MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 80

Episode Date: October 8, 2023

Bobby Green shocked Grant Dawson with a quick and emphatic knockout in the main event of Saturday's UFC card at the APEX to add his name to an already compelling list of contenders in the sport's best division. After, arguably, the biggest win of his career, where does Green go next? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee react to Green's stunning finish of Dawson to pull off the massive betting upset at UFC Vegas 80, and discuss who "King" could face next. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Joe Pyfer after his submission win over Abdul Razak Alhassan in the co-main event, Joaquin Buckley following his lopsided decision win against Alex Morono in the welterweight featured bout, along with fellow main card winners, Drew Dober, Bill Algeo, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Everybody, we missed you.

Welcome back to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The matchmaking crowns are back on following a rare week off from UFC competition. We had UFC Vegas 80 Saturday night at the world's most famous Apex. And boy, oh boy, did Bobby Green show up to play spoiler in the main event as a massive betting underdog against Grant Dawson, who hasn't tasted defeat in a very, very long time. At least that is until Saturday night. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck.

Happy to be back here. And joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. Gosh darn it, he's my best friend. Hello again, Alexander Kaylee, aka, it's good to see you again, my friend. Oh, hi, Mike. Yes, my best friend, I missed you, I missed the people. I kind of missed the UFC, I guess. I kind of miss Bell Tour, too.

But, you know, I wish we were here to, you know, continue, like, the momentum of, like, a scintillating Saturday night. You know, people just, I'm trying to picture people just, like, waiting to tune in like, oh, I can't wait to hear what they say about U.S. Vegas 80 and Beltaire 300. Those cards were so good and I just wanted to listen to it and talk about it. I don't know if that's the case with a lot of people who witnessed one or both those cards. I mean, if Bobby Green didn't do it he did, despite it have been one of the most least memorable weekends in the history of major MMA, honestly, Belator had a historic event, Bellator 300.

and it was not great. The prelims took forever. There were post limbs. There were three title fights in the main card. The first fight was not good at all between Liz's conversation, Leila and McFarland. We knew probably wouldn't be good

because of the relationship and it was actually five times worse than that. If we're being honest, and the ending made it even worse because Leelena and McFarro got badly injured. That was... Yeah, go ahead. That was the worst.

We had, I think, I want to say it was Stephen, the wonderful Stephen Morocco, I think in our Slack chat who said, this could be a replay of, sorry, who were those PFL gentlemen again? Monfeo and Nathan Schulte. Yeah. Best friends. In that case, they were being forced to fight each other sort of, not forced, but, you know, it's not a fight they wanted. They kind of had to do it. This one was like a fight that Elima and Liz had been talking about wanting for a long time. longtime training partners, great friends.

And so that part gave me some optimism, Mike, that they'd be like, well, I'm sure their sparring sessions are pretty heated. So if they can bring some of that to, you know, television, it could be a decent fight. There should be some good exchanges in there. Instead, we got the worst case scenario where it looked like a, like, mediocre sparring session. And somehow one of the participants still got injured, hopefully nothing serious, but it definitely looked painful, definitely looked like a forgettable.

and regrettable moment for Lima-Lay McFarland. And it's very sad because this might be, it's probably her retirement fight. And what a down note to go out on and what was otherwise, I think, a really nice career in Bell Tour. But, yeah, that could not have gone, that could not have gone worse. No, it couldn't have. I mean, maybe the only thing it could have gone worse is that we went to a fifth and final round.

We got an extra five minutes of it because it was really that bad. I mean, it was really that tough to watch. And, I mean, look, Liz Cumberers get to the last. to done. She has not really been the most exciting fighter in the sport, but she's still the champion. I guess that's all that matters at the end of the day. Chris Cyborg just annihilates Katzeneghanu. That fight was not competitive at all. And then the main event was just as not competitive, if not more non-competitive between Usen-Ramagamatov and Brent Premis, Usenirrbaraegov did not struggle for even one second in that fight. And it was just one-way traffic. And it was one-of-one-a-traffic.

and it was one of those fights that Ushman just kind of styled on Brent. He just kind of got bored of just doing the game playing. He was like, you know what? I might have to fight Alexander Shoblay. I'm going to try some new stuff and just see how it plays out.

And it was like a warm-up fight. Ouspin and Romagna made have treated this like a warm-up fight for the finals. And it's very tough to do that to a guy like Brent Premis, but not the most exciting caper to. a historic card. At the end of the day, I just don't feel like UFC 300

is going to give us the same feeling that we had in the aftermath of Bellator 300, I'd get. Even Vegas 80 was, for the most part, actually not a bad card and certainly more entertaining in its entirety than Bellator 300. So, yeah, I mean, we're not even going to compare Belator 300 to whatever UFC 300 is going to offer. UFC 300 could book like, you know,

six or seven blockbuster fights, half those fights could fall through and the roster is just so deep and the star power is so big that you're still going to end up with a massive card look at UFC 200 right they lost they lost John Jones and Cormier right and it happened later but

there was a Jones Cormey fight on there I think they lost something else as well and then it still was like a mammoth card Brock Lesnar still fought Amanda Nunes fought Misha yeah Amanda Nunes fought Misha it was a big card it was still a big card it was as big as it could have been no

same thing that would happen at 300. Bell Tor 300 definitely was not as big as it could have been. We lost Bader at the beginning of the week. We lost the Malimala-McFarlane. Liz Karmouche fight became a non-title fight. There was just so many fights. We've been saying this, I think, for the last three or four Belator cards. In the last four, I had like 20 fights on or something.

And I get it. It's not like you have to watch every fight. I mean, we in the media, we do tend to watch most of them. It's not like the fans have to be there from the first. fights. So, you know, it's not like this thing where, oh, my God, fans are there watching 15, you know, 15 to 20 fights. You know, a lot of them are those people who are there for those fights are friends and family of the fighters and we'll just show up to watch their fighter and may watch the main card. So, you know, it's not as bad as it sounds, but boy, Belter 300

looked not super great on paper by the time Fight Night rolled around and it played out in in pretty dull fashion. I want to say about Usman. He's not a boring fighter. I don't think he's a boring fighter, I think he might be getting a reputation for it. He actually, like, you know, he has some good finishes in there. He just doesn't need to take the risk to go for a finish, which is unfortunate. I would love to see him take more risks. But why? Why, if you're dominating fights?

I think he could have finished Petey Bowl. But guess what? He was friggin dominating that fight. Why would he ever risk putting himself in any position to give his opponent even the slightest sliver of a chance of a comeback? And say, with Brent Primis. Why over-extend himself? Why do more on the ground than he needs to get caught by submission or

caught by something weird on the feet. He dominated the fight. I mean, there's no, he didn't get a finish, but he dominated. But it's great to say, it's not great to watch. And there was a lot of booze. There's a lot of boolitor chance in that main event, Mike. I mean, there were some cool moments. Like, Liam McCourt finishing Sarah McMahon was pretty cool.

Sergio Casio with the comeback submission win against Jesse Roberts, the mounted triangle. That was pretty nasty. Kai Kamaka, Henry Corralis was the best fight on the card but it wasn't what we expected it to be. But big win for Kai. It's a huge win for Kai. Kai is such a talented fighter and

his UFC run was rocky. There was that weird T.J. Brown decision. But you know this guy is good. You know this guy is good. I think it's a perfect kind of guy to come through Bell Tour and then maybe get a call back to the UFC Sunday depending what happens with this Bell Tour, BFL merger.

Or again, or even go to another promotion. Go to one championship. He's a really fun fighter. And I don't know, it was, it was a close fight. You probably could have gone either way. But officially, Kai's the winner. That was, that was a big one. And then the other thing I was like super fascinated with was

Slim Trebalsy. It was like, finally, some Trebeltsy get a fight. Like, he's actually walking to the Octagon. Or not the Octah. He's walking to the cage right now. He's actually going to get into a fight. And I think the fallout of that is going to be super interesting because you best believe this is probably going to be some sort of legal ramifications

going on with. that. And he goes and fights Davion Franklin. And I'm like, all right, let's see what this guy's made of. And I learned nothing. Learn nothing. Because Slim did not look very good. And then there was like an injury. And then I guess the biggest thing I took away was some Trebeli should be counting and thanking his lucky stars that he did not debut in the UFC against Paca Porter because he would have got trucked in Abu Dhabi. But man, All joking aside, I really wish you could see more. I wish you could take something away from that fight, but I didn't take anything away from that fight.

The only thing I really took away from it was Ryan Bader ain't losing any sleep over Slim Trebeltsy right now. It is unfortunate that a guy like Slim, there was so much drama and backstage stuff and politics around, you know, what was going on with him and the O.C. and Beltor and Aries and then he finally gets to fight. You know, we were supposed to finally get the relief of, well, at least we can just see what this. guy can do, and then we see nothing, and it ends in injury. So that was bad. I'll point out to also, it was nice, you know what? The first couple of fights were at least vaguely intriguing because, as Casey, our beloved producer, E. Casey Leiden pointed out, his pal Spencer Smith, somebody he's trained with was fighting the highly vaunted former NFL practice squad player, Josh Hookett, and he went about as well as people would expect for Spencer, and Josh Hookett won. He was a minus 1,000

and favorite or something. So I don't know, maybe one to watch in the heavyweight division. We'll see. He's a young guy. And on the other end of the spectrum, Jenna Bishop, great grappler. Getting a bit of a late start to her MMA career, but looked awesome against Alara Joanne and dominated for getting a first round submission. So there's some intrigue at the bottom, but it wasn't anything like really headline-worthy.

Yeah, I like Jenna Bishop. She's going to be a problem. She's going to be a nice little problem at 125. But yeah, this is a very bellatory. Bellator card and I guess kudos for 300 events. 3.01 on paper looks really, really good so hopefully that can come

through. And man, I want them to do so well. I really do. I've been trying shutting from the roof stops, please do the right things and please just be good. And then this card happens. And it's just like, oh, man,

we just want the best to happen. We want you guys to succeed and it's just not working. So, They should always put Cyborg last also. I think I love Usma. Usmond might be their number one pound for pound fighter. Like I get it. Him, Johnny Eblen, like, you know, you can make cases for these guys on a pound for pound list.

One of them is the highest ranked Bellator fighter. But Cyborg always brings the excitement. It's almost always going to get a finish. She is one of your probably your most famous fighters still. You got to close with her. You got to forget, like moments like this like meritocracy. And like, and even that meritocracy, she was still deserved to be at the top. She's a freaking one of the greatest fighters of all time.

So I understand why in the showcase Usman, but his matchup with Brent on paper always looked like it was going to be not filled for excitement. And they got it. Like you said, this is things that they, there's a lot of things they can't control. These are things they can't control. And they do strange stuff like this all the time with some of the positioning of the fights and the timing of the fights. That was annoying to watch.

UFC Vegas 80, Mike. I liked it. You liked it. Yes. It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. Once you got past the first few pre-lums, listen, this is what prelims. They structured the prelims perfectly.

This happened with the last card as well, I think. I think with the first two or three, four prelims were like, you know, kind of forgettable, but that's okay. Those are prelims. This is where you, that's where you're supposed to put those fights where people, you know, might not tune in right away. So, you know, props to J.G. Aldrich, R.ichi Lang and Vanessa Domopoulos for cutting out decision wins, good stuff. You know, not super memorable fights, but they got wins. And then we got finished from Nate Manis. I thought Carolina

Dan at Belbito was a good fight and seeing that Carolina Kovicavich resurgence is amazing and then I like the main card Bill Algeo I find fascinating I thought he fought so well against Hernandez Drew Dover first round finish Mike somehow you're the only one

in our staff to call that I don't know why I guess I thought I picked a Ricky Glenn upset so I was way like decision decision win I was way out of the box I didn't see what the other guys picked I assume they picked Dober but just not in the first round so somehow you're the only

one who went there. And, uh, walking Buckley, I thought a very good performance against Alex Marano, who's tough, Joe Piper, just bullying, Abdul and Rizak Al-Hsan,

and then, as you mentioned, Bobby Green, really, uh, having by far the most memorable moment of the weekend. So I actually thought Vegas, but Vegas I would give a solid B minus.

And I mean that as a compliment. Yeah, I was going to say B minus C plus, which isn't bad. Like these apex cards are not, meant to be A's. They're not meant to even really be B pluses. So if you get a B minus out of that, it's not bad. 10 fights. That's not bad.

10 fights versus what, Beltaire 16. 10 fights, it was a pretty brisk view. I'm not going to lie, like it went round real easy. A shame we lost Linz, Cuchelaba, hopefully everything is okay with Philippe Lins. He had some sort of illness. He's had a lot of canceled fights, many on his end, a few on his opponent's end, and hopefully everything's all right with him, but that 10 is a nice number. That landed really well. And that was even like a 40-minute delay before the first fight. Like, it just seemed like once it got going, it just got going.

It just kept going. While the Bellator card, it just felt like I watched fights for 14 hours. Did you mention the post-lips? Oh, the freaking post-lips. My favorite thing was in our Slack channel, and Jose talked about this, I think, on the post-fight show, was that he goes, he goes, I feel. I feel like it's been an hour between fights. And then Casey, who is there, he goes, it's been less than 10 minutes from the final

bell of the co-main event. But that's just what it felt like, because every promo video for each fight was like eight minutes. I was like, golly. Like UFC's just like boom, boom, boom, boom. We're getting into it. Like maybe there's a promo like, oh, here's the main card for UFC 294. Cool.

By the way, now we're already getting to the next fight. I don't know. I don't want to just continue to dump up bell. No. They try. They're triers, but we could do better. But I wanted to note, because we talked about before the show, that you guys did a Belator 300-300-US Vegas-80 post-fight show,

you, Shaheen and Jose, right? Yes. And that was ongoing while the post-limbs, the Bel-T-Rexempts were going. There was three post-limbs. They all went to a decision. And by the time you guys signed off, there was still one post-lim, I think, to go, or that hadn't finished yet. So that's amazing.

Yeah. And we had to wait 15 minutes before we even started the post-fight show. and then still got through it before the postage turnover. Let's get to UFC Vegas, 80. Let's get to why we're here. The matchmaking. On the next one. I think a lot of us are expecting to matchmake for Grant Dawson here.

It just felt like this is a really good match for him. And I think it was one of the few people on the preview show who was like, I think Grant's going to win, but Bobby Green could win this fight. And the way I thought he would win was if this fight gets extended, if we go to rounds four and five. Maybe Grant starts to fade. Bobby starts to turn it on. Maybe Grant tries to go for too many submissions and can't get him because Bobby Green is really tough to submit. And Bobby Green is like, nope, forget that noise. I'm just going to knock him out with like the third exchange of the fight. And it just seemed like Bobby Green knew this was going to happen,

even after that weird ceremonial way in back and forth. And then when Grant Dawson got into the cage and Bruce Buffer did the intro, like Grant Dawson, smile on his face goes over to Dap Bobby Green. Bobby Green's like, nope, nothing to do with it. And you can almost see it in Grant's face. He's like, this is different. This is different. And then I kind of knew Grant was in trouble immediately

because Grant was throwing haymakers. Looks like he was going to try to knock Bobby out. And you could just see you kind of look in Bobby's face like, oh man, this is what we're doing. This is the kind of fight we're going to have. And then Bobby just absolutely lambed him. 33 seconds in, massive win for Bobby Green. There's a lot of ways we can go with this AK. I'm very curious to see what you landed on for Bobby Green,

who may just be come Tuesday, at least in the UFC's rankings, a top 10 lightweight in the world. Yeah, I guess he would have to be. So the way my rankings worked is I dropped Dawson down for the loss and then put Bobby Green ahead of him. So now both guys are outside of the top 10. I don't think I don't think I had Dawson in there either. I think Dawson was behind Drew Dober.

No, no, no. I had him behind Moikano maybe. Anyway, Bobby Green might be the most dangerous man at 155 pounds right now because he does not give an F about anything except cashing checks and just beating people's asses. He doesn't care. He took that, he took that Islam fight on like short notice. nothing. He had nothing, he had almost no chance of winning that fight, but he also had

nothing to lose. Like if by some chance he upset Islam, it wouldn't like the craziest thing ever. And we wouldn't even be talking about Islam as a lightweight champion. Now, he got bulldozed. That's fine. He took the fight short notice. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. Same with Grant Dawson. He knows he's a big underdog going his right. Do you think he cares? He has almost 50 pro. Bobby Green's been fighting forever. He does not care about rankings. He does not care about, oh, no, if I lose, I'm on a three-fight loser streak. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. Unless it gets him released, I think that's the only thing that would matter to him. But at this point, he doesn't care about fighting tough competition.

He's not afraid to lose. Losing doesn't mean anything to him. And as we said, in a circumstance like this where maybe Grant Austin wasn't at his best or didn't have his best game plan, Bobby Greenwood will F you up. He, like, knocked him out with a straight jab or something. It was like a straight jab. And it hurt him so badly. It wasn't even a loaded up power shot.

It was just so accurate, so well-time, beautifully set up. And you saw Grand Dawson was just, once he got hit, he just went down. Like he went down, he did not want to. The referee gave him a chance, but he was, I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a broken orbital or something from that one punch. Like, he was hurt bad. That or he was just so rattled by that shot. So I said this before, like, it's, this should move Dawson one step closer.

But when you can't get fights with those top 10 guys, those top 12 guys, it sucks because it's nothing but dangerous fighters, it won't be five. And something like this happens, and then it screws up your whole plan. right because if you'd won he probably stays on track for potential title shot in 2024 now he probably spends 2024 building himself back up for a potential title shot in 2025 that's how rough it is at lightweight and he had won again undefeated in uh nine straight fights right that's brutal man this game is this game is not easy but congrats to bobby green he was he was fantastic on sarin night so i'm gonna go with what i saw a lot of people shouting out

and a fight that I think we've called for previously. Dan Hooker. I think Dan Hooker's the way to go. It's one of those fights where I'd be very disappointed if these guys did not fight at some point in their career. So if we can get that sooner rather than later, let's do it. To give a little context on these two guys' careers, Bobby Green, a month before Grant Dossom made his professional debut

beat Josh Thompson at UFC on Fox 12. in July of 2014. And that was his 28th pro fight. So he had 28 pro fights before Grant Dawson had one pro fight. Insane. That's freaking wild, man. That is absolutely nuts. Absolutely nuts.

Bobby Green, kudos to him. This was a, it's tough to say because on BTL, like when we do the Q&As, and I think you've been there for a couple of these as well, like, and I believe this is something you've been a part of, at least conversing with us at some point. When asked, like, who could be the next Mazadol, the guy who just sort of breaks out, who's like a veteran that people like and want to see do well. And then all of a sudden, like they catch lightning in a bottle and it happens. Bobby Green was always the guy we landed on. And I feel like this could be the beginning of it.

This could be the beginning of it. And I think the UFC, even though I think they saw. the upside in Grant Dawson as a fighter, I think the UFC brass, after the ending of this is like, oh shit, we got something here. Like, we really have something here. This is probably the best result that could have hoped for. And if you're the Raphael Fizzives, the Matush Gamrots, the Armin Sarukins of the world, you are probably shaking in your boots a little bit right now because I think the UFC is going to get Bobby Green a big push here. I think they're going to try to fast track him through everybody real fast.

And while I love the Dan Hooker fight, and boy, do I appreciate you, Hannaata Moikano for stepping in and trying to do things. Hanata, you have no chance of getting this fight. I mean, absolutely none. Zippo zero chance of getting this fight. Dan Hooker maybe. I don't, I actually don't just like either of them. However, I think they're going to give Bobby Green a big step up, and I'm all for it.

UFC 296, December 16th, this could be the featured prelim, Bobby Green versus Matush Gamrott. Let's do it. Batush Gamrott can probably fight in December. He's going to weigh in as the backup for the title fight in October because there's nobody else available. Let's do Bobby Green versus Matush Gamrott at UFC 296. If Bobby Green beats Matush Gamrott, if he goes out and knocks out Matush Gamrott, they might just give him a freaking title shot, dude. Like he might just get a title shot after that.

I love this idea. I think we just got to get, we got to see if we can get there. Who cares? Like if you beat Stan Hooker, so what? They's going to have to fight Gamron anyway. Let's just skip all that. We'll have Hooker and Moikano fight each other. They can get after it.

Let's do Bobby Green versus Matush Gamrod. Let's see if we can get Bobby Green to a title, Bobby Green to a title shot in 2024, AK. 2023 has been the year of chaos, Mike. So, Bobby Green definitely should want to get this fight in before, you know, the clock strikes 12 on December 31st because it would just fit in perfectly. It would be like in any other year, it would be like one of the most shocking, three most shocking results if, you know, Barbie Green just starched Matthias Gamrot. This year, it would be like somewhere in the top 10.

There's just so much weirdness and stuff that has happened. I love it. I love the idea. Yeah, again, a Gamron. And again, he said that he's the backup for the Islam Oliverify. Dana White kind of half confirmed it last night. He was like, oh, he said that. Okay.

Well, I guess he is. but it does make a lot of sense if he is. And then assuming nothing goes wrong, he should be ready to fight in December. Of course, the perceived fight ending unceremoniously. And Cameron, not really taking any damage in that one. So I love that, Mike.

I would love to see Bobby Green pull that off. And yes, fulfill his Musbadali and destiny. Maybe he could wait. Maybe he could wait for like January, February. Maybe some of this chaos energy will trickle over into the new year. But I think it would be so fitting if it happened in December. So I'm all in on that.

Yeah. both guys didn't take a ton of damage. Bobby Green only far for 33 seconds. Let's do it. Let's do it. If Bobby Green can win that fight, he's not going to be the fighter of the air, but he has a good chance of being in the top five. Definitely.

Would you have thought that in April after the Jared Gordon? No contest? Goes up, finishes Tony Ferguson, finishes Grant Dawson in 33 seconds, and then maybe has a winner of a Matuch Gamrott to wrap up the year. Holy cow, dude. It is so funny how these things work out. And it should be Bobby Green.

He should be the next guy to pull off this resurgence. So fingers crossed for you, Bobby. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. 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. What you win is yours to keep groovy.

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Wow. Look at that. Joe Piper, just doing Joe Piper things, I thought he was going to not standing arm triangle, poor Abdul Ruzhak-A-Las-Aam, but it started as a standing arm triangle, and then he kind of like bullied him to the ground, and I thought he was going to get that finish, that had an arm choke, whatever the frig that thing was. It didn't happen. We get these two guys getting after, and then once we got over the five-minute and 32nd mark,

we knew Abdul Razak al-Han was about to lose a fight because he always loses if he gets past that time frame. But then Joe Pfeiffer just puts him to sleep. Nasty choke gets it done. Referee should have stopped it way sooner and said we had to watch Abdul Razak al-Hasan kind of go into convulsions on the mat before the referee finally stepped in and stopped the fight. But man, Joe Piper from getting on the contender series and wowing Dana White and getting the big

speech about B. Joe Piper, after losing in his. first contender series fight, all of a sudden, three and O inside the UFC, three finishes, including a win over Gerald Mearshard, which is always sort of the step to see if you're going to fight a top 20 guy next. He takes a, in my opinion, a big step back in the rankings to fight Abdul Razak al-Hassan. In AK, I'm ready for a big step up for Mr. Joe Pfeiffer. there was a fighter on this card who said, I don't care who I fight, I just want to be in a main event. And I appreciate the gusto.

I actually think Joe Piper has a better chance of getting a main event fight in his next one than this other individual. But there is a main event coming up, A.K., November 18th, inside the hallowed apex, between Brennan Allen and Paul Craig, I want to see Joe Piper fight the loser of that fight. Loser of that fight versus Joe Piper That is about an apexe of a main event As you can get

I would be totally fine if Piper gets a headline spot But if Piper versus Craig would work Piper versus Brett and Allen would work I'm not ready to like Just shoot him into the top 10 just yet But I need to see him Fight one of these two guys next That's where I'm at.

I think Piper has to headline an apex card I mean ideally not an apex card I would love it if there was You know I don't know he doesn't fight until 2024. They actually line up some, you know, one of those nice road shows. Again, I know they're not in any rush to start booking those regularly again. You know, we had nice trips to Nashville this year and stuff like that.

So I wish he could headline one of those cards. Where's he from? Where's Joe Parker from? It's a Philly guy, isn't he? He's a Philly guy. If they could do a card in Philly, gosh, that'd be wonderful if he'd headlined that. Though I wonder if they would maybe want. That's the paradox.

If they went to Philly, they'd probably want a bigger name at the top. But you have him as the Col Main. and then, you know, I guess if anything happens to the main, he slides in. But I think he is building up enough buzz that you could have him headlined that show, a Philadelphia show. But again, it depends who else is available. So, I, but yes, if his next fight is at the apex, I think he has to be in the top spot. I think he has been in the top spot.

There's a lot of star power here. He loves America. You know, I mean, that's a big, that's a good angle, you know, after he won this fight, America, America. So well done, Joe Piper. He's finishing fights. He's beating, recognizable. name like you said Gerald Mirchart, Abdul Razak al-Hassan. Not a household name, but a guy he's

been in the UFC for quite some time. It's a good, it's a good win to have. And yeah, he just bullied him. He did what you should do with Abdul Razak-Hassan. You don't get him, give him any chance to really get his offense off. And he is, he very quickly becomes the nail if he's doesn't, is not able to finish in the first round. I went actually weirdly lower ranked. I know this sounds silly. This win put him ahead of the name I picked. But I want to see if he can finish this guy. If he can finish this choice, then I'm really looking at Piper as like a top 10 guy. So I went with Brad Tavares going with another. I know he already passed one litmus test in Mere's shirt.

I'm giving him another litmus test. It's almost sort of a stay busy fight. I kind of just want to see what goes on ahead of Piper in the middleweight rankings. I have no problem with shooting him up, giving him top 20, top 15 guy. I understand. But this is a, I want to see him finish Brad Tavares. And I also think Piper Tavares, well, not a super. super sexy matchup could be an Apex headline.

Yeah. I thought of Brad Tavares. Like that was the first name that popped in my mind. But I'm like, you know what? I want to go a step above that. I just want to see. I just want to see. And if Joe loses, who cares?

It doesn't matter. It does not matter. No. It does not matter if he loses. Let's go to the welterweight division, aka Joaquin Buckley. This dude is getting after it at 170 pounds. I thought Alex Marano was a pretty live underdog heading into.

of this fight. I think a lot of people agreed with that sentiment. And Joaquin Buckley was like, I don't care what you have to say. Watch this. And I think from a just a start to finish, X's and O standpoint, this is probably the best overall performance of Joe's career. This is dominant. I thought he 10-8ed Alex Verona in the third round. Just a super impressive performance from Joaquin Buckley. I, you know, he went after people and said, Everyone's doubting me and no one's giving me the credit I deserve, which I think is absolutely ridiculous, just because some people feel like,

felt like Alex Marona was a live underdog from a betting perspective. Does it mean you're not getting credit? I feel like we got so much of that last night. It drove me insane and it continues to drive me insane. But anyways, AK Joaquin Buckley did not have a name. He was the guy who wanted the apex mate or some sort of main event in his next fight. Will you give that to him? Is Joaquin Buckley getting a main event?

in either way, who should Numanza fight next? No, I didn't give him a name that I, that would be a reasonable main event. A fun fight, I kind of went with a fun fight, another guy who's shown some promise in 170. I just matched him out with Carlson Harris. So nothing super sexy. This was like a math. This was like I just did math. I just looked at the rankings.

I'm like, well, here's why I have Carlston at 170. Here's why I buckling out at 170 after going to an O since dropping back down to the division. So I don't have much say by that. that matchup, I do want to say, I was very high on Buckley's potential as a contender at 185, though it became very clear. The size was always a problem. He's a very short 1-85, or obviously ripped, stacked to hell. But height-wise, it's just, that's going to be a problem.

So 170, we all want to see him drop back down to this division. This is where he belongs. I honestly think he can be a top 10 guy. I genuinely think he can fight for a world title someday. I'm not saying I'm predicting him to be a world champion. but you can convince me you can string together two or three wins or like a four and one stretch depending on who's the champion depending how the top of welterweight looks at the time like in 2024 or early 2025 I think he can do it I love what you said Mike that like we didn't listen

we didn't get the big walking buckley CO but it was such a mature composed performance I guess the guy who's pretty tough to finish I think Alex Marne was like 30 something fights he's only been knocked out a few times he's not he's not easy to finish And Buckley almost got him out, I feel like a couple of times. And the fact that he's like, doesn't, he doesn't overdo it, he's showing maturity. He can win a dominating decision like that. That to me tells me more than if he had just again, sort of caught him with something in the second round. I still want to see that.

I still think we have a lot more Jo Buckley highlights in the future. But I'm loving what I've seen so far of him at 170. And I think he's in the right place. So I'm just still kind of building him up and sort of what I do with Joe Piper. I just like giving him an opponent that lets him, that we get a bit, even better gauge of where he is in this division and let some of the names in front to either shake up, maybe fall down into his path.

So I put this out on Twitter because there are a lot of people who liked Joaquin Buckley's Post-Fight promo. I didn't love it. I didn't love it again because the whole, oh, no one thinks I'm good stuff is just ridiculous. It's just absolutely insane.

But I did put, and this, the name, once I saw it, I was like, Ooh, this is bad. Like this, I don't think Joaquin Buckley's going to like this name very much, but I actually think it makes a lot of sense. And so the name I went with, and I really think Joaquin Bucca's going to be like,

ooh, I don't know, man. There's a man who's fighting November 4th. Not that far from right now. Against Elizu Zelisky. And this is a crystal ball pick because I think he's going to go out there and just mall Elizoo Zelisky. Joaquin Bucky is going to have to fight

we're not fuck Ritinoff next. And I think that's what we have to do here, A.K. I have to see this fight because one of these guys is going to emerge as like a top 15 guy as a guy that's going to take that next step forward. It ain't going to be both these guys. It's going to be one. And only one of them can move forward. The other moves back.

The other one isn't going to be hurt terribly badly by a lossier. But if Joaquin Bucle can beat we're not Fokkerdinoff, then I am, I'm all in. I'm all in. I'm close on Buckley. But he goes out and just beats this nightmare of a man. I mean, you got me over the hump. And at the same token, if Fokr Tinov just mauls Joaquin Buckley, that's a huge feather in his cap as well.

So I kind of feel like this is the fork in the road fight that both of these guys need. Of course, Vakritinov has business to attend to less than a month from right now. And I do think he beats Eliza Zaleski. pretty easily, even though Lesse is good. I just think Vaukratino is just really, really, really good. Sometime 2024, I think this is the fight we get it, okay? I don't know if Joaquin Buckley's going to like it very much.

I like it. Mike, you know, I'm a fan of merciless matchmaking. I've been very conservative on this particular episode. Maybe the low energy of Saturday night has carried over to my matchmaking decisions. But I'm a fan of, you know, I'm big on not protecting people. I'm not going like, oh, well, this guy is, you know, streaking like one two in a row this guy's three and oh maybe we should keep them away for each other no no if if they're not going to be thrown in if you if you don't have plans to throw either guy

into a top 15 top 20 fight then they got to fight somebody and you again you can keep running up throwing them up against run-of-the-mill people or you can throw them into a shark tank and uh that's what you're doing with this uh fecker dinov and buckley matchup and i'm all for it again i went a little bit uh more like showcasey for buckley with a carlston harris right not that carlsson harris is bad by the Carlson Harris could beat Walking Buckley. But I definitely went more like a fight where Buckley would probably be like minus 200 favorite as opposed to you went the other way, a fight where he'd probably be a plus, maybe not plus 200, but he'd be like plus 185 underdogs.

Yeah, he'd be a considerable underdog, a lot of hype behind Renat. So yeah, I think either one is a good match. Let's go to lightweight AK, the best division in the sport, Drew Dover, in one of the weirdest pieces of matchmaking I've seen in 2023. They match him up against Ricky Glenn, who may not be long for this UFC world at the end. And Drew Dober just runs him. It was to be expected for me. I just didn't feel like Ricky Glenn had much of a chance in this fight.

And Drew Dober, despite getting his gloves grabbed egregiously in this one by Ricky Glenn, just went out, ran him over and took care of business very quickly and cut a nice, wholesome promo in the end. A.K., this honestly was one of the toughest picks because there's so much going on at lightweight, and Bobby Green winning just kind of wrecked everything in a lot of respects. So this is where I landed, AK.

I'm going to put stakes on the fight that you put out into the universe. December 16th, we're getting Patty Pimble versus Tony Ferguson. The winner gets drew over. That's where I'm at. That's why I landed on. I don't love it. But that's where I landed on.

Like, I think if Patty wins, I think you kind of have to do this fight. And if Tony wins, I think you kind of have to do this fight. So, yeah, when I get Drew Dober, just because I don't know what else to do here. Because I've already matched made for pretty much every other lightweight. My best friend, I don't like it. And I don't like what you're trying to do here. You have hated, you have hated Patty Plym-Let Tony Ferguson match up since day one. And now, now you're trying to.

make it sound like, oh, this bike can have it and trying to turn it into something twisted and wrong because I don't want to see too dover fight. I don't want to see Trudeauvert fight Tony Ferguson. I don't want to see that. If he beats Patty, you don't want to see it? No, I don't know what to do with Tony. Let's cross that bridge we can't do it. I haven't even thought of what to do with Tony Ferguson.

Should he beat Pat? In a perfect world, he'd retire with a win, but we know that's not going to happen. He's not close to even thinking about that. But I don't want to see him like a true dover. I think one thing we like to have the Patty matchup is Patty's not likely to starch him. I mean, he's got some raw power in his hands, but he's not a great stand-up guy. Drew Dover is the other way. So I would hope that doesn't happen.

And then Patty Dober is definitely a little more interesting. I, of course, I think as with most people would have, would have Dober ranked pretty well ahead of Patty at this point. So I'm not against that, Mike. That does make some sense. And I wonder if Dober would call him out on like social media after Patty won. or Patty would even maybe call for a fight with him, but maybe not. So that part's not so bad. It's more interesting than my pick for sure.

I went with Diego Faheda. Twice these guys have been booked. I think I've said multiple times. I want to see it rebooked. I want to see it happen. I still want to see it. I still think it makes a lot of sense. Diego Faheda is a bit of a tough guy to book four because he just, oh, he doesn't

seem to fight more than like once a year. He's got a lot of wear and tear on him, so I get it. It's just, it's hard for him to get in the cage sometimes. But I still want to see it happen. I still think it's a good fight. It's exciting. You throw out the main car and someone's getting knocked out or possibly submitted if Fahito wins. So I went with excitement.

My next couple of picks, Mike, you'll see. I kind of went with very familiar faces. All right. Well, let's get to it right now. Bill Algeo, man that you are intrigued by, has a fun fight with Alexander Hernandez. That was a really fun fight. It was definitely probably the best fight of the weekend in MMA, including the ballot. tour card. This is probably the best and most, like, exciting and competitive fight of all of them.

So I really liked it, but Bill Al Jio gets it done. The line movement on that fight was very strange throughout the week. Alexander Hernandez was like, I think he started the week of like a plus 150 underdog. And then as you got closer to the Saturday, just emerged as the favorite and like a decently sizable favorite. It just seemed all very strange. But Bill Algeo gets it done. Another victory. What do we do for Bill Algeo? You've teased excitement. Let's go, A.K., how excited do we get here? I went with us.

He mentioned Billy Q, I think. Billy Q immediately respond on social media. I've wanted to see this fight for a while. They were booked at one point for a USC and ABC card sometime, like last summer. Yeah, I love this fun. I need to see the Bill-Billy match up. It's just a banger. It's got rankings and implications.

I think whoever wins climbs comfortably into the top. The UFC's top 15, I would have. I don't think Billy Q's in there yet, but I think one of them, whoever won that fight, would sneak in there. Very deep division. So maybe that's not the case, but as far as getting a good fight

and a perfect main card matchup for a fight night card, even I think you put this one on pay-per-view. I love this matchup. I really want to see it. And Mike, I want, obviously, I want your Algeo pick, but if you could also opine on

what the hell does Alexander Hernandez do with his career now? It's a weird one, man. It's a weird one. So someone had asked on heck of a morning. They said, who is the Mac Jones of the UFC? Oh, I heard that. I remember that. Yeah, I listened to that.

Yeah. And there were, like, Sage Orthcott came up. Mickey Gall came up. And I think I ended up landing on Alexander Hernandez. Because Mac Jones came out, had a really good rookie year. And it seemed like, all right, give this guy like two, three more years. and like he's going to be the best quarterback of the game and he has just fallen off ever since.

Has some good days, has a lot of bad days. Hernandez's career has just been super weird, man. It's just been super weird because he comes in on short notice and knocks out Benil Darius and less than a round and you're like, golly, man. And then he has a super tough, grimy. But somewhat, to me, it was, an impressive win over Olivier Aubin Mercier in Calgary. I remember that card. And he just,

like, he just kind of ragdolled OAM. And then the Soroni fight happens. And he's wearing the sweater of greatness at the press conference. And he's just talking a whole bunch of greasing this. And Soroni just kind of memes him forever. Then he fights Francisco Trinaldo in San Antonio, his home city. Most people felt Trinaldo won that fight. Hernandez gets the decision. Yeah.

Hernandez's face after when the decision was, I was like, whoa. Yeah. He's like, oh, yeah, great. Okay, I won. I was like, oh, okay. And then the pandemic happens.

You know who you're supposed to fight in the first fight post-pandemic? Or not even post-pandemic. Like, the first event the UFC was going to have back. You know where Alexander Hernandez was supposed to fight?

I don't remember. Islamakchev. Oh. He's going to fight his own Mach Jeff. It's a really good thing that fight didn't happen for Alexander Hernandez. He ends up fighting Drew Dober and gets knocked out. Knox out Chris Gritzmacher. Loses to Tiago Moises.

A fight that Alexander Hernandez still to this day feels he won. I don't agree with that. I thought Moises was just so defensively incredible in that fight. Knox out Mike Breeden. Gets tap by Moikano. Gets finished by Billy Q. Beats Jim Miller. in a pretty good fight, pretty good performance,

and then loses to Bill Algeo. Returns to Featherweight, which might not be a great idea. I know he's not a big lightweight, but it's so weird. You beat Jim Miller, Goodwin. Maybe that puts you back on something at 155. And then to return to featherweight for another tough fight with Bill Algeon, with one of the featherweight bills, man, I don't know, man. That Darius thing really like the Darius win and then yes the solid win over OAM which is aged very well

It really raised expectations so high and I'm sure he's glad he's not the kind of guy to back down from a challenge I'm sure he's like I'm sure he after those two wins was like yeah I'm a top 10 like UFC lightweight give me top 10 opponents But he actually hasn't fared well against like really highly ranked guys or top 20 top 25 competitions since that OAM fight So it's so we've never quite been able to correct where he is as a as a prospect. He's still only 31. He doesn't have that much mileage on him. I feel like with the right string of opponents,

he could still kind of get back up there. But I just don't know, again, does he still think he's a featherweight? It's hard because he's Owen 2 now at that division, but it's against good guy, so maybe there are feather weights he can beat. Does he go back to lightweight, which is also a tough division?

I have no idea what to do with Alexander Hernandez. I think kind of has to stay at 45 at this point. Boy. It's tough to keep bouncing back and forth, man. I think you just kind of have to do it. He looked pretty good on the scale. It doesn't look like he's getting completely sucked out. And during the way cut,

Bill Al Jios just a tall, athletic, weird stylistic matchup. And Billy Kitt, like, he looked really good in the first round against Billy Kew. Like, it was a really good first round. But that's kind of like the story of Hernandez. Like, the first round is his best round. And if you could get out of that first round, like, I feel like, I feel like, I feel like, like the live betting odds is on the opponent. It's pretty clear cut, but yeah, it's just a very weird career.

I've talked to Alex about this a bunch where it's almost like, I'm like, do you almost wish like the Darius win never happened? Because you never got the chance to grow up. Like you were immediately a top 10 55 or in the UFC in the hardest division in the sport after one fight. And then you get the OAM win. Now you're still a top 10 guy. Like, you never got a chance to actually build up.

You just got thrown to the wolves. And that's it. And then the Soroni fight happens, which is one he'll probably never really fully bounce back from in a lot of respect. So, yeah, it's just a really wacky career, man. I don't think, like, his job's in jeopardy at all because he's a fun fighter. He's competitive more oftentimes than he's not. And even if he loses, like, it's either a fun fight.

or he gets after it and gets finished, and there's value in getting got really well, too. And Alex kind of checks off a lot of those boxes. So I feel like he's going to have a job for as long as he wants it, but I just don't know if he's going to be fighting for any belts or headlining any cards or anything like that, but I still think the UFC's going to keep around for a hot minute. Yeah, they love him.

They love him. He's a healthy guy in great shape, is always ready to fight. Fights anyone can jump in on short notice. He's a really good, like, backbone guy, But you're right. I mean, the ceiling seems pretty obvious at the moment. But hey, like I said, only 31. Probably still has a few years of his prime left.

You never know on this crazy business, but he is in limbo right now. Yeah. I'm not even going to queue up the music. Billy Q is the only answer really here. I just think it all lines and that's kind of what everybody wants. It just makes perfect sense. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

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Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training Treadplus at OnePeloton.C.A. Let's go to the wild card round, AK. This is not a lot to choose from here, if we're being honest. I cheated. From a wildcard perspective, you cheated.

As I often do with the wild card. I feel like if I go back to the archives, I think I say I've cheated doing the wild card like many times. Oh, well, fair enough. So we're going to matchmake for somebody who have not matched made for yet. We'll do it now. So cheaterly, how did you cheat? And who did you land on?

It's a wild card pick I've done before. I've done this pick before. I wanted to match up Carolina at Kovo Kovic with Loma Luke Bo and me. I think this was, I think I've done three times, actually. I think I did it after Carolina's most recent win. I think I did it after Loma's most recent win and now I'm doing it again. I want to see this fight.

Great alliteration battle. Great test for Carolina. Great test for Carolina to see if she's really back against sort of, you know, more of an up-and-coming opponent. I guess Mabita kind of fits that bill. But I think Loma even more, I think Loma has a good ceiling at strawweight. And for Loma, huge veteran tests.

I mean, you beat a Carolina Colvich who's on a four-fight. A four-fight win streak now. Like, she hadn't want to fight a year. and then she's on a four-fight win streak. What a wack. What a grinder. I mean, gosh, you got to give her credit. What a grinder.

Because I was talking retirement. I don't know, at least probably as long as like two years ago, I was probably saying, is Carolina Colvich going to retire? Well, guess what? She's not going nowhere. And Goofs like me have no idea what they're talking about. But I still, but so I want to see Colvich look with me. I'll keep calling for it.

If Loma gets another fight and she wins again, guess what, Mike? And it's not in the main card. My wild card pick is going to be Loma, look with me, Carolina Colvkevich. Spoiler. So there you go. Caroline Nicole Kavich is a above 500 UFC fighter. Is she now?

Oh yeah, because, right, she dropped pretty far. She was, eight and seven. She was eight and seven in the UFC. Eight and seven, nine and seven? Wow. She was four and seven. That was rough. She was four and seven.

That was rough. After the Jessica Petey lost. I also had Carolina Colovicavich. The street continues of wildcard matchups that did not land together. are no friends for every moment. I'm going with a rematch, A.K. I'm going to try to... Caroline is on this Andrei Arlowski-ish run right now,

and I'm really enjoying it. Beats Felice Herrig, then takes a big step back, then takes, like, a small step up, and then took a step back again from the way, like, they've been matchmaking her? Not a lot. Like, most of these fighters are kind of in the same area. She does have a loss back in March of 2019.

It was the second ever UFC on ESPN card. And this woman just got battered by Marina Rodriguez. But she holds a win over Carolina Colvukovic on that card. Let's do Carolina Colvacovic versus Michelle Waterson Gomez part two, AK. What do you think about that idea? Yes, yes. I've seen this called for before on the show. show. I think before

Michelle lost, what she was lost force right now? I think when she was on like a two-fight losing streak, I did see people saying this is the right matchup to make. They're kind of trending in opposite directions. I'm kind of over it now. I did want to see it. I am. There was a stretch where it made a lot of sense. I did want to see them run it back.

It probably still makes a lot of sense. But I'm always, I don't know. I always get a little squirmie when it's like four-fight win street, four-fight losing streak. And again, I know those don't tell the stories of their recent run of form because look who Michelle Waters and Gomez been fighting. Look who Carolina has been fighting. If you switch their opponents,

Michelle Waterson Gomez would probably pick up a few wins against some of the opponents. Carolina has beaten, and Carolina probably would be out of the UFC if she had to fight some of the opponents that Michelle Waterson Gomez got against. So I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it.

I don't like how it looks optically, but level of competition-wise, it certainly makes sense. I don't think Carolina is like as... It sounds so... like I said, I'm praising her for her toughness, but is like as up there, as a contender as her win streak says. And I don't think Michelle Warrison Gomez is as bad as her losing streak says. So I can see them booking it, especially if Waterson Gomez starts talking retirement. She has not really.

If she does, this would be a nice way to go out, win or lose. But yeah, I'm going with a fresh name, but this is something the U.C. matchmakers would definitely take a look at. Yeah. I just kind of want to give her some sort of meaningful name. in some respects. Like even if it's just like Carolina wants it just try to get that get one back.

You know what I mean? Just there's just not a lot more like Diana Belbita's for you left to fight at this point. You've got to fight somebody with somewhat of a name. And I feel like this is a good one.

And maybe this will be the one to maybe send Michelle Waterson Gomez into a new line of work. Like who knows? Maybe maybe, look, maybe Michelle Waterson Gomez, this is the turnaround for her. Maybe she'll go on and win four fights in a row if she beats Carly to Colvincavich.

It could be a crossroads fight for both women. So there you go. That's UFC Vegas 80 AK. We will go to the peeps real quick. If you want to give the quick disclaimer, we'll rifle through these. Let me first quickly shout out. I'm not giving a point, but I do want to shout out Jay Donagie because when I was doing the preview show, I said the Dawson Green matchup was weird because I don't remember anyone asking. for it and I was wrong. I was going back to my notes. Jay Donagie, I can't give him a point because

this was two fights ago. This was before the Bobby Green, Tony fight. He had called for Bobby Green versus Grant Thompson. So at some point, someone did predict that this would be a reasonable matchup for the UFC to make. And they did. So Jay, no point, but definitely a tip of the cap for predicting this well ahead of time before this fight actually happened. So good stuff. Yes. All right. Let's go right into this. No do-do, please. I didn't, I looked, I didn't see a lot of do-do. Nope.

I think there's a lot of picks in general, to be honest, coming off this Saturday night. There weren't a lot of submissions, so we'll get into it. JD. King Green versus Dan Hooker, Dober versus Diego Faheda or Moikano. In parentheses, I hear he wants money. Pfeiffer versus Brad Tavares. We go to Chris. Green versus Moikano.

I think Moikano has the lowest chance file. long shot of any of these guys to get the Bobby Green fight. I appreciate everything Hannatamoyano has done. I really, really have. I just don't think he's going to get it. Dawson versus the Frivolta Benoit Santini loser. Boy, is that a tough draw. Wait, hold on.

Whoa, hold on. Is that doo-do? Why? You said Dober versus Sunden. No, Dawson. Did I say Dobson? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I know. It's my fault. I think I heard Dober. I might have said Dober. There's been a lot of that. That way. I'm probably going to be hearing Dober when you said Dawson. I'm going to hear Dawson when you said Doe. Wait, is that dude.

The dude is technical literally right up? Amazing. Piper versus Gregory Rodriguez. That's a popular one. I would not mind seeing that either. I like it. Buckley versus the Leach, AK. Lee Jingleong.

Why was this weird? Does Leach not have a fight or something? Why was I against this? I thought about it and then it went away from it. I can't quite remember why. I don't think he's actually booked. You would think that. Oh, no, he's got, because it.

He's got a injury. I don't know. I mean, anytime we hear, he's like Mike Tyson, you know, it's final. He's a final, Mike. Yeah, he was supposed to fight Kiesa. Again, I don't know how serious is. Anytime I hear the final, I assume he's going to be out for a bit. So I just, I think that's why I didn't want to match it up.

But who knows? He could be fully recovered by the beginning of 2024. So maybe it's not, it's not due. I just, I just wanted to say spinal. He went with Drew Dover versus Guram Kutatelates. Yes, I saw that. Who was this again? This is Chris.

Okay. Yeah, I saw that from, I saw that as well. I like it. Kutathlatsi, Drew Dober is such a weird guy where they can either, if they want, they can book him as a contender, or they can keep rolling bodies up in front of them and just have him, you know, co-main eventing cards, opening up cards, just collecting highlights. This is how you become the all-time leader at lightweight, by the way, in the UFC, in knockouts. Just stay busy and fight whoever, and Gudon would be fit right in there. Bill Algeo versus Lorone Murphy I don't hate it

I don't love it either I feel like Lorone deserves a top 20ish guy and Bill could get there I don't think he's there just yet so I don't love this one unless Lorone just wants to stay super busy and Bill is just the best he can get

if they book it I'm not gonna be mad at it but I think Lorone deserves a little bit better Colovicavich versus Lomloch Boonee AK there you go Richie Lang versus Dwight Grant Nate Mainis versus C.J. Vergara Robbie, I know I proposed the Bobby Green versus Patty Pimbleau master plan last week but we are now dealing with title aspirations Bobby Green

beating the number nine ranked guy should help set him up for a top five fight so give him Dan Hooker. There you go. That was Robbie Ryan. He also likes Joe Piper versus Fluffy Hernandez. That was actually my first choice. The first thing I thought of was Fluffy,

but he's banged up. I think the injury is, I don't know how bad it is. But I think he's going to be out for a little bit. So I don't know if we're going to be able to get this fight, but I love the idea of it. Yeah, that's a headliner. That's why I didn't go with that. Joachian Buckley versus MVP, the wish fight.

But the more likely fight he likes Carlson Harris are Chaos Williams. I think him and Chaos are buds, honestly. So maybe not. I love the Buckley MVP suggestion. That's fun. That'd be a great first fight. for every day. And I don't know if, man, that's a good one.

Yeah. That's a good fight. I'd love to see it. Drew Dover versus the Paddy Tote winner. Bill Algeo versus Billy Q. He might just get his call at this time. No wild card, but how about Derek Brunson going to the PFL, interesting? Yeah, I mean, look, this is obvious. This is smart. UFC didn't want him anymore.

I think Derek knew that. Derek's going to PFL. Like, this is the best place for him. It's the best place for him. So good for everybody involved. Time was more than right. Derek Brunson wasn't getting any higher in the rankings, wasn't getting any bigger fights and he has already gotten.

They've gotten everything they could out of each other, and now we'll see how Derek Brunson does, aka gets Ray Cooper the 3rd at middleweight, because Brunson's going to 205. What happens if Ray Cooper the 3rd just lamps Derek Brunson? He definitely could. He definitely could. What if he does?

Like, this is not good. This is very bad. I mean, you know, if you're Derek Brunson, you're kind of like, so this middle-weight fight coming up is kind of a state, it's just kind of to make a debut, make a day, PFL debut, kind of get ready, you know, introduce himself to the league. He's still, like, it doesn't change anything, right? He still just goes up to 205. He goes before he gets lamps in his debut, like, bad?

Come on. In the BFL. Just introduce him with a, with like, a clean win. Give him anybody. Mike, you can get lamped in the PFL regular season and go on to win a million dollars. So getting lamped in a non-tournament fight, what do you mean? What does it mean? In a division that he's leaving anyway.

He's leaving in a city. Right? He's just doing one. They don't have 185 tournament. So he's doing this 185 fight with Ray Cooper. So Ray Cooper doing it because he doesn't have to cut down to 170 because he obviously frigging hates that. And then move on to 205.

I actually think it would be hilarious and, you know, regrettable for Derek Brunson. but I think he'd move on pretty quickly. Again, just when it was a 205. I was like, well, I took a chance. I'm done with 185. That was my 185 Swan Song. I'll see you guys later. I'm going for that $1 million.

That's it. I think it answers Marl Mariah's territory if he gets knocked out. That's a not great territory to be in. It's not a good not. So I don't know. We'll see what happens. Good move. I just don't understand why it could have been like,

hey, Derek Bruns is fighting in the 2024 season instead of like, let's trot him right out there against a dude that could absolutely not knock his head into the third row. A man's got to eat, Mike. The man's got to eat. I'm fine with it. Man's got to eat. There's got to be somebody.

There's going to be some 7 and 16 middleweight hanging around the tri-state area that you could have brought in here. But this is why I'm not a promoter or a matchmaker. Dad Jackson, Nate Manis versus O'Day Osborne, Drew Dober versus Diego Faheda. Joachian Buckley-Cast Williams again. I think these guys are buds. I could be wrong. Pfeiffer versus 8. Abuse Magamadoff, and he says, what I really want is Pfeiffer versus

Mitchell Paheta if he wins. I don't know if you saw this, AK. Chil Pahedda no longer fighting the number one contender for the middleweighty, middleweight title, Mark Andre Beryl. Instead, he's fighting Andre Petroski next week. Man, that is... His middleweight debut. Yeah.

I saw some people call for... Did I have a Pfeer Petra... I don't say Pfeiter? What was it? I see Sorry I just messed up No

Did I see someone Call for Piper Petroski? I'm going to made that up I'm going to made that up in my head Yeah I This is if Michelle Pareda wins That he fights Piper

Was that the pick? What was the pick? Piper versus Abuse And then what he really wants Piper versus Pera Ferer wins Okay Okay Which I like that idea as well

I don't like the A-Booz matchup at all. I think Piper is a few knots above that right now. Not that Abbas has to get back to winning and letting us, you know, no, give us a better idea of how good he actually is. Yeah, Michelle, but I still feel like he's going to go back down to 170 at some point. I don't

know, I don't know if he should, but I feel like that's what he wants to do. I don't think he's done at 170, so I don't think the Piper matchup can happen anytime soon, no matter what happens in DeMala Doors next fight. Yes. I'm hearing Abuse might have his next fight booked.

Not 100% confirmed. And it's not against Joe Piper, but we'll see. He also likes Bobby Green versus Petush Gamer. Last one, four-corner sports. Bobby Green versus the winner, Matt Frivola versus Benoit Santini. Or if Bobby really wants to fight in December, Bobby versus Jalen Turner.

And in parentheses, that body is adamant on fighting in December. Then why not? Bobby will take the fight crazy stuff that's happened in May. You never know. why would Bobby Green fight Jalen Turner? Well, that segues nicely. I'll let you finish, but I did have someone, Justin with a Y, suggest Bobby Green versus

Turner and the winner of that gets Patty Pimblit after Patty beats Tony Ferguson. So I don't know. It's out there. I just feel like Jalen's not going to fight it lightweight next. This is true. I don't want to see that. I don't either. I would like to see.

He's a massive human being. He's a Walthy. He's a freaking Walthwaite. I don't know how he made 155 so many times. Grant Dawson versus Diego Faheda. Rebook that. Joe Pfeiffer versus Gregor Rodriguez, Joaquin Buckley versus Daniel Rodriguez.

I don't mind that one. I don't mind that at all. That's a very tough test. But again, a one that would move him into the top 20. I would pick Joachian Buckley in that fight, but I like it. Drew Dober versus Dan Hooker,

the final pick. AK, you're up. Yeah, all right. You read most of the popular ones, so I won't repeat them. I'll say, Bobby Green versus Hooker, I think number one by far. I did get a couple of Pfeer versus ImaVos,

which I hadn't thought about, but I think that's a good, that's a good tough matchup for him. Again, that gets him a number next to his name, for sure. Gelato Halapeno on Twitter, Buckley versus Magny? Mike, is it time? Buckley Magny?

Not yet. I kind of feel like Kevin Holland's going to get that fight. Okay. Bill Algeo versus Nate Landwer. Of course, guys, you know what? Don't send in Nate Landre picks anymore. We just assume we want everyone to fight Nate Landwer. I think that is.

I don't know how many more times Nate Landgwer is going to fight in his career, but he has like 35 prospective opponents. So I hope he sticks around for a long time and we get a lot of these matchups. But we have a featherweight main event next week, Mike. And I guarantee people it's going to be like, oh, Nate Landgwer versus, you know, Sadie Q's super, Nate Landg versus Edson Barboza, which are both amazing matchups. I would want both of those, but he can, he's a human being. He can only fight so many times.

Liam Perry Buckley versus RDA I'll tell you what If they booked that fight That might just be a main event That might be an apex event That'd be fascinating Because you got youth

You got youth of Buckley He would be the larger fighter for once And he's been dealing with With the guys of 185 for a He would be the larger fighter in this matchup But the experience and skill gap though Like I know RDA is a better fighter than Walking Buckley.

But I kind of feel like Vicente Lucke wrote the blueprint on like how Buckley could win that fight. Yeah, true. So just tackle them a bunch. Yeah. Just put them against events and then take him down. It would be interesting. I'll tell you what, if walking Buckley wants a main event, you could do far worse than the apex.

They have done far worse in the apex than RDA versus Buckley. That's really not bad. Helios suggests Buckley versus Kieza, possible retirement fight for Kiesa. I don't know how you feel about that one. It's not bad. Not bad. But we'll have Michael Kiesa at this eye when he's ready to retire. Our man, Francesco in Italy, Bobby Green versus Darius Sarukion loser from USC 296.

That would be a huge fight. Talk about, you know, one win away from, you know, becoming the next Jorge Mous would all. that'd be crazy. Jude Dober versus Joel Alvarez. Koval Kavich versus Marina Rodriguez and Domopoulos, show us a demo. Domopoulos versus Josephine Knutzen. And a couple of Instagram real quick.

Our pal, Justin Gordet, likes Demo versus Yasmin Hadeghi. Tough matchup, but hey, he doesn't, if you're Vanessa Domoplas, you're chasing these fights. And he also liked Dober Ruscoo did lots say. And Blake Lewitt hasn't said in fixed a while. welcome back, Blake. Pfeiffer versus Murdoch, Kovalkavich versus Tisha Torres. And Mike, I don't know if you mentioned this one before.

Drew Dober versus Grant Dawson? Um, yeah, I think it was mentioned. What did you think of that? I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I kind of feel like Grant's going to take a pretty big step back, though. I don't know if he gets a Dober after this.

I think he's going to have to get, like, trying to, like, figure out who it could be. But it would be like a Gurum kind of a guy. Like, I think he's going to get, he's going to get a super tough dude who's going to be a really hard matchup for him. One Grant could win, but this was, this is really bad for Grant Dawson. Like, this is really bad. This is a really bad loss. I don't know if he can come back from this one, man.

Like, I know he's not like super, he's not like he's 40 or, anything, but it's already a super hard climb to get to where he was and then just getting lamped like that against a guy who wasn't even ranked, I don't think. Bobby Green wasn't even ranked, was he? I don't think so. I mean, with all these killers, it's going to take him, it's got to take him like three years of like killing people to get back to even... sniffing the title conversation at this point.

And imagine if some of these Bellator lightweights come over too, like if Ooster Mada Madov comes over, this road is gonna be a really long one. It is so tough. Like if you don't have it all, like if you don't have the skills, like if you're not a five tool lightweight, it is just awful.

It is a tough, tough road to get to the top. Bobby Green may not be a five tool. lightweight, but he's got a whole bunch of them, and he's got maybe the most important one. People like him. He's entertaining on the microphone. People care what he has to say. And sometimes that's the most important thing. And that's just one thing Grant hasn't been able to get. Everyone in respects his fighting style. They just don't feel like they can relate to him like they can, Bobby Green. You know what I mean? Like, it's just a weird thing. And Bobby has those important tools. that even if he loses, like, he's never really out of the picture.

But Grant, boy, man. It's just, it's incredible to think how we're talking about him in the preview show to where he's at after his loss, man. It's bad. It's a really bad loss. It's a cruel game, isn't it, MMA? Super cruel. So, Dawson, 8-0-1 heading into this fight.

Three wins and a draw at lightweight. 21-1 overall heading into it. There's some catch rate bouts. he did have trouble with featherweight. And lightweight, he also missed weight once. He had the sixth longest UFC unbeaten streak behind Magamad and Kaliv and Bilal Mohammed, both at 10, Leon Edwards and Islam, both the 12, and John Jones, 19 straight undefeated. He was like, that's a great list to be part of. And obviously, that's over now.

Now you can just delete all that. He's not even, he doesn't have the unbeaten streak anymore. But, like, that's where he was before the fight. And then you take one really bad loss. We'll say again. It's a really bad loss. and suddenly we're talking about, man, maybe you never reach, maybe you're out of title talks altogether. It is talking.

Again, I wouldn't, one way or another, this is a career changing result for Grant Dawson. And either, like you said, maybe removes him from that top 10 contention for the rest of his career, or he bounces back from this and comes back stronger than ever and becomes a world champion or like a world title contender. It could go either way and neither result would surprise me. Yeah, that's crazy, man. It's a cruel, cruel game, okay. Do you have anything else? No, that is it.

Okay, well, you know how to submit your picks at this point. It's almost impossible to get an otno point now, which is wild to think about. But I think even the shared points are just fun and exciting, and we get something from this. So what do we have next week? Because it's the go-home show for UFC 294, a nice tight 11 fights. K. The main event. Sadiq Yusuf versus Edsa Barbosa.

We have Jennifer Maya versus Viviani Arruzo. Finally. UFC Vegas 81, by the way. I feel like this has been matched up like 50 times. We have Jonathan Martinez. The silence behind the violence. Uh-huh.

Against Adrian Yannies. Yeah. We're going with Yannes. Has he said he wants Yianez now? That's how that's, that's, what it is. That's how it's supposed to be pronounced. I thought he had said in interviews he didn't care. Because there was always there. The accent was over it.

And people are like, Yanez? And now, okay, I will go Yannias now. Yeah, I don't think he cares. But that's how you actually pronounce it. Good. Christian Rodriguez, Karen Simon, sick fight. Love this fight. We get the rematch of all rematches, AK. No, no, no, no. I mean, look, we could be getting Amanda Nunes, Chris Cyborg, too, and all these other things. We could get Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm home too

and all these incredible rematch but instead we get the peak rematch. Edgar Chiraeis, Daniel Lacerda, too. Let's see what happens this time around. Maybe we have a different referee. Mike, Michelle Pereira, Andre Petroski, Arena, Alexiva, Melissa Dixon. Bannamweight's AK.

That's a Bannamweight fight. Women's Bannemweight, official one. Wow. Ashley Yoder. Emily Decode, Darren Elkins, T.J. Brown, Tynara, Lisboa, Ravana, Olivera. Another Bannamweight fight, AK. That's two women's bantamweight fights. This is insane. So in total, men and women, five, we look five bantamweight fights in this card. We have a lot of bantam fights. That's insane. This is maybe the best card ever. And speaking of bantamites, Chris Gutierrez, Aletang, Haley. That's UFC. Vegas 81. 11 fights.

Did you mention the immortal, Ashley Yoder? Ashley Oter, Emily Dakota, yes And Emily Dakota, okay Just people look up Ashley Oter's record and just It's just insane I don't know what we're doing Nice title 11 fights, A.K.,

I think this is gonna be a breezy one We might even lose a fight along the way I hope we don't But we might lose one We're supposed to get the Terence McKin Chris Duncan on this card Which would have a nice one Yeah, that's not happening now, right?

No, that's off Duncan's out, right? Duncan's the one who had to pull out right? Yeah, he had some travel issues we're supposed to get a yeah David Devorick tattoo or tire is all supposed to be I don't love this card on paper usually by the time Friday rolls around

I've done my research and all this stuff I can tell I've you know I'm at the point where I'm talking myself into it but I do not like this card I think on paper this is and I love bantam weights men and women we all know this this is not a secret I love bantamate you would think a card loaded bantam weights would be right at the top of my list is this card better than 80

no I thought I actually liked 80 on paper I should think this one's better. I've heard people say that. I've seen people comparing these two cards because we have nothing better to do. I like 80 more. I like 80 more. I did hurt me to lose the Lenskutja Lava matchup. I feel like I'm joking, but like, again, the potential for chaos there was just so high.

Yeah. But also, it's like the matchups. I like the matchups. I know some people will be disappointed. Like, oh, Buckley didn't get a knockout or, you know, the main card opener, Aljo Hernandez went to decision. and, um,

this is what happens when you match up people who are like, of relatively equal quality. You get decisions. I'm sorry, but you get good decisions. You get quality,

educational, often entertaining decisions. Uh, just because you didn't get a big bang, bang finish doesn't mean it was a bad fight. So I liked the matchups on paper on Vegas 80. I actually thought it played out exactly at the, I think it reached the level that you could expect.

Um, so maybe, maybe 81 will surprise me. This is a way more competitive card than 81. Yeah. 80 was very squash-matchy in a lot of respects. We had, I mean, there were some competitive fights, but like this one, like I think Tidora Lois Boa is the biggest favorite on the card. Edgar Chira is a big favorite.

How high a favorite is a big favorite? How high a favor is Tynar Luzboa? Mine is 380 as of right now. Wow. I mean, I know Ravanna-Eldivar as, you know, not well-known, but wow, that's a big favorite for Tainara-Lusboa, who is, I can look this up. I want to know in the UFC, six and two, and she's plus three. She's minus 380.

Minus 380. Emily Decode, minus 285 against the immortal Ashley Yoder. Edgar Chari is minus 278 favorite. Everything else pretty close here. Martinez and Janyes is a complete pickum, minus 110, minus 110. Mayo minus 155 over Arruzo. Christian Rodriguez minus 130 over Cameron Simon. and Sudik Yusuf, minus 166.

The comeback on it's a Barbosa plus 140. I kind of feel like that line's going to be closer. Slight underdog for Barbosa? Yeah, this is a much more competitive card than... I did not bet on this weekend's card, but maybe... I'm going to have to bet on this card because I'm going to be on freaking no-bets barred this week. Oh, there we go. So I have to start thinking of some bets.

I'm looking at some of the betten value here. There's, I think there's some spicy ones as we look. These are famous last words. These are famous last words. Look, I'm just going to clean up. Let me do what I always do. I'm going to go up like six units on the prelims and I'm going to overexpose myself on like three main card fights and I end up down like four units at the end. Like that's just going to happen. That's how it's done. So that happens at all these cards. Yes. And then we'll get,

I have to bet on two straight events. Because I got no bets barred this week. And then with the watch parties, I bet on the watch party card. That's, oh, man. That's a good one, though. 294.

There's some fun parlay. Givic parlays, I feel like on that card. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of different gimmicks. So there you go. Doublehead or done. UFC Vegas 81 next week on the road to UFC 294.

and then it's like the stretch of, hey, we got $2.94 and then three weeks later, we get $2.95, and then we get ready for $2.96, which might be the best card of the year on paper. It's going to be a crazy fourth quarter for fight fans, especially with the UFC. I'm pretty excited as well. I think 8081 are kind of, like that we get to chill. Like, chill for a couple of weeks. Like, nothing's super high stakes on this car on Saturday. part. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. There you go. Yeah. It's the All Star Break. The All Star Break featured, if the All Star Break featured, like, you know, I'm not going to name any names because it's just going to hurt people's feelings.

Oh, man. All right. Well, we are done. Hopefully we didn't hurt your feelings this week. We will try harder next week after UFC Vegas 81. Thank you very much for AK. I am Mike Heck. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously. M.M.A. supposed to be fun. And we'll have more fun following UFC Vegas 81 right here on onto the next one. The podcast.