MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 52
Episode Date: April 24, 2022Did Jessica Andrade earn herself a title shot in her next fight after a first-round standing arm triangle choke submission win over Amanda Lemos in the main event of UFC Vegas 52? That question is dis...cussed on a brand new edition of On To the Next One as MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaking hats following the UFC's most recent event this past Saturday at the APEX. In addition, future matchups are discussed for Claudio Puelles following his slick submission win over Clay Guida in the co-main event, Maycee Barber following her unanimous decision win over Montana De La Rosa, Charles Jourdain and Marc-Andre Barriault following this submission wins to kick off the main card, 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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You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one.
It's good to be back, and the Jedmishu hostile takeover is already over.
After only a half a show, the people have spoken.
As we get ready to discuss the fallout of UFC Vegas 52 from a matchmaking perspective,
I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always, it's great to be back with the co-host, the co-matchmaker,
the best friend
and the prince of positivity
Mr. Alexander Keeley
hello sir
happy Sunday once again
hi Mike my best friend
welcome welcome back
glad to have you back yeah listen we were really happy
with Jed
he did as a favor by stepping in
but a lot of down votes
a lot of dislikes on all of our
you know whatever every podcast
a lot of complaints on angry emails
a couple lawsuits which I'm a little concerned about
but you know I passed it on to legal
and they said don't worry about it
they get this with Jed all the time
So again, I thought it was a great episode, but it is a completely not a takeover the people have spoken.
And, you know, they weren't, they weren't, they're interested in moving back to the old format.
Let's just put it that way.
Well, that's good.
And I appreciate the kind words from everybody.
It means a lot.
And we have a lot to talk about.
Let's get right into this thing.
The main event, we saw Just Gondrage just do just gondrage things, although this was something we haven't.
seen from her before. She goes out, gets a first round finish. Yes, that's something we have seen
before, but she did so with a standing arm triangle choke. I mean, this woman is an absolute
powerhouse, AK. So this has been a pretty debatable topic here, because there are some folks who
feel that she has done enough to just fight the winner of Rosamai Yunus versus Carlos Sparza
coming up in around two or three weeks or so. It's coming fast, which I'm really excited about.
there are others who feel like maybe she fights Marina Rodriguez in a number one contender fight,
and there are others who feel like maybe she hasn't earned the right to even get that fight yet.
I've seen a little bit of everything, so I only care about what you think, A.K., where does Jessica Androge go after Saturday?
That's so nice to say.
First of all, I feel bad for Joe Rogan that he wasn't on the call for this one, because this was his moment.
This was his, he would have been the first one as soon as that standing arm triangle was even close to being in.
he would have been like, oh, that's tight.
Oh, this is over.
And for once, he would have been right.
Because I think we were all thinking the same thing.
Like, even though we've never seen it before,
the squeeze that Andrade had on her
and how deep she got it in so quickly,
I think all of us were kind of like,
holy crap, like she is actually going to finish
this standing arm triangle.
So I do feel, I do feel like we were all little Joe Rogan there for a moment.
And if only Joe Rogan himself had been on the call,
he finally would have been vindicated with one of his,
it's overs or its tights or whatever it is he says
when those submissions are locked in.
It feels like there's some sort of rematch ahead for Jessica Andrade.
I'm not in love with the Marina Rodriguez fight,
though I do feel like that is very likely that they could make that happen.
I think Marina has done enough to earn a title shot.
I know her most recent fight wasn't super convincing.
It was a good fight.
It was a good win, but people would want to see more.
People still want to have some huge statement win.
And that might just never happen.
I think she just earned it through attrition.
So I'm going to go the rematch route for Bacchastaka.
Zhang Wei-Yuania Chichuk 2 officially announced during the broadcast, U.S.C. 275, June 11th.
Give J. Dajaj the loser of that fight.
And you can go either way.
I'm sure some people will say winner.
I say loser.
I say let's let one of those two move closer to a title shot, probably even just get one right away,
depending what happens with Nambanunus Asparza and And And Raj.
Look, we get a fun rematch.
She's got, I think she has quite a few rematches ahead of her if she decides to stay at 115.
She's probably going to jump around between that, 115 and flyweight.
But whilst it 1 15, she's at the top.
She's fought everybody.
She can only fight them again.
So a loser of Zhang and a J-JGIC 2.
Which should be five rounds, by the way.
This is absurd that this is a three-rounder.
100%.
I agree with everything you just said, outside of the actual matchup, of course, because
Jessica Dodge, I am on team.
Let's just throw her into a title fight right now.
get her in there. I know Carl is going to get the shot, but there's stories here for both women.
Androge versus Sparza is fresh. And if Rose Namibunis defeats Carla Sparzer again, we have a potential
trilogy fight where both women have each won. And although Rose Namibunas won the second fight,
all the momentum at the final horn was in favor of Jessica Androge. So I, I,
I think this performance solidified her a title shot.
She gets the winner.
And I would favor her to beat either woman.
Honestly, I think she's a three to one favorite over Carla Espizer right now.
And I would favor her to beat Rosamie Eunice as well, the way that she has been competing, the way she has been performing, and the momentum that she has right now.
I actually, I'm upset at myself.
And at the end of the fight, I actually went back to our prediction show.
And I'm like, damn it, I should have went with Jessica Androge as the Straway champion at the end of 2020.
but I won't Marina Rodriguez, and I'm standing up by my pick.
I don't like the Marina fight.
I feel like Marina Rodriguez lost more than anybody on this card,
but at the same token, it's not really a bad thing,
because now Marina can get either the winner or the loser of the Zhang Wei,
Yuania and Jacek fight, which becomes the biggest fight in her career.
So ultimately, it kind of works out for her.
She needs to build upon the Janjonan fight,
a fight that's a lot of people actually thought she didn't win.
So I think this works out for everybody.
It works up for the strawweight division.
And more importantly, AK, it works out for the people, for the fans, our fans.
Mike, would you pick, you said you'd favor Andrage over Namajunas or Sparza?
Yes.
What about, what about over Zhang Wei or Yawana?
I have to see, Zhang, yes.
Yonnas a mystery.
Yonah beat her already.
But I feel like this is at a time.
And so to Zhang, so to Zhang, right?
Oh, that's true. That's true.
I would favor Androge to beat John.
I, it was just a weird fight.
It was very quick.
It was very quick.
It was a hometown fight for Zhang Wei Li.
I mean, not saying that Jessica Androch has been granted those types of opportunities as well,
because that's how she won the title.
She got a hometown fight.
So Jessica was kind of giving it back.
But I feel like she grew from those losses.
I would actually favor Jessica Andratch against Zhang,
despite what happened in the first fight.
Yawanna, I know she looked really good in the fight against Jessica Andrade.
She just kind of picked her apart for 25 minutes.
But I have no idea because we haven't seen Yana fight since the first Zhang Wiley fight.
And that fight was absolutely insane.
So jury's still kind of out on that.
But I mean, I think Jessica is just that good right now.
She's so good.
So congratulations to her.
She is one of the, we don't appreciate her enough, I feel.
Or maybe I'm not speaking for all the fans here.
But I do feel like I wish, I feel like she should be a.
bigger star. I don't know what the UFC can do about that. I'd feel like they could have made her a
big star. I think she's one of the 10 greatest women to compete in mixed commercial arts ever.
I'd have to, I'd have to take a look at the list, but it just doesn't feel crazy to say that,
given the competition she's fought, given her championship, she's won, her finishing ability.
It's a debate to be had, I think, and maybe we can do that for a show or an article sometime.
Yeah, this is one of those cases where, and honestly, to me, it does not really matter,
but for the casual viewer, for the fan,
that are looking for personalities to kind of gravitate towards.
If Jessica Drogh spoke English, like if she spoke English like Anderson-Silvas-esque,
like at least just a little bit, I think she would be very close to where she should be right now.
I think she's got, I mean, she's got that look to her.
She looks like a fighter.
I like the hair and the different hair colors.
She's absolutely jacked.
I mean, and she's just a killer in there.
And when she's not actually competing,
And fighting, I think she has a lot of fun in there fighting and punching other women in the face,
but she's got a very, like, bubbly personality.
So I think fans could actually, uh, could gravitate towards her for sure.
So we'll see what happens.
But again, we're in a good spot right now.
Straw White is a great division and who you could throw on Drogate at a title fight.
You can throw in there with Yana or Zhang Wei or Marina Rodriguez.
And all those fights are interesting in their own way.
So good stuff, good main event, great finish.
First ever standing arm triangle choke in UFC history.
So it's nice to be on the history books.
Let's go to the Coleman event.
Speaking of slick submissions, my best friend,
Claudio Pueis, the Prince of Peru.
Jen Mishu doesn't like that.
You like it.
You know what?
You sold me on it.
You sold me on it during the post-fight show last night.
Another knee-bar submission.
This one might be the slickest knee-bar submission I've ever seen
tapping out Clay Guida,
just lures, just puts Clay Guida in a false sense of security,
makes them feel like,
I'm about to steal this momentum and then boom
locks in that knee bar so slick
what a performance from the POP
it's big test time for him AK
I tease this one on the post fight show
and we have to do it
we have to do it we're going to take one guy
in a really good run looking to get a top 15 fight
taking on another guy in a really good run
looking to get into a top 15 fight
let's just do it Claudio Poyas
versus the tarantula
Jalen Turner
A.K.
Wow.
Wow.
I just saw someone just got in a late,
I hadn't thought about it until literally just now.
You said it and before that someone just sent me a very late listener,
a cluster of listener suggestions.
And it was in there and I'm like, oh yeah.
And I thought like as Jayland Turner books, no he's not.
It kind of makes sense.
I'm always in favor of throwing streaking guys against each other.
I don't believe in protecting people.
There are exceptions, I'm sure I've said in other shows
where I feel like two people are like definitely headed towards Telethshot.
that'll be like, okay, you keep them apart.
But when as two guys, they're still fairly early in their UFC careers,
loss isn't going to hurt them.
Loss is not going to, like, permanently derail them.
So, yeah, Pueyes, Turner, love it.
I'm kind of going in a similar direction because I want to see him fight.
Grand Dawson is fighting Jared Gordon next week.
But I think win, lose, or draw, I want it to be Dawson.
I'm not as interested in the Gordon matchup.
That could happen too, you know, just give him the winner of that fight.
But I think I'm going with Dawson regardless of what happens.
I just think that's a cool test.
I want to see Poyas kind of, you know, again, show off that grappling against a guy that's super strong as Dawson.
Clay Gwita, a strong guy, a little bit up there in age, you know, reflex is part aren't quite what they used to be.
And a guy who's very susceptible to submissions.
Dawson, we'll see.
We'll see if he gets when he gets in there with a guy like Poya.
So I just think it's a fun style matchup.
And a little bit what you were thinking, both guys kind of trending upwards.
Let's just, you know, let's just have him fight now.
But a lot of good options for Poyas after that performance.
Absolutely.
Macy Barber picks up the victory, AK.
No controversy here, no debate.
She sweeps the scorecards against Montana de la Rosa.
Fine performance.
She was just a way more physical, way more athletic fighter.
And to me, that was the difference in this fight.
So where does Macy Barber go from here, AK?
What does her future look like?
I don't get it.
Why did you say it like that?
I don't know.
That was awkward.
air quotes.
That was not.
Mike, this is a podcast.
People can't see air quotes.
All right.
Yeah, I want to give, you know, I want to give Macy a chance to jump up.
Again, this is talking about fighters that I don't feel like losses necessarily kill
them.
Good for her getting back on a two-fight, somewhat dubious two-fight win streak.
Again, the Miranda Maverick fight.
I would consider a robbery, but officially a win in that particular column.
So two-fight win streak, bouncing back from, you know, the first losing streak of her career.
So let's give her a chance to jump up into, I think it would be our top 15 if she'd beat either of these women.
The Viviani, Arugio, Andrea Lee, loser.
They're fighting May 14th.
Again, I've seen enough from Macy that I feel like she can be competitive with not necessarily everyone in the top 10, but that kind of maybe like 9 to 15 range.
That's about where I put Arugio and Andrew Lee right now.
She'd probably be an underdog depending how the loser of that fight looked in that particular fight.
but even then it'd be a good learning experience for her
she's she's kind of just in a weird spot in her division
where you want to bring her along slowly but I just don't know if they have enough
lower tier people to feed her so you kind of have to give her a name
so Arrojo andrew Lee one of them whoever loses that fight me 14th I think it's a
fine test for her now normally I don't play these types of games but I feel like
we're going to play this type of game two picks in a row because I put this out
in the Twitterverse after the
the fight. I credited my good friend Marcel Dorf for putting this out into the universe and I completely
agreed with him. Aaron Blanchfield is getting ready to fight J.J. Aldrich in June. And if Aaron Blanchfield
wins that fight, give me Aaron Blanchfield versus Macy Barber. That is the fight to make because Macy is
she's in a position where she's not going to get anything easy. Even if she fights Andrew Lee or
Viviani Arroogio, like those are those are tough fights. And she's probably underdogs in both of those
fights. But she's had her kind of get you over opportunity fights. She had one with Roxanne.
It's super unfortunate of how that, you know, the injury and everything and how that played out.
Great for Roxanne, bad for Macy Barber. The UFC has put her in these positions to shine and
rise up the ranks really quickly and give her the opportunity to put her prediction to light.
I'm going to be the youngest UFC world champion of all time. It just hasn't happened.
Now we're kind of in a different build. She's going to have to run through the gauntlet.
of killers at this point to get where she wants to and needs to go. So that's my pick, because I actually
favor Blanchefield to beat Aldrich. I actually favor Blanchefield to beat Barbara right now. And if
Barbara beats Blanchefield, it's good for her, it gives her a little bit of a boost. And if
Blanchefield loses, it's fine. Like, she's, she's really young. She's super humble. She feels like
she's going to be going places, but she's not out here saying, I'm going to be the youngest world
champion of all time. She's not rubbing people the wrong way like Macy did on the way up. So, yeah,
Yeah, I like the fight.
Some people don't.
They feel like they don't want to put this, the second generation of flyweight fighters,
this next generation, this crop of talent together.
But I think this is the kind of matchup that makes sense, A.K., I like it.
And I think that last thing you said, Mike, is the trick is,
is do people still consider Macy to be part of that generation of fighters?
Disregarding age, I think, I mean, like, freshness to the UFC,
because she's quite a bit younger than Manuel Firo.
But obviously, Feroz is considered at the forefront of sort of this,
just her and Blanchfield and Miranda Maverick and Mike who's this name I'm forgetting oh
Casey O'Neill excuse me so there you go I mean and I feel like Barbara has been has been
bumped out of that if there was the four the four pillars you know to steal a term from
AW the four pillars of the UFC women's flyweight division would be would be Casey
O'Neill Manon, Firore Miranda Maverick and Aaron Blanchfield so I mean I think
Blanchefield at this point, I would favor her greatly against Barbara, probably at least two to one.
Mostly, not just because I think she's, I've been a bit bullish, or not bullish, the opposite of
bullish.
I've been a bit more hesitant to sort of anoint Blanchefield is the next big thing.
I just want to see more, but I do think stylistically, she's a really, it's a really favorable
matchup with her and Macy.
So I like it.
It's not the direction I would go in, but wouldn't surprise me.
As you said, as we kind of both said, there's no easy fight for Barber.
there's no easy situation for it to develop or to rise up to the ranks.
It's really just tough fights going forward.
And again, we've often called one of the, probably one of the more underrated divisions in the U.C.
So, yeah, I'm not against it at all.
And I could see it, I could absolutely see it being booked.
Excuse me, we moved to Mr. Charles Jorday, who completed a guillotine Canadian double play for Team North,
submits Lano Vanada in the first round is a one-armed guillotine.
It was nasty.
and then Charles Jordane cut a tremendous promo.
Calls for a fight with Edson Barbosa,
essentially to a fight to the death.
And it's interesting to me,
AK,
because I saw people just straight shrugged this one off,
like it was nothing in that Charles Jordane was talking out of his butt.
And I have to question that line of thinking from those people
because people act like Edson Barbosa is on this,
like,
for these two losses he took.
And it's just not true.
He's two and five in his last seven,
three and seven in his last 10.
He's on a two-fights kid.
Jordane's trending upwards,
getting great performances.
He's got two straight wins.
Victories in three of his last four.
I am so in after this performance.
After this win over a guy,
a lot of people were very, very high on
since making the move to 145.
And Jordane runs through him in the first round.
I am in.
Let's give Charles Jordane what he wants.
I'm all in on Charles Jordane.
in Barbosa and a last man standing match,
AK, let's go.
Are you giving him an auto point in advance?
Is this your point for Zordane,
for some excellent live television matchmaking?
I mean, I mean, purely and truly excellent.
Everything he did in this whole bill,
like he mentioned Barbosa in like the media scrub
and I was like, maybe,
but after this performance and then just going right back to it,
I'm in, sign me all the way up for that.
I'm surprised.
I didn't not know that there was such a negative reaction.
to that callout.
Like that callout made so much sense to me.
The speech was excellent.
That's the kind of fights for Bermosa should be taking it at this stage of his career, entertaining
fights, possible, like, you know, extra 50 Gs just waiting to happen.
It's not going to move him, you know, back up the into the top 10.
I went over Charles O'Dane.
But again, he's at the stage of his career where I don't think he should necessarily
be worried about, oh, just get me close to a title fight.
It doesn't make me a number one contender.
Just take fun fights.
If he keeps knocking off these kind of up-and-comers, great.
eventually he'll trip into a number one contenders fight.
So anyone who's against that matchup, you're just a damn fool.
Pardon my language.
You're just a damn fool.
I went in with a different direction just because I didn't want to give Jodain credit.
I wanted to have my own idea.
So I'm throwing Nate Landreux out there.
I feel like I threw it out.
And in my mind, I'm like, has this not been a matchup that's like been made and fallen through?
And I don't think it has.
So yeah, give me another banger with Jodin and give him Landver.
and that's it.
Really, there's not a lot of thought behind it.
It doesn't, again, I don't care about,
oh, where does this put them in the rankings with a win?
And who could they fight next?
I just want to see them get in there and just slang and bang and put on a great
entertaining show.
Love Nate the Train.
And I just want to keep giving him fun fights.
And Air Jordane, certainly fits that bill.
That is a fun one.
I mean, you can't have a double header of Canadian submission wins without the first one, right?
Mark Andre Barreill, first submission win of his career.
Guileteen choke was nasty, kicks off the main card against Jordan Wright.
Where does Power Bar go, AK?
This is a tough one because I had all these great masters for him,
but apparently a lot of the people around his range of middleweight are booked.
I was like Jacob Malcun, I thought would be a good one.
I believe Malcun is booked.
It was the one I thought was perfect.
I'm just looking at my list now.
Oh, like Greg R. Rodriguez, he's fighting Julian Marquez.
There was like a lot of Caldacus, I think, is also booked.
Roman Deleezze.
Yeah. Roman Deleadze.
Yeah.
Oh, Nick Maximum.
Nick Maxwell.
Oh, yeah, Petroski.
So, again, there's all these good names.
So I kind of had to settle.
And I was trying to avoid this, too.
I think stuff caught's trying to avoid a Canadian on Canadian matchup, but also a guy
on a losing streak versus, you know, Barrio, who's not, who's just got that win.
But I think you can kind of go with him and Misha Sarkhanov.
I think it's a fun fight.
Mish Sarkov, of course, a Canadian by way of Latvia, a man who has made Toronto's
home for a long time.
It's, I want to know where Misha Sarkinab is at this point in his career has not looked
great at middleweight.
A guy, again, a guy was a super exciting fighter at 205, you know, a fight finisher, a guy
who was, he was in the UFC rankings at one point.
I don't think not the top 10, but somewhere in, you know, the 12 to 15 range.
I don't think he's done yet, but he does have a lot of mileage on him.
He's been in some tough fights.
He's on the receiving end of some brutal finishes.
Let's see Rhea storming there with Power Bar,
and let's get a gauge on where Serkanov is.
I mean, this is with like one of those classic fight night main card picks
where there's really no wrong answer.
So I kind of settled as well.
Abdul Razak al-Assan.
Let's have some fun.
Let's just go in there, throw them hands,
maybe you sneak in another submission,
maybe become like a Damien Maya type fighter out of nowhere.
So, yeah, that's fine.
Let's head to the...
Spoiler, the most popular pick for MAB.
And maybe the most popular pick I saw, period.
Outside of all the prelim fighters, for sure, that was like the most common...
Oh, sorry, he was on the main card.
Excuse me.
I forgot.
It was bumped up to the main card.
Outside of the top four fights, I mean, BIO was the...
And Al-Hassan, the most popular pick I saw.
MAB versus ARA.
Three-name versus three-name?
I'm in.
Let's go.
Let's head to the wild card round, AK.
We're going to select one fighter.
not match made for yet and we will matchmake for them right now who you got set us start us off my god
have to be careful of my phrasing here because i don't like to objectify fighters i don't like to go on
about how you know a fighter's physical attractiveness but i have to talk about and this is my
because i got to make this got my wild card i had to talk about sexy filippa lince um
listen philippi lins an attractive man at heavyweight already i'm not i'm not saying because
he was a heavyweight and he had a few more pounds on him.
He wasn't attracted to man.
But my goodness, down at 205, this dude looks good.
That's how I'll leave it there.
This dude looks good.
I won't go on.
Unrecognizable, I think, from, excuse me,
unrecognizable from the man who won the PFL title in a million dollars.
So new life at 205, good for you, Philippe Lins, quite a glow-up.
Let's give him, now that Lins is part of the 205 bodybuilders club,
Let's throw him in there with Alonzo Menefield.
Let's do it.
If we're going for aesthetics,
Menafield, of course, always put on the show on the scale, at least.
Don't in there with Filippe Lins.
I don't know if, I don't know if Filipp Lins can be a contender two of five.
I really don't.
But that was a really nice performance for him on Saturday
against a scrappy Martian Prachno.
March and Prachneau, you know, not an easy out, not an easy out.
And he put it together.
So slow build here, not trying to do anything too crazy.
Linz Metafield.
Yeah, when Philippe
Lins walked
through the doorway and started walking to the
Octagon, it was like
everyone at Bayside High
watched A.C. Slater walked through the hallway
for the first time. It was like a game
changer. I thought
you were going a different direction. I thought you were going to say it's
like when Janie comes down the steps and
she's all that.
I was for the fraud.
It's slow.
Philippe Lins automatically
He starts walking in slow motion, and we got, I can't fight this feeling any longer in the playing in the background.
Are you a speed wagon?
Let's go.
Oh, let's go.
Philippe Lins, just an absolute dime piece out of nowhere.
Mike, I said I said I.
I apologize to all our listeners.
This is so unprofessional.
I know, but listen, good on him.
Made a lifestyle change.
We should celebrate that.
He seems happy.
He's healthyest he's ever been.
We should appreciate that, and we should celebrate that.
Most importantly, he won.
His first UFC win.
And he wins.
More than another junk we're talking.
He won a fight.
That's right.
And that hair is unbelievable, too.
All right, come on.
All right.
I'm going with the bad and weights because, well, why not?
A Ricci Lang is a bad, bad dude at 135 pounds.
That was a vicious knockout.
And we have a fight coming up on May 14th, and I feel like the winner of this fight against
Ritchie Lang would be a lot of fun.
Davy Grant versus Lewis Smolka.
Let's just go.
Let's just throw him in there with one of those guys.
I actually favored David Grant to win that fight.
So we're probably going to get Richie Lang versus Davey Grant
because the UFC is undoubtedly going to take the suggestion and run with it.
So that is my pick.
It's kind of too easy.
But there just wasn't really a lot of other options.
We could have gone the Mike Jackson versus Casey Liden route.
But I feel like this is the best way to go.
More on that later.
Yeah, there was a lot of, this is our second week in a row,
but man, it's a lot of like contenders.
Well, this one didn't have, but this had like some late notice changes and just people
who don't have a lot of UFC experience.
I want to take a look ahead at next week's card.
Unless we've got a little bit of that with next week's card too.
April has not been a banner month for fight nights as far as card quality.
So I would just, I want to direct people to, if you guys didn't get a chance to read it,
we did do a round table earlier this week, myself, Dan Martin, Steve Morocco, and Jedman
Shue, kind of asking.
Does card quality matter that much anymore?
As far as terms of retaining, like, fan loyalty and retaining viewership?
And I don't know.
Some ways it does, some ways it doesn't.
But these cards have really been testing people.
And as you said, Mike, really kind of been making it difficult for us to kind of do these compelling matchups
because you can just go in so many different directions.
And frankly, a lot of the, even the winners on some of these cards are like two fights away from being released, you know,
two bad performances away from being released.
That's just a turnover at the UFC now.
So what a downer.
I apologize for doing that.
Yes.
I actually like this card next week.
I mean, it's not the best.
I mean, this is a classic UFC co-main event with Jake Collier,
Andre Arlofsky in the co-main slot.
But the main event, Rob Fond and Marlon Vera is excellent.
Almost kind of evens out everything else.
But we get Gerald Mearshard on a card against Christoph Jocco.
We get Darren Elkins, Tristan Connolly, Jared Gordon, Grant Dawson's fun.
Andre Feely, Joanna and Brito is going to be a lot of fun.
But, yeah, there is a lot of that.
We get some newcomers coming.
in. Tatsuro Tyra is making his UFC debut on this card against Carlos Candelari. I mean,
and then we get Romanoff, Chase Sherman after all. So not bad. And then we, and then...
That does make it better. It does. It does. I just think what we get after this. A week later.
This is the Go Home show. I like it. Do we have any check the tapes? Do we have any
any bonus content before we go to our wonderful listeners?
Yeah, listen. Uh, you know, I was going to save the...
for disclaimer, but I'll say it now.
First of all, points to everyone.
This was called a while ago, but Brad DeVarrois versus Drixe duplacy.
This is like, Tavares fought, I think, last June, so hasn't fought in a bit, last June or last
July.
And a lot of people called for him to fight Drix, and Tavares has not been booked against
anyone since.
So there you go.
That looks like that fight's happening.
UFC 276 July 2nd.
So point to everyone there.
I will say people asking for no points from matchups that were announced like two weeks ago.
I got a couple of messages that were like, oh, you guys didn't mention on whatever the last
show, by the way, this happened and this was booked.
Move on with your life.
Move on with your life.
I'm sorry.
No, listen, we don't know who knows that time for it.
And if I missed it and it's completely my fault, okay, my bad, but deal with it,
life isn't fair.
That is honestly my message.
You guys can, like I said, you guys can keep your points internally.
I won't, if you want to tell me you've got like 50 a lot no points, fine, I believe
you.
This is an honor system.
All right, these things obviously do have real life value, but this is an honor system.
So I will do a better job of keeping track of these in the future.
We've kind of fallen off because we had some weird shows.
You know, we've been doing live shows.
We've been doing, you know, you've been on vacation.
I've been on vacation.
I had to leave town for a bit.
So we had a bit, like, you know, it's been hard to keep track of these things lately.
I'll do better.
But people, if it was like two weeks ago and you want to point for it, this is the reaction you're going to get.
Yeah, you're going to get crickets or you're going to get angry AKA and, you know.
Do you want to give out the rest of the disclaimer?
Yeah, yeah, all right.
So for the listener picks coming up,
by the Marcus McGehy calls this picks the Batei Ashaka waltz.
I don't know if that's a play on words that I'm missing besides.
Obviously, Jessica Andrade's nickname,
but is that a type of waltz?
Is that like an Astaka waltz or something?
Am I not?
I mean, much like the Otno point system,
it's on the honor code.
So if someone puts that out there into the world,
then I'm going to believe that it's some sort of waltz
and that it's an actual thing.
I tried to Google it.
Anyway, I mess with Marcus didn't get back to me in time.
So Marcus, you can explain to me later.
Standard disclaimer, guys, categories rule for odd no points.
I'm hoping that soon we can give out some solo points.
They're very hard to get.
Again, you know, listen, the more picks that come in, the harder is to get.
But you guys are clever.
There's some unique picks out there.
People, please pay attention.
People's weight classes.
Did these people fight already recently?
And you didn't justify why they should fight again soon.
Is there a notable injury that you should be aware of?
Guys, I'maFling.com, you get all your news there.
Fighters have been released.
fighters who are already booked.
This happened a bunch this week.
This happens a bunch every week.
Guys, typology, sure dog,
M-Afighting.com, whatever site you use for your news,
just check to see if this person's been booked.
And most importantly, your picture might be doo-do,
and we don't want to read it.
And, Mike, I do have a special disclaimer for this week
because we had a lot of Bellator action,
and I don't mean to downplay the Bellator cards
because they were,
Saturday, especially, was very eventful.
A lot of directions you go with some of these fighters.
But, Mike, you've mentioned this before.
the Beltor roster is a lot smaller than the UFC's
It's the picks are usually a little more obvious
So it's not like
It's just not as fun to talk about I find
I think there's just such a limited like pool of guys
Potential opponents to pick from when you get to a certain point that
Throwing out picks is kind of pointless so to people who set out belltor picks
I'm usually who like did like the whole card like including picks for like preliminary fighters
First of all God bless you
Secondly if you think I'm going to read out all those Belator
picks.
Mike, in the words of Judas Priest, you got another thing coming, Mal.
It's not happening.
Thank you for everyone to send his picks, but it's not happening.
Oh, man, that is the best disclaiming of all time on the show.
That was amazing.
That was great.
I mean, listen, if there's a big tuna pick mixed in there and it makes sense, maybe we'll
read it, but that's, I mean, that's, that's about it.
All right, let's get into this thing.
I don't have a ton.
Maybe they thought I was like off the show or something.
They thought they liked Jed so much they were sending him the picks.
But Matt Rovelli, I haven't heard from Matt in a while.
Mike, I really want to see Jessica Androge versus McKenzie Dern.
McKenzie, quote unquote, won her last fight.
And I think that would be a great for another runner-up for Rosa Carla.
I love you, buddy.
Matt, you are the man.
That is an awful pick.
That's a terrible pick.
Come on, dude.
I mean, if Jessica Androge and McKenzie Dern
And where they're at right now, momentum was a race.
Jessica Androge, who's short enough,
who's already like 5'1 and small for the division and stature,
is like an ant.
She's that far ahead of McKenzie Dern, in my opinion.
She's like ant-sized.
It's not even close.
Mike is a very popular pick.
It's a very popular pick.
I saw a lot of that.
I hate it.
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
Tristan Gordet.
Claudio Plius versus Joel Alvarez.
Not bad. Not bad.
Yep, a very popular pick as well. I think that is like the right.
That's a really good matchup.
That's a good fight.
Sergei Hondasco versus Phil Rowe, sure.
Tyson Pedro versus Alonzo Meadowfield, A.K.
People say this matchup is too much of a step up for Pedro, which I don't, by the way,
especially coming off a three-year layoff from injury.
However, he looked impressive with the win over Villanueva,
and the man this finishes over Paul Craig and Cleo Roundtree.
Yeah, this is a perfect matchup if you've got wins over those guys.
and he likes Aikichi Lang versus Chad and Eliger,
which would be a fun fight as well.
Yeah, I'm in.
All right, let me go to this other page.
Let's go to John Ray.
John Ray, Jackson versus 3024 E.K.C. Nirmagamade of Liden.
There's so much of that.
There can only be one MMA media member slash fighter.
Sure.
Wow, this is Team Handsome all over the place.
Philippe Lins versus Tyson Pedro.
How about that?
Ladies, watch out.
Hondasco versus Nicholas Dalby, Barrio versus Muradoff, Jordane versus Young Wu Choi,
Barber versus the winner of Cynthia Calvillo versus Nina Nunes.
I think Calvio was booked to fight Brianna the Bull in June.
Also, if you guys have any more info.
Yes, from what I understand, a source has told me that Calvio is fighting Nina Nunes now.
The fight with Brianna Van Buren is not.
happening. It was supposed to. It was on the books. There was talks about dates. One fighter
thought it was one date. The other fighter thought it was another date. I don't know if that led to the
fight not happening, but it's not happening anymore. Poezz-Vos-Alge. Yeah, if anyone goes to Calvillo's
typology bay, it's actually confusing. Both the Fortino and Nunes fights are still active. But,
yeah, the 14o fights is definitely not happening. Yeah, it's definitely not happening. Playa's
versus Alexander Hernandez, Lamos versus Penne, Andradez versus the winner of Zhang Wei Li versus Joani and Jacek.
And then we have a Bellator pick.
Hill versus Galaher for the Grand Prix backup.
Well, I don't think we're going to see that this year.
So we'll see.
Harry DeWoska, Mike Jackson versus Martin Sano makes sense.
Who else would he fight?
I saw that a couple of times.
Philippe Vlens versus Nikolai Negueryanu.
Lins is weird because he makes a bunch of money.
so maybe they give him more of a step up.
Preston Parsons versus Ramiz Brahimage.
I have weird suspicions that Brahimage is his USC level
and had the same thoughts about Parsons prior to this great performance.
So more of a matchup I want.
Akichi Lang versus Aneliger, another one.
Pedro versus Gamutov, build him back up.
Porfavor, Honda versus Max Griffin.
That's super fun.
I like that.
M.A.B. versus Bruno Silva.
Would be disgusting carnage between two guys with granite chins.
Jordane versus Barbosa or Cub Swanson.
Either one is an offering to the Just Bleed Gods.
Another Barber versus Calvio Nuno's winner.
Pueyes versus the Christos Gagos, Tiago Moises winner.
Poes is so hard because he manages to look like a better version of Chase Hooper
while winning five straight fights in the best division in the sport.
And then another Gondrage versus McKenzie Dern.
I love that matchup, the Pueyes Moises.
Who's Moises fighting?
Moises fighting.
Christos Jago.
I love it.
My only issue is, I think that's in June, right?
Yes.
It's a couple months away, right?
Yeah.
I think, I don't know if Pais is going to want to wait two months for that fight to happen,
and then, you know, however long to have the fight booked.
So that was actually my number one pick at first.
It's just too far in the future.
And then he ends with And Raj Dern if you don't put her straight into a title fight.
I mean, maybe that's a decent caveat.
They're talking about it.
I just think Vakensi gets run over in this fight.
It does not be good.
Chris London, Andrage versus Marino Rodriguez,
Poyas versus Mark Madsen,
Jordane versus Billy Q, that's super fun.
Barber versus Fioro.
Fioro is not rebooked yet, is she?
I don't think, no, not as far as that.
No, I don't think, Barre Fiora is just,
Fiora is going to win that fight.
It's not a competitive fight right now.
It's a fight we see in the future.
It's only tough fights.
Yeah, Fiora is a win away from fighting for the title right now
after her recent win.
Barrio versus
Kyle Barallo
Barallo
Honda versus
Max Griffin
another one
Pedro versus
William Knight
I don't think
William Knight's
going back to
205 anytime soon
Brother I think
that person
just wants
to say
Barrio
versus Barallio
as many times
as possible
because I also
got one of those
nice
Linz versus
Johnny Walker
oh my goodness
okay
what is this
that's not a pick
that's just
somebody
Marcus, what do we got here?
No Bellator.
All right, I'll take it.
Andrage Dern again.
Poyas, Mustafaif,
Barber, Joanne Wood.
I don't think they're going to give her
the Joanne Wood fight.
I feel like she's already gotten those opportunities.
I think Joanne Wood's going to be for somebody else.
Charles Jordane, Etzabarbosa, M.A.B.
Punisor Soriano.
Sure.
Honda versus Lusa.
Pedro Negomariano.
Huchi Lang versus Dennis Bondar.
And Linz versus Merzacanov.
Sure.
Nice job.
A.K., we go to you, my friend.
All right.
Oh, you just mentioned a Barbara and Wood.
That was the most popular pick I saw from Macy Barber.
I think that sounds a lot about, sadly,
about kind of how people view Joanne Wood right now.
I think they view her as a spot to be taken,
which sucks.
Because it's not a guaranteed win for Macy Barber at all.
But I bet Macy would be,
I wonder how much she'd be.
favored going into that.
What do you think the line would be there?
Minus 190 to open, and then it would probably just inflate up to where she's at.
I feel like, I was going to say.
I feel like now that Roxanne is retired and is out of M.M.A., I feel like Joanne Wood
is the new Roxanne.
Kind of, yeah, viewed in the same way.
But yeah, listen, that's not, that's not, and I don't think Macy Barber would look at it
that way either, is that that being an easy win.
For Jessica Andraz, like we said, there was a lot of Dern talk.
and then some, you know, Namajunis as far as the two,
one of the winner-loser, or Jessica, Andreaj.
Sorry, excuse me, or Zhang Wei-Yi, Yonajic, winter loser.
So, like we said, feels like there's a rematch that's going to happen at some point.
Maybe not next, but those names are going to be sort of dancing together
in the same circle for a while.
Jodin, man, so many popular options for him.
Alex Casares, Lorone Murphy, Billy Quarillo.
Back over is Al-Hassan, again, super popular pick.
Pedro versus Nagumarayanu.
That's the most popular.
Oh, that ends of Chuku.
But Thomas Collins had this to say about the Niko matchup.
He said, I still believe Tyson is top 10 material, but Nikolai is coming off a couple of wins,
and we'd be a winnable fight for Tyson at a way of slowly rebuilding him again.
Mike Tyson, Pedro, top 10 material at 205?
I mean, no.
No.
I mean, yeah, I mean.
Listen, the guy beat Ikeville and Oweva.
And I like Ike.
Nice guy.
Him being in the UFC is one of my all-time favorite stories.
Never thought it would happen.
But he beat Ikeville and Oweva.
He did what this fight was supposed to set him up to do.
And by the way, two illegal kicks.
No points taken.
Again, but that could lead us down a whole other rabbit hole.
Listen, Tyson beat.
The light kicks are great.
He beat Ikeville and O'Neweck's.
We have a little. Let's slow our role in the top 10 talk.
One in four. Ikeville,
one and four now in the UFC. Not the most
sterling companies. But Thomas Collins
saying he is top 10
material, Mike. Top 10 material.
I mean, we got to fight more than
once in four years. I know he had a lot of injuries.
I'm glad he's back.
He needs to win like
to win like three more
in a row before we could start having those
types of conversations.
How do you feel about Orichie Lang versus
Randy Costa?
Hmm.
Be a great first round.
Yeah.
I mean, it would be a tremendous first round.
So, yeah, I'm in.
That fight probably isn't getting out of the first.
So, yeah, it'd be a banger.
I like it.
One of the really popular pick I saw Preston Parsons versus Luis Koski.
I mean, that was supposed to happen on Saturday.
So a lot of people just rebook it, sure.
Lins versus Maxim Grishen, a little PFL on PFL action.
Both guys who I think were heavyweights in the PFL, right?
And then are light heavy weights now.
And the most popular pick for Mike Jackson, besides E.K. Seleiden, of course, was Pete Rodriguez.
So there you go. I did see some Martin Sano as well. But I think Pete Rodriguez,
surprisingly the most popular. All right. Let me go to my emails now. I had one, I had one,
I had one lonely email from a regular listener, Zach. I've lost ability to read here.
Zach left, excuse me. And a lot of the picks already said, but kind of an interesting one.
And one I thought about Mike, but I didn't want to necessarily throw them in together right now.
Claudio Paius and Drakar Close.
I like it.
I'm in.
But Drakos has he sold on this Mark Matts an idea.
We got to go with that.
I'm totally in.
But if you don't do that,
Hmm.
Drak close, the next fight needs to be someone against a 55 or from fight ready.
I will say that.
Like, we just got to do that.
The build to that file will be super fun.
The Mark Mattson ID is a good one.
But if not, listen, if the UFC goes that route, I'm in.
And something tells me, if the UFC is as highest on Claudio Poyas
as a lot of other people are, I don't think they're,
I don't think they love your car close right now.
I just don't think, I don't think they, I think they like him a lot,
but they're not in love with him.
And I feel like they see more of a ceiling for Claudio Paius.
So maybe they would want to set that fight up to maybe take DeCardar close.
close down a notch, but that's a good fight.
I mean, rankings-wise, yeah, I think they're kind of in the same spot.
So I'm in if that's the direction they go.
It's one of those, I think we'll see it, just not next.
I do think Poissin'i in close fight at some point, but it could be like a year for now,
just a bit further down the road.
So right to Instagram, Otno and MMA fighting memes are pal, Michael Connofrey.
Guys, if you're not following, Otno and MMA fighting memes, please, on Instagram, hilarious stuff.
though I do have to give him a little slap on the wrist here.
He said Tyson Pedro versus Jimmy Crute.
Crute just had surgery in March to deal with some leg injury,
so I don't think we'll be seeing Crute for a while.
Again, guys, this is a pretty well-known news.
So, again, please remove Jimmy Crute from your matchmaking
for the foreseeable future.
I'm sure he'll recover fine, and we'll see him sooner rather than later,
but it's just, you know, we just don't know for now.
And again, he should take off all the time he needs
because apparently his legs pretty messed up.
It would be fun, a fun little oceanic matchup, though.
And Lando Manada versus Julian Arosa, fun.
Super fun.
Fun.
Brandon Nunez, Tyson Pedro, versus the Ryan Span, Yon-Catcheloup, Kuchelaba.
I butcher that.
Yon-Cuchelaba loser, May 14th.
Mike, you're going to hate or love this, I'm not sure.
Claudio Pueis versus Patty Pimble.
Oh, come on.
Oh, not a no, come on.
Oh, my goodness.
I thought like we were going to try to make, like, are we in the business of making Patty a star?
Like, isn't that we're trying to do?
Clias would annihilate Patty at this stage.
Claudio Playa's is a minus 14,000 favor in that fight.
A bigger favorite than Dean Barry was against Mike Jackson.
That's a, come on.
I mean, if you just don't want to be in the Patty Pimbleau business, that's a great matchup.
But, yeah.
If that happens, we know something went wrong with Patty Pimble in the UFC.
Something was said backstage.
Asian.
Yeah.
Something went wrong.
Dad Jackson,
Linz versus Inzuchu,
Pedro versus Michael Alex Saitchuk.
This seems inevitable.
I have to mention this.
Ikeville-Noiva to BKFC, Mike?
Um,
no, I don't think that'll happen.
I think Ike would be fine.
Just going back to Fury FC
and trying to become maybe a two-division champion
for that fine organization.
He had a great run with them,
got him into the UFC.
Ike is a full-time worker.
It loves his job.
It works at a very supportive place that wants him to pursue his goals.
They've been very flexible with him.
And I don't think that much is going to change.
Plus, Ike is a...
I just get kids who play football.
I believe his oldest, who is in his corner,
is about to play college football
at the University of North Texas,
if memory serves me correctly.
So Ike's can be a very busy guy.
So I don't think BKFC is the road for him.
but if I still wants to fight,
there's plenty of regional opportunities for him
in the Houston, Texas area.
I don't see why he can't fit BKFC
into that schedule, Mike.
I mean, he could.
Who's going to fight BKFC?
I don't want to see him fighting BKFC.
Come on.
I kind of do.
You do?
Who do you want him to fight in BKFC?
I can't name five BKFC heavy weights,
so you got me, or light heavy weights.
You got me.
He'd probably be a heavy way over there.
Yeah.
Sergei Kandasco.
Excuse me, guys.
Okay, I clear my throat.
Sergei Kandesco versus Andjay Fialio, love it.
Macy Barber versus Sajara, Ubanks.
Sajara's will lost like three straight, right?
She's not doing great.
No, she didn't know.
She's lost one, right?
Because she beat Elise Reed.
I almost don't.
I sound so distanced at first.
I almost don't.
I'll say three of four.
Three of four.
Okay.
Yeah, it could happen.
It can happen again.
If you want to give her kind of that veteran test,
that you think would be favorable for her?
Sure.
Not a bad match.
Pueyes versus Carlos Diego Faheda.
So we're talking top 20, probably top 20 guy right there.
It's a bit of a jump up.
I don't mind it.
I don't mind it.
Yeah, that's fine.
I mean, I'll take that every day of the week
and twice on Sunday over the Patty Pimbleau idea.
That's just dumb.
Yeah, I don't know.
Patty Pimble does not want that fight.
Blake Lewitt says, I'm giving this guy the benefit of the dad here.
He said Pedro versus Khalil Roundtree,
but did not put a two, did not mention as a rematch.
guys, those guys fought five, sorry, almost five, six years ago now.
I know it's a lifetime ago, but still, you guys got to remember this stuff.
Let me ask you this.
Especially on this show where we try to be positive and be the show for the people.
Is there a statute of limitations on this?
Like them having to mention that before it's a do-do pick officially.
Like I think five, six years, I think that's long enough.
No, you should remember if they fought before.
You should have to say two or rematch so I know that you know that they fought for.
Now, I think Blake does know.
I am being positive here.
I am giving Blake the benefit of the doubt and assuming he knew they fought so long ago that
that doesn't need to be mentioned that is a rematch because it's essentially a fresh matchup.
They're both very different guys probably from the first fight.
But people help me out here.
Let me know how intelligent you are and put a two on there, put a rematch.
Just let me know because I'm usually going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but some days I might not be so nice.
You just got disclaimed.
MMA heads likes Kono Puez versus Hafeel Elvis.
I like it too stylistically.
I just think Paias is quite a bit ahead of him in the rankings, unfortunately.
So that's why that wouldn't have.
But obviously, a really fun grappling matchup.
Charles Rodin versus, I like this one.
I don't know.
I hadn't thought about it.
I'm Mir Connie.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's fun.
I think Jordan handles him, but I liked how Machuan looked in his last fight.
I mean, look at the submission exchanges, those guys.
Charles Rodin, the submission master.
I mean, come on.
The scrambles would be amazing.
Balchial versus the Rodriguez-Marquez loser.
Again, the only reason I didn't go in this direction,
similar reason I mentioned before for someone else,
that's June 18th.
It's a bit of a wait.
So that's M.A.B. having to wait two months
and then wait for the matches he made
and then wait for the fight.
So he might want to.
I mean, that's a great fight for him, either guy,
Gregor Rodriguez or Julian Marquez,
but it is a long way.
Orichie Lang versus Daniel Santos, the Willy Cat.
And I should have saved this one for last.
Jackson versus Barry 2.
Run it back.
Run it back.
You know that's what they're going to do, right?
They probably should.
Like, I laughed at it, but I guess you just do it.
No, they shouldn't.
They shouldn't, but they will.
That's exactly what they're going to do.
It's going to be a co-and-you-know-what, AK, hot take time.
Don't do this.
Don't say it.
Don't say the CM word.
Co-main event.
Stop it.
It's going to be.
Guarantee it.
That's horrible.
Stupid.
Matt Bradbury.
Lins versus Merzicana.
Pager versus Prakneo.
Oh, I like that to matchup winners.
Oh, not matchup winners, I guess matchup.
Pachio versus Pachnao.
I don't know if that makes sense.
Arici Leng versus the O'Day-Ozborn, Zaruq-Adicev winner, June 4th.
I just wanted to remind people that fight is happening.
Yeah, but that's also having a 25.
Ritchie Lang is no longer a 25 or 35-er.
Oh, I see what happened here.
It's okay.
Okay.
Well, maybe we don't know.
But also, we don't know for sure, right?
We don't know for sure.
I think he's staying at 30.
35. And did you see the size of him, like how much, like how much better he looked at 35?
Yeah. But that is not, but Matt Brevard, that is not an invalid pick.
And Condosco versus Carlson Harris, Barrio versus Cody Brundage. Sure.
Tino Alvarez, this is the late pair. I wanted to read this.
Jessica Andrage versus Menon-Firo.
Tino says this could co-main event, a France card with Blades versus Cyril in the main event.
So this is a, you know, there's some thought going into how this would, you know, a particular event here.
Hmm. Interesting.
Yeah. At first I was like, I don't really like that matchup, but again, you're right.
You can do that as a French attraction kind of thing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Tina was also down with Poes versus Turner.
Barbara versus Blanchfield, Barrio versus Brian Battle.
Condosco versus Munir Lazez, Pedro versus Tafon and Chukwe.
Eurechi Lang versus Victor Altamirano.
Is that another flyweight matchup?
No, right?
He's a phantom way.
I think so.
Victor Alta Marano fought.
Carlos Hernandez.
That is a flyweight about it.
So, you know what, Mike?
I guess what people aren't convinced that Ehrichie Lang,
or they're just not remembering.
But I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt again.
A lot of benefit of the doubts being given this week, Mike,
that they did know and they just assume he's going back.
Because we have a high class of listening.
Enjoy it, friends.
Enjoy it while last.
I'm just happy we've had a normal show this week, Mike, where we're both on.
It's not live.
I love the live shows, but I also kind of like, sometimes I like the traditional, you know,
just audio only oughtnows where we have a little more time to breathe and set up the show and all that.
Exactly.
Braden O'Neill on Twitter, Barrio versus Maximoff-Pretrotsky winner, May 14th.
Kandosko versus Jake Matthews.
I like this matchup because Kondasco is really, really, really experienced.
I know he only has three UFC fights, but he just has a ton of, like, pro-experience.
And I think you kind of have to actually put him up with some of these, like, more well-known people at some point.
Yeah, I don't mind it.
Lins versus Ed Herman, and there's another Mike Jackson versus Martin Sano.
Martin Sano, Mike, is he getting another UFC fight?
I have no idea.
I mean, maybe.
No, right?
I mean, listen, if they're going to push Mike Jackson to the moon here,
I mean, these are the kind of fights.
We're going to keep Mike Jackson around.
Imagine if they rebooked Mike Jackson, Dean Barry, too,
and Mike Jackson, like, straight up annihilates him.
Can you imagine?
I can.
I mean, what a moment that would be.
Like, not a DQ, not an eye poke.
None of that.
And by the way, Dean Barry handling this awfully.
Just terrible.
It's not great.
No, not good at all.
Not good at all.
You look foolish.
That gouged was just, that's one of the worst fouls I've seen in recent memory.
That was real bad.
Yeah.
Christopher at Agriar MMA.
Barber versus Arjoly loser.
May 14th.
I'm down with that.
And Julianna Velasquez versus Mike Beltran because WTF was that stop.
Listen, Mike, I confess, I'm reading this out because I do want to say, I've said this multiple times many times.
I don't think Mike Beltran is a great ref.
He's really popular.
I get it.
People like him.
People love the facial hair.
Fine.
That's cool.
I just find it weird that he escapes controversy as much as like, or sorry, it doesn't receive as much criticism, I'd say, as some of his peers.
He's made some, like, really questionable calls.
And I always hear the, Mike Beltran's a great ref, but.
I don't know how many times I can hear that in connection with him making a mistake before we say maybe he's not that great of a ref.
And I'm not saying he's like the worst rap.
I'm just saying like we criticize a lot of referees.
I think he's kind of lump him in there with a lot of the other subpar referees that people normally call out.
So maybe I'm off base on this, but Justin Gaichi gave him crap last time for the Mike Chandler fight.
He got fouled.
He didn't like how Mike Beltran kind of was indecisive and pausing the fight.
He let Matt Favola like destroy.
Gennaro Valdez.
That should have been,
that thing stopped earlier.
I got a list here.
And then Nico Negu Mariano
was in a fight recently
where, like,
Nico was just, like,
grabbing the fence.
And I think he got,
like, four warnings
from Mike Beltran.
And I think that's my beef
with Mike is that,
like, I feel like he's a very showy referee.
You know,
referees are best,
you know,
not seen and not heard.
And I just feel like he's always,
he's kind of in the middle of the action.
And again,
that's why people like him.
He's very visible.
for me it kind of bothers me
and I wish you'd be a little more hands off
and I didn't like and I really really didn't like the
Velazquez Carmouche stoppage
not the worst stoppage we've ever seen but not the worst stoppage
of ever seen but I do think it was
bad yes now if this was
Julianna Velazquez versus Liz Carmous
opening prelim of Bellator 278
yes the stoppage is justified if we're talking
about like 1 and 0 fighter versus
O and 3 fighter cool
like we're good but this is this is a
world championship made event.
Julianna Velasquez has been in tough spots before and she's been able to battle out of them.
You have to be able to give it, listen, was the position ugly?
Yes.
Could it have gotten worse?
Perhaps.
Do you want to err on the side of caution more oftentimes than you don't?
Sure.
But not in this situation.
Not in this situation.
Juliaina Velasquez looked like her arm was getting free.
She looked loose.
Yeah, she took some elbows, but she wasn't like getting cut open.
She wasn't close to going out.
She was very active on her back.
She was in a tough spot shore.
This is an awful stoppage.
Like, in hindsight, maybe it was the right choice,
but for a fight with this much stakes,
with everything on the line here,
Julianne Velasquez putting her undefeated record on line,
people questioning her heading into this fight.
Like, she's even that good after the Denise Keelholz fight.
She's up three rounds.
She's winning, she won all three rounds against Liz Karmouche.
And then this happened.
happens. Liz gets in a good spot. I don't agree with the, hey, we're both military people,
so let me like scratch your back, Liz Comrose. I don't agree with that take, but this is a bad
stoppage. And everything Julianna Velascus has been saying, I completely agree with. I understand
she told her own Guillermo Cruz, she's going to go out there and try to get this overturn.
Never, ever going to happen. But Scott Coker at least has caught out and said, let's try to run this
one back and
Liz Camusch could say whatever she wants.
The only option is to run this one back.
Liz Carmouch has to like,
it took her so long
to become a world champion.
And I know she's thrilled and I know she's happy,
but there is a competitive spirit inside her
that like a week from now,
when the buzz wears off,
she's going to be like,
this isn't convincing.
Like, there's controversy.
I don't want any controversy attached to it.
The competitor in her is going to say, listen, do you want to go again?
Let's go.
I'm just going to beat you up worse.
Yeah.
And let me just say, I'm not saying, like, you made a good point that Mike Boutchran,
I do think should consider the stakes, should consider that it's a championship fight.
I'm not concerned about the time and the clock.
I'm not, for anyone who's saying like, oh, it's not his job to, you know,
to think about how much time was left in the round.
That I agree with.
That I don't think he should be looking at the clock and going like, oh, there's like, you know,
15 seconds left and can Velasquez ride it out.
So in that sense, that's fine.
I don't mind the timing of the stoppage.
But yeah, I mean, I think just looking closely at the action, I just didn't think at any point, Carmoosh had done enough damage in that position to warrant the stoppage.
I did feel like Velazquez was still active and trying to work out of it.
Crucifix is a very hard position to officiate.
I get it because fighters can be stuck in there and not taking damage, but eating kind of those elbows.
It just looks bad, right?
It looks bad.
And I think there was one angle where it almost looked like Velasquez's eyes were kind of like a little glassy.
There was one camera angle that captured that.
Maybe that's what Mike saw.
Again, he's in there.
He's a lot closer than we are.
But yeah, taking everything into context, I'm really shocked that he would make that call.
I do hope we could see rematch.
And to end this on a positive note, it is kind of cool to say Liz Carmush, world champion.
It is.
She's had chances in multiple weight classes.
She's a great fighter.
She's just been overlooked for so long.
That stink bomb against Valentina and Shepchenko.
I know that's like the first thing people are going to think about when they think of Liz Karmuch and World Title Fights.
Fine.
That's on her.
But she's a great fighter up to that point.
She's been a really good fighter.
after. I think she has a great story.
So
circumstances unfortunate, but
it is great that
Karmouche has finally got her due and got a belt
around her waist. And yeah, the right thing to do is run it back.
And look, I think she might be favored to win a rematch. I don't know.
It depends on people how people saw that fight. Like you said,
Velasquez seemed to be winning.
But run it back.
Look, and my, you know, to not just make this the crap on Mike Beltran
show, Mike stoppage
of the Rafi on Stats,
Archoletta fight was it was a good stoppage one was done so he was done in one
could sit there and fight it all he wants even one archeletta went on social media was like
props to Mike Beltran good stoppage that's it so yeah one awful stoppage and one really
good stoppage I think Archela is all his complaining in the moment was definitely one of those
he got knocked out and didn't really know what happened you know so of course you're going to complain
you're like what I got knocked out I don't remember that it's like well that's that's really
the issue yeah that's really the problem
Dax at Pike Putt, Pueyes versus...
I thought about this, but I'm not ready to make this happen yet.
Pueyes versus Ilya Teporia.
No.
No, because Tepore is 45 or so...
I know, but if he sticks around at 155, he'd be in that range for me.
Like, that's kind of the rankings range where I have to Puriah.
Yeah, I mean, I'd watch it.
It'd be interesting.
It'd be interesting.
I'd take Teporia.
I mean, I don't look at Claudio Poyas and say,
I say, okay, I'm excited to see where he goes.
He's got a high ceiling.
But with Ily Tuporia, I look at him and I say,
this guy's fighting for a world title in the next three years.
I don't have that same feeling yet with Claudio Paias.
Not saying we can't get there, but, I mean,
I mean, I'm just folding dudes left and right.
And he's, yeah, he's fighting for a world title for sure.
Let's figure out the weight situations, figure out where you're going to fight.
go from there. If you want to be a 55 or bulk up, hit the, hit the weights, get into it.
If you're going to be a 45er, hit lighter weights and eat less and win at 45.
Well, Mike, that might be why we need to make the fight happen, though, is if you think
Tupuri is a surefire world title container, let's see him take on some tough combination like play.
I see what happens.
Jardin versus Shane Burgos, Berlio versus Boralio.
There you go, guys.
And Mike Jackson versus, this is, I want to actually call this again, this is Dax at Pike
But on Twitter, guys, Jackson versus Jorge Masvedol, tongue firmly in cheek.
It says, game bread needs an easy fight.
And who knows, anything can happen in M.A.
So, hey, if you're Mike Jackson, you should be calling that out.
Let's see.
I don't think a commission would authorize that one, unfortunately.
Stephen Brighter-Pueyes versus Jekizi and Barrio versus Armin Petrosian.
Yeah, I like that one too.
Ain't no experts.
This is the one that everyone thought you were going to say,
that Jed thought you were going to say, Mike.
the Poyas versus Alexander Hernandez matchup.
Did you say why that's not really the direction you want to go in?
Because that, like, that's the Patty fight.
You do Patty versus Alexander Hernandez.
That's the fight.
Yeah, you've been pushing that for a while.
Yeah.
Poezes is, listen, Jose gives me crap because I, like, was high.
I was a little higher on Hernandez than most others.
And I still like Alexander Hernandez.
Sure.
He's got a good personality.
He's a nice guy.
He's always been very good to me in my career.
but yeah he's he's on a little bit of a schneide right now
Claudio Poyas and those guys are way ahead of Alexander Hernandez in my opinion
like Poyas would be a massive favorite against Hernandez I'd pick him
I think he's like a two and a half to one favorite
on Jump Street against Hernandez but Jalen Turner just
and same with Jalen Turner Jalen Turner versus Alexander Hernandez
I don't think goes well for Hernandez either so that's just kind of where these guys
are at not saying Hernandez can't turn it around
but Hernandez is one of those weird stories out
I don't know, man.
Like if he, like if he, the contender series is a thing when he was coming up through the ranks,
like what would Hernandez's career look like if he was developed the right way instead of being
thrown into a fight with Benile Dariusiau right away and getting that quick knockout?
Sometimes like jumping into the top 15 after one win is just not good for you.
It's just not a good thing.
Some can handle it and some are ready for it.
Some aren't.
And this is just one of those tales that Hernandez never really got a chance to develop in the
UFC and here we are.
The best worst thing to happen to him was that to Derr Ushwin for sure.
Charles Jodaine versus Kamala Kirk, Mark Andre Belgeo versus Roman Koppelov and
Felipe Lins versus Jamal Hill.
So some people just want to see Lins just throw him in there.
He's a former PFL heavyweight champion.
Let's see him.
Throw him up at 205.
Hayes Bethard, my pal.
Jodin versus Dan Igay, if he loses to
Mosaar O'Loyev on June 4th,
then there's versus Devin Clark,
and Mike Jackson versus,
I actually like this one, Blood Diamond,
win-lose or draw versus Ryan Koski,
it doesn't matter, just have him fight Blood Diamond next.
I actually, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, that's fine.
Yeah, like, yeah, that's fine.
I was going to say Carlos Alberg, but no way,
because Carlos Lerberg is a 205, right?
So that wouldn't make any sense,
but yeah, that's kind of the range
we're looking at it for,
we're keeping the truth around.
Marcus McGahey, a lot of good picks,
but Ritchie Lang versus Kevin, the TV Dad.
I think that's a fun one.
That is a, this is another flyway?
Should I stop reading?
Maybe we're not convinced.
Maybe, you know, maybe it doesn't seem like you're convinced, A.K.
I mean, again, I forgot that he was coming.
For some reason, I was thinking he was coming down from further away,
not going up and flyways.
So it shows you where my brain is.
But no, the TV Dad is a bantamweight.
So that's okay, good stuff.
And Condosco versus Gunner Nelson, Battle of the Returning Karate Stylist.
So two guys who had long layoffs who practiced the karate.
So Mark is always creative with the picks there.
I like that.
Sean Haywood.
Mike Jackson versus Jason Witt.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I don't like, no, I'm not all going to do.
Really beat up Mike Jackson.
Philippe Lins versus other here's at Well Night again at 205.
You know what?
No, I was going to say I could do it a heavyweight, but no, we've talked about our affection for a light heavyweight lens.
Let's not go back there.
Orici Lang versus Danat Bakari, which would be like Inner Mongolia versus Mongolia.
So that's kind of an interesting one.
Kandashko versus San Canaan, Batheil versus Suriano.
And then I don't know why you're trying to hurt me by going Canada versus Canada here.
Charles Jodain versus Gavin Tucker.
I don't know I feel about that.
Yeah.
Come on.
Why?
Why are we doing this?
Why?
Claudo Paius versus Jamie Malarkey.
I like it.
At 4 Corner Sports NY, I want to read what they had to say here about Jessica Androz
versus Namajunis 3.
Regardless of the outcome of Rose versus Carla 2, Jessica lost the rematch between her and
Rose, but I feel like the outcome would be different if they were going to meet for a third time.
Seems to be pretty, pretty popular sentiment.
By the way, Rose left the Octagon after the fight with Androj, with her eye, completely shut,
closed in a three-round war.
Imagine that that was in a five-round fight.
I
again, I don't know, I think I have to review that fight.
I think people will most agree
it wasn't a robbery like that at worst, a draw,
but also by pride rules,
most people would have given it to Jessica Andrage.
So we won't run that back at some point, I do believe.
Pueyes versus Hock-Prasse,
Jardin versus Dawadu.
Again!
Guys, can we not keep the Canadian separated?
Why?
Ritchie Lang versus John Castaneda.
And I also wanted to read what you had to say
about Barber versus Tatiana Suarez.
Four Corner Sports, NY says,
I'm aware Swares is still injured,
but if we can get this version of Macy
to fight a healthy Tatiana,
it'd be interesting to see Macy's violence clinch game
versus Tatiana's wrestling.
I do agree, if only because we don't know
what Tatiana is at 125 yet.
Again, I assume probably similar
to a straw weight form,
but it is a different weight class.
The girls are a little bigger.
It could be a good fight for Macy.
I don't know.
Mike?
Yeah.
I mean, sure.
Sure.
I'd favor Tatiana in that one pretty heavily.
Yeah.
But, yeah, I mean, it would be an interesting,
would be an interesting comeback fight.
We'd get some attention for Tatiana Suarez.
And a big statement for Macy, if she could pull off that upset,
that would be huge, huge, huge.
A couple more here.
Thomas Collins, I wanted to read out,
this is Mike Jackson versus Mickey Gall too.
given Mike's UFC career,
a rematch against Gall would be an unlucky choice for his next fight.
I mean,
I don't think it happens because Gall just,
you know,
annihilated him in the first fight,
but where's Mickey at now?
Mickey is now seven and five as a pro.
And I guess seven and,
I'd say six and five in the UFC.
He's only had one fight outside of the UFC.
Lost two straight, three or four?
I don't think it happens,
but it's like,
it wouldn't be like the craziest thing?
No, it would be pretty crazy.
Anything that happens with Mike Jackson is crazy that I mention it.
So, I mean, here's, like, Mickey was looking pretty good in the Mike Mollat fight until he got, until he got colded.
Like, he looked, he was looking good on the feed.
He was looking.
I mean, I don't know, it's just, it's a weird thing.
It's a weird thing.
I wouldn't hate it.
I wouldn't hate it, honestly.
But Mickey's the better fighter, clearly.
It wouldn't go differently, I don't imagine.
Yeah.
You're probably right, but we already know what's going to happen, folks.
Just be prepared for it.
We're going to see Jackson Barry, too.
Co-main event when the UFC returns to Ireland, maybe sometime this year.
And then main event when the like whatever schedule main event falls through.
Oh, God.
There's no going back now.
Nope, you're right.
Speaking of Ireland, our man on the Emerald Isle, Barry O'Reilly is going to close out
our Twitter picks here.
Lins versus Roundtree, I like that.
Preston Parsons versus Carlson Harris.
I like that.
Mike Jackson versus E. Casey Leiden, of course.
He says, he says, if Mike is UFC caliber, then get Casey in their ASAP and show
some of these guys, what a real fighter looks like.
And then I wanted to read, they had a note to you.
Barry has a note for you, Mike.
I got to read.
Oh, sorry, here's another one.
Barber versus Molly McCann.
That'd be another phone when to have a European card.
I actually liked that one.
I do too, kind of.
I like that fight.
It's been suggested before, but it makes like even more sense now.
Yeah, I'm in.
I'm in.
If there's rumors that the UFC's going to London in July,
the promotion is not announced this.
There are rumors circulating.
If that is indeed the case,
that is a great fight.
That's a great main card fight to have on that card.
Barbara versus McCann.
Because I kind of like Barbara's approach right now.
Like she feels like at some point I will be champion.
I'm a little more humble.
If the UFC goes that route, I'm in.
Let's go.
Yep, she's just saying yes to everything now and having a positive attitude.
And I'm the Prince's positivity.
I like that.
I like that.
I know Macy Barbara.
Look,
I know she said some silly stuff in the past.
I get it.
I totally understand why she has her share of, quote unquote, hate her.
She's got that social media haters.
But overall, I've always, like Macy, I've always thought, yeah, she's a legitimate
prospect.
Prospects lose fights.
It happens.
I usually tell like Roxanne Matafari and people like that, like, I'm no shame in that.
So I'm a fan of hers.
Yeah, I think her and McCann, you're right, in, in, in, the U.A would be fantastic.
What was the other thing I wanted to read here?
Oh, yes, yes, I'm sorry.
So I know I said I wasn't digging up old, like Mike checks and, you know, check the tapes things, Mike.
But they had a very specific comment.
Barry says, Mike praised a listener pick, Ian Gary versus Brian Barbarina.
I don't know if you remember this.
And then Barry says, I suggest that right after Gary's first fight and
Barbarina's last fight, and it was not met with any such praise, to quote the hurricane,
what's up with that?
Time heals all wounds.
I mean, I needed to see more from Mr. Gary, and he got another win.
He was tested against a tough dude, a guy who fought Brian Barbarina previously and gave
Brian a tough fight.
So I know we don't like to play the MA math game, but the storyline's there.
I feel like Ian experience-wise in Barbarina lines up.
Barbarian is coming off a great win over Matt Brown, one of the best fights of the year.
Sure.
Let's just keep the storyline going.
Like, I fought this dude, then I beat this dude, and this dude fought Brian in his UFC debut on short notice.
That means I could beat Brian.
So let's go.
I like it.
It makes sense.
It's not too much of a step up for Ian Gary, but it's a fine step up against a name that a lot of people respect.
And I think Ian Gary would, I know he says a lot of things.
and I know people question the lots of things he says,
but I think Ian Gary would come in there and not be like humbled up by the experience,
but I think he'd be very appreciative to step in there and fight a guy like Brian Barbarina,
and I think he would learn a lot from it.
So now I'm in.
I apologize if you felt slighted, but now is the time.
I think I probably consider that a like one of those, Mr.
it might be Mr. Right, but not Mr. Right now kind of fights.
Now, now I think is the time.
Now I think it's Mr. Right now.
Can we agree Barry was a little bit ahead of his time with this one?
In a good way?
Yeah.
Listen.
I mean, sometimes we make these predictions.
Listen, I said three years ago, Danny Seventello was going to be a problem.
And it took three years for people to realize that.
And sometimes it takes me, I jump on these things early.
And sometimes it takes me a minute to let the numbers and the gears kind of play out for
all to line up and here we are. Now,
now I'm with you, Barry. We're, uh,
we're on the same page. And it didn't take me
that long. Took me less than a year.
Now you're all coming around to the Danny Sabatelo
chatter. Now you're all jumping on the bandwagon.
And I'm sure Sabatel is going to be on the
MMA hour. But guess who, guess who
had Sabatelo on his shows first?
This guy right here with the two thumbs
multiple times, multiple times
because I knew. I knew, and I
try to shove him down your throat. You hated
them. And now you love them. You're welcome.
So that went in a weird direction.
But I agree.
You were ahead of your time on Danny Sabatelo.
And listen, people, if you want to come at, Mike,
if you want some of that spicy fire that you just heard right there,
hit us up, guys, hit us up in the future.
You can reach me on to, my DMs are open everywhere.
Hit me up on Twitter at Alexander K.K. Lee.
On Instagram, at Alexander KK.K. Lee.
And email me, Alex.com.
Mike, how can people reach you?
Best way on this program?
M underscore
Heck JR
on Instagram
I'm trying to be better with Instagram
I'm trying to post like more and more stuff
So I mean I went from like once every like seven weeks
To maybe once a week now so we're getting there
We're trying to to roll along
I'm trying to learn
And yeah next week UFC is back once again
Again I love this main event
Banim weights
Bannam weights
Bannam weights
Rob Fon
Marlon Chito Vera.
Jake Collier versus Andre Arloffsky is just going to be
fun and kind of funny at the same time.
I'm looking forward to that.
Elkins Connolly's good.
Mirchart is just becoming one of my favorite fighters these days.
What a personality.
Taking on Christoph Joachio, Jared Gordon, Grant Dawson,
Andre Feely, Joe Anderson Brito,
Gina Mazzani, Shannon, Shena Young,
Daniel De Silva, Francisco Figurado,
Mike Breeden, Natan Levy,
Johann Lannis versus Gabe Green,
Tissuro, Tyra, makes his UFC debut,
against Carlos Candelario.
We might have a Tetsuro-Tyra interview coming up
on the podcast version of heck of a morning
this coming week, so stay tuned for that.
And then the svelts, slim, trim, buff,
jacked, chiseled, and ripped Alexander Romanov
taking on the fun fighter and Chase Sherman,
who is back of the UFC,
and just gets a little extra time this time around
before he takes on probably the minus 2,000 favor
by the time that fight rolls through.
and Alexander Romanov.
So thank you all for checking out the program.
And then next week, we're going to be,
the week after that, we'll be probably live again,
coming out of UFC 274,
which will be headlined by Charles Olivera
versus Justin Gagie from Phoenix, Arizona.
And then we got Rosnam Yunus versus Carla Sparza
and all sorts of goodness.
So on to the next one's going to be fun for the next several weeks.
But we are done.
Thank you very much for checking us out.
Thank you all for submitting your picks
and taking part in the program
for a.k. I am Mike Heck. Always remember. Don't take this stuff too seriously. M.A.
supposed to be fun. We'll have more fun right here. And on to the next one. The podcast.
You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
