MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 85

Episode Date: February 4, 2024

Nassourdine Imavov got it done in the headliner of UFC Vegas 85 with a majority decision victory over Roman Dolidze on Saturday night at the UFC APEX. With the middleweight division being in a very intriguing place at the top, where does Imavov go following his first main event win inside the octagon? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what's next for Imavov following his first UFC win since September 2022, and if he will fight someone ranked higher or lower in the rankings. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Renato Moicano after his hard fought decision win over Drew Dober in the co-main event, Randy Brown following his quick knockout victory over Muslim Salikhov, Natalia Silva after picking up the biggest win of her career against Viviane Araujo, along with fellow main card winner Charles Radtke, 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

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Available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition. On to the next one, yes, after a weekend off, the matchmaking crowns return following a memorable, monumental, Fight Night Card that we will go back and watch again and again and again. That is UFC Vegas 85, perhaps, at least according to former UFC light heavyweight champion, Jamal Hill, the low-key leader in the clubhouse for the fight card of the year in the world of mixed martial arts. But thank you for joining us.

I am Mike Kaka. Joining me as always the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, Mr. Alexander Cayley, AK. Hey, what's the haps, my friend? What's up, my best friend? I mean, Jamal Hill's not crazy if we're just talking about UFC cards. This was... It's really not... Like, some people were complaining about that take.

He might not be wrong. I mean, it's certainly in the top three. Top four? Top four. There's only been three, right? It's only been three. Wait, it was $2.97, the first one of the year. There wasn't a fight.

A second one. First one was the Johnny Walker, Maga Benke-Koliath, Carave, which is also not good. It's top three. He's not wrong. And he was very happy. I believe his teammates or friends, Jamal Polk's, Charles Johnson. I think he was there for them. And they won. And he was there live. You know, anything you watch live is better. And he was there rubbing shoulders with Nick Diaz and McKenzie Dern.

So, you know, maybe for Jamal, it was a better show. He needs to unwind anyway. If anyone follows his social media or some of the social media drama that he's been involved in lately, he gets a little frustrated with people. I was going to say like coming at him, but just even replying to him in any way, gets him fired up. So this man, you know, I think we know he's a bit of a jerk,

but also he just needs to get back in the cage and fight. That's really what's best for him. But yes, UFC Vegas 85. It was a card, Mike. It was a card. I didn't think it was a bad card. I thought it was fine. I thought it was fine, typical.

fight night fair and if you skim the top half of it you're like oh this was a pretty good card we can say about a lot of um UFC cards in general I was like if you took like the the best half of it you're pretty you're pretty satisfied you just kind of have to again for people like us who watch every card uh from top to bottom you know we we can't help but dwell on the the uh some of the more dreary moments this to me was comparable to a good pfl card like this That's how I felt, like a good, like not great. Not again, not one. There's not a lot of PFL events you would go back and rewatch anyways, but this was like a solid PFL card.

Yeah. That's how I felt. The main event was tough. It was weird. So that's what made it somewhat interesting. But we had some good performances. It's just a, it's kind of a slog, unfortunately. This probably wasn't as good as LFA's, uh, South Paulo card last weekend.

and I, a Grabacca Hitman chronicled that. You guys, of course, you should be following Kopposed on Twitter. Some ridiculous highlights and knockouts from that card. That's some missions. And again, I'm not saying that makes it a great card,

but it went down a little bit easier when you have some exciting things like that. And frankly, again, considering some of the, you know, the entry-level talents we have in the UFC now, it's not like if you watch an LFA show, you're like, oh, well, these guys aren't as good as in the UFC. Really, a lot of the guys in that card

probably could be fighting on the UFC right now if they just haven't got the opportunity. So yeah, check out those highlights in Miss Fiss. Or again, if you have, I believe it's on Fight Pass. If you have UFC Fight Pass, go back, check out some of the fights from. I think it was LFA 175. But anyway, their most recent show in Brazil, some really exciting stuff. So if we're hard on the UFC, guys, it's because there's a lot of other promotions out there that have exposure and they're probably putting on as good cards, if not better. Yeah. And let's let the truth be out there. We're hard on everybody.

Yes. PFL's bad card. You tell you. If Bell towards that card, we tell you. If WWE Raw was a slog, we'll tell you. Like, we just tell you. When that champ's card comes up, that card better be good. That card better like blow our expectations away. Because on paper, it looks like cool, like cool in concepts. But I don't think we're the only ones who saw that lineup and we're like, oh, man, this could be a struggle to get through.

But again, we're trying to be positive here. But yes, you're right. We are straight up and fair to everyone. You know, we don't play favorites here. I want PFL to be good so badly. I really do. I really want them to be good, but we'll see what happens. Let's get through this, AK.

The main event of UFC Vegas 85, in the middleweight division, we had Naserdine Imovov looking for his first win since September of 2022, taking on Roman DeLidezay, who was looking for his first win since 2022, because he only fought once last year. sort of controversial decision loss to Marvin Vittori, a UFC 286. And in the end, at least in my eyes, at least in the official eyes of MMAFighting.com, tremendous website. Nassadine Nemovafo won every single round of this fight. There was obviously the point deduction in round four. So I scored a 49-44. That is the website's official stance on it. Cards are all over the place. Even Rah McCarthy said it was a 47-47, which if you really truly break it down,

I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be. I don't think it's a very good card, but it's certainly not the worst we've ever seen. We had Imovov with the illegal kick. We had Imovov and Chris Curtis, a former opponent and also teammate of Roman DeLide's age, just kind of getting after it. During the fight, after the fight,

post-fight stuff all over the place. This was a very middle-way, let's be clear, but Nasdaenimov gets a much, needed victory. I think he needed this pretty badly. And now it's apparently onwards and upward. So what do we do with

one Nasredeen Imova following this victory? I liked the Sean Strickland call-up, but it's a little too soon to run it back. I was trying to remember, like, I always had to look up and like, when did they fight the first time? And I'm like, oh, it was really not long ago. That was, oh, a year ago.

So I don't think we need to run that one back soon. It's a good call-out. Again, it's a good call-out if he got it. Just realistically, they're in different levels of stardom and kind of esteem in the company right now, so he's not getting that. That can always happen down the road. Chris Curtis, another good possibility. Him and that whole camp beeping, I love. I know I saw people, some people on social media saying, like, oh, this is like juvenile. Chris Curtis shouldn't be doing that and hitting them with the middle finger crank. But I love it. It's fighting. It's fighting. And especially in a small

environment like that, that's the most excitement you're going to get out of the UFC apex is that small intimate setting. That's the one benefit we get is these guys are right in each other's faces. So I like the idea of him beefing with the Chris Curtis, Sean Strickland friendship thing. But I went boring. I just kind of want to see him above move up in a more realistic way. So I think he has to wait a bit, Mike. I'm giving him the Marvin Vittori Brendan Allen winner on April 6th. Whoever wins that, I think will, in my view, be a top seven, top six, top seven middleweight.

And that's a nice number for Immov to chase. Not top five yet. I don't think he can get a top five opponent yet. top six or top seven, set him up for a top five opponent later in the year. That's where I think we're going. So not super exciting, but I just think that's the logical thing for him and his team to do. I think there's only two ways this goes. My initial thought, even heading into this fight was this is for, at least in the UFC's eyes,

this is for the Joe Piper sweepstakes because Joe Piper's supposed to fight Jack Cromanson. Now, there is a very real world where on Saturday, when these two guys fight, Jack Cromanson goes in there and does Jack Cermancy's, type things because he's done that to a lot of up-and-comers and shut people down and taking hype trains. And he's still a very solid fighter, even though he's one of the Mount Rush Wars for middle-weighty middle-wades. Having said that, I don't think the UFC is going to go in this direction because I do think if Joe Piper goes in there and just steamrolls Jack Hermanson. I don't think Naserdine Imovov is like the guy that they're looking at right now.

I think they're going to try to shoot this dude to the moon and do it very, very quickly. So, Nasredini Mavov went to the post-fight press conference. He says he has no interest in fighting Chris Curtis. I didn't even know about the Sean Strickland callout. But in the end, this main event was so not great and so, like, not memorable, that Nazanini Mvoff is going to go right back to the UFC Apex to headline an event later on this year, where he will, in fact, fight Chris Curtis for a second time. There's no way the UFC is not going to make this fight now after this whole thing.

Like they have the promo package like ready to go. They don't even have to do anything. Chris Curtis with a fishing rod middle finger. I haven't seen that in like two decades. So they're absolutely going to do this fight, whether Nasda and Imovob wants it or not. This wind didn't really raise his stock too much, didn't plummet it too much. But of all the fights Nasredini Imovov could have that people would be like, oh, I'll watch this.

This is going to be kind of fun in terms of the build. promotional material, it's this one, and there's no other one. Now, Mike, I think you're right. But I think I'm also going to invoke the Jed rule of the UFC is always one injury away from doing the right thing. So I think actually they're going to book Imov against someone else, whether it's my pick or some other fighter, and then somehow that a fight will fall through and Chris Curtis will jump in on short notice.

I have a weird feeling that's what will happen. Because you're right. I'm Alaskaroff. Sure. They should just logically book the Chris Curtis fight. But again, I feel like we use this word logically and deserves and things like that with U.S.C. match speaking a lot. And sometimes they nail it. Sometimes they nail it. But very often we're left wondering, yes, why didn't they just go down this?

I'm still waiting for her hanging Masvon and Leon Edwards. So again, and that wasn't necessarily their fault. That fight didn't happen. But that's just an example of like a fight I thought for sure we're going to get. And we'll probably never get now. But this isn't logical booking. Like, Nasredini Movov should not be fighting Chris Curtis in a meritocratic world. No contest.

First fight. Right, but Imovofs is going to be like a top 10 middleweight and Chris Curtis is not. So like this win puts him like he should be fighting somebody in the top 10. So this is like not logical matchmaking. This is like business matchmaking. This is like, well, let's just do it because these two guys don't like each other. I hope they do it. Again, I'd love to see him run it back.

Not that I think YumaVov would have won the first fight anyway if it had gone on. But we don't know. We don't know. And now we have that history from the again, that somewhat. and unsatisfying inclusion. Plus what happened on Saturday night, it's a, it's a very fun fight to make.

And again, I'm involved, I don't think needs to be in any crazy hurry to climb up charts. He's one of those guys. He's in his prime, right? Yeah, late 20s.

Yeah. I just hope he fights Chris Curtis again at some point, even if it's not next. Yeah. Let's go to the Coal Main event. Hadat to Moikano. Wicano making money.

Defeats Drew Dober. Grueling fight. Kind of very scrappy. Dober showing the Doberness. Boycano just battles through. It looked like he was really slowing down at the start of round three, but fight hits the mat and he just gets after it and gets a win and cuts the 15-minute post-fight promo with Daniel Cormier after, revealing that he's an older brother to a new baby that his 62-year-old dad just had. He's going to be a future police officer and SWAT team

member calling out YouTubers, all sorts of weirdness, and then even filmed his ride on his YouTube channel to the hospital before calling out one B'Neil Daryush. As I said on the post-fight show,

I'm not going that direction. A.K., you may even be surprised by this. You're probably surprised by this last night. I think it's Patty Pimbley. I think you got to do Patty here. This is a win-win for the UFC. They're going back to the UK, one would assume in the summertime.

You put this fight on that card. The build is probably going to be kind of rotten to like from a moral perspective. But for like what the UFC is trying to accomplish here, this is going to be just a fiery buildup. And if Patty wins, they get to boost him up higher. And if Moikano wins, they get to boost him up higher. And like Patty just kind of drops back a little bit. It doesn't hurt him too badly.

I think this is perfect for both guys. and that's what I'm going with. I mean, if they do Darius, cool, I don't hate it, but Boycano versus Patty is just kind of what we need to see right now. That's what I think. Yeah, I went boring. I did like the Daryush pick, so that's officially my ought-no selection for Money Moikano.

It just makes a lot of sense. I think if Moikano wants to prove that he is an actual contender, it's time to go up there. But the real money fight is Patty. So I'd rather talk about that, even though I'm picking B'Neil. I think I said, you know, when I made the majestic Patty Pimbleau, Tony Ferguson pick, like this doesn't make him a top 15 fighter, obviously. But it is a guy who still has kind of a top 15, top 10 name.

Like, you're, it's still, you know, Tony Ferguson's name still resonates. So maybe now it is time to give him a top 15 person. I think in our rankings, Moikano's like 14 after this win. I don't know if he's going to move. But other way, he's holding onto a top 15 spot in, you know, the deepest division in all of MMA. So it's a very legitimate test. It's a winnable fight for Patty, too. I'm sure Moikano would be favored.

I would hope so anyway. But Patty's a strong grappler. He could hang in that department with Moikano. Moecoe has the edge for sure, but Patty can hang there. I think Patty would have a bit of a size advantage too. So it's interesting. It's an interesting fight. Neither guy's really great on the feet.

You could have some fun exchanges there. I do like it a lot. I think it's likely. I'm a little disappointed that Moikano didn't mention it. Like I said, Dary's callout made sense, but he could have sprinkled some patty in there just to get people like, you know, raise some eyebrows. Yeah. He's also apparently got Ian Gary on his mind as well. I didn't get that.

Yeah, I don't know. If you want to go on Twitter and see what he posted, it's very interesting. Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way, whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sacks is where you can find everything. from the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop for a sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start, sacks.com is customized to your personal style

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and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Randy Brown, AK. Guy just quietly putting together a pretty impressive resume

and he went out there and did what he needed to do to one Muslim Salikoff, knocks him out in the first round, just some slick-ass stuff from Mr. Rudeboy, and he had a call-out in mind, and it continued on into the post-fight press conference. In fact, he even said on his way to the post-fight press conference, or his post-fight scrum, he had a conversation with a certain individual who is in the welterweight division and said that they both sort of agreed to it, and if this person is a man of his word, they're going to go ahead and fight later on this year.

So did you see this? And if you didn't, who did you go with? Maybe you still get this one correct. Okay. Well, Rood boy is kind of a funny guy because if you look at his record, 12 and 5 in the UFC, great record. He's had some win streaks in there. He's got nice finishes. His fights are generally pre-entertaining.

I don't consider him. He's got decisions on his record. But usually when you watch a Randy Brown fight, you remember it. The Wellent Termin fight was whatever. But I was trying to remember why has he never quite broken through? And then you look at who he's lost to. He's lost to Bilal. He's lost to Nico Price.

That's kind of a freakish one. I don't hold that against him. But as far as like facing top competition, Balal Mohammed lost, Pagentai lost, and Jack Talamadal Madalena, who's now a top 15 guy, lost to him. He just cannot get that signature win. He has some good wins, but that cannot beat a top 15 guy, which is why he himself is not in the rankings there. So I am not focused on getting him there.

just yet. I picked an opponent who, I swear in my mind, it's either I thought they'd fought and apparently haven't. And I guess it's just been mentioned on onto the next one like 500 times. So this has to happen eventually. Him and Lee Jingleang. I just feel like it can be a great matchup again. Two guys. Lee has been ranked. I think Randy maybe has been in the UFC ranking. Great fight. Someone's getting knocked out probably or you're getting an exciting three-round decision and they're just around the same spot in the rankings. And it just feels like it should happen. So after that, then we look at a top of being top 10 opponent for Randy again. But let's give him the leash for that.

I love that idea. We're not queuing up the band here. Okay. I'm actually going to give Randy Brown what he wants. He wants Michael Kiesa. And I think that's perfect. I did hear about that. I think that's absolutely perfect.

So go ahead and do that. He wants UFC 300. I'm sorry, this fight's not happening at UFC 300. But you can do, we can put it on a pay-per-view, can put it on a preview prelim. This could be on a on-the-road fight night event. This could be like the co-main event of a decent apex card. Yeah, let's give Randy Brown his chance.

If he beats Michael Kiesa gets to break it to the rankings and maybe we see what he can do, who knows. But I like the matchmaking here, but the leech is pretty fun too. No real wrong way with either of these two picks. I don't think anyone who called for a 300 fight this week is getting it. What was it? It was Rainy Brown, what, Charles Johnson? Did Molly?

Did Molly? No. I don't think so. No. think she really called for anything. I don't think anyone's getting it. I hope this isn't the thing in like the next few weeks, like pointing, pointing to the UC300 sign, as it were. Because I, again, the fight already has 12. There's like 12, I think, announced fights for 300

already. So it's pretty hard to get on there. I can't imagine, again, other than why to add a main event and maybe one more fight. So I think fighters need to drop this like, oh, put me on, unless you're a ranked person or like a legitimate name, I'm all for having, confidence and believing yourself, but I can not. I hope I'm wrong. If Charles Johnson gets on that card, great, good for him. I just don't see what matchup he would have that they would say, yeah, we got to put Charles Johnson versus X on UFC 300 prelims.

His call is perfect. Josh Van, I love that call. It's not happening at 300, though. I don't think they put it on 300. No. I mean, well, no, they. I don't think so. Not at 300.

So, yeah. So I don't. The UFC 300 sign, though. That is brilliant. Stop doing it. Stop pointing to the 300 sign. Because next week, people are going to do it too. Again, next week, because that time frame still works.

February 10th to April, whatever. It still works. So next week, I think it'll stop at their pay-per-view. But I don't know. There could be some people who get like 30-second or one-minute, like fast-finished on the interview and then just do a big like, yeah, USD 300, I'm ready. So brace yourselves, people, I'm just saying.

Brace yourself for some possibly unreasonable U.S.C. 300 call-outs. There's potentially three spots left, because, again, there's 11 fights official. So main event will be 12. We don't know what that is yet. So potentially there's three more spots. You got to imagine if Joe Piper runs over Hermanson and calls her 300, Dana's going to give it to him no matter what.

So that's possible. But yeah, I think you're right. I think there's more people. Go ahead and do this. I'll tell you who I wouldn't mind seeing at UFC 300, AK Natalia Silva. I would not mind seeing her on this card at all. Just another Natty Ice performance. Like the moniker fits goes out.

there, Viviani Arrugio is no joke. She is no pushover. She's very, very tough. She's been in some spots where she was a win away from fighting for a title. And Natiae, she just kicked her in the face whole bunch and just beat her up a little bit, lots of movement. Arrugia kept trying to get the fight to the ground, but Natia showed great defense. I am super, super excited to see where the birthday girl goes after this. And I got to tell you, my first thought coming out of this, this fight was, and I still probably believe this, but this is not going to be my official pick. Something happens with Amanda Hebas. Natty Ice needs to fight Rose Nami Unis. That is 1,000 percent I would, had that Nami Yunis Hebus fight not been booked, one million

percent this would be the match of I would be suggesting right now. It's not going to happen. I do think Hebus will show up. Big opportunity against a former champion, one of the biggest stars in the women's divisions for the UFC. So unfortunately, we're not going to go that right. I almost still went with Rose, win or lose, because I think this is a good spot for her. If Rose wins, I think this is a very likely outcome. I think this could definitely happen. But if she loses, it could be Rose on the sidelines for a hot minute. We may not see her for a while. So I'm giving Natty Ice another step up in competition in terms of rankings, even though she is not officially ranked any longer due to inactivity on the UFC flyway rankings.

Let's give her a former title challenger. Natty Ice versus Lauren Murphy. It's a good fight. Oh. Good test against a gamer who can grapple a little bit. We're looking for somebody physical that can maybe move her around a little bit, test her in the strength and athleticism department.

I know Lauren isn't like the greatest athlete in the history of the sport, but she is strong as hell. And I know Murphy was booked against Karinei Silva, I think, for UFC 299. She just wasn't ready to go. She's opening some businesses, trying to get some things up and running in Houston, but she is going to come back. She said she's going to be back soon,

and I think this is the direction they go. But I guess the true answer is, whichever ranked fighter is ready to go as soon as Natty Isses, that's the answer. But if I have to choose right now, I think Lauren Murphy's the way to go. Yeah, I think that's how I ended up getting where I got to, was like, yeah, just find a ranked opponent

and let's get a test of it in there with her. Lauren Murphy's a great choice. I think that's one problem of Viviani Arrojo had, She doesn't quite have that strength of like a Lauren Murphy. Her technique might be better, but strength and grit takes you a long way. I'd say that Viviana Irrigo doesn't have that, but that's pretty much Lauren Murphy's calling card. So it would be interesting to see Lauren trucking through some Natalia Silva kicks and counters and just trying to just make it ugly as hell. So a good matchup for sure.

I went with Macy Barber, Kailantukagian loser. They're fighting in UFC 299. I think this was what New York Rick suggested on the post-fight show. I think he said either this or the loser of the upcoming Menlo-Fer-Hurot fight would be a good test. And I agree that it's kind of what you said. Any of these names make sense. We need to see some upward movement for an Italia Silva. Hopefully it's not some throwaway matchup.

As much as we enjoy seeing her perform and doing her thing, hopefully it's not like someone outside the top of the team. We need to keep feeding her ranked names because they really have something with her, both from an in-cage standpoint and personality-wise. The birthday stuff was great. She was just bouncing around the ring. Back around the cage, as a day. It was really fun to watch.

Yeah, I like the deal with her and Rose, too, though. I think Natalia wins that one not easily, but pretty comfortably. And I just, I don't like Rose at 125. That's just an aside. I don't like Rose at 125. We should always encourage fighters to, like, you know, cut less weight. But, man, she's a 115er. Just in my mind, Rose is a 115er, and I think she has a perfect frame for it.

And I don't know. I don't like her up with this heavier weight class. But we'll see. We'll see how she looks against CBO. Yeah, we will. The main card, well, might as well, for newer listeners of the program, I know there's a few new listeners every single week. I know we had a matchup between Ali Askov, Hisria v. Mahmoud-Berridov,

just go through the rules. If a fight doesn't have a winner, we ain't matchmaking for it. So we're not even going to mention a possible rematch or anything after the 11-second poke in the eye. that's the only mention of their names you'll see here on this program. In fact, even if you have a matchmaking suggestion for either of these gentlemen, I ain't reading them. I ain't reading them. Wow.

Double penalties. I will. New year, new me, AK. I will agree with that. Again, really, people should be calling for a runback anyway. Just run it back. Just run it back. Yeah, that's true.

If you're calling for anything else, why? We don't need to be too creative here. Mike, let me say something here, first of all. Sure. Again, not to take us up to. You know, we had a recent ranking show talking about how middleweight is apparently I was told one of the top three divisions. Still is.

In M.A. Ridiculous. Top six. Fine. And again, we have a very small sample size so far. So I'm going to go back. This is just UFC Middleweight fight so far. We opened with, we had Bruno, Ferreira and Phil Haas.

Great, awesome performance. Like Federa. Super exciting guy. I love him. And then we had DDP and Sean Stricken, which was a good fight. I will say that. I'll say it's good. It was good.

I'm not going great. It's very good. And again, I was there live. So I guess I enjoyed it more. so I had to like, when I rewatched it, I'm like, okay, it was good. Maybe I was caught up in the moment. But it was a good friend. Chris Curtis, Mark, Audrey Bagel, was fine.

It wasn't as bad as people said it was, I don't think. And then today we, and then on Saturday we had a, again, somewhat forgettable Nassar Dean Mavov win and then an IPO. So I will just say, it is not representing, like, I don't think it's representing, like, a top three division right now. And next week, we have four middleweight fights on the main card, a couple of which have the potential to be horrible. But I'm just putting a pin in this for now, Mike. I'm putting a pin in this for now. I will be vindicated, I feel like, by the end of the year. I don't think so.

Not pumping the middleweight tires, as it were, people. Remember, keep an eye on this spot. All right? I'm just saying, when Hidalvo Vietta and Armin Fortrosian are in the 12th minute of what is very likely to be one of the most god-awful fights of the year, if no, just remember these words. That's all I'm saying. I mean, look, we could do this with every division. Of course, of course. We could do this every single division.

I'm cherry picking the data. I'm cherry picking. You sure are. You sure are, okay. Let's move on to Chuck Buffalo, AK, Charles Radkeke, kicks off the main card with a just a nice finish against, I don't even remember who we fought. Gilbert Urbina. Gilbert, Rina. My God.

Ultimate 529. I told you I'm trying to forget this card. This was the fight. and Ratke landed a big shot, got the knockout, the left hook was nasty. I think is super quick. Lor Sanko just, by the way, A plus to the broadcast team last night. Laura Sanko absolutely smashed it. Even made DC, like her DC were great.

John Gooden should be doing more of these cards as well. Just a tremendous job by the commentary team. So I just want to put that out there. But yeah, Chuck Buffalo looks real good. It's got two wins now. One was not memorable. This one was pretty good. to somewhat memorable post-fight interviews for different ways.

But then he kind of says Leon Edwards, I'm coming for you. Colby takes shot of Colby Covington. This is not doing the thing. He did the thing, I guess, in other ways, but this is not like the doing the thing thing. Where does Chuck Buffalo go from here? I have an idea. There's not a lot to love in terms of like where to matchmake for him.

I don't think there's a lot of wrong ways you can go. You can kind of chuck a dart. But what are we thinking here? I went with kind of like a pretty big jump up in competition, at least as far as experience goes. But I was trying to follow some sort of narrative here. So I'm going, listen, he wants a British welterweight. The lowest ranking one I could find right now, hot sauce, Danny Roberts. Not in a great stretcher's career right now.

Seven and seven overall in the UFC has lost three straight fights, probably still a little too much for Charles Radkey to handle at the stage of his career. career. But again, just to follow up, and I don't think Roberts and Edwards are teammates, so it's not like there's like a real connection there. But hey, he wants a welterweight. He wants one from England. So I'm going with Danny Roberts. And I think it'd just be a fun matchup. And if Rackie beats him, man, that'd be pretty impressive. Again, big gap, and experience, I think, and the level of competition they face. But let's give him, let's give him something vaguely resembling what he wants. I was on the exact same page as you. And as you were running this down,

I was like, I cannot believe of all the fights we're going to cue the band for, it's the Chucky Buffalo fight. That's not, Danny Roberts isn't the lowest ranked English welterweight on the roster right now. That would go to the former lightweight that is now a welterweight who's coming off maybe the quickest and simplest submission win in UFC welterweight history at UFC 2997. Charles Racky versus Sam Patterson is what I'm going with. That's the one. Let's go ahead and do that.

Look, I think the UFC might have something with Charles Ratke, whether you like him or not. I think there's something there that is going to gravitate towards Dana White and the powers that be. And at least for his career, a positive direction. But yeah, let's do that. Like, there's no, he's not fighting Colby Covington. Like, cut the shit. Like, stop it. And you can tell Bilal Muhammad is in his corner because the call out makes absolutely no sense.

This is, this is classic Bilal right there. So, yeah, good. Good win. Other stuff was kind of funny, but yeah, you ain't getting any of that stuff. So go fight Sam Patterson. You do that Sam Patterson, I'll be really impressed. I was impressed with this performance as well. But let's look at the resume right now. Let's look at it look at it the way we need to look at it. A lackluster decision against blood diamond and then a knockout went over Gilbert Rabina. You basically have victories over two of the 10

lowest rank welterweights in the world right now. Correct. You can only fight the guys that are presented to you. But to go from Gilbert Urbina to Colby Covington is just not going to happen.

So Sam Patterson it is. In the UK. No. See, that's the one that's it. Don't do. I'm worried about, I think we need to keep

Chuck Buffalo in the apex for a while getting him some seasoning. He did not handle his excursion. to Blood Diamond territory very well, if we remember. I'm glad he apologized, whether he was strong-armed into it or not, I don't care. I'm glad at least the apology is out there, and I think that's important. And I'm not saying that vindicates Radkeep for that his first post-fight victory speech, but I'm glad there's an apology, and hopefully this guy can sort of figure things out

with his public speaking and addressing the media and fans, things like that. So I don't know of sending him into enemy territory is a good idea, Mike. I just think he's a little too volatile right now. Let's keep them in the apex where it's safe for now. But you're right. But it makes a lot of sense if they need to find bodies for that card, Radke and San Patterson. It's likely. It's likely.

I'm just scared. Fair. Well, let's go to the wild card round AK. Let's matchmake for one fighter that we have not done so for yet here on this program. A couple of different options here. Who did you end up landing on in terms of your wild card selection? I mean, talk about some unlikely callouts. We had Tembo Garimbo.

uh again bless um he's got the rub from the rock i get it his name is like his his fame right now is disproportionate to where he actually stands in the welterweight rankings and he he wants to capitalize on that i'm sure he's getting advice for your little time you know aim big just get your name out there you know call call for big names if you don't get them doesn't matter just to be mentioned alongside those things you know people do a google search now for temba and i don't know Leon Edwards, whoever or Shavcott, you know,

then I guess it'll pop up on Twitter. I guess that's how the game works now. But he's not, I would really hope not getting anywhere near those fights. So I try to just find a welterweight that's in his range.

I don't know why I ended up with this. Maybe I'm just upset of how this, this fighter and his peers performed at UFC 297. Give me Timba and Mike Malott. Oh. Give me Timba and Mike Malott.

I just want to see Mike Malant. fight again soon. I think Garimbo is probably ready to get back in there. I mean, his fight lasts the 30 seconds. I'm sure he's doing fine. Really, this is almost just a dartboard throw because there's a lot of fighters with, you know, 2 and 1, 3 and 1,

whatever, 2 and O in the UFC that you can match Grimbo up with, but let's have a weird sort of a fight that has, it'll generate a weird kind of buzz. I don't have like a good kind of buzz, but a weird buzz. So Mike Malat, get back in there, try to take the hype from the Rock's boy. I like that pick. I thought about that as why wild card pick.

I ended up not going in that direction, but I really like that one. That makes a lot of sense. And look, if he goes out there and beats Mike Bala, then you can push him a little bit more. I'm just worried about Garimbo? Because, like, again, and if I'm going to say this about Charles Racki,

I have to say it about Temba as well. Look at Temba's wins, man. Pete Rodriguez, who is not going to be long for this UFC world, Takashi Sato, who is not very good at this fighting thing. Like, these are, fine wins, but he got tapped by AJ Fletcher, who I don't even think is on the roster anymore. As a year ago, too.

As a year ago. It's not like this was like a long time ago. This was literally within the last 12 months he lost to AJ Fletcher. So like I end up not matchmaking for him. Like I think Michael Lott's the only one that sort of makes sense unless you throw him in there with, I don't even know. Like who else do you put him in there with? like Reese McKee

who's still kind of a tough matchup I don't know I don't know what you do with them I don't know Miguel Baiza that's that's a tough one too there's a few these are these are Anj Lusa I don't know yeah I don't know I mean go for it

look I actually think while it's so absolutely insanely ridiculous what he is saying because of what the rock literally just did in the same company because they're all under the same umbrella. The Rock just strong-armed his way into the main event of WrestleMania 40

according to multiple reports that he's just like, I'm here to save WrestleMania. I'm fighting for the belts against Roman Reins. Cody A. finishing the story. I'm going to finish my story at 50 freaking two years old.

You best believe the Rock is talking to Nick Con and talking to the powers that be probably has had a conversation with Dana White above this exact thing. And if anybody can pull this off, it's probably the rock. So I think from the Temba side, this is absolutely brilliant.

It's not going to go well for him, but it's brilliant. It's just, it's sad that I have to say this into a microphone that this is brilliant because the rock is involved. Mike, do you remember like two years ago when you were interviewing this young man, Timbergerimbo, and telling his humble story to an unsuspecting world who, I knew nothing about Timber Grimbo. If I had told you two years later, he'd become one of the most talked about Walter Waite's and his buddies with the Rock, you would have been like, you would have thought I was on drugs. Because you were one of the first guys, I think, to share this guy's story.

Yeah. And I would not, and I thought it was great. I remember reading it was a great story. I'm like, cool, great story. Had no thought that he would be, again, rubbing shoulders with A-list Hollywood stars and again, getting heavy play on UFC socials and everything like that. So what a world we live in, eh? What a world.

I wouldn't have guessed that. Only because I think maybe during that interview, I would have been like, yeah, I could see the UFC doing something with the young man. But he was going, like, the interview was to set up a fight for UAE Warriors. And it was basically right before the UFC was like one of the Abu Dhabi paper views that the UFC was doing. So like the UFC was in town in Abu Dhabi where this car was taking place. Hadneson Ferreira, who's a wily veteran, has been doing this for a while, and he lost. I was like, well, I guess that kind of goes away. And, but he came back and gets a decision for Fury FC and then takes a fight on super short notice and gets the call.

And now look at what he's done. So, I mean, I think we all saw the potential because of the story alone. Now you throw the rock in there. And he has handled everything masterfully from, I only had just the post-fight interview after the Takashi Satta fight. that fight was not good. It's not a good watch. It's actually a pretty tough watch. But the post-fight stuff was tremendous.

It was a great, great post-fight speech, talking about the struggles he has, you know, financially, sleeping on the couch at his gym, $7 to the name. And then like the post-fights come on, like everything he has done since winning the Takashi Sato fight has been tremendous. Like he has just hit a grand slam.

And that's really all I can say about it. I just, I mean, if he somehow fights for the belt in 2024, I just, I don't know what I'm going to do. I really don't. But with the rock involved, it's not out of the realm of possibility. It is. It is out of the realm of possibility. It's not going to happen. Stop it.

It's not going to happen. It's the rock, though, man. It's a rock. That dude carries a lot of weight in multiple ways. But enough about Temba Garumbo. Great night for him. There's also a great night for my wildcard selection. Meatball.

Oh, Molly McCann. There she is. One of the worst pieces of matchmaking in UFC history. Why, like, why was this fight booked? I mean, I get it from a perspective of like, yeah, let's get her a win. But there was, you even said it yourself. They kept hype. Like, not only was this a rematch, they were hyping it up as this rematch the world needed to see.

No, we didn't see it because we watched them fight for the first time. And Molly destroyed her. It was like a 30-25 for Molly McCann. It was not competitive even for a moment. And then Molly goes out there and just kind of trucks her and does the thing. And luckily from reports that I've seen, Deanna Belbita didn't have a broken arm or anything like that. Everything sort of came up negative on that end. So that's great.

But Molly, the performance was exactly what she needed. But Mike work was exactly what she needed. I thought she had an A-plus night, regardless of the absolutely horrific. terrible matchmaking. So let's see what she can do. Let's give her, let's not go crazy, but let's give her somebody with a recognizable name, somebody who has fought for a UFC title before. It was probably one of the worst ass weapons taken in a title fight in women's MMA history. But she's still doing out there doing the damn thing. Mali McCann versus Jessica Penny. Let's do that. Let's do that. Nice little step up. Now, before we get to the, I saw a lot of

maybe do like Molly McCann, or not Molly McCann, Michelle Waterson, like the Angela Hills of the world. And you could certainly get there, but I don't want that yet. Let's see if she could beat a Jessica Penny. If she could beat a Jessica Penny, that we can go from there. So yeah, let's do that. That's what I landed on. I think it's a smart move. I think this is a very winnable fight for Molly McCann right now, especially where Jessica Penny's at in her career, the age, time off, all that stuff. Yeah, I think this is the fight to make. Yeah, Molly is a compelling mid-card fighter,

and I mean that fully as a compliment. 100%. Every time she's on any card, we're going to be talking about it. Fans are you talking, again, love her or hate her. Fans are going to be talking about her. The matchmaking here was a bit strange, but there's so much value in having that role with the company. Frankly, guys, that's what Jim Miller is.

As much as I think Jim Miller's a Hall of Famer, and yes, he's like main evented, you know, I think fight nights and has been co-main of big cards. He is essentially a high, maybe upper mid-carder at his best, but essentially a high-level mid-carter. And that's great. And Jim Miller is one of the most beloved fighters in UC history. I'm not saying Molly has a long way to go to reach that level, but I'm saying there's nothing wrong if she never becomes this, again, this main event superstar.

That's okay. That's not. And I think you're right, Mike. We don't need to rush her into, you know, a bigger high-profile matchups with a Michelle Waterson or an Angela Hill. One, I don't like her chances in those matchups. And two, it's just too soon. What is the hurry? I think Molly

has a lot of fights left in her. She has a lot of great years left in her career. So yeah, let's slow the role. Let's keep the role slow as they did with this maybe a little too slow. And yes, another recognizable name, a veteran in Penne, but someone who's a little bit closer, I think,

to where Molly is skill-wise right now. Yeah, but yeah, fun to watch. Congrats to her. And I think we see her sooner rather than later. But I mean, the next fight has to be in, has to be in the home territory, I think. For sure. Great, great.

Just a great night. Great night. No aid text. Please. Love this due attitude. Love everything about what I saw. Tremendous stuff from Molly McCann. And we'll see where she goes from here.

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But I did want to read this comment from Yona Friedman, who said, they said, I don't, I know this is not how this works for on the next one. But can you guys give your take on the possibility of Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson too, Mike? I don't know if you mentioned this on, if this came up on an episode of Heck of a Morning or anything, but with Kevin Lee saying, you know,

he wants to come out of retirement, his six months retirement. whatever it was. What do you think of UFC running that one back? Pretty, pretty hyped fight at the time. If you'll remember, that was a really, really hyped fight at the time. Tony Ferguson won. Kevin Lee was doing okay in the fight. It wasn't like he got dominated. Do you think that's the one to welcome Kevin Lee back? No. No. No interest. No. If Kevin Lee's going to be in the UFC, he needs to be in the role that he was in for his last fight.

And the last couple of fights he had. He needs to fight the Drods, the Hinnat-Fakrottynoffs. He needs to fight the young hungry world beaters who can build a name if they beat him. That's, that's just who he is now, unfortunately. I think for me, Kevin Lee's future is not in the UFC. It's just not. There are very few guys in either division that he could possibly compete in right now that I think he could comfortably beat. And there are very few guys in either of those divisions that I actually want to see him fight or would actually be interested in seeing him fight. I was super hyped for the Fokrotina fight and then 30 seconds, like literally five seconds after that fight started, I'm like, well, this is not going to go very well. To me, if I'm game bread, bare knuckle,

I am calling Kevin Lee on the phone. I am offering him a whole bunch of money and he is, I'm going to at least attempt to build him as the face of our organization right now because he could be a great face of an organization like that. It is MMA. Yeah, it's not BKFC. It's not just bare knuckle boxing. There is, it's, you could wrestle, you can submit, you can do all that stuff. It's just a regular M.AFA without gloves. Kevin Lee is the personality to be a star. Game Bread has no stars right now. They have names, but they don't have like a face right now. Like Randy Costa could be that face, but Kevin Lee has a better chance of being that face. Like that's where Kevin Lee should be fighting. And I think of Kevin Lee and his team went to the

UFC and said, hey, my future's outside of the company. I don't think the UFC's going to fight him. I think he'd be like, okay, you're right. Bye. Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. So if he's in the UFC, he ain't fighting Tony Ferguson. I can tell you that right now. And you set it up for the Patty thing, A.K.

If Tony's going to fight, unfortunately, unless it's going to be like Tony signing a piece of paper saying that my next fight will be my last fight and he goes and fights like a Joe Loseon or something. that's the role Tony Ferguson is in as well. He's going to have to fight these just absolute killers at 155 that are about to break into the top 15 potentially. So yeah, that's not the fight. If they do it fine, but does anybody, like,

it's just, I think it's just going to be sad to watch. I don't know. I don't know if I want to see it. Kevin Lee seems to think like he's ready to go on a title run right now. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I don't know. Yeah, I'm into it. I'm into it. I like the suggestion. But like I think like you say, it's not even a guarantee that Kevin Lee goes back to the UFC, right? Like you said, there are options that might be better for him out there. But if he comes back, I wouldn't mind seeing that Lee Ferguson fight one more time.

Go to PFL, dude. Like, go to PFL. PFL should do a, PFL should do the 165 division. Like, they should do it. And then Kevin Lee can be like the face of their new division that the UFC doesn't have the gusto to do. At least that's what Don Davis will say. Hey, Bell Torres is a big announcement coming Monday, so maybe. Oh, yes, yes, yes. The timing, I don't know. I forgot that big announcement was coming. What do you think it's going to be? Is it something we already, I'm worried. Is it something we already know that's been reported but not been announced?

Should I be, should I not be getting my expectations up or something? I think they're going to announce TV deal. That's what I think. Okay, okay. That's good. That's solid. What it's going to be, I have no idea, but I think that's what they're going to announce. That's worth a pre a week ahead graphic.

I'm okay with that. That won't disappoint me. And they will also announce the Corey Anderson-Carlemore fight. Officially. Yeah, that's right. Not officially. That's right. That's true.

That's true. Okay. Anything else? Or are you ready to disqual? Yeah, we can disclaim. Guys, thank you for all your picks. Again, please avoid certain mistakes. Wrong weight class.

People who have fought already, if they have, just, you know, let us know that you know it's a rematch or it shows you about it, what have you. Notable injuries, notable releasing. is fighters could already be booked. This is the one. This is the most like unfri-givable one, guys, because it's very easy to check. You can check ammafinding.com.

You can check topology, sure doc. Check Google. Google. Does this person have a fight coming up? And then people who are also well-known teammates and close friends. Try not to match those up. That's happened a few times. And those fights can happen,

but there's some people are pretty, have pretty expressly said, I will not fight this person. They are my blood brother and what having yourself. And of course, you pick this might be doo-do, and we don't want to read it. Now, Mike warned me before the, show, we may have to wait through some

doo-doo here. So I'm a little, I'm a little scared. Like I said, I have not had the chance to screen some of my DMs, so there might be doo-doo, but Mike, I'm very curious to see what you had to put up with. It's not the most egregious doo I've ever seen, but it is do-do nonetheless. Sure. So we'll get into this.

We'll start with Chris London. Unfortunately, he is the do-do man. Imovov versus the Whitaker Costa loser. Wicano versus Daryush. Randy Brown versus Michael Morales Salakoff versus Gabriel Bonfim Araujo versus Tracy Cortez

Malie McCann versus Deniseie Gooms come on man come on what are we doing here what are we doing here slow burn slow burn don't throw in there with Denisey Gomes Rackie versus Patterson good pick

Garimbo versus Jake Matthews Charles Johnson versus Tyson Nam but now we enter the world of doo-doo Get your shovels out Natty Silva versus Chukagian. And that's all that it says.

Hashtagued, because she is fighting Macy Bauer UFC 2.9-D-D-D. Come on, man. Loser of that fight. I think it could have just gone the way I did. Pick the loser of that fight or the winner of that fight. You had options.

Either one would make a lot of sense, I think. Luckily, Yikes. Luckily, the rest of the folks, we're going to learn something here. Okay. Harry Daweskin. Pogues versus our

Medeiros versus Sadikoff Lee versus Jack Shore. Wow, ready. We're going to just do, we're just going to throw this man right into the fire. I don't hate it. I'm surprised to see it so quickly. Charles Johnson versus Tyra so we could take another O, but they probably do the van fight. Wow, a lot of confidence here. Yeah, Charles Johnson was great. And I was, I'm honest with, I raised my eyebrow a little bit when they were like, the pre-fight thing was like, he's, he's known for slowing down prospects. And I was like, is that a bit, is that a bit overstated? And again, now that he can tout that all he wants, he just handed a 17-0 guy his first loss. But it's, it's not like he's a prospect killer. I think that was a little bit overstated. So I don't know.

I wonder if all these, are all these Charles Johnson picks now, like, oh, we want to throw up against an undefeated fighter or a streaking fighter. But yeah, he looked great. He looked great. And certainly is a guy that, he's dangerous. I'll acknowledge that. He's a bit dangerous in there. Temba versus Alex Marono Randy Brown versus Stephen Thompson What do you think about these two Walterweight selections? Again,

everyone I feel like has come up and surprised it hasn't happened. I just, Wonder Boy is so picky and I just think he's, he's not picking up the phone for that fight. Yeah, he's a little dinged up too.

So he likes Silva. Silva versus Barber Chook winner. That's how you do it. Right there. He also has a note for us, AK. I'm embarrassed to my accusations of doo-doo, only to match Marcus McGee with himself. Not sure how I can regain credibility.

Oh, good stuff. Good stuff. What a sport. That's our. Yes. Left lane in M.A. Imov v. Vittori, after he loses to Brennan Allen, do it in Paris. Nice little.

Oh, okay. We're carving paths, and I appreciate that. Delizze versus Coppulov for the title. of the best Roman after Roman copulop beats Fluffy Hernandez. What do you think? Hashtag Roman versus Roman, AK? Roman on Roman. I like that.

Hashtag Roman on Roman. Yes. Quality. Quality. Young versus Jordane. Van versus Johnson. McCann versus Carolina Colvocavich, win or lose against Lucindo in England and do that fight in England.

Temba versus Matthew Semelsberger. I actually like this idea. That's good. I like this idea. Radkey versus Okay, you're going to love this one. Radke versus Jake Matthews in Australia because we know how much Charles loves it there.

Oh, stop it. Natty Ice versus Chook after she loses the barber, Randy Brown versus Joaquin Buckley. Don't mind that one. Yes, Randy Brown versus, okay, yes, yes. Joaquin Buckley was there. Walking Buckley was in whose corner. He was in Charles Johnson's corner. Charles Johnson, right? Charles Johnson are...

Could be. I know if he was there. I'm not... I'm sure, yeah. He's probably in whoever Jamal Hill was, like, there to watch. Buckley is probably a part of that. And he likes Drew Dober versus Thick Matush, which I assume is Rebetschki, which I don't... Don't mind that one. And he says, pretty sure there's no doo-doo, and you would be correct.

What did he call? Thick Matooch. is that a compliment? Yeah, he's like bigger, more jacked Matush of the lightweights compared to Gamron. Oh, oh, yes, yes, okay. I like, I think about that for a second, too, and I'm like, oh, I see what you're doing there.

And we end with four-quarter sports, Nasredeen Imovov versus Vittori, if he loses to Brendan Allen. Roman DeLizzi versus Kyle Barallio after he defeats Paul Craig, and Atomoi-Connor versus Dan Hooker for UFC 301, Drew Dober versus Jared Gordon, Molly McCann versus Angela Hill, Chuck Buffalo versus Euros Medich. Don't hate that.

That might be a little too soon for young Chuck Buffalo, but if they do it, fine. And then Randy Brown versus Michael Kies. So that's all I got. Okay. Not surprised because this was a card. Yeah, I only got a handful as well. But I got some newcomers. Let's show us some newcomers first.

Artour, our tour, listening to M.A. So listening to Otno for a while now. I want to make some picks. I don't know where to send them. So let me know if it's a different place to submit them. Arto, you found the right place. He wants the Imov, Chris Curtis rematch. Delizze versus Alaskarov, Moikano, Darius, Dober, versus Diego, Faheda.

They didn't fight before, right? I don't think so. We've wanted them to fight, I think. Yeah. Oh, and they were booked at one point. They were booked at one point. Sorry, Richard. Randy Brown, Nicholas Dalby, winner gets a toughestine opponent, and Titia Silva versus

Barbara, Caitlin Chukagian, loser. Oh, and Temba versus Leon Edwards, laughing, and maybe. Archer, well done. Very professional, no-picking. And over on Instagram, I got Harry Newhouse, another huge fan of on the next one, sending in picks the first time. Oh, top to bottom. Deep breath.

Jamal Pogh, Kyle Machado, Markell Medeiros, Alex Munoz, Luana Carolina versus JJ Aldrich, Jung Jungli, excuse me, Giann Silva, Charles Johnson, Josh Van, Molly McCann, Pollyana, Biana. Interesting. I don't mind that one. I like that pick. We didn't think about this. Radkey versus Garimbo.

Two guys who... I thought about that. But there's no way the UFC's going to do that. The winner gets Leon. Oh, now we're talking, AK. Now we're talking. Put a little sizzle on the steak. Right. So no more contenders.

Arajo-Cortez, Antio Silva, Blanchfield, Fero, loser. So, again, that's the other one we thought is just possible. Yeah. I definitely wouldn't get the winner of that. Luser. Even loser, I think Chukagia and Barber is more likely, but I get it. I get the thing here.

Brandy Brown, Neil, Magnet, Drew Dober. Drew Dober, Patty Pimbled, I would love to see. I just think that's just going in, unfortunately, they're going in opposite directions right now. I can certainly still see them making that fight, though. Dover's still going to be ranked on Tuesday. Patty has the ground game to, like, neutralize him, right? To avoid getting his head knocked off, I think.

Oh, that's a scary fight. But it's all scary fights for Patty now. I think, again, you can't, you can't childproof his matchmaking anymore. Hanata Moikano, Dan Hooker, deletese, Alaskarov, and Imov, and Jared Cannon. What's up with Jared Cannoneer? He has nothing going on?

He's dinged up. Now he's dinged up. He wants the title shot or Homs out at 300. Let me have another. Him and Canninger would be another great apex Apex main event. I'll tell you what, man. Spoiler.

If Joe Piper wins, I'm doing Joe Piper versus Jared Cannadier. Oh, okay. All right, all right. Toby Kinsella. All right, Toby, let's see if we got anything new here. I'm going back to Twitter here. Delete Zemunee. Hemovv,

Piper Joker, winner, sure. And some of these things we've said, and some of this, Radke and Tim Means. Whoa, okay, that's... I thought about Temba versus Tim Means for like a second, and then I was like, no, we can't do this. Doesn't Tim Means annihilate either of these guys?

Am I underestimating, though? Are these guys more talented and, like, have a bigger upside than I think? I don't know. Like, Tim looked real, like, who did Tim fight in his life? Andre Fialio? Uh-huh.

And Tim just ravaged that, dude. Yeah. Tim is still really good. good and it's so much more. He probably has more experience than both those guys combined, Temba and Charlie Radke combined. So I don't. I don't think that's a good idea for Charlie Rad.

Not now, but if they win their next fight, then maybe we can start talking about that. But Tim Means is still like a top 25 guy, top 30 at worst. Seems a little quick for either guy. Oh, I've got some straight up doo-do here. Oh. Beer underscore Cheese 6900 says they've, they've submitted under another account before.

So I don't know what happened to that account. But delete say flagged for doo-do. Oh, big time. Well, yeah, maybe this is fun. If I get their account, just kind of shut down again, I bet to report this. Delete say her man versus Hermanson win-loser draw next week. Oh, come on. Am I?

Did Delete-Zate not just beat Hermann? Am I crazy, Mike? Did I? Did we not just see this? It's like the end of. 2022 was it not? Yeah, nasty win too. The STF, you almost had the John Cena STF mixed in with the ground and pound.

That was, oh, no, we don't need to run that one back. And I have a feeling beer cheese does not know that, it's not remember that. Other than that, it's all stuff we've seen. Come on, beer cheese. You bear that. Chase Kala, Chase Kala, Delice, Ikram, Moikano, Dario, Darius. Randy Brown, Carlston Edwards. Boy, that's a tough step back for Randy Brown.

And Carlson Edwards is good, is good and is in a good run of. form right now. But that's a, that's a bit of a step back for Randy. I think that'd be, who's Carlson Edwards? Carson Harris? Carlston. Is there Carlston Edwards? Isn't there Carlston Edwards? No. No? I don't think so. Unless I'm totally missing something. Was this a road like, do you fight on road to UFC or something? I, this sounds like a real person. It's Carlson Harris. I think of Carlson Harris. I was thinking about Carlson Harris when he said that, but is this not a real person? I don't think. I don't, I'm sure somewhere on planet earth, there's a Carlson Edwards.

Not in the UFC. Maybe this is a super prospect. I am not aware of. I just did Carlson Edwards topology, and there is not a Carlson Edwards currently fighting anywhere of them. Who's this guy? I think he meant Carlson Harris. Anyway, my statement stands.

It seems like a bit of a step back. But I'm not calling that to do, do, because I was just confused. I was just confused. Radke and Basel Havez. Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. that's a lot. Gerard Biagin.

Imov versus Whitaker, Costa loser. Fine. Delisei versus Bahalio, win or lose against Paul Craig. Uh, yeah,

that might make sense for Kayo, maybe. Sure. Drew Dober, Elvis Brenner, love it. Randy Brown,

Fakritinov. John Yongli, Chipe Mariscow. We're going for fun here. You can't get Fockertyne off Randy Brown. You can't. After his last fight, no.

Did you, he's got to get a win first. Did you read out Tino Alvarez? No. Oh, okay, because he also started with Polozo-O-Loski, so all right, sure. Luana, Carolina, Veronica Hardy. I'm just skipping some of these. I'm just skimming. I actually thought about that one as well.

Just, just rankings-wise, where they are. But, I mean, name value, again, Temba's got some. Same manager, I believe, so easy to book. Yeah, maybe they do that. Randy Brown versus Calvin Gasselam, UFC 300. I thought about the matchup. I don't know if 300 is the way to go. No, you don't do it at 300, but I don't.

It's not bad. That's actually pretty good. I like that. CV likes Moikano and Jalen Turner. I do too. That's fun. We kind of glossed over this one on the post-fight show when we were naming opponents who were ahead of Moikano in the rankings.

But I love that. I love that. And that's a great fight. And he's with me on Temba and Li Jingleang. Left lane. Left lane. I read Left Lane already. Oh, you read Left Lane?

Okay, good. Okay. Thank you. And Beans'Extreme memes. Jung-Yung-Liezel Kosta. Grimbo versus Nico Price. Where did he go? Yeah, that actually kind of makes sense in a weird way.

Again, big experience gap, but Nico's that kind of guy that just thrown with literally. It's not like Nico has been out for three years. He fought in July and got knocked up by Robbie Lollar. Oh. Oh, yes, of course. How could I forget the best moment of 2023? Charles Johnson, Nate Mainas. Molly McCann, Vanessa Demopolis.

Don't hate it. I think New York Greeks suggested that. Somebody did. It's not a bad one. That's not a bad one. Another Moikana versus Patty, man needs his money fight, and Imov versus Costa after he loses. So just calling out that Costa shot.

And I'm very interested in that Costa winner. That's going to cost some ripples. Yep. And we'll close out with email. Tristan Gordette, our pal. Also likes Molly McCannan, demo. It's with you on Radkeen and Stan Patterson and also likes Trudeauber. Elvis Brenner.

I'm a fan. Casey Carpenter, great post show from you, Rick and Mike. Mike is the second bald man on YouTube to talk about Ralph Wiggum and Cody Rhodes. Shout us to... What a weird statistic. Who's the other one? That's what I wanted to. Shout us to Simon Miller from what.

culture wrestling. So there you go. You're in good company. Hopefully, Jed was able to find a shelter to sleep out this weekend. What's that about? I missed this joke. What happened to the Jed? Preview show. We introduced Super Chats on BTL and we, I suggested a roast Jedmishu segment on the program and it became Jed being potentially homeless and this has become a running gag since Thursday. So yeah. A few we've seen here, Molly on the next England card against Emily Ducote. Sure. Yes. I I'm fine with it. Natty Light Cortez. Another fat retina for Brown suggestion.

Yeah, I'm agree with you, Mike, though. I don't love it. Money versus Patty, Action Man versus Imov, 2. And Jay Donaggie close us out. I do Moikano Matt Fravola. Oh, that's fire. That is fire. That's good.

And nothing we haven't seen. Oh, my God. Pogues Arlowski wildcard pick, 15 minutes of 500 pounds. You know, you put that in the post. poster, like the Alastair Overeem, Brock Lesnar-Sner poster. And I'm all for, Jay Donning. I can't believe people are suggesting Tremal Pogne Arloski.

And I can't believe that it's probably going to happen. So many people suggested that. It's the fight to make. And let me tell you something, people. Pound that over. I mean, if you have any inclination to gamble, I'd always tell people not to gamble, Mike. If you have any inclination to gamble, whatever, take a good chunk of money and take the over one and a half.

It'll probably be like minus 800 still. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Just do it. There's no way. There's so many guys like this in heavyweight right now. It's unbelievable. Moe Usman is there.

Orlovsky's the king. Waldo Cortez-A-Costa. I mean, there's so many. Peterson was a good one to jump on, though, because it was making his debut. And his whole career, I think it's like first round finishes before the UFC. But I'm like, oh, that's, I was like, oh, he's finding Jamal Pogues. That's not translating to his octagon debut. I'm like, he's not putting, I don't think he's putting Chimal Pogues away in the first round.

And then after that, it's just cruising into a decision. Well, that was UFC Vegas, Vegas, You can submit your matchmaking suggestions via social media, Twitter, hashtag the Otna, whatever you want to do. We'll be back next week. UFC Vegas 86, yes. Back at the world's most famous Apex Super Bowl weekend, which is also taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada. A lot going on. Main event, back at the third best division in the sport right now, middleweight,

Jack Hermanson versus Joe Pfeiffer, co-main event, Dan Igay versus Andre Feeley. Featured bout, the duelist. Ehor Potaria versus Robert Brickzek making... Is this his debut? I believe so. It's got to be. Okay. Brad Tavars versus Gregory Rodriguez.

That's three out of four in the middleweight division there. Michael Johnson versus Darius Flowers. And of course, another middleweight fight opening up the main card, Hidalpha Vieira versus Armin Petroja. And this is going to be middle-weighty, heavyweighty, I mean, just all the weighties. Can I give a doo-do pick to the actual UFC matchmakers? This is a tip.

If Armine Petrojan is not knocking him out in the first round, that's not happening. And I don't think Veeta is going to be able to take him down early on. So this is going to drag. Like, this is going to be, I don't know there's Armine Petrojan fans out there. I find his fights nearly unwatchable. And I think this might be the most unwatchable list of them all. Mike, this could be real bad. This could be stinker of the year.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope it's an arm protrusion head kick, flying head kick, or Adelphabayetta, Iminari roll into a heel hook, whatever guys, I hope I'm wrong. But on paper, this looks real bad. It's very bad. And a potentially middle-weighty welterweight fight, Trevin Giles versus Carlos Pratchez. What a card. Belaji Oki versus Demir Hadzovich.

Loma Luke Boonee is back against Bruna Brazil. That's a good fight. That's a really good. good fight. In a, I mean, certainly potential for middleweighty, light, heavy weightness, Devin Clark versus Marchean, Prachnio. These are secret middleweight fights. Trevin Giles, Carl's practice, and Devin Clark, Marchant, Franklin. These are actually middleweight fights. What are we doing? Jeremiah Wells versus Max Griffin, that's going to be fun. Zach Pauga versus Bogdan Gouskoff, I honestly, of all the fights on this card, I think I'm more intrigued by this one. I have no idea

what's going to happen there. Because Bogdan Gouskov is an absolute madman, but he's also not very good at fighting. And Zach Pauuga, like, could be a powerhouse, but also could just push him up against the fence for 15 minutes. I have no idea what's going to happen there. We have Hyder Emile versus Fernie Garcia, and Daniel Marcos versus Harici Lang.

That is UFC Vegas 86 AK. This is worse on paper than this week's card, I feel. It's pretty tough. Is that a crazy thing to say? It's very comparable. I think the top four fights this Saturday were pretty strong. I think we're pretty compelling. This main event, I'm more interested in this main event than I was in Imova versus Leite.

Yes, okay. I'll go with you on that. I-Gay-Feeley is pretty comparable to Dover Moikano. Yep, no problem there. The duelist, I don't know how to feel about this one. You know, the duel is taking this fight on super short notice. Brad Tavares, Greg Rodriguez. Could be okay.

Yeah. Michael Johnson, Darius, Flowers is probably not going to the cards. Yeah, I don't know what to feel. Neither are very good. Look at those overs next week. There could be a lot of money to make on overs next week. That's all I'm saying. I don't think this will be a Finnish fest.

I'm so excited. Just get me to February 11th so badly. The good news is this automatically gets a quarter point bump because it is a 4 p.m. Eastern start time, much like Vegas 85, so thank God for that. And then I cannot wait to get to UFC 298. And then we're going to be off and run it, at least for a couple weeks. Then it's Mexico City. And then back to the world's most famous apex.

And then it's UFC 299. And it's going to be a pretty crazy stretch. February is kind of like the, at least for the next week or so. it's going to be like a little bit of downtime, right? And then things are going to ramp up like super fast for all of us in the entire sport with, you know, Francis getting ready to box, Anthony Joshua, and O'Malley versus Vera, and Porri, the brilliant man he is against Benoitantini and everything else that's going to be happening.

So buckle up. Let's just get through Vegas 86 and then I think we're going to be in a really good place. But thank you for listening. Thank you for all your matchmaking suggestions. and join us next week as we talk matchmaking following UFC Vegas 86. Always remember the golden rule, everybody. Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun.

My best friend and I will be back next week to have more fun right here. And on to the next one, the podcast. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.