MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: What's Next For Dricus du Plessis, Kamaru Usman After UFC Oklahoma City?

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

After Dricus du Plessis' dominant win over Kamaru Usman, join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they play matchmaker following Saturday's Fight Night event. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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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That's right. UFC OKC went down this past Saturday night. And it happened. A main event happened between two former champions. And it was the former middleweight champion that got the job done against a very game, Kamara Usman. And we're here to discuss it. Hey, maybe we're a day late, but we're certainly not. not a dollar short.

I am Mike Hacken joining me this week to do all of your co-matchmaking duties, ladies and gentlemen. It is not my best friend Alex and Kaylee. He is on vacation. But stepping in admirably, I might add, is Mr. No Gray area himself. Jed Mishu from MMAfighting.com. I hear it's a terrific website.

Jed, how are we doing? Your Saturday was action-packed. Was it not while I was in Milwaukee at R.F? Yeah, it was my penance for skipping out. 329. I did not realize it until like probably Thursday just that everyone was gone. And so it was just me. I was like, oh, okay. It's going to be funny. We got a lot of stuff going on here. But it was fun. Mike, how much of the UFC card have you seen at this point? So I watched almost all of it. The whole like media. So the whole media section at RAF for the most part, like in the UFC there's like a media room and you're sitting there and like

you're bringing people back and you have like office space and all this stuff. Like the RF events, like your office space is literally the crowd. Like you're in the arena. So you got laptop on lap sitting in the seats with the fans and doing all the stuff. So like our media section, it was like at one point, one of the media members that covers a lot of the UFC events was sitting like two seats down from me. And we're all noticing there was like seven of us all with our cell phones out, all watching UFC Oklahoma City. all in the same fight, all in the same spot. We're all watching it as the wrestling matches are going on.

And so I caught a lot of it. I watched probably the first three and a half rounds of the main event live. And then I went back and watched the rest, I watched the fifth round at the airport, like first thing Sunday morning in Milwaukee. And yeah, I didn't learn anything new from the fourth round. You know, shout out to Usman for battle. And then I think the funniest thing of the fight happened after the fight when the scores are being read off.

And Kamarro was reacting like, huh? How is that possible? I don't think it was like how did I lose that fight? But I think the 50-45 like threw him off and the 49-46s threw him off. He's like, what happened? And he looks over at DC and DC's like gives him the look of you kind of got battered the whole fight, but good on you for making it to the end. So yeah, I watched a bunch of it. And I didn't watch every single prelim, but luckily the results page on MAAfighting.com's terrific website got me where I needed to go.

Also, the prelims were mostly interesting. Yeah. To, you know, a lot of finishes, decent fights, the prospect fights I was most interested in, ended up delivering pretty good action. So like a rock solid card, had a good time this weekend, despite the fact that I was, or maybe because I was not fully focused on it. I had to spend, I was doing R.F and PFL too. So I was, at no point in time, was I not watching somebody do something. I was bouncing around a lot. So maybe that helped me.

Yes, it did. Well, let's get into it, Jed. I was going to call you AK for a moment. Let's talk about your guy. You're a member of the Michoud family of fighters. Drickus Duplacy still knocks 2.0 as he now calls himself. I mean, this This fight went

almost exactly the way I thought it was going to go except I thought he would finish Ouspin in the third round I just didn't see a... Yeah, I did not see a path to victory for Kamaro here.

I didn't... Everyone's like, well, maybe he gets him down and does what Hamzaad did to him. I'm like, that's just not going to happen. Like, especially after I watched their first face-off

and I saw just how much bigger DDP was. I'm like, even if Kabar takes him down, like there is not a world he's keeping this man down. It's just not happening. And that's what happened.

But again, as we said earlier, give credit where it's due to Kamara Houston for battling in there. Every time DDP threw a head kick, he heard him. Every single time. He was doing the stanky leg. He was wobbling around. But he kept moving forward. Then another kick would come and snap him right back into it.

But DDP gets back on track almost a year after losing the belt to Hamzaa Chamaa, if he was on the shelf for 11 months, waiting for this opportunity. what happens here? Like this is a very fascinating conversation of where this could go. I think I have an idea just trying to put myself in the UFC shoes.

What did you do? Man, this is a tricky one because like I know what I would do. What I would do is actually really simple. Like it's very, very straightforward. But I don't, I don't think we're going to get what I would do. And so I think that there is,

maybe this is just chalky, low-hanging fruit, but it feels like there are a couple of outcomes here for the UFC that, based on how they've match made this year, it seems like we're going to. So I gave Drickus duplice, and I'm very sorry to do this. A title eliminated with Nasrude and I'mov.

Yeah. I believe if I were in charge, I'ma Vov would get his rematch with Sean Strickland. It seems like all the energy is headed towards Tremayev's Strickland 2. I think that's nonsense. And I'm also a guy who thought Chimae have won that fight still does upon rewatch, still think he won the fight.

But you know my policy. I hate immediate rematches unless there's like a full-blown robbery. It was not that. So, but it seems like they're going to do that. And as a result, Imov-D-D-P, the upside for Imov

is, you can't argue it. If he beats DDP, his next fight is for the belt, I still think he already should be fighting for it. but that's where I went. Yeah, the band's just going to stay unplugged. Yeah, I don't think the band gets to come in for this. So I'm just going with this because it is very difficult to be Nassadine Emovoff right now. It just really is because he has to, he now has three options, Emovoff,

and one of them is just not happening. The one that's not happening is he gets his title fight. It's not, he's not getting a title fight right now. even though the UFC is actually looking for like real true bad blood Nastynymoff hates Sean Strickland this is not a gimmick this is not a thing this is like true it feels like he hates everyone honestly he hates Sean Strickland in particular uh just not a fan of them the other option is and we'll have to wait and see and we're going to have to find out soon what the plan is because that event is coming up

before you know it email off maybe headlines Paris. And if he headlines Paris, he ain't fighting DDP, because DDP ain't turned around that quick. Does he fight Joe Pfeiffer in the main event of UFC Paris? If I'm him, I'm taking that fight in five friggin seconds. Because that's a big

one. And the problem is if Imovae plays hard ball here, if he sits back and says, no, my next fights with the belt, if Joe Piper fights any human being on planet Earth and wins, he's getting a title shot. They're just going to do that because it's Dana's guys, the contender series dude, to be Joe

Piper guy. They're setting him up here. So if he sits and watches Joe Pfeiffer win a fight, he's going to watch Joe Pfeiffer lead Prognum too. So he just has to fight at this point. So I don't know what he's going to do. And otherwise, the best fight for him is DDP because

you know, if he beats Joe Pfeer DDP, like DDP is the other obvious title challenger. So you just got to also try and play defense and take him out of the equation or risk getting skipped over again. Like, Nobody else is going to do that, right? And if Joe Pfeiffer beats DDP, it skip you,

but if you take DDP, then Piper doesn't have any options, right? Like, it's probably not getting a title fight by beating Brendan Allen if you fight DDP. So it sucks. I wish even if Bob would get his shot because I like to believe that we live in a fair and just world. Alas, I think that this is extremely likely to be the outcome we get.

Yeah. Well, you do it. We'll mention it. This is not like an official thing because it's not a pay-per-view, so typically we don't talk about the main card loser. But it is kind of an interesting place for Kamaru to be right now because he's not, his title hopes are done.

He's not fighting for the welterweight bell. He's not fighting for the middle-weight belt. Like it's, this was just sort of a much-needed thing to see where he was at right now. Like obviously he beats DDP. He's got the Max Holloway. I'll fight. He's got the Max Holloway versus Justin Gitchie option,

where it's like I could just fight for, for the middleweight belt now, or I could go back to my old division and try to regain the title that I lost. That's completely out of the question now. And then, you know, just listening to Dean Thomas on Deep Waters, is like, dude, I think he should just be done. And others would agree that Kamara should just be done after this.

Dana White doesn't seem to think that. So to me, if Kamar is going to fight again, first of all, he needs to be realistic. I don't think anyone's mismanaged his career worse than Kamar Usman has over the past few years he's got to fight Bilal man like that's literally that that's it

it's just him and Bilal like there's no heat on there's no heat or stank on any other fight that's the only one that has like any sort of buzz to it at all because of the infamous podcast interview that never saw the light

of day and were slaps thrown did things happen there's at least actual beef there. So that is like all I am intrigued and interested in seeing right now, because this is the fight that should have been made for like the last two years.

I got nothing else here, man. Like this, he does, he has nothing more to prove to me. He's at worst, the third greatest welterweight of all time. What a career this dude had. He's accomplished so much. He's got nothing more to prove to me.

But if you're going to go out and do one more, go fight, Bilal. He might actually go and win that fight. Who knows? I don't know. I didn't even think of Belal, honestly, for Ustman. And I will reveal I've done why Ustman's my wildcard choice. Oh, so we can wait. We can wait on that. We can wait then.

We can wait. But we just not wait. There's no reason to wait because we already started talking about it. And this is not the choice I've made. I think that he is going to fight Shavkaoakhanov. I think that's going to be his next fight. The end of the year. because Shavqa will have to fight somebody coming back.

You know, Ushman and him were briefly linked to each other. And if you're Ustman and Uzman's whole idea is he wants to fight for a belt again, I agree. I don't think it's going to happen. But I don't think beating Bilal puts him in the mix. If he does beat Shavokok, he can, he'll be right back where he was when he beat Walking Buckley, right? Where he can just be like, I should get it or whatever in lobby for it. So I think that's what will happen in December.

But, Mike, I went really wildcard here. I'm very intrigued by this. I wanted to embrace the idea of a wild card. And I wanted to give Kamar Usman a fight that if it got booked, you would be like, what is a goat? Why is this hat? What? I don't understand.

And then the more you'd think about it, the more you'd be like, I mean, this is very silly. But I'm kind of into it. And it's a callback, Mike. It's a once upon a time, Kamar Usman, when his good friend Israel Adisanya was the middleweight champion of the world, he said, I'd like to win a second belt,

but I don't want to take my friend Izzy's belt. Let me go up and fight Jan Blaovich at light heavyweight. Jan, he's got to fight Navajo Sterling coming up at the end of this month. Yon's an old man. And so, screw it. Let's just see what would have happened. Let's just have a little bit of fun. and after Jan wins or loses against Navajo Sterling,

you do Jan Belhovert versus Kamar Usman, just for funsies, Mike. Wow. Wow, that is, that's good. I went fully wildcard with it. What's the opening line on that fight? It's got to be on like minus 300, right? Probably minus.

I mean, so if he gets like storched by Navo Sterling, it'll be a little tighter. But yeah, I think minus 300, Jan, feels I think Jan's going to beat Navajo Sterling. I do believe he certainly can. We'll see. In my head, I sort of think that fight's just going to look exactly like Jan versus Olberg and really boring because that's what Jan does.

But as I was thinking about this week, in the lead up to Oklahoma City, you know, Camaro did some more interviews and he talked about like the one time he had pitched it. I was like, man, I forgot that happened. He was like, let me go fight on Blowicz. And in a faceoff backstage at an event. Yeah, it was very silly. And I was like, honestly, at that point in time, that would have been very dumb.

Now, neither guy's in the mix. Kind of why not? Like, I just sort of just feels like I'm sort of interested. So if I had the power of the pin, that is what I would book for Kamar Usman next. I also love this idea of DDP versus Francis at this point just for fun of these. I didn't see a lot of people pushing that, but I immediately was like one king left. Yeah, do it. Do it. I guess I don't know if like DJ brought that up to Izzy, but I don't know, Izzy was doing like some sort of reaction thing to it. And maybe Izzy's brother was like, yeah,

he should just go to Africa and fight Francis now. And I guess it, Adasania like just laughed hysterically. It was like, oh, I didn't even think about that and had a great time with it. So if we're really going to have fun, that's how you have the fun. But let's go to the co-main event of the evening. I will, I will say, Jed, because you asked me how much I watched. This is the fight that I only caught the last three minutes of which is why on our Slack channel

was like who won this fight because it looked like Canineer was kind of handling CLD in round three. He was like tossing him around a little bit. Yeah. So I was like, oh, is this the whole fight? Because I actually thought Canada had a very good chance of winning and then I saw a unanimous decision for CLD and

what did I miss there? Was there any Tom Fulery in this fight? Was there any potential penalties that should have been called? Not anything outside of just sort of the normal. This will happen in every fight. I'm trying to remember. I feel like cannoneer... Wasn't there like an illegal knee or something?

Like a really bad one? It wasn't a really bad one, but it probably was illegal. Right? It was like it was one of those where Canada is in the middle of standing up and the knee comes a little, probably a little too soon, but it's just like by the letter of the law, spirit of fighting, nobody should give a shit about it.

There's like a little bit of tomfoolery, but like honestly at this point in time, that's just the plus minus of every fight has that. Yeah. Mostly it was CLD's younger than Canaaner. Credit to Canaaner for still being a durable dude, you know, and like pulling this off. But I thought CLD won the first two rounds

and Canaanier won the third. Okay. What do we do? with Mr. Cl. You know, he's a top 10-ish

ranked fighter at this point in time. This was pretty easy. I just pulled up the middleweight rankings and I was like, who isn't booked?

What kind of makes sense? Sure. Give me Brendan Allen versus Christian Leroy-Dunkin. I kind of feel like that's what's going to happen. Seems fine.

I don't think there's a wrong way to go any of that like Anthony Hernandez, Kyle Bahaio, like any robot Robocops booked, right? Against Anthony Hernandez. Oh, those two are booked.

They're headlining Sacramento, yeah. That's it. See, yeah. But, like, you could do the Robocop rematch, like, at this point in time if you wanted to. Like, any of those are pretty viable to me. Yeah, I won't Kyle Bajolio just because they gave Kyle the Joe Pfeiffer opportunity and Kyle was dinged up and couldn't do it. So, yeah, now you get to fight CLD.

And, yeah, that's, I mean, that's an interesting fight. Yeah. It's a great limitless test for CLD. Any of those, any ranked middleweight is a pretty good matchup for him, I think. Let's go to the best division in the sport, Jed. Chase Hooper, Mr. Must need, must win. I mean, super must win. Taking on Mitch Ramirez, needed this one, and he got it.

Went out there, did his thing, gets the victory. Oh, you know what? Oh, no, we're good. I keep thinking I'm missing a fight because this is only a five-fight main card. But yeah, two minutes and change for Chase gets it done. I know you were struggling with this. I was struggling with this too, Jed. So I'll tell you what I landed on as I was slowly going down the ranks

because this guy just continues to fall and fall every time he fights, the man that I'm selecting. But I am, have we done it? Oh, no. Yeah. Jed, if someone were to ask who your favorite lightweight is in a joking manner, who would you say? We've not done it.

Wow. Michael Chandler, eh? No. Maybe a guy that you had a climb bet on that lost of Michael Johnson. Oh, in a joke. Oh, I was like, there's only one lightweight I hate. Is he even with the promotion anymore? Is Zell Huber still on roster?

I believe he is. Well, that's the fight. Like, that is the fight. I would not bet on that fight. I don't want to be on either side of that fight. Sam, doing it for you. You're saving your money. and two dudes are going to fight each other

and a fight that matters to both of those guys. So, yeah, Chase Hooper versus Daniel Zell-Huber. I did not go Daniel Zell-Huber, though I can see the merits of such a fight. I was torn between two, Mike. And they're two very different paths forward for young Chase Hooper. One path is anarchy. And look, Chase...

What's Chase Hooper's big weakness, Mike? What is it? What's the problem? Because I think this is the one I would go with, but I don't think it's the one the UFC would book. But what is the struggles of Chase Hooper is his durability, especially early in fights, correct? Oh, okay. There happens to be a fighter who struggles, who is very good early in fights, and after about that three-minute mark, he is very not good. So I just want to see

Can Chase Hooper Survive three minutes in the Woodchipper With Terrence McKinney That's what I would book I don't think that's what the UFC will do But that's that was my choice Wow It's actually really good

All he has to do is Make it out of the first round Chase new win But buddy you sometimes have issues Making it out of the first round I think we both had excellent selections here Excellent selection. They're going to do something really boring too It's like the problem.

They're just going to give him another layup. And he probably needs it, but it's tough. Yeah. Don't do that. He's going to get like Matt Fravola next. They're going to bring Daniel Tamer back and they'll run it back and do another rematch. Welcome back to the UFC. How about Fatima Klein, Jed?

Remember of your fantasy squad? Maybe a new member of your family. I know we're debating whether she's eligible because she doesn't have enough bozo, but there's there's some. The suplex. The suplex talking shit to Ritchie's corner and then suplexing her is one of the coolest things that's happened in the case this year. He's like, oh yeah, boom.

Like, okay. She did it to both corners. It was awesome. She did the tongue wag thing and then she did to the other end and like just like to stare down and talk a little crap. So it's like, all right. All right, Fatima. You're making a case to join the family.

There was a moment in round two where I was like, I was like, I was like, man, Tabith Ritchie's like, she's doing her best. Like she's, yeah, she's, I was like, she's, I was like, maybe she's still kind of in it. And then there was a moment where she almost got a take down and Fatima just like, host her and ended up in full mount for a second. I'm like, wow, I just watched Tabith Ritchie's dreams just collapsed. And she knew it at the time. She's like, yep, I got nothing.

I had no chance of beating this woman. This is like three minutes, maybe two minutes into round two. This is an incredible performance shed. straight up level up performance from her because like I've liked Fatima Klein for a minute she's been on a fantasy team for a long time like she's just young and exciting but this was where I was like

Tabith Ritchie's not great we all know she's not great right Mike but like she's solid and she had nothing she had nothing to offer in this fight yeah what did you do here I think you could just put Booker in a title fight depending on what Jang Willie is doing

right like we don't know what what Zhang's doing. We've got an upcoming title fight. If Zhang has decided she's still going to hang at 125 or she's retired, whatever it is, Klein could do it. In the absence of that, since that's a little too speculative, I want to book her in a fight that her next fight is a title fight.

There's no ifs, or butts. And if she beats this woman, I will have no questions about her abilities. And the only question will be whether Zhang Wei is the champion or whether it's McKinsey Dern. because I kind of think Klein would beat my girl McKinsey Dern right now. But if she goes out there and just stunts on Vyner-Jangiroba like she did Tabitha Ritchie, Fatima Kline is your next strawweight champion.

So give me Vierna-Jirondi. I like that fight. I think she just needs to take any opportunity that comes to her. She just needs to fight as much as possible. But if she's, that's what I think, like how the UFC is viewing her. I've seen enough. but I think she needs one more. So what I,

I don't know if she said this, what she should have said was, hey, Tabitha said, like, if I win, I'm the backup fighter for the title fight. Like, I should be the backup fighter for the title fight. That would be a great show by her.

But I would book her against the loser of the title fight. Dern or Robertson, like whoever loses that fight, and I think I know who's going to lose that fight. We all know. Fatima Klein versus Jillian Robertson seems to be a darn good fight.

You could, You can do that. That's an apex main event, honestly. Like, you could headline an apex card with that. That's a big one. So, but it just depends. Like, this climate, which you want to get back in there immediately in hope that Dern wants to turn around quick.

Something tells me Dern's not got to turn around super fast. But if she wants to take one more in between now and then, she goes out there and beats Gillian Robertson after Robertson loses the Dern, there you go. You get your title shot after that? I mean, honestly, any fight, just her next fights for the title. as long as it's like a ranked person. So yeah, she's the truth.

You guys are never going to have her on your fantasy team. It's just her and Carly Judis will live with the Michoudi family team. So no matter what is happening with your team, you will never not keep them. I mean, pretty, it's pretty likely that that's the case. Like I think, I believe I believe I've had Bia Mosquita, Carly Judice, and Fatima Klein for the last, is my third season in a row with those three, I think. because I believe I kept Klein and Judees as keepers the last two times.

So if like Yuri, if Jacobi Smith goes 3 and 0 with three first round finishes and is about to fight for a belt in February, you're not keeping them? Look, there are a lot of good welterweights out there, you know? Like, there just aren't that many straw weights who finish fights and rock for Team of Klein, the truth. Okay. Hey, I respect it. I respect it.

I promise you no one will get Carla Judice. Like that's no one has ever, like as long, I don't care if she's out for a year. It's like, I blew my MCL. I'm out like, well,

you're just going to hang on the roster because I don't want to have to fight the battle for you. Yeah. Let's go to the star of the events in a lot of people's eyes, Jed. Tommy Gunn Mcmillan. For being honest. Yeah. I don't like the guy,

but this is the Tommy McMillard. This is the Tommy McMillard. Millan show. And you said something in our Slack channel that, like, that immediately struck my eyes when I was watching this fight. It was, oh, I know why we booked this fight because Alberto Montez is basically a flyweight fighting a lightweight. That's what it looked like in there.

He just looked so much smaller. He was quite small. And I like Montes, but he was tiny compared to McMillan. Me too. And Montes did a lot of really good things in that fight. He did. He really did. He jogged McMillan.

Yeah, he jogged McMillan. he dropped him. He was hitting him with some big, big, big, big shots. And McMillan just has that quality of, hey, you're just not going to be able to kill me. And he wouldn't be killed. And then he ended up going out there and putting up record numbers and gets the finish. So what are we doing here, Jed? Where are we throwing Tommy McMillan, McMillan next?

This is the easiest fight I've ever predicted in my whole life. And if they don't do this, I think that the UFC, should fire their matchmakers. This is such a layup. Like, it's just, you've got a guy who doesn't really have defense, all action, all offense. We don't need to build him towards anything right now.

The whole purpose of Tommy Mullen is we're going to have some fun. In a little bit, you know, we can start developing him, but his next few fights should just be showcases against guys who are durable enough. He doesn't throw heat. Like, he throws a lot, but he doesn't really try and kill you.

like one punch style and I mean there's just a man who's made a career like a pretty solid UFC living Nate the train Nate Landware versus Tommy McMillan how do you not like who who sees that on the card and is like

oh that won't be fun it's like yeah that's fun as shit wow dude I that took me zero time like the moment the fight was over I was like book him against Nate Landre next on

he might lose that fight though the thing he could lose it he probably won't but mostly that will just be fun yeah like Tommy Millen should just be exclusively in fun fights right now and that's super fun

yeah I didn't do that they're gonna give him exactly who he wants I see Tim Welch out there and he was tweeting uh that's just given Brian Ortega I'm like well first of all Brian Ortega is going to 155 second of all like don't do that like Tommy's

not winning that fight. He's just not winning. So let's let's let's walk before we run a little bit. So I'm going so much further down the rankings here in order to give him what he wants. He wants to fight a Mexican fighter at Noce UFC. Let's give him Roberto Romero, Jed, who is 0 and 2 in the UFC. He fought David O'Nama, lost the decision and got finished by Timi Quamba in April of last year. So he's been out for a minute. He was supposed to. to fight Alberto Montez at UFC 314 last year and it didn't happen

so nice little comeback fight for Roberto throw him on Nocha UFC gets to take on the hot thing in the division right now and Tommy's probably going to beliterate him and there you go it's a win-win fight for the UFC there's no need to throw him

there's no need to rise him up the ranks because the second you do that like you kill him you get to ride this streak right now ride this streak of let him go out there and win. I'm going to be champion soon rather than later, all that stuff. Like, do that because eventually you're going to go a little too high,

and he's going to lose. He's going to lose to a guy who hits pretty hard, and who knows. But yeah, good, good performance, man. He's Nate Diaz 2.0. You could see it in the style, the points. Like, he's throwing a lot of shots. He will never win a belt,

but he's a guy who's going to be in fight-of-the-year conversations throughout his UFC rock. He's just going to be super fun. Yeah, and he's young enough that maybe he can develop a little more, do something interesting, but they're certainly going to give him every opportunity and the big push, but we'll see. This is

one of the reasons why I was like, man, I wish Cub Swanson was still around, because Tommy wins two more fights, and then they throw him in there with Cub, and Cub just clobbers him. Tumbles the young man and sends him back to reflect on life. But now Cub,

is no longer doing that. So good night from Tommy McMillan. He was the standout of the show, but we got to be very careful with this guy. If you really think he's going to be a star and you want to turn him into something, you'd be very, very careful with how you matchmate for him.

So let's go, I'll go to my wild card pick, Jed, because we already got your Kabar Usen pick before we go to some of the peeps. I'm going with, I'm going with R.J. Harris here, Jed Bishu. R.J. Harris, who beat Alvin Hines. And you know what R.J. Harris did? Jed, he spoiled yet another fight for Alvinheim.

He ruined it for Goosey. He ruined it for Goosey, and he also took the shine and get, because when, when, if Alvinheim's won, there was only one fight that could be made. And now RJ Harris has that fight. So RJ Harris is getting the opportunity. Madison Square Garden, November of 2026, he will face Gable Steven at MSG. What an opportunity. He won the Gable. He won the Gable Stevenson sweepstakes.

What an opportunity. Listen, he hits very, very hard. He hits hard. Okay. He's going to get tackled in five seconds. Gable ain't going to do what he did in his last fight against RJ Harris. He's just going to tackle him and beat the shit out of him. But welcome.

But good for you, RJ. You step in on short notice. You get a win. And now you're going to get to fight at Madison Square Guard in the mecca and your second UFC fight against Gable, Steveson, and Olympic gold medalist. I mean, what else could you ask for? right now. Not much.

I mean, you know, it is an opportunity, even if I don't think it's going to go great for you. Even though it's not a good, it's not a good time for you. It's a tough opportunity. A tough opportunity indeed. All right, let's go to the peeps. For all of you who sent to AK and you're worried,

don't know, my picks aren't going to get in. AK is the most meticulous and organized person in the history of MMA media. Such a just minch, really. Yeah, even on his vacation, he shouldn't even be looking at a computer or any sort of Google Doc. He took all of your picks and has been updating a Google Doc ever since Sunday. So Jed has been sent these picks. He'll read off those picks.

And all right, let's go. I'll start first. There won't be a ton here because you guys all love to send him to AK. Micah, Otno, DDP Strickland 3, Usman Bilal, finally. CLD versus the Rodriguez Fluffy Loser. Rodriguez would be a rematch, would be fun. First fight was good and both have improved. Chase Hooper versus Nicholas Motta,

Batima Klein versus Jillian Robertson after UFC 330 loss, McMillan versus John Castaneda. Isn't Cassadena Bannamaint, or is he moving up? I have no idea if he's moving up or not. Well, he should move up to take that fight. Delgado versus Calvin Cater, Love Boys Niani versus Jake Matthews, R.J. Harris versus Ty, Tivasa. So, like, I'm okay with if you,

I'm okay with R.J. Harris versus Taito Vassas. I'm okay with that. Sure. I mean, just don't, don't throw Gable Stevenson in there with Tai Tuivasa. I don't want Ty to Ivasa to fight,

but I guess RJ Harris is the, not the worst option. Yeah, just someone who will just throw punches with Ty. I don't want anyone tackling. Just punches. John Ray, Barbosa versus Fernandez,

Harris versus Derek Lewis, because that's the kind of dumb shit the UFC does. Coria versus Mitch Ruposa. like that fight. Franco versus Mingyang Zhang. Le Boisiani versus Dalby, Delgado Woodson, McMillan versus Jizha, Klein

versus Yasmin Lucindo, Chase Hooper versus Joaquin Silva, CLD versus ooh, I actually, I actually really like this fight, CLD versus Iqram Alaskaroff. I actually really like that fight. Yeah, Iqram probably wins, but I do like that. Usman versus Balal

won't happen because it makes too much sense. and then he likes DDP Strickland 3 regardless of the result of the next title fight. So he thinks DDP should just sit and wait and... I hate that. Okay. What else we got now? I only have a couple more. Jason.

Mike, hope you enjoyed Milwaukee. Here's Adno. McMillan versus Hyder Amiel. I actually like this. I actually think that's a good one. Totally fine. Yeah, that's a good one. A dude is kind of durable, but not so durable anymore.

That's a good one. Ezra Elliott versus Curtis Campbell Delgado versus David Onama Fatima Klein versus Verna John Jaroba Chase Hooper versus Shout out Fatima Klein-Klein Verna Way to go over that was Chase

This is kind of interesting I'm kind of mad I didn't At least think about this one Thoughts on Chase Hooper versus Jared Gordon So I saw that And It'd be fine I think that that's

Much more likely What they will do do, right? You give Chase Hooper a Jared Gordon, a Michael Johnson. You give him a guy who's been around the block and thus more susceptible to Chase Hooper beating him. But I think that that is very possible. It's not fun.

And I went for fun, Mike. Let's go to left lane to close on my picks. DDP versus Brendan Allen, Usman versus Ballal for a sendoff for either. CLD versus the fluffy Robocop loser Cannon Air versus Usory after he commits crimes against Calvin Gasselm. I cannot believe they booked that fight.

Poor Calvin. Golly. Hooper versus Tiago Moises. Is Tiago? Did he get released? Tiago? I don't know. I have no idea.

Klein versus Janjan Win or lose after UFC Shanghai. McMillan versus Chepe Mariscull at Noce UFC. I think that is a mistake to book that fight right now. I think Chipe wins. And that dude takes a beating. Yeah, I don't think we should do that just yet.

Delgado versus Steve Garcia? Okay. Side note, can we let Bashi build a bit? I thought he looked solid, but that's just crazy matchmaking for a 24-year-old with two UFC fights. Side, side, side note, do you think there was anything to a potential fake tap

from Delgado in round three? Didn't see it closely? I don't know if you want to comment on that. I just don't recall it. All right. But does not stick out to me at all. Another JPL versus Matthews. Franco versus Oslon.

I think he's still on the roster. Elliot versus Aswell. That's just real fun. Coria versus Brutio Silva. Harris tied to Yvasa. And he says, you know what? Let's just still give Alvin Hines the Gable-Stevson fight, which I actually have no issue with.

Also fine. Yeah, Gables fight in one of those two guys. Yeah, it seems reasonable. All right. You're up. Oh, I have A-Ks. You probably have 500 of them. No, but we got a lot.

From J.B. Hi, Jed. Long time, first time. I hope I'm not too late for you. I'm mic recording the show. Feel like these are rushed. Tried my best. Welcome to the party, J.B.

DDP is a title fight. No idea against who. If he goes back to Welterweight, Oostman versus Ballal, if he stays at middleweight, Usman Canaaner I wouldn't hate Usman cannoneer at middleweight Mike

I don't know about you just like as a sure why not but I just don't think Usman would do that fight for any reason What about I don't mind that one I was thinking maybe What about Usman Kevin Holland

Hmm sure You could do it whatever Yeah I mean we just like this is kind of over there I just don't think Usman would take that fight Because like he only wants a fight that's going to Get him in the mix And that just does not So yeah I think that's unlikely

Uh a wee bit of do-do here, Mike. CLD versus RDR. RDR moving up to 205. So, well, RDR's booked as well. So there's two,

two bits of do-do. He's fighting Roman, apparently he's fighting Roman Delizze. Oh, I did not know. A light, heavyweight matchup. Oh, I did know that. That's right.

I do remember that now. So double doo-doo. Sorry, J.B. Double-d-d-do, but who knows? Maybe he's predicting, maybe he's predicting RDR loses and wants to go back to middle-way, which seems like a terrible idea.

No. He's making a heavyweight run, baby. That's my boy. Chase Hooper versus Kyle Nelson. Totally fine. Fatima Klein versus Janjao Nan, Denisi Gomez loser. So taking a slow build for Fatima Klein there. Tommy McMill and Francis Marshall, Jose Miguel Dogato, Danny Silva.

Leboznyani versus Preston Parsons. That seems fine to me. Alden Coria versus Clayton Carpenter. Thanks for the hard work. And all you do, have a good day. Thanks, Jimmy. Yeah, let's go. from Alex Van Dam

What up? McMillan versus Delgado Klein Wow no no no no no no no That's far too much Sheesh Don't put like don't make him fight like Christian Rodriguez either

Like that's these are not the things you want to be doing with Diamond Mellon right now so Klein versus Suarez It's dangerous but I'm interested I would be interested You know I'm picking my dress. You know I'm picking my girl, but that is, she could get laid on for 10 minutes and lose the fight as a result of it. It's a dangerous fight, but I don't hate it.

Hooper versus Grant Dawson, that's way too much for Chase Hooper, in my opinion. Duncan versus Brendan Allen. Sure. And that's what I said, right? That's what he's not. Usman versus Strickland once he loses the belt. I actually kind of think that's fun. That's fun.

I think Sean Trickland. Yeah. I think Sean just annihilates. That fight's not competitive at all. Probably at this point, but that's still fun. I actually do like that idea, Alex. DDP, not sure, since it's a mess with Strickland Hamzot and Imov. Thank you, Alex.

Thomas Collins, UC Oklahoma matchups, Duplice versus Brendan Allen. Brennan talked some shit afterwards, maybe. Usman versus Boe Nickel. How's that? Is that Territus Nicky at all? interesting what's kind of interesting that is

yeah kind of interesting you could you could pitch me on it certainly you can pitch me on it I just Usman versus Bo Nichols going to happen in RAF is definitely a thing that's going to happen at some point Bo Nichol versus Colby Covington is going to happen RIA and that's soon

but Ousman's going to Ousman should just probably head to RIF now he'll be there he'll be there soon get to RIF for sure Fatima Klein versus Mazzuki in a way What? That's just

Nope We need to be doing more with her Come on Canaaner Israel Addisonia 2 Sure When did Wait wait wait a minute

Oh yeah Cananier did fight In my Yeah in my head I was like Why would CLD fight Izzy Because I just read it as CLD Cananier AZ2

One of the worst fights of all time I hope they don't do that CLD versus Kyle Once he returned from injury. I look forward to the show. Gerard Bajian. Sorry, if I got that wrong, Gerard.

DDP versus Brendan Allen. We're starting to get some momentum with Brendan Allen, DDP. Usman versus MVP Ruzaboyev winner. CLD versus fluffy Robocop loser. Canonnier should go back to 205, rematch Kutalaba. I don't hate Canaaner back at 205, honestly.

Oh, my guy, look at him. Chase Hooper versus Terrence McKinney. There you go, Gerard. That's what's up. Fatima Klein, Tatiana Suarez, is gaining momentum. Tommy Mellon-Hydar-Ameal. The people are on that one.

Yeah, that's going to be my pick after Tommy wins at Noche. And then Jose Delgado, William, Go Me. Four Corner Sports. DDP versus Joe Pfeiffer. I have a feeling he's going to need to take an extra fight to keep busy for you. It's a title shot. There's more. I'm just not going to read all that.

Usman versus Jack Della Madelena. I don't think we ever see U. Usman versus Belal. I am actually fully on board with that. I don't think we ever see that. CLD, Brendan Allen, Chase Hooper, Daniel Zell Hubert. There you go, Mike. Fatima Klein, Tatiana Suarez.

Winner fights for the belt. Totally reasonable to me. And Tommy McMillan versus Tommy McMillan versus the winner of Curtis Campbell versus Trevor Peek. Tommy isn't good. Man has pillow hands and a lot of developing to do. If the UFC wants to build them up, they need to slow roll him. uh arm and surrogan stand account uh drickas versus the strickland imov winner should get booked he's saying uh cld versus ikron lascarov tommy gun versus nate the train let's go uh chase super tago moises

canaanier versus jack her manson in a double retirement fight honestly kind of like that uspin versus gasolum in a double retirement fight he's just man the armen surrogate and stand and count just walking people out the door from DGB, Delgado versus Venetius, I assume that means a look dog. That would be super fun. McMillan versus Belanos, Klein versus Genjiroba, Hooper Sadikov,

CLD Bahalio, DDP Allen. So, yeah, a lot of similar names here, but none of those are awful. McMillan Belanos is pretty fun. I think that might be a bridge too far, maybe, at this stage, but that would be a fun fight. The M. May report Chase Hooper didn't make

wait, man, he needed that win. Match the gooner up with Michael Johnson. Fun fact, he's no longer gooning. So his post-fight speech, he made it clear that that's a sigh out from the government or something. So Michael Johnson is one that I think is very possible. Fatima Klein, Tatiana Suarez, don't think she'll be able to bully her like she did Ritchie.

CLD, the loser of Fluffy Robocop, especially if it's fluffy. Jared Canaanee or 42, he's probably considered retirement, but if that's not in the plan, give him the winner of Lucay, Trayshon Gore. Sure. Seems reasonable. DDP says he should be fighting Strickland next with two wins over him, but Brendan Allen, because that's fights a lot of fun.

Also, if he was in charge, he'd make Hamzot go to 205 and give him Paulo Costa. Usman stays at middleweight, Marmottori. If he goes back down, Balal. Casey Carpenter. Hope you're enjoying your time off. I'm sure A.K. is enjoying it. It's great. Last Saturday I was at a wedding in OKC.

I was hoping to see a fighter at the airport, but I didn't my final flight home to Savannah. I met Casey Carpenter's from Savannah. Look at that. I met your best from Mike Heck. Oh, that's right. Yes. So that's Casey Carpenter.

Okay, I was wondering who that was. Yeah, I was walking on the plane. That was the flight home. That was getting home from Vegas. So I believe that was in, I don't remember where that was. That was somewhere. Nashville, I think.

It was probably Nashville. Yeah, I think it was in Nashville. I get on the plane and there's a dude just like, he's looking at me funny and I'm like, maybe it's somebody behind me. I don't know. And then as I walk through, well, no, as I walk through,

I get a, hey, big fan. And I was like, I don't, I still don't think he knows who I am. I think he thinks of someone else. And he's like, I just listened to Otno. And he was like, he's like, I just listened to Otno like a little while ago. I was like, oh, okay.

I was like, thanks, man. You definitely know who I am then. Yeah, and it was loud enough that, like, people on the plane heard him, and everyone just started looking at me. And it was just like... You're very famous, Michael. Yeah, so that was cool. Now I'm glad it's Casey and I get the name to the face,

and it makes all the sense in the world. So, good to meet you, my man. Casey says, let me say, as a Colby fan, I find him hilarious. He was the biggest winner Saturday, beat Armand, everything he said about Usman, Faking Fowls, has proven tonight. DDP versus Emivov.

Emov, Mavov and no one wants to see DDP versus Strickland or Homslet again. I do you agree. Usman and R.EF. versus Colby and MMA versus Shavkot. CLD versus Ikram. Hooper versus Taco Padilla. I don't think Cooper wins that fight. No, he doesn't.

He doesn't. Tommy Gunn versus Taco Padilla. So we've double Padilla here. Let's go. Just to make, uh, died. He tried to hide it by saying Hooper versus Taco and then Tommy Gunn versus Padilla. So unless there's another Padilla I'm not thinking of. Fernando Padilla.

Oh, there's Fernando Padilla. Okay. It would actually make sense. He's a Mexican fighter who is a featherweight. So you could do Fernando Padilla at, let me see how he's doing in the UFC. Fernando Padilla is two and two in the UFC. He's got a way, a first round knockout went over Julianarosa. First round submission.

He's a flip-flopper. So won his debut, lost to Kyle Nelson, won his next fight. and then got knocked up by Sean Woodson in the first round. In December of 2024, we have not seen him since. So that would actually make sense. Just a couple more here from AKViam E. Eli Haitelol. I apologize.

I forget that wrong, Eli. Drich is 2 Plus Evers, the winner of Fluffy and Robocop. I like that better than the loser of Fluffy Robocop that people were matching CLD up with. Love to see how they're one of those fights. hope we get one in the near future. CLD versus Brendan Allen. Chase Hooper versus Charlie Campbell. Fatima Klein versus the loser of Dern Roberts and Mike.

I think Klein's ready for the belt now. Tommy McMillan versus Nate Land, where I believe the train's best days are behind him. If he's got some name value for a guy like McMillan to get shine off of. And if Nate still has some juice, it would be an absolute slobber knocker between those two. I agree. Fully on board, Eli.

Thank you. And our last one from AK via me, F-Rod, fraud, DDP versus Imov, Usman versus Shavkat, we are 100% tied up right now, F-Broad, CLD versus the loser of Gregory Rodriguez,

Anthony Hernandez. A lot of people on that line. Fatima Klein versus the loser of the title fight between Dernan and Robertson, Tommy Mellin versus Hurricane Hyder, Ameal, Alberto Montez versus Harry Hardwick. That'd be kind of fun.

Jose Delgado. That's a banger. So that'd be kind of fun, yeah. Jose Delgado versus Jamal Emmer. We probably need to get Tommy McNeill and Harry Hardwick at some point too I mean that would be fun We'd have a good time

Felipe Franco versus Urin Satibaldiev Who I straight up just do not know that is off top of my head I need to Wow Need to remind myself And then Alden Coria versus Alan Nassaminto

So thank you for all of your Otno picks Oh Jed you know who You know who Ruan Salte Badeev is I'm sure I do but I need to like that name is not hitting me. I need to see it. So he first of all, he fits right in here up.

Fun hat man. Yes. Former LFA champion took his, took his UFC debut on like two days notice at heavyweight. I guess you do, outweighed him by like 60 pounds and performed admirably. Didn't win. And then he cooked Nerga Zai.

Oh yeah. Smash him. Smash him. Who is, is he booked? Not according to that. Oh, no. he was booked

they were trying to sacrifice uh who they were trying to sacrifice uh... to him but that did not happen so all right well that's this week's show we appreciate it a k i believe we'll be back next week should be members yes he will be back next week

uh following ufc abu dhabi and here is the lineup we have the main event it was supposed to be maga mannank alive versus cleo roundtree It is now Magabanaikalaev versus Bogdan Guskov. Co-main event, Vincenzo Erzeg, Vinny Sigs himself, taking on Ramazov.

Ramazan Temarov, I believe, is this the comeback fight for Temarov? Yeah, is that right? Didn't, yeah, he's part of the, I'm pretty sure he's part of the, he's part of the flyweight curse of drafting for me, because Alessandra Costa got injured. Was this the suspension?

I don't remember now That sounds right I think that might be right But yeah he got like six months He didn't get like a full or did he get a full year Yes he got a full year You right you right Okay so that was that right

This is this is come back fight I'm sure he's gonna win I drafted him last season He didn't fight and that's what happens Islam Islam Doolotov versus Wellington Termin Boy that's gonna be fun While at last

it's not going to last very long. A couple fun matchups this weekend. Yeah, Damien Respecki versus Magamud Zainukov. That's going to be fun as hell, dude. That's the Chonko debut. Chonko. Johnco. And Damien and the butcher is super duper fun at 10 and O.

and if you watch promotions like, wow, and FN and things of that nature, Damien's just 24 years old. He's undefeated. super fun fighter. So that is one of those ones I will be circling for sure. And then if you really want to have some fun, Rizvan Kunia v. Tyrol Fortune, we got Abu Bakar Vajia versus Saigid,

Izkachmeyoff. I'm going to just butcher a lot of these names. Really, really well done. I respect it immensely. Walter Walker, Thomas Peterson, that I can figure out. Dustin Jacob, Mohamed Saeed. Santiago, Ponziobio versus Sam Patterson.

This is going to be a heater. Jed Israel Bonfim versus Axel Sola has been incredibly fun. Brinson-Ribero versus Magamad Tushalov. And if you're Brenton-Rabro's fighting, you know what they're trying to do for the opponent. This fight rocks, and I hope it gets moved up. Nerulo Aliev versus Mike Davis. That is an incredible fight. And we round things out with Abdul Hussein versus Cody Gibson.

and certainly the fight you look at on the card and you're like, why are we doing this? Why is this happening? Why is this happening? Well, the DFC wants to get an early finish out of the way for the thing to get things off to the right beat, so to speak. And yeah, early day MMA, 9 a.m. Eastern time.

I do love that. I do love that. Is that the freedom start? I think that's correct. Let me just make sure. Yes, 9 a.m. Eastern, 3-lim, noon-eastern main card. That's right where we're at, right there.

That's the itch in just a beautiful way. We need more and more of these. But yeah. I love a 9-A.m. card. A lot of 9-A.m. card rules. Yes, I know some people are like, I take the whole day away for me, but still, we'll be wrapped and packed by like,

you don't. You have a evening. You have a Saturday evening. I can go to the beach. There's so much we do. have a Saturday evening in the sport. Yeah, we could take the pups to the beach. Like this could happen.

This could be a big day in the heck household. So, yeah, stick with us, MAPfighting.com. It's great website. The fallout of everything that happened this past weekend. And we'll get you ready for this event. PFL is in Washington, D.C. This week. Lots happening.

M.Afighting.com for Jen Michewe. I am Mike Keck. We're out of here. Love you all.