MMA Fighting - On To The Next One | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 98

Episode Date: October 13, 2024

Brandon Royval just won an incredible five-round fight against Tatsuro Taira, handing the Japanese blue-chipper his first loss. Is that enough to vault him to another title fight and possibly a third matchup with Alexandre Pantoja, who defends his title at UFC 310 in December? Or does "Raw Dawg" need to prove his No. 1 contender credentials one more time? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what's next for Royval after coming out on top of one of the best fights of 2024. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for cult hero "The Iron Turtle" Jun Yong Park, welterweight winners Chidi Njokuani and Daniel Rodriguez, and intriguing lightweight contender and wife appreciator Grant Dawson. We also try to figure out what lies ahead for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's favorite fighter Themba Gorimbo after he recorded his fourth consecutive victory. 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

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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns return following the UFC's return to the world's most famous apex for UFC Vegas 98. The countdown to UFC Vegas 100 is on. It is vast approaching. We are less than a month away from that historic event. But before you can get to 100, you got to get through 98. And that's what we did.

And it was very enjoyable, especially in the main event. Thanks to Brandon Royval and Tetsuro Taira, who put on just a classic for 25 minutes. In the end, Brandon Royval gets a split decision win. Don't know how we got there, because I just don't see a world where you can give Tetsu, Tira, three rounds. But that's neither here nor there. But I am Mike Haken. Joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. and most importantly my best friend,

the great Alexander K. Lee, a.K., welcome back, sir. Where was I? Where did I go? Well, we were gone for a week. We were gone for a week. That's too long. That's too long.

I wish we could matchmaking every day. That's what I... It would be fun, wouldn't it? All day I dream about matchmaking. That is my motto. Adidem. Adidum, I say. It was a good show.

It was a pretty good show. We had some, like, we had some odd splities. I will say. I'm pretty confident three of those like shouldn't have been that hard to score, but okay, you know, we got great fights out of it. I don't think we got a robbery.

I'm trying to look at the scores again. No, I think everyone who won, yeah, there was no split decision that went like in a scurry way. We're like, oh, I can't believe this person won. So just, you know, the odd scorecard here and there, which I think has become a theme in 2024, maybe in 2023 as well, just like, we don't have, thankfully, very, very, very few straight-up robberies. I mean, we went to debate Aldo and Bautista, but we have had a lot of splities.

Even unanimous decisions, the occasional unanimous decision where we feel like someone won all three rounds, and then like there's a random round given to the fighter who just got walloped. So judging is in a strange place right now. We see a lot of fighters complaining about it, still, as they have been for many years, and fans as well, and some of us in the media. So I don't know what's due with it. But my best friend that didn't overshadow an amazing, amazing fight, which might be, I don't want to say we're overreacting, but I do feel like it was like top three fights

of the year so far. I'm not allowed to go there. It was very good. It's there's a chance it makes the list. There's a chance it makes the top five. top of my head i would say no but that doesn't mean it wasn't great you know what i mean even if it's a top 10 fight of the year yeah it's pretty damn good this is a pretty damn good fight like was this better than brenn allen versus chris curtis i don't know i don't i don't i'm not sure

but i have to really like dig deep on it it was a very good fight it was fantastic and shout out to both guys brand roeval gets it done there's a massive underdog uh can't a plus 240 ticket, so I was pretty happy with that. And shout out to Tetsu Ro Tira, who proved he belonged. Still a little raw, still a little rough around the edges. But man, it's real talented, and he's only 24. That is a scary, scary man. But perhaps he will matchmake for him later.

If wild cards come to fruition in that direction, I know some of the listeners had some matchmaking suggestions for the Japanese standout. But let's start with the Raw Dog, AK, Brandon Royval. ends 2023 fighting for the UFC Flyway title the fight was not all that competitive against Alexander

Pantosia. Royval certainly had his moments and it looks like Brandon Royval the road back to a title shot would be a kind of a long one with Pantosia at the top of the marquee but this division's gotten real weird

AK because if I told you right after Brandon Royval lost his flyweight championship opportunity that Pantosia's next two fights would be against Steve Urseg and Kai Asakura, you would have thought, I don't belong covering the sport. You would have thought I was absolutely insane.

But that is exactly what's happening. And as we've learned, especially with this division, availability is your best friend. And Brandon Royval now 2 in 2020 in 24, two main events, two split decision wins, one over Brandon Moreno,

now one over Tatsuro Taira. Is 2025 the year of the Rod Dog game? Oh, boy. I think this was a pretty good year with the raw dog. I don't think we need to define the year of the raw dog as him winning the UFC title. That was the hope in 2023. He's had a lot of good years. We are in a raw dog era, as disgusting as that is to say.

He's the kind of guy who you wish flyweights were more respected because he would be, I shouldn't say respected. They're respected. More, I don't know, promoted, but I can't even say that. because I feel like the UFC, they don't do a great job with it, but they don't do a particularly great job with any of the divisions. I just wish Brennan-Royval was a bigger star. I think that's what I just say. He's such a classy guy.

That's probably the problem. He's not like an insane trash talker. He's not, I was going to say, he's not always balls to the wall, though that does seem to be his game plan going forward. And we saw flash to that in the Tire fight. We certainly saw a flash of that in the Moreno fight. He just kind of found a balance now between, like, you know, technical and professional and also like that old Royaville.

We like to just kind of rushed headfirst in the danger and and it occasionally did not work out well for him. And we did not see that in the Pantosia fight, which is unfortunate. I think we all wanted to see the rawst raw dog ever in his second fight with Pantoja. And that did not happen. Mike, I, I want, this was an easy pick for me because I think I had said after the Moreno fight that I wanted to see Roy Valk get in there. I was just with Pantosia again for a third time. I was just so unsatisfied with their title fight. I was so unsatisfied with the Royval Pantosha title fight,

and I just feel like that wasn't the real Royval. And I don't know if he can beat Pantosia. Maybe Pantosia has his number, but I need to see the man going out on his own terms. So if Pantosia beats Asakura, I would love to see them fight again. I just don't think that Roy Val needs to do more. I think there's a very good chance he does have to take another fight. I get it because, like you said, the division is a little screwy.

The timing is maybe not working out in Brandon's favor. but if he can wait and if Pantosia can make a reasonable turnaround, I say run that one back. And of course, if Asakura wins, I don't see how you can't give Royvout, make Royval his first, his first challenger. So give me the winner of the UFC 310, co-made event. So I went in the same realm, but not exactly where you went, because I just don't know if the UFC is going to give Roybal a title fight if Pantosia wins,

especially with Pantosia having two wins over Roybal. I just don't know if they do it. So I went win or lose at UFC 310. We get Brandon Royval versus Kaya Sakura because there's no way that that fight doesn't rule. That fight's incredible. Even Royval called for. He said, I want to go to Japan and invite this guy. And I love that idea.

So if Asakura wins the belt, easy fight to book. And if he doesn't, I'm sure Royval will not have an issue fighting Kaya Sakura. There's just, it's just such a weird division because even a Brandon Marino beats Amir al-Bazi. like how many times can pantosia beat brandon merino how many times can pantosia beat brandon roi val he's beat it's just having him his champ is so weird because he's beaten everybody already he's literally beaten pretty much including steve ursegg in his first title defense so we'll see what happens flyweight is super fun there's guys coming it's a deep division it's it it it rules i love yeah yeah you're right though the the the

the the the the potia's gonna have would have a weird run if you had to keep playing the same guy And listen, we can all blame friggin Manel Cop and Makaya for pooping the bed because that was so clearly designed as a number one contenders fight. And Makaya, it was so bad, one cop lost, so he's not getting the title fight. And Makaya got fired. So essentially got fired. So that is how bad that fight went where it looked like we were getting a fresh challenger. I'm sure Pantoja was just like waiting at home, just watching the fight, gave me the call, send the contract. And then he's like, now what the hell am I going to do?

So that's to bring an escort. alternative, by the way. Very, very, very good fighter and very cool that he's getting a tell the shot right away. But yeah, the division got weirder after that fight when it was supposed to provide some sort of clarity. So it was strange. It was a strange woman.

But, um, Ravel also said he was willing to fight the UFC Edmonton winner or something. Didn't he say that as well? He said he would be ready to be the backup for that fight and be the backup for the title fight. That'd be so weird because he, he, let's say something happened to, uh, Albazi, then he would fight Moreno again?

That's just a weird. I don't know. I don't know. Hey, it's one one. It is. It is. It is. Not against it.

A good win for Roevo. We needed that bad. Yeah, he needed that win badly. So excited to see the future of Tyra. Excited to see how Brin Royval continues to evolve. And big win for him. Speaking of weird divisions, let's go to the middleweight division, A.K., which just continues to get weirder and weirder.

But one of the M.M.A. fighting fan favorites. The Iron Turtle gets the win over the Wiley veteran Brad Tavares. And boy, did it start off a little scary for the old Iron Turtle gets dropped immediately by Brad Tavares with a nasty combination.

But then the turtle did turtle things gets the win. And I just went with Andre Pertrowski because I have no frigging idea what to do with this guy. I just went with Petroski and that'll be fun.

Yeah, I saw people mention that. I like that pick. It makes a lot of sense for both guys. I love the Iron Turtle dance, by the way. Iron Turtle Army had a moment, man. I mean, they had to wait because this fight got pushed back, like, whatever, a month or a couple months. This was supposed to happen before, and people were so disappointed when the fight got postponed.

But they got their win. They got a beautiful dance. There was great vibes on this card. We should say, again, Brennan Ravel winning. And anyone go watch his post-fight scrum with the media, good stuff, talking about how, like, oh, I'll love to train with Tyra. I think he said he trained with Tyra a little bit before. Like he just has so much respect for Tyra.

He called him a future champion, what a fan he is. Like, such a class guy. And Mike, as we get to, we'll get to the best vibes moment of the night shortly. But I will say the turtle dance was also great. This was easy for me because I really want to see if Park can get a number next to his name. We've got a couple of rank guys for you next week. I think he gets, and I've already matched up the winner of the U.C. Vegas 99 main events. So I said Nasradi, Ema, Bob, should get Michelle Padetta or Anthony Hernandez, whoever wins.

And whoever loses, I think Juniang Park can get that guy. So the timing is working out for all these matchups. It's a little too neat. I know the matchmaking doesn't always work out this way, but I would love to see it because Park, I think, has had a number next to his name in the official rankings, the U.S. rankings, if I'm not mistaken, like 13, 14, 15, somewhere in there. And if he hasn't, this is a chance to get it. Because I don't think whoever loses next week's main event falls out of the top of Dean. So there's still be a spot to be had. And I think he's a fun matchup with either guy.

I'd love to see how he'd handle Padetta or Anthony Hernandez. Yeah. The future is bright for one Iron Turtle. And it's just a weird division. Like once you get out of the top seven, it's just a crap shoot all over the place. I saw a lot of different suggestions for him. So we'll see how that plays out. As we go from middle eight to welterweight, Cheedy and Jokawkii is.

2-0 as a welterweight in the UFC to be honest two forgettable fights not very fun I think this is more about Jared Gooden just giving this one away and being awful

last night than Cheedy blowing the doors off him Cheeady had to look real good early I think Jared Gooden just handed him that fight especially in the third round but Cheaty's 2 and O and then he said hey I want to get to the top 15 let's go what's the road

to get there. And my response to that was, I'll like five more wins and then you can maybe get there. Where did we go with Cheaty? He's just, it's such a weird example. He's way, he was the antithesis of the middleweighty middleweight. And then he was kind of becoming the middleweighty middleweight. Like he had a fight that he looked very middleweighty in. And now he drops to 170 and he's looking still a little middleweighty in there. Mike, you're not launching him to the top 20 off of wins over O and 4, Reese McKee, who across two, that was across like, yeah, two UFC stints, and now Jared Gordon, now two and five in the UFC across two UFC stints. Not the most impressive strength of schedule for Mr. Injigwani, but hey, you fight who you fight, you get your wins.

It would have been nice if there was a knockout in there somewhere, but, you know, W is a W. weird has really just been the name of the past two weeks, Mike, I feel. So I'm going with Chaos Williams. And I only do this because I need to bring up a weird stat. What, I'm a fan of Chaos Williams. I'd like to see him fight more. And as I was trying to think, like, when's the last time he fought and what has his activity been lately? Do you want to hear something crazy, my best friend?

I would love to. Pointless MMA stat you will hear. You may want to use this for your trivia game that you have been saying. The wonderful trivia game, been sending up for a Mayfighting.com. So anyone who listens to this show will have the answer. In the first seven years of Chaos Williams' career, including amateur, including pro, this is according to topology.

Never fought in the month of May. Did not fight in the month of May somehow, I don't know, never happened. In the last three years, he has only fought in May. Wow. How weird is that? May 2022, May 22, May 23, May 24. Like some mythical beast Who sits dormant

In his cave for an entire year He only emerges in May to come out and fight And then we do not see him again For another 12 months. Very, very odd. I think if he fights, it means you're going to get Another two months of winter or something. I'm not sure how the Chaos Williams Myth is working right now

But very strange stat. People share that with your friends next time you're at a party. It'll get a lot of, you know, people talk about how brilliant you are and what an interesting person you are. So there you go. Yes, the May man, only the last three years. I never fought in May before that.

That's the only reason I brought up Chaos Williams, really. I'm sorry, Cheetah, and you want. I don't know who you're fighting next. May's a good night to, a good month to fight. So maybe Cheedy can become the 2025 May opponent. Maybe. Coincidentally enough, A.K., the band can stay quiet. I went with the man that Chaos Williams most recently fought in May.

I went with Carlston Harris for this one, who, Chaos knocked out in 90 seconds. So maybe Carlson can bring the fun back out of Cheetah and Jokawani. And I'm just not willing. I think chaos is a little too high up right now. But if he beats Carlson Harris, maybe we can get to, maybe we can get to Chaos Williams. But hey, win is a win. It doesn't matter what we think.

It's all that matters is that he gets his hand raised and gets that second check. So let's go to the lightweight division, the best division in the sport. let's go to the MVP of UFC Vegas 98 Grant Awesome Grant Austin goes out there Beats the holy hell out of Rafah Garcia Kind of left him in a puddle of his own blood And we don't really see that side of Grant Dawson all that often

A lot of control time, maybe a submission You don't see him really beat the brakes off somebody But boy, he did that to Rafi Garcia Became the first guy to ever finish Rafi Garcia in a fight And then he gets on the mic and cuts an incredible promo he puts his wife over and just classic Grant Dawson fashion and Grant Austin 9-1 and 1 inside the Octagon. This guy's real good. He's a tough out for anybody.

The King Green Loss is one that's going to haunt him for a little while, so it's nice to see him put some personality forth on the microphone. I'm not giving him a high-rank guy. I just can't do it. But let's give him a popular name. and a fight that will be really fun and one that I think Grant Doss will be tested in Drew Dover

Grant Dossi versus Drew Dover Makes a lot of sense, makes a lot of sense Good good meathead battle I mean meathead in the nicest way I would like I think you total guys in there It makes a lot of sense It wasn't my pick I did go a bit higher Though again let us let us

We cannot praise Grant Donson enough for his post fight speech For his sort of the rebound I think he's had Since the Bobby Green fight That was just a bad matchup for him That was a bad matchup It was a guy who was a veteran opponent. I think we all knew there was a chance.

It could go that way against Bobby, and it's fine. I don't think, like, Grant loses that much from that fight, and now he's got two straight wins. And he's looked really good in it. He's looked like what we think he can be. We think he's, like, a real hoss. We think he's, like, such a well-trained, very athletic guy who could be knocking on a top-10 ranking with the right matchups in 2015.

So next year, I think, a big, big, big year for Grant Dawson. And, yeah, his post, I was going to say, post-wife speech. His post-fight speech about his wife was fantastic. As a fellow, as a fellow wife lover, I will say, that sounded bad. You guys know what I'm talking about. I really appreciate him. You know, thinking his team, thinking all the people involved and all that, and then, you know, going right to talking about his wife's support and how much he loves for her rear end. I thought that was delightful. I thought that was wholesome fun for the whole family. And a rare moment where I feel like being in the apex made it like 10 times better.

Like normally, like in a crowd, you know, in a crowded arena, it still would have been hilarious. But the fact that there was just no escape for his wife, they're just right on camera. Everyone can hear, everyone's looking at it. Everyone who knows what he's talking about. I thought that was great. So Grant Dawson, well done. Maybe the postby speech of the year.

Great vibes. Mike, I went high here. I don't know. Maybe I'm pushing him to quickly. Can he get Gamrod? Can he get? Is it too much? No.

Do they train together? Because they train together and they're good friends and they're not going to fight each other. That's why I haven't matched these two up before. I'll take it. I'll take the do-do and I love the speech. That's it. That's the takeaway. You never know.

You never know. Maybe there's some personal conflict between those two that we don't know about. Maybe Gammonaut doesn't love his wife as much. And maybe Dawson will take umbrage with that. Like, you know, could be, uh, maybe could be an interesting angle. If that was an angle to a fight, I'd tell you, we have entered a strange. Like I said, everything's weird at the UFC now. Uh, why not?

Why not? But that's right. I was like, I knew there was a connection there. And I was like probably, no, no, no, I know why. Yes. It's okay. It's tough. It's tough to match a matchmaking this division because most of the top lightweights all

train at the same gym and they all train together and they're all friends. So it's, it's very, very difficult. back to walterway we go daniel rodriguez gets the split decision win over alex morono again this is sal diomato's doing this should not have been a splitie this is i thought it was a pretty clear daniel rodriguez win but d rod gets it done back in the wind column shout out to l a a ufc being rumored to go to to l.a in january uh that's where it seems like all signs are pointing for the january pay per view to kick off 2025 this piece of matchmaking that I'm about to drop on you, AK, you're already aware of, but just to explain to the listeners, this is, this is less about D-Rod and more about the opponent, because there's a lot of talk about Timma Garumbo.

Timbergrimbo goes out there and gets another win. He's won four in a row, and guys got a great story, and good for him. But the quality of competition that this man has fought has been awful. Like it's been real, real bad. Gets choked out by A.J. Fletcher, who I don't even think is in the UFC anymore. Fights Takashi Sato, who I also don't think is in the UFC anymore. Pete Rodriguez, who is definitely not in the UFC anymore, I don't think. Ramiz Brahimage.

And now Nico Price, who, as Jed likes to say, is on the well-done side of cooked. And I would say he is on the no pink, no redness to be found in this beef anywhere side of cooked. And we love Nico Price and he's giving us some crazy-ass moments and crazy-ass fights. But we saw in the Alex Marono fight, the guy just got nothing left. He's just, he's, he's left it all in the octagon and had done so many years ago. So this is probably like the biggest name he's beaten. But to me, like this isn't a world beating, defining. win. This is still a guy who might be in the top 50 in this division. And I don't say this to be

disrespectful. I just don't know what to make of this man as a fighter and as a guy climbing the ladder. This is a guy who said, hey, in 2024, I am going to fight for the Welterway title. I'm going to be the UFC Welterweight champion. This is a man who said this into a live microphone earlier this year. I'm going to be the champion by the end of this year. And on many of the programs, we try to lay out a path about how that could even be possible. And it is not possible. And I don't even know if 2026 could be the year for Temmigrumbo at this point, considering where this division is. So, sink or swim time for Temme Grimbo.

Let's give him Daniel Rodriguez. Let's just throw him in there at D-Rod, top 20-ish guy, probably maybe just outside the top 15. Let's see what he can do. If he can go out there and just hoss around D-Rod and win a 30-27, okay, we got something here. But we have to give him a step, like a legitimate step up in competition now. Four wins in a row against the bottom third of this division. We got to give him a step up. That's it.

Yes, my best friend. We can't have a friend, Sir Ramon, here. I think you and I had discussed a little bit very briefly on fight night, what your plans were for Temba. You mentioned D-Rod. and I can't find fault in that logic. I think that's a great, that's a great selection. I'm maybe a little bit higher on Temba than most, only because just like,

I guess I haven't seen enough of him. So I always want to believe the sky's limit, but we are talking about a guy with, who's 33 years old, he's been fighting on and off since 2013, and now he's finally made to the big show. So when you make it at this level, I do feel like there's that one,

still another step of growth for him. So, I mean, we have to find out, right? So you give him a guy who I still have ranked in the top 20. I understand if people tend to drop older fighters if they're not like putting together win streaks. I don't. I think it's like someone

needs to take your spot and that's exactly I think the opportunity that that Tembo would have here. So yeah, Mike, we were also talking about because they'd come up before the show like where would Tembo be ranked with a win? And we were kind of like flippins about it and like saying maybe he'll crack

top 50, top 40. By MMA math, like because he beats Nico who beat Alex Marano who I had somewhere in the top 30 like I mean all the guys I think I had Nico and Marano just kind of dropped with their with their losses but I have Temo like in the top 40 which sounds which is pretty high I think for a guy who like we're dogging his competition a lot but yeah with respect to all the guys he beat Daniel Rodriguez would be a astronomical step up from what Tembo's facing the octagon and it would be amazing to see him get a win and like

If he beat Dale Rodriguez, legitimately, we could say Temba's the top 25 guys. So we'll see what happens there. And I think it's a great match for Dan Rodriguez as well, a guy with a bit of a name, some social media buzz. And it would be nice to get a two-fight win streak if you could pass Temba. Yeah, I like that fight. Do it in January. Do it in LA. Love it.

Maybe the Rock can be there in Tembis Corner. Yeah. Just all the bells and whistles. So let's go to the wild card round, AK. It's select one fighter we have not match made four. and we'll match make for them now. So who was the lucky wild card selection for you? Well, I'm going to do something here.

First I'm going to ask you, did you pick Junior Tapa? No. I thought we could have the craziest, like, friends for him or whatever. Okay. I'm going to do something here, Mike. I know what you're going to do. Do you know? I already could feel it.

Yeah? I could feel it already. Tell me what I'm going to do. You are going to match Junior Taffa up against a guy who just got a contract on the Contender Series. Who, Mike? Ardum. Ardum Vacatov, the Pereira Slayer. I don't know.

We've probably been overselling that angle. But yes, the man who holds kickboxing wins over Alex Padreta. Yeah, just won a contender series, supposedly with an assist from Poiton, who like campaigned for him on the fight night. Yeah, it just makes a lot of sense. They keep saying that junior wants to drop down to light heavyweight. Anyone who looks at junior top by, you look at a guy like, yeah, this guy is not a big heavyweight. We don't know what's going on. And they were saying on the broadcast, he just keeps getting heavyweight booking, so why not take them?

He was supposed to fight salsa boy, which might not have gone his way, if we're being honest. That might have been a loss. So he kind of lucked out getting Sean Chirap and then made the most of it by grabbing the fence to avoid a takedown. That probably would have been the end of his night if it had happened in the first minute. It happened later in the round. He could just kind of write out the clock and then for Sean Chirap. It took the fight on less than a week's notice, had no gas and just got smoked. So yes, if we want to do.

see not to make junior taffa a stepping stone but if we're trying to do kind of what they did with padena again to fight with izzi taffa makes a lot of sense for vacatavas first upon it very winnable fight and by some chance he'll be an underdog if he gets the win there hey maybe you have a new player at two oh five so two o five is kind of a division where you can like play around with the pieces that are in there right now and i would like to see junior drop down and uh and mike you called it it's him in baccatova do you just give vacatap for her now like what are we doing here you know let's just do it no it got to let it simmer you got to let it simmer why i don't know yeah they're gonna try again it's not gonna work that's why you just

just throw them in there people just want to see prayer fight he'll dust this dude and then we'll be done with it i went with tattoo retire i was very impressed with what he did again green raw I would like to see him in there with another veteran, another guy who has been in there with almost everybody in this division that's seen it all and done it all. Let's do Tetsura, Tyra versus Kikara, France, AK. Let's have these two guys just get after it in battle. I love the matchmaking.

I love the matchmaking. I saw a lot of people say, let's do Tyra versus Vinny Sigs. I say, blasphemy. Do not do that. We do Vinny Sigs versus Min El Cop, because there's no way that fight is not terrible. is bad. Let's see what the kid's got.

Even if he loses to KKF, so what? He's 24, about to be 25. It's flyweight. He'll be able to bounce back. So that was the one I went with. Yeah. Listen, Kikar-France, call for that, man. Call for that.

You'll get that fight. If Kikar, France goes on social media or pops up on submission radio, something like that this week and calls for the fight, I think he will get it. All right. Anyone claiming no points? I don't think so. I don't think so. We had some nice, we had some listeners chime.

I think we had just the right amount of listeners chime this week, Mike, but no one, no one calling for odd. All right. Let's go to the listeners. I only got a few. Let's go with Haddon versus Erici Lang. This is from John Ray, Pellestry versus Cheyenne Velismus. She doesn't, well, this is a hot minute. I think she's had a baby.

Did she not? Yeah, that's right. Tafa versus Omar C at light heavyweight. Grimbo versus Jeremiah Wells. I thought about that one. That's not a bad shout right there. Sabatini versus Julian Arosa. Drod versus Gunner Nelson.

Dawson versus CDF. And Jokwani versus Carlson Harris. There you go. Park versus Pfeiffer. Tyra versus Moreno, winner lose. Royval versus KKF 2. I think Royval is ahead of a little bit ahead of Mr. KKF. I think so too.

I saw a couple of people mention that. And Royval has been saying, you know, he likes rematches, but that's one rematch where he probably doesn't feel like he needs to get it back because he won the first time. But, I mean, if people are giving him rematches, maybe he'll feel like it's fair to give other guys rematches. I don't know. Hey, listen, that fight was fan-freakant-fricentastic. So if they want to do it again, you ain't going to get a complaint out of me. Micah, Clayton Carpenter versus the loser of Durdon versus Van.

Cody Haddon versus Kowlin Lockran. Boy, you guys just don't like Kyle and Lockran. I saw a lot of that. I saw a lot of that. I was such a popular pick. Yeah, I think Cody wins that one rather. Taffa versus Ardham Vacatoff at light heavyweight. Everyone knows.

I thought I was doing a thing, but I guess it was so predictable. I'm gonna go back to that one at the end. Temerov versus Tim Elliott. Let's build them up fast. I don't hate that idea at all. Yeah. Yeah. Dawson versus Benwass Santany if BSD decides not to train at ATT with Hanata Moikano.

Right. Right. Like Dawson and Matthias Gamrod, I said, as everyone knows trained there. That's a battle of the Haas is right there. Yeah. That'd be interesting. Park versus Hermanson, Tyra versus Moreno, winner lose,

and Roy Val title shot after UFC 310. Here's the one I save for the end. Temba Garimbo versus Michael Kiesa, winner lose at UFC 310. Hold on. Let me remember who my other than says fighting. Don't tell me. Give me five seconds.

Who's my other Kesa fighting? I'll give you a hint Oh, the pain, the pain Max Griffin. There you go. Right, right, okay. Proud of you, buddy. Sure, thank you.

By the way, I had the suggestion. I think it was on the People's Pre-Fight show, maybe it was BTL. Can we just swap UFC 310 around a little bit? Can we do Michael Kiesa versus Nick Diaz and Vicente-Luke versus Max Griffin? Can we just swap them?

I feel so much better about that. Mike, why did you save the grimbo? Do you like the matchup? Do you like the suggestion of him getting that winner of that fight? Or did you, what was your, why did you save it? Because I felt absolutely nothing. Okay. And I don't know why.

So I was hoping maybe you would feel something and sell me on it, but I got nothing. Kiaza, I think more the Kesa side than the Griffin side. I like Max Griffin, but he's kind of falling, not in terms of necessarily where they are. careers, but like in my mind of how much it would necessarily improve Temba's stature, like, I think if he beats Max Griffin, it doesn't, like, fly him up the rankings. Keizzo would be interesting. Keizza obviously is a guy who has been top 10 ranked before, where I know that's some years ago now, but he does have that name still.

He's a guy who's on, you know, UFC television a lot. That's interesting. I don't know if I'm picking Keza to beat Max Griffin, frankly, but that's the one I'd be more interested. I don't know if I care for Max Griffin, Temba. It's a logical matchup, too, but I just don't know. if I interest me as much. But yeah, I like, I like Temba.

Case. Okay. Uh, we go to Robbie. Good day, you blokes. It's been a while. Let's get on. No, Rodug versus KKF too. How about that?

Tiara, Tyra versus Marina Albazi winner. Cheedy Bang Bang versus D. Drod. Temerov versus Timelaide again. I'd love to see Temerov versus Kara, France, but it's too early in his UFC run.

And so this is actually going to be my first choice for Grant Dawson. And then I didn't even bother to look on topology or anywhere else because I thought he was already booked against somebody but I love this I love the idea of Grant Dawson versus Joel Alvarez just two roots getting after it love that idea yeah saw a lot of just for that yeah dig it you're up that's all I got okay well go I just want to say the most popular pick I saw was the iron turtle and Joe Piper that was like a handful of people recommended that very very uh people were really into

that. Any other common ones? Drod, Brian Battle, Mike? Yeah, sure. I feel like D-Rod is a target now, because I think, like I said, he's somewhere in the top 25, at worst, top 30. And I don't know where, Temba, I would say, has to be outside the top 30. Brian

Battle, I think some people might have him already there. I've seen a wide range of opinions, like, because he hasn't beaten the top 30 name yet, but he's also on probably one of the best runs right now at 170. So if you just put him in the top 30 off the basis of that you certainly could but i definitely have still have rodriguez ahead of him so i don't know der's going to have a lot of people come from that spot coming for that top 25 top 30 spot uh he also saw yeah so you mentioned hadn versus lock around so i love building that twitter barry o're

riley uh hopefully this can happen before the end of the year for your fantasy team mike um clitin carpenter versus elizancho costa though i don't know of costa i don't know no i don't want that i don't want that okay i'm sorry you want you wanted a you wanted a rollover uh He was just fighting a ranked guy. He was, who he was probably going to finish in the first or second round. Yes, he would have. Sorry, no, was probably going to finish. Instead, we had, let's do a quick fantasy team checkup, guys.

So the, no longer with him a fighting, uncharted his own Shaheen Al Shadi in our group before. He is, I haven't done the math, pretty sure leading our fantasy league right now. Because he's got these sneaky picks. He got 210 fancy points. And I guess we just get some context here. I think the most theoretically you could get for a fighter winning like a title fight main events is like close to 300 points. We haven't had anyone near that yet.

But he had the highest. We have? Yeah. He's on my team. Alex Pereira, 265. Oh, you have the career high of the, okay. I thought you're going to make a Josie Aldo joke there. I thought you're going to say, Joezioldo should have 300 points too, just saying.

That's for me. robbed. Oh, that's right. You do have Alex Padetta. Yeah, fast finish, ranked opponent, main event, title fight, performance line, all that stuff. Oh, he got almost,

pretty much everything you get, except for finishing the first second round. So yes, okay, so you have the 265. But then Shaheen has squeezed out 210 points out of Morgan Chariere, and he just got 220 points because he had the wisdom to draft Tamirov and know that Timorov was going to smoke CJ Vergara.

So, Shanine, I believe yes, is leading. You have a lot of fighters to come. You have a lot of fighters to come. So you are nowhere out of the game yet. I got a zero out of Jose Aldo and I got 20 out of Raquel Venington. I should have at least 200 more points. This is true. Those are, those stung.

Those decision losses really stung. I'm not in great shape right now because I don't know how many opponents, how many fights I have coming up left, but it feels like not a lot. I got a lot of my points early. Anyway, I'm sorry, Barry Riley back to your fight fix. Um, uh, Garimbo. Oh, this is one that stood up for me, like. Garumbo.

Calvin Gassel. No. Affirm no. A firm no. And it's not because I don't like the idea of it. The only way I like the idea of it is if Temba goes up to middleweight. Cause Calvin ain't making 170. He does not have the discipline or the drive to do it.

What he did with the D-Rod fight was a friggin. joke it was ridiculous he did it on purpose we all know it um there's no excuse for what he did and it's not like it's the first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh or eighth time it's happened no i'm not giving i'm not giving kelvin anything at 170 wow and you're sorry it's bad you keep it real that's why we come to you you keep it real uh palastry molly mccan junior tafa versus another contender series guy void vodka who i assume has that has that has be a heavyweight. I don't think Boybottkin is also planning it drop down into a 5.

I don't know. I assume that's a heavyweight fight. Tamir Ophelia, Dawson, Jalen Turner. Where is Jalen Turner? I'm like you with Gassel. I don't want to see Jalen Turner fight it won't be five anymore. Like I've had it off. Isn't he booked at 55? Is he? I don't think he is.

Are you sure? Let me check real quick. I don't think so because I feel like I checked. Oh, I guess not. I thought he was booked against somebody. Maybe there's a rumor, maybe he's been calling someone. I don't know, but I know he can make it. We all know he can make it.

It's just, I don't feel he's at his best. I don't want to see. I think Dawson would kill one and 55-pound jail and Turner. Like, I just feel like he'd be so drained after one round of, like, having to deal with Dawson's wrestling off. Dawson did call for Turner. Oh, man, I don't, I don't like it. I don't like it. I honestly, Turner at 72, though, for being honest.

Yeah. And Jacani, Phil Roe. I think Phil Roe is still in the UFC. I don't know if he got roster trackered. No, he's still in. I don't love this pick. You might like it more. My Jun-Yong Park and Al-Scaroff.

Interesting. It's interesting. I don't like it, though. I don't know. Al-Scaraf is teasing fight news, so it looks like he's got something cooking. So I would assume that's not going to happen. But I don't know what to make of Al-Scariff anymore. I'm still very high on him.

I'll say that. But having to turn around and make wait twice, and then you have to travel across the world again and fight. Robert Whitaker is not a recipe for good things. So yeah, I think Galascaroff, it's a bad move for Iron Turtle. I think Galascairf hurts them pretty badly. Marcus McGehe, speaking of the Iron Turtle,

calls us the Turtle Power edition of On to the next one. Juniang Park versus Curtis Kopilov winner, January 11th. That's a little bit of a long wait for Park. Maybe he does want. It's October. That's perfect. I like it. No, the Curtis Copp Love is, hold on, it's October now.

And then they're not fighting until January. And then he's like three months. Then he has to wait for one of them. So it's like it could be five or six months. But if it's Chris Curtis who wins, he'll do the fight in three weeks. I'm just saying that Iron Turtle Army is thirsty. They are thirsty. And you're going to tell them to wait four, five months for another John Young Park fight after that was, I think was a pretty strong performance.

A co-a penultimate fight performance. I don't know, Mike, you're playing on fire here. I'm trying to protect you. And Jaquani versus Muslim Salakov Song-Kan winner, U.S.C. Macau, that's happening soon. What else we got here? I don't like the match-up for Grimbo at all. I think he gets smashed. Garimbo and Gabrielle Bonfim.

Ooh. That might be the end of the Grimbo hype train, if there is even one. I don't dislike it as much as you do. Really? I think Bonfim just hammered. get some answers you know what i mean like enough like we've built we've done the garumbo build for the rock enough okay like i like the d rod idea better because he's a little higher ranked and you know i think it's better like ufc business matchmaking but he's going to have to fight some of these guys it's welterway it's a loaded division we're they're going to fight alex morono now which i like alex i like

Alex? What do we get to court McGee? Although, man, I might pick court McGee to beat Tembo. I'm not paying to be a jerk about it. You're actually throwing out good names. I know you're trying to be incredulous. I think you're actually throwing out reasonable guys. We could see Tembo fight next. Like, that's very possible. I want to

see him fight. Like, let's just throw him something difficult. Like, difficult's not the right word, but it's time for a step up. Like, we got to get into the 30 range, the range, like realistically, not just like what they think, what they've done in the past and all that.

So like D-Rod's good. Bond theme's interesting. Yeah, I don't hate it. What else I got here? Oh, how about, how about Alessandro Costa versus Tamirov? Mike, I feel like people are trolling you. I feel like they're trolling you and trying to ruin what was a brilliant, what really was a brilliant flyweight pick for you at the time.

And now it was our messing with it. I don't have 200 and something points. Extra if that fight happened. The lament of the fantasy GM. I could have had so much more. Haddon versus Clayton Carpenter. I don't know. Yeah, you know what?

I actually think that'd be a cool fight. I think that'd actually think that be a cool fight. I know we can build both these guys, but it's not like, it's early enough if one of these guys loses, not the end of the world. I like both guys. Four corner sports. Tyra and Cop Shore.

What else we cut here? Dawson Hock Pras. I think, I like the fight. I just think Dawson wants to, would want to fight someone higher. I think that's why, like you said, he mentioned Jalen Turner. Groomo versus Jeremiah Wells, sure. Instagram, Gerard Biagin. I'm just trying to have to read repeats here.

Njo-Kawani, Danny Barlow. Dawson versus Jakar Close. I love it. I don't know. I just don't know what Chakar is, but I love that. Dan Rodriguez, Jake Matthews, Tamirov, Feliz. Felipe dos Santos, Sabatini, Naimov, Junior Tafa, and Jamal Pogues. This is why we need Junior Taffa to move out of heavyweight.

I just don't need these fun matchups. Jason Dernay, what's up, Jason, Injikwani, Li Zhang Liang, Tamirov, and Max Azat, Maxim. Sabatini, Sadiq Yusuf, great matchup, Garumbo, Carlson Harris. There does again. Mike, what do you think Junior Tafa versus Robelos to Spain win-lose-drae? next week sure yeah i feel like you just gonna just get kick each other in the head and it could just be justin though i think we need to save certain like like the head rate matches for july maybe we'll live in here the junior tuff uh moving down thing or they just don't believe he's gonna

do it because he frankly hasn't done it yet uh justin justin's not justin was supposed to fight at uh 308 he's not fighting anymore and uh clinton carpenter andrelylyly mima i really like that match up as well. And a couple of emails, Mike, our pal, Tristan Gordette, likes Tamirov versus Barez, Carpenter, Hunsung Park. These are deep cuts. And Grimba Borlo, did I mean that twice? Or was there in here. Sabatini versus Damon Jackson, too, Mike, win, lose or draw versus Jim Miller. I actually forgot this happening. Damon Jackson taking, I don't know of a permanent. I would think possibly permanent. Yeah, move to 155 to fight the legend Jim Miller at 309. So I don't know. I don't mind that a rematch idea.

I just don't know what Damon Jackson's plans are after that fight, whether he wins, loses or draws as it were. So not bad. And Lucas Cortes, there was a couple of do-dos in here, Lucas, which I'm not going to read on air for your sake. I'm in a good mood. Mike, you said you didn't like Tyra Ersag, right? You said no interest, Tyra Erick?

I'm not saying no interest, but that's just not what I would do. Okay. Sabatini, Quarantillo. This fight has never happened, right? I swear this has been recommended 9 million times on the show. That is do-do as well. It is due-do. They train together?

Quarantillo's fighting. Corntill is fighting. Who's Quintillow fighting? Who's Correntillo fighting? Cubs-Wanson. Wow. When is this? Tampa. This is news to me. What, like, what is this?

November? December. December. I don't know what's happening. I didn't know they're coming back. Billy Q announced it himself like a week and a half ago. Okay. So there go.

Lucas, you got to check your topologies. And the other two, again, I won't say exactly what they were, but they were like two rematch. Rematches that were not acknowledged as rematches. One of which was against matching up someone in the car. It was someone who they had like literally just fought like less than a year ago. But I do like Enjikawani, Kevin Holland. Is there an explanation for this book?

No. No. It's just there. It's just there for us to mull over. My mulling ended 10 seconds ago. Okay. No. Just a no.

All right. Well, I didn't mind it. All right, guys. Thank you for her. To go from Jared Gooden to Kevin Holland? Yeah. Why? Because I think Cheedy is better than the opponents he's been being given.

I think he's better than Reese McKee. Like the Reese McKee's and the Jared Goodens of the world. Like I'm glad they did these matchouts because we just, if you'll remember, Cheedy was like, you know, he was kind of a name in Bellator. He was an okay. He was like decent in the middle way. And there was always the thought he was going to drop down to 170. He never actually did.

He took like some 175 pound bouts. But I think we all were like, if he could make 170, he could. he could this could be a guy now like again that was years ago now it's unfortunate i do feel like we may have missed his window to be like a legitimate welter rate contender but i do think he is better than um the the opposition that they've been putting in front like i don't think he's just he's only able to roll over guys who like have had um you know less successful uc careers i think he could contend with guy like fight guys in the top you know from from 15 to 30 i think he can compete with them so i'm i'm not against this matchup and i think holland is like not too high um

And again, Holland fights everyone, so I don't think he'd have a problem with it. Sure. A shrug. A shrug from the best friend. It's just not, I don't know. If this is cheating from, this is fun cheating, like real fun cheating, I'd be down. But I don't know if we'd get that. I don't know if we would get that guy in this fight.

Listen, he's doing what he can with what he's been given. My best friend, he's doing what he can. I think Holland would bring the fun out of him. There we go. That's why I like this match out. It'd bring the fun out of them. All right. Thank you, everyone, for sending in picks.

Mike, we got another Apex card next week. So we are welcoming DMs. Guys, hit me up on Twitter. What's my Twitter, Mike? I've been so long since I've done this read. Alexander K. Lee on Twitter, Alexander K.K.K. Lee on Instagram. And Alex. Alex dot Lee at Espination.com on email.

Guys, hit me up. Mike, where can they reach you on Instagram? M underscore, heck, J.R on the old IG. Yes, UFC Vegas, 99. next week. Not bad. Not bad. We have it a legitimate

co-main event, which is nice. It is not a penultimate fight. Main event for this coming Saturday at the World's Most Famous Apex. Fluffy Hernandez versus Michelle Pereira.

Co-main event, a legit one. Rob Font versus Kyler Phillips, big one at 135 pounds. We have Sumergerger v. The Streaking. Charles Johnson, what a year this guy has had.

Brady, he stand versus jake hadley in a banam way fight darren elkins versus daniel pinata that is going to be a scrap i think that's like a hundred a hundred combined fights between them i feel like that is 56 and 27 is 83 83 combined professional fights between those two guys both guys a lot of fights have 28 wins so one One will go ahead of the other. And I believe Daniel Paneda has said if he loses to Darren Elkins, he's done. He's not going to continue. Many people have been asking, AK, what's Mateus Nicola doing? Well, he's fighting on Saturday against Asu Almabayev, Brad Katona, AK, Canada stand up. Trying to possibly get sacrifice to Gian Matsumoto.

That's a tough one for him, man. this is tough fight jocelyn edwards versus timira's vidal jesska pennay is fighting aka against alice rdalen versus super melli whoa melissa martinez and she's back she's back she's back and i believe her brother just signed with the ufc off the contender series and in the people's main event the opener of the festivities the future heavyweight champion of the world the heavyweight champion of my heart rebellus to spain the six foot seven monster taking on former jacksonville jaguar austin lane there's so much to like about this a k there's good fights we got rebella's to spain at the beginning

and it's a four p m eastern main card i believe uh which is spectacular can i just say uh we've been saying the word weird a lot on this show on our post fight shows on our preview we've been saying the word weird weird a lot on a main fighting programming and this card is not going to change that um this has weirdness written all over it i honestly did not know super melli was coming back super mali has not fought in a while she's really young so like i'm glad she took time off i'm glad she's probably just living her life and and how she has time to train and um because maybe we see in a like i think she's a great prospect and who knows she could like if she has been developing as as we hope and it's

not just been off for like some serious injury or something like she could like annihilate alice ardallion And Alice Arlene, you know, she's a character. She's a TikTok star. That's a weird fight. Like, that's a fight that shouldn't be, probably shouldn't be in the UFC if we're, if we're being mean about it. So, but hey, I'm glad we're getting. I'm glad a lot of people are going to get to see it. But it's a not the highest level of fight.

We'll see. Supermelling, great prospect. Jessica Penny is back? I had no idea. Jessica Penny is back. Yeah. Good for her. Good for her.

I mean, this is so much happening. Like you said, Nicola. No one even knew. Where is Nicolao? He's fighting next week. This is already a weird card on paper. A couple ranked flyways buried on the prelims. It's just the best.

Good stuff. Yeah. So I was misinformed. 4 p.m. Eastern prelims. Okay. 7 p.m. Eastern main card, but it's only 11 fights. And PFL's pay-per-view main card starts at the exact same time as the UFC's prelims do. On the same platform, one costs $50, one costs nothing.

thing. Wait, what do you mean it's on the same platform? We don't have ESPN plus. We don't have ESPN Plus. But in the United States, ESPN Plus. I thought the, I thought the car, how are they on the same time? It's like, it's like different. Is it just, is it going to overlap? Yeah.

Oh. Wouldn't be the first time. So ESPN Plus, again, it's like any other streaming service. You just, you could just have both programs, both two streaming things will be going on. I sound so old right now. They'll just, they'll just be two streams. There's ESPN plus like multiple things. things you can watch. Okay, interesting.

Of course. Yeah, you can watch like 8,000 college football games. Right, right. Okay. So, wow, they'll be going kind of head to head with Vegas. I guess that's not saying a lot. But yeah, PFL and Ganu versus Fededa, Battle of the Giants, Brace for Impact, Superfights, pay-per-view, brought to you by Read season. Rolls right off the tongue, Mike, I can't wait. Yeah, it's happening, my friends. It is happening. It's a thing. It's a thing that's going to take place. and we'll see. I hope they changed the bowdo around a little bit more.

Can we just put this Hussein, Khada, Magamaya, Zafar, motion fight either on the prelims or as the main card opener? Like, do we need, can we just have that fight happen and then go right to A.J. Mickey Paul Hughes and just go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, to like the four fights we all care about? I don't understand. But we wish them the best.

Yes. I hope they take this entire week. week and promote this the correct way, not just, hey, it's two big guys fighting each other and just say, hey, it's for the lineal heavyweight championship. Like, when Eric Nixick doesn't know there's a title on the line for his own guys fight, you should probably like mix in some promotion, just a little bit better, a little bit better. I am looking forward to it. As we announced yesterday, there will be a mini watch party for the PFL card.

uh jad and i will watch i don't know if we're watch the entire main card that's kind of what i'm hoping we switch those two fights around we're hoping just watch a j mckee and paul hughes and then up and down we go and skip that other fight but maybe pfl's like no no no no no no want to make sure everybody gets all of them so uh so that's going to happen hosey is i believe in route to this event as we speak so he's got a lot of flying to do and then he'll go from saudi arabi to abu daubi for UFC 308, which I cannot freaking wait for. A little afternoon MMA on pay-per-view, the best card of the year. Well, besides UFC 300, but a very, very good one.

Maybe the best main event of the year. So a lot to look forward to as we round out the 2024 calendar year in this crazy sport of mixed martial arts. But we thank you for joining us on this week's edition of On to the next one. Back next week after UFC Vegas 99 that will go live for a live edition of the program. on YouTube following UFC 308 for A.K. I am Mike Eck. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously. MA is supposed to be fun. Well, more fun next week right here.

And on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.