MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Dricus du Plessis, Israel Adesanya After UFC 305?

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

According to UFC CEO Dana White, Sean Strickland will likely be next for Dricus du Plessis after the middleweight champ finished Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305. Will that ultimately be the fight that's made? On a special live edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and guest host Jed Meshew discuss what's next for du Plessis after his first title defense, along with where Adesanya goes from his third loss in four fights. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Kai Kara-France after his big knockout of Steve Erceg in the co-main event, along with fellow main card winners Dan Hooker, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Carlos Prates, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Just what a horrific start to the program. Unbelievable. What a perfect start with a bird. Are you kidding? You're like the theme sucked like every show we've done. But hello everybody. Surprise. Welcome to an all-new edition of On to the next one.

We are live following a pretty fun UFC 305 event last night, which took place in Perth, Western Australia. It was a good time. We had the watch party in Atlanta. at the Michoud Mansion, and it just so happens with the great Alexander Cayley on vacation, the host of the most, is here.

Look at him. He's in the building, the big booper himself, Jed Mishu, doing some matchmaking. How are we feeling? You get the watch party, post show onto the next one grind.

How does it feel? The triple crown. Some people called that the triple crown of the media. I have two dominant thoughts this morning. Mike, the first one man shout out to you buddy because uh you do this just about every pay per view we work very late into the evening doing post show doing coverage all that stuff and then you iron man trooper that you are wake up and you run sunday morning before you you know hop on

a plane to head back home or drive home we go from a large part with us so uh just shout out to you because you're not doing it this week and it's very tough on me but you're doing something even more insane because look at you up there in new york getting ready for more work this morning so that's number one and number two i'm really excited about being on no we've talked about it before i usually only get brought on on dark shit cards this one i is a pay-per-view that i get to get to loop in so i'm pretty pumped and more importantly we haven't gotten to speak about the fallout of this event you were not on the post show last night because you had to catch a plane flight up there. We talked, you know, here at my house while we were doing the watch party, but, you know,

the presser stuff, kind of just the general fallout, haven't gotten your takes on a lot of things. Very excited to discuss UFC 305 with you, buddy. Yes, it's good to be here. It's very weird not being on the, on the post show. I actually got to the airport pretty, it was I, by the time I got through security and got to the gate, it was like 3.45 in the morning, I was like, I might actually have time to hop on the post show. But then there were some things that needed to do. doing and at that point I was like no way I just got nothing left. Hopped on a plane here in New York. I'm at Fanatics Fest right now, which is pretty cool.

I haven't really been inside and seen anything yet, but the Jake Paul, Mike Tyson press conference is going to be going down later on today. I might even have a little bit of an interview with an upcoming UFC title challenger. So stay tuned for that. It should be fun, pretty cool. And then guess what? I get to hop on a plane in a few hours and go the hell home. So there we go.

And then drive back from Atlanta to South Carolina. I don't know if I'm being able to make that drive. Big 48 hours from you. Yeah, big 48 hours, big 48 hours. But it was a big, a big 20-ish minutes or so for Drickus DuPlessi. He's still the middleweight champion. He stops his Rada Sania. Fun fight, Jed.

Let me just get your thoughts. I'm sure you talked about it on the post show, but I didn't get to hear from you because I haven't had the chance to listen yet. But fight better than expected, at least in your eyes. You weren't really sure how this is going to go. Did this exceed expectations for you? Oh, for sure. And we talked about on the post show, different kind of post show because it was just me and Casey,

because AK's out and you then had this. And so kind of a different little vibe, basically just me and Casey chopping it up. But one of the things that I had talked about was, because we talked about it in the preview show in BTL this week, I was very unsure that this fight was going to be fun. Credit to you, Mike, you, like, you planted your flag on that corner. I think this main event is going to be really fun, very competitive. And you were Stone right because I thought there was a chance. Izzy would look flat because whether people really want to acknowledge it or not,

Izzy has been on a pretty steady decline over the last few years of doing stuff. Maybe not necessarily of being a great fighter, but he is just really pairing back his activity. He is, you know, fighting more and more not to lose. and then obviously culminated in, frankly, the Sean Strickland ass weapon. And so I was like, he takes a year off. I think he's getting older. I think we can talk about it.

But I believe, based on this fight, that he has definitely passed his prime, even though I do believe he looked very good. But I thought there was a real chance that he might come out and lay an egg. Not at all what happened. I thought he looked as good as I could have hoped for. I thought this was the best as he looked in years, frankly. and ultimately it kind of didn't matter, but this fight was incredibly fun. Scorecards were all over the place,

and then DDP made them unnecessary, which is the best kind of way to do it. You get to have the fun of talking, all right, who won which rounds, etc.? How are you feeling about it? And then there's no controversy, a clear definitive winner. The main event exceeded my expectations by a wide margin.

Oh, it's a great fight. Yeah, Izzy looks spectacular. What I loved about the fall, of all this is there's no excuses there's no izzie was off there's no always the long layoff it was none of this like i completely agree with you i think this is the best israel out of sony we've seen in a long time probably since the polo cost of fight honestly he was sharp he was on the movement was great he was even eating shots because i mean ddp was tagging him quite a bit and he was eating good and then it just became a little bit too much because ddp is an absolute zombie and on top of that

my favorite thing in the fall of this fight is and it's kind of tongue-in-cheek and everyone's having with it, but everyone has jumped on board with you, Jed, where it's just like, none of this makes sense. He's the best bad fighter in the history of the sport. The man just keeps winning, and he cannot be stopped. And in a weird way, in a roundabout way, he's getting the respect he deserves, but everyone's just having so much fun with all of this because none of it makes sense. So I think checking off all the boxes in terms of what we hoped the fallout would be, I think this main event did that. DDP got respect, Izzy got respect, the beef was

squash, a ton of respect shown back and forth. It was just a good, solid ending to the night. You nailed it. It was just a perfect ending to what happened here because DDP is not all the way over. They're still like a lot of people,

particularly in the online bubble of MMA, that just can't understand him and get a little frustrated, but like, I can't believe what's happening, but most people, even if they feel that way, have just decided to be along for the ride welcome aboard guys been driving this train for a hot minute it's the most fun you can have rooting for ddp because like i i made this comp a lot in the pre-build and this fight did nothing to dissuade me ddp is justin gaecchi pre the back-to-back losses that made him like become a great fighter and he's some combination of that guy in yole romero and it's awesome but mostly i i discovered this last night as i was talking about talking. The reason it is fun to root for DDP and the reason I think people are coming on board outside of the

genuine hilarity of it all, there might not be a fighter in mixed martial arts today who fights to win more than him. That man has never once fought not to lose. Like even in this fight when he is, you know, defending the belt, he didn't come in here and fight safe. He didn't come in here to to fight to not lose something. He came in here to beat Israel Adisina, and he did it. And so, like, he's going to do that every time, and it's just damn fun to watch him. So I'm glad everybody is coming around.

Completely agree. And now the train continues to run for Driggis 2 plus C. Let's talk about what is next for him. That is the basis of this program. Dana White all week long in the builds of the fight said, Sean Strickland is next. He deserves it. I don't care what else is happening.

I don't care who else is around. Sean Strickland is the number one ranked guy. He's fighting for the bell next. Drixieupleases he said, sure, I guess. I think Robert Woodaker deserves him more than him, especially if he'd be Tom Zat Shemayef, down to fight Alex Pereira, basically just down to clown with anybody.

So I'm just going to get mine out of the way. The Yuri Perashka idea we talked about on the watch party would be incredible, but we know what's not going to happen. It's got to be Sean Strickland. I don't even think we need to queue up the band, do we? Well, no, because I didn't pick Sean Strickland. So they don't need to kill You think they're going to go in a different direction?

I think they may This is more magic wand than it is prediction I would say Strickland has the inside lane here certainly If I could truly magic wand It is at 100% Yuri Brahasika I like a 205 one I don't care There are not five fights that you can make in mixed martial arts I want to see more than DDP versus Yuri

It would just be like that's my MMA Nirvana in a lot of ways. I hope we get it down the road. But, yeah, Dana said that. But Dana said a lot of stuff. And the reality is what is going to happen. It's going to come down to timing, and it's going to come down to what the people want.

Because if Robert Whitaker goes out and beats Hamzaa Chamaev emphatically, incredibly impressively, and I got to tell you, DDP at his post-fight presser was like, yeah, like immediately asked about it. He's like, Robert Whitaker deserves the next fight. Robert Whitaker is being screwed over. I'll fight Strickland. I'll fight Pereira. I'll fight whoever.

I don't care. Robert Whitaker is drawing the short end of the stick. He deserves it and is being left out for reasons I don't understand. T. Beechamaya, maybe that changes. And frankly, if Chimaiv beats Robert Whitaker, I have no confidence that Sean Strickland is just locked and loaded into that title fight. Of course, that's still assuming Chamaif makes it to the fight. Chamev wins the fight.

Chimaiv can be booked in a title fight. but I don't think Sean Strickland has a rock solid grip over this. And because selfishly, I don't care about that rematch. I'll watch it. It will be a high level. But did any of us leave 297 being like, I need to watch those two fight again immediately? No, like I would like Sean. It'd be fine for me if Sean Strickland did some more work.

So I chose the winner of Hamzaa Chimae versus Robert Whitaker as the next title challenger. I think that makes the most sense, honestly. But to Sean Strickland's credit, and I know it's probably tough for him to just sit around and not fight, he's probably going to just get himself a title fight because he's not just taking a random Apex main event because the UFC asked him to. Do you think so?

Because the other thing is, and again, this is a Dana said thing. But Dana did say if DDP won, they're taking him to South Africa. That will take more time. I don't think DDP.D.P. would fight like is expected to fight again before the end of this year. But in, let's say in this magic world, they do try and book a event in South Africa

with DDP. That'll take probably until next summer, which kind of sucks. The belt would be on the shelf that long. But do you think if Chameh goes out there and beats Whitaker, they're going to be like, no, Sean Strickland still has it? Because I am very, very suspect about that being the case of Chimaia beats Whitaker. It's a very risky fight to book, though. I mean, it is, except for you can just tell Strickland he's the backup and needs to weigh in.

And then Strickland can do that. And then you got your self-cover from all angles. Yeah. So, I mean, like you like to say, there's no wrong way to eat these reasons. I think everything works. But God, if we can get DDP Yuri someday. Let's just get Yuri down to 185 and just happen. Or 205.

I don't care. I just want those two dudes to fight. I just want those two teams to fix. fight. He needs to prove he can physically make the weight and just do it. It's all I need. Legitimately, there are not four fights that you can make that I am more interested in. As interesting as the options are for the champion right now, boy, is it interesting for his your Adasania? Because, you know, he swerved us, bro, took the gloves off, seemed like he was going to retire. DDP even kind of planted the seed for him.

and he's like, I'm not effing leaving. He did the Wolf of Wall Street thing, the Jordan Belfort. He's going to stick around. It is going to be super interesting to see the way the UFC books him. So I let off with the Sean Strickland thing. Where did you go for Israel at Asana? Because this is, I don't know what the hell they're going to do with them. This was incredibly easy for me.

And I actually believe there's a pretty decent likelihood this happens. This is both magic wand and predictive thing. I saw some people in the chat mention it already. It's the dude we've been talking about, Mike. It's Israel Disney versus Yuri Prasca. Yeri says he wants to come to 185. That is the exact correct welcoming party right there of, you know, former champ versus former champ.

If he beats Izzy, absolutely no question about it. Yeri gets in there. If not, it's not a win that mucks up a future like real contender because this would be Perashka's first one down. It's a little bit of the legend versus legend fight. It's silly and dope and awesome. And I like, that's it. To me, this was signed, sealed, and delivered.

The only thing that would stand in the way is if they would just be like, we can do Yeri versus DDP, but they won't. Let's welcome into the party, pal. It'll be dope. I love that. Easy fight to book since they're both managed by the same manager. So I don't think they're going to go. that direction though.

I don't know why. They really should. It makes a lot of sense. I'm deeply excited to see who you pick then because outside of that, there's one answer that I could even fathom that like, Izzy would care about fighting. So I'm thrilled to hear what you have because I got nothing beyond that fight. So here's the thing.

I don't think Izzy's going to like, I don't think he's going to sort of big up all of this. I don't think he's going to be like, eh, not big enough name. I think he's just going to get hungry and literally fight. anybody because he's going to hear what everybody has to say about him. So I think, like, I could see a world where he fights the Brennan Allen Nassadian Nemov winner.

Like, I could certainly, I could see that happening. It won't be like the sexiest fight of all time, but it, it's one that makes a lot of sense because Brennan Allen is not getting a title shot if he beats Nasdaity Nemov. I don't care what Ali Abdelaziz wants to tweet out. It's just not going to happen. There's too much going on at middleweight. Brennan Allen, although he's got more attention this weekend after punching Marvin Vittori at a casino after the PFL event.

he's just not over enough where that makes sense. So Brennan-Ellen versus Izzy would be a huge fight. Brennan-Allen beats Izzy. He's certainly getting a title fight. Same with National D. Nemovov. The other thing I thought about was, let's just get him in there with a fun dude, a guy he's going to be favored to win.

And if he does, let's get him back on track and see if we can get this wagon moving really, really quickly. Kevin Holland's fighting Roman Delizze on October 7th or October 5th. I don't care what happens in that fight. You think anyone's going to be all pissed off if Izzy fights Kevin Holland and just like a fun kickboxing match? No, I don't think so at all. So you can just do fun things with Izzy and just throw them in there and scrap. So that's not a bad idea either.

Kevin Holland's a really good shout. That fight, assuming Kevin Holland beats Roman Deleads of that fight would make a ton of sense. I actually sneaky like the Imov-A-Bav-Allen thing from the perspective that I think we have all very immediately and reflexively said, okay, Izzy's now in the Anderson Silva post championship part of his career. That may not be true. I would guess that it probably is because it's hard to stay at the top as long as he did. But that was a deeply competitive fight with Triggis duplice. And, you know, if DDP holds the belt one or two, you know, one or two more times,

Izzy might just need two wins to run this back because it's not like he was completely dominated in this fight. Many people had him winning before the finish. So it could make sense for him to do that. It's just that just feels so like I'm just so not that interested in like in that kind of fight. I, the other direction I thought outside of Yeri, which I think, I honestly think that that's a very good chance of happening. The other direction I thought, and I saw somebody throw this out on Twitter last night and it's so ridiculous it just might work, Mike. it's Bo Nickel. You just

you just speed run bow right to the top. You're like, hey, Bo, obviously they're deeply invested in him. That's a big fight, a big name. Izzy would probably be like, sure. And then if Bo wins, okay, we're now in Bo Nichols spot.

And if Izzy wins, that's a meaningful win. It's certainly big star, starry win. And, And, you know, okay, we got to take our time a little more with both. So I don't think that will happen, but that's one of those kind of from left fields that I saw someone. I was like, okay, I see what you're picking up what you're putting down here. I mean, apparently Dana White likes the easy Kevin Holland idea as well.

And there you go. Thanks for watching, Dana. I mean, that's why it makes a ton of sense if Kevin Holland beats Dillee's a. Yeah, even if he doesn't, it makes sense because they got, they got history. and Kevin Holland. Rankings don't mean anything with Kevin Holland. People just want to see that dude, get out there and fight. I guess that's true.

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Let's move on to the co-main event. Kikara, France. First fight since Steve Ursaig's entire UFC run, which is just still insane to actually think about. And as Connor Burks put it on social media, a y'all must have forgot moment. He knocks out Vinnie Sig, Steve Ersig, and round one, huge performance. He called for a title fight. You think he gets it, Jed?

I think he has a very good chance. I would say that he is the inside track, just from a timing perspective, not necessarily that he deserves this one. And that's no knock on him, but two losses in a row before. this even though many people believed he beat emir al-Bazi officially he did not and long layoff and now went over a guy who the ufc has ranked number seven but you know the ufc also is shotgun number seven clue around tree into a title fight so sure it doesn't matter i would say that he is the most likely next dude because i have been anticipating pantosia to be the co-main event at madison

square garden to the eventual john jones-depe thing the timeline just seems to to match up there and I suspect pants will get one more fight before the end of the year. And so the timeline matches up. Not where I went though, because I don't know, I kind of don't want him to. I really believe that Tetsuahira should be fighting pants next and Mahmukaiv should be fighting him, but he's no longer in the UFC. And if Tyra goes out here and beats Roy Vall, that is the fight I want. And so I would like a fight that was briefly mentioned the post-fight presser that we even talked about a little on No Bet's

Or this week, there can only be one Kai. And I need the answer solved. Kai Asakura, he needs to have a fight before he gets shotguned into a title fight. Kai versus Kai violence, only one shall remain, battle for the name and the title shot. Give me Kai Kha, France, Kaiuskura. I thought about that. It seemed like the right choice, but I just don't know if it happens. I think there's just too much of play.

I kind of feel like they're just going to give Asakura the title shot at this point, because we're getting into the nitty gritty here. Like we're getting there. And if that happens, I think Kikar, France is a little bit behind here. Like, I think he's, and even if, and even if Aescar doesn't get the title shot,

I still think he's behind. You think he needs at least one more win. Yeah, I think he could only, mostly because he lost all, Bazi, Brandon Moreno beat the hell out of him. Like, that fight was not, it was fun,

but it was a compelling ass weapon. Brandon Moreno beat that ass and finished him for a title. It was a title fight. And it wasn't all that long ago that that fight happened. We were doing watch parties when that fight happened. So it's not like he's never gotten the opportunity to compete for a title. So I think he's going to have to get another one. Scott McCraed, I think you got it right.

It's a fight that he'll probably win at this point. But it's fun and the build will be fun. Let's just go back to the middle cap well and get it done. Let's just bury that, settle that score, keeps KKF busy, puts him in a position. I just don't know if he's going to get it. I just don't know if he's going to get it. I would be pretty surprised if they gave a Sakura a title fight blind. Wouldn't be like all the way.

It's not beyond the pale, but that just isn't usually how they operate. And we saw Steve Irsa get a title fight, frankly, because he knocked a dude out really cool. so I it is very very interesting to see what's happening at flyweight because like maybe they just give him here on bossy the title fight like he was supposed to fight earlier this year he's the dude on the longest win streak in the division other than Pantosier or whatever and there's like hey man sure let's let you you get it you're number two in the world or whatever and pants is already beaten it you could do a lot of things none of them make perfect sense so it'll be really really fascinating to see what happens here. If Tyra Beats Brandon Roeval, he's absolutely should be fighting for the belt before Kai Kar-Frans. Like, it's not even a question. And he will.

Like, if Tyra Beets thing, he will fight next, but I don't know if that timeline is going to work out for when Pants wants to fight. So, yeah. But, like, if Tyra wins, there's unquestionably he's fighting for the belt next. Like, this all was supposed to just be easy. Muhammad Mikhail was supposed to be the dude. He is very clearly the most deserving contender in the weight class. he's just not in the UFC anymore.

So what are you going to do? I just noticed that there's a, now it's got to look like super weird. Now it looks like I'm like crawling on the ceiling. There was a light that was flickering in the background. And my bad, AJ, I didn't even really notice that. So yeah,

it doesn't matter. All those fights rock, flyweight rules and Kikar, France is very fun to watch. Speaking of weight divisions that rule, let's go to the top of the heap, the best division in the sport, the hardest division, and all of sports, in my opinion, the UFC lightweight division, who has a new top five guy, Jed Mishu, and I know that makes you happy. His name is Dan Hooker.

He beats Wittush Gamrott, split decision, gets it done. I think we're on the same page of this one, Jed. I don't even think we need to queue up the band. I think we're both on the same page. I think we're both picking the same fighter. his name starts at the sea and it ends in Harles Olivera. We are in fact picking the same fighter.

I do want to address one thing you've said, Mike, because for years, I was at when many people were saying Bannamweight is actually the best division and it was gaining popularity and I was like, guys, y'all don't, you are insane, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Lightweight is the best division sport,

not close. Banimate's number two and it's a very strong number two. It's lightweight. There's a moment last night where I questioned that, where I sat down and I was like, is lightweight good? Dan Hooker's the number six dude. And maybe lightweight's not good anymore. If Dan Hooker is a top five lightweight, I may have to reevaluate this because it's so weird that Dan Hooker has pulled this off. Like what an incredible career like resurgence for him.

Not that long ago, this dude was making a desperation. cut back to 145 to try and find something and Arnold Allen killed him. And now he's a top five lightweight. What the hell is happening? But he's earned it. He paid the iron price for it. And so you can't deny him. And so, yeah, he was talking beforehand.

If he wins this fight, the top dudes in the weight class have to, they have to fight him. And that really leaves you three choices. It's Charles Oliver, it's Justin Gachie. It's a Dustin Poirier rematch. No wrong way to eat. that Reese's, any of those fights or bangers. I actually think Porre maybe is the most likely, just because Porre has been, he's been out there on social media.

He is very clearly once won more, and it's hard for me to find a ton of fights for Borier. But I went Olivera. Honestly, for a more complicated reason than I thought, when Binwa San Dini fights in Atta Morcano, I want the winner of that to fight Justin Gaichi. And thus Charles Oliver is the open man. Dan Hooker and Charles Olivera. Fight will be a banger.

It'll be really, really fun. Super fun. Love it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Lightweight's still the best division in the sport. Let's go to the division that is not the best in the sport. It is the heavyweight division.

Boy, oh boy, didn't think I'd be saying this sentence out loud into a microphone of any kind. But Jarzini-Rosin-Straig versus Tai Taito Ivasa went to the scorecards. And in fact, it delivered the worst scorecard in UFC history to the point where a judge had to get literally booted from the rest of the card and replaced by Ben Cartledge. So Jarzanio Rose Strike, despite dominating Tai Tuivasa for 15 minutes, wins a split decision after a 3027 tie to Ivasa scorecard, which you still cannot believe. Nor can I believe that this fight went to the cards. I'm just going to go first here. the answer is it was going to be exactly the same no matter who wins this fight this fight coming up on october 19th rebella's spain is fighting austin lane and when rebella

to spain does rebellis to spain things he's going to go fight jars in your rose and strike next what i am stunned i had no idea that you were doing that i thought this is i can't do it i can't yeah it exactly that's what that is exactly the point. It doesn't matter. When he's done. I'm playing reverse psychology because I've been shouting for that fight for the entire history of this program.

And when I stop shouting for it, that's when it happens. So I'm going to put that energy out there. So we're going to get Jarzidiabur versus Rebellis to Spain, Apex main event, and just one of the weird ones. That is the biggest swerve of all time. I was like, okay, it's not

even going to get to be a friend's forever because it's just Derek Lewis, It doesn't matter what he does against Romanov. The two of these dudes just finally. They're never going to book it. They're never going to book it at this point. It's never going to happen. I have to get up.

They've got to. They fought every other heavyweight at this point. Derek was fighting Alexander Romanov after he got trucked in embarrassing fashion in his last fight. Yeah, but he'll just get tapped quickly so he can turn around and fight again soon. It'll be fine. I obviously went for Derek Lewis because. Why not?

I do want to talk about the scorecard. I do, it really may be the worst scorecard in UFC history. It is. It's not the worst scorecard in MMA history. Shout out to all the old heads who remember Chase B.B. getting absolutely robbed against Mike Easton. But we talked about on the post show,

there are only two plausible explanations. The first is that, and I would say the likely explanation, because never ascribe malice where incompetence will do, it is that the dude just was wildly incompetent and scored for the wrong fighter and just wrote the numbers in the wrong column, which is a level of incompetence that is so egregious that he should be fired, never work again, frankly.

The only other plausible explanation for it is treachery, like is actual, like fraudulent activity. And like I said, I don't think that's the most likely. I think it is just far more, but there is no way outside of those two to render a 3027 scorecard for Tuivasa. And I am a person who gives judges a lot of latitude in it because if you've ever watched fights cage side, where you're sitting can make a huge difference. Like I have watched fights cage side and I'm like, oh, I had a totally different read than when I watched it at home or than what scorecards are given out. that that was just inexcusable.

I think he is just so incompetent that that's what happened. And I'm glad they made the right call and pulled him because you shouldn't be judging if you're doing that. Shouldn't be judging. Terrible. It's just so bad. And shout out also, I forget who it was. It's an old head, Chale Sondon's buddy,

who scored 5045 Danny Sabatello against Rafion Stops, which is a really bad scorecard too. That's terrible. what a king that that's a very bad do you did you ever see the chase b b b bickie mike easton thing do you know the fight of which i speak because it's like real old head shit

super long time ago yeah that's that's a that's a pull that's a pull it is it's one of those if you know that then you you're a true degen because that was like 08 or something in like the like dream or like like

some regional thing like maybe like it was ultimate warrior I'll say like Ultimate Warrior or something And it is I only remember that because of the pro wrestling Nerd That is in my brain If you guys have never If you've never seen it

They used to be clips out on the on the internet or whatever But when it happened it was so egregious Because legitimately Chase Bibi has his back for like four of five rounds Like the entire time And two judges score the fight for Mike Easton Like it is An unbelievably bad

So that will forever be number one, but boy howdy, that scorecard on Saturday. It's giving it a run for its money. Yeah, that fight's on YouTube too, so you guys can go check it out and see what we're talking about. Let's go to the welterweight division, a guy who stock rose tremendously.

I think the Vinnie Sig's nickname has to go. A little Carlos Siggs, the dartman himself, Carlos Pratchez, just that dude is real, real good. He annihilated Li Jing Liang. last night to kick off the main card. I need to know what he's ripping. Is he a Marlboro man?

Like, he feels way too, like way too hard to be just like ripping camel lights. He feels like a Marlboro red man. Maybe some American spirits, you know? I don't know what he gets down. And nobody asks the question.

Like, if I ever meet him the very first thing, we're like, what do you smoke? I would like to know, I would like to judge you based on the darchy fire. Some parliaments? Oh, God.

Like, It would break my heart if it's like, I'm actually a, I'm like a cool menthol guy. I'm like, oh my God, get the hell out of here. Well, Camel, some Joe Camels. I don't think, I could work on camels. I don't, if he's just like, I'm a menthol dude. I'm like, get them out of here, man. I don't think he's that.

But you know what he is? He's awesome. Super fun, buddy. I like, I loved him coming off contender series. My only issue with him is he's old because he's like 30 coming off contender series. And that's not really a problem. prospect, but, dude, he is so good. We were talking about it last night.

Fight nerds are cooking. Like him and Joe Silva are the, sorry, not Joe Silva, but Gene Silva are the breakout fighters this year. Like they are probably one and two and rookie of the year rankings. And he just keeps delivering just unbelievable performances. I did another thing that, I don't know, technically how you would fire this under the rules, Mike. I went Vicente Lucay.

I know that the fight with Nick Diaz was postponed. That fight needs to go the F away because no one should want to watch Nick Diaz fight in this year. And that fight would just be fun as hell. I think protests would win. I think protest deserves a shot at the top 15, given what he has done in such a short time this year. And, you know, Lucke's chin probably isn't good enough to withstand this anymore. that's fine. Let's, let's replace one awesome action fighter with another one in the rankings and give Carlos Prattis that spot. So I went, I went Vicente Lucay.

That's, that's a good pick. I almost went there. I think Pratch just nukes Vicente Luque. I agree. Which might be a good thing. Which might be a good thing. I went with a lesser name, but probably a tougher test. And a guy is on a really good under the radar wind streak at the Walterweight division. Carlos Pratch versus Randy Brown. Like, I love that fight. That's a fringe top 15 matchup. Winner of that, like, you just have to be incredibly high on. So yeah, I'll go with that. Here's a great pick too. Yeah, let's go. Do you have a wild card selection? So we're going to pick one fighter we've not matched for yet. We'll match make for them right now. What do we land on for a wild card selection? We'll take a few questions. We can't do like 30 minutes

of questions. We just can't. There's a lot going on here. But what do we think of Jen? What's the wildcard pick for 305? You know who I was going to pick. This undercard was fairly weak. But there's a dude I have staked acclaimed to. And even if I would kind of like to walk some of that back now, Big Tom Nolan, he was my favorite prospect coming off the most recent season

of the contender series. You know, it's like the NFL draft. Sometimes you take Bryce Young and you're like, that probably wasn't great. We probably should take in CJ's job instead. But Bryce Young can still be a good, meaningful player. Hopefully, knock on what we'll see. Panthers fans looking out for you.

Tom Nolan's probably not going to be as good as I thought because he's just, he doesn't have the chin, frankly, to be the fighter that I envisioned him as, which is basically Carlos Condit Redux. But he's still very young, enormous, and has enough talent here that I kind of want to see where he goes, but we've got to be very cautious with how he develops. And so I want to see him fight a dude who is also young, hits real hard and is vastly more athletic than him. And so if

we have a friend's forever here, I'd be astonished. But I went old Francisco Prado, who I like Francisco Prado a lot. And mostly I just think that's a fun fight between two very young, up-and-coming prospects. The winner of it gets to be a guy that we put a little bit of steam behind, see where they can go. The loser's fine. They're not in too bad a shape, but Prado is very athletic and hits real damn hard. And Nolan leaves his chin out there. So Nolan could be beating him up and then get clubbed.

I don't know. I'd love to see it, though. I had a feeling you're going Tom Nolan. I actually went with Jackie Jay, man. He just, he looked good. I mean, he was fighting Herbert Burns. So it's a very easy. A lot of people in the immortal worlds of Charles,

Barkley after, I forget which NBA game it was, but it's stuck in my head forever. Somebody was like, man, Spurs look really good tonight against the Hornets. Charles Barkley just matter of fact, it says, a lot of teams look real good against the Hornets.

A lot of teams show their A game against the Hornets. A lot of dudes look real good against Herbert Burns. Yeah, Jack Jenkins is super fun to watch. I want to see what he does. know her burdens has had moments of just being a just all out warfare kind of a guy but clearly he's just not that guy anymore it's just a guy just takes probably way too much punishment and the

fight goes on and then we're really sad afterwards uh i want to see him fight daniel paneda i want to see that fight let's just get him in there let's just have a tornado of destruction and let's see a pinata can go to the cards again that would be pretty wild and someone's someone's probably getting got in that one. And there's a real war where Jack Jenkins gets got because Daniel Panetta is an absolute wild man. So yeah, let's do that and have a good time with it.

Love it. It would be really fun. Featherweight is we don't talk about it because it's sandwich between the two best, but featherweight is the number three division and awesome. Yeah. Middleweight, in terms of Star Power, middleweight's number three,

but in terms of just like overall depth of division, it's featherweight without question. I think featherweight's getting close to Bannamway. I think it's given Bannamway to run for its money. It's not there yet, but it's coming. It is very sneaky, awesome. And it just, it is the middle child. It gets left out of the conversation.

But it's a really good way, class. And that's a great poll. Love that fight. Be really fun. All right. Rapid fire. Let's get through like seven or eight minutes of these. Shout out to Oscar.

Is Jarzino versus Derek Lewis, the heavyweight version of Habib versus Tony? Kind of actually. That's a good, except for it never got booked, did it ever actually get booked? So much as it's just been a fight everyone believes should happen. But there's some parallels. I'm trying to think of like a fight that everybody wanted, but like not even attempted to get booked. I mean like Randy Fador, but that's obviously very different.

That's very, very different. like both guys in the same organization. You don't need to go worried about it. Something like that. Nothing jumps out at me. Yeah, I'm sure some people in the chat will figure it out. Should Junior Tava still be in the UFC is one and three in his last four fights and his win was a lucky shot? Jesse, just speaking my truth right there.

A lucky shot against Paca Porter. That's how you pander was really ready to go down. Well done. That's how you pander. I kind of think junior's got to go, right? I was just slapping dude in the face afterwards. That's why I would cut him. I mean,

like also he's not very good and whatever. If Dana was at the presser last night, he would have absolutely cut him publicly last night. The fact that that didn't turn into something worse is good because like it's also just like the most childish shit. And I have, don't get me wrong. I'm a child. I love childish things.

A particular brand of childish things. Like I have zero tolerance for you. just being a sore loser. Oh, I, yeah, like, we talked about on the post show. I think you guys may have talked about it on the, or maybe we were just talking about it in the watch party conversation, not actually on the show. That's a submission, man.

You can't scream out. And that's not a new rule that has been codified forever in the rules. Since Chale Sunnan tapped verbally, a scream of pain or anguish is a verbal submission in the rule. very clearly you got submitted, you just got to wear that one, homie, and then to act out afterwards,

to be shooting the bird and pitching a petulant little fit in the announcement, and then going up and slapping him, like, that's just, that's just real trash, and I'm done with that,

get him out of here. Yep, see you later, and Walter Walker, shout out to him, just kept it cool. He could have popped off when Buffer was announcing

the winner of the fight. Walter just kind of stood there and got intense, but never let it get over that line. And then he goes to the post-fight press conference and calls out his brother. Just well done. Eight plus stuff from Walter Walker. I didn't think we'd be saying that after.

Calling out the brother. Pristine move. Also, I see some solution in the chat fired out. And this isn't exactly a one-to-one, but Jorge Leon as a fight that people wanted and never even got booked. That's a pretty good shout. They probably should just do that right now anyways.

Like, it's still on the table. I when when you guys did the ot no after Leon lost I I texted AK when I was listening I was like how did you not like how is this not thing it's it's the most like you got to do it you got to do it he's like I didn't even think of it until the conversation came up was like come on man uh claustrum jack Jenkins versus Nate Landware that's fun I thought about that I booked Nate versus I already booked Nate Silva so I can't do it also fun fight. Oh, yeah. Walter versus Salsa Boy for the heavyweighty, heavyweight title. Let's see if Salsa Boy can get by Chris Barnett. Chris Barnett. Why do they keep booking

WCA against these fighters? I don't understand. This is this is Bellator Big Tuna booking. It's Walter Carl Williams, baby. Let's just let us put the house on a heavyweight over. I don't know. This version of Carl Williams, the kickboxer? I don't know.

But, I mean, he'll be defending takedowns, so that might be good. That's true. You're right. That fight's going 15. Bet you're so long. Rebook Casey O'Neill, Viviani, Arro, Ujo, Hamos versus Quarantillo, Tom Nolan, Roosevelt, Roberts. Like it. Crotts versus MVP.

Do you like that? I hate that fight. I saw that has been very popular, so no disrespect to you, calls. Because that has been, like, a lot of people out here. I process is fun and that fight is a very high likelihood of being MVP and not fun like it you nobody beats MVP standing like I just don't know how else to tell you guys this like everybody may think that you have the tools and everyone may hate the way MVP strikes because it's weird you just don't really beat him in a stand-up fight and mostly it ends up looking ugly unless

unless MVP is fighting a guy who's just going to shoot at his ankles, it's not going to be, if it's a striking fight, he's going to just do point karate. And that's not fun. So I would say that's a waste of protest. Don't, yeah, I don't love it either. Mike and Joe, what do you think Casey O'Neill is when we were saying,

how important win it was for her last night? Yeah, huge win. She looked like the Casey O'Neill that came into the UFC. That was just an absolute relentless monster. And that's what she was last night. this was a get right win for sure because the back was against the wall she loses this one i don't know but truth is she's still really young she's like 27 or whatever and i this like this is what she needed a not a y'all must have forgot but i did forget and i have reminded myself who i am and what i can be

and i think this is a really it was a really important one for her and great performance like she she she did exactly what she needed to do to get the train back on the tracks. Chasey also likes it. Pratchez versus MVP. There's a growing movement because a lot of people on Twitter were throwing it out there. I mean, I'd watch it because I'll watch

Carlos protest and MVP fight anybody, but I think that you're not getting the most fun protest that way. Do you see? Do you have anything else? I might be lost. for the ray gun celebration. Ah, so good.

But do people honestly want to see the DDP versus Strickland rematch? Yes. Yes, people want to see it. I think it's lessening, though. I think it's, I think the flames faded a touch, but it's a huge fight. It's a huge fight.

It's the biggest fight you can make right now. And unless Hamza absolutely destroys Robert Whitaker, and he is free to fight whenever and wherever, anywhere around the world without any confliction at all. Strickland's a huge fight. He's he's super over. DDP's getting there.

It's a big fight. It's a big fight. And the first fight was great. The first fight is going to be on the fight of the year list. It's going to be in the top of. I'm not certain about that, but the first fight was okay. It's just,

it is as good of a Sean Strickland fight as you can have because DDP will never fight a boring fight. But it's if I never saw them fight again, it would be fine. It is a fight that is truly doesn't stir anything in me. And it's probably the only person at middleweight who I'm just like, sure, I'll watch it. But anybody else at the DDP's fight, I'm like, sign me up. That's going to be dope. Yeah.

Well, we'll see what happens. So we're going to get out of here. Again, sorry that we just threw this upon you right here now because we were going to do it Monday. I've been tweeted out we're going to do a Monday. And then we got a media room space. We got some pretty crystal clear Wi-Fi. We have a super chat that has come in. And I, I mean, it's not at all feasible, but. Projects versus JDM. One day, I'd love to see that.

Yeah. So there we go. I love to see that. Someday, somehow, but it just can't be right now. Shout out to who is that. Nickelback. Who was? Nickelbackish.

Shout out to Nickelback, you know. Shout to Nickelback. Jed, do you want to break the news? Do you want to keep the train going on who's hosting the MMAR? Beast Man must not have watched any of our content this past week. I am taking over the MMA hour. It's going to be a party guy. It's going to be a very different vibe.

Professionalism's out the window. We're going to have a lot more fun, do a lot more nonsense. It's going to be great. That's the jet hour. It's probably going to be like. like the jet hour and a half. I'm not doing five hours. That's too much.

I don't have the stamina aerial does. But it's going to be a great time. So we'll keep you posted. It's not going to come out for a little bit. We're taking some time to build the new set. I don't want to just move into aerial set. You know, got to make it my own. But we'll let you know when we're ready to debut the jet hour.

The whole first hour is going through old fight night cards and fart scaling them. We're going to start right at 2013 and just. Give it a look. See. Just one of the segments every day to have a comprehensive look at how the cards scores have changed over the year. So yeah, we're going to have a great time. It's going to be really different than what you used to.

But I think you're going to dig it, guys. We appreciate all of you. There you go. Oh, no, it was just the music. It was just the music. I don't know why it does that on this system. But back next week because, boy, UFC Vegas, 96. is around the corner with Jared Candinear and Kyle Bajalio.

We'll talk about that. The rest of that. Another fighting nerd. And fight main card. Another fight nerd getting the main event. Next week here. On to the next one, the podcast.

Appreciate all of you. Have a great rest of your weekend. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.