MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 60

Episode Date: September 18, 2022

As if the bantamweight title conversation hasn't been confusing enough for the UFC brass, Cory Sandhagen provided a reminder to everybody on Saturday that future discussion involving the championship in one of the promotion's deepest divisions should have his name in the mix. On an all-new episode of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee give their thoughts on what should be next for Sandhagen following his fourth-round doctor's stoppage TKO win over Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Vegas 60 this past Saturday at the APEX. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Gregory Rodrigues following his second-round stoppage win over Chidi Njokuani in the co-main event, Andre Fili after earning a decision win over Bill Algeo in the featherweight featured bout, along with fellow main card winners Joe Pyfer, Rodrigo Nascimenio, Anthony Hernandez, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one.

The matchmaking crowns returned to our heads following a UFC Vegas-60 fight card that, I don't know, I've been thinking about how to describe this card as simple as possible, and this might sound weird to those who didn't watch, but it seems oddly accurate to those who did from beginning to end. This is a fight card that was both memorable and forgettable, all at the same time. But a big, much-needed win in the main event for one Corey Sanhagen. It was a night of crazy cuts and gashes, and there is nobody. and I mean nobody who enjoys the gore of MMA more than the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend.

Isn't that right, Alexander K. Lee? My best friend, I was on Canelo Triple G3 duty on Saturday night, so I will tell the listeners now. I have not watched anything outside of, you know, whatever highlights from, of course, MBAfighting.com. The great coverage from our site. But yes, when I checked Twitter for like two seconds on either of the last two fights, my feed was filled with screenshots and comments about the cuts in both the main and co-main event. I was not happy about it. I think that's the only tweet I made regarding UBC Vegas 60 was, please stop putting cuts in my in my Twitter feed, you creeps. So, yeah, sorry.

So again, apologies in advance to all the listeners. I don't have a great insight into a lot of the fights that happened on Saturday. Knowing what I know about the San Hagan song fight and the Rodriguez and Jaquani fight, I probably never will. I probably will never watch those fights. So I'll have to figure out a way to catch up and still preserve my lunch. Well, let's get into it because you didn't feel as strongly about this, but I felt like Corey Sanhagen absolutely 1,000% had to win on Saturday.

and he did. He beat Song Yidong via doctor stoppage. Song had the aforementioned nasty, nasty gash above his left eye. The doctor gave him a chance to keep going, heading into the fourth round. But after that, the doctor just couldn't let him continue. And I think it was the right call. And what was interesting about this whole thing, A.K. I know you didn't watch it.

Had Song gone out in the fifth, if he had gutted it out somehow and won that final round, he wins the fight. He would have wanted to split decision, but all in all, like I said, it's the right call to actually stop the fight. That cut was nasty.

There's no need to have him go back out there, risk getting more damage, especially at 24, about to turn 25, he's got a long career ahead of him. So I thought Corey looked great, and he's got a ton of options right now, but if you have the Magic Pencil, A.K.,

which option will it be? Yeah, I saw the scorecard, and it was 38, 38 on two cards. right? Yeah. It was all tied up. And the other one would have been 39, 37, San Hagan, right. So he would have won 40. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, right. Split, would have been a split for a song. Yeah. And great for song. Listen, a lot of people want to see him step up from what I'm reading and hearing. He gave, he gave San Hagan everything he could get. This is kind of how I thought the fight could play out. Like, I thought it would be really competitive. I just think. And I thought, well, I thought San Diego would have a little more of a convincing win. So again, I probably will have to rewatch. I'll actually have to watch the fight as on point.

But good for song, good for song. I think getting a lot of positive, positive press. My Chinese boys, like, having some rough, like, outcomes the last couple of weeks, him and Li Jing Liang. But getting a lot of, like, you know, in a way, getting a lot of love from the fans. So that's kind of a good sign. It's almost like the old pro wrestling adage of, you know, one guy goes over, the other guy gets over. So, you know, Corey Sanhagan and Dan Rodriguez got the Ws. But Li Jing Liang, Song Yung, I think.

give a lot of positive attention and people are interested, even more interested, I'd say, in their fights going forward. So for Mr. Sanhagen, the official winner, yeah, a horrific cut, I have a feeling we'll both agree. There's really only two options to discuss here. And they both came up like immediately after the fight. I think Sanhagen mentioned both their names. But I am leaning towards Marab de Vallejvili.

So listen, it's nothing but tough fights for Sanhagen. You know, he doesn't get to beat song and then immediately won. He's not going to get a title fight next. to there's just no easy. If anyone was like, oh, he should get another sort of easier fight. There's no easy fights at the stage for him. And I think Marab, unfortunately, until Al Jemaine Sterling, his very, very, very good friend, loses the title or something else happened, weird happens with the Banterbury telepicture.

He's kind of kind of have to play the bodyguard role. And that means, you know, it might mean holding off guys like Sanahagen. And the good thing is, you know, we've seen San Hagan-Aljo fight already. So it's, you know, I'd like to see that rematch sometime, but it's not as if, oh, no, what if he never got to fight Aljo? Kali's had his crack at him in a non-title fight. So, yeah, if he has to go through Marab again to get that rematch, I think that's the way we got to go. Again, just great fun to fight and would be another huge win from Maraub coming off of, you know, that win against Aldo, which a lot of people were not a fan of. I thought the scoring was mostly fine, but, you know, Maraub could use another big win too.

So there you go. You line them out with Corey. Yeah, this is a timing thing, honestly. And this truly depends on, at least to me, what happens at UFC 280. Because we've talked about this a lot. If Sean Amali beats Piotr Yan, he's fighting for the title. And then you could do Marlon Vera versus Corey Sanhagen. That would be how I would book it if Sean Amalley wins.

But if that doesn't happen, I truly believe that Marlon Vara is getting the next title shot against the winner of Al J. Stirling versus T.J. Dillishaw. So at least for now, I'm taking Marlon out of the equation. Of course, Henry Suhudo, very active on social media. He can say he has his eyes on Sanhagen all he wants, but he only does so from a television watching perspective because he's not fighting anybody. So, process of elimination,

cue the music. Friends forever. It is Marab de Walsh, Willie. That is the fight. And it's great for both guys. Sanhagen needs to do more. Marab needs to do more to move up that ladder. You mentioned everything about his buddy, his pal, his best friend, if you will, Al Jemaine Sterling, the champ.

So, yeah, I think that's the way to go. So one for one on the friends for everything. We really had a 50-50 shot there, and I feel like we almost missed it. So good sign. We made it happen. But speaking of AK's favorite topic, nasty gashes and cuts, Gregory Rodriguez, a man you have been very, very high on for a while now. He had one of those gashes after eating one of the cleanest knees that you will ever see and ever hear from Cheaty and Jokwani.

But Robocop living up to the nickname, he bounces back, he weathers the storm. He probably had one last round to do something before this fight could have been stopped. And he goes out there and makes the most of that time, finishes Cheedy in the second round. And the man continues to impress. This one was a little tougher for me because, You can go so many different ways. Like you can go with a guy who is like number 30 in your personal rankings up to a guy in the bottom third of your top 15 in your personal rankings. And I would not dislike either of those options.

So I'm going to sort of go right in the middle here and go Joaquin Buckley, AK. What say you? Yeah, super fun fight. Another chance for Rodriguez to supposedly use, supposedly use this jujitsu mastery, which I've never seen him use in any of his recent fights. If you go to his like you know, just look at his record, he has a bunch of early submissions, but man, he has fallen in love with standing up and just banging with people. And you can see why. I mean, his fights in the UFC have been and his last couple of fights with LFA, wildly entertaining. So good for him. The name Robocop could not be better. I mean, the guy's a machine. He also looks like he was born in 1987 when Robocop came out, not 1992, allegedly. I'm sorry. I don't like to accuse fighters of, you know, fudgeon. their ages, but he looks like he was born in 1987. That's all I'm saying. So, yeah, Robocop.

I didn't have as hard of a time. Like I said, I kind of just, I think you'll see with a few of these. I kind of just went to the rankings, and I just picked a name within five, six spots of them. So I wanted to fight slightly up. People may disagree. This isn't up. I don't know how high people are going to put Rodriguez in their personal rankings after

after beating a very solid fighter in Chidi and Jukawani and now four and one in the UFC, I think. But I went boring. Let's see him possibly fight for the middle-weightest middle-weight title as Christoph Jocko fights Brendan Allen, October 1st. So that fights just around the corner. Maybe the winner of that one. We throw him in there with Gregory Rodriguez. Yeah, I like that one as well.

Let's move to Andre Feely. He was a great win for a man with a tremendous nickname. Mr. Touchy, an emotional win at that over a very game, Bill Algio. and we had a lot of questions about Andre Feely. Can he still hang with these really tough and talented youngsters? And he showed that he could. And I'm just going to get this out of the way. I honestly like a fight between Feely and Damon Jackson next day.

Two dudes who both had great wins, very emotional wins, both with a ton on their minds outside of fighting. And I think rankings-wise, it makes a lot of sense right now. I want to see Damon Jackson take on. and I don't love using the word gatekeeper, but I feel like Andre Feely is like the featherweight gatekeeper. Like if you beat Andre Feely, you are a very solid, solid fighter, and you're probably going to be a top 15 dude.

So yeah, I think that's the fight to happen. That's what I'm going with. What do you think? Yeah, and that's exactly the role he played on Saturday. I feel like I think, I think Philly was in really bad need of a win,

but he is such a solid veteran guy. This was his 19th or 20th U.S. appearance. So he's fought. them all. And I think Algeo, for me, I thought this was really a big step-up opportunity for him. You know, just felt just short, split nod. Probably could have been unanimous. But so, yeah, good for Andre Fili. If he is a gatekeeper, he, he kept the gate, kept the gate on Saturday. That's what these things do. Most importantly, he's going to keep the UFC checks coming in. And you mentioned

like matching him up with, you know, someone else who fought on the car. And I'm like, that's, I think you can do that with a lot of these matchups. I'm sure we'll get to that later with some the listener picks. But yeah, we had some lightweights that you could just match up the winners. We had some middleweights who could just match up the winners. So, yeah, I think this is one of those fight nights where I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these names we saw on Saturday end up just getting matched against each other. I'm going with, I feel like these two. I don't know if they've been matched up before and it just fell through. I'm going with hashtag touchy J. Hashty J. I think maybe we threw them in there with Erosa. I wasn't even thinking about

Philly's nickname at first. And you mentioned, of course, he has a great nickname in Touchy with one of the worst nicknames in Juicy Jay. So it's kind of growing on me. So hashtag touchy Jay, let's see two guys, two really good veterans. Again, I'm not worried about rankings and not worried about, oh, does this guy move either guy to a title shot? Just a fun fight. Again, keep those checks coming in, fellas.

Yep, I like that one. That's a good one. Heading into Saturday, Joe Pfeiffer had one thought on his mind, heading into his bow with Alan Amadovsky. Just be Joe Pfe. And that's exactly what he did. He treated Amidowski accordingly. this was exactly the way everybody expected this fight to go.

It's exactly the way Dana White expected the fight to go. The UFC matchmakers, the brass. This was set up to put Joe Piper over. We don't see a lot of squash matches in the UFC, but this was set up to be a squash match, and that's exactly what it was. Joe Piper is his first UFC win, AK, and he's got a lot of buzz and a lot of promotional push behind him.

What do you think they will do now? with Mr. Piper. Yeah, I think he's the real deal. And the B. Joe Piper thing is such a great gimmick that he can ride for a lot. Man, Dana did him a favor with that one. That was a, you know, we criticized Dana's promotional abilities. And this was probably just kind of by accident. That was a good one.

I mean, that's right up there with, you know, do you want to be an effing fighter and all that? So I'm a believer that Joe's the real deal. I do want a slow roll. People know me unless you kind of have maybe been a champion in another promotion or you've been around just for a long time and kind of a long overdue UFC signing. I'm going to slow roll you a bit. So while I think he could be in the top, I mean, people might already have him in their top 40, top 30,

I don't know. When you beat arguably one of the worst of fighters with one of the worst records in the UFC, worst ever, I don't want to tell him to an Alan Amadowski slam fest because he did his job. He showed up, like you said, they paid him to do a job. They paid him to do a job.

But Alan Amadovsky's 0 and 4 now with three losses by finish and the other loss just completely. completely dominated. He has not looked good in the UFC. This should be his last fight, so best of wishes to Amidowski going forward. But when you beat that, that does not throw you up my rankings too far. So I want to see him, Piper still have to fight his way up. And I'm going with Dennis Toulin.

Dennis Toulin, recently victorious at a U.C. Paris. I get it. Not a sexy name, not someone super half the rankings. But let's give, you know, if Piper is the real deal, which I think he is, let's give me another, quote, unquote, showcase fight. Maybe he runs through Touloulin. then we're talking about, you know, someone on the top 30. Yeah. And look, however you match made for him, no matter what you do, it is a step up in competition.

Because with all due respect, any guy in this division is a step up from Amidowski. And I'm not saying that to be a butthead. No. This was designed to have Joe Piper destroy this man. And that's exactly what happened. And Amadowski is a fun enough fighter that it's at least somewhat compelling for a few moments. that maybe things could happen. So I'm actually going probably, I don't know,

it depends on how you look at this, probably less of a step up, but just from what I have put out into the ether over the last month, maybe the scariest matchup that this guy could get. So I'm going to go out there and maybe I'm cursing Mr. Joe Pfeiffer because this man is a killer.

I told you he was a killer. None of you believed me. And then he went out there and killed him. The correct answer is Joe Pfeiffer versus the scariest dude in this division. The surging up and coming Roman Coppulov. Let's go. One of one of these guys, one of these surges has to end.

And it's going to end when these two men walk into the octagon next, AK. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. And I almost picked it. We could have manufactured a Friends Forever moment. However, I actually like, I think like, I. I feel like you like Coppolaov so much.

I didn't want to put him in there with Piper. I think Piper will smash him. And I'm like, I can't do this to Mike, to Mike's new favorite fighter, Mike's new, the patron saint of MMA, Roman Koppelov. So, yeah, I love the matchup. It was probably actually my first choice, and then I kind of dialed back and went with Toulin.

But they're right around the same rank. All these guys are in the lower part of the rankings right now. And yeah, with the wind could rise up. So, yeah, I don't know. You're right. Let's see if the Coppilov Hot Street can continue. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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And the best thing Rodrigo did last night was the post-fight interview where he didn't call for a bonus. He didn't call for anything else. He called for just give me a ticket to Triple G versus Canelo. It's right down the road. Just give me a ticket. I don't need your bonus. Just give me a ticket. I wish I thought was very cool.

But he goes out and he beats a very svelte Tanner Bozer, but this is a performance and a win and a fight that we will not remember at all. after today because we're probably never going to talk about it again. So look, the scariest guy in the heavyweight division has had two opponents fall out on him. Paco porta? I mean, I think we just go there. Like he needs, Pacan needs to fight somebody before the year is out. It does look like he's fighting at UFC 280. So let's just get Nassimento and Pacoita in there before the end of the year.

So, yeah, I mean, that's where I'm willing to go. I don't love a lot of these. options for Nassimento because I didn't think it was that great of a performance. And I, if you scored it for Tad of Bozer, I actually wouldn't be all that mad at you. The scores were all over the place. Someone scored a 3027 for Nassimento and someone scored a 2928 for Bozer. And I am more on the 2928 Bozer side than I am on the 3027 Nassimento side. I scored a 2928 for Nassimento, but I don't care.

It's a fight we'll never talk about again. But now you got to fight Paco porta. It's a tough drama, man, but that's where we're going. Yeah, again, I didn't really get a chance to watch this fight closely. Is it fair to say the 32-pound weight difference matter? Did it affect me? Yeah, a little bit, but like Nassimento would get the fight to the ground, but he just laid on him.

He didn't do anything. But, I mean, I feel like that's going to be a problem for Bozer if he's going to keep slimming down. Because he looks, he looks great. And, you know, listen, I'm one of the people that's saying Jailton Alameda can win the heavyweight title. as an undersized heavy weight. But I think skill-wise, him and him and Bozer are sort of in different leagues right now, which is, I think, Al-Matic, and it has a skill set that's just a little more conducive to making your run to the top.

So Boz is a good fighter, but I do think there has to be some light heavyweight talk. He might just not have the frame for it. I understand. He might be happy just being sort of, you know, 2.29, 2.30-pound heavyweight, and that's fine. But I wonder if the weight is going to make a difference. We went in very different directions with this pick, Mike. this is this is a not a friend's forever pick i went i mean this is going to seem like a reward because i am like giving him a a ranked opponent i'm giving him a riga estimate i ranked but

it is almost like a punishment it is almost like a his win wasn't that impressive but if he's uh what is he now he's three and one in the ufc i think um he is where is two and one two and one and there was a one no contest okay fine but either way two and one and he had a win that was he he he lost to a failed drug tests. Alexander Romanov. Oh, man. Alexander Romano. This could also be, again, for people who want to see Romanov get back on track,

and I'm not saying Nassimant is an easy win by any means, but I like the stylistic matchup. I like it for Romanov, and again, after kind of just an unfortunate performance against Marching Tabura, up in the high altitude of Utah, let's see Romanov. Maybe this is an apex flight. But let's see him get back in there.

And I want to see if he can run through Nassiminto. He should. I feel like he should. Just look how good. Not because Nassimito is bad. Just how good Ramanav is. And he didn't get past a veteran test in Taborah. That's fine.

A lot of fighters haven't. He should beat this guy. I kind of want to see this one get made. Interesting. Very interesting, A.K. What a performance kick off the main card by Anthony Fluffy Hernandez? This is an outstanding performance. relentless pressure.

Third round, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for poor Mark Andre Barrio. He gets spiked on his damn head and then gets choked for a nasty finish. This was actually the easiest pick for me. I don't know why. Like, I had it figured out immediately. But I'm curious to see where you went with Mr. Hernandez. Again, I wish I had a chance to actually see this fight.

But it kind of went how I I assuming this was a lot of grappling for Hernandez until he got the finish in the third round And we haven't gotten this He didn't go like crazy and start standing up and banging with Batio, right? No, he just, it was like a Covington-esque kind of showing We're just over and over again, takedowns, beat him up

Take downs beat him up Yeah, that's kind of how my prediction went Because Battyo, strong guy, good fighter, good athlete But just not the best takedown defense He's shown some ability to get up off the ground But against like an elite elite grappler I'm like that's, you know, you can kind of figure out how this fights going to go. So yeah, Anthony Hernandez

has been super impressive. So I went with we've kind of thrown we throw this guy's name out all the time. I've been, and listeners do too. I've been pretty you know, and I like a lot of the matchups, people will come up with his name. I'm about to mention.

But I've been pretty like hesitant to throw it out. But I think this might be the right time. Maybe we get him in there with Gerald Mirr shirt. Let me give him GM3. You know, we always say Gerald will fight anybody. Anthony Hernandez. definitely one of the most dangerous names coming up at 185. I could see higher-ranked guys kind of strategically, you know,

not angling for a fight with Anthony Hernandez. But you told that one, Jared Mearshaid's way, he's going to sign on. He doesn't care. Plus, they're both amazing grapplers. He would love to prove he's got the better jits against Anthony Hernandez. I'm sure Hernandez would be favored going to that one. Not like a huge favorite, but at least like minus 150, something like that when the fight got announced. And that would only fire Mirchard up more.

So, yeah, let's do that. Let's have the sort of just guys just out. side of the top 15 kind of keep mixing it up until one of those top 15 opportunities shakes loose. I like that fight a lot. I thought about that, but it was like the silver medalist because the gold medalist was just so far ahead, in my opinion. And the one thing I enjoy about a guy like Anthony Hernandez is that he enjoys a good

scrap. He enjoys getting in there and just getting into the thick of it. He enjoys, he's a man who enjoys action. And who better to give him that action than the action man himself. Let's give him Chris Curtis Let's give him Chris Curtis Because Chris's take down defense is outstanding Both those guys beat Hidda

And very memorable wins Curtis is coming off the loss But Fluffy's coming off a great performance I'm in, let's go Let's do Fluffy versus the action man I'm in Yeah I don't know why I was so resistant to that Like him or I mean Gregory Rodriguez

There was also an option there I'm not sure Maybe I'm still hung up on Curtis possibly dropping back down to one 70. I think that's sort of what I suggested last time, but I haven't heard anything about that. Again, Chris Curtis has looked pretty outside of that one lot that lost to Hermanton, who's a top 12 guy, I think on almost any list. He looks really good at 185, and I'm sure he loves not cutting weights. So yeah, a lot of good middleweight options there. And I think Hernandez would be, he'd be a huge test for Hernandez. Because Chris Curtis, again, we just, we always say, is a guy who just does not get dominated on the ground.

For a guy who's known strictly as a stand-up fighter, has not had like crazy issues except with like the most elite. of grapplers and like Anthony Hernandez might be up there. And I guess that's how we'd find out. Love the, love that fight. And it would be a lot of fun. So let's go to the wild card round. We will select one fighter. We have not match made for.

And we will match make for them now. So it could be someone from the main card. Could be Song-y-dong from the main event. It could be somebody from the prelims. But the world is your oyster, AK. Who is your UFC Vegas 60 wild card selection? I'm a believer. in this contender series, man.

You know, we slag a lot of, we slag sort of the recent iterations of the contender series, you know, less for being kind of the amazing, cool fight night prospect producing shows that they were when the concept first started.

Now they seem like a bit of a, a bit of a talent mill, I think it's fair to say, a bit of a contract mill. So again, respect to everyone who gets contracts, you know, gets contracts on the Contender series.

But, I mean, if you just even looked at this card on Saturday, I think someone said, like almost half the fight Or a large 13 fighters so just so more than half more than half the fighters I think right is 24 fights More than half the fighters were from contender series and that's okay nothing wrong with that all town's people But also we know that they're on cheaper contracts anyway so that's a whole other thing

But I'm definitely believer on this guy who was The second fight in the car Javid Basharat I think they really have something here with him at at Bantamway I mean this guy's good So two and no now in the UFC I'm not again I always let's see three fights but I mean what we know of this guy from the contender series from his fights in the UFC so far beating guy like Tony Gravely Gravely is super tough to win a convincing decision against him is not easy so I'm a big fan of Javid I'm gonna get another veteran let's go Kyeongho Kang let's go up there yeah really good guy again probably getting a little bit up there in age he's a he's a solid test I think Basharat would beat him I think Basharat would be him I think

Basharat be pretty at least two to one favorite but um hey Kang like said Kang's been in there with some really good guys and I want to see if Basharad is on that level. So let's keep pushing this guy the right way. Let's give him more veterans. No need to put him up against people with similar UFC experience. He can fight guys who have like 8, 9, 10 appearances in the UFC. Love that pick. I also went with Javid Basharat.

I thought we were going to have a friend's forever moment here. Wow. But we did not. And the reason I went Basharat is because, AK, We talk about doo-doo picks. We talk about do-do picks from our wonderful listeners, and they accept the occasional do-do pickery that we throw upon them. And what really kind of frustrates me from the throne that we sit on

is when we see media members throw do-do picks. And I saw a ton of doo-doo when it came to poor Javid Basharad. Thank God Javid doesn't... care what the media matchmakers suggest because there are some awful ones. I saw one suggest Randy Costa who is fighting like two weeks from now and is, I mean, to go, trust me what I tell you this. I am a Randy Costa mark. He's one of the nicest guys in the sport.

He's one of the most fun fighters in the sport. But he's also lost two in a row. And he's fighting Guido Canetti to go from Guido. To go from Guido Canetti to Javid Basharat or to go from for Basharat's sake, to go from Toti Gravely to Randy Costa just makes absolutely no sense. Absolutely no sense. So that is kind of a, that was probably the doo-doo-ish of all the doo-do media picks. I'm ready to see what this guy can do.

And just like other Bannam waits before him, you go in, you go to war with this guy. And if you beat him, then we know that you are the real deal. We know that you are destined for great things. We know that the UFC can absolutely get behind you and push you to the moon. And the fans will jump on board. So the correct answer is Javid Basharat versus Davy Grant. Get those two men in there. Davy's going to try to knock his head off.

Basharat's got to try to style on him. I'm in. That's what we do. I'm ready to give him a little bit more of a step up. Gravely's good, man. I saw people saying that people, everyone's disrespecting Tony Gravely. Just not true. That's not true. Everyone thought Tony Gravely was a perfect matchup for Javid,

but people are just so high on this guy. Basharad is just so complete as a fighter, and he's only going to get better. So this is great matchmaking. Tony had a pretty solid first round. A lot of people thought he won that first round. I think two of the judges thought he won that first round. I didn't, but it was very close.

Javid just that good. And I'm ready to see what he could do against an absolute, just a manful of chaos like David. grant yeah oh i mean look that's that's a sick fight oh one more thing about gravely is it's it's just like bantam weight is so strong like it's if there's any disrespect it's just because of how deep it is like he's so four and three in the oc 23 and eight is a pro uh it with his skill set and his like quality of competition he'd be like top a top like 25 guy in like a weaker division but a bantam weight there's just so many good guys with with great experience outside the ufc who showed up who also

show up when they come to the o fc so he's like outside the top 40 at 135 pounds which is because again Tony Gravely is is just a super talented and really really experienced tough guy Mike this is how close we were to having your friends forever moment I have Davy Grant at 34 in my personal rankings Kyeongho Kang at 35 oh so we were that close we were because I it was it was right there it was right there if Kyeongho Kang just happened to be booked over the last 24 hours we would have I mean we would have I would have I would have I would have just gone up one spot to David Grant instead oh a wild card friends forever that would be a moment so someday

We will get to the listener picks in a moment, but do we have any check the tapes, any extracurriculars, AK? Yeah, let me, first of all, you know, now is as good a time as any, I think. Marcus McGehy labeled this the main event edition of onto the next one. So I will take a moment because I should have done this at the beginning of the show. And if I wait to the end, I'll probably forget. Obviously, Elias Theodoro passed last weekend. I didn't really have a chance to speak on it. I was saving it for onto the next one.

So I didn't know Elias that well. I certainly had a chance to interview him as many in the media did. We did hung out at a shoot once for this really fun video. We did with Tim Bissell and our friend Max, Max Atwood. Sorry, Max if I messed up your last name. But we did like a fun video of having Elias watch some weird freak show fights. Almost like a live Miss Fiss before Miss Fis was a thing. So I got to hang out with them, super nice guy.

And, you know, really tragic passing, 34 years old, obviously a big part of the Canadian MMA scene. So that part definitely strikes close to home. I think you saw a lot of the media, but especially Canadian media members who got to know him, really lamenting, really lamenting his passing. And, you know, such a great influence as far as, like, fighting for the legalization of medical marijuana, medical marijuana use, you know, for therapeutic purposes in an MMA, you know, broke some, broke some barriers there, getting it authorized in Canada, then fighting.

in Colorado, getting an exemption there as well. So very cool. But I think what's, I think there's a lot of obvious reasons to like Elias. And I just, I always think of his reactions to the media. This is a guy who I think, I don't know if he was a natural, honestly, like a natural, like charismatic guy. But I can tell he tried, he really tried to be so attentive when you ask him a question. Watch any scrum, watch any interview with Elias.

And watch him kind of perk up when a question comes out. He'll perk up. He'll really take a second to be thoughtful about his answer. He'll probably start talking a little too quickly because he gets a little excited. And like that's sort of the sort of little thing that I think like fans and the media and his fellow fighters, I appreciate. There's just that brightness there. There's a hundred stories out there. I'm sure people saw all week talking about Elias.

But for me, that was one thing. Just the way he handled scrums. So it's a weird, weird little thing. But yes, rest in peace. Elias Theodore, a really, really tragic passing. And, you know, I wish nothing but the best for him and his family and his loved ones, of course. Yes. well said

hard to talk about and I think you know even talking like Tanner Bozer about him who like never met Elias never met him never spoke with him in person but he just meant so much to the Canadian MMA scene and everybody respected him and

just the fact that he didn't tell anybody what was going on and he felt that Elias was a true warrior and then he kind of compared him to Hamzaa Shamaif saying that Hamzaa Shemayev is a poser, but Elias is the true warrior. I thought that that really stood out to be. So yeah, just just horrible stuff.

34 years of age. Golly. Just tough to hear. Especially the fact that what, nine months ago, Elias fought and won. And then nine months later, he's just gone. It's crazy, man. Was three and oh after leaving the UFC. Wow.

I mean, if you didn't know what was, and again, this was a very private thing, a lot of people didn't know that he was battling colon cancer. And it was just so sudden, you know, Sunday night it breaks. And I don't know why I happened to be around and, you know, on social media and seeing this, seeing these stories come up. And yeah, and it was, it was really horrible thing to have to report on. But he's left a wonderful legacy. And I'm at least glad that people appreciated that. I saw nothing but positive things after.

It was really nice seeing the community react that way. So, yeah. But to bring it, let's let's go to the positive here again, to mention Marcus. our pal Marcus McGahey he gets a solo point Mike it's a hell of a solo point I don't know how he called this one he's I'll say this Marcus is always sending me picks after contender series and Marcus I apologize I often ignore them I don't keep up with the contender series avidly certainly not as much as the first few seasons so I just kind of you know I see his picks I shrug him off he he had to remind me he made this pick and I checked I scrolled up to the

the date of this contender series episode Eric Silva not Eric E R-I-C-Silva not that guy the veteran is a new Eric Silva no C in his name. He's fighting TG Brown at UFC 282, December 10th, and Marcus somehow called this. So take a point, take a point from the collection, take an extra half point for me, Marcus. The hat tip off to you, sir. I am very impressed. Mike, we need a ruling on this next one. We got to check the tapes here. Okay. Our man from Denmark, took Gertie and Jensen. He wants a point for, he was very insistent on this too. He wants like a full point or a special, I don't know, no. He said, he said, he called

Marlon Marlon Marais going to the PFL at some point. He called this after, not after Marlon's last fight with the UFC, his penultimate fight, so not after the Song Yadong fight, after the, who was his second last fight, after the Marab loss, he called for him to move to the PFL. I'm leaning towards no point here. It's like, you know, we, you need to, we give points for matchups. And also, saying a veteran fighter is going to go to the PFL, like a struggling veteran U.S.C. fighter is going to go to the PFL.

It's not like the sexiest pick. Yeah. I mean, no one, like, if someone said Tiago Santos should go to the PFL, we would have been like, oh, here's a point. Come on, man. If you had said, listen, you're going to go in there, you're going to get knocked out in your next fight, and then you're going to retire, and then you're going to unretire within the year,

and then sign with the PFL. Up away class, I would have given you a point. But you didn't do that. You didn't do that. You can't just say, like, you can't just say right now, like, I predict Paul Ocoste goes to the PFL. And then two years later, he has like two or three more UFC fights and then he goes to the PFL. You want a point for that?

How about this? The Red Sox are going to win the World Series in the next 25 years. I'm not getting an odd no point for saying that because you're just throwing things, like, you're just saying things. All right. Mike, please. I love you, buddy, but no point. In fact, in fact, if you have any points right now, you.

now, I'm taking a point, and AK and I are splitting that point. Please, I ask for a ruling, not a shalacking. I think the young man understands what he did wrong. But yes, Tocke, that is certainly no point. I apologize. You're right. If he had done it after his last fight, he called it, like I call it. You're right, that he's not actually retired.

He's going to go to the PFL. Maybe we could have had something, but I assume if this was after the Murab fight, this prediction is over a year old now. So, yeah, you're right. It's past its due date. And a shared point to all the listeners who everyone wanted to see, Moussar of Loyaev and Bryce Mitchell, which looks like it's going down November 5th. Great matchup.

So good job, everyone. Stunning. Stunning. I mean, they have to make it now with what's available. But I am shocked that it's happening right now. I thought we wouldn't see this for another year or two. Another couple of wins for these guys. Number one contender fight.

That's what we pair these guys up. But I ain't complaining. The next, featherweight's going to be awesome. The last week of October, first week in November, because we got Cater Allen, and then we got Mitchell of Lleev. We're in for some good stuff, man. We're going to get some movement. The rankings are getting shaken up.

They're getting shaken up. I'm excited. I'm excited. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to mirror.

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Winners, find fabulous for less. Do we have anything else? Or we'll go to the peeps. Yeah, we can just go to the peeps. So standard disclaimer guys, Scattergories rule. You're only really getting a true point, as Marcus did this week. If you're like the only person who kind of nudged one of us with the pick,

please guys watch the mistakes wrong weight class fought already injured release fighters already booked people who are very well-known friends and teammates etc don't match those up I only had one I'm not gonna and most of all your pick which might be doo-do and we don't want to read it Mike I am specifically not I think I'm going to not call out any of the doo-do picks I saw this week I don't want to draw attention to them I don't want to embarrass some of our loyal listeners but guys you know who you are someone made like two doo-do picks in one submission and I was just like it's okay I replied to them directly I said just be aware but I won't call them on the show we don't want to try to test this stuff anymore than we have to so Mike go ahead okay I'm with you I'm going to try my best to not call

the doo-do I've been pretty grumpy today with the doo-doo calling out media members of the do-do but you're better than that the peeps some of you are newer we understand that but Today is do-do-free. On to the next one. Dad Jackson kicks us off, who just doesn't listen to me at all. I said just put out one post with all the picks in one. But no, we didn't get that. I'm just kidding, Dad, you're the man.

Gillian Robertson, who had a great performance, a scary rear-naked choke against Maria Agapova. Like Robertson versus Sejara, Eubanks. Damon Jackson versus Danny Yegay. That was a very popular one. Anthony Hernandez, Brad Tavaris, Nassimento versus Sergei Spivak. That was popular as well.

Robocop versus Gasolam. Don't mind that one. Yep. This one I had, I mean, not a huge problem with. I mean, if you just feel like Joe Piper's the dude and you want to give him this big of a step up, that's fine. Joe Piper versus Bruno Silva. I just think it's a little too soon.

It's a crazy fight. It's definitely not a bad pick. It just seems like a little too much too soon. That'd be big. I have Bruno Silva at where I see American Kings. Top 30. I have number 28. So that's kind of like that.

That's the range I want to see after one more fight for Piper. But yeah, it's not crazy. He's not like a top 20 guy, but he is firmly in my top 30. Let's see. John Ray. Of course, Aspen Ladd was a huge story because she didn't fight. He wants to rebook Ladd versus Chieson at freaking featherweight. Yes.

Good thinking, John Ray. Good thinking. Basharov versus Piva, that was popular. Robertson versus Shevchenko, the lesser. Her name is Antonina, guys. Loma Lekboudmi. What a performance she had and props to her for opening up the way that she did. Lookbubmi versus the Kovalkavich Gomez-Horris winner.

Don't mind that at all. Sure. Jackson versus Lorone Murphy, if he's close to coming back. He likes Hernandez versus Buckley. I mean, look at these picks. I mean, A plus, Nassimenta versus Paco Porter. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Your burner. Feeley versus Dawadu, Rodriguez versus the Murdof Barallio winner, Song Yidong versus the Asunso, Henry winner. And he likes Sanhagen versus Jose Aldo, which apparently he's not in the fan rankings anymore. I don't know if that means anything. I mean, we knew this was the last fight in his contract, right? So that just might be that. I think he's got one more.

At least according to his coach. I don't know. I don't know how this works. We will dig into this guys. Yeah, hat tip to Aaron Bronster who just tweeted that Aldo has been taken out of the rankings, which again, we want to remind people it does not mean that he's out. It doesn't mean that he's, it could mean he's, I don't know, renegotiating. So I'm sure you guys will see this circulating.

As far as we know, we'll look into it. We don't know for sure that Aldo is whatever, no longer with the UFC. That is not an official thing, but he is certainly no longer in their fan rankings. and Aaron Bronseter also followed up with a screenshot from the updated rankings. It looks like it's from the app, maybe the U.S.C.com app. The fan rankings. Oh, there's the fan rankings. Yeah, he's still in the regular rankings from what I looked at this morning.

I think, again, this might be on the app. I don't know. Bronsetter said that he's out. Adrian Yannis is now in the top of Dean and Aldo is just gone. So interesting. Interesting. Interesting indeed. Dude. Turned Ferguson.

Otno picks, hopefully no do-dos this time. And even if you did, we ain't going to call you out. Sanhagan versus Vera, Rodriguez versus Heinish, Philly Jordane 2. Love how you put the two there. Smart. Pfeiffer versus the winner of Nick Maximoff, Jacob Malkoon. No problem with that. Nassimento versus Abdurahimov, Hernandez versus Bruno Silva.

That's a little more like it. Dammit Jackson versus Bruce Leroy. Trevor Giles versus Takashi Sato, Luk Boonee versus the winner of Demopolis, Maria Oliva. Trey Ogden pulled up a big upset versus the Jesse Ronson, Joaquin Silva winner. Julian Robertson, Boligato, Javarajat versus Al-Tang-Haley, Motta versus Jordan Leavitt.

I like Basharatas Al-Tang-Haley. I think the only reason I didn't go with that is after Al-Tang-Hiley's last win, I was like, oh, he also deserves kind of a boost-up in company. So I didn't I didn't feel that was necessarily fair to Altingai Lee with everything he's done recently at Bantamway But I mean, they're very close together in my rankings. So yeah, it would make sense. Let's go to Toby He I mean he gives us everybody so I'm just gonna go with the winners here Something new although song versus Sayyid and Maghamagamadoff is interesting

That's tough Robocob versus Tavares Feeley versus Nate Landwehr Piper versus copuloff I mean we're just throwing this man to the wolves and that's just the way we got to do it yeah we got we got we got a lot of that barry o're really one of one of uh the people who sent picks to me said piper gets a take on mike hex boy like how do you are now you are now the coppelov guy like i don't think i don't think i don't think there is anyone else i don't think like if there was a coppelov bandwagon it was

pretty empty before his his most recent way and it might have been like so it had like a decent amount of people on it before his ufc debut after his first two ufc fights that bandwagon vacated real fast uh it wasn't even moving like there was no driver. I think you're the driver now. So I don't know. I don't know any feel about this. You're kind of hanging your hat on this. I'm scared if he wins again. I mean, I don't know what's going. If he gets matched up with Joe Piper, he definitely won't. But I, this is part of your brand now. You're a Roman Koppelov guy. Yeah. Listen, I believe. I believed. I believed. Nassimento versus Juan Espino.

Interesting. One, wherever you are. I know you're living, your loving life probably. Get healthy, please. And get in the cage. Fluffy versus GM3 Jackson versus Ryan Hall Whenever that is Could be possible But I guess you're not a fan of Damon Jackson and that's okay

Trevor Giles versus Anglosa Loma versus Pinnero Ogden versus Rafa Garcia Robertson Karine Silva Basherat versus Casey Kenney Motta versus Jai Herbert

I like that fight Yeah I like that one too Drew San Hagan could go so many different ways with him this is a magic wand pick but if O'Malley loses I'd love to see them fight Yeah song him versus

Song makes sense Wait what uh Simone should get Simone okay Ricky Simone Simone should get a top 10 opponent next and a loss for either guys and too damaging He likes Rodriguez versus Curtis Piper versus the winner of Joseph Holmes versus Jun Young Park I actually like that pick a lot

I think that makes a lot of sense in another fluffy versus GM3 vote Marcus we have anything. He likes Song Yidong versus Adrian Yannes. I'll save that one for the end. He likes Basharap versus Saigukov Hakramanov, like that fight too. Andre Feely versus Damon Jackson. And in a fight, he deems the battle of the blockheads, Gregory Rodriguez, getting a giant step up against former title challenger, Marvin the Italian Dream Vittori.

I love that. I love that. I love that. And I actually think it's very possible. Like I don't I don't think like I mean rankings wise you know Vittori's is top five but again What's Votori now? He he he he beat Costa he beat Costa he be costa he beat Costa he be because he beat Costa he be because So whatever you know one and two I guess count and counting the title fight loss in his last three fights I don't think that's I really don't think that's out of the realm of possibility and yeah if you've

Vittori you're gonna love that fight not just because it's favorable but just because it would be like fun as hell And certainly I don't think Greg Rodriguez is someone that Votori could just like sort of you know muscle out muslim because one Rodriguez is also a beast and two the grappling right is so strong so I like that I hadn't thought about that that's a good one I'm kind of hoping like if I had a magic wand I kind of want to see that happen let's go to Gerard Sanhagen versus Maraub song versus Pedro Munoz Greg Rodriguez that's great oh man so you were not you probably understand we're talking about on the post fight show we were talking about Dana White's Instagram account and how he was putting up like the wide open photo of Rodriguez's cut,

but then side by side with it all stitched up. And he called him Greg Rodriguez. So the whole post fight show, we were just calling him Greg. And he's going to be Greg forever. So he goes to Greg. Greg rudder. Like it's my buddy Greg over here. Hey Greg.

What's going on? He's like the least Greg person I've maybe ever seen. I don't even, I don't think this sounds wrong. But again, let's that Dana White branding. What was that? B. Joe Piper? Greg Rodriguez. Be Greg. What a week for these middleweights, right?

We had a ton of fun with that, but he likes Greg versus Joaquin. Nassumeto versus Boudai. Yeah. Hernandez-Domars. Giles versus the Fialo. Salakoff winner, Ogden versus Omar Morales. Jillian Robinson versus Cynthia Calvio, AK. Do you like that one?

Or do you feel like Calvio's flyweight attempts are done? And that if she stays around. the UFC she's going to drop to 1 15 again. Oh, so wait, she just fought, she just fought Nina Nunez, right? Yes.

Four straight losses. Four straight losses. I mean, oh yeah, and I think we talked about it on the Otno episode after the loss of Noon is that like we do think, yeah, she'll get another chance.

But yeah, it'd have to be at 115. I just don't think she's a threat at flyweight. She was ranked at 115 once upon a time. It's Calvio, Gillian Robertson, you say. Yeah. At Flyweight. I don't think Gillian's making $1.15.

No, no. I honestly, I don't know what they do. Yeah, listen, you can do it. You can certainly think of worst matchups. I just think that's a pretty, not easy, but I think that's a win for Julian Robertson. But, yeah, if you're Calvio and you want to keep fighting, Gillian's a very respectable name, holds finishing records at flyweight. So, yeah, I like it for Calvio.

Maybe I don't love it as much for Robertson. Maybe that's what I'm thinking here. The more I think about, the more I like it. So if they do that, if this is one of those, hey, Cynthia, we're going to give you another shot, but you got to fight Julian Robertson. I actually think Cynthia has a good chance to win that fight. She could. Stylistically, it makes a lot of sense because, I mean, Cynthia's had a lot of problems with strikers. I mean, that's the big thing, just keeping fights on the feet.

And Gillian's going to try to take her down. Cynthia's just fine down there. And she could wrestle her ass off too. used to actually be a really interesting stylistic matchup. So the more I think about, the more I like it. But it's all about whether or not Cynthia wants to stay at 125 or not. Who recommended this again? This was Gerard.

Oh, George Bioggan. Well done, Gerard. It's not bad. It's not bad. It's a good pick. Well, Rappatino, Mota versus Gabriel Benitez. Another Basharat, Al-a-Tangay-Lee. Gillian-Robinson versus Melissa Godo, match them up again.

Trey Ogden versus Michael Fieglach. Leibun-Me versus Yasmin Yarigwe. Wow. I like that fight. So I got a few of those I got a few of those I'm like yeah that's good thinking Our listeners are on top of these things man

They're on top of these things Damon Jackson versus Juliana rosa Another Hernandez-Mir-Shart Listen to this Nascimento Alexander Romanoff AK This dude's right Joe Piper Dennis Tallulian AK He's right

He's with you Lots of Friends Forever's here Wait this was This is still This is Teno This is my art guy Tino Oh this is our guy Tino Okay

He's right in the same wheelhouse Fili versus the winner Billy Q. versus Alexander Hernandez. Another Rodriguez-Buckley. Corey Sanhagen versus Cheevera. Really want five-round main event next year in front of a crowd because this could be promoted as the most violent fight in the UFC.

And one more I wanted to throw out there. I actually liked this idea as well. I wanted to get your take on this. One of the worst fights of the year happened last night. It was not good. But it was a win for Trevin Giles. He defeated Louis Kosi. This fight was really.

really, really bad. Not much happened. It was a clear win for Trevin Giles. It was a very smart, I guess, defensive game plan to just not get hit at all. Trevin Giles versus Ian Gary. I saw that. Oh, wait, is that the one I saw? I'm trying to think. Yeah, because I remember having the same thought. I'm like, I want to see what you think of this matchup. Yes, this was also recommended by Barry O'Reilly. I like a lot of matches for Machado Gary. I don't think Ian Machado Gary needs to be protected as much as like Patty Pimble. Like, I get it. They're kind of coming up around the same time. They're both Cage Warriors guys.

So I think people, or maybe just us, are kind of like lumping them together as far as like, oh, how do we bring them along? I think Gary's ceiling is a little bit higher. He's a bit younger. So obviously it's easier to kind of project and go like, you know, well, we don't know how good this guy can be yet. Pimlet's a little further ahead. I think the ceiling is a little more visible.

So I do like that for, I do like that for Gary for sure. It's not like the top of my list. I can't remember what we said the last time we were matching up for Gary. But yeah, Trevin Giles is an excellent option. Again, a guy with a lot of UFC experience, but not like so overwhelmingly, I think, talented that like he's like, you know, too stiff foot challenge for Gary. But again, and that's a loss. If he lost to Trevin Giles, there'd be no shame in that. Trevin Giles is a very good fighter.

And that would be a big learning experience for Gary. And that's it. Off to you, my best friend. All right. I'll go to Twitter first quick. Yeah, I mean, listen, you're talking about the Friends Forever stuff. Yeah, listen, our man in Italy, Francesco. was also with us on Nassimeno with me on Nassimento Romanov,

with you on Pfei for Koppelov. So Francesco, Tino, we're all on this together. We like all these picks. Francisco has some other interesting ones too. Damon Jackson versus Giga Chikaze. I would be more than down for that. Yeah. Loma Lukbunmi versus Tisha Torres.

Oh. Throw her in there with the perennially ranked Tisha Torres. Currently top 10, number 10. in our ranking. So that's, it feels like a big step up. But again, yeah,

I don't know how long, this is, I think five UFC fights for Loma now. So I don't know how long you can just kind of keep her milling about in the sort of the lower half of straw weight. And it's not a super deep division. So they might have a choice. It's close.

I think she's very close to that. I would like to see her, I would like to see her get one more win against like a top 20 fighter first. Sure. If that makes sense, like if somehow they threw in there with Brianna, 14-0 F-K-A,

Brianna-Vimberin. I don't know what's going on with her at this point because she's been booked multiple times and none of these fights have happened. But if she goes in there

and fights Brianna and wins, then yeah, we could do Tisha Torres. But I think that, and she talked about it a lot. She opened up about depression and some just really dark thoughts after losing to Lupi Gaudinez.

Had she won that fight, I'd be all in on this one. I'd be totally okay with it, but I'd like to see you get one more win with like a top 20 fighter before we throw in there with Tisha Torres. It's probably like the ultimate top 10 gatekeeper in the entire promotion, if we're being honest. What was the match for?

Who was Carolina Kovakovitz fighting again? Sylvania Gomez Horace. Yeah, yeah. I like that. I like that. I like that for Loma. I think that's not you're right. She would get the winner of that and then we can talk about fighting like a Tisha Tora's

level opponent or something like that. So yeah. Yeah, and props to Loma Lopunmi for, again, fighting through and talking, being open, talk about her some mental health struggles. This is very important. These fighters are amazing. And then we had Damon Jackson, you know, a personal tragedy just days ago, just this week. And then Chris Barnett last week who had a personal tragedy earlier this year. And all these fighters picking up victory.

So just incredible stuff. Brett K. MMA, a first timer for our show. So I want to shut him out. He knows what he wants. He just said, Damon Jackson versus Nate Landware, his only pick. So Brett, hopefully we see something like that happen. Braden O'Neill is also down with Song Yodong versus Ricky Simone. Alexander Hernandez.

Anthony Hernandez. I'm sorry, Braden. Anthony Hernandez versus the Muradav Barallio winner. Robertson versus Karine Silva. And there's another Mota versus Jai Herbert matchup. I like those. Chris Martin is, hey, friends for everybody. Basharat versus Kyeongho Kang.

Robertson versus Joanne Wood. Mike, do we need to ban Joanne? one would picks until we're sure when she's going to fight again are these are these fair game unless we're like unless it's like unless we're willing to wait a while like i don't know i would say we have to i don't think it's a it's a straight ban but i think it's a respectable suspension until joan until joan comes out and says i'm i'm on the comeback trail i'm ready to come back uh we can't we can't we can't maschick for her right now she's not fighting anytime soon it doesn't look like.

Yeah. For anyone who's unaware, she did post like a couple months ago or something that she's just like, I'm taking a break. She's not retired. I don't think she's retired. I mean, if she decided to retire, happy trails to her. She's had a very good career. But I don't think she was saying she's retired.

Just doing what a lot of fighters, I think, you know, I wish they could do or take the time off. So hopefully she's, she's resting and recovering. Because she said, I mean, I didn't want to look at her record, look at her schedule. Some of the struggles she's had. Again, like we talk about fighters, having struggles, side the cage. She's had those as well. So, yeah, hopefully she gets healthy and gets everything right.

And we can see John Wood Fight again because Joe Joe rules. I hate this matchup from Chris Martin. Piper versus Trashon Gore. Is Gore booked? Or am I crazy? No, he could be. I will say, sorry, Chris to call you out. There was some, there was some do-do content. Oh, no, not really. He just called, he called Worley Alves,

warly Alv, which is, again, nothing wrong with that. That could just be an auto correct. Trey Shungor is booked against Josh Fremd October 29th. Is he? I did not know about that. Yes, I do was booked against somebody. Either way, I don't want to see, even if he wins that, I think Piper would annihilate Trashon Gore.

Creschen Gore is a talented guy. I just don't think he's close to putting it together at the U.S. level. I think Piper, for me, we have to be like a minus 400. favorite if that matchup got made, but I don't know. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm just, I'm just being Joe Piper a little too hard. That's sounded weird. So I don't, so Chris, good thought. I don't like the matchup. And yes, apparently Trashon Gore is booked. But I'm no do-do for you because I didn't know that either, Chris. I didn't know that either. So we're all learning together. Steven Breeder just rebooked Damon Jackson, Josh Kulabow. I don't mind it. I think Damon's probably a bit

our own Damon Martin, of course, is a bit past that matchup now. Big win for our own Damien Martin. Anthony Hernandez versus Petroski, again, I just feel like Hernandez is a notch above right now. Rankings-wise, rank-wise. It would be a great fight. I just don't. I'm not curious to see those guys fight right now. Oh, my, Pratowski is.

He's booked, isn't he? He is booked. That's right, because the other thing is, I remember I previously said, I wanted to acknowledge Petroski's call out because he wanted GM3, but I'm like, okay, well, Petrosky, and that's why I didn't pick it because Petrosky does have a person. Wellington Termin. Welling to Termine at Emus She. Welling to Termin.

Okay, okay. So, but again, Stephen, not your fault. I totally forgot about that, too. Nassimento versus Chris Burnett for some body difference fun. After the Martin Bouda fight, yeah, we are not having Chris Brno. No. Anyone that might do the whole, you know, wall install, lay and pray thing. That's not happening ever again.

Dax at Pike Putt. Sanhagen versus Aldo likes it in Brazil, in Brazil. I think Corey Sanhagan would be done for that. I don't like this one either. Pfeiffer versus Widman for his return fight. Oh, come on. What are we, Dax?

No. No, we don't want that. If Bozer drops down to 105, excuse me, Bozer, you want Kutalaba. First of all,

Bose are not dropping the 205. If he did. Don't hate it, but I don't think it's going to happen. How do you feel about because we haven't talked about him on this show yet? And we have to do this every week.

Mota versus Patty Pimbley. Hmm. It's not bad. I mean, I'm actually fine with that. It's not bad. That's what we should be doing. That's what we should be doing. We don't do the Jared Gordon fight for different reasons.

That's fine. I'm okay with that. And I think Moda's got a little bit of a spark in him, too, like attitude-wise. He's got a little bit of a spark. I feel like he could kind of sell the fight on his end of it. So I don't mind that. So thank you, Dax. Like, I think Patty would win that fight.

I would pick Patty, but I mean, Moat has got good power. He's got a puncher's chance for sure, more than a puncher's chance. But I would pick Patty to win that fight, which is why they should make it. Hayes Bethard, Piper versus the right to Dorovich winner. That's going down on top 15th. How do you feel about Anthony Hernandez versus Ian Heinish? Now, I like it because I actually have Heinish, even though he's not a two-fight losing streak. His win over Gerald, Mirshardt, from a while ago now, has still weighed a lot to me.

I actually kind of have him slightly above Anthony Hernandez. People might think that's crazy. So I don't know how you feel about that matchup next for Fluffy. Heinzish hasn't fought in a while, huh? Yeah, he's had quite a few setbacks. So July of 2021 was his last fight. He was booked in February against Sam Alvey and then Heinish with Drew. I'd be fine with it.

I'd be fine with it. It's just I have no idea what's going on at the end, Heinrich right now. So yeah, if they book it, I'm, I'm cool, but we're 14 months removed since his last fight. So I'm curious what's going on with him. Yeah, again, he's one of those guys just can't. There's a few guys like that in middleweight. Again, Darren Till, Gosslam, Hinesh.

Guys, just can't, Edmund Chabazzian, who has a fight now, supposedly, right? He's fighting. He is fighting. There's at least a rumor, a rumor in fight, right? No, he's, he's in. Oh, no, we haven't reported it. Yeah, we reported it. He's in.

He is fighting. A gentleman by the name of Dulchia Lungin Bula at UFC 282, December 10th. A very winnable fight, Edmond Chibazin. If you can't get that job done there, it may be time to take a little break from the UFC and get back in that regional scene and build up that way. Four Corner Sports and Y. There's some good matchups here. Injuquani versus Anders.

Kyle Dawkes winner, UFC Orlando. Eric's December. Oh, yeah. Okay, never mind. Yeah, Eric Anders. I was supposed to do to him. No, no. Anders Kyle Dawkes winner, UFC, Orlando.

Also, Algeo versus Elkins Pierce Loser from UFC, Orlando. So we're looking at that December 3rd card for Four Corner Sports NY. Anthony Hernandez versus Buckley, sure. Rebook Damon Jackson and Derek Minner. Oh, right, I want to read the ending, his ending thought here. So Four Corners Sports NY has kind of been viewing what's going on with Vera and San Hagan and all these guys. Aldo and Mirab was like a mini Grand P, so Grand P. Grow up, Mike.

You called it out. I was going to let it go. but you said something. Grand Prix. Bansomweight Grand Prix. Anyway, says, more corner sports, N.Y says, Cheeto Vera is leading the way. He's the only one that won in impressive fashion. Okay. Marab stopped Jose by grappling and by stealing moments away from Aldo, sure. Corey Sanagan, I do feel that Dr. Stoppage and San Hagan's own personal feelings on how the fight ended will allow Cheeto to be ahead against the other 135ers when it comes to a tell shot. The way he knocked out Cruz, it's that image that he left Cruz out cold, something a lot of people will not forget.

Yeah, I think if you're going by optics, I mean, Cheeto Vera probably showed out the best of this quote-unquote mini Grand Prix. But as we know, that's not always how UFC matchmaking works. But I like the idea there. Thomas Collins likes Batchrat versus Kyler Phillips because Kyler was supposed to fight Jack Shore. Of course, Jack Shore is now dealing with a bit of an injury. Javi could be a good short notice replacement. It would be a good test to see whether. he can fight a top 15 opponent.

So yeah, a huge step up, but short notice opportunity. I'd be cool with that. I'd love to watch that fight. Yeah, we're going to be here, we're going to be talking a lot about Javid Basharad on this show, I feel like. And his brother, too. His brother's real good. And his brother, Farid, yes.

Speaking of which of Javid, Barry O'Reilly throwing out Javid Bashraud versus Cody Garbrandt. Another man in need of him. Oh, you like that? I actually do kind of like. I mean, I'm fine with that. I would rather see Adrianianas get that fight because I think he's earned it.

Sure. But if they book it, I mean, I think Bachela would be very excited about that one. Apparently, there's been some stuff going down in Vegas with Cody from what I'm told. And I think Bachelat would be thrilled to defend his gym's honor against Cody Garbrand. So, yeah, I'll, I'm in.

I'm in for that. Here's the reasoning from Barry. Basharat, not really known for having one punch power, sure. More submission wins on his record, so we're not giving Cody another heavy hitter. Big test, huge win for a surging prospect, a really respectable name for Garbrandt to rebuild himself off if he can take Basharats zero. So some pretty good logic there. I still feel like he could knock out Cody, but I get it, I get it.

Marcus McGahey again, well done on the points, sir. Charles versus Gabe Green, Feeley versus Gavin Tucker, Jackson versus the Yusuf Don Chanis winner. It's going down on October 1st, Don Chaynes stepping in there. Bashrod versus Kachramanov.

What else we got here? James McDonnell's, Pfeiffer versus Tululin, Friends Forever. Thank you, James McDonald. Sanhagen, Aldo, Sondi, Dong, Domina Cruz, and another vote for Bashrod v.

Kendi. All right, so that's it for Twitter. Let's quickly go to the emails. Our pal, Casey Carpenter. Great work this week by all of you. Thoughts and prayers, Damon Jackson, and his family. I would like to see Damon Jackson versus Jed on BTL,

but Jed has to be on a treadmill the whole time as well. I think that this has come up before. So I like that suggestion. Fluffy of just matchup Hernandez Rodriguez. All right. Sorry, Casey, I'm going to move on here. Corey's our Otno coin collector, Corey Sanhagen versus Cheevera. Let's get a very violent Christmas.

Robocops, now my hero. Give him a healthy matchup with NasSordine Imavov. Ooh, I don't mind it. I don't mind it. Javid versus I'm in Zahabi. Yeah, I like that. Lomalukbumi versus Conejo. Honorable, I mentioned for, they want to do, oh, okay, normally I don't talk about, again, losing fighters, but Enjikwani versus Mikhail Oleg Sech.

That's a pretty fun matchup. And Tristan Gordette, always a busy man on the matchmaking. Javid versus Christian Kinonez, Shore, Damon Jackson, Cacaris, Andre Fili, Ricardo, Hamos. A lot of great matchups here. Joe Pfeiffer versus Roman Koppelov. It's out there. Mike, it's out there. I think this is going to happen.

I think your boy is going to get a big test. And then just a few from Instagram. Really just a handful here. You already read Tino, Marcus. CJ, thanks for coming in, CJ. Corey versus Mara Rodriguez versus Jotko. Don't not just say Jock was booked? CJ.

Did I not just say Jock was booked? For, did it, was that, yeah, perfect. He's like right now. Yeah, all right. Anyway, that's my, no, I, it's fine. Anyway, you know what, listen, I'll treat that as, I'll treat that as you meant that you think he's going to beat Brendan Allen because that, you know, I picked that fight as well as one of those guys anyway.

Anthony Hernandez, Phil Haas, Phil Haas booked. Phil Haas is booked. He is fighting Roman Deleizze. I believe that's on the October 29th card, but Haas is fighting Deleet's for sure. CJ, you just embarrassed both of us. I regret reading any of those. Okay, let's end with Matt Bradbury, who's always got a big line of picks.

Motta versus Manuel Torres. He's also down for Brasratrott versus Kacharmanov. Jillian Robertson versus the equally good Shevchenko sister Antonina. We don't call her the left-up sister. It's not right. Damon Jackson versus the Obloya of Mitchell Luser. Yeah, that'd be nice.

That's not bad. Massimento versus Augusto Sakai, Gregor Rodriguez, action man, Chris Curtis, and Corey Sanhagen, Marlon Barra. So thank you guys. Great, great pick. I feel like we've covered every possible base, Mike. I feel like there's no way we missed out on potential any potential matchups.

I think a lot of points will be given based off of this card. I think we got a lot of great picks. People keep sending them in. Hit me up on Instagram DMs at Alexander KK Lee on Twitter at Alexander Kee Lee. My DMs are open on both. Or you can email me, Alex. Dot Lee at SBNation.com. Yes.

Thank you to all of you for sending your picks in. You don't have to send any picks in this coming week because there's no UFC event. Oh no. This coming weekend. But there is MMA. Bellator is back. They're in Dublin. We get to see just a heartbreaking moment for Melvin Manhoff because he's about to get eaten by Yuel Romero and what could be his final fight.

Look for my interview with Melvin this week. I spoke to Melvin ahead of the fight and a very lovely man. And look forward to that article. Yes. And look for my interview. with Yolo Romero coming out this week. But I have officially on mini vacation, if you will. Like I will not be slinging away at the keyboards this week,

but I will be doing heck of a morning. I will do BTL on Thursday, which by the way, not this Thursday, but the Thursday after, we're getting it. We're getting Jed Bishu versus Phoenix Carnivali. It is happening. The official championship match that we never got from the tournament that we put together last year,

we never got the actual finals, but we're going to get it this time around. It's happening. We never got Tony versus Habib. Yes. But we are getting, finally, we are getting Jedd versus Phoenix. Yes.

And that of matchup will lead into the UFC's return on October 1st. And if you thought this past Saturday's card was great, buckle up for this lineup, ladies and gentlemen. 14 fights, headlined by McKenzie Dern Janjohn, great fight. Co-made event. Randy Brown versus the ageless

Francisco Trinaldo John Castaneda versus Daniel Santos Hione Barcellos versus Trevin Jones. So DiCusef, welcoming in New England's own shameless Don Chanis. Mike Davis versus Slava Claus

Valashlav Borchep By the way, I'm very disappointed Don Chianinous name isn't the panis. Don the Paineus Shainis would have been actually that doesn't sound good. No, scratch that. You're on fire today. You know what? Take that out.

Post. Nope, not taking anything on post. Randy Costa, speaking of New England versus Guido Canetti, for the middle-weightest, middle-weight title. This should be the main event of this car, or at least the co-main event, because of the stakes being so, so high.

Christoph Yaco puts his middle-weighty, middle-weighty title on the line against Brennan Allen. Julia Stolia Ranko is back. She will take on Chelsea Chandler from the two to the 09. She is a, she's one of those Stockton gals. And she's making her Banimway

debut, I believe. Jarzanio Rosenstrike versus Chris Dachas, Joaquin Silva is back against Canadian Jesse Ronson. Ugh, this is a tough hang. Maxim Grishin versus Philippe Linz. Alexei O'Linnick is back against Alia Latifi, and Jessica Penne versus Tabitha Ritchie. That is your UFC Vegas 61 fight card, okay. There's some, there's some potential here. There's some, but I will get more excited for this card as a.

it as it comes out. And I think it's nice that it is coming off a week without UFC. Like I said, we do have Bell Tour coming up. But yeah, maybe, you know, a Saturday without a UFC event. Give us some time to recharge. Give us some time to recharge. And I think we'll be looking at this one with slightly more rose-colored glasses when we get closer to it.

I hope so. And then we get another week off. And then it's onto UFC 280, which should be a ton of fun. An early MMA is the best MMA. And that's what we're getting for UFC 280. So enjoy the week off, everybody. well at least from UFC hang out with your pals

your friends and if you need some some MMA coverage or combat sports coverage we get you covered over at mmafighting.com so we'll see you in a couple of weeks everybody no show next week we'll be back October 2nd for a brand new edition of On to the Next one The Podcast Always remember folks don't take this stuff too seriously

MMA is supposed to be fun and we'll have fun in two weeks right here on On to the next one The podcast You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.