MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 37

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

On the 59th 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 37 event, which took place at the UFC APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Anthony Smith, who earned a first-round submission win over Ryan Spann in the main event to extend his winning streak to three, Ion Cutelaba, Ariane Lipski, Arman Tsarukyan, Nate Maness, Joaquin Buckley, 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 Cudulian 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-by 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. There, everybody, did you miss us? Because we missed you. Welcome back to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. We had a rare week off this past weekend, but we are back, and it is time for some matchmaking coming out of UFC Vegas 37 this past Saturday night at the Apex. I am Mike Heck.

Thank you for listening to the program this week. And joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and most importantly, he's my best friend. And you know what, he's your best friend too. Mr. Alice Kaylee, welcome back, my friend. How are you? So many fights, Michael. Oh, my goodness, my best friend. So many fights.

You know, always a pleasure to cover and watch these fights with yourself and the rest of the M.A. Fighting crew, it definitely makes everything go down a lot easier. But, man, I'll say by the end of Saturday night, it was, actually, even by the middle, I'll say by the middle. Maybe by near the end of the UFC prelims, I started to gas out a little bit. Definitely caught a second win with the main card. And then a little bit, I may have started to wane a little bit. before. I mean, I was kind of interested in the Bennett-Lara fight.

Anyway, it was a long night of fights. For any of our listeners again and readers and stuff, I mean, I know you guys are like, oh, it's, you know, you're covering quite, it's great. It's like when you have to cover everything, when we're like on from the first UFC prelim to the last Bell Tour main card fight and then doing a post-fight show, it's a long day. It's a long day. It's a long day. It's a great day, but it's a long day.

I want to give a big shout out to Big Tuna because he was Mr. Second Wind on Saturday night because after the UFC event I'm like all right it's over and then I'm like oh man we got a bellator car too and then big tune to start it off of that big upset and you know just as things are starting to go down a little bit neem and gracey decided to be chuck Norris and off we went to the main event and yeah I mean we're not complaining it was just there's just a lot of fights Deanna Bennett made us feel things she made us feel emotions it was a it was it was an enjoyable night of fights and uh and uh i i i'm i i know that i can look back on it now that we have this show to sort reflect on it like i think i'll be i'll be i'll enjoy it even more i'll tell you something though

i don't i don't love my picks this week you don't know why i just i don't know why i'm just i finished them i mean i finished them a while ago and i'm just looking back to them now as we as we do the show i don't know they're missing a certain chutzp but uh you know i'll let the i'll let the listeners decide. Yeah, I mean, that's a tough thing about fight night cards. It's, you get the main event. Sometimes you have the co-main event and the rest are just kind of like throw a dart and see what happens. But I think everyone sort of did the best they could. And, and let's get right into this thing. Let us begin with the main event of Saturday's UFC Vegas 37 card in the light heavyweight division. Anthony Smith told the haters, you know what? Don't put my place on the market. I'm not

going anywhere. In fact, I'm buying the place and cash money. Extended stay, AK. He goes, out there and destroys Ryan Span, submits him in the first round. He hurts him on the feet. He hurts him on the ground and then puts Ryan Span away. Again, AK these main event winners, they're doing our jobs for us. He calls out Alexander Rackich. Rackich is down four two. Seems like this is the simplest and easy way to go for some free yet very valuable Otno points, isn't it? You would think so, Mike. This is of course the pick I'm going with as well. Yeah, I thought the callout made sense. I think there's been enough distance from their first fight that I'm okay with seeing

the running back again. I know the first fight wasn't particularly exciting or that competitive. But again, I think a second fight would go differently. Maybe I'm just naive. And there are other options. But I'll tell you, again, just to give a little teaser for our listener picks, a lot of people went away from the rackage pick, actually. So I'm with Smith.

I'm with the matchmakers who I imagine right now are already filing the paperwork to put this rematch together. But it apparently was not the, like, not the vast consensus option. Interesting. I have not looked at the DMs yet. So I'm interested to see what they come up with. Because I feel like we kind of get two different sides of the spectrums and, like, our DMs. Like you get a certain wave, I get a certain wave. So it'll be interesting to see if Team Heck and team Lee are on different sides of. I get the weirdos. Just saying. Yeah. But the guy, the people in my DMs are freaks. Just who I love. But I'm, I'm with the rack. catch rematch. I think it makes a lot of sense. I think Anthony Switz in a much different place than he was heading into that first fight. So yeah, I'm down for it. The listeners may not agree, but I'm in. You seem to be in as well. And in the co-main event, Devin Clark rocking the mustache, looking like the center fielder for the 1986 Boston Red Sox taken on the absolute wild man, Iwan Kutalaba. He's got the shaved head and the full beard looking absolutely terrifying. And Kutalaba looked really good. He's taken on the absolute wild man. Iwan Kutalaba. He's got the shaved head and the full beard. He's got the shaved head and he's got. He's got really good. He's

dominated the fight. I thought he won 30-26 easily, but somehow two judges, gave the third to Devin Clark, which makes absolutely no sense, but the Hulk is back in the wind column. And you know what, I'm going to make this nice and easy. A fight with Alonzo Menafield would be insane. That's what I'm going to frown about that fight. Yeah, great matchup. It's funny you mentioned, we thought that might be the fiscuous scoring of the night until Phil Davis-Ramero later in the evening, which again, thankfully the right person won, but I think everyone knows what I'm talking about. One judge, Jaron Vallel, just going rogue and scoring that fight for Yowell Romero somehow. I like the men of field suggestion. I saw that come up. I'm into it. But I went a different way.

I kind of, I kind of think that he's the right guy for Ryan Spann right now. You know, we didn't match a Span this time because it's not like a pay-per-view-in-in-a-van, it's not a championship fight, so we're not really obligated by ought-known rules to match to give Superman a matchup. But I think I'm still really high on Span. I think we did see how far ahead Anthony Smith is compared to him today. And I kind of had underestimated how far that gap was. I picked Span to win.

I was one of the few people doing that. Very incorrect. So I think Kudalaba is still a tough guy and still a good test for him. So I want to see where he is because I still think he's, I still think Span's a potential top 15 guy. He just did not perform that way on Saturday. And I think Qutalapa, I think that you can just throw these two together. Yeah, that was kind of my second option.

I'm cool with that. I think if you want to see if you are a top 15 guy or at least close to it, you go out there and you fight that wild man, it kind of gives you a good glimpse on where the direction of your career is going to go. And I thought Ryan Span, and I want to get your take on this real quick, I thought the way Ryan Span approached his fight was kind of surprising. He's very quiet. He's very to himself.

He doesn't do a ton of media. he was just, I don't know, I don't know if he needed that to like hype himself up if the nerves were just too much, but it just wasn't the Ryan Span that we've been accustomed to seeing over the last several years, especially in the UFC.

What were sort of your thoughts? And this obviously led to the extracurricular activities after the fight. Anthony Smith just was angry heading into the fight and he just sort of remembered some of the things Ryan Span was saying. He was asking why Ryan Span was so angry and saying things he was saying.

What were your thoughts on Span's approach to his first main event? Yeah, this is a learning experience for Span, who I know is a veteran at this point in his career. He's not a prospect. He's very, very far along. He's in the middle, really, of his career. I won't say close to him. He's in the middle, you know, almost 30 pro fights.

He's 30 years old. I think he's 30. So, again, but you can, you're still, this is a pivotal point, I think, in an M.M.A. veteran's career where we find out, can you still learn? can you still grow or are you who you are and this is your ceiling you're you're uh outside the top 15 guy you will occasionally be thrown in with against top 15 guys uh maybe even occasionally main eventing a fight night but you're not a contender i'm not putting span in that box yet again i still think he has a lot of potential um again 30 is you know is is young he is a bit older in

mhmage um but yeah i do think he was caught up in this being his first main events his first fight against a former world title challenger, a top 10 guy, I think pretty much unanimous, top 10 light heavyweight. Yeah, and I think he felt he might have needed to be a certain way and say certain things. And, you know, Anthony Smith really laughed about it prior to the fight. And he was probably spot on. There's a reason he's used as an analyst on TV. He's very good at assessing situations. And he pretty much no sold everything Ryan Spann had to say before the fight. So the mental game may have been won by Anthony Smith before Fight Night rolled around. and then you add in the fact that he is a more experience and clearly more skilled guy.

And it was an easy pick for everyone except me, apparently, Mike. And with a massive chip on his shoulder, and I kind of hope that chip sticks around because I like sort of the salty lionheart, Anthony Smith. But let's move to Ariani Lipski, AK. She goes out and gets a much needed win. She spoils the Octagon debut of Super Prospect. Mandy Boehm, she wins a unanimous decision. She looked pretty darn good in the fight, and she did what she needed to do, man. And what would you like to see next for the Queen of Violence?

Yeah, I think it was a good win against Mandy Baum. I don't think it answered a lot of questions some people might have about Lipskies, like take down to fans and wrestling and what have you. But she needed this one. She's with American Top Team now. She was very vocal about that, how important that move was for her. And she's only 27 years old. I think people forget this.

She was a champion in KSW, so she kind of came over with a name and a big reputation. And she is experienced. but she's got the kind of she has like good experience and she's still young she's still growing and developing so i'm willing to kind of match her up with still someone young i don't want to like say oh well this puts her back against you know against in the top of d in range no i i thought sabina mazo and maria agapovar are fighting on october 9th that's the way i'd like to go i think mazo probably the more logical matchup um and i would pick mazo to win to win on october 9th as well. But Agapha, if she pulls off the upset and she beats Mazzo, I think that'd be fine for

Lipski as well. So I'm sticking with kind of seeing where these women are developmentally. I don't know how far ahead Lipski is, but she's in that, you know, she's in that range where she could be a contender, really be a contender maybe next year. Yeah, I mean, this is kind of an interesting one because if you look at the schedule and I feel like after a performance like that, getting back in the wind column, ride that wave. Ride that wave with so many cards and so many opportunities to get in there. Try to get back in there before the end of the year. And if you look at the schedule right now, there's not a whole lot available.

So I think JJ Aldrich is a suitable matchup for her. I mean, Aldrich has looked pretty good as of late. It seems like a fair step up, not too much. If not, you want to throw her in there with someone like Gian Kim? That's a fun fight. That would suffice. But for Otno points, perspective, I'll go with Aldrich as my top choice.

Why are you trying to take away my Alders-Cortez dream matchup? I've been booking this fight for you. I was already been denied this fight once. I've been booking this fight for months. I want that to be re-booked. You leave J.G. Aldrich out of this. Yeah, I want to see Tracy Cortez fight Aaron Blanchfield to rematch. I think that's like the fight to make.

I don't know if that's your wildcar pick, but I'm just throwing that out there. It is not. It is not. A man who needed a performance like he had over a minus 800 favorite. Arman Sarukyan, one of the newest members of the UFC's top 15. I have a feeling he's going to jump up a spot or two come Tuesday. This is a guy, A.K., who has been a highly-tarded prospect for a while now. But one thing that was alluding him thus far in the UFC was a big finish.

He's been winning dominant decisions. The UFC brass, the matchmakers seem to want to see that big finish before getting that step-up in competition. He certainly got himself that on Saturday. He battered Christos Gagos, stopped him in the first. He should definitely get a top 15 guy next. And you know what? I'm going to give him a top 10 guy next, AK. I like the idea of Armand Sarukian fighting Gregor Gillespie.

That is a crazy fight waiting to happen. That would be a super interesting fight. That is my choice. What say you? Yeah, I like that. That was my first choice. Before I, I'll say for Otno points, that was not my first choice. I did eventually shift over to something else.

But I will say, first of all, hats off to the UFC matchmakers for the Giyagos matchup. This is exactly the kind of guy you want to match up with a, I found out where to say prospect, because he's fought 19 times, but he is only 24 years old. I'll still call Armin a prospect. And he's been fighting for like less than seven or eight years. So this is exactly the kind of, he's a tough fighter, versatile fighter, speaking of Diagos, has experience not such a, to be fair, to be fair, a talented guy that he could overwhelm Sir Rukin. Surrican definitely has the advantage in just talent and athleticism, which we saw.

And it was amazing to see what you want to see in a young fighter guy who was so confident in one skill in his wrestling that he can always go to it. But because he's so confident that he can try and dabble in other things. And we saw a lot of his stand-up, which, you know, where he ended up getting a TKO, first round TKO, his first UFC finish. So great, great, great matchmaking. I have to praise the UFC. I like the Hooker feud he's kind of working on.

So I went with, I guess we still don't know for sure if this fight is happening. The Dan Hooker Nasraat, Hawk Paras fight, UFC 26, September 25th. There's next week. There's visa issues that Hooker needs to sort out. So there's a chance this fight doesn't happen. If it does, I think the winner of that fight would be great for Surukyan. And even if it doesn't, and he wants to try and wait to fight Dan Hooker on another date, might also work out.

I'm in on the Dan Hooker thing. I love the Gillespie matchup, but I'll go for my Otno official pick, some variation of Dan Hooker and possibly Hawk Proust. Yeah, I think they can make the Hooker fight happen great. If for some reason, Hooker can't make it to Vegas, maybe you can make it Abu Dhabi. They can try to book that fight in October. If Srukian wants to turn around and fight again in a month and a half's time, which after fighting for two minutes or so, I think he'd be probably.

down for that. So yeah, I mean, if they could do it, great. If they could do that in October, great. I mean, I want to see Dan Hooker fight Hasperas. Hackbarass. I'd like to see him fight next Saturday. But if you can't do it and you want to turn Hooker around quick, I'm sure hackperast, you can find an opponent that's out there in Vegas right now, get him in there, get him on the card, get him a paycheck. Yeah, Hooker or Gillespie's fine with me. But I just, I don't know, the mayhem with Greger would just be a lot of fun. I think the track. crash shock would be better with Dan, but the actual, just the matchup itself and just the dust flying around, that'd be a lot of fun to watch.

Scrabbles galore. The scrambles. So many scrambles. What a comeback for Nate Manus, aka, this guy just loves to dig deep. He was seconds away from getting stopped by Tony Gravely, saved by the bell in the first. In the second, he comes out and puts Gravely away with strikes. This guy is an absolute gamer and picks up his fourth straight. win, he's 3-0 in the UFC. This guy is flying under the radar. He's slowly starting to make a name

for himself after a win like that. A lot of people are talking about him now. What makes sense for Mr. Mainis after Saturday? I want to give him a guy who I have ranked ahead of him, who I feel is a bit underrated, maybe because he doesn't fight often enough. Kyeong-ho Kang. I think Keng would be a really good matchup for him right now. By the way, so Maynest looked amazing. I had Gravely, I picked Gravely because I thought Gravely looks, you know, I have him pegged as like a kind of a dark horse contender. Clearly, Mainis is as well. I guess I just thought Gravely had the better level of competition,

so I was leaning towards Gravely, but Mainis, again, another guy who you could see two, three wins away from being in that title picture competing for it. I have him in my right, this is how deep Bantam weight is. I have him outside the top 30, Nate Mainis, right now. And I'll feel like, are you crazy? He's undefeated in the UFC, 14 and 1. But I have him behind guys like Jack Shore, Chris Gutierrez, Brian Kelleher, Montel Jackson, who also fought.

Maybe people would put him above Montel Jackson, I'm not sure. I wouldn't yet. And again, Kengho Keng. So that's just an example. And then, you know, any other names of sure that are popping into people's minds. That's how deep this division is. So, again, he's one or two wins away from flying up the charts. But, man, you really need the right matchups to move up in this division.

It is so tough. So I'll go with Kang. And even that, in my rankings, would only move him up into the top 30, maybe the top 25. So great performance though. There was one answer for me for whoever won that fight. And you actually mentioned this person's name when running down guys that were ranked above Mr. Mainis.

It's our old friend Brian Kelleher. Manus versus Boom Kelleher is the fight to make. If we can squeeze that in to the MSG festivities in November somewhere, that would be absolutely perfect. If not sometime before the end of the year works for me. But I have to see that fight. I got to see Mainis versus Boom because Boom isn't going to shy away. That fight gets to the ground.

Things will get really interesting. I like that matchup. That's screams just, it's a scream's funny, Kay. I haven't checked Kellerhurst. I haven't checked Boom Boom, Boom's Twitter. Boom, boom, boom, boom, Twitter. And it would be great. I just hope he wouldn't do a rap.

Not because he's not a great rapper, but just because I'm sure he'd have some creative methods of including Nate Manus's name. Let's just put it that way. So should this bachelor be made, Brian Keller, please do not go in too hard on Nate Manus when you're dropping bars on him. Yes. I know he wants that Chano Mallee fight. I just don't think it's going to happen at this point, even though that makes a lot of sense.

But you know, as Ricky Simone just got booked? So we'll see what we do with the Sugar Show in December. As we head to Joachim Buckley, who in my opinion was around two and a half minutes away from losing his second straight fight. against Antonio Ahoyo, but that power is dangerous at any point in any fight. And he showed it. He puts Ahoyo away. I was so, I was feeling good.

My picks were pretty horrible. I think I was probably last place on the staff. I took a lot of chances, took a lot of dogs. And I thought, Ohio stylistically, was a, Buckler's a really good styles matchup for him. And it showed, but he got caught. And now he's probably out of the UFC as a result. That's crazy. Walking Buckley, must watch TV, one of the greatest knockouts of all time, so powerful.

But you got to be careful with how you booked this guy. I know a year or so ago, a little less than a year ago, everyone wanted the James Krause fight. That fight is so far off the table now. You just can't do it because I just don't see any chance Buckley wins that fight. He should fight ahead of him, but against someone who will test him, yet have a chance at beating him. but a guy who would, he'd be able to have the chance to showcase what he does best. So I'm going to go with a man who is not only a fighter, but he's a Houston police officer as well. Trevin Giles, I, okay, that one checks off all the boxes for me.

I think that's a fun fight. I think Giles will test him in different ways. He's got a pretty decent fight IQ when his mind is right. I think that's an interesting matchup. What do you think? Buckley, you could throw him in all different scenarios and most of them make sense. what a what a safe boring a k lee style pick what are who are you me

trevin giles that's something i would do uh no i i thought we would have i was going to do a whole bit here where i thought we would have the exact same answer for sure um because i called for this guy to fight the winner of buckley ojoo back in august i got to go it's got to be abdul over zaka hasan right i mean this is two of the most mercurial explosive guys trick-or-treat fighters we could end

I don't know we could end up getting the middle-weight version of Derek Lewis and Francis and Ghanu I don't know I don't think so I think someone would end up getting smoked But it is you know when you put that that that dangerous Sometimes you have the opposite effect And they just are super cautious but Oh man no I gotta go I'm do I'm doing a rosaq al-hasa

Just give me just give me if not that a punisoriano I don't care about rankings I don't care about moving Buckley up I just want fights for he's only fighting stand-up guys and someone's getting their teeth punched in. That is, that's it. So Al Hassan for me. I thought about that one.

It seemed like such an obvious pick. Yeah, I think we all did. I'm sure when I look at the DMs, there's going to be a million people asking for that fight. I don't like Buckley's chances in that fight. I really don't. Al-Assan is just such an animal. And it's not saying Buckley isn't.

I mean, if Buckley can drag the fight deep, he's got a chance to win. But if we're going fire for fire, Al-Asan is a bad man. So I would love to see that fight at some point. I don't know if I want to see it right to second. Let them get another win each and then throw them in there together. But yeah, if they make it, I'm buckling up and I'm watching.

And we're going to talk about it on preview shows and between the lengths and all the shows. You're bucklinging it up? You're buckling it up. Would you? Yes. I'm so sorry. No, that's really good. On a Sunday after 14 hours of fights, it's pretty good, man.

well let us move ahead to the wild card round we're not going to choose one fighter each that we have not match made for yet we're going to do it now so AK I'm gonna I have a feeling I know which fighter you're going with I could be wrong but lead us off my man what is your wild card I know I know you you think I'm gonna pick Aaron Blanchfield yes I do no no no the thing with Aaron Blanchfield is I'm super pumped for her prospects I just think she's in a range where it's a it's picking a specific opponent for her.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me right now. So I think just going a bunch of different directions, just keep her busy. So I don't have a specific opponent for her. I just want to see her fight again and hope she stays healthy and, yeah, stays busy and just builds that resume. She's still really young.

Again, I know top prospect. We were all extremely effusive in our praise of her on the post fight show and social media. Everyone was like, you know, this could be a future champion someday. We've got to pump the brakes a little. I agree. She'll at least contend.

I'll be shocked if she never fights for a UFC title, but that's way down there. I'm talking 2023, so a lot of possibilities in between now and then. So no, I wanted to figure out what do we do with Raquel Pennington? She has fought everyone in the top 10 pretty much. I had to go the rematch route. I do think for her, I would like to see her fight. I think, Edina Aldana again, especially if Pennington, I don't know. Again, they said she was dealing with some health problems, unfortunately leading to this fight.

So I can't imagine her wanting to make too quick a turnaround. But if she did want to fight on UFC 268, that slot is now open. Aldana was supposed to fight Jermaine Dadan Damme. So I would really like to see that rematch. First fight was entertaining, more entertaining than most Raquel Pennington fights. And it was close. I don't remember the decision. I wouldn't call it a robbery, but it was close enough that if you scored it for Aldana, it wasn't like crazy.

It was like, okay, you could make an argument. You can make an argument. Aldana won that fight. So yeah, give me that. one again. I think Pennington is I mean she's just probably not going to get a title shot but I do think Aldana needs one more big win and I think

Beating Pennington again be great but Aldana did miss wait for her last fight too so that's a bit of a, there's almost like a bit of a slap on the wrist for me saying well you do you do deserve a big fight but maybe one you've already had and it's a chance for her to get a win you know potentially get this get this win back so I think that's the way to go if not at U.S. then you, you know, you move O'Don off that card and you book it sometime later. Yeah, I'm cool with that. You know where I'm going with this, AK.

You know where I'm going with this. I'm going with Montel Quick Jackson. And first off, the tip of the old cap, I don't have a hat on now, but I'm going to put one on. Do it. And I'm tipping it right now to JP Bayes. I can confirm that he did just do that. This is not radio magic. It's true.

It actually. Yeah, I'm looking at you right. I didn't. It wasn't planned. I just looked and it just happened to have a hat to the right of me on the old, man centered. in red socks hat. Shock up.

As someone in messages, I know you legally have to have one of those within arms reach at all time. So can confirm this is true. Hat tip to JP Bays. The man is a gamer. He had some moments early. Jackson stayed composed as he typically does. He's composed all the time.

Just listen to the man in any interview. He just, it's the same demeanor all the time. And then he just blasts his way to a unanimous decision when breaking a ban on record four knockdowns on the fight. I kind of thought the fight should have been stopped after the fourth knockdown. Like, enough is enough. Let it go. JP Bay is still super

tough, but Montel Jackson, I've been saying this for years, he's a problem. Since he's on the regional scene, I said this guy could fight for a UFC title. The potential is there and he's only going to get better. I'm ready to see a step up in competition. I want to see him face somebody just outside of the top 15. My wildcar pick

is Montel Jackson versus Cody Stamen, AK. Let's give him that fight. I want to see if he could take that next step forward. I'm sure he learned a lot from the Brett John's fight. Cody's a tough out. I think I think Montel is that good. I think he's that good. And if his mind is right, if he can get himself where he needs to be mentally, I think he could beat Cody's Damon. I think he could beat a lot of guys in the top 15. But it's on him. He didn't show up for the Brett John's fight. Brett, no take, I'm not taking anything away from Brett. He had a great performance. He shut Montel down, but you could tell Montel, maybe the moment was a little too much for him. We got to get him to a point where he's got to take these moments and see what he can do with them. I think now is the time. Let's get him in there with a guy like Cody Stamen, a guy with the name, guy who's been in the top 10, and let's just see what happens.

That's perfect. That's some Sarukian-Kiagos-level mashmaking, Mike. That's where Stamen is, and this is no discus. Stamen, again, as a guy who can end up, he's going to surprise us one day when he sees like he has like 20 UFC fights. And yeah, maybe has never been not a top 10 guy, but just a super tough test for everyone who wants to break into that top of Dean, that top 20, that top 10. So he's really well-rounded. A great cardio, a really good wrestler. Yeah, and I think Montel Jackson would be favored in that fight, but it would not be an easy fight by any stretch.

So my best friend, exquisite wild card pick. Thank you. Yours is very good as well. Well, thank you. Yes, yours is very good. And next time you see Montel Jackson, like a photo of him, just look at the build, but look at the size of his fists. It's insane. It's nuts.

He's got like Brock Lesnar hands. You could tell on this fight, I'll say. I mean, he throws the hands pretty quickly, but you could see, you know, when you're slow motion replays, you're like, man, this guy, those hands are are boulders. Yeah, absolutely. So do we have any check the tapes or? Do we? Oh, yeah, I'm sure we get a bunch.

We've had, we've been off for almost two weeks here. Yes. Well, we don't have that many, but we have some good. We have one really good one from MMA heads, a fellow, clearly a fellow contender series junkie like yourself. I believe M.A. has been sending me contender series matchups. after both. There's been two cards, right?

Two Contenders Series cards this season? Three. Three. I believe M.A. has, they've been sending me a matchups every time. They nailed one. O'Day Osborne and C.J. Vergara, UC 268, November 6th.

So big, I mean, you know, we don't give more than one point, but this is a, you know, M.A. heads, you can take pride in this point. This is a good one. Nailing a Contender Series debut matchups. So well done. And to the listeners, a bunch of people messaged me specifically wanting points for these. So guys, you're going to have to share these. These are shared points. Adrian Yanez versus Davy Grant November 20th and Brendan Allen versus Brad Tavares December 4th.

So well done, a mild applause for everyone. Use those points wisely. I've been told, Mike, that, you know, people are using these points to invest in like NFTs and like cryptocurrency. And I would just say, you know, if you know what you're doing, I'm not going to judge. If you know what you're doing, have at it. But please, I know these points. it seems like, you know, they're insanely valuable. They're like anything. They're, they're, they're volatile. You know, these can be these points can be a little volatile, Mike.

So I'd just be able to please. I would say just save them and invest them for your children. Yes, that's a good way to look at it. The interest on these babies are huge. I would just put them in the savings account and just let them go. By like two weeks from now, you might get, it might turn into two odd no points. I mean, they're that. They're that value.

And by the. way no one took me up on the offer to uh to do the stand the uh check the tape standing oh i didn't tell you someone did they did are you kidding me gosh and i told them so many times i'm sorry i need to find there i'll find the name by the end of the show i told them so many times oh here it is yeah uh loctagon at locktagon 69 and and by the i'm not saying this to make them do it i'm still i'm still i'm still saying who sir or madam whoever you are you do not have to do this uh but they're they're very excited about the prospect of of doing it. They said, they said, I said, I want no prize or even Mike's pity shoutout. I just want to add something to the show as a fan since the beginning.

And I said, oh, God, no, don't do the Otno points thing. And they said, it's too late. I've already started. So that was a couple of weeks ago now. And hopefully this person is still okay and hasn't gone too far down this well. Yeah, that's a lot of episodes. I don't know. I don't even remember when we started introducing the Otno points, but it's been a while. So you got some, take take a vacation and just spend the whole week to the old on to the next one shows. Please don't do this.

We don't have like a mic check or anything, do we? No, no, we don't. We've been pretty good, I think, as far as not calling people out. But now that you mention it, now I feel like it's going to come. It's probably after 266. Probably after the next paper review.

Oh, yeah. It's after the paper of this when people are really fiery. Let's go to the peeps then. Let's go to the peeps. Disclaim away, okay. Standard disclaimer. guys we're usually trying to focus on winners.

Scattergories rule, you know, extra attention to you guys who managed to get those unique picks that no one else thought of. Fighters could already book. This keeps happening. People, please, go to Topology. If you're thinking of a fight, I know this takes time. Go to Topology and see if any fights are even rumored to be booked. It's on the fighters pages all the time.

This keeps happening. And I'm not mentioning it. If a fighters been booked and you've mentioned them, I'm not mentioning your pick. Other mistakes, wrong way class. These guys fought already recently. someone's injured, released, et cetera. And then I'll just go, your pick. It might just be do-do.

And then we don't want to read it. So those are the rules, guys. There you go. Disclaimed. You've been disclaimed. You've been disclaimed. Yeah. So I'm going to start with, this is the first one I opened, and I'm already, I don't know,

flabbergasted is the right word, but my eyes are open. My eyes are wide, AK. Otto Marley kicks things off. I believe this is his first ever actual selection. He's talked about the show. and throwing out different suggestions in the past, but this is his first actual, like, post-fight matchmaking, all right? Welcome, Otto.

Otto suggests that the young man, Tafan and Chukui, who got a win over Mike Rodriguez, a very dominant win, he is suggesting that Tafon and Chukui, and I believe his seventh or eighth professional fight, should take on former UFC light heavyweight, championship challenger Dominic Reyes I'm making a face

I'm making the what's the emoji it's like that it's like kind of it's like a cringe I'm not cringing it's like a wincing wincing frowning emoji

face right now it's all right I don't know how to describe it I think I'm the best way to explain these things so I think that's accurate my reaction yeah it's

this is a very surprising one I will tell you what if I told that suggestion to Casey Leiden he'd probably love it. And that tells you really everything. Yeah. That tells you everything you need to know about the quality of that pick.

No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm just say ought no. Otto, Casey, I respect your opinions very much. Keegan Elliott. Hey, Mike, set up Sarukian versus Gillespie next. I think after that, impressed performance by Armand. And then he said, let Lionheart Avengers lost to Rackich.

Brandon Nunea says Montel Jackson versus Sean O'Malley. If I'm Sean O'Malley, I'm not going anywhere near that fight. Nah. He likes Tafon and Chugui versus Cleo Roundtree. This is Brandon Nunez, by the way. My apologies. That seems like a fine fight. He likes Buckley versus Alassan.

He likes Surukian versus Grant Dawson in October since Faheda is injured. Now, from what I understand, and this is not official, the plan is, although I think Dossett would take that fight, even though it's super dangerous because it's against top 15 guy. From what I understand, the plan would be to try to rebook Dawson versus Faheda in like November or December. And that makes sense. I mean, I think if they offered Surukia onto DOS, I think DOSA would take it.

Yeah, but I think the Faheda booking made a lot of sense because obviously that's a guy who's ranked ahead of Dawson. So it's a medium risk, high reward fight for Dawson. While this is also a medium-to-high-risk fight, lesser reward. Though I guess you could derail another guy's hype train if people want to sell it that way. but if I'm Dawson's team, definitely the first choice is that they had every booking.

Yeah, if I'm Dawson's team and I get the Surukian offer, I'm wanting a new contract first. Some extra dollars, that's for sure. Nune is also, Brandon Nune has also suggested Ryan Spann versus the winner of Jamal Hill versus Jimmy Crout. No issue with that. He also suggests Anthony Smith versus Rackich,

or if that fight doesn't come to fruition, Yuri Perashka. Yeah, I know a lot of people want to see, So Anthony Smith, Yeri, right? Yeah. I know a lot of people want to see this, but I also saw it, people suggesting, like, they know Yuri's the backup for the upcoming light heavyweight title fights. So I think they're kind of just hoping he waits, right?

I think they're hoping either, you know, God forbid, something happened to Glover or Jan Blahovitz and he gets to a title fight, or if that fight goes through, that Yerdy can still wait until he gets his own shot. But, yeah, it would seem strange, though. I don't know how long Yudhi Proshka can wait, right? I mean, it would be like, when did he actually fight? Hold on, Chuck, quick here. I think it was like, was it February, March?

Was it that long? He fought in May. May, okay. So pretty far back. And then when is the actual, when is the light heavyweight title fight? October 30th. October. So he's waiting until October.

And then what happened. It's only five months. That's like half of what he waited for his second fight. Sure. And then he has to wait, but then he has to wait again to whatever happens. with that fight, right? It's a lot of waiting. Like I said, he's used to waiting.

I think now he's at the point in his career where he wants to pick fights and wait and just take the big fights. That's a lot of waiting. So I don't think it's crazy to pick him versus Smith. But yeah, I think the number one choice is if he can wait, he should wait.

Yep. And then he suggests, I want Coutelava versus William Knight. Listen, I like William Knight a lot. I like the man. He's in a fellow in New England there. He's a great interview. Once he opens up, he's got a crazy story,

but you can't do this. He just, you can't. He just knocked off Fabio Chiront. Like, and you're going to give him Iwon Kutalaba? Come on. Come on. Yeah, it's not time. It's light heavy.

It's wonky, though. It's wonky. Owen Carroll. He's, but, geez, a lot of picks here. Some good ones. Hannah Goldie versus Gina Mazzani. Yeah. Carlson Harris versus Jeremiah Wells.

Good grief. That's a crazy fight. Aaron Blanchiel, he's throwing her right into the fire against Sajari, Ubanks. I think they train together. I think they trained together, though. Henzel Gracie? I think they trained, yeah. I think they're both.

Yeah, they're both, if they're both, if they're both, yeah, they might be Hens or Gracie people, so I'm not having. Montel Jackson, Kyler Phillips, that's fun. Zurong versus Luis Pena. Raquel Pennington versus Caitlin Vieira. If she wins, I'm having trouble matchmaking for her. Nchuguay versus Kamer. Is Kramer still in the UFC?

Oh, no, did? I think, I think so. Is he not? Did he win his last fight? I think he made. I also saw that suggestion. I'm pretty sure he won his last fight. Well, you look that up.

Buckley versus Murdof. That's a tough fight, man. Mainis versus Kenny. I like that one. Sarukiam versus... No, Camer Loss a split nod to Nagumariano. Yeah, I don't know. I don't even know if he's still on the roster.

I think he, I think he might have been one of the released fighters. Mainis versus Kenny, fine. Sirukion versus Hooker Nazareth winner. Or Hooker, if Hooker can't fight next week. Lipski versus Miranda Maverick. I think that's a little too high. Kutalov. Lava versus Span, and we'll end it with that.

John Ray says, remind me to not disrespect Lionheart. I think that's a message for everybody right now. Especially me. Yes. He likes Pennington versus Kunitzkaya, another Buckley-Al-Hassan pick, Mainas versus Montel Jackson, Surukian versus Faheda, Lipski versus Gian Kim, another Kutalaba night. This is insane.

And he likes Anthony Smith versus the Tiago San. Santos, Johnny Walker winner. Sean, our friend Conwizzle 91. Hey, Mike Smith, look great tonight. I don't hate the rackets rematch, but I like to see how Magamette versus Ozedemir and Craig versus Gustafin, if they rebook that, plays out, and see Smith versus either Craig or Magamadoff should they win. Iwan versus Span makes sense.

Armand versus Faheda, Lipski versus Tyler Santos. I think that's a little too high. Santos is fighting Roxanne Montefari. memory serves it correctly. I think so. Manus versus Andre Yule. Fine. Buckley versus Fluffy.

Crazy fight. Fluffy has a fight booked. And another for Pennington, Kunitskaya. Evan Rodriguez. Check your bookings. Come on, baby. Tapology.

Tapology. Evan Rodriguez. Carlson Harris versus Mickey Gall. Grappler's delight. And they both showed good hands in their respective last boats. Yeah, that's fine. What's Carlson?

Is Carlson Harrison Harrison? He's shown mostly striking in the UFC so far, right? I actually am not familiar with this pre-UFC stuff. He comes from a grappling background? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. The guy's really good.

He could do it all. I were talking like BJJ black belts or? I believe so. I know so little about Carl's. Because again, I've only seen his UFC stuff. He's only fought for like 11 seconds in two fights. I was going to say, I would have thought he's a kickbox. I'm like, okay.

I know, there you go. I know nothing about Carlson Harris. Nate Mayanis versus Ronnie Lawrence, like that fight. Gagos versus Joel Alvarez. Jackson Barcellos in a winner gets ranked fight Hannah Goldie versus Jasmine Jazz DeVizius who just got a contract

that's a good fight My fellow Canadian, yeah Yeah, I like, I actually like I think that's the right fight to make right there for Jazz DeVisius Chris London chiming in He likes Anthony Smith versus Dominic Reyes

What was the other suggestion before? Q to Lott. Wait, wait, Smith versus What was the one before? What was the Reyes suggestion before? In Chugui. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, no, yeah, yeah. Smith Reyes is the second most popular Smith pick I saw in my suggestions.

Kutalaba Paul Craig. Surukian versus Hackparast of Hooker. Can't make it. Manus versus Stamen. Jurang versus Rick Glenn, or Ricky Glenn, excuse me. I know you love that one so much, AK. I've learned to live with it. He's a grown man.

He can make his own choices. Devin Clark versus Darren Stewart. Darren Stewart, of course, no longer with the UFC, so we can't make the fight, but I get what you're saying because he said, Devin Clark versus the dentist. Yeah, I'll credit that joke now to, so I'm sure several people made, but Michael Conifrey said that. He said, Bissing said, Devin Clark needs to see a dentist after the fight,

so I guess he'll be fighting Darren Stewart next. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And Dustin Getco also sent me that same joke. So there you go, guys. You've got your odd-no joke point, all right, which is worth nothing, by the way. And London said, Chris London said, Montel Jackson versus Trevin Jones. Montel's way ahead of him. I'm sorry.

You can't make that fight. Poppy underscore Bryant didn't want to pick for everyone on here. So just chose a couple. He likes the Hulk versus the loser of Jamal Hill versus Jimmy Crude. Wildcard pick. Michelle Paheda versus Cheedy, Injoquiani. Oh, sorry, that was it in Jokwani versus who? Michelle Paheda.

Oh, wait. Oh, this is just a contender series. Contender series, yeah. Sure, sure, sure. Our friend Francesco from Italy. Let's see. He likes Kuchelaba versus Nikita Krilov, Lipski versus Aldrich, Manus versus Normaga Madoff, Buckley versus Mark Andre Barrio.

I actually, that's about right. Yeah, it could be fun. Harris versus Gall, another one, Pennington versus Julia Avila. That would be a huge step off for Avila. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I think Julia needs another win for she gets a funny. Because Pennington's like in my rankings, I ever like, I think in our MA fighting, it's like top five, I think in our MMA fighting rankings.

So is in her. I don't know. I don't know. I think she is in my rankings. Maybe not, maybe not in the consensus. I'm going to end with Tristan Gordet. Henry Terry. Hey, Mike, we're on to the next one.

Srukian versus Gillespie, Buckley versus Gerald Mearschart. I think Mearshar has a fight, but I've been able to confirm this fight because it's against a guy I don't really know much about it. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. Some newcomer, right? Yeah, Blanchfield versus Gian Kim. That seems fine. Tristan Gordet always likes to bring the thunder. Main card.

Iwan Kutalaba versus Dustin Shikobi. Let's just do the rematch and just declare a winner. I got no issue with that. I know people still want to see that one again, yeah. He likes Sirukiyam versus Matush Gamrot. Gamrod is booked, I believe. Is he? Yes, I will.

Already? Oh, by the way, Pennington. Pennington is seventh, and our consensus rankings. So I don't know where I got four from. Maybe the UFC rankings. And I think they're teammates. Oh, Gamera's not book.

I'm sorry. I was getting Gammaa confused with someone in a totally different weight class with a vaguely similar name. So just forget what I just said. Gamma and I think they both train at ATT now. I could be wrong. But it's one of those big camps, right? It's one of those big camps.

Yeah. Big, big, I mean, there we go. A couple sharks in the big pond. I was getting confused with Gamzatav. I'm sorry. Gamza tab. Gamzaab is built out. I'm sorry.

Another Buckley-L-A-L-A-Som. Miles Johns versus Nate Mainis. I like that fight. Wildcard, Jackson, Barsellos, Carlson Harris versus Jeremiah Wells. I think Carlson Harris, Jeremiah Wells, is a terrific fight. I'm seeing it. I see it. Over to you, AK. All right.

Well, again, so as you covered some of these most popular picks, Smith versus Rockets, the no-brainer. Smith versus Reyes was pretty close, though. I did see a lot of Smith versus Ray's support. And both for him in Kuchelaba, there was. some sentiment of like some those two guys against some mixture of Tiago Santos Johnny Walker on October 2nd, either winners or a loser and Jimmy Crute and Jamalil and on December 4th winner loser so so Santos sorry Smith and Kutalaba might have to wait until later in the year and might end up getting one of

these guys if not the names we just previously mentioned so yeah Kutelava a span a really popular pick that was mine as well I'm gonna try something different here and just read out Spiel's comments to go along with these consensus picks because I might not get to the listeners themselves. UFC report says two light heavyweight sluggers going at it. Doesn't get out of the first round. Face off would be insane. Give me all of this.

People trying to ruin Mike Cortez-Aldrich matchup. They want Lipski versus Tracy Cortez. So that would be, no, that's fine. Sarukian versus Gillespie was the most proper pick for Syrucian by far. I saw a lot of those. And also, again, Serukian versus Hooker slash Hock-Pras. It's just such a confused situation. So, Hayes for third says, Surikian versus Hooker, regardless of what happens with the fight with Hack Bross, win, lose, cancellation.

He says it should be next for Hooker, which I kind of agree with. He said there's some heat there. Hooker, I still think probably should fight down, barring a dominant, down in the rankings, I think he means, barring a dominant showing if it happens at all. And it is just enough but test for Armin that it isn't too far up the rankings, but still a challenge. I agree. That's why I think I liked Surukian sort of campaigning for this one. Mainis, yeah, I saw Huy Arsay, Trevin Jones, Brian Kelleher, Bucklevers Al-Hsan, everybody wants it, except for Mike Heck, apparently. Pennington, I saw Sarah McMahon.

It was the big popular Pennington pick. Rong Zhu, people were saying just rebooked the fight with Dakota Bush that was supposed to happen on Saturday. Blanchfield, Melissa Gatto was another popular one, and you got a lot of Harris versus Jeremiah Wells, I got a lot of Harris versus Court McGee. Wow. Several Harris versus Cort McGee's. So a little bit of a step up, you know, as far as veteran goes, but not like an unwinnable fight, but that would be really tough.

That'd be really tough for Carlson Harris for his like third UFC fight. So I don't know, people are high on them. Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with that match. That's a good test. I only got one email from Robert Miller. And one of he had, he wrote a good thing about this possible. Will Smith versus Paul Craig matchup? He says, hear me out on this.

He says, Anthony Smith has made around $950,000 from his last three fights. And all these fights were against guys who are not top 10 caliber. He's made a ton of money without really being challenged in these fights with jobbers. This is Robert Miller's wording, not mine, calling his opponent as jobbers. Paul Craig is a great fighter, but I could see this being another easy payday for Smith. Oh, it's dissing Craig, too, over a matchup with, say, Rockets. So this is one of several people who kind of tried to find ways around a Smith rocket rematch. So harsh for all of Anthony Smith's opponents and Paul Craig.

But thank you, Robert Miller, for the email. On Instagram, Mike, I don't know if you know about this. We've got a question from Brandon Haley. He's going to need to be fully vaccinated to attend UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden. Yes. That is New York in general. and then any kids, I believe, under the age of 12, since obviously they can't be vaccinated, they have to show a negative COVID test over like that, like the 40, 78, 72 hours before that.

So yeah, that's what they got to do. And as our colleague and good friend, Area Hawani reported, because SmackDown was just an MSG not too long ago, they just pulled the biggest gate in the history of Smackdown. So the fans are going to be there. They're going to come out for this thing. So I don't think it's going to slow that down. And then one of the things other people were concerned about and Michael Chandler sort of references on the M. May hours, as did Ariel,

that the fighters are not on that same wavelength. The athletes, the performers, they do not need to provide any Vax results. They just show up and they just have to pass COVID tests. I'm sure the basically the layout, the lay of the land will be exactly the same as if they were doing it in Vegas or Texas or Florida or wherever else they're doing it. Please, no COVID outbreak. I don't want to lose any of those big fights. Let's hope everyone stays smart and safe and hopefully just gets vaccinated.

But if they don't, I can, you know, fingers crossed, they just don't get it. Michael Connoffrey coming in with, you're talking about throwing Aaron Blanchfield into the deep end. He just says throwing Blanchfield with Alexis Davis. That's, like, I'm not saying she can't win that fight, but that's exactly the kind of fight I want to avoid for Aaron Blanchfield right now. Lex Davis is a really good grappler. She's not a bad stand-up fighter either. I don't people think realize how big the experience gap is between Alexis Davis and Aaron Blanchfield, like the level of competition they fought.

I would pick Davis in that fight. I'm sure Blanchfield would be favored. I absolutely would pick Alexis Davis in that fight. I don't like that at all. Blanchfield's a future title contender. Let's just be sensible here, people. Montel Jackson versus Kyler Phillips. That's a crazy fight.

I like that one. They're not like friends or anything. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. That's a great matchup. And Chukwe versus Jacob Malcun if Enchukwe goes back to middleweight. Do we know if his move up to 205 is permanent? I don't know if it's permanent, but it's just based on what they were saying on the broadcast. I think the cut to 185, it just seemed like a lot.

It just seemed like a big cut. And there's no need. There's no need for him. He's a massive 205er. I think Hight. I think Hight doesn't have bad reach either. I think like less than most light heavyweights, but for, I think he had really good reach for middle weights. So I guess it's kind of, it's kind of okay.

He can kind of survive up there. He was ragged on Mike Rodriguez. He was landing all the shots. He did look smaller. He won all the clinch exchanges. He's shorter, but he's short, but he's super strong, man. Yes. He's very, he's got one of those tree trunk bodies.

So it's like, I don't, yeah, I can understand the cut to 185 just not being fun. So I agree. Yeah, I think Malcun would be a great matchup at 185, but I guess his 185 days might be over. Carlos Torres, Buckley-Cazeres, had some good suggestions. I really like. Lipsky versus Menon-Fioreau. This is more, I think, for Mennon. I think if you're trying to build her up.

I don't know if I like it so much for Lipski. I feel like a lot of people are maybe already slotting Lipski into this gatekeeper role, which, again, I would remind people, she's only 27 years old. I think she's as much of a still developing fighter as a lot of these people that are matching her up with. Yeah, but she's fighting. She's already got a fight. Oh, Firoirot. She's fighting Saturday.

Fighting Saturday against Myro Bueno Silva, UFC 266. This is news to me. Topology, AK, might be your friend. Carlos, we messed up together. This is my fault. M.MA has given the all no point earlier, and they always coming up with good matchups.

Lipski versus Gian Kim and Chukwe versus Kamer, so they go out of Kamer. It must still be around. Montel Jackson versus Sayy Jakub Khachramanov. I really got to stop overpronouncing that name. I think Montel is a bit above that fight right now. With respect to Saeedo, I think is going to be, again, another killer at 135. Carlson Harris versus Danny Roberts.

Again, I think M.A. heads like me maybe thinks, Liz Loken Harris is a stand-up guy, so that's that kind of matchup. Gustavo Lopez versus, they just wanted me to pronounce his name. Zviad Lazizvili, who has not had a chance to debut in the UFC yet. I think they were supposed to fight, and then there was some sort of setback. Alatang High Lee versus Mara Batista and Hannah Goldie versus the Lapitogne. Godinez, excuse me, Sam Hughes winner, October 9, so some nice cuts there. And Matt Brad, these are my Instagram guys, I don't know if I'm supposed to know.

Matt Bradbury, also coming in, always coming with good ones. Goldie versus Giann Kim, Harris versus Jeremiah Wells, there you go. Zurong versus Dakota Bush. Is that the one that we were, did I already mention that? Wait, that's the one. Oh, yeah, okay, I'm sorry, that's the one that I just rebook it. And Chukweaver's Roundtree, Buckley versus, Buckley versus, Buckley versus Veeda.

No, why do we want to see Buckley face a grappler? What is it? Come on, Matt Bradbury. No, that's not what we're doing here. Mainz versus Saeeda and Megamatov, Kuta Lava versus Menofield. There you go, Mike. And then a couple of Bellator picks. He just says, Stones and Rematch is out there.

How do you feel with these, Mike? Phil Davis versus Rumble Johnson, two. And Yuel Romeroa versus Machita, too. I don't even want to book a fight for Anthony Johnson right now because we've no idea what's happening. Yes, fair point. And we already made that. the matchup for Yole Romero on the post-fight show, it's Big Tuna versus Yuel or Yol versus Jake Paul only if they do a 24-hour table interview with Ariel before.

This is true. These are both better options than him rematching Machita. All right, fair enough. But thank you about Bradbury for the Bell Torpix. On Twitter, someone tags us both at many magic mart saying, just like they said, like I said before, Sarukyjohn will be champ. I want him versus Gillespie or RDA or if HAC brass can't fight due to the Due to the sad tragedy, he can fight hooker.

Sad tragedy, Nazareth, Harkapras, mother recently passed away. So I don't think that was going to affect his fight. But, RDA. RTA is fighting, is on Maka Chaff, you crazy animals. Listen, I'm just relaying Mighty Magic Mars message here. He's very high on Sirukyon, clearly just wants some, wants a big match. Not as high as the last, I'm the tease, the last one I'm going to read, by the last matchup. I'll read.

Stephen Brighter, Rongju versus Louis Juvenormini. Lipski versus McMahon 2. I really like this one, and this was almost my pick for Lipski.

Sure. Yeah. The only thing is I guess they're both kind of just rebounded from losing streak, so I don't know if you'd

want to just necessarily throw them in there again. Because I feel like one of them would then be like losers of three in their last four and the UFC would consider cutting them, which is ridiculous.

So I want to see that fight again with a guarantee that neither fighter is in danger being cut because that could be a really good rematch. Braden O'Neill, just with some excellent picks here. Nate Mainis versus Hanna Yaya, Inchukwe versus Maxim Grishin.

Montel Jackson versus Hallian Paiva. Jackson probably higher than him, but I think that'd be a great fight. And Carlson Harris versus Michel Prazeres. Jake Salki wants a quick versus Say, Norma McOmerinov, and Sarukyan versus Darius. And I want to read what Jake had to say about this. because I don't agree with it I think Darius should be waiting for a big fight but he says just hear me out

the only fighter Amman has lost to is Islam who after he beats RDAA will be highly ranked Armand is one of the most complete fighters as is Benil definitely a top 10 talent and if Benil beats him he should get a title shot if Armin wins gives him the Chandler Gatji loser

I don't think Benil should have to fight Sir Rukia to get a title shot I think he's done more than enough yeah I don't think I want to see that but thank you Jake Selkie. Kevin Dwyer, Blanchfield versus Bocopio, yes, this is more, thank you guys, more logical. Jue-Rong versus,

I keep mispronouncing these guys now. I'm going to go to Rong Ju for now. Rang-Ju versus Jai Herbert and Surukian. Kevin DeWire says, he wants to see Surukian versus the Riddell-Fiziv winner, and then he says, and just constantly re-booked these three

for the rest of time. So I don't know what he means. He wants to lock them in sort of a no-execis. it style three people stuck in a room. Hell is other people situation. But I'm cool. That's a very creative. This is a very creative thought there. So Kevin, I don't know if that's the direction you were going in.

Marcus McGehy calls this the Otno, the pissed off Lionheart edition. Yeah, it certainly, certainly was. Smith versus Ankylai of Win or Luz versus Avokan Usdemir. That's right there fighting. Goldie versus, as you mentioned before, Jessudevicious. At either 125 or 115. Yeah, I think that makes sense. And Chukwe versus the Nogamiriano Villanova winner, October 23rd.

Mainis versus Smolka? Yeah, that's fine with me. I mean, Callagher, Smolka, both those fights are fine. I don't know if you commented on this one. I can't remember if you got this one. Jackson versus Timor Valiyev. I did not get that one. Valiav, I believe, was booked against Daniel Santos,

who was making his UFC debut. And I think Valiiv is out of the fight. And now Marcello Rojo is fighting Santos now. Okay, okay. So status of value of for the near future unknown then. Pennington versus the Tate Viata winner, October 16th, possible Pennington-Tate rematch. And then Viata would be a fresh matchup. How do you feel about that?

I don't think Tate would want to fight Pennington again yet. I think she'd love to get that one back at some point. But, I mean, I just, I think in her eyes, it wasn't like an even. playing field fight because Tate had one foot out the door. So I'd kind of like to see what happened. But the Pennington that showed up on Saturday

when she's on, man, she's very tough to beat. She is very strong. She's super athletic and she can slow fights down. And she showed really good boxing in that fight. Like her striking got really good. It would be an interesting fight. This version of Pennington is a tough out at 135.

She could very, I could see Raquel Pennington being a Caitlin Chukagian-esque kind of bantam weight where she just, she's not going to be fighting for the title anytime soon as long as Amanda Nunes is the champion. But I could see Pennington slowing down a lot of surges the way she is, if she, you know, if she can keep on going, keep fighting the way that she has and stay healthy. I was really impressed with her on Saturday. Yeah, I think she's someone, I mean, it has been for some time that a lot of fighters know they have to fight her to get to the top, like three, top four, top five, and really do not want to.

She does not look like a fun person to fight at all. Chris at Dragon's There 2 says Montel Jackson versus Miles Johns. I love that matchup. Again, I think Jackson may be a bit further ahead in the rankings, so we might not see that soon, but I'd love to see that in the future someday. Hayes with the third. What did Hayes had to see here that I said? It was so important. Oh, he loved the way I described that Clark Coochalaba stared down.

Yeah, people still, again, I know the fights passed now. You have not watched the stairdown between Devin Clark and Yuan Kutalava. Please watch it. I was happy to describe it. Thank you, Hayes, for the compliment. But I cannot do it justice. I cannot do it justice. One of the best stardowns, best, most awkward staredowns I've ever seen in my life.

Hayes is also pushing the hashtag, all draws should be run back. He's been doing this. He's done this before. And he's also advocating again to see Kutalava and Jacobi again. And Lopez versus Al-Tang-Hiley. So all draws should be run back. I don't know, guys. It's not a catchy hashtag, but it could be a movement that people might want to get behind.

Some of those other picks I like. Chukwe versus the Olegs-Ce-Chuk-Ch, Gamsatab loser, October 30th. I just want to mention that. So, I know the difference between Gamsatab and Camrodt. Pennington versus Pena, if-slash-when she loses to Nunez. I actually like that a lot, if only because it's someone on the top 10. She hasn't fought. But let's not assume anything with the Pena-Nunia's fight.

Jackson versus Nathaniel Wood. Yep, I'm fine with that. I thought about that one. Yeah. Let me jump to Thomas Collins. By the way, guys, I'm not reading everyone's picks, but I keep track of all your picks. So don't worry. If I don't read it, I got you.

I got you. Thomas Collins. Surukian versus Diego Faheda. I like that one a lot. And Carlston Harris versus Chaos Williams. Give it to me. I like it. Yeah?

That's just fun. That's William. Chaos Williams. Where is he? What's going on? He just fought not too long ago, right? My memory is the word. How recently we're talking?

Oh, June. Oh, that was so long ago. That was three months ago. That's a whole season ago. Oren Sleepwalker, Span versus Dustin Jacoby. I'd love to see that. There'd be a lot of fun. Barry O'Reilly, I think good matchup here again.

This is good, sensible Blanchfield matchmaking. Blanchfield versus Ashley Evan Smith. Yes, Jackson versus Dennis Bondar. Poor Bondar has had two fights fallout in 2021. I don't think he's debuted in the UFC yet. very talented guy and hopefully he gets to fight but i think jackson would be a nightmare a ufc debut matchup that's not how you want your first year that'd be again like maybe a short notice thing like j p bays did that's the only way he gets that fight um i just say barry riley's being

very cheeky here a lot with several people who are either recently signed and they just have not made their debut uh rongjou versus ignacio bahamanda's great fight pennington versus aldana too yes and chukwe versus i have to read this one enchukwe versus adult Dostra at Langemula. Mike, I don't know if you saw Big E recently won the WWE Championship, which I was very excited about in Boston.

In Boston. Of course you knew. And then Biggie is very famous for promo where he said like he wants to watch like Brock Lesnar or like Goldberg wrestle like Brock Lesnar or something like, this is what I like to see in wrestling. Big meaty men slapping meat. I can't do it just like he does, but Vera Riley

is saying Tifon and Chukwe versus Talcia Langeambula would be the MMA version of big, meaty men slapping meat. So there you go. Great pick, Barry O'Reilly. He just wants me to pronounce his name. Joaquin Buckley versus Renat Fakhretinov. I think that's – I'm pretty sure I got it. Again, a guy who was not debuted in the UFC yet but was signed earlier this year.

And I actually have no problem with that. I actually do think that would be an exciting matchup, but that's so out of left field. Barry, I see you trying to trip us up, all right? Liam Perry Devin Clark, William Knight There you go William Knight People see good matches for him

And light heavy weights thin I don't know Nate Mainis versus Miles Johns Four Corner Sports NY Saruk Yan versus Vince Pichel I actually really like this matchup I do think it's

I know people think he'd probably Dragdoll Pichel which is possible But again Bachel is a very respectable veteran He's been in a lot of tough competition I'm okay with it I don't know how you feel without him. There's just no reward for Armand Suruki on to fight Vince Pichel.

It's a tough matchup against a really tough guy who doesn't go away. He just doesn't go away. And a win over Vince Pichel, especially being a ranked fighter in your second fight as a ranked fighter, it literally does nothing for him. is like the risk reward it's just so much more risk than there is reward i think getting that like like had he won a decision had he gone out there and won a 3027 and just dominated but didn't do anything like overly exciting yes give him vince bichelle keep being like dude get finishes and we'll give you bigger fights throw them in there at the vince bichel's of the world but going out there

and starching a dude in two and a half minutes especially a guy who was on a three-fight winning streak he did what he needed to do to get a top 15 matchup. So, well, again, decision, yes, but the way he went out there and did exactly what the UFC and what everybody wanted him to do, I think he's beyond Vince Pichel right now.

That is making a statement, as the kids say. Denny Kaps wants to see me take on Anthony Smith on the A-side. He says, Fighter versus Rider A-Side edition. I think he means like between the links. We don't really do the A-Side anymore. Between the links, Anthony Smith versus A. Kaley.

I have not had the chance to talk to Anthony Smith in a long time. He's a great interview, and I would love to go ahead with him, though. I think that might be the first between the links that doesn't go to the fifth round. I might be finished in like the first or second, and then she might just be Anthony Smith talking the rest of the time. And I love, he suggested, Hannah Goldie versus Ariane Carnalosi if Carnalosi beats Estella Nunez on October 16th. We mentioned that in Chukwe-Lungibula matchup before. I had to be very careful in my wording here, but this would be the, this would almost be the women's version. of that. If you wanted to talk about physiques, too, like, Hannah Goldie and Ariani Carnalosi would be, like, the way of the face-offs and Wayans would just be insane.

Yeah. And I would feel, I would feel very out of shape, seeing those two face-off, but that would be awesome. That would be so awesome. And I'll close with our man in Denmark, Tope Gerding Jensen, who, he kind of sums up how I felt. He said, it was a night of fights. I'm not going to say it was amazing, because it was not. But there were fights, which is cool. I guess. So, look, the Danish are very understated people. All right. Thank you, Tocke. I like Span versus Roundtree. He says Buckley versus Dusko Todorovich.

I don't know. That's a bit of a left field. But he really got me with, he says, of course, it's time for a ranked fighter for Armand, Sirukian. You're both going to hate me for this. Oh, no. I know what he's doing. You know what he's doing.

Sirukian's next challenge should be. The man who was the meme. of the week, this week, Michael. Tony Al-Ka-Kui-Ferguson. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Stop it. Listen, if he's going to stick around and fight, like, this is the, these are the kinds of fights that he has to take.

Like, he's not fighting Islam. He's not fighting. I mean, that ship has sailed. If they were going to do it, they should have done it immediately, like, right after. Right after Islam's went over Tiago Moises. you book that fight right away, it's gone now. Like that fight has sailed. So Tony Ferguson's going to have to fight a guy on the back end of the top 15

or a guy outside of the, like barely on the cusp of the top 15 right now. So it ain't going to get any easier. It's just going to get more difficult for Tony Ferguson. So if they made that fight, I got no problem with it. Mike, this is why you're not getting mic-checked anymore because you're entertaining lunatics like tote-girding Jensen. We have got to put our foot down. We have got to close the gates to the savages who are just throwing out these crazy matchups.

No. Go up to 170 and fight Nate. Go up to 170 and fight these guys up there and get these sort of legend fights because you're not going to get him at 55. You'll get him at 70. Yeah. Well, Tokyo were half right. I hated it. But Mike apparently says it's an option.

I don't like it. But it makes sense. You don't hate it. It's an option for Tony. So, anyway, that's it. That's it for this week, guys. Amazing picks, as always. Again, you can reach me at Alexander K.

Lee on Twitter. Right into those DMs at Alexander KKK Lee on Instagram at Alex. Oh, sorry, not Alex. Alex dot Lee at SBNation.com for email. Hit me up on any of those guys. Mike. Best way to do it is the way you've been doing it. DM me on Instagram, M underscore HECJR.

You can also find me on Twitter at Mike. Heck underscore J.R. And that'll do it. UFC Vegas 30. Actually, Mike, can we do a quick special segment? I'm sorry, I shouldn't mean to spring this on you. Could we do a quick special segment. Yes.

I call this, it's a work in progress, the name. Let's call this the last match. And we'll debut it this week because we had a couple of fighters who retired this week, who, if they stick to their retirements, this is maybe the last time we ever see them in MMA. Everyone knows talking about Joseph Benavides, Carlos Conditz. So I think Condit's name has popped up more on our show than Benavides. I don't know.

I don't recall Benavita's popping up as often. I think Condit's definitely someone we saw a lot of potential matchup. A lot of people want to see running back with Robbie Lawler, running back with Nick Diaz, a lot of legends matchups for him. But guys, they're officially, I think, shutting the door in them for match speaking purposes. I don't think anyone missed this news. So happy trails. Happy trails to two of the most entertaining, high-level, almost universally liked fighters.

again. I don't know anyone really who's interviewed them or worked with them that has like a poor word to say about them. So that's that this is the last match for these guys until, you know, hopefully, hopefully they're on to better things and not, not bare knuckle boxing or fight circus. That's, uh, yes. Well said. I approve of said segments. And there's a couple of other names you should probably throw in there as well. Luke Sanders announced his retirement. So happy trails to him. Luke Sanders, yeah, UFC veteran. He put his time in there. He put his time in there.

Yep. And a big shout out to another former UFC veteran and ended his career, a two-division CES champion. Matt Bissette announced his retirement. I did not know that. Yes, after his inverted triangle arm bar, slick-ass submission win over Ryan Dela-Cruz at CES 64, he announced his retirement right after that dropped the gloves

and said, I've done everything I need to do. So good on Matt Bassette. Matt Beset, one of the first people in the sport to give me an opportunity to interview him. When he was with Bellator at the time, he was just rolling through. And this is a guy who for so many years just kept winning fights and finishing fights. And everyone was wondering, when is this guy going to get his shot? When is this guy going to get his shot? Goes on the contender series, gets finished by Kurt Holobo, another guy who were like,

when's he going to get his chance to get back to the UFC? Yeah, yeah. And then Beset gets his shot at UFC Boston. goes 0 and 2 in a couple really competitive fights and goes on, ends his career the way that he wanted to. And then Carlos Condit, I mean, good Lord, AK. You know how like we throw out win certain fighters? You see him and you're just like, that dude is about that life.

When I saw Carlos Condit fight for WBC the first time, I was like, that dude is about that life. And I was hooked, immediately hooked on Carlos Condit. Yeah. So, yeah, Matt beside, I didn't know going out on top, that's always great to hear. And for all these guys, for Carlos Condit, Joseph Benavides, Luke Sanders and Matt Bessette. Look, if we see them fight again someday, great. You know,

we welcome them back with open arms. But hopefully these are MMA retirements that stick and these guys are able to move on to the next stage of their lives with their health mostly intact. And any news we hear from them in the future is nothing but good news about their, you know, their business and personal endeavors. Well said. So UFC Vegas 37 in the books, at least from a matchmaking perspective, join us next week because we got a big show, everybody. We got a big show. In fact, which is something I didn't even know. until Brandon Fitzgerald mentioned it on the card on Saturday, we're going to be here for the next nine weeks.

Last night, or Saturday night, was the first of 10 consecutive Saturdays for the UFC. So we're not going to be taking a break anytime soon. So stick with us, get excited, because next week, the UFC is back on pay-per-view. UFC 266. Exciting card. Three, five-round fights, two title fights,

It's headlined by Alexander Volcanowski versus Brian Ortega. Valentina Schofchenko defends her flyaway title against Lauren Murphy. I know a lot of people just feel like Valentina is just going to go in there and just steamroll Lauren Murphy. I think Lauren is, I'm not going to say she's a live dog, but I think she gives Valentina a little bit of a tougher fight than people think. She's just a, she likes to make fights dirty and grimy. I think that's, I think Valentino will win. I'm not going to go crazy. But I feel like Lauren is going to be more competitive than people think.

Of course, the rematch 17 years in the making. Robbie Lawler versus Nick Diaz, five rounds, non-title. Only the second time this has happened in UFC history. We got Curtis Blades versus Jarzini Rosenstrike. Jessica Androge versus Cynthia Calvio. Huge fight for Cynthia Calvio. I feel like if she wins, she could get a title shot, despite coming off of a loss to Caitlin Chuggan in her previous fight. Featured Prelim, Marlon Marlon Mara, versus Barab de Walsh, Willie.

Holy cow. That is a crazy fight. hopefully we get Dan Hooker versus Nazrat, Haq Paras, Shamil Abdurahimov versus Chris Dawkes, Roxanne Amatoferri, Tyler Santos, Manon Fioro versus Myra, Bueno Silva. We'll see the

UFC debut of Diaz protege, Nick Maximoff ticking on Carl Roberson, Euros Medich, taking on Jalen Turner, Matthew Semelsberger versus Martin Saino, and kicking things off, at least as it appears right now, Omar Morales,

taking on Jonathan Pierce, in the featherweight division. And that's a pretty fun card, A.K. That's some nice early prelims. Some nice early prelims. Yeah, so we have a nice, long night ahead of us, and we're excited for it. I'm very excited for this card.

AK, this is Volk, you said this is the year of Volcanowski. This is the year that he gets on everybody's radar. Speaking of disrespect, you feel like Volkadovsky might be the most underrated fighter in the sport right now. I'll just say one of our panelists, a rogue panelists, you might say, who I think if anyone's followed like any of our programming, probably knows who this is by now,

but I still try to maintain some element of mystery. One of our, I think our rogue panel has like him fourth. What? Am I crazy? Is that not real? You keep talking about how egregious that could be while I look this up. Do you have the rankings statement?

I'm pulling it up right now. I'm going to say, I will. I'm a click away. I'm a click away. I believe if you look at our featherweight rankings, someone has him behind Holloway. They do. A.J. McKee

And Brian Ortega. Oh, my Lord. This is a thing. This is real. This is real. And this is the same rogue panelist who has Amanda Nunes not ranked number one at 135 pounds. This is another 45 minutes of podcast if we get into this. So people, don't worry.

This will be resolved. This will be resolved. Yes. So lots to look forward to next week. So enjoy the rest of your week, everybody. Make sure you stay tuned to MMA fighting throughout the week. because our own Jose Youngs will be out there. There's a lot going on in Vegas because it's International Fight Week,

the return of it after missing it last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know we're still in the middle of it, but the UFC says, we're doing international fight week. So lots of festivities, the Hall of Fame, red carpet, all that stuff. So so much UFC 266, so much discussion going on on our various programs. So keep it locked on M-Afighting.com throughout the week. But until then, everybody, for AKI. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for listening.

And always remember, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. And we're going to have more fun right here next week. On to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.