MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 84

Episode Date: January 14, 2024

Magomed Ankalaev finished Johnny Walker in the first UFC main event of 2024 and sent a message to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in the process. While Pereira's coach Glover Teixeira seemed to express interest in the potential championship matchup, will that be the next fight for Ankalaev, who is on a 12-fight unbeaten streak? MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Ankalaev from a matchmaking perspective following Saturday's UFC Vegas 84 event at the APEX. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Jim Miller following his third-round submission win over Gabriel Benitez in the co-main event, Mario Bautista after his impressive decision win over Ricky Simon, Bruno Ferreira following his vicious opening round knockout of Phil Hawes, along with fellow main card winner Waldo Cortes-Acosta, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. Welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The matchmaking crowns have returned for the first time in 2024 following UFC Vegas 84, and perhaps, We have Alex Pereira's first title challenger at 205 pounds coming out of this event. Maybe, maybe not.

We'll discuss that and a lot more from a matchmaking perspective. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us. It's great to be back doing some matchmaking and joining me in this adventure, as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, Mr. Alexander Cayley, AK, how excited are you to do some matchmaking once again? Mike, my best friend, it is great to be back. And I'm super excited, especially after a card that I feel like, laid out some pretty obvious

matchups that could take place within the next three or four months. I didn't feel like this wasn't one of those cards where I felt were kind of blindly grabbed me at what could be next. I mean, I think as you got a little bit lower down the card, it's a pretty wide open path for some of the main card winners. But overall, I'm excited about what this could mean for some of the guys who picked up victories on Saturday night. It's a little bit murkier, I guess, in the main event.

But I think you and I, we could either wave our magic wand or make a pretty decent crystal ball pick for Magerman and Kaliap. But we'll get there in a second. But yeah, it was nice to have UFC action back. I was also covering some boxing, which was pretty good. The Bidab and Smith card. The top two fights totally delivered. My main event was a bit of a mismatch, but that was fun to watch anyway.

And then the co-main was also pretty entertaining. So a lot of good Canadian winners. So I can't complain. So it was a great Saturday night. And it's going to be a great Sunday as we do this show. Oh, okay. I thought there was going to be more to it, but you meant doing the show. And I appreciate that very much.

No, this is it. It's all downhill from here, Mike. It's all downhill. Well, you mentioned Maga Manankal live, so let's begin there. He faces Johnny Walker. It's their second meeting. We know how the first one ended. This one, no controversy.

We thought for a moment in the first round. maybe we would go down controversy way and kind of stay on that road for a little while with one of the just most clean and vicious kicks to the ding ding. You'll ever see in a UFC main event. Johnny Walker was like, come on, bro. Machimaniacalab gets the hard warning from Mark Goddard, which only means one thing.

He gets three more opportunities to kick him in the ding ding, before a point gets taken away. But he didn't need to because he just landed this right hook uppercut that just wrecked the nose of Johnny Walker and put him out, gets a big win, calls for the title shot. Jamal Hill was sitting right there because he goes to every single UFC card, whether it's at the apex or in Jacksonville, Florida. And Jamal Hill feels like Magamette Anc Goliath is easy money,

but Jamalil is hurt right now? So he doesn't really have a say in the matter. Is Magamette Ankelyev going to get his wish, A.K., he got the attention of Goldberg-Share, who is the coach, the confidant of light heavyweight champion Alex Burr. was this performance enough for him to be next for Poetan when he is ready to defend that 205-pound title? I mean, it definitely was. I don't see how anyone can disagree with that.

But I almost have to put an asterisk next to my pick, which is Alex Pira for Angola. Because I had campaigned pretty hard on a previous episode that I want to see Khalil Roundtree fight Alpshire. I just thought it's a great style matchup. It's a fan-friendly fight. Roundtree doesn't have near the name value as some of the other contenders at light heavyweights.

So I get how unlikely it is. I think that was more of a magic wand pick. Now I find also, you know, Roundtree's whole thing is the glory killer is perfect. But now I find myself, if I'm going crystal ball pick, it has to be Ancolaev. So now I've got two picks here. So I'm not going to take an Otno point if Roundtree gets the fight. And I'm not going to take Otno point if Ancolaev gets the fight, the Ockyap gets the Alpsparra fight.

I will take an out of point if both these matchups happen for Alex Perreta in the next 12 months. So I'm giving myself an... And I've just one Otno point, just one out of point. Because I hate to make to pick a fighter that I've already picked. People know this. And this was recent. This was not long ago. roundtree point happens. So, um,

it's a go back on it to early kind of stinks. I think it's a bit chinty on my part. But it seems very realistic that Ankaaa should get the shot when Palletta is ready to compete. And then I don't know how roundtree will get it unless Peta beats Ankaa, which I wouldn't pick. And then there's Jamal Hill too. So a lot of stuff to go on. Rock Gitch and, uh, for Hachka are fighting. There's a lot of stuff going on.

Uh, but I'll stick with Ankylaev somehow getting a fight without it. Even if it's not next, may it put a defense against someone else first, and Ankelyev can wait and hopefully get the fight sometime this year. Because it seems really unfair to make Ankelyev fight again, but we say that a lot in this show. So this is a gut pick for me. My answer will be Magamahem and Ankiahf. His next fight will be for the light heavyweight title. Okay.

He will not be the next opponent for Alex Pereira. What I think is going to end up happening, mostly because, this division is still cursed. I think people forget, even though Alex Pereira has done such crazy stuff, this is still a very strange division. We have not had a title defense in this division in a long time. Like, I mean a real long time.

We've had new champions. We've had a hot potato situation. We have not had a successful title defense since when? Like, Israel Adasani, was that the last time the belt was successfully defended? Correct. Correct. That seemed like 18 years ago at this point.

March 2021. Yeah. It seems like forever. So here's what I think is going to end up happen because of the curse of this division. I think the UFC is going to play with some fire here. I think Alex Pereira is going to say, hey, I'm ready to fight. I don't think he's going to fight a 300. My gut is telling me he's not going to fight at 300.

Unless this Adasani thing comes along and it's for a a trillion dollars, I just don't know if the UFC is going to do this. And at this point, if it's not Adasania, putting him on 300 doesn't make any sense to me. Because Pereira versus Anka Liev is not a 300 main event. It's just not. If we get Ankylaif challenging Pereira, Leon versus Balal,

and Zhang Wei v. Janjohn, I think, a lot of fans will go to Las Vegas and hold picket signs outside being like, what are you doing to us right now? Because that has the potential to be kind of a sloggy trio of title rights. So what I think is going to end up happening is UFC is going to be like, all right, look,

we're going to wait for Jamal Hill to come back. So Alex, we're going to shelve you for like three more months. Jamal Hill is going to probably be ready for August, September. You'd probably be ready for like June, July. So we're just going to wait. Two more months, we can get this fight, and we can crown what many would believe, at least right the second, is the undisputed champion. And then in December of the year of our Lord, 2024, we will get, maybe November, maybe we get this MSG. We will get Magam and Ancolaev fighting the winner of that fight.

So Ancolaev will fight for the belt before the end of the year. It will be his next fight, but he will fight the winner of Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill. I could be dead wrong about this, but this is what my gut is telling me right now. And you're saying that will be in either like July, August-ish, you think. In the summertime. Summer and end of summer. Early fall. Early fall.

At the latest. Yeah, I think that's a good plan for put out. Again, the Izzy thing is the whole wrench in this because it feels like he's laid out a great option for the UFC on a silver bladder. It's just, you know, are they able to drag Izzy out of his self-imposed hiatus? Izzy's been talking a lot of, I don't know, a lot of stuff lately online about how like, I was just, I wasn't serious about whatever the, the 2027, which I think we all knew. I could be back sooner rather than later, but not giving any sort of concrete plan.

Sooner rather than later could mean January 2025 for Izzy. We don't know. It could mean summer 2024. We just don't know. But it's weird, though. It's weird because I do think Padetta, even though he's said in interviews, he's kind of moved on from that, we'll be very happy to still take that fight

probably over these other options if it were up to him, especially since he'd be ready for that fight whenever, whenever Izzy was ready. So, you know, Mike, I don't think your pick is crazy at all. I think trying to predict where this division is going after, where this cursed division is going after recent events is impossible. And that's as realistic a scenario as any.

But I'm glad we both agree that Ankolaev's next fight should be a title shot. Do we have any idea who he could fight if he, if he, like, doesn't get the title shot? Would they make him fight round tree? That seems dumb. No, God, no. That's dumb, right? Why would Angolive touch that fight? I have no idea.

There's, it's so high risk and so little reward. Why would he touch any fight at this point? Why would he touch any fight? I will say this, if there's one fight that I think possibly could happen. And I don't think it will, but I think it would be like a big enough name. If Yuri Perashko goes out there, it just dusts up Alexander Rackich. I can see a world where they do Yuri versus Sankalaya, but I kind of don't know if that's going to happen. So all this talk like heading, like after Pereiro won the belt, all of us say like, you can't

shelf the guy. You can't shelf them either there and I'm shelving him and waiting for Jamal Hill. But again, we don't even know what's going on with Alex Breyer right now. Dude has, dude has fought a lot recently. Yeah. So if he wants to take like six, seven months off, like who are we to judge a very active fighter like Alex Breyer, who has just steamrolled through this sport and through this company to two freaking championships in two different way classes? It's just absurd what this guy has done. So if he wants to take a little bit of a either if he wants to wait for Jabal Hill, I stand by him. Not great from a business sentence, but Pereira Hill is the fight I want to see.

I would rather see that fight. I'd rather wait three extra months to see Pereira Hill before Ankiahf than seeing Ankylaev just get thrown right in there to fight Pereyra, because that we may not even get that fight. And I don't want to live in that world. Ankylai is the top of my list. Now, I don't get total reason to see bias. Now Ankelaio Fadeus top of the list, but you could talk me into a lot of other light heavyweight

matchups for Pineda as well. Let's go to the Co-Mane event. Our hero, not all heroes wear capes, but I might just buy him a cape. Jim Miller just goes out there, dominates Gabriel Vanitas. This fight was somewhat competitive for maybe three minutes of the opening round, and then it was the Jim Miller show the rest of the way, gets the face-crank submission in round three. God bless Jim Miller.

This guy is the best. Goes out there, has the performance. he does the thing in the most Jim Miller-esque way possible, where he looks at Paul Felder, calls him out. Paul Felder gives him just the perfect reaction sitting Caged side in the blue suit. Calls out Matt Brown. Matt Brown is like, yeah, man, love this guy. I'll fight him.

Then throws up the Brock Lesnar thing, which is brilliant. Everything about what Jim Miller did on Saturday night was incredible. Jim Miller went to the post-fight press conference and said, look, I kind of prefer Matt Brown over Paul Felder. but the fact that the UFC brought Paul Felder to this post-fight press conference to speak to the media tells me that the UFC has an idea of what they want to do. So either way, Jim Miller versus anybody is fine with me. My ought-no pick, which will probably be sharing like one-one-millionth of a point if it happens,

Jim Miller versus Paul Felder is what I'm going with. Yeah, yeah. No friends forever here. It's what we all want. It's what people have been talking about before this happens. We're talking about UFC 300. Felders there. It's such a, it's such a right matchup to make. And I assume Paul Feldor is in shape and those, you know, those hints of a comeback are in anticipation of being able to be part of the big three

O. And Jim Miller is a perfect opponent for him. Jim Miller, as you're saying, it's just, it's, you know, and it may be supposed to be fun. And this guy really epitomizes that. And I think he's, you know, I was going to say he doesn't get credit for it. I think he's been well-liked for a long time. And his popularity has only grown as an elder statesman of the lightweight division. And that's just fantastic. He should be making $2 million for fight. He should be getting any fight he wants right now. If he wants Paul Felder, he should get Paul Felder.

And in a better world, he would be, you know, a top 10 box office draw in MMA in combat sports. But, I mean, that's not the way these things work. You know, we all know how this business is. You've got to have a certain hook to you. Sometimes you've got to have a nasty hook to you to draw. mainstream attention, but I think Jim Miller's very fine with how his career has gone. And I think it's only going to get better. What a great moment that would be for him to be, again, the only man to compete at UFC 100,

200, 300, and to do so against a fellow highly respected lightweight veteran in Paul Felder. There's no better matchup. There's a lot of good ones. A lot of good ones out there. I think as long as Jim Miller's 300 will be happy. But Felder's the one that would make that night for sure have a lot. at least one highly positive note. Yeah.

Again, Jim Miller versus anybody rules. And to paraphrase the great Anna Kendrick from the song Cups, we're going to miss him when he's gone. We are going to miss him when he is gone. There's so many other songs I feel you could have quoted to echo that sentiment. But well, sure. You know what? That's a good one.

Yeah. I mean, I'm going to go as obscure as possible. Let's go to the Bannamweight Division, which has a new ranked contender, at least on the UFC rankings as of Tuesday. name, Mario Bautista, who is the teammate of the current champion of the world in that division, Sean O'Malley, goes out there just out works, out grimes, out grits. A guy that you really can't do that to, but he did it against Ricky Simone. Great performance from Mario Batista.

If there's one guy that I was paying attention to more, I don't think there's a guy was paying attention to for this card more than Mario Batista. I had so many questions about him. We knew he was a good fighter. But was he going to be a guy that was going to be a top 15, top 10 guy for years to come? I think we got our answer after this performance, aka Ricky Simone has not lost two in a row, but Mario Patista is on a very nice run right now. He had a callout.

I dug the callout. Are you going with what Mario Batista wants? I think I, oh, no, as I say, I think I defaulted to that at first, the callout you're speaking of, which I'll let you reveal for anyone who may have missed that call out. But, yeah, I do want to say first, great performance. by Mario Bautista. Six straight wins now in the Bantamweight Division. I think that's tied for the most.

I'm sorry, behind him. I'm sorry. Tied for second most behind Mara. And he's tied with the man I want to match him up with Jonathan Martinez, the silence behind the violence. I have them right next to each other in my rankings right now. It's just outside the top 10. Again, they're both streaking.

They've both beaten a lot of quality opponents. It makes a lot of sense. for anyone who doesn't want to see potential contenders matched up against one another then I understand why they would hate it in a perfect world both these guys rack up seven,

eight fight win streaks and both guys get title shots but it's not a perfect world and at Bantam weight there's definitely no easy way to the top. They can't protect anyone once you reach the top 20 you're going to be facing another killer

so this is where I landed with it. Before we talk about who you're going to talk about Mike I'm a little concerned for Ricky Simone. Do we think we've seen his ceiling because I like Ricky. I think we all like Ricky. I think we've all had an eye on him for a long time, even before he got to the UFC,

just blue chip prospect written all over him. But he's fallen short in every sort of step-up fight. I'm thinking what, Uriya Faber, I think Rob Fon, right? He lost to Rob Fon, and then Songia Dong.

He had his first made event and lost Sondi. And nothing wrong with losing to these guys. Like I said, you're facing nothing but killers when you get to where Ricky is. But Mario was sort of a guy who I wasn't, like you were saying, we're not sure, is he a contender. Now we know he is. But I thought this was Ricky's chance to sort of fend off and up and comeer and hold on to his spot and then set up another big fight with a more established name. And now I'm wondering if there's a ceiling on Ricky Simone.

Yeah, I think we've hit it already, unfortunately. How old is he? Is he in his 30 yet? Yeah, I think he's like 30. He's so good. I think Ricky Simone is so good. 31. So he's not old.

He's not old at all. And I think he's going to rattle off a two-fight, three-fight, four-fight win streak somewhere down the road, too. He's a great fighter. But, again, at some point, he is going to face another top 12 guy and then can he finally get over that help? I don't know. I hope he proves me wrong. Man's got mileage on him. He does.

He's been fighting for a long time. He was fighting guys like, like, Journey Newson as an amateur. And he started doing this. He's been doing this for like 13 years now. It's a long time. And we're not even talking about everything he went through from. the world of like amateur wrestling too. This guy's been getting after it for a long,

a long time. It's tough to say, man. Like, the Jack, like, it's just so weird to think about because the performance he had against Jack Shore on that Long Island card, we all felt as a website. And I know Jed in particular and I were kind of on the same page of this.

Like, Ricky Samoa was just kind of playing a different sport than everybody. His athleticism, the way he was putting things all together. Like, we were like, this guy might actually. contend for the belt. And I don't know where that sort of confidence went. Like, I have known Ricky for a long time.

I've been interviewing Ricky Simone since his lone fight with Titan Fs. I don't know. I think he had like two fights with Titan FC. But before his first pro loss, I was interviewing him. And there's always just like this confidence, this sort of swagger to him, which has been there for a while. And I don't know if it's like, because Sean O. Malley was getting a title shot and then eventually won the belt.

It just like really irked him in some weird degree. But like he has always had this sort of issue with Sean O'Malley wanting this fight and never could even come close to getting it. And now Sean's the champion. He's just like saying things like, well, if Sean O'Malley could be the Badaway champion, like anything is possible. I don't know. There's just something about him that is just not, it's not, he's not, it's not, he doesn't seem like the same dude to me. You know what I mean? So I don't know if like song you don't clubbing him around was part of it.

I don't really know. But I think it's just like a combination of things. To see what Mario Batista did in that third round to Ricky, especially after Ricky hoisted him up on his shoulder and did the Matt Hughes slam into his own corner. And then Mario was able to sort of easily get up and then just battered him around for that third round. And Ricky was looking up at the clock. I was like, man, this is not the same guy. It just isn't.

Like that guy doesn't seem to be there anymore. And I don't know if it's a physical fix or a mental fix. Either way, I don't think we're going to see Ricky as like a top five guy anytime soon. But there's still plenty of good fights ahead for Ricky if you did. Sure. I hope he fights, he's healthy enough to fight for another 10 years and, you know, proves this wrong. But yeah, I had to ask the question because like you said, you've been, you've known Ricky for a long time. Again, most of us have been watching him at least for a long time.

And again, I thought at some point he would at least be a top five, top six guy. And he's fallen short. And again, no shame in that in this division. One of the deepest divisions in all of MMA. But that was an eye-opening performance by Mario Batista, for sure. For sure. Yeah, really, really respected what he did. And I'm not dumping on Ricky Simone.

I still think there's something there. He can have a great career. I think he's going to be Neil Magni-ish for a little while where he's going to be fighting, like, I mean, he's going to be fighting the Montel Jackson's of the world. are trying to break into the top 15, like these are going to be the guys he's got to be fighting, which is not, it's not a fun place to be, but it's probably where he's going to be. As far as Barra Batista goes, I'm giving him what he wants. I think it makes a lot of sense.

Sometimes you just got a call for it and you just might get it. And I think the way he did it was in the kind of way that would lead to this guy in his team being like, yeah, let's go ahead and do this. And I honestly think it's a fight that the man that he called out could win based on the styles they bring to the table. Mario Batista called out one Rob Font. I like that matchup. I think it makes a lot of sense.

So let's go ahead and book those two guys. And look, there's a number of ways you could do this. You could put it on a pay-per-view. It could be an ESPN prelim on a pay-per-view. Heck, you could headline an apex card with this fight. I would have no problem with it whatsoever. This gives a chance to give Mario Batista that extra bit of shine, so to speak. gives Rob Font the chance to kind of do what he does best,

which is just out-volume guys for five rounds. Be a good fight. I'd be intrigued by it. I like the Jonathan Martinez idea. I do. I like that one, too. Either way is fine with me, but great performance. I think he probably doesn't have getting the Rob Font fight.

I think Rob Font's team is going to look at this bill. Yeah, I think we might be able to win this one. So let's get in there. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress.

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Let's go to Bruno Faheta, aka this dude is so vicious and so violent knocks out Phil Hawes I mean Phil Hawes was down for a while got up just so emotional I wonder if it's the end of the line at least as a UFC fighter for Phil

Haas but he does say what you will about Phil Haas and I'm not saying this to be disrespectful Phil does bring a very important intangible to the UFC world where he gets people in vicious and memorable fashion and he gets gotts

in vicious and memorable fashion. And sometimes that can keep you around a little bit longer, but I almost don't want to see Phil fighting these guys anymore because it's just getting uncomfortable at this point. This is not lazy. I like what Bruno Ferreira did. I loved his callout, and it made all the sense in the world, and I'm going to give it to him.

Shara Bullitt versus Bruno Ferreira? Come on now. Give it to me. This is the fight. I love it. Well done. I'm giving you what you want. It was a great call-out.

Shara's got a bit of a name, a bit of buzz after beating Bruno Silva. That kind of also places him somewhere up there in the rankings, and Fedda would love to come up and get that spot. Who did Fedda lose to? He lost to. What did he lose to, Mike? In his second fight. I don't know why I'm dressed for blank now.

Oh, my God. What I think. Ruzabov. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Out of nowhere, no Sultan, Roosevelt. Yeah. So he's kind of in a weird place because he beats Kruzablan. Gregory Rodriguez in this debut, great win.

And then, yeah, slips on a banana bill against Zerouzabeth, who might be very good. Again, we don't know about him. Yeah, he looks like a killer. Yeah. And then bounce back with this nice win over Phil Haas, which, let's be honest, was kind of geared towards a first-round knockout. I guess for either fighter, but I think everyone on the NBA fighting staff,

or almost all of us said head fed out of by first or second-round knockout. It was just pretty ugly. Just based on what we know of Phil Haas's history, like you said, He gets or gets got really talented guy just cursed with a bad chin, just doesn't have a great chin. And when a guy like Bruno wallops you, you're going down. So I hope Phil Hodge could stick around if he wants to keep fighting and he's healthy enough. Because like you said, there's always a place for fighters like him. But for Bruno Federa, I got to get this pronunciation right.

Vereda Faheda. Mike, what are you doing? You're going to silence ours? I think so. Okay, I got to stick with it. It changes every time. I just changed it seven times in the last. like two two minutes.

So I apologize. I'm going to say Bruno for this episode. I apologize to Bruno and the listeners for this. But I like Bruno and Roman Coppola. Because I'm sick and I just like seeing people get knocked out. Yeah, someone's just getting smoked. I don't know if either these guys ever fights for a title. I don't care.

Just want these guys going to do. Roman's on a nice little run right now. I think he deserves a little bit better. Yeah, I think because he was on a pre-lived his last win, I don't know if I've made a pick for Coppola. Or it was so long ago. I think it was so long ago that Coppola fought that the opponent, whoever I picked from an Otno already got booked.

Either way, he's free up on my Otno matchmaking list. And I'm sorry, Mike. He gets, I'm giving him Bruno. You're right. Coppola probably should be finding a top 20 guy. But Brito could be a top 20 guy. He found in September. But it's a prelim, right?

He wasn't a mandatory Ottoe pick, right? It was at Noche UFC. Uh-huh. It was a pre-lum. him. Yeah, so I didn't think. But it's because he ended up fighting Josh friend. Yeah. He was supposed to fight. He was supposed to fight Fluffy Hernandez.

Yeah, that's still the range. Yeah, so I don't think he's beyond that range yet. I put Bruno in that range. I put Bruno in the range. I'm okay with, I'm okay with my, I stick with my choice. Again, I just want to see someone get smoked. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Let's go to the middleweightiest heavyweight in all of the UFC, Waldo Cortez Acosta.

I got to tell you, A.K., I was hoping that the judges were going to do some tomfoolery with this Arlovsky fight, because nothing would have made me laugh harder than hearing Joe Martinez said, winner by decision, Andre Arlowski, I would have lost my mind with the way Waldorf-Cortez Acosta was handling himself in this fight. This fight was bad. Like, we joke about bad heavyweight fights. This was not one of them that we joke about.

this is just a bad, bad fight and a bad performance. And the way he was dancing around and styling, like Cody Garbrandt was just styling on Dominic Cruz, it made me very upset. It made me very upset. And now he's going to have to pay. So, Waldo Cortez Acosta, and maybe he ends up winning this fight.

And if so, good for you. You're about to fight King Kong, my man. you're about to fight a man by the name of Alexander Romanov, who's probably going to belly-to-belly-suplex you within two minutes of this fight. And if you can get in there and survive the onslaught and get yourself another victory and hit that heavyweight over with your back,

it's back, baby, much like flyweight unders. You get respect. I'm not saying I don't respect you, but I didn't love what I saw from you. And because of that, you're on enough of a win streak to justify this matchmaking. You just beat a former champion. now you get fight King Kong, my man, and that's what's going to happen.

Yeah, I think that's the right matchup. I have a feeling I threw Romanov against somebody else recently. That's why I didn't pick him. But otherwise, yeah, I don't see why the U.S. He wouldn't do that. Excuse me, guys. Oh, my voice's going. Yeah, Cortez Acosta, Romanov.

I don't know what to say about salsa. I like the dancing. He should not have been doing in this fight. When you got, listen, when you got hips like that, you got to show it off. I don't mind. It was a dreadful. Why? I was going to say, why was this fight in the main card?

But we know why this fight was on the main cards because it was supposed to be Mene L. Kopp and Matthias Nicola on the co-main instead. It still shouldn't have been on the main card. It still shouldn't have been on the main card. Other than we had some pretty exciting prelim results. So imagine any of those in the main card instead. Giann Silva on the main car, opening the main card, would have been hilarious. Yeah, but I also said it was nice to have.

I will say, I'm saying this now. but at the time, I was like, it is nice to have Arloski and Miller on the main card. Over 80 combined fights. They should be main carding all the time, even if Arlowski fights are absolutely horrible. For Waldo Cortez Acosta, I instead went with, he's 4 and 1 now in the UFC. We've got another scintillating heavyweight fighter who's 4-1 in the UFC. He is coming off a loss, but he is 4-1 in the UFC. Give me the fight everyone wants for a top 15 ranking, Cortez Acosta versus Martin Boudai.

Like, this is, and you better put this on. It's better to be Apex Co-Main. A-Pax Co-Mean. This is a rankings fight. This is just to get you on the list. Got a number next to your name. So I know everyone has been a calling for this fight. Salisaw-Vo-V-Way versus Martin.

I don't think he has a nickname, Buda. B-A-D-Y-S. What is that? I don't know. Okay. I mean, he is coming off of a loss. Sure. Okay.

I like it. Do you? Does anyone? I mean, I kind of feel like if Despagne does what the UFC is hoping he does at UFC 299, to Josh Parisian, maybe he gets this fight with Lavo-Oport-Hazza. I saw that suggested. And I would love that because Despagne, I think a lot of people are excited with the signing. He's kind of up there in age.

Isn't he like 35? 35. Which, again, for heavyweight, is 25, I understand. but I'd still I'd rather see him moving up the rankings you know fast so we can get him some big exciting fights and yeah I mean Waldo

I don't know if he entered Saturday in the UFC's rankings it wasn't ours he wasn't ours but he's not that far off I think in my look right now he will not be in our rankings anytime soon tell you that right now well you guys already Rod Martin Boudai have a spot when he was 4-0 so clearly Waldo's not going to get in there I have Waldo

at 17, the UFC only rankings, I have Waldo at 17. So he is technically top 20, and I think that'd be fun if we'd get to spine you in there with him. Well, that's the main card. Let's go to the wild card round, AK, let's select one fighter.

And there's a lot of fun ones to choose from here that we've not match made for yet. It will matchmake for them right now. A.K., who did you go with? Like I said, there's a lot of good options, especially from the prelims. Anyone who listened to the post-fight show, no, I was enchanted. I'm now enchanted by Marcus McGee.

I just didn't know much about him before he came to the UFC. I'm sure other people did, much smarter people than me, knew that he could make an impact in this division. But I just thought, oh, here's card fodder. Here's a guy who's card fodder. But he has been great. He's up there in Aetra, Bantamway. He's 33 years old already. And if a guy was very, pretty little pro experience, he's 33 with only, I think this was like 11th to 12th profile.

fight. But he's a great. Three and O, all finishes. I mean, how can you complain? And I think Gaston Bologios is a pretty good matchup. I know McGee was favored, but was pretty strongly favored, but I still think Bologna was a good matchup for him. So let's move him up a bit. I gave him a name

who, frankly, I just kind of, I'm not sure where this guy is, and I think his comeback fight would be a good matchup for Marcus McGee. So I'm going with Sergei Morozov. I don't know if you've heard anything about Sergey. I think it's been over a year since he last fought. I had him somewhere in the top 25, I think, before I removed him from my rankings.

But this is, again, this is the kind of test I need for McGee? Is McGee just kind of a fun bottom of the ranking, excuse me, bonus collecting fighter? Or is this someone who, by the end of 2024, we could be talking about as a, you know, not top 15, but flirting with the top 15 ranking? I think we could. I think we get there. But I'd like to see how he fared against Skylight like Morozov. I think it's solid, but also I don't quite have a gauge on where he should be ranked when he's comes there.

That is a very fun pick. I like that a lot. So I'm cheating a little bit here. I'm doing a wild card and I'm also going to give you a wild wild card. I'll start with the wild card. Josh Van is just the dude and I am very excited to see where he goes from here. Having said that, I saw a lot of people be like, oh, no, you get a slow roll him and all that stuff. And yes, I kind of understand that, but it's time to give him a little bit of a boost here, a little bit.

Outside of the top 15, let's do the thing. Cody Durdin, I think, is a very good opponent for Josh Van. I think that's a nice next step for Joshua Van. So that's my wild card pick. My wild wild card pick is something I didn't really think about until I saw him as a cornerman yesterday. Gian Silva is just a madman and I want to see him fight Julian Orozas so bad. I just, I don't know why this has popped into my head,

but Gianz Silva versus Julian O'Rosa scratches me right where I itch. That will be the weirdest, most insane top 30 featherweight fight you can possibly make right now. That fight is so, I don't even know if there's a word that exists to describe what could happen. when you put these two dudes at a Doanockegon. So that's my wild wild card. Gian versus Juicy Jay. Oh, yeah. So much J's going on.

Gian does not have a nickname if I'm not mistaken, right? He's just the Gian. Yes. Oh, no, I'm sorry. What do I say? He does have a nickname. They sit on the air and I think it's tattooed on his back. Lord Assassin.

Lord Assassin. Yeah, he's a character. I'll leave it at that. I have feeling we'll be talking a lot more about. Silva this year. And this was maybe only the beginning of his antics. This, this, this, this debut reminds me a little bit of Michelle Pareda. I think we knew about, uh, Michelle, more about Michelle before he came to the UFC. He has a ton of pre-UOC experience. Um, but as far as like the, there being a very big buzz about him. I think, I think, uh, John Silva was the biggest favorite on

the card. Yep. By far. Um, so plenty of buzz, a lot of buzz about him before he even came in. Um, the, From the moment he steps into the, I wish this interest had been in front of people, because that's what DeMolador got to debut in front of people. The commentary was like, what the hell's going on? We were all on Twitter, like, what is this guy's deal? And then he puts on a memorable performance against an overmatched opponent. Now, Danny Roberts, who lost the DeMolador in his debut,

certainly much more accomplished in Weston Wilson. But it was the same idea. He made the other guy really looked like he did not belong in the Octagon with him. So hopefully Silva doesn't fall on some of the same. banana peels that Michelle Pudetta has. But yeah, I think Julian Rosa is the perfect weird matchup for him.

And Joshua Van, Cody Durden. Yeah, I'm really high in Josh Van. I think he's going to have a monster year in the flyweight division. And if you really want to get him up there quick, Durdon's the way to go. I have Durden in my top 15 UFC fighters, right at 15.

So, man, it's kind of crazy to me that Van could be a top 15 at least the top 20 flyweight. How old? He's like 23? 22, I think. 22? He's a young man. He's so good.

That's crazy. I hope they match make him right. Yep, 22. He turns 23 in October. Wow, he just recently, he's a fresh 22. Oh, yeah. Gosh, he, he, he, I hope the UFC match makes him right because he is good. Like he, they, man, they've got him and Tyra and Makaya.

The flyweight division is just banging right now. So I think this will be his year of building his resume, kind of like Tyra has. Tyra, I think now is in the stage where we're going to talk about him fighting top 10 guys. This is Van's sort of Tyra, Makayev, like, early year. We're like, let's not rush him up yet. Let's keep giving him good matchups. And, yeah, Durdon's up there. But that'll accelerate him a lot.

If he beats Durdon, that's kind of raises expectations way, way, way up. So it's good. It's intriguing matchup. Yeah. The O.C. does a lot of things wrong, but one thing they do right is when there's a prospect that's getting over. They know how to use that. And I feel like Josh Van is like super over right now.

Like Tyra is over now. And I think like hardcore fans and those who knew who Tetsu or Tyra was before he came to the UFC like knew this was coming. Josh Van kind of built up a little more fanfare before he got to the UFC like fighting in LFA and fighting on the regional scene and stuff. Like people knew who he was. They knew who he was. And then when he came over is a very exciting time.

And now people are starting to reap the benefits of their fanhood. early on with this kid. And I think the UFC is starting to understand, like, all right, we got something here. So I think Durdon's a pretty good matchup. You could do like a Jay Cadley, but like, I would like the Durdon fight better. I think he's, I think he goes out there and smushes Jake Hadley. So yeah, let's go Darden. I hope they handle it at 23 is, that 22 is young, man.

He's that close to his prime. Like we're not even close to seeing how good this guy can be physically. Who knows? He might be a bantamway. I don't know. I don't know how his frame's going to fill out. That is young. Yeah.

That's really young. So let's handle this kid right. Speaking, and going back to Gian Silva, and I don't want to say this to be a dink, but Weston Wilson needs to not be in the UFC anymore. That was really tough to watch. I saw people saying this, and I, again, Weston, I'm sorry, I'm not that familiar with your pre-UFC career. And then I looked it up, I'm like, boy, his pre, like, the resume of his pre-UFC opponents is not great. No.

Because I'm like, how, because we were saying, like, oh, this guy's really bad. I'm like, how bad could a guy who entered the UFC with a 16 and 7? record B. Like, he beat, he beat 16 people. And I'm like, I'm looking at this record, like, 10 fights in. He's still fighting guys. One in 14, two and four, two and three, uh, I think 15 fights in 20 fights in his career. He fought a guy who was nine and 19. I'm like, okay, maybe this resume of Weston Wilson is a little, it's a little puffy. Yeah. It's a little puffy. It's not, it's not a great resume. And in there was, there was incredible betting value on Gian, Silva at minus 900.

I mean, stupent, maybe the most value on the entire card was Giann Silva at minus 900. He should have been a minus 4,000 favorite. Oh, boy. In fairness to Wesson, I hope you are, right. And if you stick around the UFC, you know, you know, God bless you, sir.

Good luck to you. That's two tough matchups for his first two UFC fights, John Silva, especially compared to, again, some of the not as great talent he was fighting on the, on the regional scene. Yeah. To put it nice. I mean,

I don't want him to like retire from fighting, but come on now. He can't be in the UFC. He can't. Can we at least give him, if he gets one more shot, can at least be against a guy who is like, bottom 10 of the, uh, the division of the,

um, featherweight division. Please. Like, I don't know. Let me see what. Yeah, I got a list.

Yeah, I got a list. What's, what's Jarno Aaron's doing right now? What's, uh, How, how, Janus Gomori

You might actually have a fightbook down. Like honestly, I have On my rankings, I have him is, I have him at 73 right now. I have him in the exact same. No, that's scary. See, this is how I know,

see, that you're on point because, yes, I also have 73 listed. Oh, but 73 is the bottom for me. I don't know if you have more names. He's 73 out of 73 on my list. There's fighters who, like, haven't fought in a long time that aren't ranked. Yeah, yeah, same, same.

Honestly, there's not one fight that I look at, and I'm like, yeah, this is going to go somewhat okay. Like, I know Dennis, Dennis Vizuka is getting ready to fight. Who's he fighting? Brennan Marat, I think. And I think Dennis is better than he's. Maybe the loser of that fight. And I think, I think Dennis, like, hurts West of Wilson bad. Yeah, I think he's, I think Dennis has been better than he's had a chance to show in the UFC.

Actually, Dennis is not, like, I'm not saying his top. You fought Sean Woodson and Jamal Emmer's. Those are like two really tough fights. So, yeah. Nothing about respect for Weston Wilson. Making it to the UFC is very difficult. So whatever's next, you know, again, I really say good luck to him. But yeah, it's been hard.

He hasn't looked great in his first two fights. It's just a factor. Yeah. Let's go to the peeps, AK. For the first time this year, do you want to drop some knowledge on the people, especially the newcomers who are coming into this year fresh and ready to submit their matchmaking picks all you? Well, let's give it a point, Mike.

Let's give it a solo point. Oh. Let's give it a solo point. And I don't think this is the only person who's brought this fight up, but it's the only one I can recall. More importantly, they poked me and said I should give them the point. And I will, and I will because I love this matchup. I'm very excited to happen. And again, I get there's other people out there.

But I tell you guys, again, my memory is pretty shot at this age. So please, you got to remind me if you made the pick. So Willie Beeman was the one I saw to go with Raoul Rosso. Suss Jr. versus Ricky Tersios. That looks like it's going down. UFC Mexico City, February 24th. I love this matchup so much. Willie, we're kicking off 2024 with a point for you.

Hopefully, this sustains you for the first half of the year. You can go on a nice little vacation. Just take a little break from work because you got yourself a point in the bank now. So feel free to spend it frivolously or be responsible and invest. But I'm giving Willie Beeman a point. Thank you, Willie Beeman. And everyone, Mike, everyone, except me, I think. I think I'm the only one who I was like, I didn't need to see this matchup,

but Davidson Figurato, Cody Garbrandt. This was supposed to happen a long time ago. And for the feather, the flyweight title, excuse me. Now it looks like it's going to be a featured fight at USC 300. And I think, Mike, you were behind this fight, right? You were behind it. 100%. I was behind Figy versus Piotr-Yan originally, but then they booked Peter Yan versus

Song-e-Di-Dong like two weeks later. And now this is the no-brainer fight to make. Yep. Yeah, again, not my favorite fight, but it's just makes sense for both guys. Cody wants it. Cody wants it. He wants Biggie. Biggie wants Cody. Sometimes you've got to give the people and you've got to give the fighters what

they want. So, yeah, everyone who wanted that one, a little sprinkling of a shared point. But that's it. Yeah. Hopefully people can make good use of these. All right. I'm very much looking forward to that fight. Very much. I am too. I am too. I can't deny it. It's going to be incredible. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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Guys, please, please, when you're sending your listener picks, make sure your time about guys who are in logical weight classes they could fight in. Make sure they haven't fought already or fought recently. If they have fought before, can you add it to? Can you let us know that you know it's a rematch? Notable injuries may make certain fighters ineligible. people who have been released, fighters are already booked.

Guys, the easiest one to check, fighters are already booked. So many ways you can check, M.Afighting.com, Sherdog.com, topology, social media, whatever, just take two seconds to see if someone's books.

And also people who are well-known teammates or friends who are likely not to fight each other. They're trying to avoid those well. And your pictures might be doo-do and we don't want to read it. I didn't see a lot of that this week, Mike, but we definitely,

we definitely have some textbook do-do. I don't know how you want to approach that. But go ahead. We can get to it as it goes. Yeah. Look, we've been around for a hot minute. We've been doing this show for a while. We're not going to be as giving.

Maybe like if you're a newcomer and you drop a little bit of doo-doo will be a little bit nicer. But if you're a wily veteran, if you've been doing this for a while and you drop a little bit of do-do, especially with the rules that AK just put forth, probably going to give you a little shit. Speaking of a man who's gotten a whole bunch of it throughout the. history of the show. Dad Jackson kicks us off here in 2024. Preston Parsons versus Mick Tebeck Oralby. Interesting. WCA, Walter Cortes Acosta, versus the winner of Robelaus Spagney versus Josh Peresian. Bruno Ferre versus Sharra Bullitt, Mario Batista versus Saeed, Nurmaga Madoff, Jim Miller versus Bobby Green, Magamette Anklei versus Khalil Roundtree, if he doesn't get a title shot or the winner of Yuri versus Rackich,

happy New Year, jents. Dad Jackson, well done. That was solid. Very solid. You preempted that with like, I was like, oh, no, is there going to be some dude here? But that was pretty good. Well, don't look too far, A.K. I know, I know.

Robbie Ryan, happy New Year gentlemen. It's a pity the UFC started off the year in the apex instead of in front of a live crowd, but it was a pretty entertaining card. Let's get out. No. Ankle Live versus Jamal Hill. maybe in a more contender fight. Walker versus Yuri.

That's all it says. Not Rackich. Not the winner of Uri versus Rackich, not versus Uri after the fight with Rackich, nothing. So I'm going to let this one go. Yeah, I take that as they expect Uri to win. But we got to add to this. You've been around. Batista versus Jonathan Martinez, aka, he's with you.

Jim Miller versus Clay Guida, UFC 300. Bruno Ferreira versus the Brad Tavaris Robocop winner and I am striking down upon the with the do-do gavel because we just saw Bruno Ferreira

fight Robocop and he knocked him out in his UFC debut so this was like two fights ago so this is some do-do specifically said that not whoever wins that fight to fight versus Tavares Robocop winner no no I mean did I hear Jim Miller

Clay Guido as well you should did was there two in there no there wasn't That fight happened long time ago. A lot of mistakes. No twos. It's rough. Yeah, tough. Wild card comment.

Mike, I know you love Menal Cop, but his resume does not place him anywhere near the title picture. He needs two to three more wins over top 10 fly weights and make weight for every one of those fights to even be in consideration at this point. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. And even after the weight miss, and as we said in the preview show, said in my reaction, he ain't getting a title shot next. There's no chance. He's going to have to win at least two fights before he gets the title fight. So I'm with you there. I was not defending Minal Cop getting a title shot after missing weight by three and a half pounds. I was born

defending Mateus Nicolao for not taking the fight because he shouldn't have. And I have no issue with him not taking the fight. So I respect your comment. So there you go. John Ray, Josh Van versus Alon Nassimento. Farid Basharat, AK, who I'm very high on. What a performance. Versus Adrian Yannes. I like that fight a lot. Good.

Good. Parsons versus Parsons. Yes. Preston versus Johnny. Who was it? Who recommended this? This is John Ray. Let me shout out someone else who had this as well.

I think Chris Martin. So I won't read it twice. Chris Martin also had Parsons on Parsons Crime. And I'm all for it. Hashtag Parsons versus Parham. We get a hashtag fight first one of the air. WCA versus another Nassimento, Rodrigo Nassimento, Ferreira versus the Pereira Olegzechuk winner.

Boy, is that fun? Holy smokes. Yeah, if that, because that was just recently reported, right? Michelle Piddhar and U.S. UFC announced that fight for 299. They announced for 29. If, if Oluxajic had not been booked, I would have said that's the perfect fight for Brougham, actually.

God, it's so good. Mario Batista versus the Pedro Munoz Kyler Phillips winner Kind of doodish Kind of Because Kyler Phillips, I believe I'm 95% sure

That Kyler Phillips is a teammate of one Mario Batista He is at the MMA Lab I should probably look into this I'm pretty sure that's the case So Not full on doo-doo but We're getting there

You've been warned. Yeah. I don't think we need to give a full doo-do slapping there. Jim Effing Miller versus TOTI Ferguson. I don't want to see this at all. No interest in this. Oh, you're fully against this? Totally against it.

I think Jim Miller really hurts Tote Ferguson. Like badly hurts him. Yeah, yeah. Because look, we talk, one of the things we said so much we love but Jim Miller is that he's just been so competitive still. He's won five of his last six fights. He doesn't look like he's in a Tony Ferguson like tailspin. He looks quite vital right now. And it does feel like he would just run through Tony inside him around, if not, if not early in the second.

And I don't think anyone wants to see that. He also likes Walker versus Vulcan Ozedimir and Magamund Akalaya versus Alex Pereira at UFC 300. Left lane MMA. Hey, Mike, matchmaker left lane here. No do-do picks. Well, we'll see. Ankelai versus Pereira Walker Roundtree 2

Miller versus Felder Batista versus Font Ferreira versus Tavaris after Robocop chin Sevese? You see that? You see what he did there? Left Lane is one of the newer contributors. Lefton has been solid. I'll say Left name has been solid. Shout out to Leifling. Waldo versus Derek Lewis

or to Spain after he rinses Parisian. He did say in parentheses, I was inclined to say Pavlovich, but he didn't go there. McGee versus Adrian Yon. I like it. Again, I think McGee, you've got to get him up there sooner run. 33 is a bit old for a bantam weight. It doesn't have as much mileage on him as some of the other people in the division, but it is a young man's division. It really is. And if you want to move them up quick, I have no problem with that if you want to fast track him, just to see where he's

at. But very exciting fight. Basharab versus Chris Gutierrez. Yeah, that's good. Like that one. Mota versus Trevor Peek, like that one. Van versus Dvorak. I don't know if I really want to see that one. just yet. If there's any way that could kind of like not make Josh Van fun, it's David for it. I mean, that's the day of the game. And Gian Silva

versus Sadigee. And now we go to Harry Dewaskin who has a message for you, AK. What? So before I get my matchmaking suggestions, I have to get something off my chest.

There's been a smell emanating from the last few months of Botno and it's Mr. Lee's doo-doo. He may still have his deeply soothing voice and podcasting skills, but his matchmaking has had a Tony Ferguson-esque falloff. Fingers crossed, 2024 holds promise. I know he has it at him. Do you want to respond and do you want to listen to the matchmaking suggestions?

I have apologized for the doo-doo that I have dropped on some recent episodes. That's like a one or two fix. This is, you're only as good as your last. fight. I get it. You're only as good as your last Otner episode. Yeah, I've had some stinkers recently. If there's examples that Harry wants to bring up that we haven't already

harped on, Harry, my DMs are open, I'm welcome to hear it. But I think we've established, yeah, I had some wifts. I had some major wifts. But I had some big wins last year, too. So, not that I can recall it's top of my head. But I've exempted from almost anything after Ferguson, after Patty Ferguson.

And when we finally get Patty Chandler this year, I'll be untouchable. So we'll be, Harry, love you, we'll revisit this conversation. He likes Josh Van versus Venetia Salvador. He says he needs to fight low-level guys versus next

four or so fights until he gets his man strength. Mota versus Evan Elder. I think that's a fun fight. Silva versus Jack Jenkins, that is crazy. Farid versus Montel Jackson, fun. Parsons versus Celeski, Hulk versus Christian Leeward Duncan, Jim Miller versus Bobby Green. You know, if there's one thing I've learned about this game, AK, is that if you're going to throw a little bit of shade on somebody, you should probably check your work.

Because this is what the other suggestion was. The maniac versus Marcus Begui. So apparently, he wants to clone Marcus Begui to have him fight himself. No. That's what it says. Is this the maniac versus Marcus Vigke? Is there another maniac in the UFC that I'm not aware of? I googled it and I couldn't find anybody. It was all Marcus Begui. Maybe he meant Tim Sylvia. But he didn't spell it right.

Tim Mitzlvia is like Maine is in the state, yeah. You know what? I take back what I said earlier then. We will not be having any discussion later, Harry, because you got to, you got a, you got a sort out your own life first, brother. You got to start out your own life. I was crying, laughing when I saw it. I'm like, wait a minute. Nice. The doo-do emanating from Mr. Lee, and then he wants Marcus McGee to fight himself, which, by the way, if we can make that happen scientifically, I will watch the crap out of that. That's super fun. Marcus McGee trying to figure out himself would be incredible. And just to tease an upcoming podcast, I don't know if an upcoming episode of Damn, I don't know if I'm supposed to say when

coming up but uh to quote this fighter who is a subject uh you know the the enemy the enemy the enemy is the inner me the inner me so if you will know where that quote has come from then you will know who our next damn subject is uh but i guess maybe that's what what harry's talking about maybe marcus mcgney needs to face his enemy the enemy so good uh all right i okay you are up oh am i oh goodness me uh you didn't read four corner sports right you saved me that i saved you You said you wanted to do this together. Yes, we can do this together. I know he sent to both of us.

I'm just got to double-check this real quick before I slam him because I... Four Corner Sports, always appreciate it. So Ankleyev or a Jamal Hill winner, yes, if Def Bike gets booked, of course, I'd make a lot of sense. Walker versus Khalil Roundtree. This needs a two. Yes, it does. This needs a two next to it. Four Corner Sports, come on, man.

Walker beat him already at 2018. Highlight Real Knockout. Come on now. That's a little bit of do-do right there. Jim Miller, Chase Hooper, rebook Bruno Ferreira versus Rizak al-Hassan. I'm fine with that. Batista Cruz Juarez. Mike, Waldo Cortez Acosta, Marcos, Hogiero Delima.

Now, do you recall earlier, I said Waldo is 4 and 1 in the UFC? Can you remember, based on my tone of voice right now, do you recall who the 1 is in the 4-1? Well, let me just say this. Because I've gone on record on this program already, and I said, Waldo Cortez, Acosta. is undefeated in the UFC, which I was wrong about because I totally forgot this fight ever even happened. As honestly, as did I. I totally forgot these two guys actually fought each other.

But still, it happened. And not that long ago, guys, this was this past April, Marcos Hosejaro de Lima and Waldo Cortez-Costov fought. So, four corners, that is doo-do, buddy. I mean, if it was maybe like a 20-22 fight, it was like a UC debut or something, I kind of It would have been like, okay, run it back, fine. Even then, I'd still be like, why do you want to see this fight again? But that's doo-do.

That is doo-doo. And then the other two, Motto versus Chris Ocas, if he loses to Bahamondes, that's on April 6th. And Joshman v. Jake Hadley. So we got some do-do there. Did you get the follow-up tweet message? I did not. I have it right here. Oh, please.

And also to add on to Batista, Rob Font is not taking that fight. I could see Umar taking that fight, just who he's. could stay busy. Why would... Why would... Why would Rob Font not take that fight? Tell me why Rob Font would not take that fight. Please tell me. I guess... Okay, so I'll try to think what Four Cornersports saying here. I mean, Rob Font is on a two-fight losing streak, right? So it's like, maybe he sees it's too risky. He doesn't want to lose three straight, but like you said, as you argued before. But stylistically, he could beat Mario Batista. It's a winnable fight for him. Yeah, he should see this as

winnable. Yeah, I agree. I do think that's... Four corner sports, not your best state. But again, 2024 is young. Like I said, I've made a lot of mistakes recently. I won't hold these against you. One of the, one of the D-DU picks was a long time ago in fairness and the other one. Apparently, none of us even remember it happened. So maybe it didn't happen.

Maybe that is a good pick. I don't know. But questionable. Gosh, should I go to the next D-D-D-D-U? Yes, let's go. Go right to it? Let's, I mean, we can. I mean, look, you control the narrative here.

We could go right into it. This is this. There was two picks from Dary, and I'm only going to read the one. I don't even know how to Mike, Jim Miller We talked about a lot of great matches for Jim Miller I don't know if Daring is this is guys trolling or not

Jim Miller versus Alexander Hernandez There's so much do-do involved here That I don't even know where to begin I wrote down that it's in my notes All caps super do-doo They just fought last February Hernandez won

There's no reason to run this back This just happened less than a year ago, this fight happened. Hernandez is already booked to fight. We mentioned April 6th. Hernandez is on that card as well. He's fighting Damon Jackson. And he's fighting at featherweight. So there's three, like, three just lines.

Triple doodoo. Triple, the rare triple doo doo-do. Like, wrong way class. It's the big mac of doo-do. Already fought. I think I'm being trolled. I think I'm being trolled. So, Daryin, I won't be fooled again.

If you give me something this heinous again next time. I'm not a fool. You're getting your, you're getting your air time now. I'm not reading this out next time. There's anything like this is one of the, we're in 2024, and this is already a frontrunner, Mike, for maybe the worst matchmaking of the year. It's going to be hard to top.

This is, this might be one of the worst, like when we're talking about this in December. Oh my God. This might have to be a new category for the year-end show. That's real bad. Yeah, I got to make a do-do list. I don't know. That is so bad.

Okay, let's Is it worse than Marcus McGee versus Marcus McGee? Yes. Yes, it is. Because I actually want to see Marcus McGee fight Marcus Begui. Carry on. All right.

Tack MMA. Tack MMA, Jim Miller versus Matt Brown. I'm okay with it. I wouldn't mind to see him going up to 170 just for a one-office and that's fun. I think people have been saying Matt Brown probably has some other options, so we'll see.

Bruno Faheda versus Gerald Mirchart, Mara Batista, John Martinez, thank you, or Cortez Acosta and Dantale, Mays. Yeah, that's just perfect heavyweighty, heavyweight matchmaking right there. Chris Martin, let's see what we got here, anything new. Walker versus Menafield, Beheada, Shabazian, Cortez Acosta, Moeus. How many heavyweighty, heavyweight matchups are there, Mike? There's so many. There's so many.

Are we in the golden age right now of heavy weighty heavy weights? If it's a fight that can happen at the apex, then it's a heavyweighty, heavyweight. Goodness me Look, there's a very real world where Waldo Cortez-A-Costa versus Alexander Romanov is actually a heavy-weighty, heavy-weight. Oh, my God.

They better bring back Augusto Sakai. I'm still mad that there's, like, reports that he was released. Like, I think it's true. I haven't seen him fight for another promotion yet, but, man, he's, he is in, I think he's like one of the heavy-weighty, heavy-weight number-on contenders.

I think it's bullcraft if he isn't in the O.C. Let's do Parker Porter versus Augusto Sakai, main event of the first contender series card winner resigns with the UFC loser out of the UFC forever you're welcome well that's a little hold on you had me up until that I can't risk that most watched contender series

episode of all time I can't risk that you had me until the thing at the end like that's a bit harsh that's pretty cool don't don't close that door if I read Bostrop versus Victor Henry Chris said to give Henry revenge for Javid ding ding kicks that's right uh john silver versus francis marshall uh he hasn't okay these we've read these before uh close on on twitter with bear o'reilly before i just poke in some quick IG and email recommendations uh barry o'reilly john silver versus morgan morgan morgan

chedier is morgan booked he might be but i just want i don't know but that's a that's a i think that's a pretty big step up in competition no he's not as it right now he's not okay i think that's a That's a pretty big step up in competition. Barry writes, Silva sneakily stole the show for me as weird as intensity has been interested in his next fight. A scrap versus Shadier would be a banger. It would, I just think,

I don't know, maybe I need to know more about John Silva guys because apparently he's a big deal, but I think Morgan is so much more experience. Our own Gearmey Cruz on our Slack channel said that he has like a really crazy life story. Oh, God. that he is going to reveal before

Gian Silva's next UFC fight so stay tuned for that I'm just going to read Barry's rationale for Jim Miller and Tony Ferguson he said I feel bad making this but it kind of makes sense for UFC 100 everyone wants to see Jim Miller fight 300 the card is lacking big name fighters

which Tony still is despite his losing streak I'll come back to that he didn't look good but didn't look terrible against Pimblit okay so he might be able to give Miller a decent fight I will say he didn't look terrible against Patty I think he looked bad. It's because Patty died.

Like Patty ran out of steam trying to finish him. And I am starting to not to say that Tony is not a big name anymore. I don't know, right? Maybe that's something you can't lose in MMA. But I'm starting to think he's not a name that is any sort of drawing power with the fans anymore. I don't know if I'm crazy. Do you disagree? I think he's still up there?

Depends on the context. Like Tony, depending on where a card is, like if this is UFC 300 in Vegas, I don't think it does Tony any favors in the court of public opinion. I mean, maybe it will because he's, I don't know how he treats Jim Miller in this situation. Does he say he's going to rip off his face or does he put Jim Miller over as the Wiley veteran that he is? Tony's still very popular. You hear the ovations he got in Las Vegas ahead of the patty fight.

Maybe that was more Patty than Tony. But you heard it multiple times throughout his career. The dude is still super popular. people still like him. I think time is running out here. So I'm kind of with you. Like we're getting dangerously close to the exit when it comes to that. It's more sad than happy when we see Tony.

Boy. Let me jump over to Instagram for a laugh. Jason Colburn. What's up, Jason Colburn? Batista was Umar. I would love to see that fight. I think we all agree. It just doesn't seem like it's in the cards right now for either guy.

And then this is like a doo-doish pick, but at least it made me laugh. Um, Walker versus Crab Tree, Mike. That's so good. Crab Tree. Michael Crabtree, the former wide receiver? Yes, the former wide receiver of the, what, the 49ers was it? Yeah. Uh, shiny.

I, I, I know he means round, I assume he means Khalil Roundtree. Uh, and there's no two, so by automatically it's do-do, but like, just, what are we doing, guys? 2024. What are we doing? Uh, did you read Gerard Bioggin? I forget. I did not. Okay.

You see one of your guys. Uh, let me do. see there's anything. Miller versus, oh, Michael Johnson, winner-lose in this next fight at USC 300. Um, who's Michael fighting? I think he is booked. I think that's why Gerard said this. This sounds very familiar. What do you got? What do you got? I'm going to pull it up. I know I saw him out. Michael Johnson versus, uh, Darius Flowers. Yes, February 10th. Okay. Again, it's just be a fun fight for two guys who have been in the UFC forever. So I, it's in play. horse candidate. It's a dark horse candidate. And one that if it came up, I think I get it might be

a little bit deflating for, you know, a lot of the fans, but I'd be okay with it. I could see the story behind it. So I don't mind it. Some of the picks we've already seen. I like Bruno Fedetta versus Jun Yon Park and Marcus McGee versus Altenghe Highly. Actually, that's a really smart match. I'm sorry too. C.V. C.V. Walker Round Tree two. Thank you. Both spelled his name correctly and remember that it was a rematch. John Silver versus Chepe Mariscal. Oh, yes. On the Post-Fa-Show, I heard you mention that you and Michael he boots in the ground.

No, it won't be Mike and I. Mike, you will, you're not making a surprise appearance. No, no. Okay, I'm sorry. Jose. Yeah, the wonderful Jose Youngs will be there, my old friend. So I'm meeting my old friend, not necessarily my best friend someday. So CB, maybe you'll see Jose and I think CV is saying they're in.

Toronto. So, yeah, shout it out. Shout it out. Hopefully we've run into UCB. Tino Alvarez, Preston Parsons, Jake Matthews. It's a bit of a step. A lot of people want, Bruno and Sharra Bullitt. Other than that, I'm seeing stuff we've already had. Okay. And then I was going to emails real quick. Tristan Gordet, Farid, John Castaneda. Nicholas Motta and Mikti Bech Oral Bai, because Oral Bai, I believe, is planning to move down to 155. So he said this would be a good fight for Zibu.

Josh Van, Hjung, Park. close out with Jay Donaghy. Anything new here? I'll say just Farid Basharat and Douglas De Silva D'Andrash. Gavish has the order of this name. I like it. I'm very excited for

Farid Basharat. I can't remember if we had like a predictions thing last year was like one of the Basharap brothers would be top of the dean by the end of the year or something. I think maybe it wasn't a buy-sell thing, but I feel this has come up and I think I said neither would be by the end of 23 but by the end of 2024

I'll say this I will be surprised if one of Javid or Farid is not in the top of the 15 of the UFC's rankings I think they're both that good and one of them I think one at least one of them if not both will stay undefeated they're just really solid and have everything it takes to climb up the 135 ladder yeah I like them

both I gotta say no disrespect here When I saw the report that Javid was fighting Amin Sahavi, I was like, oh, you know, Amin's good, but I just felt like Javid needs either a top 15 guy or like someone's super duper close to it. And I don't think Aman is super duper close to it. You know what I mean? So I was a little kind of let down in some way. Yeah.

Because I want to see Javid fight a top 15 guy. I think he's earned it. Yeah. Both him and his brother are top 15 talents for sure. They don't have the resumes yet. put them in there with almost pretty much anyone in the top 15, I feel like they're going to competitive. They're just so,

so fundamentally sound. And pretty aggressive, too. I make it sound like they're boring. Like they're boring. I know they're pretty aggressive like fighters. So, yeah, I like them both a lot.

I guess they're just missing like signature, chaos, subs and all that. But like, you know, they went, I found even the decisions are pretty compelling to watch. But I talked to,

um, Eric Nixick last night, like after Fareed's win. And I was just like, man, what an embarrassment of riches you, you have over at Extreme Coutor. He's just like,

And he's basically telling me how just talking to them about the fight game, like when he feels like he needs to hit almost like a refresh, just like a new line of thinking in some way. Like if he's bogged on or he's got like a cloudy memory, he just goes and talks fighting with those two guys and he's just like immediately refreshed because they're so smart and so intelligent about the fight game. And I just don't know if I've seen two guys from the same team, let alone brothers, who are so.

so good at just making decisions in a fight. They just see everything. They play, they're literally playing chess when they fight. Everyone's playing checkers. They're playing chess. They see two moves ahead and they're just so smart in, like in the middle of the fight. It's incredible. Yeah, we talk a lot about athleticism being like the ultimate cheat code in combat sports, which still is, but fight IQ is right up there. And it's another thing which you can learn it, sure, but there are some people who they just enter fighting with a clear instinct of, of like you said, how to do things, the process is how to put things together, how to react, how to act, how to act first. And these guys have that. You can just see it in them and like everything they do. So yeah, any matchup for Farid

next would be great. Like you said, for Javina, it would be nice if he's getting a bit of a tougher test already. But those will come. Those will come in 2024. We'll be hearing a lot from Basharov brothers this year. Absolutely. So that's it for now. People reach out. Hit us up in the DM. 2024 new year.

Keep that doo-doo out of there. I think we've, Mike, I want to say we've got the worst out of the way. And we will not receive any do-do picks for the rest of the year. I am confident after today's public shaming for some of these picks. But you can reach me guys on Instagram, Alexander KK Lee, Alexander K.K. Lee on Twitter and Alex.

Dot Lee at espionation.com. All my DMs and things are open. So hit me up. I'm not giving mine right now. You're all punished now. Well, no, the good news is for the ones who submit matchmaking in a normal sense of the word. Oh, yes, right. You will have like three weeks to think about what you have done because we got a pay-per-view next week,

which means we're going to do a live show of some kind on Sunday after UFC 297. I'll run down the car in a moment. Then there's a week off, no UFC card the following week. And then February 3rd, the UFC is back at the world's most famous apex, which they will also be there for February 10th. So you get a chance to think about the decisions that you've made, the rules that are in place for the show, memorizing them, and putting them to good use. And then February 4th, we can see if we have a do-do-free edition of onto the next one. But next week will be the live show. So we'll take all the matchmaking suggestions live in the chat.

Following UFC 2997, here is the card, AK for the first payperview of the year. Sean Strickland, Drickus Duplice, the main event for the middleweight title. This week's going to get real saucy between those two guys, I'm sure. The AK main event is actually the co-made event for the vacant UFC women's bandamoy title,

Myra Bueno Silva, taking on Raquel Pennington. Mike Malott returns to pay-per-view to take on Neil Magny. Chris Curtis, taking on Mark Ones. Andre Berriol. The fight I am looking, and I swear to God, I mean this with every fiber of my being. The fight I am looking the most forward to, this includes the main event, will be kicking off the main card as of right now in the UFC featherweight division.

Arnold Allen versus Mobzarifloyaf. I cannot wait for this fight. I'm so excited for it. We got Brad Catona versus Garrett Armfield. Not no point for me for that one, by the way. Charles Jordane versus Shariflo. John Woodson, Sir High Sadi versus Ramon Tavares, Jillian Robertson versus Pollyanna, Viana, Yohan, Laneses versus Sam Patterson, Jasmine, Jazz Deficius versus Priscilla Kachua.

And kicking things off in the flyweight division, aka Malcolm Gordon, taking on Jimmy Flick. That's UFC 297. Mike, I have a question. Sure. I did not keep open contender series at all last year. Why is the Sirai, Sirai, Sadi, fight a rematch? I don't understand. What was there a controversial stoppage?

I don't understand. With the Ramon Tavares, Tavares. What's happening here? What? I remember when this was, we, I think this was booked a while ago, and I was like, what the hell? So I didn't. Let me look it up. I didn't watch every episode of Contender Series.

Okay. I really didn't. This is so confusing. I'm so confused. I'm sorry, I should note, Tavaris did. fight again on contendishary since then. So he... It was a controversial stoppage.

It was a controversial stoppage. Kevin McDonald quickly waived the fight off in the 226 mark before Tavares got a chance to defend himself. Ah, okay. And then, and then, uh, Sadai, I think got a contract anyway. Of course he did. And then, uh, Tavares did fight again and got his own contract later that year. So okay. You know what?

I just, I was just, I was just, it just looks weird in the record thing. So it looks strange to me. But that's it. We don't need to. We don't need to. There you go. I'm glad we looked this up. But now we figured it out.

But yeah, 297 should be fun. Should be fun. Should kick off things really nicely. And I'm very excited to get back on the road for the first time in 2024. I will not be going to Toronto, but back to New York on Saturday for the fight. Meeting my old friend G.C. and crew in studio for the first watch party of 2024. So get excited. Everybody, buckle up, AK Jose Boots on the ground in Toronto.

Canada, and we will be live on this program on the YouTube channel next week following all the festivities. So thank you very much for checking out the first matchmaking show of the year for AK, I am Mike. I always remember the Golden Rule. Don't take the stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun, and we will have a lot of fun following UFC 297 next week right here. And on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.