MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: What's Next For Derrick Lewis After UFC Nashville?

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

Derrick Lewis sent the fans in Nashville home happy with a 35-second knockout victory over Tallison Teixeira in the main event of Saturday's UFC Nashville card. "The Black Beast" is one of the most popular fighters on the roster right now, so a big fight for Lewis is quite possible — but could "big fight" mean title shot? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on what's next for Lewis after picking up another main event knockout victory. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Gabriel Bonfim following his controversial decision win over Stephen Thompson in the co-main event, Steve Garcia after his dominant unanimous decision win against Calvin Kattar, along with fellow main card winners Morgan Charriere, Vitor Petrino, Tuko Tokkos, and more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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See Air Canada.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The Matchmaking Crowns have returned following UFC Nashville this past Saturday night at the infamous Bridgestone Arena. And in the main event, Derek Lewis just needs 35 seconds to put away Talas and Tashira. And now he is in a very interesting spot in a heavyweight division that has no real clear cut number one contender. Did the Black Beast just earn himself a title shot? Beating 8.0 Talas and DeShera?

We'll discuss that and much more on today's program. But I am Mike Heck. And joining me this week is nobody riding solo today, my best friend, Alexander Kay Lee, enjoying a Sunday off. and well-deserved for the young man. And A.K. will join me next week live on the YouTube channel following UFC 318, which goes down in New Orleans. And we'll discuss that at the tail end of the show, run down the lineup and how that's all going to work. But let's get right into the matchmaking, because there's a couple things that really stand out. One, it's kind of an interesting one to do on my end, just getting my picks together.

And another thing I noticed, the listener picks, one, there were so many of them this week. I was really surprised by that. And two, there was a lot of otno point potential. There wasn't a ton of common ground. I mean, there was obviously some similarities and some listeners had similar picks than others. But there was a lot of sort of differentiating where each of these fighters go. and I always find that pretty fascinating coming out of these events. So let's run down the picks.

We'll run down mine. I'll give you my explanation to the best of my ability. And let us start with Derek Lewis, who is just one of the most popular fighters on the roster right now. The man is over like Rover. And he is in the best possible division right now to rise up very quickly. And if you have been listening to MMA fighting programming for quite some time, I have been saying, especially since Tom Aspinall has been the

interim heavyweight champion or was the interim heavyweight champion that just let derrick lewis fight tom aspinall like if you need to get derrick another win fine it does not matter who derrick fights just throw him in there with tom aspinall whether it's for the interim belt or the real belt it does not matter and i'm standing by that in fact i'm doubling tripling down on that it has been pretty much a year since i've been standing on that corner i have been alone on that corner and I'm happy to see people starting to to jump on board because let's be honest everybody Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the world he is going to most likely obliterate every guy in this division that he fights but the one that

if Tom is not going to fight Alex Pereira and it does I don't know if that fight's going to happen like if I was Alex Pereira I'd be screaming from the rooftops to try to get that fight doesn't seem like he's all that interested in it at least from what he's saying publicly but if we're not doing alex prayer just do derrick lewis do fans really want to see cyril gone get a title fight after that win over alexander volkov i am not all that interested in that fight just give it to derrick lewis just give it to him what if derrick lewis does it what if he wins he's got the the hammers 40 years old can you imagine what a story that would be And the fans be super into that fight.

Derek Lewis would be the loving underdog in this situation. I think you just go ahead and do it. We need Tom to fight. It does not matter who he fights right now. Just get him bodies. And let's get Tom Aspinall fighting. It's that simple. It's been over a year since this guy has fought.

Derek Lewis has fought for 35 seconds. You could put that fight together so quickly. So quickly. Just do it. Just do it. Let's book this as soon as possible. give Derek Lewis's title fight. If he loses, who cares?

And if he wins, what a story that would be. It would be absolutely incredible. So standing by it, Derek Lewis gets Tom Aspinall, and let's have a good time. Co-main event, Gabriel Bonfim defeat Stephen Wonderboy Thompson via split decision. I do not agree with these, with those two judges who scored this fight for Gabriel Bonfeme. I thought Stephen Thompson won this fight. And it's not just because I had a bet on Stephen Thompson.

I thought Bonfeme won round one. I thought Wonderboy clearly run round two. Like there's just no world where you could score round two for Gabriel Bonfam. Just no world whatsoever. And round three just not a lot happened, but Stephen Thompson actually did stuff. And I know there are some people I've heard it already. Well, we're Gabriel Bonfine got takedowns. It does not matter.

It does not matter. Take downs are. great if that's the only thing that happens in a round. But a takedown is essentially like putting a guy next to, like, into the fence, into the fence wall and having a fence battle. And if it's five minutes of one fighter pushing the other fighter against the fence, even though he's not doing anything,

that fighter would win the round. It would be ugly as sin to watch, but that's essentially how it all works. And, but Stephen Thompson actually landed blows that mattered. in this in this round so to me i thought it's a pretty clear 29 28 not the worst decision i've ever seen but gabriel bonfine gets the win i don't think he gained a ton of stock from this fight it wasn't a fight that and typically in situations like this i will go back and rewatch fights just to make sure

that i'm saying the right thing or at least i feel good about it and i'm not just being real dumb i'm confident enough that i'm not i most of the mma community feels the same way I think I've only seen maybe two people on all of the interwebs say that they thought Gabriel Bonfim won that fight. So again, his stock doesn't rise all that much. Randy Brown, we'll do Gabriel Bonfine versus Randy Brown. And then Stephen Thompson could just fight. He said he wants to fight Carlos Pratchez to be the last fight of his deal. Totally fine.

But at the end of the day, whatever Wonderboy wants, just give it to him. Just give a fun fight. It doesn't have to be a changing of the guard. type fight or let's get a young up and coming guy over kind of a fight. Just kind of let him do what he wants. He's not going to fight for a belt. If he wants to fight proches or fight Muslim Salikoff or Santiago Ponsonabu, let him do it. Let's go ahead and have some fun with Wonderboy, but for Bomb Feme, Randy Brown seems, seems fine with me.

Let's move on to Steve Garcia, a guy who is really making noise at 145 pounds. Six wins in a row for Steve Garcia. His knockout streak ends at five fights, but he goes out there and just thumbs up Calvin Cater. This fight was not competitive for more than maybe two seconds. Calvin did land a couple of decent shots, but this is the Steve Garcia show. He was just downhill, volume, volume, volume, pressure, pressure. And he just kind of beat the soul out of Calvin Cater in this fight.

and Calvin Caden and I lost five in a row. Be interesting to see if he gets another fight, but Steve Garcia continuing to climb the ranks at 145 pounds. What a division this is turning out to be is, I think we're getting close to putting featherweight above Bannamweight. Like I think it's a fair conversation to have right now. And Steve Garcia is one of those guys that is proved positive as to why that sentiment is true. But Steve Garcia, very realistic with the callouts,

even though he's got a great win streak, he's not overshooting. The man clearly listens to MMA fighting programming. He knows how important it is to not drop the ball on the microphone and to try to keep it as real as possible and sort of know your moment when to shoot high or shoot low or shoot from a realistic perspective. And Steve Garcia is like, yo, how about Josh Emmett or David O'Nama or somebody like that? How about a main event? Maybe at the world's most famous apex. I liked it. I saw a lot of people kind of give him crap.

That was a great callout. Again, very realistic. Steve Garcia cannot get on the microphone and be like, yo, Yayae Rodriguez, Brian Ortega, Al Jermaine Sterling, let's go. He knows he's not in that position just shut. David Onama, great callout. In fact, I'm going with David Onama. I think that makes a ton of sense.

Onama beat Giga Chikaze to get into the rankings. Steve Garcia just beat Calvin Cater to get into the rankings. Steve Garcia just beat Calvin Cater to get into the rankings. That fight makes a ton of sense, but there's a number of ways you can go with Steve Garcia. But guys are real good, man. He's solid. He's a solid hand.

I thought Calvin Cater, with his experience, would win this fight. But great performance from Steve Garcia. This guy is definitely somebody to watch. We will stick at 145 pounds. Absolute chaos, as expected, between Morgan Chariere and Nate Landware. Morgan was just kicking the, holy hell out of Nate Lamber's legs.

And I'm sitting there watching and I was expecting Morgan just continue to kick the legs over and over again. And then in round two, Nate Lambert started to get going. Morgan was kind of fighting the fight that Nate would want him to fight where he was throwing shots, but he wasn't viciously fighting. He wasn't just going full dog and full grit. And that's what Nate Lambert really shines. and then apparently Morgan heard something heading into the third round.

I don't know who said something to get him cooking to tell Morgan, hey, just go out fight and clobber this dude because that's exactly what he did. That was a nasty ass knockout. Morgan Sherry gets it done. And you know he's going to fight at UFC Paris in September. So let's give him a fun one. Let's give him Hyder a meal. I think that's a fine fight.

So let's go ahead and do that. Vitor Petrino The UFC's newest heavyweight Goes out there Just dummies Austin Lane We kind of expected that to happen It's gone to the ground

Use that big massive muscular frame And just kind of beat up Austin Lane Waited for his moment And then gets the submission with the rear naked choke Again seamless win Did not really struggle in this fight whatsoever This is the Vitor Petrino show He's in the new division

but heavyweight is just it's poop soup there it's it's it's not great there's like 20 fighters on the roster right now petrino might even get ranked after this win which is insane to think about like taos and the sheriff beat atafa and got ranked which is even more insane but i mean just not even more insane but equally insane and now vito pretzsner's gonna fight Rizvon Kunev. That's the fight. Let's just go ahead and do that. Rizvon gave Curtis Blades, who was dinged up in the fight and got hurt,

got injured, gave Curtis a tough fight. There were people who thought he won that fight. I was not one of those people. Oh, yeah, Petrino versus Rizvon Kunev. Sure. Let's just go ahead and do that. And we go to the light heavyweight division

to cap off the main card matchmaking festivities. Tocos gets a UFC victory. How about that? not only does he get a UFC victory, but he gets a finish over junior Tava. That was actually a pretty fun fight. Tukos was doing the thing. It looked like he was going to maybe submit Junior Tafa,

get him out of there, kind of grind him out a little bit early on, and then maybe get a submission. And then Junior Tava is like, no, I'm going to reverse some position. I'm going to land some ground upon him. We get some momentum in round two. And the junior Tava comes out just banging in round two. hurts Tuko, thought he might have gotten them out of there.

Junior knocks Tucco down. He could deliver some ground upon. He decides to let Tucco up. Tucco ends up getting a takedown, getting on top, and then eventually getting an arm triangle submission. So congratulations to Tucco's first UFC win, first UFC finish. Much like the heavyweight division, light heavyweight is bad. It's just a really bad division.

There's not a lot of depth. There's not a lot of gray area. this division. So I went with just more timeliness here in the current schedule and how things look. Jimmy Crute is fighting Marching Prakno at UFC 318 on Saturday. Winner of that fight is fine. You can give them the loser too. It doesn't really matter because this division is not good. But sure, let's let's go ahead and give him a fight like that. For the wild card selection, I'm going with, I'm just going back to the well here. There's a number of different ways we could have gone with this.

I'm going with Calvin Cater. I do think the UFC probably gives him one more shot, and I would like to see him get one more shot. And I would like to see him take a little time, take a little time, and then we'll do one more fight. And it doesn't have to be a featherweight. It can be a lightweight. Who cares?

None of this matters because it's not affecting any division. We're not holding anybody back. We're not disrupting any kind of a title picture or anything like that. And I'm going back to a fight that I've been calling for for Calvin Cater for like three years now. And we're just going to go ahead and do that. I know this guy is booked already. I know he is booked at lightweight. But I don't give a shit.

Edson Barbosa is fighting Dracar close. I believe it. UFC 319. Calvin Cater versus Edson Barbosa win, lose or draw. Again, it does not matter what weight classes happens at. If you want to do it a lightweight, sure. You want to do it at featherweight, sure.

Does not matter. Calvin Cater versus that's the Barbosa. And if this is going to be a double retirement fight, it would not hurt my feelings at all. It was tough watching Calvin Cater fight Steve Garcia on Saturday. I've known Calvin for a long time. I've been interviewing him for years, almost a decade,

maybe a little longer from his days in the New England regional scene and combat zone to making his way to the ultimate fighting championship and having some ups, some downs as of late. He's lost five in a row. It's a weird five in a row. One, because I thought he beat Josh Emmett. Then he has the weird injury loss to Arnold Allen in a fight that never really got going because of the unfortunate injury. He did get kind of bodied around by Al Jemaine Sterling, which was tough to watch.

He didn't get the doors blown off him in the use of Salaafite, but he did lose that one. This was one of those fights. He was just like, yeah, Calvin just looked, just looked slow. He looked, he looked weathered in there. And it was, it was pretty tough to watch. I can't lie to you. But yeah, Calvin Cater versus that's a barboza. Throw him in there with another vet.

And let's just have some fun. If it's the last time we see Calvin Cater compete, fine. And if the UFC future endeavored Calvin Cater, if we saw the roster bot, put Calvin Cater's name up there, it would not surprise me. But I think Calvin and the UFC have always had a really good relationship. Calvin's not the kind of guy that says no to fights and opportunities. So maybe they let him fight one more.

I don't know what his contracts. situation is. So, but yeah, this is just a personal level fight for me. I've wanted to see this fight for a long time. I think you probably could have done it five times already, but let's just do it now, depending on what happens with Edson Barbosa. And we're going to take a short break. We will be right back right here and on to the next one.

It's all about the listener picks. It's all about the listener matchmaking coming up next. When you're a forward thinker, you don't just bring your A game. You bring your AI game. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money, and agents, so you can transform tomorrow. Workday, moving business forever forward. All right, welcome back to on to the next one, ladies and gentlemen.

It's time to go to the listener picks. And if you guys want to submit your listener picks to me personally, you can do so on the Instagram, M underscore HeckJR. You can hit up AK on all social media platforms at Alexander Kili on Twitter at Alexander K.K. Lee on Instagram. I know he typically chucks out the email address as well. You can hit up AK wherever. He will see it. And AK sent me a bunch of your selections. Screenshot at a bunch. Hopefully you got them in in time. And I'm going to get to all of them. And there are a lot of selections. Usually AK gets the lion's share of them, but I got a bunch today.

It was good to see. And we are going to kick things off with a newbie. Welcome to the party pal, Mason McGuire keeps it short and sweet just the way we like it. Quote, long time fan, but never submit picks for Otno. Welcome, Mason. Hopefully that changes. He says, my one pick for the episode is Nate Landware versus Darren Elkins' rematch. Is anyone going to be upset about that? I don't think so.

Thanks for all the content you guys make. Thank you, Mason. Appreciate that. Steve Langford, his UFC Nashville on to the next one picks. Eric Lewis versus Curtis Blades, but he didn't put it to two. Do we need to see that one again? Do we need to see Derek Lewis fight Curtis Blades again? He killed Curtis Blades.

That's one of the most brutal knockouts you will ever see. I don't think we need to see that fight again. It was one of Derek's most satisfying knockouts as he told me when we played golf that one time. But yeah. Do I give do-do? I don't know. I'm in a good mood. But that's unfortunate for maybe the next person who slips.

up because they might just get it. Talas for the sheriff versus Ty to Evasa? Wow. All right. Ty is pushing three bills plus, I think he was saying. He hasn't fought in a long time. I think he's planning to come back in 2026. So are we going to sideline Talison until 2026?

I mean, I guess you could. So, okay. Gabriel Bonfeev versus the Renot Fokker-Tinov, Andreas Gustafin winner at UFC Paris, Steven Thompson versus Carlos Pratch. win-lose-d-dra against Jeff Neal. I like that fight. Wonderboy told me

if it's up to him, if he's going to get that last fight, he wants it to be against Carlos Pratchez. So, yeah. And again, Stephen Thompson looked good. He just looked good at almost all of his fights. I thought he was beating Joaquin Buckley.

I thought he won the first two rounds. It was winning the third round before he got knocked out at UFC 307. I thought he won this fight as well. And it was a stark difference watching Stephen Thompson fight right after Calvin Cater fought. I don't have the same concerns about Stephen Thompson at 42 as I do about Calvin Cater at his age. Like not even close. Stephen can still compete. He's not going to win a title or anything, but he can beat a lot of these guys.

So if you want Carlos Pratch, just freaking give it to him. Also like Steve Garcia versus Josh Emmett, Morgonchari, versus Gabriel Santos, Vitor Petrino versus the Boudai, Bucetcheri. a UFC Abu Dhabi, Tokos versus the Walker, Secura loser at the UFC Apex on August 9th, Chris Curtis versus Brandy Brown, Jake Matthews versus the Kevin Hall and Daniel Rodriguez winner at UFC 318, Eduardo Amara versus the J.G Aldrich, the Aldrich Silva winner at UFC 318,

Walter Walker, Shamil Gatsiev, Mike Davis versus Drew Dober. I like that fight, Batima Klein versus Tisha Pennington. Dima Klein, man. She's really good. We've all been, hardcore fans been pretty hyped on her for a while. To see her, just go out there and deliver a knockout like she delivered to kick off that card on Saturday. It's pretty nasty stuff.

Natasha Peddington, I like it. That's kind of the next level litmus test, right? If you're going to see if a fighter is going to go on a little bit of a run at 115 pounds, someone that's sort of a, maybe you're not 100% sure about. I think a lot of fans are pretty certain that Fatima Klan, line is going to climb the ranks pretty quickly. But you throw her in there, Tisha Paddington. Tisha's a tough out for literally everybody in this division.

So let's give her that test and see how she does. Trevor Nyron, welcome. He says Derek Lewis versus Tom Aspinall, why not? Why not indeed, Trevor? Just do it. Just do it. He likes the Gabriel Bonfine versus the Jeff Neil, Carl's Pratchez loser. And I'm not calling doo-doo on Pratchez because,

I kind of laid that out on all the programs, and Stephen did as well. And he also likes Steve Garcia versus the Ege Pitbull Loser at UFC 318. Walter Walker, He'll hook God versus Cyril God. He will fix the heavyweight division. I love, I actually don't mind that at all. Cyril will never take that fight, and I kind of understand where he's coming from there.

I think you do Cyril Gailton-Almeida. Let's determine a number one contender. And in the meantime, Tom Asperl can fight Derek Lewis. It's perfect. It could not be more seamless. If the UFC wants to fly me out to Vegas and throw me in the war room, just to lay this case out, I will be happy to do so. Chris London. Wow.

Derek Lewis versus Mick Parkin? What are we doing? This is how you reward him. You give him Mick Parkin? Holy cow. Talas of the Sheriff versus Sergey Spevac. Bonfim versus Joachim versus Joaquin-Bucle. Thompson versus the Liao-Salakoff winner.

Steve Garcia versus Nathaniel Wood. Calvin Cater versus Retire. Hyerman Chariar versus Delgado, Tokus versus Balato, Patrido versus Mo Usman, Chris Curtis, Mike Malat. I like that fight a lot. Jake Matthews versus Facente Lucke. I like that fight a lot as well. Walker versus Kudyev, that's fine. And Mike Davis versus Dezim Sattikoff.

Good. What a friggin fight that is. Lightweight's the best division in the sport, guys. I don't know how else to explain it. Mike Davis and Nizem Satikov, like neither of those guys are ranked. none of those guys are probably in the top 20 right now. And we look at that fight and say, damn, let's do it. That could be a main card opener on a pay-per-view.

You can put that fight anywhere and it rocks. Let's go to John Ray. John says, I felt like you guys were all sleeping on having Derek Lewis on your fantasy teams going into this week. Guess I was right. I think you were. But, yeah, I would have been a damn good draft pick in hindsight, right? Although he didn't get a bonus. So that would have stung a little bit.

to not get those extra points, but sure, I mean, Derek Lewis could be the heavyweight freaking champion before the years over. Klein versus Tynara,

Davis versus the close Barbosa winner, Walker versus Tashara, October 11th in Rio, got the date and everything. Mara versus Silva, Aldrich loser, Matthews versus Michael Kiesa. Eh,

man, maybe. Maybe. I kind of like Kiesa, just fighting dudes who are, I'm not going to say, irrelevant that are relevant but not guys that are like on title runs and stuff of that like i like i have liked the matchmaking for michael kiesa to this point i think you just kind of stick to that

that'd be it just kind of stick to the veteran matchmaking but yeah if you want to do that sure chris curtis versus the nail magni eliza zaleski winner tokos versus the first light heavyweight signed up contender series this year petrino versus kennedy against chuku chariot versus brittow Garcia versus Belke Costa Bonfim versus Randy Brown He's with me Lewis versus the marching Taiboira anti-Delijah winner

if Taibora wins an institution in 2017 man We're putting Derek Lewis and marching Taibora Mick Parkin territory Okay Told you there's a lot of

differentiating A lot of different picks for these fighters Robbie Ryan Good day you blocs Let's get on though Lewis versus Volkov 2 Bonfeme versus Leon Edwards, holy smokes. Really?

I love you, Robbie. I could not dislike this pick more. I mean, you gotta, like, if we're, if we're PFLing this thing, sure. It's something you could do. But what does the UFC gain from Gabriel Bonfeme fighting Leon Edwards right now? They don't gain anything from this. Gabriel, everyone thinks that Gabriel Bonfine lost to Stephen Thompson. and we're going to reward him with a fight with Leon Edwards?

I think that's crazy. I think that's crazy talk. But that's, you know, I appreciate you reaching out and making suggestions, but I mean, Leon Edwards should be fighting, I mean, she's fighting Mazadol. That's the fight they should be making right now. But sort of looking at the rankings, you got like, I would rather see Jake Matthews fight Leon Edwards. Michael Morales could fight Leon Edwards. Ian Gary could fight Leon Edwards.

Like these are the types of fights for Leon Edwards right now. Not Gabriel Bonfee, who just won a super controversial decision. But I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they do make that fight. I don't know. They are going to Brazil in October.

Maybe they go with that as a main event fight. Leon Edwards likes money. But I will, yeah, I'll be pretty surprised at that happens. Steve Garcia versus John Silva, Diego Lopez loser. Wow. I mean, we're just, we're just chucking these guys up the ranks, huh? I mean, I'm not complaining. That one would be fun.

Bonfine versus Leon Edwards would not be fun. This would be fun. Either way, it's extremely unlikely, but it would be fun. Speaking of fun, he likes Charier versus Juicy Jay, Petrino versus Alonso Menafia, which might not be that fun, but Chariery J is very fun. Tokos versus this way. I honestly tried to match him, but I have no. idea who these guys outside the top 50 are and that's where he needs to be fighting top 50

it's not to 50 fucking lay heavy weights is there that many of the roster but yeah i agree with you these are the guys you should be fighting there's probably like maybe maybe 40 light heavyweights of the roster. But to go, yeah, I mean, Julius Walker, like those guys, the Brensen-Raberos of the world, that's the Ebo-Azlans of the world. These are the types of fights. But boy, Patrino versus Metafield could be tough scenes. Plus, Petrino's a heavyweight now.

Now I'm all confused. Petrino's a heavyweight. Unless Metafield's moving up, that's, yeah. Yeah, wild card. It's time for the Predio. You ought no favorite Mike Davis to step up. Give him the Dracar close. It's a Barbosa winner.

Okay. Dossum Boyd, UFC Nashville. I had a few birthday bevies, so hopefully it doesn't affect my matchmaking. All right. Let's hope so as well. Tugotokos versus the Uron, Sati Baldiav,

Nair, Nergaze loser. I think I said those names, right? Sure. That's very probable. Morgan Chariya versus Hyder Emile, Gabriel Bonfin, Gilbert Burns. I'm a little more in favor of that than the Leon Edwards fight. Derek Lewis versus Sergei Pavlovich.

I'm digging. There is no two there. Pavlich win or lose against WCA, so you avoided the full double doo-doo, but you did not put the two in there. So between you and the other person, you have combined for one stint of doo-doo. P.S. real bad stoppage, in my opinion.

It's seen way worse. It's not the worst stoppage of the world. Jimmy Lloyd, Lewis versus Gadsiev. What did Derek Lewis ever do to you? Jokic. Bonfine versus Vicente Luque. Petrito versus Cooniev. That's exactly what I said as well.

I love that idea. Matthews versus Burns. I like that as well. Walker versus Parkin. Sure. Sure. Let's go to left. Fun outcome is Lewis versus Aspedal.

I think we'll get him versus Waldo after a loss to Pavlovich. I hope not. DeSherr versus Usman. Wow. Okay. Yeah, that's actually sensible. Sure. Bonfee versus Randy Brown.

He's with us. Wonderboy Luke A 2. Sure. Cater versus Stevens 2 in BKFC. Okay. Sharia Brito. Nate versus Balejos after he beats Silva. Petrino versus Bud,

with the loss to Buchetcha, Lane versus Spain 2 in karate combat, Tokos versus Akira, Walker, winner, Taffa. I'm not going to say that. Curtis versus Cheaty, Jake, Cheney's got to go back to middle-late. Like, what are we doing here? Jake versus Burns in Brazil, Walker versus Spivak in Brazil, Davis versus Mason Jones. Again? Where's the two?

Come on, man. I'm definitely due doing you, left lane. Where's the two? All right. AK sent me over all the suggestions you guys sent him. So let's run these off. DGB. Walker versus Spivak, Curtis versus Brahimage,

Sherry versus Sean Woodson. I like that fight a lot. Bonfim, do we have anything different there? He also likes, I'll read them off. Garcia versus Abbott v. Benfine versus Burns, Lewis versus Gatsia. Zach Shaltius. Lewis versus Asmodal.

Fett, yes. Bonfine versus Prachis. Neil winner. Garcia versus Lorone Murphy. called the headline at apex card. Sure. Sherry versus Kyle Nelson. I like that one.

Petrino versus the Delijah Tibera loser. Tukos versus the second lowest ranked heavyweight because he's still probably the worst. Is that Billy Alikina, when loser draw versus Ebo? Side note in my search for the lowest ranked light heavyweight, I found that Rumble is still the 149 ranked light heavyweight on tapology. Wow. Wildcar Chris Curtis versus Scenti. Look, I like that fight. Finn Hamilton.

I want my Otno point for Edgar Shirez versus Alessandro Costa. A.K. I'll leave that one up to you, my man. Klein versus the Lysindo Hill loser. Mike Davis versus Ludwig Klein. He said he wants to box. Let's have him box. Walter Walker versus Spivak. Mora versus Casey O'Neill.

Happy Trails Lauren Murphy. Yes, happy trails Laura Murphy. One of my favorite people in sport. Where else we got? Chidi goes back up and fights Dustin Stoltzvus or Max Griffin rematch if he stays at 170. Chris Curtis versus Santiago, Ponziabio, Tuka versus Bruto Lopez, Chariere versus Delgado, Nate versus Hyder Emile, Calvin Cater versus Du Ho Cho. I'm not a call dude on this. Dooh Choi apparently has been booked against who hell is he fighting?

Let me look this up right now. He is fighting Daniel Santos. UFC Perth, September 27th. It is coming. It's not on our website. I understand that. It's probably not one we're going to put on our website because it's not like ranked dudes or a pay-per-view or anything.

But Big Marcel tweeted it out. And for me, that makes all the sense of the world. And Wonderboy versus Kiesa. That's interesting. That's interesting. I don't know what their relationship is. That's not. That's also.

probably like not the most thrilling fight of all time. But yeah, if they make that, that's age-appropriate matchmaking, experience appropriate matchmaking as well. Finn continues. Bonfim got not many fans from that final minute, despite a good performance in the first round.

Congratulations, you get to fight Randy Brown. And Tashir versus Kudiev. He's with as well. Jard Biagin. Let's see if we got anything different here. Steven Thompson versus Cheaty. Vitor Petrino versus Thomas Peterson

Tuchos versus Yvonne Ursula Curtis versus Bagney-Silesky winner Mike Davis and Rulow Aliev Four Corner Sports Derek Lewis versus the loser of WCA versus Pavlovich Tashire versus Peterson Steven Thompson versus Mike Milott

That's interesting Garcia versus Salal Kater versus Woodson Boy, I don't like that fight for Cal. Blast Pyre versus J, Landware versus Emil. Harry, Gabriel Bonfine versus Colby Covington. Harry, Newhouse, there is, I have a better chance of growing a third leg than that fight happening next. But again, I'm not, like, that's sensible matchmaking, but Colby will never fight Gabriel Bonfine.

That does nothing for him. And he's just not going to fight him. Steve Garcia versus David Onama. Sherry versus Belke. What else we got here? Curtis versus Kiesa? Okay. I don't mind that one.

Mara versus Jamie Lynn Horth. Mike Davis versus Manuel Torres. Golly. That's crazy. Fatima Klein versus Yasmin Hadeghie. Picks by Efrod. Let's see if we got anything new here. Stephen Thompson versus Gunner Nelson, end of the year.

Calvin Cater versus Nathaniel Wood. it's another tough fight for Calvin. Morgan Cherry versus Cub Swanson. If Cubby's coming back, it's kind of tough to matchmake for Cub because he hasn't like fully on full on retired, but I don't know,

Morgan Sherrier is the guy that screams, let's do one more. Oh, that'd be pretty fun. We'll see. Nate Lambert versus Jack Jenkins. I actually like that fight a lot. That would just be an all out scrap. And sure, I'm down for that.

Toby Kinsella. Anything new here? Chapa versus Naimov, Curtis versus Lukey, Matthews, versus Burns. A lot of... Now we're starting to get into the connective tissue of these picks. Marcus McGahey, my man.

Let's see what we got here. Cheria versus Rosa. Tuko versus the Oslan, Elakana winner. Matthews versus Kiesa, Curtis versus Ponsadibio. Mara versus Maverick. Sure. I mean, Maverick might be out for a while, so it's kind of tough to matchmaker.

Davis versus the Rebovich Breeder winner. I like that a lot. That fight's going on August 2nd. Klein versus Al-Alancar. I like that fight too. You guys are making me think here. Lucas Cortest. This is what he said, AK, AK, Fun card tonight based on the website about me and three other people watching the majority. of it, but the whole card was exciting. It was great. Again, this is just me talking now. I thought UFC Nashville was great. But here are the picks for Lucas.

Lewis versus Tom. Holy shit, Mike spoke this one to existence. Good on him. Do it. Just do the thing. Another Bonfee versus Randy Brown. Jake Matthews versus Gilbert Burns. Landware versus Cater.

There's the explanation. Should be a war and winnable for each guy Cater, either needs a big step back or to retire. I don't think he'll retire. If Landware can't bring the violence out of Cater, no one can. I agree with that. I don't mind. Honestly, like, I don't mind that fight.

I'm okay with that. Because I think he would get Cater to go full knucklehead. I actually think I probably pick Cater in that fight, only because, I mean, Cater's going to take so much punishment in that fight. But I think that's sensible. Like if we're going to track Calvin back up there, I think that's a fine one. Age appropriate matchmaking. It's a good scrap.

I'm okay with that one. Good pick. That's actually a really good pick. If we're not doing it, here's what I'll say. If we're not doing Edson Barbosa, Calvin Cater, that is, that's the backup fight. Totally okay with that. Great pick. What else we got?

Cheria versus Belke, Garcia versus the E. Getball winner. Wow. Okay. actually that's like that's sensible ege makes a ton of sense yeah i mean now that i think of it there's

we could definitely do that uh mike davis versus terence mckitty damn sure although i i mean that'd be fun as how i do think mike davis wins that fight but who knows terence mcini is a bad bad dude uh hope you're doing well loved you in case's preview show just gold yeah It was just gold. Okay, that's all the picks.

It's tough doing this show by herself. I'd like to bounce ideas off people, but I think we did a pretty damn good job. Shout out to all of you guys for submitting all the picks. No need to submit your picks next week, at least in the traditional podcast form. Two week break from that. We'll do it again after UFC Abu Dhabi,

because the next UFC event is a pay-per-view. UFC 318, ladies and gentlemen, live from the smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in the main event, the BMF title is on the line, a trilogy fight. Hopefully this trilogy fight delivers better than the boxing one did on Friday.

BMF champ Max Holloway, back at 155 pounds, takes on Dustin Porre, who makes the walk, to the hallowed octagon one more time what a fight that's going to be what a moment that's going to be i know this isn't the greatest card of all time but this is for this is this is this is the dust and porier sendoff card right there are certain cards and i'll say this just because there are people who still think like i'm negative it's just not it's just not the case uh when things

are good they're good and things are bad they're bad and i try to find the positives and everything We need to ignore what this card actually looks like. We need to ignore all of that. And I will say top to bottom pay-per-view line-up-wise, this is not great. It's not. But it does not matter here. There are certain events where card quality and storylines and stakes and all of that, I'm not going to say they're meaningless, but they don't matter as much.

And on a card like this, with what this event, means and what we're trying to do here, the lineup does not matter. This is about Dustin Porriere. This is his show. This is for him. He's going to fight one last time. Everything else is background noise. This is all about celebrating Dustin Porier.

It's about celebrating this rivalry with Max Holloway. It's about celebrating the blood, sweat, and tears that the diamond left in that octagon. That's what this is all about. It's not about the rest of the event. Like the rest of the event is, is cherry on top of the Sunday. This is the Dustin Porreier sendoff card. This is for him. The rest of it to me does, it matters.

I love watching fights. But I don't give a shit what is on the rest of this card because of this fight and what this is all going to mean and how. And when the UFC really tries and really wants to accomplish something, they might be the best in sports of doing it and making things seem big and surreal and emotional. when they try, they're very good at this. And I know it is very few and far,

the moments are very few and far between when the UFC actually puts forth the big time effort in order to do that. But I have a feeling they are going to go all in on all this and make this seem just really big and pivotal for Porier and Holloway and for all the fans. So I am looking forward to how they pulled this off. And I'm really looking forward to this fight.

And it's got to be scenes. It's going to be absolute scenes in New Orleans between Hollywood, Holloway and Porre. But the supporting cast, if you will, Paul Costa, Roman Kabulov, Kevin Holland, Daniel Rodriguez, Dan Igay, Patricia Pitbull,

Michael Johnson versus Daniel Zellhuber, Kyler Phyllis, Venetia Zavaritz, great fight. Marvin Vittori, Brennan Allen, finally get to settle the beef. I mean, come on. Come on now. It's big time stuff. Francisco Prado versus Nikolai,

Veritenekov, Atiba Gautier, a member of the team heck fantasy team, against Robert Valentin, Adam Fuget versus Islam, Doolotov, Jimmy Kruit, Marching, Praklio, Ryan Span versus

Lukashvretzky. Someone's going to sleep in that fight, more than likely. Bruno Faheda versus Jackson McBay and Carly, Judeease, New Orleans, his own, or Louisiana zone, taking on Nicole Kaliari. It's got to be fun.

Like, I think we're going to have a good time. 5.m. Eastern. So join myself, join the returning AK. And we'll do it live. damn it. Appreciate all of you guys. Let's have a good fight week, everybody. See you guys next week. Right here and on to the next one. The podcast.

Into the Vox Media Podcast Network.