MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 38

Episode Date: October 3, 2021

On the 61st 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 38 event at the APEX. Future matchups were discussed for Thiago Santos following his unanimous decision win over Johnny Walker in the light heavyweight main event, Kevin Holland and Kyle Daukaus following the controversial end to their co-main event bout, Niko Price, Krzysztof Jotko, Alexander Hernandez, 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

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Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Welcome to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Here, everybody, and welcome back to a brand new edition of On to the next one. We are discussing the what's next, the next in lines, if you will, for some of the notable names coming out of a very interesting UFC Vegas 38 event on Saturday night. It was a hectic start to the event.

It was kind of a, eh, finish, a little bit of controversy mixed in. But we're here to matchmaking, darn it. That's what we're going to do on this Sunday morning as we record. I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always, the co-matchmaker and the best friend to us all, Mr. Alex Keeley. Hello, kind of sir. How are you? Hello, my best friend.

Was the card Mike Hectic as you? might say. Yeah, we've got an interesting show today because we went into this one kind of talking about like how it was a fun card with low stakes and we're exiting, feeling the same. That's not a lot changed, I think, for a lot of these fighters based on the outcome. So the matchmaking, I feel, is maybe except for the top guys, it's pretty wide open. So, and I know we got a lot, I tell you, we got a lot of different, different suggestions from listeners today. So I really need to know if you had like easy answers for a lot of these people,

Mike. I tried to like, it could have very well been super easy. I tried to think a little bit outside the box, but some of them were just uncontrollable. So I mean, it was just, it was a card. It was matchmaking. It wasn't, I didn't have to struggle for anything. I felt like 266 was a little more of a struggle. I felt like there were more options and there were more impactful decisions to be made. This one, I didn't think there were that many to be made, if that makes sense. Okay. Again, like I said, I think I did settle on, when I finally settled on some names, I was like, okay, well, these all makes sense. And definitely, as I said, there was a variety of listeners suggestions, but there were also some clear cut consensus picks. So again, I still found this a little

bit difficult, but I see what you're saying. You know, once you got down to it, maybe there weren't too many options. But I don't know. I'm a little more out there with some of these, I guess. We'll see. We'll see how many, maybe we match up on a bunch of them. Yeah, we probably will.

We're going to, survey says this thing and we'll probably be on the nose on a lot of this stuff. So let's start with the main event. Not the best main event of the year. As a matter of fact, and we will, we always will tip the cap to the warriors who step in that cage and put their lives and well-being's on the line. So when we say that this, You can make a very strong case that this is the most underwhelming headliner of 2021 to this point.

We mean this. We don't mean this disrespectfully. Like, this is just a sports take. And for Tiago Santos, he needed to win. He needed to win. Him going into a firefight with Johnny Walker. What a bit terrible idea. What about a horrible decision?

He went out there. And in a weird way, AK, and I know you haven't watched it yet, but you will. It was like they watched the Bellator two. 67 main event between Douglas Lima and Michael Page and said, you know what, let's do that. But for like two other rounds, because there were a lot of similarities between the two. But in the end, Santos did enough. He wins the fight. He revealed it was the last fight on his current contract.

He would like a little bump and pay. And they should all get a bump and pay, AK. We talk about this all the time. This was not really the resume addition you go to the negotiating table with. But he won. He gets two checks. He's getting ready to become a dad, and he snaps the three fights, kids. So all in all, good night for Tiago Santos.

Where does he go from here? I'm going to go with one. I think I was calling for probably last year under different circumstances. I don't remember how many Tiago Santos fights ago this was. But I wanted to see him fight Dominic Reyes for a long time. I think it made sense some point last year. And I know they've kind of both had gone in different directions since then, both struggled a bit. I still think it makes sense.

It's probably not as exciting a matchup as it once was for a lot of fans. It would have been better if it was closer to their respective title fights against John Jones. You would have had that kind of heat like, oh, two guys who almost beat bones. It doesn't feel that way anymore, but it could still be sold that way. I'm sure ESPN could easily throw together a package where it's exactly what I'm saying, where two veteran exciting light heavyweights who who arguably could have been champion you know so it's sellable it's not not as hot as it once was but that's the only way i thought to go yeah that's not a bad idea um for me i mean for dominic reyes first like i just i don't want to see dominic

grayis fight until like the end of next year like after that fight with yore hashka i just i want him to just rest in like just of 2020 i mean that was a vicious beating he took in that fight. Like, do you just, don't focus on fighting right now. I mean, I'm not his coach. I'm not his manager. Do what you guts to do, bro. But if you want to take most of next year off to, go right ahead and just like spend the time, get your mind right, all that stuff. So for me, Reyes was somebody I thought about, but I don't know. I think my heart was just on him taking as much time off as needed. So this is kind of those, one of those two option type deals because had Anthony Smith not cut that Rackich promo after his last one over

Ryan Span, this was a no-brainer. He was the easy answer. Rematch. Seems like that would be the direction now. Rackich wants to find Anthony Smith December 18th. You would think by now that if that fight was going to happen, we would probably know about it by now. And that would probably be a main event caliber fight, but we just found out that Derek Lewis and Chris Dachis are scheduled to headline that card. Santos had Smith fought before at 185. I think it was like almost four years ago. Santos stopped Smith in the second round.

This is at 185. I'd like to see that rematch honestly. If they don't do the rackets rematch, that's the fight I want to see. If they do put together the rackage fight, then if Ankelyev beats Volcano O's Demer, UFC 267, he should get that fight. So Smith is A1. That's the Otno points pick. But if luck is not on my side, Ankelaif is 1B.

No, what if Usdemir beats Ankylaev? Nah, don't like it. Just don't like it. That's it. Yeah, don't like it. Okay. It's as a do-do suggestion on my part. No, it's not a doo-do suggestion.

It's just not, it's just not my do-do selection. It's stuff, yeah. To go back and watch that first Smith, uh, uh, Santos. A dominant performance by Teco Santos. But man, watch the first round when he, he hit Smith with like the hardest spin kick I've ever seen someone get hit by. And somehow Smith doesn't immediately die. and actually makes it.

I think it was second round, second round TKO, I think, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's like, that should have been over in the first round. Like, that's when you kind of knew, and then after that, Smith later moved up, but that's when you kind of knew, like, holy crap, Smith is like, I mean, you knew who's a decent fighter before that, but even that fight in that loss, that one opened up a lot of eyes in defeat. Like, I don't know how he didn't get knocked down the first round.

Yeah. I mean, listen, if they do, O's in Mayer, I'm fine with it. Not a doo-do pick, okay. Okay. Tremendous. It sounds pretty low down the list. Probably, it's like the bronze medalist for me. Wow.

That's just garbage then. Co-made event. Listen, this thing ended in controversy. Did it? Kevin Holland, Kyle Docchus. There was the accidental collision of heads. Holland was knocked into the middle of next week. Dan Margliata signals for a replay.

Docis did exactly what he was supposed to do. Stays on Holland, submits him, of course, upon further review and lots of discussion with seemingly every single official in Las Vegas on Saturday. It was ruled to no contest, which, by the way, if you watch the post-fight show, I have zero issue whatsoever with that call because Dan called for a replay and a review. And that is why I have no issue with it. So we just run these dudes back, throw them right back out there for the other year. How about December 18th, AK? Brothers on the same card? How about that? That's what I saw some very intrepid, smart listeners saying. My only worry is I don't know

how much Holland's cage was rattled because he was. And unfortunately, or, for Unfortunately, if you are hoping to see the December 18th date, head injuries like concussions, really rarely, at least as far as official medical suspensions go, for some reason, they're not, you know, they're just not treated with the same way that broken bones are and even a deep cut sometimes and that fractures. So if it's just, really, if he's just concussed, and by the way, he was concussed. I mean, he was knocked flat out cold in that flashed chaos chaos. again I would really not want to see Kevin Holland fight again before the end of the year but I have his feel I sincerely doubt he will get an official potential medical suspension that that takes him out until next March so it's it's possible and yeah it would be cool to have some docus docus card on the 18th so I get it yeah docus himself called for early 2022 so that's fine

as well but it would just kind of be a cool storyline you have brothers main and co-main Main inventing. Pretty cool story. But we moved to Nico Price, who dug deep in the featured bout. He got that third round against a game, Alex Cowboy Olivera. The hybrid is back in the wind column. It was a fun fight. Didn't live up to the...

When Nico Price fights, the expectations are impossible to reach. They're just impossible at this point because he's done so many crazy things. And it didn't live up to those impossible expectations. But it's still a very fun fight. very entertaining fight, just a courageous battle by both guys. Good win for Nico Price comes through kind of the up and down sort of fight where he wins the first, loses the second, comes back and wins the third. Where does Nico Price go from here?

I'm going to go with a name that has become an ought no favorite. A lot of people have been throwing out. I've been saving it. I think now is the right time. I always say Nico Price fights are unpredictable and they are chaos. So I think it is time for Nico Price and Chaos Williams. I'm going to go with that. Again, chaos is out there.

There's so many great matches for him. This is kind of one of the things I was talking about at the beginning of the show, Mike, where I'm like, I feel just you can go in so many directions with Nico Price. He's experienced. He's kind of mid-ranked. He's certainly not. I wouldn't put him near the top 25, but he's certainly above the bottom 25. So he's right in that middle.

And I say he's not in the top 25, but you could put him against top 25 opponents, and no one would bat an eye. So I'm not going there. I'm going to go for a fun matchup. That's what I see Nico Price has right now until he strings together some. wins and finds a consistency. So, Chaos Williams. You know what they say in Houston, Texas sometimes at the dance clubs, AK?

What do they say, Mike? You know what? And I've heard it's a popular chant in Dallas, too, for a few weeks a year. Ain't no party like an Alex Morono party, because an Alex Morono party don't stop. And that's why I think we should invite Nico Price to the Alex Marono party. Because that fight should get the excitement out of both guys. It would just be a fun, grizzled vet battle, two gunslingers. That's a party I'd like to be a part of AK.

I want to go to that party. The Nico Price, Alex Marono party. That was actually my first choice, except I had, I realized I had recently chosen Balal Muhammad for Alex, Val Muhammad does not have a fightbook yet, right? He does not. Right. So he's still free, so I cannot go away from that pick. I would like to see Marano.

I would like to reward him for some of the good work he's done and give him like a higher ranked guy. So yeah, Marano Price was my first thought until I checked. So I had to go. I had to go. So obviously, I love that pick. But I'm lean. I still want, I still think, excuse me, I still think Marano and Muhammad is a possibility.

But, uh, if, but I could see that fight being made for sure. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa. Is this economy? Free beer, wine and snacks. Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land.

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So, Christoph Yako won a fight against Misha Serkenoff, and to sort of paraphrase my best friend, it was a fight. And Yacchko won that fight. And it basically, that matchup took the pendulum and swung it the wrong way in terms of momentum the rest of the way after a pretty fast start to the card. Like a lot of people have like hit me up and been like, what a boring card. I'm like, was it? The prelims are really fun.

And then like that fight happened. And again, no disrespect to the fighters. It just sometimes you put the styles together and it just doesn't work out. This is one of those fights. But Yako wins. I don't think the performance does all that much for him moving forward in the eyes of the UFC. So I'm going to go with one of the most popular listener's suggestions of the year, AK, I'm going to do Yako

versus Mahmoud Muradhaff, who's coming off the tough loss to Gerald Mearshardt. I think stylistically, this is a more fitting matchup for both guys. The UFC is something there for sure with Murdof. This seems like a pretty fair piece of

booking for both guys after both being put in matchups that don't really showcase what they're best at, if that makes sense. Yeah, and look, Jocko is one those guys who I we always hesitate to use the term gatekeeper but he has experienced he's been around the UFC knows what they're getting with him fans know where they're getting with him he's he's a he's a he's a known property um so uh I I don't mind matching him up with someone like Murdov

I kind of went in a similar direction uh I went with I'm going to go the Edmund Shabazzian Nasor Dean Imov winner they're fighting at UFC 28 on November 6th but same idea uh Jock was the kind of guy you cut you guys you kind of kind of throw them in there with people who aren't as well-known properties. So you're not quite sure where they're going to go, what their upside is going to be in the UFC. And then see how he does. And who knows? Jocko strings together some wins and accidentally falls until like a contenders fight or God help us.

A title fight? It could happen. But right now, clearly he's a test guy. Even the Mish Tricanov fight was a bit of a test. It was how will Mish Tricanov look at 1-85? Let's give him a really tough opponent in Jocko. And Jock got the – well, that was – I thought it was a pretty convincing. I didn't think it needs to be a split.

Though again, it was not a pretty fight, so I guess you can't complain too much about the split, but I thought Jocko won pretty handling. So, yeah, I like it, Murdov, again, Shabazzia and Imov, if you want to throw on any other guys with like, you know, four or less UFC fights, I totally understand that. My one

veteran pick was, where's Zach Cummings? What's up with Zach Cummings? I have no idea. That's a great question, A.K. He's probably, you know, he's probably off getting healthy again. And if you're going to afford to take time off, I hope he's doing other things. I know he had to pull out of his last fight with an injury,

but that was some time ago. So hopefully he's just recovering, maybe making money some other way, and he comes back when he's ready. But that was another fight. I thought if you're going to match him with a veteran, I'd like to see that one. But no,

I'll go fraught, no points. Shabazian, Imavov winner, UFC two Steve. I'll tell you what. I actually might know the answer to this. I think Zach Cummings listened to the answer to the next one.

I was not a part of is when I was driving the U-Haul. And he's waiting for Jared Cannonier to call. That's what he's waiting for. He's waiting for that fight. Thanks to Stephen's suggestion. That was a Stephen Morocco pick, wasn't it? That was a Stephen Morocco pick, which is an interesting choice. But again, I had no issue with the pick.

It made sense because it's a guy who wants to get right back in there and fight. So Alexander Hernandez gets back in the win column, A.K. And he did it with viciousness. He did it with violence. The two Vs that most fans like to look for to kick off a main car. He stops the newcomer Mike Breeden, big-time knockout. He treated a short. notice opponent accordingly calls for rebooking of the uh the leo santo's fight which makes sense

okay is that is that the road you're taking yeah i saw a lot of other suggestions uh maybe people just weren't super hyped about the leonardo santo's matchup in the first place i was i thought that was really good matchmaking when it happened i was disappointed when the fight i didn't go down so for me the rebooking makes the most sense a lot of options uh i i'm getting the sense that you have one mike i don't know i'm uh the i'm feeling like you want, I don't know if you want to move on from this one. But yeah, good job for Hernandez to kind of get over the letdown of losing his original opponents, facing someone who, again, you kind of have to scout for it the last minute.

Absolutely, he has the advantage. But I think people know, like, this is, we've seen, we've seen things happen this year where more experienced guys just fall to newcomers who they probably know nothing about, didn't have time to prepare for, and newcomers who have nothing to lose. So good for Hernandez for taking care of business. Yeah, I mean, if they make that fight, I'm down for it. But I ended up changing my mind maybe like two minutes ago. There's been this sort of Texas rivalry for the last couple of years,

some trash talk between these two in the past, more so from one side. And I think it makes sense to do the fight now. Just do Hernandez versus Diego Fajeda, okay? Hernandez versus Faheda. Faheda, obviously a talented guy. He's lost two straight. He's had some struggles on the scale.

He was supposed to fight Grant Dawson, which in my opinion probably would have been his third straight loss. I think it was actually supposed to happen. I think it was actually supposed to happen yesterday that fight. But Dawson now rebooked with Ricky Glenn on October 23rd. And Fahad thinks he's going to be back before the end of the year. So Dawson, unfortunately, would lose out on a top 15 matchup, but let's just settle a rivalry between these two guys. I don't think, I mean, throwing Hernandez back into a top 15 matchup isn't against anybody else. You kind of question it.

but against Faheda, especially on the streak he's on right now. I'm fine. I want to see that fight. I just want to see what happened between the two guys. And let's see if Faheda can get up for this one because that fight with Gillespie was insane. He missed weight, but it was such an insane fight. It was one of the best fights of the year. I would get the trepidation at throwing Hernandez back out into a ranking,

into a top 15 fight. But if you want to do Santos, I'm fine with it. But kind of going outside of the box for that valuable, valuable, not no points. I'm going to do Hernandez Faheda. Yeah, I'm down for a little Texas on Texas crime. And as you said, it's unfortunate. Dawson misses out on fighting the ranked guy, but now Hernandez gets another shot at a ranked guy. I don't know where we have him in our rankings. I assume Faheda, probably like not in the top 10, somewhere from 11 to 15, I'm guessing. He was on a hell of a run before suffering a couple of losses,

his last two fights. But yeah, I don't mind that again. I know it's not what's necessarily best for Hernandez, I'm sure Faheda, would be favored in that fight, and, you know, that would make you know, nobody wants to see Hernandez kind of become this 500 fighter, win one, lose one, win one, lose one. But I feel like he keeps getting better with these tough matchups. I feel like he takes these losses the right way, generally. And so, yeah, I'm not against it either. What was my other?

I had a, you know, I also thought about Tiago Moises, Joel Alvarez, winner, November 13th. and Jared Gordon, you know, maybe just match up too Lightway 2 fought on this card. So this for me, again, was a tricky one. Maybe that's why I just settled on going with the original booking. Yeah, I mean, it was a smart call up by Hernandez. He's been very smart, business-wise, since going to Factory X. I think he gets it a little bit more.

He's humbled up a little bit. Moises would not work since I just fought. It was a competitive fight. I totally forgot that. Yeah. It was a competitive fight. Oh, wow, February. Okay.

Yeah, it was a really good fight. As we moved to the wildcard round, AK, one fighter we haven't matched made for yet. We're going to do it right now, so my best friend, kick us off, wildcard us. I had to do something for, because this division always feels like I think it needs a little guidance right now,

I'm going to go with women's bantam weight, undefeated women's bantam weight in the U.C., Kerojosa. I think she did, I don't want to say she did the UFC of favor, but I think there were more desirable matchups out there for her probably other than an outgoing Peshkoheya, though it is nice to get beat a veteran to now say I beat a former UFC title challenger. So she certainly gained something from it.

And it was a win where I think she got to show a bit of her skills. She maybe played a little too safe. I'm sure some people would have liked to see a finish. But I think she showed out anyway. And it's now, I believe, 4 and 0 in the UFC. So, as luck would have it, you know, I wanted, I would like to have her thing, I think, fight Irenae Aldana at UC-268 November 6. Now, I had originally suggested this for Raquel Pennington.

I want to see that rematch, Pennington, Aldana too. Aldana needs a new opponent for that pay-per-view because she was supposed to fight GDR. So I thought, oh, Pennington can slide right in and we can see them fight again. But Pennington has now been booked to fight Julia Avila, it sounds like. So I don't see why if Carol Hosepherson. is healthy that she can't be slotted into that November 6th. It's entirely possible they just take Aldana off that card and move for her later. And even if that's the case, I wouldn't mind seeing her fight Hosa.

So I like that match of either short notice, quick turnaround, or you push it back to January and give Hosa that fight. But she deserves a step up. I know she's really young. I just wish there were more options of Bantam wait for her to fight, but I feel like she's ready for a ranked opponent. and it's like all veterans sort of in the top 10. So unfortunately, I can't even think of another prospect. I'd like to see her fight. So I'm going to throw her in the deep end.

If she loses to Aldana, no shame in it. Go back to the drawing board. But I say you reward her with a pay-per-view main card spot. I like that idea, AK. That is a great idea that makes a lot of sense. I have no issue with that whatsoever. I think you know where I was going to go with this. Casey O'Neill, absolute monster.

And for those who have been following our content and our preview shows and all that different stuff, I've been telling everyone about her since she got signed. I've been on the Casey O'Neill train since she was like 1 and 0 as a pro. I told you all keep an eye on her. She overcame some early adversity. Then she just goes out and absolutely thrashes Antonita Shevchenko. Now, you got to be careful with somebody like this because she's good. She's very marketable.

She cuts good promos. she is a vicious fighter. So I don't want to push her too too much. It is early in her career. I'm going to multi-choice her. Choice number one, no matter what happens, she gets the loser of Montana de la Rosa versus Macy Barber. The loser of that fight.

Very important fight at 125, especially in the current state of this division. We have this next generation that's probably a couple years away. from giving Valentina some interesting challenges. Right now, De La Rosa Barbara is a very important fight. O'Neill versus the loser makes a lot of sense. Winner takes a big step forward. The other option, and it kind of like hurts my heart to say this name,

but it just makes all the sense in the world. It's kind of where she's at in her career. You do O'Neill versus Roxanne Modifari, a little Vegas on Vegas training gym crime, Extreme Coutour versus Seneca and MMA. Some may think it's a little too soon. I don't. I think actually O'Neill would be a big favor in that fight.

It'd be a good vet test for her against the woman who has, right now, I believe, the most pro fights in women's MMA history. So those are my two options. I saw some crazy suggestions throwing her into like a top five fight right now. I'm not ready to do that. But I am ready to give her a nice little test. But somewhere in the top 15, like the lower end of the top 15, seems like a good place for Casey O'Neill right now.

separating herself a little bit from some of those other up-and-comers right now. Yeah, listen, we should warn people now if they're still sleeping on the Casey O'Neill hype train. Like, she's going to smash some of your favorites, guys. I know, like I said, I think 125 is a great division. I think there's a lot of fan favorites in there. I'm sorry to warn you guys, whether it's a Roxanne Mottifery or an Andrea Lee or maybe a Jojo Calderwood in the future. Casey O'Neal is a problem, and she's going to be, these are some of your favorite fighters.

at women's flyweight, you just got to watch out for her because she's going to go through them. I think someday, again, she's one of those fighters. I think someday she gets a title shot. I'm not saying anytime soon, but so I know you're saying it hurts to the metro up with someone like Roxy, but that's the kind of names that she is going to climb over on her way to the top. That's the business.

Yep. Do we have any check the tapes? Do we have mic checks? Do we have all the fun stuff? Of course, you know we do. First of all, listeners were on the ball with Font Aldo. December 4th. That's one a lot of people wanted. Mike, I think it interfered with some of our plans.

Of course, I wanted hashtag Marab font. I don't know who you wanted for all those. No, no, what happened was I picked, for Marab de Walsh, Willie, I picked either Dominic Cruz or Pedro Monios, and now Cruz and Munoz are fighting each other. You should get like some weird alternate point for that. In some way, you kind of made that happen, I feel like.

And a lot of people, I wanted Derek Lose, Chris Daucus, after Chris Dawkes' recent win. So there we go. I thought it was logical, but I wasn't sure it was going to happen. But sure enough, it was reported. It has been announced. It looks like that's a go. It looks at the main event, December 8th.

A point, I think this is a solo point. I don't remember anyone else recommending this. This is a solo point for four corner sports. Cubs Swanson versus Darren Elkins, also going down on December 18th. And he remarked, at the time, I can't believe this hasn't been booked before. Well, there you go. Your wish has become true. And this one, it has to be the only one who recommended this.

Barry O'Reilly, somehow in his sick, twisted mind, called for Hidalful Valletta versus Wellington Termin. I didn't even know Wellington Termin was to have a job after the Sam Alpey fight. But that fight is apparently reported to take the reportedly taking place January 22nd, UFC 270s. So good job, Barry. He might not remember this. I do want to give him a shout up, probably not a point because it was so long ago. but he actually did mention Cruz fighting Pedro Munoz

in some form some time ago but I mean some fights happened in between there but so not a point for you Barry but you already got one point plus a little special shoutout for kind of planting the seeds for Munoz Cruz Mike you know we have a mic check we have to do it's for our our dear dear listener slash viewer

Tristan Gordet who looking back now as pointed out by some of our listeners including Michael Perigini. Some? Multiple? I mean, I can name two.

I don't know how many of anyone to contact you directly. But Michael Perugini, Marcus McGahey, both messaged me shortly after listening to our episode. And to say, obviously, when Tristan Gordet was suggesting Usman Norma Omedov as an opponent, he meant Umar. He meant Umar, Normaumadov. Easily confused. I did not catch it at the time. You were too busy going all in on Tristan, obviously, to catch it.

relishing this young man's public embarrassment. So this is a Mike check of source. Mike, do you have a comment on the Uman Nirmar-O-M-M-M-M-A-O-M-M-A-O-S. Oh. Oh. The U-Mar-Uzman incident. Listen, Tristan has been a long-time, a longtime commenter, a long-time suggestor for all things.

So we are big fans of Tristan. Tristan is a big part of what we do on the live streams and such. And so he sent that out. And just the way he wrote it out where he was basically like, now before you, now before you poo-poo this, think about this. And then he threw out Usman and Armaghavadav. It just made for funny broadcasting. Now he reached out to me like literally five minutes after we stopped recording and was like,

by the way, I meant Umar and Amargamadavadav. And I was like, oh no. And I was like, by the way, I just kind of like went. off on you a little bit. I was like, all in good fun. I was like, I'll retract it. I didn't call me names. Maybe don't listen to this episode. Maybe skip this one, Tristan. Yeah, maybe skip this. But I apologize. I was like, dude, all in good fun. I'll retract it. I'll let everybody know that you meant something else. I was like just the timing of it all and the way that it sounded when I read it out loud. And then you just say right after we hit,

we stopped recording was just hilarious. And he was a very good sport about it. So kudos to Tristan. and Mike check well deserved. No issue with it. But just know that it was all in good fun. Of course. We want to shine the spotlight. Interesting he deserves it. So Mike has been checked and we're all friends again.

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Listener peep, time for the peeps. Go ahead and disclosure. Oh, yes. I forgot to write it down. I should have it memorized by now. People like, we like to focus on winners here. I'm keeping track of all your picks, of course, but I like to focus on winners. Please, guys, try and keep track of whether it's been scheduled, what weight class guys are in.

I see if someone has a notable injury and we probably won't see them for a while, maybe don't waste time making that matchup. And, you know, the golden rule. Oh, I should mention the Scattergories thing. We're trying to focus on unique matchouts, but I don't know. That kind of comes and goes every week. And, of course, the golden rule, guys, your pick, it might just be do-do. And so if you don't hear us mention it, perhaps look inward. and think about why it is that we did not read your pick.

So you don't need to message me to say, why wasn't this red? You got to figure that out yourself. Yeah, listen, do you, when you are part of a show like this that just gets gradually more popular, I mean, so many suggestions come in. Like, we can only do so much. Like, they're just getting out of control. They're getting out of control. These guys are ferocious.

The fan matchmakers are ferocious, Mike. They really are. They want those otno points and they want them now. Oh my gosh. The people are, I don't use this word a lot. They're glomming for points, Mike. Glombing. Actively glomming for points.

You're the one that made these odd no points so rare and so valuable. I mean, we've given out so many more. You would think the value would go down, but it just keeps going up and up and up. It's one of the surest bets out there. I would agree. All right, let's get into this. Stephen. I'm just going to read it because I did.

Stephen Haney, not a fight suggestion, but was Price Olivera, the UFC record for most children between two fighters. Has to be. ESPN, how did you guys not get that stat up there? Come on, ESPN stats and info. You guys are asleep on this one. Brandon Nunez gets a check to the tapes. He did, and he's absolutely correct.

He suggested O'Malley versus Piva. Oh, yes. He did. But I want to apologize to Brandon. Brandon messaged me telling me to check the out no point. But he keeps sending, but he sent his suggestions to you. So I hope he knows I was, I really said it with a smile on my face. When I told him, I was like, Brandon, message, Mike. We got him.

I got it. Thursday, 730. I got the message. I got you. There's too many lines of communication. It's like, he's messaging me. I got to check with you. Did he get the pick?

Then I got to get back to him. So there we go. So now we know. You can go to Mike directly. Don't be scared of Mike. Yeah. Don't, don't be scared. Brandon also suggested Carol Hosa versus Lena Landsberg,

Alexander Hernandez versus Jalen Turner, Christoph Yacob versus Ian Heinish, Nico Price versus Mike Perry. I feel like that's going to be a very popular one. Johnny Walker versus Dominic Reyes and Tiago Santos versus Paul Craig. Yeah, I had a listener asking, where is Lena Landsberg? And I would just say for a lot of these fighters who don't train,

you know, in the U.S., guys just assume they're probably dealing with COVID protocol headaches, visa headaches. Again, as we've seen, because she's from Sweden, right? Yes. Yes. So again, and if you guys haven't seen some of these fighters in a while, the ones that aren't based in the U.S., assume they're dealing with all kinds of stuff again, beyond fighting, and that's probably why we just haven't heard from them in a while.

Yeah. Speaking of which, John Ray suggests Jamie Mollaki versus Otman Azitar wherever he is. Again, he's based in Germany. I think. Yeah. And we just saw Nazavad Hakk for us have to deal with that. So I just imagine Azaytar and his brother probably dealing with the same thing. Another Hosa versus Lansberg.

Casey O'Neill versus the winner of Gillian Robertson versus Priscilla Kachuhra. Gordon versus Pimbley. No shoe with that. It's tough fight for Patty Pimble. Good call out. Good call out. Hernandez Santos. He likes Jocko versus Shabazia.

He's with you. Jock versus Shabazzian. Imov winner. Nico Price versus Miguel Baezza. That's a crazy fight. Oh, so good. Runback Holland Dachis Santos versus the winner of Ancolaev versus Volkan Ozedemir. Owen Carroll.

Oh, he's got a bunch of stuff. All right. Alejandro Perez versus Montel Jackson. Stephanie Agar versus Bia Malekhi. Andraj versus Smolka. Malarkey versus McDessi. Hosa versus Kianzad. That's not a bad idea.

O'Neill versus Morose. She already withdrew from her fight. So possible option there. Let's see. Something new. Something new. Nico Price versus Jeff Neal. I don't know where Jeff Neal's at at this point.

How his recovery is going. We're getting to that point where we could probably start inserting him back into the conversation. Oh, okay. I was that I said I thought we need to remind people that he was having health problems. And that's why we generally don't bring up a match. But you're saying fingers crossed, you know. Yeah. I mean, he said probably, yeah.

I'm hoping so. So, I mean, maybe we could start sprinkling them out there, but I wouldn't A1 him by any stretch of the imagination. Rebook Kevin Holland versus Kyle Docus to save the Misha Tate card. What happened? Oh, yeah, that's, there's a new main event for that card, right? So I'm sorry, say that again? Because Misha Tate was supposed to, what happened with the Misha Tate card?

Is she not headlining? Ketland Viata? Are you saying that that card's junk and we should throw that on there? What was the fight he wanted on there? The Holland Doccus rebooking to save the Misha Take card. I guess it's just a critic. Let me check the card. I believe that's just a criticism of the card.

Let me check. Santos versus the Anklea Volcanovsky. Volcano Oostomir. It literally says Volcanovsdemeer. He also says, my opinion on the Co-Main, no contest is the right call. But how they got to it doesn't seem right. It simply should have been stopped after Docus headbutted, then hit Holland with repeated back of the head shots.

I have to go watch that again. Dan should have been right on it and stopped it before the fight proceeded. We'll scrutinize. Oh, regarding that. So the Viara Tate cart, fingers crossed. It actually looks pretty good. I guess they think it's not the strongest main event, but Tate's a popular name. So we got Viera Tate on there.

Calderwood Grasso, I think is a good fight. Keza Brady could be a really, really good fight. Yanez, Yanez, Davy Grant could be another banger. And this card's fine. Yeah, it's not saving. And one thing. I want to point out because Owen used the word headbutted. There's no headbutt.

There was a collision or a clash of heads. So accidental. Sean, our good friend Conwizzle 91 also said Swanson Elkins check the tapes, L.O.L. So there you go. You get a partial point as well. Who was this? Sean. Sean. Conway, our friend Conwizzle 91. Sean Conwill Lock to gone if you're out there keeping score. So give him a point as well. So we got half points because two people got that one. I don't know.

Lockedgon, don't do this. I'm just kidding. Don't stop this project now. Stop it. This is going to happen. Okay. Some new ones. Price versus Means.

And he said, not aboard the Lollar Means train with AK. The Lobby for Robbie train. How dare you? I'm sorry, is this Sean Connoissell. Who was this again? This is our friend Sean Conno Whistle. This is ConWizzle. You know what?

You know what? Locktagon? Don't give him the half point. You were second. You weren't first. Hernandez versus Drew Dober would be a fun fight. Sorry, Sean. Got to call you out.

We just saw that fight and it did not go very well for Alexander Hernandez. Maybe he wants to rematch it. I saw someone else. I mean, it was like a year ago. I saw someone else suggest that and specifically say rematch. So I don't know. Maybe people do remember it and just wanted to see him, see a run back. I don't know.

I mean, I think it was a short notice thing. But that was, yeah, it was one of those Jacksonville cards, if memory shares it correctly. Yaco versus Calvin Gasselum, since Calvin needs a massive step back and everyone around Yaco's standing is already booked. Hmm. I don't hate it. That's not a bad idea, actually. I sincerely don't think it's going to get made.

I don't think so either, but I like the thinking. And then he goes, Casey O'Neill versus Roxanne. Please let the UFC slow build Casey and let her get some fights in before pushing her to the very top. Could not agree with you more, sir. What else we got here? Anything new? Anything new? Hilty agrees.

Yaco versus Murdof, Hernandez versus Vince Pichel. Malarkey versus Mark Jacasey seems all right for his wild car pick. I heard about that one too, yeah. M. Ruffles 1-15. This is a new one, a new suggestor. Whoa, he doubled dipped. Well, I got a, wow. Wow.

You know what, actually, that's a good thing. I was going to say, how dare he doubled it? But I actually realized, you know what, guys, if you want your picks be read, it's probably smart to message both of us. Yeah, that's a good idea. So actually, I'm not going to quit. Thank you. Yeah, M. Ruffel.

Just let me delete it from mine, so I don't read it twice. But yeah, M. Ruffles 11, good idea, good thing. Well done. Santos Smith 2, Holland run it back, or drop to welterweight and fight Michelle Beheada. Nico. Wow. I don't know if you're a fan of Nico Price or you have a lot of faith in Nico Price. Nico Price versus Shafgat Rokmanoff.

I actually saw quite a few people suggesting that. That's a crazy fight. Like they said, he'll fight anyone, right? I like it. they know. He's not going to say no. How about this? Christoph Jocko versus Darren Till. Probably for the same reasons of Calvin Gasolm.

Weirdly, I like that one more than the Gaslam matchup, even though it's less likely to happen. Right. Absolutely. But I like that one more. I don't know why. I like that one more. Darren Till's going to fight for the title next.

Don't worry about it. Gordon Hernandez, O'Neill Calvio. Too soon? I don't think so. Okay. Again, yeah, that was a very popular, again, one of the more popular picks I saw. So, yeah. No, I actually like it.

Hosa Kianza, Malarkey, Frivola, Silva-Dandrj versus Miles Johns, crazy fight, Eger versus Alexis Davis, Alejandro Perez versus Jack Shore. I like that fight, although I think Jack Shore deserves a top 15 or right around there. Gerard Biagen, thank you for the suggestions.

Price versus Max Griffin, I thought about that one as well. Oliver versus Jeremiah Wells. Hernandez-Fijeda. There you go. Malacia Zaitar, Devante Smith versus Luigi van Dramini, our friend Francesco from Italy.

First of all, I would like to take a big point for my check-the-tape of Pennington versus Avila. Oh. Good for you, Francesco. You got it. Okay. Point for you. I don't know how it's going to convert

in Italian money. I was really trying to pull what an Italian dollar was called. He was trying to type and talk at the same time. I was. Oh, oh, a euro. Okay. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yes. So, or Alira, I guess what they used to use.

Anyway, yes, Italian currency, hopefully the exchange. I think it should carry over pretty well. The exchange is pretty strong. Yes. Yaco versus Zach Cummings, A.K. How about that? Okay. Francesco, right on the same page. There we go. I like it. Hernandez versus Marco

Madsen, O'Neill versus Viviani. Arojo and Whoa Jared Gordon I guess a drop to 145 to fight Julian Arosa I mean he's tried it He's tried it

I think that's better as a catch weight or I know Arosa doesn't really want to come back up to lightweight but I mean I can you do that as a planned catch weight Even though I know they don't do those which is silly They should do planned catch weights because they're fun Yeah Poppy underscore Bryant

Sorry for the confusion last week I'll try to put my fight choices in better order Wildcard pick O'Neill versus Tracy Cortez. I get it. I get you're going with the slow burn role, but two prospects that the UFC has a lot of faith in right now

seems like not the right time. I saw someone say, you saw it. Someone's always got to go. Someone's UFC always got to go. Do we know what Cortez? We don't know what Cortez's injury was that knocked her out of her recent fight, right? That's the only reason I don't like the... I'd rather see Blanchfield by Cortez than O'Neill fight.

Cortez. You know me, I'm still waiting for Aldrich Cortez to rebooked. I'm not giving up on it. Just because there's a history there, and I thought one million percent, Aaron Blanchfield beat Tracy Cortez and Victor. Invicta, that was not, a decision went the other way. It was a clear robbery, which could send up a retro robbery review when they actually rebooked that fight. Yeah, I'm sure people will, well, I've had people requesting robbery reviews, some pretty, I don't say obscure, but lesser known fights, and that would definitely be up there. Sure. Jocko versus the winner of Tavars versus

Brennan-Ras versus the winner of Mark Andre Barreol versus Chidi and Chukwani. I love Price. No way it's top 15. Those are 85ers. Yes. So unless you want, listen, if we don't have to cut the 170,

cool. And there we go. So what else we got? I think you got a couple more. Matt Ravelli is back. First time since July. Hey, Mike, been a while. Hate throwing out most of the same picks as most people.

However, this week, I have a matchup that I really want. I want Nico Price versus the loser of Randy Brown versus Jared Gooden. I know Nico fought Randy a couple years ago, but it could be fun if they run it back again. That one ended in a weird way. So, yeah, that's cool. And Jared Gooden will bring the thunder. John George, been a little while. Devante Smith versus Euros Medich, after their...

their losses. Casey O'Neill versus Jessica Rose Clark. Is Clark not booked? Clark's a 35er. Clark is she not booked? Yeah, she's booked. But she's the 35er. She is fighting.

Oh, he said, oh, he put it out the catchweight grudge match. Catchweight grudge match. I don't really know the story between them, too. Okay, we'll have to be. Oh, she's fighting Josian. Josian. No, Jocelyn, Edward, excuse me. Yes.

Joe's the end. Jocelyn, or October. And then Patrick Austin. Johnny Walker versus Iwan Kuchelaba. That's a wild fight. I saw that was like the most popular. Yeah.

Again, I didn't write down a lot of the picks for Walker, but yeah, that was up there. Santos versus Lionheart, Casey O'Neill versus Michelle Waterson. So you want, you want Michelle Waterson,

who's probably at 105er, to go up to 125 and fight Casey O'Neill? Mike, who is his first? Wait, I'm sorry, who is this? This is Patrick Gostin. Patrick Gosson, I think he has the wrong weight class, Mike. Does he specifically say he wants Waterson to go up? Says Waterson changing weight in parentheses.

Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. I apologize. I thought it was a wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Either way. Okay, okay, I thought it stood down. Yeah, yeah, he suggested it, but. That does sound wrong. Yeah, I feel like O'Neill's is so much bigger.

He would like to see O'Neill versus Fioro, but when they're in the top five or around the top five. Gordon versus Gagos, Sylvan Dandridge versus Nate Manus. That's fun. Nico Price versus Kevin Lee, A.K.

I love that. Yeah, I had one person just out. I'll shut them out again when I do my pick. I love that. I had not thought about that. I actually really like that match him. He likes Jocko versus Paheta at 185 and Anthony Hernandez.

I think he means Alexander Hernandez versus Marco Madsen. Right. Jocko versus DeMont. Molly Dore at 185? At 185. I don't mind that one, honestly. I just would never have thought to match them up. Why?

Why not? Just why not, AK. Just why not? Why not? And then lastly, we have to wrap up with our good friend Tristan Gordette, who's such a good sport. Main card, Nico Price versus Mike Perry. So I cheated Mike.

While I was watching the telecast, someone tweeted that matchup. So I said to myself, yes, that's a fun. It makes all the sense in the world. Why not? All right. Alexander Hernandez versus Jalen Turner. I like this fight better than rebooking Alex versus Santos. Turner is an intriguing matchup,

especially the way he looked against Euros Medich. Turner looks huge in that way, class. Wild card. O'Neill versus Tracy Cortez. O'Neill beat up a sister of an elite fighter. Now she'll be able to fight a girlfriend of another elite fighter. You know, when you put it out there like that, Casey is out there taking about fighters, family members.

Do we know the nature of Trace's injury after she had a pull-up from the August 28th card against J.G. Alders. Of Cortez is taking the rest of the year off. Then this fight makes perfect sense. And then he likes Jamie Malarkey versus Vince Pichel. Back to you, AK. Yes, I saw Mr. Pachel's name turn out quite a bit. So thank you, Tristan, valued listener slash viewers,

slash reader of mbuffiting.com. So, yeah, you mentioned some of these. But yeah, definitely some popular picks. Santos versus Tiago Santos versus Dominic Grace, the Santos Smith rematch, but the most popular one, I will say, the one I saw, I think people want to kind of move on to something fresh,

and I saw the Ankaliyev-Uzdemir winner. That was the most picked matchup I saw for Tiago Santos. Holland DACA too, definitely, again, the rebooking, Hernanda Santos rebooking. So some other names were thrown out there, but for the most part, it was just saying, just run these back.

And I want to shout out Stephen Breeder, who was one of the listeners who mentioned putting Docus on the Chris Doccus, Derek Lewis card. So makes a lot of sense. Rahmanov, the name I saw most surprised. So I know you were a little surprised when you saw it, Mike, but that is one people want to see.

Jocko versus Till is what was a popular pick. Gordon versus Patty Pimble, of course, with a callout. So a lot of people just kind of going with what was logical and what was sort of established on the broadcast. Three other super, four other to say, super popular picks across the board. Casey versus Calvillo. So yeah, not out there at all. Hosa versus Kianza.

That was, I think, the most popular pick I saw of all. I think that was the most recommended pick I saw of any fighters. So make that one happen, I guess. I have Hosa ranked above her. So I guess that's why I didn't think to match them up. But I get it, I think based on the UFC rankings, it makes a lot of sense. And for Douglas Silva D'Andraj, everyone wants to him and Miles Johns. Oh, that would be an amazing fight.

So I'm totally down for that. Hernandez versus Pimblit. I wanted to, was a popular one, and I wanted to read Four Corner Sports and Y saying, Hear me out. Alex will bring the best out of Patty by either clinching against the fence and using dirty boxing or will slug it out. Dangerous fight, yes, but the UFC seems like they will not want to wait to make Patty mainstream in the U.S. And that having him face a wrestler will take away from the excitement. Alex Hernandez strikes me as an individual that doesn't give an F.

he did not say F, he wrote it, who you are if you're crossing from the octagon. So a bit scattered with the thoughts there, four corner sports, N.Y, but I like the enthusiasm. I want to read what Nate Andrews had to say about the O'Neill Modifery matchup. He said, oh, this is why I want to read it. He said, Mike was right on the money with O'Neill's talent and deserves an a note no point.

Mike, you're not getting an out-no point for analysis. He says, you deserve an otno point for not only calling her as a top talent, but also for O'Neill defeating his great. ought-known nemesis, Antonina Shochenko. O'Neill deserves a fight against a ranked flyweight. I would also take the I-slash-Lee winner, but for the point purposes, he is going with Roxy. So thank you, Nate.

And Nate also was frantically demanding that I read his comments for Eger versus the Clark Edwards winner, as you mentioned before, October 23rd. He wrote in all caps, please read this one. So here we go. He says, I only wanted to pick this one because that stoppage, that Eger Shana Young stoppage, he said, was abominable. Mark Smith has been just awful and inconsistent ever since he botched the Aljo DQ by weighing so long to call the fight, that Eger Stoppage was insanely early and only week before he let Shamil get battered by Chris Dachas for far too long.

His track record has been very disappointing, and I think we as fans of the sport need to start holding him more accountable. For God's sake, Chris Ed Herman's jewels are in his stomach, Tyone, has been more consistent. than Smith over the past six months. I am just tired of this nonsense. Ouch. I'll be honest. I don't know. I've said I thought Mark Smith is a decent referee in the past.

I do wonder has he just been under more scrutiny because he was the referee in the Aljo Aljo Jan disqualification incident, which, again, we'll go down. It's probably one of the three most talked about moments of the year. So I don't know if, again, people are just noticing him more. But there's some fair points, I suppose, about it. there by Nate Andrews. Okay, so two things. One, every referee that I've ever seen, for the most part, has had up and down swings,

even the best of the best, even Herb D. Like a year and a half ago, Herb Dean could do no wrong, do no wrong. And then recently, a little slow in the uptick, out of position, makes mistakes, people notice it, okay? Last year, A.K., Chris Tione was the worst referee of all time. in the history of MMA, he was the absolute worst. Inconsistent. Like, he was the reason fights were playing out the way they were playing out.

I'm going to say, okay, this year, Tyone is the comeback referee of the year. Much more improved. He's much more assertive. They call Keith Peterson no nonsense. Chris Tione is no nonsense. He's the guy that's not afraid to take points. He's warning.

He's out there jumping in front of all these things and taking points. The man is out there taking points, doing what no referee will do. So I think Chris Dione is the most improved referee by far. Mark Smith was one of the very best last year. This year he's had kind of a tough year. But he's also been in some weird spots. I understand if you have an issue with the stoppage of that fight.

I get it. I have no issue with Mark Smith stopping that fight because that body language from Shanna Young screamed nothing but I want out of this fight. She turtled up. She turned over. It was weird. Like, the timing of it was weird. She was just like one elbow.

It didn't seem like it was that hard. But her body language screamed, I'm done. And Mark Smith said, I'm done. She did not protested egregiously either after. Not at all. She might have said something in the moment, but pretty much went back to her. I think her and her team were just kind of like, you know. Aesthetically weird to see.

But I don't blame Mark Smith for that. Body language said completely, I don't want to fight anymore. Yeah. But I think you raise a very good point. that these things do tend to come in waves. Again, whether it's because they actually get the yips and, you know, one bad call is all it takes to kind of set you off on this path where you're second guessing yourself and you're calling fights early, you're calling fights too late, you're, you're indecisive. But I also still stand by what I said as well.

I think we just notice guys more after one big incident. And I think Mark Smith, like I said, is the guy this year ever since that that Al Joe Yon decision. It's like, well, we're all noticed when he's in the cage now. And we only remember the mistakes, right? We only remember the mistakes, not when a referee does a good job. And, again, in fairness to all referees, that's how it should be. If we're talking about you, it's probably not a good sign. So with respect to Mark Smith, apparently people are asking him, step up his game.

But again, I'm not saying I agree with it or not. But obviously, as Nate Andrews, I think, speaks for some fans out there right now. Let's go to the Twitter. And we got a message from Terrence Leverett, who's a long time. I've always commenting on YouTube asking questions. So, but first time matchmaker, so he won throughout Holland versus Gasolum at 170. I say if you're going to have them do it, just fight at 185. Why make either guy cut weight?

And then whatever, you can worry about a welter rate move after. And he's big on O'Neill versus Maverick. So throw the prospects together, just let him have at it. Again, not something I would do, but I've mentioned many up-and-comers versus up-and-comer matchups before, and I can't, I can't poo-poo much. Dean Bushal, who I believe is also a first-timer. Looks like he's coming in from Melbourne, Australia. So, Dean, thank you for commenting.

He just has one. Casey O'Neill versus Ariani Lipski. He just wants the king. He wants King Casey versus the Queen of Violence. So it makes for a fancy hashtag. So, Dean, you know, we always like that around here. Chris at Dragon Slayer 2. One of the had a really good one.

Silva de Androge versus Nate Mainis. I love that. Braden O'Neill. Gordon versus Guida, which I think a bunch of people mentioned. I might not have made note of that. I did see Clay Guida's name come up. I like Alejandro Perez versus Lewis Smoket, too. Good for Alejandro Prez for getting back in the wind column, by the way,

because he was on a good run there for a while. And again, probably someone affected by injuries and, you know, COVID protocols, things like that. And so it's nice that he got to fight for the first time in well over two years. And not people are a match being from again. So that's always fun to see. Barry O'Reilly, some really good picks here. Perez versus Hanayaya, Eger versus Josian Nunez. What else do I like here?

Gordon versus Kutathlatsi. It's a fun one. And I don't know how you feel with this one, Mike. Kyle Dawkes versus Joaquin Buckley. Why? Does he explain? I don't think he does. You're right.

Let me check quickly. I believe he just threw this one. there um i don't see an explanation what do i say this was so yeah i that needs further explanation no it has no no explanation so barry uh if you're listening message me to mike want i want to get off the leash right now but i'm not going to i'm learning there my ways after the tristing gordette thing uh so yes leave an explanation and i will i will stay calm message me just dyes me again, Barry. We'll check the tapes and we'll have it. We'll have an explanation next week, hopefully. Ain't no experts. Nico Price versus Court McGee.

Jocko versus Chris Widman. I love that matchup except for the fact that we just don't want to know when Chris Wyman's going to be back. But that, that for me is a really, really, makes a lot of sense. And I can see that being Wydenman's comeback fight sometime whenever next year, when he's ready to compete, regardless of if Jocko has fought once, twice since then. He's just, I think he's going to be in that range to be that fight. So I don't mind it. Hernandez versus Gregor Gillespie, Mike, the great versus the gift. Ain't no expert says, come on, that's too good. Is that a good matchup?

Sure. Yeah, not against it. Not against it. Malarkey versus Michael Johnson and Alejandro Perez, and I'm glad, thank you for being clear with this, ain't no expert. Saeed, Normago Medov. Thank you for not just saying Normago Medov and having us try and figure out who you're talking about.

Well done. Well done. Nathan Nathan wants Walker versus Dustin Jacoby All caps Says this fight would be very entertaining And is almost begging

Saying please tell me You agree that Walker Jacobi Would be a good fight to make I think it would be I like it Makes plenty of sense to me Nathan I hope that makes you happy Michael Piragini had a good

Jock versus Uriah Hall 2 So run that one back It has been a while since they fought First one pretty convincing win for a haul but I think it was 2018, I want to say. So, no? I mean, sure, but not my first choice. All right.

Michael also had a good one. Silva de Andrage versus Alitang highly. Sure, I like it. I think Silva de Androge, for me, I actually put him back in the ranking, the bantamweight rankings pretty high because he's beaten some really good names. His losses are, he kind of, like, again, the two fights at featherweight where I was like, I don't know if that was good for him. but I think he's, I don't know. I think that's a little too low for him. I think he'll, I think he'll get like a top 30, top 20 guy next.

Because that's where I have him right. Dax wants, uh, Tiago Santos versus Paul Craig. Yeah, okay. Okay. I'm not, I don't mind it. Stephen Breiter, who I mentioned before, uh, I know you said this was too soon, but O'Neill versus Firo Mayor Breno Silva winner, which was a push back to October 16th, I think. Price versus Gooden was also mentioned,

the Brown winner, Brown Gooden fight, but he says Gooden no matter what. He says he doesn't care it doesn't matter who wins that fight. He thinks that Gooden should be next for Brown. So probably because he's aware that, like I said, Brown and Price had fought before. So I like that. Good thinking, Stephen Breiter. Four Corners Sports, and Y, I know he's getting plenty of airtime,

but I like this one. Malarkey versus Bobby Green. Well, Bobby Green is both. So we can't do that. No. He's fighting Ally Quinta. Do you have C2608? Oh, finally.

Oh, that's it. How can I forget? All I, I'm finally booked that after all this time. I'm just so used to him not having a fight. I forgot it.

Four Pocker's as N.Y. Maybe he gets, maybe if Green wins, or loses. That could be next, honestly. Actually, that winner will lose. That could be next for Malarkey. I don't mind at all.

Hayes with third is definitely on the Price Marano Banwangs. There you go, Mike. And Gore versus Leonardo Santo. So he kind of wanted to move on from hi Hernandez Santos. He says, just give him to Jared Gordon instead.

What's another good one? Perez versus Kyeongho Kang. A lot of Alejandro Perez talk. Good for him. And Hosa versus the Pennington Avila loser from December 18th. So yeah, I like that. I think people really want to see her fight Pennington. I think they thought if, you know,

if the Avila matchup hadn't been made, Pennington probably would have been the number one choice for Hosa. Marcus McGahey calls this the It's Hammer Time edition. On to the next one. He likes Price for his kid. Williams as do I of course Silva di Andrajaj she said versus Jones I assume he means Trevin Jones

Malarkey versus Mike Davis Oh that's that's a crazy fight I like it How do you feel this on Mike You're you're the number one You're driving the Casey O'Neal train This woman just recently had to pull out of a fight Marina Moros

Yeah I got I saw that suggestion Yeah I mean If the timelines line up I don't have I don't have a with that one. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we'll see what's up in Rowe's if she's ready. But yeah, that's the kind of experienced name, I think.

I would like to see O'Neill fight. So we just haven't seen Rowe's fight in a while, unfortunately. Liam Perry says Price versus Ponsenvio, love it. Alejandro Perez versus Casey Kenny. Wow. It's weird to say, like, it's a high-risk fight for Kenny because I do have Kenny, I think, ranked higher than, oh, maybe I don't. I don't know if I, it's weird because Perez is so much more experienced than him in the

UFC. I have Casey 23. I have Alejandro Perez 27. So, so I have no problem with the fight. No, that makes sense to me. I don't know how high Kenny's team thinks that they are in the rankings. When you're not on the top of Dean, I don't think he's that much further ahead than Alejan. Again, he's not in mind. I would think the matchmaker's rankings that I assume to keep those, that he's not too far back either. But okay. I didn't want to read this one, like, but this is from from Thomas Collins. Okay, I'll say it first, and then you tell me if you understand why. Why this is happening.

Nico Price versus Jordan Wright. Well, weight classes. Yes. Jordan Wright's booked. Yes. But Nico Price versus Jordan Wright. Oh, the hashtag? Oh, that's easy.

Dun, dun, da-da. Dun-dun-da-na. I thought you were going to do a... Oh, no, no, no. I dig it for the hashtag. purposes. That might be my new first choice. Specifically, the match. All game show fans have wanted. He says the price is right,

making that a catch rate. And he said, yes, he knows that right is booked. That's tremendous. Well done, Thomas Collins. You did your research on the joke. So, well done. I probably will have to tweet that out now. And Pound Town Town podcast says, Dawkins versus Nevada Athletic Commission. Again, we don't think it was the worst call. Like I said, I thought it should stand.

You think no contest is the right decision. I don't have a problem with no content. test, but if Kyle Docas, I don't think he's too torn up about either. And I don't think he's going to do a formal appeal, but I understand. Can I just say this? Has the Poundtown podcast, I mean, how much exposure has that podcast gotten between this show and Ariel's show so much? I hope you guys are crushing it right now. When did I miss that? What was the mention on Ariel's show? They were part of his one of his Q&As and then they're like, make sure you should. Remember the Ask Us Anything? We're like,

Make sure you check out the show, and we gave him a plug, and then Ariel did the same exact thing. Good. So good, good for them. Way to use the platforms, Pound Town Podcasts. I'm checking their Twitter account now. They seem to be on Spotify. So there you go, guys. Pound Town Podcast.

Check it out. Absolutely. We have no problem giving people a platform. And they wanted Hernandez Dober 2. I wanted to read this one out. He feels that, or actually, they feel that Hernandez has to avenge that loss and potentially set up a follow-up fight. follow-up fight with Brad Riddell. So this really a means to an end here.

If he can't beat Dober, then Redell and Surukian may climb to the top 10, leaving the Great Forever behind. So he kind of, I think they're looking kind of a sink or swim matchup for Hernandez. So give him another chance to tackle that Dober challenge. Let's go to IG. Thank you all the Twitter beasts.

Let's go to IG quickly. Only a few guys here. Michael Conafray coming in. Malarkey versus Hakparas. I like it. Selecki versus. is comma worthy. What was the thought here?

So lucky, where are I? So lekey versus comma worthy. Oh, Michael Connoferi says, I'm aware you don't normally talk about guys who the loser matchups on the show, but they were dead set on making a joke about Selecki's skinned knees. So they'd like to see him bounce back

against Kamowworthy once those knees heal, of course. Yes, a lot of people are talking about how rough the mats must be or if you're not where he's training on concrete. Just lucky at his gym. And Price, Nico Price can fight Nick Diaz. I don't care.

And then said, on the other hand, let's stop effing around and make Cowboy versus Cowboy, now that Oliver is on a bit of a losing issue. We had Cowboy versus Cowboy. We did. We did. I don't know if you want. Michael, I don't know if you want to see Cowboy, Cowboy 2,

but it did happen. You can find that on UFC Fight Pass. Cowboy 1. Oh, spoiler, cowboy 1. And he'll suggest it because, you know, Walker has talked about becoming a two-division champion. maybe go up and he says maybe an interesting fight for Tom Aspinall. I don't know.

I actually don't think Tom Asperl would necessarily say no because he said he doesn't want to fight like top 10 guys yet. So maybe fight someone who's a top 15 guy from another division. It'd be weird, but I kind of like the creativity. Yeah, I think people would react to it. MMA heads, Price versus Semmelzberger. I was surprised I didn't see more of this. Yeah, good call.

Silvida Andrage versus Montel Jackson. Oh, just killer. So great matchups there. He had a bunch of others, but I like those ones. Matt Bradbury coming in with some Bellator picks saying, moving on from the Page Lima trilogy for now. Doesn't need to see it. He says, just do MVP, Jason Jackson.

And Lima, I assume, go up to 185 to fight Uwell Romero. Damn. That would look weird. I don't even know if you all, I mean, we're talking, Y'L going down to 185 to fight Leap? Wow. Interesting. Silva the Andrage versus Mowgli Benitez.

I guess, assuming that Silva Diannjus goes back up to 1.45. I think he's, I hope he stays at 135. He's a huge guy, so I understand why he might not be able to, it might not be sustainable. But he looks so good at Bantamate. If you can keep making it, he's got to do it. Yeah. Kyle Dawkes versus Jack Hermanson, kind of like bump him up for that no-cun. I guess, I don't know.

Maybe Matt Berber is like me. Feels like he won the fight. Should be moved up. But again, I don't think that's going to happen. Holland versus Sam Alvey. Okay. Hey, look, Sam Alvey's still around. fight somebody and Tiago Santos versus Nikita Krillov. I can't believe we haven't seen that one.

Yeah. And let us end with some very, very nice emails. Mike, we have some very pleasant emails here. I have the wrong email account to open, so good job by me. Josh Wincoup. Oh, you're kidding me. And now I have to sign into my, no, listen, I'll just read off my phone. There we go. Josh, Kuh, long time listener, first time interacting. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Josh for for entering the Otno fray. Malarkey versus Madsen, Marco Madsen, Marlachie would force Madsen to an exciting fight, be a great test to see how good.

Marlarki really is. Also likes Jocko versus the Tavares' Alan loser. I like that one too. I'm just because I can't believe Jocko and Tavaras have never fought. That's good, yeah. And Nico Price versus Mickey Gall. And this one might suspend belief a little,

but Tiago Santos versus Luke Rockhold, if Rockhold loses, and they can agree to a weight class. I could totally see that one happening. Sure. Totally see that one happening. And a last one here from Joe Young, not Jose Young, from Joe Young. Also chiming from Melbourne.

This is your Melbourne, MMA mastermaker here. Firstly, when we were trying to figure out disappointing main events in 2021, he said, what about Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad? I think we were thinking more fights that went the distance and were boring. But, oh, yeah, that's probably the winner. Yeah, you're kind of excited for and just ended horrible. I mean, they go Edwards and Mohammed. And then says they have to match up.

There are two fellow Aussies who killed on their prelims. Mollarky, Clay Grida, super fun prelim headliner. Give them lucky some rub. And Casey O'Neill, is she like an Australian citizen? She was born in Australia? I thought she's Scottish. Right. So.

Scottish and trains in Australia? Yeah. I have to remember this because her story is very unique. And I always get like one part of it wrong. Okay, so she was born in Scotland, then moved to Australia at a young age. And that's where she like took up martial arts. And now she moved to Vegas. Or she would, yeah, there's something like that.

I did an interview with her in the past that's on the MMA fighting YouTube archives. Yes. We're talking about it. So you can go back in there. And I was trying to ask you, what is her like? I was like, does she have a Scottish accent or an Australian accent? And it's, I think it's Australian. but it's not like a straight Australian anyway.

Yeah, it's Scott Australian. It's Scott Australian. But listen, Joe Young, and I guess the rest of Australia has claimed her, and that's great. Like you said, she trained there for a long time. I assume as a citizen lived there. And he says just let's do O'Neill versus Roxy. Lo's Roxy, we all do. But being biased, he thinks he'd be a good chance for O'Neill to get in the top of Dean.

Give her time. Build up her striking, build her name. And Eil says, much love to you and Mike. And he's excited for this week's ranking show. Thank you, Joe Young. Thank you, Joe Young. Thank you all of the listeners. Keep those messages.

Guys, keep those messages coming in. You can get me on Twitter at Alexander K. Lee on Instagram at Alexander KK. Lee. Guys, my DMs are open. You do not need to follow. If you do, I'd love it if you did. You don't have to. My DMs are open.

And hit me up on email. Alex. Dot Lee at SBNation. There you go. You can find me all over the place. Just go find us. AK's going to get out of here. AK's going to get out of here.

I do have to get out of here. We'll wrap this thing up. Join us next week. where we recap the fallout of UFC Vegas 39, headlined by what I think is going to be a really exciting fight between Marina Rodriguez and McKenzie Dern. I think it's a really exciting fight. I think a deserving headliner.

McKenzie Dern is a star. I'm not saying she's an eight-level star, but she's up there, guys. We in the media have been hyping them up forever. Fans have been on the McKenzie Dern bandwagon a long time ago. Now she's winning in the UFC. She's on ESPN. This is what.

For me, this is what a fight night headliner should look like. Yep. Randy Brown, Jared Gooden, Tim Elliott versus Mateus Nicolao-Mariah-A-Gapoa versus Sabina Mazzo. And the main card wraps with Phil Haas versus Duran win. And by the way, I love this card so much. But I love it more because the prelims start at 1 p.m. Eastern. And the main part starts at 4 p.m. Eastern.

That's what we're talking about. So good on the UFC. Good on everybody. good on Dern and Rodriguez. I'm very excited for that fight. But until then, thank you for checking out the program. Bring in your matchmaking suggestions.

And always remember, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to become a little more fun next week. Right here. On to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.