MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Dricus Du Plessis, Sean Strickland After UFC 297?

Episode Date: January 21, 2024

Dricus du Plessis accomplished his goal of becoming UFC champion on Saturday night with a hard fought decision win over Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 297. While du Plessis has his sights set on Israel Adesanya for his first title defense — possibly at UFC 300 — where does Strickland go after losing the title? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what's next for Strickland and du Plessis from a matchmaking perspective following Saturday's pay-per-view event. Additionally, future matchups will be discussed for new women's bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington following her dominant decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva in the co-main event, along with main card winners Neil Magny, Chris Curtis, Movsar Evloev, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next one. Yes, we are back. We are back live on YouTube following the first UFC page.

pay-per-view of the year, UFC 297, which went down last night. In Toronto, we have two new champions and Drickus Duplice and Raquel Rocky Pennington. And we'll discuss the what's next for both of them, for Sean Strickland following his title loss and other storyline makers from UFC 297. But thank you for joining us. I am a very sleep deprived, Mike Heck still here in New York. And joining me as always, my fellow sleep-deprived. colleague from MAAfighting.com, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, Mr. Alexander Kaylee, aka Boots on the ground in Toronto.

What were the vibes like at Scotia Bank Arena last night? Crazy, amazing, amazing vibes. Dampered a little bit by, to put it nicely, the lack of success on the Canadian side of things. We can probably dive into that a little more later. We did have nine Canadian fighters in action. And two of the women did fantastic Julian Robertson and Jasmine Yostov. Just a big shout out. The other guys, not so great, Mike.

Some of them pretty highly favored, too. But it's great. It's been a really great fight week. Barry eventful, as you guys know, been at the eye of the storm a little bit. If you're wondering, guys, my eyes are really red because I've just been crying my eyes out, Mike. Crying my eyes out. It's not strictly bodying me on Wednesday. My God, we talked about this on BTL.

You know, I'm not even allowed to be here. My career is over. I don't know if you heard. I know. My journalist. And also, I've been a fake journalist this whole time. Oh. Sorry.

I don't mean to hide things for you. You are my best friend, but I'm a big pony. I was not aware of that. So hopefully I don't get punished for having you on the program. I hope not. But it was an interesting event. Records were broken. Gate records, attendance records.

I mentioned us in the post-by-child. Longest watch party in the history of the watch party because that event just, It just lasted and lasted and lasted. But it was an interesting card. The main event was very interesting. So let's just get right into the matchmaking. Before we do that, here's how this is all going to go down. If you guys are longtime listeners to the podcast, normally we just take the social media solicitations for matchmaking suggestions.

Not really going to do that here because I don't have a ton of time. I do have to check out and get ready to fly back to South Carolina a little bit later on. But what we'll do is we'll talk about each fight. If you have matchmaking suggestions coming out of each fight when we talk about the specific fighter throw in the chat we'll pull and put them up on screen and then once we get through the main card winners once we get through the wild card we'll kind of open things up for 10 or so minutes and we'll just kind of get after it you guys could just throw in your matchmaking suggestions we'll throw them up we'll discuss until we run out of time so let's begin with the main event let's begin

with trick is duplec the new middleweight champion defeating sean strickland via split decision very close competitive fight was this the fight to the death all out blood and guts war that was promised throughout fight week no however really compelling fight in fact i'm absolutely going to go back and rewatch this fight the first chance that i get because it just was really high level stuff from both guys it really was the chess match both guys getting after it seemed like strickland was kind of like wavering a little bit and then he comes back and it's a big round five I want to see round three again and just see how close that was. But a lot of people feel like Sean Strickland should still be the champion.

And Drinkis duplice got it done. I scored it for DDP 4847, but I would have no issue if you scored it 4847 for Sean Strickland. Great fight. I'd love to see these two guys get after it again. This will probably not be a friend's forever moment, AK. I think we know where we're going here. Drick's Duplice had the callout. Israel Adasania.

He said at the post-fight press conference, fighting Adasani at UFC 300 would be amazing. Adasani even jumped on social media and respondent said our paths are going to cross soon. Stay tuned. And Dana White even promised announcement coming next week. So is this as easy as I think it is? DDP with Adasania as the challenger? Something we didn't expect a year ago at this time.

That would be the crystal ball pick and the logical thing to do. There's so much heat behind that fight. I said it before. I think on one of our previous shows, like it would be a shame at this point if we never get Drickusupus C and Izzy, just like we never got Leon and Horacea. Jorge Mosvidal. I know there's still a chance of that happening, but even in my mind, the ship has kind of sailed that one. If they booked like Mazvedal Edwards later this year for some reason, I'd still want it, but it just wouldn't, I don't know, it wouldn't, it wouldn't quite

mean what it could have. But DDP, great performance. And him and Izzy, all the fight build up, as ugly as ugly as it is, some of it great, some of it ugly, feels like it'd be a waste, right? It's a waste of all that promotional time if we don't get these guys back in the cage, not just facing off and shouting at each other, back in the cage and actually fighting. So I do have a, but I have a magic wand pick, Mike, in a second. I do want to say, yeah, I want to kind of tend in, I see in the comments, one of the closest fights I've ever seen. That was a great fight.

It was a great fight. It's definitely, I know you said it wasn't a classic. And I agree. I think probably wasn't like a fight of the year, candid. But, you know, when you're there live, boy, the drama was intense. The drama was intense. I thought DDP had a lot of trouble, like figuring, stricling out early on. I'm sure he, I think he said as much, excuse me, my voice completely gone.

DDP said as much in the post-vite press conference. Like, yeah, he's a tricky guy, man. And you could see, if you watch the first two rounds, it's a lot of DDP, not jabbing. He's kind of throwing these like looping punches just to kind of get around. And it works because Sean is so unorthodox and so unorthodox, but also so technical, so tricky to figure out. So the strategy eventually worked and you started finding more openings later. And I'm like most people, I think the third round was the toss-up.

I saw some people saying other rounds were clear. I don't know. Round four, clear for DDP. I thought Strickland clear round five. I saw some people saying DDP could have round five, which I don't think is crazy, but that was probably one of Sean's best rounds. But yeah, the judges, all them gave,

Mike, I'm again, that's right. I think they all gave, oh, yeah, they all gave Strickland round one and five. DDP, rounds two and four. Three was the toss up. I agree. Three was super close. I actually had it 48, 47 Strickland, which is funny, Mike,

because it had a lot of people going like, oh, respect for being on. biased and I'm like why would I have any bias against him I you pick strickland to win in your predictions did you not want to win I gave him round three but again toss up I actually think you could have given like four rounds to like drickus but just as I was watching live I thought one three five strickland not a robbery either way again just a really good fight by both guys I actually was a really enjoyable fight so I have no bias against him it if I reveal my bias guys it's so you guys know where I'm coming when I talk about, where I'm coming from, when I talk about Strickland

sometimes. When it comes to his fighting, I'm never going to hold any, anything, whatever, that might be personal between us. No, he's a great fighter. And that was a great fight. I just wish, you know, I think his, he was opinions were a little more diverse. He's more tolerant, blah, blah, we don't need to rehash that stuff. But it was, it was a really good fight.

Strickland lived up to the hype as far as the fans go. Fans want him to come out there and put on a show. And, man, he left it all in there. He left it all in there. It was not the highest-paced fight early on, but by the end, I thought it was a great fight. So it was really happy to see that one, Cajside. Mike, I'll say real quick, my pick. I want this to happen.

Maybe I'm being selfish, but I want this to happen because this man who I'm going to pick deserves more in life. Oh, no. I know where you're going. Storyline here, but it requires a lot of things to follow. Let's say, Izzy, for whatever reason, isn't healthy enough to make 300 or 301 or 302 whenever they try to make DDP. Hamzats out there, but maybe one of the most unreliable fighters in the roster

as far as actually getting him in the cage. So I could see DDP and is he getting booked, but then falling out, they need to call someone. Like, they need to call someone into action, you might say. They need to call the action man. So I'm not saying this is the fight that would be announced. I'm saying somewhere, somehow, in 2024,

extreme couture strikes again, and we get another one of that jim's fighters in the cage. Sean Strickland's BFF, how fitting would it be if Chris Curtis finally got himself a title shot? I would love it. I don't know if he would beat DDP. I actually think he has a, it would be a competitive fight. But I'm a fan of Chris Curtis, a fan of what he stands for, and which is by the way, when I say what he stands for, I mean just having really fun fights and being a goof in at post-by fresh conferences. And it's just, I think that's kind of weirdness that would fit. So give me, uh, this is a magical one pick now what I think will happen, but Chris Curtis and Driggis 2 plus you. I should have known you were going there. I thought you were going like at a totally different direction.

I thought you're going to go to a guy that like never, ever, ever gets mentioned in these conversations, but he's probably from a meritocratic perspective should be. I thought you're going to go with Jared Cannon Air for some reason because. I don't know. That's okay too. Yeah. That's certainly not where I'm going. Chris Curtis might be vying for the middleweighty middleweight title after UFC 297, if we're being honest.

So maybe. look, maybe it happens. I mean, what a story would be. I'm going with the Izzy fight. I do think the UFC's going to do everything in their power to do the C.UFC 300. I think they saw kind of, I mean, it worked out because Strickland won the belt. And we got a couple of different big, big fights. And Strickland became, you know, very popular star number, needle mover, et cetera.

Yeah, they're going to do the easy fight. I think they're going to do it a 300. Drikas seems like he wants to go. I mean, he was dinged up in the face. Got a lot of leg kicks. checked, but it seems like he's rip-roaring and ready for UFC 300 and a chance at a pretty big payday, which is what he would get if he does get the main event spot in that fight, especially with Izzy and everything else that's on that card right now. So yeah, that's where I'm going. This happened on the people's pre-fight show, but the chair in the hotel is just kind of trash. So like my chair is going to slowly lower as this progresses. So I'm not going to lie to the world. What I go to the solo, is great of AK, it's be adjusting the chair so I can get back to normal height because I just literally am slowly sinking into the ground right now. Revealing the movie magic, my best friend.

This is how the, listen, everyone thinks, man, Mike is so immaculate all the time. Everything's perfect. Mike is on the, it's making these adjustments on the fly guys to keep these streams pristine. For Sean Strickland, it's, I understand that there's another option that is very popular in this title conversation right now, it seems to be a two horse race. And I think the other horse is ready to fight Sean Strickland.

Give me title eliminator because Strickland is going to be in the mix still. Give me Sean Strickland versus Hamzachamayev. Give me that effing fight. I don't know. Like, I'm so fascinated by that fight. I'm also incredibly fascinated by what DDP versus Hamzat Chamaif would look like.

The two kind of wrecking balls getting after it. If Hamzah can't get DDP out of there early, what's that fight going to look like down the stretch? And same thing with Strickland. Like if Hamzat can't put Strickland away in like the first six or seven minutes of the fight, like is this one of those fights, especially if it's a five-rounders, this is one where Strickland could just turn the tide and just pour it on. And if Sean Strickland goes out and beats Hamzaa Chamaia, if I don't care who's champion, I don't care what the history says, Sean Serklin's getting a freaking title shot again. There's no doubt about it. So I think the closest path, the quickest path to a title

and probably the biggest fight available right now for Sean Strickland unless you want to just get real weird and throw them in there with Colby, which I'm not all that interested in from a competitive perspective, but give me Sean Strickham versus Hamzot Shamaa. This might be more magic wand,

but I think the UFC can put this fight together and it would be friggin insane. So that's my pick. I think we can queue up the music here, right? Oh, we do it? Yeah, let's queue up the music. All right. Three, two, one.

Friends. forever. We'll save by the ball throwback, yes. Yeah, I got to try a falsetto sometime. I realize I never do the falsetto enough. People are always like, oh, can Alex sing a little bit higher? It's like they never, you know, I got to give it to them. I got to give it to the next time.

But yeah, Hamzats, that's just a really good pick. I think after Hamzat's really close win over Usman, I had said, just throw them into the title shot, but they did the, they did the right thing. They gave the GDP instead. Here we are. DDP's the champion. So Hamzots got to move on to something else. Strickland is a very good option.

And I think you're right, Mike. Like, it's, it's an intriguing fight. Because, sure, Hamzaa could bulldoze Strickland in the first one or two rounds. Could happen, no question. But also, I mean, if you're going to pick, like, a kind of character to derail the Hamzad hype train, shots are going to be really tough. He just, you know, he's a really, he's a good grappler. People will watch the fight on Saturday, man.

I mean, DDP has really good grappling as well and good wrestling. And he was getting deep on some takedowns and got some takedowns. and couldn't really do anything with them because Strickland's defense pretty tight. Now I think Shemaya was on another level from a lot of people, but he's got to prove it. He's still got to prove it against some of the better names because he didn't like, I mean, he was, he has dominate. He did dominate Usma on the grounds at times too, but let's do it against Strickland. So a lot of heat there. Trash talk could get pretty ugly, but also, hey, that's what people want.

Strickland was a star this week again. His comments, politics, don't agree with it, but connect. with the fans off the charts in Toronto, off the charts, Toronto. He really doesn't need the belt. I asked Dana about the press conference. And Dana was kind of bullish on what they're going to do with him next. But I said, like, you got, you got to, I essentially said with my question, like, you got a star in your hands, Dana.

Love him or Mahatam, you got a star on your hands. And that's really going to be interesting what they do with him. But he can't, Mike, he can't fight the apex anymore, right? That's just a waste, right? Sean? Yeah. We never need. I mean, if you're looking at it from, yeah, if you're, I mean, if you're looking at it

from a UFC business perspective. Probably not, but from a Sean Strickland perspective, that dude will fight at the apex. I know. Of course you will. Of course you will. But what a waste at this point. And again, guys, this is a conference moment.

You heard the controversy. It was up to me. John Strickland would be fighting in a basement somewhere. But if you're the UFC and you're trying to make money, again, whatever it is, that he connects to that fan base. It would be really weird to see him in the apex again. But you're right.

He's not saying no. If he's not getting pay-per-view points, the paycheck's probably the same. So why does he care? Why does he care whether he's fighting in front of 20,000 people or in front of 150 people as long as the check clears? But it does feel like they're going to have to keep him for more special occasions, I would think. And I don't even know if the, like, I think the press conference would be fun.

I don't think the trash talk would be that bad. I honestly don't. Like these two guys, like for a while when Hamzat was fighting in Vegas and fighting in the U.S. when that was like a more consistent thing, when Hamzok was like a more consistent thing, when Hamzok got to the U.S., where did he train at Extreme Couture? I'm sure these guys had tons of rounds of the gym. Sure they have a mutual respect for each other. Will things get a little weird, probably?

But I don't think the trash talk will be as bad, honestly. So, yeah, that fight, God, I think that's super interesting. And I think that's a great, like, I guess title eliminator from a UFC perspective. So, yeah, sign me up for that. If you could throw both those fights on 300, holy shit. that would be pretty wild. I don't think it's going to happen, but that'd be pretty insane. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches,

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Pennington gets done. Second crack of gold. And over a decade in the UFC, Raquel Pennington can finally call herself champion. Again, I wish I could throw you a little monkey wrench or throw you a little surprise pick, but this one is about as the, this is the most obvious pick of all.

It's Raquel versus Juliana. That's going to happen. I don't know when. I don't know how. I think you saved this for the tough finale, and that's the main event. I'm going back to that. to that well.

Yeah, no friends forever here. What, what, it has to be Julianna Pena. This fight was hyped up by Buenos Silva and Pennington before they, they, the joke, it's such a joke that they, they were talking more about Pena. They were talking about each other. But I guess there's a reason for it. And again, the fight was, you know, right, I started seeing that, seeing that site,

ugh, I can't talk, guys. We got out of the press conference yesterday at three, at four in the morning because Dreycusee duplice didn't show up to like 315 or something like that. I guess he was on South Africa time. It was wild. So my brain is not functioning. But yeah, I said the Strickland duplice fight was even better live. Depending to Minnesota, a fight, probably was also better live, but still not great.

And you guys heard the crowd on the broadcast, probably not happy with it. So it has to be pain, yeah. That fight will have a lot of juice. I don't know how good of a fight it will be. But, again, much like Strickland, she engages the crowd. She's got a connection. So the fight has to happen. I want to read one message, I know we don't always do this on the live shows, but it's

It's another option, apparently, for Pennington, and I'm all for it. This is from Hemish Patel. Hemish, thank you. Welcome to the party, pal. A long-time listener, and there's a, and voluntarily sending it a doo-do pick, Mike. This is a do-to-pick on purpose. I would like to propose a bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Jasmine Yassadavishis. The reason being, I know, and by the way, guys, Jasmine, yes, she's at $1.25, Rishita, she fought at bantam-weight because Priscilla Katchwer, it didn't feel like cutting to

135 currently. And he says, the reason being, I am very sad Canadian who had to see us go two and seven tonight with like a Hail Mary attempt at winning a belt just so I can feel, just so I can feel happiness again. Big props to Canadian women. Shout us to Julian Robertson for holding the fort. Thank you, signed, president of the Neil Magni Hater Club. We'll talk about Neil Magny and Mike Malott in a bit, but we're down bad up here, Mike,

when it comes to the Canadian and Macy, we're down bad. we couldn't get one male fighter win. So Hamish, you know what? I would love to see Jasmine get a telestrade someday just so we can have some goal up north again. But it's a long shot. It's a long shot. I'll tell you what.

When we do the show following the Pennington-Pena fight, I have a feeling the options are going to be much wider with a lot of fighters who are not currently in that division. We talked about this on the post-hite show. Like I can see a real world if Alexa Grosso's next title defense, like, isn't set up or if they want to do Grosso, Shepchenko three next. If Aaron Blanchfield goes out there and beats Ben and Fioro, March 30th, she should just be like, all right, I'm going up to 135. She'll get an immediate title shot. If Macy Barber goes out and beats Caitlin Chukagia and Giuliana Pena wins the belt, like Payne is already like meming Macy Barber.

Like she could go up there and like get an immediate title shot. Anyone at surging at 25 that wants to get a guy. the title shot in the next like two or three years should probably think about making the move to 135 because there is not a lot of a lot of ground to cover a winner two at most and you're there i'll say what if what if mike what if women's man to weight is like the men's middle weight division what if just by going up to 135 you accidentally just like become a women's man to weight do you know what i mean what if exciting fighters like erin flanchfield and valentina and alexa grasseh so even if she decided to go up i don't think she would

but what if they went up to 135 and just lost their powers? And what if the division sapped the life out of them? That's what I'm scared of because I agree. 125 feels like such a great division. And it feels like you said, there's some names from there that should consider just going up later and going for the second belt. But I'm scared. I'm scared that entering that zone just robs you of your powers

and suddenly you become a bansom weighty bantamweight. And I don't want to see that for a lot of these girls. Now, normally on this program, okay, and I'll let you explain. we will usually matchmaking for all the title fighters. So whether the champion gets, usually it's like on an apex card, it's all the main card winners, unless it's like a blockbuster main event with like two top five fighters. And we're like super intrigued by what could be next for the fighter who loses.

But we're making a little history here. We are not matchmaking for Meyer Buenos Silva, AK. Why is that? I'm okay with this, by the way, because I don't, I mean, I don't think there's really a wrong. answer for MBS, just throw her in there with whoever. Like, just throw Melissa Dixon in there with there right now. Like, they'll just do that. I'm totally fine with that.

But we're not matched big for MBS. Why is that? She didn't do great. And we're pretty big Mada Buena Silva fans over here on NMA fighting. She actually entered the fight as our number one ranked women's bantamweight fighter. It was not unanimous. I think it's like, I believe it was five voted for Mara Buenos Silva and then there's some Juliana Pena. She didn't do great. Again, the division is not.

deep. We got to reward people on this show, Mike. We got to reward people on the show for putting on great performance. And I know, I truly believe, of course, she did her best. She put in a great effort. But I don't blame the fans. I don't blame someone watching for wanting more and for being disappointed in that fight. And it's sad to say disappointed because the expectations weren't that high for that fight.

And fans, I think, were still left with kind of bitter taste in their mouth. But some props to both women. They put it out there. And it was a tough situation again with the crowd reaction. And also, in this case, they're fighting for a vacant title. It's not their job to put on a show and just start slanging and banging. They've got to be in there to win. They both fought to their best.

Metabonosil took the back a couple of times and they just couldn't sustain any meaningful offense for most of the fight. And Raquel just did her thing. Steady as a metronome and got to win. But yeah, there's just, like I said, there's so many directions they go with Medo Buenos Silva because this division is not deep. She could be fighting someone who's 1-0, 2-0 in the OC. They can match her up with, again, one of the other.

veterans near the top of the card they could run back to holly home fight god help us because the first one's a no contest uh but yes might have wanted us to respect to you for for fighting but sadly no onto the next one pick yeah they should i mean the 135 should just become the banther weight division where it's like 135 and a like 135 to 1 45 let's just open this thing up it's almost like the heavyweight division but for women let's just spread it out a little bit i think you can get more intriguing fights maybe we can get kela harrison over et cetera et cetera but yeah not not a great performance from Myra Boones Silva. How about that, Neil Magdi, AK?

Oh. You got it. You said, this might be a little too soon. However, Mike Mollat won the first two rounds, cruising to a win. And then a guillotine attempt, a guilletting attempt led to Neil just kind of like letting him Mike Mollot fall to the floor. And then Neil just kind of emptied whatever was left in the tank. And he still had more to give and just unloaded big punches. and with 15 seconds left in the fight,

the referee steps in, and Neil Magney stuns the Toronto crowd with a come from behind shocking win, getting a big finish. And Mike Malat, who was about to get the rocket strapped to him, had he won this fight, takes a little bit of a step back. But Neil Magny, the Wiley Vet, getting it done. Where does the Haitian sensation go after this surprising win?

Yeah, and let me tell you, before I get to the pick, Kevin McDonald's gave Mike Malat a lot. of chances because not that magnie was like crushing him with some of that ground and pound but it was a lot of sustained and ongoing and uh unanswered ground and pound and kevin god and kevin don't he's human he's aware of how much time is on the clock it was less than a minute he he's probably aware that milat was winning that fight he's certainly aware he's in canada unless he's had like a johnny walker moment forgot where he was he wants to give malot the chances that it's not a favoritism thing it's just instinctively you're like well this guy was so in the fight how can he be out of it

So Kevin Gall, I don't blame him at all. He gave Mike Mala a chance. And Neil Magny, what a good job. Like you said, Mike, I picked it. And it's really for exactly the reasons you saw. That experience gap that I've been there before factor. It's something you can't teach. And his level of experience and the people that he's fought, the fights he's been in,

this reminds me a lot like the Hector Lombard fight, similar story. It's just so many levels above Adam Fuget, Johann Linus, Mickey Gall, Mike Ballas's previous opponents. So, yeah, Mike Ballot is great for two rounds. I still think he's going to do very well in the UFC, but you can't teach experience, and that's what Magny showed him on Saturday. So, Mike, I was going for a fun fight here.

Someone Neil Magny has not fought before. Give me Brian Barberina. Give me Brian Barberina. I know Magdie wants this. It's cool being a gatekeeper. Would love to fight another up-and-coming prospect or someone, you know, else in the top 15, top 20. But Brian is just a fun fight.

Someone's going to stand a bang with him. Mix the martial arts a little bit, too. And I know he's been flirting with the middleweight, but I think he wants to come back down to 170. And this would be a nice, I don't know, nice main card about somewhere. I was like looking through and trying to figure out,

like, who the next guy is that, like, Neil Magnin who is like the ultimate gatekeeper or the ultimate litmus test. And I don't really see, like Michael, I see Michael Morales coming up a lot.

Like, that's an interesting one. Um, is Morales fighting on the Mexico City card? I don't think he's close. No, I booked him on a previous, I would have, That's why I think if Magny was more apt to do callouts,

I think that would have been a great call. I would have loved to see him callout Michael Morales, but he doesn't play that game. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. Not yet. I think Morales gets another win. Then we do that. I went with the loser of the UFC 299 fights between Kevin Holland and Michael

Benham page. I thought, I actually wanted to say MVP win or lose. That's that's the way. That was my first thought. How do you, what do you think about that? If MVP beats Kevin Holland,

he's, they're putting him in like a number one container. Oh, okay. They're putting him in a title eliminator. Like they're going to push, they're going to give, they're going to run with him.

It has to be the loser. Yeah. Okay. That's fair to say. No. Holland doesn't give a shit who he fights. He's called for Neil Magny. There's a little bit of history there.

And if MVP loses to Kevin Holland, like, let's see if MVP could still be like a ranked Welterway. If he goes out there and beats Neil Magny, then they could try it again. So I'm okay with that. There wasn't like a lot of options that like really thrilled me with this. So Mike Bollat would have been a lot more intriguing for the next matchmaking.

But yeah, good win for deal, Magni. While Evac gets it done and 22 wins now, Mike. Shout out to him. 22 UFC wins. And that was 40th pro bout. So man, I'm telling you, man, just for some like Canadian reference. It was not long ago. Do you remember on the ultimate fighter?

He got knocked out cold by a Canadian guy, Mike Richie, who we all thought, yes. was another guy who could be the next big thing for Canada. And Mike, you know, just didn't pan out for him. But, yeah, he knocked Neil Magny out cold. And if you told me Neil Magny was going on to 32 UFC fights and 22 wins, I would have said, what the hell are you talking about? It's just got smoked.

So what a great career, Neil's had so far, and hopefully not done anytime soon, unless he wants to be. Yeah. Dude, just flip-flopping wins and losses over his last, like, 10 or 11 at this point. So, man gets it done. Let's go to, do you even have? pick for Chris Curtis? Already done. Willingness into a title fight?

Already done. He's gonna, he's got an event, he's got to avenge his, his buddy. Four Sean Strickland gets, getting screwed by the Canadian government up here. Getting screwed by the Canadian government and getting baited, Sean Strickon getting baited into questions and that probably affected the judges. So poor guy, I think someone has to avenge him. And Chris Curtis, you know what? He can, he can come back up here anytime. And, or maybe he's got to fly down to Joe Berg or Cape Town or something and fight trickus. But yeah, I'm saying, I'm saying, I just think it would be fun. I need to see.

I would love see Chris Curtis get a title fights in there. M. M.A. Hour fans rejoice because it's common. It's common. I've seen the, the emojis. I've seen it all. He's one of the most talked about fighters in the chat during the MMA hour.

Has never appeared on the show. But maybe if he defeats Chris Curtis in a fight like this of this magnitude, maybe he gets his opportunity to go on the most, famous show in MMA, the MMA hour. Chris Curtis versus the Iron Turtle is the fight I'm going with, AK, like, let's just do it. Let's just do it. Like, why not?

Yeah, I guess it's time. Does Jen Young Park not have a fight booked? I don't care. I don't care. He just fought not that long ago. And I know he's coming off of a kind of a controversial loss, if memory serves it correctly, against Bond, Germanese. Yeah, let's freaking do it.

It's a good pick. It's a great pick. It makes a lot of sense. Iron Turtle. Let's go. John Newark. I swear people were throwing that out before you mentioned it. I don't know. Or the sinking on the comments is off. I see a lot of people throwing up the turtle emoji for John Young Park.

God love it. Let's go. Let's go. Middleweighty, maybe the middleweighty, middleweight title will be, maybe we'll have a new champion in that fight. But turtles, I don't know. Maybe Turtle can bring out the very fun of Chris Curtis. Let's go to the main card opener

Kind of like Look, excellent fight Between Mobsar of Lov and Arlalajon High level shit They enjoyed it thoroughly They know what didn't think so like He must have like mispoke He had to be talking about Chris Curtis Mark Andre Barrio

Because how could you even think That that fight was boring It wasn't It was high level shit A little bit of weirdness With the knees in round three I didn't it was so tough doing the watch party and trying to figure out if the leaves are

legal or not. It seems like they were, but it is Canada. There's no replay, none of that. I don't know if Arnold gets to finish there. I don't know if that changes anything because we're just never going to know. So I don't want to die on that hill about like, oh, well, Mark Goddard, who had to make a extreme judgment call with a different kind of a rule set, like doesn't make that call. Like, is that a finish?

I don't know. And even if he doesn't finish, like, I have no idea what would have happened. But either way. Mobsar Vloyv gets it done. I thought he clearly won the first two rounds. Round three was an Arnold Allen round for sure. So, yeah, good win for Mavsarv Leif. And I think he's getting a title shot, man.

I think he's getting a title shot now. Obviously, the timeline could get a little weird if Tuporia wins because you would have to think with Volcanowski's current run at featherweight, they're going to try to give him an immediate rematch. But if Volk wins, I think we're going to get Volk versus Mavsarvoli for the belt. So that's where at. Yeah, and I would understand the immediate rematch too. I don't love it.

But it's this thing where they've set this precedent and they've given immediate rematches for less. And it's easy. And it's so easy for the UFC. This is the easiest thing for them to do if they see a long-time champion lose. Like, oh, that's one booking out the way. Let's just pick one of these cards, whatever one of these cards in the next six months. It's second half of 2024. It needs a main event.

Boom, we can do Volcanowski and Deporia, too, if Deporia wins. So it's lazy. but they certainly have good reason to do it, both from a marketing standpoint, logistic standpoint, and I think in Volcanochik's standpoint, so I don't hate it, but I would love if they could just move on after

and if Volcanowski took a break because it would be weird to see him getting immediate rematch after two lightweight title losses and losing us featherweight title, like three straight losses in getting a rematch, but it's unique circumstances, right? You can't really just break it down that way. But yeah, I like the fight a lot.

The only solace, Michael Tate, because I loved those knees from Arnold Allen, I thought all three were legal, but again, you know, people, the rules are so messed up with grounded knees at this point. I don't even know where to begin. The only solace I take is that I don't think he would have finished Molfar, and he ended up winning the round anyway. So maybe it doesn't change the outcome of the fight. But again, I'm not Arnold Allen. And he's such a class guy, but I'd be pretty frustrated if I even had a chance at a finish.

Because those were some good needs. Those knees were connected. Every time they showed it in replayed it, it break down whether they were legal or not, at some point I didn't care whether they were. or not those are connecting hard um but i'm with you mike no friends forever i will i've if i've lived for me it would be no matter who wins um but yes more likely if it's wopinowski uh because they probably do a rematch but he's earned he's done if anything he should at least he should just wait then he just wait if they do an immediate rematch because he's eight no eight and o eight and oh he's a great fighter i know he needs to take you want to see finishes but

his skill level is so friggin high as is arnold allans that uh you just i've had i don't need to see anymore he's ready to fight to prove he's the best dude he had he wobbled arnold a couple of times in that second round he's so like i've never seen arnold kind of wobbled around like that so yeah good win yeah the knees were were tough but look i know arnold's probably a little frustrated back-to-back losses but i still think he's a guy that could get to a title shot no doubt about it if he's if he's booked correctly oh yeah like do him versus like a guy like josh emit i think that's super fun um i mean the other way to so deep and so loaded right now. Like even if you want to take a little bit of a step back and you want to do like,

um, who's Danny Igay fighting now? I just wrote this up too. Shit. So many. Not fighting Leroma. Oh, he's fighting Andre Fili. Like maybe like the winner of that fight.

Like that's fun. We do something like that. Like the options are there for Arnold. I certainly am not giving up on him by any stretch of the imagination. No. Still pretty young and he's only going to get better. It was a close fight, man. It was a close fight.

Like, uh, again. If loyal is wrestling fantastic. It's not like he did like a ton of damage with the wrestling, and Alan's take down defense was great. It was just an amazing fight. Like, I hate that day. You're right. I hope Dana was either confused or maybe just didn't have a chance to watch the fight

closely and just saw it go to decisions. I thought like, oh, another, whatever, workman-like win for Movesar because this was not workman-like. It was extremely difficult. Allen was really game, and I just can't wait to see either guy fight again. All right. Let's go to the wild car, Brown. Do we have to, Mike?

Do we have to? You picked one of the Canadian men who won, right? How dare you? How dare you? I'm coping. I'm coping, Mike. So we're going to matchmaking for somebody we have not match made for you, and we'll do it right now.

There were two Canadians who did get victories. Yes. And I have a feeling that's sort of the direction we're going. I know that's the direction I'm going, but what direction are you going here? Yeah, I went with one of the Canadian women who represented, no surprise. Jillian Robertson, I thought she did great. She seems to heading the right direction of 115.

She's got the one loss. Sorry, gosh, who did she lose to, Mike? This was literally two fights ago. She lost to Tabitha Ricci, and that's no shame in that Tabitha Ritchie is really good. And it was just her second fight at 15 in the UFC. So, you know, you're getting acclimated to a new eight class. two and one so far. She's got that finishing instinct, man,

that I think is always going to make her appealing as a fighter. And if she just gets on a run, she's never quite put together a run. You guys can look at her Wikipedia. Never won more than three fights in a row. Never lost more than two fights in a row. And she's fought top-level competition. So we just got to keep removing one-fifteen.

Maybe this is a trap. Maybe I shouldn't put her against this opponent. But, like, again, if we're going to start taking her serious as a contender, let's try angela hill let's try julian robertson angela hill mike interesting i like that i like that um great performance from jasmine jazzbizius i mean she was the loki MVP of the card she beat the freaking soul out of priscilla cacruera one of the more one-sided beat dons you'll ever see especially in a preliminary fight on a pay-per-view uh this was something else what a performance from jasmine

gets her first UFC finish. And I'm just going to recycle a pick I had after Jasmine's pay-per-view win in Canada after UFC 289. Molly McCann is fighting in the next card against Deanna Belbeda. I think Molly McCann is going to win that fight. And I think that's the fight you make. Do Jasmine Joseph Vesias versus Molly McCann? Let's go ahead and do that.

They're going to slug it out. They're going to get after it. I'll just do that fight. It could be a little bit more of a get-over fight for Jasmine outside of Canada. Like you can do that fight outside of Canada and it could be a good moment for Jasmine. It's just not a lot there for her right now because she got a ranked fighter and lost to trace square. It has a good fight, but she did lose.

But I just think her and Molly would be a good scrap and I think people would be excited for it. And can only raise Jasmine's profile if she wins and if Molly somehow beats her, like that's good for her as well. So yeah, let's just go ahead and do that. Perfect matchmaking. Perfect matchmaking, Mike. Like, Molly, hold on, I want to check something. Molly, who was her last fight?

She lost. That was the London one. She got finished real quick, and then she stole Yarenko, and she said she's going to go to 115. Mike, I will have to ask, though, and I hate to call you out live on air after a show like this. But is Molly officially booked for this Diana Belpeda fight? I think so. Are you not? Yeah.

Oh, sorry, you said if she wins or win or lose. I'm crystal balling it I think she's going to win she will beat Anababita I think she's going to win and then you do that fight now obviously if she does a win that throws things for a loop but I'm predicting a Molly McCann

win in Molly McCann fashion and then we go and do that yes she's going to become an enemy of Canada if she knocks off Belbita and Jasmine Jastadavishes so and we like Molly up here so I don't know we'll see we'll see that it's gonna be some Canadian grudgery

If it goes down this road, Mike. Yes. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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you call 186653310 or visit comexonterio.ca. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. All right, well, we got through our pick, so we're going to open things up. We flew through this pretty quickly. Next 15 minutes or so, throw in your matchmaking suggestions.

We'll discuss. We'll talk amongst ourselves. We'll weigh in. And let's go. So we can talk about main card fights, prelim fights. You want to list off a whole bunch like Jay Fish just did. Neil Magi v. Nicholas Dalby. I don't mind that.

Michael Lott versus Jake Matthews. Don't mind that. Chris Curtis Bruno Ferreira. Fun. Arnal Allen Diego Lopez. Holy shit. That's good one. I don't know if they'll do that, though.

Seems like a little too soon. I like the... Chazzy versus Ariani Lipsky. I like the Curtis Fed of a matchup. I'll tell you something. I think Curtis takes that easily. I think he's made to diffuse guys like Brun.

And I love Brunner. Brun is a guy who I hope is fighting the O.C. for the next 10 years, because I think he's just going to be such a fun guy every time he goes in there. Just always think someone's going to get sparked. I don't think he can spark Chris Curtis. Very few people can, frankly, and I don't think he can.

And I think Chris Curtis would bring out the best to him, but also beat him. So I actually like that. Mike, let me do a quick check the tapes. I know, again, it's a live show, but hey, this person is getting a live check the stage, because I don't recall anyone else picking this fight. Fadour's sweater told me that they picked this, this bout's happening on April 27th, Anshul Jubilee versus Mahjate.

I maybe other people call for this, like, I don't know, but Fader's sweater if you're out there, that's alive onto the next one point for you, sir, spend it wisely. That's how you get out of points is you just pick the most obscure random fights. And that's how you get him, because anything like with significance is like 100 people say, already. So we got a little bit of doo-do, AK. No. Just a little, just a little bit. Right off the bat from Blue Raider, 1086. Strickland v. Vittory. Burtory is booked. Headlining in April against Brendan Allen at the world's most famous apex. Rocky versus Pena and

the last women's span of my time. This division is just getting going again. This division is just getting going again. What are we doing, people? What are we doing? The Almighty versus Michael where else, Chris Curtis versus as we broke last night. I almost broke it on the watch party. I had not broken news on the watch party yet. We were very close to doing it. We were like an hour removed from the watch party, but broke the news last night after it was announced on the broadcast

that Icram Alaskaroff is out of UFC 298 in his fight against Anthony Hernandez. Anthony already rebooked against Roman Coppuloff, which will also take place February 17th at UFC 298. So Chris Curtis versus the winner of that. Good job. Blue Raider 1086 staying on top of things. I'm going to assume they meant Vittori winner-lose. You know, I'm going to give them credit.

They were so good, including your scoop mic in their pick that I'm going to assume they meant Vittory Wynor-Lews. No, no-do-do there. Jasmine Jezevisius versus Casey O'Neill, Jillian-Robinson versus Jacqueline Amarim, winner-lose in Amarim's upcoming against Corey McKenna happening, 316-24. There you go. I know Jasmine has done some training in Vegas. I don't know if she trains a, no, I don't think she's

Transition Coutor. And I don't think that preclude them from fighting. And if they even if they had trained together. Yeah, I think that's okay. I think that's okay. Yeah. Yeah, that'll work. I think that fight could happen.

I actually thought about that one, too. Pennington versus Pena for UFC Apex 100, AK. Is that one coming up? How do people keep track of this? I have no. Oh, that would just be, that's the same thing as saying UFC Vegas, right? What UFC Vegas is around like 80? I thought we're around like 84 or 85.

85 is not this coming Saturday. And then 86. Are they counting, like, the COVID-era paper views that were in the apex? No. I've not kept track this number. So that's just like, they're just joking. They're going on a random.

So like, if you listen to No Betzbarred, GC doesn't call it, like UFC Vegas, he calls it the UFD apex. Okay. Those flight night cards. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. But I'm not like,

they're not close to 100 yet, right? I'm not crazy. Yeah, they're at 85. Okay. 85 is next Saturday. I thought I lost track of things here. What else we got? City versus Trevin Jones.

Trevin Jones is not in the UFC anymore. He's not? He's not? I don't think so. I think you're right, sir. I'm pretty sure he's no one's in the UFC. Tavares versus Kelleher. I thought Sid he won that fight. I thought he won.

Great fight. It was close, but I thought he won. That was a, I know we don't want to harp on this. I'm sure you guys talking about a post-fight show. Man, was that three splities that went against Canadian? audience, a couple of them justified, I think. The Sean Woodson, Charles Rodin thing was hilarious. Can I tell Bill real quick?

Oh, my God. The Sean Woodson, Charles Rodain thing. If you were in the arena, and I wasn't like in the arena, I was like most of you guys, probably actually watching in home. I think we said the sound cranked up. Bruce Buffer, this is one situation where he shouldn't have done, like, maybe taking a little bit of sauce off of it because he does the elongated Shaw sound, Shaw.

And can remember Charles Jodan, if you're saying it is like a little bit softer, It's like Shah, it's almost like Sha, Charles Rodin. So when he says, and they're not that similar, I understand, like, it shouldn't have been that confusing. When he said Shah, and people are in the arena, they can't hear. They can't hear clearly. Shah and Chao sound very similar. So he extends it out, and as soon as he does the Shah, you guys heard the crowd more. They could not hear.

We didn't know. We were in the media room. And even there, it was loud enough. They're like, we were like, whoa, did, because we thought Charles Jordan won. We were like Sean Woodson. We were like a lot of people in the arena. And then they have the whole confusion. That was just bizarre.

And I'm not, like, Bruce Bumper is not in the moment. I'm not saying like, oh, he should calculate all these things. No, not at all. It's not even a mistake. It's like he still said the right name. He didn't mess up. He didn't say the wrong name. This was just the thing where like he couldn't have predicted that sort of

sequence of events would unfold that way and just kind of confuse everyone. So it was a funny thing. Sean Woodson said after the craziest thing that's ever happened over his career. Yeah, I've felt super bad for Charles Dordane because now he's going to be memed forever. he's now the Derek Zoolander of the UFC like when Zuland thought he won male model of the year but he's actually Owen Wilson's character and he like walks up to the stage

get ready to give his speech but Owen Wilson's already at the microphone and then I have to tell him he didn't win oh my God it was so and then poor DC's like yeah Sean Woodson won this fight and like boom all Canada crazy Charles Turthane's heart just broke oh it was so sad

it was a weird night it was a weird night sometimes Sean Woodson versus Dan Egey Andre Feeley loser. You like that? Great. Great matchup. Sean Woodson, one of those guys. The ceiling is the ceiling is high, man. He's not, what is he? Late 20s? Let's shot. I got to look at it. 31. But 31, and in M.

M.MA years, he's only been fighting since 2016. So it's, it's, it's, it's, featherweight's not a young man's division for sure. It's not like he can wait forever and just keep, keep developing. So that's why that's a good matchup. I think either a guy who's ranked in I gay or, uh, Philee, who's guy who's, has a lot of experience. either way. I like that matchup a lot.

And what's in that as best is just really fun to watch. Blue Radio. Voya versus Yaira Ortega winner. I think there's a good chance he has to fight again before getting a title shot, especially if Vulk wins. You might have to fight again, but I think in Volk wins, I think of Bluio's next. But that's, I think.

I don't, I don't know. I just don't want to see a Vloia fight again. That's not true. I want to see a Vloia fight a lot. But can we not just give this man his title? Yeah, Chris Curtis versus Christian Leroy, Duncan striking extravaganza. Great fight, Chris Curtis all the way. Curtis versus the winner of Deleidzei versus Imovov for the middleweight title.

I don't consider... I don't know if Eamov is in that position. It's hard for me to say because Chris Curtis has been in some middleweighty fights. I look at the Jackramansen fight, other than a lot of the theatrics. That's like the definition of a... It's just level. It's just the level pace for 50s. minutes. Nothing really, you know,

great seems to happen. But he's also had some great fights and great knockouts. I don't know if I like throwing Chris Curtis. He's also kind of a welterweight fighting in middleweight. Oh, but you know what? That's also a very good way to become middleweighty middleweight. So, okay. B.L. you're not, you're not a offline.

Roberts and versus Pinero. I like it. Good. I think someone said, I think it was corrected that they meant if Volk Luz. Okay, sure.

The vocal loses. Where are we here? I just, like, lost everything's freaking thing. Yeah, I see some people calling out for the same matchups as well. There were some pretty, at least at the top of the card, some pretty obvious matchups to make. It does get a little, once you hit Magnium below, it does get a little, like, out there. But again, even Moffstar, I say, sorry, three of the main card fights have pretty clear

options for what's next, both the title fights. And again, Movesar, it's either you think Moves Star should fight for the title or not. It's really it, right? So, guys, you got good, like, pre-level. limited picks we'd love to see those as well but a lot of Strickland versus Ian Gary uh I mean Ian Gary's fighting at 298 so yeah uh why are no fights next weekend uh conference championships for football so they probably don't want to get into the mix with that yeah even the UFC staff needs a break every now and then and and guys UFC staff

is amazing I know people know this people who go to more events than I do like I've seen media people who cover events. The UFC staff is incredible. I don't want to shout out individual names because I'm going to forget people, but like, especially in regards to what happened on Wednesday between myself and Sean Strickland,

like they could not have been more professional, they could not have been more cool. Everyone, I stopped about sharing on social media, like, you should ban this guy. It never even came up. It's like, these guys are professionals. They're used to dealing with this stuff. And even beyond that stupid controversy,

just dated the operations, man. They could not make things, for the most part, could not make things smoother for the media. So big, big chef. up to UFC staff. Like the boots on the ground for the UFC, they're so amazing. The technical teams are fantastic. Like it's, it's, it really makes it a pleasure to cover, to cover an event live.

So, um, they need a break to you guys. All you all these guys, guys, I hope you guys can just have a vacation, uh, this week. And then, uh, and then come back hot for, uh, again, another busy month. Dude, just, just like think of what's about to go down. Like they are the world's most famous apex first two events, but the February 10th event is Super Bowl weekend, which is in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl. So that like that whole week should be friggin madness.

That's crazy. Oh, I have one. Then it's 28. Then it's 298. Then it's Mexico City. And then it was supposed to be Saudi Arabia. But now back at the World's famous apex and then it's $2.99 in Miami.

And then the road to 300 happens. And like things are going to get crazy. Can I give one more real quick boots in the ground update? Augusto Sakai was there. I know people have been wondering all the time. Where's Augusto Sakai? I assume he was cornering. someone on camera or at least it was helping to train someone but the uh ufc apex resident himself was there

i've been told i think we heard a while ago that he's been released or that his contract that he wasn't signed to a new contract i hope that's not true guys i'm sorry i was too shy to go off to him and get the scoop i didn't want to bother him but uh yes the great luckuselso sakai was in the building uh and hopefully he does come back to the uc and guess that gets that biggest residency that i've been calling for yes i think we're good i think we're good i got to pack up and get the hell out of here Get ready to fly back home. Quick trip, quick trip as it usually is. Although we're working on something from March where it may not be as quick of a trip.

So stay tuned for that. Stay tuned for that. It should be a lot of fun. But big shout to all of you guys who checked out the watch party yesterday. Did massive views. And I'm stunned by how many views that freaking thing got. I honestly am. Like truth be told, I told GC before we got sorry.

I'm like, this thing does 80,000 with like how the card looked on paper. I was like, I would do a freaking happy dance if we got 80,000. And we did like triple that, which is friggin insane. So, yeah, time to move on from UFC 27. Kind of a sloggy event. The main event was fun in a lot of respects. And I'm very excited to kind of go back and rewatch that fight. Phantom Wait is back.

I'm watching. Women's Banterweight. It's back. Mike. Did you hear about this? It's back. I don't know if you're right. It's back. It is so back. It is so back. Was it ever gone? Was it ever gone? Is the real question? I mean, that's the real question. Uh, so no show next week, obviously, because of what we just mentioned, there's no card. But, uh, we return February 4th for UFC Vegas 85. Let's run down the card. It's actually not that bad as I look at it. We got Roman DeLizze versus Nasterdeen Emov off the main event. Hanata Moikano, Drew Dober, should be a lot of fun. Vigiani Aver Ujo versus Nati Ice, Natia Silva.

Aliaskab, Hisria versus Mahmoud Muradoff, Gilbert Urbina, AK, here you go, versus Charles Ratki, Randy Brown versus Muslim Salikoff, Thomas Peterson versus Jamal Poges, Julius Stoli Aranko versus Luana Carolina, Blake Bielder versus Jung Jung Lee, Mark Helmadais versus Lynn Kenyones, Molly McCann, Deanna Belveda, Charles Johnson versus Assad, Maxim, and Temba Gorimbo takes on Pete Rodriguez. So that is UFC Vegas 85 going down February 3rd at the world's most famous apex, and we'll be back to matchmake for that, back on the podcast hour. So very excited for that.

And then we'll do it again February 10th. And then it's UFC 298, and we'll be live following that event. So we're doing the dam thing as well in the entire start. staff at MMAfighting.com. We'll be guys of a great rest of your weekend. Enjoy playoff football for A.K.I. Mike Kack. Always remember the golden rule, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun.

We'll have more fun. Two weeks from right now, right here on onto the next one, the podcast. Good night, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.