MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 26

Episode Date: May 9, 2021

On the 43rd 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 26 event at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Marina Rodriguez following her unanimous decision victory in the main event, Michelle Waterson, Alex Morono, Neil Magny, Gregor Gillespie, 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 discuss the what's next for some of the notable names coming out of UFC Vegas 26 this past Saturday. We were worried if this event would actually happen at all. And we're treated to a pretty fun-made event as we're officially on the road to UFC 262 in the lone starred state. But I hope everyone's having a wonderful start to the week. I am Mike Heck. Before we get into anything else, want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, especially the moms in my life, my wife, my mom, and my mother-in-law. So happy Mother's Day to them and to all the moms. And joining me on this venture is not a mom, but he has a mom. He's the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, the Prince of Positivity, Mr. Alex Cayley. How are we doing on this Sunday, AK?

We're doing wonderful, my best friend, especially that you're back from Uncasville. Thank God. Safe. sound back home from Unkisville, Connecticut. Yeah, shout out to all the moms, of course, just my mother, Esther, the most wonderful person in the world. So yes, I cannot express that sentiment enough. But I'm glad, Mike, I'm glad you did come back. I'm glad that the

glitz and glamour of Uncisfill hasn't changed you. You're still, I thought I'm like, oh, God, Uncle'sville, who knows what's going to happen out there, you know? He may not, he may not come back. You may not want to do the show anymore, but here you are. And everyone, everyone's better off for it. Yes, it was a treat being on

road once again for the first time since November of 2019. I missed it. I hope I get to experience it more and more as these weeks and months progress. But, uh, A.K., let us begin with why everybody's here. No one wants to hear about the trip to Unkisville. They want to hear about what happened. They want to hear about what happened. We could talk about you and Unkisville for two hours, but I understand what we have a job to do. Yes, they don't want to hear about that. They want to hear about what happened at the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. They want to talk about what What's next for? Marina Haderieges, who closed the show with a unanimous decision win over a very game, karate-hadi, Michelle Waterson. It was a great performance.

And what really stuck out to me about all of this AK is this fight came together very quickly. And one of the reasons why we thought this event might not even happen were because of the visa issues that Marina had to deal with prior to traveling to Las Vegas. Luckily, they got squared away at the beginning of last week. So she essentially, okay, flew from Brazil to Vegas. I believe she got there on Wednesday, like late Wednesday, early Thursday. So all she had time to do, really, was cut weight, step on the scale, face off, quarantine, and fight. And she goes out there and gets the biggest win of her career in her first UFC main event. So all that being said, what would you like to see next for Marina Haderieges?

Well, let me also just say, thank you, UFC. Thank you, Rodriguez's and Waterson's teams for having the sense to make this a 125 pound catchweight bout. Please, normalize catchweight bouts in the UFC, people. Divisions, of course, are important and great, but normalized catchweight bouts. We know they're both straw weights. Fighting at 125 changes nothing. We know that, and we both know that they can make 115. It's not like, oh, no, it's like they fought a 125.

It shouldn't count. It's not, you know, they have to make championship weight someday. We know both these women can, I don't think they have an issue making championship weights. Not that it matters, because the only one who took a step closer to a championship on Saturday was Marina Houdriguez. I think pretty, I believe if I checked topology and most, most betting sites, it's pretty comfortable two to one favorite. Most people picking decisions. So this really played out as people expected. I predict, you know, it would be a competitive fight, which it was at times.

So, yeah, pretty predictable in the event. I've been saying this for a while, I think since maybe two fights ago. for Marina Rodriguez, so I'm sticking with it. We just don't know, of course, when this woman's coming back, but I'm still all in on the Marina Rodriguez, Tatiana Suarez matchup. Again, this really is dependent when Tatiana Suarez is ready to come back. Marina is the perfect opponent for her to return after a long layoff.

It's both women are, I think, are future contenders. A loss, I think, maybe earns them a title shot, and I don't think pushes the loser that far back, that far back in the ranks. So that's my easy pick for me. if I could make anything happen, Marina and Tatiana. Yeah, I mean, that's a great fight. I know Tatiana spoke with our good friend James Lynch, maybe a week ago, maybe two weeks,

and she said that she thinks she'll be able to return at some time this year, but it appears that she's looking at 125. So maybe Rodriguez just does the 125 thing again. And again, I look at it the same way you do. Like, just because two straw weights fight at 125 doesn't mean like they're fly. and it doesn't count towards how people view them at 115. So if they made that fight at 125 or 115, I'm down for it. I would love to see Marina fight Yawadi and Jacek at this point.

Like, I just think it would be so fun. I think there's some contrasting styles. There's some similarities there. It would be fun to watch Marina fight Zhang Wei Li. I don't know if they'll do the Dern matchup just yet, just because of where they're at in their careers. Maybe they want to save that for like no more contender fight or for a title fight. So what I think will end up happening here, AK, is that Marina will fight the loser of Jan Janan versus Carla Sparza.

And I know people are like, oh, dude, she just fought Carla Sparza. So what? It was a controversial decision. And then they could run that back. There's a story there. Marina and Jan Jan Janan is a fun fight. I feel like that's just kind of where we're at with Marina at this point in time and how the division looks right now. It's kind of a weird spot for her to be in because she's legit.

She's number six. She entered the fight number six. She got a big win and she's probably not moving up at all. She's going to stay right where she's at. But good win for her. I think a lot of people are excited for her future. And I'm really interested to see where she's at end of this year, maybe a year from now. But for Michelle Waterson, this is kind of tough too, A.K.,

because she's fought a lot of these ladies already. And a lot of the division is booked up pretty much where she's at. at right now where I was looking. And Michelle isn't the most active fighter on planet Earth. She just isn't. She fights like twice a year maybe. And there's nothing wrong with that. So I landed on the winner of the July matchup between Amanda Lamos and Monster Rat Ruiz,

AKA. I think Lamos is ranked number 12 right now. I think she has a lot of potential in this division. She goes out and gets another win. Lamos versus Watterson makes a lot of sense. And Ruiz is a beast, man. When she goes out there and beats somebody like Amanda Lamos, she's probably a top 11 fighter in the world. And her and Michelle Waterson makes sense as well.

So what do you think? What did you say that? That's July 12th? It's July 10th or 17th? It's in July. I know that. Is that it's a fight night or a pay-per-per-view? A fight night, I think.

Okay. Let me just double check while you wax poetically here. Well, Mike, it's, you know, this fight happened. This main event we just saw happened on Mother's Day weekend. I got to speak to Michelle Waterson earlier in the week. You know, the mom champ thing always comes up. And one thing I asked her was, you know, Michelle, if that UFC title shot never comes, you know, how do you appraise your career?

Of course, we still be proud of everything you've accomplished. And, you know, she was, she says she is. And she made note that the mom champ thing is really, you know, she already feels like a mom champ, whether she officially becomes a UFC champion or not, you know, just as far as, again, her experience, all that she's done in her career so far. And so that got me thinking, well, I think that if she feels like she has that mom champ title, then making her go up against another mom just makes a lot of sense.

So this actually was an easy one for me. I'm going Waterson and Nina Nunez. Yeah, that's fun. That makes sense. Yeah. Let's get, let's let's let's look. If Nate Diaz and Horri Moswell can drum up some, some cockamamie, you know, BMF title, why can't we have some, some BM model, baddest mom, just baddest mother, you know.

There you go. The BM title. The BME, the baddest mother ever title. Okay, how about that? For Warrison and Nunez. And I think it makes a lot of sense. Like you said, Watterson doesn't fight too often. I'm not sure what Nina Nunez's plan is going to be now that she is a mom if she wants

to fight three times a year, four times a year, or maybe just a couple times a year. So their timelines might line up as well. So, yeah, I really like that one. I mean, you could give third darn in there with her too. I mean. Absolutely. Again, mom versus mom. It's a step back in the rankings, but Watterson has that name attached to her.

So it's not like a big step back at all. really Mike what's what's going on with Claudia Godelia do we know because I kind of considered her for both Rodriguez and Waterson but I just don't I don't I don't I don't know I haven't anything but necessarily being injured or any even rumors of a booking we she we just we just sort of maybe just taking time off just not I think so yeah I haven't heard anything I've heard zero zero I was looking up trying to look up stuff before of course did the show nothing because I think I think she's a good matchup for a lot of these a lot of these straw weights that have been competing recently and I just

I don't hear anything. Yeah, she's fine for either of those two ladies. But, I mean, there are options. It's just, I don't know, it's just kind of weird. You could just mix and match a lot of these names right now. As we move ahead to the biggest win of Alex Moronos career, went down on the co-made event, stopped Donald Seroni at the end of the first round

with a blitz landed with Jose Young's eloquently kept calling it on the post-fight show as the perfect punch. And look at Morano, man. Get short-noticed fights. with Anthony Pettis, gets another one with Cowboy, and he cashes in on the ladder, and he's got some momentum right now, okay? Okay, where does the Texan go from Saturday?

I think he was by far the most picked fighter by the listeners this week. As far as variety, I mean, some fighters got mentioned a lot, but it's maybe only like one name, but a lot of people were locked in and one matchup. I saw like maybe five or six different names for Romano. So that's a good, you're right, that's a good thing for him. He's spoiled for choice now. Like anyone from the top 10 to the top 30 range is like people are a match. A lot of fun matchups, matches that I can move up in the rankings.

I went with a little bit of both. I think moving up in the rankings and I think it's good. I love the idea of him in Balal Muhammad. I think, I think, I think, Mohamed, you know, again, it's a shame that the Edwards fight ended the way it did. Because he was sort of getting up there in the rankings. Had a chance to break him in the top five. He could pull off the Edwards upset. Obviously, it wasn't looking that way from what we saw in that fight.

But still, you know, who knows. knows what could have in the other four rounds. So Marano, Muhammad, for me, I think it's one, fun, great striking matchup, and Marano deserves it. Maybe Marano takes his spot in the top of Dean if he can pick up another victory. I don't know how to respond to that, A.K.,

because part of me is like... You look puzzled. Yeah, because Bilal's fighting Damien Maya. I completely forgot about that. It's okay. I'm assuming he's going to win. Blal's going to win? Oh, wow.

Well, wait a minute. And you want to give him Alex Marano? No offense. to Morano, but... What am I doing? So, so resolutely picking against Damian Maya of all people who... No, you know what? I'll...

This is my premature pick. Who knows? It could change any time but then. I think Muhammad beats him. And I think... And I'm okay with Marano getting that shot. Okay, so if Belal Mohammed beats Damian Maya, he will be the number eight ranked 170 pounder in the world.

And to reward him for such a thing, you're going to throw him in there with Alex Morano, who is probably ranked in the maybe like 40th at Walterweight right now. Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is no offense. Walter Wade's ridiculous. I have him at 27. 27?

How dare you? Wow. Not including, if we're going by the UFC style, not including the champion. So I have Marano 26th. Maya would be 9th. And Muhammad would be 14. Okay. But if he beats Damien, he'll be number eight in the world, just based on the ranking.

So, okay, so Alex Marano had a decent run. I already said it. There's no backing out of it. Yeah, I know. Morano had a good stretch where he won three in a row. Then he got knocked down in 27 seconds by Chaos Williams. He beats Reese McKeews no longer in the UFC, loses to Anthony Pettis. There's no real shame in that.

And then he T.K.O.'s Donald Seroni, who a lot of people feel should be not fighting anymore. Obviously, I thought of all this before I made my pick. Okay, listen. If it happens, I like the fight, I would watch it. To me, this one was pretty easy for me, AK. Randy Brown's coming off a finish not long ago. Marano gets the cowboy rub. He can earn, I think it's fair to match those two guys up. I think Randy Brown is ahead of him right now.

I think he's closer to the top 15 than Marano is. I just think this one makes a lot of sense. And it would be weird and wild enough to get people excited. if we confirmed it and been like, hey, guess what? Marano's fighting Randy Brown. People were like, oh, damn, this is good. I like this fight. So this one works for me. I think that was the one I saw the most

matched up for Marano in the listener picks. I believe it was Marano Brown. Came up at least three times, I think. I guess we didn't make a pick for Brown. Was he your wild card last time he fought? He was not. He was not. Yeah, me neither.

So we didn't have a pick. I don't wonder. I was wondering why I didn't mention him. I guess I didn't have them. Definitely. I saw other people mention it. Anyway, so yeah, but popular listener pick. Yeah, I would not be surprised to that one made it all. Yeah, we didn't mention them because we picked all six title competitors and the two other main cards. Those eight fights and a wild card. It says nine.

Sleeping, sleeping on rude boy. Yep, not anymore, though. Not anymore because he just got booked. A.K., we've been waiting for months for the battle between Neil on Neil to go down, and it did, and it went to Neil. Magnet. It did go to Neil. Yes. Yes. Neil Magny. comes in as the underdog. Once again, he comes through with an upset victory, defeats Jeff Neal. Magni gets back on track after the loss to Michael Kiesa and Jeff Neal, one of the brightest prospects we have seen in the Welterweight Division in a long, long time, has now lost two straight fights, okay?

And since this was your fight, this is the fight that you've probably been most attached with since we started doing the show, Neal on Neal, I think it's only fair that we allow you to kick us off. What's next for Neil Magna? Oh, I feel like you've been on the Neil on Neil train as much as I have, Mike. But thank you, yes. As a passenger, though. And a lot of the readers and listeners have been on this train as well.

So everyone, this was our fight, all right? This is our fight as a community. First of all, of course, you know, thoughts of prayers to Jeff Neal, who very shortly after the fight, posts on Instagram that he's, he may have to take some time off. Of course, we know he's had some, a lot of internal issues. I believe this was, he mentioned sepsis specifically. in his post. So that's not, guys, that's nothing to mess around with.

When you're a high level athlete, really when you're anybody, but especially if you're a high level athlete, doing all kinds of tough, rough things to your body, you know, to become a fighter. So hopefully he finds that balance,

gets healthy and we see Jeff Neal, 2022, you know, again, whatever time he needs to take off. Maybe sooner, you know, fingers crossed, but he doesn't need to be in a rush. So, yeah, so congratulations also to Neil Magny for proving he is the one true Neil.

And I'm just saying, throw him in there with Vicente, Leuke. This was, this was booked once. It sounded so familiar when I thought about it. May 18th, 2019, Magny was flagged by Usada, not suspended. He was flagged for some chemical, which I can't even remember what it is. And the fight was canceled. But obviously it was a great matchup back then. I think now with the guys in the career, it's a great matchup. I know we always want to see, you know, Magny and Lucke moving up. And they're probably sitting a similar spot in the rankings. But I mean, that's just there a lot. Like you mentioned the beginning of the show, I, I think this is one of the visions we're talking about where the top 10 just really needs to get unstuck. And Usman needs to pick the next challenger and all that. So until it happens, I don't think these guys want to wait. I think Magni, Luke, needs to be resolved and just be a great fight. In my mind, there's only one answer to this question.

What's next for Neil Magni? It's the fight that should have been made months ago. And I know that this other individual was dealing with some health issues. But at this point, it's Magny versus Shemayev. Like, enough is enough. I never want to hear Nick Diaz's name ever mentioned again in the same sentence as Hamzat Shemayef. There is no other fight to make. Neil Magni versus Hamzat Shemayf.

Hashtag magsat. Hashtagg. Oh, Hamagni. Whatever works. Hashtag that shizz and run it. This is the fight to make. There's nothing else that makes sense. You, I saw it.

I said that Moreno, excuse me, Marano was maybe the most mentioned as far as different matchups. Magni was probably the most mentioned. mentioned as specifically this one matchup. I think, I think, aside from, and Spoiler for later, Rodriguez and Yacchich, I think it was the other popular one. But yes, for Magni, everyone said, Kamsat Shemayev, am I, I, I don't know why. Maybe I'm stupid. Well, I'm definitely stupid, but that doesn't necessarily have to do with, you know, what we're

talking about right now. Is there, was there, was there talks of them fighting before? Was there heat? I don't remember. Was there some exchange of words? Magny definitely mentioned him. Yeah, it was this weird situation where Dana White was trying to, like, sell Shemayev is this monster.

And he's like, oh, nobody. It goes, we're offering this guy to everybody. Nobody wants to fight him. Meanwhile, Neil Magni has been sitting at his desk, like, pick me, pick me. I want to fight him. Like, he's, ooh, ooh, ooh, I'm jumping up and down. And then as soon as the fight was over, Shamiyev jumps on Twitter and says, I'm fighting you next, Magdie.

I'm going to smack you or do whatever. Just do it. Enough is enough. Like, and Neil said he'll do it. He just doesn't want to wait. Like, if you send him a contract right now, I'm sure he'll sign it, make that fight. in July, put on that July 10th pay-per-view, and there we go. Let's just make this thing happen.

Now, A.K., go ahead. I think I prefer, I think. I think. I think. I think. We'll see. I'll tweet it out. I'll tweet out tomorrow. Okay. I dig it. I'm not sure yet. Let me, let me think about it. I had to mention Nick Diaz, so I'm a little, I'm a little fired up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but, uh, Unkisville, Uncisfield. Uncisfil State of Michael. Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to mince words, A.K., we are not matchmaking for

Mockerous Ruggiero de Lima. Want to know why? Because the fight shouldn't have been on the main card to begin with. Yes. And let's just be honest. It was not a good fight. It was not good. And you could throw him in there with any heavyway right now.

And there you go. And I want to spend more time on the star of the card. Gregor Gillespie. What a gritty, unbelievable show of heart. Gets the TKO finish of Diego Fajara in an amazing fight. He gets the win. He gets the finish. and he gets the fight of the night bonus

all to himself because Fahed and missed weight on Friday. What a night for the self-proclaimed best fisherman in the UFC AK. I mean, this guy is coming off a ferocious knockout loss, been out for a long time, he's supposed to fight Brad Riddell. The fight never happened.

I felt like that was no offense to Brad Riddell. I swear to God, no offense to Brad Radell. I felt like this was a clear Gillespie favored matchup against Radell. This one, I was like, oh, boy, he's got his hands full. Like, you got to go in there and fight CDF after losing to Kevin Lee. Don't like your chances, bro.

And he goes in there and proves me wrong. It proves a lot of people wrong. So Gregor's the gift that keeps on giving, AK. What gift do we give him now? Man, you mentioned, you just got to mention he was facing an oversized Diego fan, who missed weight by almost five pounds. And I know, I should tell, full disclosure, by the way, I was watching this and the Canelo card of the same.

same time it was I was assigned by our our overlords to cover the canal car which I enjoy it I'm not complaining about it but just to let people know I might have missed some details but I definitely was paying attention to this fight which was amazing and you know people were worrying I know Solisks was saying they were where Gillespie was kind of gassing out a little bit and against a guy who obviously didn't go to the same strenuous weight cut as he did to be to be polite about it so yeah that would made it even more amazing I'm glad he got the extra hundred thousand first fight so long I want to see him Islam Mahachev. I want another

wrestler, sorry, another grappler I should say, super high level wrestler. Part of me was like a possible dos anios thing, but I'm still holding out hope. I don't know why for this RDA G-G matchup, which is like, I think it's barely a rumor, but I just, I'm not giving up on it. I've mentioned

it multiple times in the show. It'll be super sweet when it finally gets booked. So I can't technically for me, in my mind, they're both off to the side. I will not pick for them. So Islam, so the possible Islam, you know, RDA, rebooking for me. I mean, yes, would be cool. I think I even mentioned it in another show, but now I'm moving on from that back to Gillespie, Islam Makachchev. I love the Makachef idea.

I love it. I love it so much. But I also am well aware who Islam Makachew's manager is. So he's probably on Machachev's Twitter account calling out, you know, Michael Chandler and Charles Oliva and, you know, trying to shoot him up 12 spots in the rankings, which makes like no sense right now, even though I could see him fighting for a title at some point, but I just feel like his management will do everything he can to avoid this fight or a fight with anybody ranked behind him. Gillespie-Machachev is great, and I think the UFC is going to see the buzz behind it, so I think they're going to try to get it done. And I think eventually it will get done. But if Mokachev says no and looks at it in a different way, like Gillespie will move

up past Islam Makachchev, in my opinion, because when you have a performance like that, you're not in the promotions, good graces, you're in their great graces. Like, they're just like, whatever you want, bro. Like, let's do it. This is like not the impact of Yuri Phrashka, but pretty darn close for a guy that's outside of a main event. So I love the Makachchev idea. If Islam's team no sells it too much, which I actually predict they will, now that I

think about it even more. you want to do Gillespie versus Dan Hooker? That sounds like a swell time to me as well, A.K. Yeah, look, tough matchup for Hooker. But again, you know, he's in that section of the lightweight division where there are no easy matchups for Dan Hooker, really, unless he wants to dip, like, outside of the top, like, 35. Really, anyone in that range is super tough.

You know, stylistically, again, I would favor Gillespie, I suppose. I'd favor him stylistically, I guess a lot of people, but certainly not a reason not to make that matchup. Yeah, I'm down with that. the other thing that Gillespie did the other day was was it did he mention who was it that that first started talking about how I mean it's not new we know he's known for being a great fisherman did they mention on the broadcast that he was like you know the best fisherman in the MMA was it you Mike that did or Damon so someone tweeted it out and then all these

responses are coming in from other fighters saying like oh now Connor McGregor chimed in he he he took offense to not being considered part of the greatest fisherman discussion. He tweeted about it like three times. And Habib tweeted on Islam's behalf, a picture of Islam with a sizable fish. So we're talking about matching him up with fights, but Gregor has got a whole other bunch of views to deal with apparently.

He's got another realm of expertise to defend. So congrats to him on that as well. And any sort of heat you can get in this business, even if it's based around fish, you know, it's good stuff. Yeah, UFC Fight Pass, like, what are you doing? You're looking for all this, like, new content. Do a fishing with Gregor show and just have him on the boat with, like, other fighters, and they're just catching fish and talking.

Like, that's, I'm in. I will watch that every single week. Phil Haas kicked off the main card, AK. He gets the decision went over Kyle Dawkes, Megatron, getting better and better. He is eliminating that storyline that's been attached to him for a while of get him out of the first round, and he's an easy win. Not the case on Saturday. That is a very scary man at 185 getting better and better,

as cardio is getting better. And normally we would matchmake for young Phil Haas here, but he already has a date set with Duran win on July 17th. And by the way, the Lamos Ruiz fight also July 17th. I looked that up. So the UFC did our jobs for us, the old double booking trick that looks like it will actually play out this time, it appears, AK.

So good for Phil Haas. you look like you have something to say about that. I was just like, it's amazing that it did work out the way it did. Fingers crossed, by the way, that, you know, medical suspension. It was a pretty tough fight. So fingers crossed, no, you know, he doesn't receive a, when is his next fight? June? July 17th.

July 17th. So there's some time. So fingers crossed, he doesn't get one of those potential six-month suspensions, which I think, as we all know, don't always last six months anyway. You know, you can always get clearance from that as long as everything's, you know, turns out to be in tip-top shape. But yeah, very savvy of Phil Haas to get that book, the UFC to do that for him. And yeah, temporary ban from the show because he, you know, he's booked for the next,

we know he's booked until July. But not a punishment ban, a ban, a ban of respect. A band of like, wow, well done. A good ban. A good ban. A good ban. A vacation. We'll call it a vacation for months.

You don't want to be mentioned in our show anyway. So that means we're going to jump right into the, wild card round, A.K. We're going to select a fighter we have not match made for yet. It will do so right now. So what is your wild card selection coming out of UFC Vegas 26? Man, it ain't that wild. I want this match

up. The people want this match up. I've been calling for this since both guys recently, like they're their most recent fights before this one. Jun Yonge Park, great performance against Tafon Chukwe. It's him and Julian Marquez, man. Let's make this happen. The people want it. That's the fight.

I did not go with that one because I knew you were going to go with that one. Of course. So I'm going to go ahead and matchmake the final fight of Donald Seroni's UFC career, okay? And- Pick us on a journey. I just want to do this the right way. I mentioned this on the post-fight show that we need to kind of handle this Uriah Faber-esque. You know what I mean?

Like, I know the UFC likes to take these guys with big names, and there's nothing wrong with this, by the way. And on their way out, throw them in the... there with a hungry lion to get the proverbial rub off the big name. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's how business is done in combat sports and professional wrestling and stuff like that. But I want to do it the right way because there's no need to throw him in there with the young killer. I say throw him in there with a guy that cowboy has not only already fought, but has already finished in a fight. And it was seven years ago. Cowboy is adamant that he wants to go

back to 155. And if that's what he wants to do, let him do it as he prepares to face one Jim Miller. This is the perfect last hurrah. Cowboy has that confidence that he stopped Jim Miller already. Jim can try to negate that loss on the tail end of his career. I think this is a perfect retirement fight, AK. Right where it needs to be. There's that sweet spot. You look at the dartboard. This is the bullseye. Cowboy, Jim Miller. outdoorsmen battling it out in a battle of respect one last time I'm down that's the one I want to see so beautiful that's a that's a beautiful matchup they're not really such things as beautiful matchups in combat sports but that's a beautiful matchup if if okay no he's two he's two

I was going to say he's two wins behind seroni I was wondering if he if he won could he tie him or pass him okay so two wins behind yeah I can't see either guy having a problem with this Jim Miller's in a little bit of a slump himself. Oddly, I don't feel like he's as close. He's the same age. He's been a few months younger than Soroni. But oddly, I don't know. It's weird.

Sorry, I don't know if I missed you saying this. Would you see this as a potential retirement fight for both guys? I don't think Jim Miller is looking at retirement right now. Okay. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We don't talk about as much. He wants to fight at UFC 300, so, which is just like insane. to think about.

I think it helps that, of course, I mean, when we think about Soroni's recent losses, we think about Gaith G, we think about McGregor. I mean, there's some pretty ugly knockouts in there. His eye getting swelled up against Tony Ferguson, you know. You know, Jim Miller's losing some tough fights, but he hasn't been knocked out. I'm looking here in three years since fighting Dan Hooker.

So, and I'm not just saying, you know, you only take damage in fights we get knocked out. But the optics of it are we definitely see kind of a lot of quick finishes for Seroni. It does feel like we are very close to the end here. another one on Saturday. So, no, I think that's a great matchup. Yeah, would love to see both guys sign up for it.

Like you said, especially if he's going back down to 155, I think that's the one that's the one that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, and the two guys with the most fights in UFC history, right? I think Seroni 37. I'm just looking right now. And Jim Miller, I think maybe one behind? 36. Oh, no, they're tied.

They're tied. I'm sorry, 37 each. Wow. Throw it. And throw it on a pay-per-view. like main card opener on a pay-per-view or featured pre-reelum on ESPN that's the fight if you want to do it on July 10th do it on July 10th I know I know Cowboy just got stopped but you want to do July 10th fine you want to do it August paper be fine September paper view fine

like just do it in front of fans let him have his moment and let him make that walk to that crappy kid rock song one more time oh shots fired what a drive-by out of nowhere oh my goodness It's a shame there isn't like a bigger card, like some anniversary card coming up, because I always think about, I'm just looking at Jim Miller's insane resume. UFC 100, UFC 196, one of the biggest cards ever. UFC 200, 205, one of the biggest cards ever. Like Jim Miller, his name is associated with so many massive events. I know people are saying, oh, well, he's been around for a while.

It's like there's a lot of, I mean, well, not a lot of people have been around as long as him, but you can be in the UFC for five, six years and not end up. on one of these, like, massive cards. He's been on four of them. Four of the most, like, massive, important pay-per-views in the company. So, yeah, this is just a Jim Miller appreciation show now. My goodness. Yeah, this is the fight.

And that just proves it and puts it over the top. So before we go to the peeps, we don't have as many as we had last week or the week before. But we've got some, and that's fine. Is there a, is anybody attacking me? Any mic checks? Any check the tapes? No, I don't think we had a mic check this week. If I did, I missed it.

Shout out to the listeners for a couple of matchups, which a popular ones. Irina Aldana versus Yonakoun and Skya was one that people wanted. That's now UFC 24, July 10th. And Gerald Mearschart and Mahmoud Murdo. Markmoon Meredov, a popular name. And Mearshert was one of the names that was thrown out there by a few listeners. So he won the Murdof sweepstakes. They are fighting on August 28th.

Michael Perugini wanted to get credit. I had to ask you for that. Check the tapes credit for the Chase Sherman. Parker Porter rebooking on August 21st. But I think, did we not, like, didn't you, I keep asking, didn't you mention that that was being rebooked? Didn't we know, did we not know that that was going to be rebooked already? Well, I mean, I'm kind of surprised I got rebooked.

I wasn't, I, especially, Chase Sherman just fought. Like, he just fought Arlowski, April 17th. Because that, that's when that fight was supposed to happen. Sherman loses and already rebooked to fight Parker Porter. Sure. Okay. So. All right, Michael Perrigine.

I'll give you partial credit. That, well done. I think some other listeners called for that one too, but Michael, you wanted attention and now you have it. And check the case for myself, I kind of called O'Malley versus Smolka, which is coming. I forgot the date now, but that's coming up now. That's O'Malley's next fight. I called for this one last year. I wanted him to kind of get the spot that Thomas Almeida eventually ended up getting sort of the comeback fight for O'Malley.

And I still don't hate the matchup. I don't think him beating Almeida like, oh, now he has to go back to fight someone. in the top 15 or top 20 like why why he's 27 years old i might not be a fan of o'mali personally but i think he's a super exciting fighter and i think you can you need you need to keep building him up the right way these are good matchups that showcase his skills i get it i i understand if people want to just skip this and like oh you know smoke is a journeyman or whatever but i think smoke is a very tough opponent yes a winnable fight for o'malley but that's okay when you're building up uh talented fighters like o'malley you're supposed to give them winnable matchups

guys. And Cheeto Vera was a great matchup. That was right at that line of, like, guys who I thought he could beat would also be a great challenge. He lost to Vera. That's fine. Now you course correct and you give him the Thomas Alamedas. You give him the Smokas.

And you hope that he's, you know, he keeps winning and showing off what he can do. So I like that matchup a lot. Mike, I don't know if you thought this is a waste of an O'Malley booking or. No, I like, I like it too. I actually, I knew one of us had mentioned that. I think we both had last year. Yeah. I like it.

I think it's a fine fight. I think it's a fine fight because it just depends on which Lewis Smolka shows up. If Lewis Smolka, the guy with all this potential that we keep talking about that we see from time to time shows up, he could give Sean O'Malley some problems. I mean, this is a very talented fighter. But if we get the Lewis Smolka who struggles to make Wade and doesn't give a shit and sorry, but it happens. He's admitted that it's happened. So, like, I'm not, I'm not just making things up. These are things that he has said.

If that guy shows up, he's going to get knocked out viciously. So we'll see. I mean, Smoka seems motivated now. We'll see. If he goes out there, beat Shot-O-Malley, gets a lot of that steam. Because look what happened to Mar-O-M-Vara. Mountaine got to fight Josei-Frikan Aldo after he beat shot on Malley. So Smoka may actually get the opportunity to live up to his potential.

after all. So I like the fight. I got no issue with it whatsoever. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson. Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard. Groceries that. over deliver. Service-based exclusions and terms apply.

That's it. That's it for the tapes check. Are we going on to the listeners? We will go to the listeners. Let me throw the standard disclaimer while you look up your... Remember, there's the now standard disclaimer. Guys, emphasis on winners, unless they're in the main event or title fight. We like to emphasize unique matchups.

So, you know, if we don't mention you, it's probably because a bunch of other people mention it. The fighter may already be booked. People, do your research. Do your research. This happened a lot with Phil Haas this week. Come on. And then you may have just made a mistake.

You know, maybe wrong weight class. The person fought... The two people have fought already. you didn't remember someone's injured it's not going to be back for a while and of course most importantly your pick might just be do-do and we don't want to read it so mike please uh lead us off uh let me see i'm i probably should have been a little more uh oh wait well sorry why you know while you're looking i'll give us another second to gather your thoughts uh so oh a lot of people want a jung yong park versus eric anders and i don't blame people from missing this one because

I think this report just came out yesterday. Did you see this report of Eric Anders and Darren Stewart? Rebooked, yeah. I believe, I want to say it was broken by Sergio Pinero of Fighter Path, if I'm not mistaken. That's the first reference I saw to it. So shut us, Sergio. But yes, I believe they are rebooked after their unfortunate no contest last time for

UFC 263, June 12. So I'm not calling people out for trying to book Park Anders. I do think that is a really good matchup, but it does sound like It's not officially yet, but it does, and I don't think we've confirmed it, but it does sound like there's at least talks of Anders and Stewart rematching. So Anders, out of the question for now. All right, so I want to get to some of the first timers here. Oh, here we go.

Big shout out to Otto Marley. This has nothing to do with the card, but he wanted to make sure he got this in. He said, he listens on Spotify, says, we're awesome AK, which I like. But he wanted to throw out a matchup out there that nobody has thought of. if Charles Olivera wins the belt at 155, he could call up Max Holloway to redeem his loss. I mean, Max is in a weird spot. He's got a lot of time and will fight anybody anywhere. So he's suggesting if Olivera wins the title that he fights Max Holloway for the lightweight title.

That's a crazy fight. Not against it. Not against it. Michael Conifrey, first time suggesting Jeff Neal versus Randy Brown. or Michelle Paheda. I know he lost the fight and he's going to be taking some time off, but he says when he's ready to come back, that's what he would like to see.

And he would also like to go to UFC 263 and he wants my advice how to get his dad to take him. So I don't know. Just ask nicely would be the way I would go about it. Let's see. This is Brandon Nunez, suggesting Gregor Gillespie versus Paul Felder. A lot of that. Yeah, a lot of that.

Magni versus Sean Brady or Shemi. Morano versus Daniel Rodriguez. That's fun. Rodriguez versus Joanna. Waterson versus Verna. Ferner is booked. But if she wins, I'm not a bad idea. Evan Rodriguez.

Marina versus Joanna versus Yonna. Waterson versus Nina Nunes. Morano versus Condit. Like seeing Marano fighting these veteran guys. I think fight with Kondo would be an amazing fight to make. That's fine. I like that idea as well, AK. Magni Shemi Shamiyaf, Gillespie versus the Tony Fergus

versus Benile Darius loser. Okay. Diego Fahado versus Armand Sarukian. Who was this? Who is his name of this person? This is Evan Rodriguez. Okay, I just want to make sure. I was someone who already also said to me.

Okay. Jake Marshall, Marina versus the loser of Jan Esparsa. There you go. Thank you, Jake. Appreciate that. Zach Andrews. Another Rodriguez versus JJ or Jessica Androj. Marina Rodriguez versus Jessica Androj,

Andrade if she goes back to 115. Marado versus Max Griffin. That's a fun fight. Another Magni Hamzat. Lima versus Nassimento. Or DeLima versus Nassimento. Gregor versus Tiago Moises or Saurucan. Carlson Harris versus Impa Kisangani.

Mike Trisano versus Gavin Tucker. Thick Bich. Wow. Okay. Carlson Harris versus Gunner Nelson. Jung-Yung Park versus Brennan Allen. Mike Trezano versus Chaskelly

Gregor Gillespie another for Darayush-Ferguson loser but only if B'Neill loses Let's see Delema versus Espino Oh God Are you trying to kill this man? Come on man

Neil Magdie versus Muhammad Maya winner if Bilal wins Murano versus Nicholas Dalby and Marina Rodriguez versus Zhang Wei Lee is his suggestion Zach Diamond Samson

Gregor versus Another popular word Gregor versus the Ferguson Dariesh loser And he's asking If I think Maurice Green

could make light heavy weight He might have to Maurice He's tall Yeah he's a big dude How much did he wait for this one You know I think it came in pretty high

Let me find He looks great It was like the best he's ever looked Who called him out? on Twitter though. Who, was it, was it,

our boy, Keller heard that called him out. Someone said, uh, someone said he looks good, but he just shaved his chest or something. And so it made it,

so it made his like, you know, everything popped. I know, I should say, maybe it was one of his teammates that called, someone made a joke about it on Twitter. One of our,

are the usual, maybe I've been in Balal or, uh, Brian Keller her. Yeah, someone says, like, no,

he just shaved his chest. He looks the same. That's pretty funny. Yeah, I talked to his manager yesterday. says, the manager agreed that he lost weight. along with the shave chest.

I don't know if Morrie's Green will be fighting in the UFC again. Oh, wait a minute. I found the weight. He weighed in... Oh, you're 237. So I get... So I understand the light heavyweight suggestion, right? When you see so...

Have we coming that far under the 2605 limit? Yeah, okay. I get it. Yeah, I don't know if he can make 205. He's a big dude. He seems really big, yeah. Let's see. Francisco.

He calls up the best Italian fan of on to the next one. Wow. So who do you think he suggested Phil Haas fight if he beats Duran win? The DeKirico DeLi-Sei winner. Correct. Of course. Gillespie, Mokachev, De Lima, Danjo, Magni, I'm okay with Lukey or the loser of Thompson Burns. Marana versus Condit or Marano versus Grant Dawson if Marano wants to drop a 55, but I don't think he's going to drop 55.

Has he fought a 55 before? I can't remember the last time he fought to 55 if he did. uh, Rodriguez versus the winner of Caitlin Chacon, Viviani Araujo fight if she wants to stay at 125. Um, so there you go. To the world, baby.

That's the person's name. Uh, well, it's not really. That's their hand, Instagram handle. Yeah. Or Twitter.

That's, that's the IG handle. It's not a matchmaking suggestion. It's a different kind of suggestion. It's, it's, it's not a rude suggestion. No, no, no, no. It's not. It's not.

It's not. not telling us to go screw ourselves and then poppy bryans comes in and just has one suggestion and said the loser of yon janaan and carlo asparza fights marina rodriguez and now going to our regulars real quick uh christian lee nico price uh for alex morano either the rematch nico price or randy brown for hodriguez esparza zhaunan loser because the winner is likely the number one contender Patrick Austin Gregor versus Felder Haas versus Buckley

I like that idea I actually I liked that idea before I don't really like it right now I think Phil Haas is way ahead of Joaquin Buckley right now plus he's book to fight somebody else Jeff Neal versus Carlos Condit Morano versus the other cowboy he might have to give both cowboys his walking papers

Oh I hadn't thought about that one That's not a bad idea That makes a lot of sense It does make a lot of sense. Patrick Austin. Who has fought both off the top of her? I have no idea. Can we think of anyone that's fought both of them?

Jose Young should probably know. I was going to say, let me call Jose right now. We'll call him in. We'll dial them in. Does Neil Magny versus Nick Diaz make sense? I don't know. Sorry, what was the question again? He asked if Neil Magne versus Nick Diaz makes sense.

Do we need to ban Nick Diaz from the show as well? I like Neil Magnny versus Dick. I like Neil Magny versus Nick Diaz. Way more than I like Hamzat Jemaiah versus Jemaiah versus Nick Diaz. As do I? But I like Neil Magnet versus Hamzat even more than I like Neil Magnet versus Nick Diaz. And again, God, do we even know? I mean, he's making that street sweet.

What's that? What is that thing he just released this week? Oh, he's teaching, teaching, uh, what is it called? Nude ladies, how to, how to strike. Is that what it is? He's, well, I don't know if they're necessarily that to be nude. This is with, I'm going to, I'll shout out the streaming platform. I'll get this.

It is what I thought it was called. Yeah, okay, strip chat. Yeah. Strip chat. So he is teaching self-defense, yes, to women. Scantily clad women. Women who perform in front of a camera. Yes.

Strip chat. Strip chat. There you go. There's your plug. A couple more. Matt Rivelli. Marano versus Randy Brown. Another suggestion.

Marino Rodriguez versus McKenzie Dern would be a banger. And then he said, Also keep seeing Gillespie versus Mokachev's suggestions would be awesome, but I don't know if Islam would fight back, would fight Gillespie next, which I agree with. Let's see. Another week,

another robbery review on BTL for AK. What? John George saying you got, there should be a robbery review from your appearance on the gauntlet, saying you won. Oh, I know, look, look, I was going up against the goat. I was going to, you know, I had to,

Thank you guys. I thought I did very well. I thought you did very well. But I have nothing by respect for Phoenix. Cardo Valley. She's a beast. And I think she'd beat me fair and square. But I got a lot of confidence from that one.

Yes. Apparently, there should be two robbery reviews. You versus Phoenix and Al Shadi versus Jose. A lot of people thought Al Shadi won that one. I thought I did too. I think I picked Sean. I was the dissenting judge. I was the Chris Lili of the Knights.

So I don't know. I don't know how accurate I was. But I think I picked Sean. Let's see. Where are we going here? Diego Faheda versus Mike Perry at 170. Is John George's suggestion? I don't know.

Mike Perry can... He has other things he needs to worry about. If not, Sarukian would be fun. Gillespie versus Islam. Jeff Neal versus Nico Price, because someone's going to get knocked out. We already saw that fight, though, John. And Jeff Neal won that fight in violent fashion. And then finally, Jack Porter, we got Rodriguez versus Zhang Wei Lee,

Watterson, Nunes. Magni Brady or Shemiah since he's the only one willing to take either of those fights, Gillespie versus Felder, Haas versus DeCirico, and how about Carlson Harris versus Monier Lazzes? That's fun fight. I saw that too. That's a sick-ass fight. These listeners are so important with their matchup sometimes, you know what I mean? Like I know when they agree on something that I know it makes sense.

I was like, yeah, man, that's that's a good one. Okay, I'm done. On to you. Okay. I can find two fighters that have fought both Cowboys. I may be forgetting, I may be forgetting someone. But Mike Perry fought both Cowboys. He was submitted by Soroni, the Arm Bar.

And he beat, he won a decision against Cowboy Olivera. And Yancey Madero, of course, had that amazing fight with Cowboy Olivera at UFC 218. That fight was, I think that's the only fight in UFC history where both fighters scored multiple knockdowns or multiple knockdowns in a round or something. That fight was just stupid. And then, and then he immediately fought Cowboy Soroni in the next fight and lost my first round TPO, but got at least got a nice hug from Grandma Soloni. That was the friendliest fight ever. So I don't know how I forgot that.

But yeah, it's a great two-fight series there. And yeah, maybe Marano joins that. Maybe he joins the cowboy, cowboy killers lineup. Okay. Well, my guy, I guess I don't like to repeat too many. So I'll try and run down some of the names we got here. And there's just some wonderful messages that I'm going to end up. I cannot wait until I get to the last message.

Okay. I'm going to shout on my email boys first because they often get this short end of the stick, but Tristan Gordette and Harry Duoskin are always coming in every week. Tristan Gordet, again, four of those, I'm just going to run down, he gave four of the most popular choices. Rodriguez, Yajic, Marano Brown, Magni, Shemaya. This was everywhere.

I think almost everyone who sent in submissions suggested Maggie Shemiah. This is one of the most, I think, matched up, one of the most popular matches, I would say, this year that I've seen. And then Gillespie Felder. And I think you got the message on Twitter from our boy Bobby Adkins who said who thinks he thinks Gregor will retire Felder I believe you got tagged in this message

Oh no maybe you didn't I might have been Oh no he said hashtag I'm sorry he used the hashtag Auto so even better And said Gregor sadly retires Paul Felder I don't know about that I don't know Like I would pick Gillespie to win that fight

But I don't know if that would actually be the end of Paul Felder I think I think Felder's got some good fights left in him Yeah I don't know if that matchup gets Paul Felder Like back in the octagon You know what I mean Oh true And that's the other thing. That's right.

We know that Felder is being very picky with sort of however many fights he has remaining in his career. That might not be one he's interested. Justin got very tricky with one of his matchups. I see you. Justin, I see you. I see you. He goes, Carlston Harris. Tell me if this name rings of Belmont versus Yoros, Jorish, Yorish.

I probably killed that pronunciation. What? Carlson Harris versus Joros Joris. Joris. Bessich. Huh. This guy is not even, I'm not, like, don't worry. This guy is not even signed to the UFC.

All right. This is not a contender series guy. This is not like, I think it's Marcus Vaghi. He's bringing up, you know, new fighters who just, who either had their fight cancel, just haven't been rebooked yet. This guy is not, as far as I know, is not signed to the UFC. I looked it up. Is there a rumor I missed?

He's a top guy over in, he just fought for KSW. And then the only reason you remember him is that you can look this up later. is he lost to Shamil and Lassayev, another top guy. And then there was a post-fight in melee. It was a KSW 58 in January. So I don't know. Maybe he's been signed that I swear I look this up. So Tristan, maybe you're galaxy braining this

and you pick the sick fight for debut fight for Euros. But I don't know. I almost should ban you a week for being just too clever. Our listeners are too clever sometimes. Harry Duoscan had a bunch of good matches. I won't read them all. He likes Carlson Harris versus Dwight Grant. I thought this is a little too much too soon.

Trezano versus Andre Feely? Don't hate it. Is that? Is Trisano at that level yet? I did not watch Saturday's fight closely, so I apologize to you. I think he can be. I mean, he was injured, he was out for a while, so it kind of slowed his momentum. He did lose to Grant Dawson, but Grant Dawson's just a monster.

Like once that guy gets on top of you, just nothing you can do about it. And not a featherweight. anymore. Let's be honest. Not a featherweight. 100%. Dude's huge. That's a fine fight for me. I mean, it wouldn't be my first choice, but it makes sense. Chazano would jump at it.

I mean, Shazano would jump at that fight in a second time. And I'm not saying Phile would say no. I just don't think it's a fight that he's looking for right now. He mentioned, of course, Magny v. Sean Brady, and he said, he acknowledged, as you pointed out, everyone's going to be saying Magny versus Shemiah, but he thinks Magne is the perfect test for how good Sean Brady is. And he says, I think Mike Heck would love this match.

Do you love the Magny, Sean Brady? I do. I like that matchup. It looks like Sean Brady and Lee Jingliang have social media agreed to fight each other. Yes. Oh, Brady and Lee. Brady, yeah. Yeah. That's right.

Did I say Magnet? My bad. Brady and Lee Jingle. No, no, I think you said Brady. I think I just missed that. Okay. Well, you know, we'll check the tapes later. We'll check the tapes.

We'll fix it in post. We'll fix this whole exchange in post. No one will hear this. But yeah, yeah, yeah, Lee and Brady, yeah, which I think is a good match. Lee, very popular name on A&O, no. But, yeah. I know four corner sports and why this did tag both of us. And one of the matches are like, Jeff Neal maybe versus Lawler or Carlos Condit.

I'm like, yeah, okay, I want to get Lawler and Condit back in the mix somewhere. So I don't hate that. Dustin Gedco, who I believe is a longtime listener. If he's not, then I apologize. But I finally sent in some suggestions, so I do want to shout him out. Marina, Yachet-Cech, Gregor, loser, Darius Ferguson, and Magni v. Brady v. Brady v. Brady v. Brady v. Brady and Brady, also loved the Harris. Munir-Lazazaz match.

up. He's down with Park Marquez. I'm telling you, everyone wants this. I like this one a lot. This was mentioned by a couple people, too. Trizano versus Omar Morales. I think for me, I think that's a more accurate test right now for him than Philly. I'm very high on Philly, maybe. Glasby versus Dotson or Surukin, we've touched upon. And yes, Marano versus Demolidore, Michel Bejera. I like it. I mentioned Michael Perugini before and check the tapes. He likes Cowboy versus Condit, or he just says, congrats on a great career. Happy Trails to Cowboy, whatever happens there. Morano versus Alan Joban.

Hmm. I kind of don't I kind of don't want to see Alan Joban fight anymore. He has a lot going on. He has a lot going on. He doesn't need to fight. That fight with Jared Gooden

was a great fight. That was a lot of fun. But if he's, and this is no disrespect to Jared Gooden because Jared Gooden is a nice guy. But if Alan Joband is having struggles against Jared Gooden, I don't know how he does against much better competition. You know what I mean?

It's questionable. Fair. Michael Pierichini also had a couple of good matchups for Magny and Delima based on some upcoming potential losers. He says maybe Magne versus Wonderboy Gilbert Burns loser. That's on July 10th. And maybe DeLima versus the Latina. Kee-fi, Bozer, loser. That's on June 5th, so a little bit closer.

Marcus McGehy, I made a note here to read his comments on Magni Brady. What did Marcus McGahey say? That was so inspiring to me. He says, given the state of things at the top of the Walter 8 division, I can see Magny having to take on a hot prospect next. Yeah, he's been in this position before. And by my estimation, the prospect most serving exception opportunity is Sean Brady. Even though Uzman coming in Lucke and Keiz are without Bowser present, he says he wouldn't

be surprised to see all those guys kind of paired off. So, yeah, I agree. I mean, I think Lucay is, it will be available, but I can understand if, um, if they, you know, they get, they get booked and, uh, Magny has to, has to wait to see again, the result of another fight, potentially. I, I'm trying to remember, and you guys may have to go back into the archives and listen to this interview. I did with Sean Brady after his last win. I want to say he's not all that interested in fighting Neil Magne because they're like, they have a really good. good relationship. I'm pretty sure it's what he said.

But again, cheap plug. Go back into the archives. Just go into the content page and search for Sean Brady. Because I know when I last spoke with Sean, I brought that name up. And I'm pretty sure he said, me and Neil trained together. We're cool. If we're going to fight, we'll fight later, not now, kind of a thing. Yeah, I agree.

I think it would have to be something like, well, Sean, you win this one and you know, you're in the top five or something. if you that that might yeah that makes sense uh he also likes Harris versus abubakar nirmagumetov first of all he just said Harris versus normagumetop and let me tell you something people I get it they all fight in different way classes but please I'm don't make me think more than I have to just remind me which one is I know there's site right now there's Saeed Umar and Abubakar Narama met up in the U.S.A yes they fight in different way classes but I still

I it all jumbles together please help me help me skip that extra job I haven't look that up I'll I got I'm gonna run through some of these quickly because I yeah we just you know Keep this show tight. Lockedagon, I want to read it from Twitter. I wanted to read his message. He says two things. One, he wants to see an upside down Alex Marano fight Joshua Fabia.

I hate to mention Fabia on the show, but I would love seeing an upside down Alex Marano beat the crap out of him. And then his real submission, he says, if Maro wants to continue, the Randy Orton-Leaden killer tour, then yes, he says Morano versus Condon. So that one is definitely out there. I don't know if Condit would want to take that. Ryan Doherty, shout-outs to him, Marano versus Brady. Chris Dragon Slayer 2

Magny versus Brae Man this is yeah Magny versus Brady So I mean Brady Wait Brady is fighting Is he fighting next? He is not booked He's not booked

He wants Lee Jing Lang It looks like those two guys Man Brady is That guy's good He is That guy is good Tocke Gertin Jensen Yes he mentioned

He's one of several who mentioned Gillespie versus Hooker So I love that And I like his suggestion He said But if Soroni fights again, hopefully he likes to see Soroni versus Brian Barbarina, somewhere down the road at a show in Denver with fans. That's like the way we want to see Soroni go out.

Brian Barbarina is booked. Is he? He's fighting Jason Witt on July 31st, I believe. Well, one, I totally forgot about that. Two, it's new. It's happened like yesterday. And I also think Tulk is, again, is assuming this would be somewhere. down the road. Surrani takes some time off

and also again, and hopefully when we can open up more things in North America and we can't have it in a venue that's somewhat of a home court for Soroni and has a lot of his friends, family and fans there. That's idea. Just not at the ape. We can't have Soronni's career at the apex. No. Liam Perry

DeLima versus Rothwell. Yeah, maybe. If they can do a quick turnaround? Because, you know, it wasn't, Rothwell made weight on Friday. It was his opponent who fell ill, Philippe Lins. So I like that. I love a quick turnaround for those guys. Trezano versus Chaz Skelly.

That's it. I like that fight. And this is a fight I forgot what happened to know. Carlston, very high in Carlson Harris. Carlson Harris versus Diego Lima

Matt Brown loser on June 19th. I don't mind that at all. I don't know. I think Matt Brown would be a little bit soon for Carl. He looked great. Carlson Harris looked great.

I think it'd be a little bit soon for him. And Thomas Collins, the last Twitter guy. I will shout out. He likes Carlson Harris versus Takashi Sato. That's a little more in my wheel. House. Mike, that's more of an A.K. Lee matchup.

That's fine. I like that, too. Just a few from Instagram. And then I'll go, I had to go back to Twitter to close with the show. But just a few from Instagram. First, a Twitter user F. Steve Harvey. Again, he does not F. Steve Harvey. It's just a word I can't say right now. He says, the only fight to make is Rodriguez versus JJ.

And he likes Magnu versus Lukie as well. And I had to ask him, I thanked him for the picks. I said, why do you hate Steve Harvey? And he says, I don't actually hate him. I'm just a huge fan of Tyler the Creator. or I was a huge fan of Tyler the Creator in high school. And apparently that is a lyric at the end of one of Tyler the Creator's songs. So nothing against him.

And if you look up on Twitter, Tyler the Creator, Steve Harvey, Tyler the Creator has a tweet from back in like 2012 saying, I don't hate Steve Harvey. I just thought it was a funny thing to say. So there you go. Nothing for us to the great Steve Harvey. Matt Bradbury. Oh, he's coming in with some deep cuts.

Pettis versus, oh, sorry, sorry. This is why I wanted to mention Bellator picks. Matt Bradbury. Thank you for Bellator picks. He likes Sergio Pettis, recently crowned Bantamweight Champion, versus Brett Johns. Brett Johns is debuting with the promotion May 21st. He is coming off two UFC wins, so it would be three straight wins if he beats Mateos Matos on May 21st. And technically, Sergio did get a title shot off of one win.

So I kind of see the thinking here. I don't think, unless Brett Johns does some crazy, like 30 seconds submission or shows off someone's same strike he's never thrown before. I can't see them giving him the title shot, but I, you know what, but I like the Bellator's suggestions anyway. I do think there's a lot of Band of Wains in the line well ahead of Brett Johns, but who knows? We'll see what the rankings look like. He got it off, he got it off two wins.

Yeah, yeah. He's back to back wins in the O.C. No, no, no, no. Sergio had two wins in Bellator before he got the title shot. Who were they? Alfred Kesakian. Okay. First round submission win, and then the Ricky Bande has.

main event win in July. I didn't remember the Kashakian fight at all. Okay, well, then I think Johns is way, way back. But again, appreciate it. And Archiletta versus Magummeda. I think Magumetov's closer to a matchup with Pettus that he is with Archiletta. But I did say on one of our previous shows, I would like to see Magel Madov get one big fight, like one more big win before getting a title shot.

Maybe if he can beat Archiletta, obviously, then you're guaranteed number one contender. So I don't hate that either. I like, what about Magamatov versus Rafian Stats? I loved what Rafion Stats had to say. say after the win over Josh Hill because the commentators and everyone asking them questions was like, oh man, now you're going to, Sergio, you might have

fight your teammate now and Rafion, same thing. But Raphaon was like, I want to play bodyguard for Sergio. I'm just going to say, like, not, like all these guys are going to come to Sergio, I'm his bodyguard and start, and start whacking them away. You're going pro wrestling style, the stable. You got, you got to get past.

He's the Mr. Hughes of Sergio Pettis. Yeah, you got Anthony in there, Sergio. You got Ruffian Stats, of course, Duke Rufus. It's quite a lot of muscle there. It's quite a squad. And I'm just to all the other fighters that two Griffith's trains.

But I loved Sergio's call-o, man. Perfect. Kioji Horaguchi. Yeah. Loved that call-out. MVP versus Jason Jackson. I think that is going to happen. I do think that's the fight that MVP needs to get before.

I don't think he gets that Lima rematch right away. If Lima beats, oh, my gosh, Amasov. I think I think MVP's going to fight the winner of that fight. I don't know. I think he has to wait. I think he needs one more. I think it will be. have to do.

He has to beat Jason Jackson. That's what we have to do. So Matt Bradbury, I love the, I love the Bell Tour picks. He also likes Waterson versus Torres too. A lot of people suggesting matchups for Waterson at this point in your career. I think that's kind of where she's at. She's fought everyone, right? Marano versus Tim Means.

Yes, I like that too. Another veteran guy. And Soroni, he had a, you mentioned Sorony probably going back down to 155. I like, he said Soroni versus Michael Johnson, which actually like, it's kind of, unfortunately just throwing two guys together who run losing streaks. But sometimes that's what you got to do. you know, when you're a matchmaking. So, and it might be, yeah, whoever loses might be done with the UFC.

I'm not saying that to retire, but it might be done with the UFC. And Trisano versus Pat Sabatini. Great matchup. But maybe you think Trisano is a little bit higher than Pat now in the rankings? Yeah, probably. But if they're in it, then I'm fine with it. Three and one now, I think, in the UFC. And again, the Dawson loss is Dawson's a beast and Dawson's actually a 155 or so.

Yeah. If you really, three and O against, like, feather weights, if you want to look at that way. Dylan shoot, again, he's like me. He likes the idea of Haredriguez versus. Godelia, we still know what's going on with her. He wants the mom fight, mom champ battle, Waterson versus Nunez. He also recommended DeLima versus

Spino. So I can't remember who it was that recommended for you, Mike. Spino kills that, man. I'm sorry. Hey, you know what? Only one way to know, throw him in there. Chazano versus Jared Gordon and Carlson Harris versus Song Canaan. Yeah, I would like all those. MMA heads. Give another vote for DeLima versus Espino.

Oh, boy, I think we've got to hashtag this one somehow. People want to see it. He also liked Trisano versus Jared Gordon, so on the same page there. And Park versus Carl Roberson. Yeah. Yeah, that's, I like that. That one's okay. Jacob Best, again, previously mentioned and mentioned by a bunch of listeners

sent stuff into me as well. Marina Rodriguez versus McKenzie Duren. Sure, I don't think it happens just yet, but I absolutely see it happening down the road. Another one from Maranovers Price, too, I guess, I don't know, February 2017, it was a while ago overturned, Price, you know, smoking the wacky tobacco. and so unfortunately that was that it's technically not a fight yeah run it back it's a while ago Gillespie versus Rafael Fiziv and Faheda versus Grant Dawson that is really interesting

would be fun huh next it's next young man I'm gonna I'm sure I apologize I'm sure I'm not gonna get this name right it is um Mawani in Gemi I believe is his name Mawani here on Instagram great suggestion he's like UFC make that atomweight division and let's have Waterson versus Penet 2 I guess maybe for the inaugural UFC Adamweight title. Why? Honestly, why not?

You know, they want Waterson to get Tyler Shot. Waterson wants Tyler Shot. She's a popular fighter. This is a great way to manufacture a towel shot. I have no problem with it. I know people will whinge about it. Whatever, people. It's a fun fight. And also anything that opens up an atomweight division will be great. And the other thing, I want to do Mawani a favor because I probably bushered his name. So I will mention he has a SoundCloud.

I'll shout out Moani's SoundCloud, which I listened to the other day, some electronic music. That's M-W-A-N-I. You can look that up on SoundCloud and listen to that. But Mike, the best message I receive was from one Mr. Lamar Haas. Lamar Haas. Now, hold on, let's be clear here.

I received the message from this account some time ago. I obviously do not know if it is apparently Phil Haas' brother. I don't know if it actually is. I see a social media activity. He does talk about Phil a lot, and he says he's Phil's brother. But I don't know. Do you know, have you spoken to Phil Haas before? A long time ago.

He was in Bellator the last time I spoke with him. Well, I am trusting that this person actually is Lamar Haas, who he says he is, that he is, Phil's brother. The first time he messes me, it wasn't in response to me being a bit glib about Phil's path to the UFC. It was a long winding road, contender series, ultimate five. lighter, various other promotions, super talented guy. And I may, in fairness to Lamar, who criticized me, I may have been, like I said, I may have been a bit too sarcastic about it and made it sound like, oh, he doesn't deserve to be in the UFC, which wasn't what I meant at all.

And clearly, he has shown he definitely belongs in the UFC. And it's great to see Phil living up to so much of that potential. But Lamar was not impressed by my Phil Haas commentary in the past. But I didn't mind. It's whatever. You know, he can take it however he wants. However, he did such a nice thing. He messes me really shortly before we recorded today.

He says, good morning, brother. I want to apologize to my Twitter fingers. What you said about me had me and my family laughing. I think he means I addressed kind of his comments in other shows. So he found it funny that I brought it up. He said, I meant no offense by it. Just get passionate about family. Been a fan of the site for a long time.

Keep up the good work. That's awesome. So I think the AK Lee Haas family beef is over. Hopefully fingers crossed. And I told him no applause you needed. I was like, stop it. I know how, listen, we have takes in the media. They come off the wrong way sometimes.

It's probably me, the way I said it. So no apology, you need it, no more if you listen to this. But I do appreciate the message. So what a way. Who thought that that would ever get resolved, right? And it's amazing how that all works out because, like, as you were saying that, I was looking at a text that I had not read from last night. It was from Phil Haas's manager and said, do you want to talk to Phil Haas for the podcast?

So, and I said, yes, maybe we can do it tomorrow and then we can do it. Ask him if this is his brother Lamar, this is his loving brother Lamar who's very clearly, very protective of him, and clearly cares very much about him, which we love to see. So there we go. That's it. That's it for me, man. People, if you want to be like cool like Lamar, you can reach out to me on Twitter at Alexander K Lee on Instagram. Out of Alexander Kaylee, that's two Ks, or hit me up on email, Alex.

Dotley, excuse me, at SBNation.com. Mike, how can they reach you? I mean, you guys can find me on Instagram at this point. You're finding me. You're sending me messages. M underscore HeckJR. Twitter at Mike Heck underscore JR. That's it.

UFC 262 is next on Saturday. I can't believe it's already happening. It's already here. Live from the Toyota Center, the sold out, excuse me, Toyota Center. In Houston, Texas, we're going to have a brand new lightweight champion crowned, hopefully when Charles Olivera takes on Michael Chandler in the main events,

the co-main event also in the lightweight division, Tony Ferguson versus Benile Daryush. Rest of the main card, Jack Hermanson versus Edmund Shabazzian, Caitlin Chukagian, looking to stop the surge of Viviani Araujo. And then the people's main events, in my opinion, kicking off the main card at 145 pounds. Edson Parboza versus Hurricane Shane, Shane Grosho. burgos. That fight is terrific, ladies

gentlemen. And we're going to talk all about it. We're going to matchmake this whole damn thing. The main card anyways, next week, right here on onto the next one. So in the meantime and in between time, he is A.K. Lee. I am Mike Heck. Always remember, don't take this stuff too seriously. M.MA is supposed to be fun. We will have more fun right here next week on onto the next one. The podcast.