MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Top-5 Fights We Didn't See In 2020

Episode Date: December 27, 2020

In the final episode of On to the Next One in 2020, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee give their top five fights that, for whatever reason, we didn't get to see in 2020 that we should have. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Everybody and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One, the podcast. And normally, we'd be matchmaking from an event the prior weekend, but there was no event. So we have a few weeks to fill up. And we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to begin things with this week's program. We're going to take a look back at the year that was and deliver our top five fights that should have happened in 2020, but ultimately did not for whatever reason.

But before we get into that, I am Mike Keck and joining me as always in this venture is the co-host, normally the co-matchmaker, the best friend, the PIC, the partner in crime, the Prince of positivity himself, Mr. Alex Cayley. How are you, sir? What's up, Mike? I'm doing good. What is up my best friend? Yeah, normally I don't like, you know, I'm a forward-thinking person, Mike.

I don't like to look back too much, especially with regret, which I think we'll do. A little bit of this special episode is about. Right, kind of's looking back on things we didn't get in, in 2020. And, you know, I think a lot of, it's been a rough year. I know people say that's on every show, every year on show. We're all going to hear that a lot. But yeah, so we missed out on a lot. You know, people missed out in a lot of things.

And in this case, today we'll be talking about, you know, we'll talk about fights, though, you know, sticking just to MMA and fights you wish we'd seen. But other than that, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. And I'm ready, I'm ready to talk about it to do, like, our first reverse on to the next one. Well, before we get rolling, I did want to start on a bit of a somber note because on Saturday night, we found out that our great community, this crazy niche space that has been put together here in mixed martial arts has lost one of its great ones, pro wrestler. John Huber, otherwise known as Brody Lee of All Elite Wrestling. Luke Harper from WWE fame passed away from a non-COVID lung issue at the age of 41. man, this was a horrible, just a horrible thing to see, just a great worker, never a bad word said about him on social media or amongst the pro wrestling community.

He was a husband and a father, and that hits, you know, really hard for me, but he was also a huge MMA fan. And man, this is a massive punch in the gut. Was it not AK? Yeah, you know, I'm a big pro wrestling fan, so it was just so shocking. I had just checked out of it. Just before the, it's happened just before the, it was just before the, Raptors game was starting and so just you know as we all do kind of idly checking social media and literally just the first enough I must have checked a minute after that was posted by you know the promotion he works for all the wrestling and it's one of those things where your first reaction is at least today's day and age is like I hope I hope they were hacked it was just

so out of nowhere he had been off of TV for a little over a month I think but pro wrestling we see the stuff all the time you know we think maybe as an injury and maybe you know I had assumed he had been injured and had been cleared up and they were just waiting for the right time to bring him back. I had never imagined that he was suffering from some sort of major illness. You know, we won't get the full story on what it was for a while. Maybe it's something he's been dealing with for a long time. Maybe it's a new thing.

We don't know. But either way, just really horrible. You know, his wife confirmed it later that evening and mentioned that it was a, like you said, a non-COVID-related lung issue. But, yeah, very sad. The honorings and the positive comments just started pouring in. My whole feed last night really for the last, probably 12 hours. has just been other people in the industry praising him and saying what a good man he was behind the scenes in addition to course be a great performer so it was it was really sad and this by the way was also on the same day Danny Hodge also wrestling great also who also had done some you know for wrestling as well but also you know of course known for a legendary amateur career and a great another obviously great influence on many wrestlers who eventually would go on to become

mhm a fighter so all this stuff all this combat sports stuff is related it's all part of the family. Yeah, a very sad day for the combat sports community on Saturday. Yeah, we send our heartfelt condolences to the family, the wrestling world, the MMA community, who he's touched, his fans, et cetera, just a terrible thing to find out about this weekend, and it puts things in perspective, that's for sure. So rest and peace. RIP Brody Lee is the hashtag is all over Twitter, and I know it's hard to transition from that news, but I did want to make mention of that before we get into what I think is going to a really fun show this week, our first of three non-matchmaking editions of the program.

So we'll begin the transition now. And listen, AK, this has been a big year for the UFC. They deserve a lot of credit for what they've done this year. It was an interesting year for all the other organizations as well. I mean, they did their best to play catch up, but the UFC 1 million percent set the tone. They had a slew of events and storylines. A lot of things panned out for them. Some did not.

And there were some fights that we really wanted to. see in 2020 that we didn't. So, you know, maybe we'll see some of them in 2021. Maybe this episode will produce some good karma on the other side of things. But we're going to run down our top five lists for fights we didn't see in 2020 that we wish you did or should have, but the ultimately did not happen. So AK, we're going to start with your number five. Some of these selections might be repeats. Maybe they won't be. You know, we have similar brains in a lot of ways. And sometimes we think a little bit differently as well. But we're going to find out right now. So AK, let's begin with your number five fight.

We didn't get to see in 2020 that we should have for one reason or another. Yeah, this isn't going to surprise. The only surprise here might be that this wasn't number one, but we must have talked about this matchup a dozen times on our own show. I'm very sure. You know it's coming. Neil Magny and Jeff Neal. Neil, Neil Langell.

I know, I feel like to say, that wasn't number one? No. I thought it was a great matchup. I thought it made a lot of sense for both guys at the stage of the careers. I think a much easier, not an easier. fighter, I mean, Neil Magny's super top, but style-wise, an easier opponent for Jeff Neal, the stage was crew. I think, I think, you know, Wonder Boy, who we eventually fought, was a little too tricky for Jeff Neal right now. I think Neil Maggi is a little bit more of a direct

challenge for him than the very tricky Wonderboy. But yeah, I thought the fight made a lot of sense, and I put it at five because I don't know. I feel like it's one of these fights, I don't know if it's going to get rebooked. I don't know why. It's kind of feeling, certainly rankings wise are not too far apart but I don't know I'm worried that the ship is sail on this one so that's my fifth for now yeah it could have been higher but hashtag hashtag Neil on Neal might be it might be over I did have a couple of honorable mentions that was one of them Neil on Neil I'm not honorable mentions but my my other honorable mention was from Bellator MVP versus Lorenz Larkin I wanted to see but those I thought really hard about

my top five and trying to figure out how to place them but my number Number five, ultimately, was John Jones versus Francis and Ghanu, because this could have been a massive fight in 2020. It was right there for us, AK. Both guys wanted it. And yes, I understand John maybe wanted to bulk up and put on the size and muscle that we're seeing now. But I feel like this was a layup fight to make.

It would have been huge. It seems like money might have been a problem. But come on now, just the pure intrigue of a fight of this nature, especially considering the year and the timing of everything happening at the time amongst the casuals. I mean, just this would have generated a quarter million pay-per-view buys just amongst the casual viewers by itself, not to mention the hardcore MMA fans. I think this could have done a million buys when both guys were all in on this. I mean, this was too easy.

I don't know if the ship has sailed with this fight, but it seems like a lot of ifs are in play now than there was earlier this year when this is a thing. But with that, that is my number five, AK. Yeah, I mean, look, John Jones at heavyweight still has a lot of question marks. I assume it's going to happen. I think we all finally assume, and we were all hoping it would finally happen in 2020. But, you know, I guess like we said, there's various reasons why I did. Of course, COVID through a wrenching everyone's plans.

We don't know what's going on behind the scenes with like monetary negotiations. But it does feel like John Jones is going to happen. But you're right. Will John Jones and gone to ever happen? I think we see it in in 2021. I don't know. We'll probably discuss this on another show. I think we see it in 2021 at some point.

but it did seem like such a good possibility to happen this year. I also, Mike, before we go on, I'll say, I think our list is going to look very different because I saved a lot of these sort of, I think my list was mostly, I think it was the exception of one, mostly fights that were scheduled that didn't happen. So I'm going with more like scheduled fights that we missed out on, but I have a lot of kind of John Jones and Gondu stuff in my honorable mentions. But it's good. I think our list will, for the most part, look different other than maybe one or two,

maybe one or two ones. Yeah. I think I have like a mixed bag of. both, as you'll see in my number four, AK. I'm going with Piotr-Yan versus Al Jemaine Sterling for the Bannemway title, mostly for the fact that after Aljo submitted Corey Sanhagen in the first round at UFC 250, it took Dana White, not minutes, not hours. It took him months to say that Aljo is the number one contender for the title. This was one of the big mysteries of the year, in my opinion,

AK, we kept asking ourselves, why is Dana White just not coming out and saying that Al Jermaine Sterling is the number one contender. Because of that, the UFC finally attempted to put this fight together on the final pay-per-view event of the year. And as we know, it did not end up happening at UFC 256. It seems like we'll see it in early 2021. And it'll still be damn good. But with the run, Sterling has been on as of late, getting that quick submission, one of

the best submissions of the year, in my opinion. And because the excitement levels for this fight peaked at that time, I mean, between the links, no matter who was on when we were talking about fights that we couldn't wait to see at the end of the year, even above Shamiya, and Leon Edwards and some of the other big fights that were booked, it was always, can't wait to see Jan versus Sterling. This is one a lot of people really wanted to see to cap up the year.

So it was tough that we didn't get to see it. We will see it, but I really wanted to see it in 2020. It is what it is. What is your number four? And then, AK, you can go right into your number three, fantasy football draft style. Yeah, yeah. Well, I will say, I am hoping we see Sterling and Jan in 2021.

So that's why I've kind of left. I'm like, I still believe this one's going to happen soon. So maybe I don't need to mention it, but absolutely, we could have seen it this year. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, didn't happen. People, you'll be hearing that a lot this episode for whatever reason so-and-so didn't happen. You can assume a lot of it has to do with money. Let's put it that way. When we say that, just assume money's involved.

My number four, this is kind of a weird one, but boy, I was anticipating this fight, I really have sad that we missed on Ed Herman and Gerald Mearshert, one of the most middleweighty battles in middleweight history, which was, I think, was booked for, was this one that was booked for, heavyweight? Yes. Am I crazy? Right. It's so middleweighty that it took place at $205.

That's how bizarre. This one was booked twice, August and September. I think the second time was, I don't remember the first time we're saying that we lost it kind of at the last minute. I don't remember. I can't remember. So that was, yeah. So it was August that we lost, Mirchart tested positive.

We found out like hours before the event. And then they rebooked it in September. And again, it was like lingering effects of COVID. And then Ed Herman ended up fighting Mike Rodriguez. and we knew what happened there, which was bizarre in its own right. Yeah, so we ended up getting kind of a weird middleweighty fight as it is. And for people, just to tell me a little quickly, who don't understand what I mean by a middleweighty fight, God bless the 185ers, but there was a long history where it just seemed like this division where,

even going back to the Andrews and Silver days when he was the dominant champion, where like your average kind of mid-tier middleweight fight had this kind of gooey, formless, like, quality to it. It was not a takeaway from the fighter, but it's just, again, I should pull up random, like, pull up a random middleweight fight anywhere from, like, the late 2000s to the, to now. And you get these weird back and forth, three rounds, not super high octane brawls. I don't know. It's hard to, if people, when you know a middleweight fight when you see one in the UFC. Let me put that way. So that, I'm sadly missed on that one.

This one, the next one I'm sad about because, this is my number three, I'm sad about because, did I make my list too long? Oh, well, whatever, I'm cheating. I'm sad for Joanne Calderwood because I want to see her fight Shepchenko. And it's not just that we missed on what I thought was a great style matchup. Scherchenko would have been a huge favorite. I would have picked her to win. But I think would have been one of her more exciting opponents. I think Jojo really would have pushed the pace.

Would not be one of her more tentative opponents. I think it would have got a great five-round fight. But it's really sad because then Calderwood just to stay busy, had to fight Jennifer Maya, which went very poorly for her. Of course, she got submitted. and that title shot really seems far away now. It shouldn't be, but it seems really, really far. So it just really funned me out.

I think a lot of fans like Jojo. I really want to see her. Finally get that title shot, didn't happen. And that's a matchup that. Gosh, I don't know if we see it in 2021 or later. So just a bummer. Just a bummer there. I really would want to see Shepchenko and Joanne Calderwood.

I think our lists are incredibly different. Oh, they didn't see the top. And I think, I think the way, Just to kind of peel over the curtain, next week's show is going to be like our prediction show. But then the week after that, we're going to do the top five fights that we want to see in 2021. And I think I'm going to actually take the same approach AK is taking for this show when it comes to that. Like we might, this is interesting. But my number three is Colby Covington versus Jorge Mazadol.

I mean, there's really not much more that needs to be said that hasn't already been thrown out for the world to hear from either of these two guys. I mean, best friends turn mortal enemies. It speaks for itself. a pro wrestling storyline if we ever saw one. And yeah, we may see it in 2021, but this would have been huge for 2020, even before the Covington Woodley fight happened. Like, I felt like the ship sort of sailed on that one. Yeah, there was still some like leftover intrigue from the previous few years. Like, I think a part of us are like, Tyrone Woodley still has it. Like, this is the fight that it's going to happen for. And it just didn't. So it didn't deliver. It kind of went the way that

we expected it to. But the pure chaos that Covington, Mazadol could have been this year, would have been unbelievable. But in hindsight, that was the more intriguing fights. Too bad we missed it this year. Maybe we'll see it in 2021. But man, there's a part of me, AK, that is not holding my breath, that we're even going to see that fight in 2021, considering the personality of these guys, what they won and contractually and all that stuff. But that's my number three. And my number two selection, we're sticking at Walter Waite. Kamar Usman versus Gilbert Burns for a number of reasons, one of which is Gilbert Burns rose up the proverbial ladder quickly to earn an opportunity

to fight for the title, becomes the number one contender, dominant went over Tyrone Woodley, knocks out Damien Maya. The guy deserves the shot at the belt. It was set for UFC 251, that it was set for UFC 256, and between COVID-19 and injuries, it didn't happen. And Gilbert Burns, through the midway point of

2020, this was the runaway fighter of the year. Like, and then that just got halted. And now, with this fight coming up between Leon Edwards and Hamzat Shemayev, boy, oh, Oh, boy, I am not even convinced right now as you record this that Gilbert Burns is going to fight for the title next, especially if Hamzat Shamaif wins, which would be incredibly unfortunate considering the line of work Burns puts in. But I'll tell you right now, if Hamzaat Shamaia beats Leon Edwards on January 20th, I would put a couple of shekels down that Shamaif will get the title shot over Burns. And it'll suck if that happens.

So he might be in a pretty tough spot at the end of this, but the buzz in the Welterweight title picture has dropped immensely since July. It's become almost not-existent conversationally, if we're being honest, because Uspans went over Mazadol. I mean, that was a huge build-up to a fight. Everyone was fired up about it. And then Uspin won in a fight that not many people are putting on their fighter of the ear list. So this is one of the fights I really wanted to see in 2020. And in a year of chaos, we were left without an AK. And now I don't know if we're going to see it anytime soon, man.

And it sucks to even say that out loud. But that's my guts telling me your thoughts on that. And then what is your number two, my man? So, I mean, what are we? UFC 258. This is just rumors, right? This is nothing as close to being official. Nothing's been announced yet.

That was the latest talk, right? The hopes are that it would be February, February pay-per-view, UFC 258. Yeah, I don't know. I'm still confident it gets made. I do think, because I do think Usman will defend his title in the first, you know, in the first quarter of 2021. As you said, Shemma,

I mean, you're right. If Shemaya beats Edwards, he'll probably just say, whenever the chance ready to fight, I'll fight on two weeks, you know how we. They'll fight him tomorrow. I'll fight tomorrow. I don't get. So, gosh, I hope they wouldn't do that, though.

I'm going to be optimistic here and say that they're going to stick with the Burns-Uzman plan as long as they can. But yes, if for some reason that fight can't be made until like second quarter, 2021, then that's Shemayo's spot to take. If, again, he beats Edwards, huge if, huge if,

but definitely he'd become the number one guy in line well behind Usman. If for summary, and again, yeah, if Usman Burns for some reason can't happen. Bring his cross, I think it will. Then, gosh, why do you put that in my head? I just assumed that Burns,

Usman was still going to happen, but you're right. There's no guarantees in this sport, especially with this matchup. This matchup has already had a few hiccups. And, oh, in regards to Colby and Mosvidal that was your third right?

Yes. Yeah, I mean I still think two things. I still think that fight's going to happen because I think it's a fight you

could make where wins and losses don't matter. One of them could be on a two fight losing streak, one of them could be on

three fight. They could be on losing streak, they both be on win streaks. People are going to want to see that fight. And I'll also

say this. I'll say this, Mike. I've been in, look, I've watched pro wrestling for a long time. I still don't think,

I think there's elements that are real. I still think this at least started. This may have been, I think they may have worked themselves into a shoot, brother, if you know what I'm saying. They worked themselves

into a shoot, brother. I think there was a plan somewhere along the way for them to say, look, we are going to build this up. Maybe they do hate each other now. Very good chance they do hate each other now. I think somewhere along the way, though,

this was a plan to build up a future fight. I've had a lot of people in the industry tell me it's completely real and it's not manufactured at all. I don't believe it. I don't believe. I do think people have been lied to. I think this has been very, very deep

undercover operation by Covington and Mazadol that maybe has not gotten out of hand. But I do think it started as a fake progressive food. And I'm not against it. I don't care. I'm, I think it's a fun feud anyway. But I will say, I'm not,

I'm not buying 100% all this supposed animosity. I'm just saying. I'm just saying, oh, believe me, I got, so we got our other shows coming up, Mike. Believe me,

I got more, I got more, I got more hot ones in the chamber. My number two, I went, Now I finally went with one that wasn't really booked. But this was one I thought we were almost definitely going to get this year. Fabrizio Verdoom and Fador, number two.

Oh, I like that pick. Yeah, I mean, I think I just assumed there was so much talk right after Verdom, you know, made it clear like, oh, yeah, I'm a phrasian now and I'm very likely not going back to the UFC. Pretty much everyone said he's going to Belator. He's going to Belator. He's buddy with Scott Coker, like, just signing out. And then right from that conversation, he's going to Belator and he's going to fight. Fado again. It just makes sense. So I'm, this one, I was, I was not just a thought I wanted.

Genuinely surprised when Verduem went to the PFL. I don't know if they ever was any serious talks to go to Belator and work with Code again and have that Fadour remand. I know they spoke about it publicly. I know Fadourd-Vr-Dun said he'd love to do it. But yeah, that's my number two. I'd love to see it. I mean, I don't think the outcome would be that different, but I think it's a really cool

fight that people still talk about that first win for Verdom. People still kind of wonder what if Fadoor hadn't, you know, I hadn't jumped to his guard and that I hadn't, you know, had fought so daringly as he always does. I'd still want to know, too. I think these guys put on a great fight even at this stage of their careers. How about your number one, AK? Oh, are you my number one? I kind of cheated here because I didn't realize that this, my number one and then what would have been another strong number one candidate were on the same card, same weight class.

How did we not see, how did we not see a year versus upbeat this year? how did it again even taking the account the time that was lost to the pandemic you know complications with traveling of course you know for the beat how did this fight not happen in 2020 this fight has to happen and again maybe it'll happen in 2021 I would assume the gears are always in motion for putting these two together it's style-wise a great clash of styles uh both guys are just super exciting on great runs pegged as future champions I mean I could see either guy being featherweight champion someday and there's heat there

there's so much trash has been slung in both directions people really, really won this fight I'm so glad we got you know, the one fight that I think people thought was going to fall out that we got that featherweight

we did get Ortega zombie it's fantastic we got a great great featherweight fight that you know, no issues there and that one was long delayed so I still hope for for Yair and Zabit as well but another featherweight fight

that's supposed to happen on the 29th Ryan Hall of Ricardo Lomas Gosh you know I mean Lamaus got to fight anyway but man I wanted that fight for Ryan Hall I thought this is the one that finally will people People will understand what we see What we in the media see when we talk about like

Ryan Hall being like legitimately I think a top five guy at featherweight Or just or at least a problem for anyone in the top five This would have been the proof This would have been a nightmarish fight for Llamas Maybe Lama's would have won I don't know I don't think anyone to beat Ryan Hall And really I'll say featherweight

You know Jed and I just did an article What was the toughest divisions of 2020 He picked lightweight which is fine It usually is I picked Bantamweight That's a breakout year for Bantamweight featherweight lost a few big matchups this year that I think if they had gone through we'd be talking about featherweight as having one of the toughest like most exciting years of 2020 but yeah my number one pick I think of all these oh man yeah years of beat and I and I hope

it is still in the worst my number one is a no-brainer and we're not going to actually cue it but cue the Sarah McLaughlin music I will remember you it's a fight we've been wanting for years and years and now it's never going to happen Habee versus Tony Ferguson. It's just a fight that never happened, and there needs to be documentaries made about why it didn't happen. A 30-for-30 for everything that happened along the way. And it's sad that we missed it for another year when it was on the books. And it's a whole different sadness, saying this, AK, knowing one, it's never going to happen.

And two, after what Charles Olivera did to Tony Ferguson at UFC 256, we probably saw an outlier of how that fight would have gone down over the years. So that is my number one, AK, but there's a part of me in a weird way, as sad as this number one started, I'm almost relieved that when we do these lists moving forward, we don't have to mention this fight anymore. The Bronx's win and Habib's retirement, we got some closure here, AK, and I feel okay with that. Yeah, I mean, you've got as much closure as you can get MMA when these sort of debates come up. I remember when Ferguson lost to Gaithji. I was still trumpeting. I still said, I still see a path for this fight to happen. But then the Numbangamatov went over Gates Gha happens, the retirement, even if he comes back,

it really doesn't feel like it will be for a fight with Ferguson. Not right now. It feels like it'll be one-off and some sort of super fight that maybe we don't even, we can't even imagine right now. But Ferguson just doesn't seem to fit in that picture. So in my notes, in my honor mentions notes, Mike, I had, I didn't want to talk about it. So I did make my list. I wrote down Khabi versus Ferguson, obligatory in parentheses, and then a bullet point, a bullet point under it, it's officially dead. So, yes, you're right. Let us put the greatest fight to never happen to rest.

I think we cannot call it a missed fight anymore. It's long missed. And look, there's a million other options for this particular category that we could have used. So give us your thoughts. Hit us up on Twitter. Give us your picks. You got more on this, AK? You want to throw out a couple more?

I got a long list of honorable mentions. Give me five. Oh, I'm giving you. No, I'm giving you more. But without commentary, without commentary. Okay, go ahead. A minimal commentary. Daval is really Hauni Barcellos.

We almost got that in December 5th. That would have been, oh, my God. Again, Vantway was freaking stacked this year. Hopefully that that's still fight still happens. That was insane. Really sad. We lost that one. The bigger Mazvodal fight, I'm sad we didn't see.

Leon Edwards, how is this fight not being made? But again, but it's so, I mean, I don't even know if it was being discussed this year. I think that's maybe more of a 20, 2019. But I still, why is this one never happening? Damien Maya versus Diego Sanchez could still happen. Could still happen for both guys. I'm not sure what the holdup is. I swear both guys said they wanted it.

Another fight that was booked. And I don't know, they might be going different paths now. Diego Faheda and Drew Dober would have been amazing. I like it. As would Machachev, I bring this up because Dober, of course, is fighting Makachev now. And Machachev versus RDA, another one we missed out on, which probably worked out well for Dosanyos, if we're being honest. I think he got a more favorable, more well-known matchup in Paul Felder. I would have picked Makachep to beat him.

So I regret not being able to see Machachab versus Dosanos. Maybe Dosayno's team doesn't. Another one that could still happen, but we just kind of lost out on another chance for it. Frank Edgar versus Dominic Cruz. Why is it not making – why is this not happening? Why are we throwing these guys to the Young Guns? What are we doing? Legends League people.

Legends League, come on. Apologize. I'm with headphones there. My voice got really high there for a second. I got excited. The other Yon fight I wanted to see. No one wants to see this fight anymore, but I really wanted to see it after this bizarre call. I wanted, Marlon Marlain should have gotten the title shot against Peter Yon.

It should have been Yon versus Marais for the vacant title. Yes, Yon probably still wins. Maybe Morrice even less puts on a poorer performance than Aldo, because Aldo's really good in that fight. But I'm just saying Marlon Murdaice was the rightful number one contender, and he got screwed. A couple more throughout there. Anthony Smith versus Luke Rockhold.

This is a little selfish because we did see a lot of Anthony Smith this year. We got our Anthony Smith fill, and Anthony Smith did get a nice win against Clark, to sort of close out, to kind of salvage his year, Devin Clark. But Smith versus Rockhold really seemed like the first. fight to make. I guess we don't know what's up with Rockhold. Maybe maybe he's taking time off. And if he's taking time off, by the way, to rest and recover and be fully healthy before he competes again,

then more power to Luke Rockhold. Good for him for not rushing back in 2020. But that's a fight I thought we could have seen. And a couple more feathery fights we missed out on, both with Nate Landward. These were booked, I think. Nate Landward versus Evloyev and Nate Landgware versus Shane Young, both of which would have just been absolute bangers.

And unfortunately, you know, for various reasons those fights didn't happen. And oh, I'll mention one more. And I'll mention on a happy note, because this fight will happen in 2021. I believe we do know this fight will happen. But I wish we'd seen it in 2020. Manel Cape and Pantosia. That fight was going to be sick when it was recently booked. It will be sick when it now finally goes down.

So ending on a positive note, we didn't know how to get everything we want in 2020, Mike. But some of these fights have been rebooked, which is good. And fingers crossed, fingers crossed on Usman Burns. And in two weeks, we will try to put some more good vibes in the air for fights that we need to see in 2020. 21 and I'm looking forward to that. But give us your picks for fights we should have seen in 2020 on Twitter. He is at Alexander Kaylee. I am at Mike Heck underscore JR.

And the final episode of On to the Next one for 2020 is just about in the books. We'll be back to kick off 2021 in a very fun and exciting way with our predictions. But as we close the door on this program in 2020, AK, any final thoughts on the year that was for this brand new show in its beginning since it kind of came out of nowhere? It was a write-up. It was a long write-up piece. I don't know, four to five thousand words a week. It was time-consuming, but it was a lot of fun. And then this idea came across, what if you turn it into a podcast?

And I've been, it's one of those things where, like, especially after a long event, you're just like, oh, it's, you go to bed at 5 a.m. And you're like, oh, I got to wake up and record a podcast. But I never really, like, got upset about it. I was like, yeah, I got to drag my ass out of bed. But it was excitement because we were going to talk future five. So I think this has been a lot of fun. Your final thoughts on the beginnings of On To the Next One, the podcast. Man, it's my favorite part of the week.

It's recording the show is my favorite part of the week. I know I've been getting some positive feedback on it. I believe you have as well. I know there's some people would rather see a written version, but for everyone who's stuck with us and try it out and are listening now and even listen to one episode and just gave it a shot. You know, I'm very grateful because I think people will see that we kind of, this has given us a platform to really expand on some of our matchmaking ideas.

ideas, why we chose certain matchups instead of others. I think it's a lot more comprehensive. It'll be great one day, Mike, you know, when we're past this pandemic and more people are commuting again. And I really can't wait for the day when we're part of people's Monday morning commute. You know what I mean? Monday morning, Tuesday morning, whenever they happen to listen to the show, I'm really excited of the prospect of that.

I want to be right up there with, you know, people listen to an NPR, you know, podcast about how, you know, how pancakes are made. in the desert or something like that. You know what I mean? Like that's to be part of, excuse me, I'm getting choked up here. I'm so much. To be part of that podcast culture

really means a lot to me. And again, for everyone who's listening, so, so, so, so grateful. If you chose to download us, stream us, whatever it is you're doing, it has been really enjoyable. And, you know, we're going to work to keep making the show

as good as it can be in 22 and 1 and even better going forward. So really, really great stuff. And for those of you who are like, 30 minutes. This wasn't long enough for me. Don't worry. Next week we got you covered. So join us next week for the super fun prediction show. We're going to be buying and selling, burning questions. We'll be throwing out our fiery hot takes, predicting champions, predicting individual awards, etc. You will not want to miss this one. That's for sure. Until then, thank you for joining us.

And as always, don't take it too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We'll see you right back here next week to preview 2021 right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.