MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 93

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

Tatsuro Taira improved to 16-0 as a pro with the biggest win of his career on Saturday at the UFC APEX with a second-round finish of Alex Perez in the main event of UFC Vegas 93. With many interesting options in front of him, where does the 24-year-old Taira go from the victory? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Taira following his first UFC headliner. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Miles Johns following his co-main event win over Douglas Silva de Andrade, Lucas Almeida after defeating Timmy Cuamba in the featured bout, along with fellow main card winners, Brady Hiestand, Asu Almabayev, Adam Fugitt, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets. sandwiches and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more.

DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition. On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns have returned. following a memorable and outstanding positive up and down UFC Vegas 93. I can't even lie to the world anymore.

Stop it, Mike. Okay. What are we doing with our lives? Stop it, my best friend. What are we doing? Seriously, what are we doing with our lives? That was, that was the worst fight card in three years, at least. Was it not?

Mike, why are you so negative? Why is the media always so negative? Why can't we, why can't we just? do our jobs and focus on the positive and promote these cards for the fans who, who, you know, maybe don't know how good these cards can be. No, this was terrible. This was a really bad card. The usual disclaimer we have to give.

Guys, of course, we respect every fighter, everyone who steps in there. They're not the ones who put these cards together, you know, props to anyone who gets in the cage. But on paper, this looked bad. On paper, a lot of recent cards that look bad. And frankly, they've played out that way. Louisville wasn't fantastic. Louisville main card was all right, but again, most of the recent cards, if you'd look at

them top to bottom. See, 302 wasn't great? Like, this is nothing new. Mike, we've complained about too many events, too many fighters maybe being brought up to this level where they're not quite ready yet, and not even ready to put on like a compelling fight. I'm not asking everyone to be like a world champion, but can you put on a fight where people look at, you know, you tune on any random time during these fight night cards and

you see these two guys fighting, you're like, oh, I'm watching a high level of product. That hasn't been happening recently. A lot of these cards, I think, if some poor casual fan had tuned in, they'd be like, what's the big deal? I don't understand. What is the big deal about the UFC? What is the big deal about MMA? They'd be so turned off because the action is just not, it's not reaching the level that

it should be, you know, whatever UFC level used to mean. So we just had a lot of fights that on paper looked like they had low stakes, looked like kind of poor style matchups. We're just like, well, this isn't going to like, we don't think this is going to produce a banger. And, like, we're very honest with people when we see two names, Mike, that we're like, okay, well, we know these guys, the regional scene. You put them in the UFC cage, put the bright lights on them.

Like, they're going to shine. They're going to find a big fight. And even at our most optimistic, we were just looking at some of these matchups. And we're like, man, like, some of these fighters are just really sub, sub, like, you know, UFC caliber or just sub big show calip, sub PFL, sub Beltor caliber. Mike, I was trying to come up with a fitting comparison. It would be like if you were watching the NBA. for instance, or the NFL, one of these big league teams.

And then every, let's, every, every third week, they're like, oh, by the way, we're letting some, like, some guys from a third tier league start, starting on the team. They're going to play in this game just because, I don't know, we need to, we need more bodies, we need to feel like, people would riot. Your fans would riot if they were just randomly picking guys up from, again, what's there, what is there, the USFL or the, I guess, the NBA G leagues of bad comparison, guys do come up from there. But imagine, like, they were coming in in waves, just all these people from the G League,

just taking up like four guys from the G League, something got called out to play for your team. You would write. You would tune out. This is kind of what we're getting here, and it's disappointing. And I'm glad that people are getting opportunities, but it's leading some really, really unintertaining cars. And it's just bad for the fans. The amount of takes I've gotten this week of people being like, these cards are so important. Without these cards, the UFC can't exist.

We cannot grow newer stars. Name one. Seriously. Name one star that has become a star fighting at the apex. And you can't even name Sean Strickland because that's the first one you will go to. Sean Strickland did not become a star at the apex. Sean Strickland became a star when he went to Australia, which is far away from the apex. No, Brennan Allen, not a star.

He is the face of the UFC Apex. Jared Canineer, another face of the Apex, not a star. They have not built one star out of these cards. Not one. So what are we doing here? Your argument that, well, how do you build stars if you don't have these cards? Give me one. Name me one.

We've been doing this for four years. Four years we've been doing this. You can't name one. that became a star fighting at the apex. Not a single one. Why do we keep doing this? Why are we just trotting shit out there? Like, we're watching cuckapoo.

It's crazy. And again, yes, the fighters, it's not their fault. You take the fights that you get. You're making shit money and you're fighting in fights that nobody wants to watch. Even some of the people who threw these takes at me, I see you Pepperidge Farm remembers when you're on Twitter and you're like,

oh, we've been watching this fine car for six hours. Where's the main event? Oh, where was that energy four days ago when you're like, stop being so negative. If you're negative about these cards, that means you're the actual casual fan. You know what? Look in the mirror and demand better

from the best organization in the world, okay? We are allowed to tell you the truth. If something sucks, it sucks. If it's good, it's very good. But that's it. I'm not going to change for you. I'm just not going to do it. So there you have.

We're in a rough stretch. This is a rough stretch. I think if you're a UFC only fan, really, I'm trying to think which cards have, I don't know, I shouldn't say. There have been some good cards in other organizations, but the PFL cards haven't been great. The UFC cards haven't been great. Ryzen had some entertaining moments, I will say.

But again, I don't know how many people stayed up until midnight on Saturday to, like, just for the beginning of that card. So you have to really commit there. But like I said, there's stuff happening. But, you know, if like any sports fan, you want to be able to just tune in at a convenient time, preferably at sometime from 6 to 8 p.m. in the evening, you know, kick back, relax, and enjoy a good fight. And if that's your main way of doing things right now as an roommate fan, you're not having a great time. You just have not been having a great time recently. I had more fun watching Anderson Silva fight shale son in last night than at any 20-minute stretch of watching that card last night.

It's just tough, man. Outside of Brady Highstand and Garrett Arm feels fun. That was good. I thought Gabriel Fernandez. Yeah, that was good. There were some good performances. Man. Yeah, I didn't mind the first fight out of that.

I thought Josephine Knudson, excuse me, and Julia Plastry was good too. Like, there was only a couple of fights that I would designate as terrible, like on this card. But even the good ones, even Gabriella Fernandez and Carly Judis, like, you just won't be talking about these two weeks from now. Like, you just, it's just not a memorable thing. And again, good for both them for putting on a fight. I think they won a fight of the night as well. So there go, congrats. It's a good fight.

It's insane, dude. It's insane. It was not the fight of the night. It won't make, and it certainly won't make, like, our top 20 fights of the year when we're running it down. Like, I'd be very surprised if we even remembered it. But it wasn't even the best fight on the card. Never mind, but 20th best fight of the year. It's a lot.

Like, if you're going to get Brady Highstand a bonus and not Weston Wilson, that's ridiculous. And secondly, Brady Highstand, like, if we're going to give a bonus, that should have been the fight of the night. What are we doing? Like, I just don't, I don't. All of it was a mess up. Like literally every single thing was a mess up. From the bonuses to the fight card to the matchmaking on it. Take it like, God, man.

I even wish they kept Icram Alaskera on the card. Go fight Tricoli and then fight Whitaker the week after. And I would have been super okay with that. They needed it from so bad. Let's start talking about the main event now Because again, we got to do the picks anyway Yeah, we got it, please. It was, I, congrats to Tzaratar.

I thought it was utterly macab how all of the talk after from Bisping and Cruz was about like, oh, let's look how Tira set this up to intentionally like injure his knee, which I honestly don't think Tira did. But they were like just so, and they just went over. Guys, if you have a replay available, go back and watch it. It's like 10 straight minutes and they're going like,

yeah, look at them tie him up and cause his injury. Like that was, this is all. purpose. You got a credit tire for this. And I'm like, yes, credit tire for the win. I understand that they were trying to push that. But like, you can you can ease up on like how impressed you were by this guy getting injured. It was, it was too much. Like you wouldn't, you wouldn't see that. Again, I keep bringing up with other sports. But like, if someone had a good tackle on the blew out the other guy's knee, the announcers aren't going like, man, that formed tackle way it's beautiful. The way they got his bite to twist down and blow. Like, you just wouldn't

see that. I know it's not an apples and oranges comparison, but it really made the ending even extra unenjoyable, but I guess there wasn't a lot to talk about. Yeah, man. I mean, good, good, good performance from Tyra. Yeah. He looked good. I thought Perez looked really good, too. Just tough way for that fight to end.

Tyra gets a lot of credit for the takedown, but this whole thing, it just, oh, God, the commentary is awful. I think at one stretch, Michael Bisbing talked for like nine minutes straight. Like, literally, I, at one point, point I was making food and then I took my dog outside to go to the bathroom, came back in, was still making the food. And then when I turned the stove off and like moved the food from pan to bowl, Michael Bisping was still in the same sentence. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. And this would have been one of the, John Gooden's great. I felt so bad for him. Dude earned his

paycheck. Dominic Cruz was real tough to listen to. Except for after the eye poke in the main event. That's a Domney Cruz delivered the goods, the goods dumping on the gloves. You could tell the moment the producer's like, Dom, don't do this, dude. Don't do it. I got Michael Kiesa ready to go. He's like, yeah, maybe not. It just yanked it all back.

It was just, it's just so tough, man. Thank God we're going to Saudi Arabia. Then we have 303. Then we get a weekend off. Thank God. But this needs to get better, man. It just needs to get better. They've got to get out of this apex.

Dude, that Louisville car was trash. It was trash. And it broke the U.S. Fight Night Gate. Get out of that building. Look at what NXT did. If you're going to do it, like do it cool. But you don't even try.

They're not trying. And I told this to a buddy yesterday. And this might be the hottest take of all time, but I don't even care. even though the UFC is red hot right now. If UFC 300 didn't happen, this might be the worst six-month stretch as an MMA fan I've ever seen.

That's quite a statement. And I mean, it doesn't sound wrong to me. It doesn't sound wrong to me. I'm not like sold 100% on it, but there have been very few six-month stretches where I'm just like, man, I wish they would take two months off because I'm just getting like, just getting bored by it all.

Like I don't want to feel like this. No. When it comes to the sport. But that's where we're going. So hopefully the next two weeks can turn us around. MMMA is supposed to be fun. Yeah. There's not a lot of fun happening right now.

We need BK. We need a Mike Perry BKFC fight stat. Like we need this to happen immediately. Because that's the kind of shit that like turns us back into like real fans again. We're like, all right. All right. Now we're starting to go downhill. Because we can't get 300 all the time.

We just can. That was like the refresh button. It's barely been two months and we're back to where we were before that. And it's just too bad, man. I mean, $2.99 was really good so that might throw another argument in there, but $2.97 was real bad.

301, fun, but probably the worst pay-per-view card of all time on paper. 302. Good main event. A horrendous card. Really, really terrible. and then maybe 303 would be fun. I don't know.

But let's just get right into this, A.K. Let's get into the fights. Let's get into the matchmaking. We mentioned Tetsu, Retirea, Big Wood over Alex Perez. Dude 16-0, he's real good. We've been really high on him for a really long time. And come Tuesday, he's going to be a top five flyweight in the UFC. So a lot of options here, A.K., where are we going with Tetsu-R-R-R-R-R-W-R-1.

One last known of Perez, I as well say, our man, Nicklinville, our medical man on social media suggested Perez. He thinks torn MCL may be dislocated kneecap slash Patella. You can see the right knee move inward on the fall. Snap inward always takes the MCL with it, usually more pain from ACL, which is why Perez was in such pain. So I just want to make that note again. This is not an official diagnosis. This is just a, I was like when Nicklinville weighs in with this.

Mike, I just went Manel Kopp after he loses to Muhammad Mikhail. I think whoever wins at UFC 304 in that matchup will get a title shot. And the loser takes a little bit of a step back, but not a big one. And Tara is not really a step back now. I mean, I think he'll be top five or six, certainly in the official rankings, probably in our rankings as well with that win. So, yeah, give me Tyra and Kopp, because I do think Kopp is going to lose. And then the winner of that will probably also get a title shot.

I'd be fine with that. Didn't go in that direction. I think he's the backup fighter for that fight. Carl Tire, if Cap can't make it. or Mikhail. But if that fight goes ahead and goes as scheduled and there's no issues, we do Brandon Royval because that fight rules and I want to see it. So let's just go ahead and do that.

Be easy fight to book. Both guys have the same management team. There you go. Can Tara get Pentosia? He called him out. He wanted that. I mean, the thing is the Steve Ersac thing set a precedent. But I think people have to remember they also just really need an opponent for

Pentosia because they need the headliner for Brazil. That's really why Ersseg got the shot. I don't think he would have gotten it so soon if it was for. for those circumstances. So I don't think Tyra is going to have the same look. Yeah. And the fact that Alex Pereira and Jamal Hill got moved to 300, really hurt 301.

Yeah. And it didn't matter. Like at that point, it was just like, well, we got to do something. And Ersek was the only guy available. I don't know if Tyra gets it. It's just too far away. Pantos says he's not going to be able to fight until December. So I think they'll have plenty of time to figure out, figure that out.

So I think he's just. You have to take another one and you can go fight Brian Royvo. There you go. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem.

They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and our focus on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. 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 Codooldoole. 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. Let's go to the, this is a penultimate fight, AK, if there ever was one.

Miles Johns fighting Douglas Silva Day Androge, the near 40-year-old. And a fight that ended up being pretty decent. It was fine. Douglas Silver Day and Drudge came back and made it a little bit interesting. But I think for, and this is another issue of like what we've been seeing with the UFC. And we saw it with PFL Thursday as well and just the whole sport. the result was exactly what we thought it was going to happen.

Miles Johns went in there and won a decision and he's quietly won four in a row, I believe. So call me lazy, call me what you will like it. I don't even care. Miles Johns versus Brady Highstand is the fight I want to see. It makes sense. I mean, it makes sense. It's not the direction I went in.

There was actually a lot of matches in this card where I was just like, yeah, I'll just match up the two winners. So I tried to avoid that. I could very easily see the UFC going that route. I think this card had no one heavier than welter weight, right? I think it was like Josh Quinlan, I think was the biggest guy. I think he had 171 on Way and Day or something. So very interesting.

I don't know if that had him to do. Like, we always tell up the lighter weight classes, so I don't want to blame them for this card not being great. But yeah, you could easily match up for all these people. I went with my Kyler Phillips. And Collar Phillips would be a fun matchup. Like I said, Miles Johns. Kind of quietly won four straight, really five straight,

if you count the no contest, that got overturned, I think, for what, the marijuana? thing. Oh, Turin' a ball. So maybe a little more. Four straight. Four straight. Three straight. If you don't want to count that win, but either way, he hasn't lost, he hasn't lost in a couple of years. So he's on a bit of a run. I'd like to give him someone a higher ranking. So it's called Kyler. Yeah, he's looking like I thought he would when I saw him on the Contender Series. He's a nice little run right now. And shout out to Brady Highstand as well. And you want to

just reveal who you matched up for him. Oh, yeah. I went with Amin Zahabi. I was thinking of an older. Well, I was saying older, more experienced fighter, and I realized Zahubi is older. I forget he's 36, and he's on a nice four-fight win streak. I think, you know, Brady's won three straight. They're kind of not really on the same path, but I wouldn't mind seeing them matched up. I am curious, one, how good Aeman really is. I know he's skilled, but again, the age gap does concern me. I think that that cardio of Houston would be a problem. Or again, I could be wrong. Maybe he's just way too skilled for Houston. It just blows him out of the water. But yeah, I went with that with Zahubi for him. It's a good pick.

Let's go to the featherweight division. Lucas Alameda cashes me my first ticket of the week, dude. The week at plus 170. Luckily, Tetsu, Tira, and the main event made sure I didn't just get absolutely embarrassed and clobbered. So I only lost, like, a unit overall when it was all set and done. But it was just loss after loss, after loss, after loss. It was just a really bad stretch. But Lucas Almeida gets it done.

and he's fun at 145s fought really good dudes. I thought him being a plus 170 or more to Timmy Kawamba was redonk. And the fact that so many people were taking Timmy Kalamba at that price was insane to me. So took the value, was very happy with that. And now Lucas Almeida is just going to continue to fight pretty good dudes. I don't know, man. We're like, we're in dart throw territory. I landed on Hakeem Dawadu.

Whoa. Whoa, that's a big step up from Timi Quamba. I just went to my rankings and tried to find a name within like five or six spots. How did this fight end up on the main card? Like, again, I'm not saying there's other better picks. Like they could have just, but couldn't they have just done a five-fight main card? I don't know. I don't know how their broadcasting thing works, but like just do the five-fight main card. Because, like, if you recall, the card was scheduled start at seven, the prelims.

And it didn't start me And then they gave us You turn it You tune in seven Hey here's the countdown 25 minutes until the first fight I'm like what in the world are you doing Why could this not just be a six fight preliminary card

You start at seven And then a five fight main card And then you don't have Lucas Almeida And Timi Quamba on a whatever main card spot Not that it matters It was all in the same channels anyway But This was clearly a preliminary fight

How is this how is this you know So high up in this main card This was bizarre This was just bizarre Mike is smarter than me. Do you have any explanation for what the hell? No, I was so, like, I didn't even see it. I went on our Slackchail and you posted a screenshot of it being like 21 minutes away.

And I was like, get the hell out of here. I was so mad. I was so pissed off when I saw that. That's crazy. Why do we do this? Just start or just like started at 730. Like, do that. I don't care.

There's nothing better than the fight already being in the cage right when the broadcast starts. Now you're going to give us 30 minutes of Karen Bryant and company on the desk for talking about this frigging card? Come on, man. They just do not care. They just do not care. Brian and the team earned their paycheck on this day. All right. They had to talk about.

I don't know if I could have talked about this for 20 minutes on live television. I don't know if I could. Oh, yeah, I know. Good, good on him. Good on. What were telling him? Lucas Almeda. What did I say?

Oh, Josh Kulabal. I don't know. Just strikers only for this guy. I don't know. I don't know what Timmy Cuombo was doing. I guess he thought he was a striker because he was getting his ass pieced up. And I'm like, you know, Tim, you're a really good wrestler. Like maybe do more of that.

And when he did use it, he actually worked out pretty well for him. So I don't know. It's easier said than done. At least he made it the distance. But yeah, it should not have been the main card. What a strange fight. Good performance from a Sue on the Bible. Yes.

Yes. Real good. Thank you. This is one of the bright spots of the car. I think if we're going to talk about one fighter that maybe we weren't talking about that much heading in coming out. It's probably a Sue El Mabayev because he's good. Beat up a really large flyweight, six-footer, Jose Johnson.

Shout out to Jed Mishu, who said this fight would not even take place. But Al-Mabaiv just goes in there and just Jose Johnson had had a good moment in the third round after just getting just kind of ravaged by Amabai F the entire time. I think Al-Mabiaf has won, what's doing, like 16 in a row? 16 in a row. 16 in a row. This dude's real good. which is why, A.K.

I'm going to give him a fight with one. Timothy Elliott, A.K. Timothy, Elliot. Tim Elliott, as you know, was supposed to fight Tetsuro Tira. Then something happened and the fight was called. And Tim Elliott doesn't have an opponent right now. So we can do Alamab versus Timothy Elliott. Yeah, I wasn't sure what Tim Elliott's deal is who was injured. Otherwise, I certainly would have gone that route.

Yeah, I think Alamabio deserves a top 10. guy. So I went a little bit, well, I don't know how those ranks would go. I had this guy a bit higher. Nicolao. I went Mattis, Nicolao. Two-fight losing streak, but I think he's still holding on to a top 10, top 11 spots. So there you go. If people are wondering why we're rushing through some of these picks here,

listen, we are putting as much thought into this matchmaking as the matchmakers did for the card itself. Okay, I am just, I'm being honest. Honestly, we probably put more thought into it, like, for sure. We might be doing it a bit of quickly, but I mean, the process, I think we actually took our time with some of these

and I think all these matches were suggesting are far better than what they gave us on Saturday nights so yeah, Al-Baiyav Tim Elliott I think is great, great to be an awesome grappling match and Al-Myav and Nicolao. I kind of just want to see where Nicolao is. I think losing two straight. I think a lot of people kept expecting

sort of the bottom to fall out of Nicolao as far as him being a top-10 guy. I've always been a fan. I know he's a little boring to maybe there's not a nicer way to put it. His fights are a little bit boring sometimes. But I always thought he was good, but now he's lost two straight. clearly maybe not a top five guy, not a title contender.

Amabaya could be and I want to find out. So just don't get it. Yeah. This is the point of the festivities where I was just like. Now it is now? I was just like, I can't do this anymore. I just can't. What if we got a friends forever right now?

If we get a friends forever on this fight, then it would be, it will legitimately be the best friends forever there ever was. We're talking about Adam Fugitt, who gets the victory over Josh Quinlan, a fight that went to the scorecards, could not believe it, following a fight between Nate Manus and Jimmy Flick going to the scorecards. That just goes to show you what kind of night this was inside the world's most famous apex. But I'm curious, if we land a friend's forever here, because literally my thought process was F it this dude.

Who did you get land on? Just count to three and let's do it. Okay. All right, ready. One. One, two, two, three. Phil Roe. Punta Hallisariano.

Okay, we did not. We did not. I just was like, not even close. Fine, Phil Roe. Okay, let's go. Let's continue on. Yeah, I don't know.

Puna, I thought Puna looked great at Walter Waite and give him a test. Test, there you go. Yeah, okay. Let's go to the wildcar round. I mean, I'm actually more excited for the wild card round than anything else. Let's select one fighter we've not matched made for. We'll match big for them right now. So, A.K., who is your wild card?

Cannot wait to hear this. I'm curious how you could be so excited about this portion of the show, unless you, I really don't know. Okay, so I just thought Nate Manus had a solid win. This card really was showcased for the Flywitz. It was supposed to be anyway. we were also we were supposed to get uh uh uh uh why am i why am i tagir uh uh llan beckov wow that was wild that was like um i almost had like a uh a classic um my goldberg moment or something tagier uh uh uh uh ulan bekaub was supposed to bite joshua van that would have been either the prelim

closer i think if they reshuffled the card after um the el scarov thing i think he probably would probably end up in the main card anyway uh ellenbeka up blue weight that by happened. Joshua Van, poor guy, sees another fight fall through. So I want Joshua Van to fight Nate Manus. I think that's the way to go. The only problem is Joshua Van will probably return sooner rather than later. He's probably rearing and ready to go and will probably fight within the next month. But if he does wait, I kind of want to test him against Manus. I don't know how good Mainus is yet. He's on a nice run. I think Joshua Van, he's only 22 years old. We all see him as a future top 15 guy, but they were already giving a tough matchup to gear. So

Why not Nate Mainsis as well? So this is like a, this is the continuation of the apology tour for one Weston Wilson, A.K. Because I've not said kind things about Weston Wilson and his prospects as a UFC competitor. Just have not been high on him. Yes, he lost to Joe Anderson Brito and Giann Silva. And those are some very good names in that 145 pound divest. vision, but I was legitimately concerned. I got Thomas Gifford vibes watching Weston Wilson fight, and those are vibes that I just do not like to have with any fighter.

And I think there's only two fighters. I can remember watching in the UFC where I felt like that. And it was Western Wilson was one of them after, especially after the Gian Silver laws. So I have gone on programs and been asked about him and was just like, this guy does not belong in the UFC. he might be the like out of 690 fighters on the roster he might be like the 680th ranked fighter I was not kind I was not kind and then he wins he goes out and submits jekka sadagee in the first round and looked pretty good I got to tell you the first 30 seconds of that fight I was just like oh my god like it's going to happen again like weston's going to get

knocked out not play any defense he's just going to get hit and he's going to get brutally co-oed and within three minutes and it's just going to be so bad. And then he got the fight to the ground and he submitted him and he won and I was very happy for him. Like I really was.

And then he went and did his media scrum and dumped on the media who said he was the worst featherweight ever signed by the UFC. I don't think I went that far. But I also probably could have been a little more fair with Weston Wilson,

but you can only go by with what you see, AK. So I apologized live on the post-fight show, and because of that, to continue on with the apology tour. By the way, Weston Wilson, I hope you got Dana White's number and got a bonus because you deserved it.

You got hosed last night. So I'm just going main event, the sphere, UFC 306, Weston Wilson versus Ilya, like just give him the title shot. Let's see what he could do. I'm just joking. No, Weston Wilson versus Connor Matthews. Connor Matthews, anywhere but the apex.

I do not care. Let these two guys get in there and cook, have a good time. I think it would actually be a pretty fun fight. So give me West of Wilson versus Connor Matthews. There's no way I was not going to pick West of Wilson, who may be the new Parker Porter of enemy fighting duck. Damn. I feel like you're overcompositing now, Mike.

I feel like you've gone too far the other way. Now you get you apologized. You gave the man his credit. you don't need to just go crazy with it now. Yes. But West, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, no, that's all I have to say. I don't know if Weston Wilson ever wins another fight in the UFC again.

I don't. But guess what? It doesn't matter. For the rest of his life, he has the story of, yes, I made it to the UFC. I am officially in the win column. I can always say I won a cage fight at the UFC level on ESPN 2 and ESPN plus, whatever, one of the ESPN channels. That's really cool.

I always think that stuff is cool. I'm with you. I don't know if I was ever that hard on Weston, but definitely I must have said at some point, like after the John Self fight, like, oh, why is Weston Wilson the UFC? Why did it even, blah, blah, blah. And in fairness to us,

we're not wrong to ask these things because Weston, Jack Asaregi, Mike, probably also isn't really a UFC level guy, if we're being honest. It's not like Weston Wilson took out a top 50 guy. He took out another guy who we would put in the bottom, whatever, 80 of near,

closer to the, the 80 spot in their division, then a top 50 spot. This is just being honest. Neither of these guys are really high-level U.S.C.5. That's the fact. But it doesn't matter. They got those three letters next to their name at some point. Jekka got a win.

Now, Weston Wilson has a win. Congrats to all these guys. And, yeah, Weston, whatever is next, you know what? It don't matter. You're laughing all the way to the bank. And I do hope he gets a little extra money, too, for that finish. Yeah, you better. It should be laughing to the bank.

Golly. It's insane, I think. But 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.

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there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. I swear to God, A.K., I'm pondering, not even taking Verofussions. Come on. All right, we'll go into it. You guys already know the rules. We don't need to get into this.

We're going to go through these so incredibly quick. It is Father's Day as well. And I just don't want to talk about this car anymore. I really, really don't. But let's go. Robbie Ryan, Fugit versus Cheedy Bang Bang, Brady Highstand versus Rao Roses Jr. What do you think of that, AK? Yeah, I saw that.

I don't mind it. I don't mind it. And I, but I think that's a bit of a tough. I don't like it for, if you're trying to push Roses. I don't like it. I don't think he's that much more talented than Brady Houston and the cardio thing. If we're still questioning roses cardio and this goes three rounds, I mean, Houston's pretty relentless.

So I don't love it for that regard. But it could happen. Yeah. Alameda versus the Jenkins Brago winner, Johns versus Victor Henry, Tyra versus Brandon Royval, wildcard, Fernandez versus the one of Carolina, if she loses, if she wins or Lucy Pudolova if she loses. Okay. Harry.

These listener picks are going to give me a headache trying to like think of remember who's coming up. Yeah. And by the way, Robbie, if. Fernandez gets either, you do not get a point because you pick two names. Yeah. No, no hedging. There's no hedging on the show. No.

Harry, Malkasiel versus Morgan Shariae, Knudsen versus Pugia, Tomar. Boy, that's a tough day at the office for Pugia. I don't like that for a real tough diaper. Real tough. Harry likes Wilson versus Connor Matthews. There we go. What? Stop it.

Stop it. I swear to God, it's right there. Fernandez versus Lipsy. ski. That's fun. Manis versus Johnson. Asu versus Mateus Nicolao. Highstand versus Al-Tangeli, Al-Media versus Julio Arse,

Johns versus Pedro Munoz, Tyra versus Albazzi. This is interesting. Carly Judis, who did not win the fight, but she got a bonus. There are a lot of people who thought Carly won the fight versus Juliana Miller.

I actually think that like makes a lot sense. But there is a part of me who thinks Carly Judy's beats the holy hell out of Julianna Miller. Only one way to find out, Mike. I think you've done it. I think you've done it, Harry. I think you've done it. That's good. John Canutzen versus Maura. Costa versus GoMe.

Mainas versus Johnson. Fugut versus Ratke. Al-Mabaya versus the Durden, Silva winner. Johns versus Lappalus. Wait a minute. What's the Johnson one? be that with Johnson someone versus Johnson Mainus? Are people, when they say Johnson, they're talking about Charles Johnson, right? Correct.

Okay. Not to me. You guys. Or Jose. No, he wrote Charles. I was just, oh, okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm saving time.

It's not his fault's mind. We just had Jose Johnson dropped out. I don't like, are people talking like Jose. Yeah, good point. I assume they mean Charles Johnson. I still don't accept it as a flyway. That's fine. I still don't accept as flyer.

Tire versus the Kai Kar-France, Steve Urseg winner. and then parentheses magic ball picking that fight to happen next. Wouldn't shock me if it does. We're seeing rumors. Yeah, the rumor is circulating right now. Well, we also like see people picking apart the war room board and seeing like half of the 305 card.

Yeah. And you see people like reporting fights that were clearly one half of the names that were like on the list as like multiple. I don't want to get into that. It's been a rough week for the reporting world. Lastly, left lane. he had some, we're not even going to read the intros or anything. We're just getting right.

Tira versus Moreno in Japan. Rebook Blackshare versus Highstand, Alibaya versus Devorak, Wilson versus Melchicosta. There you go. What do you got, okay? Wow. First of all, I want to say, the three most popular picks were weirdly, I got a lot of Lucas Alameda versus Fernando Padilla.

I mean, I like that. Yes, this is what we should be doing with Lucas Almeida. Thank you, people. This is smart. I saw several Alex Frez versus Machelels. Why? it's why just give up give up

the only reason we want it I mean it's still it must it makes sense like where they would be ranked but like I think people are just like oh we just still feel like we need it because it was booked like seven times they're like no I'm okay if that fight never happens I'm not going to go to my grave

wondering oh how did we never get Alex President and national like I'm okay let's maybe just give up on that and then the most popular pick I saw was Alma Baia versus Charles Johnson and Micah shout to Micah who said the card was rough I like the idea of Amabiah becoming the Johnson killer. He can move from Jose to Charles and maybe switch over to one FC and then fight Demetrius.

Yeah. So that's why the whole Johnson thing had to be confused because of Michael's message. I like it. Or listen, move up to Featherway and go beat up Michael Johnson. I don't know. Go to Belitur and fight Timothy. Doesn't that?

Best moment of the week. Best moment of the week. Thank God. Who is it him and who is he fighting? Oh, who the hell was it? Oh, we can't even remember. This is so bad. Well, Moldoski.

Right, Moldowski? No. No? Umudowski fought Litton Vassel in the main event, A.K. Foof. Uh,

who did Timothy Johnson fight and give us the beautiful knockdown slash growing shot? Danilo Marquez, Daniela Marquez. Yeah, I was going to say, it was a guy who I'm pretty sure

was in the UFC as well. Yeah. Back in the day. Uh, all right, go to the emails here. Tristan Gordet, uh,

some's already said, but that Nate Manis, Alessandro Costa, short. On Instagram, Gage, Tyra versus the Makai cop winner,

Miles Johns versus Cody Garbrand, Mike? No, I don't like that. Okay. He stunned Silva de Androge and Alamabayev and Ilan Bekhov. Sure, Fugget versus Tim Means. I don't know if we're at that point with Tim yet, where he needs to be fighting like bottom 20 guys. I don't know.

Don't know if I love that. I mean, this is a dude coming off a win. And it's a fight that good old Timmy Means could win too. so it certainly could be might be as good as it could get for for Tim right now alright gauge maybe gauge is on the right track here

Micah who I mentioned before Tyrus Makaya when cop pulls out so like kind of suggest Mike maybe just be the backup Lucas Almeida and Weston Wilson Fugget and Charles Radkechukh Bucklow um yeah yeah

boy Lucas Almeida versus Western Wilson is that what he said? Yeah I mean are you trying to get Lucas Almeida hurt God, you really. He really is a new park reporter, isn't he? Gerard, Gerard, Tyra versus Kaikara, France. Again, we think that we're hearing rumors about the Ursaic. Car Carra France, nothing substantial. Excuse me, guys.

Miles Johns was Chris Gutierrez. I think that might be right. I think that might be the way to go. And this is one I really thought about Heaston and Haniya, excuse me. Tino, Tino, Nate Manis, and Hafea Estevam. I'm a Bay of Timely. Heaston and Marcus McGee. Oh. It'd be fun. Be fun. That is fun.

Miles Johns. If they do it, let's go. Miles Johns, Brad Catona. Twitter, let's go to Chris Martin, who called this. Oh, no. Why would you do that? Oh, you don't like to. Wait, which one?

Brad Catona. I tried to blow by it. I tried to blow by it, Mike. I tried to just, I tried to slip that one. Can we ban that name from the program? No, no, no. We got more Cotonou coming, my friend. Chris Martin calls this the worst card of the year edition of Otno.

And that's for you, Mike. I want to start by saying that Mike has been right all week. It's fair to say this is a trash card and NFL commentators. As long as they don't work on a pregame show or broadcast partner, criticize the NFL all the time. You said this on heck of the morning. In fact, I think the quality of Monday night and Thursday football has improved because of the criticism from fans and commentators.

I don't know if I can speak to that, but I mean it would make sense. That and the fact that USPAN and Amazon are paying for the rights of those games. So yes, there is business reasons. But yeah, I think, I don't think a brand likes publicly being criticized. And guys, we can do that with the UFC too, you know, and I think they will step it up a little bit. I don't see anything that has been mentioned already. So Chris also suggests Johns and Daniel Marcos.

I love it. Heastin versus Katona for the Ultimate Fighter Bantamweight title. Ketona won his season. He's won two seasons. Heaston didn't even win his season. So how dare you, Chris Martin, suggests? Brad Cotona is the ultimate, ultimate,

135er does not need to be contested. And I don't really feel like watching the fight either. Gabriella Fernandez versus Julius Stolier-Renco, Weston Wilson, Francis Marshall. That's a good book for some of these. Yeah, that's fine. Sean Haywood. Miles Johns versus Davey Grant.

I love it. I don't know where David Grant is, but we need some David Grant. The only person I really met saw, I don't know, I can't remember if you read, anyone saying Tyra and Pantosia. I think Sean's the only one that actually is in on this right now. Yeah, I didn't see that.

I think we just think he's won away, right? Yeah, I don't think this win gets him a title fight. You know what I mean? Gabriela Fernandez, Priscilla Ketcher. Mike, what do you think of Knudsen and Demopoulos? Yeah. I like it. Makes sense.

I'll probably take a dog bet on Vanessa Demopoulos, who will get a split decision in a fight. She probably didn't win. Four Corn. Did you read Four Corner Sports? I did not. There's a few here. Johns versus Yanyes two. They fought six years ago, I think, for the LFA title once in a lot of time. I believe Janyes won.

I think the split decision, Janyes won, I think. Okay. So here's, I'm going to compromise, okay? I'm going to compromise. You could book that fight, but the winner gets Cody Garbrand next. Oh. Yanez has to fight Cody Garbrand. Like, that's the fight.

You want that. And then I'll go to Barry O'Reilly. Let's close out here with Barry. Canutson versus McMahon, win, lose, or draw versus Bruna, Brazil, U.S.O.4. There's McKelso-Col-Chaer. I know you read one of those. Wilson, Gabriel Santos. That would be kind of fun.

Gabriela Fernandez, Jamie Lynn Horth, Nate Mainis, Charles Johnson. Fuget versus McKee. If Reese is still in the O.C., give him this one last fight. And if he can't win this, then Fugit, he's out of here. See what he did there, Mike? fugit he's out of not that fugit is out forget about it

forget about it I think you that I should have said it more that way Amovaya versus Nessimento Alan Nesmento Filiyo

winner August 10th Heistin versus John Matsumoto I don't think they match them up right now that would surprise me

fun fight that would surprise Lucas Alameda versus Jack Shore and again there are rumors but yeah Tyra versus

Erseg listen there's a lot of time between now and the that card. So maybe that's a fight Tyra gets, but I don't know, unlikely, but not, I don't think

like the craziest suggestion. No. I like the idea of Tyra fighting in Australia just because it's a little bit closer geography-wise. He wouldn't have to take whatever the flight is to get to the U.S., like the 14-hour flight. So I don't know.

Him landing on the card would be fun. I don't know if it would be against Erseg, but I would like to see him fight in, where is this, Perth? Perth, right? Yep. Yeah, Perth. So there go. That's it, guys. Great picks this week, guys. Good job.

I mean, just the fact that you're, we have the best viewers and the best fans. Like, I know we come on. We trash things that deserve to be trashed. And yes, there are certain people who call into shows that have some, you know, just awful takes. But we still love you for them. We truly do. But for the most part, you still put forth the effort of submitting matchmaking suggestions for even these types of cards. But don't worry, guys, because we got a fun little stretch coming up. We got a fun little stretch coming up. We are not back at the world's most famous apex for, like, a little more than a month, which is very exciting. July 20th is the next time we are back at the apex.

So it's really good stuff. We are in Saudi Arabia this Saturday. And boy, this is just music to my ears. Prelims begin at noon Eastern. Main card, 3 p.m. Eastern on ABC, the main event, the new main event. Robert Whitaker versus Akramalaskarov. Sergei Pavlovich versus Alexander Volkov. Legit, co-main event, not a penultimate fight.

Co-main event. Kelvin Gasolam versus Daniel Rodriguez, Muhammad Naimov versus Melzik Bagasarian, Johnny Walker, book on Ozedimir, Shara Magamada versus Joyeth and Luderbach, Nazrat Haparaz versus Jared Gordon, Anat Fokrinov versus Nicholas Dalby, Wyngaf versus Kyongho Keng, Magamad, Gazi Asulov versus Brensen-Rabharo S-Sedrici Dumaas versus Dennis Tallulian, and Long Zhao versus Chang-Houli, I believe this is a road to UFC finale fight. It is.

At 135 pounds. So that is a nice tight 12 fights beginning at noon eastern. I mean, this is this is exactly what it should be. How dare you give us a 10 p.m. Six fight main car with that drivel that you just fed us yesterday. Then we get right into 303. Then we get a weekend off. And then Denver for Rosamie Units versus Macy Barber.

So it's going to be a fun little stretch. And as I kept saying, we just have to get through this awful apex card. And then we're on, we're off to the races. Now we can enjoy ourselves and have a little bit of fun. The UFC is back. Mike, the UFC is back. I don't know if you've heard of us. They are back.

We'll see. We'll see. I do like what I do like these next couple cards, though. Sorry, I should have said that being in the show. By the way, thank you, by the, for Jedmishu last week for hopping in. I should have said that right to start. Great job. You guys, phenomenal chemistry.

and having to watch that USC Louisville card live, I'm sure could not have been the best experience. But you guys killed it with the matchmaking as usual. So thank you, Jed, if you're out there for feeling it. Yes, and thank you, A.K., and thank all of you for listening to the program. Back next week, following UFC Saudi Arabia. And we'll see you then, right here, and on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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