MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 53

Episode Date: May 1, 2022

Marlon Vera picked up the biggest win of his career in the main event of UFC Vegas 53, so how close is "Chito" away from getting himself into a title fight in the bantamweight division? That question is discussed following Vera's dominant decision win over Rob Font in Saturday's main event at the APEX. In addition, future matchups are discussed for Andrei Arlovski following his controversial decision win over Jake Collier in the co-main event, Joanderson Brito after quickly finishing Andre Fili, Grant Dawson following his third-round submission over Jared Gordon, as well as Darren Elkins and Krzysztof Jotko following their main card wins, 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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The Matchmaking Hats are back on as we discuss the what's next coming out of. UFC Vegas 53 on Saturday night inside the apex as the Bannamweight Division officially as a new title contender. Thanks for having us on, everybody. I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always is a man who is great. he holds many titles he is tremendous at all of them but the most important one is he is all of our best friend collectively mr a k lee alexander hello sir good morning uh i mean i'm everybody's friend i'm really really you're i'm your best friend you're i'm your best friend you're i'm my best friend i'm everybody's friend i don't know if i go as far as i'm everyone's best friend i mean i

well they consider you that i feel like we have they've just become part of our relationship here. Like they feel the connection between us. Yeah, they look at you as a, as a trusted figure. If they have an issue, they can hit you up in your DMs, call you on the phone, something, and you'll talk them through all these situations. Yes, well, you're right. I'm their best friends. They're not all my best friend. Exactly. Well, well, let's get into this thing, AK. Let us begin. And by the way, I want to start with something, I want to get your thoughts on this. I figure this is a good topic. Because I heard from a lot of people who like to say things like this. I heard it on the broadcast last night,

from the desk, from the Karen Bryans to the Michael Kiesces. Dean Thomas didn't really say much about it. But this notion that fans and media members are not allowed to look at a card on paper and say that it's not that good is just egregious to me. How can we not, like, why is it such a bad thing if all of us say, hey, look, it's a great made event. You look at the rest of the card on paper. There's some competitive matchups here, but they don't really, you know, none of these fights really jump out at you. How is that an unfair criticism, A.K.? How come in every other sport we can have these conversations and no one says anything?

But in MMA, if you say this, if you say a card on paper doesn't look that great, it is like the worst thing you can say. Yeah, listen, I love Melchisa. He was one of the first ones definitely to sort of jump on, like, man, this card's delivering, and I know people weren't talking before, and I'm sick of it, and he's a great broadcaster, and he's a fighter. He's coming at it from a different perspective, and he's a UFC employee, which is another perspective, which, you know, might color his opinion on these things. Yeah, listen, if you're, if you want to, like, make that case, you're essentially saying there are no bad cards.

There's no bad cards. I guess until after you watch them. But listen, it's our job to sort of look at these things and analyze and preview and kind of tell people whether something is worth their money's worth or worth their time's worth. And this card on paper wasn't. And let's be clear, it dared out to be a decent card. I'm still not like going back and saying like, oh, man, we were so wrong. Like, if you miss this card, you're crazy. Like, what?

No, I mean, there was some really good fights on it. You didn't regret it if you watched it for sure. But I don't think this is one of those things where I tell people like, oh, if you missed it, because you listen to the so-called M.A. Media, you're a fool. It's like, no, you can catch some of the highlights. Some of the good back-and-forth fights. Gabe Green, Johann Linus was a lot of fun. Darren Alkins-Constristen Connolly was, you know, I think great matchmaking.

So there's good fights on there for sure. But nothing that would make me go like, yeah, we were wrong. We should have told everyone to watch this. Like, no, it was. And, of course, a fight of the year candidate in Verifon. But like I said, you can pick and choose your spots with this card. And that's what I would tell people to do for anyone who missed it. I'd say, yeah, go back and watch some of the highlights, go back and watch a couple of the great fights.

And you're good. You're good. If you skipped it because you didn't want to sit down for six, seven hours and watch the UFC, you should have no regrets. And I have no regrets about criticizing the card or any of the recent cards that have had are lacking in name value or matchup, like rankings implications. That's just the honest truth. And again, if it's your goal to watch every UFC card, that's fine. That's cool. But there are people with more discerning tastes.

and we have to, you know, respect their opinions as well. So, yeah, I understand why they want to defend it and stand it for cards of this and always credit to all the fighters and the people behind the scenes, by the way, at the UFC who never get credit for helping to put these cards together and keep these cars together. Nothing but respect. But, no, it's fine to criticize cards on paper. That's just part of the business. Yeah.

And by the way, if I ever see on Twitter, Michael Kiesa, talk about a Monday night football game that he thinks is trash or a Thursday. a football game that he thinks is trash. I'm coming back at him. Like no, 100%. All out of love, I'm a huge, no one is a bigger Michael Kiesa fan than I, but I thought that was hilarious because I felt like

he was talking to the media when he was saying that stuff. But again, it's okay in other sports to talk about this stuff. It's okay. Like, if you look at the Christmas MBA schedule and you book it at the time and you're like, oh, these look great on paper. And then a week before, you realize that the Lakers are playing

the Celtics and the Lakers are like one and 23 and the Celtics are 24 and 0, we're not going to think it's like a great game on paper. It's just the way that it is. It happens sometimes. It was a fine card. But at the end, when we look back on April 30th, 2002 in the World of Combat Sports, guess what? As great as the UFC main event was, we're not even going to be thinking about that because of what happened at Madison Square Garden.

Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano blew that entire card out of the water on Saturday. So, I mean, credit to all the fighters you stepped in. But again, we may be critical of said card. You gave it a seven on the gymnastics scale, which all things considered is not that bad. And I think you hit us. Guess what? Great job. Seven out of seven.

Yeah, I think you hit a seven. That's awesome. Like, that's great. You hit your gym. I just don't think it could have gone higher than that. And I'm not convinced it, dude. Yeah. But enough, enough of the, oh, you guys are salty and negative on it.

No, we watch them all. We cover them all. And we talk about them all. And we love them. Yeah. Some cards on paper are just stronger. And this was not one of those stronger cards. I know I could say this every show, but every now and that I see comments like,

oh, I saw it because of the ranking. I think someone was commenting on what our ranking saying like, man, these guys must not like like MM anymore. So like the way they talk about some of these fighters, I couldn't remember what it was. And it's just like, guys, we don't make, I don't even know. We don't know. We don't make seven figures a year doing this job. I mean, I'm very happy with the money I make it in my work.

But for anyone who thinks that we just do this because we're making like a crap load of cash, and it's rolling around in like a bends. No, it's because we love this. We love MMA. We love combat sports. And that we get the pay to do it. It's just an amazing privilege. So anyway, I say this all the time.

And I don't mind repeating it, but I imagine people are tired of hearing it. Yes, we love MMA. So leave us alone. But we are allowed to report and be fair. But anyways, let us shine some glorious praise amongst Marlon Chito Vera. Because, AK, they just don't make them like this guy. They just do not make him like this guy. He absorbs just a ridiculous amount of punishment over a 25-minute period.

But you wouldn't know it because he certainly didn't look like he took just south of 300 significant strikes, 95% of which were to the head and face. In fact, he looked like he spent the night at the beach at a bonfire when the fight was over, just hanging out with a Hawaiian shirt on, listening to Jimmy Buffett. its greatest hits. Rob Fons on the other end looks like a completely different human being after this fight. I scored it the way two of the judges did, 49-46 from Marlon Vera, biggest win of his career. I will not talk about Jed Mishu's MMA decision scorecard because that is just egregious and horrendous. But Marlon Vera will be in the top five of the UFC's Bannamate Division

on Tuesday, AK. So where does he go from here? It's funny you mention that because he actually will not be in the top five of my rank. rankings, even my UFC only rankings. So the way I looked at it was, so here's my top five. And this is counting the champion. You're right. The UFC is also different because they don't count the champion. So the UFC, so Al Jemaine Sterling would be separate and then it would go one to five from there.

So he probably will. I imagine their order will be something like Peter Jan, T.J. Dilleshaw, Corey Sanhagan, Aldo, and then Cito. For me, I actually took this, I actually bumped Rob Font down. and now Marab would be in my five, six spot. I don't know if people, people can disagree with that. That's fine. Vera and Fon, of course, have fought better competition than Marab-Dwasch, really.

But I'm okay with, so for me, it won't be that clear cut, but I know what you're saying. Very likely he just takes Fawn spot and Fon had claimed a top-off spot in the UFC rankings. Not that anyone cares about that guys. M.AFlying.com, M.A.fiting global rankings. I have to stick with something I said,

but I don't have to stick with it, because I don't think it's unreasonable. When Songya Dong won his last. fight I said he should get the winner of Vera and Font either set up a rematch with Chito or a fresh matcher with font in this case Vera won so yeah run this one back I think I think Chito would definitely really like to do it the first fight of course went Song Yadong's way very controversial an awesome fight by the awesome fight but controversial I did a robbery review I said not a robbery I think I believe I said

not a robbery I said just close fight close competitive fight I understand what people thought Vera won it but and I and I believe I also they got to run this one back on If you, there's no time like the president, especially again, if you believe there is in the top five. I just don't think he's getting one of those big fights yet. I know a lot of, I saw a lot of reader suggestions calling for those. We'll mention those later. But I don't know if he gets that yet. Let him have his chance at avenging the Song Yadong loss.

And same for Song Yadong, give him a chance to now face a top 10 opponent. So, yeah, I'm looking at my rankings right now. I'm almost on the same boat as you. I think Marab So I have Sterling Jan Dillisha Aldo Sanhagan is my top five. Font was six, Marab was seven. So I think Marab will bump up to six,

Vera will bump up to seven, and Font will drop probably to like eight. He'll go a little bit above Sergio Pettis. But that's where that goes. But as far as the matching goes, this is kind of tough because I saw a lot of different suggestions out there. I love the Dominic Cruz idea. I love the Corey Sandhagen idea.

But my favorite idea of all, and I think only one person said this, and I am all aboard this train, even though it's probably never going to happen. The fight to make is Marlon Vera versus Henry Sehudo. Because look, you know what? It is Sunday. It's a beautiful day.

I'm not in Florida, but I'm going to pretend I'm in Florida. Perhaps I've been a little too hard on Mr. Suhudo. I don't think so. I still believe that nobody gives a hoot that Henry Suhudo is coming back outside of Henry Suhudo, his lovely family, and his manager. But if he is truly serious about this,

if he truly wants to come back, you're not getting Al Jermaine Sterling. You're not getting Alexander Volkadov. In fact, that is just hilarious to even think about. Because it's not happening. But if you're truly serious, Henry Suhudo, and I know I suggested maybe you go out and fight Maravda Walsh willie because that is proof is in the pudding.

You know what? Maybe I was a little too harsh on that. I would love to see that. I really would love to see it. But no, go fight Marlon Vera. Go fight, in my opinion, the number seven ranked Bannamweight in the world. And if you beat Marlon Vera, all you got to do is beat the number seven guy. You beat Marlon Vera.

You get to fight Al Jambay and Sterling for the title. You get your title shot. So this is the fight to make. I want to give Marlon Vera that. opportunity to welcome Henry Suhudo back because I think it would be a lot of fun. I think the build would be hilarious. And I think Marlon Vera might actually slap Henry Suhudo in the face when they actually stand up face to face against each other.

It would just be fun because Marlon ain't about that life. You want to talk crap about Mara Mvara. He's going to talk crap back and he's probably going to slap you upside the head. So I'm looking forward to that. That'd be the fight to make. It's probably not going to happen. I'm probably not getting an ot no point. But if I had the book, if I had the magic pencil,

if I'm Dana White, who probably believes Henry Suhudo is coming back less than I do, like with less figure than I do. And I don't think, I think I'm like number two on the list. Dana White's number one in the conversation of no one cares Henry Suhudo's coming back. Even Dana White would be like, all right, dude, you fight on Vera. I'll give you a title shot. You do that, you're in. So that's my fight.

Probably not getting not in no point, but that's how I'm running the book. Now, we're not going to make a pick for Rob Fon, okay? I'll let you respond to that. Yeah, let me say. that would have been such a good callout for Cheeto to make after the fight. Oh, 100%. The Aldo callout is so bad.

Oh, yeah, that's bad. It's so bad. It's farther away than I remember, so that was three fights ago. Okay, fine. But it's just not a good matchup. I'm not saying it's a fight he can't win. It's just not a good matchup for him. It doesn't, it's Aldo is clearly on a very different

branch of sort of the contenders line right now. So his chances of getting that fight are, just almost none. He's more likely to like he'd be more likely to get the Suhudo fight at this point than he would. That was the callout, 100%.

It is just not a fight that you see I think is interested in making it at all unless for some reason, although, although smart, Aldo has been tweeting about getting a title fight which is what he should be doing. Horrible, horrible call out by

I hope he would get the Suhudo fight, but he's such a company guy that he really will just, like I said, that's kind of why I threw Songya Dong rematch out there. He's like, yeah, he'd want it because he wanted because he want to get the win back.

and he just says, the UFC sends him a contract. He signs it. He's that kind of guy. He only took 20% from Font for a weight miss that was almost three pounds, two and a half pounds. And I think Font knew that he wasn't going to ask for more, so they just threw it the standard 20. And yeah, I like the Sehudo match up a lot. Yeah, that's a great magic wand pick, Mike. It is.

Back to Fon. Not going to make a pick for him. My hope is that he takes a whole bunch of time off the rest of the year at least, then come back, take maybe a little bit of a step back. I saw a few people suggest Rob Font versus Song Yidong. I actually liked that idea quite a bit. And I love watching Rob Fod fight. I actually know Rob decently from just covering him throughout his entire career. But, you know, I just want to see him as close to his best as possible.

Still a fun fighter. It's not like the scorecards don't really show how close this fight actually was or the Josealdo fight actually was. But just he was just getting cracked. He was getting dropped real hard. It was tough. The dude is tough as hell. So good stuff. Hack the holidays with the PC holiday insiders report.

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You bring your AI game. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money, and agents, so you can transform tomorrow. Workday, moving business forever forward. Co-made of NAK, this is just something because Andrea Olavski just keeps winning. He just keeps winning. Even when he doesn't win AK, he wins. And that's what happens against Jake Collier because he clearly lost this fight.

Clearly lost it. There's not a person besides maybe Abe Kawa and Malki Kawa. And maybe Arlovsky's corners who thought he won this fight. Literally no one else thought Aralofsky won. I can name two other people. Oh, God. But still, but anyways. The judges.

Two judges. Yeah, and the judges. And the judges. And the judges. But he still wins. He loses, but still wins. Unbelievable. Andreeloski, A.K., has won four fights at a row.

He's won six of his last seven. The one loss was Tommy Aspidal, which is not a... That loss ages very well. This guy is ridiculous. But my pick, no matter what happens on May 21st, A.K., J.Lan A.Meda is fighting Parker Porter. Parker Porter is the guy. It's Parker Porter versus Andrea Lovsky. No matter what happens, Porter wins, Porter loses.

He fights Andrea Lovsky next. Yeah, I think we're in a couple of... agreement as you are with a lot of fans media like let us never barring something crazy happening let's say he wins 10 fights in a row let us never push him towards a title shot or talk about like content well what does this mean for his contenders who care it's that he's beyond that again he's in that jim miller donald's sorony range literally now tied with them for 23 UFC wins the most wins in promotional history yeah let's just keep giving him fun fights not even i shouldn't even say fun fights, Andger-elowski fights are not particularly fun to watch, but they are fascinating. They are fascinating. I think in the sense that, like, for 15 minutes, you keep expecting him to slip on the perverial banana peel or his opponent to, like, figure him out and just be like, oh, wait a minute. Like, I'm 12 years younger than this guy. I'm just going to, you know, go nuts and I'm going to knock him out.

It just doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen. So, yeah, I'm sticking mid-range as well. Blagoa Ivanov fights Marcus, Marcus Housgerio de Lima. next week, USC 274. So just whoever wins that, congrats. You get to be the next

to lose a split decision to Andro Orlovsky. Wow, listen to that. Well done. By the way, just going back to the main event, I saw my man, John Adick, tweet this out

from the UFC stats desk. Michael Carroll, just a tremendous job of this stuff. Marlon Veras minus, by the way, again, if you ever watch this fight,

this might be the perfect example of judging in 2022. It was Aldo Fon. Now it's this fight. Rob Font in significant strikes over five rounds outlanded Marlon Vera by 112 significant strikes. So this was, John Aixwe was from the UFC Stats X, Marlon Vera's minus 112 significant strike differential, 271 to 159, is the largest negative differential for a fighter to win by decision in UFC history. The previous record belonged to Robbie Lawler when he beat Carlos Condit minus 84 differential. That's a wild stat, okay?

That is a crazy number. And yet, and yet, let this fight be used in the future as an action for how fights should be judged. This is how, this was perfectly accurate. Let's give a shout out. I'm going to have to give a shout out and then sort of take it back. But let's give it, listen, we're always criticized judges. So shout out to Mike Bell, Sal Diomato, and Junichiro Camijo for scoring the fight as it should have been. Well done, gentlemen.

Sal DiMato also scored, was also one of the judges who scored the fight for Arlofsky over Collier. So it's a bit of a mixed night. But, hey, like I said, we only seem to call out referees and such. And judgment, they do a bad job. They did a fine job with the main event. We can talk about the other stuff another time. But good job. That was right.

That's how you score it. And people should study that fight. 100%. 4946 was the number. 4847. I mean, that was kind of a gift for Rob Font. I scored a 4946 and I am a, I mean, everyone knows. You always accuse me of New England bias.

Big time. And I still scored 4946. But let's move ahead. Featherweights. Joe Anderson Brito has this breakout moment, A.K. Lives up to the hype and then some. He stops Andre Feeley in under a minute. And I don't think anybody saw that coming.

I think maybe some people picked Joe Anderson Brito to get the upset win, but no one expected him to run through Feeley in under a minute. Massive win, massive statement, AK, what do we do with this man? How far do we push him up the ladder? Now, I don't think that my chosen opponent for him should even be at 145 pounds. But I think it's got name value. I think it's an intriguing fight to kind of see how good Brito actually is. I think he's very talented.

I think he's got a very distinct style, which is fine. like that he just punches his way in and goes for takedowns and um dan hooker oh dan hooker if dan hooker stays at 145 which is that which he after his loss to arnold allen he didn't seem to give an indication either way i was in favor of him going back to lightweight if only because i'm not sure he's a contender a true like contender in either way class so like at least fight at the one where you don't have to you know cut that extra 10 pounds um but if he's serious about it like i don't think, you know, he's been around. I don't think he's going to necessarily let that one loss as bad as it was deter him. He may want to take another couple of cracks at 145 now that he's back

down there. So, yeah, let me see what we got with Britoe because he takes a weird jump up. He jumps up because Andre Thiel is like a perennial top 25, top 30 guy, and I did not have Brito in there. So he breaks into that, that range of fighters. And Dan Hooker's kind of in a weird spot of featherweight. I have him in like the top 25, but I mean, does he even deserve a top 25 spot he hasn't done that even when he was at featherweight it wasn't like he was beating elite guys so both guys strange strange sort of part of the rankings throw them in there and at one you get a fun fight and two let's see uh let's see who's really sort of a guy who's going to um be a factor at 145 i like the pick that's a really it's an interesting pick one i didn't even think of so well done

listen Andre feely is a great win Andre feely for years has been like a fringe top 20 guy and they may have something with Joe Anderson Brito. They might have something here. I was very high in him heading into his UFC debut. This is a great win. However, I have not seen enough to rush him past that point because what happens if he takes on a very durable guy that would have perhaps survived that early onslaught?

What happens in round two? What happens in round three? We saw it happen in Brito's debut. Looks great early. Just comes out 150 miles an hour. And then if he doesn't put you away, he starts to slow down and he might get put away. So I don't want to rush him too quickly, but I also want him to get tested. So Juliana Rosa is by pick, AK.

Juliana Rosa, Joanna Rosa, Joanna and Brito, let's do it. That's the fight. Everyone's going to love it. Let's see what you got. Yeah, a lot of a Rosa talk this week. I'll tell you. We'll get to the listeners. Big win for Grant Dawson, submits Jared Gordon, the third.

Tough, gritty, yet very dominant performance. He seems to have addressed the cardio issues. Of course, it was talked about throughout the fight and throughout the broadcast, the move from Glory MMA to ATT. He had those extra levels of, I needed to get to this point. I'm tired after two rounds. I need to find that second gear, that third gear. He found it.

Very solid showing from Mr. KGD. And I want to give him a guy, probably right outside of the top 15, maybe a top 20, top 25 guy, a dangerous man who I want to see, I want to see Grantas to fight a guy who's going to punch him in the face really, really, really, really hard. And I think Joel Alvarez is just that guy, okay? Let's see where Grant Dawson is at. Let's see if Joel Alvarez can bounce back from that lopsided loss to Armand Sarukion. And let's see if Grant Dawson is a top 15, kind of 155 or because I have to say,

I was very impressed by this performance. Jared, you don't do that to Jared Gordon. And if he goes out there and does the same thing to Joel Alvarez, which is very possible because we saw the Sarukyon fight, we might have something with Grant Dossi. He might just very well be a top 15, 155 pounder. What say you? I'm going to go even higher.

I'm actually going to go even higher than Joel Alvarez. I agree. I do want to see him tested by a top 15 level opponent. And normally I hate, you know, putting guys streaking in one direction against guys streaking another direction. But I do think Diego Fajeda is the right test. He has lost three straight,

but he's a pretty big extent. up from everyone who Grand Dawson has fought so far. For me, he's hanging on to a 15 spot in my UFC-only rankings. He's right there 15. I have three spots above Grand Dawson. And there's a couple names in between that would also make sense. But yeah, and I hate to use guys as like stepping stones, but I do feel like with Diego Faheda, I think the UFC would probably look at him that way so they don't care whether

he's on a three-fight losing streak or not. And if they're invested in Grant Dawson, that's your gauge there to say, oh, wow, if he beats Diego Faheda, then we're really talking maybe a top 10 opponent next. Because I think Diego Fahed is so skilled, so well-rounded, so experienced. He can finish quick, but he's been in wars too. Like if it goes to a decision, man, he's going to take, he's going to really push Dosson to another level. So not an easy win at all, but someone who's just slumping a little bit, and it might be

the right time for a guy like him to fight Grant Dossum. I like that fight. I like that fight a lot. Let's move on to Darren Elkins, who revealed on the broadcast after defeating a very game, a very tough Tristan Connolly that that was the last fight on his deal. He bet on himself to try to get himself a new contract. And of course, he's asked, like, who do you want to fight next? And he said, give me that new contract and I'll fight whoever you want.

So interested in see, I think the UFC will probably resign him. I don't think it's going to take much of a bump up to get him there. It's not like Darren Elkins is going to say, I want 150 and 150 to fight. He'll probably just be like, give me an extra like a couple grand, fly me first class instead of coach. And I'm in. So where does he go? 145 is interesting. You know what you get when you're fighting a guy like Darren Elkins.

Where does he go? Where does the damage go from his victory over Tristan Connolly? I'm trying to see the last disclosed payday I could find for Darren Elkins was, and this is a while ago, so it's probably, I imagine this was a new four-fighter. So when he, oh, this actually works perfectly. Okay, listen, this will go with my pick. I want to see him run it back with Nate Landlapur. I think it's been enough time.

That was an amazing fight. That was May 2020. This was, I think was this just before, or just, I'm sorry, just after COVID sort of hit, and then they had to do a show in Jacksonville. Yeah, it's one of the first Jacksonville cards, right? Okay. Yeah, they did like three shows in like two weeks or something.

That was such a weird time, such a weird time. People forget, I think, about the Jacksonville shows. Yeah, amazing fight. Controversial, controversial. I did think it was okay for Landward, but I know a lot of people who scored it for Elkins, and that's fine. So yeah, enough time has passed, run that one back, super fun fight. And the other thing I want to mention that card is the last time I can find disclosed paydays

because he's fought in Vegas at the apex every time since. And Darren Elkins made $62,000 to show he lost. And then I would have made $60,000 to win. So about $120,000 to if he had won. He's the kind of guy, he's been around for so long. He should be getting $120,000 to show, and then like a win bonus of whatever, $50,000. I'm like how you know because I still believe in win bonuses I think we've been against the win bonusing for so long I still believe in win bonuses but they should

just be like they should be literally that there should be a bonus not not double your show you know I mean your show should be substantial your show should be like whatever happens win or lose this guy should be happy should be taken care of especially a guy like Darren Elkins he should be making 150 grand honestly 200 grand probably more I'm probably still underselling it and then like a $50,000 win bonus or something like that whatever but whatever his next contract is Darren Elkins please I don't know, I'm talking to him or his agent, whoever handles this. This guy's got to be making at least six figures of fight, win or lose.

Has to be. He's just given so much to this company. And his fights are always good. I don't know what more you can ask for from a fighter. I mean, that is a brilliant statement. Well said. With that being said, Darren Elkins versus Sean Woodson seems like a very fun fight. Because I feel like Sean is a very talented guy.

I feel like he has been comfortably ahead in every single fight. been in until the Julian Orozah fight where he was clearly winning the first two rounds, was clearly winning the third round, even drops Julian O'Rosa in the third, and then ends up getting submitted late in the third. So I think for Sean Woodson, I'm very high in his talents. I think he's a very good fighter. I think this guy could be a top 15 guy in this division. But to get there, you got to beat the Darren Elkinses of the world. You have to go through that fire. and I think it's time to throw Sean Woodson into that into that damage fire right now.

So let's do that. Let's see what happens. Let's re-sign Darren Elkins. Let's give him some more money. And let's see this fight play out because Sean Woodson at 145 at like 6 foot 11 is just hilarious to watch. And Darren Elkins should be all about that, A.K. I like that.

Because it is time to give him another chance to prove he can put together that, you know, a three-on performance against a veteran. Because like you said, a Rosa, just falter. Just falter the finish line, you know. So, yeah, Elkins. Alkins makes a lot of sense. Let's go to Christoph Jocko, A.K. I know you're very high on this man, and I'm going to let you wax poetically in a minute.

I'll get my pick out real quick. He defeats Gerald Mearschart, gets it done. Christoph Yaco, I'm trying to, like, find a way to compare him. Christoph Yaco is, like, a guy who hits 375 in the American League, but he hits, like, no homers and drives in 15 runs. Like, it's just, it's effective. It's very effective. some base.

Probably wins the batting title, but no one really gets it because there's a guy who hit like 235, but he hit 55 home runs and drove in 175 runs. Like, we're looking at that guy. Well, Christov Yako is just getting in there. He's just getting base hits. He's sacrificing runners to second base. Whether there's runner on third, he's hitting a fly ball of the outfield to bring him in. Like he just does everything fundamentally sound 100%.

gets another victory. Now yes, fight Bruno Silva, okay? That's the fight to make. Bruno Silva's coming off the loss to Alex Paheda, that tough, gritty fight. So, Jocko versus Bruno Silva. That's the way to go. Yeah, I like that one a lot.

I'm a little upset. I hadn't thought of it. Actually, I noticed it when people sent in listeners suggestions later. I was like, why did I not throw it Bruno Silva? Maybe I thought he'd been booked or something? I'm not sure. That's a great matchup. I think you're overselling.

I love Christop Jocko, but 375 is like an all-star. You're talking about an all-star. I don't think Jocko would be like it is. I would consider him like an all-star level player. He's like Eric Chavez. He's 312. This is a deep cut. This is a deep cut.

This is like Eric Chavez, the Oakland A's back in the day. Never made an all-star team. Very solid, notable player played for a lot of good Oakland A's teams. I believe he won gold gloves. So he might not even got that. It's just weird. He was a notable player once in a long time. Oakland A's fans, I'm sure, we'll know what I'm talking about.

That's a good. Yeah, it's a deep cut. It's a deep cut. And again, solid. Like when you look back, I think if you look at Christophe Jocko's resume, you just look at straight, just look at how much green there is in his win column, how much red there is. It looks good. It looks good. A lot of green.

A lot of green. He's lost to definitely probably the top 10, top 15. And that's fine. He has me able to reach that level. But yeah, I just like guys like him who are grinders who just, man, stick around. They find ways to win fights. He's kind of the middleweight Arlowski, you know, hasn't been around quite as long. but just in the way that he seems to drag people into Jotko fights.

You're going to fight the way Jocko wants you to fight. He might not win that fight, but you're going to end up fighting his way. And that's a very tough thing to do. And just a unique gift that some fighters have him and Rlofkin and several others. So I said screw it, Mike. Oh, no. I said screw it. I'm going.

As I'm on you? No, man. Yeah, yeah, it's time. It's time. He's won five out of six. No, Derek Brunson. Oh. Yeah, I think Derek Brunson is leagues ahead of him in my rankings.

I think he's, if you're tiering the middleweight, it's clearly a tier above. But Brunson's coming off a loss. He's fought pretty much everybody in the, you know, or at least been matched up with everybody in the top 10. I think Brunson wins this one pretty easily. But like I said, Jocco drags into a Jocco fight. Man, you just don't know what can happen. And unless stranger things have occurred in M. made before maybe jaco beats him and gets like his first top 10 ranking ever that would be fun so

yeah it might just be a stay busy fight for brunson maybe not want to get uh super motivated for but um very middle a weighty matchup and one that i could see uh uh a co main eventing some cards somewhere i mean i i respect christov jaco so much for being unapologetically himself like he's not going to cater to to to the fans he's not going to cater to the to his opponent or the teams or anything like that. He's just going to fight his fight. He's going to do the fundamentals. He's going to hit free throws and he's going to win. That's what he does. So, guy wins again. And Gerald Mearsarp, back to the drawing board. Let's go to the wildcar round, but I have to get clarification here, A.K., because we discussed this, that we weren't even

really essentially going to do a wildcard route. We were just going to make fights for Alexander Romanov, as we should. I don't think that's a terrible idea at all. I mean, there are plenty wild card picks from the fans that we could talk about, but I like this Romanoff idea. Yeah. I like this Romanoff idea a lot. And let me just say this.

One of the most frustrating conversations we had in our Slack channel was about our rankings. And Alexander Romanov was like at the center of this. And I'm not going to get into who started this and who got me all angry

and fired up and all of us. But I feel like Alexander Romanoff right now, like when my rankings come out, I had Ramanov ranked like I think the first month we did this. and then I think maybe like his inactivity at the time knocked him out, but he was always like 16, 17 for me. I'm going to say this after his performance against Chase Sherman,

even though Chase Sherman, even though he was the biggest favorite in UFC history, he's going to be a top 10 heavyweight in my rankings. He will be in the top 10. He'll probably be the number 10 ranked heavyweight because here's the thing. You can sit there and be like, oh, he just beat the worst heavyweight in the world. So how could you justify a ranking? It's not that he beat the worst heavyweight in the world in your eyes. I don't think Chase Sherman is the worst heavyweight in the world.

But it's the way he did it. Because someone on Twitter, my man Keith, was like, well, Jay Collier submitted him in the first round two. Should he be your rank guy? No, Jake Collier got punched in the face 10 times by Chase Sherman. You know how many times Alexander Romanov got punched in the face by Chase Sherman? Zero. Zero. You know how many times Alexander Romanov was touched by Chase Sherman?

Zero. Zero. He went flying six times and then got strangled and then got pounded out and then almost got his arm ripped off. That's what you do is a minus 2,200 favorite. He actually cash, he actually lived up to the price tag. That's what you do in these situations. And it's not like Sherman was Romanov's initial opponent. He was scheduled to fight Tanner Bozer, which by the way, I like Tanner a lot, but the same thing would have happened to Tanner Bozier. Like, I'm convinced. convinced the same thing would have happened. So I think Romanov is that good, A.K. With that being said, is that the road you went here?

Did you match rate for Romanoff or did you go outside of this and pick somebody else for a while? No, man. Listen, listen, we should, that's what I was telling you a message you before. It's like, we should just do Ramano because I don't remember if this was going to be a main card fight last week. I don't think so, right? I think even when it was intact. No, it was. It was.

It was. I think it was the opener, yeah. It was. Okay, right. And then it just became a five fight. Oh, no, yeah. They bumped up Barbaradio and Jordan Wright. Yeah, so I mean, really, it's only fair.

Like, it's kind of sucked just because I got to late a week that we don't give it. It's ought no time. So, and again, it's what, let's be honest, I think of this card, it was probably one of the top three fights that people we're talking about, if only because of the astronomical odds that Chase Sherman was facing. So, yeah, I got it. Yeah, if you want to throw in another wild card pick, that's fine. I think we should just both do Romanov, but, um, Martin Tubura. So I want to give, so for me, like I said, I'm not going to move Ramonov into my top 10. I do want to see him beat slightly better competition.

He's kind of there with Sergei Pavlovich. Sergei Pavlovich just beat Shemil Abderakimov. And Abdur Arkeemov is a much better opponent than anyone that Romanov has beat. And he did impressively, too. Like Pavlovich has looked like a beast. His only loss is to Alistair Overeem, which is not ready for that fight yet. So I can't, so I'm putting him in that range, which means I can't bump him into the top 10. But top 15 for sure, the good thing is, barring something crazy happening, I think he's a lock to get a top 10 opponent.

and will be undeniable if he beats like a Martin Tobora or some of the other names that I've seen in the top 10 to not there for him. So I don't need to bump him up yet because the man's an animal probably bump himself up. Yeah, he's a minus 600 favorite against Martin Taivora, which is just crazy to think about

because no one's really a minus 600 favorite. Yeah, no one's really a minus 600 favorite. He's a veteran, a great grappler. He's super strong. He's stronger than he looks. I don't know if he's UBurov strong, but he's so much stronger than he looks. The experience is there.

I think it's a great, great test. Again, like you said, definitely huge favorite, Romanov. Yeah, minus 600 sounds about right. But one that I think it's going to have, I think the fight would have people sweating for a little bit. Yeah, I actually, I like that one better than my actual pick. I think it was kind of lazy with my actual pick. And normally we don't, we don't reward fighters for trying to matchmake for us.

But he called out Augusto Sakai, said, let's just do it in July. I'm in. I like it. I like the idea. If that means I get to see Romanov right back in there, this summer, against a rank guy, let's do it. Because guess what? It's just going to be a short night at the office.

He's going to pick Sakai up. He's going to suplex him. He's going to punch him in the face, and he's going to submit him inside of three minutes. So, yeah, let's do it. Give him what he wants. And then if he calls on somebody else, we do that as well.

He's fun, eh? He is fun. He's fun. By the way, I want to pause. I think I prefer to him as Russian on multiple shows. He is Moldovan. So I do apologize. Not the same thing.

He is Moldovan. But he's got like, I don't want to say he has the, The It Factor to be a tier A star, that's probably a bit too far, but you never know. But I think he could be a solid really like upper tier B guy because even when, so when we saw before, he was like this big burly bear. Like he had a great look from the beginning, this kind of big burly bear and he fought like it.

You know, he fought like he looked. Now he suddenly dropped all this way. He looks freaking diesel and looks intimidating in an entirely different way. He's kind of funny on the mic. Like he's got kind of a subtle humor about him. He called out John Jones last night in a sort of backstage interview. I thought that was fun, that kind of quirky thing to do. He's throwing around his coaches after, which I always like.

I like when fighters do that. Like, he has a lot of hooks. Like, he's very memorable. And then you put on, and then you throw in the dominance. Like, he's already had a few, like, highlight real finishes. Like, he's the fun kind of grappler. Another kind of grappler that feel like, oh, I don't want to watch this guy grand out of decision. Now, this guy, when he gets a takedown, you get excited.

You're like, oh, crap. Like, what's wrong about I'm going to do to this guy? So I don't know if you can do that to the upper tier guys, but he's already kind of got that identity. So good for the UFC's heavyweight division because, yeah, he's really, like I like what you said. Whoever he fights, the sooner the better. We need more of Romano. Yes. The way he suplexed Chase Sherman, Chase Sherman's feet were like two and a half feet above

Romanoff's head. And Romanoff was like standing straight up. It was just wild, just wild. So great win for him. Treated Chase Sherman accordingly was every bit of a minus 2200 favorite. And I can't wait to see him again. Do we have any bonus material? Do we have mic checks?

Do we have check the tapes? No, we got some nice check the tapes here. MMA heads called out this Lewis versus Sergei Pavlovich matchup, which seems to be going down. It seems to be, I don't know if it's signed, but in the works, at least for UFC 277, July 30th. So that's a solo point for you, MAHeads. Marcus McGehe, if anyone else mentioned this matchup, I'm sorry if I missed it, but he reminded me and thus gets the point. Marcus McAheheekhe means versus Holland, Kevin Holland, announcing that one with an amusing video earlier. this week. That looks like that's going down June 18th.

And shared point for all listeners, Kater versus Emmett. That's June 18th, same car, UFC Austin. And then a couple of big ones for UFC London, July 23rd. Blades versus Aspinall. Looks like that's going to be the main event, right? Yeah, working for the main event. And Jack Hermanson versus Daryntill. So some shared points, a couple solo points.

Well done. Well done. The ought no listeners crushing it as always. Well done. Let's go to listener picks. Let's do it. Disclaim away, my man. Yes. This is the Marcus weekend.

he calls us the Primo Vera edition of. I like that. It is springtime. That's great. Yeah, it's very clever. Primo Vera edition of the, no listener picks. So very quickly here,

Scattergories rule, guys, as we just mentioned, if you're somehow the only one who picked a fight or I just forgot everyone else who did it, guess what? Out no point for you. This one's really sticking my crop,

people. Making mistakes is really starting to bother me. Make sure you please, guys. You've got the right weight class, or if they fought already recently, or it's someone who's a notable injury that we know is not fighting for a while, someone who's not in the roster anymore, fights that are already booked.

Listen, Mike, if I see one more mistake like these, I'm telling you, so right now I think I have a sort of somewhat of a rule. If you make two mistakes, then I'm just not reading any of your picks. Okay, if you make two mistakes. But going forward, I'm getting to the point, if you make one egregious mistake, I'm not going to read, then I'm not going to, I'm still not going to read any of your picks. And you're just qualified for getting out no points. But people, emmafighting.com, topology, sure dog, whatever resource you want. You have the internet. Google.

Use them and figure out if these people are already booked. I keep seeing people picking fighters who are already booking the fights, and it is infuriating. And more importantly, of course, if your pick is do-do, we're just not going to want to read it. Well done. I mean, this disclaimer just gets more hilarious. I keep trying to make it shorter, but I have to add these addendums all the time. It's just, this is on the listeners. You guys think the disclaimer section is too long.

That's on you. I feel like UFC 274's disclaimer is going to be. just off the charts hilarious because we're going to be on like two hours sleep recording that show. Actually, we'll be live on that show. So we're going to be all sorts of salty. But let's get into this Jack Porter kicking us off for

Otno. Cheeto versus Jan would be an absolute war. Font versus O'Malley a year from now. I like that idea as well. Arlowski versus Shemiel Deraimov even though I really didn't think he won the fight. How about Ramona versus Christakis?

I actually don't mind that one either. That's a fine fight. Put some brain into the top 10. And I also want to match up Mike with a bit more of a West Coast friendly start time for heck of a morning. Love the show. I want to start calling in. By the way, I appreciate that. I appreciate the kind words.

But guess what? Your entire combat sports watching life is based on West Coast time. So we're going to give the East Coasters something to like this time. We're going to cater to them because the East Coast time is the best time. we're going to do something for them. Okay, everything's on the West Coast. These UFC events, these main cars starting at 10 p.m. Eastern is a travesty. They're starting at 7 p.m. Eastern. Eastern.

We should be getting everybody the same kind of leeway. It is what it is. Tristan Gordette. Mike, you and I have survived too many East Coast winters. You're done with those now, thankfully. But you and I have survived too many bitter East Coast winters to put up with West Coasters telling us what time we should be doing our business. Yeah, get up early. Get up at 4.30.

Let's rock. Tristan Gordat Main card Darren Elkins versus Darren Elkins versus Juliana Rose he likes that Grant Dossett versus Drew Dober If Doss is not ready for a top 15 In the lightweight division

Then a win against Dober could be enough To have him face a ranked fighter Wild card He likes Romanov versus Sakai Mike, I'm really high at Ramadoff as well But we may have to slow roll him a bit Let him face the bottom half of the top 15 We can gain more experience

In Octagon time Before we start shooting him up close to the top five Obviously we're not throwing him in there It's the top of. What I was saying on the post-fight show is that I would favor Ramonov against two members of the top five right now. I think he would absolutely destroy Derek Lewis and I think he would run through tie to Ivasa. The others, not as confident about. But I would have to think about it.

I would have to think about it. Shana Young versus Hannah Goldie as well. I saw a lot of that. Yeah, good logical pick. Fine. Brennan-Nov versus Taibor. He's with you. Jokko versus the loser of Pahedahed.

versus Strickland, AK. Uh, Bahara versus, sorry, that was, uh, Jocco? Yes. Um, uh, when is that fight happening? July 30th. It's a little too far away. It's a little too far away. Yeah, it's one of those jolly cards.

Uh, Dossa versus Gregor Gillespie. Arlowski versus Sakai 2 and Viva, Ecuador, Cheeto versus Corey Sanhagan. I feel like that's going to be a very, very popular one. Uh-huh. John Ray, love the draft show. I have to ask you, how did you is Eagle FC not draft Habib's freedom from the UFC?

You know why? Because I know my competition, and I know nobody was going to take that risk in drafting Hubby and Mammagabayoff. They didn't want to just waste a pick. So I know I have him for a while. Now, I will say next year, I might have to think about it a little bit more,

especially if Charles Olivera beats Justin Gae and then goes on to beat somebody else. Then we might have to start, I might have to start kind of defending his honor and keeping him safe in the Eagle FC offices, but that's neither here nor there. He's coming back. He's coming back to fight Dobrox next year, I'm telling you.

Shady Young versus Priscilla Cacchoueta. Gabe Green versus the winner of Trinaldo versus Roberts. Figgi Biggs versus Carlos Hernandez. Jotko versus Hernandez. Okay. Anthony Hernandez. Anthony Hernandez, yep. Darren Elkins, Joanna Simprito.

Grant Dockon. Dawson versus Dan Hooker. I was surprised, first of all, I didn't see more people throwing Elkins, just going Elkins Brito. Yeah. I was surprised. Grand Dawson, again, yeah, I actually don't mind Grand Dawson. I think that's a, you know what? I was going to say it's a nightmare match for Dan Hooker.

Really, look, Dawson is a nightmare matcher for almost anyone if he gets into the ground. But look, guys like him, you do want to see like a little more well-roundedness. And in a stand-up battle, I mean, obviously, Hooker will probably like slice his ass up or not. I don't know. But Hooker would be heavily favored and stand-up. Dawson heavily favorite in the crowd. That's actually not, like, terrible. And I do want Hooker to go back to lightweight.

So I kind of like it. I would say Dawson is like a minus 275 to minus 300 favorite in that fight. But yeah, good fight. Good fight. And he likes Font versus Song-Yidong. I like that one as well. Jorad Biaghan, Font versus Frankie Edgar at 145. Both their chins could use less weight cuts.

I actually like this idea, I, I think that's a fine fight. No weight cuts. We'll do the Keller her weight class. Font versus Frankie Edgar, five rounds. I love it in theory, as long as it doesn't actually happen. Yeah. I love it.

I actually think that would be a super fun, compelling fight. Because font is a great boxer, but he's not a powerhouse boxer. He's not a guy that's just going to knock your head off. Frankie's a volume striker, too. Until he fights Frankie. Jeez, Louise. So there you go. AK didn't hear that one.

Arlowski versus Sergei Spivak. Eh, maybe. Yeah. I got that too. It's kind of perfect, actually. Yeah, you're right. I would put Spivak. I wouldn't call him mid-tier because I do think he's like a legitimate like prospect.

I put him a little bit above that, but not so far above that he's beyond fighting Arlovsky. And again, that really feels like a fight that would go to a decision. That's that that Arloski find a way to make their code of decision. So, and I have them right next to each other. in my rankings. That'd be such an Arlofsky fight. Right? Yeah, that'd be brutal to watch, but hilarious at the same time.

Brito versus Amirhani, sure. Dawson versus Mark Madsen, talk about brutal and tough to watch. I think that would be brutal and tough to watch. Unless you're a grappling fan, then it would be like a grappler's delight, but I have a feeling we're just going to be hanging out on the fence for 14 and a half minutes. Or 15 minutes of lukewarm kickboxing. Oh, there you go. Now you got me.

Now you got me fired up. Elkins versus Bruce Leroy. That seems like just a ton of fun. So sign me up for that. How have they not fought already? I know. Jocko versus the Chris Curtis Hedoffel Vietta winner. Romana versus Taiboira.

Figgi Biggs versus the Cody Durdon J.P. Bayes winner. I believe they're fighting in July now. Gabe Green versus Mike Malat. Ooh, that's a great fight. I like that one a lot. Natan Levy versus Juerang. Gerard Biagin. Just spring in the heat this week.

Very well done. Who is at Levy versus? Jurang. Oh, Zhurangu. Is it? Yeah, wrong Jew, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Either's kind of correct, depending how you want to me. Yeah, I'm like wrong, Bergerty and just reading out the teleprompter. Hey, Mike, it's Zeke. First time's the mission to on to the next one. Not sure if it'll be next, but a must see in my future MMA fandom. Marlon Vera, Sean O'Malley, too. Now, how would you feel if the UFC just went back to that well and booked it as like a fight night main event?

would you be cool with that? Or do you feel like it's too soon for that? I'd be cool with it because I think Vera would beat him again and we could finally stop talking about this like it was some sort of weird like non-finish because it was a clear finish. Yeah, yes, injury, but that's a clear TKO win for Marlon Vera for me. So yeah, if that's listening,

that's what the U.S. you want to do next, definitely have no problem with it. I think people still talk about the fight, there's heat to it. And that's what combat sports is about. Do people want to see these two fight again? Yes. Would O'Malley want to take that fight?

Definitely. Definitely. It doesn't shut off about it. So, yeah, I'm cool with it. Not my top choice. Not my top choice. You know, in a perfect world, I want to see people kind of moving in fresh directions other than the, well, I know I just

said the Songy Dong rematch, but that's a little more relevant right now. But O'Malley, O'Malley and Vera, it will, I think it will happen again someday, so why not now? That's probably the best way to look at it. Yeah. Hussain starts off by saying, just wanted to say that we should take a second to realize that it's a hard sport. These losing fighters, who we as viewers so easily dismiss or label,

are all human beings with dreams. Some fighters have to have those tough conversations with their partners, wives and family, about the money they won't be bringing home because there was a better man who took it away. Hard life, but big rewards. That is poetic, Hussein. Wow.

And then he made picks after. I mean, this guy is just taking us on an emotional roller coaster at. It's almost feels like we shouldn't even make picks anymore. I just feel bad now. Yeah, good night, everybody. Thank you. I feel bad inside. The Incredible Hulk hitchhiking music in the background.

Cusula Vargas versus Natan Levy. Jocko versus Chris Wyman, if healthy, if not, then Bruno Silva. I've wanted that fight for a long time. I do think he is the guy to welcome Chris Wyden back. I just don't know when that will happen, right? Yeah, that's probably the perfect fight for Chris Wyatman to come back to. Elkins, Dan Hooker, Grant Dawson, Joel Alvarez, Arlofsky versus Dawkins. Wow.

Throwing him right, throwing Arlowski right into a top 10 fight after losing but winning. Romana versus Spivak. See, this one I, this one I'm kind of Aang, Romana versus Spivak. I just feel, yeah, not a good night for Spivak. I actually have Ramana ahead of him now, so I don't know. Oh, yeah. It's just not, no purpose for me now. Alexa at Romano.

Whoa. Oh, even Shiloh. Even Shiloh, the Wonder Dog, is not a fan of that fight. So Shiloh, Disapproval. but if they made it, I'd watch it. We said he disapproved. All right. Canadian Bryant. Good morning, Mike and AK.

Hope to make the show this week, L.O.L. Maybe I was shadow banned from Mike's DMs. Don't really know what that means. Maybe you're just a little late to the party. Wildcard pick. Johann Lanes versus Evan Elder. Jocko versus the winner of Julian Marquez versus Gregory Rodriguez.

Darren Elkins versus Lorone Murphy. On another note, let's give it up for Connolly, fought an absolute killer at his debut, and then two years later comes back is still fighting killers. Join us in Brito v. Julian Arosha. Yes. Andre Arlowski versus any heavyweight,

ranked outside the top 20. Yes. Yeah. And then Marlon Veri, you just picked up the biggest win of your career. You're being matched with him. Rob DeWalisch, really. Congratulations.

Man, that's brutal. Ouch. That's brutal, Canadian, Brian. All right. Marcus, what do we got here? Rob Font, Dominic, Erlowski Olinick, Brito, DeWadu.

Let's see if we have anything new here. Figurato versus Flyway Bruno Silva. Gabe Green, Sergey Hondasco, sure. Natan Levy, Zhurong, Shanna Young, Kemp, sure. Harry Doroskin. Young, Boebom. Levy, Ludovic Klein? Mm, yeah, maybe.

Yeah. Sure. Why not? Gabe Green, Matthew Semmelzberger. Like that. Discount Viggy. Discount fee. I don't like that one.

Figgie Biggs versus Carlos Hernandez, another one. Ramada v. Olenik is fine with me. It kind of seems like that's the direction they're going to go with Romano F, K. Because usually Olinic is like the guy that you have to get, that UFC set you up to go over on to get that rub. And they can sell the, oh, Romanov likes to go to the ground, but no one goes to the ground with like Alexei Alenik and survives. But I mean, look, I think you look at him pretty much any time he's faced

an opponent where there's like this big athleticism gap it has not gone well for Alexeolinich and that's pretty much what happened with Romano. Romano is like a top, pretty top tier athlete at heavyweight which is a pretty, I know a low bar, but I would put them in the upper ranks if we're talking about athleticism in that division.

And I don't know, 20 years ago, maybe this, maybe because Ramonov would have been a child. Romano would have been 11. I like Alexei Olinix chances to beat him then. Once Romano, his teen years, I'm probably going Ramonov all the way. And certainly now with Romanov in his physical prime and Olinic, not. Yeah. Grant Dossadkar-Kalos.

Joyniz and Brito, Jonathan Pierce. Aroloski, Christakis, again. Shito Vera Songuong, five rounds. So he's with you. Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah. Tino Alvarez, last word with mine. Andre Arlowski, Christakis, again. Brito versus Billy.

Q, Shore, Dawson, CDF in a scramble fest like that. Jocko Imovov. Is he? No, Imov hasn't been rebooked, has he? No, he has not. That's why I like that. I like that one a lot, but I do think they are going to at least try to rebook the Gaslom-eimov fight.

It just has not been rebooked yet. Yeah. Let's see. Figurato versus Dennis Bonder. I think Viggy's a little ahead of Dennis Bondar, if we're being honest. Gabe Green, Brian Barbarina, sure. Levy, Medi. Rich, Sherry Young, Kachuaera, and he likes either Cheeto Sanhagen or Cheeto Piero Yan.

So, all fun matchups, Cheeto-centric, as they should be. Yeah. To you, A.K. All right, let me try not to repeat too many of these. Yeah, the most popular picks for Cheeto, definitely Corey Sanhagen, Piotr Yon. Of the yon, matchup, Jay Steiner, my fellow Canadian, says, yes, it's a big step up for Cheeto, but I think he's earned another top five opponent. And with rumors of Marov versus Cruz, this is a good other option for Jan if he doesn't

fight Marab next. Yeah, I think it's, yeah, if you look at all the way the pieces are forming. Sonia Dong, most popular pick for Rob Fonts. Arlowski versus Latifie, I love. I love, love, love this matchup. It would be one of the ugliest fights in UFC history. Just complete, I, listen, we talked about me in this show of, like, criticizing things before they happen in. This, if there were odds on this being, like, one of the worst fights, like, one of the top ten worst

fights of all time, I would absolutely, like, it should be like 10 to 1 odds that it will be. And yet I still, I feel like I need to see it happen. What did you think of Dawson versus Claudio Pueas? Yeah.

That's fun. Where does Poyas is a Sanford guy, right? Yes. And him and Gordon. Sanfordist is ATT. Well, yeah, well, him and Gordon also apparently were, uh, Gordon, Sorry, sorry, he was apparently Gordon's primary training partner heading into this matchup.

So there's a little heat there, a little drama. I mean, if they did it, fine. I think they're right around the same place. I would put Poyas ahead of Dawson. I think he's got a little more juice right now. I agree. But yeah, I mean, listen, if that's the direction that the match rakers go, hashtag we'll watch. Hat tip, by the way, to Marcus McGahey for pointing out the Poyas, Jared Gordon connection.

That's always fun. I like that stuff. I like when, where I have Poyas? Actually, I put this below, I've placed a lot lower than people think. Brito versus Gavin Tucker, the governor. I like that. I'm going to read all these out, Mike. I just wanted to give me your favorite of these picks.

So Elkins versus Casaris. These are all Alkins, I'm sorry, let me make this easier. These are all Caseras opponent, Elkins opponent options. Bruce Leroy, Arosa, Sabatini, Vanada, what would be your number one choice? What did you say at the beginning of the show? Elkins. I want Julian Arosa for Darren. You went Arosa.

Okay. So of the oxygen, let me give the other three. Because these other three options were all more popular than Arosa. Bruce Leroy, Sabatini, Vanada. Bruce Leroy. Bruce Leroy. Yeah, okay. Jock versus Shabazian.

Okay. Romanov versus Taborah. Oh, man. No, what? I don't know. I don't know. What do you think about Jock Shabazian? I don't know how to book Shabazzian.

buzzing anymore. I honestly have no idea how to book them. I don't know what to do with them. I'm not crazy about the jocco matchup. I just, but I just don't know what to do with them. Romanov versus Marchant Toborah. So people are there with me on this one. Thomas Collins, I want to read his take. He says, Romanov beats every top 15 fighter except Tom, Aspinall, and Curtis Blades. I'm assuming that that excludes Inganu, unless he thinks the wrestling is just too much. Wow. I don't know. He says just us, Spanol and Blitz.

But I think he's, I assume he means, Thomas, DM me later and clarify this, because I assume you mean in the top 15 range, like 10 to 15 or 5 to 15? You don't mean in Gondu and Cidal Ghan.

I don't know, maybe he has that much faith. Thomas says, Tabura's wrestling heavy style would be a good style matchup with Romanov and be a good test for Ramonov to see what his standing is

within the division. I agree, absolutely. You mentioned Francis Goh figure out, what does Figgie Biggs mean? I don't understand. He's big he's a figgy smalls is All right Davison and figgy bigs can be can be

Francisco the elder statesman Is he the older? I thought he was the younger brother I thought he was the older brother Let's let's let's let's do a quick check here He's younger He is? He is but he is bigger I think Or he has fought at bantam weight more than

Figgy had so it kind of works I guess Yeah figgy Biggs we're going with Figgy Biggs All right he is the younger brother He's bigger in size and stature He looks but he's yes All right Anyway, I'm just glad people, yeah, a lot of people mention the Bruno Silva matchup because we just don't hear about Flyweight Bruno Silva enough.

We got a lot of Blindano picks. Flyweight Bruno Silva has been like completely forgotten. Is he a Pitbull? What's his, a Bulldog? He's good, man. He's real good. Bulldog, right? Not pit bull, he's a, yeah, bulldog.

Okay. So Bulldog, Bruno Silva does not get enough love on this show. So good for him. And one pick, by the way, that got a weirdly a lot of traction. And Natalepi versus Vylaubhya. I had multiple people will send that in. So cool. always fun to get like kind of random ones that all these people seem to land on

all right going to my email now uh casey carpenter uh always coming in with email thank you Casey Casey says complimenting us on a lot of the shows this week they say more Jed the better okay I don't know about that the more Dana White impression the better hey you're welcome and and Casey also says I won the draft by getting rid of scumbags like John Jones Connor McGregor and Jorge Mosbital Casey's words not mine uh They tell Mike, enjoy the Celtics in the playoffs, because the Red Sox will finish fourth and miss the playoffs. That's not necessary.

Is this Cole Shelton? Is this Cole Shelton out here? Just dropping awful takes. Loyal ought no listener, Casey Carpenter, who also adds Dawson versus Moikano. Were they booked at some point? Well, I believe they're now officially teammates. Oh, that's right.

Sanford. No, ATT. Moycano's ATT, isn't he? Oh, ATT. I'm sorry. ATT, all these Florida gyms, I keep getting mistaken.

And then also, and I think I saw a couple of people mention this, but I want to read Casey's take on it. Arlowski versus Fador, too. It's time. It's time. They said,

I want a co-promotion for Fador versus Andre. I still think if Andre didn't go for that stupid flying knee in their first fight that he was winning, I guess that he wouldn't have gotten knocked out.

Yeah, for anyone who somehow never seen that. Arlowski was winning the first round against Fadoor really seemed to be. He just seemed to be out boxing him. And he goes for what Casey called a flying knee.

I don't know what it was. It was like a lunging flying. Because he never actually threw anything. He kind of just jumped in and got punched square in the face. So we'll never know what Andre was doing there. One of the weirdest moves I've seen and one of the most calamitous endings. And if he had beaten Fador, I mean, my goodness, who knows how differently we'd look at him now. But things have worked out pretty well for Andreolovsky.

Instagram. No, an M. M.A. fighting means Michael Connofrey. Gabe Green versus Matt Brown. Green versus brown. Color matchup. I mean, you sold me.

I think he won't find that in the ESP. I don't think Ron Perlman will be reading that out on the ESPN on a hype video anytime soon. I want to go out to my guy, Jay Steiner. He does like Arlovsky versus Spivak. Oh, yeah. Yeah, another. Brito versus Amerikani, Romanov versus Olinick. Man, I don't just, I don't, he'll mall him.

MMA heads. did we talk about this Arlofsky versus Romanov? I think we talked about the post-fight show. I don't know if we mentioned it. So that matchup, since Romanoff's first UFC win, that has been my Ateno pick every single time. It's Andrei Arlowski. Oh, yeah.

And then every time Andre Arlowski fights on a main card, my pick is Alexander Romanov every single time. So I think after like nine consecutive fights, I am officially off that train because I think Ramonov is just so far ahead of him that I don't want to see it. And I think there are certain heavyweights that are just beyond the Arlowski test. And I think Romanov is so far beyond the Arlowski test. That's not even funny.

It's not even a fair fight anymore. And there's nothing desirable about it at all. I wonder if his fight had been after Arlofskys. Would he have called him out instead of Sakar? I wonder. M. Mayhads has a couple of other conditional picks like so-and-so versus such-and-such-and-such-and-winter upcoming.

I'm not going to read all those out. But M.A. heads, you're noted. I do like the forethought. Southpaw picks coming in. A few I've already mentioned, but I like Gabe Green versus Carlson Harris. That's a fun one. Gabe Green really, like, raised his stock on Saturday.

That was a super exciting fight. And we talk about Mom Vera being super tough. Gabe Green didn't quite wear the damage as well. But holy crap, would have come back. Holy crap. That was fun. So good for you, Gabe Green. A lot of Gabe Green picks.

Matt Bradbury, Shana Young versus Maria Agapova. Okay. That actually is not a bad idea. It seems weird, but I feel like the UFC will look at those two women and just be like, who can we build upon? Like if we can only, if we could send one of these women down the path of like trying to climb the ranks, who are you going to invest in? And this is like no disrespect to Shannon Young at all.

But a bagavava is clearly the answer to that question. So I could see the UFC trying to book that fight. But again, and this is a, this would be a, this would be sort of an interesting test for Agabava, because if Shana Young's does the same thing to her, then we know. We know that Agapovah is going to need some more seasoning. Maybe she takes sort of the Kay Hansen path and goes to Invicta for a little while and seasons up and gets some wins and get some confidence. Because Kay Hansen did just sign a multi-fight deal to return to Invicta. So I think that's a great move for Kay Hansen.

And maybe we get to see if Agapov might have to do something similar. Gate Green versus Lyman Good. Laman Good, we haven't seen in a while. I had to check if he was still with this U.S. I'm pretty sure he is. I imagine he's nearing retirement with the inactivity, and he's been up there in age, 37 years old, I think. Brito versus Tukagov.

I like that one. Brito is in such a weird place because, like I said, he beat like a veteran, like a really respected veteran in Philly. I could see him being matched up with, like, a newcomer in his next fight, or I could see him getting matched up with a top 10 guy. he's in a very strange spot and I think they when you finish a veteran that quickly

I don't know how you gauge like how good this person actually is because I don't think I think if you run that fight back 20 times I don't think you get a what was a 41 second TKO ever again but this instance has happened

great performance Dylan shoot I wanted to read his intro for some reason what did I make a note to do that how does Saul Diomados solve a job he said I don't know what you scored the fight but I thought Jake clearly won one and three round two was close and uh they want to say my m a fighting draft was severely underrated

rhiner de ritter was a great pick i truly believe he would beat 99% of the 185 and two of five pounds in the ufc anyways here are my picks uh my other listen credit to jenn mishu jem mishu's been riding that riner to riner de ritter train for a while and i'm just happy to uh to hop on with um a few good picks here breto versus land where dawson versus bradridel i like it because i think we explicitly mentioned Riddell on the post-fight show saying, like, oh, we don't think Dawson's at that level yet? Well, hey, just fight them. And there's another Romano versus Chris Dawkins mentioned.

All right, let's go to Twitter to close out the show. Plenty of Twitter picks, I'll run by it through as fast as I can. First off, I'll always like to start off with my first timers, long-time listeners, first-time fight pickers. And I'll read the whole thing here. This is for Richard Barnes at Liberty underscore Newfee, so I assume another Canadian. Vera versus Dillisha Give Aldo to Aljo

Jan versus Marab Sanhagan versus Font, etc. Are losskeepers of Derakimov? Yeah, that might be the right fight for Ashmiel. Dawson versus Marco Madsen Orcho Alvarez, if they want to give him a higher rank guy he can out-wrestle. Brito versus Lorone Murphy.

If he's injured for too long, give Brito Dawadu. Elkins versus Daniel Paneda. I suppose that one didn't come up. Jocko versus Blendado, Bruno Silva, Romanov versus Borough, if they don't reschedule the Rosenstrike, yeah, they won't reschedule because Rodenstrike is now fighting Bulkoff, I think. Yes, that's the main event, June 4th, June 4th.

June 4th. And Figgie Biggs versus Jeff Molina. That's a, that'd be a super tough fight. That's a great, that's probably the right fight, though. And it probably is, I think Jeff Molina, at least I would favor him. would favor of minus 200 i don't know if that's the line would be but i have molina tier above uh figgy bigs but maybe i may be rating piggy bigs all right so thank you richard barnes first timer uh chris at your against there too gave green versus barbina timmy o'sho

fawn versus cruise i would love it if rob font could win the dominant cruise steepsakes but our people we don't know what's up with cruise right i think cruise versus marab was like the leading rumor for a while but nothing's close to being finalized with anything for i mean Listen, here's a little piece of advice for you as well. There are certain Twitter accounts that you're starting to follow and you're seeing more and more of that are just putting out inaccurate information. Like someone said breaking news. Marab is fighting Dominic Cruz date to be determined. That is not true.

Like that is not true. Has the fight been like potentially offered maybe like preliminary discussions? Sure. And I think that's what Halani was trying to say. But you can't take that as. Because it's a fight. He had to correct someone on social. Yeah.

I'm not going to call out the account. I'm not either. One, not to give them attention. And two, just I don't need to call. I don't want to call someone. Like, I understand people are doing their best. It's trying to get clout. But yeah, you got to be careful.

Yeah. You got to be careful. And two, like, he's going to, like, these people, they go out and they see what Big Marcel does. Big Marcel does a great job. Like, if a fight is announced, if a fight is official, big Marcel is tweeted about it. And the reason why is he'll see reports and Marcel will actually talk to people who are in the know about it before he puts it out there. So that would be my suggestion to up-and-coming accounts who are going to try to report news like that.

If you see something, rather than just tweet it out like it's a done deal, you should probably reach out to somebody who might know if that is accurate or not. And then if you get confirmation, then you could put it out there. Because you notice that like, you notice that we don't report anything until either the UFC announces it or we confirm it with multiple people. And that's the way you have to do it. So just some advice for the youngsters out there. As far as the actual fight goes, Marab versus Cruz, be really interesting. What a nightmare matcher for Dominic Cruz. But there's something really fascinating about that.

How would Dominic's footwork work against Marab's incredible pace? I'm curious. I would actually be pretty curious to see that fight. Still a horrible matchup for Dominic Cruz. Because with all the matchups at Banimate, if Dominicru, if the UFC is like, hey, list like the top 15 guys you want to fight. Marab is probably 15 on that list.

But I'm intrigued by it. So, yeah, they go that route, cool. If not, fine. How do you like Rob Fonts chance against Dominicru? Do you think that's the perfect fight for Rob Font right now? I love that fight. That's a great fight. But again, it's, I would like to see Font take a lot of time off.

The Calvin Cater schedule from 2021, I would like to see Rob Fon had that same schedule. New England cartel, New England cartel, right? That's, yeah, the year off plan. They should trademark that if that works out. If they do that for fun, it works out. And by the, thank you, Mike, for that. That was a public service announcement. You're a generous man.

That is a, that is a, that is a, that's a mic check of love. Yes. And to help people. Yes. You are so, you are so generous. I am privileged to know you and all the listeners is privileged to hear your words. Get out of here. And I mean, I mean that.

Barry O'Reilly, Shana Young versus Mandy Baum, Gabe Green versus... So he said, Gayt Green versus... Is this... Oh, my gosh, I should have written out the full name. Rustam... Habelaz? No, no, what's this guy's... I'm sorry, Ramazan Karamagamagamato.

He's with Eagle FC. Is there some... Did I miss something about him? Is he going to sign with the UFC? He was signed by the UFC. long time ago and it just didn't work out. He's fought for other promotions since then. So he's not like connected to the O.C.

In any way, right? I don't think so. Listen, if I'm Ramazan Kurama Maga Madoff, I am never leaving Eagle FC. One, because now you get me on the team who is just going to be a promotional juggernaut. And two, listen, we all know what's going on in Eagle FC. We're not dumb. We see right through what's going on to Eagle FC. It doesn't change the way I view it because I knew this is going to be the case from the get-go.

If you have a chance to make the amount of money he's probably making to fight the John Howard's of the world, who has a name, who is going to clearly beat, why would you leave there? Why would you leave there? I don't understand. I don't understand. To fight Gabe Green, you don't want to. That's a tough fight. He will make less money fighting for the UFC. I can guarantee it.

Yes. So, Bear, I don't know, that's a weird pick. But I do want to read a couple of his others. Elkins versus Onama, David Onami. He says, might seem like too big of a gap between. the two in terms of experience and rankings, but Connolly has won one in the UFC. Onama looks like he could be a top 15 guy.

A win over someone as respected as Elkins will move him a lot closer to that position. So I don't mind that. That is a crazy fight. I actually, like David Onama against either of those two guys would be a lot of fun. Even Tristan Connolly would be super fun. That might be more likely, yeah.

And then Arlowski, he says, versus Devin Clark. If Clark is staying at heavyweight, I doubt it. If Clark is staying in heavyweight, what better way to show he belongs there than trying to beat Arlowski 2.0 would be interesting to see if Arlowski movement can be used against a lighter, more mobile fighter who still has a knockout power of his own.

Yeah, I actually, again, give me all the weird. Like, I wish more light heavyweights would just venture up to heavyweight now and then and for like more than one fight, like one fight, two fights. Just do it. Like light heavyweight should be almost like, for the light heavyweights anyway. Should be like interchangeable.

I just go up there. If you want to stay busy, go pick a fight with a random heavyweight. It's funny. Braden O'Neill, Jacob versus Imavov, Gabe Green versus Milan. So I know we so we like that one. At Aguirre MMA, I like Gabe Green versus Brahimai.

Sure, sure. Again, like I said, a lot of Gabe Green talk. He did a, that win was so huge. Dax, at Pike Putt, Romanov versus the Volkov Roinstrike loser. Again, that's if you really want to vault him to the top 10, there you go. Shania Young versus Sajar, Yubanks, the Shanimal versus Sarge for worst nickname at 125. I'll have to look. There's some pretty bad nicknames.

Marcus McGehy also in favor of Chaco v. Wydenman. Shana Young versus Victoria Leonardo. I love that. I love that fight. Ain't no expert. Says, first of all, give Aldo the title shot, three exclamation points. And then Vera versus Dela Shah, Ramana versus Walt Harris. No, no, no.

And how do you look like this one? Like, font versus Ricky Simone, too. Hmm. Hmm. They fought in July 2018. almost four years ago oh sorry no that was i'm sorry that was half that sunset i'm sorry december 2019 yeah too not enough time is passed i don't think what's that three fights removed for font or or four it just seemed like that much for four for fun i would like to see ricky simone

get a tough i would like to see rick i know he just got a like he's had top 15 wins but i would like to see him fight a current top 15 fighter not named hafiela sun sao to earn a fight like that Oh, you, he needs to, oh, you want to see him fight a top-fitting guy then fight a Rob Fon. Yeah, because I think a Sun-Sahou was ranked, but to me, it's just like, I don't know. I'll respect to Haffa-Lonsal. He wasn't one of the 15 best band-on-waites of the UFC, in my opinion, and Ricky treated him accordingly. So I would like to see him get a win. Like, if Ricky Simone fought a Song-Y dong or a Kyler Phillips and won that fight, if Rob Fond is available and there, sure, I'm okay with that.

like to see him get one more win before getting that rematch. James McDonnell likes Brito versus Onama. Now, see, that makes a lot of sense because Brito is one-in-one. The O'Nama is one-in-one, also one-in-one-one-so-one-one-one-so-one-one. So that actually makes a lot of sense. Like I said, people could be all over the place with Brito, and you're probably not wrong. As at Four Corner Sports, NY is saying Brito versus Cub Swanson. Sure.

Again, we're all over the place for this guy. I love this one. I don't know if you mentioned it. Grant Dawson versus Jalen Turner. That was not mentioned at all. Let's do it. I like that one. That's fun.

Throw them in there. Throw them in there. Don't keep them separated. Throw them in there. Jocko versus the Daron win. Phil Haas winner June 18th. I feel like this fight was booked like 800 times. Is this fight actually happening?

Has this fight not been booked like 5,000 times? I feel like it has. It's one of those. I have to look at every time someone mentions, I have to look it up. And like, I don't know if they made a mistake or that it has been rebooked, which I guess it has. June 18th. Gabe Green, Worley, Alves, Natan Levy. Ferreste, Zium.

That's kind of a fun one. Brandon Hahn. I've been read, but Darren Elkins versus Mac Juan, I'm your Connie. Just a few to go here. I want to read this nice stuff from our pal, Hayesby Third. Always writes a lot. I wish I could read it all.

Hayes but Third says, first of all, great content with the Trident Show. He's convinced they put me in charge of the UFC just so could hear more of Rodney Danafield. Hey, yeah, you got to respect the impression. Hey, no respect. They don't respect the impression. That show was great.

I would have been down for another five rounds. Yeah, I think next year we might make it a two episode, like a two-parter or something. I think we have to do like 10 rounds and just break it into two parts. You know what's great? I think we have like, there's always like content needs before Christmas,

like after Christmas and before New Year's. And normally we just have to like create onto the next one shows to like fill those gaps. I think we may have just found something that could replace some of the shows. We're just like, wow, we're really doing this. We were just like pulling. Are you talking about the whole show? Are you talking about the Rodney-Danafield show?

Where I do a whole show is Rodney-Dainty Field? Yeah. Yeah. We could do the draft. Yeah, we can just do five more rounds of a draft. Oh, I don't even care about the draft. I'm just saying, I'm just saying a Ronnie Danyfield show where I talk about the topics of the day and do funny movie reviews. Rodney Dadafield's award show at the end of the year.

Yeah, give some Ronnie Danyfield awards. Yeah, okay. Now you're talking, Mike. Forget the draft stuff. There's a lot more Ronnie Danafield. They also is thanking me for fighting the good fight to keep Glover at one for two or five. Thank you. And Hayes says, I'm in full agreement, regardless of what anyone says about Lance Uppercut.

Also, sorry to me, just book for a fight that wasn't Robbie Lawler, but Kevin Holland was a big opportunity to, yeah, I know, I know, I agree. Fondt versus O'Malley, a fight with Corey has banger, oh, sorry, oh, sorry. I said it's song you down before the loser this fight, since I thought he signed a new deal, and thus will fight higher-ranked guys. I think a step back might be needed for fonts. I'll go with O'Malley, so since Sean has called out of font before, gives him a chance to look better in a win than Cheeto or say he beat a guy that Cody lost to, but to help build possible fights in the future. not saying he'll beat him badly or that him and Cody should ever be booked, just saying he has the opportunity to. So a lot of, a lot of O'Malley thoughts there.

Brito versus Casares, Elkins versus Damon Jackson, if he beats Derek Midder on June 4th. What else we got here? Romanov versus Abderakima, Francisco Figuerado versus, I just want to mention Tatsuro Taira versus Kandallario. That has been rebooked for May 14th. So good way to point that out. Yeah, could fight Figgy Biggs.

Gabe Green versus Claudio Silva, Nathan Levy versus Nicholas Motta. Fee more. Sean Haywood likes Brito versus Davadoo, sure. Thomas Collins, Dawson versus Paheda. That's right. We're all down with that. And O plays, I wanted to read this. They said, apart from the prelims of main card, this is what Jed would call a go write a book type of forgetful.

And then they clear the throat. I'm sorry, they're asking for the Dena, Rodney Danefield impression. Hey, you all need to start putting some respect. and my boy Cheeto's name. There's no respect, no respect here for the NBA fighting fan. Ralph Fond, as tough as they come, but Cheeto over here eating shots, barely wincing, bleeding, like he's the worthy successor of Henry Cavill's Man of Steel.

Oh my gosh. I really hope that this performance, people start realizing this man's a real contender. Since him and Alda already fought, T.J. seems to be next in line. Sorry, they already fought, and T.J. seems to be next in line with a little shot. Give Chito, Corey, Cang. Make it a fight night main event because Chito is never at a bar night. Corey would be a great dance partner. as her font sugar show, real step up in competition that Amali is looking for.

If I had a chance to steal the hype, be right back in the mix at 135. And I'll close out now, Dustin Gedco, because he got creative here. One with Darren Elkins versus Kelleher at 145. That'd be interesting because Keller has been regularly fighting at 145, but not against 145ers. He's usually just talking with other 135ers at fighting at featherweight, so they don't have to cut weight. So would he fight an actual 144er? have you a bit weird

He fought Kevin Krum He fought Kevin Krum Kevin Krum's a one straight up 1.45er Yeah he's a featherweight Okay Was that a late note Did Kelleherer replace someone? Kroom stepped in on like two days notice

To fight Kelleher But it was at a 40 But I believe Kelleher was supposed to fight A Bannamweight at Featherweight A Bannamate, yes And then Krum Okay so it's happened

And then He likes Dustin Gecko says Romanov versus Jailton Almeida if he beats Parker Porter on May 21st. Now, I would imagine

Jayleton Almeida is just going to drop back down to 205 if he beats winner losers, Parker Porter. It's kind of taking this fight to stay busy and get some money and knock off a fight in his contract. But it would,

I do kind of like the thinking because Almeida looks like a frigging beast at 205, someone who I think will fight for the UFC title someday. And seeing him again, like putting his grappling against Ramada would be fun. Let me see what Geraldton on Meadow weighs in for his head. If he can crack like, if he comes in for some reason somehow at like 240, like a solid like 235, 240.

William Knight's style. Yeah, I'd be like, all right, all right. So I just like the creativity there. So thank you, Dustin. I'm going to close out with that for the listener picks. Guys, amazing picks this week for a card that I thought was just okay on paper and turned out pretty good in practice. Hit me up, guys. All my DMs are open at Alexander K. Lee on Twitter.

Alexander K.K. Lee on Instagram. on email, Alex. Dot Lee at SBNation.com. Okay. M underscore Heck Jr. on IG, but we're going to be live next week. So what I would appreciate is if no one submits any picks, we just do them all live. Like, that would just be the way to go. If I had it my way, then we could just pull them up and discuss as they happen.

Yes. If you can tune in, if you can tune in, please, we'll probably do it around 1030, 11 on Sunday-ish, no, later. Yeah. That's the plan anyway. We'll let you know during, you guys will let you know during the week. We'll tweet it out. We'll make the show. We'll make the show.

Then please send in pictures you normally would. But if you can, if you can tune in, hit us up. And we'll do this on air. That does sound like fun. Yes. That's the way to do it. Of course, UFC 274 going down next week. Charles Olivera, Justin Gachie for the lightweight title.

Rosenami Yunus, Carlos Sparza, part two for the strawweight title. Michael Chandler versus Tony Ferguson. Shogun Whoa versus Ovin St. Prue, too. Didn't think we'd ever see the day, but here we are. Donald Seroni, Joe Lozahn, Randy Brown, Chaos Williams, Macy Chiesa, Norma Dumont, Brandon Royval, Matt Schnell, great fight. Blagoi, Ivanov versus Marcos Ruggiero de Lima,

Francisco Trinaldo versus Danny Roberts, Tracy Cortez, Melissa Gatto, Clayton Rodriguez versus C.J. Vergara. Lupi Godinez is back. taking on Ariani Carnolozzi, Journey Newson versus Ferney Garcia, and apparently a new fight has been added to this event

over the last 48 hours. Andre Fialo versus Cameron Van Camp apparently is on this card. So 15 fights on Saturday for UFC 274. We will be on site. Jose Young's, Sean Alshaddy, our local Arizonans,

will be there and we'll be talking about UFC 274 throughout the week. But until then, buddy. For A.K. Lee, I am Mike Hack. Thank you for listening. And always remember, don't take this stuff so seriously. M.A. is supposed to be fun. And we will have a lot of fun live right here next week on onto the next one. The podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first,

there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Oh, love.