MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 74

Episode Date: June 4, 2023

Amir Albazi was on the right end of a split decision that many have deemed controversial in the main event of Saturday's UFC Vegas 74 card against one-time interim flyweight title challenger Kai Kara-France. Following the win, Albazi called for a title shot against the winner of the Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja fight at UFC 290 in July, but was his performance enough to get him that opportunity? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's designated matchmakers Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee give their thoughts in regards to what could be next for Albazi following the biggest win of his career. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Alex Caceres following his Fight of the Night bonus earning victory over Daniel Pineda, Jim Miller after brutally knocking out newcomer Jesse Butler in 23 seconds, along with fellow main card winners Tim Elliott, Karine Silva, Elizeu Zaleski, 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 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 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. And welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. After a week away from UFC action, the matchmaking crowns are back on the heads following UFC Vegas 74. for another event at the hallowed apex,

one that we'll probably be talking about for Card of the Year. Mick Maynard's streak of incredible fight cards apparently continues on. We had a main event that was very interesting and one that got some folks all fired up due to who won the fight and how he won the fight. All of that and more to discuss

from a matchmaking perspective this week. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck. And joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, the co-host of Tough Hang and my best friend, I don't care what Connor Burke says, Alexander Kaylee. Hello, A.K., how are you? My best friend, great to be with you as always. I'm in a spectacular mood. The people at home won't be able to see this.

People are listening in Podcastlandia won't be able to see this. I'm proudly wearing my Celtic hoops to celebrate them completing the treble on Saturday, winning the Scottish Cup over a valiant effort from Inverness, Caledonian thistle. But yes, five trophies in the past two seasons for Celtic. Thank you, Ange Pustacoglu. Thank you for everything. I'm very happy. It's been a great weekend already.

I didn't catch most of the UFC card. Again, I was just sort of out and about yesterday and just doing things and taking a little break with all due respect to McMaynard, again, his spectacular matchmaking and this loaded card. You know, I just didn't watch all of it. I did watch the main event, which we can get into soon. and I actually had kind of a good time making matches. I obviously saw some of the highlights.

Some of the results were fairly predictable. But sorry, I just got distracted by something off screen. But yeah, it sounds like I didn't miss too much. There's certain highlights I also wanted to skip. To talk about Karine's Sylva. I'll get into that later. But yes, it sounds like it wasn't a barn burner. It was not a bar and burner.

There were some cool things. But look, I don't mind, at the end of the day, I don't mind cards like this. But you have to do like 10 fights. You can't do 13. It's just too much.

By like, the prelim started at 6 p.m. Eastern. By like 8.45, I felt like I was watching fights for 10 hours. And like we still had, and all I'm thinking of myself is, we still have seven fights to go. There's still another prelim left, and then there's six main card fights. And I was just slowly getting chipped away as the night progressed.

Now, luckily, we got some nasty finishes. We had a nasty submission. We had a 23-second knockoff from Jim Miller, Alex Cesaris and Daniel Paneda beat the hell out of each other, and that was a lot of fun. The main event, at least is going to give us something to talk about. And we might as well just get into it now, A.K. Amir al-Bazi gets the biggest win of his career, wins a split decision against Kai Kara-France. And there's like three people on earth that I have seen that actually scored the boat for

Amir al-Bazi. Pretty much everybody across the board scored this for Kikara-France. I scored it 4847. I said throughout the fight, I would not be surprised if a judge gave Kikar-France four rounds. And then I re-watch it again this morning. And on the re-watch, I scored it four rounds. to one for Kai Kar-France. Now, to be fair, three of those rounds were close. The first three rounds are close. Four and five were about as, I'm sorry, three, four and five were as clear as can

be. Third round was clearly Amir al-Bazi. Four and five were unquestionably Kai Kar-Franz. Yet one judge scored round four for Kai-Car-France, which cost him the fight. I don't, I just don't know which world that Kai-Car-Friends did not win that fourth round. One and two were very close. Let me say, I actually think you could score round three for Carre France. I do. I do. Yeah. Okay.

That said, that said, I also had it for Car, France, but I would give Albaisi, for me, it was Albaazi 1 and 2, Car France 3, 4, 5. And I'm with you, 4 and 5 pretty clearly Car France. I was trying to, again, I had the benefit. By the way, I just told people. I didn't watch it live. I watched it today, so I was aware of the controversy. see. So there was some bias because I'm looking, at this point, I'm looking for specific things, right?

I'm like, okay, well, I know people said four and five were clear Car France rounds. So when I watch it, I'm like, okay, I'm looking more for Al-Bazi stuff just to see, like, how it might have gone the other way. And so this was me biased towards Al-Bazi rounds four and five. And I still, I'm not 100% sure how you could give either of those rounds to Al-Bazi. One of the judges did, right? What do we have here? we had one oh uh chrisley gave round four to albazi my cousin

my brother actually is my brother chrisley uh yeah that's a weird one that's a weird one that one i found really tough to justify I would actually be okay with round three car of france just because it's not i don't it's not that he stole it it's that as i was watching i didn't know how that round played out

until i actually watched it um So Albazi obviously has back control for a huge portion of that fight. And I'm like, oh, this is clear Albaughi round. And then Karabran's reverses and then starts throwing down some pretty good elbows. Nothing like super damaging. I know Bisping was like, he thought one of them would split him open, which you know isn't true at the end. Like he took maybe a bruise from it, but he wasn't busted open. But I thought those elbows were pretty effective and pretty damaging.

And I get Abazi also had a pretty effective. effective rear naked choke submission attempt. But I think for me, the damage that Carfrance did was more important on my scorecard. But of course, you could give that round to Albaozzi, again, a lot of back control. So I have no problem with that. And then round one and two just really, really, really, really close. So, but yeah, four and five, pretty sure should have gone to KKF. Yeah, I get, watching it live, I gave the first round to Albaozy, round two to Kaikar, France,

three to Albaozy. I had Albaozy up 29, 28, heading into the fourth round. But again, I wouldn't have been shocked if judges scored it 29-28 for Kikar-France. And then four and five were clear. So, and then I watched again this morning, and the first round was the one I wasn't really sure about. And I thought Kikar-France won that first round, re-watching it, as did the other judges. But none of the judges agreed that Kai-Kar-France won the second round. So just a weird fight.

Round two was the clearest Al-Bazi round for me, actually. I actually had two pretty clear for Al-Bazi. But again, I did watch it this morning with not doing anything else. But it's a very close fight. So I will tell people I'm, I guess I've spoiled it already, but if people want to see more of the rationale behind it, probably am going to have a robbery review ready for Monday. And, you know, again, if people can agree with me, disagree with me. I don't think, I don't know how much controversy. I know online there's a reaction, but I know this wasn't the most watched fight cards.

So I was surprised no one tagged me. Usually I get tagged. I think as recently as a couple of cards ago, I can remember there was a fight. People wanted me to do a robbery review for, and I wasn't very convinced. But this one, there's enough controversy. And I do need to watch it again. So this was only my... I literally just watched it for the first time,

maybe an hour before we started recording the show. And, yeah, I was mostly fine with the result other than that round four scorecard for Chris Lee. But maybe when I watch it again, slow it down, really break down some of the exchanges. I'll understand, you know, more why there's a bit more of an outrage. But, yeah, close fight. Not surprised people are upset about it.

I'll be very interested to read this robbery review. And look, it's... we talked about this in the post-fight show because you can, there is a case to be made that Amir al-Bazi won the first three rounds. You can make that case. Sure. And had Chris Lee scored the fight that way,

I don't think we're having this conversation right now. I think if Chris Lee scored it like Sal DiMato did, we're not having this conversation right now. It's the fact that this is Suhudo Sterling all over again. This is, was it Mike Bell? I don't know. It's Derek Cleary. Derek Cleary scoring the fifth round.

for Al Jermaine Sterling when Henry Sehudo clearly won the fifth. It was the clearest round of the fight. And it cost, I mean, the right guy won. So it's a little different. But Henry Sehudo would be the flyway champion of the world if that judge has actually scored that fifth round the way it was supposed to be scored, which is just a weird, wild world to think about. But yeah, that's just how this all works. Yeah.

Sal Diomado has the correct Al-Bazi score card. If you're going to score for Obazi, it has to be one, two, three, Al-Bazi. Yeah, I just can't. see him getting four or five but again i'll watch again maybe maybe that'll change too well no matter how whether you scored a robbery or not amyra obazi is going to win this fight is going down in the books as a victory he is undefeated in the ufc he said heading in if i win i get the next title shot and he called for that as soon as he got the victory even though very few people agree that he won the fight he said Brandon Moreno, Alexander Pantoja, whoever wins, let's do it in Abu Dhabi.

Do you think that's what's going to happen? What is your matchmaking crystal ball telling you for Amir Al-Bazi after this win? Yeah, I said going into the fight, Abazi still won win away. I still believe that. I'm sure most people believe that too. Again, and let's be clear, it was not a bad performance by Abazi. This is, I think, one reason why I hate robbery talks so much is that when the quote unquote wrong fighter gets the win, suddenly like everything they did gets discounted.

This is most common, most popularly seen in the Sean O'Malley, Piotr-Yon fight, where some people who are looking back and are like, oh, Sean Amelho got killed in that fight, which is completely untrue and that fight was awesome. But because the split didn't go the way that a lot of people thought it should have gone, suddenly everything Sean O'Malley did is just erased. And I think that's happening to Obazi too. I already just like, oh, well, Cara France just schooled him for whatever. four out of five rounds and I'm like not really like I don't I don't think that's the case so I think

al-bazi is a worthy title challenger just not yet there's still work to be done again I said this before this split this uh you know controversial split so Mike listen it's it might be Amir's year but it's also someone else's year I think it can only be one person here and I think they have to fight over it it's the year of the Brandon Royval as people call it. And I think him and Al-Bazi need to fight next. So I don't see why that fight can't happen.

If I'm Royval, I didn't see his social media. I'm not sure if he called for it, but he should be jumping all over wanting to get that fight. And then the winner of that, for sure, has done enough to earn a title shot. Brandon Royval was basically tweeting throughout the fight. Like, I think it was like three and a half minutes in. And he was like, he's watching Al-Bazi perform.

And he's like, I already knocked this guy down three times and finished him. So I'm getting the next title shot. Like when I fought Kai Kar-France. That fight was absolutely insane. Here's the thing. If we were living in just a usual UFC world where like everything is domestic and the cards are taking place like in Vegas and all over the United States, Bran Royval is getting the winner of the main event or the co-main event at UFC 290. Brand Royval, the way Dana talked about him and put him over, everything about it is going to be the backup for

the title fight apparently. Burn Royval is getting the title shot. Like that's how it would be if we're just talking about just a regular old UFC schedule. Damon made a great point on the post-fight show. The UFC is going to Abu Dhabi and Amir al-Bazi will be treated like an absolute superstar if he fights on that card. So I am not going to rule out that his next fight could be for the belt. So what I landed on is a.

Amir al-Bazi versus Alexander Pantoja, winner lose against Brandon Moreno. If Brandon Moreno wins, he is not fighting Amir al-Bazi. That is a fact. That is 100% not going to happen next. Brandon Moreno will probably fight Brandon Royval, and Brandon Moreno is certainly not fighting in Abu Dhabi. Not going to happen, especially on three months notice.

No chance. However, if Alexander Pantosia wins, they're going to give Brandon Moreno another title fight. But again, Brandon Moreno is not going to turn around in three months. But the UFC would absolutely give Pantosia the old nudge nudge to head over to Abu Dhabi and defend that title against Amir al-Bazi, make the fans over there happy, the Abu Dhabi folks, the people that are paying the UFC millions and millions and millions of dollars to go there and host cards every year. That's a fight that they would probably want to have in their arena as well. So, win or lose, I'm going Albazzi versus Pantosia.

And Brandon Moreno wins. Brandon Moreno will fight Brandon Roy Val for the belt. Albazi will fight Pantosia. And if you win this fight, you get a title shot no matter what kind of a situation. But that's what I think is going to happen. If Pantosia wins the belt, he'll defend against Albaughi. He'll have to turn around quick to do it. The UFC will Al Jermaine Sterling Pantosia into fighting Amir al-Bazi in Abu Dhabi.

That's what I think is going to happen. Some pieces got to fall. Some pieces got to fall. Yes. Sounds right. So let's go to the co-main event. Bruce Leroy, Alex Casares, defeats Daniel Panetta. I thought Bruce Leroy is going to get his arm snapped off,

but the man is just a freak of nature. He even said in his post-fight scrum that the arm bar didn't even feel like tight. He wasn't even, like, bothered by it, which is absolutely insanity. But he gets a big win. He wants a rank guy. He wants to try to make some more money. And he needs to fight dudes the numbers next to his name. If there's one guy who probably deserves that in this division, it's Alex Casares.

Because even though he's got a number next to their name, he continuously fights backwards. Give me Bruce Leroy versus that Sabarbo's A.K. Oh. Let's just do it. 15 versus 14 in the UFC rankings. Let's do it. Never been booked? I don't think so.

I looked. I didn't see him. I don't think so either. I feel like we may be booked on onto the next one, but not booked. I have picked this fight before. I'm picking it again. Okay. I've probably also picked this fight before.

This was scheduled way back in the dreaded 2020 and was actually canceled because this man I'm picking, I believe he got COVID. Giga Chkazze. We don't know where he is. Yeah, we don't know what's up with this guy. I still have a number next to his name in my rankings. I don't know if he's quite in the top 10 anymore. If you're going just by UFC rankings, yes. He's 10th.

I think if we are going and may fighting global rankings, obviously he's probably a notch or two below because of other promotions. But yeah, top 10 in the UFC, still, it's weird. He's still coming off that one loss, which feels, which is so long ago now, he needs to get back in there. I'm sure he's been waiting forever to avenge that loss. And not to mention just get his buzz back,

because this division featherweight moves so fast. It feels like nobody's talking about him anymore. When before taking his first loss in the UFC, people were like, oh, one one away, title shot. Now he's just completely out of the picture. A win over Alex. Casares is not going to get Giga Chikaze right back on the title shot, but it's a good fight. It's one, again, for a guy who's been away for a while, it's one he should take, you know,

just sort of get some of that buzz back if you can beat Alex Casares. And like I said, Casares is a top 10, top 15 opponent. And I think Giga fits the bill at this time. I actually think this is probably the right answer. But Giga Chikazza is doing the whole media round thing saying that, well, the UFC wants to fight Brian Ortega. And I've not heard Brian Ortega one time. even mentioned Giga Chikazai's name.

And why would he? That, like, that's just, like, that's just terrible career progression. He got the breaks beat off him by Calvin Cater. Like, that was a vicious beating. And now you're going to go in there and fight Brian Ortega? Like, that's just bad mismanagement of your career, in my opinion. I'm, if Brian Ortega is, like, minus 400 or less, I'm probably picking him. Like, the value is even higher in that fight.

this is the kind of fight that I would I don't even know if I would pick you get chikaze to beat Alex Casaris right now like I would have to look at that a little bit and I bet Jikaze would be the favorite which means the value to me would be on Bruce Leroy but you got to walk before you run bro if you lose to another fight like you're done like you're out of the title picture altogether you get to be a little bit smarter yeah so we'll see how this all plays out it's the right test for him it's the right test for him at this point like yeah like you said he'd probably be favored you probably have a lot of uh caseras probably a very live dog in this situation but yeah that this is why this is why they should they should make this fight

happen because it's intriguing it's intriguing enough i don't i don't think uh as much as as giga would be favorite i don't think anyone's like well cassarist definitely gonna get like because the door's blown off him he's a nice run seven uh what what seven two straight seven of his last eight i think so good for you bruce le roy with amex platinum four hundred dollars in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex.

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Jim Freakin Miller, AK. Look, the result was not surprising. I think a lot of us figured that Jim Miller was going to go ahead and finish good old Jesse Butler, who credit to him, steps in on, what, two and a half days notice for the... concussed Jared Gordon. And Jim Miller, after all this time, his 42nd walk to the octagon gets his most violent and fastest finish of his UFC career.

23 seconds. Knocked poor Jesse Butler, absolutely unconscious. And Jim Miller wants to get to UFC 300. The man just wants to get to UFC 300, which our own Damon Martin did the math. It looks like April of 2024 would be the time frame for UFC 300. he said, look, I'll go to Welterweight.

I'll even go up to Welterweight to keep this action moving. So lots of ways we can go with this, AK, outside of Jim Miller versus Arm and Sarukion. Please don't ever even think about that. What are we doing with Jim Freakin Miller after this win? Hold on. He got 50 Gs for this, for this finish. He did. Yeah, he did. Come on.

Creedis Silva did not. Oh, look, 23 seconds in the way he did it. It is almost like impossible. He'd be a non-UFC guy in two days notice. But it was 23 seconds and he knocked him dead. We all predicted this would happen. But did you predict that in 23 seconds he was going to knock a man unconscious? I didn't say 23 seconds, but people can check my predictions.

I said, I said, I'm like Jim Miller's team. I probably had to do some last second cramming on Jesse Butler. I admit I was not super familiar with his work. And I was like, okay, this is a guy who fights well at range. He's a pretty, like, tall. He's a featherweight actually, but like, you know, good sizeable enough for lightweight. He likes to fight well as range.

Excuse me, and a good grappler. But I'm like, obviously he's not going to outgrapple Jim Miller. And also, Jim Miller is fine with taking damage to get inside. And this guy doesn't fight well when people get inside him at all. Sure enough, once Jim Miller's like, realize what he was dealing with. I mean, he probably realized before he even stepped in the cage because, like you said, 23 seconds, just stepped in and walloped him. I went first round.

Yeah, maybe I wouldn't have said under 30 seconds. but and listen I'm always happy to see Jim Miller get paid more money I always said Jim Miller should be getting paid a million dollars for every fight he's Jim Miller he's led for your company the fact that we that he's not making like one one million dollar disclosed payday is ridiculous because he deserves it 42 UFC fights now this is freaking insane so I shouldn't complain about him getting the bonus but yeah crini Silva could have gotten one um Dante Mays we're knocking out uh andro a lot I don't know so anyway congrats to Jim Miller Jesse Butler get

back in there. I'm sure he gets another shot and back down at 145. I need to see, listen, I just want to see Jim Miller fighting more guys with zero UFC experience, Mike. This is, what a strange run of fights he's had. Eric Gonzalez, zero UFC fights. Nicholas Motta, zero UFC fights when he fought Jim. And then Donald Soroni, second most like UFC lightweight fights. So that was where he went from two guys with no experience to Donald Seroni and then Alexander Hernandez right in the middle.

And now Jesse Butler, his third opponent of his past five fights making their UFC debut. I'm all for it. Shockingly, he finished all these guys with no UFC experience, Mike. I don't know if you can believe that. So, let's get, listen. I just watched Ultimate Fighter the first episode. Nate Jenerman. Let's give Nate Jenerman another chance. I felt so sad for a story. Let's do it for Nate

and his three-legged dog. Signed Nate for a fight with Jim Miller. This is, you know, again, Jim Miller, I don't want him fighting guys as any more UFC experience until UFC 300. We just keep getting them in there, getting him paychecks, keep them healthy until it's time for the what we will be calling the Jim Miller card.

Like, I hope the 50 G's, like, actually will just keep Jim Miller on ice into UFC 300. Maybe that's why I said he came into him. I mean, just, you know, send him out for an appearance or something to make up for it. I'm sure he's not going to do this, but let's just... Or if you want to do something like the end of the year, I don't know. But the fact that he said, I'll go up to Welterweight and fight, got the gears moving a little bit. And I mentioned this in the post-fight show. The correct answer is Jim Miller versus Nick Diaz at 170.

Oh, what? I just, whoa, I did not see, I apologize to my best friend. I did not watch the post-fight show. Whoa, I thought you were going to go with. I saw Damon mentioned or someone mentioned something on social media, a different world to a fight. Matt Brown, I like that idea. Yeah, Matt Brown. Great idea.

Nick Diaz. Wow. If Nick Diaz is going to fight, he should fight nobody else but Jim Miller, who goes up to 170 to fight him. He's a good trip. How many people have fought both Diaz brothers? That's a great question. I have to do a quick, let's do a quick look at this before we.

I don't know if anybody has. But I would love that. And I feel like that's the kind of fight that Nick Diaz would come out for too. Yeah, I think the Diaz brothers don't respect everybody in this business. Let me tell us something. They definitely respect Jim Freakin Miller. I mean, that'd be cool. You know me, Mike.

I'm averse to booking anything for Nick Diaz. I just don't know what his deal is. I would never, I would be surprised. I was sorry, I would not be surprised if he never fights again. I don't think anyone would be surprised that happened. But you're right. He's never said he's retired. He keeps talking.

Every time he does interviews, he's like, yeah, I'm going to go back in there. I'm going to back in there. Jim Miller, great option. Great option. I don't mind it. So we'll see. Jim's going to fight some guy who we don't even know in his next fight and then so i guess i'm just crystal balling ufc 300 but because i think jim miller

should be on the band list honestly like out of all respect of all respect he should be in the lupy godinez type of camp right because jim miller could literally match up against anybody and we just we we don't know how it can go so let us move on to back to the flyweight division Tim Elliott, the man who really needed something good to happen for him, went out there and just kind of gave the vet lesson to Victor Altam Marano. A nice win, classy with the post-fight speech, and knocks it out of the park, and AK, I'm doing it. I'm doing it.

Mohamed Mahamahev. Tim Elliott, Muhammad Mahamahev. Cue the music. Cue the music. Dada-da-da-da-da-da. Friends forever. I went too fast. That's the fight.

Yeah, we know that. Yeah, yeah, they've talked to it before. I think Makayev has, I've pretty sure he's called him up before. Yeah, it's the right way to go. Again, Makayev has a little bit of reputation rebuilding to do. I just think people have gotten a better gauge of who he is. Like, I know right out the gate we saw his unbelievable wrestling, great athleticism, incredible amateur career, hits the ground running pretty well in his first two fights.

and then, you know, and then his past two challenged greatly in his most recent fight against a relatively unknown opponent. So that was troubling, I think, for some people. And also there's questions about, like, does he have that extra gear to really put away next level competition? And I'm not saying he needs to finish Tim Elliott. I think Tim Elliott's pretty tough. If he did, that'd be impressive. But just even another, like, super convincing 30, 27 against a guy like Tim Elliott would go a long way. And let's not rule out, you know, Tim Elliott upsetting him.

I'm sure, again, Mackayev would be minus, I bet he'd be minus, at least minus 400, minus 500, huge favor in this matchup, even given the experience advantage that Elliott has. I think people would be looking at the youth of Makaiab, undefeated record, still, some of the hype he still carries. It's a logical way to go. And if you're Tim Elliott, that's one you should be going for, right? I think he'd love to be the one to derail this train. Yeah, Royval's not fighting him.

Manel Kopp's not fighting him. These guys who are a winner two away from title shots are not fighting Mahamahev. The risk reward is not there. Even though Muhammad got a lot of buzz and a lot of hype, like you said, I don't know if it's like a reputation rebuild, but some of that hype has vanished. It's kind of withered away. It could come back,

but people are just like, all right, we've seen you get a late finish after being in trouble against the guy. You're a minus 900 favorite over. But yeah, I like the matchup. I think it makes all the sense in the world. These fights that he keeps continuously. calling for on Twitter that are just not going to happen right now. Just stop doing that. Focus your energy on the Tim Elliott. And that's it. That should be the fight. Tim wants to get in

there ASAP. Maham said he wants to fight in Boston. Do it in Boston. Do it in August. I think the time frame lines up perfectly. Corine Silva, just nastiness, AK, you probably haven't seen it. The leg lock from hell. I don't even know what to call it. It was announced as a knee bar, but I'm not so sure that's actually a knee bar. It was like a kneebar heel hookish hybrid of sorts. And it was just nasty. Absolutely nasty. She just continues to finish people, 100% finish rate.

Nasty performance. Did not get a bonus. Dana says he's going to take care of her, not giving her the 50 Gs, but at least a little something, something. What do you want to see for her after this nice, nice nasty submission victory? Yeah, I loved the matchup for, uh, Karine Silva. Again, she's just, man, there's just not a lot of finishers as consistent as her in her weight class.

Again, how many is in that? She, she, 15 wins, 16 finishes. Again, I did not watch it. I don't need to watch it. I'm good. You got the descriptions, people's reactions on social media. I saw those. And I'm like, cool.

Great. Definitely no. I will never watch this. Ketland Suza, tough debut. Listen, she's put in some good work in Invicta. She just won their flyweight title. but her skills her skill ceiling is like pretty I don't want to say like I feel like we know who Kelton Seuss is going to be for the next five six seven years of her career but like she just

doesn't have like a super a plus skill she's like just really really tough really well-rounded and like I just didn't like I didn't like her chances of getting out of this one without getting hurt and sure enough she got hurt pretty badly so yeah really excited about Karina sylva's chances in this division with performance like that you can get to a title shot pretty quickly I'm not rushing her into the top 15 just yet. You know, me, I'd like to just see a little more in the UFC first. So it's 2 and 0 so far in the UFC. I'm going to throw out a name that a lot of people have been throwing on Otno recently.

And I haven't yet, but I think we can give her Antonina. Let's go out to Antonina Shepchenko for her third UFC fight. And then after that, if she finishes Antonia Shepchenko, which I think she can, then we're talking probably top 10 opponent. So that was my first thought. My first thought, as soon as I was over, I'm like, let's do the Antonina thing. One of my favorite matchmaking things to do is go from point A to Antonina Shepchenko. And if you follow Antonia Shepchenko on Instagram, she doesn't look like she's like getting ready to fight anytime soon.

She's flying airplanes. She's working like for, I don't even know. I don't know what she's doing. Like, I don't know if she's like a pilot pilot. I don't know if she's flying jet blue planes or whatnot, but she looks like she is having the time of her life flying planes right now or in being part of the aviation nation, if you will. It doesn't look like she's in any rush to come back to fight.

So after seeing all those photos and everything, I was like, I just don't know if I want to go that route, just because I just have no idea. So the UFC is going back to Brazil. They're going to Sao Paulo And we could do a little Brazil versus Brazil We do Karine Silva versus the Queen of Violence Is that no

Ariane Ulibski is Ariane Elipski is Ariane Elipski Is that her name name? Yes Yes That's the fight Yes, that's the fight Is she not rumored to have an opponent I didn't see one

Let me double-jjjohn I don't know Listen, this may not be an M.A.fighting.com confirmed bout. Let me just check. Oh, she's, okay. Melissa Gato. So let me, let me, let me, let me, let me undo myself. Well, I don't think we, for the record, I don't think we have, I don't think we have confirmed this. She's confirmed to fight Melissa Gatto July 1st.

Either way. November. It was announced. It was announced. Okay. Yeah. So Carine Silva versus Melissa Gato, Arianei Lipski, winner, losing it's Los Agato at

UFC Sao Paulo November 4th. Let's do that. I went like the opposite of you. You said you thought Antonina first and then you went to the Lipski-Gato thing. I actually thought Lipski first and then when I saw the shoes with Gato went to Antonina. So we were kind of in the same circle just we went in a different direction. Yeah, Forever Friends. Yeah, that was Forever Friends moment.

Yeah. To the Welterweights. I'm already like losing Steam just talking about this card. Mike, come on. Go on. I forgot. We got a lot more fights to go. Liseu Zaleski gets a victory over Abu Bakar to Bogamadeoff.

Might be another one you could do a robbery review for, aka because people were not happy about that one either, mostly from the gambling community. It's fine. Like this one I have less of an issue with than the main event. But I'll just make this simple. Randy Brown's fighting Wellington Termin in 20 days at UFC Jackson. Exxonville, the winner that Zaleski can fight. What say you?

Mike, I kind of think, I kind of want to see, listen, if we're bringing the, if we're bringing the BMF back, and we've talked about it recently, we did a little roundtable about, you know, more gimmick belts in the UFC. I should have done this one, but I realized it may have seemed a little insensitive on paper. But saying it out loud, I don't know, we'll seem less insensitive. I need the O-A-M-F title. Like, I need the old-ass M-F or title. because we talk about

the legends titles a lot this is different this is not this would be because legend I think is a certain designation

and like considering I'm about to book a fight for Elezu Zeleschi I don't think anyone would call him a legend but he's certainly up there in age both in fight years

and in actual years he's 36 and I want to match him with another 36 year old Argentinian veteran Santiago Panzanibio I was a little surprised they had never been booked, they had never fought.

And this isn't the title fight, by the, this is a qualifier. This is a qualifier. Because really, if the Jim Miller, like Nick Diaz or Jim Miller, Matt Brown fight happened, there's your OAMF, like, an inaugural title fight. I mean, that's automatic. But I think these guys should be in the contender conversation. I think they should fight one another for it. So I'd like to see Zelisky and Ponzi.

I wonder how Olivier Aubin-Mercier would feel about the name of that type. Oh, yeah, I might get sued. he's really on top of his branding. So if he saw the OAM, as soon as he sees those three letters, I'd be like, whoa, whoa. Might be a little crazy. Might not go well for me. Well, let's go to the wild card round, AK.

We'll select one fighter that we have not match made for, and we will match me for them right now. One of the fighters who got a victory on this card called out another fighter at 135, and that fighter has already sort of accepted it, which would be a fun-ass fight. So I don't know if you're going in that direction or if you're going in a different direction.

What is your wildcar pick for UFC Vegas? Did you go in this direction? Because otherwise, I have no idea who you're talking about. I did not go in this direction. Okay. I said there's three, there were three 135 pound fights. So who, what happened? This is one of them.

Daniel Santos called out Adrian Yanez. And Adrian Yanez is like, let's go, July or August. So. Wow, that's a good call out. Get a diamond cup. Get a diamond cup. Like get two, maybe three. Maybe three.

That's a good call out. fallout. No, I went with the heavy weights and with the heavy weights. First of all, shockingly, I almost considered getting back into gambling with this card because I was so sure that Mays and Arloski was going to go to a decision. I was like, this is my lock. Like, there's just no way. And if Mays was going to finish Arlowski, I would have thought, oh, somewhere in the first

round. So once I saw it go, I heard it went past the first round. I'm like, man, I wish I'd put money on this because there's no way. But Don't tell Mays look, found a way, puts down the veteran. Again, which is even though Arlowski is like the career UFC leader in getting knocked out, it's, it's, it's been a while since he's flat out got KO'd. Four years, three and a half years, three and a half years, Jerry'sine. Anyway, so a little disappointing.

Sad for Arlofsky. U.S. Fancy appearance number 40, one of only two people, him and Jim Miller, UFC appearance number 40 did not go the way of the former UFC heavyweight champion. So, don't tell Mays, you get yourself an odd-no booking. And I have to make this because I felt bad. because I sort of made fun of this potential booking before the card happened, and I don't want to,

it was very disrespectful to both these guys. So give me an apex headlining heavyweight bout between Donnell Mays and Parker Porter. Whoa. You got to give the people what they want. And I was wrong to use this as an example. I was trying to say like, oh, these are like, these are throwaway heavyweight fights. I was like Mays Parker Porter, for example. And as soon as I said it, I'm like, that's not a throwaway heavyweight fight.

That's a UFC Vegas main event. That's an interim title fight. That's exactly. That's MSG. That should probably be on pay-per-view. You're right. That should probably be your paper view. I'm going a different direction.

Now, normally I would pick a winner of a fight, but I feel that this man performed so admirably that I have to go with him. I'm going with Daniel Paneda. I'm not even going to explain myself. If you watched that fight last night and you are going to watch UFC 289 next week, Daniel Paneda, my initial thought was a triple-th threat match. Just throw Daniel Paneda in to the fight next week with Nate Landware and Dan I again, and just do a triple threat match because I just signed me the hell up for that.

Daniel Panada versus the loser of Nate Landware versus Danny Yeg is just incredible. Or the winner, I don't care, but Daniel Paneda should be fighting one of these guys next. Preferably Nate Landware, because I kind of think Danny Ye is going to win that fight. So this works out great. But Daniel Panetta versus Nate Landware might be the most insane fight. in UFC history. That to me is a Landwar, win-loser draw thing. And Denny Gay,

Danny is not like a boring fighter either, but yeah, that's great. I would love to see Land-Were and Paneda. Yeah, win-loser draw. So I'm with you on that. But yeah,

I'm all the way with the Land-Ware side of it. Danny-Gay can go, if he wins, can go move on and fight someone else in the top 10. Nate Land-Wher, even if he wins, yeah, I want that Panada fight. Let's go to the peeps,

okay, unless there's any, anybody sending in for Otno points or any... Listen, yeah, I got a lot of it. I don't know. Well, we just, I don't know if you saw someone just literally just for the show, someone tagged us on Twitter. So I'll say, I can't verify these. So these are, but they're all tentative points, okay? Because I don't have my notes on this device I'm using.

Dog the Value Hunter. Yes. Shout out to Dog the Value Hunter. It's right there to see. There you go. Screenshot. Screenshot. And you look unimpressed.

Josh. To put it lightly. And blurry. But there you go. You know what, though? I'm going to retweet this right now. People can find it so people can find it on my feed. But, yes, also you can see the jersey in this screenshot that I'm also wearing today.

So, yes, Dog the Value Hunter on YouTube, apparently Josh Hogan on Twitter, says he wants a point for Mark Andre Baaljo versus Eric Anders. Sure, take the point, I guess. I feel like that might have been picked by someone else, but you know what? No one else nudged me. So there you go, sir, that's your point. Someone else, gosh, who was, someone sent me a video of them. Oh, I guess it was also from the YouTube show. want to make sure they got their point.

Alex, was it Alex McAdam? He wants a point for Romanov versus Ivanov. That's happening, right? Yes. I think so. Alex McAdam. July something, maybe? I don't know.

Alex McAdam, you know what? Sure, take your point. And I actually have to bring up, Mike. So last time on the show, you remember, I clumsily like bumbled my way through trying to figure out whether we should tell people to stop making picks for, you know, women fighters who have recently either recently announced their pregnancy or in the middle of their pregnancy and we don't know when they're going to come back. And I had some very people who are obviously much more intelligent than me give me their thoughts on this. I want to find both them. I can only find one. Was one the other one on Twitter? Let me see. I know, I want to shout out Denise Knowles who commented on this. And I think Manny Alejandro also.

So I'll read Denise Knowles first because this is a little bit more of a comprehensive comment. So Denise says, hello, this message is in response to your ought-no question about coming back to fight six months after giving birth. Because, yeah, I think I was saying someone has just, like people had thrown out Tisha Torres as a potential opponent for someone. And I said, like, oh, you know, Tisha's expecting. I know her and her and Raquel are expecting this summer, so I think June. and then maybe she could fight by Christmas and then as I said it I'm like, wait, is that dumb? So Denise says,

your assessment is based on a woman having no complications during birth or not desiring, you know, focus time after birth to bond, affection, breastfeeding, etc. with the baby. Some women have complications after birth, e.g. Caesarean sections, other complications. And that takes time to heal. Also, some women do not want to divide their time between work and baby time those first few months.

I highly doubt a six-month comeback happens. But like you said, Tisha is super aggressive. in terms of her fitness routine. So without complications slash other barriers, I would not be surprised if she makes that happen. So doubtful, but possible, again, barring some complications. And then Maddie Alejandro reminded me that the very card, on the very card we were discussing,

Mackenzie Dern did that with Amanda Hebas. Do you remember that, Mike? Yes. Yeah, four months, four months after she delivered. She got back into the cage. She did lose to Amanda Hebus. I believe she said after, like, I have no regret. you know, I don't think I don't blame coming back so quickly on, you know, not winning this fight.

So it clearly is possible. Is it wise? Again, we really don't have enough data clearly to decide to make that decision. But yeah, thank you, everyone who comments on that, who reminded me because, again, I don't know what I'm talking about in regards to that kind of thing. So, yeah, if there's any other points, I'll mention them quickly, but I haven't had a chance to really look through these messages thoroughly, Mike. But, yeah, I think we can move on. I think we can move on. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Do you want to give the disclosure? Yeah, I'll just give the quick disclaimer. That's people, if you can somehow, you know, be the only person to just a match up very, very these days, you'll have an odd-no point coming your way. watch out for mistakes wrong weight class people who have fought already significant injuries people have been released fight people who are already booked that's the easiest one to check mabiding dot com people who are well known and frequent close teammates please don't match those people up

and uh your pictures might be do-do and we don't want to read it let's get into it drew think we're going to need a robbery review from a k for this one one of the judges gave round four to albazi which is crazy to me albazi versus cop he needs one more to solid Defy a title shot. Carfrens versus Mateus Nicolao. Casares versus Nate the train, winner lose against Igay. Jim Miller versus RDA, winner lose against Luke. Crazy they've never crossed paths.

Tim Elliott and Mahayev, need to see a step up in comp. Tim is the obvious man to do it. Dos Santos versus Gabriel Bonfim after he dusts jiles. And the wild card, Daniel Santos versus the Cameron Simon Rodriguez winner. Harry, Elise Reed versus Jessica Penne, Dontail Mays versus Muhammad Usman. Dos Santos versus Jeremiah Wells, Karinei Silva versus Courtney Casey.

Is Courtney Casey still in the UFC? I think so. As far as I know, yeah, I don't think she's been released. Okay. Okay. Jim Miller versus Chase Hooper. Keep him fresh for UFC 300.

What do you think about that idea? It doesn't really go with my like, Chase Super has a lot of you have a lot of years. Two veteran savvy. Yeah, at this point, Chase Hooper. Kassar's versus Bulls. Barbosa seems like the biggest no-brainer of all time. Kai Kar-Kher-F versus Tim Elliott to build him back up,

or Kai-Kar-F versus Mahayev to give him a big fight. KKKF versus Mahayev. What do you think of that idea, okay? I love it. If I'm Mahayev, I don't know if that's where I want to go next. KKKF's take the defense is really good. But if you're Makaiov and his team, maybe you're saying, like, well, we want to show that we're more, one, either that we're more than just a grappler,

or that we're so good at grappling, we can dominate a guy who, who like very few people have been able to dominate with grappling. So, I mean, yeah, Makayev should go for it. I think if you're, I don't know, it just doesn't feel like quite the right time for it. I was going to say Makayev should go for it, but I think the Tim Elliott fight just makes so much more sense. And if you're KKF, you don't have a ton to gain from fighting Makayev. John Ray, Jim Effing Miller versus Lando Vanada, Silva versus J.J. Aldrich, Zeleski Dos Santos versus the Kevin Lee, Fackertinoff winner,

Mays versus Barnett, Cassinator versus Gravely. Naimov, who deserves a lot of credit for that knockout of Jamie Malarkey versus Claudio Pueyes. And I actually like this might be the best pick of all. Felipe Lins versus Iwan Cuchelaba, because let's be honest, AK, we are never, ever, ever going to mention Felipe Lins versus Marching Grishon ever again. That's a former PFL champion. I stopped this disrespect to Philippe. This man won a million. This man won a million dollars.

He won a million dollars four years ago. And now is a third-tier UFC light heavyways. Just, yeah, throw them in there with the UN. We need exciting Felipe Lins. Marksame Grisham just wasn't the dude to get it out of him. So Toby, Albazzi, Royval, KKF Manal Cop, Kisaris Barbosa, Jim Miller versus Marco Madsen. someone called in a heck of a board

saying Marco Madsen might not be fighting anytime soon he's not even in the states anymore there's maybe some health complications within his family but we'll we'll I don't know I could see that something like that being put together

Cassada versus Victor Henry I like a lot Creed Ace Silva versus Marina Morose which is something I thought about as well Same yeah again check the old IG Looks like Marina Morose had some sort of procedure or operation or something, not that about a month ago. It may not be serious or severe,

so we'll keep an eye on that. Gerard. Abazi versus Davidson Figurado, even at 135. There's a revenge angle as well. That's true. Jim Miller versus John McIgessie. Wait, Abazi versus Davidson Figurato. Oh, Abazi beat Francisco.

Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes, that's right. Okay. Oh, I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's actually a bad. Not bad. Yeah.

Jim Miller, John McDestestine. for the UFC's 30th anniversary card. Tim Elliott versus Matchnell. I guess it's like... I like that. This is pointed out because their first fight was on top. It's like Tim Elliott versus Matchnell, now one and a half.

Okay. So I like it. Yeah. Eliza dos Santos, Santiago, Ponsinibia. There you go. Daniel Santos, Taniaya. Naima versus Vince Pichel. Pichel is supposed to fight...

Recently. On this card? No, I think on the Dernhill card, I think. Yes. and now he's freed up. You see on ABC? Recently. Why can't I find this?

Not 288. Or it on the Shaxville card. I have to look this up. Oh, like a fight. Oh, a card that hasn't happened yet. A card that hasn't happened yet. Vince Michelle, Benwast Antony. Maybe he was supposed to fight it?

Yes, correct. July 1st. July 1st. Okay. Tino. Muhammad Naima versus Mike Davis. Holy spokes. But that'd be fun.

Daniel Santos, Victor Henry, Zoleski versus Randy Brown. I'm not going to call a doo-doo because I kind of do-duded myself with the Ariety Lipsky picks. Brandon Brown's booked? Randy Brown is fighting at UFC Jacksonville.

Wellington. Oh, you just mentioned it. I'm sorry, you just mentioned it. Wellington, yeah, you mentioned it. Jim Miller versus Jared Gordon at Madison Square Garden. Alex Casares versus Giga Chikaze. How about Crini Silva

versus Andrea Lee, AK? Oh. I have Andrea Lee. just on the cusp of the UFC's top 15 still. Hmm. Yeah, I guess, well, it depends what people's thoughts are,

you know, someone two-fight wins, two-fight UFC win streak, two-fight UFC losing streak. But Andrew Lee is certainly a much more well-known name, so it makes sense. And a lot of people thought she beat Macy Barber, myself included in her most recent fight. Jaron Kowada, Silva, aka Carina versus the Talia.

No, no, no. He even said definitely too early, won't happen, but would be. sick. Someday. Naimov versus the Ashmoose, Christian Leroy, Duncan winner. How about Jim Miller

versus Michael Johnson, AK? Again, I have no, it's, this is, you know what? This is his,

yes, I like his bookings either against people with zero UFC experience or people with way too much UFC experience. There you go. That's no in between.

That's why the Alexander Hernandez match up. Didn't love it. Didn't love it. Right in between. Not, not, you know,

it's not, that's not a fun, that's not a fun thing. It's either old ads, MFers like himself, or no experience MFers. That's what I want to see. We close with Robbie Ryan. Good day, gents. Firstly, I'm refusing to acknowledge the incompetent scoring of these moron judges in the main event.

So that said, Cara France versus Raw Dog for the next title shot. Al-Bossey can fight Nicolao or somebody else. Rebooked Jim Miller versus Jared Gordon. Tim Elliott v. Matt, Capp. Scrap the Figgy fight. They've already scrapped the figgy fight, buddy. I think Figy was too much of a step up for cop anyways.

If you can get through Elliot, then he earns a top five guy. If Elliot beats Cop, it puts him in the top five region. They thought Cop deserved by matching him up with Figgy. Tim Elliott versus Minnell Cop? I'd watch that. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Okay.

You're up, A.K. All right, not too many this week, obviously. I'll go start with Instagram, Matt Bradbury. Some you already mentioned. I'll just read out his, he has some thoughts on Albaazi versus Nicolao. This is a step down for Albaazi. I feel like Amir hasn't While I feel like it's a step down

Amir hasn't done enough to warrant a title shot next considering his lone big win is Kai Whereas Roy Val has been bleep bleeping his last three opponents I'll make you can fill in the blank to yourself I was a phrase I refuse to use His last he has been bleep bleeping his last three opponents All top ten guys I believe

If Albaozian can beat Nicol out in similar fashion to Roy Val He can rival his claim for a title shot and potentially set himself up for a shot. That's an interesting logic. Like, beat this guy who was just beaten by your, like, theoretically, I guess, your top competition right now for a title shot. I feel like UFC has done stuff like that in the past. I don't know if it's my favorite.

Also, poor Nicolao, like, we're essentially saying, who can beat Nicolaou worse to earn a title? What if Nicolao wins? You don't know. Our pal Nicklinville, again, currently studying medicine, he called on the spot playing some Dr. Joe Rogan, you know, instant analysis on the Ketland-Souza injury. He says MCL tear. He's an MCL.

A lot of people saying ACL. He is calling MCL. So, listen, again, this is just from someone with a little more medical knowledge than URI. Going to the emails, we've got Tristan Gordette, Karineasov, M-D-L-R, Matan, De LaR, Matan, Deloresa. He likes Elliott-Mokaiov as well. Ellis Elese, Matt Brown. again, OAMF belt, I'm all for it. And of course, we're on the same page with Dantel Mace and Parker Porter.

And quickly to the Twitter, Thomas Collins, Albazzi versus Pantosia Moreno Loser. He needs another win to get the towel of shots. This would be a good fight. Rebook Miller and Gordon. German, German, Albaisi versus also, again, Moreno Pantosia loser because Royval gets a title shot. So, Mike seems pretty firm that Abazi did not do enough. to walk into a tell shot.

But I know you've presented a scenario where it's entirely possible that that happens. Yeah. And Dana White also feels the way most other people do. He did the long-winded thing, which he even admitted. And it was like, long-winded answer, no, he didn't do enough in my eyes to deserve a title shot. And now that he said that, now we know that he's going to get a title shot. Shout us to Brett Mobley. He says, no picks for me, but I did get my tickets for my first ever UFC event, UFC

2.91. Any advice, tips, etc. It'll likely be the only U.S. the event I go to in my life. And so I want to maximize my experience. Go Rams. I think he means the CSU Rams. This is Brent Mobley. Any advice do we have for your first? I would say if there's any, I don't know how much, again, I myself obviously have not been to an event. Mike, do you know if there's still, like how much fan fest stuff do they still do for the average UFC event? Do they do that stuff during the week? Um, not particularly. Maybe they'll do it in Utah because they're paying them a bunch of money to go there.

So they might have some extra things planned. But I would say if this is the only UFC card that you're ever going to go to, one, you pick the damn good one to go to because you're getting Justin Gagee versus DeSuporia 2. And the rest of that really insane card. Just go to everything. Go to the press conference, even though it's going to be terrible because all those press conferences are just the worst, but still go. Go to the Ceremony of Wayans, go to the Q&As, get the full experience, get there early, find a restaurant that's near the arena with your buddies,

grab a couple, couple of beers, don't go crazy, don't go in there, smash drunk, don't be an asshole, because then you'll get kicked out. Just go in there and have a good time and enjoy it and just don't be an asshole. And don't let anybody be an asshole to you. Because sometimes you run into those. Most people are great. Some people just get absolutely hammered drunk and they see people fist fighting and they think all of a sudden

that they're the best fighters in the world, even though they've never been in a fight in their lives. So just be wary of those people. But yeah, just take it all in, go to everything, enjoy it. And then that's really it. Yeah. I don't know if you can find a much better card to go to for your only one than UFC 291.

So good choice, good selection. And go there for the first pre-limb, right? Go for there for the first prelim. Listen, we know U.S.C. events can be a bit of, even pay-per-views, can be a bit of a tough hang now. Like, I'm sitting in an arena seat. I mean, you can get up and walk around, obviously. But, yeah, planting yourself in an arena seat for the first fight and having to sit there for maybe like six hours. God, it sounds so crazy to say it.

I'm kind of glad I haven't been to an event live in a long time. Like, that's just absurd. It might sound like a drag. But again, you know, usually said it's your first. first event. Yeah, you want to, do it for the, I'm looking at the undercard right now.

The Gabriel Bonfemes, the Venetius Salvador's, the C.J. Vergara's, the Matthew Semmelzburgers, you know, you gotta do it for the, you got to do it for the prelimb fighters. So hopefully, as Mike said, you're not having too many swirly pops before the show and you guys can

get there early and enjoy some of that. Yeah. Hayes Bethard. First off, congrats. Oh, I shouldn't even mention this, making an appearance in the Connor documentary. I'm in there for literally half a second. and mostly your big win on BTL. That I am very proud of. Start of a title run for you, I'm sure.

We'll see. I think hopefully I'll be back on soon. That's for my best friend to decide, I guess, but I'll gladly be back on. Al-Bazi, one more win for a title shot, sure. Miller, there's a go. Another Miller-McDessie suggestion. Again, two guys who have been around. MacDessie is, we just never talk about him, probably because he doesn't fight frequently enough.

But boy, this guy has been with the UFC for, I think, a decade now. I'm pretty sure he's been there since, like, 2013. which sounds absurd Alizu Zaleski Gunner Nelson Daniel Santos Farid Bahreid Bosharat I like all these John Castaneda

and Alasang Hailee Lee this is all good stuff Elise Reed Pira Rodriguez and just match up Black Shear and Oh Johnny Munoz I guess

I was Black Shea maybe yeah okay Philippe Linz Nikolai Nagumariano I'm sure Four Corner Sports There you go Mike Alex Caseras

Loser of Dan Ege and, oh, you want a Paneda, but how about Casares? Casares, get the E. Gay, Landver, Loser. I see that as being possible as well. Daniel Santos, Hanayah, Don'te-May's, Parker, bleeping porter. Philippe Lins, Philippe Lins, Tyson-Pagre.

Listen, if you want someone to get an exciting fight out of Philippe Lens, it'll be Tyson Pedro, and it'll end real quick. And let's end with D, just D, what's their tag on? Oh, yeah, Mr. Guy, at Mr. Guy, MMA, who just says, I wish he told, I wish I'd read this one at the beginning of the show,

Mike, take the week off. Nobody cares for these winners fight. So a little bit, you know, let's come on now. A little disrespectful, I feel. That's a bit of mine. It wasn't the most stacked card ever. Anyway, Mike, so people I mentioned will be a bit busier next week. So, you know, I'm going to withhold on giving you guys the usual where to send us messages because next week will be a live show.

So let's not send us DMs this week. Next week if you can avoid it. No? TBD. TBD. We are... We are going to do a show. I don't know if it's going to be a live show.

Oh, okay. Okay, okay. There will be a show. So I will tell people, you know what, send them just in case, guys. If we're doing a live show, we don't get a chance to read on air. But I keep a catalog of these things or I try to on the side. At Alexander K.K. Lee on Twitter. At Alexander KK. Lee on Instagram.

And Alex. Dot, Lee, at SBNation.com is my email. M underscore HeckJR on the IG. The only reason we might not do it live is because, like, for the first time since you started doing the watch parties, I have, like, normal flights. Because normally, like, the flight there is, like, at 5.45 in the morning and the flight home is at, like, 9.30 at night.

This time it worked out where, like, my flight there is, like, at 11 a.m. And then my flight home's at, like, 1.30 in the afternoon. So it's very strange. So it has kind of messed up the timing a little bit. So we'll see. If we do a live one, it's going to be. at like 10 a.m. and it's going to be like 45 minutes because I'll have to get to the airport right after. So we'll figure it out. If we can go live, we'll absolutely do it because it is

UFC 289. And first of all, let me just say this. 11 fights is just wonderful. That is a wonderful number. 11 fights is great. Positive. Love that. I agree. Doesn't really change much because the main card's going to start at 10 p.m. Eastern anyways. But still, 11 fights. is the sweet spot. That is a great number. If UFC Vegas 74 is 11 fights, it would be much more enjoyable. Losing two fights would have made such a difference.

We have Amanda Nunes versus a rainy Aldana, and I've been saying it for multiple weeks. I got vibes. I got serious vibes about this fight. I feel like we're going to have some shit to talk about AK. I feel like we're going to have some things to talk about when this one's over and done with. I agree.

I agree. It's almost, And I'm seeing a little bit of buzz in the, I almost feel like, among the media side of it, like Alana's getting some, like it's almost favored. I have to wait to see the final picks

probably by the end of this week. I'll take a little cursory glance at everyone's, every sort of major size picks. I think we're going to see a lot of Aldana. I feel, I feel pretty good about it. I feel pretty good about it.

We got the big one between Charles Alvera and B'Neil Dary Euse. Oh, so good. Great fight. Mike Malott versus Adam Fugit. Main card fight didn't expect on a piece. pay-per-view this year, but okay.

Danny Gave versus Nate Landware. Tremendous. People's main event. People's main event. Eric Anders, Mark Andre Barrio, also main card fight. You know what's not a main card fight, AK? Chris Curtis versus Nasredine Emavov is not a main card fight.

It's the featured ESPN headliner, Mike. I know, and normally I don't care about this, but come on now. This one should be. Wasn't this a fight night main event once upon a time? Oh, no, no. It was, it was, what was the? M-Avvvv. Didn't he have a fight night main event that was that got, oh, got, no, he did.

That's right. He headlined against Sean Strickham. That's right. It was supposed to be someone else. Right. It was supposed to be gasoline. Okay. But yeah, he goes from fight, he goes from fight night main event to feature pream.

Jasmine, Jazz DeVizius, taking on Miranda Maverick. All right of a lot of a representation on this card. Yeah, M.M. versus JJ. J.J.J. Love it. Amon Zahabi versus Ritchie Lang. Blake Bielder versus Kyle Nelson.

David Devorak, now fighting Steve Erseg. And Diana Belbita versus Maria. Olivera. That is your 11 fight UFC 289 card. Love that number. That's a great number. This is not a loaded pay-per-view card. I'm going to be the first one in the media to say it. I don't think anyone's

had this take before. This is not a lot. I should tell you all now. I will not be there. I apologize to my Canadian fans who are like, will you be in Vancouver? It just doesn't logistically, it doesn't make sense for me to kind of fly out if you guys want to know more. You guys can ask me. It's nothing. It's

I'm making it sound so seedy. It's just, no, I'm very much a, for a card like this, I'm kind of more valuable to MAFighting.com doing my usual deal and sort of, you know, working on the card from home. Jose Young's will be there. Jose Young's, as usual, are bent, typically on site. I just won't be joining him. So apologies to any, to my Canadian fans for hoping to see me at a Canadian event. Obviously, if they come to Toronto, you know I'll be there. and maybe if there was a slightly more impressive card in Vancouver, I would have gone as well. But yes, I will not be at this show.

So it has to be said, Mike has to be said. Yeah, this is, is this card, is this, is this main card better than UFC 288? You know, I have the memory of a goldfish. UFC 288. Is this main card, just the main card? Just the main card. I mean, you probably make it. for the whole card.

No. Really? I don't know, man. I think it's very close. You think this main card is better? It does have Nate Landware on it, huge. Huge. Nate Landware and Danny Gay is better than any fight on the UFC 288 main card, I think.

Oh. I mean, listen, as much as I crapped over it, I was intrigued by Sohudo Sterling. When it, you know, once I accept. Yeah, it was an intriguing fight, but like, do you, have you seen anyone? have the excitement levels just as a pure fan of violence than Danny Gay and A Landware? Charles Oliver, I'll say, Charles Oliver, Darius, is a much better unnecessary number one contenders fight than Balal-Mohamed Gilbert Prince. Oh, yeah.

It is literally 25,000 times better. And it actually makes sense to be on the card that it's on. I still feel bad for Benile that he has to even take this fight, but it is a great fight. As a fan, I'm not going to complain. That's an awesome fight. I would say it needs five rounds, but it's probably not going to go to the distance anyway, so no worries there. It's close. Yeah, and it's too 88, but it's close.

It's tough because I don't want to disrespect my fellow Canadians, Mike Malat and Mark Andre Baguil, but those are not super compelling main card fights. I'm sorry, guys, I'm sorry. They're not super compelling main card fights. Crown Gracie was at least a curiosity, you know, like, not that we thought like, oh, Gracie Jordanian is going to be like a fight of the year, but we're like, it was a lot of buzz around that fight. A lot of people talking about it. Yeah. And then a lot of negative buzz after, unfortunately. And then we didn't see, listen, we didn't see the, the Diego Lopez that showed up at UFC 28 showing up UFC 28.

But we're talking about on paper here. But we'll see how it all plays out. Yeah. We're about to have, I don't know if you saw this, AK. I don't know if you heard this. I'm never going to get out of here. Brendan Fitzgerald said into a live microphone yesterday that starting on Saturday's UFC Vegas 74 card, there is going to be a UFC event every week for four months, four months, four months straight of UFC events.

That's a long time. That's 16 weeks. That's 16 straight weeks. I thought we were going to get Labor Day weekend off, but if Brennan Fitzgerald says it, I believe him. You said four, there's going to be a UFC card on a Saturday every Saturday for the next four months, starting with UFC Vegas. What's Labor Day weekend? I live in Canada. September. It's like the first week of September. Oh, okay. So we originally thought it would be, just go all the way to 2.92 and then we get a break.

We thought it was 2.92 and probably a break, right? We'd go 292. So that's August 19th, August 19th. Yeah, we'd go, yeah, we'd do the week after that and then the week and then we'd be off that week and then back at it again. But it looks like we're not getting that week off. Interesting. Interesting. So we'll have that one, then go to 293.

And the ultimate, and the ultimate fighter every week. And Road to UFC still is going on. And contender series will be back. Man. A lot of UFC content. A lot of UFC content, which means a lot of matchmaking content. Which you can fight right here on onto the next one, the podcast. We'll see you next week following UFC 289, everybody.

Don't take this stuff too seriously. It remains supposed to be fun. We'll see you later on. podcast network.