MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 20

Episode Date: February 28, 2021

On the 33rd 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 20 at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Ciryl Gane following his unanimous decision victory in the heavyweight main event, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Magomed Ankalaev, Pedro Munhoz, Alex Caceres, Thiago Moises, 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. And welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One, as we are officially in UFC 259 fight week. But before we officially turn the page to the UFC's first of two pay-per-view offerings for the month of March, let us answer the what's next questions for the notable names coming out of UFC Vegas 20 this past Saturday night. And joining me, as always, on this adventure, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend and the Prince of Positivity himself, Mr. Alexander K. Lee. How's Canada,

buddy? How are you? My best friend. If Canada is great, it's cold, not as cold as it could be. But I mean, it's Canada. What else do you expect? So it's normal up here, in other words. But no, it's great. I don't know how I feel after last night's nine-fight one draw card. So it's from a matchmaking perspective. I guess, I guess we'll, you know, we'll work it out over the next hour or so. and figure out how to deal. But that was a strange one. That was a strange one last night. Yeah, I don't really know what to say.

I still have fun making these matchups. Some of them were a lot of fun. Some were easy, some were hard. But later on in the program, we will get to your submissions, the listeners via Twitter, email, and yes, AK, even Instagram DMs, even in my Instagram DMs. I'm trying, folks. I made a promise. I'm doing the best I can, all right? You're going to hear those submissions later on in the show, but we'll kick things off with the main event of the evening in the UFC's heavyweight division.

Jarzania Rosenstrike took on the surging Cyril Gone. And in the end, the surging prospect continues to. Well, Surge, AK, earns a unanimous decision win, won all five rounds rather easily. It wasn't one of those performances that, you know, we're going to remember for years to come. But I guarantee you Cyril Gan could give a Rats Batut what anybody else thinks. He got two paychecks. He's 8-0, and he's pun intended, on to the next one. So, A.K., what do we do?

Because it seems like there's two options for him, right? One is Derek Lewis. That's what pretty much everybody expected the prize to be in this fight. The other is Alexander Volkov, who just got a big win in his own right not long ago in a made-event spot. And let's be honest, he did it in a much more impactful way than Cyril Gahn did. So where does he, where does Cyril Gond go from Saturday night? Is it one of those two options? Are you thinking crazy here?

No, it's Alexander Volkov. I'm only thinking one option. I don't even love the Derek Lewis. I don't hate the Derek Lewis option. I know we said on last week's podcast episode that like how much this fight would affect, you know, matchmaking outside of the Miochich and Ganu Jones triangle. That he's sort of self-out. But no, I remember when Volkov won, I had pegged this matchup as the one that would decide his next opponent. I'm sticking with it.

I saw nothing that happened last night. And that's happened in the heavyweight division since to make me. anything otherwise. I love the matchup. I still think Volkov has the potential to be a world title contender. I mean, I'm sure Gahn would be favored, but I would not be shocked at all if Volkov beat him. And obviously, I'm very high in the Gond train. I think he's not only a contender, I think he could actually be the champion someday. So that's a fight I'd love to see now. Certainly, again, if Gahn becomes a champion, it could happen down the road. But no, now's the time. There's other people that are tied up. And I'm still on the Lewis versus Overeem train. That's the

thing. I think we've mentioned on multiple episodes. see Derek Lewis and Alastair over him. So I'm not, I'm not breaking that one up. So Alexander Volkov really the only option for me. The sport is so interesting and the show is so interesting because things can change on a weekly basis. Like something happens and you're like, maybe last week I said this, but maybe it's this. But if we're saying it's a choice between Lewis and Volkov, I truly think Lewis was the prize. Like I think the plan was the winner of this fight is going to fight Derek Lewis. But I think most people expected the fight to go a certain way in terms of entertainment value. And listen, I am not here pooping on Cyril Ghan.

I would never do that. I thought he fought a very smart fight. He did what he needed to do to win, and that's all that matters at the end of the day. But if we're comparing the two, where are we going? It's the latter for me. It's Alexander Volkov. I think we have Steepa, we got Inganu, we got John Jones, and then Derek Lewis is right there behind Jones. And then there's everybody else after that, in my opinion. I think Derek's place as the sort of the on-deck contender behind John Jones. It remains, and it is his alone right now. Gan versus Volkov is the fight to make.

The winner gets on that level with Derek Lewis, where he's at right now. I think gone got a dominant win. He won every round. He won pretty much every second of every round, but it just wasn't the sort of star-making performance that most people and probably Dana White and the UFC were hoping for from him. So it just wasn't, but again, he's still a little green. He's only 8-0.

and while he doesn't gain the immediate spoils from the moment, we talked about this with Sarah Kaufman on the Post-Wite show. He got a lot of experience in that octagon. He went the full 25, and I think that experience will pay off in the long run, in my opinion, more than if he went in there and knocked Jarzino in the first two minutes of the fight. So yeah, Gahn v. Volkov, pretty damn good consolation prize, A.K.

Yeah, and people, please check out Tanner Bozers take on the situation. Our own Canadian, our own Canadian heavyweight Tanner Bozer, who tweeted very shortly after, I won't read it verbatim, but it's limited to the effect of like, just saying, why are people criticizing gone? It's crazy. He's winning the fight. Why would he take a risk?

And then you can also check his replies. He has some very amusing replies to incredulous fans who don't seem to understand his point. One of them was like, oh, you need to find another job. You're just in it for the money. And I think Bozer replied, like, yes, how silly of me. How silly of me to have a job and want to get paid for it and compensated for it. Yes, I'm a fool. So, yeah, Tanner Bozer with a great take on it.

And, again, I don't think the uproar is that bad. I think most people are kind of disappointed just in the fight as it was. Maybe there's even more criticism of Rosenstrup than there is of Gone. Again, it's hard to gauge with social media. And that's more than fair. But yeah, gone did what you had to do. And as you said, very valuable learning experience for Guy. And his eighth pro fight, guys, eighth pro fight is not a lot.

I know heavy weights move up. The rankings fast. That's really not a lot. So, Mike, I would ask if it was possible. And I know we said Curtis Blades should take some time off after that knockout at least six months. We don't want to see him rush back into the cage at all. There's really no reason to. And for some reason, he, he's suspended until, I think, mandatory until April.

If for some reason, he came back, let's say, and wanted a fight in May or June in the summer, and that was offered to Gone. If you're gone, is that one you're chopping at the bit for it? Because he is higher rank than Volkov and, obviously not Lewis, but he's higher rank than Volkov. Would you, what do you think? Do you think, do you think God would be like, yeah, I'm going to jump at that? It would be the biggest stylistic challenge for him yet, I think. I think he would, I mean, I think he would take it just because he's a no, and it depends on

spot in the money, but I think. But you wouldn't campaign for it if you were him and his team. You wouldn't be like poking at the UFC like, hey, what's going on with Curtis Blades? Can me? Probably not. I mean, you could probably find ways to make it look good. Like maybe they see the knockout as a way to like get the low hanging fruit, so to speak. But I still think that's a really tough matchup for him, especially if Blades gets going

with the takedowns early. Gun's very good on the ground. He's well, he's well rounded. But I mean, Curtis Blades has put many of well-rounded heavyweights on their backs and kept them there for the entirety of the. fight. So I would say if we're looking between Lewis Volkov and Blades, Blades is clearly option C. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. I know we're not going to like go into this like full on, but I know the readers and the listeners suggested this, but I do want to talk about Jarzina Rosenstrike because

obviously it was a tough night for him. He just couldn't get anything going. And in my eyes, AK, he's going to have to take a bit of a hit from this one, unfortunately. I mean, I saw Curtis Blase his name, the aforementioned Curtis Blades, that name being thrown around as an option for Jarzino. And I don't love that idea. I think, I think Blades is a massive favorite in that fight. I just don't like it for Jarzino. I'm not going anywhere near that if I'm him. So there's two options for me. One, you do the rematch with the Overeem. And Jarzino is not in a position to say no at this point. And he'd still have the confidence to go back in there and fight him because he beat him before.

And Overeem would obviously like it because he can try to get that one back. And if that wants to be like his final fight, I want to try to avenge this crazy loss that I had in my, you know, the recent past in my UFC career. Sure. I think people would be okay with that. The other option, and this kind of changes things up from last week's show, I think there's an argument to be made for Tom Aspinall getting that opportunity to fight a top 10 guy. Throw them in there. Let's see what happens. There's upside all over that guy, and I think there's some upside still with Jarzino.

And I know we're kind of like, how could you do Asmodal versus Chris Doccus, two up-and-coming heavyweights that are trying to get to the belt? But I think this is a different scenario. I kind of want to see it. I think Aspedal deserves an opportunity like that, and Jarzino kind of laid an egg on Saturday. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but he kind of laid an egg. You just couldn't get anything going. I think you throw him in there with Aspinol, who's going to make damn sure he's not going to. going to have a performance like that. He's going to be in his face and attacking it all

time. But those are kind of my two options for Jarzino taking a look at it, A.K., what are your thoughts on that? That'd be a huge step up for Aspinall. I have Aspinall still outside my top 15, and I have Rosenstruck at 6th, which includes it. My rankings include the champions. So if you want to go to the UFC style and take out the champion, I have Jarzino fifth. But I don't mind it. If I'm Rosenstruck's team, I'm very careful about how I handle his next one. You know, we sort of said with God, like, I don't think most these guys usually don't say no, or at least they know they're not in position to say no. So, you know, if Aspinall came his way, he'd say yes.

Obviously, over and came his way, he'd say yes. But if I'm his team, I'm definitely doing some selective campaigning. I don't know. I don't know. It's very wide open, like you said. There's, if he can fight over him and beat him again, that'd be nice. It certainly wouldn't hurt him. If you can knock off a prospect of Aspinall, that'd be really good for him.

But it just seems like everyone in that range that were. talk about is really dangerous and Rosenstruck has a lot of proving to do he's that's two of three now two losses and two of his last three fair or not that's how the triggers are going to do this and one of them was a 20 second knockout one of them was a lacklesser decision loss so yeah his standing as far as being a future contender monster hit and again there's nothing wrong with that you can have a long career in the UFC and not be a contender but it is a big contrast from where he was say 18 months ago where we we all assumed like oh yeah, one one one big win away from maybe a title shot.

Now it's like two, three, who knows, depending depending who he fights, who he beats. So yeah, I think if I'm his team, I'm real careful with the discussions I have with matchmakers. Co-mate event, Magamette Ancolaev gets a unanimous decision win over Nikita Krilov. Most expected this fight to end with violence is one of those fights where like you tweeted out into the world and the NBA gods just kind of laughed at you. but at the same time, very strategic, very smart game plan from Ankleaf, especially in the final 10 minutes, showing that I'm, you know, I'm not just the kind of guy that goes in there and slugs it out for as long as the fight last. I can go in there and peel off those layers.

And that's what he did on Saturday. And he's about to be a top 10 guy, AK. What do you see next from Mr. Ancolaev? Ah, this is another lock for me. There is another good option. But for me, the lock, it's got to be the Anthony Smith, Jim, Jimmy Crute winner. They fight on April 24. It's got to be.

It's got to be. I think that, for one, is a great matchup to show and how much does Anthony Smith have left as far as being a top 10 guy? And is Jimmy Crude, the top 10 guy. I certainly think he is, but that's why they make that. That's a perfect piece of matchmaking there by the UFC team. And Ankolaev, again, I feel as a top 10, I think he – do I have – let me see. Do I have him top 10 now? Ankoliyev, I have in the top 10.

He took Khrloff spot, obviously. And I think he's a top five talent. and I'd love to see him get a chance to prove that against, you know, whoever comes out of that Smith accrued fight. So for me, that to me is the easy pick. I want to hear what you say first. I'll have one alternative, but I do want to hear what you have to say first. Yeah, I mean, we talked about this in the post-white show. I actually think it Goliaths in a tremendous spot right now because he's going to be the number eight guy come Tuesday.

And there's a lot of everybody in the top six is booked right now, every single fighter. And some are in pretty important fights and big spots. He's right there. He's right there to slide right in there if something falls out. If everything just kind of plays out the way it's supposed to right now, I like the Volcano-Ozdemar fight. He's number seven. He's the highest-ranked guy ahead of him that isn't booked right now.

It seems like the right place to go. And again, he could always just stay ready in case someone falls out. But, you know, I'm okay with him fighting a former title challenger in Volcano Osdemeer. It seems like a good next step and kind of see how the rest of the vision plays out. Yeah, I like the matchup. I hate that, I hate a strong word. Mike, I don't hate anything. I'm like, I don't hate anything.

I find it unfortunate. There you go. I find it unfortunate that Uznor has kind of become a high, very, very high level gatekeeper. A gatekeeper to the top five. So it's weird. You know, we say gatekeeper we usually mean like to the top 20, top 15. He's kind of a gatekeeper to the top five. It just feels, because I feel like on a lot of these shows, not just yourself, but a lot of the readers,

I see Ouzdemeer's name almost always come up when another. kind of younger light heavy weights coming up towards the top 10 and like Uzdimir's like the first name oh there's a perfect guy to test him and I'm like he's not that far removed from fighting for a title himself but it is unfortunate that since then he's lost a lot of fights that could have gotten back into contention he's certain respect and well recognized as being dangerous

and he's definitely the right test for Anka Live at this point his career but I just yeah I just find it so strange that he's already I think he's only like three years in his UFC career I guess that's a lot these days. He's already kind of this top five gatekeeper, but there's worse things to be, I guess. He's also, and listen, I'm not a fighter, so I'm not here to judge. He's also, like, the least active guy in the division. You know what I mean? Like, Anthony Smith has probably fought, like, three or four times since Volcanozibir fought Yuri Prahashka. You know what I mean? And Perashka hasn't fought since then either, but he's also been booked to fight Dominic Reyes on multiple

different dates. And from what he was telling me in our conversation on what the heck, there were lots of fights offered that he said yes to. So I don't know. I mean, it's, when you're not booking fights

and getting him on the books, and like, it was a vicious knockout to Perashka, so I'm not, like, against him taking time. But I think that's kind of why Osama is such a popular selection

in these cases because he's ranked in the top 10 and doesn't have anything booked. So he's right there. Yep. One fight on the main card that is being delegated to wild card status is Montana de la Rosa versus myraubuino Silva fight ends in a draw and according

to the unwritten rules of on to the next one matchmaking section a narrative x outside of a main event or a title fight going to a draw it doesn't get the matchmaking treatment on the program unless like we just alluded to it is a wild card selection so no offense to the ladies it was a fun scrap, I would have given them the bonus, honestly. If we're only given out three bonuses, I would just give in a second fight of the night to those two ladies. We will go ahead and skip that one and move on to the aftermath of a very exciting. Oh, go ahead. Yes. I think Silva won that fight. It is such a shame that it's just instinctively, you know, she's getting taken down and just grabs the fence. You know, you're getting taken down. Every time I see a fighter grab the fence,

I think one, I think that it should always be a point. And two, I think it's like one of the hardest fouls to avoid. Look, maybe some of these people are deliberately cheating. But But it's like when you're falling, this isn't even just fighters in life. When you're falling, you reach out to grab something. You reach out to grab something. That is your instinct, right? And I imagine even in a fight, there's probably even more of an instinct because, you know, when you get taken down, you're not just falling. You're getting down.

So I'm about to beat the crap out of you. So I'm not making an excuse for her. I'm just saying it's funny when you think that if she had just not happened and she had just been taken down that she might have been able to, you know, maybe just recover and still win the round. I think on the scorecards, the scorecards were a little screwy. Did some people give her the, I think one of the judges gave her the first round. Eric Cologne, maybe gave her the first. Eric Cologne's card was a disaster, but anyway, I would have loved to have matched made for Buenos Silva. I do think she kind of won the fight.

It was a really good scrap, but it was a draw. And as you said, the unofficial, like that classic Simpsons episode, Mike, you know, where Homer and Flanders, the father of the boy who doesn't win. You know, that's our rule on here. We're not saying anybody lost. We're not saying anybody lost. We're just saying you didn't win. That's, again, that kind of falls under our bylaws. I'm sorry.

So ladies, both of you, on to the next one. On to the next one. And I expect them both to have good. Because they, they part really, it was a really fun fight. It's got like flashbacks, the father of the boy who doesn't win. Oh, that's so good. That is so good. All three judges actually scored the first two rounds the same.

It was Eric Cologne, who gave. Bueno Silva a 10-8 in the third round. Like, come on, dude. Like, I understand, like, maybe in your mind, you're like, Silva deserves to win, so I'm just going to give her a 10-8. Like, outside of that. You can't do that. And you can't even do that.

But any other reason is egregious. Absolutely ridiculous to even put that on paper. But it is what it is. Silva, don't grab the fence, and you would have got a victory. But let's talk about Pedro Munoz, who did get a victory over Jimmy Rivera, the rematch. He has avenged the loss, the calf kicks. We're absolutely brutal from bell to bell.

Great bounce back performance from Pedro Munoz snaps a two-fights kid and gets on the mic and does what Bannamwaites like to do inside the top 10 AK calls for T.J. Dillishaw. Does he get his wish? Or do you see something else for the Young Punisher? I think it's funny. You know, this show, sometimes we do what we think will happen, what we want to happen. I think if we were going with what I want to happen, I'm still not sure I would go to Dillishaw. I think I've named Dillishaw for a bunch of people. And I'm not saying the bad match of Munoz.

There's just some other fun matches I'd like to see. So I leaned more towards a rematch with Rob Font. This was a difficult pick first because I remember I've definitely previously said I wanted font to fight the San Hagan Edgar winner. That seemed very logical to me until San Hagen just obliterated Edgar. And I apparently completely forgot about the Fonts San Hagan match that I wanted. And look, for good reason, I think San Hagan has earned the number one contender spot. So I don't think he needs to base another tough opponent in Rob Font. So, yeah, I don't mind the Munoz rematch.

They fought over three years ago now. And Munoz took Font out pretty quickly. I think Fon's a very different fighter since then. I'd love to see Fonk get a chance to run that one back. So, yeah, back-to-back rematches for Pedro Munoz in my book. That was a popular choice. Poor Rob Fant. I mean, the guy is a top three fighter, and now he's, like, he's there.

He finally gets, like, to be the hunted. or even the hunter in his position. And now everyone wants to see him drop back like five or six spots to fight Pedro Munoz. What a wild sport we live in. But in terms of the Dilleshaw callout, I'd like to see it. Like, it would be fun. But unfortunately, it's just not there for him yet. And it's hard to justify giving Munoz that fight as much as we would like to see it from a stylistic perspective over a guy like Corey Sandhagen who wants it and Rob Fon who wants it.

It just doesn't work. and while you're ready to give Mr. Munoz a big jump up in the rankings, I'm unfortunately going to have to come at it from a different angle because I think he's going to have to fight backwards and I think he's going to have to fight a rising contender and then if he gets a victory, then maybe you can give him one of those big fights. Sorry, Pedro.

I'm very sorry to say this out loud into a live microphone. Mike, no. The fight is Marab du Walsh willie. No, oh no. It's the fight. I'm sorry. And if Munoz beats Merob and stops that train, call for Dilleshaw, call for font, it's yours, buddy.

It's yours. But unfortunately, you've lost your last two fights. It is on paper. They're losses. Their losses. The Sterling fight was a fun fight, but Sterling clearly won. I understand the Edgar fight was a little bit controversial. A lot of people scored that for Pedro Munoz, and I get that.

But if you go on beat Mab, like, you get, this isn't just like fighting back a couple of spots. Like you get immediate respect. You get that momentum. It's a statement if you beat a guy like Marab. Unfortunately, I think he's just in a tough spot in a crazy division, A.K. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

But I think this is what we're going to have to do. Someone has to fight Marab at some point. It's someone, no, look, nobody wants to fight this guy. He's been such an absolute just beast in his last, like, the five-fight win streak. And he's not just, it's the way he's beating people. He's really rag-dalling guys. And like, I can't. I just don't know anyone who would want to even call.

I don't think anyone's called him out. Am I wrong? Has anyone called him out? Pedro? No, called Marab. Has anyone called Marab de Valsh really yet? Other than Cody's Damon. Yeah, he'll call anybody.

Yeah, that's about, gosh, why would anybody call Maraud Devalch really out? Yeah, but you're right. Someone's going to fight him at some point. I like all these guys in the top of Dean of Bantuan. I can't protect them all. Maybe it's Pedro. Maybe Paige's got to be they've got to test them. main card opener we saw

Alex Casares pick up his fourth straight win fun scrap against Kevin Krum Casares gets it done showed the Octagon experience and another victory on the resume he wants a top 15 guy AK I'm here to say I'm in I'm in

but it's not going to be easy it's going to be another prospect Alex Casaris versus Mobzar Evloev the number 15th ranked Bobzar, Evoeff, give him another vet test against a guy on a nice winning streak like Alex Kassaris. The winner of that, on to bigger and brighter.

But if you want a top 15 guy, that's the fight. That's the fight to do. What say you? I like it. I actually, I've Lov is not in the top 15 of my rankings. And neither is. He's actually pretty close to where Casaris, where I bumped him up to. And that's no disrespect to Lov again.

Vloyav is another one of those blue-chip guys. So I'm just like, nobody in the top 20 should want to fight. But yes, I actually did not realize he was top 15 in the official rankings. No, I went more a veteran status. And apparently because, again, I've looked back on my notes. And I've wanted this one for a while. Caceres, for his 20, what would be his 25th U.S.C. appearance, I want to see him fight Cubs Cawanson.

Cubs Conson, I do have, so Cubs on that I do have still have ranked pretty highly. People might say I'm crazy. But, I mean, they got a level of competition. He's on a little one streak. I don't think it's wrong at all to keep him ranked in the top. or in my case in the top 15. So that to me is the top 15 opponent that I think that Sarah should have. I think previously I also thought, you know, Swanson would be great for Emmett.

Emmett, I think we still don't know. I mean, I expect him to be back any time now from that knee injury, but who knows, who knows, right? I haven't heard him make any overtures about calling people out or even like any, like, you know, sick Instagram selfie where he's like, oh, I'm ready to get back in action. At Dana White, at Sean Shelby. He hasn't even done that yet. So I think he's kind of enjoying his time off, his break, covering from his injury.

So I'm removing Emmett from the equation for now. And I like Swanson and Casares. And I think Alex Casares would love that fight. Assuming he knows the Cupson is. Yes. He probably knows it. He probably knows a cup is. I hope so.

I would assume. Yeah, I like that fight too. Yeah, give him a top 15 or a guy with the name. I'm cool with that. Thank you, young man, my child, who's decided. Now is the time to take his bucket of toys and dump them all over the floor. So thank you, Grayson. Thank you.

In the middle of the fastest rising podcast on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. Yeah, he smiled. Thanks, buddy. Thank you. Cut in post. We keep it. We keep it.

In the featured, it's real life, you know, real life unfolding before eyes. Let's talk about the featured preliminary fight. Tiago Moises gets a big win over Alexander Hernandez. He sweeps the score cards for two. of the judges. It was 29, 28 on the other. Hernandez was not happy about the scoring. Mark Montoya was not happy about the scoring. Even went up to Bruce Buffer and the judges and was like, did he read the wrong name? Like, did he read that wrong? But listen, I watched the fight again this morning. It was the right call. Moise just has such good defense on the feet. Like, well,

it looks like Hernandez is landing shots. He's not landing them. He's not hitting Hernandez in the face. He's hitting him in the arms. Like, if this is like Big Brother stuff, sucks to be Tiwold. Hugo Moises right now. He's going to bruise all of his arms. But in terms of getting punched in the face, didn't happen very often. Moises landed the more impactful shots. Moises is coming into his own, man. He looks really good, A.K., what is next for the 25-year-old Brazilian? Just everything clicking right now. Yeah, all the respect to Alexander Hernandez. We said that was a big, this is a big test for him. And I still think he did okay. Absolutely.

Not beating Moises is not the worst thing that Moises is clearly also a blue chip prospect. I don't people know he's younger. He's three years younger than Hernandez. So it's like he's an up-and-comber in his own right. So it was a really strong performance for Hernandez. But one that I think Moises comfortably won. So for Moise, I think I'm being a little wishy-washy with my picks this week, a little bit like a lot of wait and see.

And that's okay. I think sometimes that's the right move to make. So he won't have to wait long. I think next week's Islam Makachev-Judeauber fight, I think whoever wins that fight, I think you give Moises. I know some people want to see Moises get Elisis. take a more veteran name, maybe already get someone in the top 10,

and that's great. But the lightweight top 10 can be a little tricky as far as politically speaking, some of the names that are up there waiting for fights or angling for fights. So with that said, then I'd say, let's just keep things simple. Let's match him up with someone,

again, someone from next week, who's still climbing up in their own right. So very high on Moises. I don't think there's any need to push him up the rankings too quickly. And I think either him, Maccheev Dober, those guys are all destined for great things at 155, and I think we get a natural matchup after next Saturday.

This might have been the easiest pick on the card for me outside of the main event, because we were asked on the pre-fight show if the winner of this fight should get a top 15 opponent next, and the answer is absolutely, absolutely Tiago Boys is there's a top 15 opponent. And the fight I want to see, I want to do Brazilian versus Brazilian, AK. ATT versus Fortis MMA, Tiago Moises versus one Carlos Diego Fajara. And had Hernandez won that fight,

I would have done Hernandez versus CDF. So this fight, to me, the winner gets the CDF fight. I think CDF's 12 or 13 right now. That's the fight to make AK. That's a scrap. I want to see it. Yeah, definitely no one would complain about that matchup. So, yeah, I think that's a name that I've seen a lot of people throwing out there.

Other options I thought, Mike, And only because he mentioned this guy himself. He mentioned Braderdell in an interview with our own Guy Cruz. So the winner of Bradredell, Gregor Gillespie, that's on March 20th, to be fun. And then I also kind of thought, maybe, maybe, just because I haven't heard from this kind of while, I don't want to see a flight again soon. Maybe Armand Seru K. But he probably has passed Surukin in the prospect rankings right now.

And you're right. And maybe it would be a step back. So Faheda would make more sense than Surukin at this point, I think. Yeah. So that's that. We're going to head to the wildcard round. we will each choose a fighter who either won on the prelims, lost in the main card, lost on the prelims,

basically someone we have not matched for yet. We'll go ahead and do it right now. So Mr. Lee, your wild card selection coming out of UFC Vegas 20. Well, I hope you picked either Delarosa or Buenos Silva because I didn't. And this is like a double snubbing. Mike Kinelliver of us did. I did go with one of the women's fighters on the card. I had to go with Canada's own, the pride of Port Colborne, the Sarah Kaufman nemesis, Alexis Davis.

I was so, again, for once I looked smart. I think on the preview show, I had said I was picking Davis to be Mazzo. And for all the reasons that we saw on Saturday, she's just, she's a veteran. She has a way of mucking things up. I mean, I think in like a traditional sparring session, I bet Mazzo, like a competitive sparring. I think Mazzo would get the better out of Alexis Davis, like nine times out of ten. but once you get in that cage and you have that experience Alexis Davis has man you saw it all there she

she got punched in the face she has a face that one punch turns it red as a tomato she ate like I don't know how many jabs from Mazzo she got hit the face a lot and she knew I'm gonna have to do this to close distance with this rookie Mazzo was ridiculously talented and again she's only 23 she has many many good years of head of her but Davis is all the experience and that does great performance so I can't wait to see her and I want but I don't know if the

this return to 135, which I assume she's sticking around there. She said she's very happy not cutting the weight. I don't know if this return to 135, how serious of a contender she can be again, but she certainly is closer than she would be at 125. So I want to see her face another veteran who's on a win streak that I'm just having a little bit of trouble gauging the quality of. So I like Alexis Davis versus Penny Kianzad.

I think it's, so Davis just broke a losing streak, Kianzad on a three-fight win streak. We mentioned sir on a previous show. I think the readers have messed her up with people. I think they wanted her for Kunitskaya, which I like. But after seeing Davis, I think Davis Kianzad's the way to go. For those who have been falling along on this, onto the next one, journey over the last, this is the 33rd episode of the program, you know where I'm going with this.

You absolutely know where I'm going with this. I'm going with Ronnie Lawrence because he's a Bannonweight, and we always do this. Cards like this when there's a wild card selection. Ronnie Lawrence gets the only finish on the card. He deserves a little bit of shine here. I boasted about him on the preview and post-fight shows. Goes in there and dominates Vince Cicero, gets the finish in the third round. I think he's the real deal, and I want to see what this guy's got.

I'm ready to throw him a pretty good step up, not a gigantic one. We're not going to get crazy. We're not throwing him in there with Marab. Bannon Waite's just so, so good right now. So we mentioned Fortis M.A. I want to see what Ronnie Lawrence does against another guy on the come up with excellent wrestling, a guy with knockout power in his hands. give me Ronnie Lawrence versus Miles Johns A.K.

Let's see what this kid's got. That is my pick. I love it. That's a great pick. And I love it because, Lawrence's name came up a lot in the reader picks. And the matchups were all over the place. I don't know if I,

maybe people are more familiar with Ryan Lawrence than I was, or they were just so blown away, but they were just up. And I don't know how many banditam weights are this, but like 60 bantam weights, something like that. Like anywhere from the range of 1 to 60, people were just like throwing Ronnie Lawrence in there. But yes, Miles Johns, I think it's just, I think that's just right, Mike. I think I saw some

good selections, which I will, we will get to in a second. I like Miles Johnson. I do think that's the right way to go. People, let's, let's treat Ronnie Lawrence, like what he is, a very, very talented prospect. Yes. That's not crazy. Ronnie Lawrence is like, what, 15-year-old, Domina Cruz, T.J. Dillishah and Marab Diwali, like, if you mold the three of them into one, like, super 15-year-old, that's a Ronnie Lawrence reminds me of. Like I said, we're trying to temper expectations. Oh, my goodness.

15. He's 15. I mean, he's got a lot of room to develop. The talent is there. The blueprint is laid out. The foundation has been laid. It's just how you build the rest of the house. And it's a good foundation. When you have a good foundation, the rest kind of take care of itself.

But I'm excited to see what this kid has. The footwork is so fun to watch. He's got that movement. And you didn't even get to see a lot of it on Saturday because he was just all he did was just keep taking poor Vince Cicero down. Vince Gaccharro was like scrambling and trying to get up and doing his best and Ryan Lawrence just wouldn't give him a second to breed. So I'm excited to see what is next for that guy.

What a performance that he stole the show. I don't know if we have a check the tapes, but we do. We have a little bit. I didn't know this. I didn't realize it was our 33rd. So shout us to Larry Bird. Yes, right. Obviously.

Scottie Pippin. Duvall. And Career of Duel Gibbon. What a number. 33. Career of Jewel Javar, Scottie Pippin, Larry Bird. Pretty good number. That's right.

I don't know if anyone the NBA is wearing it right now, but that's a lot of pressure. Shut off the Legends. Yeah, we had some check the days. We had some. Our pal Marcus McGahey is shouting at me. He's coming at me on Twitter and email right now. So, fine, Marcus, he wanted to make sure he was credited

for calling out Sean Strickland versus Christop Jocko, which happens on May 1st. So well done, Marcus McGahey. I might have thrown that out there as a possibility for either of them, but I don't remember if I actually made that an official O-T-N-O-pick. Did you, I had this as an alternate. Did you like, but I thought you had made it select this.

Alex Perez is Matt Schnell? Was that one of that? Yeah, you, doesn't like that. So there we go, Mike. So I checked the tapes for you. Alex Perez versus Matt Snell, now booked for UFC 262 on May 15th. And then we had a trio of championship bouts, which, I mean, I don't know if it's fair to say. We checked with that.

We called this. I think us and a lot of fans wanted these fights. Figurano versus Moreno. Rematch is now set for UFC 263 on June 12. I mean, and that was set almost in a rare case of Dana. You know, he never makes matches after. I'm pretty sure if I recall, like, the press conference already's like, yeah, we're probably running that one back.

So we all check the tape. Credit, check mark for all of us on that one. Shichenko versus Andrage now set for UFC 261, April 24th. This one wasn't as much. I think, I know you wanted it. I think we both wanted it. I know it wasn't the number, necessarily the, like, like the, like the, the, like, the automatic choice for a lot of people. I think people weren't sure if Andraj, the one win was enough,

but I think it's the most exciting title fight you can make at 125 right now. So, so that's official. And of course, one that we were all just waiting to become official. Also, UFC 261, April 24th, Jean-Weilley versus Rosenovina. And we brought that up on our dream fights episode, our year end, sort of when we had no fights at the end of 2021 in December, 2020, excuse me. I had that as one of my top five championship fights I hope was made in this year. So there it is. I think it might have made your list too, Mike.

I'm not, I can't remember. So there we go. So some pretty accurate, pretty accurate tape. That's a pretty accurate tape. Let's see where the peeps are going in terms of their matchmaking. Mike, do you want to go first? What do you want to do?

Do you want me to rifle off? I got, you know what again. I got the Twitter. I got the email and I got the Instagram. So I don't know how you want to go. I'll go first because my list is way shorter than yours. Okay. Let's see.

Orrin Sleepwalker at Orn 83 on Twitter. This is a new guy? New? I think so. Okay. He said Anklea versus the winner of Circonoff versus Span. He said, and he, want to know why I like Orrin Sleepwalker because not only does he make the matches, but he gives explanations as to why.

We like that, guys. We will read your explanations on air. Yes. Circuov Span makes sense. Ranking-wise, almost everyone above Ankolaev is already booked. Okay. Nikita Kreelov versus Ozedemir. Okay.

It was already scheduled once. Might as well do it now. Gone versus Volkov, as was, quote, decided after Volkov's win over Overeem. Rosenstrike versus Blagoi, Ivanov. After this lackluster performance, Rosenstrike deserves to get a severely drop down the ladder, but he's still too dangerous to get fed a hot prospect like Dawkins or Hospital. We disagree. But Ivana fits well and comes off of two losses.

So I'm cool. I'm cool with that. Is Blagois not books? There's no fight for Blagoi? He was supposed to fight marching Tibera, right? I think so, yeah. And then the fight got to, and Ivanov got injured and is out of the fight now. I'm not going to lie, for reasons that are known only to me, I keep getting LaGloi,

Ivanov and Augusto Sakai confused. I do not know. There's no good reason for it. They fought. They fought. There we go. But that's about, but before they fought, I was getting them confused. So I don't know what's going on there.

Yeah, that bell was, oh, he got injured. Yep. Evenov got injured. Oh, okay. Yeah, so that bell was, okay, interesting. What else you got? Mike? Harper on Instagram.

We're going to the DMs now. Gahn versus Volkov. Hey, Harper. Gone versus Volkov. Rosenstrike versus Daucus or Rosenstrike versus Sakai. Not sure if Rob would take this fight, but maybe Munoz versus Fonte 2 or Munoz versus Marais. Munoz versus Marais, I looked at, but then you realized that they're teammates. So I'm not saying that it wouldn't happen, but it would be a fun fight.

And then I responded and said, these are good suggestions. We'll read him. and he goes, add-a-boy, Mike, finally checking your DMs. So thank you, Harper, for your suggestions and your kind words. Danilo Collins has checked in on Instagram DMs, said, long-time listener, first-time contributor, got some suggestions for the show. Gonf versus Volkov, Anka-Lyav versus Ozdemier,

another Munoz versus Font two. Ooh, Tiago Moises versus Raphael Fiziv is actually a pretty popular one as well. I saw that. And then last. one from a man, John George. Jimmy Rivera versus Ricky Simone. Big Body, 35 is always fun.

Pedro versus Aldo, or a Rob Font rematch would be a great matchup. Rosenstrike versus Chris Docchus and a stand-and-bang three-rounder and then another Frize versus Moise's suggestion as well. I saw that too. I saw that too. Okay, interesting.

And then let me just see. The only other DMs I got was where people like trying to lay out like actual divisions like people wanted to reach out and say like this is how I booked the 55 division which doesn't really work but we appreciate that but uh thank you all we turned over to AK we're oh there's much more sure uh well I'll run down some of the quickies so off of our site we you know we sometimes tweet out what did what did people

think so here's some of the responses to our tweets on I made fighting for Moises there was a bunch Mike give me a quick yay or nay I'm just going to run off a few names here based on Not necessarily if you think it'd be a cool fight, because I think these would all be cool fights. The likelihood of these happening like any time this year. Okay. So, okay, so this is from Moises. Felder? Yeah, yeah, I'd see it.

No, I don't think it happens. He doesn't. Feltre doesn't take it. Yeah, Felder doesn't take that. Dariush. Same, exact same reasoning. You don't think that happens on. Another guy, Moises, called out before the fight.

Iokinta, we don't even know. We still don't know what's going out with I can't know. when he can take his next fight. The only thing I Quinta said on Twitter last night that I saw was him calling out Hernandez for how he reacted to everything. So maybe that's the fight, right? Maybe that's the one. Dan Hooker.

Somewhere down the road. Same as the other guys. I'd like to see it, but I don't think it happens. After the man gets to see his family again first. Right. Jeez Louise. And Tony Ferguson. Same.

I'd like to see it. I'm not. You don't these fights happen this year. This year? If ever. I would say Ferguson probably won't ever happen. Felder probably won't happen. Maybe Hooker.

Maybe Hooker. Maybe Darius. Later this year. Daryish would have to lose his next fight. But I think Bahaed is more likely than Darius, right? I think that's the one. And then Munoz, man, people really want to. see if you like the Delausha option and also Aldo.

I think Aldo is another name that got thrown out there. So I could see that. I'll run off quickly. Here's a lot of the readers suggestions that were repeated. So here's the most – Ancalaia versus Uzdemir was by far the most popular. Multiple readers mentioned that one. And then we have Rosenstrig versus Dacus. Caceres versus Ryan Hall.

We can't book fights for Ryan Hall anymore. We love Ryan Hall. I just don't know when this guy's going to be healthy and when the stars are going to align for him to get a matchup. So it makes sense. It makes sense. I love that fight so much. As much I love to talk about Ryan Hall, I'm almost hesitant to even fantasy matchmaking for him anymore.

A death fight, I think it would be crazy. I'd multiple people mention this one as well. Kevin Krum versus Nate Landwer. Yeah, let's do it. I'm in. Yeah, I'm all in on that one. This one, I don't know, I'm probably something was so popular.

I guess it's good thing people are talking about Maxim Grecian after that loss. Him and Martin Prakneau. Sure. I mentioned this, what did we say? Muno. Oh, I said that already. Munoz, yeah, Munoz de Vallejali, it was out there. So, you will definitely want to see it.

Rivera versus Chito Vera. Do they have, do they have some sort of beat? Were they books to fight before? At least twice. Yeah, and there's a lot of beef there, right? Yeah, I'm surprised that hadn't happened already. I keep thinking it had, but yeah, there's a lot of, I feel like there's a lot of animosity there. Oops, just, geez.

That might be the fight. Like, I think that's the fight to make now. There's enough heed. There's no, like, you can't say, well, I'm like, too. far ranked ahead of him to make this fight happen. Like Cheeto, you could argue after the O'Malley win, has like a bigger name

than Jimmy Rivera right now. You know what I mean? So I think it makes sense. Yeah. The man who has become the Hamza Shavaya of the OTT NO Bantamweight Division, Umar and Omegometov, they want to see him fight Ronnie Lawrence. I'm like, what? Okay, but that was more than one

person. That was more than one person suggested that. Okay, so I'm not just, that's out there apparently. And Dustin Jacoby versus Roma deletese. I just want to put that out there because I don't think we mentioned I don't think you mentioned

Dustin the whole show really. So I like that. Yeah. Jacobi Deleitzee, I love it. I don't know. This is an audio podcast, but I'm lifting both hands and feet in the air

for Jacobi versus DeLizze. I love that idea. They can't, maybe they can sense this over podcast. You're tingling. I'm thinking that's...

Yeah, you're visibly tingling. God, that's a good fight. Instagram DMs, Josh Abokai. He liked Casaris versus Lauren Murphy. Yeah, I'm into that. Ancolaia versus Johnny Walker.

Walker's hurt. He was supposed to fight. He was supposed to fight Jimmy Crute. Right, right. Okay, so that's probably not going to happen. Another matcher by I love, Dustin Cholby versus Khalil Roundtree. I think that makes a lot of sense. And also, did we not mention this?

Alexander Hernandez versus Bobby Green. Did neither of us mention this? Have you ever mentioned this for Green? I feel like it's come up on a show before. That would be down for that fight. That makes perfect sense. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. sense where they are.

Also, two guys who, that would be a, like, that would be a fight that I think no matter what happened, you'd have one of the guys doing the, I can't believe about the incredulous decision loss, because they're both so, they go to the scorecards a lot and are always busy and competitive, but just have a tendency to lose decisions and look very disappointed about it. So, yeah, I like that. So thank you, Josh Avicay. Jacob Best, a classic Jacob Best, bringing some great suggestions.

he wants well yeah he's down for gone versus Lewis of course sure like we said possibly the Lewis sweepstakes Munoz versus Garbrat 2 Ugh Why For Munoz why Why not?

What would be left to It wasn't that long It was like last year Oh two years ago now but I think he gains I think he gains more from that fight than fighting font again Does he? Oh God

Garbrids is a bigger name You know what I mean I know. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. But here we are. I doubt that happens, but I, I get it, I guess. Two years ago now. All right, Jacob Bast, you're not completely out to lunch. Moises versus Kutatlazzi. What is with the Kutatlazzi? He's obviously good, but he's one and O. Can't I be throwing him in there with Moises? Right. Moises is on a three-fight win streak at lightweight. Kutata Lazzai is, I just had surgery as well. So he will not be able to take that fight anytime soon. Jacob Sés Hernandez versus Moikano, which I would call the Battle of the Underachievers. Sorry, guys. And one of the more realistic suggestions for Ronnie Lawrence is Jose, Quinoed.

So, yeah, I'm okay. That's kind of the range I'd like to see Lawrence. And there's a lot more Lawrence coming. Max Block just wanted to make a joke about last week we talked, we made a Ricky Henderson reference and how Ricky always talks about Ricky in the third person, which is great. And so he says, all athletes should be like that. So he thinks Ricky Simone should fight. Jimmy Rivera and if I'm Ricky Simone then let me tell me let me tell you something Ricky loves that matchup

Yes, he does that's very confusing yes this is why we don't literally really People shouldn't talk about themselves and the third person okay but yes Ricky likes that match up a lot Yeah if I'm Ricky that's what I'm saying Ricky Ricky like yes I'm in excuse me uh I got some quick hits from our email so email guys sorry I'm gonna run you go up really quickly because you guys tend to repeat a lot of other but our email guys give always give great great long well-thought-out picks it's just that they a lot of a lot of repeats that we already mentioned so uh here so picking the best from each these guys harry jwaskin he likes hernandez versus provola i'm into that yep uh tristan says he's open to gone versus blades which we sort of mentioned before uh again

i think somewhere down the road just maybe not next um matt bradbury wants maza to go back down to 125 and I love this matchup and I feel like we've definitely mentioned this before. Sabina Mazzo and Ariana Lipski. Oh God, yeah. That is the fight. That's been the fight for a year.

Since we started the show. It's been discussed. It's been discussed. And Marcus McGahey, Marcus McGahey, trying to get on future check the tapes once, Kisteras and Fili. I swear I thought they'd fought,

but somehow they haven't. Somehow Kasseras and Fili have not fought, right? Yeah, it's tough to pair those guys to get. I mean, I'd love to see it. It's kind of tough to pair those guys together because although one is kind of trending downwards and Casares is turning upwards, it's like a very similar place in the divisional realm. You know what I mean?

Like veteran guys that, you know, it's kind of like win-win situations when you have an up-and-coming guy fight one of these guys because like if they win, it's like great. Now this veteran who's had 25 fights with us is five wins in a row. And if he loses like, he'd just beat a guy who had 25 fights in the UFC. So good spot to be in. I would love to see how that fight would play out. Kassaris versus Feeley, who, that's a good one. Casares' next move is going to be fascinating because I think he's the guy.

He'd be happy if the UFC never, he did mention after his fight. He said, give me a top 15 ranked person, I guess, but almost very half-heartedly. Like, I guess it's time for a top 15 guy. It's almost like, this is what people do when they go into win streets, right? They call for top 15 guys. Okay, I'll call for top 15 guy. I also think he'd just be happy if they kept like, I guess, like kept him in that like mid tier like 15 to 30 range.

I don't think he'd complain. He just likes fighting. He likes getting paid for it. He likes learning from, you know, being the life of a martial artist. I want to know, is there that motivation in him to, to want to be a top 10 guy? Which sometimes means getting your hands dirty on the mic, if that visual makes sense. So his next moves me really fascinating because I do want to see him fight a top 10 guys someday. I just don't know.

I honestly don't know if he cares. You know what's interesting about it. Alex Casares. He says that he doesn't, he's not familiar with Alexander Volcanowski, but he approaches the sport the exact same way Alexander Volcanowski did on the come-up. Like, he's not going to sit there and call people out. He's not going to talk a bunch of junk. He's just going to win fights. And then if he gets to those positions in like merit-based, he's a happy camper. He's not going to sit there and change who he is in order to get there. They're very similar guys, which is pretty fascinating. He's a fascinating character. He has been since

the ultimate fighter. You know, he was definitely one of the same. stand-up personalities from his season of the Ultimate Fighter. And, like, the results have obviously been a little mixed. They've just looking at just look at the record. But, boy, he's going to, you know, he's climbing up that all-time UFC appearances list. You mentioned before next time, like, number 25 for him. It's just great. And again, has never fought, I think, any, like, really fought a top contender.

So, interesting guy. You know, like, on those old, like, 90s sitcoms, like, full house used to do it sometimes. Like, the kids would have, like, the angel on one side and, like, the devil. on the other side. I feel like, I feel like there's like a person, okay? There's a person out there. He's like tough and he just does all these things.

On one shoulder, it's like Diego Sanchez. It's like the evil, like, grumpy one. And then on the other side, it's Alex Casaris, who's like smiling and it's like similar, similar traits. But one's just like, you can do it, buddy. You can do it. And then the other one's just like, yes, yes, yes. They're just, it both were on the ultimate fighter.

both like live the same kind of a lifestyle but just have different views completely on what this lifestyle actually means it's hilarious Diego the devil and Alex the Angel yeah remind me to put that in my tweet when we threw out the show check the tapes bro check the tapes bro uh so I'm planning and by the way I don't think I'll have a read of suggestion of the week this week because I don't know nothing nothing again and guys look I get it this was a weird card again nine fights, one draw, so really only eight matchups with a definitive result to pick from. So nothing, no crazy match just really jumped out

of me. But I'll read these guys out real quick. Ryan Doherty, who we haven't heard from a month, Ryan Doherty, welcome back. I don't know why hadn't thought of this. He says, and I don't know how you feel about this. Silva and Delorosa, just run it back? I mean, yeah, sure. Is it worth running back?

Yeah, I mean, at this. I would almost book Silvas if she won. Like, I think it's like Silva won. I think it's worth running it back. I mean, Montana's Montana looks like she might be out for a while. So it all depends on Paula. I mean,

her face is pretty bad. Why would you say that? Is it the massive swelling over her left eye where she couldn't even, she clearly could not see about it for the time the fight was over? Yeah. Do you remember, do you remember the speech I made about Ashley Yoder after she beat Miranda Granger? No, what did you say?

That I was just like, I think she's like still a little green, but she's talented, but like she doesn't have that like mean streak in her. like go check check the tapes go back and listen to that spiel after ashley yoder beat miranda granger and then insert montana della rosa's name in that same speech because montana della rosa is tough as hell very talented but she needs a mean streak man she needs to be able to turn that switch on and i think if she had like she doesn't need to get full-on tornado but just have like a little bit of edge to you like have that little bit of extra gear that sort of violence streak.

If she could tap into that in any way, she'd be a really good fighter. Like, she's a really good fighter now, but she'd be much more successful. I think she's just, she's too focused on, like, technique and things like that, and her toughness takes her really far. But if you can find just that little bit of meanness,

I think she'd be really successful. Like, I think she could be, like, a top five fighter. I think, again, the foundation is there, that layer in her game that she needs to take herself to the next level, we just haven't seen it yet. I think I'd also like to see the defense, going up on the defense a little bit. Like we said, she's such a B-A-M-Fer

that I think she's just like, yeah, clinch-Kin-me-me-in-the-face. I don't care. She's like, you're not going to knock me out. And it's like, yeah, you know, Montess, you're probably not going to knock you out. But it is going to mess you up real good, as we saw it, like I said, by the end of the fact.

And again, because she has obviously no fear of getting chaos, she kind of just walks through stuff, she kind of just trucks through it. That's great. that's not going to, you know, that's not how you win fights in the UFC, usually. Again, unless you yourself have like one-punch knockout power, which, of course, which I don't think she does. So, yeah, I think we're kind of agree. There's a mentality shift that needs to happen both in terms of aggressiveness, but also for me, I feel like that aggressiveness has to be tempered with just a little bit better protecting that neck.

Protecting that neck, protect that head, because she's really good. But, yeah, I'm not against the run back. I think Silva won. I'd rather see Silva move on, but you want to run that one back. I got no problem. Yeah. Liam Perry likes another veteran matchup, Alcassaris, versus Darren Elkins. Young Rabbi 86 coming in with a matchup that we kind of discussed on the previous show.

We said maybe if he were to get a top 15 guy, maybe Edson Barbosa. But I'm still holding out hope that someone has the good sense to book Edson Barbosa and Korean Zombie. So for me, Barbosa is, in my mind, Barbosa is booked. I'm sorry. I don't care to see anyone else. I'll skip ahead here. Mitchell Robbstein. How do you fuck Ronnie Lawrence versus Smolka?

I'm in for that. That works for me. Yeah. Not a little bit too advanced. I mean, I think I would pick Lawrence to win, but I mean, in terms of experience, that's a big gap. Yeah, I think, you know what? I think, huh. I think rankings, like, meritocracy-wise, I think Smolka and Johns are like around the same.

But I feel like Smolka. could be like a top 15 guy. You know what I mean? Like even higher. I think Smolka's got the ability to do that. Yeah, we always say this. We've been saying this for like six years. I'll say nay on that.

I'll say nay, I don't think. That's a nay. If Ronnie Lawrence fights Miles Johns and wins and does, it has a performance like that, give him Smolka and I'm fine. Michael Piergini had two picks I really liked, one with a little bit of a disclaimer. Caceres versus Chikaze, sure.

Casares would jump at that in a second. I assume, if anyone's wondering we're talking about, he did say during Media Week, he does not watch MMA at all. He has no idea who else in his division. He has to be vaguely familiar with some of these names. So I would hope that he would at least know Chikaze's resume and jump at that matchup. That'd be really fun one. And he wants Ancolaia versus the Reyes-Prohachka winner. Winner?

Yeah. The Pohashka winner. The Pohashka winner. But that's a bit of a long way. That's not happening until May 1st. And then those guys have to get a rest. So that would be a long, long, long break for Anka. If you can wait that long, that's a really great matchup for him.

That's a really great way to just soar right up the rankings. But more likely, Prohachka, if he won, probably gets a title shot right away. Reyes, I don't know, depending how he won. I think if he knocks up Rojcchka in like the first round, sure, probably gets a title fight right away. So either way, that's a long wait and a lot of uncertainty. So I don't see it happening. But if for some reason, Ankolaev does decide to wait, I don't mind that suggestion. Yeah, I mean, don't forget.

Don't forget about Glover to share, ladies and gentlemen. He's sitting right there. Don't forget about that, man. He should get the next shot after this title fight. Yes, exactly. Yes, yes. Let's not get it. That was also on our list, by the way.

I think of Dream championship fights we want to see in 2021. Glover deserves his shot. Barry O'Reilly come in with Lawrence versus Mirab. People settle through. Shut down. But seriously, how good will that fight be like two years from now? Someday. It's amazing.

I can't wait. No, no, no, I shouldn't say I can't wait. I can't wait. This is the opposite of can't wait. I can absolutely wait. Guys, come on now. Jeez, Louise. Munoz versus Krilyne Winner.

That's going down next Saturday. So this Saturday, I should say, so the Cruz, the Cruz, Kenny went. I like that. I think Munoz obviously would love to fight Dominic Cruz. Kenny, that's a scary fight for Munoz to take. If Kenny has a dominant win over Cruz and Kenny is as advertised, that's scary fight for Munoz take. I think he would take it, though.

I think he would love to take this kid's hype. So I don't mind that. And then Aronski coming in with one of my, well, actually one of my favorite matches for Lawrence, which is Ronnie Lawrence versus Khalid Taha. So a lot of people coming in with Ronnie Lawrence matchups. He's got people talking. That's for sure. He has got people talking.

And that's all you can ask for in your UFC debut, right? I wanted to read out one message in particular because it is a first, long time listener, first time caller, Mike. Okay. I always like to say that. So Chris Baker, thank you for chiming in. He says, hey, I've been listening to OTTNO for a few months now, and it's awesome. I figured I'd give my shot at it.

He likes Cilagan versus Blades. He likes Ancolaev versus Smith, if he wins, or the loser of Reyes v. Deuteris versus Deutti. And Munoz, he says, Sharon Abac's Fond, which I agree, or fight. He's like you said, maybe probably won't happen because his teammate. He'd love to see him match up with Marlon and Mott Ice, but again, unlikely. And Casares versus Evloev, so they go. He likes that one, too. So thank you, Chris Baker.

Thank you for chiming. Thank you, everyone, all the readers for firing off your suggestions. Love to hear from you guys. You can reach me at Alexander K. Lee on Twitter. At Alexander. Wait, am I one K or two? I've got to get this straight. At Alexander KK.K. Lee on Instagram at alex.

com at sb nation.com. Mike, where can they get you? Instagram, M underscore, Heck, J.R. Twitter, very easy. Kek underscore JR. That's the go-to. So hit us up on the Twitter, especially when this thing drops, leave your suggestions. We love just going through them, and we usually like them or respond to them.

So we appreciate that very much. But join us next week for a jam-packed. I assume this is going to be like a super show where we're going to be matchmaking. Do our episode? I don't know if it'll be that long, but it'll be a lot of matchmaking ideas. I would guess. There's 15 fights on this card. And Casey Kenney versus Dominic Cruz is not even on the main card.

That just tells you how good this freaking card is. We're doing that one. I'll tell you. We're definitely doing that one. It's a lot of, I think almost everyone who's ranked, I think we have to do. So, wow. This is a good one. So UFC 259, of course, the three title fights.

Jan Blahovich makes his first light heavyweight title defense against the middleweight champion, Israel, Adasana, Amanda Nunes versus Megan Anderson for the women's featherweight title. I'm going to say this now because this is going to be a little, it's going to be a little something that's going to carry on throughout the week, don't sleep on Megan Anderson. I got one of those old-fashioned feelings. I agree. Don't sleep on it. I would never, I would not tell anyone to wager.

I would say, dude, don't bet on this one. I would say, don't wager. I guess when you have an underdog this massive, I think she's plus 700. And if you have cash to spare and you like to gamble, actually, this is exactly the kind of person you would bet on. But I mean, obviously, I'm saying that the logical pick is Nunez. But just a plug, Jed and I just wrote a... Great Divide talking about where we split up the name.

So it's not about who we actually think is going to win. We just split up the names and made arguments to everyone. So I drew Megan Anderson. And as I was writing it, it wasn't like a crazy thing to write. I actually thought it was very reasonable. So yeah, I agree. I don't, Mike, I don't know if I can go as far as say a live dog. But if she won, would it be the most shocking thing in the world?

For me, it wouldn't be. It would be very surprising. But I think it would be the biggest, second biggest upset after the absurd Shana Dupson. Maria Agapapa odds, which never should have even been that high in the first place. I think the first round, and if it gets to a fifth round, Megan Anderson is very dangerous in that fight. So stay tuned. We'll see what happens.

And then, of course, the one I am looking forward to the most out of all the title fights this month, Piotrion versus Al Jermaine Sterling for the Bannamway title. Good God, what a fight that is. It's just an overall excellent card as it stands right now. And I cannot wait to break it down from a matchmaking perspective on the program. And until then, he is Alex Keeley. He is the Prince of Positivity. I am Mike Eck.

Thank you for listening. And remember, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun and more fun what we had next week right here. On onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.