MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 28

Episode Date: June 6, 2021

On the 46th 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 28 event at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Jairzinho Rozenstruik following his first-round buzzer beater stoppage win over Augusto Sakai in the heavyweight headliner, Marcin Tybura, Roman Dolidze, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Gregory Rodrigues, Montana De La Rose, 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. Once again, everybody, and welcome back to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, we are back after a week off from the program since the UFC and Bellator. We're both off last week, and there's just so much going on in our lives that we decided, you know what, I think we should take a week off as well. But now we're back, and I'm very excited about that because we missed you guys. And we're going to be discussing the what's next coming out of, UFC Vegas 28, which went down this past Saturday night.

I am Mike Heck, and joining me once again is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend. Reunited, and it feels oh so good, Alex Keeley. The Prince of Positivity joins us. How are you, buddy? I'm great. My best friend, I definitely enjoyed doing shows again this week with yourself, of course, and Jose and Casey and all that. I definitely enjoyed, you know, getting to write about UFC stuff for the readers, for the listeners.

but I did not enjoy watching the UFC again as much as I thought I would. Normally all it takes a week off from, not just UFC again, there was no, excuse me, there was no Bellator, there was no PFL. It was like a week off from big North American promotion MMA. And so I thought I'd feel a lot more like jazzed up about Saturday's card once it started. Because even in the previews, we were kind of like, I don't know how excited about the card. But inside, Mike, and inside I was like, no, once this card starts, once I see, see Claudio Plias and Jordan Levin in that cage. I am going to be just super excited.

And it never, I don't know if there was any point in the night where I ever hit that level of like, oh, yes, I'm cruising. I'm watching fights. I'm feeling good. It was a little bit of a slog. It was a little bit of a slog. 14 fight card, some uneventful decisions. It was a slog.

I was like all signs were pointing. Like I was really looking forward to Woods and Solal. That was a pretty gritty fight. I was obviously looking forward to seeing Manifioro back in there. But like all signs are pointing towards Ponziabio versus Baezza, which we'll talk about in a moment because that was great. And then the follow up from that, like just, and I'm not trying to sound like a jerk because I respect anybody who gets in that octagon. But the middleweight fight after that just kind of like suck the life out of me at that point because I was just so jazzed up. But it is what it is.

But real quick, AK, no show recording this past Sunday. How did you spend your Sunday off? What did I do? Probably watching the NBA playoffs. I think that was one of their. There was still, it was first round, so I think they were still doing like four, four games in a day.

So I think I just buckled down. I watched at least like three of the four games and just washed myself in my other favorite sport, professional basketball. It's interesting, it's interesting. I know the Celtics were in the playoffs in the first round. I said they got knocked out. So you had at least some rooting interest there.

It's interesting. your team, which has been for the Raptors I'm talking about, contending for so many recent years, isn't out. And obviously, being in the playoffs better than anything, I would rather be an eight seed and get swept than my team not make the playoffs, which sounds a bit stupid. But the next best thing is having no playoffs stress and getting to watch everyone else stress about it and just enjoying the chaos that is the basketball playoffs. So I'm pretty sure that's what I did last Sunday.

It's all a blur now. It's so long ago, Mike. I know. It was a long chaotic weekend for me. It's honestly been one of the most chaotic. weeks I've had in a very long time. First now, six days with the new pooch. He's been great. I will say the wakeups are much earlier. There's some things I need to get used to with Little Shiloh, but he's been a wonderful addition to the family, and he is now the official mascot for

on to the next one. It's just like your kid. It's like when you had a kid again. It's that, you know, now your kid's growing up, now you're kind of going through that, like adjusting your sleep schedule again for a new member of the family, right? So you've kind of been through this. You kind of did this before. It's just maybe you thought those days were over. I don't know. At least he let me sleep till like 6.30 this morning. So I was very appreciative of that. But anyhow, it is time, Shiloh. Shiloh. Shiloh. I remember. I cannot remember. Does your dog actually have a legal middle name?

His tag should be here soon. I'll say Shaille Michael. Heck. And I will say this. I am not egotistical enough to throw my middle name in there. This is my kids' name for him. It's his, it's Graysson's middle name. So he decided, you know what, I'm going to give my middle name. to the dog as well. I've never been a pet owner, but someone told me that all pets, all pets have metal names, right? Like they legally, do they legally have to have middle names? I have no idea. Or they, oh, sorry, they have to have last names.

Maybe that's what threw me off. Someone threw me off saying, like, you know, when you go to the vet and stuff like that, I think there is like a registry, if anything, just to kind of separate all the, all the shilos or all the, you know, Benjys or whatever. So I think they do have either. They have like microchips. Well, that's, okay, so I guess technology is advanced. But, oh, that's nice.

He has a full name. I will do my best, Mike, to remember? I am terrible remembering my friend's pet's names. Are you offended? Would you be offended? Will you be offended if someone doesn't remember your pet's name? No. No.

Okay. I'm good with kid names. Yeah. Most, like anyone who meets him will remember him because he is a sweetheart. Like, he is the talk of the town right now. Everyone who meets him is just like, wow. Like, how long have you had this dog for? Like, four or five days?

And they're just like blown away because he's so cool. Like, just loves everybody. It's great. I'm afraid of dogs. I don't know if I've said this on the air before. I'm afraid of dogs. But I trust you that I would get along with your dog. I am 38 years old.

This is the first dog I've ever had in my life. Ever. I've never been a big pet guy because, like, it's not that I don't like them. It's just like I don't trust them. But this one, like, once I met him, like, you melt in my heart. And I just had to bring him in, you know? It was a no-brainer. But anyway.

That you were a tough, that you were a tough MM-A guy. I know. I'm a sensitive soul, what can I say? But I am excited to match-making. and we will do so right now. And let us begin with the man that closed the show on Saturday. Jarzina Rosenstrike stops Augusto Sakai at 459 of the first round. He gets back on track.

The power was on display. And when that man connects AK, that's what typically happens. The show comes to an end. So where does Biggie Boy go from his big win on Saturday? Look, I hope our listeners didn't mind our extended preamble there. But I think we can knock off the first couple of names right away. I mean, this seems pretty simple to me. There are other options.

But I say, do the easy thing. This is what both guys. Both guys impressed first round finishes. I just say Jarrizino and Marchant-Tabura. Both guys are very self-aware of where their careers are. Neither is campaigning for a tell-a-shot. Both are pretty much saying, well, Jarzino wants someone ranked ahead of him. That's not where Tabar will be, I think, this week, when the rankings come out.

But he'll be, at worst, two spots behind where Jarzino is in the rankings. It's very close clustered together. So I don't think he would object to fighting March. to Burra. So I think that's the easy way to go. Both guys are healthy and the timelines line up. I say go that one direction. Yeah. And you know what? Some people can listen to this and call this lazy booking. But like I said on the preview show on Friday, having a heavyweight main event and co-main event can sometimes lead to easy matchmaking. And I will admit, when I first thought about the co-main event, like I didn't really take a deep look at the

rankings. Like I thought Walt Harris was in the top 15. But I didn't know until Saturday they he's ranked number eight. I was like, what? I was like, he's ranked, no respect to Wall Harris, but he suffered a couple of really bad losses in a row. I was surprised that he was in the top, the top 10.

I thought he was like maybe 13 or 14, but, you know, after seeing that bit of information and seeing how these fights played out, it made it even easier. I want to see what Marching Taubora has. So give him the fight with Jarzino, because come Tuesday, like you said,

he'll be two spots behind Jarzino, both got first-arm finishes, and it's an interesting fight. And the questions I have is like, Tabor's chin is ridiculous, but how will it hold up against a guy with Biggie Boy's power? On the flip side, how will Jarzino deal with the ground game and the durability of Tibera? And I just want to know how good Tibera actually is. Like, is he a legit future title contender or is he a perennial back half of the top 15 guy?

There's nothing wrong with either of those, but I just want to know which side of the fence he sits on. and I understand that the popular choice is Curtis Blades, but I will also say that Curtis Blades has had many of chances in big fights. Timing, unfortunately, was always his worst enemy. And you can put Curtis in there with anybody in the top 15, and it works in my opinion, especially after that devastating loss to Derek Lewis. And I'm all, like, I think people forget, and I'm just going to go back to my pick after the Ingano Steep A2 card,

after France and Ghana became the champion, Steppe Miotr's versus Curtis Blades was like the perfect fight to make for Stepe and Curtis to come back to. Make that fight. Like, people forget about Stepey. And if Stepey wins, and they can't come to terms of John Jones still after that,

then Stepe can fight the winner of Ingano Lewis. But let's give poor Marchein Taiboa a chance to see what he's made of against a really interesting top 10 fighter. I have questions, AK. I need answers to these questions, and this fight will provide all those for me. Yeah.

And look, you said it was like lazy matchmaking. I call this good matchmaking, not even on our part. I call this good matchmaking on the part of the UFC. I like when they book multiple guys. I mean, sometimes it's luck, but when they have the chance to book multiple guys that are sort of in the same range in the rankings and the same division on the same card, good, good job. Credit Sean Shelby, McManard, excellent job, because this should make your lives easy.

if everyone agrees to wanting this fight next. It's just the way these things should work. We shouldn't, I mean, this is the reason people listen to this show, so I'm glad they tune in, but it shouldn't have to always take sort of all these mental gymnastics and like, oh, looking at the MMA math to figure out who should fight who next. Sometimes it's really good when it comes down to, well, these guys both in the top 10, they both bought on this card. Let's just match them up.

But yeah, there's other, I assume, do you have other options for either guy? I mean, not particularly. I just, I mean, listen, in this division with where it stands right now, nothing doesn't make sense. You know what I mean? Like literally, like, for Jarzino, it's Taibor or Blades. Like, those are the two most sensible fights, but I think Taibora makes more sense than blades. How about Lewis if Lewis, and we keep talking about this fight, I don't know, we're still not officially booked, but Lewis, if Lewis loses to him gun. Yeah, I'm fine with that.

Yeah. And for Tabura, the Gone Volkov winner, June 26, kind of the same, sameish range. I think gone is higher than, oh yeah, of course, gone. I was going to say, I think, yeah, gone is higher than Rosenstrike now. He just beat him. Volkov is lower, but if he beat gone, would take his spot. So, yeah, right, that's also possible. Again, I'm just throwing alternatives.

I think we, we and I think a lot of the readers and listeners agree to Borough Rosenstrik. Yeah, I think that's a lot of. I think that's fine. Like, come on. Give the man an opportunity. He's won five in a row. And, you know, he's beat one rank guy, whatever. You want to throw stats out there?

I just want to see what he's made of. Sink or swim time, he's definitely in that spot. So we kind of knocked two of these fights out right off the bat, but we did have the aforementioned fight at 185 pounds, not the most aesthetically pleasing fight in UFC history, if we're being honest. But at the end of the day, Roman DeLidezai gets his first UFC win at 185 pounds against Loryano Storopoli.

and I think this is maybe the easiest piece of business we could do on the show because Delizzi is a guy who wants to stay active. He didn't take much damage, if any, in this fight. He was supposed to fight Alessio DiCirico, who was forced out with a, what I was told, was a slight injury and says he'll be ready for August. There you go. Rebook that fight. That makes sense, and that's totally fine with me.

What say you? Yeah, I've been bolded on my document here, Alisio DiKirko. So, Dick Kierko said publicly, don't find a new opponent. Let's just, can we just push the fight back? So, yeah, it doesn't look like the lead to say took a lot of damage in that fight. Could be wrong. You know, during the week when those things come out, we always, sometimes you see weird stuff like a guy like hurt his foot and you couldn't tell. Or hand injuries, of course, always very common even for guys who win fights.

People are always surprised when they see like, oh, the guy who got who scored a knockout could be out for six months because he hurt his hand. And the guy who got knocked out is only like, you know, he's only out for. for a month or something. So that kind of stuff happens, but it looked like Deletesay probably pretty healthy after. Not saying he didn't work hard for the win. It just wasn't, you know, it wasn't exactly high and high impact for either fighter. So, yeah, I like that one.

I just think you just rebook that. My other thing was, is there an elite wrestler that we can throw Deleite in there with? Most of them are pretty high up. I was trying to think of a wrestler. Derek Brunson's way too high for him right now. Martin Vittori, really good wrestler, way, too high. Yo Romero, not the company anymore.

And that matchup would have been absurd. Otherwise, in his range, it's mostly like strikers and jujitsu guys, not necessarily wrestlers. Because I just wanted to see how he would deal with someone who would, you know, poor Stropoli, smaller, smaller guy,

obviously not a great wrestler. He just had a lot of trouble just dealing with that body lock. He just couldn't get it off him. So yeah, I was trying to find. I think our listeners had some good suggestions, but I was struggling a little bit to think of just like a, specifically someone who would counter that technique. Maybe.

I don't know. Maybe Brendan Allen, if he loses to Punezoriano, wouldn't make sense? Something like that. But yeah, I think this is pretty easy. But no one can see me right now, but I'm going to remove my cap, the tip of the proverbial cap, to the two men who put on an absolute bar burner on Saturday between Santiago Ponziabio and Miguel Baezza.

What an incredible fight that was. 15 minutes that exceeded even my expanse. and I had very high hopes for that fight. And Santiago Ponziabio gets his first win since November of 2018. The man has been through the ringer. He was tested big time in this fight, as we expected by Miguel Baezza. He toughed out a very painful to watch first round and got it done, man. It was absolutely phenomenal fight.

So where does he go from his bonus earning win over a great prospect in Miguel Baezza? He's the odd man out in the welter rate rankings right now If I'm just glancing at the top of Dean I really wanted him I remember to match up with I think Wonderboy at some point Of course Stephen Thompson's fighting Gilbert Burns The loser of that fight could work But I went with a little more

A little bit more measured I don't know where again I don't know where Ponsonibio sits in the eyes of the matchmakers And I think I'm still in this idea I don't know if it was you or Jose Who mentioned this on the post fight show Alex Marano Who threw out Alex Marano

Was that you Jose? Casey? Jose, but I don't know if he, I don't know if he meant for Ponziubio or for Baezza. Oh, for Baezza. I actually kind of like it for Ponziabio. I think Marano, I like the, I think it's his time where he can start getting some more veteran names. And at least not be able to look great. Ponsonibu looked great.

Don't you wrong. But I just know if I throw him against someone in the top 10 right now, at least not someone, as I was running through names, there's a lot of these names of the top 10 that I've kind of already on to the next one matched up. So I'm trying to stick with this. until those fighters either get booked or become ineligible for whatever reason. So I had to go down a bit. But I think Marano, again, exciting fight. Maybe I just want to see more Ponsenibio back and forth striking battles now. But I think Marano would be still a good test, just to see where he is,

a gauge where Ponziadio is after coming back for such a long layoff and having that Lee loss and now this. But I get, I'm sure a lot of people might want to go a little bit higher ranked. But that's one. If it got booked, I wouldn't be surprised and I'd be quite excited about it. personally if I had my way and there were no managers and there were no teams and things like that I think Ponziadio versus Hamzat Shemayev makes a ton of sense however I know they're both wrapped by the same manager and there's no title on the line and it's not like a number one tender fight so that could be a very tough sell and he took a lot of punishment in this fight

so it could be a minute until we see him again especially with those leg kicks in the first round I mean, it was just tough to watch. Personally, I like the idea of Ponziadio facing the winner of Carlos Condit versus Max Griffin. Or you rebook the fight with Robbie Lawler. Those are my two options. I am not, like, I understand Ponziabio had a great stretch and timing was awful and he dealt with a lot. And I get that. And he came back and got knocked up by Li Jing Liang.

and I know that because of this win and the heart that he showed, we want to just throw him back in the top 10. And if they do that, cool. Like, I'd like to see him get these big fights that he deserved before he was on the shelf. But I don't think he's there just yet. Like, you get knocked up by Li Jing Liang. You beat an unbeaten prospect of McGubleyza, who the potential, his ceiling is super high, but this is,

he hasn't fought like a top 15 guy yet. Like this was like the test. Like this is the sink or swim from Miguel Baezza, at least for this point in his career. It's going to be a very important fight in the, in the biography of Miguel Baezza moving forward. Like this is going to be like the midpoint of the book where everything changes, but what direction does he go? So I'm not ready to throw him in there with these top 10 guys. I'm not ready to throw him in there. I know a very popular one was he fights the winner of Kevin Lee versus Sean Brady.

Not into that, especially if Brady wins. Because if Sean Brady wins, like he moves up the ladder, he starts to get these top 10 matchups. that he wants. I don't think he's getting like the kiosas of the world, but he will move up in the rankings, and I think it's a little more enticing. And some of these guys will be,

they can't say no after he beats a guy like Kevin Lee. Like if Kevin Lee loses and you want to do Ponziabry versus Kevin Lee, sure. But option A, winner of Conda Griffin, option B is Robbie Lawler for me. Yeah, I can't go wrong with either of those.

The Robbie Lawler fight was 2019. It was the last fight before, I mean, It was originally booked. Yeah. And it was the last fight for Ponziadio's health problems really started to kind of pile up. And he had to withdraw from that fight.

Yeah, that was, again, I wrote this down. I'm not Jose Youngstying, by the way. I didn't remember that well. I wrote this down somewhere. UFC 245 December 14th, 2019. So this was supposed to fight. This was supposed to fight. This was supposed to happen a little under two years ago.

And I would love to see it rebooked. I definitely would love to see that happen. We head back to 185 pounds with Gregory Rodriguez Picking up his... Robocop. Yes, Robocop gets his first UFC win. His second win in 15 days, I believe. He hands Dusko Todorovich his second straight loss.

He looked really good in the fight. Like, he's definitely improved his pacing from the contender series loss with Jordan Williams when he just went all ham and got knocked out. And that was a great introduction on short notice for the 24-hour LFA middleweight champion. So for me, I know Anthony Hernandez was supposed to fight Puna Soriano. He had a lingering hand issue from his most recent win that just needs a little bit more time.

It's nothing like long term, just another month or two, and he should be able to get back in there. Soriano already got rebooked against Brendan Allen in July. How about we do Hernandez versus Rodriguez? That is a fun scrap for sure. What do you think? Hernandez was an LFA guy as well, right? I believe he was. Did he win a title?

I don't know. It's a good question. Yeah, I know he did well. I don't remember if he stayed long enough. He might have gotten just scooped up before they had a chance to book him for a title fight. Yeah, I like that matchup. Fluffy was definitely a popular name among the listeners this week. Again, we did have a couple of middleweight fights in the main cards.

So I'll mention that later, of course, during the listener fix. But yeah, I love that matchup. I'm wondering, I'm kind of wondering where this guy, this is a name. I think we've wondered where he's going to match up next, you know, such an exciting name. could he fight Joaquin Buckley he could I think there's a lot of potential for excitement there's also potential

for a bad style matchup for Buckley I will say because Rodriguez for anyone I mean again if you only watch the kind of his last two or three fights and as he's an amazing grappler he's actually an amazing grappler he's just really like super tightened up his strike

he's he's one of those jiu jitsu guys he's falling in love with this striking now obviously he's looking at him he's amazing shape he's got legitimate power I understand why he like standing and banging now but he's actually like a really, really, really accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy. So, like, I think a fight with Buckley could be fireworks, but it could also be just a good fight for Rodriguez if he's able to show off the jiu-jitsu side

and test Buckley's, you know, take down defense, graphing defense, mission defense, all that stuff. So, yeah, it'd be cool. Again, we don't know what's up with Buckley. I don't know if he's one of those guys who we're going to have to kind of not mention on the next one anymore because maybe he's taking time off or just, you know, they're having trouble trying to find matchups for him, because you can match him up with so many guys at 185.

exciting but I feel like I haven't talked about Buckley in a while so I'll throw it out there maybe for Rodriguez yeah that's an interesting fight tough fight for Buckley I would definitely favor Rodriguez in that one but you never know all it takes is one and there's some crazy things that happen in the sport as we saw last year when it comes to Albucking Buckley and yes Fluffy Hernandez had one fight in LFA it was in January of 2018 and in this fight AK he became the LFA middleweight champion he defeated Brennan Allen by unanimous decision before going on to the contender series and ultimately getting signed

by the ultimate fighting championship. As we move to Montana De La Rosa, she looked sensational against Ariani Lipski to kick off the main card. She dominates. She cuts open. She stops the queen of violence in the second round. First finish via

strikes in her career. And more importantly than that, she gets back in the wind column. So AK-125 is a lot of fun right now. What makes sense for? Montana De La Rosa after that phenomenal performance. Was this an easy pick for you? Yes.

Was this the one that you said on the post-fight show was an easy pick? Or was that talking about, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who didn't see the post-fight show. That would be for your wild card. You said you had an easy pick for your wild card, right? The wild car is my easy pick. Okay, I'm not going to, all right. Teaser, just a little teaser for people with me. Okay.

I had trouble with this one. So I went outside the box because I think I was a little discouraged that Montana did not get post-fighter. bonus. I probably would have given her the extra 50 Gs instead of to bird rate, don't get it wrong. But I just thought De La Rosa, her first finisher strikes, as you mentioned, and just really showed a very super aggressive side of. She's a fight finisher, don't get wrong. It's not like we're talking about Montana De La Rosa's decision machine or something. She's got a lot of plenty of subs in the UFC. She's actually one of the flyweight's

probably most prolific finishers. But this kind of, this kind of finished, this kind of nasty, bloody finish was something else. So I hope the matchmakers seem more. more in her than, you know, than the not giving her the bonus would suggest. But if not, I could see them lining her up, Mike, as a sacrificial lamb,

possibly for Tatiana Suarez. Because Tatiana Suarez is supposedly coming back eventually. Sorry, Sue, I don't know if this year, but she is mentioned coming back. And she wants to come back at 125. I don't know if she plans to stick around there. It could just be, you know, her first fight back, do 125 and then drop back down to strawweight.

But if she, but either way, whether it's just a tune up for her to come back before she goes to straw weight or if it's actually her trying to make a run at 125, I could see them using Montana, Montana De La Rosa as a, as what they would think of a winnable fight for Tatiana Suarez. So I'm kind of throwing that out there. I got a weird feeling this one could happen. Well, I know I'm pretty sure this is a somewhat popular pick. It was a somewhat popular pick in the DMs because it appears that this veteran fighter has been

cleared to begin training again. At least that's what she's posted on Twitter last week. So if that is, in fact, the case, how about we do Montana de la Rosa versus Roxanne modifier? Because that seems like a logical next step. I feel like the UFC likes Montana de la Rosa. She keeps putting her in big fights. This would be an interesting matchup.

It's not like, I know Roxy is, I believe she's still in the top 10 at 125 right now. So, I mean, it's not, but it's not like a fight where you're just like, wow, like, why Is she fighting a top 10 woman? I feel like this fight makes a lot of sense. And she beats Roxy. She's back in the ranking. She's on to big fights again. So, yeah, I like that matchup, and I think it makes sense.

But there is a plethora of options from Montana de la Rocha. You could rebook Tyler Santos at some point. I think Tyler Santos is a fight coming up. But, I mean, still, you could throw in there with pretty much anybody and just see how she does. But I think Roxy makes a lot of sense. But let us get ready for... Oh, go ahead. Modifery currently ranked 9th.

Currently ranked ninth, correct? So you're right in the top 10. And you're right. I hadn't even thought about her because I know she had the injury. But you're right. I had been seeing stuff in my social media feed popping up of her back in the gym training. It was a meniscus, right? It wasn't like a ACL or LCL, like a ligament tear.

Not that I'm a doctor and I can say, oh, meniscus is always easy. I don't know. You know, anything that happens to the knee, I usually get scared. But I assume when it's not an ACL, LCL, PCL, to name all the ligaments. I assume when it's not one of those, that it's not. a little bit easier to come back from. So good to hear. Good to here.

I was worried she'd be out for like a year or something like that. Yeah, June 4th, she posted a video of her doing some crazy lifts and said, I got approval by my therapist to do everything. Ready, set, go, hashtag training. So it looks like she is getting ready to get back. These fighters are crazy. That would be taking me up for two years. Even my doctor cleared me.

I'm like, nope, just to be safe. Just to be safe. Give me another, I'm going to give me another 18 months on the shelf. Chris Wyman's walking. What's going? These guys are crazy. They're unbelievable. unbelievable people.

Let us move ahead to my favorite segment of the program, the match, the wild card segment where we will choose one fighter, any fighter that competed on Saturday that we have not matched for yet, and we can do so now. So any name that we have not referenced in terms of future matchmaking, they're all on the table here, AK. So my best friend,

kick us off with their UFC Vegas 28 wild card selection. Let's go with the Welsh dragon, I guess he's just the dragon. But Mason Jones, Look, the dragon is Leodomachita. Okay, so Mason Jones, you are the Welsh dragon, and there's nothing wrong with that. That sounds cool. So Mason Jones, essentially, someone I viewed as someone who won on Saturday, yes, it was a, you know,

it was a little silly for him to extend that hand out there and extend that finger out there, and the eye poke, completely his fault, completely his fault. Could Alan Patrick have continued and fought through that iPok? I don't know. I know people will want to say he was, Alan Patrick was clearly losing, maybe he took a way out, but I'm not the one getting poked in the eye by Mason Jones. All right, so I'm not going to completely, right? I'm not going to completely call him out. If Alan Patricke had been winning, would he have continued fighting?

Probably, probably. But this is all speculation. This is sports stock radio here, people, all right? I'm not calling out Alan Petriek. But I do think Mason Jones essentially won that fight. I think the UFC will look at it as if he won the fight. They won't pay him as if he won the fight. I don't think he'll look at it as if he won the fight.

So two options here. One very obvious one. But because I don't really think there was a, like I want to say someone he can style on. He's a super exciting fighter. But I don't know. I didn't want, I couldn't think of a name immediately. I think him fighting the Faris Ziam Luigi Benjamini winner from next week's card, UFC 263, makes sense. But more importantly, I just think he steps in to the next light, next fight.

lightweight fight that like someone has to bow out of for whatever reason mason jones you take that call i think mason jones i assume he's healthy uh get ready to jump into to a lightweight fight soon stay stay in shape stay ready this is what he needs to do he he needs to stay to stay busy um and kind of wash out the taste of that first uh amazing fight with mike davis but a split decision loss and then uh this weird no contest i poke things so i'm i'm cheating a bit here and saying he you will see mason Jones step in as a short notice replacement within the next like three months i it's funny i i tweeted this out after the no contest i said it if this is chris tione from like two weeks ago next week or next month mason jones would have got a first round tk a win on saturday but this is let

him bang let him bang bro chris tionni and let them go and the fight ended the way it ended so yeah I think a lot of people agree just get Mason Jones back in there with anybody and I think people see his potential despite being winless in two fights. But my pick, I tease this on the post fight show. I'm going with Manon Fioro and I'm just so impressed with her.

And look, I know she took on an undersized short-noticed strawweight fighter, but I don't care. She was so cool, calm, collected throughout the fight that she absolutely dominated and I am ready to give her a step up.

ready to do it against somebody. I've had a sort of up and down relationship with on this program from a matchmaking perspective. She's been somewhat, I'm not going to say the doghouse, but, you know, I've said some not so kind things about her. I've said very good things about her. But it's been an emotional roller coaster in this relationship, but I'm ready to throw Manon Fioro in the Octagon with Antonita Shevchenko. Let us see how she does in this scenario, okay? because Manon is 31 years of age. Yes, she's still somewhat young in the sport,

but she ain't 24. Let us throw her in there with somebody with a name. A fun striking battle will ensue, and I am truly curious to see how that fight would play out. So yes, Fioro, Antonita Shevchenko, book it, check the tapes. Hashtag, do it now. I have no argument for that. I think, no, I think that is the right match.

I have them right next to each other in my rankings. the only reason I didn't pick Menon, Pio, as my wildcard is because I knew you would and I knew exactly the matchup you would pick so I'm like, that base is covered that base is covered, but no,

it's a great, great, very logical matchup, I think Antonina would love to sign up for that one for the chance to, again, derail a fighter who has a ton of hype behind her. You know, Antonina's got the got the MMA experience advantage. I guess if you're not, well, I know Menon has some, a lot of amateur bouts, but

combat sports-wise, I'd say, Antinner probably has the edge experience there. So yeah, good, good fight. Do we have any mic checks or check the tapes? Do we? I got an AK check first. Oh, boy. So let's check the, so I get second week in a row, and I'm sure MMA heads,

the MMA heads Instagram account, always, always reminding us when we match up friends. So the second week in a row, we biffed the Dereux RDA matchup, And this time, M. May heads reminded me, Hikardo Hamos and Andre Fili, are teammates on Team Alpha male. And I want to see them fight. And that's probably, probably, I mean it doesn't mean they can't, but pretty unlikely now. Myself, and now some good ones, myself, Tristan Gordette, and Marcus McGehy. If there's other listeners who recommended this, then I apologize, but those are the ones I knew. Mark Andre Barrio versus Adulcha Langeambula.

That is an uprook to August 14th. And a lot of listeners wanted to see Tiago Santos Maheta versus Johnny Walker. So it's a very popular pick. That's happening September 25th. So well done. Well done listeners. I've got to reach way back. We had a couple of people mention Michelle Pereira versus Nico Price.

There was way bad. This is back in December. So I'll shout out Chris Stiles on Twitter and Jay Climent on Twitter, who both mentioned this back, back, back on the day. And then we have email contributor, Harry Duosco. checking his own tapes, Mike, telling me. And okay, I'll give him this. Anthony Smith versus Ryan Span called it.

He said that's September 18th. Luis Saldana versus Austin Lingo, deep cut. So well done here on that one. August 21st. And then he got too cute, Mike. This listener got too cute. He said, Mackenzie Duren versus Marina Rodriguez, which is a pick, I think a lot of us,

a lot of listeners I know wanted, I guess Harry was one of them. However, this fight is not anywhere near being close to done. This is a Dana-Said fight. Dana mentioned that it's like next for McKenzie Dern, and I believe McKenzie herself has spoken about it. I think it was an interview with agdot fight and said, no, this is a suggested matchup, it's something they're looking at,

it's not signed, it's not verbally agreed upon. It is, again, it's a fight I think we all think could happen, nowhere close to being signed. So two out of three, Harry, two out of three. I am not giving you a point for McKenzie Dern versus Marina and Rodriguez. File that under hashtag Dana said. Yes, I would agree with that 100%. All right, let's go to the peeps.

Let's go to the peeps. Let's give the standard disclaimer. Oh, let's go ahead, Mike. Yeah, I'm just going to say, because I know I'm a little more giving than AK when it comes to these picks, but I am going to keep these as fresh as possible, okay? Okay. Like, if there's a very common one, I will read it once, maybe twice, and that's it. And if there's fresh matchups, I will show you out.

Mike, they just want to hear their names. Right. And I might say your name anyways just for being a contributor, but it doesn't mean I'm going to read all of your selections. They don't care if we like their matchups or not. They just want to hear their names. Standard disclaimer, as always, Mike and I will usually emphasize winning, winners matchups that are mentioned unless they're in the main event or title fight.

Unique matchups, as Mike just said, you know, we try to group. If it's mentioned a lot, we'd try to group them together. The fighter could already book. We will do your research. The fighter could already booked. We don't want to mention those. You may have just made a mistake. Wrong weight class.

The two people fought already. You forgot. Someone's injured and is out of the picture. And, of course, your pick might just be do-do, and we don't want to do it. The most important rule. Yes, the last rule, the most important. All right, we're going to start with Ronan Murphy. First time, long time.

Hi, Ron. Big fan from the UK, he says. He said he enjoyed the Pons and Nbio fight. He thinks he should fight Jeff Neal next. Now, I know maybe yesterday we were like, eh, can't really do that because Jeff's going to be out for a while. But again, let me just preface. That was a hard fight for Paul. Ponziabio. Like, he could be out for a while, too. So, if that's the case, like, let's just say,

like, Ponziabio can't fight again until the end of the year, maybe early next year. Yeah, that's, that's not a nonsensical pick. It would be a fun fight. It's just, I don't know. I feel like there's more likely matchups, but you never know. We don't know what Ponziabio is going through right now physically after that war with Miguel Baezza. All right, fine, fine. But let's remind people, please, to Jeff Neal matchups. Take it. Mike, you're right. It makes sense for Monsonibio.

You're right. He could be out for longer than most fighters usually are when they get a win. But if you remember, please, Jeff Neal's have some health problems. He could be taking some time off. Stop throwing Jeff Neal's name out there. And Ronan also agrees with you, anything, anything for Mason Jones. Get him in there ASAP. Brandon Nunez.

Pons versus the winner of Means versus Roberts. Okay? Harris versus Latifi. Tibera versus Jarzini-Rosenstrike. So there we go. Hopi underscore Bryant's, Della Rosa versus Jillian Robertson. Don't hate that. I love that.

I love that fight so much. I wish the only thing is, you know, Jillian is on a two-fight losing streak, which is fine. It doesn't mean you can't match them up. But I do think they're a little, just a little bit indifferent sort of pass right now. I was amazed the fight hadn't happened before.

That was actually one I thought of it. And I'm like, oh, they probably fought before. I was like, oh, no, but that, no, that has to happen someday. I think that's a great fight. Let me just look this up real quick. Okay. Rodriguez versus Dulcha Langamphula

who I believe has a fight Yeah, fighting back Bariel Oh, that's right, that's right. Okay, so there you go. Ponsenegia versus the loser Brady Lee.

Don't have a problem with that. Delizze versus the Cuban missile crisis. Julian Marquez. Hmm. Beard versus beard. Okay. That's all it takes.

That's all it takes. There you go. Tibera versus the winner of Chris Dachas versus Shemiel Abderahimov Okay that's I mean he would still be get a top 10 opponent So I wouldn't dislike that

Oh sorry sorry, so who was that that was that was who or straight Tabora versus Dacus abdorhimov winner Okay okay okay Rosenstrike versus Blades maybe Volkov if he loses But if he wins he might get another shot at blades And there's no way they'll make Rosenstrike versus gone again So I'm gonna make the blades fight ASAP if I'm biggie boys camp Yeah I just don't know if that's the direction they go

Evan Rodriguez, Yusuf Zalal versus Nate Landwehr, that's a fun scrap. Yes. And it's a big fight for Zalal. I hope they keep him around. Like, I know he's lost three in a row, but I hope they keep him around.

I think he gets one more shot. It is crazy, though. He almost became like, I want to say, I think the youngest fighter to possibly win four fights in a year. I think he would have been if he had beaten Tupouria.

And now he's just, ah, these tough decision losses, like, where, this is really tough for a young fighter's confidence. He's still so, yeah, he's 24 years old. But it's like, yeah, to go from that high, that's super, super high, and then to kind of find yourself in these fights where it's just either tough, stylistic matchups or he's not being able to pull the trigger for some reason.

So fingers crossed, they find the right matchup for him. Because, yeah, I really talented kid. And, yeah, I still think there is potential there. Yep. Shout out to Kamala Kirk, who got his first UFC win and did so in short notice against a really good opponent, Makwana, Marikani. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. I thought Amir Khani won that fight,

but I don't think it's a robbery by any stretch the imagination, but he said, Camuel Kirk versus Daniel Paneda. Let's give the prospect to Daniel Paneda, another vet, but it should be a great test. He likes Ponzoivio versus the Belah Muhammad Damian Maya winner. He likes Miguel Baezza versus Elizu Zaleski. There's no way that fight's not awesome.

And he said, Mason Jones versus Devante Smith. Because that is ridiculous. fight. Holy cow. That's good. Let's see. Roman.

Yep. Roman versus DeKirgo. This is Zach Andrews. Ponziubio Loller. Rodriguez versus Enchukui. De La Rosa versus Matafari. Mason Jones versus John McDessi. And he agrees, Vioro versus

Schifchenko is the fight to make. Our man, Thick Beh. Poez versus Kamalworthy. It always makes me laugh. I don't know why. Poez versus Kamalworthy. Jordan Levin versus Paddy.

Pimblit. People really want to see Pimblit in there. What does it hold up on getting this guy a fightbook? No idea. Maybe they'll put him on that England card. Oh, they could be holding out. Maybe try it, waiting to see if they are, maybe. I like this fight.

Sean Woodson versus Kai Kamaka. Oh, I didn't see. I didn't see. Okay. I had no Kamaka mentions in my listeners. Yeah, that's a good one. Yusuf Salal versus Chase Hooper, Stephen Peterson loser. Salal.

Yeah, good, logical. Fioro versus Myra Bueno Silva Mason Jones versus Casuala Vargas Kamala Kirk versus Josh Kulibau That's a fun fight Makwan versus Nate Landware I like think they just goes after all of them This is great

That could be like a guaranteed first round finish I think both guys just come out going nuts And then gas by like the middle of the second round Leijing Lang versus Muslim Salakov The King of Kung Fu Has that been booked? I feel like that's book Keep going on look

I feel that that was booked or something how about alir latifi versus alexander romanov yeah i i i i've just kept thinking romanov was booked

but i realized but i was i don't know i was thinking the espino fight hadn't happened already uh and it didn't it already did um yeah lativ's got some could have some fun

heavyweight matchups uh uh the one on Saturday wasn't but he could have some fun i like i mean these are some good suggestions tanner bozer versus dontail maize montana da very popular on Montana de la Rosa versus Tracy Cortez

okay I'll talk about this now because I got a lot of that what was my reason for not wanting to book oh oh I'm for some reason I'm hung up on some Cortez Aldrich matchup which doesn't even exist but so you know me guys I let's ask my other disclaimer I should put him I should put a disclaimer for my own picks is like why am I not bringing something up is

if I mentioned a matchup in a previous episode and it's like within the last like two months I don't like to keep throwing the same name out there It just seems too cheap. Because if I did that, I'd probably get a lot more right. Right. I keep saying, you know, oh, Ryan Span, with this guy. Ryan Span v. this guy. Or Tracy Cortez versus this guy.

You know, it's so, so I cannot. But Cortez was a pretty logical pick for either Fielo or Delarosa, actually. Yeah, I like that pick. I think it makes a lot of sense. Rodriguez versus Michaelitis, Ponsonabio. I thought about this one as well. Versus the James Krause. Yes, that was my number two.

I believe that was my, yeah, that was my number two pick for Ponziabia behind Marana. Delizzi versus Malcun. Thickbe, mixing things up a little bit. He wants to see Martin Taiboira get the Curtis Blades fight, and Jarzino get the winner of Dacus versus Shemiel Abderahimov. Yeah, they're all kind of in that mix. They're all kind of in that heavyweight blob, matchmaking blob together right now. Robbie Ryan Our Aussie Dad bloke

Rosenstrike versus Gond There's no way they rebooked that fight right now Because it was not good And it was so recent Sakai versus Wal Harris Tybora versus Volkov Who is booked already Another Ponziw of Jeff Neal

Bozer versus Tom Aspinall And he has no interest in watching Alir Latifi fight anyone next He wanted to throw that out there Oh okay Another How about if Latifi went back down to light heavyweight

And Delizze went back up to light heavyweight How about DeLisay versus Latifi? There we go. There's a fight I think people are chomping Chopin at the bit four after Saturday. I like the Latifi Romanov fight. That one's kind of interesting to me Because I feel like a lot of that would take place on the feed.

Another Salafish... He ain't going to be holding him down. He ain't going to be holding Romanov down. There ain't no way. And if he does, that would be impressive in its own right. Even if that was like people would say like that's a boring fight. If somehow he could out-wrestle Romanov and hold him down for 15 minutes,

that to me would be exciting because I just don't think that's possible. Alec Aynelian, he just picked one, Salikoff versus Li Jing Liang. Let's go to these and then we'll be done. Just a few of these. Our friend Jack Porter, let's see, is there anything new? Latifi versus Alexi Olinic is a new one? Matt Rovelli, our friend Matt Rovelli. I think I want Santiago Ponsonavia

versus the loser of Kevin Lee and Sean Brady. And he said, happy birthday, AK. Patrick Goston is always just throwing out a bunch. He says Fioro versus Antonina. Every week, it's Nick Diaz. Salikov versus Nick Diaz. You can't ban Nick Diaz from any show. Montana versus Roxanne.

Bozer versus Ben Rothwell. Bozer versus Ben Rothwell. Okay, I saw Latifie versus Rothwell. So, okay, yeah, that would be a little more. I think that would be more to Rothwell's liking. I think he would want to fight Bozer. Patrick also wants to see Ponziabio versus Magni D. And Baezza versus Francisco Trinaldo.

Baezza versus Trinaldo? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's see, is there anything new here? Mason Jones versus the loser of Austin Hubbard versus Vince Pichel. I thought about, why the loser? I thought about winner.

I thought I would have given to the winner. Either way, one of those two, I think, would be fine. And Christian Lee also suggests that Man and Fioro fights Tracy Cortez. Yeah, I could see it. Again, I could see Cortez getting, if my amazing Alderich-Cortez matchup never happens. I could see her getting either Delorosa or Fiotro. And last but certainly not least, our good friend, weekly contributor, John George, said, good to be back.

Good to hear the best damn MMA podcast on the weekend. Sing it. He said, good win for Ponzi. And he only suggested one matchup for one Walt Harris. He said if Walt Harris gets another chance in the UFC, him versus Jared van dera. I don't think that's as easy a fight as people think it would be.

No, I don't think so either. They think it's a slug fest waiting to happen, and he would have to win that one. Or he's done. When we were talking about on the post-fights show about like, oh, we want to get him a winnable fight. Vendera popped into my head just because obviously he has a lot less experience and a lot lower name than Walt Harris. But then I was thinking about like Vendera's actual fights. And I'm like, that's not, that's like a high risk lower war for Walt Harris.

That's not the feel good match matchup that I think some listeners might think it is. Yeah, I think it's a tough fight. Jared's a monster, dude. We haven't even seen his wrestling in the UFC yet. not at all. And he's a very good wrestler. That's what I'm saying. He can grapple too, and that's not what we want

Walter is fighting right now. No. But Jeremy Van derisle, just crazy enough. Because even when I interviewed him after his last one, he goes, my plan was to take this dude down and Justin Taffa down and just, he goes, that worked out well. So we'll see what happens there. He also wants to know which main card fight we're looking forward to the most next week.

And this is the easiest question you could ask me. It is the flyway title fight between Davis and Figuero and Brandon Moreno, the rematch. That is the fight I'm looking forward to the most next week. Yeah, it has to be. I mean, I will kind of enjoy Edwards deflating the Nate Diaz hype. That's also going to be fun. I'm kidding. I do think Edwards is going to win that fight.

I shouldn't say, be so flippant about it. But I'm happy for Edwards that he got that fight. I think it's very winnable. And it's a high-profile fight. So good for him. other than that I mean the Maya fight could be his last fight right I think it's supposed to be

it's supposed to be so this is so this segues sorry Mike is that the is that the that's the end that's the end yes okay so this sort of segues into mine because Ponzi Nibon as you some of your DM's permission as well versus Maya Muhammad winner it's a pretty popular

pretty popular pick but again if Maya wins I don't I think he just goes out on top I think you just like oh I leave the gloves in thank you thank you Belal for the fight and I'm going to go chill now. Maybe. Maybe.

That's why I'm willing to leave Maya in for this week just because we don't know. Like, even if he says I'm done, doesn't mean he's done. So who knows? For now, he stays in the pool. He could go Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfour, and be like, Hey, Dana White, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to. Give me my eight-eight-fight contract, Dana.

Pay up. I want a new eight fight deal. I just submitted this guy in 45 seconds, gave him my eight fight deal. You know, a very classic Damian Maya type post-fight speech. So yeah, you're right.

It is possible. Muhammad definitely. I think if Muhammad beats Ponsignibio, that's a very, very logical matchup. And I'd like to see Muhammad call for it, frankly. I mean,

I don't think he would. I think, again, if he beat Maya, there'd be some kind of nice post-fight speech honoring Maya. But I would hope at some point he would also call up Panziniio. I think that makes so much sense for him right now.

So that was one of the popular picks. others. I won't read all these, all these consensus picks, but yeah, Rosen Struke versus, you know, Volkov, if he beats Gone or I guess Volkan if he loses. I guess they wanted to see him play Volkan. Some people just said Gone Volkov, winner, loser, but you're right. I just don't see them doing the Gone matchup again so soon. It wasn't controversial. It wasn't particularly entertaining. DeBurra versus Blades. That was the most popular Tibura matchup for sure, though he was also thrown into the Gone Volkov winner-Lusor mix. Ponziu versus Loller. Yes, a lot of people like that one. the delizze versus dikirko rebooking i think was the most popular uh one thing i got people are logical

our listeners are so logical they're so smart and then one did you mention louis paina at all in your in your dms do you get any i do not i got i got at least three people asking for clato preyes versus uh louis pania so i guess there's something to this i don't know is there some beef between these two guys i'm not aware of because uh people want to see it but um also salikov versus randy brown uh rodriguez versus jordan right which i I think would be a fun matchup as well. Yeah. So some good consensus listener picks.

I see you guys. Well, these could be check the tapes in the future. Well done, guys. Now, let's break it down. So let's go to our emails. I mentioned Harry Dwasson before,

to checking himself. So he was one, he's part of the Tiber versus Blades camp. I like his, I'm going to read his, his explanation here. He said, I don't know why.

No one talked about this on the post fight show. I think we mentioned it. He said, Jose was poo-pooing, T-Burr too much. Five straight wins in heavyweight gets you a good fight. Curtis is like four more wins from a title shot.

He needs to start somewhere. Plus, after brutal KO, Blades needs a fight where he won't have his chin threatened. Oh, now who's disrespecting Tibera. Wow. Come on. Come on. Ponziabio versus Salakov rebooking.

I forgot that that was supposed to happen in January. And then I think Salakov, I think it was COVID-related reasons of Salakub or COVID-protocol so from his team, I'm not sure. Kamala Kirk versus Mike Trisano. I like it. Mason Jones versus Alex Munoz, I guess because they think because Munoz is O and 2, they feel like he'd be an easy win. I don't know about that. And Sean Woodson versus Canada's own, Tristan Connolly.

Speaking of, look at this, at least segues. Go from Tristan Connolly to Tristan Gordet in the emails. He likes Baezza versus Impokisangenei. He keeps pushing this guy. I think you have as well. He's mentioned before how high. You are also on this guy who has not yet, who's yet to debut with the UFC. He had to go through the contender series for some reason.

Kizriev. Gosh, his name is, I have to, can you remember this guy's first name off the top of your head? Okay, I looked at him. Aliyashka. Aliaskab. Aliaskab.

Kizraev, my apologies for not remembering your name, sir. Tristan is stolen this guy out before for a matchup. We really want to see this happen. So he says, Kizria versus Rodriguez. Kizuiv already has had two fights, Kansas. His UFC debut canceled twice in 2021. Welcome to the UFC. Welcome to the UFC life.

And he's definitely throughout Fioro versus Cortez. So that's really out there. On the Instagram, sorry, I've got to bring this up because I've got to read some of these lovely messages. Guys, I love when you explain things. I love when you explain things. I'm a fan. You guys out there are talented matchmakers and writers. Share your thoughts freely, please.

Literally, just for Otno, my favorite social media. Yes. He likes Woodson versus Mike Grundy, Firo, versus. Kachewara. Oh, interesting. Ketjura is fighting, Sajara, Eubanks, but I think win or lose, that could be a logical matchup. He said, and oh, by the way, so this is the theme of this listener picks. This, this Firo-Mania is crazy.

Like, I know we've been pushing her a lot, so I get it. We're part of it, but, man, the hype is, is real. He says, I'd paid top dollar for a fioro versus a tree stump at this point, need I say more. So they're really, really into it. I don't need to read all these. Some of these you were mentioned in your DMs. Delete. Yeah, okay, we mentioned that one.

Zach Rabi. I'll move on to Zach Rabi. He likes Ponsinibio versus Murano as well. Thank you, Zach, for backing me up. And says he didn't even watch Saturday show. Okay. So there you go. So a lot of excitement, clearly.

MMA heads again. Always coming in with some deep cuts. Deletese versus Zach Cummings. Yeah, I like that one. Yeah, that's a guy, again, you're not body locking him to death. I'll tell you that right now. Rodriguez versus Jack Marshman. Latifi versus Sergei Pavlovich.

That's a tough fight for Latifi. Oh, yeah. I don't know if I want to do that to him. Salakov versus Jake Matthews. What else we got in here? Mason Jones versus Leonardo Santos. I think Santos is still like a top 25 lightweight in the UFC. I don't know if we want to, if we need to do that to Mason Jones.

I'm not saying he couldn't win that fight. I'm just saying I think Santos is a lot better than people think. I don't, did you, did any of your listeners mention the Firore versus Moros? Rebooking. No, nobody did, which is surprising. I could see it. I could see it. One might argue that she did, she had a strong enough of a performance that she kind of moved on

from that matchup, but I don't think so. I'd have no, depending whatever the reason are for. Moroza's withdrawal, I could see it being rebooked. I have no problem with that. We all kind of want to see that as a really good veteran test for funeral. So if we can make that happen, that'd be great. And then Apoyas versus Alex Munoz. A couple of Alex Munoz.

Shout us, Alex Munoz. You're not no pick, apparently. Matt Bradbury, again, another guy who's coming with deep cuts. I just want to read a couple of his. He had a lot of good picks here. This one surprised me. He wants to see Jordan Levitt fight Joe LaZan. Wow.

He says, nice guys, true. Great personalities, correct. Levin needs to step back. This is where he loses me. Levin needs to step back in competition. And I believe this is the perfect opportunity for him. Big name, easier fight? I could not disagree more with what you just said.

First of all, how dare you just besmirch into Englander like that? Joe Lozahn is not an easy fight for anybody. Ask Jonathan Pierce. Ask Jonathan Pierce how easy of a fight Joe Lozahn is. Right? This guy is, that was a weird. Maybe I'm reading this wrong. Matt Bradbury, if I'm reading this wrong,

hit me up in the DMs. I'll issue a correction in the Czechos days. But it does sound like you're throwing some slander at the great Jolo. Oh, yeah. How dare you? Or Joe Lau, J-Lau. J-Low. J-Low. J-Lo. J-Lo.

J-L. Still relevant. Benefer, it's back. Yes. So that was a weird one. And he also likes, he also like Jones versus Worthy. And he said, I believe Jones did enough to prove he's better than Petriek. Agree.

So I give him a slight boost in competition. Worthy's kind of chinny. So it's an opportunity for Jones to finally get a great result in the octagon. Yes, I think that makes it. That is a crazy ass fight. But still somewhat dangerous too, because. Yeah, definitely. Comma is sneaky good on the ground.

Ask Luis Pena about that. But that's. That's a really interesting fight. Matt Bradbury also like Kamala Kirk versus Landovanada. Yeah, I'm into that. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. Latifi versus Blagoi Ivanov.

Yes, sure. Another kind of, I don't know how exciting that fight would be. Probably a little grindy, but I'm into it. Rematch. He wants to see Delaros. Breno Silva, too, rematch. Again, they fought to a draw, so maybe run that one back. And, yeah, Rosen Street versus Abdarkeemov, Daukis winner, July 24th.

So that's one to keep an eye on. That could be, those guys could be in for an, big fight next. Now to Twitter, to the Twitter, and we got some, Mike, we got some good ones here, my friend. We got some good ones. Let me go to Chris Dragon Slayer 2 first, Dragon Sler 2 on Twitter say, oh, he just says, Ponziadnebio versus Lucke, I don't care about the rankings. This is a fight that us fans need. So, okay, sure, don't disagree. Dustin Getko, bringing up a name you might not have heard in a while. He wants to Mason Jones versus Meyer Beck-Tysumov. Wow. Okay. Now, Tysonov obviously had a lot of visa issues with the UFC.

I'm pretty sure he's actually not currently signed to the UFC. He hasn't fought since. He's not with another promotion. But I believe in whatever his most recent interview was, which would have been a while ago, probably over a year ago now, that he's not, that it was the last fight in his contract, his loss to Faheda. To Diego Fahedda. I believe that was the last fight in his contract. So I would assume the plan is to come back to the UFC, but, you know, once he has again, visa sorted out and all this COVID travel issues, things like that. But I don't know. But I do like the suggestion, Dustin. And thank you for reminding us to maybe checkup.

You know, maybe we'll do a checkup on Myribeck and Tyssen Mobb soon. So, yeah, just good to bring that name up. Barry O'Reilly. I'll fire off some of these here. Woodson versus Ludovic-Cline. He likes Firov versus Buenos Silva. I'm okay with that. Yeah, there's another vote for Latifi versus Romanov.

Pontinevio v. This is really a thing. You really threw this out there. Mike this is real you're okay with this let's hear it Ponziabio versus Shemayev that's a fight like

I can't believe it when you mentioned it I was like I was like I don't know but then some listeners did too and I'm like I guess listen like I said if everything if every fighter just rep themselves and we just had like an open market where like

anybody can fight anybody and the UFC can match up anybody versus anybody and there's no discourse that makes more sense than any other fight Like, Shemiah versus, like, if you cannot book Shemaya versus Neil Magni, which is unequivocally the fight that one should be made and two should have been made multiple times already. If I hear Dana White say, nobody wants to fight this guy one more time without mentioning Neil Magny, I'm going to lose my, I'm going to lose my stuff, AK. I'm going to lose my stuff. Because Neil Magny has been raising his hand from day one. he moved up to the front row

and he's raising his hand, he's holding his elbow saying, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, pick me. So if you don't book this fight, it is a travesty. However, if for some reason, he's like, I am tired of waiting for this guy. Like, I understand he's dealing with some health issues, all the COVID effects and such.

Shemaya versus Ponziabio is a perfect fight. Like, it's perfect. But probably won't happen since they're both wrapped by the same manager. All right. But look, you put it out there. I think Bear Riley here is with the only listener I think they put it out there for me.

I'm going to miss some, but all right. If it happens, I won't be surprised. Except for the management thing. That'll surprise me that they signed up for it. Yeah, that would shock me. If the matchup happens for whatever reason, I'm like, okay, people were talking about it. Check the tapes. And then he threw out Delizze versus Renat Fagretinov.

Fagretto. I did my best there. So, Frakratinov was a, he fought for UAA Warriors recently. He knocked out Eric Spicely in 55 seconds. You guys can find that highlight in MMA fighting or just Google it, whatever you want to do. We had it in a misfist. And he was signed by the UFC after that. So I believe he is just waiting to debut.

So good, good, good deep pick there, I guess. And I assume he wasn't fond of the deletes A performance and wants to see Fakhretinov knock him out. All right. It's always one of those. I'm just assuming I could be wrong. Maybe he thinks Delitzie I'll run through him and it's like, you know, this is a fight to get Delitzay over. I don't know. Braden O'Neill would it bring, would it, I had a good suggestion for Delitzay.

Why not Delitzé versus the Phil Haas, Duran Wind winner? Yes, I'm okay with that. Sure. They fight on July 17th. Liam Perry, he liked Deleetza versus Anthony Hernandez. So the Fluffy's name definitely coming up. Latifie versus Arlofsky. Hmm.

No, don't like it. Mike just made a lot of faces, guys. Mike made a lot of faces that cannot be. God, that just, I can't even describe them. That just, God, no. That fight could be bad. I can't. That fight could be so bad.

That could be a really terrible fight. It serves no purpose to either guy or like any or this division. Because like both these guys should be used to like fight younger up-in-coming talent. That's why like I love the Latifi Romanov idea. This is the real light heavyweight champion, unbeaten, light heavyweight champion versus former, as we mentioned on the Saturday's Postman show, the always perpetual former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrew Lasson, don't you forget, even though it happens like 30 years ago and every many years. That's right. It never, and that never goes away. That achievement never goes away.

I'm really, I actually ordered this. I have my moments, Mike, where I order things in a logical way. I'm really building up this, this feel-world hype thing. because it gets more and more. So Liam Perry wants to see Fioro versus Andrea Lee. He's like, go for it. Just throw her in there with the top 15. I'm like, what?

Yeah. You know what? I would probably have picked that fight. Really? If I didn't want to see Andrew Lee fight Tatiana Suarez. I feel like that's the perfect fight to make. Because that's, it's not a pushover fight. at all for Tatiana.

No. Like, that's a tough fight. Andrew Lee is coming off the biggest win of her career, and the UFC would probably be looking for an opportunity to give her a big fight without trying to disturb the current landscape of the division. So I think that fight makes perfect sense for Tatiana's flyaway debut whenever she's ready. Throw in there with Andrew Lee. You're kind of in a no-lose situation there because I think the UFC likes both women.

And, you know, I think that's the fight to make. And yeah, if Tatiana was staying at 115, there's a very good chance I would have picked Fioro versus Andrew Lee. Hmm. Okay. Well, Liam Perry, you're not out to lunch there. The hype is real.

But it gets better. Just wait. I got my last few comments. It gets better. I also like Liam Perry's suggestion of Mason Jones versus Michael Johnson, which I looked at, but I thought cost the experience gap is just so much.

But here's how Liam breaks down. He says, I know Mason Jones didn't win. He probably won't get too much of a mention. Wrong. We've talked about them a lot. But it's, you know, with it being no cause, I'm treating him like a winner. Give him Michael Johnson, who's on a four-fights skid, not seen anything regarding if Johnson's been released or anything. So I'm going with this pick.

I could see that if they're that belief high on Mason Jones and if they're maybe wanting to get, I don't know, for whatever reason, wanted to get out of the Michael Johnson business. Though I guess I could have done that two losses ago if they wanted to. Yeah, I don't think it's crazy. But that's why he's there, though, for fights like this. I guess, but that gap and experience. But oh, hey, they matched it up Alex Casares with friggin' chase Hooper, right? So clearly the gap, right?

Which is what this would be almost like a version of that. Marcus McGaith, not to compare Mason Jones's and Chase Hooper's skill level or level of competition they face more. Marcus McGehy. I never mention this for Marcus. He comes in every week and he always names his, he always names the editions of his submissions, his picks. So he called this the Rosenstrike Death Touch edition.

Well done. he likes Latifi Latifi versus Jorgeo de Lima he described it as a punishment for both men so he did not enjoy these two gentlemen

wrestling their way to wins in their last two fights apparently and would like to see them so their fate is that they have to face one another I suppose that makes sense That's funny Kirk versus Haccaro Hamos and he says why not to again

he likes it yet just match up some winners He said Rodriguez versus Deleizze Puez versus Mason Jones and De La Rosa versus Fioro. So I'm like, yeah, yeah, I could see, I don't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't pick any of those, none of those would be my first pick. Could I see them happening? I think Pueyes versus Jones might be the least likely, but yeah, I could see it.

Yeah. We're almost wrapping up here. Brett Mobley, go CSU Rams. He likes Rosenstrike versus Blades. And so he had a great pick for Walt Harris. You know, we keep saying, gosh, Walt Harris, we want to give him like a really, a fight where he'd be like a five-to-one favorite. And Brett's pick is so, he's so sure about it.

He couldn't even get this person's name right. That's how low this guy is on the total pole. He said, Walt Harris versus Henry Hunsucker. It's Harry Hunsucker, Brett Mobley. Walt Harris versus Harry Hunsucker. And he just says, please just get this man a win. And I'm not going to lie, I love that matchup. Again, I'm not saying, for apologies to Huntsucker,

I'm not saying that Hunsucker's guaranteed to lose. but it's a very, very, very, very, very winnable fight for Walters. Yes. All right. I saved the two best for last. I wasn't sure which one to end with, but I'll go first. I'll go Javon Johnson first. He's getting to have an app, giving us these little essays to explain things.

So this wasn't necessarily a match, a specific matchmaking. He said this is how Martin Tavura becomes the UFC heavyweight champion. All right. Now this is the math equation we had a couple of weeks ago, Mike. this is actually a lot simpler. It says first, Volkov has to beat Gond. Then Taborah has to fight Curtis Blades and beat him emphatically, an emphatic win. Like a submission, knockout, some of that.

And then Lewis upsets Francis Ngani. So you've got Volkov, Toborra, and Lewis in sort of in the winner's circle. Then to avoid a rematch with Volkov, he says, Tabura fights Derek Lewis for the belts and boringly wrestles his way to the belts. So there you go. So that's a quick route. Alternatively, he says Taborah could be. steepe instead of blades and which you mentioned before like you threw Steepie's name in the mix in there he says to work a fight stepe and and then go on

and fight Lewis so Lewis has to beat Nanganu in the situation and he thinks he thinks tuber can be Lewis and then he says throw in a splash of I'll take less money then insert other contenders names here voila he says voila tibura falls into the belt well poor poor poor Cyril gone just getting leaped over and John Jones and even get mentioned there I mean it's just wild I I I I Marche and in this essay, Marcyne Chiborra is one, potentially one win away from fighting for the title. I love it. One emphatic win or a win over Steepa.

Stranger things have happened. That's true. I think stranger things have happened. I think stranger things have happened. And I'll close out with our good pal, our loyal listener. This man tunes into like every program we do, Scott McCraight. Now, he's a big fan of women's MMA. He was jazzed up about the Manon-Fiaro fight all week.

He was asking his questions on our shows all the time. I couldn't remember if we actually got to it. So, Scott, my apologies, I will give you the closing listener suggestion this week. So he says, he likes, so he loves the match-out. He loves his Antoinette. He says, let's get the heat started with Bullets sister. Manon-Fioro versus Antonina La Pantera, Shavchenko, please. I'm convinced of Manon's TD defense.

I take down defense. I don't want to see your fighter or the ground fighter, only highly skilled strikers that come forward from now on. To me, this is where the piece. Menon Firo hype comes in. To me, I'm speaking for Scott. Manon is a cross between Wonderboy and Justin Gaithji. Fights mean and loves to fight. Also, he says, the Beast won the French snowboarding

championship when she was in college. So there you go, I didn't know that. So he just says, thanks in advance, you guys continue to make great content for all of his fans. Manon Fioro, a cross between Stephen Wonderboy Thompson and Justin Gaith. She has two UFC fights, guys. Two UFC fights. Seven pro, oh, eight, excuse me, eight now.

I think eight pro-MMA bounce. But the hype is real, and I love it. I guess, you know what? If the fans want to get behind this fighter, she's super exciting so far, and I'm not going to blame them. But that is our, I got to remember to tweet that out because that's a hell of a compliment.

Yeah, I would say so. as we put a stamp on UFC Vegas 28 that'll wrap up the show for this week but join us next week let's remind people Mike again you can reach oh yeah God they know by now AK

this is 46 episodes in Mike rules rule all right fair enough fair enough find me on Twitter at Alexander K Lee on Instagram at Alexander KK Lee email me at Alex dot Lee at sbnation.com

there you go Twitter at Mike Kek underscore JR At Mike Heck. Nope. God, M. Heck underscore J.R. There we go. Slide into those DMs.

Oh, my God. I forgot my own freaking Instagram. Send him your dog pictures. Send Mike your dog pictures. He's a dog. He's a dog. M underscore HECJR. God.

M underscore Hector. Send him your dog pictures. You guys, he's part of the, he's a dog father now, guys. He's a dog father. That's right. We'll mix Marshall Arfs. So look for content.

Just some doggy content coming up soon. And look for us next week. As we discuss the aftermath should be a little. Voted edition coming out of UFC 263, of course, the middleweight title on the line, the rematch between Israel-A-Sanya and Marvin Vittori. Another rematch for the flyway title. Cannot wait for this fight. Davis-Figuero versus Brandon Moreno, Leon Edwards versus Nathan Diaz, five rounds at 170 pounds.

Damien Maya, potentially the final fight of his illustrious career taking on Belaw Muhammad, Paul Craig versus Jamal Hill will kick off the main card. Drew Dober versus Brad Riddell. Eric Anders versus Darren Stewart. Lauren Murphy versus Joanne Calderwood. Finally. Huge fight at 125 pounds. Hakeem Duwado versus Mobsar, Ev Loyaev, and many, many more.

How many do we have here? 14 fights in total going down in Glendale, Arizona, UFC 263 at the Gila River Arena. and we're going to talk all about it from a matchmaking perspective next week on the program. So for A.K. This feels like a two wildcard show, Mike. This feels like a two wild card show. Dude, we're going to be matchmaking, especially with Nate in the mix. We're doing six, six potential matchups more than likely before we even finish out the main card.

Oh, that's true. So we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll do two wild cards. Who knows? It's been a while since we've, like, gone bananas with this. and done something super extraordinary maybe we'll do it for this one we'll see what happens

but until that for my best friend Alex Kaley I am Mike Kek always remember don't take this stuff too seriously MMA is supposed to be fun and we'll have more fun right here next week on onto the next one the podcast

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