MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 29

Episode Date: June 20, 2021

On the 48th 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 29 event at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung following his unanimous decision win over Dan Ige in the featherweight headliner, Sergey Spivak, Marlon Vera, Seung Woo Choi, Bruno Silva, Matt Brown, 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Here, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One, MMA Fightings Matchmen. making bonanza of a podcast where we will discuss the what's next coming out of UFC Vegas 29 this past Saturday night at the apex. UFC goes from a full ruckus crowd in Glendale, Arizona, back to the nearly empty UFC apex for a fun fight night event on ESPN 2 and ESPN Plus. My name is Mike Hack.

Thank you for checking out the program. And I want to wish all the dads out there doing the damn thing. A very happy Father's Day. enjoy your day by listening to some matchmaking, and I do not do this alone because joining me in this venture is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the Prince of Positivity. Mr. Alex K. Lee, how are you, my best friend? Michael Heck, my mejor, amigo. It is great. I'm feeling good. I'm still, as you can tell, a little bit high off the fumes wafting in from Guadalajara, Mexico, the site of Anderson Silva versus Julio Cesar. Chavez Jr. The Anderson Silva triumph. I'll tell the listeners in advance, UFC Vegas 29 did not have my full attention.

I was paying attention to most of the card, but I was covering boxing for M.AFighting.com. And the more as is, that card went along. I kind of got distracted a bit. But I am aware of what happened last night. It sounded like classic under the radar card that delivered some exciting fights. I was watching the Grand Verra Grant rematch,

which we'll talk about later, which I loved. But yeah, overall, I'm just, oh, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good from the Anderson-Silva business. I can't help it. Yes, that was some fun. We did a little bit of a live watch along, kind of flew by the seat of our pants, and it was fun watching Anderson-Silva go in there and do the damn thing, especially from rounds two through eight.

He was just on it. It looked like old Anderson-Silva, especially sitting in the corner, like trying to Will Chavez Jr., into the corner with him. It was fun stuff. man, I enjoyed it. He really took it to the always reliable, always consistent, you know, always well-behaved Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. So congrats to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Known, of course, for his sterling reputation and his consistent in-ring performances and always making weight, of course, never missed weight. So good, no. But who knew that of the Chavez clan that Papa Chavez, the legend, the legend of Julio Cavez, The legend, Julio Cesar Chavez, would, senior, I guess I got to clarify here, but I would hope people know who I'm talking about would have the best night, you know. Again, exhibition about no result, but really cool. I don't know if you managed to catch that, that the last, were you guys, did you guys stick around for the last fight as well? The stream did not stick around for the last fight, but I did kind of pay attention to it.

The fourth round, they take the head gear off. Yes. Louis-Hars-Sha-Bas says, no more headgear. I'll give me one more round, one round before I walk away forever with no headgear. It was a very cool moment. Thank God, cooler heads prevailed. He brought in, like, Canello to be his, like, corner man for one round. It was a really cool moment.

So just a cool event all right. Did I say happy Father's Day? I'm sorry, Mike, happy Father's Day to you, sir. Thank you. And to all the fathers out there, of course, my own father, Peter, a wonderful man. And I'm happy to, I love him, and happy Father's Day to him as well. Well said. And my best friend, let us begin with the main event from this past Saturday in Las Vegas. The Korean zombie looked great against a very tough opponent and Dan Iiege. And I said this after the show.

There aren't a lot of people who will get on the microphone and actually call for a fight with the Korean zombie. Dan Igay did that and lived to tell the tale afterwards. Zombie moves to 3-0 when he has his fight camps in Arizona at Fight Ready, gets a unanimous decision. decision win in a very fun fight. Bounces back from the lost of Brian Ortega in October. A loss that had him looking at himself deep in the mirror at a crossroads, trying to figure out which road to take. Do I just say I'm done with the sport? Or do I keep going and try to get back to title contention? Cooler heads prevailed. He veered right. And now he's back on that road to a potential title shot in the future. So what would you like to see next for Chan Sung-jung in order to

take said next step to get back to a potential opportunity at a world championship a k as a mr mr jung made a very compelling arguments you know put a very compelling call out post fight max holloway why not aim high aim for one of the top two featherweights in the world uh i had no problem with that a little bit of sprinkling a little trash talk you know holloway questioning his punching power i like it i like it but i cannot veer away from the match that i've been calling for forever i don't know how much sense it makes now. Barbosa, I mean, Barossa,

two straight wins, actually makes a lot of sense. Edson Barbosa, Mike. Edson Barbosa. I need to see Barbosa zombie. Maybe it doesn't need to be next. Maybe that's why the Holloway callout makes sense. Maybe that's why Chansong Jung did it. But I feel like you could do Barbosa next.

We don't know what's going on with Holloway. We know he had to pull out of the upcoming Year Rodriguez's fight. And I think, I don't know if that's being, we don't know if that's being postponed. or they're trying to keep the date. So we don't know when he'll be available. Presumably the timelines could line up for zombie and Holloway.

Barbobosa's right there. We can start talking about this fight now. We can start negotiating this fight now. Give me Zombie versus Barbosa this fall. I want it now. I like the fight. I would be very excited if they booked it. I don't think it makes a ton of sense.

just because of what this division looks like. It's kind of process of elimination because you mentioned Holloway versus Rodriguez. The plan, as far as I am told, is to try to rebook that thing. Undisclosed injury to Holloway, no real details, doesn't seem too serious. Of course, we got the title fight coming up later on this year. To me, it's got to be Calvin Cater. I mean, Cater is ready to get back to work. I know his manager and coach Tyson Chardier after the lost to Max Holloway was thinking

September, October-ish, they were going to monitor him very closely. And if zombie can be ready for the fourth quarter of 2021, that's a no-brainer for me on a pay-per-view main card. That could be a fight night main event. Although, Korean zombie, let's give the man a little bit of a break from main events. I'm sure he likes the extra money, but he even said it himself during the media day on Wednesday. This is my eighth straight main event. You know, give me a three-rounder. Let's sprinkle one of those bad boys in at some point. So yeah, this is easy-peasy for me. Zombie

versus Cater, very important fight in a loaded featherweight division. Again, that's one of those crossword fights of who's going back to title contention and who arguably could be out of it altogether for the foreseeable future. So there's a lot on the line with those two guys fighting. But if they do Barbrose, I'm fine. They do anybody at 145, I'm fine. So good spot to be in, Chan Sung Jung, must-see TV, and this is a fun division where

you can throw them in there in a lot of different scenarios, and all of them are good. Yeah, that top 15, top 20 at 145, is just so precarious. So many great fights, so many great opportunities, but you're also like two losses away from just, you know, being miles away from a title shot. So there's no bad matchups.

really for zombie. There's no bad matches for Dan Igay. Any other guy you want to mention at 145 as far as like entertainment value, as far as like name value. But as far as like how dangerous those fights could be for your career, like very. It's a precarious place.

What do we do with Dan Igay? I mean, just off top of my head, I kind of want to see Gigga Chikaze get his shot, man. Get him in there. Like I know there's a relationship there between Iga and Ali and obviously Chikaze is part of the Ali camp. Igey is sort of part of the Ali camp

But he's sort of in another camp as well Because he's got a different manager than Ali But he works for Ali So it's kind of a weird spot But I kind of want to see Giga get that sink or swim kind of fight I think I could sort of be that guy I appreciate what Giga is trying to do

Just calling out everybody But he's not going to get 97% of the fights he's calling for I gay makes sense he could do something with that. Ege's got a little bit of a name, he's been in a bunch of main events, or two out of the last three fights anyways.

Why not? I'm thinking Arnold Allen maybe. Though unless in the eyes of some, Arnold Allen has already jumped him in the rankings. I don't have, I have, I have, well, I have, because Alan, the only problem, Alan is the thing Alan is missing is kind of a big win over, like a, you know, a signature opponent.

So he doesn't have that yet. So I actually have Ege at 10 in my, mystery rankings and Alan at 11. But I understand Arnold Allen 8 and own the UFC, if you had him already leapfrocking a bunch of guys that he hasn't necessarily beaten, but that he's just been more successful

than as far as straight wins and losses over the last couple of years. I have no problem with that. But for me, it's like he needs that one he gets that one big win. He could jump into the top six, top seven. Obviously depends who he's messed up against. So we just need to see that. But yeah, that would be an interesting one for me. I would like to see Alan

and Ege. But yeah, I agree, Giga, again, another underfeat guy who hasn't lost in the UFC. So there's good options for E.Gay to kind of regain whatever career momentum feel that people feel that he's lost. He just had to, you know, stifle one of these really tough unbeaten guys. Yeah, I would throw Allen in that cluster of like the guys we already chose. So like zombie, Cater, Barbosa, Allen. Like any mixer match of those four gentlemen in any way in any way works for me.

me and then everybody else kind of works this way up. I feel like that's like we have like the A tier of like the four guys that are like completely entitled contention and then there's like the next step and that's those four other guys and that we can kind of mix and match and go from there. But we go to the co-made event, A.K. Sergei Spivak picks up a decision win over Alexia Lennox, a big opportunity for one Sergey Spivak to make a statement in this heavyweight division. And while the man went out there and won the fight, my best friend, I think he failed in his overall mission. Do you agree with that sentiment? And who would you like to see him fight next?

You think he failed in his, oh, okay, interesting. Well, I'll start with who I want to see him fight. I'm thinking Tom Aspinall. Now, I'm only saying this because I, the last time Tom Aspinall came up and won a fight, I was saying right away, throw him in there with Chris Dachas, prospect versus prospect I do not care. Chris Doccas now has himself a nice, very nice fighting against top 10 opponent. I believe he's fighting. Oh my gosh, what is the guy's name?

Help me. Help me, Michael. Help me. Shalmiel. Abdurrahma. I was going to say, like, Malcolm at Sheripov. I'm like, the weights are a little off. The weights are a little law.

Thank you. Shemil Abderakimov, who is firmly entrenched in the heavyweight top 10. So big, big opportunity for Chris Doc. It's good for him for getting that matchup. So that for me frees up Tom Aspinall. And again, this is the last time he fought, Aspinall, Christakis, and Sergei Spivak were all on the same card. And we were kind of like, okay, well, one of these guys can go fight some of a veteran or someone on the top 10. The other two we can match up.

So for me now, I'm pivoting towards Spivak and Aspinall. But I am wondering, like, what was your, what do you feel he need? He could have, he'd think he should have finished. Oh, yeah. He had plenty of chances to as well. Like, I understand Olinick is a dangerous man, but Spivak made some, like, mistakes. Like, how, like, how dare you try to put Alex Elynec in an anaconda choke? What does the matter with you? Do you think that was going to turn out good for you?

But if you'd done it, right? Can you, if he had fooled it off? No, I don't even, I don't even give him points for the gusto. Nope, not doing it. So, in my eyes, like, his stock goes up slightly, like it was a clear win, but he needed to go out there and just run through this man, like most expected him to be like, Alenik wasn't trotted out there to be like, oh, man, I hope he gets another Ezekiel choke. They're like, no, we're going to use this 43-year-old guy with 75,000 fights to put over this up-and-coming guy who doesn't say anything. So we have to use his fighting style and what he does inside the octagon to put him over because he's not going to cut any kind of a scathing promo. It's literally like four seconds of talk.

The translator talks for another four seconds, and that's his entire interview. Like, he goes out there and finishes Olinic. We're having a different conversation. We're throwing him in there with the Aspenaws of the World. So I'm not giving him a rank guy. I am willing him to throw him another veteran and give him another chance at it because he shouldn't be penalized completely for going out there and getting a win. So it's time, AK.

It is our Lofsky time. This is the only fight that makes sense without giving him a giant push up or a giant pushback. That is how I see it. You win, but you got to give me another one, bro. Let's see how you do against a former world champion. It's not a bad consolation, Brian. right it's probably the first thing I thought of it didn't end up being one of my top two options for him it is probably the first thing I thought of yeah I get what you're saying I get

you're saying it didn't shake it didn't shake up the rankings it just it's funny I think even in my rankings I don't think I bumped him up I think I bumped Olinick down I think I bumped Olinic down behind him in the rankings as opposed to spit back jumping over Olinick and some other names so you're what you're saying makes a lot of sense I don't I just thought so Two bends in a row like that. Again, I guess the thing is at heavyweight in the UFC, it's like you're either fighting a prospect or you're fighting a veteran. There's not a lot of in between at heavyweight in the UFC, unfortunately. I actually when you're in the top 20.

Spivak is 17 years, was 17 years younger than Olinic. I know. That's great. He's an adult, he's an adult human being younger than Alexei Olinic. And I think Arlowski's, what, maybe a year, younger. Al-Lavski's the age always throws me off because he started so early and you always go like, oh, Arlowski must be 50 by now. And it's like, oh, it's not like.

He's 41 or 42. 41 or 42, right. So it's right. Because Olinx, the oldest act is he's 42. So it's like close. But Olinick, the oldest. So you go from the oldest active U.S. heavyweight to the second oldest active U.S.

heavyweight. But yeah, no, I'd like to see that match up. But yeah, I'm going with the youth way. Mike, you're going and give him the vet test. So see how that goes. Yeah, I think Asman, I'll really. ruins, Sergei. The Sergei's Vevac that walked into that, that fought Alexiolanic, Aspeda, Aspidal finishes that man in two minutes. So, there we go.

That's very harsh. That's a very harsh, very appropriate for Father's Day. Like, that's a very harsh dad-like appraisal of Sergei Spirac. I do feel like you're saying this out of love. I feel like you're saying this out of love, not out of. Look, I think he's a good fighter. Like, I think he could be really good. I think he could be a very interesting guy in this division. But you, like, when you get these opportunities, you have to make the most of them. And he just didn't do it. Like, he just didn't.

And there are guys on this card who did. And they're going to be rewarded for such performances. And we're going to head to the fight of the night, which you alluded to earlier. Marlon Vera goes in there, defeats a super game and tough Davy Grant. It was surreal watching the highlights of their first fight. Marlon Vera looked like he was, you know, 17 years old. He looked like a kid. And now he looks like man, Marlon.

It's crazy. But the series is now tied at one apiece. Cheetah look great in rounds two and three like he typically does, the third round especially, and then takes the opportunity to look just outside of the cage fence and sees Dominic Cruz and calls them out. And that's a fight that would interest me for sure. However, I don't think it happens.

But I think it's time to go back to the well that we've been talking about so many times before in the MMA space. The timing has never, ever been better. it is Cheeto versus Al Terror Jimmy Rivera time. That is the fight to make whenever Jimmy is ready to go and he says, book me a fight, it's automatically Maro Nivera. They should have a contract ready. You just

insert date, email that bad boy out and get it back and let's put this thing on the books. Agree or disagree? No, I 100% agree. I don't know what the holdup on well I shouldn't say I don't know the holdup is. They've had since, you know, they've been booked at least once. I know it's been talked out for more than once.

I know they've been booked at least once. I think they've been booked twice. Yeah, at least once or twice easy. Including, of course, like you said, this would be a rematch, including they did actually, they have actually fought before. So they have actually fought before.

I'm not crazy, right? I'm having, I'm having an off day today. Oh, no, I keep. No, that's right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. They've been booked several, two times, and then I kept thinking

one of those actually happened. My mistake, I'm sorry. Yes, I like, I think that's the fight to make. There's still heat there. Marlon is just, he's just, he's so close. We always say he's so close to break into the like top seven, top eight. Even the top, I don't even know if he's broken to the top ten yet. He just has to climb over some of these veteran names.

He's such a good fighter. He's so exciting. And guys like Jimmy Rivera exist to test guys like Chito Vera. It was, and look, he looked great. He got to avenge him. loss. He got to Avenge a loss on Saturday, which is always a nice thing. And I do want to say one thing with the scoring. I think anything besides 2927, I don't know how you do not, you don't, like, that's like one of the easiest, I know 2927 is not a common score.

That's one of the easiest 2927s, I think you can score. 3027 was insane. Davy Grant clearly won the first round. And then you have to, there was, the last round was so dominant. So some questionable scoring. I'm not going to name name. Some questionable scoring. It doesn't matter. Cheeto Barrow won, and that's what we'll remember.

By the way, judges have been really good lately, but I will say on Saturday. They were bad. We had some cards. That's the song I'm going to put it. But otherwise, judging isn't pretty good lately. I don't want to crap on saying like, oh, my God, when are they going to fix this? It does. I mean, there's certainly we can always be.

working on making these things better, but this one on Saturday stood out as being particularly a little wacky. This is a bad week at judging hashtag PFL. Hashtag Roy McDonald. Hashtag Lacedevo. Saturdays, Vegas. And then we had a straight-up robbery on the tribute to the King's card as well. The second fight of the night just as I was live scoring and I was shocked that they got that

one wrong. And the split decision on the Anderson-Sullivite was egregious. Insane. 77, 75, child. Get out of here. Come on. Some home cooking, dude. Thank goodness.

Super home cooking. We got the right winner, but she's always. The featherweight division, AK, which we talked about earlier coming out of the main event, they have a very talented fighter on the come-up named Siung Wu Choi, who picked up a couple of nice wins in the UFC, headed in a two-fight win streak. The United States of Sala was very impressive. And then he gets matched up with a super tough and durable. Julian Arosa.

And I feel like this was tremendous matchmaking because I wanted to see what would have happened in the third round of that fight because Choi is a good fighter. He tends to fade down the stretch. And Arosa just, that's when he shines. He could be down 20 to 16. That's when he comes back and goes out and gets these out of control finishes. But good old Sting must have had a date back of the hotel or something, because, man, he did not want to waste any time.

He wasn't going to a second round. He wasn't going to a third round. He wanted to go back and eat some pizza and hang out. Minute 37 in, and this thing was a wrap. Drops and hurts a Rosa badly. And the referee stops. That's three straight for Choi. What is next for him, AK?

Yeah, this is, like I said, a great matchup. It is, I do feel like Erosa just got caught. Not taking anything away from Sung Rucho. Sun Rucho. I think he showed a lot of growth in his last fight, his last one with, I think, with the Zalal. and I was picking him to win. I was picking him to win by decision,

but a first round finish would have, I mean, it shocked me. It shocked, I did not see that coming. It's one of these moments where you, it's unfortunate that rematchers are so rare in MMA, because I do feel like if you run this back like 10 times, you know, the hypothetical 10 times, Troy wins maybe six out of four.

But Arosa, it's not like, it's not like I saw that out of fight. I'm like, oh, he's so much better than Arosa. He caught him. He caught him during exchange. That could literally happen to end. anyone. But again, credit is Choi. Troy is great. A Rosal bounced back, I'm sure. But that was a piece of matchmaking. So, and then the next good piece, we keep Troy in this mix of, again,

guys, just right in the middle, just outside the top 20. Hikardo Hamos, I think Hacardo Hamos, good stylistic matchup, another kind of rangy guy. And again, a test along the same lines, because like I said, I don't know if Choi, if that spectacular TKO leap fogs him over a bunch of other notable names. I think these guys, again, they're quote unquote in the mix, not for title shop, but in the mix for a big jump. And whoever wins that one, I think then we're talking about maybe a top 15 opponent after.

But very impressed with Choi. I saw a lot of people predicting, and it would go the other way around, that Rosa would spark him. And that certainly didn't happen. Yeah, I predicted a, I picked third round submission for Rosa, come from behind, like, shocking win, but that did not happen because Choi just keeps getting better and better. And there's a few options that make sense for him. But I'm going to go against something I've been saying for a little while because this division and these cards are filling up quickly.

And I feel like it's just not going to happen at this point. So I've wanted this man to get a top 15 matchup since we started doing this show to get himself an opportunity that he rightfully deserves. But it just doesn't seem to be happening. So let's give him one more stiff test against an up-and-comer like joy. Bruce Leroy, Alex Kis, AK, sink or swim time for sting. Let's see if this guy is a top 15 guy, Caceres is the one that will answer that question. This one makes a lot of sense to me with the trajectories of their careers.

Choice won three straight. Caceres is one four straight. Someone's got to go to the top 15. Which one's it going to be? And that's how you market this bad boy. Yes, Alice Caceres, break class in case of emerging prospect. You know, if we need someone to test a prospect,

someone who's a veteran, a recognizable name, not a top 15 guy, but a recognizable name, someone who's fought top 15 guys, Bruce Leroy, come on down. Yeah, I mean, it makes a lot of it. It would not surprise me at all if within the next month we saw that fight reported, reported, or even announced. It was a hell of a UFC debut for one Bruno Silva.

Whoa. It takes on Wellington Termin, who had a game plan that was working early on with the grappling and the takedowns, but then he let Bruno Silva get on top of him and for those who have followed the career of Bruno Silva over the years, pre-UFC, that is one thing you do not want to do. You do not want that man on top of you. I don't care how good your grappling is, how good your jiu-jitsu is. And Terman paid for it dearly.

Brutal ground and pound led to Terman being knocked completely unconscious, and Silva gets his fifth straight win, his fifth straight knockout. And this dude AK is going to be a problem, my man. So this is not a slow roll kind of thing. here. I'm not ready to throw him into the top 15, but I'm ready to give him a nice juicy step up on competition. Later on this year, September,

October-ish, it is Bruno Silva versus Eric Anders time for me. 26 pro fights for Bruno Silver. This is not a guy who's like 8 and 1. He's got a ton of experience. This is not a bridge too far whatsoever. I want to see what this guy's made of. Let's just

throw him in there with just a gritty, tough dude and Eric Anders who's coming off win got a lot of confidence right now in his new camp i love it that's my fight would say you i was almost going to say that's a bridge too far for anders uh because like i said i know it's one ufc appearance versus the guy with i think maybe a dozen ufc appearances but uh overall pro experience sylva does have i really bruno silva does have the edge right he has overall experience yeah so uh no i but i get it i mean i'm sure that's that's not how people would

look at it anders would i don't know if he'd be favored after this after this after this performance by Silva. I'm a fan, by the way, of Wellington Tournament, but this guy has got to work on his defense. I think he came in like his last, he got knocked out his last fight too, and he came in, I think, with a really good chin, and I mean, look at him, his chin is

enormous. And I think he had a little bit of an idea that he might have been invincible because he just eats shots, and you can't do that when you get to the UFC, as he was proven by Bruno Silva the other night. So I think the perfect matchup for me, actually, in my mind would have been, I would love to have seen him with Gregory Rodriguez.

But I already said, I already created a hypothetical matchup with Rodriguez and Buckley. So there was another suggestion listeners had for Rodriguez. So I'm going to steal that for Bruno Silva instead. So I'm thinking, I'm going an opposite direction from you. I'm sticking with relative UFC experience. Bruno Silva and the Beverly Hills Ninja, Jordan Wright. Boy, that's fun. So even less pro experience than Eric Anders.

So I might be, I'm not sure what I'm thinking here, but it could be a fun matchup. I still want to see, Jordan Wright is such a mystery to me. I think he's so talented. I just wonder how good he is. So Bruno Silva would be a big test. But if he can beat him, then, I mean, then we really have someone with right. And if Silva beats him, obviously, he just continues his, then we give him a much more experienced opponent. But a lot of good options for Bruno Silva after that performance.

That was nice. That'd be interesting because Jordan Wright's such a wild man, but you cannot be a wild man against Brunno Silva or else you will be you will be asleep. So that would just be crazy. That'd be rock'em-sock him. But yeah, I mean, Bruno's self against anybody is something that people will want to see after that performance. But the MVP of the night, AK, goes to good old Matt Brown. The guy just keeps finding ultra-violent ways to end fights, even at 40 years of age. He faceplant chaos, Diego Leimo with one shot, and this fight is going as I'm watching it.

Because, of course, we have our little pick-um pool that we do. And I'm like, all right, this is going the way I thought it was going to go. Diego's just going to keep kicking him in the leg. And, you know, Brown's going to have his moments. But Diego's just going to cruise his way to a, like a 29, 28 unanimous decision. And then boom, the right-hand lands, beautifully timed, excellent instruction, excellent thought process on how this. is going to go. He lured Diego Lima into a false sense of security, and then boom, it was over. Back in the wind column is the immortal Matt Brown. This guy versus anybody is fun, AK, but how much

fun are we going to have coming up next? This was one of my rare correct picks, by the way, of Sari. I did, and I was actually spot on. I did predict Matt Brown by second round knockout. And it went, again, I thought Lima, the thing with Matt Brown is you can be a better technical fighter than him. He's fought some great technical fighters, but he's beaten them too because I think there's a certain nastiness you have to have when you fight Matt Brown. And Diego Lima, nice guy, good fighter. He does not have that extra gear. So it was, it kind of went as, again, as I expect, at some point I'm like Matt Brown is just going to snap. And if you can't go to that another level with him, you're going to be in trouble. I still, this has been discussed on Otnaud before.

has been discussed on other shows we've done. I still want to see him fight court McGee. And I know it sounds a little bit like this is sort of like some tailor-made like ESPN, like kind of exploitative thing. It's like, oh, just because both these guys had like really difficult pass with substance abuse and really serious like, you know, near-death experiences as a result of that. I'm trying to like I'm trying to portray this matchup without making it sound tacky.

But I think those stories are legitimately inspirational. I can never hear it enough. Court McGee's been around forever, and I've seen some people just kind of like, oh, my gosh, this guy again. But it's like, these guys' stories are amazing. And I do think, as publicized as their stories are, again, their battles with those aspers and overcoming those demons. I still think there's an even wider audience that is not aware of that. And again, now you have the ESPN platform. Stylistically, it's just a great fight.

I mean, I think you're getting an awesome three rounds, stand-up battle five round if you're making a fight in that main event somehow. But I do think the story is cool. I think it would be a really nice moment and a moment that these two guys could share these two veterans could share. So again, I know it's a very easy narrative to work off of, but that's kind of why I like it. I think it has a universal appeal.

I think it's easy to understand. And I think you get a good fight out of it. So Matt Brown and Courtney. Jose mentioned that matchup. It's it works. No doubt about it. And Matt Brown, obviously, to nobody's surprise is a very popular topic in discussion

when it comes to the future after that performance. A lot of names are being thrown around, all of which are fun, all of which could work. But I think a good fight with where Matt is at in his career and where people see this other fighter potentially going, and he just so happened to compete on the same card. I mean, Matt Brown versus Chaos Williams is ridiculous. I mean, that is just insane.

Chaos getting a nice win over Matthew Semmelzberger. I mean, if you see Matt Brown versus Chaos, Chaos Williams in the works for such and such event, you're just going to be like, oh, my Lord, this is actually happening. So that's what I'm going with. I think that's just a good piece of business right there. I mean, nothing. If they did the Court McGee fight, all in on it,

that's got to be a co-made event. That's going to be a big storyline for sure on a big card, do something, even if it's like, you know, if Matt does make the decision, like, I'm done. Maybe you end it with court. And I would like to see that fight at some point. But I don't know. Something about Matt Brown versus Chaos Williams just gets me all fired up.

How do you feel about James Krause? I'm in for that one, too. That was the name we tossed around as well that I like. Do you think that's a fight that he's, from what you know of him? Do you think that's one he'd really want to have? Krause? Yeah. Oh, Krause would take that fight.

Krause doesn't care. Like, Krause is just like, oh, you know, let's circle this calendar. Like, I'll fight around here. I'll just fight whoever you want me to fight. Like, he's not gunning for world titles. He's just like, dude, I've, I have a million guys to corner and coach. That's that. And then, you know, I'll sprinkle in a fight from time to time.

So, yeah, if you threw him Matt Brown? I'm sure he'd be more than down for that fight. I like that one. It's just cool to see Matt Brown still succeeding. You know, I mean, again, 40 years old, the year of our Lord, 2021, Matt Brown's winning fights. Andrews and Silver's winning boxing matches. What a country. What a country.

He's crushing the salt and pepper, all. B'Neill Daryush a little bit. And that's kind of how I knew. As soon as I saw him, like, it's Father's Day weekend. He's got the salt and pepper going on with the beard and the hair. I'm like, this dude's going to win. I made a bad choice. I made a bad choice.

But let us head to the wild card round, A.K., where we will select one fighter that we have not match made for yet, and we will matchmake for them right now. Could be a loser from the main card. Could be a winner from the prelims, a loser from the prelims. And I know a very popular choice is Roki Martinez versus. is Chris Barnett. We've already used that one before,

so I don't think you're going to say that against. Hopefully I didn't spoil your pick. But what is your selection coming out of UFC Vegas 29? In my mind, Martinez-Barnett has already been booked. I don't even know why we... We shouldn't even discuss it as like a potential fight on this. It's booked. It's booked.

But there's not a report. We don't have any sources telling us. The universe is telling us this fight will have. Assuming, by the way, that Martinez isn't just released. He did fall to... He did unfortunately fall to 0 and 3 in the UFC, which is... But he was. not this is true it was a close fight you're right and that a lot of thought he won so hopefully

the uc gives him one more shot and they do the they do the chris barnet match up if he had like he had oh he landed over it i don't even think i'm making this up he landed almost 200 more strikes than josh parisian landed in that fight it was like a ridiculous number but who held the other guy against the fence for longer that's a great question yeah take that also hey ufc can we get some punching speed stats at the PFL because you know people complaining about the T. Bowel McDonald thing I tweeted I tweeted a couple of days ago hey check out the punch speed glacin tbao's maximum punch speed was almost like seven miles per hour faster than Rory McDonald so who really won that fight I mean we know I think the judges got a correct I'm just saying so I think sorry my dog

just jumped on me oh yeah I wish people could see the so yeah anyone listening uh his Mike was just viciously attacked by his by his dog Shiloh yes good math I'm terrible with pet names. I'm so bad. I'm going with Virna Janjidoba. I think, first of all, that was a great, that was a great, quote-unquote, great fight. I mean, it was obviously somewhat gross to watch when it was very clear that for Kanakamara, her arm was injured. And I think, and she went, I believe, a whole round, maybe more than a whole round with that injury.

hopefully nothing serious she's just tough as nails and Janjidoba's just such a such a beast I still see her

as contending for a title someday she's definitely a few fights away from it I know she has to make up some ground she's had mixed results in the UFC so far but talent

but talent wise she is a world title contender so I'm not pushing her up too fast I want to see you take on another veteran there's a few names

but let's go with Jessica Penne for now so I'm really not as great as that win was I'm not pushing Janja Nova back into the top 15 or into the top 10 yet. Let her get another name that's tough. She could potentially style on with all due respect to Penne.

If it's a fight, I think, Janja Nova would have the advantage. So I thought of some other veteran names, but I'm going back. I'm being very conservative here for her. One-time strawweight title contender, Jessica Penney. for those who who know me and have watched all our various programs over the last I don't know a year or so I was very hype about Casey O'Neill I told you how much of an animal she was and how much of a thing she had and it seemed very obvious that this is the direction I was going to go until things changed last night in a direct message slack conversation

with my best friend Alex K. Lee, where he challenged me. Actually, he dared me to choose one of the fighters on this card. No, do Casey O'Neill. No, I'm doing it. No, do Casey O'Neill. I'm doing it. No, give me your Casey O'Neill match up. My wild card selection is Ricky Glenn.

That's right. Ricky Glenn gets a quick win, nearly three years on the sidelines. And I'm ready to have some fun. So, AK, what goes better with most foods? What goes better in a lot of potential lightweight matchups with guys outside of the top 15? What would Ricky like to add to his resume? What would Ricky like to maybe pour on some pizza, some maybe some scrambled eggs? How about a little hot sauce, AK?

How about a little hot sauce, my best friend? Ricky Glenn versus Scott Holtsman. Give it to us. Give it to us all. That fight is just so much fun. Let's do it. Glenn versus Scott Hotsots-Holtzman. All right.

First of all, great matchup. Indisputable. I am officially stopping my war against adult Rickies. Well, no, I shouldn't say that. Specifically this adult Ricky. And by the other people, I'm just saying, I think once you've reached a certain age, you're a Rick, you're Richard, you stick to it. However, I did not know, I believe he is legally, I believe legally he is Ricky Glenn.

He is not, if I am not mistaken, I believe he's not Richard Glenn. He's not Rich Glenn. He is Ricky Glenn. I think he changed it earlier. Do you know why he changed to why he was using Rick for a long time? No idea. I saw someone say, I hope I'm not just reading some unsubstantiated Twitter comment that I read, that his father was something was dating a woman named Ricky.

So it was like for some time there and it was awkward. I think when he started his career. So he's like, okay, just call me Rick. She can be Ricky. But I think that this woman is out of the picture now. So Ricky can be Ricky. I'm not, if he decides to throw the, apparently his name, Ricky Lee, Glenn.

No, don't throw the Lee in there. You are not a serial killer. Ricky Glenn, you're not a serial killer. You are not a bluegrass music artist. Ricky Glenn is fine. Let's stop there. I understand that is your actual name, and I apologize for criticizing his choice

to change back to Ricky. Not change to Ricky. Not change to Ricky. Change back to Ricky. So congratulations on the win. And you are Ricky Glenn, and I should respect that. And yes, him and Scott Holson would be absolute fire.

So there you go. Congratulations to Ricky Glenn. I am in. Forget about the curveball, Ricky. Skim the eater. That's all I could think of when I first heard Ricky Glenn was paying homage to Major League, that tremendous baseball movie.

So do we have a check the tapes? Do we have any mic checks for either of us? No. No, no. We've been pretty clean in the last few weeks. We do have check the tapes. I might have missed some. So guys, by the way, I always tell listeners,

if you remember a matchup that you called, please just, just DM me and remind me. I'm not annoyed by it. It helps us do this segment. Let me know if I forgot or if I missed it. Again, sometimes I don't read matchups when you match up, you know, losers matchups. I just don't read those. And I also don't write those down. So if you called some really cool, you know, matchup for a losing fighter, then let me know.

Let me know. And I'll mention it. I will look it up. I will go back to the DMs and look it up. but make me check the tapes. Listeners had two predictions that looks like they are going to happen now. Mirab de Wallisvili and Marlon Morais. That's one people wanted.

That's the one a lot of listeners wanted. And Michael Kiesa versus Vicente Lucke. So two cool fights. Everyone wanted good stuff. Rosenstruck versus Blades. I know a lot of people mention this one. For some reason, I only had CSU's own Brett Mobley calling this one. So I'm going to give Brett Mobley credit.

Rosenstruck versus Blades. That one is, looks like that's going to happen. And again, apologies to everyone else. I'm sure other people, Mike and your DMs mentioned it. I swear someone else in mind it, but I couldn't find it. So Brett Mowbly, this is your day. And Thomas Collins wanted to, he, someone reached out and reminded me, he called for Ascar, Ascarov versus the Alex Perez match-Schnell winner.

That fight was supposed to happen at 262. It fizzled. So he's taking credit for it. as well, then essentially he called for Ask Res versus Perez. That fight happening in July. Oh, no. Anyway, that fight happening July 31st, but sorry Thomas Collins. Mike does not approve.

You cannot hedge. If I don't get credit for Sean Strickland versus Uriah Hall, you are not getting credit for this one, sir. Okay. Thomas, you are free to respond. Half a point. Half a point. Half a point.

That's fine. Half a point is well deserved. But, as you're happy to respond to DMs. I will read out your, your mic check next week if you feel you know and if you do feel that you have unfairly been robbed of a half point here yes Matt Revelli one of those individuals uh who said maraud versus marlin you so he said I'm so glad I finally picked a fight correctly and then he uh and then he said that he said awesome episode of what the heck I couldn't keep a straight face

with Colby Covington like you it's not easy folks so yeah I That's it. Yeah. Okay. So I guess go ahead and give the standard thing. Guys, we tend to mostly mention winners unless they were in the main event or a title fight. Then we'll mention the losing side. Emphasis unique matchups.

So if you're wondering, like you're sending a bunch of matchups and we only read like one of them, it might be because just a lot of people mention them. We try to cluster those together. The fighter could already be booked or you might have just made a mistake in wrong weight class. The person fought already recently. Like they fought the same opponent recently and you're suggesting someone's injuring, it's going to be out for a while, etc. So do your research, guys. do your research. I know you guys are good with that. Just a reminder.

And most importantly, your pick might just be stinking hot do-do, and we do not want to read it. True that. We will kick things off with Alec-Inilion. Cheeto versus Dom Cruz. No, I think he's contributed a little bit. Welcome back. Welcome back.

Welcome back. Chito versus Dom Cruz, Josh Parisian versus Justin Taffa, Sergei Spivak versus Tom Aspinall. So thank you very much. much. Brandon Nunez. Oh, okay, you're going to love this one. Am I? I know what it is already. Hashtag Brown on Brown, Randy Brown versus Matt Brown. I wasn't prepared if I was thinking of something else. Good stuff, good stuff. Davy Grant versus the loser of Song Yudong versus Casey Kenney. All, both of those would be, would be fire.

Cheetah versus Rivera or the winner of Hafiela Sunsao versus Kyler Phillips Yeah Danny Gaye versus Sudeek Yusiv Yep

Calvin Kater versus Yayaeer Rodriguez and Korean zombie versus Arnold Allen Hmm Wow All right Um

Wow Brian Chambers came through He also had to check the tapes Biggie Boy versus Curtis Blades Needed to get that sign Quick and it did He called it All right Poppy

Brian. David Grant versus Gustavo Lopez. That's a pretty big step back. No disrespect to Gustavo Lopez, but going from Marlon Vera to Gustavo

Lopez. Interesting choice. Matt Brown versus the loser of Nico Price versus Michelle Paheta. He hasn't fought Nico Price before? Matt Brown?

No. I don't think so. So listen, I feel like it's happened, but hasn't. No. Okay. I mean, good Lord.

Both of those would be ridiculous. Brudon Silva versus Andreas, and Michaelitis. Yeah, I like that. Okay, yeah.

Better than some of the matchup. I have some matchups that I mentioned later, which I'm not crazy about, but go on. He wants Siong with Sung Wuchoy versus Ricky Simone, but Ricky would have to go to 145, so that probably doesn't make all that much sense. I mean, who knows? Maybe he likes Cheeto versus Frankie Edgar,

and explains, I like the Cruz call-out, but he's coming off a win. I think he should fight someone more around him. Edgar's coming off a loss and should probably fight back, plus you could easily make that a fight night, co-main, maybe even a Maine. So there you go. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yep. You know what? I don't mind this matchup either. Sergei Spivak versus Alexander Romanov. Romanov's not booked? I don't think so. He just fought Juan Espino in that weird-ass fight.

Oh, yeah. He's probably, yeah, he's a jibis. He likes zombie versus Calvin Cater. Division's kind of in a standstill, Yair versus Max's for a while. Same as the title fight. So let's just do this one, kind of the last one's standing. Our man, Thick Bih, the underscore Real Bertha, back in our lives.

Roki Martinez versus Chris Barnett in bold letters, AK. Ricky Glenn versus Joel Alvarez. Breesian versus Don Tal-Maze. I feel like Don Tal-Maze has mentioned like every week on the show. Yes, he's one of those names, yeah. So any heavy way who gets their first UFC wins, automatically Dontail Mays. There's going to be some serious check the tapes action

once Dontail gets hooked. Someone's going to get it. Someone has to get it. Chaos Olaez versus Dwight Grant. Semelsverger versus Sekewicz. Nikolai versus Mikhail Olegzezecich. Matt Brown versus Court McGee. There you go.

Bruno Silver versus Julian Marquez. Oh, that's a good one. I think we've come up with some pretty good Marquez matchups over that. I haven't been matching Marquez up with anyone. I think we had a couple of... Oh, then again, I wanted him and Murquez. And I remember that didn't.

And now Gerald Mirchart's getting that. Back on the table. Okay, okay, all right, all right. Sung Wu Choi versus Omar Morales, Cheeto Vera versus Jimmy Rivera, Spivak versus Aspinall, Zombie versus Arnold Allen, back with that. Robbie Ryan, Aussie underscore Dad underscore Bloke.

So I would assume we're going to be wishing a happy Father's Day to the Aussie Dad, Robbie Ryan. Good day, fellas. With this one now in the history books, here's my matchups following this event. TKZ is not getting any of you guys above them. Cater's at the next. best option.

Vera versus a Sunsauer Rivera. Brown versus the next fringe top 15 up and comer is the ultimate gaykeeper. I personally would like to see him fight John Wayne Parr. That seems to be a very popular choice. I don't think John Wayne Parr is coming to the UFC. And then he goes with Bruno Silva versus Brad Tavaris or Kevin Hollins next.

Wow. Dang. I know Bruno Silva's got a lot of outside the UFC. It's true. You know, again, I should stop viewing as a 1 and O in the UFC guy. He fought for M1. It's a pretty damn credible promotion. He has a win over Schlamenco, you know, so, yeah, I get.

I've probably been a little too conservative with the match speaking. Yeah, okay. Evan Rodriguez is back. K.S. Williams versus Randy Brown. Matthew Semmelsberger versus Mickey Gall. I know Gaul is booked. However, I would like Semmelsberger to fight Gaul, whether he wins or loses his next fight.

Semmelsberger is a legit prospect despite his recent loss, but needs a grappling test, and this serves that purpose. So I like the explanations. Davy Grant versus the Danah, Bats, Garillo, Montel Jackson winner. I think Davy is a top 15 guy, but ran into a serious problem for the division in Cheeto. Give Davey a quote-unquote tune-up fight in the winner of this to keep him busy. Casey O'Neill versus Ariani Lipski. O'Neill fights up.

I want her to not get rushed into a ranked fight just yet. If she beats Lipsky, then she should officially move on to top 15 cup. So my thought on that is I feel like Lara Procopio is at least in my eyes was ranked higher than Ariane. Yes, as also on my rankings. Yep. Correct. So I mean if you want to do that, it's fine. I think Lipski probably has more of a more of a name.

Yeah. Than Procopio probably has a little more value in that sense in terms of like fight promotion. But I feel like, I mean, I feel like this is like the sinker swim kind of test for Casey O'Neill and she He passed with flying colors. Our buddy, Francesco, from Italy, back. Zombie versus Barbosa. He is with you, AK. Another Speedback Osmondo.

Vera Cruz, great call. He likes that one right off the bat. Sung Wu Choi versus Lando Vanada, AKA. Oh, I love it. I saw that that was one that came up. That's maybe my favorite. That's a good one. I love that so much.

Bruno Silva versus Jacob Malcun. Matt Brown versus Francisco Trinaldo, at 170? Oh, sure. O'Neill versus Morose, K.S. Williams versus Randy Brown, John DeRoba, versus Jan Jaunan. Dang.

Again, like I said, look, I'm with a lot of people. I think she's a world title-level talent. I just want to give her a little more time to build up that resume and, you know, let the names ahead of her sort themselves out. I think we can only get a couple more. Jesse Thundercleese just had a question.

How about Ricky Glenn getting three knockouts in 35 seconds? Is that a record? Ricky Glenn. So three knockouts and- In 35-1. So he's got three knockouts? Three knockouts. That took around that time frame?

Or less. It's definitely not a record. If you look up like anyone's like, look at, look up some random, Dominic Reyes, had like some, I think he had like, he had like three knockouts that were like a combined 35 seconds. So, uh, it's, yeah, a lot of these guys do some crazy, crazy, crazy stuff on the, uh, in their pre-fight, pre-UFC, pre-Beltor, pre-World Series of fighting, whatever, whatever you want to look at times. I mean, I'm not, I'm not downplaying.

It's friggin amazingly impressive. I don't care who you're fighting to knock someone out in 35 seconds or less. But, uh, no, there's a lot of, a lot of random quick finishes out there on, on high-level fighters' resumes. Yes. And the final one comes from our friend, Patrick Austin. I was wondering where he was last night because normally he will, he will DM me. a matchup, like immediately after a fight ends.

He did not do that this time. And apologize. It works been crazy hot for the UPS, haven't been able to keep up as much these past few weeks. He comes out with a fiery, fiery hot take, AK. That kind of blew my mind. And the more I think about it, I'd love to see this fight.

Maybe not in the way he is presenting it, but maybe in the opposite direction. Patrick Austin said Justin Gichi should be a featherweight anyhow. Let's do the Korean zombie versus Justin Gajee. I mean, I would go the other way. For sure. Zombie not cut. Why make Gaechie cut?

Gachie is not, I'm not saying he's the tallest lightweight, but he's a bigger guy. And he's stout. He's like, he's not, I mean, he could drop some weight, but it would be like muscle. Like, I don't see him dropping like a lot of fat. I think he would be muscle. I'm not saying he couldn't make it. Oh, yeah. But why do I want to...

Gaghi versus zombie? Holy crap. Yeah, let's do it 155. I mean, that's an all-time. Oh, God, yeah. Yeah, we're not doing 45 for that one. That's just ridiculous. I'm still, with this Yayae thing, not panning out,

I am not giving up hope on Justin Gagie versus Max Holloway. I know you're not. And you shouldn't. Just yet. That is it for me. I got Aldrich and Tracy Cortez. You know, you got a dream big, so I think you can. You know, don't give up on it.

Don't give up on it. Zombie Barbosa is my new Aldrich Cortez, by the way. That is, I'm not giving up on that one. Yeah, so as you mentioned some of these, zombie owl and zombie Barbosa were kind of like neck and neck among listeners. So I don't know, they're both about even. Iggy versus Burgos was a big one. Mike, more popular in my DMs than Spivak versus Aspinol,

Spivak versus Augusto Sakai. You know what? had my first thought was had Spivak gone out there and just done what he probably was supposed to do that would have been my pick too I would have given him

Sakai but I'm not given it I can't justify giving him a guy that even though it's kind of weird that he's headlined his last two UFC fights I'm just he no no you're a hard man he gets Rolovsky it's probably a better thing for him Syri Gay

if you're out there listening to this I just want you know Mike is not mad. He is just disappointed. I'm just disappointed. I want that to be clear. He's not mad at you. He's just he just wants, he expects better. Go out there and do the thing, bro. Tito Vera versus Edgar and Tito Vera versus Rivera. We're both, again, neck and neck but even I've got the same amount of suggestions for Boy. Troy versus Nevada, as I said earlier, love this one. Silva versus Silva, I think you said this. Silver, Bruno Silva

versus Roman Delizze. I don't like it because Delisei does like striking, but he is also a bit of a grinder, a bit of a grappler. Why do I want to see Bruno Silva fight one of those guys? No, why? I'm not saying that matchup can't happen, but just give me another guy who's going to either be a medium on the feet or just have no defense. Yeah, no, thank you. Yeah, Brown Lawler 2 was the most popular Matt Brown matchup I saw. Jan Judova versus Claudia Godelia was the most popular matchup for her.

Someone said Chaos versus Miguel Baezza. I think Bayezza is way ahead of Chaos Williams in the rankings right now. I know he just coming off his first UFC lost. So it's not the worst thing, but I have Bayezza in a little bit of a different tier. But it would be an amazing fight, amazing fight. Yeah.

As you said, yes, the DMs were filled with Rocky Martinez versus Chris Barnett. I said, what about that wrong? Chris Barnett. And then for Casey O'Neill, we had a couple, O'Neill versus Luana Carolina or O'Neill versus Marina Moros. So people very high on the O'Neill train, as they should be.

She looked amazing on Saturday. One of the best prospects to come out of that, in that division right now. I'll go to Instagram first. I had no emails again, by the way. Good people, this is like two weeks in a row. Tristan Gordette, if you're out there, my other email boys. So I don't mean to just single him out. My other email boys.

Please, if you're listening, hit up, hit me up in the email. Hit me up in the DMs. I don't care. I just want to know that you guys are okay. My email has been empty. A lot of Instagram, a lot of Twitter, of course. Let's go Instagram first. MMA heads coming up with some great suggestions here.

Spivak versus Ivanov, Chita Vera versus the SN South Phillips winner, as you mentioned. That's on July 24th. Choi versus Makwan Amerkani. A good matchup, I think they're going in different directions right now. I don't have them in the same line. Yeah, I mean, that was on my short list, but I'll tell you. ultimately went with Casaris, but I wouldn't hate it. I mean, Vermeerconi back against the wall, ain't going to be an easy fight.

I don't dislike it completely, but I think there's better options. Bruno Silva versus Alessio DiCirico. I think we're just hoping that DeCirico is not too injured and that he can just rebook his matchup with Delisei that was supposed to happen. Yeah. Nico, I got this. Watch out John Anick. Nico Negu Merianu, I only know that because I listen to John Anix Say it, versus Carlos Ulberg.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. I think Ulberg, you know, came in with a ton of hype for his debut. And I think Nico would be a good matchup to, that's around the right level of competition. Do we see the last of, do we see the last of Alexa Kamer? Oh, no. He won his, he's not Owen. He's one and two, right? Yeah, he beat Justin Liddette, who didn't beat.

anybody at 205. He got ragdled by William Knight who we saw like the kind of, no, this is no decision. I like William Knight's good dude, New England guy, but, you know, when he actually fought someone who could grapple a little bit, he was on his back for 15 minutes. And then to lose to a guy that you were a minus 250 favorite on who hasn't fought in like two years, not good, bro. Not good. I think he gets another chance. He could have fought better. He would have maybe had a a result if a referee Mike Beltran knew that you're allowed to take, understands that referees are allowed to take a point as opposed to just admonishing people and making a show of it, you can actually just take a point and that'll solve the problem.

Yeah, I completely agree with you. The other thing I will say is Kamer has a very high ceiling, in my opinion. The talent is clearly there. His boxing is excellent. You want to see him maybe go back to build, build things up on the regional scene. Yeah. It's the blessing and the curse of a highlight real knockout on the contender series. because Fabio Chirant is a nice fighter. He is a nice fighter. He also got rocked in the first round of that fight against Chirot and then landed the flying knee.

And anytime you land a flying knee on the contender series, even if you're getting absolutely annihilated for the entire fight, you're getting a contract. So I feel like it's just, it was just too much too soon. Like if they gave him a developmental deal and just let him do it William Knight did and just fight for CES, fight for CES, fight for Cage Fury Fighting Championships and just LFA, like all these different promotions

and just sort of build your resume up and build your confidence up. I feel like he'd be in a much different place right now. So send him to Titan FC, LFA, let him get some more reps in against guys of his similar, you know, veteran status, so to speak, experience levels is the word I was actually looking for. Yes, yeah, yeah. And then he can be back. Like he's just like I feel like his biggest draw was one, he got a flying knee knockout. and two that he's just at the gym he's at

with who he's at the gym with with steepay like that's his whole story oh he's the guy that trains with stepey mitchitch it's just not enough like and i feel like he just got rushed too quick and it's a tough part of the sport sometimes for a guy who is clearly very talented he just wasn't ready for the ufc yeah we've said this many times about the way the ufc builds up prospects

is they need work look i think actually beltor does a really good job with building up prospects uh they screwed up with pico his very first fight but other than that i thought they did a great job with him. Michael Venom Page, I get it, maybe waiting a little too long to push the trigger on giving him big fights. But overall, they typically are on the side of caution. Sometimes it works out for them.

Sometimes it doesn't. But I do like that they generally try and set up people they have pegged to be, you know, future stars. They set them up to succeed. The UFC with Kramer, they saw a guy, like you said, trains with Steve Miotich, big win on the contender series. Five and O, you know, unbeaten record. I mean, five and O is very low, but.

Five unbeaten record going into the UFC 25 years old. They're like, oh, sky's the limit for the sky. But again, now you see, you're right. They're another seeing, this is what happens when you're 25 years old and you're pushed up to the UFC level. It's tough. Like, again, even, you know, I'm criticizing Mike Beltron. It's not like Alexa Kamer was blowing the doors off with, if there was a point deduction,

even if he got in the win, it would have kind of been a, it would still would have been an eye opening like, okay, maybe Kamer, you know, needs to take a step back here. You know, he could have gotten a win or fought to got a draw, and we still would have been like, you know, maybe not, maybe not the best showing. So, yeah, so I'll say, no, I don't think, Mike, I don't think that he's done. I think they gave him one more fight. But you're right. I think he's better off getting back to the regional scene and just building himself up.

Yeah, building up with skills, confidence, resume. Janjadoba versus Michelle Waterson, that's another one of the veteran names I had in mind. I have no problem with that. It was actually the first thing I thought of where I went to Penn A instead. chaos Williams versus what did I write here I mess this one up versus oh oh lineman good just says good yeah there's no other good what am I thinking yeah lime and good sure Josh Prezion versus Taffa yeah sure Ricky Glenn versus Luigi Benjamini Ricky versus Luigi and O'Neill versus the Molly McCann Gian Kim winner

Did I think one of my friends? Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm okay with that. Yeah, yeah. Bailey Gardner coming in from Australia. He had a good suggestion with, I'll just read it. He says, hey, mate, how's things? Thinking Cheeto versus Cody Stamen, the cruise fight is too big of a push for Cheeto after getting beaten by Aldo.

The Cody fight seems like a nice, slow push. Cody will likely wrestle him. Cheeto showed he can hang on the ground in this fight. Should be a good one. So, sure, I like that. Thank you. Thank you, Bailey Gardner. Matt Bradbury, always coming.

some good ones. Ricky Glenn versus Jamie Malarkey. Josh Precian. He wants Josh Precian versus Chris Barnett. No, stop it. That's fights. Barnett is taken. Chaos Blaos versus Dwight Grant.

Matt Brown versus James Krauss. And as you said, Sung Wu Choi, Alex Casares. Yes, makes a lot of sense. On to Twitter, Mike. You know, Four Corner Sports always usually tags us both. The Four Corner Sports NY Twitter. I think a couple of good stuff, which I want to read out. It says, Grant, he says,

The fight to make for Davy Grant is Grant versus his hospital bill because every David Grant fight he is always breaking a bone or he's absorbing so much damage. Yes, this is true. I don't think we heard about him breaking anything so far in this fight, but definitely his skull might have taken some damage and he was just a bloody mess by the end of it. And then he says, but in all seriousness, Davy Grant versus Sean O'Malley, if O'Malley defeats Smolka. I love that fight. There is zero chance O'Malley takes that fight if he beats Smolka. If O'Malley beats Smolka, he's calling for someone like the top seven, top eight. But I agree.

That's a fight that would be cool. We know who he's fighting if he beats Louis Smolko. He's fighting Cody Garbrand. End of discussion. Yeah. Yeah. And he said, at four corner,

I should say that, I don't know. I don't know. They say, for Alexiolinich, it's very simple. Alinic will more than likely be on, a linic will more than likely be on what the heck.

Another than the time, because there's nothing left for Alinic left to prove other than putting a prospect over. Alinic should just hang it up. This is a second week in a row. People are trying to book your show for you, Mike. People settle down.

settled down. I think we came through last week. Yeah, I don't know. I'd be honored. Can you imagine? Oh, gosh. I don't think Alexia Lennox is done. Garrett Thompson just wanted to read his message here.

He just says, I'd love to see zombie jump into there with Yajir fight. I'll jump into the Yair fight on July 17th, but I think that's too soon for his return. So instead, Edson Barbosa this fall, thank you. We are on the same wavelength. I'd like to see the Cheeto and Cruz fight, but I don't see Cruz taking that fight instead of like Cheeto and Frankie. And let's make some older guy fights from Matt Brown, Robbie Loller again for fun.

Of course, Garrett Thompson, we all want that one. Our pal, Sammy James, your pal, I should say, Mike, both of our pals, but especially your pal. He wants Matt Brown versus Nick Diaz. Have we banned Nick Diaz from the show yet? No. And should we? Let me just say this.

Please. I am way less against this idea than the Shamiya's idea. I'll just throw that out there. I like this fight. Well, you couldn't be more against that idea, Mike. I don't think there's any fight you hate more than Shamiya. That is an excellent point. So I am not going to sit here and cut a promo.

I like the fight. In fact, if it was up to me, I would pick that fight. I think that's great. a great matchup. It's just not going to happen. And it's not because both guys, you know, it's just, it's a money thing. Nick's going to be in a marquee spot on a big card,

probably for some fictitious marijuana leaf world title of some kind. And it's Matt Brown, she's not the guy. It's going to be like Mazadol or somebody like that. So unfortunately, it's just not. going to work, but I love the fight. Like, if Nick loses his next fight and wants to go again and Matt Brown beats chaos

or Court McGee, whoever, line them up. Yeah, I think it's likely to happen in that scenario. Liam Perry coming in, always with some good suggestions. I'm not going to read them all, but Nagumariano versus the William Knight Fabio Chirot winner, August 21st.

Yeah, that makes sense. You're kind of all that range. Yeah, Bruno Silva versus Kyle Dawkins. Oh. Hmm. I'm down. That works. I'm just letting it simmer.

Sergei Spivak versus the Chris Dachimov loser, July 21st. We mentioned that one earlier. And Zombie versus Max Holloway. Dustin Gedko, one of his suggestions I really liked, Vierna, Janjeroba,

versus Amanda Lemos. Leimos is fighting Montserratrano on July 17th. But yes, I agree. Good matchup. Should Lamos win that one? Jack O'Hara coming in with Sungu Choi versus Chaz Skelly That's a different kind of challenge

I like that one I thought about that was on my short list as well Yeah that's an interesting challenge That's a big test of Because we know Choi can stand and strike Skelly is such an aggressive grappler Super strong guy Very aggressive grappler

He's almost like the Tim Elliott I almost want to call him like the Tim Elliott of 145 pounds maybe he's not quite so single-minded, but yeah, I don't know. I just kind of want to keep putting trying there with strikers, but I understand the thought process there. Chris at Dragon Slayer 2 on Twitter. I just want to read what they said about a brown lollar rematch. They said, my explanation, Lawler is being thrown to the wolves for no reason other than name value.

That's a fair point. Let the man have a fun fight that his fans don't moan at the matchmaking for. Yeah, it does feel like. Loller has been kind of put in that Gosh, I thought we'd say this for him, but a little bit of a gatekeeper. A little bit of a gatekeeper. When you look at the guys who he fought and some of the names he fought

and where they were at, they were kind of built, building their names off of him. Guys who were already in contender talk and then just kind of getting that, you know, he's just kind of getting added to that. So yeah, that's what I agree. I agree. Let's get Loller in that unofficial Legends League,

you know, side of the UFC. Marcus McGahey, this time, He calls this the on to the next one, return of the living dead edition, which is a bit ironic because I think he forgot to make a matchup for Korean something. Chaos Williams versus Worldi Alvese. Matt Brown versus Court McGee. Again, that's one a lot to talk to. Negomoriano, I've probably pronounced the name three different times since this show started, versus the Vienna Prachneal winner on June 26th. Josh Prezen versus Jared Bandera.

I like that one a lot. I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I don't see that going very well for Josh Parisian, but I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I didn't think this fight would. Actually, this fight maybe didn't go very well for him either. Ricky Glenn versus Guzola Vargas. Sergei Spivak versus Arlofski.

He's down with that. Chito Vera, he just wants Cheetah Vera versus Dominic Cruz. I had a lot of listeners say something to the effect of it's too soon. Marcus, he doesn't think so. He said, you know what, acknowledge the call out? Just make it happen. Screw it. And Sung Wuchoy versus Justin Jane.

Charles Rosa winner on June 26. There's a few more here. Thomas Collins, when I realize, Chaos Williams versus Elisou Zelisky. And he had something to say about Davy Grant versus Alejandro Turbo Perez, which I wanted to read here. Oh, yes, he was saying normally we don't talk about fighters who lost fights, but he wanted to suggest that, you know,

both fighters who had similar length of UFC careers. Both were former tough finalists. quiz for you Michael Gerevich Well the first one's easy Who did Davey Grant lose to In his season in the Ultimate Fighter finals Bantamweight Finals

I have very little Tough knowledge Really What if I told alpha male guy Who did not fight again after the show I guess that's Yeah Chris

What the hell is his name You can get this I'm not going to tell you I'm not going to tell you You're going to get it It's fuck. Oops. All right, well, I better say it now.

Mark that. Holdsworth, Holdsworth, Holdsworth. God. Mark that, mark that for... This is not UFC unfiltered, all right? Oh, God. You know, I have to put the E on it. Yeah, mark it.

Sorry, and I forgot. I'm sorry, Chris Holdsworth did fight Chico Camas after, and then, of course, suffered that injury and apparently has retired. But... And Alejandro Peder. well, you're definitely not going to remember this one, was the winner of the first season of tough Latin America. He beat Jose Quinojes to win the bantamweight.

Who was the other, Mike, who was the other? No, no, no, this you'll get. Who was the other champion? There's the first season, Ultimfire of Latin America, featherweight division, very popular Mexican fighter. Yair Rodriguez. Yeah, yeah. That one I knew.

Thank you. Thank you for teeing me up. And so I didn't have to use any bad language. Look, any... On Father's Day. Any chance I have to talk about tough, you know, I'll take it. And, of course, you have to throw in, again, Rocky Martinez, Chris Burnett. If this fight happens, I'll be so happy for all of us.

I'll be so happy for all of us, because we made this happen. Yes, it's a universal check the tapes. Barry O'Reilly. Ricky Glenn versus Michael Johnson. Okay. I can't believe Michael Johnson is still in the UFC. And I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but I mean... He's got a lot of losses on a row.

like a lot I can believe it You know again You always bring out every time you fight it Wow he's beaten he's beaten Justin Porreier and Tony Ferguson right You can just ride that forever you can ride that forever never that that that currency is every green Genjiroba versus Loma Lukbunmi I think she would kill a Loma lookbubmi right and I think Loma look binmi is badass

I just don't think she's has that level of MAA experience yet for Fiona Loma should be fighting Jessica Penae Yeah, you're probably right. That's the fight to make. Yeah, I don't want to throw. Loma's like, man, because I, if the UFC makes 105 pound division

in the next two years, like she's got to be one of like the go-toes that you build in this division. So you can't like, you can't rush her. Not saying that her, the rest of her skill set won't catch up

to her striking and some of the things that she does very well, the kicks and the moitai and the nasty clinch work that she does, but you don't want to rush her too much. Like you can't, like, just throw in there with Contender Series contract winners, but I feel like her progression is spot on. Like, I feel like they've done a good job with her. Yeah. Jen Chitoba would be a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge step up, both experience, skill set.

No, no, thank you. But thank you, Barry, for the suggestion. And he says, Matt Brown versus Alex Marano. He says, let's continue this Randy Orden. legend killer run that Moreno is on is he really on it I mean he beats seroni and he lost to pettis and that wasn't a super close fighter there's pretty clear pretty clear decision lost to anthony pedus I guess he just means fighting experience guys which is okay yeah I'm not against it I'm not against it like Kyle no because he like the legend killer because I mean I don't know god yeah

you know what for wrestling reference bear you get points for yes and uh zombie versus giga chiccza last couple here j C rodriguez wants Casey O'Neill versus the winner of the flyway fight that everyone's looking forward to, J.G. Aldrich and Tracy Cortez. That's on August 28th. So, J.C., I'm down with you on that. And then I'll close out with Orange Sleepwalker, who, again, he knows how to get on the show. Says Sergei.

Sergay Spivak versus Sergei Pavlovich, Battle of the Sergei's hashtag. He didn't put the hashtag, but obviously I have to do the hashtag, Sergei on Serge. So there we go. That is, you know, I'll throw him with the other one I mentioned, Danny Gaye versus Sadiq. But Sergei on Sergei, that is intriguing, intriguing. Again, probably I think I would have Pavlovich above Spivak, but I guess he hasn't fought in a while, so Spivak's probably probably jumped him. So there you go. But yeah, thank you, listeners.

Again, you can please keep sending your suggestions. I know this wasn't the most exciting card, so it wasn't exactly our inbox. We're probably not overflowing. But find me on Twitter at Alexander K. Lee. My DMs are open. Also on Instagram at Alexander KK Lee. And someone email me at alex. a.lex.com at sbnation.com.

Yes. At my Kekendishore, J.R. Twitter, M underscore HeckJR on Instagram. That's where you can find me. And that's it. We're putting a bow on UFC Vegas 29. We are on to UFC Vegas 30. We will break down the what's next coming out of that event,

which is headlines by a very pivotal, very important heavyweight matchup between Cyril Guns. and Alexander Volkov. We got Danilo Marquez versus Kennedy Enchuku. Oh, God. Enchuku.

Yes, Enchuku. Kennedy Enchuku. So there we go. We're all learning these pronunciations as we go. Nicholas Dalby versus Tim Mien should be a lot of fun. We got the return of heavyweight OSP taking on Tanner Bozer. That should be fun.

And I'm very excited to see the return of Shafkat Rakhmanoff. Taking on, Michelle Piseres. Charles Rosa versus Justin Janes, Hione Barcelos versus Timor Valleiv, Hanata Moikano versus Jai Herbert, Marchine Pratchino versus Ikeville

and Aueva. We got Yancey Medeiros versus Demir Hadzovic. We are re-booked and ready to fly. We got Andre Feeley versus Daniel Paneda, which should be a banger. And of course, the one that AKs got circled, Julia versus Julia. Julia Avila

versus Julia Stolio-Ranko. Rescheduled. Rescheduled. On paper, this card overall, although I liked the main event of this past Saturday's card better. I feel like top to bottom, match up to match up, scribbled down on a piece of paper. I feel like this card's better. Am I crazy? I'm the other way. I would give the edge to the card that just maybe because the card that just happened turned out to be like, okay.

So I'm, I'm, it's hard for me to put myself back on the shoes of pre-show, A.K. Lee, but I'm just looking at this card now. I don't love this card. I don't love it. I know in the friends of positivity. I know I'm supposed to love everything. But I cannot lie to America. I don't love that.

Maybe it's the main card. Maybe if they shuffled some of the fights around. Yeah, I mean, we don't know what the final lineup actually is. Right, right. Still, yes, lineups. Okay, lineups still needs you finalize. We get some of the best prospects in the sport fight. We got Marlonov.

We got Boccellos. Yeah, you're not lying. It's good. And there's like, in the ones that aren't that great, like, will we, fun and wild and crazy. I'm cautiously optimistic. I will say, I think, you know, again, like we do with most cars, maybe once I start

digging into the research a little bit and digging into, you know, seeing some of the quotes that come up this week, maybe I'll be more into it, Mike. But for now, cautiously optimistic, but you're right. I like where your head is at going into this one. What fights better on paper? I mean, hindsight being what it is, we know how good it was. Vera Grant 2 or Phile Pineda? Oh, it'll be hard.

I mean, you're right. It's hard to say because we just saw one. I think on paper, I was really looking forward to the Vera Grant. No, that's not true. That's not true. I'll give Philly Panetta the Edge. I remember being somewhat cold on the Grant-Vera rematch. When it was initially booked, I remember as we talked about it last week, I got more excited.

But when it was initially booked, I do remember. I was like, okay. This one right away, I thought, Phili Panetta, I'm like, yes, yes. Very good matchup, smart matchup. So, all right, all right, Mike. I'll go with your leading question here, and I'll give Philly Panetta the Edge. There you go. had Anthony Hernandez versus Punas Soriano

on this car too. Look at the fights we lost on this one. We lost Tim Elliott versus Sumedairji. Right, yeah, right. We lost Worley-Alvez versus Ramazahn Amive. That was a crazy fight. What? So, yeah, I mean, we lost some good ones and we've ended up with

a pretty good consolation prize. But we'll be... All right. But we will be back talking about the futures of the the big winners, the notable names going out of that card on the program, but Until then, for AK, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for listening. And always remember, MMA is supposed to be fun.

Don't take this too seriously. And we'll have more fun next week right here on onto the next one, the podcast. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.