MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira After UFC White House

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

UFC White House overdelivered in the expectation department on Sunday night in Washington, D.C., and it was capped off by an all-time performance by Justin Gaethje, as he pulled off the stunning upset of Ilia Topuria to win the undisputed lightweight title. It seems obvious where Gaethje and fellow new champ Ciryl Gane go, from the card, what's next for Topuria and Alex Pereira after stoppage losses on the White House lawn? 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 Gaethje and Topuria after their wild main event, along with Gane and Pereira after the interim champ's best performance of his career. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Sean O'alley following his knockout win over Aiemann Zahabi, Josh Hokit after stopping Derrick Lewis, along with fellow winners Mauricio Ruffy, Bo Nickal, and Diego Lopes. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On To the Next One on a rare Monday following a pretty epic UFC White House event, which was capped off by one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, certainly one of the greatest moments in a title fight in UFC history. No one gave Justin Gitchie much of a chance to win this fight. I mean, some people will say, oh, I said he could win. But like realistically looking at it on paper, not a lot of people are giving Justin a chance.

And Justin went out there and just did what Justin Gagey does and beat them. Holy hell out of Ilya, Tuporia, got the stoppage after round four. And what do you know it? Justin Gachie, happy ending on the White House lawn for the American fans. But thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck and joining me to matchmake all things UFC Whitehouse, because he's my best friend after all,

the one and only Alexander K. Lee, AK, how are we doing? How we feeling? It is Monday after quite the card. You're muted. My best friend, we're feeling good. It is, what a weekend. Justin Gaetchi is a UFC champion.

The New York Knicks are champion. This is not something I foresaw at the beginning of 2026. Let me put it that way. but it has to be said, it has to be said. I think as a community, we're feeling a little bit better about one than the other. But yeah, UFC White House, it was a reality. It happened. I mean, a year ago, listen, I didn't think they'd be able to put together.

I thought it was a cool idea. I thought they would end up having it at, like, just a more traditional venue in Washington, D.C. somewhere. I did not think they would actually build a gigantic claw on the White House lawn that would then shield the fighters from the elements and present quite a spectacle. And I did not think they would have fighters walking out of the Oval Office down to the Octagon. Did not think that was the thing. I said, this is all cool idea, cool idea, very fun to talk about. Let's get some good memes out of this. It's not going to happen.

It happened. It all happened and then some. And then we got one of the best moments of 2026 at the end of the night. Wow. Yeah, it was damn good, man. I mean, look, I understand the ones who didn't like it are not into it for different reasons other than like fisticuffs. that's totally fine. It's fair if that's how you feel.

But just kind of viewing it through the lens of an MMA fan and someone who's watched the sport evolve and get to where it is. And it felt good, A.K. It felt good watching it. Like, just as a from that viewpoint, because all we ask A.K. is one simple thing from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It's not a hard thing to ask.

It's not like we're asking for, you know, this and this. All we're asking for is just try a little. And when they try and the reason we ask for is because when they try, like this is what we get. Like we get good stuff. They are capable of all of this. So when people say like, oh, you guys are so negative, you hate the UFC. No, we just know what they're capable of what they did last night. They're capable of what they did at UFC 300. They're capable of what they did at the spear. Like they are capable of doing this every week. with in terms of effort in making people care like they can do this anytime they want to so that's why we get a little hard on them because we know the we know what's there we know what's there so last

night was very enjoyable the rain delay kind of threw some people off but like once the fight started rolling and the fighter started walking we got to see a little bit of it this went over way better than i thought it was going to go i thought the pacing was going to be atrocious it wasn't the best but it was way better than I thought it was going to be. Like, even the history of America packages were not as long as I thought they'd be. Like, they moved it pretty good last night. I have, I literally have no complaints, honestly. Outside of, like, someone, like a couple of dumb things being said on a live microphone.

Like, that is my only complaint. Like, that's a pretty damn good night. This is one of those events that we'll be talking about for a long time. Well, let's not forget the Great Tyson Fury getting a full-on entrance. Oh, like, God, you're right. You're right. Like, major flip. Like, oh, cool.

We're like, whoa, like Zufa boxing. Oh, my gosh. It's like Dana White and Zufu boxing somehow involved in Fury, Joshua, which we know is like in works for later this year. Everyone knows Fiori's going to fight one more time before then. But like, are they just going to say flat out? Hey, guess what? When that fight happens, Dana White, Zufa boxing is involved. Nope.

Nope. Dazirio is like, nah, I'll let Dana talk about it later. I don't got nothing to say about it. You can see Annick. God bless him. The concert of pro was like, okay, I got to call an audible here. Because then Anna has to bring it out. And it was uncomfortable.

And the addict was like, oh, okay. But, you know, anti-Joshra, right? You got anti-Joshua? No. I don't really have anything to say it right now. And then, and then Adana couldn't follow up with it later at the press conference either. So, like, clearly that something is not as far along as they thought it was. There's some miscommunication as far as I think what Burence was, like,

what he was supposed to say. And in the end, we learned nothing. We learned nothing about his D-O-Zu-Zu-Box. It feels like he's going to fight under their banner, like the tune-up fight before the Joshua about and then I don't know what the involvement would be from there we know of course Turkey Al-Sheikh's involved and trickle she of course works with Dana White and all that so I don't know if it'll be under Zufa boxing but anyway that moment was so awkward oh so weird I was oh my god this is cool they flew Tyson Fury all the way out here yes he's in America

it happened they they you know obviously did some finagling in order to get him out there and then we're supposed to get this big announcement and then again it's like yeah I got nothing to say asked Dana White about it and then Dana was asked about and he's like You guys will see an answer coming soon. I'm like, what was the point of this? Like, why are we doing this now? What does it happen? It's so crazy.

But that was just kind of funny how it all played out. But yeah, all at all, just quite the night, quite the spectacle. And yeah, one of one, the one event. Where are they going to go next, AK? Are they going to the moon? Are we going to get UFC moon? Are we going to get UFC Mars? Who the hell knows?

Stonehenge. They're going to try. Just tell them they can't do it, AK. Ooh, UFC Stonehead. I like that. But they got to meet BKFC there because I think BKFC, I think we've suggested this for BKFC before and listen, whoever gets there first, it's been huge.

Yeah, but like, even if BKFC gets their first, like, no one's really watching BKFC. Unfortunately, it's so tough. It's so tough. It's been a tough fall for BKFC. Like, you go to their events live, like they're selling tickets because it's just super fun, but there's like no buzz behind them right now. It's such a bummer because they're so fun.

But get Mike Perry and Darren telling the book so we can turn that around. But we're not here to talk about BKFC. We're here to talk about UFC. We're here to talk about A.K., Justin Keci. He finished the story, AK. He finished the story. There's one thing that has been eluding this man, his entire epic career. He's got all the bonuses.

He's got all the bonus money. He's got all the highlights, all the great finishes, all the incredible fights, fights of the year. His trophy case filled with. with awards, interim title belts, all of that. But there's one thing that was missing from this man's resume and championship mantle. It was the UFC undisputed championship. And last night he did it.

As a giant underdog, he overcame a really tough second round. I thought the, honestly, we were talking about this in a meeting we had earlier. The first two rounds of this fight were exactly how I thought this was going to go. Gaichi was going to have some success in round one. Iliu was going to find his range. He was going to badly hurt Justin Gachie, and I thought he was just going to go out there and finish him. Did not expect him to go to the ground and try to submit Justin Gagey,

which ultimately turned out to be a horrific mistake because he was just, he was cooked after that. And then Justin Gage took full advantage because if you do not take this man out, you're just going to be in some big trouble. You're going to be in a war. And Justin just beat the shit out of this guy for the next 10 minutes. Shout out to Iliot to Poria, man. the guy showed a lot of grit and a lot of gusto.

I was wondering what was going to happen if we got to that point. And yeah, he did as much as he could physically do, but his face is a mess. Just in case he got his big moment in the sun. And what a crazy time, A.K. But the thing about this, it's very obvious where we're going here, A.K. It's very obvious. And if we do not go in this direction, A.K.,

I'm literally going to lose my mind because there's no other direction to go. It is not Charles Olavera. It is not Max Holloway or Connor McGregor. There is one man who is going to get his day in court. And if he does not friggin get it sometime this fall, my head is going to explode. Are you going any other direction other than Justin Gagey versus Armand Syruke, which is right now like one of the biggest fights they can make coming out of this event? I am because the UFC hates Armine.

They don't like Armin. I agree it's a big fight. It's what should happen. Mike, we have been saying Armin should have been. getting his title shot i feel like it's been like a year we've been saying armin should get it i think there was a one point where like we acknowledged okay it's not going to happen this may this fight makes more sense for him da da da da da i still don't think they're going to give it to him um what did what did what did dana say when he was asked about armin after because he did have a question

right the press conference like do you care that armin was at uh ryef i think maybe he just brushed it off or something i think no he didn't he didn't he didn't he was asked or he was asked or he was asked more about hamsad at armin because the danis thing yeah yeah um i i I just, you know, I, maybe I'm reverse jinxing because I want to see that. You are magic wand. It should be Shelson versus Armin. I mean, this is just silly not to give him the teloshot. But I'm just going to follow up on like what I said after Charles's last fight that he would get the winner of this fight.

And this was part of my, they're never giving Armin a tell of a shot unless they have absolutely no choice. And I think they feel like they have a choice because I think they viewed that Charles, I think they viewed that Charles. Max fight. Maybe not as a number one contender fight, but they do put like some. weird weight on the BMF title as being, you know, a secondary number one contender belt. I don't, so I think that they'll want to see that. I think they'll just run it back with G. And I also say it's because I know, I know.

I just feel like we're not getting the matchless we want. So maybe I'm just being too cynical, my best friend. Maybe I've just been burned too many times. You are right. That's what should happen. I'm until I see it, I'm never picking. I'm never picking Armin in this spot again until I see it. No, it's, no.

I'm not listening to this, AK. I love you. my best friend and you shouldn't i i i refuse to listen to this i'm bracing you yes i'm it's armin surruki and it's happening probably in like september october and i'm i'm actually like after watching what gaichi did last night i'm incredibly intrigued by it i really am because again like we i mean we've seen armin some wars and he's come through one and the other i thought he won but didn't get the nod. But Justin Gage is just a different cat.

It's just an absolute different dude. So, yeah, it's got to be Armin Serkin. Like, this dude, I just don't know what else he needs to do. He's like one of the six, seven biggest stars in the company right now. And he did it outside of the UFC. Like, this, you got to give it to him. You got to give it to him. And if Gatee retires, then we do Charles versus Armin for the vacant belt.

And that's that. So, but yeah. Any other direction besides Armin Sarukin is a travesty, an absolute travesty at this point. And yes, this is the area we live in, Mike. We live in an era of atrocious. Arvin B. Charles Oliver, there's no way. There's no way we can do this. There's no way Diego Lopez.

We get a second shot at Alexander Volkovsky. And God help us, Mike, if that Usman-Makachap fight ever happens. Because that's still not out of the, I mean, I think we think we're pretty safe for the next six months. But I don't know. Yeah. Great win for Justin Gachie. moment. Dude deserves everything. Don't let anybody take this moment away from you, Justin. Don't let anyone try to take the shine from you. This is all you revel in it. You deserve it.

All you. Uh, you're the friggin man. And now it changes some different conversations, which I'm way too tired to think about where we rank Justin Gaichi and sort of the all time greatness stuff. I don't even know, I don't even know what we're doing with our pound for pound list, Mike. I have promised the people, I promise the people we're going to do a pound for pound update sometime this week. I haven't done mine yet. And we'll look at it and do it with the next fight as well because we just saw two of the top three people on our list lose. And I don't know what that does to the guys who beat them. I just totally screwed up, totally screwed up. What about Ilyat Toporia, okay? That's the more interesting question here. Ilya,

I thought he was going to do it in round two. I thought he had him beat, ripped to the body, had him hurt, went for too much on the ground. And just by the time the round ended, you just just you kind of felt it okay you kind of saw the the body language between both guys and just it's like all right bet now we're really now we're really ready to go he could sense it he could sense that il he was falling apart a little bit um i had no idea what to do here okay and then i made it i made a decision and i don't even like it anymore i felt so good about it at like 5 a.m on no sleep for 48 hours but i don't even like it anymore but i don't even like it anymore i felt so good about it at like 5 a.m. on no sleep for 48 hours, but I felt so good about this.

And I'm just going to go ahead and stick with it and let the chat just rip me to shreds if you don't agree with it. Elite Tepore is fighting Connor McGregor next. When lose your draw against Baxe all the way. That's where I landed. For the podcast listeners, my eyes are just as wide as they can possibly be. I am, uh, wow.

Man, we listen, we should help people. We don't have a big fight, dude. We should tell people, we do not have a wild card pick this week as we normally do because, you know, It's just essentially was one big fat main card, right? That is a wild card selection in spirit. It is. What you have, you know, you have fulfilled our wild card requirement.

I don't have one. That is, yeah, if you're Ilya, you would love that. No matter the circumstance. Like, McGregor, if you get murdered the next by it, it doesn't matter. He's still a huge name. Is it diminishing? Yeah, yeah. We are on the downslope of, like, McGregor's fighting fame.

The UFC seems to realize this as well. You can tell they're just not putting as many eggs as they normally do in the McGregor basket. Like the promo, whatever the, promo with uh max holloway whatever that little clip was rogan it was so half-hearted it was so just like forgetable i know i know i don't even see it i guarantee a lot of people didn't see it i guarantee a lot people didn't see when the fight was announced we talked about we we've we've talked about that a lot how dana just kind of threw it up on the iG live during like one of the vagus shows or something

yeah it was during the MVP event francesagan is walking to the cage just so bizarre like so yeah that's a getable fight from to for it if he recovers a time if uh McGregor is healthy no matter what happens after his next fight that's a getable fight i had not thought about that i went with a much more boring answer i just want ili to go back to one 45 he always had an unfinished business there cool that he got to go to one p five and win a belt let's be honest he did not beat the man at one fifty five and that wasn't his fault the man left the man went to 170 you know he didn't get to fight islam he still gets to say he won tails in two divisions cannot take that away from him great achievement does not need to go back i feel like this is like a bj pen thing we're

Like, remember you guys, BJ went up to Welchway, beat Matt Hughes. Never defended it, mainly because he left the UFC on a, you know, dispute. But never defended it. And that's okay. It's still an incredible achievement to have done it. So good for Elya. Come back to 145. Take on the hypothetical Volkanowski-Movsar winner, which Mike, I'm just assuming it's going to happen.

It's not official. It's not booked. Let's give Topori the winner that way. I just don't like, I mean, I would love to see Tupori back at 145. he should have never left the division like in hindsight i understand what he's trying to do and the reason why he's doing what he's trying to do is because he's just not going to be around much longer it doesn't need to fight he's make so much money outside of fighting like he's just he we're he's just not going to be here long so i just don't think he goes back to 45 because he hates cutting weight

he does he did say many times he has spoken many times about how much he hated cutting to 145 yeah hated hated it and it's just not like i don't know i don't know honestly we we what you do i really don't know so um yeah give you the big fight man like you're only gonna get connor for so long get ilia for so long i mean yeah this is what you do i want to bring up this comment become too negatively what are you talking about i have no idea but positive are you shitting me i was the tyson fairy bungle are you kidding i was just about to reply to that in the comments that is the worst comment in the history of the show right there kris vl 1852 i don't know if you just didn't listen to the beginning of the show or the last talk of shit i have no clue

we just talked about how much we enjoyed the white house card how great the tall timer what else what else do you want how i got me to get it do you want me to do you want me to say it's not worthy because that ain't happening um you got you got your attention you got your attention and yeah congrats so yeah you picked the wrong day dude i don't you understand that's a preloaded comment or something i don't even understand yeah yeah not not not the way we're putting up we're putting up we're putting up more of the more intelligent comments in the future. Don't worry, guys. We see. We see all the nice comments. I'm sorry, guys. We don't mean to... Yeah, we love, we love you all. I'm calling that out because it's stupid. Wild. It's real bad.

Zero gone, okay. I'm going to make a bold statement right here. Oh, boy. I'm going to say, I'm going to have a hot take. Oh, boy. I know it's a custom and most people say I get a lot of my hot takes wrong. And one of my hot takes, by the way, is that zero gum is going to beat Alex Pereira? And I got a lot of shit for that comment. But, um, I feel pretty good about that pick now. I did not expect what I saw last night from Sierra gone. I expected Cyril to win. I thought he would win a pretty clear-cut decision.

Certainly didn't think he was going to just mow down Alex Pereira the way that he did. This was the most by far impressive performance of his career. And one of my biggest takeaways from this, and even just the short time of the Tom Aspenall fight, even though it ended in kind of shit fashion. I think Sierra O'Gone could be heavyweight champion for a really long time, man. Like, I just, I think that, that guy we saw last night, he's going to be really tough to beat by literally anybody. This is so impressive.

This is exactly what you needed to see. And it was just unbelievable stuff. It's so easy, AK, we know where we're going here. We're just running it back with Aspinall. I know Tom just dropped a video saying, like, Paris in September, let's do it. they should do that, right? Like, they should turn that Paris card into a pay-per-view, right?

Or not pay-per-view, a number to vent, or at least do that fight on that card, right? Like, we can't wait for Abu Dhabi again, can we? Like, give Cyril as, give Cyril as opportunity, man. Like, give him a shot. Let him fight in Paris. I also don't understand. Why is it so important that it's, like, the number of it?

Like, why can't it just stay UFC Paris? Why does it have to become a number of memory? They're all the same anyways. Now they're all the same. I understand there's a branding and, prestige thing. I also wonder if they make it a number of event, do they, like, do they charge more money for tickets? That's probably part of it. That's probably part of it. So maybe they would want to do that. It's like if we're giving you a title fight, then we want to charge you more to

see it live. So fair. I guess there's an optics thing between like, hey, we're charging you this much for UFC 3, 30, whatever, as opposed to we're charging you this much for UFC pairs. I don't know. It's stupid. Yes, they should have the title fight there. We had argued in the past, they should have had the title fight in, obviously, in London or something somewhere in England, right? because that was like the only way that Aspinall was going to get a super rousing supportive cheer. But if not, go fully the other way, where if you know he's going to get booed, then yeah, send him into enemy territory. Like, give them a reason to boo him. Give let's see a god.

Casilagat also needs to be kind of in a positive place after one, the eye poke and two, you kind of beating up a fan favorite fighter in Alispedetta. So yeah, please don't like, don't take this to some random town in the United States. Bless your country, Mike. Bless your glorious country. Like Las Vegas would be fine. but it won't have the same juice if you had it over in another France or in London. Yeah.

And there's really no other way to go. So give us that fight. It's big. This is a win-win fight for the UFC, honestly. Like, got history with God if he wins and if Pereira wins, like three-division champ, you can play that card up. Him and Aspinall becomes much bigger. So I think Cyril Gunn's going to beat, man.

I'm going to beat him, man. I don't know. I'm still on the Aspinall train, but he definitely needs to find ways to get that fight to the ground. stand up god is tough to be yeah stand up he looks so good man that dude outside of francis he's like might be that dude yeah he looks so good uh what about alice perere okay uh same thing i said for a leo man just go back down if you can i know cutting weight sucks but it's not like the thing is um i don't think we see him again in 2026 uh that sort of also was my reasoning for to foria like making the having go back down to 1.45 i think you got

take some time off um i think the fact they fought in june you know everything was save for this White House card in June. It kind of puts them in a weird space, right? Like half the year's already gone. Certainly, they could turn around and have a very nice four, five-month camp and fight in November or December. Like, that's not unreasonable. If they decide to do that, it makes a ton of sense, you know, if you can find the right

fight. But I think it's better for them to just really just sit out the rest of the year and recover, do whatever they have to do with in Pineda's case, again, you know, have to get down to a manageable weight if light, heavy weight is a plan. And I think that's what you do, especially with Oldberg, also on the shelf for our time. I want to warn people ahead of time when they see our ranch. rankings, it's going to look weird because I think we're keeping Padetta at number one. We have Olberg still in there because he is not,

Ulberg has not vacated the title. So we don't know what's going on in there. There's no way he's going to be back before the year's over. I think almost no way. So we're in this weird spot where the top two spots at 205 are just kind of stuck there. And I think they will be stuck there, Mike, until next January, February, March, when it's sort of a double comeback fight, obviously Ulberg back from the injury and Alex Padetta back at 205.

Uh, nope. Okay. That's how we're going. I know where you're going. The man who is, uh, he's doing it. The man's getting what he wants. Uh, he's poked and prodded and gotten no reaction out of the man, but Josh Hokit's going to fight Alex Prairie next.

Like, and it's going to happen this year. It's going to happen at Madison Square Garden. Oh, wow. In November, uh, that's what's happening. We're going to give. I think the UFC is going to give us a Hokit breathing. I don't think they're just going to put him right back in there. But put him on the New York card.

Do it against Pereira. Perreira would be just like super duper fan favorite. Just got to do that fight, man. Like, again, with Pereira, don't have a lot of time left with him. It's not like he's a young man. Dude's accomplished literally everything you can have possibly accomplish. He's not going to win a heavyweight belt. He's not going to be a three division champion.

Just cash in on this one before it's too late. And who knows? Maybe Pereira goes out there. and just obliterates Hokit and gets the hero, you know, the hero's reaction. But I kind of think you have to do it, AK. That hawkid schick, you know, mileage may vary, is not going to fly in NY. That they will, he will not. And maybe he wants that.

Again, he's reached that point, I think, or at least he feels that, like, as long as they're, whether they're booing me or they're cheering me, at least they're talking about me. We've certainly talked about him a lot. He was talked about a lot after the show. I think he made a very, you know, a very, very stupid joke about, I say joke, comment, very super comment about Michelle Obama. which the UFC has like clearly tried to distance themselves from uploads of that clip like they just cut that part off

they even whoever is in the UFC they even they said this is just beyond the pale and just completely ignorant dumb thing to say it's not the first time he's done another he just said it about Britney Griner too it's really stupid um he could get the fight you're right there's heat there but I think one the fact the fact that the UFC has had the reaction in that comment even Dana White calling it out in Time magazine just saying like yeah that's stupid don't talk about that stuff. I do think he's rubbing people the wrong way,

um, backstage. And I don't think he's risen to the level of commodity and popularity that it can overcome that. Um, because I know the, you know, the examples who would bring up is like maybe Colby Covington,

maybe, uh, Sean Strickland. I would, Kobe Covington, I think is a really good comparison. That's fair. Like he said a lot of stuff and it did not get in the way of him,

getting to the top. Strickland, I would say he, uh, was such a good company man as far as like being active and giving them fights, that he forced his way. And, and maybe Hawkins doing the same thing.

I don't know. Hayhawks doing the same thing. And Strickland has certainly reached a level of popularity that Hawkins is not at yet. So Strickon can get away with saying, again, horrible, horrible things, but the UFC kind of turn around. I don't know if they're there with Hawke yet. He is a very good fighter. I just, and by the way, Mike, I also think Padetta, if he has a choice, and I don't know if he does. And I know he doesn't say no to these things.

I think he genuinely does not want to fight him. I think he does not want to give him that fight. Does like, no, it's not want to give him that the satisfaction of sharing the cage with him. I really believe that. Yeah, I just prayer just kind of strikes me as like, hey, Hunter, you want me to fight this guy? Fine. I'll do it. It just seems like that guy. It's just going to say yes to whatever they ask him. And it's worked out well for him. They keep putting him in these big opportunities. And like, Bernie's got a really good chance in that fight. It's not like it is I think he's probably the favorite in that fight. I said I think he would bulk down to like two like that extra because he came at 251. Yeah, he didn't see that coming. He didn't look good.

Josh Hawket is like a 230 around 230. I think Proleta would probably bulk down, maybe just moved down to his walk around weight because whatever the bulking was, it was not effective, it looked terrible. Yeah, he had a chance. I frankly would favor Hawket. And I say this because, like, as much as I criticize Hawkins' personality and schick and just everything, I really enjoy watching him fight, and I think he's a very, very good heavy weight. Is there a clear ceiling?

Yeah, right now I think there's a clear ceiling. But could he just like take Padetta down and beat him up? damn I really think he could I really think he could and that's not why I think Palletta won't take that fight like I said I think he just genuinely hates him hates him to the point that he doesn't care about beating him up he just doesn't want to have anything to

do with him like that different kind of hate but you're right it's possible I'd rather see I'd rather see Pettico back down but don't be surprised one of these cards you're right MSG or something it's a just put out of his hockettling

oh god well they won't do that but I don't know man maybe a five round co-man event I could serve they see that happening so uh let's go to well we don't have to match rake for hoit because uh at least i don't but we'll get there in a moment let's get to sugar shan o'malley a k the man said i'm going to go out there and knock out there i'm going to go out there and nuke him and he did he went out there and did it aman looked frightened the entire way he just looked uncomfortable from jump street

and then he just started getting like overly aggressive and he started having a little bit of success. He was landing leg kicks. He was just kind of throwing a whole bunch of nonsense. It was like pushing, it was like playing a video game and pushing the buttons really fast. That's what Amosahe was doing in there. And then O'Malley just got the big counter shot. I got to tell you, I

could, I could not have hated this stoppage more. I didn't like it. I thought he was fine. Dude is proven to be super durable. Just go back and watch the Josealdo fight. He got hurt real bad in the Aldo fight and came through it and then almost finished Josealdo on the

other end. He was maybe the finish would have come a couple of punches later, but that just seemed like super quick. I was on a fan of it, but either way, Sean O'Malley gets a huge win. Shotomalley called for Piotr Yan. What are we doing here, A.K.? Do Sean O'Malley fight next? If Marab, for some reason, it's not available or the timing doesn't work out, I think Sean slides right in. I still think that the UFC's like primary match, primary booking is going, is like running that back one more time with Duwlishville, Yon. Like, the window is just kind of small. I think there's some heat there, and whatever heat there is, like, you want to get it while you can.

So I do think we see that trilogy about it. I know Yon's recovering from injury, but I have to imagine the last quarter of 2026, he'll be ready. So give O'Malley the winner of that. I cannot picture Sean winning, fighting again. I just can't. I think he can wait. I think he's done enough to earn one more crack with the title. I want to see him fight period again so bad.

It's definitely, excuse me. It's definitely a harder sell if it's Marab. Like I have far less interest in Marab and him. Fighting again, I just think that's a matchup that Marab wins nine out of ten times. The Yon, much more intriguing. But I'll still say, I'll still say they could conceivably book him in Marab three. Obviously, I'm leaning towards Yon winning the trilogy with the Wallisraeli and doing an O'Malley rematch. Sean O'Malley's going to get his shot up, Peter Yon, if he wins his next fight.

Because we have to do it, AK. enough is enough Sean is in no position to really shout out for anything at this point you want to know honestly the most surprising thing that I noticed this week

just based on trends and numbers and like overall just having ears that hear things no one seemed to care about Sean O'Malley at all through the entire build of this entire fight card like it was super weird

and Sean didn't do himself a ton of favors either he was not the you know he he he he was not Mr. personality all week. He was not Mr.

personality at Media Day. He was certainly not Mr. Personality at the press conference. He was good with Rogan and then he went to the post-fight presser and he was back to, I don't know, we'll see.

Like, Sean, what are you doing? He said nothing. Maybe it's a new Sean, but this is not a Sean that's working very well. So Sean's going to have to buy a little bit more goodwill because if they go ahead and give him a title shot, people are going to hate it. They're going to hate it.

understand it. This dude has gotten a lot of opportunities. Corey Sanhagen's fighting Mario Batista. And I don't care, Mario Batista obliterates Corey Sanhagan. We're doing O'Malley Sanhagan next and that's it. Like, and if O'Malley wins, even if it's a Mara dude, like, give it to him. Like, I'll, I'm fine with it. But I wouldn't love it, but I'd be okay with it. Can we just do O'Malley versus Sanhagen? Can we just do this, please, for the love of God? Is that much to ask? We can't do O'Malley,

our Amali and Batista buddies? They're friends. Their teammates can't do that. And plus like, I don't think, you know. We just saw Zahdi. I feel like we don't.

I mean, and Batista, I think is better than Sahavi, but. Yeah, just do that. He's even said, like,

I wanted to fight this dude and I got song. And then I wanted to fight this dude and I got Aiman. Like, can we just do the Sandhagan fight for God's sake? Like, it's right there. It's fight everybody wants. Everybody wants it.

If he lose it. If he loses, though, they won't do it. They won't do it. I think almost no chance to book him and Sean. Well, it depends on how it goes. Yeah. Yeah. But I think he's going to be Mario Pisces anyway.

So, and then we can do it. How about Mauricio Rufi, AK? Oh, no, I'm sorry, Josh Hogan. Who are you passing up for Josh Hogan? Yeah, I kind of screwed myself here. I guess I guess he sits out and fights the Aspinall gone to winner. I guess that's what I'm saying. I'm just getting just give him the time.

Only because I don't know. I would say Pavlovich, like I loved, it was suggested on the last, a bunch of people suggested Pavlovich after the, I think it was Macau, right? The Macau show. And then I was like, man, I had not thought of him in Hawket. Like I would, like, I need to see that fight. But I think I had previously, I care what I did for, there was a reason I couldn't do it. But for everyone out there who suggested Pavlovich and Hawket, I think that actually is a real possibility,

much more realistic than him getting the winner of the next title fight, frankly. And I'm very, if he beats Pavlovich, I mean, that's a real. Like that is a super good chance of beating pavlov. The wrestling. The wrestling. Yeah, the wrestling. It won't be fun, but he has a very good chance to be in circuit Babylon. But I want to see it.

I think that's a great matchup. So, but whatever, I think I did something else for Pav. So I'll say, I'll say, God help us, gets fights for the title. And this guy's story is so crazy. I mean, I have nothing would surprise me anymore. Yeah. I mean, you could do Hoke and Volkov, too. I mean, Volkov just beat Waldo.

And before anyone points it out, yes, I'm saying, I don't think the U.S. than the pit out of fight, but they'll give an undisputed UFC Heavyweight title shot, okay? There's not a lot of logic sometimes to what I say, guys. Okay, there's not a lot of logic to it. Sometimes I just say things. Yeah. Brisha Ruffie,

beat Michael Chandler. God, Chandler looks so bad. On paper, on paper, on paper, like the most meaningless, horrible fight, and certainly played out that way. I was just like, there are multiple moments where I was just like, what are we doing here?

this is going to be so bad and Ruffy just it just didn't even feel good watching the knockout because there's just such bad matchmaking but it was impressive like Riffie went out there and did what he needed to do and then he proposed and apparently she said yes so a great night overall from

Marisha Ruffy I'm just going to Matoosh Gamrock because I think it's fun like let's just go out there and have a good time and I kind of want to see what he does against a guy like that because I don't think I just don't think this I don't think we can give him anything more from this just yet you go up there and beat a gammy go get gamut yeah we can start talking about

some of the bigger names in the division but right now i kind of think this is this is where we're at who did you have for see so i have gamrod fighting cell killed that's what i want to see um who do you think's going to fight cell killed next i don't remember if we had a chance to talk about that last i can't remember one of the shows one of us wasn't on yeah which which card was that oh gosh uh per that's uh perth No? Did I go Dan Hooker or did I maybe go the Fiziv something loser? This was, yeah, Burr. He'd the sacrifice of B'Neil, yeah.

I don't know. Maybe I went Moikano. Okay. I think that's maybe where I went to that one with that one. I can't go camera. I went camera for him. Mike, let me answer your question with a question. Why can't?

Why can't Marisoroufi fight Diego Lopez at 155? Ooh. Right? It's not crazy. If Diego, so my thoughts on Diego, I'll just say it now. We're going to get there soon. But I'll say now, I think he spends the next little while just chasing intriguing fights at 155 and 145. I don't know if he ever makes that permanent commitment to 155, but he's very well aware that he's pretty far back in the feather white telepicture right now. He got his two shots.

He knows he's going to have to do a lot to earn another shot. Obviously, he would hope just that Volcanovsky loses, maybe gets a blow every match, something like that. But that's a lot of ifs. and I think he likes to stay active. He likes to get paid. So if he can be one of those guys who can bounce between two weight classes and have fun fights, more power to him. And if he gets a winner with a Roofie, damn, man.

Maybe we start talking about him making his way to a lightweight teleshot. We're not there yet. We're far from there. But I think, I don't know. I think that makes a lot of sense. And I would love to see that fight. Yeah. I mean, that'd be sick.

That'd be sick. There's lots of directions we can go here. And that's what's fun about the lightweight division and guys who could be lightweights. Yeah, I went with Gammy and we'll just see, but if they go Diego Lopez, I'm certainly not going to be upset about it. And we're going a little bit of a different direction with Diego, but there you go. Let's go to Bo Nickel, AK. Oh, boy. Are we doing it, Mike? I think, are we about to friends forever? You got to count it down? You want to count it down? We probably should. Bo Nickel goes out there and fights Kyle Dachis and obliterates Kyle Dachian.

Yeah, we were wrong on this one. We were wrong on this one. We're sure we're wrong. We'll look good. Yeah. Kyle Dachis, like, looked like he was a deer and had like, just staring there and he lost movement in his lower extremities just standing there knowing the bad thing was going to happen he looked scared to death at the moment really did and beau just looked super ready for it was embracing all of it had a great time and got a good finish let's kind of down a k three two one israel israel at a son yeah okay i don't even think we i don't even know for your friends forever here, but this is one trillion percent happening. We saw what happened with what it did for Joe Piper.

Bo is going to beat Israel out of Sanya. And I don't know. I think they're going to go ahead and do it. And this would be very consistent, frankly, with the UFC's matchmaking this year. I have frankly praise. I know some people don't like it, but I have praised the UFC for taking a lot of these fighters who are sort of entrenched in the top 10, top 15. and, you know, a lot of these guys are on losing streaks,

and they don't want to fight anyone lower in them. They, you know, they go, well, they end up on these losing streaks. They're only fighting top three, top four, top five guys, and they just refuse to go outside of that range. And the UFC matchmakers have done a pretty good job this year of, I don't want to say forcing them, but, like, making these matchups happen, jarring some of these guys loose. And that's why we have some kind of names that are finally climbing up at 1.25, 170,

like traditionally very difficult to shake up divisions. And it might be Aziz's turn next. He might be the next man. where we play that, oh boy, you know, declining veteran versus up-and-coming contender card. We've had a lot of that this year. And yeah, I think Bo would be at least a two-to-one favorite, maybe more.

Maybe I'm underestimating it because Izzy's lost four straight. It sucks to say it, guys. It's not a fun matchup to say, but it seems realistic. No, because we know, like, this is where Ezra Adasanya is now. Like, this is, this is where we're at. It's put over the young talent guy, and if you teach him a lesson, then it's fine. but good for Bo, man.

I mean, I don't think this does anything for, like, his popularity in any way, shape, or form. Like, people are just so indifferent about Bo. Him fighting at the White House was kind of the perfect spot for him, really. Like, it made him a baby face more than who he would be anywhere else. So I guess that's good, but Bo needed this win badly. He needed to win more than anybody else's entire card. His career, I might say his career was over, but, like, any title hopes, gone, all of it gone, any promotional push gone if he went out there and lost his fight.

And he went out there, not only did he win, he finished and I was going to get Israel to Sanya and some weird fight and probably headlined some event, some fight night card in Des Moines sometime later on this year. So yeah, good win for Bo Nickel. And then Diego Lopez, you already match made for him. I won with the I year. That's the main event of the MHA UFC. I keep forgetting that.

You can do it 55. Do it a 55. It gives a shit. Yeah, you're come out of hibernation. Just what you're freaking come out of hibernation and do this fight. Yeah. Just do it. Like, this is, this is it.

Just let's go out there and have some fun. And that's your main event for Nocha UFC. So, okay. That is UFC White House. That is the matchmaking for UFC White House. So let's go to you guys. Check out your suggestions right now. I did have one listener that I'll read off real quick.

Sure. Most people know how it works. but where are we? I believe it's a first timer. Yes, it is a first timer. Okay, I'll shut about. Tucker Personettes. Thank you.

Mike, big fan of the work. You guys do at MMA fighting. I've been listening to several MMA fighting programs over the last few years, and Otno was the first one I started listening to. Figured that UFC White House card

would be the perfect card to send in my first Otno picks. So welcome to the party. Steve Garcia versus Yusuf Zalal is his first pick. Diego Lopez versus Jaire Rodriguez is the second pick

Kyle Dachas versus Roman Copulov is his third pick Bo Nicol versus Roman Delizze is his fourth pick I actually don't mind the Deleizze one only because he will just dummy up Roman Deleizze

in such a bad way that at least he would get him a ranking and then you can maybe sell these if you feel a little better but you don't even need to do that. You can just do the easy fight. Ooh, interesting. Maritia Riffey versus Max Holloway after he beats Connor McGregor. So we're going Max with a win over Connor. Interesting. He goes from the real Connor to the fake Connor. Yeah. Okay. Michael Chandler, this is where I went the last time

and I'm staying with it. Michael Chandler versus Drew Dober. He agrees with that. Has to happen someday. Like if we're going to do Michael. Yeah. Michael Chandler versus Jim Miller. Michael Chandler versus Drew Dober. Like anything else is. is it is just you just don't like him i still want the terrence mcginnie oh we could do that but that could end in like 15 seconds yeah we can either way either way in like three years we could do that derrick lewis versus chamil godzia god no oh my god this one i just like no like i don't even know i don't i don't have a lot of positive things to say about derrick lewis's performance that was not good man that was tough i think it's uh

I think it's time. It hurts my soul to say that, but it is what it is. Josh Hokit versus Alex Pereirae is a hobby versus Raul Roses Jr. That's interesting. That is actually kind of interesting. That is interesting. Wow. H.

Ah, Romali, Yon 2, post-Borabre rematch, win-l loser draw, gone versus Aspidol, Gaci versus Armin, Ilya versus the Benoit Sontani-Pi-Pimblit winner. So whoever it is, they fight Iliadipoia. There you go. Welcome to the party, pal. Thank you. Thank you for the picks.

I don't think they're going to do Ilya versus BSD. I don't think that. I think that fight goes really badly for Ilya, just based on what we saw in the Gagey fight. Patty, maybe, but he's got to be massively undersized in the paddy fight as well. So I don't know. If we see Ilya 155 again, I still have faith that he could beat a lot of guys in this division.

We'll see. I'm going to withhold my take on who I think would give him a problem or not for now. But BSD is just a piece of freak. All right. Let's go to you guys. Oh, by the way, I ran a poll, quick poll, who was the biggest winner outside of just case you. Unsurprising, 64% Cedilil gone. Josh Hook was ahead for a while.

I didn't realize. Now, Josh Hockett, Sean O'Malley, tied 17%. Bo, 2%. So maybe you're right, Mike. Maybe not the biggest winner, but he avoided being the biggest loser. Yep, 100%. Fair. 100%.

Let's go. Lazy. Bo, Nichols is going to to fight Brennan Allen on a random card. What's Brendan up to? So Brennan just... He just beat Edmund Shabazzian.

I'll tell you what. If Brennan Allen does not go to Philadelphia and fight Joe Pfeiffer, he is in so much trouble. Okay, okay. Yeah, I don't want to see him fight Nickel right now. He's never fighting for a belt if he doesn't do this. So, Riffie versus Armin?

Zero chats, that happens. I actually thought about that because I told you, like he's not getting the title shot they're just going to keep throwing him in okay he's getting it i he's getting it i want to believe you and if he doesn't he'll just wrestle for r a f until he does is he done with his a rio he's not booked for another it's ferguson right that was it right he's not no he's booked to the next two he's big he's going to he's going he's competing on the georgia car july and then he's headlining a week later against colby and milwaukee oh my god who is he fighting in georgia another wrestler like not a non-recyclor

combat sports guy that he's just going to obliterate. You think they're getting him a title shot? You think he gave a title shot with all these shenanigans? Why? He's been like the, you know, the Georgia think the first one didn't go great, but, you know, he's become like the guy. But I don't, I don't think they like that he is making his name for himself without them. But they're allowing him to do it.

I know. But I think it's only good PR for the, for the company, too. Like, no one's like, oh, they don't view. Armin as R-A-F superstar Armin Suruki in there. It's like UFC superstar Armand-Sarukin is just wrestling for R-A-F. So like this is, it's good PR for the UFC to have him out there, especially with how popular he is right now. It's all good stuff. But I don't know.

I much like I would have done with the Kamara Usman Islamakachev title shot, if that had happened. If they go any other direction besides Arm and Surukin fighting for the next title shot, I'm going to lose it live. Oh, live reaction, live reaction to... It's gonna not be fun. To Charles Olivaire, Justin Gathe, G2. Oh, wow, live reacts. Mike, before you met, someone asked,

can you upload the live audios of the podcast feed? We normally do, right? Don't these... Okay, okay. I don't know if we missed one or something, but yeah. No, it'll go up. Or they haven't checked. Okay, it'll be there, guys.

Connor Rogan, first time picking. Welcome to the party, pal. Welcome to the party, pal. And it's Justin versus BSD when he beats Patty. at International Fight Week. I love Armin, but BSD has been more active and I believe it would be

a much more entertaining fight. I had not even thought about that. That's Jed, isn't it? That's Jed Bishu. Jed. Is this a murder? A Jed birder? Jedd Berta.

Jedd has always wanted Justin Gitch versus Bedmont Sonson. I just don't... Beating Patty is not enough to... Well, I mean, it worked for Justin Gitchie. It's apparently enough to, yeah, get the undisputed title shot, so... Yeah, damn.

I like that. Lewis versus Eddie Hall, love this idea. Man. You know, we didn't talk about this a little bit, but Eddie did not, okay,

I want to say Eddie did not look horrible and if guys didn't know there was a Tommy Fury show boxing match on Saturday via Misfit boxing. Eddie didn't look bad, though him and Tommy are friends, so there was a little bit

of a spar field to it. But Eddie was throwing some hammers, for sure. Eddie was throwing some hammers and actually Tommy, like, laid in some good shots as well, especially to the body.

I don't know. Like, Eddie Hall's not the worst, like, you know, influencer, what you're going to call him, boxer. Combat Sportsperson I've ever seen. He smoked puds. He beat two guys at once. We saw that. That was hilarious. The best.

If he can beat two guys at once who theoretically probably weighed as much as Derek Lewis combined. I mean, that's just big, man. You throw that on an MVP card, throw that on a BKFC card, dirty boxing. I feel like this is going to happen. Yeah. I feel like it's going to happen somewhere in that. some form yeah Derek Lewis a BKFC I don't know that uh Lewis versus Steven Aswan boy that's where we're going cheesh that's what we're going

Derek Lewis so we're serpent Arm and Justin correct Ilya versus Patty winner fight Ilya versus Patty in the winner fights the champion okay I don't know it's a tough sell getting Ilya into a title fight after well I mean it's not completely out of the out of the way but um that's what you don't have to put this up is the boy 173 do you think to per or sell this chance for Islam Womtie 5. Nope. Didn't really think he did before. To be honest, you pretty far. Pretty far from Islam believer over here.

And most, yeah, most believe that was just a terrific matchup for Islam. And I think even more so now after seeing how that all played out. No disrespect to I think Islam is just that damn good. Yeah. Louis Ben Rothwell and BKFC Sher. Bo versus DDP from Caleb. That's just, that's too much. Bo, Bo losing real bad in that fight.

Joseph, Justin Armin, gone, Tom, too. Pimblit. I mean, we won't do to you, but probably should. Josh versus Pavitch, nickel versus Christian Leroy, CLR? CLD?

CLD. CLE's book, does he not? News to me. Sounds familiar. Off the top of my head, could not tell you who. I think you are right. I'm just looking at right now.

But yeah, I believe he did mean CLD. Is he fighting like Canon Air or something? Indeed he is, sir. Yeah, correct. July. Yeah, he is. Ah, maybe that's the main event for you. UFC O KC since we haven't heard about the other middle-way fight.

Tickets on sale now, by the way, guys. Tickets on sale now. We're five weeks away from that event. We have no main event. It's crazy. Diego versus Oliver at 155. O'Malley versus Sanagan. Another earlier versus Patty.

That would suck, I guess, if we never saw Alien Patty actually fight. It's not like one I'm obsessed with. I think it's cool. I'm glad they hate each other. But I kind of like it wouldn't break my heart if it never happens. Unless they host the ultimate fighter first, then that's clear. I just think, I just think, I mean, maybe the size of Patty kind of helps him, but like skill for skill, like Ilya smokes Patty Pemblin. Yes.

We'll see how he does the BSD. Maybe Patty goes out there and surprises. I give Patty so much credit for taking this fight with BSD. We saw Ilya knock out three ledges a row night. I don't think he could beat BSD. Who? Ilya? Well, you know, Max Holloway, Volkanowski.

and Charles Olivera. You know, that's what he's saying. Like, you know, and then we just saw him lose to. Did you not watch what I watched last night and like feel confident he's beating BSD? I certainly didn't know he confident. Oh, uh, I understand the spirit of the comments. Um, yeah, because I think you would normally would have ranked those gentlemen above. Um, I would pick BSD to beat Charles.

I would pick BSD to kill Max Holloway. I would pick BSD to absolutely annihilate Alexander Bolkanovsky. Wow. Like none of those fights. Neither of those fights are competitive. Volk, yeah, the size for sure. Wow, you think he'd kill Max and don't probably? Yeah.

Man, I don't know. My best friend, I don't know if I'm with you on this one. Dude, Charles is, Charles's weathered, man. Yeah, of course they are. Of course they are. But, you know, BSD ain't. And he's looked great. VSC's in top form for sure.

He's a little bit of a glass cannon, though. He gets hurt. I mean, he had a rough stretch. We've all gone through it. Everyone's had rough stretches. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'm hanging on to the past too much.

I definitely would still pick Charles, but I'm a huge Charles guy. I still think Charles would be Chabee, Mike. I haven't let that one go yet. All right. Just trust me. I'm playing the long game with that prediction. Okay. It's going to happen.

It's good. Just wait. I haven't given up my stock. The stock is real long. Okay. I will say this. If we're going to do Charles Oliverer, RISC, has got to be for the bat belt.

Okay. That I will accept. I would still pick BSD quite comfortably. but yeah you did yeah look the ilya run was great they was unbelievable but like i just don't think either of those guys are beating ben was on city at this point i just don't see it happening uh thoughts on sean strickland being kicked out i mean he he's made it he got what he wanted he got like a ton of attention out of it he's he has made it no secret that he like has issues with this administration and is willing to speak his mind and say whatever he wants.

Again, for better or worse, I disagree with a lot of the man's opinions, but he's not lying when he says he's willing to take shots at pretty much anybody. I certainly Donald Trump, he's taking some shots at him. And yes, this was from Fan Fest. This is from the fan fest, right? They got kicked out of it? Yeah. It's just not the place for that.

I mean, I think that's the sort of thing where if you're the UFC and whoever else was involved and making this decision to throw him out, it's a pretty easy call. It's really not I think he kind of has to learn to pick his battles But yeah guys by the way from what we heard He's not like in serious like criminal trouble He was removed He wasn't even like arrested

He wasn't even properly arrested He was removed and it made for a great Trust me he's very happy with how this turned out He tweeted out the picture of him being escorted out of The place with like a bunch of authorities around him And I'm sure he thought it made him look like a freaking badass And I'm sure a lot of his fans thought too So he's fine

He got what he wanted out of this whole situation Yeah. And I would have bet a billion dollars he was going to be in DC. After all that, oh yeah. I was like, guys, you understand what's happening here, right? He's going. He's going to be there and he's going to be a prevalent part of this fight week. He's just going to be. There's just no way that you're building up to all this. He's just staying in Las Vegas. So he was not banned. No one thought he was banned. I mean, a lot of people like ran with that story. But craziness. Like this, this is what we're, this is the. world we live in ladies and gentlemen we just had we just had fights at the white house lawn yeah like that was a real thing that happened yeah sean and you know what sean for a guy who's just trying to like continue to build his profile and get more popular like Sean was like one of the five biggest things that happened this week just the talk of him whether you like it or not yeah uh well the ufc signed new guys is indeed some fresh blood at 155 yeah once the next series a contender series

going up like yeah it's coming real soon you're about to get you're about to see like a dozen new lightweights guys you've never some of your favorites will be gone and some of the people in eight and and then about 50 nude fighters are going to be signed don't worry about them are good they got no shortage of lightweights don't worry about that yeah BSD got smashed while my conno that was a while ago as a while and it's a new it's a new guy since then pretty pretty clearly uh matchup Diego Lopez versus Kevin Vagejos. Diego Lopez versus Kevin Vichael. Oh, yeah.

I love this idea, but they're not going to do it. Not yet. They're not going to do it. Matchup picks, guys. I've seen a lot of comments. Where's the fight picks, guys? Where's the fight picks? Uncrowned reported, Sean was charged with disorderly conduct.

But you know what? We have done our own research, and we have looked at records. Sean Strickle was not arrested, nor was he charged. He was just escorted out for, quote, safety reasons. Ah, that old excuse. After sneaking into UFC fan face. There is no arrest. No arrests, no charges, no nothing.

Okay, this is for you. I know. Randomly dropped the premiere for cycle 34 last night. Joseph, listen, Liggen, Lainzad Baseball. I got the episodes ahead of time. And I've actually two episodes in. And I haven't had a chance to watch either of the mic. I have two episodes burning a hole in my laptop right now.

and I have not had a chance to watch them. Because I should tell people, there will be another episode on Tuesday night. Like they normally when the show airs. So, yes, they did the premiere on Sunday, and we'll have episode two already. So you got two episodes of Ultimate Fighter this week, guys. A lot to catch up on. I can, hopefully I can do it. I know you guys can do it.

And I should tell people we're going to have some pretty sweet Ultimate Fighter coverage this year. I don't want to spoil too much. I'm going to have some recaps, but maybe with a little assistance from one of the fighters on this season. We'll reveal that this week. And what was that thing? Oh, yes. And I expect to, fingers crossed,

if everything works out, regularly be interviewing the winners of each week's episode. So there you go, guys. It gets a little bit, a little bit more about the cast, something we just haven't had a chance to do in the last few seasons,

but UFC was great about reaching out and reminding everyone that the greatest reality television show in history is back. And let's get people talking about a little bit more. So look forward to some increased Ultimate Fighter 34 coverage. Yeah, look, there's some names on here that I actually like.

Gigi Canuto, big fan. Natalia Alves, I thought should have been in the UFC like two years ago, even when she was like four now. She's probably going to win the whole damn thing. Like that's,

she is definitely my pick out of the women's straw weights. Let me see the men's ban. The fact, like Pumina Kuda not being on this cast is incredibly funny. Well, didn't he find it? Oh, yes, yes. Well,

he was too busy making real money with MVP. Yeah, but he took that fight at a week's notice after not being on the season. Rodrigo Vera, who literally just debuted with the UFC in Macau a few weeks ago. So I don't know. I don't want to spoil anything because I don't know who won the show. I don't know that kind of information.

But I do find it weird that he is. Obviously, they filmed the season months ago. But whatever happened, he was apparently free to take an actual UFC fight on short notice. So very weird. So something to keep an eye on because you just saw this guy. Your eyes do not deceive you. You just saw Rodrigo Vera in the UFC. And if you're watching the ultimate fighter, you will see him in the ultimate fighter.

house for some reason. Breaking news. Ili Tuporia has spoken. He has released a little statement on Instagram. Is it in Spanish? Can you read in Spanish, Mike? No, it's in English. Oh, damn it. Justin, I hate you. You're the word. No, I'm just kidding.

Justin, congratulations. You said you'd leave your mark in my face, and you did. You took the sight from my right eye in the first round, and by the end of the second, from my left two. No excuses. I had one of the best camps of my life. I came in sharp, prepared, and ready. Last night was your night. That's the nature of this game. Glory and pain, walk side by side. God, that is a cold line. I'll heal, I'll rest,

and I'll return stronger, wiser, and far more dangerous. And trust me, this story between us is far from over. We will have our rematch. There's Dilliot-Taporia. Pretty classy. You know there's a chance that they would run it back, right? I don't think there's any world you could justify that right now. How mad, does that count as your, that counts among the scenarios of them not. This would be a bad one. Like there's this, like, I actually thought it was two, two heading. It was, well, it was probably three one, Justin.

But like, you could make a case that it was two, two. Ilya started having some moments. He got the full mount. But Gates, you just beat the shit out. Like when gate, it was funny because like early on in the fight when Ili would land, you could certainly, you could see it was having effect. And then again, it was like after the second round, like Justin just clobbered him.

He just was ready for everything. And Ilya battled and fought his ass up. But, yeah, man. It's up to that. By the way, Lord of Price, I never said BSD was beating Ilya. Never said it was a foregone conclusion. I did say BSD's probably beating the three dudes he beat. But just, it's a very tough fight.

for and he gains nothing from beating ben was on to you right now i mean nothing it's just like oh cool and you know what the reaction would be oh bsd's not that good anyways like that's how would the fan base would react to that but uh gaichi b sd i'd watch the shit out of that fight without i love it just absolutely would be great not i'd not thought he needs a couple of wins before he gets there bsd's gotten opportunities like he's gotten a bunch he got vet lessened by Porre and then the Moikano fight happened. He's looked like a world beater since then. So I think the patty matchups really good really good stylistically for him. And we'll see how it all plays out. We'll see how it all

plays out. But that is a Zileas statement. Appreciate you guys. You guys are the best. We're going to get on out of here because it has been a long weekend, my friends. That was for sure. We'll be back in podcast form next week following UFC Vegas 119. Right. This is a card that's happening, AK. Golly.

We go from the White House in one of the greatest events of all time to back. I mean, as we're watching UFC White House, we're in UFC Vegas 119 fight week officially. So we're back at the world's most famous apex because where else could you go after the White House? And you have a main event that is spectacular. Manel Cop, Kiyoji, Horoguchi, running it back. rematch this fight rocks co-main event is iwan kuchelava versus navajo sterling we could be taking a real

lengthy trip to slog city with that fight it could very well happen we have christian rodriguez hydra mial i do like that fight that'll be fun yeah andre leima kevin borjas melzic bagdeserian versus mertesali makamadoff did you did you skip andre feely no venetius oliver versus andre feely Oh, what are you looking at? What are you using for your rundown here, Mike? Topology.

Oh, I'm sorry. I look at UFC.com and we can be, okay. B.M. Mesquita is back. She's not fighting Raquel Pennington or Julianna Pena. She's fighting Melissa Mullins. Whoa, okay. Mitch Roposo versus Alon Nassimento. That fight is finally happening.

Michael Aswell versus Gaston Bologios. Carol Hosa versus Luana Santos. Ranked. The UFC debut of Leon Shabazian against late. versus Levan versus Levan. It's no Evo. Shikki-Kali.

It's no Osloon. Let's stop it. No. Whatever. And kicking things off two guys you know so well. Shane Collins versus Otari Tanzalovi. Oh, am I supposed to react to this? Yeah.

Oh, okay. Speechless. Speiceless, Mike. Speechless. Yeah. I can't wait. Can't wait. And then we're, so yeah, back to the apex and a quick trip to Baku.

And then a week off. And then International Fight Week, baby. Lots happening. So there you have it. UFC White House in the books. It was a damn good time. I mean, you just can't say anything else.

Like if you're... Shout out to the band. Shout out to the band. That was so fun. It was very fun. Justin Gage's entrance was incredible. Like he's in the office and he's like reading the Constitution and just like soaking it all in. It was the coolest.

It was cool, man. It was very, very cool. The setup was great. The weather held up. I mean, A plus. Like, if you're the UFC, like, this is, this is an A plus event. This, this wrecked the spear. Like, the sphere has, was just like a thing that happened.

This is way better. Like, we'll remember the spear for like, oh, that was kind of cool that you tried something, but. We'll always remember the UFC White House car. More seven-by cards. Yeah, I've done that. Eight, eight tops. Oh, God, that was felt so good. It felt so good.

It really did. It really did. Thank God that wasn't a 12-fight card. it's still be happening right now. But thank you so much. I had a great time. Hope you guys did too. For AK, I am Mike Heck.

We'll see you back next week following UFC Vegas 119. We're out of here. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Formula One, so hot right now. It's like if traders in succession had a baby on wheels. Teams lying. Drivers beefing.

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