MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 77

Episode Date: July 16, 2023

After her impressive second-round submission win over former champion Holly Holm in the main event of UFC Vegas 77, Mayra Bueno Silva has certainly made a case to fight for the bantamweight title recently vacated by Amanda Nunes. Was the victory enough to push Bueno Silva ahead of either Julianna Pena or Raquel Pennington, or is there more work to be done? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and guest host Jed Meshew attempt to answer that question from a matchmaking perspective following Saturday's card at the APEX. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Holm, Jack Della Maddalena after his very close split decision win over Bassil Hafez in the co-main event, along with fellow main card winners Francisco Prado, Jun Yong Park, Norma Dumont, Nazim Sadykhov, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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available now, only from Audible. And welcome to a brand new edition of On To the Next One. We are back here at M-Afighting.com with the matchmaking, thinking crowns on to discuss the fallout of the mesmerizing, unforgettable, unbelievable UFC Vegas 77 events, which went down on Saturday night

at the hallowed apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. And we have a new title contender emerging in the women's 135 pound division. We'll talk about that and more on today's show. Thank you for joining us this week. I am Ikech and folks, this is usually the time where I introduce my best friend, Alexander Kay Lee, but he is on vacation,

a well-deserved vacation. and for the first time in the history of this show, around three or so years, hundreds of episodes, I am here on Otno without my best friend. Now, I've had vacation times, and AK has done the show without me, but I've never done the show without him. But stepping in and doing so admirably,

after a long night of covering UFC Apex events, he's Mr. No Gray area from No Betts Barden Moore, the Crown Prince of Predictions from M.M.A. Fighting.com. He is Jedmishu in the co-host chair this week. What a treat. Jed, how are you, sir? Is that true? In my head, like, I know I've done Otno a couple of times. In my head, it had been, I had done one with you. I didn't realize I'd just done them with AK when you were indisposed. So very excited. Some, you know, I'll be honest. Kind of wish I was getting the call up for a bit of a better card. But, you know, I stepped in. I did the predictions this week for.

AK. So I'm really just taking his job from him as my new plan. Very soon, you'll see me as the co-host of the ranking show. I'll be doing morning way in coverage. We're just going to slowly push AK all the way out because that's what happens when you go on vacation. Who gets vacations in this industry, Mike? Not us. Not me. Couldn't be me. I mean, I think we need him every now and again. But who knows? Maybe you'll get tagged in for a robbery review, Jed, because apparently there needs to be one, and we'll talk about that fight for sure. But I must admit, I can't lie to America, paraphrasing my best friend. Or the world.

A lot of listeners outside of America, Mike. Don't lie to the world. I can't lie to the world. I did not make it through the main card live. I fell asleep right after Norwood Dumont was announced the winner against Chelsea Chandler. What? I just couldn't do it. I just don't remember.

I woke up and all I saw on my television screen was, The broadcast has ended, go in peace. And I went back, woke up this morning. I watched the final four fights. It appears I should have hung on a little bit longer because the last four fights were pretty good. Did you enjoy yourself watching this card? Jedd.

I know UFC 290 was one of the best events ever. Come back with this one. It's just not going to be the same feeling, obviously, but we didn't have, expect that going in. Did you enjoy yourself last night watching this fight card? You know, before I even answer that, just shout out to you. You come at this saying, I can't lie.

You have nothing to lie about because you made it through the prelims when you didn't have to. And that good, sir, is in achievement because you go through this. The prelims were a very tough hang. We are talking about six decisions of various varying competitiveness. And then the thing that would keep you up, that might keep you up at night because it's certainly weighed on me. the Estella Nunes's arm injury, but the prelims were tough. The main card was much better. And I sort of said something along those lines coming into this of like, hey, look, prelimbs have maybe some decent matchups.

And there were some okay fights there, not trying to trash it. But there were several spots on the main card that I was pumped about. Lightweight continues to be the best division in this sport. We had three lightweight fights and they were all bangers. And then you got a couple of other good things. Jun Young Park we're going to talk about. So the main card is pretty solid Frankly the Dumont Chandler

Fight was the worst of the main card fight So the fact that you even made through it Credit to you And then we got that co-main to talk about And the main event Went as well as could be expected Honestly that is the best possible outcome Of how things could go down

Not just from a winner standpoint But the fact that it wasn't 25 minutes Of Holly Holm doing Holly Home things Not bad Insofar as this could be acceptable, it was the baseline of passability. Would have been a lot doper if it wasn't two in the morning when this thing wrapped. But if you watch fights, it was not the worst experience you've ever had on Saturday. I would agree with that.

So let's get into this. Let's start at the main event because there are people, I believe you are one of those people who said, you know what? There is no champion in this division after a minute. and it is retired at UFC 289, let's just raise the stakes and slap the vacant Bannam Wade belt on this fight between Holly Holm and Myra Buenos Sillva. I know A.K. was on top of the mountaintop screaming this.

And wouldn't you know it? If they did do that, Jed, if they happened to do that, we'd be talking this morning as you record about Myra Boino Silva being the champion of the world after submitting Holly Holm in round two. Now, MBS was a player heading in. She is absolutely a player now. And right now, Jed, there's Giuliana Pena, there's Raquel Pennington, and now there's Myra Bueno Silva.

Someone is about to be pretty pissed off here because we can't do triple threat matches in the UFC. So my question to you is, did Myra Bueno Silva punch her ticket to the vacant title fight? And if so, who will she fight? So I chose to approach this, you know, I've done this before, so I know a little bit. I chose to approach this one as Magic Wand, not Crystal Ball here. I believe if we're going Crystal Ball, I believe what will happen is the MBS has punched yourself a title shot, but it won't come next.

I think they will just put her cage side for the inevitable Pennington-Pena title fight that we will have sometime at the end of this year, is my guess. But if I were doing it, my magic wand, the fight, I, want. I want Mara Buena Silva versus Rockal Pennington for the vacant belt. Absolutely disrespect intended to Giuliana Pena. She has no wins over current UFC fighters. And I brought that fun little stat up on the post show. And New York Rick was kind enough to make the case for Pena and say, well, she does have a win over Manda Nunes who just retired. And that is true. Doesn't take away from what I said to Mananuna is not currently an active UFC fighter. Also, don't know if you guys watch the rematch.

If you haven't, you can go watch a 25-minute snuff film. You know, if you're into that sort of hostile saw kind of terror, you can watch Amananunas just club this woman around the cage for the better part of half an hour. So I would say that if you don't have any wins over literally anybody currently in the division, perhaps you should get one of those before you get to fight for a title. And on the other side of that, Raquel Pennington's on a five-fight win streak.

My Buoyne Silva's on a four-fight win streak. To me, these are the clear two best women who are putting in that work in the weight class. I would love to see Merit rewarded. My magic wand is Rocky versus MBS for the vacant belt. I don't hate it. I think, as you like to say, there's no wrong way to eat this Reese's. I think you can make cases for all of this. You're going more magic wand.

I mean, I'm going to play it safe here. AK's not here, so I have to play the crystal ball. Because obviously, submitting Holly Holm should get you in a title fight. And like you alluded to earlier, I do think her next fight will be for the title no matter what. But I also feel as if the UFC has already made up their minds with this Pena-Pennington thing. And there is a bit of heat on this one. The tough history, Pennington's not a big talker. She doesn't talk a lot of trash.

But when she does talk trash, it is all thrown in the direction of Giuliana Pena. She does not like this woman at all. Are either of these fight options massive draws? Of course not. But the most interesting storyline this division could have right now with the promotional machine behind it, if they do some fun and interesting things. It is Pena Pennington by a long shot. So yes, I will crystal ball this.

I think the UFC will go with the original plan. Meyer Boeino Sill gets the winner. And I think she has a very good chance to be mid-20204 as the women's Bannon Way champ. So great win for her. She's in a fantastic position right now, Jed. Yeah, I mean, this was just a terrific performance from her. I don't want to say with whom I was having this conversation because you'll understand in just a moment.

But first good win of her career. So not. And frankly, Holly Holie Holm. 41-year-old Holly Home at this stage of her career, it is questionable how good that is, but speaks a bit to the quality and depth of this division where, like, she is undeniably going to get a title shot. Her wins at Bantamweight in this current iteration, Wu Yanan, Stephanie Egger, Lena Landsberg, and now Holly Home. And granted, three of those are submissions and we're cool, but Stephanie Egger is Stephanie Egger, Lena Landsberg. on a four-fight losing streak at the moment. And Wu Yanan also on a four-fight losing streak at the moment.

So not great for 135, Bob, but she's at least exciting, and that is incredibly helpful to make her case because not a lot of finishers at 135. And she's great on the microphone. She's great. She was awesome on the post-fighter's coverage. and she stole the show. Amazing. We talked about on the post show.

I thought her interview with DC after was spectacular. She's going to get docs some points for, you know, the transparent sponsor shoutout, which, come on fighters. Like, you know this game, you've been in the game long enough now. The UFC isn't going to let you make that money. They don't want you shout out of the sponsors because it looks bad on the broadcast. You got to find creative ways to work those sponsors in. You got to, you can't just be like, and I want to thank. here's a list of people I'm reading off my phone.

It's got to be a, you know, D.C., I just want to talk to everybody. I want to explain, like, I was battling depression, and, you know, what got me through is my lovely wife, and corn nuts. They're corn to the core, and whenever I was sad, I would eat. You got to work those in naturally. But other than that, she had, like, a wonderful message. She made a compelling and emotional and passionate argument for a title shot. She brought back to Kenny Florey, and I feel.

finish fights. Like, he was great on the mic. This is fantastic. So A plus performance from her, I hope she does get rewarded like we're saying she will. Yeah, I agree with you. Like, just be like, hey, I'm in Las Vegas after this fight. I'm going to get a steak and then wink. Like, just throw a wink in there.

And then it's, you can make it work. But good win from Meyerberg, Wado Silva. Let's head to the Co-Made of Ed, because this is what everybody's talking about. A lot of people are screaming shenanigans because Jack Delamadelaide, ekes out a split decision against newcomer Basil Hefez. Ended up being a really good fight. Most seemed to feel like JDM lost. I watched it this morning, clearheaded, stayed off Twitter,

didn't do the round by round, live stuff. Scored it 29, 28 for JDM. I thought he won the last two rounds. But this was a very close fight. This is very close to being a parley buster. I almost had a call GC this morning just to check up on him. And I said on the preview show ahead of 290 before J.DM's fight got canceled. I truly thought Josiah Harell, although undersized, would be able to give

JDM a much tougher fight than the odds indicated for the exact reasons we saw last night, because Harel can take you down, he has cardio for days, he could push an extreme pace, and as you say, Jed, athleticism is a cheat code in MMA, and I'm not saying JDM is not athletic, but Josiah Horel is a freak athlete. And JDM got taken on three times. He did defend 17 takedowns according to the stats. but that pace began to wear on him as this fight went on. I thought he won. He wants Sean Brady next in Sydney.

I don't think he should go that route. And also, I don't know if that's possible with Brady's infection and him being hospitalized, his ability to get ready for that one so soon and then have to travel internationally to Sydney. So I actually don't think he's going to get a rank guy next. I think the UFC's going to be very careful here. I think he's going to get someone with

somewhat of a name, a matchup that will be fun, somewhat favorable in most respects, but challenging in others. And I feel like these guys have already kind of planted the seeds for this one. So Joaquin Buckley, Jed. Let's give him a guy like that, put him on Sydney, throw him in there with Joaquin Buckley. If he gets a relatively clean win,

we can revisit the Brady's in the top 15 guys. What say you? Ooh, didn't even think of this one, trying to digest it now. I mean, it's certainly going to be a fun fight, right? Like that fight is going to be a good time. And you might see wrestler Buckley come out, particularly after what we just witnessed. Don't hate it.

I got two names. The one I ultimately chose here. Like you, I don't think the Sean Brady thing should happen. And less even from a timeline thing, like JDM wants to fight at Sydney, totally understand that, willing to accommodate that. Brady probably can't go there. And even if he could, I'm tempering my expectations a bit on JDM coming off. this. It's not short-noticed fights in a big, you know, a lot of tumult and turmoil can make things happen. So you can't, can't dock him too many points, but the confidence with which

he jumped bad gillies repeatedly, I said it last night, he might have gotten worked by Sean Brady. And that has been the question. We haven't seen much of his ground game, if at all, and a guy who's going to do that, and I said in the post show, that is really concerning. at this weight class more than any other. Walter weight for its entire history has been defined by grapplers. And still to this day, you look at that top 10. Kamar Usman, Kobe Covington,

below Muhammad, Hamzaa Chmaiymeyv, Gilbert, Shavkat, Rakhanov. That's the top six, not including the champ. Mike, all of those people can do the exact same thing incredibly well. That does not bode well from what we saw from JDM against Baselhafus on a short notice. So I

wanted to take a step back. The one I considered but ultimately didn't go with, I think Gunner Nelson has a big name. So even a step back, it's still a good name and that is a guy who can test that in a way that would be fun. But my ultimate choice here, I want him to get on Sydney. And you've got to find a guy who's well-known and willing to scrap on very short notice coming off a tough fight with Phil Roe. Neil Magne, sort of Neil Magne's job is to do this against rising contenders. he is above JDM in the UFC's rankings. And when has Neil Magni ever said,

nah, can't make a fight in two months? Like, that's just not who he is. So I think you get Magny to take the fight and you can get the Sydney one that we want. So that's where I went. Yeah,

going just briefly through the listener picks. I think that's a very popular one. So, yeah, I thought, as I looked at my thing, I was like, if we're going to have a Friends Forever moment,

that would be the only one. Because it's, it's not breaking new, ground. I didn't pull one out of nowhere. It seems like a pretty clear and obvious one. Like, I wouldn't hate Jeff Neal, but Neil's matched up with Ian Machado Gary, so that's where I'm at. But I don't think you and I are sharing any of the rest of these. Maybe one. I have a feeling my hit one, but we'll see how that plays out. It won't be this one because... Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest

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Grooving. Hey, I won! Feel the fun! We'll begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 186653300 or visitcomex Ontario.ca. Like you talked about earlier, one thing that continued to be proven on Saturday is that lightweight is the best division in the sport. Every lightweight fight on this card was either fun or violence and ended quickly.

And Francisco Prado brought the violence against Otman of Zaitar, nasty spinning back elbow, brutal ground and pound. Dude is fun as hell as hell. First round finish. First UFC win. Hell of a way to do it. Where are we going with him in this fun-ass division? Just shouts to this division. The last like 10 lightweight fights on UFC cards have been insane.

Like no one remembers last week, but Esteban Rievovich and Kamala Kirk had an awesome fight that would have won fight of the night on like mini, many, mini apaceous. There's like no one's ever going to remember it. Lightweight rules. So for this one, this was maybe the toughest one I had. I'll be honest. It was because I don't want to rush Prado.

I love Prado as a prospect. He is 21. and look, his loan loss in his career is short notice to Jamie Malarkey, who was enormous against him in that cage. And we got to see him fight Atman Isatar, who's a good guy, like good fighter, top 60, something like that probably in the world. And did great, but I don't want us to take this and be like, all right, 21-year-old kid, big paws and a puppy, let's just shoot him up.

We can do that with another lightweight we'll talk about, who's a little older, a little more seasoned, can get a bigger bump. I went Clay Guida because I think Clay Guida is that sort of advancement level. It's not a huge step up in competition relatively, but it is a big step up in name. It will test some other parts of his game. And this one, like I said, this one was my toughest one, but Clay Guida is where I settled. It's for a second there. I thought we were going to get a friend's forever on this one, which would have been stunning.

But we are very, like we're in the same neighborhood. And like you, like I like Prado a lot. The UFC probably shouldn't rush him too quickly. There's just no need. Yeah, there's no need. But we could throw darts all over the place. And they would land and all of them make sense. But I'm going my gut here because this one screams,

hey, we're in the war room on Tuesday. This isn't perceived as a big step up, but it's probably a fight that's not going to go well for him. Let's send a really fun. undangerous yet somewhat untested guy in there with a wily veteran to keep the wily veteran busy before we do what we are setting out to do with him next year. So this one, for some reason, just screams to me Jim Miller's next opponent. I don't know why, but my gut is telling me they're going to chuck him in there with Jim Miller and Jim Miller's probably going to tap him

in the second round. So that I want to be clear, I thought of Jim Miller first and the second part of what you said is exactly why I chose not to because Jim Miller can very much win that fight whereas I don't think Clay Guida is going to win this fight and like I don't probably just coming off that loss you don't want to I don't want like a kid with some upside here to go one and two in his first three in tough circumstances but we're in a very similar vein so you know we're we're friends adjacent you know not friends for us but friends, friends right now. I will also say I did think that maybe there was a chance you could pick this one

just because they both did the, the Clay Guida did a fake retirement in his last fight, and we got, for whatever unknown reason, Prado did the same thing. It's like, maybe that'll be Mike pulling in, but I accept where we landed anyway. Yeah, we are like friends of friends. We're third party buddies. Associates forever. Yes, fine with me. Absolutely.

John Young Park delivered another non-middleweighty middleweight performance, and I thought we could have a new contender emerge for that prestigious title when this fight was on the books. But how about the Iron Turtle, Iron Turtle, Jen Michoud, getting a done in round two, rear naked choke against Albert Dariath, four wins in a row, three finishes in a row, six and one in his last seven fights. This was actually pretty easy for me, Jed. Nassardine Imovov needs an opponent for Paris in September,

and I think the Iron Turtle would be a damn good one. What do you think? Give it a band, my cat. This is the one. This is the one. I'm like, there's no way he's not picking Nazarene and him off here. It was the most obvious one, but I didn't know if it was obvious just to me here to anybody else. Friends forever.

Yeah. And your timing on singing the song is way better than AK's, by the way. He just must not have been a big fan of the bell. I don't know. I don't know why because it's the most obvious thing the world to me. I briefly flirted with the idea of Kyle Borallio, just because they're both, you know, doing big things. But I said last night in the post show, I want to see Junion Park get his shot at the brass rain.

Like, I want this man to get an opportunity at the top. He is 7 and 8. His lone loss in that run, unbelievable fight with Robocop, where he had Robocop dead to rights at several points, but Robocop is incredibly tough and hits real hard and sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles. So I wanted him to get his shot. Imov does need an opponent.

It sort of lines up. You know, I would have thought they'd just run back to Imbovv, Chris Curtis thing, but Chris Curtis is booked. So this one just felt very, like a very clear win. Let's give this man his chance to crack into the top 15. Because Iron Turtle got some fans, Mike. A lot of the conversation in the post show from the listeners

was Iron Turtle Love and I'm with him. This man has been absolutely electric viewing his last like five times out. Let's give him a shot. I completely agree. Let's get him in there with the ranked dude and let's see how he does.

Now let's go to the last fight I watch live. Norma Dumont beats Chelsea Chandler. It created the meme of the year with Dumont cracking Chandler and Chandler almost running through the cage wall. And outside of that moment, this was not the most exciting fight of all time. Wasn't really all that competitive.

Me picking Chelsea Chandler and our staff picks, this is one of the worst picks I've ever made, but I kind of felt like Chandler could weather a storm and just battle back in the third and get some kind of weird finish, but that did not happen. But what the hell do we do here, Jed? Like, will there be 145 pound division? Was that the last women's featherway fight?

She says she can get to 135, but it doesn't seem like it will be easy. Yeah. So like if she could get there, dude, she blew weight for $1.45. Yeah, like even if she can get there, it's not like they're just going to chuck her into a title fight. So she's going to have to win a couple down there before they even consider that. Like, what do we do here?

So I think the game plan should just be to let her try 135. Last time she did that, though, she missed weight by almost five pounds. So I do think looking at her like her body composition will need to change, but it's not like she physically couldn't find a way to get there. She would just have to absolutely change her body comp. Like she is too thick to make it at this moment in time. But maybe that's what she has to do. I have two fights, two possible fights here.

The first one is, I think, the one that will most likely happen because they don't really know what to do with these women. Josian Nunez is also like probably should be a bantam weight, but it just hadn't done it. and we don't know. So that's sort of like the spinning the wheels one. The one I think that I want, my magic wand here, just doing it.

Arlene Blinko, leave the UFC, go to Bellator. They have a women's featherweight division. You don't have to do it. Or if you can make the PFL as well, but there's not like a clear fight there. So I went Arlene Blinko and Bellator. That's where I settled, Mike. Yeah, she probably should just go elsewhere at this point.

I think that would be the best thing for her. Probably PFL would be her first choice because I think she'd do really well in that tournament. She'd be very competitive. She'd be very competitive. She'd probably make the playoffs. Julia Budd, Pacheco, Kayla Harrison, a lot of fights that can happen over there. Wouldn't be opposed to that at all. If she's going to stick around the UFC.

And I know when people hear, they're going to be like, oh, come on, man, this one's like so obvious of what to do with this fighter, but like you didn't pick it. I'll explain why in a moment because this is a very popular pick coming out of the main event. Let's just give her Holly Holm. Like, that's it. That's the fight. 35, 45, who gives a shit. If she wants to be positioned as a title threat in any way, shape, or form, she needs to beat somebody with a name and some cachet. Holly Holm is kind of out of the picture for a little while, but we still need to move this division forward with new talent. So let's just throw Norma in there with Holly and see what happens. And the beauty of this, if you do it at 135, Holly coming off of a loss,

I don't think this is going to be one of those things where Holly is just going to jump right back into the thick of things. Maybe we see her in December, but probably not till first quarter, 2024. Norma can take this time, visit the PI, work with those peeps, get the body calm down to where it needs to be so she can make 135 in a scientific and somewhat healthy way. So let's just give her Holly home. If she wins, cool. She's in the conversation. And if she loses, then Holly Holmes going to headline another fight night card six months after that. And it'll be at the apex.

And we'll talk about it, I guess. I hate this pick, Mike. Sorry, we're not friends forever right now. I hate this so much because peeling back the curtain here, I have a different opponent for Holly Holman and mine coming off of this. And it's certainly not Norma Dumont. Right. And I think I know where you're going to go with this. And we'll get to the wild.

card in a moment. And this is probably where I think we're going to end up clashing in a lot of different respects. But I get where you're coming from. And I think a lot of the people who are listeners of this program are going to agree with your pick. But we will find out in a moment because we got to talk about Nazim Sattikoff, who looked great last night, submitted Terrence McKinney, weathered the McKinney storm. It's not the same storm as it was when McKinney first got into the UFC, but it was a different kind of a storm. And Sadikov gets him down in the second, a couple fence grabs and gets the submission. Just another fun fighter at 155 pounds. Jad. Lots of options here. But I want to see what this guy can do. Let's throw him in there with like a top, you know, middle top 20, top 30-ish kind of a guy.

Probably like the, I think I got him at 27. Joe Selecki. Him and Joe Selecki, the scrambles and those and that fight is just going to be fun as hell. And Joe just knows how to win, man. He just knows how to win fights. And he's very good on BTL. let's give him Joe Selecki. Let's see how he does. Joe Selecki was number three on my list. I like it. I understand the logic and reason. And I went in a very, very similar place, frankly.

I was between two guys primarily, one just because the timeline super matchup, a guy coming off a hell of a win over Groom Kutateladze and Elvis Brenner. But I ultimately went Nasred Hawk Prost just because I think Hawk Prost has a little bit more shine and I want to see what Nazim has you know he has looked very good I was really impressed with the way he battled back from adversity against Terrence McKinney

Nasrots coming off that John McDessie win last year and that's I think that that's the one that gets Nazim the most juice of of those sort of top 30 guys that are viable because Patty Pimlin ain't fighting this dude or whatever yeah so Nazrat's the one that I think gives him the biggest opportunity to make himself a more known commodity, and that's where I settled. Yeah, he was one of the guys I picked. Let me ask you this. Patty Pimbo versus Terrence McKinney, who are you picking right now? I will pick Patty Pimbleau in that fight.

We talked about this in the post show because in some ways, I think that fight kind of makes sense. Yeah, it does. But I don't think it will happen. I was talked off this by Jose Young. She was like, Patty's not going to do that. Patty's, you know, been looking, sort of booking himself into a fight with Matt Favola, who is ranked, and that fight also makes a lot of sense.

So I think that's where you get, but, you know, probably get Terrence McGitty Patty at some point because Patty will lose, and McKinney is just going to hang around forever because he's incredibly exciting. So at this moment in time, I would pick Patty just because I know Patty can fight past six minutes, and Terrence McKinney can't. that's very true let's go to the wildcar round we will select one fighter we have not matched made for yet and we will match bake for them right now

now this is going to go one of two ways jedd one is you're going to go with the very popular pick of the listeners a very popular one probably the second most popular pick of all or two we are going to be on complete opposite sides of the street where we're going to pick the same fighter in some respect but we're just going to mix and match

but with the same kind of aisle way that we're going to go down. So I'm very interested to see where you go with this. What is your wild card pick for UFC Vegas 77? My wild card pick is going to be Holly Home. I do want to give a brief shout out to Azat Maxim, who I briefly thought about matching with Steve Erseig. And then I was like, no one will care.

Let's do Holly Home. The listeners will care much more. It's time, Mike. It's just time, you know? this hasn't hasn't been floated I haven't heard a lot of this this week because of another fighter out there

in the ecosystem but Holly home deserves the legends tour insofar as we can make one of those happen I know that Bannonweight sort of requires because there aren't the people you know that she just kind of keep fighting other contenders but

we're past that she's 41 coming out there I had picked home all week and as soon as I looked at her in the check second point. I tweeted out and I immediately placed a rather sizable bet on my brain of sylvo. It's like, Holmes just done. She just looks really old and she did because she is. She's 41.

She's been, as EKC pointed out in the pre-fight Q&A, she's been doing this professionally for over 20 years. That is just a lifetime to do this. Let's let her, she's going to keep fighting. There can't be that many more of them in the tank. Let's let her get

the legend send-off tour. Let's run it back with Misha. Tate, the woman who took her belt from her at UFC 196 in an incredible fight, an incredible moment. Misha's kind of hanging out doing the same thing. They were both in almost identical places in their career. Let's just match them up. And that's actually an apex main event that I'm fine with that I think most people

would be fine with. So low hanging fruit, but it's the one I took. That is an apex main event. That is a main event in most audiences in the United States. Yeah, that might actually just be like a Orlando. main event or something like that. Yeah. Albuquerque.

I agree. Like, look, obviously I thought about this fight. I thought about this fight. And if this was going to be positioned in any kind of a realistic way as a double retirement fight, then book the shit out of it. Like, get on the phone and let's send contracts out and let's get this fight. Let's at these open and sign this thing. Let's like open and sign it.

100%. We just got the Robbie Lawler fight. Let's do it again with both. of them. One of them gets to have the good moment. I agree. But that's not going to happen. Holly Holie Holm is not going to retire anytime soon. I just don't think she's going to. And I think Misha's going to keep her options open. So I don't think she's going to retire anytime soon. What's interesting, though, is we're kind of in the same boat, but I went a completely different way. Because we need women's Banimoy fights. And we need fighters to emerge in this division

badly. We need somebody to shake things up a little bit, to draw interest from the fans to this division in any way, shape, or form. Not just from fans, maybe former champions who are now commentators, maybe people on the desk, maybe other fighters commenting on Twitter. And I feel like Eileen Perez with her personality in getting the jitters out of the way after a pretty tough first fight. She looked, she beat the shit out of Ashley Heaven Smith last night. Let's throw her in there with the big name and see how she does. And if she wins, you got something to work with. If she doesn't, you could squeeze some more juice out of that big name. So, weirdly enough, Jed, for that reason, I went Eileen Perez versus Misha Tate. Because if Eileen Perez wins and starts

twerk it all over Misha, she's going to get over big. And at least we have somebody exciting to keep an eye on in this division, as opposed to doing Holm versus Tate. Like I said, if it's a retirement fight, sign me up. Like, I'm in. If it's the last fight for both of those women, that's the no-brainer pick. But I don't think it is for either woman right now. So let's just go Eileen Perez versus Misha Tate. Misha loses. Perez gets the bump.

Tate will probably be like, all right, I got one more in me. Then you can go to the Hollyholm fight. But I think there's a little bit of juice left in there that the UFC can squeeze out of the Misha Tate piece of fruit, if you will. I will say that you are correct in identifying that this is a back pocket fight that Holm Tate can happen whenever. At this point, the circumstances don't matter. You just book it and it's fine. I don't really want an event where Norma Dumont is fighting home and Eileen Perez is fighting Mieschita.

Not in the same events. That just seems like a bummer. Not on the same event. That just seems like a bummer. but I understand where you're coming from at least. Yeah. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining

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Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. All right, let's just go into the peeps. We'll react to obviously. Yes, there are a lot of these picks. I'll just go through Ake's a little spiel. I don't have it written down.

basically we're just going to do Scattergories rules. We're going to focus more on the winners. If there's an occasional fight involving someone who is not victorious last night, we'll discuss. We will call out Doodoo Picks whether this would be a rematch and you didn't signify that

or if the fighter that you've selected is booked already or if something crazy happens, AK's a little nicer. Not really as nice as AK, so we're probably going to call some of those out. Oh, we're going to call a lot of doo-do. Yes. So let's get into this. We're not a tight ship here. We do run a tight ship.

Four corner sports. Meyer Bueno Silva versus the loser. Wow. Catlin Vieira versus Panicanza? Jesus. Why the loser? That's insane. You can't say it because you've got a show to run and you can't.

That's do-do pick. Right there. It's do-to-pick. I would rather somebody submit a fighter that's booked, teammates, best friends. Frankly, husband and wives are what I like spouses. they won't fight each other. They're literally married. That would be a better than the loser of a Vieira.

That's an insane bitch. Wow. Just not impressed. Four corner sports, not impressed by MBS's performance. He's with you, Holly Holme v. Bishitae 2.

J.D.M. versus Sean Brady, rebook it. Feel like after this performance, we'd love to see how J.D.M performs against someone wrestling heavy like Brady. Francisco Prado versus Ricky Glenn. Iron Turtle versus Jacob Malcun. in Sydney for UFC

293 and that's not bad I don't love it I'd rather the Imovah fight It's just another tough like You're asking a lot from the Iron Turtle

It's a better Dariahe In my opinion Like a better grappling version of Dariahe It'd be a very similar fight And Norma Dumas And in Sydney too Like you're just

Let this man eat Let this man eat Now I'm kind of worried here Because listen to this Norma Dumont versus Suconette someone in the PFL because that's where I feel she would she should go unless the UFC makes a title fight between Dumont and Holly Holm for the women's featherweight title. So yes.

I mean, you could do that. It'd be fine. But at least we're kind of on the same page with Dumont and Holly in some respects. But we'll see what happens. Do you think there's any chance they move this division forward, Jed? No. I don't either. I think that over under on women's featherweight fights that happened in the U.S.

have seen in the next three years is one and a half, I would say. They may be just because they are contractually obligated to offer some remaining fights, they may have to. But as soon as they have everyone off the books that they can, that they will end the weight class. They're not going to put forward on this. And I think that's the right call for them. Yep.

For sure. And the only women's featherweight fights are going to make is if there's banyamweight fights booked and someone falls out, like 10 days. before short notice and then just make it a 45 fight and he feels uh hafez got robbed of a decision last night don't really agree with that john ray can we i do want to ask what we what do you want to see from hafez we don't need to talk about the insane takes uh jack jack tella made a very ab madalina obviously won that fight uh i scored at 29 27 jdm which i think is probably the correct score but if you got 29 28 hafaz i think i think you are judging with

the lens of he was supposed to get killed and not the lens of like actually watching two dudes fist fight what do you want to see from hafez because obviously very impressive performance from him nonetheless hmm i mean i definitely i definitely think he's good fialio would be fun somebody like that fialio got brought up on the post show as a uh really good one and honestly love love it thought whoever whoever did that that was great it's exactly the fight to make. Max Griffin's fun one. That's also a fun one.

Somebody like that. Yeah, I think those are all sensible fights. Maybe a, like a Brian battle type. There's fun fights for him, for sure. I mean, for sure. He certainly made a statement, even in a loss on Saturday. Yeah, he had a Diego Lopez moment. It was like Diego Lopez when he fought Mavsoravloev stepped in, made a competitive, stock

rose, even with the loss. The Floia fight got brought up a lot. and even got a little bit of Armand Sarukian in there, you know, just because of how I know that Sarukin ended up dominating Joaquin Silva, but Silva looked good in stages. So it got a lot of that conversation last night as well. John Ray. Oh, Jed, this just probably will give you a flyweight under nightmares

because there's no way you're betting the under in this fight. Maxim versus David Devorak. Yeah, that's a, that's, I mean, Flyweight Unders died already. so there's that but yeah I don't hate the idea I like I said I was going to throw out Stephen Ersig I get the Devorak one I just went Ersig because like

I don't know if Ersig's actually good he just came in on short notice and beat Devorak so like let's see if he's let's see where there's at but yeah I would say this guy's 17 and 0 now give him somebody in the back end of the rankings let him because he's 28 he's not like very young let's throw him in, see if he can sink or swim.

He likes Satticoff versus Prado. Dumont versus Josiani Nunes for the vacant featherweight title. Jen Young Park versus Bruno Silva. He likes JDM versus Magni at UFC 293. Buenos Aires versus the Peña Pennington winner, predicting that fight happens next. You're probably not wrong there. Yeah, that's pretty right. Gerard, uh, Gerard going, uh, with a little different direction than you went.

Buenos Aires versus Giuliana Pena. win over Holm puts her above Pennington. Again, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, but to each their own. Another Holly Holm v. Mishitae 2, but this is fine. Hollyholm v. Mishita 2 double retirement fight. If this is the case, boom, 100%, do it.

Let's have a moment. Let's do it right. Prado Ghiago's, Juniang Park, Kyle Barallio, Norma Dumas, Josiani Nunes, Vaken Hunter. Wow, no one wants this division to go away. and people want to see Josiani Nunes get her shot at the featherway title, Jed. I should be giving that love to 1.45 for the last four years. Where's this support for women's featherway been?

Unbelievable. Satticoff versus Claudio Poyas, Melzik Bagdasarian, the cheating fence grabber. Very smart, by the way. I'm not blaming him versus Daniel Pineda. My definition, he didn't cheat because it was not called. He won one legitimately within the confines of the rules, because the rules allow you to do whatever the hell you want. True story.

We've preached this enough over the last few years, that's for sure. Azat Moxham versus Sumederji, like it. Drew, let's get to it. JDM showed some worrying fight IQ tonight and suspect grappling. Maybe the two-way cuts really hurt him. Either way, he's probably lucky. It wasn't Brady in there tonight. I think you do JDM versus the loser of Ian Gary versus Jeff Neal.

Can't do it. Maybe you do them over the winner. He's not getting the loser. loser of anything right now. Yeah. That's just not happening unless it's the loser of Gilbert Burns versus like Shavcott or something. Like he's not getting the loser of any fight.

Nazim versus the Jai Herbert, Perez Zaym winner. Get the Iron Turn to someone ranked seven of his last eight four in a row. He deserves step up. I'm giving him Jung Park versus Roman DeLidezai. Don't mind that one. Don't mind that fight. That's okay.

I think Prado versus Jamie Malarkey is a banger. Well, if you want the answer to that question, young man, you can go back to UFC 284 in February where they already fought each other. Jamie Malarkey won a unanimous decision. So we're clear. Francisco Prado has had two fights in the UFC. When I say he's had two, this was his second one. The first one was Jamie Malarky. Sorry.

Sorry, dude. That is definitely dude. That's about as bad. That's not quite as bad of doo-doo. MBS should fight the loser of Calin Vieira versus Pena Keynesad, which is maybe the worst thing

I've literally ever heard on this program, but it's, that's a lot of do-do. Yeah. Wildcar Costa versus Nate the train. They both dominated lingo. Let's see how it goes.

That'd be a fun fight. Hafez major props to him. He has the grappling chim and grit to give some welterweights major problems. Do him versus Brian battle? Sure. Harry, Eileen Perez versus Tamiris Vidal too.

A little rematch on the regional scene. I believe Eileen Perez lost that fight via disqualification. Illegal knee in the second round. We'll just run it back, he says. Look, this isn't this isn't doo-doo. I'm not here to say that it's do-do by the rules of do-do.

Who was this? This is Harry. Harry, we all know what you're doing here. You are just trying to make, look, look how smart I am. I know that Island Perez has already fought to Miris Fidel. Nobody else is going to pick this. And I'm, you're just

here to show your big brain off. I'm sorry that I didn't know that they fought at Samurai House too and you're just trying to make me feel bad because you are diving deeper into the Tapology than I am. So credit to you, sir, it's not doo-doo, but I still hate it. That is, I mean, look, this is a consummate Otno-Licitor. Just looking, hmm, maybe this person. Let's go to Tapology and see if they've fought each other before. Oh, they did fight each other in the regional scene. Let's a flex-pick, Mike. We all know it. He's flexing his MMA knowledge on the rest of us, and I'm not here to make any of us feel bad about not knowing about what happened at Samurai Fight House 2. What if they make this fight? Do you give him shine? I mean, if they make

this fight, you have to, because he will be the only person to call it. The only person. I think it's the only one I've seen. So he will get the rare and lucrative otno point, a full otno point. I mean, Harry, good on you if this happens. Yes. Evan Elder versus Gabriel Miranda, Melchibar versus David Donama is disgusting violence. Don't disagree. Nazim versus Manuel Torres. Big Norm versus GDR for her comeback fight, Jed. Okay.

Don't hate it. Is GDR actually coming back? She says she is, apparently. Sometime, maybe October. I mean, I guess, are we doing that at, I mean, I guess if GDR is coming back, the original UFC Women's Featherweight Champion, by the way, maybe they are keeping the division. Are we doing this at 135?

Is it 1.45? It's a fine fight. But what weight class? Need to know that. Yeah. Iron Turtle versus Joe Pfeiffer. Prado versus Sam Patterson. JDM versus a grappling IQ test.

So Neil Magny. Bueno Silva versus whoever she wants. What a queen. Melsik versus Luis Saldania for the most middleweighty featherweight title. And I love that pick. How about this? I think you'd be a fan of this one, Jed. Because I think Max, Azat Maxim has some talent.

He finished his fights. He's usually very fun. Tyson is just, Tyson is just a dog. He likes Maxim versus Juan Camille Ronderos, have Ronderos do the job and give Azat a highlight. So a little squash match in his eyes. I love squash matches.

I will also say, echo everything you say about Tyson Am, absolute dog. I took a shot on him just because, like, that was pretty big odds. pretty big odds and I was at the end of it was like I may have just cashed like a plus 400 on that I love the idea of a squash match I think that that's what the you've got two ways to go you either give him a squash match a here here's a highlight 17 and oh now we have a highlight to put on

your reel for as we move you forward or you just throw them in and I still think you just throw them in because 17 and oh it's damn impressive even if you're beating freaking carpenters and cab drivers. But I don't hate the idea. If that's the way they want to go, I'd be okay with that as well. Let's go to Toby. Maxim versus Sumidhargy,

Elder versus Natan Levy, Costa versus T.J. Brown, fun fight. Melsig versus Juliana Rosa. Nazim versus Nazareth. He's with you. Dumont versus Durantam. Another one there. Park versus Jack Hermanson in Singapore or Paris.

Prado versus McDessie, JDM versus Brady and Sydney. Toby suggests my report Bueno Silva versus Arrani Aldana, September 16th on the Mexican Independence Day card. What do you think about that? It's not bad. I still just don't think you do it. I think I don't feel like, and I know that part of this is insane and the deep heads will be like, wow, beating Polly Home in the year 2023 guarantees you a title shot.

But like it kind of does. Even if she's not what she once was, what else can you expect of any woman at 135 pounds beating Holly Holie Holm and not not edging out a very tight split decision Kitlyn Vieira like beating her being the first woman to finish her since Amanda Nunes and arguably the second most dominant performance over Holly Home of all time that that's just got to be good enough like we can't ask her to do any more that seems unfair so I'm not I'm not there on it but I mean the fight itself would be really fun I'd be quite interested to see those two women fight at some point, but just not right now for MBS.

I'm glad you brought that up because, and I think I'm guilty of this too, people just forget about Aurendi Aldana in this conversation altogether because Nunes, like, had a Nunez performance against her. Yeah, exactly. Hand up. I totally did. Didn't even think of her once doing this. Yeah.

So I appreciate the pick and Meyer Boy and Silva just wants to cash another check and stay busy. That's a good fight. Barry O'Reilly. Hey Mike, long-time listener and submiter, but first-time submitter to me, or to Mike Heck, as it says, Hope the Throat is better. It is.

My picks for last night's card are Eileen Perez versus Tainara Lisboa. Alex Munoz versus Patty Pimbley. With Pimbley being out for so long, the UFC are going to give him a, quote, easy comeback fight and can justify this because Munoz just won. Any thoughts about giving Patty a fight with Alex Munoz

for his return? Ooh. I don't think you can do it, right? Like, it'd be fun, but it's lightweight, so any lightweight fight is going to be fun. And it wouldn't be the worst. I mean, he's a team alpha male guy, so he's got a little bit of love. I think that that is an appropriate matchup skill-wise. It's just not an appropriate matchup name-wise for what Patty's, where Patty's at in his career,

what they're trying to do with Patty. That would be a pretty definitive step back for Patty. And even though I think the fight is competitive, like absolutely isn't the fight's competitive. Patty has to either fight a big name or a guy with a number, and I think those are the only two options for him. Yeah. But if they do do just like a, yeah, a little tester fight,

that's a good one. Melchise Al Costa versus Do you. Alex Munoz can be the backup. Like, right? Like if whoever gave Matt Provol, It can't make it to the cage. Let's call Alex Munoz on short notice to get the patty. I'm okay with that.

Costa versus Duho Choi, Miss Crean Superboy. This would be a fun fight that he should win. Would give Costa some shine. Dutakova versus Emily Decode. A little Dutakova-Ducote hashtag action. There you go. Melsik versus David Onama. Dazim Sattikov versus Michael Johnson.

A big step up, but one Sattikov deserves. Win for him would get him plenty of praise. Well, Johnson is in that Miller-Guita stage of his career where he will fight prospect. or vets. You like Michael Johnson in that spot? Yeah, I'm absolutely okay with it. I mean, Michael Johnson is, I think Nazareth-Hawk Cross is a more meaningful win at this

moment in time, which is why I went for it. But I think we're speaking the same language of, I want this guy to get elevated, want him to have an opportunity. Terrence McKinney is already a step in that direction because people know T-Rex. And he fairly decently ranked in the overall scheme of lightweights, even with, you know, his resume. But yeah, I think we're speaking the same language there. Don't have any issues that they do.

They do Michael Johnson. Another Dumont, Josiani Nunes, women's featherweight title fight. UFC needs to do the thing. I think that that's the fight that we're going to get. But it's not going to be for the title, but it's going to be for the uncrowned UFC women's. You remember that like two-year stretch, and I remember I don't think you were a fan at the point, where Dean Thomas was like the uncrowned UFC Lightweight champion, but they didn't have a division. that's going to be Norman Dumont and Joseo Nunez.

Who's the best one of the people who compete at this fake weight class in this promotion? John Young Parte, he's versus Imovov. Love that one. He's with both of us. Prada versus Manuel Torres. Usually I wouldn't match two prospects against each other, but this division is stacked enough. This would be a banger. I think it's too soon for those two guys to fight.

Yeah. But who that hell knows? I'm with you. ADM versus the winner of Vicente Lucke versus RDA. If Lucke wins would be a great final. the feet. Well, if RDA wins, that'd be a big name on JDM's record. If he was to beat him in a fight, they'll probably also test his ground game. Not a bad one. MBS versus the Bannam White title fight winner. Probably Pena versus Pennington, unless it's the fight of the year, contender,

a controversial decision. MBS is the winner. There you go. Thank you. Marcus, do we have anything new here? Jun Young Park versus Bo Nickel, Jed. What do you think about that idea? Uh Hate it Oh Again, I know I'm very, we talked a little bit about Bo Nickel in the post show honestly because of sort of thoughts like this. I know I'm in the minority. I don't want us to rush Bo Nicol at all because I had some people throw out a Dorayev as a Bo Nickel opponent, which isn't awful.

But at the same time, I don't know what that's accomplishing for anybody. I just just let Bo Nicol spin his wheels against other people who nobody knows who they are for the next year and a half so he can learn how to fist fight and let's let

let's let the Iron Turtle get his opportunity I very much do not like this fight I went with Puna Soriano for Bo Nickel like a guy's just going to attack him and get in his face and try to be the hammer and Bo can at least fight a guy with just fun fights No, no, Nick will have scraps, not dudes who are top 20, you know, knocking on the door of contention.

Just not there. Let's get at least two more fights. I don't think that's what's going to happen. I think he's going to get the Kane Velasquez hyper track where he gets one more sort of spin his wheels and then it's off to the races. But I would love to see him spend the next 18 months. Just crushing cans, you know, building hype. I think Bo is just, I think Bose is really smart. Like I think he gets it

Like obviously I think there are things he does Outside of the octagon People don't necessarily agree with But when it comes to his fighting career I think he gets it man He's like I'm willing to just take the rest of the year off And I don't care what kind of hype I lose

Like he gets it The dude just gets it He's very smart He's here for I know you hate this Michael Chan the rest But he's he's the opposite He's here for a long time More than being here for a good time

And he understands that So Robbie Ryan And unlike Michael Chandler, Bo Nicol is actually going straight to the top. We will actually get to see Bo Nickel at the top, as opposed to getting brutally knocked out before making the summit. Let's see. Robbie Ryan. Bueno Silver versus Pennington for the vacant belt.

Right place, right time for a new contender to berge of a former champ. Duranami, Aldana, Vietta, and Kanzad can sort themselves out while Peña heels up and gets the next shot. JDM versus Kevin Holland, winner, lose versus Keessa. I initially had Gilbert Burns in mind, but after this performance, I think he could do with another tough fight under his belt. I think Gilbert Burns is way too soon. Way too soon. Even if JDM went out there and starch him in the first round, I think Burns is too soon. I think that's the exact worst way to book fighters because it is way too soon.

And if both outcomes are bad, Gilbert Burns just teaches him a lesson that doesn't do anything for anybody. JDM wins, it's still bad. He is now skip the mid tier of this division filled with guys who are extremely difficult. And by doing so, has beaten a guy who's getting older, looking like he's getting older in his recent performances are still good. But to me, it's pretty clear that Burns is on the back nine right now. And that just is going to shoot him ahead of schedule into a place that could be really bad. And the only division that kind of works is a heavy.

If you wait, you do it at welterweight. He beats Burns. He's going to have to fight like Belaw Muhammad. And Belal Muhammad is going to take that main to school in a way that is very, very difficult for him to recover from. So I super don't make that match up. I like the Kevin Holland fight. And I completely agree with you. Why skip the middle tier?

Think of the fights we can get. We can get JDM Luque. We can get JDM Wonderboy. JDM Michelle Pereira. Like all these match. Jeff Neal. Like all these fights for JDM are super fun. before he gets to the guys who are just going to tackle him

and sit on top of him for 15 to 25 minutes. So we don't want to skip that middle tier. That's going to be like the best time. The one is the fun tier. It's where the fun things are going to happen. We want the fun stuff. He also likes Prado versus Hafa Garcia, Park versus the Mirchart Petroski winner.

I think Park deserves a rank guy. I think we've already talked about that. I'm not Dumont versus Jocelyn Edwards, Sadacov versus another Sadikov, Torres. And then he said, I thought I heard it mentioned by some that Pena was injured. If I'm tripping and she's not, title fight should be Pena versus Pena. Bueno Silva should fight Jermaine Durand and me for the next title shot. So the injury, at least, this is what Dana White said.

Pena had broken ribs. And typically that's like a six to eight week recovery at worst. So I don't think it's going to keep Pena out for the rest of the year or anything like that. So I would expect Pena to be ready to fight before 2023 is. Don't. Payne and Pennington are going to be the co-main event at the November court. Maybe at December. It's just going to be one of those two. I feel like the only thing that was going to stop that is if Holly Home had somehow really impressed on Saturday with a win, maybe they slot her in instead because of how much they love home, former champion in that narrative. The die is cast. It's November or December, Payne and Pennington fight for this vacant title. An MBS should just be front and center. Bring her in. She can weigh in as the backup fight. So she, quote, unquote, officially is next in line or whatever. And you can do that whole promotional thing. Easy to do it.

Just run with it. Yeah. I think November is probably when that's going to happen. I don't think it's going to be the co-main event. I think it'll be the first of three title fights. I think they'll stack that MSG card up. Okay. Absolutely fair.

I didn't factor in three title fights. I think you're absolutely correct. That is probably right. A couple more. Chris, some great fights and some snoozers. Glad to have early fights back next week in London. Yes, very excited for that as well. Bueno Silva versus Painter for the title.

Home versus Josiani Nunes. Let's see. Do you have anything new? Park, Kyle Barallio. Prado versus Terrence McKinney. Dumas versus Megan Anderson? That's got to be a joke. Satikov versus Jordan Levitt.

I bet it's not a joke because like you could see, you could convince me Megan Anderson. It's like, hey, UFC, I'll come back and be the champion of this not real weight class anymore. You could sell me on it. I don't think it's going to happen, but you could sell me on it. She seems to be doing just fine, doing commentary and working for ESPN. I think she's okay. And now Amanda Nunes is not in the way.

It's a whole opportunity to get a belt. That's if this division moves on. Crazier things would happen have happened. I don't think she's officially retired. So I wonder if she's still in the pool. Something I look into. I'll see if I can pull up some use out of test history. Sattikov, versus Jordan Levitt, Melsick versus Saldania,

Maxim versus Stephen Erseg. He's with you there. Elder versus Munoz. Dad Jackson, last one. Eileen Perez versus Josiani Nunes. I know that's a jump, but I'm lost in this one. Maybe Yonnas Santos, if she goes back to 135. Costa versus Melzic.

Sadacov versus Prado. Jack Delamattelina versus Michael Morales. Jeez, Louise. That's what you give JDM? Going to give him that animal? No, no, no. Way too soon for Michael Morales and Jadim is beyond that. Yeah, yeah, I don't think that's, you know, hard no.

Yeah, if we're going to talk about like squash matches, Michael Morales should be fighting in some kind of squash match on a big card, sooner rather than later. So those are the picks. So next week, it'll be kind of the same, no AK. So you can submit your picks to me, just do it on Instagram like everybody did. M underscore Heck, J.R. Jed, do you want to return next week and do it again?

We might even be able to record the show after UFC London and after the post-fight show. So then Sunday's just free and clear. How about that? I'm going to come back next week, it's going to have to be after the post show. So I'd be happy to do it, but I would not be happy to do it Sunday morning.

Yes. Well, fair enough. So we'll try to get Jed back on next week's show. And that's it, everybody. Let's pull up this UFC London card and see what we're dealing with here because I know we have Tommy Asmanal's return from the really tough injury he had against Curtis Blades. He will be headlining against Marchine Taibora.

This is not your... It's bad. This is not your 2022 London card, that's for sure. Molly McCann against Julius Stoliarenko in the Co-Main event. Nathaniel Wood, Andre Feely. That's fun fight. Andre Munez, Paul Craig, making his middleweight. That's a fun fight.

Jai Herbert, Foresa, M. Lerone Murphy, Josh Kulabal. Davy Grant, Daniel Marcos, Danny Roberts, Johnny Parsons, Marcia Casey, Joel Alvarez, Mick Parkin versus Jamal Pogues, boy, if that's a heavyweight over, if I've ever seen one. So the most electric back in it, Bet, MMA is definitely going to get on the works for that. Brian Barbarina versus Mahmoud Muradoff, Ketland Vieira versus Pani Kanzad, Chris Duncan,

versus Janal Ashmoos, Bruna Brazil, versus Sean Abannon. Excited to see how Sean Abandon does. And Jafel Filio, who had a great fight, a great showing. It's Muhammad Bahaif.

Takes on Daniel Borez. That is the fight card. God bless the UFC for this one. 15. Eastern prelims, 3 p.m. Eastern Main Car. We have 15 fights, though. That's kind of tough,

but I don't feel like we're going to get 15 fights. Something's going down. Some surely, but still 15 is a lot. I love this card because I think this card is just This card can tell you everything you need to know about the UFC And in the modern era of Hey look what we did last London card Like when we went back to London for the first time

Electric just blow the doors off the gaff as as patty pimble it says And they go back the second time And it's maybe a little bit down from the first one but still electric Just stacking the card now we've been in London three or four times in the past year Here's the slop guys Eat it up

Because you we're going to put some British people on this thing And that's all you need Molly McCann will at least get the arena banging But you people at home It is the UFC in the modern era man Fine fights A lot of them Nothing that's super memorable

Except for maybe Maybe the main event Is at least relevant even if it's probably not going to be super memorable. But we get to Tommy Aspinall and that'll be fun. And we get a rare tapology look where we haven't had a canceled fight yet. Not a single one. Usually there's like six or seven, but not a single one yet.

A lot of real estate between now and then, but that is shocking for that to ever be the case. And we'll say at least it is, you know, there's a lot of home cooking in this card. We've got 15 fights and like 12, 11 of them have a, English, Scottish, British person, you know, somebody from that portion of the world competing. So, you know, the energy in the arena will probably be very good. The London fans always show out. They love them, Somali McCannan, Tommy Aspinall. This is going to be a lot more fun than this weekend, say that.

Maybe because, I mean, if you've followed the social media landscape since the tickets went on sale for this car, apparently, like a lot of the very loud, boisterous fun fans are being priced out of this one. So this kind of has that 283 maybe vibe to it or like, oh, the Brazilian crowd's going to be on fire. They haven't had an event in a while. And it turns out they could only fill up like 70% of the arena and it's only rich people who don't watch fighting. I love capitalism where, hey, how can we make money at the expense of our product?

Dope. It's so fun. Yeah. I'll have to take a gander at what these what these tickets look like. Well, we could just continue to put on products that are universally beloved that generate hundreds of millions of dollars and that nobody has an issue with. Or we could try and replace writers with shitty AI and price out our best fans from this event. It's the scene in Jurassic Park in the original one. I'm dating myself as a really old movie.

this point where the lawyer is like, we could charge whatever we want to. People will pay. It's freaking dinosaurs. And they all look at him like he's a freaking the serpent of the devil. Like we're talking about children having fun. We can have a coupon day so the poor people can get in there. Just let, USC London should just be catering to random people like soccer hooligans. Make this the most electric event of all time. Just be like, hey, 10 quid, get on in here and get rowdy. hell, it's going to be the most fun you have all weekend. That's how we should be handling this. They've actually sold a bunch of tickets. There's probably only a couple hundred left, but the cheapest seat available right now on Ticketmaster, at least the conversion to US dollars,

$297.17 for the cheapest seat left. That is not cheap. No, it is not cheap. But hey, listen, if you want to go check out a U.S. card with a good atmosphere. I feel like this one's going to give it to you. And we'll talk about it next week. As good as it can be. Yes. Well, we'll talk about that card throughout the week.

And we'll talk about it on this show after it goes down. Early day MMA, just the way we like it. UFC back in London as the road to UFC 291 continues on because that card absolutely rules. So thank you very much for joining us back next week. For Jed, I am Mike Heck. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously.

Anime is supposed to be fun. and we'll have more fun after UFC London right here. And on to the next one, the podcast. Love you all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one.

Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.