MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 79

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

Mateusz Gamrot picked up the biggest win of his UFC career in the main event of UFC Vegas 79 on Saturday, but it certainly didn't happen the way he would've liked it to with Fiziev suffering a knee injury throwing a kick in the second round. Regardless, Gamrot got the victory, and then called for a fight with a former lightweight champion next. Will he get his wish? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next to Gamrot following his victory over Fiziev at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Bryce Mitchell following his unanimous decision win over Dan Ige, Marina Rodriguez after her dominant finish in the rematch against Michelle Waterson-Gomez, along with fellow main card winners Bryan Battle, Charles Jourdain, and more in the capper event of a 17 week stretch for the UFC. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser 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 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping. people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting

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More on that in a moment. As we're following, we're coming through after UFC Vegas 79, an unfortunate ending to the event and the main event. But in the end, Batush Gamrod gets the biggest win of his UFC career, although it wasn't in the fashion that he would have liked it to happen. But that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Hacken.

Joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, the man who quite possibly broke onto the next one forever. He is my best friend Alexander Kay Lee, AK, how are you? My best friend, check the tapes. I think we have to move the segment to the top of the show today, especially given the somber disappointing end to UFC Vegas 79. And otherwise, I thought, pretty decent card. I know the first few prelims didn't, you know, maybe didn't light anyone's hair on fire.

But after the disqualification, I think it got pretty good. I think we had several good fights that went the distance. We had some good finishes. I liked UFC Vegas 79. And if we got a banger of a main event, I think it would totally change how people look back on it. Now, it's, I mean, it wasn't going to be an event that we were going to be talking about. like at the end of the year probably, but now it's, now I'll be talking about like in a bad way. I saw someone asking me like, was this a, it was one of the worst cards of the year?

And I was like, I'm not even close. It's a good card. It's a good card with a really, uh, the slow start and a real unfortunate ending. But can we check the tapes, Mike? Can we start off with the check the tapes? Yes, because I'm going to, I'm going to say something that I said in our Slack channel, but I'm going to say it here. Very rare, we're pretty humble guys, okay?

We are pretty humble guys. Okay. Very rarely do we toot our own horns. We don't brag. We don't say things like that, like, that are just completely crazy. But I'm going to go out and do something I have probably never done since covering this sport. This program is officially the second most influential podcast in all of MMA right now. Obviously, the MMA hour, Ariel Hawani, number one with a bullet.

But I think after the matchmaking, we have had that have been. put together by the Ultimate Fighting Championship with the last couple of weeks, especially Thursday, Friday, Saturday, there is no doubt in my mind that the matchmakers are listening to this program because there are so many fights

that were made based on the voices of you and I, including Kahliel Roundtree versus Osamon Mirza Kanoff. That is one of the fights. Technically, I'm still taking the Aughtno point because I picked the fight. I wanted that to be

an Apexie main event. However, there's not a lot of room for Apexie made events for the rest of the year. So that washes itself out. That's an auto point. We got Matt Frivolta versus Benoit Santini. At Madison Square Garden, nailed that one as well. Friends Forever. Friends forever.

Friends forever. We both nailed that one. Crushed it. And there are just so many other fights. I'm just like, someone had asked like, oh, Mike, how are you doing this? I'm like, this is by far the best year I've had with auto points. This is by far the most auto points have ever. had. So I was feeling pretty good. I even tweeted out on Friday

on my day off. I'm like, apparently I got all of the Otno points today. And I was feeling pretty good about myself. And then, and then, A.K., Friday night, Dana White starts to yell and scream. And he announces that Stephen Wonderboy Thompson is going to fight Shafcott Rockmodoff, December 16th at UFC 296. But that wasn't all, okay? That wasn't all. Because they freaking did it, AK. They freaking did it. The fight that I hated from Jump Street that you put out there, fight that I grew into a little bit more as the years went by and the time went by.

And then I started at really hate it again. But Dana White made it. We are going to get December 16th, the UFC 296, Patty Pimblet versus Tony Ferguson, AK. You have broken Otno. I know you probably don't, like this comparison, but you might be, I was going to say you're the Sean Strickland of On to the next one in just shattering rankings and everything as we know it, but you might

be the Alex Pereira, at least of on to the next one, because you have broken rankings, you have broken Otno points, you've broken the Otno bank account. The currency, the value of it has jumped through the roof since you made this happen. Please, tell people how you're feeling. A lot of people are blaming you for this, but you were the first one to put this out there. Everyone thought you were ridiculous, myself included, and guess what? We are getting this fight December 16th, whether we like it or not, and it's your fault, AK. People blaming me slash thanking me for bringing this fight into the world. Shoutouts to, there was a few early adopters of this particular Otno, a crypto printing.

I know shout-outs to my man Francesco in Italy. I know he's been saying he wants some credit. And I do think he, I don't know if he was there with me day one, but certainly early on. It felt so crazy to see it actually. I wasn't sure. I didn't see. I saw that later. I think I was out.

There was a reason I couldn't be near a computer or device and receiving messages. So I saw it. I was like, what is going on? At the same time, Mike, I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen. So I was thrilled. I don't remember. I know you hated it.

I don't remember. I was trying to find the audio. I couldn't remember exactly which episode I called this on. I feel like you said this was never going to happen. I feel like you said they were never going to make this matchup. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I couldn't find the proper seats.

I probably did say that. And then I kind of felt like Tony Ferguson, Bobby Green was going to be a closer fight than it was. And then, like, as we were getting into that one, I'm like, eh, maybe it's not as bad as I thought. And then watching Bobby Green just splatter Tony Ferguson all over the Octagon and how sad we all felt about it. I was like, they can't, they can't make this fight. Because the way Bobby Green won the fight, Patty Pimmel is going to do it, like, way worse. But I will say this, AK, as much as I. I dislike this.

I am holding out hope because of Tony, because in a year like this, if Tony Ferguson beats Patty Pimblit, this might be the funniest thing that's ever happened in the history of the sport. It would, it would just be, it would shatter everything.

Like, Patty Pimbleau would be dunzo. Like, he would just be the UFC London guy, just winning squash matches the rest of the way. And then Matt Ravola and him are going back and forth. They booked Matt Ravala against freaking Ben Wausunt and he. and then they give Maddie Pimlet to Tony Ferguson the next, like that same day? The whole thing is just bananas to me. From all having a good time with it all.

Man, this is crazy. I didn't think this would happen. That's, this is such bad matchmaking. My best friend, that's why I know. This is why I love this matchup because the possibility of Ferguson winning, I think, is hilarious. It's fantastic. That is true. Yeah, I think, I think this is how I laid it out the first time.

I was trying to tell people if this isn't a booking, like, just to give Patty an easy win. I don't think it is an easy win. I think he'll be considerably favorite. I don't know if opening odds are dropped. I think he'll have to be minus 380. Oh, that's a lot, I was going to say. And fair, fair enough. Ferguson is in a terrible run of form.

Six straight losses now, seven straight losses, something like that. And they've been, you know, they've been pretty ugly outside of a couple of rounds here and there that he may have won. It's been bad. These are bad losses. Bad losses against very good competition. but bad losses nonetheless. So I guess I understand the odds there. Again, I thought this should have been booked sooner, but either way, it still always felt

like it was trending in this direction. And then Patty, you know, has injuries, has to take this time off. And then I'm really like, oh, wow, like he needs a notable fight to come back to. Like, I don't think they just bring him back and say, let's ease Patty back into it. I think they look for a name. And I'm like, that name is still there. That name is still Tony Ferguson. I thought it was Tony Ferguson months ago when we talked about this.

I still think, I still thought it was. And it's just, it's great. And I think what people hate about the most is, when people say they hate the matchup. They, they mean they hate the idea of Patty Pimbley, just like 30, 26ing Tony, just grappling into the ground, wrestling, just beating him on the ground, which is very likely. That's that minus 380. That's what we're talking about when you see those odds. But at the same time, it might not go that way.

And even if it does, then the U.S.C. kind of got what they wanted, right? They get a notable name on Patty Pimlin's resume. it's not a name anywhere near its prime, but if he beats Tony Ferguson, forever out his resume as I dominated Tony Ferguson. And I think for a lot of fighters, they'd love to have that, regardless of the circumstances.

So I am so, I'm pleased as punch, Mike. I'm pleased as punch that this one happened. I don't know how many. Thank you, everyone, for reaching out again and giving me my props. There were so many people. I've never been happier about a pick. I know it's not the best fight from, I don't know, meritocracy, from a, you know,

oh, it's going to be a fight of the night bangor. I don't know, maybe. I don't think so. But just using the logic, the logic and reasoning and science that we have established on this show, it proves the system works. The system works. The otno system works. We've been doing this show now for two years now, longer.

I think, you know what, like after this fight was made, I was walking my dog this morning and I wanted to just go back and see how many episodes we had done because this started what people maybe not remember is this started as a write-up. We're writing out,

like we're conversing back and forth in writing form. And then the great Brian Tucker is like, well, let's just do it as a podcast. And it's been almost three years, I think. I think we started maybe like the fall of 2020. It was 2020 for sure.

And we've had moments, Mike, where people have questioned us. People have questioned like, oh, this, it's crazy. This fight's not going to happen. We've missed out on fights that we'd hope for. Like, we've pushed, what, Dominic Cruz, Frankie Edgar for years. You know, we never got, although Dominic Cruz, never got it.

You know, we got all these great fights we never got. But this proves the science worse. This, you know, and our show is doing good things. And like you said, at points, even making fights happen. You did a heck of a morning. I think we had a heck of a morning headline. Like, is Tony Ferguson the fight to make for Patty Pimbled? And I'm like, yes.

We are very much putting this out into the universe. And finally, it has become reality. Man, 296 is pretty ridiculous, huh? We get Leon versus Colby, which is, I mean, the reaction to that fight is kind of, people just want to see it so we can move this division along a little bit, whether you think Colby deserves it or not. Then we have, you might, and then I was thinking about like the prediction show, this might be the year of the Raw Dog, AK.

Like, it might actually, we might actually end. We might actually end the year this way. Can you? I think we all agreed it was likely he would get a title shot somehow, whether it was against Moreno, whether it was against someone beating Moreno, which is what happened. And now, yes, but it's just squeaking in there, Mike, it's squeaking in there for the end of the year. And I think it's going to have, I don't think I've gotten any prediction right, you know,

when we do those, who's going to hold the title up at the end of the year as far as a new champion. I think I've gotten it right saying, like, oh, this person will hold on, we'll continue to be champion for the end of the year. I don't know if I've ever gotten it right, saying someone will win it. And it could be his year. It could be his year. And if he pulls this off, if Random Robival pulls this off and beats Pantoja, I may have to rethink my stance on not saying his nickname.

I may have to shout it from the mountaintops, actually, if he pulls us up. So I'm so, yeah, very excited about all the matchups we got this week. Yeah, Pantoja Royval, too, is a great fight. Very excited for that one. We get this one, Patty Pimbleau versus Tote Ferguson. We get Wonderboy versus Shafka Rokmanoff. We just found out last like 3.30 in the morning Eastern time that Vincenti Lukie is fighting Ian Machado Garry, a battle of, I don't,

I was hesitant with this fight because I know Ian Machado Garry trains at Kilcliff FC quite a bit, which is where Vicente Lucke does. But he's been bouncing around a little bit more, so maybe this fight makes a little bit more sense. But I was hesitant to make that one. This fight makes all the sense of the world. I just wasn't sure if they were going to fight each other because they both trained at Kilko for a while, but maybe Ian Machado Gary is not tied down to any one gym at this point.

So, man, the watch parties for the rest of the year are just going to be the best. I am so excited for these watch parties. 294, 295, 296. We were going to end the year at the bank. And who would have thought, A.K., that the Abu Dhabi card, which is typically like one of the more loaded cards of the year, not saying that it's a bad card. But compared to 295 and 296, it's the weaker of the three, is it not?

It's still good. Yeah, and it's weird. I'm kind of already looking past it. Maybe this is how spoiled we are as fans that we're getting this really solid pay-per-view card coming up. But then we, now that Dana and the UFC are waving these shiny new toys in front of us, 20194 hasn't even happened yet. And I'm already feeling like, oh, but I want to know what happens to this fight.

I want to know what happens to this fight. And $294, excuse me. Yes. My throat went out there for a second. $2.94 has like, it's not just a good looking card. Like it has real implications. You know, of course, the lightweight title fight. And then Paul Ocas and Shemaya have possibly becoming, you know, getting that title shot,

that middleweight, that next middleweight title shot is wide open if they don't give it to, you know, don't do the, uh, just in your rematch, which they shouldn't. No. So that middleweight title picture is wide open. And then otherwise it's just got a lot of good fights on it. But yeah, they're loaded up for the rest of the year. you see playing with house money it just feels like they cannot miss these days and uh they certainly have missed with the announcements for 295 and 296 so far so really impressive stuff uh i by the way

i've got to be on the pimlet bergson uh watch party segment oh i yeah book it that's for sure book it even if it's like even if it's like the the featured prelim on esPN or something like we'll do a special we'll start instead of starting at 945 we'll start at 930 like we'll start really just to make that happen. So, yeah, even December 2nd coming together. We got some big fights there. We got the return of Misha Tate versus the return of Julia Avila. We have Roman DeLizze taking on Jared Canineer.

I don't know where, by the way, let me just say this. I'm not going to talk about it now, but there is someday I'm going to tell the story about Jared Canadiere versus Roman DeLizze and how we got there. It is an insane story. It is an insane story. You guys aren't going to believe this story. What a tease. You're not going to believe it.

And maybe I'll tell it sooner rather than later, but we'll wait on that. If everything kind of stands the way that it stands over the next month and a half or so, I will tell the story what it's all done. But it's insane. And there's smoke to it and it's wild. So I will tell that story someday. So stay tuned for that. Rob Flom versus Davis and Figurato on that card as well.

Go ahead again. Why didn't Jared Kanier get an immediate title shot? I thought if you weigh in as a backup, you're guaranteed a title shot. I thought he's going to fight for the title at UFC 300. Isn't that what he said? What is this? What is this? Didn't, no main event for 300?

I thought that was super funny. But yes, we have a lot. And there'll be more fights coming. Like, we're not, we don't even, like December 2nd, that card is loaded. We don't even, we don't have a location. We don't have a main event. Because some of these fights could be main events, but none of them are. And then we have December 9th to figure out.

I saw a fighter tweet out that China is happening. I still haven't confirmed this yet, but apparently we're going back to, we're going to China. Maybe December 9th. Maybe we get another title fight. Maybe we get Zhang Wei v. Jean-Juanon on that card. Like, what a way to end the year if that's what happens. Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine.

The Earth only has a few days left. Roscoe Kudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have a few. 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 Roscoe Cadulian 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. Reporting for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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A 17-week stretch has come to an end. And it came to an end last night at the world's most famous apex in Las Vegas. It's the main event. We're all excited for it. Rafael Fazeev versus Matush Gamrott. We got Matush Gamrod versus Armand Saruky. And last year we're like, golly, this fight's going to be incredible. And boy, oh boy, did it deliver in that first round.

Fiziv landed at crippling shots, landed a huge right hand on Gamrod that would have knocked out anybody in the division, anybody. And Gamrod turned it into a takedown attempt. Somehow Fiziv, with one foot almost out of the cage, was able to just jump backwards and stay on his feet. And the scrambles at the end of the round, it was just an incredible first round. Round two, we're picking things back up again. We're on the feet.

Fiziv gets back up from a couple of takedowns, and then he throws a kick, blocked by Matush Gamrott, and then Faziv just crumbles to the ground, left knee, not the leg that he threw the kick with, goes down, Gamrot pounces on him, hokey-pokey herb steps in and stops it, and Matush Gamrott,

on the record book's second round, TKO victory. Wasn't very happy about it. Cal out Charles Olivera gave some big time doo-do on the microphone, but I will, I will defend that a bit, but go on, go on. Yes, he did kind of redeem himself because he got a little more in depth at the post-pipe press conference and said that, look, Islam Machchev's going to beat Charles Oliver again. That fights like to go any differently, so I'm just going to go ahead and fight Charles Oliver.

But the rule of Otno is you have to lay out all those things before you make the call-out. So some do-do, but I'm not going to give him a full do-do. That's so harsh, Mike. That's so he's doing, you know, he's doing an interview. It's not his native language. I know, you've only got, you know, you've only got like a minute. I was at the moment, of course, thought, oh, big time doo-do. And then I was like, he clearly isn't flying that Charles will lose.

But you're, you know, listen, you've laid, like you said, you've laid out the rules pretty clearly. I'm mostly joking. But anyways, Gamrock, it's a huge win. Yeah, there is some. I smell it a little bit. But anyways. Magic Ball. or crystal ball here,

if you're picking Charles Oliver to lose to Islamuck, Jeff, and I'm not sure if you are or not, maybe it's too soon for you to throw Charles Oliver in it to any future matchups. Will Matush Gamrock get what he wants? If not, where are we going here? I'd like to see it, and he's fortunate that Charles Olivera is not the kind of person who I think would shy away from that fight.

I mean, he fought Vaniel Daryush. You know, I mean, that was a high-risk fight. High-risk fight for both guys. you know, high risk for Benile, high risk for Charles. It wasn't like, I don't want to say there wasn't a lot to gain there because he got that win and then obviously got himself the title shot again. But I don't know if he would have been guaranteed that shot if some other options lined up for the UFC for Islam Makachev.

I feel like they begrudgingly gave Charles another, you know, not immediate, but close to immediate rematch. So I went lower because I don't think, but I don't think Gamrod's going to get that fight. That is my issue. Just because it's so tricky coming off an injury win. no one did anything wrong complete freak thing uh the planting leg of physique is the one that went out at first i thought like maybe oh maybe gamrot like blocked up with his elbow and like broke the leg which would have been pretty sick uh frankly and then you've got to give you know gamrott full marks but

it really did just look like um you know something something weird happened to physique hopefully not a torn ligament hopefully some other just some other minor injury but uh i went so i had to go further outside the top 10 and i don't love this matchup but i feel like we could see him in Money Moikano. I just think Gammonaut's a dangerous fight. He's no weird spot. A lot of people who aren't going to want to fight him, again, which is weird, because Charles Wood, I just don't think the UFC is interested in making that fight happen,

regardless of what happens with Charles Olivera in the rematch. It's so weird. It's almost like unfair to matchmake in this division, because it's almost like Welterway where like every guy in the top 10 trains at Kilcliffe. And at lightweight, like, every top 10 guy trains at ATT. So like, but it doesn't mean they won't. fight each other. So that fight could happen. Like, there is a chance that fight could happen. I'm also going lower, and I'm just going to go with timing here. We have another lightweight

headliner coming up October 7th between Grant Dawson and Bobby Green. I don't think Gamrod's going to get the Olive Air fight. I do think Machchev's going to win, and I don't think he's getting Chuckie Olive. So I think the Grant Dawson Bobby Green winner. That's what's going to happen. Maybe an apex made event January or February. That's where we go. I do think Grant Dawson's going to beat Bobby Green, but if Bobby Green came out and beat Grant, wouldn't stun me because Bobby's been there and done that,

and this is by far the biggest step in competition of Grant Dawson's career, in my humble opinion. So, yeah, I say we go that route, Gamrod v. Dawson. And you know what? Actually, you know what? I can't. I can't because Dawson trades in ATT2.

Wow, this is ridiculous. This is bullshit. Like you said, I don't know if, I just don't know if they have this, some of these guys are so locked in that they won't fight each other. There's obviously something that we know, that we know won't. You know, we've seen guys corner each other and be like, okay, well, I mean, these guys probably aren't fighting anytime soon. But I feel like there's some names.

And again, maybe I'm just, I, well, no, I am just guessing and I could be completely wrong. I do feel like there's some names that they'll be like, you know, if the right matchup came along and, you know, given the stakes, if it's like, well, you know, this is a top 10 fight. this could get me one step closer to a title shot. I think some of these guys would have to take these fights, right? Yes, I'm changing my pick. These are super gyms, right?

My pick has changed. My pick has changed. I almost had some doo-doo. I feel like your matchup is way more likely to happen than my matchup, because I don't think him and Grant Doss are going to fight each other. Dan Hooker. Going with Dan Hooker. Yeah, it's a great.

It's a great pick. It's a great pick. Camrod. I don't want to say he should have called for that because I think in his mind he had, if he beats Fazeve, he was going to call for Charles. I think that was in his mind. So he was, you know, he went on autopilot in the post-fighting to do you, right? It wasn't like, it wasn't like, oh, I only beat the guy by injury.

I don't deserve Charles. It was like, okay, I won. What was my plan here? Oh, they're going to ask me who I want to fight. Okay, Charles Oliverer. He's probably been wine to do this. So if you were to call an Audible, Dan Hooker would have been a great choice. If you're Dan Hooker and you're out there, you should be trying to, you know, poke the UFC

matchmakers, see if they can put that one together, because that makes a lot of sense for both fighters. Yeah, Dan just went on Twitter and said he's, like, cleared to take a fight. And that's a good one. Five rounds of the apex, do it. And he can fight. Gamrod could probably fight soon, too. I imagine it is not, you know, other than training, you know,

done a tough first round, probably not super banged up. So quick turnaround, matches. Let's see it happen. Yes. Let's go to, I mean, obviously, we're not, for Raphael Fiziv, we just wish him a speedy recovery. We don't know the extent of the injury. It appears that it's not a good one.

I saw some people who are doctors who chime in on what injuries could be after rewatching them. A lot of people, a lot of them are saying this has to be a torn ACL, which is going to probably keep Fiziva for a year. But again, we don't know for sure. So I don't think it's even fair to matchmake for Raphael Fizib right now without

knowing the extent of the injury. So I'm not going to do it. And once he's, cleared and ready to come back, then we could start throwing him back in the mix. But we do wish him a speedy recovery. That was an incredible first round. And man, I really wish we got more of that. But unfortunately, that's just the nature of the sport.

Injuries happen. And we wish Mr. Raphael Fiziv the best. Let's go to the co-main event, the featherweight division. Bryce Mitchell versus Dan Ege, fun fight. This was a very tough fight to score, AK. The third round was easily the clearest round. It was for Bryce Mitchell, basically controlled Dan Ige the entirety of the round. Round one and round two, Danny Gay thumped Bryce Mitchell on the feet.

Bryce had nothing at all for Danny Ge. Danny Gay was just clubbing him all over the place, busting him up. But once the fight got to the ground, Bryce just had dominant position. He had control. Didn't do a ton of damage, though. So I actually thought we were going to take his trip to Splitty City here because of the scoring criteria and everything. Did Igay's damage on the feet, outdo Bryce Mitchell's control in round one? Did it do the same in round two? And in the end, the judges felt that Dan Igay did

not do enough in both of those rounds. One judge scored at 3027, didn't love that. At first watch, I've not rewatch it. I scored a 29, 28 Dan Igay. I thought Igay won the first two rounds. I thought Bryce had great moments, got some great control. But Dan E. Gaye, busted him up on the feet over those first 10 minutes. So, but again, this is not like a robbery. I would never say that. If you scored for Bryce, I have no problem with it. That's just the way I scored it watching a live.

But in the end, Bryce Mitchell gets a big winning. It's back on track. It's Mavzar of Loya. There's no other fight that makes sense. This is the one. I don't even think we need a friend's forever if you're picking this one. This is 1,000% the fight. And I know Bryce kind of got dinged up,

but if we can get that end of the year, early next year, that is 1,000. percent the fight to me would say you uh yeah i oh sorry i'm gonna fix a note here uh well no i i actually went a different direction i i agree a lot of listeners most i i'm i just went it's not like a totally out there a similar vein i guess a giga kind of want to see him fight giga um but i do think mobstar because it was supposed to happen and uh Bryce you know back injury knocked him out but obviously got back in there pretty quickly i see no reason why they can't rebook that but um i like i like the giga matchup. And I have to, I actually have to do it because I think after Giga won at

UFC Singapore, I had said Giga Chkaze versus Bryce Mitchell, Danny Gay Winner. So I laid the groundwork. I'm going to stick with it. It also just made things easy for me because I remember when I did that. So I just plugged in a name. But Mobsar, I'm sure would love to just get that shot of Mitchell that he was supposed to get it for. Yeah, I think we almost had a friend for a moment. Then I ended up landing on Danny Gay Winner Lose for Giga, which I still think that's the fight you should be. But yeah, there's some heat there. Loyaf started talking a little bit of greasiness even before the fight started, beat that hillbilly, I believe, was what he tweeted out in support of Danny Gay.

And I know these guys have been booked to fight before. I just think you got to do it now. You think you got to do it. And if Bryce Mitchell beats Bob Zor of Lov, then if I'm, I'm going to say I'm sold. Because I haven't really, like, I, to me, Bryce is always like, talented grappler. Good athlete, obviously a standout personality, if you will. But I just never bought him as like a title contender as a top five guy. Because even like looking at the current UFC top 15 at 145, I'm trying to, Bryce is number 10.

I'm trying to think of the guys I would actually, I would pick Bryce Mitchell to beat inside the top 10 right now. Mavzar of Lov if I would pick Mavzar. Giga, I'd pick Bryce Cater would be tough. If it's a five-rounder, I would probably lean Cater. Three-rounder, I would lean

Bryce. Josh Emmett's tough. I actually would probably pick Josh in that fight. We already saw the Ilya fight. I think if they fight a hundred times, that fight goes that exact same way every single time. I would pick Arnold Allen. I'd pick Brian Ortega. I'd pick Yair. I'd pick Max. I'd pick

bulk. So, but if he goes out and beats mobs are, that opens my eyes a little bit more. So I love that fight. And I hope it happens. This was a very important performance for Bryce Mitchell. I had said he's one of the fighters who has the most to lose on Saturday's card just because I think he would have put a very clear ceiling on him if he couldn't beat Danny Gay. And Danny Gay is very good. But Danny Gay himself is someone who, you know, perennial top 15 guy, probably not someone you'd pick against anyone in the top seven, eight, nine. So if Bryce Mitchell couldn't beat him, then that, you know, would have lowered his potential as a contender in my estimation.

So, and I loved how he won the fight, too. Again, I hope people don't just, you know, who missed the card, don't just look back on it and say, oh, he won decision, whatever, whatever. Denny Gay's grappling defense is so good. And Bryce Mitchell really had to improvise, had to grind through, had to be an incredible shape. And that's why, like, I probably like his chances against some of these, the names you mentioned, a little more, Mike, because, you know, having an A-level skill, in this case is his

wrestling and jiu-jitsu combined with being really, durable and tough and having great cardio can take you a long way. It can take you a long way. Especially the farther you go up and wait. So featherweight, it probably can't take you to the top. I definitely would not pick him against Volk, Holloway, or Yaya or Ilya who beat him. The Attega matchup, I find interesting just because Ortega is so inactive. I do think that would affect his performance against a guy who keeps fights as busy as Bryce Mitchell. Arnold Allen thinks an interesting one, too. At this point, I would pick against Emmett, even though stylistically it's a bad matchup for him. I probably would pick him against Emmett. Cater's a tough one. We're kind of in agreement. I would give him a few, a better chance against some of the guys you named.

But yeah, he opened my eyes a lot. I thought he had to prove a lot against Ege. Tough fight could have gone either way, but he got his hand raised in the end. And that's in the record books, that's what matters. So I'm really excited to see who they give him next. Yeah, I mean, it's the performance he needed. He had to go out and win like that. Dan was never going to go away.

He wasn't going to finish Dan Ege. And, yeah, he was good. He was good. And shout to him donating $5,000 to Hawaii for the fires. Very nice. I'll leave it at that. Keep the conspiracy theories aside, Bryce, and keep the donations coming. Yes. It was a good performance. Let's go to the feature about the rematch that everybody wanted, AK, Marina Rodriguez

versus Michelle Waterson Gomez. And that was slack messaging our good buddy, Jed Mishu. because if you listen to No Betz Bard, Jed Mishu has a new gimmick called the Magic 8 Ball. Another new gimmick? A new gimmick. Can a man have too many gimmicks? Well, Flyweight unders are dead.

It's over. Heavy win overs are dead, yes, yeah. So he's got Chat GBT, which is just killing. He's got Muschulun stars. Now he's got, I'm sorry, go on. He's got the Magic A ball. Okay. Now he's got the Magic 8 ball.

Tim means by knockout cashed for the Magic 8 ball. Like plus 400 or something. Is he using an actual magic eight ball? I didn't listen to the other parts. He's asking the eight ball questions and then the eight ball answers. And if they answer in a positive way, he goes with it. So he asked the magic eight ball, will Michelle Waterson Gomez, should I bet on Michelle Watterson Gomez like plus 280 or whatever it was?

And it said, yes, one of the answers where it said positive. And Jed said, look, all she needs is two takedowns and she'll win. So 10 seconds into the fight, Waterson takes her down. And I immediately go on Slack. I'm like, I'm like, Watersa Gomez took her down in 10 seconds. And Jets's like, oh, my God, this is really happening. And then she didn't hold her down.

And Marina Rodriguez got up. And then she put on one of the biggest beatdowns you will ever see in a women's fight, especially at 115 pounds. This is worse than Yawanna against Jessica Petty. This is worse than Yawanna versus Carlos Sparza. This is just bad. And the fact that the referee didn't stop the fight totally, but stopped the fight for a moment to let the doctor come and look

at the nastiness of Michelle Waterson's face after the being she took. Actually saved Michelle Waterson Gomez in a way. Yeah. Because if that just kept going this way. And then actually resumed and Marina just kept pouring it on. And then finally we got a mercy stoppage in round two. But geez, the wheeze, man. Marina Rodriguez, a lot of people thought she was dunzo.

She was a big favorite to win this fight. is a step back in competition for sure. And then, AK, I'm going to leave it to you because I joke about Matush Gamrodot, maybe with the do-do call-out. I loved Marina Rodriguez's call-out. Are you going with that? Because I sure am. I'm not only because I think for Tatiana, I can't remember what I gave her.

I think I gave her like Baby Shark or something. I did agree that she's not getting the next title shot and that she will probably need some some stay-busy fight. I still think it'll be Ricci and not Marina Rodriguez, but Marina is making a lot of sense with that callout. So, yeah, we loved it. We said in this, we slacked each other. We were like, yeah, that's just good.

That's good business on Marina's part. And because all week I was saying, well, oh, what's the point in this matchup? She wins. It doesn't mean anything. She's, I think she recently turned 36 or is turning 36. And she's probably not getting that title shot that she deserves at some point. But if she beats Tatiana Sores, bam, right back, not just back in the title picture. She probably is just getting a teller shot.

She probably is just fighting whoever has the title, whoever's, whether Zhang Wili or Zhang Wili, fight someone else next. So really, the smartest possible. Whether she gets it or not, put that matchup in the matchmaker's brains. Whether she wins it or not, it doesn't matter. That's really her best shot, again,

at getting a title shot anytime soon because she can keep milling about in the top 10, top 15. But those fights, a lot of these fights are tough and aren't getting her a title shot again. Or sorry, getting her back in title talk again. So if she wants it, fight Tatiana Sparaz. Go for it. Very smart by Marina Rodriguez.

I just went with, what did I go with? Lupi. I went with Lupi again, only because I previously booked Tatiana, but the Tatiana call-up makes so much sense. I do want to say one thing about the refereeing. I talked about it on the post-fight show, but I will say, I'm weirdly okay kind of with how everything played out. I would have been okay with the stoppage. I would have been okay with the corner stoppage.

I'm kind of okay with they let her go out for what another couple of minutes. and she probably took more damage than she needed to. If it was me, just, of course, I probably would have stopped it in the first round. But I do feel like this precedent, I do feel like we have seen bloody fights not get called off. I want to say it was more superficial because Watterson Gomez was doing just enough to defend it.

She threw a takedown attempt in there. She was occasionally getting those arms up. For me, it wasn't super intelligent defense, but Carrie Hatley, again, a reputation for letting fights go on. made the call. So I'm not going to condemn Carrie Hattley. I think he saw it. The corner, they were wiping just globs of blood off of her face, Mike,

and they still stopped themselves like she can get back in this. And I'm sure if you ask Michelle Waters and Go-Met, she will tell you, I'm glad my corner didn't stop it. They got to give my chance to go out my shield, to get my paycheck, all that stuff. That corner responsibility to protect them, but I don't think it's a big deal. This is just one of many instances where fighters are too tough. for their own good.

And, you know, it's a ref's job to protect them. It's a coroner's job to protect them. But sometimes they don't want to be protected. And you've got to let these things play out. So tough scene. Big Michelle Waterson-Gomez fan. But that's, you know, that was tough to watch at times. Like, is this, does she retire within the next 12 months?

Does she angle for, is her next fight assuming she fights again, which I am, at least one more time? Do you think we start, we start eulogizing for real? I don't know if I'm willing to go that far just because like I think she's game she says yes to everything she takes short notice fights she's still very popular

she is she's a company gal man like she's if she wants to fight I don't think the UFC's gonna not let her fight so I think we're we're certainly on the back nine she's one in six in her last

seven. The one one is against Angel Hill, which was a very close fight. She could very well be. Oh, and seven. Mm-hmm. In her last seven. But I mean, she's, I mean, she's just fought murderers, man. Yeah. The loss of her to Yuana, Carlos Barza, which close fight there as well.

Then Marina, Mandalayas, Luana Pinheiro, which is another close fight. This was, Marina Rodriguez. The worst, like this fight, played out the worst possible way for anyone who was already like, why are they doing this rematch? Because we're entering like almost Tony Ferguson territory. I know she's not getting like cold did, but we're entering like territory like, wow, you see a beat down like that and it starts getting uncomfortable to watch this veteran continuing to compete. She's been fighting since 2007.

So she's approaching her 17th year of competition. She's been fighting high level competition, I think, for at least a dozen of those years. Like you said, you just read off her past two or three years, just killers. You done them a killer. And for, for sure, sure I'm sure she loves training. I'm sure she still loves getting in there. She is a company a woman. She's a fighter for life. But I do wonder, yeah, how much more damage does she want to take? And yeah, how much longer does she want to go through it? Because it's a tough, it's a tough life. I'm sure as much she loves it, it's a tough life. So I think she has opportunities after fighting too. So I do think this might be the last 12 months of the karate hotties career. Yeah, Casey

Liden tweeted the great EKC. Let's do Waterson Gomez, Jessica Penne, too. Do it at USC 300. That's like perfect. That's a perfect UFC 300 fight.

It's an Adamweight. It's essentially an Adamweight title fight or whatever, you know, but at 115, right? Don't make them cut weight. Two great former Adam weights. And then, yeah, running back, running back a great fight. That's somebody to go.

I would love that. Whether they want to retire or not, I feel like that fight should happen before either fighter hangs them up. I agree. No more like up and comers. It's like, no, let's just do fun fights. I'm good. Let's do fun fights. Let's go to the welterweight

division. Brian Battle, man. I like him. He's talented. He's huge for the welterweight division. But for some reason, I don't know why. I just feel like some of these matchups stylistically are just nightmares for him. And I kind of thought even though he had a 10 inch reach advantage

and was bigger than A.J. Fletcher. I thought AJ style, especially after watching round one, I'm like, I kind of feel like AJ could beat them. So when we do our staff picks, I have to pick like one or two that are against the norm. And I kind of figured everybody was going to be Brian Battle. So I was like, all right, I'll take a flower on AJ Fletcher and see what happens. And man, Brian Bowell just keeps battling, pun intended, finding ways to win.

Rear naked choke gets A.J. Fletcher out of there. This guy's real good. And I love the post fight thing. I love the post fight. And he's like, no, you guys start calling me out because he's a listener to the program. He understands that if he called out a guy that already has a fight, which I believe he's done before. We're just going to call it doo-doo.

Let's just have a do-do free post-fight interview and just say, no, you come and get me. You come and get me. So what do you think is next for Brian Battle after another victory in the UFC and another victory at 170 pounds? He's 5 and 1 in the UFC if you count the ultimate fighter finale, which is an official UFC fight. He's 5 and 1 or whatever, 4 in 1 since winning the show.

That's great. His only loss is to Fakertinov, I think. And in fact, Raton, we don't know. He might be like a top 20 welterway. He just hasn't, you know, he just hasn't had the names yet, right? He's, I think, what, Kevin Lee? And then, you know, we don't know how much he had left. Fakertina could be, again, a top 20 guy within the next one or two fights.

So elusive to him is no, is no shame. At the same time, the other four wins are fairly, you know, against fairly nondescript competition. AJ Fletcher, bless him, not a bad fighter at all, but he's what, now? One and two. I honestly have no. gauge. So I'm just very methodically. I went to the science, the same science that gave us, you know, Patty Pillar versus Tony Ferguson. I went to the science. I tried to find a name from 30 to,

where did I go here? 30 to 40 in my rankings. And I landed, I went a little higher. Anyway, I landed on Chaos Williams somewhere. No real rhyme or reason, not even thinking about the style of the matchup, you know, as there, you know, potential for like, you know, drama there, like a beef. I just think that's a step up. I want to get battle into the top 30. I don't have him there yet. I don't have him yet. I did kind of penalize him also for missing weight against Gabe Green. That kind of prevented him from, like, jumping up despite an awesome knockout win. So if people already have Brian Battle in their top 35, don't blame you. Don't blame you at all. But Walter Waite has a lot of veteran names up there that are still taking up spots.

And until those guys clear out, I don't think, or Brian Battle fights one of them, I don't think you move him up that much higher. Like, I don't know. How high did you go? How high are you on Mr. Battle? The price is right, AK, Nico Price. That's it. That's it. Just let him go. Be a tornado of destruction. Let's just have him get after it.

Let's give Nico Price somebody that's not Robbie Lather in his final fight. Let's do that. Let's give him a guy who's going to go after him and be super exciting with him. Like there's just no way that fight stinks. There's just no way. I love the K.S. Williams pick as well. But I feel like that's a good step up. Nico's been in there with pretty much everybody at this point.

He has fought the who's who. and he just has the same style all the time. He's not in title contention. He's not going to be a top 15 guy. Let's just have those two get in there and get after it. And Brian Battle goes out there and finishes Nico Price, then, all right. Now we're in the top 20 range sniffing the top 15. So, yeah, I mean, can't go wrong with chaos.

I love the Nico Price pick. Brian Battle is doing the damn thing. Look at real good. Five and one. He's doing real good. He is doing real good. Let's go back to Cal. Canada, A.K. Charles Jordane didn't even break a sweat three minutes and 12 seconds into this fight with Ricardo Hamos.

This is Dana White. If you don't know, now you know, even though everybody was like, yeah, this is probably going to be the fight we're going to be talking about the most coming out of this card. Charles Jordan gets it done. Quick submission. There's nasty. I love the transition. Kind of tricked Ricardo Hamos into it and gets the tap. It's Joy Anderson-Brito, AK. That is my pick. Charles Zordane versus Joe Anderson-Brito. I can't go wrong with that. I went with Billy Q. Oh, I love that one too. Yeah, he's in a, Jordan's just in a weird spot because he's,

we've seen, he's almost like a punish for being so active because, and facing, you know, generally good competition. Because so he's, if you just look at his record, I think he's six,

five and one, six five and one now. But again, those wins, those losses are against really strong competition. Probably no, no lower than top 30. He's been fighting no lower than top 30 guys for his past few fights.

And it's hard. I don't know where to place him. Like, I feel like he has, he could, he could be a good fight for anyone in the top 15. At the same time, I also feel like guys, this is a testament to the strength of the division,

I think there's guys outside the top 30, he could give him a tough fight. So, Dranston Brito is a great pick. Bill of Corantillo is a great pick. I think I went with Billy just because I have him ranked. Oh, actually, I'm ranked behind Brito, but around the same range. So either one of those guys to move Jardin,

possibly into his own top 20 spot. But, yeah, just so many ridiculously good fights at 1.45, and Jardin came one step closer to my time. to breaking out of the pack, but there's a lot of work to be done. Okay, did you see who's going to be doing the Super Bowl halftime show? I don't think I did. Just got announced minutes ago as we record. T. Swift?

No, Usher. Whoa, where's he been? He's got to be in the Super Bowl halftime show. That's going to be ridiculous. That's going to be sick. That's a great, that's a great pick because because he has, what, 50 hit songs? You need one of those groups. He's going to do it's going to do the. the whole medley, just run through him.

He's got eras. Against, we got Taylor Swift again. Usher's got himself, has got eras. That's good pick. I like that. Usher's got two guaranteed wedding songs. Like, if I DJ a wedding, Usher's going to be,

DJ got his phone, love again is like an early song. It's an early one. It's like the transition. And then, yeah, it's an automatic. Of course. It's an every, everything. So, congratulations to Urshar. Getting it done.

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Let's go to the wild card, AK. We'll select one fighter you have not matched made for yet, and we'll matchmake for them right now. I'm just going to make this real easy, AK, because we talked about fights having stakes and what were these guys fighting for. but there was one fight on this card that had the largest, most dangerous stakes of them all. Come on. That was the heavyweighty, heavyweight fight between Mo Usman and Jake Collier. And it's almost like, and you can tell with watching the fight, like, they both fought hard, but neither truly wanted to win because they knew what was going to be waiting for them on the other side.

And now they have to fight the goat, Pacaporta. It's Moosman versus Paca Porter. End of discussion. That's it. Go ahead. Is Mooseman good? I don't know. I've been watching this guy fight for a long time.

We'll know if he beats Paca Pora. 3 and O in the UFC again, counting the ultimate fighter finale. I just, I don't, is it unfair to want more? Am I being dazzled by the last name, by the impressive physique? Is it wrong that I'm like, this guy should be trucking people? Because it's harder than it looks. It's easier for me to say, oh, you're in good shape. You'd just be one shot,

Koeing people. It's difficult. And Jake Collier is really tough. You know, Jake Collier is a guy that people can laugh at his record. But I mean, if you go in there thinking, you know, you're just going to run through him. If you're a top 10 guy, maybe, but if you're, again, sort of up and coming, quote unquote, heavyweight, like a Mosvon, probably not best to just kind of go in there swinging for the fences. So I don't know. I have no.

I have no gauge. He got, he got tapped by Brandon Sales two years ago. And then he has a, on the other a fighter, he got a decision win against Mitchell Seep. Terrible. Split decision win over Eduardo Perez, which like... Terrible fight. Oh, God, that's so bad. Yeah. I mean, the Eduardo Perez, like, if this is a UFC card, if they were actually

betting lines, Mooseu would have been like a minus 1,700 favorite in that fight. And just eeked by. And then since then, it's Zach Pauga, who is who he is, certainly isn't even a heavyweight. That was a shocking knockout, by the way. Junior Tafa. When he knocked him, I was shocked. Yeah. Junior Tafa, who's 4 and 0 at the time. And then Jake Collier, who, I mean, I think we kind of know who Jake Collier is at this point.

I just feel like he's fought like the 68th best heavyweight. And then he fought the 68th best heavyweight again by the time he got to his next fight. And then he fought the 68th best heavyweight again by the time we got to September. So like there's been no upward movement in the matchups. Like it's just the same range. And I feel like we've just outside of the Paiuga knockout, which is nasty. I just feel like we've watched the same fight twice in the UFC. You know what I mean?

Against the same guy in a weird way. Moe is mine if you're out there. Shut us up. Nothing would make me happier than seeing him get a shot at the heavyweight title somehow. Like if he fought Romano, like, if they threw him in there with like Alexander Romanov next, like, do you think, do is anybody think we win that fight? I mean, he could. That's what I'm saying. I don't think so.

Maybe. I don't know. I don't think so. But I don't know what to expect from this guy because I just look at him. Every time I watch him, I feel like this is the one where he's going to break out. And I realize, I mean, he's young. He is young for heavyweight. He's 34.

For a heavyweight. That's like a baby. Yeah, he's like, he's like 22. Yeah. So I still think there's good things ahead for a moment. I just cannot get a gauge him whether he's actually like a good heavyweight. But hey, undefeated the UFC so far. Mike, I went Tim Means.

I went Tim Means. Great fight. Did you know? This was his 50th pro fight. So incredible work. Way to go Dirty Bird. Did you know? This was his first ever

UFC fight of the night. Really? I didn't know that. Two performance bonuses, which also sounds like a low number, two performance bonuses, and this was his first ever fight of the night. So way to go, Tim.

Get the 50 Gs in your 50th plate. Love it. I just went Danny Roberts. I just find more fun fights with Tim Means, keep Tim Means around. Another guy, we don't know how long he'll be around, right? He's 39 years old.

Maybe he fights for another five years. Maybe he fights for another six months. We have no idea. But I hope Tim Means sticks around. Always an entertaining. guy to watch and just him and Danny Robp just haven't fought yet and I'd like to see it. Sure. Why not?

Tim Means versus, Tim Means versus Brian Battle wouldn't be a bad one either. I have a feeling some folks picked that one. I saw that. Let's go to the peeps. Check the tapes, Mike? Check the tapes again? Man, Tony Ferguson versus Patty Pibblet.

Can you believe it? Can you believe it? We took our victory lap already. All right. All right. Oh, man. All right. Do you want to give the quick disclaimer and then I'll rifle through the

The listener picks? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Guys, I'm still looking out for people who, you know, if you're the only person to pick the fight, I want to shout you out. And if you think you did, and I did see some people actually asked this week, and I will say for the couple people who asked,

those were consensus picks. Maybe I neglected to mention that. Everyone picked one, but those were consensus picks. So I cannot give a solo point this week. People watch out for mistakes. Wrong weight class. We see this a lot for some reason. I guess fighters jump around sometimes.

People who fought already, easy to check. Notable injuries, people have been released. Fighters already booked. The easiest thing to check. And I know, I know we just had some fights announced in the last few days. So I understand if maybe some of those went under the radar. But people just at the very least checked topology. At the very least checked outbology.

Notable teammates, of course, etc. And your pictures might be do-do and we don't want to read it. Look, if anyone's matchmaking for Patty Pimlet or Tony Ferguson right now, you're not only getting doodooed. You're getting banned for like two weeks. That's a suspension. I don't care how quickly that if I was put together. It's just you're going to get banned for like two weeks.

Tert Ferguson, haven't heard from him in a while. By the way, I did see some Raphael Fizzi picks. And unless you laid out like timelines, I'm not going to read it because I just don't think it's fair. Honestly, to matchmake for Raphael Fizzie, but we'll get into this. Bryce Mitchell versus Calvin Cater from Tert Ferguson. Sure. Could be an Apexie main event. I'm wondering if we're going to see Bryce,

if we're going to see Cater before the end of the year? It seems like he wants to, but will Bryce be able to turn around that quickly? I don't know. But if they booked that fight, I'd be super interested in it. Marina Rodriguez versus the Jessica Androge, McKenzie Dern winner.

By the way, I don't even think I really got this. I did pick the Tatiana Soarez fight for Marina Haudriguez, only because after Tatiana's fight, her win, I picked McKenzie Dern because I thought that made all the sense in the world, and then they went to turn around and booked Dern versus Andrade. Jessica And Josh swooped in and is like, nope, I'm fighting again.

Nope, I'm fighting again. And I'm taking the toughest fight that I could possibly get realistically right now. Terrible, terrible style matchup and toughest fight. Yes. So now that she's open, I love the Rodriguez-Tadettas-Hawres fight. But Rodriguez versus the Andrade, Dern would be tough because she just fought Dern. And I feel like that fight doesn't go any differently. But who knows?

Ryan Battle versus Trey Waters, Charles Jordaim versus Damon Jackson, Miles Johns versus Long Zhao from the Road to UFC. Wow. So, I mean, if you want solo Otno points, that's maybe the direction to go, is to hit up contender series. Let's try to remember that one. Yeah, that's an impressive call. I don't look that one up if we're being honest.

Tim Means versus the Gabriel Bonfim, Nicholas Dalby winner, Mo Ousman versus Martin Boudai, Mizuki versus the Junufri, Victoria, Dutakov winner, and Monster at Rendon versus Chelsea Chandler. John Ray likes Tim means. Mike Women's phantom. We don't talk about it enough. We don't.

We certainly don't. John Ray, Tim Means versus Brian Battle, Miles Johns, who looked real good versus Al-Tang A. Lee. Jordane versus Joynerner's and Brito. Rodriguez versus the Pinero He-Bas winner. Mitchell versus Brian Ortega. Gamrott versus the Islam versus Charles Olivera loser. Either or.

Four quarter sports, Gamrod v. Olivera. If Charles was to Islam, he did put that in parentheses. Danny Ege versus Lorne Murphy, I do like that fight. I think that fight makes all the sense to the world right now. Rodriguez versus Suarez. Brian Battle versus Phil Rowe. Won't have a 10-inch reach advantage in that fight, A.K. That was such a popular pick.

Is there something I don't know? Is it just because they want to see him fight someone's own size? Okay. Yeah, yeah. I said someone mentioned that as they were explaining their pick. I saw that. That was one of the most popular picks I saw this week. Charles Jardin versus Hakeem Dawadu in Toronto, January 2024.

Canada versus Canada? How about that? Okay. Bring it. Bring it on. And Moe-Uzman versus Packer Porter. I mean, I love the stakes. I love the stakes at heavyweight.

You made this. You made this happen. Yes, I made this happen. This is, this is. And I ain't sharing the Otno point if they make this fight. No, this is all yours. This is all mine. Toby.

Let's see. Fiziv versus Fizzi versus Dan Hooker. I said I wasn't going to match for Z, but he's very smart. He hasn't type in the picks. He sends screenshots of them, so I can't delete them. Wait, who is this again? This is Toby. Oh, it's Toby.

Toby, okay. Toby, let's see, anything new here. Ege versus Giga. Marina versus Rose at 115 or 125 because just do anything but fight Suarez. I think the Suarez call out is brilliant. Like, honestly, I think that is a super smart callout. because otherwise she's not getting a title shot. But if she beats Suarez, she gets one.

Like, that's her only chance to get to a title fight at this point. Yeah, Rose is a name. Rose is a name. Rose maybe gets her closer, but not closer than Tatiana. Yeah. And I don't think Rose is fighting at 15 again. So she'd have to move up to fight Rose. You know what, Marina?

Go to 135. Maybe you'll get there. Maybe you'll get your opportunity. Any good women's fighter at 125 or 115. Just go up to 135. There's a title that is there for the taking. I'm just saying. Jordane versus Billy Q, Battle versus Kanan Song,

Miles Johns, Davy Grant. Tim Means versus Matt Brown, too. Would not be opposed to that. Yep, like it. Robbie, Gamrod v. Suruky on two. Rodriguez versus Denise Gomez. Brian Battle versus Mike Malott. Don't hate that.

Tim Means versus Jim Miller at UFC 300. Wildcard. I'll double down on Mo Usman versus Justin Taffa with the backstory of beating his brother, although I think Collier had the majority of success in both rounds one and two. What did you think about the eye poke? Do you think that like changed everything?

Yes. I do too. Flatly, yes, always cheat. Always cheat, guys. I was hoping. If you're having trouble figuring an opponent out or they're giving you some stylistic problems, you know what changed that style matchup real quick?

Taking out one of their eyeballs. So it was a, It was like not a... I mean, it was accidental, but it was... I felt very avoidable. I really just felt like Moe was putting that finger out there. And I'm like, what else was going to happen besides him poking Jake Collier in the eyeball? Yeah.

What else is it? The Jacob Malcun disqualification was debatable. There are shots like this that just get warnings on the run every week. This one was bad, though. There's a lot. Like was, yeah, they're right, though. Fighters do get away with this. So it's almost like, I'm glad they called it.

And hopefully there's a start of something. But I understand the nature of the comment. It's like, well, if you're going to call this one time, like, what the hell are we doing with somebody the other ones? But this looked bad. On the replay, you could see, man. It was just like, it was just like, right. It wasn't even like, I don't even think it was vaguely to the side of the head.

It felt right in that square spot in the back. So, Jacob Malcolm. By the way, I had him as the, as a part of a parlay. So thanks, Jacob Malcolm. I got what I deserve. I have said some unkind things. about the entertainment level of Jacob Malkoon flights in the past. So I got what I deserved.

Jacob Malkin, you got me. You got me. I will watch what I say, no. It happens to the best of us. We end with Dad Jackson. Mo Usman versus Chris Barnett, Charles Jordane versus Bryce Mitchell. Marina Rodriguez versus Lupi Godinez.

Matush Gamrodot versus Dustin Porreye. Wouldn't mind a rematch with Fiziv at all. Sucks to see the fight end this way. Hopefully Fiziv can make speedy recovery after this. Again, very tough to match. make it 55 because like everyone trains at the same gym. Porre, obviously trains at ATT with Gamrot, so I'm not sure how likely that would be. But again, there's so many fighters that train there.

We have seen ATT versus ATT multiple times. They train at different times, train at different spaces. It can't happen. So I'm not calling these do-doo. It's almost impossible. But there you go. AK, you're up. All right.

Not too many again. You know, this was not one of the more hyped cards of the, like how good was it to be back in the apex? I didn't realize it had been six. Six weeks since we'd seen a beautiful apex card. I didn't miss it at all. And then we're going to get two more of them coming up before we get to 294. And I don't think we're, oh, no, we're back there November 18th for Brennan Allen's middleweighty, middleweight title.

And I think it's three in a row, right? Isn't there three in a row coming up, three apex cards in a row? No, is there? No. I could be wrong. Maybe not before the end, maybe before the end of the year. Maybe not like next one or somewhere. No?

No. We don't have a run apex cards. They're not going to do one. No, there's just one. It's, um... Wait, what's... Oh, okay. Wait, what's two... November 4th in South Paulo.

Oh, oh, right. We don't know. November 11th at MSG. 18th at the apex. They're not going to do on Thanksgiving week. And then December 2nd is location TBD. We are now in the midst. We are now in the midst of three straight apex cards after next week's break.

That's right. Dawson Green. November 18th, I believe, will be the final apex card of the year. Possibly ever? No, of course. No. I don't know why I would even say that. Okay, I'll go to a couple of first timers here.

Matthew Mullen, who actually emailed, tried to send in picks a long time ago, missed the deadline. So this is Matthew Mons' actual debut. Pretty simple. Gamrod, Dan Hooker, and Bryce Mitchell, Loron Murphy, two great matchups. Thank you, Matthew. Our first timer on Twitter, how do I lose? I love this username, Gelato Halapeno. Well, I got to be harsh here.

I got to be harsh here. We got a little doo-doo. Oh, no. Gelato Halapeno. Welcome to the party, pal. Bryce Mitchell versus Ebloyev or Satan. I like that. Funny.

Marina Rodriguez versus Luana Piniero. That is due to. Luana Pinero, I believe, is book to fight Anmaneheba's on November 18th. Yes. Okay. It happens. This one is not as bad.

Brian Battle versus Jake Matthews. Jake Matthews is supposedly going to fight Michael Morales, also on November 18th. That one, like, just broke. I'm not calling dude. Yeah, that's not. That just broke Friday. That just broke Friday.

I, you know, people aren't hooked on to me. But gelato jalapeno, again, if you're going to do otno, topology, sure dog, and mayfinding.com, you know, Twitter, Twitter. Check up Twitter. See if it's a, I know it's a lot of research to be done. But anyway, thank you. It's so easy. Just go to topology, yeah, because they will usually pick up anything, even if, like, we

haven't confirmed it. It's at least, you know, being talked about, speculative, at least some reputable source has mentioned it. So go to the topology. It's not hard. And Charles Ordain versus Billy Quarantillo. Yes, friends forever. I agree.

Justin with a Y, Brian Battle versus the Parsons-Madeech winner, November 18th. Moe-Uzman versus Augusto Sakai. Mike, I know Augusto Sakai is a free agent. I know technically he is not in the U.C. roster. But until I see him booked for a fight outside the UFC, I am convinced that the king of the apex will return, Mike. So I am allowing Augusto Sakai picks. Sure. His Apex residency should not be over.

He's good for three shows a week. And, you know, bring your friends. Bring your friends and family to see Augusto Sakai. Liam Perry, same thing new here. Miles Johns, Kyler Phillips. I would love to see that fight. Miles Johns is so good. Brian Battle.

Ooh, this is a good one. Brian Battle versus Alex Murano and Joaquin Buckley winner, Mike, October 7. Hmm. Hmm. Not bad. Not bad. And Liam Perry doing it right. Marina Rodriguez versus Pinnero after she beats Amanda Heba.

So calling a shot there saying that Pinnara's going to beat Amanda Hebas and going to fight Marina. That would be huge for the one. Francesco, my brother in Pimblit versus Ferguson. Gamrod versus Hooker. Battle versus Ponzanibio. Big step up. Mike, they can get that? I don't mind it. I don't mind it. That's a big step up for some of the guys he's been fighting.

It's tough one I don't know That's a tough one Four Corner Sports N. Did you read out Four Corner Sports N. Why am I crazy? Yes.

You did, okay. Oh, thank you, four corners. I just can't remember. I know he sends to both of us usually. Erie J. Gamrod versus Sondini Favola winner.

That would be awesome. Love it. Battle versus Semblesberger. I think that's the sweet spot. I think that's, you're in the right range there, Erie Jardin versus Brito. So there you go, Mike.

Bear O'Reilly, Rendon versus Nora Konon. Usman versus Arlofsky. I mean, we're going to go from junior Tafa to Jake Collier to Andre Arloffsky? Yeah. I don't know. I think that seems, I mean, look, if they book him against Arloffsky, we know exactly what they're trying to do.

But I just feel like, I mean, that's like a 40-ranked jump right there. that has a chance to be a bottom 10 fight of the year. Reverse. That has like stinker written like. The Collier-Eusmond fight felt like it lasted 45 minutes. Obviously, there was a long delay because of the I poke. But I mean, even before that, it was actually, I shouldn't say it. At first, it actually wasn't a terrible fight.

That's, that's probably unfairly. I think the I poke took a lot of the wind out of it, certainly the wind out of Callier's Sales and just made it nearly unwatchable. Usman versus Orlovsky would be, if they put that on a main card, That's Malp, you can't do that. That's going to be the main card in Toronto, A.K. You don't even. Gosh, and they'll say, oh, Toronto's last chance to see the legendary Elasi, which true, true.

But I'll probably have to be in the building for that one. And God, that's going to be a stinker. Don't put that on the main card, please. Means versus Malat. Oh, boy, they want to build up, my boy, Mike Malat. I really like that fight. That's not bad. Miles John's Stevie Grant, Bangor.

E. Gay versus Chikaze and Barry says, no idea they have to have any affiliation, but I picked it just for the hashtag Giee I mean, that's the right fight, but Woof. Woof, though, on the hashtag. Barry, let's not, let's not do this. Let's not do this.

Closing out with IG, we've got three people here. We got Jason Colburn, Battle versus Means, Bryce Mitchell versus Josh Emmett, Gamrat Pori, Fiziv, Sarukian, somewhere down the road, obviously, not anytime soon. Tino Alvarez, Rendon,

versus Chelsea Chandler. Anything else in here? Mohamed Usman versus Cortez Acosta. I like that in the Budai suggestion. Yeah, just throw these guys at each other to hope someone loses because one of these guys has to be good, Mike. I don't know if Martin Budai is good. I don't know

if Alcoldo Cortez-A Costa is good. I don't know if Mo'u's one is good. I think one of them is good. Triple threat match? I love it. That'd be great. A ladder match? Malcun Petroski. That's a weird pick. I don't know why Petroski would want to take that fight. And I don't know if Malcun deserves it after that dumb assery of throwing that elbow on the ground.

mean Salakob, very good, age-appropriate fight, I like that. And we'll close with Gerard Joggin. Not much new here. Haredriguez versus Jessica Andraj, win, lose, or draw. So no matter what, no matter what, in the McKenzie Dern fight, which I think makes more sense. I think that the Haudriguez-Dur and rematch wouldn't make a ton of sense. Miles, Johns, and Fareed Basharat. Ooh.

Boy, that's fun. I feel like we're using Johns as like a, not a stepping stone, but like a, I don't, I just don't, I don't know. It's weird. I don't want to view Miles Johns as being in that. I think I picked that fight. You might read. You might have. And last one.

I, this, I'm glad to read this one last because this is from the, I can't believe the guys had not fought before list. Tim Means and Santiago and Ponsonibios. So I swear I thought they fought or been booked, but nothing, nothing. Both been the OCE forever. Paths have never crossed. So that could be a great. crystal ball picture art. So I like that a lot. Guys, thank you for all the picks.

If you want to send those in, DM me on Alexander KK-K-Lee on Instagram, Alexander K-Ley, just 1K on Twitter, Alex.com. Atsev-Nation.com. Mike, where can they reach you? Give me up on the IG, M-U- underscore Heck, J-R, but the beauty is you don't have to hit us up at all this week because there will be no UFC card.

There will be no UFC card. There will no be-and- Don't ask us anything. Ask us nothing. Yeah, no. There will be no show. I'm actually taking all of the next weekend off from MMA in combat in general. So yeah, that's nothing.

Don't worry about it. But then the following week, we will react to UFC Vegas 80. I gotta tell you, A.K., the more I look at this card, the less I dislike it. It's not bad. We got Grant Dossop versus Bobby Green.

Look, is that, that is about his apexe of a main event as we get, but good for Grant Dosson, good for Bobby Green. Joe Pfeiffer versus Abdul Razak al-Hassan. There's no effing way that fight gets the cards. Drew Dober versus Ricky Glenn. Bill Algeo versus Alexander Hernandez at 145.

Philippe Lins versus Iwan Kutalaba, AK. We got Alex Marono versus Joaquin Buckley. We got Kanako Marata versus Vanessa Demopolis. Is this Maratha's first fight since she broke her arm? I think so. Yeah, yeah, wow. In the Raul Roses Jr. sweepstakes fight, Johnny Munoz Jr. versus her Ricci Lang.

A.K., we're getting Chris Gutierrez versus Montel Jackson on this card. That's good. That's good. Nate Mainas versus Matthias Mandanka, Montana Del Marosa, J.G. Alderich, Carolina Colvulkevich versus Diana Belbita. That's not a bad card. This is pretty decent. This is a good card.

Can I, I, you know, people know I've been dabbling in gambling recently. Can you, can you bet on a no contest? Is that a thing? Because I, I'm just, I don't know why. I just, as soon as you said Lynn's Cuchelaw, but I'm like, something weird is going to happen. Both of you guys have a bit of weirdness. But this is a nice looking card. This is the important question, though.

Let me, let me try to get an answer here. It's the important question. Let me see. One, two, three, four, five. Okay, six-fight main card, but seven p.m. Eastern main card. So not too bad. Yeah, and it's 12 fights. It feels like 12 fights.

I believe it's 12 fights. It's 12 fights. 4 p.m. prelims. So this isn't bad. This isn't bad, AK. I hope this is not finalized. I think it will be a six-fight main card when we get the official, like, final schedule, fight week schedule.

It's on the website. It's a six-fight main card. That means nothing. Websites are lies. But it probably will be. Because I think when they do 12, I think when they do 12 fights, they like to have six and six. This was 11 on Saturday, so they do six and five, which makes – and I thought the pacing

was really just right. I know, again, I know it was a slow start to the card. But, hey, if you were strategic and you just jumped in after, you know, wait, like, oh, I'm going to jump into the Tim Means fight. You saw a pretty solid, like, you know, seven-fight card at that point, or six fights, whatever. Yeah. Six, seven-fight card.

So be strategic. Be strategic with your time, people. This card looks really good, so I don't know when you're going to want to jump in, but yeah, I am looking forward to it, especially after the break, I will be chomping at the bit, Mike. Yes.

U.S. Action Turn. And then I'm just looking ahead. This is the go home card for UFC 294, which will be UFC Vegas 81, October 14th. Sadiq Yusuf versus Edson Barboz in the main event. Great. Jennifer Maya versus Viviani Arrujou.

Jonathan Martinez versus Adrian Yanes on this card. TSB, what the TSB TV. TSP TV. Michelle Pereira versus Mark Andre Barrio at 185 pounds.

I love that. I love punishment bookings. I love, you missed weight. You missed weight. So you go from fighting Wonderboy. You had a fight with Wonderboy, Michelle Panetta.

You had a cherry fight with Wonderboy which you would have been favored to win if you just made weight. And guess what? Instead, you're bumping up to 185, for a fight with Mark Andre Barrio, which with win or lose, we'll do almost nothing for your career.

So I hope we at least see the return of crazy Michel Perreira. That is my best hope for this. And we might. And that's fine because Mark Andreo Barrio and Eric Anders had a real good fight. Yes. Like that ended up being really good. We're getting Christian Rodriguez versus Cameron Simon on this card. The, uh, the, the Ravel versus Junior Slayer.

Yes. Ashley Yoder versus Emily to Cody. How? What do you mean how? I I don't want How does Ashley Oter Why?

How is she still on the O.C.? I don't know. Okay. Look, she took, she's had some time off. Maybe she comes back better than ever. Darrylton. Proop me wrong.

Darren Elton. Darren Elkins. Darryt's T.J. Brown on this card. Nice. A.K. There is not one. But there are two women's bandamweight fights on this card. Like, legit women's bandamweight fights.

No, there's not. Arena Alexeva versus Melissa Dixon. Uh-huh. And Tynora Lisboa versus Ravana Olivera. What? Two legit women's band-in-wake fights. And then, A.K. Keep going. Keep going.

This is the one. This is the one that's going to bring everybody to the dance. After Noce UFC, there was only one fight that needed to be run back. And it was not Alexa Grassov versus Valencia Shepchenko with free. It's a flyweight fight. Edgar Chiraz, Daniel Lacerda 2 going down October 14th. Let's go.

Not bad. Not bad. Two pretty decent Apex cards. This one's gonna be. And Terrence McKin is expected to fight on this card as well. He's supposed to fight Chris Duncan, which would have been a great fight. We were supposed to get David Devorak versus Tetsu or Tyra on this card as well,

which is kind of a stinker that we lost that one. So there you go. I think this will be weird, man. This is going to be, if Dawson Green has like actually a quality card outside of, They should have put the lens Kuchelapa fight on this card. Then you would have just been like, it would have been friggin' early Halloween. Like we're just, I don't know what.

This car is going to have no contest, stubbed toes, controversial decisions, weird stoppages. I am scared for the other than 14 card. So right in time, so early Halloween. That's what I've called on this card. Well, for a weird card. From a matchmaking perspective, challenge accepted. We will see you in two weeks back here on onto the next one,

the podcast. remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. Have a great week, everybody. 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.