MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 88

Episode Date: March 17, 2024

Marcin Tybura picked up a much needed victory, and handed Tai Tuivasa his fourth consecutive loss with a first-round submission in the main event of UFC Vegas 88. Despite not having a name in mind for a callout, where will Tybura go after getting back into the win column in a headline spot? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee attempt to predict what is next for Tybura following his win over Tuivasa from a matchmaking perspective. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Ovince Saint Preux after his upset win over Kennedy Nzechukwu, Christian Rodriguez following his split decision win over Isaac Dulgarian, along with Macy Chiasson and Gerald Meerschaert following their submission victories on the main card, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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 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. Why do you save and invest? Is it so you can spend hours every day glued to the stock ticker, worrying about every movement up or down? Or is it so that you can live a better, happier, more fulfilling life? Betterman wants to help people invest to live, not live to invest. With features like automated saving, global diversification, and tax-smart tools,

Betterment is full of ideas to help you reach your goals without having to babysit your investments. They help their customers invest so that they can go live their lives. Go to Betterment.com to learn more. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. a podcast network. Welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. We are back following a memorable UFC Vegas 88 event, an event so memorable that even my dog is yelping about it on this Sunday morning. Thank you for joining us. I am Ikech and joining me back on the show, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend. We had Jedmishu filling in for him last week. He did

admirable job. But I got to say, I've been. I missed you, my best friend, Alexander Cayley. How are you? I missed you, too, my best friend. I missed you, and I missed all the listeners in MMA land. It was, I had a great vacation, very well rested, came back to a card, came back to a card that featured a heavyweight headliner, a couple of women's phantomweight fights, which I love, a fight that got pretty middleweighty to open up the main card, but we did get a finish

out of it. So I came back to MMA. I came back to pure MMA. No spectacle. no hype, no over-the-top storylines, just two folks getting into a cage and working out their differences. I mean, that's pretty much all we can say about it.

So with that said, let's get right into the matchmaking. That's why all the people are here. There aren't a lot of real storylines to discuss here. And let's start with the main event, Victor. His name is Marcheen Taibora. He gets back in the win column in his second consecutive main event matchup. He fought Tom Aspinall and Aspinall's return

back in July in London. Aspen all ran him over in just over a minute. And Taibora does the damn thing against Tai Tuivasa. Shout out to Tai Tuivasa for his entrance music. Always a fun one. But in the end, it was a victory song for Marching Taibora. He gets a first round submission against one Tai Tuvaasa. Not Tai Tuvaasa's last four in a row. But as far as Marching Taibora goes, this is pretty easy for me. I kind of feel like we maybe on the same wavelength because based on the listener submissions, I'm on the same wavelength is pretty much all of them. And I sort of gave away my pick on the post fight show. So even if we are on, even if we are Sympatico, AK, I don't think we're queuing up the band. Who do we got here for

marching Taibora? Jeltson Almeda? Yeah. Jeltson Alameda? I think this is, I don't even, yeah, don't worry about, did you say, I'm sorry, did you say you were queuing up the band or don't bother to queue up the band? We don't need to queue up the band. I just don't think. I just don't think. I think that's, I don't think, I don't I think there's anybody else that's, like, realistic. Jelton, uh, you are convinced he is probably a heavyweight going forward. He is a massive fellow now. He has bulked up into true heavyweight, heavy weight, and as he had to, obviously,

I think to even have a chance to compete with Curtis Blades. And it did pay off. I mean, he could, he could wrestle with Curtis Blades. It's just when it came to taking hits from a heavyweight, uh, maybe not the best situation for him. So I am still convinced that he has a future of 205, but it will take time. I do think it will take time for him to reduce

to drop back down to that 205 limit because I do not think he's anywhere near it right now. And yes, so I'll fight with Tibura. Makes sense. Popping on a main card of a pay-per-view. Or, again, another fight night headliner

for Toburra, who I think, this was his first main event win. I think he's had three, I want to say Debrose had three fight night main events. He finally got himself a W. one. Congrats to Marche. Yeah, good for Martin Taibora.

He didn't have a call out in mind. He said he just wants like a top guy. I think Almeida's perfect. I think the matcher makes sense. And I think if, and I don't want to say this to be disrespectful to Marching Tybora, but I think if the UFC were hopeful to invest in like one of these guys as becoming a future champion, it's probably Jelton Almeida. So I think this is like a really good stylistic matchup to potentially get Almeida back on

track. But who knows? Maybe Marchine Tybore can play spoiler again. we are not going to matchmake for the penultimate fight. As you know, if you were a long time listeners of this program, the matchup between Brian Battle and Angeloza ended in a no contest, no matter how you feel about it. So we're, one, not only going to not matchmake for either guy,

but I'm not even going to read a single listener submission involving either of these two guys. That's the rule. We just got to move on with our lives here. It should be. I will go, I'll play it by year. I thought I thought I saw some intrusions. intriguing matchups for battle and a narrative. I do sense a narrative forming around him, like a good narrative.

So I may read the call. All right. This is just run this one back. Call it a day and we can just put this one to bed. But we'll move on to the featured about 205 pounds. Boy, what a division that is. Kennedy and Chichuku, a gigantic favorite. Loses a split decision to the Wiley veteran, Ovin St.

Peru, in a fight that was way better than advertised, especially the third round. But Ovin Saint-Prew gets the job done via split decision. And I think it's time. I think there's only one matchup that works here, and it works for both guys. It is a fight we have seen before, and I think it's time to run it back.

And let's see it again. Let's do Ovin-Saint-Prew looking to exact some revenge against the former title challenger, Dominic Reyes. Let's run it back. OSP Reyes Part 2, AK, your thoughts. And let's be honest, the would-be champion.

I mean, I have reviewed several times, including in an official capacity forfeiting.com. And it is one of the rare title fights that I truly consider it to be a robbery. I do think Dominic Reyes beat John Jones once in a lot time. I like it.

I like it. I saw it a lot. I saw it a lot. The fight with Oldberg, this Reyes-Oldberg fight keeps falling through. That's probably a sign to the M. guys, maybe leave this one alone. Even though it made, it made sense.

It's a fight I think you had picked previously, I think, and also listeners have picked. So I think people wanted to see that Reyes-Elberg fight. Al-Berke has a new opponent, right? Has he actually gotten someone new for whenever he's supposed to fight next? Or is he still waiting for the Reyes matchup? Let me take a gander, because they try to rebook this one on the Atlantic City card. It did not pan out. Yeah, but simply put, it is Alonzo Menafield.

Oh, he does? On May 11th, they were going to do Menafield on the Atlantic City card. They rescheduled it to May 11th in St. Louis. There you go. There you go. So Oberg has an opponent. So Reyes is officially free. And frankly, if we never saw Reyes Oberg, I don't know if anyone's going to be like torn up about it.

So it does make sense to run it back to OSP Reyes. I just went a different direction. I'm just, I was like, I think I just looked who's ahead of OSP in the rankings. And I went with Ryan Spann. Ryan Span. No storyline, really. Just OSB surprising me with the Kennedy win. I thought Kennedy was going to knock him out. I forgot about the grit of, again, one of the UFC light heavyweight divisions lifers. I mean, this is 25 light heavyweight fights now. He's got a couple of heavyweight fights in there too. He just gets it done. It just gets it done. You know, I actually not a future Hall of Famer unless he has an insane run to a title. But at 40 years old, you just can't count the guy out. You can't count out experience, Mike. Very, very true.

Very, very true. Let's move on to the next bout, 145 pounds. Christian Rodriguez gets another one done, defeats Isaac Delgarian. I don't know if you saw what Isaac Delgarian posted on his Instagram stories, but he's accusing one Christian Rodriguez of being greased up in the first round. True story. He's saying the first round, said he, even though he got a 10-8, he was saying that he's grappled and followed a lot of people who have,

have been dry and or grease and he felt like Christian Rodriguez was a little too heavy on the grease there. Wow. I guess he's implying, I would have finished him. Right. Is this still, Delgarian saying, I don't go past the first round and I would not, and that would have stayed true had he not allegedly been greasing. I'm not a doctor. Mike, some people are just greasy, right? I don't know. I am also not a doctor. I don't mean to embarrass my family, but I come from a family of some fairly greasy people. If you ever meet me, Mike, if we ever meet in real life, I'd hate to bring it up. We just had a very close misconnection this past weekend in the state of New York.

But if anyone, if anyone sees me out, you'll, you'll, you would see if any listeners ever see me out in Toronto. You would take one look at me and go like, it's a greasy looking dude. So maybe Isaac D'Garion is right, but maybe it's just natural human grease. And that is an advantage that Christian Rodriguez has. Because, hey, you know what? You know who else couldn't keep him down? Had some trouble grapple with him? Roll Roast Jr.

So that's, and again, I'm not accusing Christian Rodriguez of greasing. He just may naturally secrete some grease, and it may be to his advantage. It may be his championship secret. And I can't wait to dig into this story. We'll ask, if we get a chance to talk to see Rob, we'll ask about this, his greasiness. Well, Isaac obviously is feeling some sort of greasy way about how this all played out. but Christian Rodriguez was the victor after moving up to 145 pounds. So what do we do here?

I saw a lot of people wanting to keep him as this zero taker. They like this, they like that storyline, like, oh, let's keep on him as other guys who haven't been beaten yet, which is cool. I went the other way. I want to go with a veteran, another guy who's a fast starter. I really want to test this Christian Rodriguez, like, outlasting people thing, because Mike, the fight went almost as we predicted it. We said we, most, as most people predicted it.

Isaac Delgarian first round finisher. It's going to come out hot. Christian Rodriguez just got to survive the storm and then show off that cardio and outlastim. And we talked a lot about live betting. And then you and I both almost said, hey, we almost jumped into it. Draft Kings, I saw it get as high as plus 450 in the second round. And then it very quickly dropped down. So it never got to like crazy levels, like plus 1,000 Rodriguez to win after the first round.

That would have been a fun little $2 betts throughout there and would have paid off. And we won't get to the scoring. it is a little screwy, but, you know, I'm open to interpreting that second route, I guess. What was I saying? Daniel Paneda. Delah Pineda. I'm going way veteran, way the opposite of the guys he's fought. I'm going to incredibly veteran fighter guy again.

Fast starter because Jambrika survives that. Maybe he wins a decision or can submit Dan Pineda. Down Penaenaena never, also never goes to a decision. So that would be interesting to watch. That's a good pick. I have no issue with that. We're just booking, we're booking in the short term, A.K. The UFC, as we just mentioned with the Carlos Ulberg, Alonzo Menafield fight, going to St. Louis, Missouri on May 11th.

Let's send C-Rod to St. Louis, Missouri as well on May 11th. Let's get a quick turnaround. It's get him right back in there. He doesn't have to cut to 35 anymore. And let's allow him to be the away team. And we'll throw him in there with Missouri native, Sean Woodson. I think that's going to be a fun little fight. C-Rod is going to be vastly undersized in that fight. because Sean Woodson is a freaking tank at 145 pounds. I know Sean Woodson wants to fight on that card. And you know what?

He should fight on that card. It's in St. Louis. When does the UFC ever get to Missouri? I think actually they get there more. But St. Louis is close to where Sean lives. So let's do C. Rod versus Sean Woodson. I think that's a good little prelim fight for May 11th, fight night in front of more than 17 people.

I like that. I like it a lot. I like contrasts and stuff. Even the Joe San Duna is Chelsea Chandler fight. I enjoyed watching like, wow, Chastas Challenge is huge, and Justin Nunes, a tiny bantam weight. But speaking of, like, the weight class of Christian Rodriguez, like, I think he should stick at featherweight, right, for as long as possible.

I understand he's clearly not that big compared to some of the large, as we mentioned, Sean Woodson and saw him some other guys in 145. It's going to be an issue. It's going to be an issue going forward. But, man, he really struggled with that bantam weight weight cut. He's a young guy. I'm sure he can work it out. But how long do you think he stays here, 145, Mike?

I guess as long as he keeps winning or I don't know. Like, let's say he fought Sean Woodson and lost, would you want him to try and make that 135 drop right away? Or do you think like maybe cut it out 145 for like a year or two? I think he's okay there. Isaac's good. He's a good fighter. That's a good win to have on the resume. So I think he's fine there.

I think he could beat Sean Woodson. Like, Sean Woodson is a good fighter. I think there's a lot of potential with Sean that he probably hasn't tapped into yet. but I think it's a fight Christian could win. So even if he goes back to 35, I don't look at Christian as a guy who's going to be fighting for a world title or anything like that. Just a solid potential top 15 guy. I think that's kind of where his ceiling lies.

And we'll kind of go from there. But I think he's fine at 1.45 and let's see where this takes him. If he can get through Sean Woodson, then we got a little something here. So let's move on to people who've put. probably could be fighting at 45, but have found themselves in a division lower than that. Let's get to the ladies. Macy Chesson gets herself a first round submission win. She continues on.

And this is not going to be a big thing because we talked about this on the people's pre-fight show. We talked about a little bit on the post-fight show as well. This is just like a little mini tournament to slowly, and I mean slowly, climb the women's band and weight ladder rung by rung by rung. and it all started on Saturday. Macy J-A-Sone got a win. Chelsea Chandler got a win.

Let's just match these two ladies up and see what comes from it. So that's where I'm going. What's it you? Yeah, I won with Chelsea Chandler too. And again, we can't kill up. The band is very disappointed. I don't know if you can see, Mike. The band is like, what's going on?

Like, they have their instruments out. They've heard two Friends Forever moments, but we have told them not for this card, guys. Not for this card, not for these picks. They're a little too on the nose, I feel. Yes. 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 blog, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-by 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. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo Time. Play Ojo. Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun! The morning will begin when Passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 186653300 or visitcomicsonterio.ca. Maybe if we queue up the band for this last one.

Maybe. If we are sympathetico here, then the band is going to be queuing up in a big way. Gerald Mearshard, this guy is just first team get or get got All-Star, always finds a way to get in there. Even if he has a first round that isn't all that compelling, boy, round two, GM3 is super fun and can get things done. As he did against Brian Barbarina, it was a tough night for the Bam-Bams. They both go 0-2. They both see their losing streaks extend to four fights. Just kind of a crazy tale with Brian Barbarina and Ty Bivis too of us right now, but Jerome Mearshot.

I didn't realize that Barbrain also lot. Yeah, 4th Street. Wow. Yeah. Gerald Miroschap by submission was a great bet. He didn't have a callout. He just says he wants a beer and a nap. But I kind of wish he had this particular callout.

He did go to the post-fight press conference or his post-fight scrum. He was asked about this individual specifically, kind of put him over. And I think it will be time if April 13th goes the way most expected to. For a young, hungry upstart, former Penn State National Champion wrestler, if Bo Nickel gets the job done against Cody Brundage, I think it's time. We do Gerald Mearschart versus Boe Nickel. I think that's the next appropriate step up for one Boe Nickel. And Gerald Mearshard is just perfect for these types of spots.

There was a up-and-coming upstart at 185 pounds, kind of flirted with 170 for a hot minute as well, that needed that Gerald Mirashart test that got built up with that Gerald Mirchart test and he passed it in flying colors would be the gigantic understatement of the century. We're talking about Hamzaa Chimayev. I think Gerald Mirasharp, Bo Nichol is the next step if Bo Nichael gets things done on at UFC 300

and most believe he will. So that's where I'm at with Gerald Mirchart. Let's see what the young man can do. Man, you got me thinking now. Yeah, I mean, that is the perfect matchup. I didn't go that way, but that is the perfect matchup because he's, man, how many times has Mir Sharpe been positioned as the litmus test?

And like most people, once they've reached that level of being positioned for the litmus test in the UFC, you're not around for much longer after because they keep throwing you in there with younger towns. I'm just going back June 2020, Ian Hinesh. Ian Hinesh is on a hell of a run. He loses that one. Hamza, you just mentioned, was the next fight. Obviously, he loses that one. But then a couple of fights later, Mahmoud Muradab was on a hell of a hot streak. GM3 takes him out.

A few fights later after that, Bruno Silva. Yeah, very threatening guy. I love people saying, oh, could be a contender at 185, beats him. And then back-to-back, Joe Pfeiffer and Pfeiffer and, Pfeiffer, obviously, again, super hyped up. And Pertrowski, I think, was undefeated in the UFC. Oh, no, sorry, he had one previous law, but undefeated in the UFC.

And then he eeks out a win over GM3. So that is really Mirschart's lot in life, the occasional, like, random Brian Barberina and, like, Christop Jock fight in there. So that makes a lot of sense. I went like, I guess, in a different direction. I guess I went in a more testing a current contender, which is really not what they used Gerald for,

but I went with Andre Moonez. Andre Moonez. So just a fun fight. You're probably right. You're probably much closer to them lining him up with Bow Nickel, if that goes, as most people assume it will. So I do like that matchup. And let me just say quickly for GM3.

I don't think I read all his accolades on the post-fight show. One knockout, 10 submission. in the UFC. 27 career submissions. 27 career submissions in his life. So they always wins by our by stoppage in the UFC. Of course, most UFC middleweight submissions he had the record already. He just extended it.

He is now tied with Anderson Silva for the most stoppages at 185 pounds at 11. And he is now tied for the, I think, fourth most submissions in UFC history. He just tied Hoist Gracie and Nate Diaz, 10-each and a trimis. only Damien Maya, Jim Miller and Charles Oliver. That is freaking impressive, Mike. That's freaking impressive. It sure is. But you have also left off the most memorable victory.

Most memorable piece of the Reservais of the Reservais for one Gerald Rearshart. One of the 16 victories in the, what, 125 fight career of, won Jay Ellis. Hurricane Jay Ellis has a win over Gerald Mearshard. That's random. Which is wild. Jayles has literally fought everybody. But that was the thing that happened. His BTL accolades. I thought you... Yes, that was March 2007. He's fought Sam Alvey twice. That's just... He has. Weird. What a career this guy's had. I actually the first UFC event I ever covered in a professional capacity was the Octagon Day B of one Gerald Mirchart in Albany, New York. He submitted Ryan Jane's in 94 seconds at the Times

Union Center at the time. You are forgetting. No, wait, hold on. I only know this because I'm looking at the Wikipedia right now. I'm sorry, Joe Giglotti. That's who it was. Joe Gigliotti. That's who it was. That was also in Albany. That was in like a little over four minutes. So yeah. I feel like I've been on this ride with Gerald Mearsharth for a hot minute now. Was that his own? Oh no, he fought, okay, he fought several times. He got twice. in the UFC. What happened to jokingly, honey? Let us go to the wild card round,

AK, boys, there's so much to choose from following UFC Vegas 88. Let's select one fighter you've not matched for yet. And let's matchmake for him right now. So, AK, who is your wild card selection? And I have a feeling we might be, might have picked the same gentleman. No, I don't think we did because I think I knew who you were

going to pick and I chose to. I was like, you know, let Mike handle that. This is, this is Mike business, hints, as it were. Ha, ha, ha. I just went with the obvious Tiago Moises. I'm such a fan of this guy. Again, a guy, maybe he never cracks the top 10, hovers around the top 15, holds on to that

spot. It's a great test for fighters. But I like he called his shot. He wanted a Dan Hooker, Brad Radell. I'd probably have to wait a little bit. We know Dan Hooker is recovering from an injury. And I think for once being smart about it, I believe he's sort of re-agravated something. And that's why he's not fighting at the moment.

So it could be a while before he sees Dan Hooker, possibly like the end of the year. But I don't think Tiago Moises isn't a huge. huge hurry. I don't think he's trying to rack up like three or four fights in 24. He's at the stage where I think he wants to be picky. And it was a fun call out. I thought it was a fun call out saying, oh, none of you city kickboxing guys want to face grapplers and, you know, step in the cage with me. Let's test that out. So yeah, I thought he did the thing, not in like a major way, but you know, did the thing enough to earn himself a big fight. And I think Dan Harkers that fight. So you go, you go, girl. Tiago Moises.

My dog's being a little rambunctious this morning. He's so excited. He wants to be actually turned back on UFC Vegas 88, so it could be Roger. Yes, it is Mike business. I'm going with Mike Davis. A lot of people excited that he has returned. He is quiet. And I mean very quietly, he won four straight fights in the UFC's marquee division, 155 pounds, goes out there and finishes the ton levy.

He was asked about who he wants to fight next. He goes, ah, man, I don't know what I want to fight. And then he ran off four names. All of them probably, I mean, the Patty won from a rankings perspective, It makes sense. It works, but it's probably not going to happen, especially since Patty just came out and called out to Monoicano for later on this year. Of course, Moikano fighting UFC 300. But I'm actually going with a name for Mike Davis that he did not mention out of all those names that he called out.

Let's do a little Mike Davis versus Drew Dober action, AK. I think that's where we're going to go here. Just outside of the top 15, let's give this. Let's see if Mike Davis is a top 15 lightweight. Let's throw him in there with a guy like Drew Dober. Mike and Drew, if they get into a slug fest, it's got to be amazing to watch. And if Mike's just like, nah, dude, I'm not into this. I'm just going to grapple.

He can grapple very well too. And that's obviously the kryptonite for one, Drew Dober. Good test for Mike Davis. I think he deserves it. Let's give him that. Yeah, it's time. It's time. Just Mike Davis, you want to see you in there, buddy.

We think this guy has serious potential to be. He has a skills to fight for a world title at 155. He's that good. He's that good. His resume is so far from it. And again, for various reasons, bad luck. Just, you know, just bad luck. I think that's the only I can put is stuff going on with Mike Davis.

Just can't get in there. So if he fights three times in 2024, fingers crossed, knocking on whatever would I have nearby, we'll be talking about him as fighting a top five guy in 2025. Yeah. His one loss is to kill with Burns on super short notice. The one fight in the UFC, he, like, truly struggled in outside of the Burns fight. was Mason Jones, and he was so incredibly hurt heading into that fight, but he had to take it because he was out for so long

and he needed some money. So he had to take it. So he basically fought Mason Jones with like one hand and like one leg and still had a fight of the year contender and got the victory. So a healthy Mike Davis is a very dangerous Mike Davis, and hopefully this is a year where we get to see him compete more than once in a calendar year. So with MX Platinum, $100 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug,

but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice,

yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. because those are groceries and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly.

Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Anything else we need to touch on before we go to the peeps. No, no check on the tape. And let me just remind people, I know we don't do it as often now. We're still giving out Otna points. You just got to remind us. You've got to jog our memory.

So if you send in picks and you really want a point, and it's hard. might we talked about it's hard before because there's so many people sending a picks it's hard for anyone to just to be the one the only one who picked a certain fight but i know you're out there i know you're out there and i'm sure it's in my notes buried somewhere in a hard drive and and i just uh haven't been able to to go back and look for it uh the fights are coming fast and furious in the first quarter of of 2024 so yeah give us a little nudge you want that one yes uh i think you guys all knew the do-do rules of this point we will shut them out if you need them uh let's start with robbie rye this a k might be one of my favorite submissions of all time

Robbie Ryan says, with Otno favorite match fighter, Mike Davis actually active and competing, this is a rare opportunity. Marchine Tyvora versus Mike Davis. Ryan Battle versus Mike Davis. OSP versus Mike Davis. Christian Rodriguez versus Mike Davis. Macy Chieson versus Mike Davis. Then he goes, but seriously, Brian Battle versus Kevin Holland,

Marching Taibora versus Jailton Alveda. Tai Taituivasa versus Marcus Ruggiero delima. There you go. Well done. Well done, Roger Ryan. Well done. I chuckled. I chuckled.

Let's go to Harry. He likes Canadian and Ellinger versus Hione Barcellos. Tiago Moises versus Manuel Torres. Silva versus Jekka Sadigee. Amarim versus Tolita Alancar. Golly. The scrambles, the grappling exchanges in that fight will be a lot of fun. Is Alancar booked?

I got to give a quick doo-do check. I got to give a quick do-do check. I just want to make sure. I don't think she is. I could be wrong. She is not booked. Okay, great. No do-do to be found.

Filio versus Tagir Ullumbeckoff, Davis versus Mark Jacasey, absolutely horrible callouts by him? I don't think they were horrible call-outs at all. Damn, Harry. Guys went four in a row. What do you want him to do? First. A.K., he's with you, GM3 versus Andre Munez. Yeah.

Which I actually like that fight too. It would be fun. C-Rod versus the Arosa-Hamos winner. if he stays a featherweight. Wow. Or DeMond Blackshear, if he goes back down to Bantam weights. And he also likes... Big jump up at 145.

Those are some experience. 145ers. Yeah. And he likes OSP versus... Boy, what a fight. This would be. Marchine Prochnio. That has got to be maybe the middleweightiest light heavyweight fight

we have ever seen in our life. Sure. Book it. Let's go to Matt Rovelli. Been a while, my man, but I'm back. Brian Battle doesn't have the rematch. against Losa, I feel like battle versus Chaos Williams would be freaking violent. We haven't seen chaos in a while. And that's true. I don't know what where Chaos Williams is. I know he's

training. I'm not sure why he's still on the sidelines. He obviously wants Christian Rodriguez to go back to 135 to fight Cody Stamen. He feels like that fight would be a lot of fun. And for his final fight, he would like to see Mike Davis versus Ishmael on theme, which would be fun as well. Okay. I think most of the listeners, I feel like, we're leaning more towards moving Mike Davis up. I think Mike Davis would be well above the instrument. And I think it was a really good fighter, but I think we want to move him up the ranking.

I could see it, though. It's just to stay busy. Anything that keeps Mike Davis in the cage. If I didn't already matchmake for Benoit Sontini, dude, Mike Davis just had been Wrenwasantanee would be friggin' spectacular. Holy cow. But we could still get there. We can still get there.

We'll wrap with four-core sports. I'm not going to read all of these. Ryan Battle versus Carlson Harris, Kennedy and Chichuku versus Zachapauuga, loser leaves town match. So mean, but true. Christian Rodriguez versus the winner of Herbert Burns versus Tula Arcei, and he likes Mike Davis versus Michael Johnson, regardless of the outcome between Johnson and Matt Verbola. The Florida on Florida violence? I don't know why I saw this one, and I thought I would react better to it. It would be a name.

it would be like by far the biggest UFC name on Mike Davis's resume but also it's again rankings wise I have Mike Davis well ahead of Michael Johnson at this point even though he doesn't I get he doesn't have the um you know the the the strength of schedule that like Michael Johnson has it could happen it could happen it's not my favorite yeah all right you're up all right I'll say the most popular picks ever want to Burr and Johnson Lameda I mean it just it makes sense a lot of OSP Dominic race too and a lot of Macy Chasson and Buoy's Bueno Silva, matter of Buenos Silva,

which, damn. Again, I think a lot of people assumed whoever won Saturday was like one fight away from a title fight. And yeah,

it could go the way we're saying, Mike, this little grand prix, or just, again, Buenos Aires would be a number one contenders fight,

right? I mean, for Chesson anyway, I don't think to have Buenos Aires fight a rematch Raquel Pennington. But I guess if Raquel Penning

lost to Pena, you can do MBS and Pany. The women's bandoet division has so many appealing permutations. We just can't, we don't have enough time of the day to go too much. I also a bunch of Christian Rodriguez, Hider Amiel, and this was just, again, give him another undefeated

guy, and Chad and Hellinger, they want to throw them in there with Rinyanakamura. I don't know if I, I don't know how I feel about that. Hey, maybe Chad will surprise me again. Our boy, Tristan Gordette, Mike Davis, Diego Fahara, I like it. Gerald Mearsart and Kizrieve, and

Rebook, Macy Chiasan, and Avila. Oh, no, not rebook, but They were, sorry, Chiasan stepped in for her. So Chiasin, Avila, Julie Aivala. Sure. Ava. Just to throw this out there for the future. Avila is pretty banged up.

She suffered a pretty bad knee injury in the Misha Tate loss. So I think torn, I don't know if it's torn ACL or some sort of CL was badly damaged in that Misha Tate fight. So I don't know if we're seeing Julia until end of the year at this point. So keep that at mind when we're mad. matchmate for Women's 135. Yeah, it's going to be hard for Julia I believe. I think just like she got to the game a little bit late. And like you said, there's that injury.

And yeah, I don't know. I don't know how many more fights she's going to have in her in the next couple of years. I hope a lot because we really like Julia Avila, but it's hard. Just like, you know, life happens. Life happens sometimes. And that's okay. Excuse me guys. I missed the cough button.

Jay Donigee, Tivasa, Waldo Cortez, Acosta. Okay. Christian Rodriguez. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, whoa, wait, what, whoa. Say that again. Tuivasa and Waldo Cortez-A-Costa? Why?

I don't know. Why? I don't know. You want to put Tai Tuvasa on a four-fight losing streak. Salza point. Against Waldo Cortez-A-Costa? Like, we're beyond the building of talents now when it comes to Tai Tivasa. And if we're going to do it, can we at least do it with somebody fun?

Waldo Cortez Acosta, you want to see another guy just tackle Ty Tuvasa and lay on him? I don't want to see that. Where's the Robella's Despain matchups? What are we doing here? Waldo Cortez Acosta, throw freaking Marching Tybor in there with Waldo Cortez Acosta. Come on. I love you, but, geez, we can't do this to tie. As I surprisingly did not get a lot of Tuvasa to Spain.

I will, I think someone did send it. They had a funny comment, so I'll read that later. You didn't read one either, right? You didn't get any surprise thing. No, I didn't. That's strange. Christian Rodriguez versus Cody's statement. Again, I get it.

I would like to see Christians stay at another way for now, but it makes sense. Jay, trolling you said Mirchart versus Brendan Allen. Duh. We had told you a long time ago. You'll be banned if you actually suggest that way, which has, which came up a lot in the earlier. I don't want to say earlier days, really in recent years of Otno. People were saying Mirchart and Brendan Allen. They're like, please stop.

our best friends. He actually says, Mere Schart and your boy, not Eric Anders, Mike, your boy, Roman Coppola. And Jafel Filio and Cody Durdon, good matchup. I will go to Twitter first here before I get to Instagram. Attack MMA,

just one cool pick here, battle versus Jeremiah Wells. Sure. This kind of theme I was talking about, like, do you think that battle is ready to face someone with like 20, 25 pro fights? Do you think it's like time? It's time for, not that that's Jeremiah Wells, but I'm saying more experienced guys. Do you think it's time for battle to fight more during tennis is as well i'm i'm okay with it right i mean i thought

angeloosa was going to be a tougher fight for him i know we didn't get to see the whole thing play out but ryan battle is like a damn good in that fight uh let's see sean haywood moises dober it's a fight i kept thinking that fight happened or was booked i'm not sure it has been but i like that jacquelini amoreem versus elise reed what else jumping out of me here uh mirror shirt versus Michael Olegs State Chuk? Yeah, I mean, again, you want a fight that's not going to go the distance? There you go. You want to guarantee under?

There's your, there's one. OSP, Jimmy Crute, I think we're still waiting for him to come back from injury, but the timelines could work out. Mike, I hate this so much. I don't know why Sean Haywood was justice. Tibura versus Blades. Why? Did you guys do a pick? So obviously Tabor Alameda was on the prelims.

Did either of you wildcard pick Curtis or, I mean. No. Jed did bring up a point that we probably should have matched me. made for Curtis, but he's got to fight Tom Aspinall now. Like, I feel like, even though, even though it was stanchly against that fight happening, the way Curtis beat Jelts and Almeida, you just can't deny it. And I know the UFC doesn't typically do title fights on like fight night cards unless it's like a very special event.

But at this point, if they are going to Manchester in July and it seems like that's what they're doing for a fight night card, Tom Aspinall versus Curtis Blades for the interim heavyweight title just it's a pretty damn good made event right there yeah that's why I hate this tuberic I just have it just does nothing for me uh thank you anyway Sean Barry O'Reilly I'm Arim versus

Mizuki Danny Silva big step up says maybe Charles O'Dane uh I'm Danny Silva looks good you know I'm not sure you could you could make a case that he didn't even win that fight but it was he did uh he did look good Jeffel Filio uh Nate Mainis

Christian Rodriguez Jung Yonglii and then continue the theme of battle versus veterans. Battle and Daniel Rodriguez. That would be a big step up. But could be catching him at the right time. Again, going to Instagram, Bees Extreme Memes, Battle versus Tim Means. All of that kind of that. Wow. That was weird. Moises versus Daryu. Wait, is this a two? This happened, right? Am I crazy? No, I'm just crazy. I don't think so. No, that's not a thing. No, he did. Oh, he did long ago. Yes, this is why I remember his U.S. debut. Oh, that's right. Wow. four or five over five years ago.

We are forgiven. So yeah, you could run that one back. He didn't say it too, but you know what, beans? I also just had to look it up because I did not remember that that was a two. So you're, you're, you're. Right. Christian. It was Christian who had a funny suggestion.

Christian said, or said in a funny way, he's with you, Tuivasa and to Spain. Oh, listen, he thought you would hate this. That's why. That's why I wanted to read this. He said, Mike will hate this because it's too soon for Obellis. Hear me out. I need to see him versus Ty before ties no longer with the company. So I think it's not crazy to have that fight next.

The wild exchanges that would take place in that fight can't be passed off the law. So he thought you'd hate this. No. This is your pick. This makes too much sense. Like, it just makes too much sense at this point. Jed suggested that Robelis to Spain should fight Chris Barnett.

And that is promotional malpractice right now. You can't do that. But I suggested initially after 299 because Robelis was my wildcard. Just chuck them in there with Austin Lane and just let him get another highlight reel or at least just get in there with the guy. You're just going to just try to punch him real hard. But at this point, dude, just do Ty. Let's just see what he can do.

The guy's 35. The window is not a huge one. Throw him in there with Tai to Ivasa. Ty's not going to hate it because he's going to get in there with the dude who could slug it out and he's not going to try to tackle him. So I'm cool with it. If you're going to give him a step up, if you're going to try to fast track rebellious to Spain to title contention, you have to do Thai to Ivasa next.

You just have to. Christian thought, yeah, listen, he thought you thought you thought you that you'd be mad. Instead, you had a Friends Forever moment, Mike. Get a Friends Forever moment with Christian. It's the one. It's the freaking one. Hold on. The band, no. They heard the word Friends Forever. I had to tell them again. Not this week, guys. Not this week. Next week, hopefully we'll have a lot of more. I just talked to the band leader and they've already packed up and the band leader said,

I mean, we'll unpack if you want and then gave me a sigh. And I was like, nah, you can keep packing, dude. I'm not going to make you on back. That's a real bummer. Speaking of Chris Barnett, how do you feel about him and to Abbasso? I like that better than the Despain one. Yeah. But still, I think after Chris, didn't Christmas wait a heavyweight in his last fight? He did.

I know he's gone. This dude has gone through so much. So I kind of just want to give Chris, I bring back Rocky Martinez for Chris Barnett. Like, let's just do that. What are we doing? How did we never get that? We need to get that somewhere and some promotion somewhere.

That was from left lane. Anyway, by the way, Tuvasa Burnett, left lane. Also, just rebooked battle loose. Chasen, Ketland, Veyerta. Everyone booking Chiasen is essentially

trying to book her and number one contempt, quite. I think that's the idea we're going for here. Mike Davis, Jamie Malarkey. Great fight.

I just think Mike Davis is a little bit past that right now, but I just don't know if we can even say that because he just doesn't fight. He just doesn't fight that often. Jafel, Filio, and Bulldog,

Silva, Bulldog, Bruno, Silva and he's with me on Moises and Hooker. There's a few more to go here. James Sherwood likes Brian, oh, you didn't read James Sherwood, did you? I do not. Okay.

It's just another suggestion for Battle and Carlston Harris. OSP, Nico Nagamarianu. Christian Rodriguez, Andre Feely. Interesting. Again, huge experience gap. Huge experience gap. That match I actually think would not go Christian Rodriguez's way. If he could beat Philly, if he could take a decision from Fili, I would be.

really, really, really impressed than I already am. I like what I sure. What about Brian Battle versus Nico Price? That makes a lot of sense. I love that fight. I do think they'll rebook this fight, but I would hope that's a future call-out for Brian Battle. It's just the next logical step. Tino Alvarez,

Danny Silva, Sean Woodson, anything else jumping up. Mike Davis, Ludovic Klein. Again, these are a lot of great fights on paper for Mike Davis. I think we're all just hoping he can get a little bit higher rank while also staying busy. but I don't know, maybe they're not compatible. Maybe he had to stay busy. He has to take fights like Ludovicline.

OSP, Dustin Jacoby, Brian Battle, Max Griffin, again, another veteran choice. And I should not even read this, Mike. It's Marchant-Tobura versus Jarzino. And no, Jarzino is fighting one man next. Yes, come on. What are we doing? What are we doing? No more.

See, this is what happens when we skip the disclaimer, Mike. I should have made that, added that disclaimer. this week. No fights for Jarzino or Derek Lewis until they fight each other next. I get it. Rosenstrike, I've kind of tweeted like I've got an eye on you, Martine, like this fight could happen. And yes, that has

all the makings of a fight night headliner. But Derek Lewis got to happen first. Yes, that's it. And Mike, last one, once more picking up on sort of these, this Jose Aldo at 301 report, Jose Aldo Jonathan Martinez. Again, a fight

that, I don't think we've posted MAFlighting.com yet. Because guys, we have not confirmed that yet. We're not saying it's not going to happen. Mike, you've reached out. You've done your part. You've reached out. It sounds like it's going to happen. A lot of sites of priorities. ESPN announced it. But guys,

we are still getting on that. We want to make sure this is 100 percent locked in before we report that to you. But either way, apparently Jose Aldo, Jonathan Martinez fighting. And I just want to read this from Ian Fergus. I should have given him welcome to the party pal. I'm pretty sure this first time he's messaged me. It just says

Jose Aldo versus Faber would be better for 301. Faber is not officially retired. He, as far as as we heard, there's a rumor he might have a grappling match. He might be doing a grappling match for his promotion for A1. In the main event of his own event. Yes, A1. Your Favors A1

Combat Club, Combat Fighting, something. Very good promotion, by the way, guys. A lot of highlights and it's on Fight Pass regularly. So you guys have that. It's no extra cost. But I agree. I think we all want to see Aldo if he was going to come back, fight a legend. So him in Faber, too, even though I don't think it would go much different from their first fight. If anything, it might go even worse for Faber.

I just don't know if Faber has ever had anything for Aldo. And even at this advanced stage of his career, probably still doesn't. But, again, I would still rather have a fight a legend than Jonathan Martinez. Even though when that fight comes around, we'll all be excited about it. Cruz or favor would have been Nice choices Any interest in that Aldo versus favor? Sure.

Two, I guess two. No. Not particularly. I mean, I watched Jose Aldo kick your eye, Faber in the legs a whole bunch, and I don't think Uriah wants to go through that again. So it's just, the whole thing is weird to me.

You know what I mean? It's just very strange. This is the UFC just trying to throw a Hail Mary here to try to boost this card up at all because let's be honest, it ain't tremendous. It ain't great.

But, hey, big opportunity potentially for Jonathan Martinez. And we'll see if this is what ends up happening. And if so, can Jonathan Martinez pick up the biggest win of his career and just make a gigantic boost at 135 pounds where it's very tough to do that? Yeah, we're happy for Jonathan Martinez.

That's really like the most consistent take we've had on it is we're happy for Jonathan Martinez, but I think depending who you ask, we're all over the place as far as like what this means for Jose Aldo going forward. How excited should you be for Jose Aldo coming back? Mileage may vary, guys. Mileage may vary on this one, but it does appear that that is happening through one. But that is, Mike, I think that's, I can't believe it. We made it to the end of our UFC Vegas 88 talk. It's been quite a ride.

And if you ever told me that we'd have so much Martin Tabura, his face so much on the front page of M.A.fighting.com, I would not have believed you. But that's what you get when you win your first main event. You know, you get your, you get your, you get all this coverage on MAPFindon.com. You get 15 solid minutes of post-fight professor time. It's his world. We're just living in it.

That's true. We're also going to be living in a world where the UFC is heading back to the world's most famous apex for, UFC Vegas 89. 14 big fights here, okay, and we have a 10 p.m. main card that features six fights, six of them, including the main event, Amanda Hebas versus Rose Namayunis.

We have Carl Williams being the second half of the Tafa complete full circle switchup, no longer fighting Junior Tafah, he's fighting Justin Taffa, Justin Taffa was supposed to fight Marcus de Jere De Lima at UFC 299 Junior stepped in on short notice after Tafa got injured and now Tafa returned in the favor.

That is as of now the co-main event for UFC Vegas 89. We have the return of Edmund Shabazian taking on A.J. Dobson. Excuse me. Let me just make sure I got this right. I'm going off good old tapology and topology.

It never really stirs me wrong. Yes, Carl Williams, Justin Tava is the co-main event. Edmund Chibazin, A.J. Dobson, the featured bout, 185 pounds. We get some bannam weights on the main card. Peyton Talbitts versus Cameron Simon. Billy Quarantillo versus the newly resigned to the UFC, Yusuf Salal. He is back at 145 pounds. Yusuf Salal is stepping in as an injury replacement.

Fernando Padilla versus Luis Pahuelo is the main car. Hard opener, featured prelim. Kurt Hollabo, the ultimate fighter, takes on Trey Ogden, Ricardo Hamos, takes on Juliana Rosa, Miles, John's, Cody Gibson, Stephanie Bruna versus Julia Palastri, Jarno Arons versus Stephen Wynne, Monsterat Rendon versus Darya, Zelaz Niakova, Igor Severino versus Andre Lima.

And what better way to kick off an event at the world's most famous Apex, then a heavyweight over spectacular. Mo Usman taking on Mick Parkin. That is UFC Vegas 89, A.K., how excited are you for this card? And let me just say, shout out. Shout out and a thank you to the higher reps at M.A.fighting.com who are giving your boy a rare Saturday off when this one all goes down. I have not checked my schedule, but I assume that means I am not.

getting a Saturday off and that's okay. This is a failure on my part. I am not familiar with a lot of these fighters. I'm going to be honest with you. I shouldn't say that because some of them I think have been featured on Miss Fis, but I also feature like 800 fighters a year in that article. So forgive me if I don't remember some of these people. This is a card.

This is much like the card we just watched, Mike. This is another card. It certainly is. It's got some serious. stakes in the main event though and that that i think we can all appreciate so uh watch go into this card with almost the same eyes as you did uh ucc vegas 88 people as in you know keep an eye on some people that some of these folks might break out in the future could have one or two fun fights here there a couple of few nice finishes and uh again in the main event that could have title implications

depending which way it goes and uh also if rosenama unis loses um i'm interesting to see how how will match we'll we'll say it now mike If Hebas wins, I do think we match to make for both. Okay. Fair. Yeah. Let's go that way. Let's go that way.

What are the betting lines on that fire rate? Let me take again. Rose minus 175. Hebus comes back at plus 445. That's going to move. I feel like that's going to move. I don't know which way, but it's going to move. Yeah.

Well, that's UFC Vegas 89. Should be an interesting week. There is a misfits boxing card on Saturday night as well. So the combat sports action will be a place. will be a plenty. And I believe we'll have some announcements this week as well pertaining to what we're going to do on the road to UFC 300. We get some fun things that are going to be coming up. I think we're, I think on BTL, I'm going to announce a couple of things that we're going to be doing. And I think you guys are going to love it. A.K., you may not even know about this,

but I might even tell you off the air. And then we're just going to be marching away to T-Mobile Arena, to UFC 300, that historic event. And I think everyone's going to be looking forward to it. And it's going to be a lot of fun. So until next week, I am Mike Eck. That is A.K. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously.

MMA's supposed to be fun. And boy, are we going to have fun after UFC Vegas 89 right here on on to the next one, the podcast. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.