesn't seem like the right trajectory for him unless the UFC is just kind of, not saying that Buckley couldn't beat Phil Haas, but I just feel like that's a tough matchup with experience Phil has and the extra weapons he has.

Another matchup between two guys who work out who are in, I guess if you're, you know, objectively, they're an okay. Yeah, they've been known to like, you know, eat healthy and lift the occasional weights or two. Every now, yeah. Our mutual friend, Josh Abukai, again, he came to me. He said. He should have.

I should tell him to come back to. Josh, if you're listening, you can go back to Mike. All right? He's checking his DMs now. But I appreciate that, but Josh, I appreciate you reaching out to me. I'm an, Ahman Zahavi, highly Alatang. I think that's cool. I's like shout out to Tiley Allentang.

I don't see that name come up a lot on our show. Oh, Charles Rosa, there we go. Someone we haven't mentioned, unfortunately a loser on Saturday, despite a spirited effort avoiding a lot of submissions and throwing up some of his own. Versus Sean Woodson or Cool About. I like the Woodson one. You know, kind of maybe, I don't know, it might be tough because if Rosa loses again, but you got to match these guys up.

I like the Rosa Watson matchup. I have no problem with that. Jay Steiner wants a bit of a step up for Phil Haas. likes Haas versus Trevin Giles Trichis de Plei winner. I think that's a step up. So that fights on March 20th. And then he threw out Jared

Gordon, another guy we didn't mention, he had an unfortunate weight miss, but did win a fight. Versus Mowgli Benitez and he threw out that, you know, Mowgli could come back down to 145 for it or if Gordon is maybe giving up on 145 after this. That could happen at lightweight two. Benitez, I think,

recently moved up there. So I like that. What do you think of this, Mike? Max Block on Instagram. says Derek Lewis versus Volkov 2. I don't know. I kind of like the where Lewis is at right now. I just, you know, either the overing fight or he's the replacement guy. Volkov, I think Volkov should get the winner of Rosenstrike versus God.

I agree. That's what I guess. I think we said that in previous episode. I'm sticking with that as well. I do think we could see Lewis and Volkov fight some, again, December down the road. It was one of those fights. It was a classic Derek Lewis.

He's losing. He's losing. Oh, no, he won. Anyway, go back to fight past. Watch that fight. If you have not seen that fight and you're just looking at like Derek Lewis's record, and you're like, oh, he beat Volkov. Watch that fight.

And you're like, you're like, Lewis, what? Like, no, he didn't win this fight. The first 10 minutes, he was like, he won this? What? No, yes. Classic comes back in the third. I believe I'm looking at my runner, 11 seconds left in the fight officially. And that's what he lost every second of that fight before that.

too pretty much every second it wasn't close I was like dear I remember watched that but like Derek Lewis has been exposed like oh no oh no he's Derek Lewis so so yeah I wouldn't mind them running that back just not next I don't I don't think that's next Jacob best the only person I saw throw this out and I think this would be oh maybe I don't know if you just mentioned earlier Mike I think this would be crazy Blades versus Docus huh no I die oh they can't do that If I'll tell you what, if Docus, let's say they do book Docus JDS or Docus somebody else and he gets another first round knockout, I'm not against it because I don't want to see, I don't want to see Curtis Blades fight until like November, December at the earliest. Yeah, yeah.

So I mean, not not right now, but sure at some point. Yeah, if Docus wins another fight, yes. It could be next for Blades, but not necessarily next for Docus. Correct. Yeah. If Docis wins his net, if Doccas gets the top 10 guy or gets a GADS and gets another first round finish or something like that, you could do the blades fight, it's fine. Man, I didn't even thought of it. But yeah, but yeah, but later the year and Doccas, like you're at 4 and 0, four finishes.

Yeah, I get, yeah, it gets not. Jacob Best, I'll get, you're looking way ahead. You've got the future goggles on. I like it. Emails. Matt Bradbury says Arlowski versus Latifi. What's up with Latifia? I think a lot of the Swedish fighters, are they?

I'll have to look up their sort of their COVID restrictions laws out there because I don't think we've seen a lot of the we mentioned Gustafsson I don't think we've seen a lot of the Swedish fighters book, am I crazy? I don't know. Yeah. In a while.

Is Latvia's last fight the Derek Lewis fight? It is. Huh. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. There must be some sort of restrictions. Yeah, there must be some restrictions going down because we have not seen on flight island, nothing.

But I don't mind that. I'm doing out this one so we can question it. And I say this, because Matt Bradbury makes a lot of great picks. He wants to see Minner versus Hooper, which for me sounds like the opposite of what you want to do with Chase Hooper. He specifically said, why not in his email? And I typed out a response that I will read out in the air.

It would put one of the most experienced and seasoned featherweights against a young guy like Hooper who should be playing with children his own age. So, thank you Matt. This is Matt Bradbury? Matt Bradbury. Matt Bradbury said Minervus Super. What time did he send this message? late last night.

All right, so it's probably like at least a dozen beers consumed. Come on, man, you can't do that. Listen, now, if he had come out and said Chase Hooper versus Charles Rosa, still kind of absurd, but not as absurd. You know what I mean? Like, I actually kind of want to see that fight because I don't think, like, listen, Rosa Hooper. Yeah, makes a lot more sense because Rosa, I mean, Rosa can,

Rose is a tough dude. Like he's a scrapper. And he'll, like, he can bang a little bit on the feet. But the ground exchanges between Rose and Hooper would actually be really fascinating to watch. I think it's a pretty competitive fight, man, honestly. Because, listen, Stiles make fights. I know it's a cliche as hell.

But that, I think Chase Hooper would do okay in that fight, honestly. All right. So, Matt, you're not completely out to lunch. You got the wrong guy from that match. Wrong guy. Yeah, yeah, not minor. But you want a little more experience, like a guy who's also kind of experienced,

than Rosa, maybe. Marcus McGehy threw out a name for Kuniskaya, which I had not thought of because I hadn't realized it just how successful this one would have been,

but Kuniskaya versus Panic Kianzak. Pani is on a, she's on an unassuming three-fight win streak. I do think she's behind Kuniskaya in the rankings. That Vyatta win is very, very big for Kunizkaya.

So I don't know if this would be next for her. But that's right. You know, Panicazat is also a veteran and has been taken care of business. She has won three straight. So if it happened, it wouldn't be crazy.

I don't think it should be next for her. But if I saw that book, they'd be like, yeah. Again, we mentioned on the post-fight show, Mike, 135, they're kind of just making matchups. It doesn't feel like they know what to do with the matchups because they don't know what's going to happen with the new and yes in the title. So they're really just throwing names together and hoping that the dust settles will have some sort of contender. But so, I mean, that makes as much sense as a lot of other things. Yeah. Tristan Gordette wants to say something for Casey O'Neill.

He said if Gillian Robertson, Miranda Maverick, is not rebooked, then O'Neill versus Robertson. I don't know how I feel about Robertson. I still, you know what's funny is I feel like Robertson is already being viewed as like a gatekeeper. She's 25 years old. She's a prospect. I don't think she needs to be this litmus test for all these prospects. She is, she herself is still a prospect. So I don't know.

That guy's kind of weird how they're viewing her. I wouldn't mind the fight. It's just not next. It's, that's tough because I feel like, I feel like Casey O'Neill in like two years. And I like, I like Julian Robertson a lot. I think like Casey O'Neill in two years, absolutely. destroys her. But right now... In two years, yeah.

Right now, it's such a dangerous fight. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I just... Yeah. You kind of have to... Casey's one of those prospects. You have to slow roll. Like, I'm actually going to be speaking to Casey tomorrow, Monday as a record, for what the heck, so get excited for that. There you go. So it'll be interesting to see, like, where her head is at with all this, but she's six and oh now. She's still young. She just had her UFC debut. She beat a very experienced fighter who's fought tough competition. So it's a good win.

and you, I don't know if I want to give her that big of a step up this quickly, though. Gillian's, I mean, Jillian's been in there with Macy Barber, she's been in there with Tyler Santos, she's been in there with Cody Casey. I mean, she's been in there with some vet, like the vetty vet vets. I don't know if Casey O'Neill is quite ready for that, but I would like to see that fight at some point. I just think it's a little too soon for it. Yeah, we've said, we talked with this with Casey O'Neill and Menon-Firo that you, no reason to push. What is the rush?

What is the rush to push these To push these women too fast Let's give them two or three Fights a little bit lower tier And then maybe again Because like some people said Like Robertson is is she has She has UFC experience yes

But she's also young She finishes people Yeah it's a tough fight for some of these Newcomers right now Harry Duvoskin He woke up today and chose violence Mike Because He loves to see

Nate Landwer versus Jamie Simmons Which I think is like a guaranteed First Round knockout Someone's going to sleep I think you're just seeing two guys just smashing each other there. I love it.

And then Phil Haas versus Puna Soriano. Again, someone's just, someone's getting smoked. Someone's getting smoked. The first one's fun. Second one. What's the reluctance for Puna and Phil? I think Puna is like, I don't know. That's a tough fight for Phil.

That's a tough fight for Phil. They're all tough fights now. They're all tough fights now for Phil. I think this is like a massive step up. I think Puna is, I think Puna is the real deal. After that went over to Dorovich, like, Puna is the legit, is the legit. Okay. He's a top, like, he's a top 15 kind of a fighter right now.

That's a little too soon. I don't know. I don't know. I'd be intrigued by it, but in my mind, Puna is a massive favorite in that fight. I think massive, really. Interesting. Okay. I like it, but I agree.

I know you're saying. I do think Suriano is a little bit ahead as far. as where these guys are out right now. Twitter DMs. I owe an apology, Mike, to our boy, Tulk Gerting Jensen. I totally forgot where he came, where a country he's from.

I named literally every country that I could think of. I was like Sweden, Switzerland, Norway. He's from Denmark. Tote Gertin Jensen is from Denmark. I was not close. And I like one of his suggestions this week.

He politely corrected him, by the way, about the Denmark thing. So shout out to the Danish. Derek Minner. He said, I know this sounds crazy. Derek Minner, Edson Barbosa. I love that. Let's just to start with, I know this sounds crazy.

I think that's what he said. I think that's his words. I'm trying to. Oh, man. That sounds crazy. That's a fun fight. But. And again, I don't think we'll have to remember how experienced Minter is.

Minter is very, very, very experienced. Yeah, I know not in the UFC. He has a lot of pro fights. A lot of pro. Barbose is probably like a top 10 guy right now. I don't know. like the matchup and considering like Barbosa's, you know, contractual struggles with the UFC and that relationship seems to be sort of deteriorating in a way.

Listen, I wouldn't be shocked to see the UFC throw that sort of matchup at Barbosa. He could choose to take it or he could choose not to take it. But it's not completely out of left field. It's not, Barbozo would never take that fight, but I don't hate it. Not with James Krause. Not when he sees James Krause in the other corner. I was like, whoa, whoa, hold on. Wait a minute.

How is this fair? This isn't fair. Mike, James Cross was giving Minner specific instructions how to avoid some. How can that be fair in the middle of the fight? He would say something to Minner. Miner would respond immediately and avoid an arm bar, avoid a triangle. And I'm like, that is not fair. No, that is not fair to Charles Rosa.

This guy's instructions are so on point. He's like playing a video game. He's like he's literally controlling Miner with like an Xbox controller. It's just so unfair. Like he's just how quickly they, they, that's the, the, the, connection was between them and men are like responding to us oh my gosh it's amazing um uh barry o'reilly who i mentioned earlier uh he also he mentioned ospnoff versus gustafs and again a lot of gustavs and names are out there uh matchups thrown out there uh aronski uh i think we mentioned

this minnir versus beneda uh michael perugini uh michael perigine has some my favorite some my favorite uh matchups this week we said this shouldn't be possible but i just had to say Casey O'Neill versus Courtney Casey Just for the hashtag Casey v. Casey Has These guys, Mike, they know me now. It's not hard to get your batch up

named on the show. Fine to be able to say name. Give me a funny hashtag. It's a hashtag Casey v. Casey. A guy, man, this guy's name is going to throw out a lot. Shout out, John Castaneda. Again, we haven't mentioned him at all in the show.

So Michael Perugini said, Cassinated versus Umar and her Megamatta. Umar and her mega man, a very popular name. He's almost like Hamza this year of so far in the early going. He's been matched up with so many people. And I feel like in our first like a few episodes, very popular name. And then he wants, he said Jared Gordon should be punished and fight Herbert Burns. So that makes sense.

It's kind of what you were telling me earlier that. If Burns going up to 155, Gordon should also maybe stick to it with 155, match those two up. So yeah, I like that. How is I like Herbert Burns, talented guy? How is that a punishment for Jared Gordon? I think Jared Gordon wins that fight. I don't know. I guess Prigini is still high on the burn supply, I suppose.

And I also think they're teammates. Oh, that's very possible. I think Gordon trains at Sanford, M.A. I'm going to say, it's a Sanford M.A thing? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. So I don't know. You might be correct.

Okay. So, Michael, thank you for doing that out there. I did not research the pick, but might not be possible, unfortunately. Yeah, Jared Gordon would win that fight, though. just Herbert's a really good. Herbert's a good prospect, no doubt about it, but Gordon is such a grinder, man. If that guy can, if Jared Gordon can get out of the first round, he's, I mean, he is a tough, tough over anybody at 45 or 55. Well, speaking of Gordon, Harry Lifke likes him to fight the common worthy Jane Malarkey winner, U.C. 260, March 27. I think that'd be a lot of fun.

That would be fun, yes. Casey O'Neill, he wants for Mazza. He threw, I'm only addressed this to correct it he said maybe gina mazani uh priscilla katsuera but that's not till may 15th so i don't i think i bet i think o'neill is on the i want to fight as much as possible train right now i wouldn't be surprised if we see her fight like in march if i don't know what matchup is possible for her i wouldn't be surprised she takes a quick turn around and just tries to keep trying to get kind of get her name going so maybe way too i like the idea of her versus mizani or priscilla kutriara but i think it's a little too far in the future. I think, I think, like, Leana Jojuwa type of fight is, is what we're looking for for Casey O'Neill.

That's what we're looking for. Mighty Magic Marte usually hits up both of us. He had a longer message, so I guess he'd DM me. First off, shout-outs to Wales, love whales. Shoutouts, you know, Brett Johns, some great towns of Rob Bryden, Christian Bailey, I think is Welsh, Anthony Hopkins, of course, the inimitable Anthony Hopkins. So shout-outs to whales, love whales. He likes Tom.

I think I, do we not mention this? Tom Aspinall versus Ben Rothwell. Rothwell is booked, right? Rothwell is fighting. Who the hell has been? We literally just talked about this team. I know. Well, look, our brains are much of this.

Philippe Linz? Philippe Linz? Yes. I could see him getting the winner. Yeah, if Rothwell wins that fight, I like that for Osmond. I don't know about Linz. I don't know if Lin's Aspinall is that. It's tickling my fancy, as it were.

So I like that. But I wanted to end because, I should read his message, because, so obviously there's a different time zone. And Martin was, this is from at Mighty Magic Martin on Twitter. Martin was telling us to know his schedule can be a little bit funky as far as getting picks in. So he just wanted to get these in now. I want us in advance to give a birthday shout out.

His two-year-old, which he will be two on Friday. So in advance for his daughter, Millie. So, Mike, if you could do a little birthday shout-out for Millie. Happy birthday, Millie. It's, I'm with your Mighty Magic Mart. That's right, right? Mighty Magic Mart, correct. Yes, it's a great feeling to watch our children grow up.

Two is a fun age. Terrible twos, that is not an exaggeration. So just a little parental advice. Three is also not that fun, but fun in some ways. And then it gets better. But no, seriously, happy birthday to Millie, enjoy the day, eat lots of cake, open those presents and run around, and frolic and just do what two-year-olds do.

Happy birthday, Millie. And he has a second child coming on April. He and his wife have a second child coming on on April 8th. So I think he was also saying he may not be getting up early to offer kicks for a while. Yeah, once that second kick comes around, we may not be hearing from him on fight nights or, I guess, on our side, early mornings anymore. So, yes, happy birthday. And congratulations on, of course, a second child on the way. But what was this suggestion?

What did I just, did I already read it out? No, I already read it out, right? Yes. So yes. Let's end with, for readers suggestions. Let's end with that nice, hybrid thing for Millie. Thanks, Maddie, Magic Mart. And everyone else who's sending in things, send them in to me at Alexander K.

Lee on Twitter, at Alexander KKK Lee on Instagram, Alex. Dot Lee at espionation.com. And also please hit up Mike. Mike, let them know where they can reach you, please. Yes. Hit me up on Twitter. Follow me. Mike Heck underscore JR.

Instagram M underscore heck JR but listen hit up AK that is a guarantee you'll get on the show I will do my best I will do better Mike is checking his DMs he is checking his DMs hit him up on Instagram I'm trying again I apologize fly in there listeners but listen as you're doing this make sure you take a few moments and hit the subscribe button for the podcast network wherever you're listening right now goes a long way if you want to leave a five-star review some kind words about the show on Apple Podcasts wherever you listen. We appreciate that as well. And we invite you to join us next week

for the UFC 259, go home card. UFC Vegas 20, headlined by the aforementioned heavyweight fight between Jarzania Rosenstrike and Cyril Gahn. If you really look at it, it's a pretty damn good card. And we'll be talking about it throughout the week

and on this program next week. But until then, for AKI and Mike Hatch, always remember, do not take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We'll have more fun doing some matchmaking. Next week right here, on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.