MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 24

Episode Date: April 18, 2021

On the 40th 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 24 event at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Robert Whittaker, who earned his third straight win with a unanimous decision over Kelvin Gastelum in the main event, Andrei Arlovski, Jacob Malkoun, Tracy Cortez, Luis Pena, 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. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one, as we discuss the What's Next coming out of UFC Vegas 24, which saw Robert Whitaker pick up his third straight win, and he made it look easy, and it looks like he has a date once again with the current middleweight champion, Israel Adasania. When that will happen, we shall see. If it will happen, we shall see, because it's the UFC.

It's like the WWF in the 90s. Anything can happen. in the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck. Just a quick warning. If you watched the Bellator card on Friday and the UFC on Saturday, you watched a lot of MMA.

And I mean a lot of it. So so many rounds, a lot of decisions, a lot of split decisions with the UFC. This may not be your typical hour-long show. Plus, I don't have much of a voice anymore. So bear with me on that. But we just can't do that to you after a marathon. weekend. But something tells me we'll be making up for next weekend after UFC 261. But joining me in this venture is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend and the Prince of

positivity himself, Mr. Alex K. Lee, looking kind of befuddled. You can't see that because it's an audio podcast. But how are you, my best friend? My best friend, I'm a little confused, because I feel like in all that, somehow you didn't mention, you didn't mention something else that happened Saturday night in the world of combat sports, which, I mean, honestly, there was a lot of, there was, Mike, there's a lot of people talking about it. And I, I was under the impression that today's show would all be about matchmaking specifically for the, for one young man who was victorious last night. But if you didn't mention, I suppose we didn't mention it for a reason.

I was got to mention it after. And you know what? You know what? Maybe people don't even know what I'm talking about. But, but, I'm sorry. Yeah, if you're, if you're going to mention it, I'm sorry, would you like to complete your, complete your introduction? Yeah, I mean, that was, I was talking about M. because this is like an M.A matchmaking show,

but of course the man with two first names knocked up Ben Ascran in the first round and the circus will continue on. But do you have a... His name is Jake Paul. Jake Paul, yes. His name is... Good for him.

Paul, Mike. Jake, give me one second. I have to Google and look this up. Jake Joseph... He has three first names, all right? Jake Joseph Paul. So put some respect to the man's name. He won...

No, look, we don't have to put... put, we don't have to put any respect in this person's name. But it was, I think we'll discover by whenever the ratings come out, Tuesday, Wednesday, and the buy rates and all this stuff. I mean, even with estimates, I'm sure this will have drawn more viewers than, unfortunately, the UFC Vegas 24 card. Oh, my God. I can say at least as far as web interest, those of us in the, in the click minds, Mike,

will be chasing this high for a long time. It will be probably until the next. Next time Jake Paul gets to some other jackass freak show fight. And by the way, obviously, I'm being very glibble about this. But I enjoyed the whole spectacle of it. I'm not judging anyone else who enjoyed it. I thought it was really entertaining for what it was. Again, I don't like Jake Paul.

I don't think anything's going to change that. But let's admit it, the event revolved around him. There's a lot of star power on there, of course, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dog, and the whole rap super group, Mount Westmore. But Jake Paul and Ben Ashton, where they have? headliners and they did a fair job of building this up. And yeah, I'm very interesting seeing what the biarray was. But I get it.

Look, don't worry, guys. And I'm kidding to our listeners. We're not really doing any serious matchmaking. We've got a few reader, reader, chitter, chatter about it, only because I forced them to. And we'll, but we'll get to that later. I think it does $1.5 million standing on its head. I think so, too. I remember I was skeptical.

I think we discussed in one of our preview shows. I think I was like, I could see it matching the Tyson. you know the Tyson Roy Jones which did an estimated 1.2 million I said maybe around that I actually thought a little less But as I was watching the show I was just completely forgetting like man some people probably would pay out of curiosity just to see Snoop Dogg and ice cube and E 40 and too short or to see it just in Beber or again things that yeah what's a doja cat I don't know Mike I discovered what a doja cat was on Saturday and I was like okay I could kind of see why people would be into this It's not necessarily my kind of music but for sure I understand the appeal of it and I know for like $70. Oh my gosh so much much, but you guys remember, we're still, we're still in the pandemic.

We're still in a lot of people who are still stuck in their houses. Timon Dara is small price to pay for some, from high profile live music, quote unquote, life. So there's a good chance across this broad spectrum of interest that this did draw well over, like you said, 1.2 million, maybe close to the one and a half million range, but we will find out. Do you have a matchmaking idea for Jake Paul before you going to the UFC? Have you thought of it?

No, I actually haven't. Like I said, I kind of just left this to the listeners and we'll have a couple suggestions there later. I'm a little sad that Dylan Dennis. I feel like the ship has sailed. Oh my God. Yeah, I feel like that's beneath him. I think whatever if that ever was being seriously negotiated and Dylan Danes missed out on it. I think he

really messed up because he was the perfect opponent. I think he would have drawn just as much as Ben Asker, maybe a little less because he's not as well known, you know, even in the M.A. community. But he's, there is something about him. I mean, the fact that we were even talking about Dylan

Dennis, a guy with what, two pro fights, two, three, two pro fights, I think. Yeah. And a great but like not legendary, you know, competitive jiu-jitsu career. It says something about his appeal was that that was very real. Ascran and Paul, there was a little bit of kind of poking and priding to get them to, you know, kind of get going at each other. But yeah, I know that ship is still. So I don't know what's next, but certainly I think we will see Jake Paul up to something in boxing before the end of the year.

And sorry, listeners, where I'm a fighting, depending who it is, depending who it is, I will say. probably going to be all over it. Yeah, I like the Tyron Woodley idea. I think that makes a lot of sense. I think that's perfect. If they can make that happen great, I don't necessarily am going to be there for the Tyrone Woodley Trash Talk

and the Jake Paul Trash Talk, but just the fight itself is kind of fascinating in such a strange way, but the Dillon-Dannis thing, the ship hasn't just sailed. They somehow got a group of individuals to take the ship and throw it on a rocket and then the rocket took off into space.

like that thing is gone. And you say like Dylan Danis missed out, I don't think he missed out at all. The only thing he missed out on, it was getting knocked dead by Jake Paul in front of millions of people. So it probably was a blessing in disguise. Oh yeah, that's true.

He's already the highest paid guy in Belletorian. I was going to say, he says that all the time, I'm a little skeptical. I'm a little skeptical. Okay, I don't know. I don't have the exact contract figures. I'm a little skeptical to that's true.

I'll say this. The Woodley matchup is a good idea, but I think, think his next opponent will not be an MMA fighter. I'll go to that. Yeah, I think it'll be someone from I think it'll either be a boxer or another

celebrity boxer. Maybe someone, I don't know. What other realms of celebrities are there? Are there, Mike, I don't even, someone from Twitch maybe, and then they can stream that on Twitch to, can get in on this. Actually, Triller wouldn't allow that one I'm saying. Triller wants all the Jake Paul money, so I don't know, but I think

it won't be an anime fighter next. I think he, I'll stand by my decree, though, that sometime in the next three years. We see one of the Paul brothers, whether it be Jake or Logan. Gosh, I'm so sorry that I know that. We will see one of them inside the UFC Octagon. Once Dana White and the bean counters over there see how much money was made, they can't resist.

They got to get one of them in there. I would be shocked if it happens at this point. Like, why even do it? Why even put yourself through that? You're not going to make the same money in the UFC. You're just not. I feel it. I feel it.

It's going to happen. Well, look, A.K., we survived the weekend. All of us listening right now, we survived the weekend. We survived Paul Askeran. We survived Bellator 257. But let's go ahead and give some shine to a man that absolutely deserves it. And I'm not talking about Jake Paul. I'm talking about Mr. Robert Whitaker because this was a master class for 25 minutes

because Calvin Gasolam probably brought his A game. Like, he looked darn good when he actually was able to mount some kind of office. offense, but that man is as tough as they come. He took a beating, and he kept coming forward and getting in Robert Whitaker's face. But if he, if Whitaker wasn't going to get a finish, this was as good as he could have done at AK. And I have a feeling we're in the same boat here. This is pretty obvious. And I think Dana White sort of attested to that on Saturday night as well. We are, we can say we are officially on the road to Adasania Whitaker two for the middleweight title. Are we not? Yes, yes. It just makes so much sense. I mean, Whitaker called for it after.

explain. Of course, they could have it, you know, somewhere in the oceanic region, Australia and New Zealand, where they have a much better grasp of the on the COVID-19 situation. It would stick some, it would be a little bit tricky because, yes, I think primarily you, of course, would want to rely on having fighters from New Zealand

and from Australia would make things a lot easier. I would even recommend having, like, to accommodate that, not worrying about having like a 10, 11, fight, 12 fight card. I would, if it has to be like an eight-fight card, with just guys from the Oceanic region, go for it. And again, sign new guys.

There's a lot of promotions out there. Treat it like you would like an old school boxing card, but it's really just about the top two guys because I think they'd be driving 85, 90% of the pay-per-view buys. It doesn't matter who you put on the undercard. And you could probably have, again, there's so many good Australian fighters. You could probably have a good, fairly decent main card as well.

So hopefully they don't overthink it, get a little creative here with how they book this event and just focus on making, making sure that that fight happens. Because, yes, I've wanted this for a long time. I thought, honestly, for me, I only need to see him win one more time to get a rematch. I know the first fight for a lot of people was like, oh, he got, you know, he got beaten in such definitive fashion. What is there to see again?

It's like, guys, rematches often go quite differently than the first one. We know, I absolutely believe that that wasn't Weddicker's best day. I think he was way too aggressive. He's spoken about, of course, being burnt out during that time. And haven't seen a fought since. How can you not, how can that not have, that theory not have any credence, right? So when he beat Till, I was like, let's set up. I knew it wasn't going to happen out, but I was like, I think you could set up that rematch.

Kananir, I was for sure. That's when I started thinking it was getting absurd that people were saying, it's still like, do we really need to see the fight again? So if there was any doubters, and I'm sure there was less going into Saturday's main events, if there's any doubters, it has to be over now, three straight wins, top, top 10 guys, convincing victories over all three of them. Let's get this free match going, please. If there was one guy who might have argued against this,

it would have been Marvin Vittory. But even if you watched the broadcast, the camera kept panning to Marvin Vittori after they announced a decision. And even Marvin Vittori's face told the entire story. Like, he knew he lost, like, the chances of getting the next title shot were gone after that performance. So the title fight is the way to go. I'm excited for it.

I'm fascinated by it because this version of Robert Woodrow is better than the version that won the title in the first place. So this is an interesting fight. I think he could take a lot from what Janbovich did against Israel Adesania. He was able to use his wrestling. And that top game is super heavy. Like, Gassum couldn't even move at times when Whitaker was on top of him, especially in that fifth round.

So that's a really interesting fight. That is unequivocally the way to go. Congratulations to Robert Whitaker. It's funny how Darren Till was the biggest winner coming out of the Vittori Holland card. And he's probably the biggest loser. here because I still believed, even with the Whitaker decision win, he was going to get the next title shot, but this is just too good. This is not a guy that was like point fighting his way to win. This is the guy that was looking to finish in every single second of that fight. Gasolm

is just so tough. So props to both guys, Whitaker should be fighting for the belt next. And for Gassolm, AK, this is kind of tough because pretty much the entire division, especially in the top 15, they all fights booked right now. So he's probably going to have to wait until some of these plays. out but my pick the winner of the upcoming fight on May 1st between Sean Strickland and Christop Jocko because Strickland's a top 15 guy I favor him to win that fight if he does you can do Strickland versus Gasolm that's interesting because a lot of people have their eyes on Strickland they like to see him and see what happens from there or if Kevin Holland stays in 185 that one makes a lot of sense too what say you well

It's funny you say that, because if Kevin Hollis says at 185, I want him to get the Strickland Jocko winner. Well, you know, at this point, maybe, maybe I think I was thinking that more before he did the quick turnaround. That was maybe more after the Brunson fight. Now that he's suffered too straight, maybe he would get the loser of that fight. Either way, I think we've all said we've wanted to see him by Strickland. Both guys talk a lot inside the cage and in an empty apex environment. Should they go that route?

I mean, the sound bites would just be wild. So we want to say that. But I'm like you. I had to look ahead to upcoming matchups. There's just isn't anyone, like I said, any top 15 name that's really free. But I actually went a little bit lower. I'm kind of wondering, is it time for Gasolm to, you know, get,

who does he be? He just beat. In Heinish. Heinish, right? Yeah. So I think maybe go back to that range a little bit, maybe just outside the top 15. So I had a bunch of options here. I pretty much just went with the one that's closest, which is this weekend.

I thought he'd be interesting to see him fight the Brennan. And in Allen, Carl, Carl Roberson winner. Obviously, that fight would maybe be a little bit more appealing to Allen or Roberson. It would be their chance to kind of step up in the top of Dean. But I think they'd have earned it. I think whoever wins that fight, if they do it, an impressive fashion, will have earned it. So I'm down for that. Otherwise, again, looked ahead.

I think Edmund Shabazian, if he beats Jack Hermanson, May 15th. Tom Breeze, Antonio Royo winner. That's June 5th. Now we're getting pretty far. And then Amari Akhmeda, Brad Devar's winner. That's July 10th. So really, all these are options, depending how long Gasselman wants to stay on the bench. If he wants to come back quickly, he has an option from this weekend. He has the guy,

as you just mentioned, if he wants to wait a bit, then he can wait for some of those names to kind of get, get shuffled there. I thought about Shabazzian. Like, if he loses to Jack Hermanson, I'm okay with that idea of doing Shabazian versus Gasol, but if he beats Jackerman. But if he beats Jackermanson, he's like, by the time the rankings come out on Tuesday, okay. If Shabazian wins, he'll probably be like four spots ahead of Gasol. MMA Math. Mammat, Hermanson beat Gasolum and Shabazian. It is true. He could leap problem. If he loses, though, it's weird though. It's like, I remember I'm of the camp that I was like, I didn't love the Shabazzian. I mean, I'm warming up to it now, but I still would have liked to have seen Shabazzian, again, kind of take a step back after losing to help me, Michael.

Derek Branson. Losing to Derek Branson, thank you. I kind of want to see him take a step back. And Heranson, like I said, in the rankings, is actually a step forward and maybe stylistically they think it's a better matchup. I'm not sure. So I don't know. If he loses, I actually don't want him. Again, I want him to get thrown to that mix with the Tom Breeze or Royo.

Ozak Madov, Tavares guys. But you know what? We'll cross that bridge onto the next one on the May 16th edition. There you go. And Whitaker, I think Whitaker just did all of us a favor by making, by clarifying this middleweight division with that performance. Because now we don't really have a log jam. We could just go in there, have that fight, and then the rest can work itself out.

We're looking forward to some fun matchups, that's for sure. But let's head to the- And look, injuries and weird stuff happen. Vittori's on call. He's, I'd say, number one on the short list. He's a number one replacement option. So don't be, fingers crossed. We get Adasanya and Whitaker, too.

But we just don't know these days what are going to happen. Yeah, Vadori's end up fighting either Paul Costa or Darren Till, if he can miraculously recover in short time. But let's head to the co-made event because Andre Arlowski, who was the betting underdog for like the 17th consecutive fight, which is just bananas to think about. And from what I understand, and I looked at it, yesterday afternoon,

Arlofsky was the favorite, like hours leading into the fight, and then by the time the window closed, Sherman was the slight favorite, so the street continues. But Arlofsky goes through. He gets back in the win column, and my hat goes off to the pit bull

because without that victory, I would have lost our pickum, our little pickum league yesterday, but Arlofsky, I was the only one to pick him. I was the only one to pick Arlofsky. We tied, for the record, we tied with you and I,

tied with seven picks each. You won on, points because you did have one perfect pick. Gerald Mirashard. So according to the Tapology.com point system, you beat me by like 30 points. But we are, I mean, technically we tied. Let's be re,

we do. But I, but I hate ties so I'll give you the one. I'd rather, you know, rather lose. Berlowski picks up a beautiful unanimous decision win against Chase Sherman. It was an interesting fight. It was better than I thought it was going to be. A lot of people thought Sherman was going to go in there and

knock Arlovsky out in the first round and it was very close to happening, but, uh, A.K., I'm going to begin with you here, because it is safe to say, I would guess, that it's either another longtime veteran of the sport to fight Erlovsky or a fight that we're just not going to be happy to say into a live microphone right now. So where does the pit, where does the pit pull go from that victory on Saturday? I don't know. Well, I had two options. And I'm going, I definitely went the young gunner route. I definitely went, uh, you know, the heavyweight division is is changing rapidly in front of us we had we've had a bunch of names kind of enter the top 15 both because of their success and also because of some old veteran names getting you know

getting getting getting the axe so I went with I went with a man that we saw in action last night I did it like I went uh Alexander Romanov I said give Alexander Romanov on Jaralofki um it's you know Romanov had his own adventurous evening to put it gently against honest no it was probably not a victory he's going to champion and crow about anytime soon and probably and for

the ending would certainly like to forget hopefully he's not hopefully he's not feeling it today but but he is 3 and 0 in the UFC he does look he does really still look like you know a top heavyweight guy prospect future title challenger and Olasky's one of those guys you got to go through a very very tough matchup

he really exposes you as exposed what you are. So let's see what Roman obvious. Let's put them in there with Pitbull. The Pit Bull, excuse me. And let's make it happen. I just pulled the trigger. Let's go.

Yeah. I mean, there's two options here. You kind of said my 1A. So, but they're not going to go at this other option. My 1B was Alexiolinick because that one makes so much sense. But we're not in the business of making sense, A.K. So I will go, if we go to check this, tapes after Arlofsky defeated Tanner Bozer, I said he's going to have to fight a killer.

He's going to have to fight a guy who also got a win on Saturday. I wasn't happy saying it then, Arlowski versus Alexander Romanov, but we're here. I hate to say it. This is what's going to end up happening. Romanov is a killer, and, you know, Arlofsky has thwarted prospects many of time in his career, but I have a feeling this could be a type of situation where Romanoff is just belly-to-belly-souplementation. flexing Arlovsky all over that octagon and it's just not going to be fun to watch. No one's really done there.

I should look this out for it. No one's really. But someone, something tells me. Something tells me that Alexander Romanov is not going to be like taken back from the moment fighting Arndraerovsky. Like you could tell Tanner Bozer was like, okay, like this is pretty cool. Like I'm fighting the former UFC heavyweight champion of the world. you could tell he kind of got lost in that a little bit. Romanov's not going to think that way at all.

At least I don't think you will. But it's an interesting fight. I would highly favor Romanoff to do bad things in there, but you never know. We've said that many times before. The pit bull, going to be the underdog again. How do you feel about... Oh, okay.

A little dramatic, a little dramatic, a little dramatic, a little dramatic throat here. I was Johnville. I'll have to hear that. How do you feel about Sergei Spivak, sort of the same range? Any preference either way? Romanov spitback?

I'm fine with that. I don't know if... I like it. I'd like to see that fight. Yeah, I think either would be fine. Like, I just went Romanov because, again, we just saw them fight, and they're on the same cards. So, you know, their timelines probably can't be too different.

But my other option was spitback, and I'm like, yeah, it's kind of the same, same idea. So either one. But Romanov would be, if I had to choose one, I'd go Romanoff. Yeah, it's either... Based on the betting lines, either Arlovsky gets knocked out viciously. or he gets submitted and it's a little more calming. Like he gets choked and it's fine. But Spivak would probably be in a position to knock him up.

But we'll see. Good win for Olovsky. Happy to see it. And it is what it is. Former heavyweight champion back in the winning ways. Looks like he will live to fight another day in the UFC. One man who may not be living to fight another day in the UFC is one Abdul Razak al-Hassan.

He loses to Jacob Malkun. I believe Al-Assan was the biggest favorite on the car. I would be shocked if he wasn't, but you have to imagine this will be the end of the line for Abdul. But Malcun gets his first UFC win after getting brutally knocked up by Phil Haas at a matter of seconds in his UFC debut in October. A.K., you can insert pretty much any mid to lower ranked 85 are in here. Like, I wasn't expecting to matchmake for Jacob Malcun here. I mean, this is no disrespect to him. Just everyone kind of looked at this fight as this will be,

Al Hassan's opportunity to get a quick knockout and get back back on track at a new weight class. But you know what? Jacob Alcun versus Jordan Williams seems perfect to me. Like in terms of experience, it makes sense. You know, Williams is coming off his first UFC loss. He had a tough fight with Nasredine. I move off. I think this is a good match.

It makes sense. What do you think? Yeah, I love it. Williams also had a knockout win that was overturned. Oh, no, no, no. I'm getting Jordan Williams confers with June. Contendors. Journey Newson?

Yes. So Jordan Williams, so Jordan Williams does not have, he didn't have a win overturned, am I crazy? He's probably, was that a thing? He had a contender series

went overturned. Okay, right, right, right. Okay, okay. Journey Newsom was one who had a TK, who had a knockout, an exciting knockout in the UFC. And he was also a contender series guy.

Okay, apologies to Journey and Jordan. I'm forgetting that mixed up. Yeah, no, a great matchup. Yeah, I have the, like you said, I kind of have them in that same range. I want to say first Al Hassan was a three to one favorite

but he was actually there was a bigger favorite Tony Gravely was the biggest favorite he closed almost minus 400 and that that bared itself out so no criticisms for the odds makers there I do think as you said we will see this is the last of Al Hassan he was moving up to a new weight class I'm not sure if he was doing it just because of the timing

or if you know just getting some sort of fresh start but I did not work out for him, unfortunately, and that's the street-strait losses. But Malkoon, I went with Jordan Wright versus Jamie Pickett winner, May 15th. I don't know much. That's fine. No, because kind of like we said in the Gassolm section earlier, when I was looking ahead of Malcoot, trying to match him up with someone ahead of him in my mystery rankings,

a lot of those names are tied up as well. A lot of middleway is tied up, not just the top 20, but I saw the middle of the pack as well So I had to go with that Otherwise, Roman Coppulov, another guy who's looking for his first UFC win who I think is better than his You know, he lost in his debut I think he's better than that shows

But so yeah and Roman Coppola is in I have in that O and one, promising O and one guy Range with Jordan Williams and a few other names so Yeah Mike You know, we've discussed this before Like just because Guys are thrown on the main card does not

necessarily make them main card fighters, if that sounds, if that's fair to say. Again, with respect to Jacob Malcolm, who clearly won that fight and good for him getting in the win column. But he's what, four, five and one? It's like a six. Now he's six and one, yeah. Six and one. The seventh

MMA fight and we're supposed to match him up the same way we would someone on like the co-made event of a paper view. Like, that's so strange, right? So, so, I don't. I almost, like, look at the names that were on the, and we'll get to the wild cards later, but look at some of the names that were on the prelimbs like Romanov, Jessica Penne, Gerald Mirchir, Tony Gravely, like, these are more veteran

well-known names than Jacob Malkoon because Malkun was arbitrarily placed placed on the main card. We have to matchmake form. Right, but again, no disrespect to Jacob Malkoon. I think we have to suspect him at this point. I probably have. Listen, this show is called, we are match. We are putting ourselves in the position of UFC matchmakers.

There's a reason Jacob Malkun. fought Phil Haas in his UFC debut because we kind of knew what was going to happen. And there's a reason that Jacob Malcolm was matched up against Abdul Razak al-Hassan. And there's a reason why this fight was on the main card because people thought Al-Zan was going to go in there and blister him in the first minute of the fight. But Jacob Al-Koon had other options, had other plans. And I stand corrected. He did climb to five-in-one.

So you are correct. Congrats, congrats, Jacob Malcolm. Yes. Great. Really good victory. No more disrespect, win another fight, and then we're going to start taking this matchmaking extra serious. But let's head to Tracy Cortez, AK. She remains undefeated in the UFC.

Tough fight in her flyweight debut against Justine Kish, wins a split decision. And Tracy Cortez is someone a lot of people are very excited about AK. So where does she go from Saturday night, my best friend, and a very interesting 125-pound division? First off, a little finger of shame to Tracy. Cortez, for missing weight, she did come in a half pound over. This was her first flyweight fight in the UFC. She came in a half pound over the flyweight limit. I'm not mad.

I'm just disappointed. So, but otherwise, yes, good performance for her, you know, against Justin Keyes. So I think is one of the toughest outs. I mean, I know whatever, he doesn't have the greatest record. I know people don't view her as a contender, but, man, you get matched up with her. You're going to be in for a tough fight. That's just how it is. And certainly Tracy certainly got one of those on.

on Saturday night. So I'll match her up with someone who I wanted Miranda Maverick to fight. But Miranda Maverick now is getting, of course, Macy Barberer, July 24th. So this person is free now. I like Cortez and J.J. Aldrich. I didn't aim too far high at the rankings. As I've seen the listener suggestions later, there's some people who were going like top of 15, like kind of the bottom part of the top of dean.

I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. So give me Tracy Cortez and J.J. Aldrich. This is pretty easy for me, A.K. And I don't know if you're going to be too thrilled with what I have to say here. Probably not. This one makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons. One, because you could main card this fight on a fight night,

maybe even out of pay-per-view if you need it. I like the match between Tracy Cortez and Jillian Robertson, A.K., like we need to test her. And I'm not saying, like, any of the opponents she fought, like, aren't tests, but we need somebody that's, like, just outside the top 15. Like when Tracy Cortez won her last fight at 135, I wanted her to fight Julia Avila. Like that was the piece of business I wanted. Jillian Robertson makes sense. In terms of like up-and-coming fly weights, I don't know if anyone has been tested more than Julian Robertson has.

So I think like in terms of experience and growth and fighting someone who's got those legs, that's my pick. I like it. I want to see what Tracy's got. And I want to see what Jillian's got too. I mean, she's had some tough matchups over the last year, year and a half or so. This could be an interesting test. If she goes out there and beat Tracy Cortez,

she's right back in the mix in the top 15. So I like that one. I think that's the way to go. Yeah, I shied away from that one because I, you know, I just hate labeling Gillian as sort of like a litmus test at this point because she's still so young. This is by having 10 UFC fights for someone who's so young.

But really the flyweight division, the women's flyer division in the UFC, I think is a little underrated. Just because everyone could say, oh, well, this person couldn't beat Valentina. So anytime you kind of tout someone in the flywood division, like, oh, can they beat Valentina? Can they beat Valentina? It's like, okay, if you're measuring stick as Valentina Shepchenko, yeah, nobody at 125 is good. Fine. But otherwise, it is a pretty competitive division.

So, I don't know. So, yeah, there really is no, like, easy fight for Gillian Robertson. There's no fight for me to say, like, oh, I wish Gillian Robertsons are getting an easy fight in her next one. There's not that many options for her that aren't, like, so far down the rankings, it's not worth her time. So I understand the Cortez thing. But, if anything, I'm kind of, like, want to punish Cortez for the wait-miss. And I don't know if she deserves to fight a veteran opponent like Gina Roberts. And I almost feel like her next fight.

She has to prove she can make $125, I think, before getting a more veteran name. So not that all... Yeah, and I would count Aldrich is, like, not a super veteran name. I don't know. Eight fights in the UFC. It is quite a bit. But either way, a different level of competition. Again, there's no easy fights.

So, yeah, I don't want to reward her with the Robertson fight. I think Roberts should get someone else, and I think we keep her in the Aldrich range. It's kind of 25 to 35 range in the women's flyway division. I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe it wouldn't be a reward at all, okay? Maybe she would get submitted in the first round or something, and then it would be a punishment in the long run.

Robertson's dangerous, you know. She sure is. Let us now head to the victorious violence Bob Ross, Louise Pena. But decision went over Alex Moon. He needed that win for sure. 155 is loaded. This isn't the same problem as Jacob Malcun, but we're kind of in that same range

where you can insert a lot of different names and it's not wrong. So just a fight I want to see as a fan. I'd like to see Luis Pena versus Roosevelt Roberts, A.K., I think they're both in interesting spots in their careers. I'm in. Let's do it.

There's literally like 20 people you can match up Louis Pena. Lightway's one of the deepest divisions in the UFC. I mean, you have no shortage of options. I was looking at listeners suggestions. There's also, I kept thinking like, hasn't Pena Fatherska already? Hasn't Pena Fatherska already?

It's like, he actually, what is he now? He's now, where are we now? Where's my Luis Pena notes? He's now, oh, eight, four, five and three. Five and three UFC, so eight EOC fights. So it's like, it feels like he's been around for a long time, but he's just, you know, not as, not as much as I thought. So, yeah, a lot of fresh matchups.

I'm going to sort of go back to my names that were freed up list, because I wanted this guy to fight Christos Gagos, but now Gagos is getting Joel Alvarez. So, Jamie Malarkey is now free, I think, unless I got that backwards. And I'd like to see Jamie Malarkey and Louis Pena. I think it'd be a fun fight. Just, again, good matchup, good test for Pena. I know, again, Pena's just got so many good hooks, so many marketable hooks. I know the UFC and fans would love to see this guy going a nice streak and just really take off.

But again, we're still kind of testing figuring out who he is. So he's really young in the game still. So Jane Malarkey match him up, fun fight, fight in that contender. That's it. Yeah, can't go wrong. That'll be fun. As we head to the wild card round, AK. We're going to match up one fighter.

We have not match made for yet. And we will go ahead and do that right now. So AK indulge us, if you would, your wild card selection for UFC Vegas 24. I went with a veteran, Jessica Pente. You know, I understand she's had her run-ins with the USADA, but a lot of fighters have. The circumstances haven't always been comprehensible, to be honest. And again, I'm not absolving her over her USADA issues. I'm just saying there's very likely more than meets the eye when it comes to her two suspensions.

Very rare, very rare for a lot of UFC fighters to get that second suspension. But she got one and almost got a four-year suspension, but it was reduced to 20 months. However, she ended up not fighting for like four years anyway. So I don't know. It's somehow, somehow it all worked out for the USADA, pun side, but I think I'd like to go with someone a little bit in her age range. Someone maybe not quite as experienced as her, but definitely a hardened test. So I'm going Jessica Pene and a Ginnu Fry.

I think I'd like to see, I think it'd be an entertaining fight. And I'd just like to see these two veterans throw it down before. I don't know how much years they plan to compete, how many more years they plan to compete. I just think it'd be a cool fight to see before all is said and done. So Peney Fry, let's do it. That's an interesting piece of business right there, although I thought, I thought, I thought poor old loopie Goudinez got the hose job. That she got the hose job from the judges.

But it's okay. It was a close fight. It could have either way. But despite the loss, AK, and I know what people are thinking right now. They already have it. They get their finger on the pulse. Someone actually tweeted out last night, breaking news, Mike Heck's going to do the wild card pick for 20 Gravely. There's no doubt about it.

Per source sources. Common per sources. I was dying laughing DJing the wedding when I saw that. But I'm not doing that. Oh, okay. No. Nope. Oh.

False report. It is not wholly accurate at this time. I'm going, despite a loss, I'm going with Wanaspino, A.K., only because I want to see this man fight as often as possible. I like watching Wanaspino fight. That first round was Banana as the great Paterson. God rest his soul, rest in peace, Paterson. You say that fight, that first round was Banana. It ended in an unfortunate way.

You know, we mentioned different matchmaking ideas for Andre Arlowski. I think Espino is the legit talents that can give a lot of guys in the heavyweight division problems. What a fun fight it would be to see Juan Espino versus Alexei Olenic. The scrambles, the work on the mat, I'm in. That's the fight I want to see. So if they don't do Arlofsky-Olinic, which I don't think they will, Espino Olinic checks off all the boxes. I'm going with that so I don't have to pick another Banimate-Watom-Wat.

up-and-comer. As far as we know, and by the way, Tony Gravely, you can match up, again, Fantawe is just so, so good.

Anyone who watched that, I mean, the Burr-Jack fight was entertaining. So it's like, and again, like that was supposed to be a blowout. And maybe it was, I mean,

it was definitely Hevelin' Gravely's favorite, but it was a nice showcase by for Gravley. Phantom weights are so fun. So you can match him up with anyone. As far as we know, the Lennox,

he is, I mean, there was a little bit of, I remember there was some rumors that he was released when the Ophrim release happened. But as far as we know, we haven't anything on that front, right? I don't think so. Yeah, okay. I just, I don't know if it was, it was actual rumors, like, again,

the sources that said that you were going to pick Tony Gravely or, uh, or if it was just people wondering because he was kind of in that same veteran age range status that people were like, oh, no, Atlantic must be next. And that turned into like, you know, a ball of the flaming rumors. What a wonderful metaphor. Uh, that, uh, that people just picked up on. So yeah, I don't think so. I don't remember hearing anything about him being released. Yeah, he's not released. That's good because he's mentioned a lot. And, this show yes he's a favorite he's definitely a favorite of ours do we have a check the tates a day just a very quick one because we had two two uh title fights that were one which

people said was very likely to happen and one which people really wanted to happen so we got amanda nunez versus juliana peña ufc 265 august seventh it's not like exactly a match people were clamoring for but after pania's win and her her call out i think a lot of us said you know what she might get it and and uh who Who knows if she has a chance of beating her, but she's certainly, I think her accomplishments are there. She's done the work on the mic to sell the fight already. Now it's official. So that was really everyone was kind of talking about.

And then also, of course, Jan Blahovic, thank goodness, Jan Blahovic facing Glover to Chera, the rightful number one contender at 205 pounds. We've been calling for this one for, I don't even know how long. I think even before to Shera's latest win, I think after it's been before that, I think we said he should get the fight with Blahovic. So UFC 266, September 4th. But other than that, no, nothing specific. No crazy calls from us or the listeners. All right. I'll go through the DMs real quick.

I didn't get a ton of them, but I got some. So we'll run through those and then we'll go to the rest of the peeps. Patrick Austin basically said Abdul is probably going to be cut. Fair statement. And you said Tony Gravely versus Andre Ewell is his pick. Interesting piece of business right there. Jack Porter said Romanov versus Dano or Parker Porter. and then he went with Arlofsky versus Olinik.

And he said one more bonus, not from this card. Shafhat Rachmanoff versus Chaos Williams just because I need to see these guys fight again. I thought Rachmanov was booked, if memory serves it correctly, but I'll look at that a little bit while. Sean Bradley, Jake Paul versus Tiafima Lopez. As a former wrestler, I hate to see Asker and Lou,

so let's get him a real boxer. Wow. How big is Tiafimo? I don't know anything about Boxer. I don't think he's 190 pounds Let me let me look this up real quick Yeah, I'm not sure I don't think he's 190 pounds

I think he's smaller Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's smaller We move ahead Poppy underscore Bryant A request for you AK Oh He said we need a robbery review For Penny versus Godinez

She beat Penny up for just about the entire fight I'd have to watch it closely. Honestly, I don't know. I think people who heard on the post show yesterday, I was doing a lot of the Paul Asking coverage. So I definitely had both screens going, but not at the point where I could make a strong judgment either way. I did see the power bomb.

And I think when you jackknife power bomb someone like Kevin Nash, you should automatically get this. Really, they should have waived the fight off. But credit to Penny for hanging in there after taking that big bump. That clean, not the cleanest back bump I've ever seen, Mike. Let me tell you that's not the kind of back bump. They teach you in wrestling school. That's how you get a stinger, brother.

So, yeah, I'll take, I'm going to take a look at this, closer look at this card. And who knows? Maybe I see a robbery and then do a robbery review this week. Maybe a couple with a lot of split decisions on this card. It was four of them. Two more. We got Zach Andrews, Whitaker versus Izzy, of course. Andrea Lovsky versus Carlos Philippe.

Interesting. Malkoon versus His Rief, because there's no clue what to do with this man. Zach said Tracy Cortez versus Jillian Robertson or Julia Avila, depending on weight class. I believe Julia Avila and Julius Stolia Ranko is being rebooked for June 26th. At least that's what I've been told. I don't know if this is breaking news or not, but there you go. If it is, hallelujah.

Wildcar picks Mir Sharp versus Anthony Hernandez. I know Hernandez is booked right now, so if Hernandez wins, could be an option. That would be an interesting fight. And then Tony Gravely versus Nate Manus. I'm down for that. Does that not happen? They've never fought before? They have not fought before, no.

Someone replaced somebody? Am I? Maynes. Manus was supposed to fight gravely on this card. Okay, thank you. That sounds so familiar. Okay. Last one.

Evan Rodriguez agrees. Whitaker Artisania. This one's obvious. Bobby Knuckles deserve a shot. Orlovsky versus Philippe. Jake Collier winner. I expect Philippe to win this fight. I think Carlos is a great prospect to match with Arlowski.

Jacob Malcun, versus Dustin Stoltzvus. Another Cortez versus Jillian Robertson pick. Luis Pena versus Jalen Turner. Fun scrap has fighting a night potential. Romanov versus Sergei Spivak was the other pick. So thank you to all the DMers. Pena versus Turner is one of those.

I can't believe these guys are lightweight fights. Like you can see that. You're like, oh, this are too small, two skinny middleweights or something. It's like, oh, my gosh, they're light weights. What? Hot what? Tiafima Lopez. So lightweight people in boxing, by the way. is 130 to 135.

So he'd be giving up a lot of size to Jake Paul. No, I would still pick Tiofima Lopez to beat Jake Paul's ass if we're being honest. But it would be tough to find a commission that would, I think, that would authorize this one. But I don't know, stranger things have happened. But yeah, I think regardless of the way Tiafema would work him, but, again, they are, there are a way class for a reason. Unfortunately, I don't know if you'd get to get to see that one made. What do we got?

Okay. What are we got? Okay, well, I'm going to try to overlap with you too much. Mike. Because yeah, some of the ones you mentioned was like Mirzschert, Andrew Sanchez. I saw some people say. So if I repeat myself, I apologize. Yeah, yeah. I like it. So here's the ones that were suggested by one or more, sorry, two or more listeners. Adesania, Whitaker, definitely obviously the most universal pick. Everyone's just like, yeah, let's just get this over with this. This needs to happen. So Adisanya versus Whitaker, too.

Gasslin versus Holland. Yeah, definitely a popular option. That was the other one that came up. Arloski, people were all over the place. They went Arlowski Ivanov, Arlowski, Romanov. Arlofsky Spivak and a couple of people are Lovsky Alexander Goosefsson. I thought of that one too. Sure. We don't know what's going on with Gus. Exactly. So I don't know.

He's even going to fight again? Is he dropping down to 205? We don't know, right? He may have to be put on the band list with, not on his fault, but like, you know, fighters who are injured, fighters who are, you know, that we know are going to be out for a long time. We may have to, like, just not mention these options anymore until they book a fight. I think Bryce Mitchell's on that list now.

Luis Pena, Devante Smith, I like, Malcun, I don't know, that's why this one came up multiple times. Malcun and Duran Wynne. Is there some Malkoon Wynn beef here that I'm not aware of? Are they just in that range? I don't know. So here's something interesting. I did want to talk about this.

I haven't had a chance to respond to this. Are you kidding me? This Malkoon Wynn thing actually triggered some sort of story. The Duran Wynne has triggered something. Okay, so we reported on Friday that Phil Haas is fighting Kyle Dachis on May 8th, I believe. Yes, we did. So we reported that. Duran Winn hopped on Twitter immediately after and quote tweeted that report and said,

I was signed to fight Phil Haas on July 17th. So this fight was in the works. he's taking this other fight, Phil Haas clearly doesn't want to fight me anymore. So I, of course, followed up with some sources about this. And apparently, Duran Wynn is telling the truth. Phil Haas has signed to fight both of these gentlemen. Things happen to change.

It's kind of a fluid situation right now. But in an ideal world, and I know we've tried to do this before, and it hasn't worked out yet, in an ideal world, Phil Haas will fight Kyle Dawkins and then turn around two months later and fight Duran Wynne. He has signed contracts for both. Apparently, from what I've been told, he signed a fight Duranwin first, and after Kyle Daucus lost his fight earlier this month,

the UFC approached him like the next day and said, hey, you want to fight Daucus on May 8th? And he said, okay, I'll do that. And then the contracts are signed like earlier this past week. So there you go. I heard Duran Wynne's name, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I meant to talk about this and tweet about it, and I never had a chance to.

So we'll address it on the show. That fight is apparently... the plan to happen as well. It's not a fight. Like you can actually report and say, hey, it's definitely happening because Haas is fighting

somebody else two months earlier and you don't know what's going to happen in a fight, but if all goes well in a perfect world, Phil Haas will fight twice in two months against Doccus and then Duran win. Look at that,

no exclusive. People on the MMAfighting.com comments, Mike, there's always one of people who say, why don't you guys just write the show down? Like, why are you guys, you don't get those kind of tidbits if we write this down.

That's not getting mentioned. So I don't even know who I'm talking to because, again, those people don't listen to the show. But I'm supposed to put it out this in the ether. There's very good reasons why we record the show. It's because of moments like that. So, yeah, guys, you only get that kind of stuff on the pod in podcast form. Alexander Romanov of Romanov, Linnick, people like that. Merech shirt and Muradav, Macmoud Muradav.

So that was a popular one. Man. And there's a lot of Tony. Yeah, there's a lot of Tony Gravely's, the one I said. saw them, Gravely, Gravely. There's a lot of Tony Gravely is the one I saw more than once. Gravely versus Louis Smoka. We've matched up Smoka quite a few times on this show. I think there are better matchups for Smoka than Tony Gravely, but a couple of people wanted it. So there we go. I only got one email so far. I should tell people we are recording this

episode a little bit earlier than usual, but still my email boys, I think they were a little too high on the Paul Asper supply as many of us were. I'm not blaming them. And I'm sure, like you said, they'll be back in full force after our next paper view coming up. But just Harry Duoskins, the only man who made the deadline cut. He likes Gravely versus Miles Johns. Austin Hubbard versus Malarkey. Mearsherd versus Mark Andre Barrio. And you mentioned this before.

One of the real listeners, Malcun versus Dustin Stoltzlus. So there you go. There's some buzz for Malcun Stoltzis as well. Malkin, again, good for him, man, getting on that main card and getting people to talk about matches for him. That's always a good place to be in. On Instagram, we had some good messages. So I do want to read out some of the message in their entirety. But quick hits here.

Dylan Schutt. He, first thing he said was Jake Paul versus Askeran rematch in wrestling. I don't think it's going to happen. But it would only be fair. Wouldn't it be fair in Just World, Mike? It would be fair. And I think Jake has said he would do it, but obviously he's not going to, like, you know, that was just part of like pre-fight.

Obviously, pre-fighted. You will not see these two men share a ring or Matt or Cage ever again. That's that. And that's for like a photo shoot or something. Calvin Gasselam, he wants, he likes Calvin Gasselman versus winner of Chris Wyden and Uriah Hall. Of course, either of those would be a rematch, though Uriah Hall probably a little more interesting of a rematch. Of course, that would be from the Ultimate Fighter finale that Gasselm won by a very close split decision. And, uh, Wydom, I think a little more definitively, Wyman beat him.

I don't think there's much heat there. But you're right, Hall? Sure, sure. What else? Let's move on. This other one he'd mentioned before. We have a new listener. I always like to mention new listeners contributing.

This is from Jesse Yates, another Aussie. A lot of Australian fans. Malkoon versus Mackey Potolo. Yeah, it makes sense. Aettoe is booked, I believe. Oh, I have to look that. You know what? You mentioned, I thought I looked it up.

I don't know, maybe it's a room, maybe it's not official? He's fighting Tadorovich, I believe. Oh, he is fighting Tadorovich. Okay, well, you know what? If he beats Tadorovich, actually, win or lose? Win or lose? I think it's a good matcher for Malkoon. So, Jesse Yates, I'm going to give you some props for that matchup.

I still like it. So, yeah, whatever has with Patoly and Tadourovich on June 5th, I think it's fine. I think that's a good choice. Yeah. Matt Bradbury coming in with some of the best suggestions, I think. He said Jake Paul versus Damien Maya. I see what you did there. I see what you did there.

Yeah. Austin Hubbard versus Michael Johnson. I have to read this one because he went to great detail explaining anything. Hubbard always seems to lose whenever he isn't facing a newcomer. And Johnson's on a skid. This is kind of a loser-leaves town match, in my opinion. It'll show if Johnson can actually put some wins together, or he just isn't UFC caliber anymore.

It'll see if Hubbard can actually beat higher-level competition. So good, good logical reasoning there. What do you think of this matchup, Mike? Mier Shirt versus Julian Marquette. I like it. Yeah. You know what I like it so much? Because I think you could like,

you could build that entire fight doing interviews with both of those guys at the same time. And it would be like awesome. Because both those, like it would be the, it would be so respectful, but it would be like kind of goofy. Like I could see Gerald Mirrashap busing out the saxophone and Marquez like

singing a song. Like they'll just play like one bourbon, one shot one beer. Like it just put on a little duet. Like it would be amazing. I'd love to see it. I'm sold. I'd love it for like a UFC on ABC 3 or something, like a co-made event.

Yes. I would love it. And then just give the really, really kind of show people a different side of the fight hype. You know, that's something the UFC can do more of, you know, and those are definitely the two guys to do it. I love it. That's a great idea. It would be a good fight, too. I think it'd be a good fight.

He mentioned Pne Frye, and I want to mention this because he went to, he did something you and I don't do, and most listeners don't do. He said he went like He made up a fight And then already matched up the winner of that hypothetical fight So So he wants to see Fenne versus Frye He's like veteran versus veteran And he says in the winner of that should face

Corey McKenna And I'm like wow Sure I mean I don't even know if I like that matchup I just like that it's cool He's that Matt Bradbury is looking that far ahead So that's fun Tracy Cortez he wants to give a pretty big step up Maeda Buenos Silva

And then you want to see Pena versus John McDessie because let's have McDessie face another 6'3 guy didn't we get a fight of the night from that we technically we did not sorry technically we didn't because the massive dude that McDessie fought last

time Bahamand doesn't force he missed weight but yes that was the real fight of the night last week let's be honest literally just for Otno again my favorite user name was phenomenal it's so good I told myself I have to read his intro he said what up Mr. Lee I hope you've enjoyed the S show that was this weekend's

fights. He did not say S. I am censoring here. First of all, let's deal with the elf in the room. I think Jake Paul should fight. Just kidding. I don't give an F under the real fights. Did he say F? He did not say F. People, you can fill in the lines yourself.

This is a family show. So he went, the ones that really jumped out to me. Gravely, Jack Shore, things really good. He says rebook Pene, Hannah Goldie, third times a charm. Romanov versus winner of Shamil Abdurakimov, Augusto Sakai. Yeah, man, that'd be a really good way.

So Abdurahimov and him would be really, really good. And then, again, one of our more popular names on Ottena these days, Louise Pena and Mike Davis. They are training partners, I believe. Oh, no. Are you serious? I believe they're both at ATT. I did not know that. Well, there we go. Well, I'm glad I brought it up because, again, I thought it was a cool matchup. I'm sure some people thought about it, but unlikely to happen. Okay. Josh Abu Kai, I always like to hear from him. I think his, my favorite matchup is, this is just the May Grant Dawson matchup. Austin Hubbard and Clay Guida. Look, Clay Guida is going to fight somebody, Grand

Austin, and it might not be you. So I'm just, if you're out there listening, I'm just saying, be fair to see someone else swoop in and get that match. I'm sorry. And we'll end with Twitter this week. All right, a lot of ones here. I don't want to read them all off. Sorry, guys, of course, thank you for your contributions. As always, everyone, but I've got to pick some good ones here. Markims Gahey, Cortez versus Tila Santos, another big jump up. People didn't really care about that weight miss, apparently.

Or like you said, it's the opposite. They did care about the weight miss and want to think, like, well, guess what? Now she needs to get roughed up in her next fight. Romanov versus Ben Rothwell-Philippe Linz winner on May 8th. He said, this fight should have gone to Espino. They did, my boy, dirty. And Battle of Veterans, I'd like to see this one.

Mier Shard versus Zach Cumm. They're not part to any partners No No no no Wisconsin How have they not fought before I don't know I have no idea

I have no idea I swear it's In my mind I'm having Mandela Right now I distinctly remember The fight is happening But it has not happened

Wow Bear Riley our man in Ireland Peni versus Conejo sure Pena versus Otman Azatar Wow I don't know

for right i don't know if i'm ready to to do that yet uh cortez versus molly mccann sure molly mccannes someone i'd love to see if anybody and then uh that's that's a good fight that makes sense that's a good fight we i thought we were almost done having to mention this guy every time but i do like this matchup actually gaslam versus shemaiah i really like it and he says uh an established name who showed against heinish that he has some wrestling chops the only thing is we've kind of said previously we We just want to see Shemaya to get healthy and fight when he's ready. But on paper, I actually really like that if he decides to fight at 185 again.

Cortez McCann is like the exact middle ground of our two selections, in my opinion. Like you said Cortez Aldridge, I said Cortez Robertson. I feel like McCann is like a perfect compromise between the two. I think so too. And that's a solid pick, Barry Rally, solid pick. Chris at Dragon Slayer 2 on Twitter. Two good picks. Mearshaart versus Puna Soriano.

Sure, I like it. But then I said, I prompted this person for a Jake Paul pick. And they came up with, they said, Jake Paul, Julian Lane, just let them bang, guys. And you know what? Love it. Very quick. This response was very quick, too. It was like right after I asked.

So quick response, great choice. Thank you at Dragon Slayer 2. Michael Paragini. Did we mention Gasselham Brunston? I don't think so. I think Brunson is a little past it like four-fight win streak. I think he's ahead in the rankings. Gasolam

probably still the slightly bigger name but I don't think Brunson would say no but I think it's a dangerous tough fight for him that he doesn't have to take right now. Brunson's like arguably a win away from a title shot. Right. So yeah I don't know if that makes sense. He's back Michael Perciini's backing you up.

Cortez Robertson definitely likes it. Gravely versus Benito Lopez. I only bring this up because I just don't know where Benito Lopez is. fought and I think well over two years. Sorry, well over a year and a half. So we just want to see him back. I think I know he's started a family. So maybe he's just focusing on being a proud

Papa. But otherwise, I don't know. Benito Lopez. I'm not sure what's going on with him. So we'd just like see him fight against why I bring him up. Mitchell Robinson Stan likes Mears shirt versus versus Hadolfo Vieira. Yes. Grappler's delight. Sure. Ropplers delight. Been to it. At young rabbi 86. Gravely versus another popular out-note pick, Nathaniel Wood.

Austin Hover versus Mark Jakeasy. So some good picks there. And Mike, I will close out with Nate Andrews on Twitter because, oh, sorry, I do want to shout out Colin Avery, just because he's a first-time contributor. He just wanted to say he wants to see Gasselm versus Holland. So thank you Colin Avery on Twitter. You're getting your shout-out. Thank you for listening.

And Nate Andrews, of course, thank you for listening as well. I do want to read out some of his thoughts here. Sorry, I'll get to get to this. So, Malcun versus Sam Alvi. He's a step down accomplished for Alvi. Another fight to build Malcolm's young Amet career. Pena versus Clay Guida. Sorry, Grand Dossin.

This is something more Guida. I love how Guida is just now connected to Granddossa. Because of you. Romanov versus Spino, I need to run it back. All that fights weirdness aside, Aspino was robbed like a bank in a Boston crime movie. Shoutouts to the town and the departed.

But I don't remember if they actually robbed any. Banks and the Departed. No, they didn't rob any, they just robbed process, microprocessors. Wow, good, yeah. So what I think those are what's because I want, I think Boston crime movies, but definitely they don't remember. So that was a shout to you and New England, of course, Mike. And then the last thing, Nathan Andrews says, NAC judges versus a drug screen, this might be

some of the worst judging I've seen across an entire card since the start of the pandemic. I don't know if I agree with that. Like I said, I would have to watch the fights again more closely myself. I didn't think any of the, but maybe some of the cards were poor, but I don't know. I don't know if there was any out and out robberies. But the people have spoken, Nate Andrews, thank you for your well-thought-out message. And thank you all of the listeners. Mike, I think we are done with that section now.

So, of course, if you guys want to reach out to me on social media with your suggestions, hit me up Twitter at Alexander K. Lee. Slide right to those DMs. Instagram, Alexander KK Lee, 2Ks, email, Alex. Stottley at sbnation.com. Mike? Find me on Twitter at Mike Heck underscore JR, Instagram

M underscore HeckJR. And yeah, that's going to do it for this week. Do not forget to join us next week, ladies and gentlemen. As we discussed the fallout of UFC 261, three title fights, Kamar Usman,

Mazadal, two for the Welterweight title, Zhang Wei v. Rosenami Yuniz, for the Strawway title, Valentina Shivchenko versus Jessica Androj, for the flyway title. I'm sure we will matchmake for all six of those competitors, regardless of what happens on Saturday. Then, of course, the main card rounds out with Chris Weidman versus Uriah Hall, the rematch from the regional scene over a decade ago. Wyman handed Uriah Hall his first professional loss for Ring of Combat, and Uriah Hall's

been stewing on this one for a long time, so that should be fun. The main card opener, Anthony Lionheart Smith versus the surging, up-and-coming Jimmy Crout, should be a fun card. We will talk all about it, the what's next for all of those individuals. Well, most of them, eight out of the ten. Maybe we'll do all ten. Who knows? It'll be a special edition of the program.

But there you go. So for A.K., I am Mike Heck. Thank you for listening. And always remember, don't take this too seriously. M.MA is supposed to be fun. We will have a lot of fun next week right here on on to the next one, the podcast. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thank you.