MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Alex Pereira, Max Holloway After UFC 300?

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

Alex Pereira and Max Holloway closed out the incredible UFC 300 card with a pair of highlight-reel knockouts of Jamahal Hill and Justin Gaethje. Following their big wins, where do the two big UFC stars go from Saturday's historic night in Las Vegas? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Pereira after his first-round knockout of Hill to retain his light heavyweight title, Zhang Weili following her dominant title defense against an Yan Xiaonan, Holloway after delivering one of the greatest knockouts ever to win the BMF title against Justin Gaethje, along with fellow main card winners Arman Tsarukyan, Bo Nickal, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just... Speaking into the void. But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching. the right decision makers, a network of 130 million of them, in fact. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills, and did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads.

Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of Ones. On to the next one, we are live, everybody, on the MMA fighting YouTube channel following maybe the greatest mixed martial arts event of all time from start to finish. UFC 300.

I'm not going to say it delivered. It took the word delivered, stomped a mud hole in it and walked it dry, because this is even better than this could have been. I don't even know what AK's gymnastics score is going to be for this card, but it had to have surpassed it. So many reactions, so many big moments. It was just a celebration of the UFC in the best possible way. And it was, it was amazing.

And we're here to talk about what happened last night from a matchmaking perspective. I am Mike Heck. Apologies. I know you guys are usually used to 10 a.m. 11 a.m. the day after doing these programs, but I had to fly home. I was in Las Vegas last night. I had to fly home. So it was either not give you a show at all or do it a little bit later in the day.

And damn it, we're giving to you a little bit later in the day. But joining me in this matchmaking wonderfulness following UFC 300, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, my best friend, Mr. UFC 300 himself, the great Alexander Cayley, aka the UFC did the thing last night. How are we doing? My best friend. Eminemay is fun. Isn't it made fun when it's done right? Isn't it made fun when it's done? Like, I know, I know people have this idea of us in the media as being jaded and all. we're complaining about all these apex cards we have to cover. Oh, woe is us, you know, how unfortunate for us. But listen, we sometimes we have valid complaints. We're never going to stop reporting on, you know, weaker cards and fighter pay should be better and what the, what Bellator and PFL could be doing better and all that stuff.

There's, there's, there's parts of this, you know, business that got to be reported on. But man, when it comes to fight night, when it comes to the UFC's ability to put on the best cards, the best shows, create the biggest moments. I mean, nothing beats it, you know, nothing beats it. And you have a card like USC 300, which on paper, at the very least, I think the deepest card in M.A. History, I don't, you know, you don't have to say best. You don't have to do it best. But deepest, you'll be hard pressed to match this. And the UFC itself will be hard to press to match this the next time they decide to do it, whether it's UFC 350 or 400 or celebrating, you know, like a 30th anniversary or whatever. It'll be hard to beat it. It'll be hard to beat it. And it flew by, Mike. You know, we had. have to cover it for work and this isn't always the case sometimes we have cards you get into that you were on live a live watch party for over seven friggin hours seven and a half hours we always say like you know dan cormay janeck jove rogan all those guys that do that like it's tough for them right it's tough for them

they're in the arena them having to talk from the prelims all the way to the like imagine hardest for them and and you guys had you and and whatever guys you had you know had to do the same thing so and it is tough man it is tough and but this was a pleasure um those of us you know who were you're just working at the desk, just working on cranking out stories, cranking out blogs, cranking out video on MAAfighting.com. It was a pleasure. It flew by. I didn't want the card to end, but I mean, the way it did end was spectacular.

The moments just all delivered. There's something to talk about in every fight. Every fight had a story. It was a great moment. It was a great time to be a fight fan. So to Dana White and company, of course, all the staff and the crew, like the UFC that make this stuff happen, ESPN, Bravo. And the fighters, of course.

the fighters their coaches their teams bravo this was an unbelievable show yes it truly was a pleasure comma man it was a pleasure comma man yeah shout out to anton uh to collie uh this is what we're gonna do everybody a k and i we're gonna go through our picks normally we would do main event co-main event all the title fights we would do the winner and the loser but we're not going to do that today we're not doing any of the losing fighters unless because there is no wild card so if you guys want to matchmake for the losing fighters we could certainly do that is there a chance perhaps a losing fighter will be matched up with somebody else that competes on this card we will find out but we're just getting work and we're not just doing the main car we're doing every winner from last

night's card every single winner and then after we go through that we will go to you guys we'll do a little rapid fire wild card round and you guys can throw in your picks uh and if we talk about a specific fight or a specific fighter leave some comments we'll pull them up on the screen and we'll do the damn thing. So let's get into this, A.K. Let's get into this thing. Shout out to Zeno. Max K.O. puts him on another level.

We're about to talk about where Max Holloway's going to go because that man has a lot of options. But let's talk about Alex Pereira, Poiton, goes in there, absolutely melts Jamal Hill, and one of the funniest moments we've ever seen. And I'm, and I say this because there was the kick to the ding ding, Herb Dean was going to stop it. Alex Pereira was like,

nah, dude, get out of here. And just like, nudged him ever so gently out of the way and then knocked him Jamal Hill out bad. Like, that was a bad knockout. I saw people on Twitter say it was an early stoppage. How could you even say that?

Jamal Hill's eyes rolled in the back of his head and those hammer fists. Like the way Jamal Hill like looked at Alex Pereer, that was one of the coldest photos you'll ever see of Pereer doing the meme celebration. and Hill just looking up and them wide-eyed, like, what the hell just happened? But Alex Pereira just continues to break MMA, break the rankings as we know it. And AK gets on the mic.

The thing he wanted to do was, I want to fight a 301. I think Alex knew. This is basically Alex saying, I'm not fighting Magumannank alive in Brazil. I'm just not doing it. I don't want to. I just fought him all hill. So I'm going to fight a dude at heavyweight. So maybe you give him that AK.

But what are we doing? here what is the official onto the next one selection for Alex Pereira after another incredible performance it's fun as she and Alshaday always puts it to see Alex Panetta speed run his way to history you know just winning titles left and right with so little MMA experience in KJM a course a lot of combat sports experience everyone knows a great great kickboxer two division champion over in glory before coming to really fully committing to MMA so seeing him go for the headway title would be hilarious

It would be fun. And he didn't say Tom Aspenol, by the way. He didn't say Tom Aspinall. He said he wants to fight a heavyweight. He said, I'm not going to name names. But whatever the UFC can give me, that's something he'd be interested in doing. It's a cool idea. I have no problem with it.

I think it'd be super fun to see him beat up, God forbid, Parker Porter in Brazil or something like that. But I'm booking with wanting him to stay at light heavyweight, wanting him to build his legacy there first. His legacy right now, again, is one of a lot. a kind. Maybe he's not the kind of guy who we need to see to rattle off, you know, three or four title defenses of the heavyweight. It might not matter for him. Maybe Perez's legacy should be the guy who won UFC titles in three divisions. That's an easy thing to do. I think if he fights Tom Aspinall, I think Aston will be heavily favored. But I went away from saying, again, booking him

against like Chris Barnett or Jarzino or whatever at heavyweight. It could happen, but I'm sticking at 205. I do want to see that Angolaia fight. So maybe I'm waving my magic wand here. Maybe this isn't a crystal ball pick because, like you said, Alex Perez's team doesn't seem to have any interest. I don't think they even mentioned him, or I don't even think he was even asked about Magamon Ancolaev.

So other than the tweets that are coming from accounts that are, of course, managed by a certain notorious M.A. manager, I don't know how many people were talking about Ankelaiapira, but the last time I matched me for Ankiyev, I believe I did stick with Perreta,

and I don't see any recent deviated from that So people you can boo me, maybe not the sexiest fight right now. But Ancalaia, how can you say he has not earned this title shot? So Yeri is certainly an option, but I don't think we need to run back Yuri and Alex just yet. So yes, guys, I'm going with the quote unquote deserving, you know, again a word we don't really use an NBA matchmaking. It deserving challenger in Megamint and Kalaya. Yeah, like that is, that should be the guy, right? That should be the guy.

for Alex Pereira's next late heavyweight title defense. But you know what, AK, you said it earlier, and I'm just going to double down on it. MMA is supposed to be fun. Alex Pereer is about as fun as you can be right now, and if this man wants to fight at heavyweight, let him fight it heavyweight. The correct answer to this is just throw him in there with any warm body, like literally any heavyweight. If anybody wants to step up and fight Alex Pereer in Brazil, like just put him on the card.

It does not matter. but you talked about how good UFC 300 was and we trudged through some just sludgy slow bad apex cards just really terrible but it was all sort of worth it with UFC 300 and then we're in such good moods we're watching great fights and great performances and then the UFC would put up a schedule a graphic of Nicolao versus Alex Perez about to headline at the apex on their next card I was like, oh, God. And then it's UFC 301 with Allie Pants versus Vicenza Urseg as the right now main event of a pay-per-view. And then it's, what's the next one?

Is it St. Louis after that with Derek Lewis and Rodrigo Nassamento? And then it's back to the world's most famous Apex for another fight that I can't even remember at this point. So 301 needs a boost. I think May needs a boost like real bad. I think we've got to do something a little bit. fun here. So this is what we should do, AK.

That St. Louis main event is trash. That is a tough main event. Tell us how you really feel, my best friend. Tell us how you really feel. My goodness. Rodrigo Nassimento is on a nice little run,

but he is not main event ready. He just isn't. And St. Louis deserves better. And if St. Louis demands Joaquin Buckley to fight in the main event, fine. I don't, at this point,

maybe he was smart to timing. What I would do is, you just tell Derek Lewis, hey, we can give you a little bit of a paycheck here. You go ahead and now you don't have to fight Rodrigo Nostimento. Now you don't have to worry about getting tackled and put on your back for 25 minutes. We're going to send you to Brazil, give you a whole bunch more money, and you can fight Alex Pereira in the

co-main event, and you two could just slug it out until somebody falls. Like, that's just fun. You just push a Derek Lewis up two weeks. You think he cares? You think he cares? This is a way bigger fight. Pay him more money. It does not matter. Throw him in there with Derek Lewis. Let's the fun thing. Let's just do the fun thing. And then Ankle Live and get his title shot after. My best friend, they have a schedule. You can't just pull fighters willy-nilly out of fights and put them into

better fights. Sure you can. You cannot. We have rules. We have rules and regulations. We have contract signed. This is a business that they're running here. How can you say such a thing? Just Chuck Rodrigo Nassimento in Brazil to throw them against anybody. You know what? You know what? You're right,

A.K. You're right. Maybe we'll go a different direction. We'll pull rebellus to Spain from St. Louis and he could fight Alex Pereira at UFC 301. Who's Rabellus fighting again? Waldo Cortez Acosta. Oh yeah, yes, you hated that matchup. Mike, there is some child out there, some young lad who was going to their first UFC event in St. Louis. And they are looking, starry-eyed looking at that card every day going like, I can't wait to see Louis fight Nassimento. I can't wait. There's not one person in the world. There is some young child, boy or girl out there who is like their first UFC card looking forward to seeing rebels to Spain and Waldo Cortez-A Costa.

And you are trying to take that away from them. We are friends, so I know you are doing this for the best of intentions, but I'm just telling you, you have to be careful with your power. You were a very influential man in the M. May Media. I'm like, you know that. You could make this actually happen. You could be speaking this into existence. I mean, did you see what happened after?

What did I say on heck of morning after UFC 299? UFC 301 should be Islam Occhep versus Dustin Porier and then the five-round co-main event should be Paul Gosser versus Sean Strickland. Look at what they did last night. Look at what they did last night. But I digress. That's how I do. Just through the fun thing.

The correct answer is Pereira versus any heavyweight in the world. It does not matter. Put them on that card. Make him look like a superstar. Let him knock somebody dead. And then we can move on to the next thing. He's so good. He's so fun.

He makes no sense. I'm going to say the word fun a lot. I apologize, guys. You have a drink. It was fun. That card was so enjoyable. I know we've probably wax poetic about enough on post-fight shows and you guys listen to you guys have to be listening to a million podcasts where media members and fans and everyone will just be gushing over this card. And it's all it's all deserving.

Like it's all deserving. They knocked out of the park. Speaking of knocking on the park, Zhang Wei knocked it out of the park. Bond and fight with Jan Jonan. I actually, while I was at the airport, I went back and rewatched the fight because I thought I, I, I remember obviously doing the watch party, and I thought it was a fun, enjoyable fight. It just happened to follow the craziest ending in a crazy battle that, like, I've ever seen. It's just been crazy.

So this is a good fight. Even in a vacuum, it was a great fight. Zhang Wei won. I thought she won four rounds to one. Great performance from her. It was kind of weird at the end of the first round because I thought she put Janjan on to sleep, which she kind of did. but she at least was able to get up and run back to her corner with the help of her team. But Zhang Wei Lee is just so damn good at this.

She's our number one women's pound for pound fighter for a reason. She will remain there. And this is just too easy, man. Like, I don't even care if it takes another nine months, Zhang Wei shall not enter the octagon again until Tatiana Suarez is ready. This is, I mean, this is the fight. Can we kill the band? No, that's because it was there.

Mike, they haven't gone to play in like three in like a month. It's too easy, though. So there's some, there's some, I feel like a lot of these are too easy, but there are some certain ones. But yeah, dude, it's Tatiana's for us. That is the fight. You know it. I know it. I know it.

It's a good fight. And plus I knew you were going to go there anyways, because you said it after Tatiana's last win. Like, let's go. I'm ready to go now. I love me some Janjohn on, but I want to see Tatiana fight now. That's what you said. So I knew you were going there anyways. It's such a good fight.

It's such a good fight. And I need to see it. And I don't even say this. I think there's some people who want to see it for Tatiana. like Tatiana is going to steamroll Zhang like I don't and maybe after yesterday seeing how how well Yan did against her maybe that that those voices are going to even louder like there's like oh if if Zhang like couldn't run through Jan Shauna and she won what 49 45s across the board right so like she was a pretty like convincing victory she did get knocked down once knocked down once probably

rocked pretty badly another time I think that wasn't counted a knockdown but again that to me says that that that fight honestly you know we said this week we're not doing the the losers of the title fights of the top three fights and normally would it's just again we want to dedicate time to all the winners on this card it was so packed but yan shanan uh i think yon shan is just really good i think yon shanan is so much better than people thought i thought she really or i think the lost to as farza the way she got mauled kind of put like a permanent mark on her that like it was just oh she's not a world title contender it's like wasn't that just wasn't her night and wasn't a good and carlos spars i also think is very good so uh yon did i thought performed well jang it's just

it's just that damn good. But, man, what a legacy builder that would be. If she could beat Tatiana, I mean, you're talking about Zhang as one of the top three, like, best women's fighter. If you aren't already, you're talking about Zhang as one of the top of the best women's fighters of all time. And there's always been a weird, I mean, math going

because of the Rose fights. But other than that, damn, man, if she beats Satiana, I can't even think. I need to see that fight now, Mike. I need it now. See? We don't need to cue the band. Oh, band.

I'm sorry. Mike. They want to play so badly, Mike. I know. It's all good. Race the runners. Raise the sales. Raise the sales. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.

Over. Roger. Wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution? Reach sales professionals. Not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today.

Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn. com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from the audible original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cadulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness

forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Roscoe Cuddle. Julian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible.

Let's talk about the hero, the MVP of UFC 300. his name is Max Holloway, the new BMF champion. I don't even know what to say about this AK. This was an incredible pillar to post beat down from Max Holloway. Yes, Justin Gachi won the fourth round, in my opinion, but this is all Max Holloway. All Max Holloway. You've never seen Justin Gagchi question himself in a fight. Like, he still sort of battles through those questions and still does Justin Gagey things.

It took Justin Gagey until the fourth round. as they talked about on the post-fight show, to throw a jab. And then once he started throwing jabs, like he had a little bit more success. But then the final 10 seconds of the fight is going to live on with us forever. Max Holloway points to the canvas, does the Ricardo Lama's thing,

circa UFC 199. They're slugging away. Both are throwing big punches. And then Max Holloway lands the right hand from hell in Justa Gachi in a way we've never seen him before. Unconscious, face down on the mat, a bloody mess and Max Holloway is getting his flowers it was like Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out in Worcester Mass to help Mick Fully win the WWF title the crowd just lost their minds what a moment

it was and now AK Max Holloway has options for days he's has a case to be the number one contender for the lightweight title right now he has a case to be the number one contender for the featherweight title right now oh yeah and he's in play to fight the likes of the of the Connor McGregors and the Michael Chandler's. Basically, whatever this man wants to do, the UFC could probably pull it off. So I would assume title fight is coming his way in your eyes. Maybe I'm wrong about this. I don't like to make assumptions, but which title, AK?

Are we going 155 or 145 after this performance? Yeah, man. Blessed, blessed man forever, as he is now reddub the belt, as he is allowed to do, as is his right. That ending, sorry, before I get to the pick, that ending, is if you would put it in a movie, we would have rolled, like you would roll your eyes.

If this was Roadhouse 2, back to the cage, and Elwood Dalton, you know, if he won a fight like that where it's like, oh yeah, they did a big flur

and he beats him with it. But you'd be like, that's stupid. Like that wouldn't happen in a real... Especially in a situation like this where Max was up on the cards. But sometimes real life

is stranger than fiction and sometimes you have larger than life characters like Max Holloway and Justin Geci and these things happen. And it was so beautiful. And I've watched it a million times.

I'm sure everyone, the UFC, by the way, again, I can't believe I'm praising the UFC so much. Guys, I'm going to be called the UFC shill after this. After we've been called by a UFC hater for like for years. They did a brilliant job like they did with the O'Malley Sterling finish. They put that knockout sequence on all of their socials after they put it on their, I don't know if they put it on their Twitter, but it was on their Instagram, I think. It was on their TikTok.

Dana White put it out later to make sure. So anyone who didn't tune into the pay-per-view, guess, what, and you're just looking for UFC 300 highlights, you could see that, knock out one of the greatest moments in UFC history. I think it's on YouTube as well. I want to say, I think they isolated the highlights just for YouTube. And the UFC, listen, not every promotion can do this, but the UFC can do this. They can take big peer view moments and give them away for free. And guess what? It helps their brand grow even more and just preserves these moments forever. So great job there. Yes, title fight. It's weird. I had never, even though there had been

a lot of talk between Holloway and Eliotoporio, like some, you know, snipes and jabs. Holloway was asked about him quite a bit during fight week, and he had some answers to prepare to talk about the Tupori situation. In my mind, it's weird. I just never thought about him going back down and getting that shot. But yeah, that's the way to go, man. That's the way to go. DePore was in the audience.

Even he looked kind of like, wow, that was a hell of a knockout. It's his reaction. It's a little hard to play it cool. The whole crap. How can you play it cool when that happens? Everyone's freaking out around you. It's the way to go. Holloway, I like the way he's kind of sold the fight.

He hasn't downplayed Tepore at all. He's just said, look, I picked up all. the contenders the UFC sent contenders to me i beat the up before they can even get to wokenowski somehow to porooskipped that line didn't have to fight me well we can write that wrong you know we can he's got the belt they need a big name to fight him to pour certainly has options and and i am breaking my own rule here because i have picked mosar mosar is not booked right now he's still free theoretically he should get the talas shot but if you think that the matchmakers if they have a choice are picking between mosaar and holloway right now man i'm sorry

of Lov. I think the guy is so great. I think he could be the world champion. He's going to get skipped over if, if Holloway has his way. So, uh, Elia needs a top opponent man, needs a name. And it, it is Max Holloway. So give me that featherweight title fight next. We're forgetting Volcanowski here, who definitely has a case of his own. Sorry. I love sorry. And I know. And he's beaten Max three times. He's beaten Max three times. I mean, really, he has every right to his rematch. But I don't know. Yeah. I think if there is one guy who lost, if Max decides to do it at 45 and fight Deporia. He's going to get it and Volk's going to have to wait,

which maybe not be the worst thing in the world. Yeah, I don't even think we need to queue up the band here. It is Toporia. I think it's such a massive fight. Although Max Holloway versus Islamakachev would be really fascinating. But I think this all sort of works out and we're going to talk about this in a moment. But yeah, hallway to pours a massive fight. I know a lot of people are talking about Spain.

I would be stunned if you have. gets to Spain in 2024. I could see it happening maybe in the first half of 2025. It's not easy. You can't, like, I don't care who you are. Even the UFC who is on fire right now, you can't just be like, hey, Spain, I want to rent out the stadium. Oh, what date? Of course.

It's right here. Whatever you want. No, there's shit happening there all the time. So you have to wait and kind of see how it plays out, especially when you're getting into a market like that. So, but Max Holly versus Iliot, it's a poor yet literally anywhere is a huge fight. It's a massive fight. Max is a big friggin star.

He's even bigger than ever after creating one of the greatest moments we've ever seen in the sport. That is a Baba O'Reilly moment. We will be thinking about this moment. And we will, when we do a damn, they were good. When we do a UFC 3, right before UFC 400, we do the UFC 300 rewatch party. We're going to talk about what we're doing, the exact moment, that moment that that knockout happened when Max, clipped him at the buzzer. Just incredible shit, man.

shout out to Max Holloway. Guys, so many people buried. And so many people, when this fight was announced, it's like, oh, Max is going to get killed. He's going to get run over. What the hell are we doing here? And then Max just made us all believe again. And I had a bet on Max Holloway,

so I was very happy with the way that played up. Plus five and a half points. Well played. Yes, that was a very, I needed that one. And Zhang Wei, they are my two heroes, had a winning week because of them. Let's go to Armin's Siruki and AK. He had multiple fights on Saturday,

not just with Charles Olivera, the former champion, but someone in the crowd decided to take some shots at him, and he threw a punch at somebody, which go to M.AFighting.com, get the full breakdown of that. Dana White's reaction to it has a good scrap of Charles Olivera. I thought Armin fought incredible. He made two mistakes in the fight, and they almost cost him to fight.

Once in the first round with the gilly that looked real nasty, and then once again in the third round where Charles Oliver was going for that kind of nasty arm triangle and Sarukin was able to get it done. I scored the fight. 29-20 for Sarukin on the rewatch. Watching it live,

it was just sort of like, yeah, I guess it's 30, 27, Armin, but I wasn't married to that at all. I just ended that feeling like Armand won. And to me, because of how this is all going to play out, this is a huge win. You go and you beat Benny Darius, knock him cold,

and then you beat Charles Olivera in a fist fight, through 15 minutes the full way. I would have loved to have seen 10 more minutes of that fight, but we couldn't get it. You should be fighting for the belt. That's it. And that's exactly what he's going to be doing, AK. And we're going to get Max Holley v.

Celia to Poria. We're going to get Dustin Porrier getting his title shot in June. I know a lot of people are excited about that. It's going to be Dustin's last chance to fight for undisputed gold. And then, AK, the chance for my prediction is going to come true. We're going to have a chance to make this come true. that at the end of the year, Armand Sarukin, as it's printed on

M.AFighting.com, terrific website, will be the lightweight champion of the world, per my prediction. And they're going to do it in Abu Dhabi in October after Islam beats Dustin Poria, because it's probably what's going to happen, although this sport is super weird. But it doesn't matter who wins that fight because Armand Sarukin's fighting the winner,

and it's just the way it should be, especially if Islam Makachev wins. What a freaking fight. The rematch between those two guys is just going to be incredible. So, like you like, to say, let's do it. Let's just do it now. Let's not wait. We can't do it now, but let's do it in October. Right around Halloween time. Your thoughts. Mike, can we, can we let the band play? That's three in a row. Can we let the band play? Is it too? Are they, I mean, who else? Who else is he going to fight?

That's fine. He's going to fight Bobby Green? How often do we get three in a row? Can we let the band play? The band is like, they're like, we don't pay. People don't know. We don't pay the, the the the the the odd no band unless they play they they're they're starving right now all right all right we'll do it for this one you know it was obvious pick three in a row two three two one friends forever we've done it arm's rookian versus the champion of the universe that's what we do uh yeah yeah unless max holloway calls for the lightweight title and then arm and screwed it yeah true it couldn't have worked out better uh that that having that that fight announced that night because it gives us such a clear timing for when arm because

Armin, that was a tough fight. He needs time off. He wasn't going to jump right into that Islam fight whenever Islam was available. It wasn't going to happen. Now we know Islam, Porriere. If Islam wins, you know, his inactivity is a bit overplayed. I think, like, people are saying he's inactive. He's just like, it's just there's a lot of time between his fights.

I think that's what annoys people. And I don't, you know, whenever Islam's ready to fight again, again, it could be a long time. Arman has the luxury of time as well. So, yeah, it, the timing works out. But Armin, chill, great fight. Two, two top five lightweights that he just beat. It's time, man. It's time for him to get another shot at Islam.

Or, yeah, who knows? Maybe poor April's off the upset. We get a fresh matchup. But yeah, that's the way to go. Armand, you can wait. You can afford to wait. I want to see Islamakchev, Armand Suruk, too, so bad. Yes, yes.

I want to see it so badly. Hakeem the Dream, Kamar, versus Pereira in Brazil for the 205 pound belt. I mean, I don't like that for. It seems like, yeah, I'm sure Magamayn't Alive would love that. And Sleito once knows the BMF title cursed. It is yet to be defended. Huh.

Okay. Let's think about this quickly. So obviously, Masvidal didn't really defend it after winning it. He went from that to the first, the two Camaro fights, right? Yes. Okay. So, I mean, and neither of those fights was the BMF title on the line, as it were. But I guess we're saying, okay, after he won the BMF title, he lost his next two fights.

and now I'm not missing and then it's Justin's the only the second one right there's no Justin was the second one and he just lost and now Max is the third

I mean it's not a lot of sample size but yeah winning the BMF title certainly does not lead to success in their next fight but I mean also usually because winning the BMF title throws you into a crazy

ass difficult fighting in your next fight so there goes that's what you've seen with Justin and Masbenov but yeah it's certainly worth pointing out shout out

Hakeem and Sleto for the super chats much appreciated. Let's go to Bo Nickel, AK. A lot of people were not happy that he was on the main card. A lot of people still were probably a little bit less unhappy

after the way that fight with Cody Brandage went, even though I went back and rewatch that fight this morning, Bo Nickel, outside of like one moment early where Cody threw a flying knee and landed up like one punch, Bo Nickel just mauled Cody Brunage on the floor. And all Cody could really do is just defend and not get submitted and then eventually that happened. Like this is Bo Nichols' fifth fight.

It ended quickly, which is the reason he was on the main card because you just wanted, you as fans who spent $80 on this card, you didn't buy it to watch Bo Nickel fight. You bought it to watch Armand Sarukin and Charles Olivaara and Max Holloway and Justin Gae and Zhang Wei and Janjohn and Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill. What fight will guarantee that we will get there as quickly as possible? It is Bo Nickel fighting Cody Brundage. That's what happened, gets it done in the second round. He wasn't happy with this performance, A.K. You already know where I'm going with this, so I'll throw it to you. I've been putting this out there for a while.

I think it's time, but please, go ahead, see if the band needs to be queued up again. No, I guess not, because I don't think we're going to have the same pick here. Yeah, I would have loved to have seen Uri or Rockich or Kayla Harrison. I thought Kayla Harrison went, but I think maybe they were worried that the Harrison home fight could be, I don't know, it's a women's manton way fight. They thought maybe it could go to an uneventful decision, maybe not the best look to start. And as you said,

they were just trying to get to the top four and the meat of the card as quickly as possible. Yeah, no real criticism of Bo here. I mean, I think Cody, again, was that's what you should expect from a guy who's in his third UFC fight facing a guy who is pretty experienced. You know, not maybe not the most elite talent,

but an experienced guy. So I'm glad Bo was hard on himself, but he got the job done, still got the finish. Six and O now as a pro three. on the MC. I got a lot of ways you could go. I think I found an opponent who I would rank higher than him, but also, so Nick, so Bo Nickel can move up if he, if he wins this, but also, again, not too stiff a challenge. And stylistically, I think is an amazing match for him. So I'll go

with Jacob Malcun. I think Jacob Malcun is the way to go. Good grappler, certainly not on the level of Bo Nickel. And I think that's another first or second round finish for both, those two run into each other. Did he just fight? Oh, that was. the uh petrosky super weird patrosky knocked himself out yeah yeah yeah on the on his hip yeah yeah i don't hate that i don't hate that but it's time if you want to get to the upper echelon of this division if you don't want to be in the discussion to be in the upper echelon of this division there's only one man there's only one man that is going to answer the phone and be like i'm that guy is the man who holds like all the submission records all the grappling records at 185 pounds right now

the wily veteran himself gerald meershardt the third gm3 let's do it they just do it let's see what he can do i think he's ready i i mean enough enough is enough we've seen brandage was a step up he he himself has not called out anybody but on his post by interview he named two very dangerous men roman copuliffe and fluffy hernandez let's you know you know speedwalk before we sprint. Let's do Gerald Mirchart. I actually really like that fight too. So let's go.

Fluffy's got business to take care of himself. He's fighting Roman DeLise, June 1st. And Roman copy-luff is book, too. So technically, Bo Nicol had multiple doo-do picks in his post-fight interview. But GM3 is available and ready to go. A lot of people were suggesting Chris Wyden for this fight. Bo Nichols asked specifically about Chris Wyden

during his media scrumny said he has no interest in fighting Chris Wydenman. Too much respect there. So yeah, Nickel GM3 been planting the seeds for about a year now. It's time. Let me say, I think the UFC has been doing a great job with how they booked Bo by the way.

Again, I know people will complain he was on the main card. Maybe they thought Cody Brundage name wise too much of a walkover. But again, this is a guy who just, yes, a lot of combat sports experience the collegiate wrestling superstar, it's not the same as MMA. And it's just not the same thing.

So that's why it's such a tricky thing to book him. Like on paper, it looks so weird to me, you're matching it with Gerald, even though I know it, it is a good matchup. But like, Gerald has 52 pro-MMA fights.

Bo has six. And it just feels wrong when you look at it that way. But again, we are counting a lot of Boe's experience. Again, outside of MMA, that's how commissions look at this sort of thing. thing. Otherwise, they wouldn't, they wouldn't authorize that kind of fight. So, Mike, you might be right. Maybe it's time. I thought you're going Brad Tavares a little bit there. And I'm like, that's kind of a weird matchup. GM3. Gosh, that's a step up. I mean, that's a real step up.

But this tells me that you have a lot of, this tells me you have a lot of faith in both abilities. Yeah, I think he's, he's one of the most intriguing prospects I've ever seen. Because. Yes, definitely. I wasn't thoroughly. I mean, he was. he was fine last night like people were saying that he sucked i him i i think he even he was a little too hard himself that fight was not competitive for even a second i mean maybe like two seconds it was competitive but bow just mauled him on the floor cody could do nothing he's getting screamed at by his team and bow just continued to just attempt to strangle him over and over again and cody couldn't do a thing about it uh this man's gonna be a problem and if you're gerald me or shard hell if you're

any of these top 40 middleweights top 30 25 etc you should all be calling for bow nickel every single one of you get him now because if you wait 18 months to fight him he's going to kill you like it's going to be real bad so get him while the getting's going and if you're gm 3 i think you take that fight and and make it happen so i'm intrigued by it and you know people that GM 3 was cooked after because he got put in that position against homzaa tchima if and got it was it was a tough night for for good old GM3 but he's bounced back in a big way so do you think do you think I don't know why I'm pulling up this comparison like but we're here now and there's no going back okay can Gerald become the Jim Miller of the middleweight

division is it is it I mean is it but I mean can he reach like 35 fights or do you think it's two or he's just a little too far do you think he got to the UFC a little too late He's at 20 now. I think this is, I think, I believe his last fight was his 20th EOC fight. So halfway to go to even get close to Jim Miller. But do you think he could get like, end his career with like 35 EOC fights? He's what? He's 36.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude. He think he can do it. So he's at what? He's at 20, 26. I mean, he's definitely got to fight another like four years. I've known Joe for a while. I think he keeps going. He likes, he likes what he's doing. That'd be interesting. That should,

that should be a question we have this week. Who's the next? And I think he's, he's, he's a guy that, like, like, I think people could really get into like a Jim Miller, because he's fun as hell, man. Like, good personality, good on the stick, good, fun fighter, get or get God, All-Star. I mean, just, he's great. He's great. And I kind of want to see that fight. So speaking of get-or-get-God All-Star, speaking of just absolute savage, uh, Yuri Parhachka, the samurai himself and Samurai Gaitish, as Sean Al-Shadi wrote on M.A. fighting this morning. Tremendous stuff.

Alexander Rackich basically calling out Yeri Prashkin saying you're not a real samurai because you read a book and you could immediately see Yuri Pajashka be like, oh man, you don't know what you just did to yourself. That fight with him and Rack, with Pajaska and Rackage was so friggin good. It was amazing. package coming back after two years maybe had the best one of the best rounds of his career in the first round against yuri prehashka thumping him up just landing big shots he's landing those kicks the legs like yri prehashka was having a hard time walking but the whole time year he's just getting

thumped in round one he's just giving this man a look that like i'm going to get my time and when it happens you're going to be hurt like he just kept smile at him it was sighted It was very psychotic from one Yuri Perhachka. And then round two, Yeri goes in, does exactly what his face in round one said he was going to do. I'm going to get you. And that's what he did.

Yuri Pajshka's a madman, AK. Dude is an absolute beast. I would love to see him fight Alex Pereira again. I just don't think it's going to happen right now. So I think the fight you make is Yuri Pajka versus the man who, it can be a fight between the last two men to fight Alex Pereira at 205. pounds in championship bouts let's do yari per haska versus jamal hill oh the next fight oh that makes sense and there's some there's some bad blood there too certainly some bad blood there and

then and they're also part of that weird light heavyweight kerfuffle where guys had to keep vacating the title and yeah i guess that makes sense i should have gone there i think i didn't book for maybe maybe i was so intent on not booking for people who lost on saturday that i've just missed some obvious picks. I want to, that fight was awesome. It's so weird with theory because the same strategy, like this is the same strategy he employed against Alex Padetta and the same strategy that cost him the UFC light heavy title is what got him this incredible win on Saturday.

Like he just walks forward. His leg was getting annihilated. Just chewed up. Chewed up to hell. It's not a viable, like offensive strategy the way he was fighting, the way he often fights unless you're him unless you're your proxate you're tough you have ridiculous finishing power this guy has not gone to the score cards in friggin how long like i got i had to quickly just jump to his a week almost eight years this guy does not go to the score cards even the even the

all-time classic clover to sheriff's we all top that's going to the score cards nope nope nope he pulled out of rear naked choke in the last 30 seconds he does not go to the car he doesn't and for him Again, the past few years, the most part, the coin toss has been in his favor, again, except for the Alex Petit of Fight. He has been the one giving. He has been the one getting people, not the one getting God. So it's just so fascinating to watch. I kind of went with like a stay busy fight because I do want to see him, I think, get a title fight at some point. I just don't think it's right to throw them in there.

I went with Nikita Krilov. I think that's a fun fight. Again, you want to talk about someone getting finished. Someone's going to get dusted, probably Nikita Krilov. So I didn't go with a bigger name. I think the Jamal Hill pick is probably better. I'm sure people in the comments are seeing the logic in that as well. But I went sort of to stay busy.

Maybe this lands on a pay-per-view somewhere. Or it sounds weird. I don't think I ever want to see Prohachka in the apex, but I think if they threw them in there, I think that's the call. If Prohashka ends up on a pay-per-view next, which he should, because he should never find the apex, it's Jamal Hill. I think if he ends up randomly in the apex because I've got to fill a card, it's going to be like Nikita Krillaw or something like that.

It's going to be Khalil MF and Roundtree. if it's going to be the apex. He's got to fit in here somewhere. Roundtree has to fit in here somewhere. Remember, I wanted to see him fight Padetta before Pereira won the title. I thought that would have been so fun. Like, that would have been a great title Eliminator fight because Khalil is on such a hot streak. He's going to factor in.

You're right. Maybe that's where he lands, but we'll see Khalil in a big fight sometime in the next four months, hopefully. You do not want to fight your Perashka at the apex. It doesn't go well for you. As Dominic Reyes, he has just never been the same. Just never been the same. but yeah i mean there's some interesting matchups there uri versus anybody rules but uri versus jemal hell i think it would be super fun but no wrong way to to do some booking here let's go to the

former ufc bantamweight champion of the world his name is al germane sterling faces calvin cater i felt really good about betting on calvin cater for the watch party because i thought stylistically this is a really good fight for calvin because he is a very good defensive wrestler it's actually a very good grappler in general which he doesn't really show all that often because he's usually punching people really hard it's just a weird fight because aljo looked real good he looked super strong he was taking calvin down but he wasn't really doing anything with it land some decent shots calvin just looks like i'm not trying to take anything from outgames sterling and i and i honestly don't know if it would have changed anything but calvin looked

like he didn't really want to be there after like the first round especially in the second round when he got taken down on the second round I was just like oh man like this is what we're doing like this is not what I signed up for I want to punch people why are we doing this but good solid showing from Aljo he wins

and then he did deliver a power bomb which I thought was really impressive and almost like with everything else that happened you almost forget it was like that power bomb happened nine years ago with everything else that happened at UFC 300 so want to know at 145 AK where does the Funkmaster go

from here. It's got some options, man. Yeah, he did what he had to do. He did what he had to do. Probably not the UFC, probably not Dana White, the matchmaker's favorite fight. I think we can all agree

it was the least entertaining fight in the card, which doesn't mean it was bad. I don't want to call the fight bad. Did draw some booze in the live crowds. The optics aren't good. But again, this was the least good fight on a card packed with good to great to amazing fights.

So Aljo did what he had to do. He's in a different weight class. Cater's a pretty big guy. this probably won't be the last time you guys see Sterling grind out a win with his grappling at 145. This is his reality now because he is not standing and banging with some of these killers in 145. It's not going to end well for him. Didn't end well from my 135 against O'Malley, frankly. So get used to it, guys.

You don't have to love it. But this is how you get extra paychecks, how you stay in the UFC, and how you keep getting big spots. So with that in mind, I freed this young man up earlier. This could be a really fun grappling matchup. and it could give us another top contender, like someone who's like, I don't want to say number one contender, because again,

we've kind of named other people who could be getting this shot instead. But I mean, look, if the winner of this matchup, I'm about to propose, can't get at least some assurance of a title fight, then they're never going to get it at 145. So give me Al-Jo and Mof-Sar.

That's the answer. There's no other option. There's no other answer. Look, I get it. The Dana White doesn't like Mow-Sar. For some reason, he thought that Arnold Allen fight was boring. I'm pretty sure.

I'm really sure he did not watch it because that fight was. He doesn't know. He didn't know what fight that was. He didn't know. He confused with the Chris Curtis, Mark Andre Berry. There you go. Yeah,

a lot of questions. Because that fight was awesome. But I get it. Mosa is not a finisher. That is the one thing you can't say for sure. It's whether, no matter how you feel like performances, he doesn't finish fights.

And in the eyes of a lot of fans, unless you're putting on banger, fight of the nights every time, if they don't see finishes in your resume, they go like, oh, this guy's boring, blah, which again, I don't think it's true with Mowbzar, but the court of public opinion is a whole other beast.

So I don't know if the fight was starting would be a barn burner either, but it would be a very, very, very big name for Moussar to have. And if you can say he got a UFC champion, even though it's a different division, get that W on his resume. At that point, he has to be next for whatever happens with Ilya after Ilya's next title fight. This is what people need to remember. Mubzar had Arnold Allen badly hurt in that fight, badly hurt. Um, but it was too bad like the way that find Edden, but Bobstar's really good.

We'll see what happens. And but I think, yeah, that's the fight. We didn't even. And then chill out, we're good, uh, because there's just no other option. And as I said, even after we, we said this, if Al Jemaine Sterling beat Calvin Cater, they weren't giving him a title fight. They were, they were doing this exact matchup. This is always, this is probably the plan all along.

Throw them in there with Movisar, another really, like, really horrific style matchup for you. And we'll see if Alge can do it again. Let's go to the UFC bantamweight, AK. Women's bantam weight is back, I guess. Never gone. Jedd Bishu. Never gone. I've been seeing all this make women's bantamate great again.

You can't make something great that was already great, like America. All right. That's why I don't understand these slogans. America, always great. Women's bantamate, always great. She just made it greater. That's what I say. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, Taylor Harrison went in there and just just mauled Holly Holm. This fight was not close. This is not competitive. Why did Holly clinch, Mike? Why? I know. And before anyone in the comment says, that's all she does now. I understand.

I have seen many Holly home fights. I get it. That is her last seven or eight fights. She is not a distance kickboxer. She does not use her striking background to like style on people. I know that. I understand. She likes clinching, neutralize.

against offense, getting takedowns, mixing and striking, which he has to, but I get it. But this is the one fight where you would think they would deviate from what has become her typical game plan and instead initiates a clinch and shocker gets thrown right on her ass. Such weird. There's some very strange game plans. I thought Jamal Hill's game plan was a little strange. I can't, I can't lie to you. I thought he was going to try to prove a point standing and striking, but I thought it was going to be a chaos merchant.

that is not what happened. He decided to have a range kickboxing match with Alex Pereira. And then this happened. Holly Holie Holm. Clayton said, Kayla Harrison. And then the worst thing that could have happened was that she reverse swept Kayla and got on top for a second.

And then I think she might have thought to her as love. You know what? Maybe you can grapple with her. Maybe I'm better. Maybe I'm the better grappler here. And boy, did not work out well. Holly Holm went on Instagram and was like,

yeah, I didn't listen to my team at all. I worked for 10 weeks with a completely different game plan. Makes sense. I believe her. I believe it. Oh my gosh. But this is the best result that could have happened.

Kayla just kind of beat the hell out of Holly home. The way Kayla handed herself all week, I thought was great. This is how you sell a fight. This is how you do it. You put your opponent over. Even if you feel like you're going to smash them, you don't come out and say, this guy sucks at fighting. It's going to be an easy fight.

You say, I'm fighting a legend of the sport. Treater is such. treat her as such on the way out after you do it and then you lay the groundwork for what's supposed to happen so a lot of people have hit me up and they said look I know it's going to hurt her feelings but juliana paine just lost the title fight she just lost it we're going to do Kayla Harrison versus Rocky Pennington and I say no I say no to that I say no Kayla Harrison actually laid it out perfectly in her post fight interview she said I don't care who it is I don't care if it's Rocky I don't care if it's Juliana I'm fighting for the bell next. So I think what Kayla is going to do, and I think what she should do after just depleting herself to get to 136, take an extra six months, hang out at the PI, do what you need to do to kind of keep that weight down, make this a little bit easier. You're going to learn some lessons along the way. And you let Raquel Pennington and Juliana Pena do the damn thing. You let him just have it out, and then you get the winner. That's how it works. So you sit cage side,

you have the face off at the end. It's the title fight for sure, but let Rocky and Pena fight first, and then she gets the winner. Yeah, that fight, of course, not booked yet. We assume Rocky and Pena, because Pena is coming off to sort of injury. I assume sometime in the summer we will see that fight put together. But yeah, that's the way to go with it.

The other option, of course, is we all saw Amanda Nunes's tweet. She kind of tweeted a video of herself watching Kail Harrison's post-fight speech and being like, acting like, oh, she's waiting from, Like, I'm waiting for my name to you mention. I'm waiting for my name to you mentioned. And then, ah, I can't believe she didn't, she didn't call me up. Now, I do think it's a bit of a joke, a bit of a troll on Nunes's part. But I think her and her team, there has to be some conversations had about, yeah, let's say Harrison does as we've mapped down here, Mike, and wins the title.

Sure, man, and you come back. I mean, I'd much rather see them fight at 145. I think having them fight at 135 is just so pointless. But, yeah, if that's what it takes to get Amanda to come back to say, oh, well, I've taken my time off. I've enjoyed my life, but I've still got a little bit, I still got one more in me and I've wanted to fight kale all this time. Hey, hey, have at it. Because I think we always felt when Amanda retired, that she, there was always, it was a classic

M.A retirement. I don't think any of us has ever written off Amanda, Amanda Nunes saying like, yep, she's done. No way we'll ever see Amanda Nunes fight again. I think we always thought there's chances because there just wasn't much competition for her left, but then, you know, if the star is a line and if some talent step up, or in this case, a talent from the BFL comes over and shows that she is the real deal. Yeah, there's money to be made here and also the challenge of it.

I think Amanda would like to know or prove that she is, that she is better than Kayla because there was so much talk of them possibly matching up some days. So it's not next. Again, I just even know the comments that a lot of people mention Amanda. It's certainly not next. I'd be shocked if that fight was next. That's maybe 2025. We can talk about that.

Let's see Kayla again, if she can win that title of 135 first. And then we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it next year. it's it moves to likely further down the road, I think. Okay. So I see some people saying that, you know, Kales called out Amanda. She did not call it Amanda at all. No, no.

She did not expressly did not. That is why that was what Amanda News' whole video was about. Her whole video was. She did not. Yeah. Did she say something? She answered. Back stage.

Oh, she was asked. Okay. She was asked. Yeah. Because she was like, I thought she was happily retired. So I didn't even bring that up as an option. I think Chris Cyborg was brought up as well for some reason, even though she has no chance of fighting the UFC,

at least right now because she's under contract. But yeah, so let me ask you this, okay. Let's just say, let's say Amanda Nunes called Dana White last night and said, I want to fight her right now. What do you do? Do you say no? Let's see if Kayla wins the belt, or do you just say, look, this could be the co-main event for international fight week.

Connor Michael Chandler and we could do Amanda Nunes versus Kayla Harrison. You could do the stupid, you know, another BMF title or whatever. I don't give a shit. But like, just do it at 45 because like none of that really matters if we're being honest. It's just two women fighting each other. Do you risk it and do it now?

Or do you, does it need to have the belt first? Because it seems like Amanda, if you called her and gave her like the right price, because I think even Kayla said told, because she did the media car wash after win that she would she would take nunez over a title fight right now if she was given the choice i think you can have it but nunez technically is still holding on to the featherweight title as far as i know i mean i get it when she retired presumably both that division can't happen does no ufc featherway title both both titles i get it when she retired i think we're officially vacated i don't i'm not sure and we know of course bantamway had to be vacated because

prequel and marina berno silva just fought for it but featherweight no one has fought for that title sin in my mind i don't care what officially it's a again belts are props people i say this all the time that belt is still a man an nunna's so you could just do it at one 45 and say oh yeah this is either this is the one anunas defending her 145 pound belt if she wants to add to that legacy out another title defense or just say the one a 145 pound belt that will probably never be defended again is up for grabs I don't know. But you can have it both ways. You can have both ways.

You mentioned the women's BMF possibility. I don't even think they need to do that. I think they actually could just pull out the featherweight title. I'm just really curious, let's keep in mind. Kayla has not even made 135 yet. So we have to keep this in mind. She made 136, which I know people are thinking, well, close enough.

Obviously, she made 145. Listen, she said herself that one pound between 137 and 136, that one last pound she needed to make the limit for non-title bantamweight fight because you get that one pound allowance. She said that one pound was like a Herculean effort to make. And because prior to this, she had never weighed lighter than 1.45.9. She fought once a featherweight. I think she'd get 135.

Like you said, Mike, in a perfect world, she waits for the Raquel and Giuliana fight, refines her weight cut, brings her body like to a proper place where it's not such an extreme cut. Like she has time to do that now, changes diet, changes training, all that stuff, to actually really change her body, which she's already in the process of doing it. I think people saw her this week. She looked unbelievable hovering around 135. But if the Nunes fight is going to happen, I would really like it to happen at 145.

And we can revisit this whole 135 thing again. But we'll see. 145 for me, please. And Nunez still her title as far as I can tell. Let's move on to another rising star. His name is Diego Lopez, takes on Sadiq Yusuf. And he just ran over Super Sudeek. You don't see Super Sudeek getting just done

up like that dea gopess people loved him he was a big star all week everybody loves him everyone was cheering for him it's going to be real interesting to see where he goes he's going to be a ranked featherweight come tuesday where we going okay where we going with young diego lopez big hat tips damon martin he suggested this in our slack i love the idea of diego and yeah Rodriguez at the sphere i think that's such a good i think they could sell the fight so well I think it's an exciting match on paper. I think Yair is at this stage where he has to fight up-and-coming contenders. I don't think, and he doesn't strike me as a guy

and a guy who's just going to sit on the spot. I don't think Yaya Rida, you guys, is a squatter. So you give him a guy like Diego who's got a ton of buzz behind him. And if you're Yair, hey, it's your chance. Steal this dude's thunder. Remind people why you've been one of the top five best featherweights in the world for the last few years. And if you're Lopez, boy, this gets you one gigantic step closer to a teloshot.

if you can be yair year so give me deigo lopez and yiaa yore rhodriguez all the way okay i love that idea i love that idea the bands getting ready to queue up hang tight band hang tight oh um that is the because that is the exact fight to make on the exact date however deago lopez has some other business he's going to take care of first because that is in september i don't think you could shelve this man for five months i don't think you can do it i don't think you can do it think you can do it. So I thought about this long and hard and Diego Lopez is going to get a name. It's going to get a name. He's going to get somebody who has a lot of momentum right now. He's going to get a guy who has been in main events. And he's going to be a guy that was

put in a similar position less than a year ago. And it didn't go well for him. His name is Josh Emmett, AK. We're going to Diego Lopez for Josh Emmett. I think that fight is ridiculous. We saw Ilya get in there with Josh Emmett. We saw the sort of fanfare brought to Jacksonville. Some of the dignitaries and big celebrities and stars came out to support I,

Jacksonville, freaking Florida. I think Josh Emmett's, I think that's the one man. He's coming off that incredible knockout win over Bryce Mitchell that people are still talking about. This is one of the most scary knockouts you oversee. And I think Diego's grappling kind of match. us up with Josh, maybe not his actual wrestling.

But those two both hit very, very hard and they will swing for the fences. I think that fight is incredibly fun. So let's go ahead and do that. And then if he beats Josh Emmett, then if he beats Josh Emmett, then he can go to the spear and he can fight yeah, your road where he goes. I think Josh Emmett has a really good chance of getting either Diego or Al Jermaine. If I'm his team, I'm getting on the phone at the UFC right now and trying to get one of these two guys who won at Yosinth.

I think he can get one of these fights. Yeah, absolutely. let's go to money moikano okay boy this guy what a what a what a what a year plus he's having goes in there no one thought he's gonna be jail and turn nobody the odds were you know a lot of people thought the odds weren't wide enough and for a moment it looks like everybody was right because jalen turner lands a piston moikano flies across the octagon and then jailantan turn is like yeah man bet it's over and moikano like stood right back up it was like like, where, where are you going?

Why are you leaving? And the referee is like, where are you going, Jalen? The fight is still happening. This is, out of all the weird things that happened, I feel like this might actually be the weirdest thing that happened. Maybe.

Because it just, it happened so early that we forgot about it. Yeah. But man, what a blunder right there. And then of course, Bunny Moycona, oh,

are you going to defend this? Can I, I might be the only one in the NBA media defending Jalen, a little bit. I agree with everyone. Obviously, the way the fight turned out, it was a F up, huge F up. And by the way, I picked Moikano to win. I think I almost picked it perfectly.

I did. I did. I thought he was going to submit. I thought he was going to submit him, though, not to, only because I think Jalen's grappling is so untested. And also the experience gap. And also, Jalen's, again, the grappling being a bit untested. I know he's a big guy. I know he can do some stuff on the ground, like those long limbs, but he just doesn't

have that level of Jiu-Jitsu, the depth that Moecona has. So I thought Moikana could win with the grappling. He did. I was very worried when he got knocked down because I did think that the walkoff was maybe you're going to get rewarded. Good, good. There's Herb Dean, right? Oh, no, this was, yeah, this is Herb Dean.

Yeah. Herb, by the way, I thought did a, we slag Herb a lot these days. And he has been, I think, one of the worst referees of the last few years. I thought he did excellent work at U.S. So let's give a round of applause to Herb. He had thought he had a very good night. So my defense of Jalen is this, is, We often see guys get knocked down, and then we kind of, like, we get very annoyed when they don't.

Sometimes when they jump into the other person's guard and then like, oh, my gosh, why don't they just make them stand up? So in a way, Jalen kind of did that, but his mistakes were one, when Moikana was not as hurt as he thought he was. Like you said, yeah, very dramatic-looking knockdown, and then Moichano gets right back up. So it was, oh, it looks so bad. It looks so bad. But again, there is a world where, and we've seen this in a lot of fights, where Jalen knocks him down and jumps down to look for ground in pound and gets tied up in guard and gives Moikano and then Moikano is able to recover or or I think what most people are thinking Jalen goes to the ground, those hammerfish ground and pound

and ends of the fight. So I understand that that's what people assume was going to happen. But I do think there's a chance that it accidentally initiates grappling and it turns out the way it did anyway. But because it, especially now that we know that Moikano was not as badly hurt as it looked, right? So that's my only defense for it. But yeah, it looked really bad. It looked bad. it looked cocky.

It looked like he was trying to game the system a little bit. But fundamentally, I don't think it was the worst thing to make, to kind of make Moikano stand up again, just to see how hurt he actually was because he was killing him on the feet. The last thing you want to do was go on the ground under any circumstances. But yeah, the way he did it, maybe walking off wasn't the right. Maybe he should have taken a beat, seeing how hurt Moikano was, and then decided from there, I think instantly doing the walk off.

You know, hindsight's 2020, we know now it was just it did not. workout and he has to take a loss for that okay well said my best friend and i think if jalen turner could see into the future like five minutes after that fight ended and heard hanato moikano with a microphone he would realize that he cannot afford to lose and jalen want to try to gun in there and finish himself uh this is very easy pick for me i know there was it's kind of a two horse race potentially for these for this fight because both guys want it it but I think at this point it's been built up for like nine months now both guys seem to want it I understand if you want to put moikano in there at the higher rank dude go right ahead but come on

now come on we're sending money moikano to Manchester we're sending them to Manchester in July and they're going to he's going to fight patty pimblit like this is what's going to happen this is what's going to happen he's got to make that money he's going to put patty behind them or at least try to and plus now we know he can't afford to lose. He can't afford to lose to Patty Pimlet. So let's just go ahead and do that and it's going to be fun as hell. This has been the fight to make for a while. I'm not sure why it went away from it.

Did he mention, he did not mention Patty at post-fight, right, immediately. He didn't mention them in the post-fight. His quite rambling post-fight. Yeah, he was talking about a fort. He can't afford to lose. And a book that people need to read. I didn't see his post-fight scrum or any post-fight comments. Did he mention Patty then?

I don't know. I was so lost by his whole speaker. He was like, I know, look, look at this card. I know I'm not going to get a bonus. So I'm just to make sure I don't get a bonus. I'm going to drop 7,000 F-bombs right now. That's my one concern is I don't know how badly he wants it anymore. Though maybe he's doing the reverse psychology thing.

Maybe he's called for it so much and didn't get it. Now I was like, maybe if I don't mention it, now I'm going to get it. But then someone else called for it on the card. Maxis, reminding Ludwig von Mises, thank you. I'm probably mispronized that. I apologize to Ludwig, the author. So I went away from that.

I also didn't pick it for Bobby Green. So I don't know where I'm going with Patty the next time, whenever that comes up. We don't have to match FruitMeek Farm on this episode. So, and actually, it's weird. I like the Moikano matchup for Pat. I actually like the Moikano matchup better than the Bobby Green matchup. Because I think in a weird kind of scrappy grappling fight,

even though I know I just said, Moeconno's like on another level of grappling than a lot of 155ers. I think there's a way Patty can kind of trick his way to a win on the ground there. I don't like Patty's stand-up chances against Fire Green. We'll talk about that later. So I'm going with, for Moikano, a much higher ranking opponent. I want to see him fight Gamrod. I thought this fight had been booked or something.

It just in my mind, I was like, have I not heard of this fight before? Maybe it's been recommended on Otno. Like, I thought like this had been booked and it fell through. I would love to see. Are they trained together? Do they? people in the comments tell me that i just did i just drop some massive dodo but yeah you know what even if they do if it is a t t yeah well i know moikano trains there yeah camera does too right

uh so if i drop some do do i apologize but i do think that is such a big camp i stand by it i still think we just listen i just talked about amanda and kela and amanda she's is kela still yeah kela's still with with uh tt so that's a big camp if the fights are big enough people will do it especially if there's title implications on the line and i do think a Gamrot Moikano fight could have some inkling of that. So I think they would do it. I think it's a big camp. So I have no problem matching up.

I'll say it right now. And I'll say this to listeners, unless we know that they're close friends and training partners who we frequently see working together at American top team. And it's very clear they would never fight each other. I will, I am lifting the do-do label on matching up American top team fighters against one other. I just, I just, I'm putting on the table. I won't make the decision unilaterally without you.

But let's, let's put it out there. We'll do a vote off camera. I mean, Armand Serg being called the fight does support it. Sure. There you go. There you go. It happens. Andrea Lovsky has fought like multiple teammates from ATT over the years.

So shout out to Achilles Jr. Appreciate the kind words. Surprise Justin didn't retire. Appreciate all the great content. Terrence, wise man and cyborg hating from outside the close. They retired in a PFL, Kayla versus the winner for the belt, John versus Tatiana. Absolutely.

Absolutely. We're going to get to the wild card round in a matter of moments. You got three more fights to do. I'm just going to knock the Bobby Green. one out right now because i know we're going to talk about the lightweight division this is a tough one i'm giving him benny derrush a k that's what i'm giving him let's see what he can do let's give him another wily veteran let's go in there and and see if darius can get it back let's go ahead and do that's fun as hell uh i went with uh benoit sunday i just want to keep testing benwa i get it we're

going from experience to experience as a lot that's a tough i know it's tough to ask for bSD but Also, I think talent wise, I think he'll still be- It's a tough ask for BSD? I think it is just because- No, I'm not saying Bobby's bad, but Jesus Christ, bad. Bobby Green has to fight Jalen Turner on super short, on short notice, and gets a win over Jim Miller and, like, we know with the UFC and, like, everybody was hoping for him.

Bobby spoiled the party, and it's like, congratulations on great performance, man. Got to go fuck Benoit Santinino. Bobby's about that life, all right? He fought Islam on like, what, a week's notice or something or two weeks notice. The guy's crazy. The guy doesn't care. He'll definitely take it.

And BSD has a top 10 spot. And you know, Bobby would love to take that. And I think of the UFC, again, this is a good gauge for BSD, possibly a bounceback fight. I think San Deney would be pretty favored. But again, like the Pori fight, experience is a hell of a thing. And when you're a guy like San Deney as talented and as insanely tough as he is, when you've only been fighting pro for five or six years, these Dustin Porey's, these Bobby

Greens are real tests. So I would love to see that fight. Did we skip over just gone, Josh? We're going back. We're going back. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I forgot.

You're taking us on a journey. Take us on a journey. Yeah, we're going back. Yeah. So I have Green versus Darius. You have Green versus BSD. Yeah. I kind of like the Dan Hooker Binwa sent to any fight if I'm being honest.

That's the one I would do. But it doesn't matter. It's lightweight. Lightway freaking rules. Uh, Jessica and Drogh beats Marina Rodriguez, fun fight. We're, I mean,

we're an hour and seven minutes into this. So I'm just going to get and say it, okay. I'm going back to the well. I've been going back to the well forever. It's time. Just gun, Drogge versus Rosamu's three is what we're going with here. because I, Manon Fioro beating Aaron Blanchfield

kind of screwed the pooch a little bit. It doesn't seem like Macy Barber really wants to fight Rose Nomunis right now. Seems like she wants to either fight for the belt or fight Manon. So let's just do Andrade's versus Rose 3. I don't give a shit what weight class it's out. It does not matter to me.

It can be 15, 25 does not matter. Let's go. I assume she was, I assume when you said that, that she was chasing Rose up to 125, which I think I'd prefer, just again. It's fine.

I'd be fine about it. Yeah. I want. And at least you could sell it as being a little different. It's like, oh, the first two fights, they fought at straw weight. How will they look at flyweight? Again, probably the same. But yeah, that's a great. That's a great pick, Mike.

I'm just keeping it straw weight, keeping it at 115 as I always do. And I think I had to follow this up. I think last time, Vyernardian, Jandrova fight, I said give her the winner of this fight. So my match is made for me. I'm going Jessica Androjan and Vierna. It's a good fight. Shit, that might actually be the correct answer. But I'm holding out hope.

Hold on hope. We got to see Androge versus Rose 3. You have to see it. All right. Figgy. Figgy, Figgy, Figgy, Figgy, Figgy, Figgie, Fingy, Can you see it? Open the card.

Open the card. This is crazy. This is so crazy. It just goes out there and just let's Cody. Figgie treated the fight like Yuri treated Alexander Rackage. Like he just walked forward, let Cody do whatever he wanted with this hands down and just smiled at him the whole time. And then new eventually he's just going to take him down and choke him and strangle him.

That's exactly what he did. So the Cody Garbrandt, I'm about to go back and make a title run thing, I think is officially over. Still a name, still a very valuable piece to this division. But Figgie Smalls just spoils the party. And 2 and 0 now at 135 wins over Rob Font and now went over Cody Garbrandt. Where do we go here, okay? I think he said he was moving on from this. But Davidson, I don't think you can move on, but I don't think it's up to you.

I think this is a fight that people want to see. I think it's a lot, we all want to see when we heard Figgia was moving up to 135. It made sense when this guy was in kind of a slump. It makes even more sense now that he's gotten off the Schneide. I think we've got to go Davidson, Figurato, and Peoria. So that is the correct answer. The problem is Jan is dinged up real bad after that fight.

Surgery's, we don't know how long he's going to be out for. He could be out for like an entire year. I love that fight. going with Davis Figuero versus the man who just fought for the Bantamway title Little Figgie Smalls versus

Marlon Chito That's good That's spicy It is spicy That's crazy We could get We could get so many bangor fights

Like this is the beauty of UCD00 Amazing car top to bottom And super enjoyable night The storylines coming out of it And the matchups that we could get out of some of the results from 200 are just so like this sets this could set the table and create so many intriguing matchups for the next year like we could be we like by this time uh next april mike we could be talking about man that like such and such fighters career really turned around and they got these two big fights

off of what happened at 300 they got the title fight off of 300 um this person's legacy was changed but what they did at 300 and yeah just just some of the matches we've even suggested and just thought about today it really shows you the depth of this card and um how meaningful some of these fights were So, man, I'm buzzing. People still buzzing, guys. It's Sunday night when we're recording this, and I am still buzzing. We are like 24 hours away from the start of USC 300. And I'm still like, I think Monday morning I'm going to wake up and still buzzing.

It was a great time. Guys in the comments, was that the best card you've ever seen, guys? Shout it in the comments. That's the best card you've ever seen. I know of recency bias, but I'm not going to put up a poll just informal here. And I'm just, let your voice be heard. Because, man, I'm just, that was great. It's a great time.

We opened with Davis and Figurator. and Cody Garbrand. That was one schedule to be a once upon lifetime ago, a flyweight title fight. I think that was going to headline a paper view card like three years ago or something. And now we still got it and we got the first preliminary bout on a paper view. Great, great structure of this card. And that was a perfect spot for it too. This card was structured beautifully.

It should have been the first fight on the main card if we're being honest. Sure. That was always should have been. But this is still like a really good one because you knew some. was going to get finished in that fight. So I missed the under one and a half by like a minute. Really pissed me on. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen.

As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward.

From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. Saving and investing well is an art and a science. It requires high-level math, an intimate knowledge of economic history and theory, and a healthy dose of psychology. People have spent their whole careers and won Nobel Prizes. trying to figure out the best ways to do it. Betterment believes that you should be able to be a successful and sophisticated investor without having to get a PhD.

They've spent over a decade creating and refining a platform that can help people who have, you know, lives, invest like experts. And it's all because they have a simple mission, to make powerful investing tools available to everyone. Their approach, which includes things like goals-based investing, globally diversified portfolios, and tax-smart technology, is rooted in deep research but packaged in a single easy-to-understand user-friendly platform. With automation, friendly reminders, and best-in-class customer service,

Betterment makes it easy to make good investment decisions. You don't need a Nobel Prize to be a great investor. All you need is Betterment. Go to Betterment.com to learn more. That's B-E-T-R-M-E-N-T-com. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. Mike, did you do wild card picks? No.

Okay, okay. I thought I didn't do my homework. That's what I thought. I thought I didn't do my homework. I thought we were going to grab a couple of the fighters who did. Okay, good. Sorry, guys. So no wild card picks this time, but even better, I think it means we are...

We're going to go to the peeps. We're going to... Oh, wait, hold on, Mike. Hold on. Okay. I got a real quick check the tape. I know we don't normally do check the tapes in these live shows. Don't worry.

This one's real quick. This check the tapes, Mike. No, no, no. This check the tapes is a point. to the millions and millions of people who did. No, you know, I don't know if it is millions anymore. Probably thousands at this point who didn't give up on Conner-Regger versus Michael Chandler. Because I saw some people out there.

I saw a lot of people clown in for Michael Chandler saying, oh, you're never going to get this fight. Connor's a movie star now. It's like half of our website. Listen, listen. Listen, yes. Ultimate Fighter 31. Loyal Ultimate Fighter 31 fans. We stuck in there.

We fought. We told people the series. Top 31 is not over until Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler step into the case. This has been the longest season of the Ultimate Fighter ever. It has been ongoing this whole time. And it will finally be resolved. UFC, was it UFC 303? 303.

303. It will finally be resolved. So my friends, the Legion, the dozens and dozens of hardcore Ultimate Fighter fans out there, this is our moment. You tell your friends. We told them. We told them Chandler was going to have. happen. You have to be resolved. Unfinished business had to be done.

All right. That's it. That's it. Okay. Um, we'll, we'll call it the do-do if it is do-do is to be had. Uh, let's, let's go. I'm going to start here. This is exact. Okay. So this, this is going to be a popular one, I think. Charles versus Justin two and someone had asked earlier about, I'm surprised that Justin didn't retire. Justin has been saying for a long time that he essentially has this and it was kind of like the last time I talked to Justin he talked about

that his maybe he felt like his words were twisted in a different way even though Justin kind of said this but what he meant by saying like I probably have like five more fights left in me what he really meant was like I have five more fights that I consider wars left in me and he has this little punch card of okay that's a war that's a war this one's not so I don't have to

punch that ticket, but this one is. Michael Chandler was a fight of the year when he fought Michael Chandler and everyone was like, holy shit, these guys went to war. And Justin Gage was like, nah, that wasn't a war. I don't count that one. But for three and a half minutes and they were Charles Olivera is a war for him.

And I think honestly, I think Justin left that fight with Max at a point where I think he's got one more punch card little square left. before he gets his free sandwich, if you will. And I think if Justin,

I think if Justin has the choice, because he's not getting a title fight. He's out of the title picture now, unfortunately, because this division is just, he was in there for a while, he was in this spot, he could have fought for the belt, he took this fight instead,

put it all in the line, and I respect the hell out of him for it. But it's just not going to happen at this point. So I think, I don't think he's going to go out like that, but I think if just, if they call the Justin Gagee and said, you want one more fight,

who do you want i think he would specifically ask for charles olivero oh he wants that one i think he specifically asked for that one for that and also i think he respects charles so much for you know just what charles brings to the table in the chaos department he said of all the guys he's fought charles hit him harder than anybody else he's ever been in there with i don't know if he feels that way anymore after max holloway did the damn thing but that was after a five round just absolute battle but i love charles versus jrador Justin too there's a very real world where that fight can happen and there's a very real world where that fight could happen and it could be the last fight for just to get you i've no insight to this but

this is kind of through multiple conversations i had with him over the years this would seem like a perfect kind of let's go on and try to be a pro golfer i don't have much to give left to give to the sport and he doesn't this guy's giving us everything uh so yeah i I love that idea. That's very good. That's very good. I was just looking to update. Two years ago, we're approaching, it'll be almost two years ago come May that we had that

first very memorable fight between Justin and Charles Olivera. Both met have fought three fights, three big fights too, three big hard fights since. So maybe the timing is right. That is pretty good. That is pretty good. I like that suggestion. Mike, can I read this comment from Billy Tang asking the way they announced the Connor Chandler fight, scribble, no hands data, no package.

anything, that and also the Strickland Costa fight and the Islam Depori fight. This isn't the first time they've done this. We've had this recently where they just kind of hand Dana paper or Dana comes up and reads off like two or three big fights at the post-price conference and just kind of moves on. I think this is intentional. It's not like, I'm just, I'm not sure why. Like, Mike, what's your theory? Do you have a theory as to why they've occasionally done this? they have kind of announced just rifled off a bunch of fights to the post-ride press conference, very understated way of doing it, not doing it at the Fight Week press conference. There was a rumor of people talking.

Why didn't they just do it at the presser on Thursday? They had the whole big screen set up, and it was just for a promo. It wasn't for the channel that Connor fight. Why? What's the strategy? Like, what do you think? And by the way, I'm not criticized. This is a genuine question because I think there is some value in really, again,

treating your press conferences like news conferences, which is what they are. So I think there is some value in just announcing the fights in a matter of fact way. It's certainly like, he feels anti-promotional, but I'm not like 100% against it. Mike, what do you think is the logic? Why do some, why has they, why have they done this recently like in the past year or so? Like, just rifle off big fights late late Saturday night. I mean, Dan just like got handed a piece of paper. Yeah.

That was like kind of crumbled up and it was just like, oh, it was like he was seeing it for the first time. Yeah. which is kind of funny um i don't know i mean i think people expected this this connor chandler fight to get announced but then that's kind of the problem with a lot of these like social media sites is they they throw the stuff out there and the ufc is very well aware of it and you know when dana says like look i can tell you with all honesty like we don't have connor 100% locked up yet you don't think like that is a super believable thing that dana is saying right there so maybe they they got it done at the 11th hour or something.

I know Chandler was in Vegas as well. So maybe they just wanted to make sure he was on board. And then from what I understand, and I saw a report about this and someone commented on this earlier, Armand Saruki was offered that title fight on June 1st. I just talked to somebody who would actually know the answer to this question. And that is true. Armour was offered the fight.

Armum declined because it was six weeks. And we kind of knew he was going to decline. it. Um, and I have no issue with this for the exact reason I talked about earlier. And then they announced Dustin right after. So I don't even think Dustin like knew this fight got put together like super quick, I guess. And there you go. But it's, I actually think this is tremendous business decision for Armature again because there's, unless Dustin Pori just does something absolutely ridiculous, which is at this point, would nothing surprise to me in the sport anymore. Like if Dustin Pori goes out and knocks out

Islam Akachep, it wins the lightweight title. A, what a story that would be? But B, I think that kind of screws Armand Saruki in a little bit. I think it kind of knocks him out of the picture. I feel like Islam is going to win that fight, which sets up beautifully for Armin. So why take the fight in six weeks when you could fight him in six months in Abu Dhabi? Like, you're just gambling that you think Islam's going to win. There's nobody else there.

Like, you're the guy. And Islam's going to want to fight in Abu Dhabi. and they'll probably like put that fight together immediately. If he goes out and beats Dustin, they'll probably just book that fight that night and say, hey, Islam's going to fight Arm in Abu Dhabi. You know what I mean? So it works out great for Armine.

So that, I wonder if like he got the piece of paper and it just said the 302 fights. And then Dana was just like, I don't know why I dropped a quarter there. There's someone like on my mouse pad. I just picked it up and dropped it like an issue. UFC, USC 300.

And I wonder if Dana was just like in a giving mood because it was such a good night of fights and he just was like, screw it, June 29th, Connor McGregor, Michael Chandler. You know what I mean? Yeah. Those two other fights. That's how I think this played out. I could be wrong, the best thing I guess. You know what else?

You know what else? So it also just makes us do the announcement for him, really. You know what? We just like it makes essentially the news sites that saves Dana some money, right? It saves them a promo. I assume they hadn't put together a promo or we won't see one soon or. It saves them. Yeah, because just by doing that,

it puts the on us in the media to get that news out there. They don't have to do anything. Like I said, he read off a sheet of paper and then suddenly, boom, goes viral, tweets, Instagram, TikToks, whatever, articles of an everybodyflying. There you go.

We're talking about it on YouTube. So maybe that's another reason. It's just a very efficient way of getting the story out there. All right. Let's run through some of these and I've got to go. Gerard, Hilversh's Brackett, Gatechee versus McGregor, Post 303. Wouldn't hate it.

Would love it. Oliver versus Gamrod is fun. Nickel versus Robocop, Uri versus John in Prague return. Sterling Yair, Lopez versus Ige, Figgi versus Aldo winner lose. I thought about matching up Figgi with the winner of that fight, but I don't know. I don't think I thought about it.

I kind of think I was just going to do the thing, get Jonathan Martinez, and he's going to be out of there. He's just finishing his contract. Yeah, he's going to go box and do whatever the hell he wants. Yeah. Tristan. So here's the thing. If A.K.

was like, hey, Tristan just match made a fight. What do you think he matched made? I would have picked this one in a second. Would have picked this one in a second. Marina versus McKenzie Dern. The rematch, enough time has passed. We can run it back. Do you have any interest in watching that fight?

I don't think that's like any differently. I know. It was a really good fight, though. I just, yeah, I don't know if it goes different. It was a really good fight. If it's, you know, that's always a reason enough to, I think, to run something back as, hey, it was fun the first time. Not terrible, but yeah, if you're McKenzie, I think you'd be into it.

I think you would want to try and get that, get that one back. But and if you're Marina, I mean, McKin's got a lot of star power still. So, yeah, it's not. There's logic behind it. Did you see Joey Miller's super chat mic? Let me see. Yeah, just a point. There's got some.

There we go. Sorry, man. Joey Miller, baseball player, Sharra Bullitt versus Bow. I believe Shar is Sharra booked? He's booked. I think he is. I'll check real quick. He's fighting in Sauter.

Oh, he's, oh, wait a minute. Wait a second. I think he was booked, but now he might not be booked. Oh, that's right. All right. So they booked him to Shadi against Ihor Potiaria. But now Ehor Potiaria is fighting. Michelle Fadegh.

She's fighting Michelle. Yeah, yeah. As a stepping as a replacement. At 301. Yeah. So maybe. Maybe. But they're not going to, there's no frigate way.

That's tough. That's a, bow in there with that fucking dude. That's a tough fight for bow, man. Yeah, no way. I mean, I'd watch the hell out of it. Algebra versus Ortega, Cheppe versus Super Sodeke at the sphere. Don't hate that.

Chepe's look damn good. Roundtree versus Rackich, Dubrox versus Gamrot, or Fiziv. Thanks for everything. There you go. Thank you, Joey. Joey Miller. Yeah, good things, man. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Let's keep going here. scroll through this. Iron turtle versus bow. I knew this is going to come. The Iron Turtle Army. Mike, the Iron Turtle Army does not sleep. They are,

they see a middle weight who they want to see tested. They are putting the Iron Turtle in there. Is it maybe a too cool per school thing? Like, we're so big time. We make all the big fights. And I hear some news. This is just what they do now. They want to control the narrative.

They want to announce all the fights. That's it. That's it. The reason that this took. so long is because the UFC in this again I don't have a ton of insight that's just kind of how I feel about it the UFC was mad that Connor McGregor announced the fight on December 31st that it was having June 29th and he was right the whole time apparently so but that's just kind of how it works he never lies never lies that Connor better KO with all circumstances considered max holloway

last night or Leon head kicking oosman I just had this discussion with a with a friend of mine. Shout out. Shoutouts Nick. Just had this discussion with a friend of mine. He, he favors the Usma, excuse me, Leon Edwards, Usma knockout, headshot dead. And I can agree in the sense that there is greater stakes. It was for an actual undisputed title, not the very, not the lovable, but not official BMF title. Leon was losing, of course, much more importantly. Leon needed that knockout, right? That was, that was a, the Hail Mary shot of all Hail Mary shots. not arguably i think i think he was fighting a guy who at the time was certainly viewed as more indomitable max was the underdog in this fight but i mean it wasn't so crazy to imagine him

beating uh gaichi uh leon was a pretty strong underdog against kamaru and again kamaro was just in this this massive run kamar considered one of the top three greatest walter rates of all time geish doesn't have that level of this team so the stakes and history behind the leon knockout are greater. And again, it's hard to shake off recency bias. But for me, I would put the Holloway thing. It's just the moment was so magical. It was so, as with the Lillian headkick, but it was magical in just this way where it was so

kind of unnecessary to, we just, the fight was going to end. And we were still going to talk about it as one of the best fights of the year. Like, just based on the action we saw, it was an awesome fight. And for Max and, yes, to some degree, Justin, to give us that moment that only they could deliver, it's, it's making me emotional, just like thinking about it. It was so beautiful. So both are great. There's no wrong answer. I'm going with the one I just saw recently. So it's a little bit unfair to the Leon knockout. But give me the max, Justin, as the best knockout of the last whatever. I don't know, 10 years. That was 10, 15, all time. I don't know.

That, man, it's such a good question. I mean, stakes and all, it's, I mean, it's Leon, for sure. but when we look back on crazy ass knockouts, we're going to remember Max Holloway's first. There's just no doubt about it. That's going to be the one. That's going to be ranked higher in terms of, if people voted on it, they would vote for Max Holloway.

It's just the way it is because it was just so wild and insane. Like everything about that fight was insane. So that's how I feel. It's kind of like trying to compare 300 to 200 to 200. You know what I mean? Like 100,200 had the star pop. Leon Edwards does not go. It was like the 300.

Like really, really good. And like, what a cool moment. But Max Holloway's knocking out, Justin Gage is like Brock Lesnar fighting Frank Mir. It's just star power. It's just viral moment,

all of that. You know what I mean? So, yeah, that's a good one. Good comment. I just want to read Lazy Bad saying it's opposite scenarios. One was desperation.

One was a declaration. I am stealing that. It's a good one. Lazy bad. I'm stealing that. And you better clip this. Otherwise, you will not get credit.

it. So call me out if I use that in a future show and I don't credit you. Do I like Jaylon Turner versus Viziv? I don't hate that. Yeah. I mean, Fiziv's coming off of a super close fight with Justin Gagie that a lot of people thought he won. And then, well, no, he fought Gamrod and like that fight never got going because he got hurt. I know what you mean. His last actual like fight where we got to see him like competing here. Lazy bed. Nickel versus Y'm in the fight to make all American wrestling generation face off. I don't hate this idea. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.

Bo Nickel has no interest in this fight. He talked about it last year. Good. I will take two more. What's next for Jamal Hill? Take time off fully heel, get back to it. Who should you fight next? I say Yuri Perashko.

Yeah. That's, yeah. Your Yuri pick, I think, was really strong. I just, I didn't have anything in mind for Jamal. I've been very critical to Jamal in the past based on, you know, again, some comments he's made on social media about certain topics. Just the way he carries himself social media, his, his, It reminds me the wrong way.

And this is personal. I know some people are big Jamal Hill fans. I know some people have a ton of respect for him for the win over to share. That's fine. I think he's a very talented fighter. So I probably just didn't put a lot of thought into what's next for him. I just would like to see him. And again, I don't know Jamal personally.

So for me to say stuff like, oh, he should, he should focus more on fighting unless on social media and he's above. Like I don't know the guy personally. The way he acts, maybe this is what makes him, you know, the best version of himself. Maybe this is why he's as good as he is, right? So for me to criticize how he handles his, his public persona, whatever, it's a bit silly. And so I can't really do that. But I do feel like some changes in the teammate.

I think maybe he got a little bit over his skates as it were as far as like saying, like, oh, I know I'm, it's one thing to be confident. It's another thing to be so arrogant and say, like, I'm going to stand up with Padetta. I'm just going to, like, crush him. Like, there has to be some line between that kind of overconfidence and also, like, you know, believing in yourself. There has to be, there has to be middle ground somewhere in there. So I think Jamal has still has all the makings of a guy who could fight for the title

someday who could win the title someday so i don't know what's next i i just would like to see a bit of a tweak in um how most of the fight this but hey what do i know pretty pretty uh talk well talked about fighter uh again guy who's already has a ufc title under his belt don't take your advice from me jamaal this is just a you know media member spouting off i guess well i mean we knew when he started approaching the fight the way that he did that he put all this extra pressure on him almost like he had every made made himself the guy with the most to lose on the entire card yes um because he's gonna get he's gonna get ripped for this for for quite some time and maybe this is a part of him that doesn't give a shit yeah i'm curious to see how jama'll hill does handle this is he just

gonna i thought it was just kind of humble last night it just hey man got caught grats alex i'll be back like good way to look at it but if we start hearing interviews of him saying like now i wasn't healed or and all that stuff. Like, you can't, it got to a point where you can't turn back. You just have to keep going with it. And that's really where he's at right now.

But I will say this about Jamal Hill. I think, I thought he was the MVP of Fight Week. I really did. I thought everything he did was great in selling this fight, making it much more interesting because when this fight was first announced,

I thought exactly what happened last night was going to happen. That I was just going to hit him once and it was going to be over. It just seemed like this, is where we were going. But Jamal Hill, like, actually got people on his side. He got people being like, you know what?

Like, after what Ilya just did, maybe he can do this. And I thought what he did for that fight all week long was huge. Yeah. It really was. And I'll agree with you because Alps put a, don't you wrong, he has a mystique about him. He has a brand of cool that people really like. That brand of cool works even better when you have an opponent who is kind of a hot head, who's kind of a loud mouth, who kind of talks a lot.

Then your coolness is like pronounced. So it can work in other scenarios too. But like, let's say the fight with Yuri. Okay, great fight. But the build to it, I don't think it was particularly memorable. You have two guys again who are very intense, but they have a brand of intensity that like, I don't think it necessarily amplifies each other. But when you bring in again a Jamal Hill, who's going to talk a lot, who's going to kind of poke at you,

is going to jab at you verbally, then you being cool and stoic and having that menacing walkout on fight night, it just seems so much better. And same with Yiri because his brand of weirdness was, worked best with Rockich. You know, I had a 300. Rockich's whole like, what are you talking about? This is weird. You're just being weird.

And that made for great, for great dynamics. So certain opponents just bring out the best in other personalities. I think that's what Jamal did. I think that's what Rockich did. So I think you're right, Mike. I think, again, love Jamal or hate him. He did some pretty solid promotional work this week. For sure.

Yeah. All right. I think we're done here. I gotta go to bed. Yes. Mike, you have been up for a long time. Again, you were, people, please, if you didn't get a chance, go back and watch the watch party. It is archived on. Time stamps. Time stamps are there. See the best reactions.

Him and G.C. dressed to the nines, Vegas style. So, great work. Apparently that looks like a secret service agent. I'm seeing a lot of federal agents. That was the reaction I saw the most. Which is pretty wild. I'm just looking at the MMA hour lineup. I'm not going to tell you what it is.

I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it's going to be a good one. And we're not looking at next week's lineup either. We can't tell that because there isn't one. Oh, God. Can I just say, like, this might have been the best thing the UFC did was they left this next week open. Oh, break. Yes. Oh, we need this so badly.

We need this so badly. So we might do a BTL on Tuesday just to kind of react. all of this, but I'm taking, I'm off. I'm actually basically on vacation right now. Like I should be, I'm off. You should not be working right now. Yeah, you are on vacation hours. But we got Mike PFL3 Friday.

This is welter weights and what are we, what's on this card? Welter weights and feather weights. So there will be there will be fist fights. They'll have a man. Ryan Garcia fight. Devin Garcia. Yeah, let's, let's hope that fight happens. Uh, if anyone's been following some of.

Ryan's social media activity. It's, it's, it's, he's been active on social media. How about that? Let's just leave it there. I got to see Ryan Garcia like 15 feet away from me. How do you look? In person. Sane?

Sane? He just showed up to the Diaz Basadol presser and did like a six, 60 second press conference scrum with Brian Campbell. Shout out to BC, uh, who did a great job there. I didn't even know he was doing it. And I got to, got to see the man in person, which is nice. Um, yeah, he just went up and cut a promo. Someone said, Oscar, Delahoeia.

sucks or F Oscar Delahoeia and he said yeah it's kind of funny and they did a funny dance on the way off stage and that was it sound for 60 seconds did you eat it it was pretty Garcia Haney all right check it out yeah but thank you all appreciate you uh at may hour to react to all this stuff going down tomorrow it'll be another show on Wednesday and we're trying to get a bt L and tuesday otherwise that next week so thank you all very much for a k i am mike heck always remember don't take the stuff too seriously i make some fun and i hope we could have more fun like we did last night watching UFC 300. Thanks for watching everybody.

We're out of here. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to presales,

preferred seating, and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase experiences, visit chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders. Deposit in credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply.

Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way. Whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sacks is where you can find everything. From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop-for-sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start, sacks.com is customized to your personal style, so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season, and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style at Sacks Fifth Avenue.