MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Islam Makhachev, Dustin Poirier After UFC 302?

Episode Date: June 2, 2024

Islam Makhachev is still the UFC lightweight champion following a gritty fifth-round submission of Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 302. While it seems pretty cut and dry who Makhachev will defend his title against next, does Poirier continue on with his fighting career after falling short in his third opportunity at undisputed gold? 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 Makhachev and Poirier following their lightweight championship bout. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Sean Strickland following his decision win over Paulo Costa in the co-main event, Kevin Holland following his nasty armbar submission victory in his middleweight return, along with fellow main card winners Niko Price and Randy Brown. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. 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 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, 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. We are live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel following UFC 302, which, as we talked about on the post show. A little bit of a slog. I feel like the card just ended like

45 minutes ago. But that is not the case. And we are here to discuss the aftermath of the UFC's most recent pay-per-view events in beautiful, scenic, majestic Newark, New Jersey from a matchmaking perspective. And as you all know, although it was a more competitive fight than the betting odds suggested. Islam Makachev was able to spoil the fairy tale ending to the story of Dustin Porre with a fifth round submission win in the main event. Sean Strickland

wins the co-main event against Paula Costa. We'll discuss with his decks for Makachev, Strickland, and many more. On today's program, I am Mike Heck, and as you can see, joining me, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. Gosh darn it, my best friend. to Alexander Kaylee,

AK, how are we doing on this Sunday morning? Are you rested, refreshed, ready to go? My best friend, the card is still going in my mind. You said it feels like it just ended 45 minutes ago. Is it over? Is it actually over? That one felt long. And that was like a normal, pretty decently-paced 12-fight card.

They even skipped poor Nico Price's post-fight interview. I guess that made room for more promos and stuff. But, man, that was not the most fun card. of the year. I was at the card, the pay-per-view that most people think is the worst UFC one of the year, UFC 297. I still think this was better than that. Probably because one had ended on a higher note.

The Porre-Makachev fight was genuinely awesome. And also, 297, if you were Canadian, it was a bit of a bummer. We had two of the women win, but all the male Canadian fighters fell short in very depressing fashion and not very exciting either. So this, I think, was still better than 290s. I don't know if you agree if your perspective was different. You know, maybe I'm being too hard on 2097 because I was there and like my expectations were even higher.

But I think it's fair to say this is only the second worst UFC peer view of the year, Mike. Where do you sit on that? Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably. Like even 301 was way more fun than this one. So look, it is what it is. It happened. there were fights that took place and main event was fun it was probably one of the seven or eight

best fights of the year so far it was compelling in a lot of respects and we still don't know what's going on at dust and pori in the aftermath that was the big story heading in but let's get right into this okay this is not our typical show usually it's an audio show usually we have the listener suggestions send in their picks immediately following the car but that's all we do after paper views we go live and we just do this on the fly so what we'll do is we'll discuss each fight you guys have matchmaking suggestions we will put them up on the screen we'll discuss on that specific fight we'll give our wild card selections after we do our main card picks and then at the very end with whatever time we have excuse me left remaining uh we'll just take the gloves off we'll do a

full-on wild card round super chatters get to the top of the list we'll just fire through as many suggestions as we can until I have to check out of this hotel. So I'll probably do this for about 50, 55 minutes. And for all of you, decided to get little sleep like us and wake up early. Much appreciated. Hope you have your coffee ready and we'll get into it. So I have to say, okay, this was a little bit more difficult as a whole for matchmaking suggestions.

But there were some pretty easy ones, especially at the top of the bill. Let's start with this, a Mokachev, fifth round submission win. I thought he fought his ass off. I thought it was a really good performance. I think Poria had a really good solid night at the office, improved on a lot of things that we felt would be a huge problem for him in this fight. And in the end, when Makachev really needed it, goes in there. Incredible, incredible sequence to get the finish on Porier,

chokes him, gets the tap, Porier goes out, and Makachev is still the champ. Of course, as you would expect him to do, he says, I want to fight for the Walterway title. I don't think that's going to happen yet. so I think he's going to have to defend the lightweight title at least one more time. And this is a no-brainer, AK, the band is not even, they're not even plugged in right now. It's Arm and Sarukian.

It's the rematch. It's the fight I want to see maybe more than any other fight. Right now, I am incredibly fascinated by it. And if I learned anything, Islamakchev is still the best fighter in the world. And what I will also say is, I think Arm and Sarukian has a little bit more of a chance that I even gave him heading in. I think there's some things that Armand can take advantage of. Still probably picking Islam to win that fight, but you know where my heart is,

just based on how I've been driving the Armand-sur-Rukian hype train for several years now. This is my all-in year on him. It's Armand-sur-Rukian. Nobody else makes sense unless it's like a short-notice situation. Yeah, I think you and I, and 90% of the MEC community has had this one locked in since Armine won at UFC 300. It's a rematch you really need to see. It feels like Armand.

it has vastly improved since their first fight. And the first fight was competitive. It's not like Islam ran through him. That was Armin's UFC debut. I think he kind of took on a short notice. Not like he was a replacement for anyone, but it was just like they wanted to have Islam on the card. And if I recall, it wasn't like, I don't think he got a full camp.

I could be wrong. Either way, it was his UFC debut. He was only. It was out of full camp. 20 days. Okay. Why did they throw that fight together so quickly? I don't remember the history of mine.

He was not replacing anyone. I mean, he wasn't replacing anyone. I think they just needed to add something to it. maybe Abu Dhabi wanted him and Armin just was the guy that called and he was like, okay, bad, I'm in. And he was 20 at the time. Yeah. He's a baby.

He's a baby when he first fight. Again, competitive fight. Both guys are better since that fight and that's one reason, one major reason why we want to see it again. And Armin has earned his way back the right way. Probably would have earned it even sooner if that Gameraat decision had gone his way as, like I know you feel it should have. So, yeah, there's really nothing else that needs to be said here.

Let's make that fight happen. No shenanigans. I don't want to hear people winging about, oh, no one, Armands, whatever is a paper view drawer. McGregor should get the shot if he meets Chandler or some crowd, like just, I mean, not that McGregor's ever going down to lightning again. I don't know this guy. But yes, let's not mess around. Armand Surikian and Islam Lakshv, too.

And people can find, and then, Mike, people can finally say that Islam fought the number one contender at 155 pounds, because I know a lot of one reason someone might criticize Islam is, oh, his first two tile defenses were against a lightweight. I'm sorry, featherweight, excuse me. He just fought the guy who was probably third in line behind Armin and behind Justin Gathe G. And now, and maybe not even behind Max Holloway because then Holloway took out Keith G, right? So it wasn't a perfect challenger. I always say they rarely are in combat sports.

But he was certainly a very worthy challenger, Dustin. And if you want to, you know, split hairs about his worthiness, that's fine. You saw the fight put on a great fight. That says more about how great Dustin's. still is than any weaknesses on Islam's part. Frankly, that's my opinion. But with Armand, there'll be no question that he's fighting the number one guy in life. Yeah, it's his fight.

It's his fight. They can do it in Abu Dhabi. It's a sellable main event. If Islam is okay fighting in MSG, he's certainly not going to main event that card. He's probably going to be the co-main event. If they do John Jones v. Stipe on that card, and maybe he's okay with that. Maybe he'd be fine.

Maybe he gets some sort of pay-per-view points for that, even being in the co-made event spot. But either way, either spot it's in, it's a good place for it. It makes sense for either. And I just have to see it. I have to see it if Armand can do it on a full camp. And it'd be a hell of a fight. And honestly, if Islam wants to go up to Walter Wade after that, I have no problem with it, just based on what the division looks like right now.

So I don't know if Connor takes that fight. I think he'd probably more interested in fighting Leon Edwards for the Walterway title, if given the choice, so we could try to be. the first three division UFC champion, but Conner's got to take care of business on June 29. And as far as Dasoporio goes, I don't think it's fair to really matchmake for him right now because he doesn't even know if he's going to continue fighting. I said on the post-fight show, he's going to fight Nate Diaz if he fights again. I don't think anything else really makes sense for him.

Yes, I know the Connor fight could happen, but I think without him being champion and getting like the extra incentive on top of it financially, I just don't know if the, I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze in terms of does he want to go through that headache? We just saw, and Mike, you and I just saw a thing about Volcanowski suggesting that he fights Porriere, and I did. Like, I don't hate that idea at all. Like, I don't think that U.S. I don't think it's what the UFC's thinking.

I don't think Porre. Like, Volcanozzi, he just wants to do it while he's waiting for Toporio. I don't think Pori is planning to hop back into the cage anytime soon. So in that sense, it's probably not the best time to call out by Volcanowski. But on paper, if, if, if the. money's right and if um if porre you know has that talk with his family this week and it's like you know what i feel pretty good actually i really want to get another fight in in 2024 maybe it could happen it's just a very cool fight that i hadn't really considered before mainly because of circumstances for a

for a bokanoscopy fight never really made sense but uh if that got booked would not be mad about it i i really doubt it happens i'd give it like a less than i give like a 20% shot at happening but a lot can change in a week in mma again we'll see porre will probably do an interview at some point I bet this month. I don't know how long he's going to be on hiatus for. He's very good with the media. And I have feeling, and if someone brings it up, they will see if he's amenable.

But yeah, I'm not picking that. Like I said, we're not really making a pick for Fourier. I love to see him just kind of take some well-deserved time off. But I don't hate seeing him fight Volcanowski somewhere down the road. If not next, before both men are retired, could be really fun. I don't think that fight does anything for Dustin. I really don't. I don't think that's going to be one that's like, yeah, I got to do that.

The only other one, and I see I suggested this is after time. off, like a lot of time off for both guys. Maybe it can be like a double last fight for, you do the trilogy between Pori and Gaichi. It's one one. Have them to have like one last battle in there for like their final fight or whatever. I'd be okay with that. But I think if Dustin, the fight that'll get Dustin up and ready is, is Nate, if they can get

Nate back after the Mazadol boxing match. But we'll see. We will see. UFC, UFC pays both guys, $10 million. both Gaichi and Foray to fight each other immediately customs as we will not resign you and give you another UFC fight and then 4A can retire properly

and Gaichi can move on to BKFC. There you go. You're right. That is the fight that's the privilege you fight to make. Yes, yes, yes. Let's go to the former UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland. He did very Sean Strickland things in this fight. He had Paula Costa backing up real early. I thought he won all five rounds.

Damn you, David Tirelli. I lost the points for a bet on Sean Strickland by a half a point because of that egregious 49-46 scorecard. But I digress. Sean Strickland gets it done, bounces back from the loss to Drick his Duplice. He wants a title fight. But this was, I don't know if timing really helped out Sean Strickland here because, yes, we have Jared Kandinar versus Asardini Move Off. And unless one of those guys just absolutely delivers a Baba O'Reilly highlight real knockout, neither of those guys have really any chance of being in this conversation, I don't think.

And then obviously the big one everyone's looking at is the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, former champion Robert Whitaker taking on Hamzaa Chamaif. What's next for Sean Strickland? Do we have to wait until like June 23rd to actually answer this question? Or do you have something in mind already? I don't think he should wait. I think he had a very strong case after the first duplicity. know it was a very, very close fight.

It got pretty exciting near the end. Again, I was there live, so I felt like it was a pretty good fight. I don't know if people watching at home were as excited about it, but by round four and five, the crowd was super into it. Definitely both guys had gotten to a rhythm, and I thought it was a good title fight. But I don't think it was so close. I'm sorry, it was close, but I don't think it was such a, you know, quote-unquote robbery that Strickland should have felt entitled to a rematch and immediate rematch.

And I don't know if usually he could, you know, you can wait if the division isn't moving. But as you and others on our staff have argued, middleweight's pretty like intriguing right now. It's pretty hot, especially near the top. There's just a lineup of where the contenders and also matchups that were eventually made since 297 to give us another, you know, a fresh number one contender. So he couldn't wait then. Now I think he can wait. I do think that he can wait. I don't know if he will.

my bet my my my my bet is he won't uh if i'm crystal balling it but if i'm magic wanding it mike here's the scenario i see okay i i'm expecting shemaiah to beat whittaker and i also think there's a very good chance that adisina beats duplase in a fight that it's still yet to actually be booked shemaiah in that situation would logically become the number one contender to fight izzie however it's shemayev he's one of the least reliable reliable fighters on the roster as far as actually showing up. So in a perfect world, yes, Sharmaya finally gets a title shot at some division. And we can finally see if he's the real deal.

I just don't feel like it's going to happen as soon as we want it to. And someone's going to need to take that spot, someone who has a win over Israel at this and you already. And no, I'm not talking about Alex Bedrata. I'm talking about Sean Strickland. So I think somewhere down the road we argue, I think Strickland should wait. And I have a feeling that cards are going to fall for that. I just in every match.

Some interesting ones. Strickland versus Usman, too. I don't think that makes any sense for Sean Strickland right now. Unless he's just like, I have to fight. I have to get on them back. I have nightmares about losing to Kamar Usman. I certainly, there's no chance he's fighting Brennan Allen. There's just no chance that that fight happens.

This is tough. Like, it's really tough without looking at June 23rd. I kind of feel like he's going to have to fight again. Like if Hamzaa Chamaif wins, he's fighting for the belt. Like those, whatever it needs to be done, they will, they will do that. Whether it's DDP or is he, I don't think it matters. I think if, if Hamsat wins, he's getting the shot. So what I landed on now, and this is what the show is all about, my friends.

Come June 23rd, I could certainly change my opinion. I'm going, Sean Strickland versus Robert Whitaker, win or lose. Ooh. Win or lose against Hamsat Shemite. That's a big fight. That could be a road show main event for sure. Um, so I'm going with that. But again, I don't know what's going to happen.

Like, I just don't know. Like, until, I don't even know if Humza is going to walk to the octagon on June 22nd. Like, he's such a mystery at this point. So I'm going there. That'd be a big ass fight. I'd be super interested in it. Hell, they want to do Sean Strickland versus Humza at Jamea if I'd be super interested in that too.

That's a fight I really want to see. So either one of those that works, but I'm going to go with Whitaker. because I think if Shamiyaf wins, I don't think he does really anything else right now, but fight for the belt. So, yeah, we'll go there, but it's a tough one, just a little Grand Prix going on.

My crystal ball, you're right, you know what, my crystal ball pick should have been, Shemaiah doesn't even make the Whittaker fight and Sean Strickon steps in on Asher, but you know, that's the real crystal ball pick, actually, because, gosh, I, well,

know, I'm a huge Shemiah fan, by the way, you guys. You should see, I think I have him top 10 in my pound for pound, which I know is an unreasonable ranking. It's, which is why, again, I feel so frustrated that the guy cannot cannot stay active. Again, some of it's not his fault. Some things are out of his power.

I'm not blaming Shemayev. We don't even know the full circumstances around why he's so inactive. I think we know there's probably some visa issues. We know he had a really, really vicious belt with COVID once in a while time. Some people think is that still been affecting his health, affecting his training camps? All these things are up in there. It could be a combination of these factors. Negotiated with the UFC.

I don't know if there's some snag there. He's kind of mentioned that they just don't give him enough fights. It's a lot. It's a lot going on with Shemaya at all times. And that's why any time he's booked, it's at best a 50-50 shot that the scheduled fight is actually going to happen. But fingers crossed. Sorry, Prince of positivity.

Prince of positivity. He beats Whitaker. He gets a tell the shot. There you go. I see a lot of people saying like Israel out of Sonia like hasn't earned it. Guys, this is the UFC. The biggest fight they can make right now in terms of what's available and the UFC is not going to drop the ball on this again is DDP versus Izzy.

There's like real heat there. They're just going to do it. Like the fight just needs to happen because they tried, they played with fire once and it backfired. John Strickland created one of the funniest nights in the history of the sport, where he beat the hell out of Israel, out of Sanya, and won the belt and foiled all their plans. I don't think they're going to mess around and do this again. I think they're just going to fight. And then we can move this division forward, however it plays out.

But I think we just have to get this one done. And then the middleweight division, as fun as it is, we'll see how it plays out. Maybe we get another title fight at that division before the end. the year. And now this is where things get hairy, AK. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats

now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy. responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Train Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. We move on to the featured bout.

Kevin Holland submits Michaela Lixacek. Pretty quick fight. Perfect featured bout. Fight ended very, very quickly, as most of us hoped for at that point in time. Because, boy, it felt like at that point, it was like Tuesday by the time we got to that one. But Kevin Holland, nasty arm bar breaks the armor of Michael Loxacek, potentially. I don't think there's been an actual update on the injury at this point.

But Kevin Holland gets it done. And Kevin Holland has been banned on this show a couple of times because he could fight in 10 days. We don't know. He could just step in and fight anybody. He could fight at Walterweight. He could fight at middleweight. Who the hell knows at this point, AK? So what I landed on, and this might be a little spicy, AK.

This might be a little spicy, AK. But Kevin Holland delivered a great post-fight interview. He said something to the effect of, I might be the best gatekeeper in the UFC right now. And I respect the wherewithal. I respect him sort of knowing his place. So that said, if he wants to make that statement, then I'm going to give him a sort of fight like that.

Kevin Holland going back to 170. He's going to face, because I do feel this man is going to win on June 22nd. Kevin Holland versus Shara Bullitt. Kevin Holland versus Shara Bullitt. Mike, isn't Shara Megamatov a middleweight? I thought he's a welterweight. Oh, he's a middleweight.

All right, either way. Then it's going to be a middleweight. I was looking at this. This is the one I was just like, I don't even know what to pick, throw a dart. And then I just was going through one of my rankings. And I just saw Shara Bullets name. And I was like, yeah, let's just do that. Yeah, Kevin Holland versus Shara Bullitt.

It's fun as hell. Yes, Shara is booked. He's fighting June 22nd. I know that. Yeah, you just said that. He's going to win that fight because he's fighting a dude that, no offense, probably shouldn't be in the UFC. Wiley veteran, but a guy that's kind of old and had a million fights. So let me see who he's even fighting.

Mike, you proceeded your pick by saying he's fighting June 22nd. Come on, people. Come on comments. Yeah, he's fine June 22nd. He said that before he made the, he was wrong about the weight club. Joleton Luterbach. That's who he's starting. He's going to win that fight.

He's a, I'm sure he's a massive favorite to win that fight. Um, so we do Sharra Bullitt versus Kevin Holland. Did we lift, sorry, AK. You are, you are forgiven. Um, did we lift the ban on Kevin Holland? I don't know. I think his, this random. I think you should get two out-no points if you predict Kevin Holland fight.

Oh, definitely. If anyone out there correctly picks his next fight, you get an out-no point. Because, Mike, he could fight next week. There's three middleweight fights next week. There's a light heavy way fight that he'd probably be happy to step in. You could see Kevin. Holland fighting Dominic Reyes next week if the opportunity came up, quite frankly.

That's funny. He would do it. UFC may want to just book him a ticket to Louisville now and just have him available and just tell him, listen, if you can make a 185, great. Guess what? There's also a light heavyweight fight on there. Like, I didn't want to make a pick for him, but we, like you said, it's been a while since we officially banned him.

When he was sticking around at Welterweight, we're like, great. It's fine, you're a welterweight now, and then he fights him to McCallelago. Again, great decision for him business-wise. not fun for us our matchmaking show so inconsiderate of our matchmaking show mike but i also had that in mind of him fighting the the gatekeeper comments i also want him to go down to 170 i'm going with it's kind of random but again so was i thought like but also so was fighting michael olix aches so i'm going chaos williams i'd like to see chaos williams get a shot at a top one yeah top 20 guy exciting matchup i think camon hollon can win i think he keep his gatekeeper thing and then once again start

moving towards a top 10 ranking as he's always kind of creeping towards but not quite doing enough to get there so just a fun fight chaos Williams uh no major immediate implications i think for either guy though for chaos it'd be a huge signature win and uh for holland again just another paycheck which is all this guy really seems to care charble a minus 245 favorite according to draft kings um and i literally just sent the info over uh i'm putting i'm placing a bet on charrubal right now minus two 14 That line should be way wider. He's funny like a 90 fight veteran, Mike. You got to be careful with this guy.

I got to be careful with Luterbach. Yeah, I mean, but come on now. Come on. This, it's, he's not a bad fighter. He probably should have been in the UFC a while ago, but like, his last MMA fight was,

it was last year. He, he's beating decent guys. I'm still, I still feel confident. I still feel confident. I still think he should make him. minus 350. It'll move. It'll move.

I mean, it'll be that by the time the fight rolls around, it'll be closer to that for sure. Yeah. So again, if you get a Kevin Hall and prediction correct,

then you get two points. You're a genius. I see some Randy Brown suggestions. Michelle Pereira, which wouldn't be bad. I think Michelle Pereira deserves like a ranked dude at this point. Yeah.

Kevin's obviously a good name, but he deserves like a ranked middleweight. I was like, Magni. Magny. Yeah. Right? Could be. But that's kind of weird. Then it's like gatekeeper versus gatekeeper. Then what are you really doing?

I don't love that. That fight could be tough. That could be a tough one. The gatekeeperist gatekeeper, a championship. Yeah. Like if being Gary lose the MVP, Kevin Hall versus MVP for seeing Gary's fun. I mean, kind of have to wait. Again, this is ridiculous when it comes to Kevin Holland because you just don't know. Like you said, he could fight in Louisville. It's very, very possible. He had a very short night at the office and Kevin don't care. He just wants to fight and make money. someone suggested we should ban both fighters that are involved in the fight that we're about to discuss that rematchy and Alex we could have rice whole wow man rough I described this on the watch party as me fighting myself in a dream like a drunk dream because when you dream about yourself throwing a punch you throw everything in like slow motion that's what this third round was it was just yowser uh and then the decision to move jails at albeda versus alexander

or a lot off to the prelims and bump that one up. Usually they're pretty good at making those decisions. This one in hindsight was a poor one. Nico Price wins the decision. Here's how I came to this one, okay? I literally went through my welterweight rankings. I closed my eyes and I scrolled down and whatever the mouse landed on is who I picked. And I do think this is somewhat fun.

And so I'm going with it. Even though he's coming off of a loss, it was an exciting loss. Billy Gough Nico Price versus Billy Gough That's where I'm going I mean what do we do here Come on Regarding the

The sort of late switchup of the schedule That's right Jelten Elmada and Romanov Had been sort of On paper as the fourth Fight on the main card For quite some time And then I think during fight week

It was switched up I do think the UFC and ESPN Whoever made this decision I think they were in a little bit of a tough spot Because Almeida Romano Even though I thought I had a lot of faith that Almeida could get a submission and could finish as he did,

it also could have been a horrible, horrible heavyweight. And I know a lot of people were joking about that before. Like, oh, this is going to be heavy weighty heavy weights, like just a slog. I just slapping meat, but not in the best way you like seeing heavy weights. Just like dull grappling, maybe a lot of clenches against the cage and just

not great stuff. But I don't know what other options they had because Koppelov Almeida, which I would have thought was definitely going to have a finish. Horrible. that was maybe worse maybe not worse but it was horrible I don't know

just a lot listen I'm with the New Jersey crowd you know you keep the martial arts apart come on Roman stand stand stand he dropped him he should have let him get back up stand and be a man like stand and be a man with a with a accomplished kickboxer

all right Roman but he got to win that's what's supposed to either way I don't think it was a great fight I don't think if you swapped that with Price and Morano you're like oh well that's well that's what much know Dawson Selecki obviously wasn't a great fight either. The only thing they could have done was put Basil and Mickey Gall on there because Mickey Gall is from New Jersey, but it had been so long since people had seen the Mickey Gall. I also think there was a good chance that they thought Basil was just going to knock

Mickey's head off, which would have been a real bummer from the New Jersey crowd. So that wouldn't have made sense. They were in a tough spot. They were a tough spot. They gambled. They thought maybe Price and Marano the best versions of them would show up. You get like a sloppy, like fight of the night contestant instead of just sloppy, completely forgettable fights.

So they were in a tough spot. Should have kept my boy, Jelison on there. What can you do? Hindsight's 2020. They maybe did a little too much here. I went, I didn't do too much, Mike, because I went the lazy way. I just said, let's throw Nico in there with Jake Matthews and let's all move on with our lives. There you go.

That's probably the correct decision. Just do it. If they're both healthy, if their timelines, you know, line up as they should, then, yeah, just throw two guys in there. Two veterans in the Walterweight Division, I think you'll get a better fight than you got from Morano and Nico Price two. And then whoever wins, especially Jake Matthews, can move on to maybe a little higher ranked guy, but it's a good fight. A couple of suggestions, Price versus Cheating and Jokawani from Big Rocker Johnson, O'Reilly Nation, Price versus Brian Battle. I don't think that's a bad one. Yeah, I like that. I can live with that. So, yeah, let's move on to the opening bout of the

main card. Randy Brown defeats Elizo Zaleski-dos Santos. Pretty fun fight. Again, it's probably not one we're going to go back and rewatch. The biggest storyline coming out of that one was the referee who clearly looked like Hughes from New Jersey, just allowing eye pokes and then calling an eye poke. And then we're just like, F that, keep fighting, no time to recover. Pretty funny moment. And Eliza Zleski is just like, all right, dude, can't see. So I'm just going to throw it as hard as I can.

But Randy Brown just continues to win fights, continues to be one of the more. underrated guys at 170 called out Jeff Neal, which, you know, A.K., it's very rare these, especially in 2024 where you see a welterweight picking up a win in a good spot and then making a realistic sensible callout. What are you doing? Buckley. What do we think, A.K., what are we doing with Rubey? I love the callout. I love the call. As soon as he did it, I penciled it in for my Otno pick. And then when it came at the end of the night, I was like looking up the list of rankings, where's Randy Brown at? Can he, get a top 15 guy possibly who could that top of the team guy be it's jeff neal it's jeff neal top 10 in the

ufc rankings i think number 12 in the ms fighting global rankings which is essentially the same as top 10 if you're just counting ufc because i think we have amosov and um uh jason jackson excuse me above uh jeffin so if you're just counting uh ufc fighters then ufc and us are simpatico as far as where we have him ranked he's top 10 would love to see randy brown get a shot he's 13 and 5 now in the ufc and he's got some good names just hasn't had that name to get him over the hump maybe it's jeff neal certainly not an easy win but if you're randy brown it's now or never i mean you got to start making a run because we know he has the talent we know he attributes massive 170 year um i i think jeff neal would be into that that's a fight that could also help jeff neil get back on track so if we had the band it the band i think they want to

play with uh with randy brown mike i think they want a little uh if he was here they would they would sing a song for him maybe maybe on his uh his youtube as he keeps telling people to go to now Ben's eating breakfast right now but I think I think everyone's kind of like universally on the same page here it's a great call that makes a ton of sense especially if like the UFC goes to Texas like that's fine I know Jeff deals more from the Dallas area but if they go to Texas like there's talks about them going back to Houston later on this year it'd be a good fight to have you know on whatever what just that's just a good fight in general I thought it's a great call out makes a lot a lot of sense. Randy Brown versus Joaquin Buckley would be fun too. But I thought about that for a second. If Joaquin wasn't going to fight Ian Gary on the Connor McGregor after calling out

Connor McGregor, I certainly don't think he's going to entertain funny Randy Brown. So yeah. So your pick is Jeff Neal. It's Jeff Neal. Yeah. He did the thing. Randy Brown, you did the thing. You made the most of a UFC pay-per-view main card opener.

That was very well done. Yes. Let's go to the wild card round, okay, boy, am I excited? to unleash this wild card pick. People are, it's either going to get universally praise or you're all going to think of an asshole. But either way, it's, I'm very excited about this wildcard selection. But AK and I are going to select one fighter we have not matched made for and we will matchmake

for them right now. So AK, who is the winner of your wild card selection for the memorable UFC 302 event? Well, I'd like to keep in line with my last few. Pretty boring picks. This ain't a wild card pick. This is a mild card pick. Because, again, I'm going with fighter's suggestion. I had to pick my boy, Jailton.

He wants a piece of Cedilagan in France, in Paris. He said he wants to just see the Eiffel Tower. And while he's there, hey, maybe kick some guy's ass. I think it is time. If you're Cidulagan, you should stay the hell away from that matchup. I have no idea how he wins that. I know he's a very athletic guy. There's a world where Almeda can't take him down.

Just kidding. There's no world where Cilogon can't stop. I can stop. Chetton made it from taking him down. Let's make that happen. Let's got Jelton back on that path to the UFC title that he is inevitably going to win. So Homer picked for me. Nothing interesting for me to say there except go Jelton.

He's back. That was also a great callout. Yeah. Because Jelton, I just don't see a world where he loses that. I really don't. Has to get caught. That's other than that. He's not going to stop the takedown.

Zero chance. Not for Jelts. I just don't think Cyril's got to fight him. Like, Cyril, boy, he's had a tough, he's had a tough go since his Sergei Spivak win. Just based on I'm not fighting anybody unless it's for the belt. And then he gets offered a title fight, at least based on what Tommy Aspen wasn't saying and what has been sort of circulating via reports. And he's like, he's filming a Netflix movie. So the UFC just might give this to him and just be like, yo, you want to fight in Paris?

in the main event, like you're fighting Jailton Alameda, do you say no to that too? I just don't really know. I'm thinking, I'm pondering. I like the pick. I just don't know if he takes this fight. But now, okay. Now it's time.

Can I guess which, oh, no, should I guess? Or is this part of your windup? Is this part of this? It's better if you can guess. You can guess. It's tough. It's a lot of, it's not, uh, you picked a winning fighter. No, I did not.

Oh, my gosh. I'm already, you know what? I've already give up. Go ahead. You know what? Take it away, sir. Okay. I'm going with a man who competed in the co-main event of the evening, Paul O'Costa, who lost to Rob Whitaker, competitive

fight, lost to Sean Strickland. He's fought twice this year and respect, just respect, that he's gotten in there more than once this year. He's going to fight again. I don't know if he fights again this year, but it's possible. And again, this is the next fight for this individual. The name I'm going to suggest he's going to fight somebody else before this fight. Holocaust's next fight is going to be against Boe Nickel.

It's going to be against Boehnickle. You went there. I went there. I think Bo Neckle is going to get a Gerald Mearsart type. and then after this, he's going to get Paul Acosta. And then they're going to give him the push. Because I think it's a fight he can win. I think it's a fight he can win.

I actually do too. And I'm going with that. They're going to have to throw him to somebody, right? And it's going to be a name that will help propel Bo Nicol. It's a name that Bo will kind of be the heel. And Paul Acosta will be very popular. He will build up the fight. and it'll be the big test for Bo Nicol.

So that's what I landed on. I came to that decision on the post-flight show. Again, I don't know if people were going to like it. I don't want to say, I don't care. That's what I think they're going to do. I think Paul Costa is completely out of the title conversation at this point. Let's just do that, man. Like, this is kind of the spot he's in right now.

Like, he's fighting good dudes and he's competitive with them. And let's just skip both the test, man. Let's skip bow the test. Let's see what happens. I think he's going to have to fight somebody in the top 10. Let's go. Let's go. And if he loses, so fucking what?

Who cares? Who cares? I'll be back. I saw some people, one person at least, I think it was our pal, Joseph Boza, in the preview show. I don't know if you guys got to his question on the preview show. I didn't, I missed on the question answering section. It costs us like job and danger. If you lose the Strickland, it would be too straight, four out of five.

Again, I don't think so. I know because we know he signed a new contract. I believe it was earlier this year. And that doesn't mean the U.C. can't cut them. Before the win-of-fight, yeah. Yeah, they could sign someone to an eight-fight deal and cut them after one fight if they wanted to, at one loss if they wanted to. I don't think that's the case with Costa. Because he is popular.

I think he could lose like two more fights. They just like him. They like him. He's a very good, this is probably the wrong word to use, but like ambassador for the company. He's very pro-U.C. He doesn't rock the boat. Frankly, he's the kind of guy. You put him on a poster, and people will be like,

oh, I want to see this dude fight. He's a curiosity. He's really, besides being a champion, besides being elite, he's the second best thing you can be in combat sports, which is be a curiosity, and that's what Paulo Costa is. He does have to start delivering, I think, to some degree. But we can't be too hard on him. All his losses are to top six, top seven guys.

Sean Strickland, the number one contender at middleweight. Oh, maybe behind Izzy. Well, no, he beat Izzy. Robert Whitaker, former champion. Marvin Vittori perennial top eight guy. He lost to Izzy. He was a champion at the time. So it's hard to be so critical of him.

But I do wonder, like you said, like he is not near the title picture right now. He shouldn't be. He's got to be at least two or three fights away. He's probably a little older than people think. He just turned 33 this year. And that's not like old old. But middleweight is not a weight class. It's not like heavy weight.

It's not a weight class where you're going to, you're going to, you're going to age well. It's just kind of how these things work. There are exceptions for Robert Whitaker being one of them. I don't know. Like, I think, I like your matchup. Sorry, I should get to the point of this. I do like your matchup.

I think Bonickle would beat him. I know this is a big experience gap, but I just have a lot of worries of Paul's ability to pull the trigger these days. He rocked Whitaker. I know everyone's going to point to that, but he lost that fight. He hasn't knocked anyone out in six years. Yes, he doesn't fight that often. I understand.

But the facts are facts. He hasn't knocked him out in six years. It's if you've been fighting guys that are very difficult to knock out, except for Luke Rockold. I'm surprising to knock him out. I'm open to almost any Paula Costa suggestion at this point. I know Leflane is saying Michelle Piddetta. I think Michelle Pettetta kills this version of Paula Costa.

Yeah. Absolutely annihilates him. Bo, I think I don't know yet. Again, it's still. There's a lot of people who's there. And let me just make sure that I'm contextualizing this to the point where everybody understands it. I don't think we're going to see Paul Costa fight for a while.

Like, I don't know if he fights again the rest of the year. He fought twice this year. That's the thing. Bo could fight twice before this fight is even possible is why I'm throwing this out there. I'm trying to lay out timelines. Michelle Pereira, by the time Paul Costa, I think Paul Costa fights again, probably fights two more times at this point. He may even be beyond Paulo Costa by the time that fight happens. Like, I'm not saying Paul is going to sell for like 18 months, but, I mean,

He had a tough-ass fight with Robert Whitaker. He had a tough-ass fight with Sean Strickland for five rounds. And I just feel like if Bogan go on there and get Gerald Mirr-Shart and win and then fight, you know, Brad Tabars or something and win that fight, like, they're going to give him a push. Like, I know he wants a slower build. I'm not saying, do this fight in July. I'm saying do this fight in like March of 2025 or June of 2025.

Like, it could be a year from now. What I'm saying is when Paul Acosta steps into that octagon again, a lot of time will have passed. And I'm saying Bo Nicol will have at least one, maybe two wins under his belt before Paul was ready to come back and fight. So that's why I'm throwing this out there. It is one million percent a magic wand pick. That's what I'm saying. This is not like, Bo Nicol will not be like Paul Acosta will not be Bo Nichols next opponent. But I'm predicting that Bo Nicol will be Paul Acosta's next opponent.

Yes. Yeah, it makes sense. Would not shock me if this comes to fruition. It makes a lot. The way you've broken down makes a lot of sense. Okay. There you go. That's Chipsy 302.

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We'll take the next 10 or 15 minutes, and we will get after this thing. If you want a super chat, you get to cut the line, much like Left Lane MMA. Shout out. DP Geichi 3. Yep.

Sean Title Shot. Costa versus Pereira, Holland, Lucay, after Diaz. Do you have any interest in Kevin Holland versus Santhe Luge? He's after D. After, I assume, he beats Diaz. That has to be what Left Line is saying here.

I'm not against it. I'm not against it. Again, not something I would have thought of right away. But yeah, if Lucke gets a win, even over a, what, 46, how old is Nate Diaz again? Nick Diaz, excuse me. Kevin Holland, Kevin Holland is probably going to fight before Luque fights again. Before that Nick Diaz, right? And then probably won't fight for quite some time after. So that'd be a hell of a magic wand pick if Kevin Holland's literal next fight is against Vicentive. Yeah, I think we'll see Holland within the next two months. So probably not. Price versus Zelisky, Brown Neal, Roman,

versus me. Oh, for us, Alex, they check. Almeida versus Volkov after Pavlovich, Dawson versus CDF. Finally. Yeah, I feel like, I know that was booked a while ago, and I don't know, I think it's been suggested as a rebooking many times,

and it feels like it's going to happen at some point. Now, Mike UFC is definitely giving, Lefland, you're not listening. Leftland, I love you, buddy. Yeah, he's going to, it's going to be two fights. it's not again maybe it's just beer shots the right fight like I know you want to slow build but like come on now like we can't just keep doing this

you can't just fight like the 81st ranked guy then the 80th ranked guy then the 79th ranked guy like come on now we got we got to move this on a little I see uh Eileen Perez versus Norma Dumont can I just say like how uh were you were you tuned into the Perez Dumas fight not a Perez Dumas Dumas fight yes I watched the entire fight. The post fight was almost, okay, so I'm glad they squashed the beef. I'm glad there's a lot of

post fight, like, oh, you know, good fight, good fight. We're friends now. It was, it almost went on too long. I think, like, Perez should have given Jocelyn a little bit of room to breathe for a second there because Edwards is like, okay, okay, yeah, we're okay. And then, and then like, Perez just in her face, like, talking the whole time. And at some point, I don't know, I'm not a super competitive person, but like, let's say I just played a very tense pick up basketball game with people I fucking hate. And then afterwards, you know, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, You do like to adapt them up, good game. Okay.

But then they kept coming up like, yo, man, it's good. We're cool now. We're cool now. I'd be like, yeah, yeah, we're good. We're good. And then if they kept coming up to you, I'd be like, we're cool, we're cool, right? That was a good game, bro.

We're cool. I would just be like, get the fuck away from me. Get away from me. Give me a moment. Give me a moment. I mean, it never happens because I always win. So I'm never the one that's, you know, going to be in that situation. But I did feel like Josh Edwards was like kind of had to restrain herself.

Like, okay, yes, we fought. We're okay now. leave me alone. Let me just get my way. It's a very awkward start. Awkward start to the not the start, but I mean the whole first, whatever, three fights were a little awkward. So shout out to Basil Haphas. That's great, great post-fights speech, did the thing. Oh, Riley. Coppola versus Gregor Rodriguez, Leske, Descent, versus Max Griffin, 2, Eileen Perez versus Julie Avila. Avila's hurt. She suffered a really bad injury in the Misha Tate fight, so it doesn't seem like she's coming back anytime soon, but we'll see. Basil

versus Mike Belot, if he beats Urbina. Yeah, that's good. Pauline versus Paul Craig. I don't hate that. I don't hate that. There's no way that fight sucks. Mikhail versus Jacob Malkoon. Ooh, that could be a tough one. Dawson versus Close.

I don't mind that one. Yeah, I still like, we keep saying we want close to fight like a top 15 person, right? So that's more two guys trying to get a top. I don't know. I feel like I just want to. Dawson might be ranked after. He might get a ranking after this.

I mean, Joe Selecki, outside of, like, jumping gilly early, just got, I mean, he just got crushed. I didn't actually, like, take the time to research this, but Grant Dawson might have had the most top control time in the history of a three-round, and three-round UFC history. Can Joe So-Lucky make featherweight? He's not like a small guy. Can he make featherweight? I feel like he's just not big enough. I feel like guys are really manhandling him. And he's a good grappler, too.

And that's why, because he's a good grappler, and still getting, like, hands. handled by bigger guys and I'm like, maybe this isn't, maybe this isn't his division, but I think it might be a tough cut. So I say this knowing nothing about Slecky's, you know, the specifics of his physique and diet and all that.

So I don't know, but lightweight's tough, man, getting slammed on his head, the last fight and then just getting smothered in this fight. I like Joe Sleky. I do too. BTL, I think both guys,

him and Dawson were both on VTL before. Slecky's been out multiple times. He's going to be a good, like, death guy someday. I think as well. Sean fights Hamzaat Shamaia, if Hamza beats Rob and the winner of DDP Izzy. If Sean fights Hamzad of Khamsat,

if Khamsat beats Rob and the, and the winner of DEP is he. Oh, if Khamsat beats Rob and the winner. So Sean fights Hamzaat Shamaama, if, I mean, I'd be kind of, yeah. Do you think Sean waits that long? It seems like quite a bit of time. Again, that's kind of what I'm saying. I do think he's going to wait,

but I think it's more likely he gets the Izzy rematch than necessarily by Hamzat. And again, Hamza is, you definitely don't want to wait for Hamza. He could win the title. Even if he wins the title, he might take time off. You just don't know. There was the, yeah, Eileen, Fries, Norma Dumas match up. I think Press, Colin O'Kla Harrison after the win.

Roe versus Garimbo, Jake Matthews versus Gunner Nelson, sure. Did you get to AG 45? Age 45's picks, Mike here? Super chat. Do we get one? You did. Let me scroll down. Okay, there we go.

Thank you, AG 45. Holland Magni. A lot of people want to see Holland Magni. Halfis versus Roe, Dawson versus Daniel Zelich. Damn, damn, damn. That's a lot of, that's a big step. That's a big step up.

Damn. That's a big step up. That's something. Oscar is coming in with, Can't wait for Andre Lima and Minel Kopp to show up, to meet at some point, and both show up wing, 144, flyway, fly.

You know, so Andre Lima, pretty, pretty, like, hyped guy. I think, I don't want to know, I don't know if he's, he's not Jed's number one guy coming out of Contender series, but he was one of one of the guys of note. He did not lump in Andre Lima with a lot of the other fighters who had fought in a recent season. What a strange start to his career, winning by biting and then just cheating his ass off. And I don't think he needed to. He was winning the Mitch repulsive fight anyway. But boy, it did not make an easy perform Mitch because comes in 130 pounds for a flyweight bout, pokes him in the eyes at least two times, grabs the fence.

But hey, 2 and 0 in the UFC. It's all the most. It's still undefeated. But what a weird start to Lima's career. We should have both picked a fight for Andrelema because I don't know where he goes next. I think he needs to move up. He's fighting abandon weight more than likely. I hope so.

Stasi Paradise, like Portia Bulk and his arm. I just don't see. Look, Porre versus Volk if they book it, like, no one's going to be like, oh, that's a shitty fight. But I just don't think Pori is like, you know what? I'm pondering retirement, but I'm going to come back and fight Volcanowski. Like, I just don't think that jazzes them up. Fun fights, fun fights, right? He's got to be looking at like, oh, wouldn't it be?

You know, I think Porriet is in the stage where as long as he's well paid, he's kind of like, man, I'm well paid. I know I'm going to get paid well for my next fight. And I want them to at least be cool and notable. And hey, how fun would it be to say that I cross pass with the featherweight, one of the featherweight goes. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. Gerard.

DP versus Nick Diaz, winner lose versus Nick, huh? Interesting. Sean versus Allen. There's no way Sean Strickland's fighting Brandon Allen guys.

There's just no chance. But, but you can't say no way with Sean Strickland. You don't know with this guy. He's not fighting Brandon Allen again. I don't think so either. Why would you take that fight?

I'm with you. I'm with you. By logic, by logic, he should not do it. There's no reason. But this is Sean Strickland. He's not a lot of him. Ooh, oh,

Gerard. Ooh, you might have done it. You might have done it. Brown v. Bagney, Coppulat versus Gregory Rodriguez. Kevin Holland versus Icrum Alaskara. Oh.

That might be the correct answer. A Mike Heck favorite. Big Alaskarov guy. God, that might be the right answer. That might be the right answer. Icrum needs an opponent. And he needs to fight,

man. He's so good. The guy is so. good. Oh, God, that might be it. That might be it. I really, I love that pick. I'm shocked.

I'm stunned. You've stunned me. Just like you versus Michael Johnson. Sure. Johnson booked. I think he is, now that you mention it, I'm looking at, just let me get there real. Yeah.

I think he is booked. He is fighting. No, I'm sorry, no. It got canceled. He was supposed to fight last month. And they got cancer. Oh, yes. But Matt Favola.

That's why it sounded so familiar. Justin likes EZDS versus Euros. Medich. Yeah, it's weird. I kind of weirdly, like Medich was my first pick for Holland, oddly enough. But I think I went a little bit higher. I think I have Cass Williams ranked higher at the Medici. So, but I feel like Medici is going to fight someone on this card.

What a bold prediction by me that Medich will fight one of these, one of these six names on this card. Really really going on a limb here. Eight names. Excuse me. There was eight band. weight that fought. Viking, moving on. Walter weights.

Viking just forgetting all about UFC 302. He's already moved on to 303. Booking Mara Buenos Aires on winner versus Kayla Harrison. Kayla is either fighting Giuliana Pena or Raquel Pennington next. There's just nobody else that makes sense for her at this point. Almeida versus Taibora. Yeah, do you want to keep Almeida busy and see another 90 second submission? Sure.

What else we got here? Dawson versus Edward Bartagnan Is a contender series guy? I feel ignorant. Crazy Pata, you just, you just call me out. Coppulat versus Craig if the UFC wants to be mean to Paul. I don't hate that one.

What else we got? Another Sean versus Hamzat. Do you think UFC liked Donson's performance? Probably not. Look, again, We talked about this in the post show. All the fighters in the card that needed to win that had the most to lose, in my opinion, all won. Islam, Sean Strickland, Grant Dawson, I think was kind of a low-key guy that really needed to win.

Really needed one. And it wasn't a fight we'll ever go back and watch again. So Kingmaker, no, it's on a memory labor. Your thoughts on wilder possibly fighting Ganu next to boxing with a possible in May fight down the line, PFL and Saudi. I actually, I don't know. I don't really want to even, I actually don't think it's kind of, I understand the question. It's tough to even like discuss the future of Francis and Connor right now with everything he's got going on. But if he's like, you know what, I need to fight somebody and it's got to be boxing, then I'm okay with him and Diomte Wilder.

I'm fine with him. Frankly, even, I know he's not, you know, hasn't had the same recent tragedy, but even Wilder, I'm not really comfortable. booking him for another fight right now he looked real bad against uh zi lezang he's been in a lot of fights he's taking a lot of shots of the head uh i'm not saying wilder's retired i'm not i'm not making that statement for him but it does feel like we maybe want to dial back what he should be doing i actually don't want to see him fight in ganu because i know the only reason people are saying this is they want to see in ganu um knock wilder's head off they think that's a distinct possibility now and i'm all for booking fights just to see one get their head knocked off

but right now it's just it feels a little icky to me I definitely don't want to see Wilder ever fight in MMA I don't know if that's oh maybe that's not the suggestion here maybe they're saying Angu fights Wilder then does MA fight down the line of PFO I hope they're not saying Wilder fights M.A because one left kick is going to end him forever so definitely not interested in that but thank you

thank you for the super chat Kingmaker Crazy Battle of Vartagnan is yeah he's certainly not fighting Grant Dawson yeah I I had to look that up. ACB guy. Yeah, obviously definitely a good fighter. I'm only vaguely familiar with the name.

So, hey, I'm a casual. We'll be eating these words later when Vartagnan's fighting for the title at the end of 2025, Mike. Didn't Dustin say he'd be retired after 302? No. He said it might be. Basically, I saw a lot of people like every time he said it would be like, breaking news. Dustin Porter said this. Dustiporty's been saying this for two years.

Like he's asked about this every fight. The answer is always the same. This might be my last one. I don't know. It's just like Joe Lozan. Might be my last one. We'll see how it plays out and then we'll talk about it. So, yeah, I think the doors, I think he has closed the door on his career, but I don't think he's locked.

He's fully locked it all the way. Like if Nate Diaz comes, if they offer him Nate Diaz, he's not going to say no. He's going to fight him. That fight's going to happen. What happened to Deleuze versus Pereira? This is kind of a we run. And Leflane brought this up earlier. Roman Deleuze versus Fluffy Hernandez was supposed to take place on this card.

There are a few really fun fights that were supposed to happen on this card. Tetsu Retire versus Josh Van was another one. There's probably another one that I'm missing. So we had confirmed that the UFC was going to do Deleezza versus Michelle Pereira, which I thought was kind of a stunner because they both trained together at Extreme Couture. when we reported it, we were told it was at least agreed upon, like the fight's happening.

And some of the folks that are aware of the situation were like, yeah, it's kind of a tough scene, but this is what's happening. And essentially what Michelle Pereira said about the fight is absolutely true. He was offered to fight June 8th. Perhaps he just kind of overlooked the name that was, like, presented to him. And he was just like, yeah, dude, I'll fight. Like, I'm ready to.

to fight again. Like, I didn't fight for very long at 301. I'll come back and fight in Louisville. Sure. And then when he got the contract, he saw it was Roman Deleadze and be like, whoa, what? Okay, never mind. I'm not doing that. He's by T-Bay. And Roman Deleez is like, yeah, F that dude. I'll fight him. Kind of essentially. It was like, yeah, I'm in. Got the contract. It was like, yeah, I'll fight him. And now it's happening. So I don't know what's happening with either guy at this point. So has anyone, I want to, has anyone's name not been mentioned? I'm trying to think. Can I solicit picks from the list? I think they've covered all the bases.

We saw Andrely, Miley and Prys, we saw, Aileen Perez, we saw Basil. Who did they feel match? Oh, yeah, we saw some Basil. We saw Basil Havasel. We saw Basil Havas. That's some Basil ones. Yeah, a lot of Eliza Dolesk's, a lot of Phil Rose.

How about Ramanov, guys? You know what, guys, give us a Romano pick. Listeners, give us your best Alexander Romano pick. Mo Oussman. Yes, please. Gosh, remember Romanoff was an hour, like, we did at least a couple of either like a podcast or articles about, man, Who's the next heavy?

And it was Ramana was in there. Chris Dawkins was in there. Boy, things changed real fast these divisions, don't think? What about Romano versus Parker Porter, okay? Anything that gets Parker Porter back in the UFC. Damn straight. Oh, this might be, this might be the answer. Ramano and salsa boy.

Hey, look, whoa, no, salsa boy is at like a four-fight winster. Isn't salsa boy cooking right now? Three-fight. Three-fight. He's one of the hottest fighters in the heavyweight division right now. You cannot put Cortezocasta against a loser, like Alexander Romano, though I do have Romano ranked higher. Still, like, since Jose Aldo versus Marado-Welis, really, booking Robles to Spain

versus Waldo Cortez-A-Costa is maybe the worst piece of matchmaking the UFC's done in the last five years. And I told you that was how it was going to be. They didn't want to listen. It's insane. We got a... No, no, no. No, no, no. Trolling. Trolling you, Mike. Trolling. All right, we'll take a couple more. We got like three minutes.

Kingmaker, again. Kingmaker, thank you. 165 pound division, the UFC at the BMF is the championship. Would give a new lease of life to a lot of fighters like Porya McGregor without holding them. Guys, no. They're not going to do it. Like, they're just not going to do it. If they haven't done it yet, they're not going to. Yeah, you don't need to. You don't need for it. And you can have the fight of 165. There's just for them to insist on making it. Remember guys, the UFC, I just think they should make catch fights more frequently.

I know the UFC has a good thing going and part of their marketing over the last 20 years is they tried not to confuse fans with guys jumping between divisions too much, making catch wage bouts, having more than the 11 weight classes. I mean, it's more, sorry, it's like eight men's weight classes, three women's weight classes. So it's not that confusing because that was the argument. I think a long time ago, Big John McCarthy suggested it moves closer to a boxing model. you're like double the amount of weight classes. You have like 16 weight classes, smaller increments again, 165 was in there, cruiserate was in there. And at the time, I don't think the idea was hated,

but people just said, well, we don't want that at the UFC right now. We like that the UFC is easy to follow at the time. There wasn't even, I think there wasn't even featherweight in Bantamated at that time. So there was just like, oh, there was six divisions, that women were I think weren't fighting the UFC. So people were just like six divisions, nice and neat. This is how we like it. But I think that time has passed.

I think you can make it a little more complicated now. I wish, and again, I'm not saying introduce new divisions, but it makes sense just to make certain matchups happen. Yeah, it's okay to throw a random 165 fight. Like, Chandler and McGregor, it gains nothing by being a what-to-rate fight. I don't think so anyway, or having it at 175, or having it at 175, I guess, to keep it neat if McGregor wins, he can call out Leon Edwards. But if you want it 175 and call at Leon Edwards, or you won at 160 following Conlona Leon Edwards would people really be like

Oh no, it wasn't a welterweight fight I don't want to see Merger fight Leon Edwards No people, the UFC would still put it together They don't, it's just, it's a silly thing to quibble over So I agree with the heart of it, I think BMF And the thing with BMF is, it's a whole BFF title It's like the whole point is you're a badass You shouldn't even care what the weight is

So yeah, make it 165, 175, 171-172. For who cares? MF title. So please, I'm not for necessarily creating new divisions. I'm not against that. I just don't think the UFC will, but I am for more catch weights. People are smart. They don't, most people are smart.

They don't need their handheld and told like, oh, no, it's okay. This guy's in this division. Look, is fighting in this division? No, we know which guys can go 175 and fight it 170. We know which guys can go 165. Yeah, that's my little rant. Boy, we open up the floodgates on Ramonov versus, boy, the chat is chat not being very kind to one Alexander Ramanoff. There you go.

Okay. All right, we got to go because I have to get my shit together and I get to prepare to travel home and hopefully my airport experience will be much better going home than it was getting here. but listen, we're going to be back live again in just a few weeks time. UFC 303 coming down the pike, everybody. Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler. We got the full main card. We know what the co-main event is. It's Jamal Hill versus Carlos Oldberg.

As of right now, the feature bout is Myra Boehino Silva versus BacCHS on. We also have MVP versus Ian Gary on the main card. I forget what the other one was. What was the other fight that's on this main card? I don't remember. I just saw the card yesterday, and I already forgot. Piper. Oh, for Zemab.

That's right. That is correct. Okay. Mike, I should tell you, and the listeners and the viewers, that's right, we're on YouTube. I will not be here next weekend. You may have to find a guest co-host. Yeah, sorry, I'm taking a couple of-flying. Following UFC Louisville, AK?

I know. I'm sorry. Have you seen this banger of a fight? Card, A.K. Who I'm going to match up Zachary Reese with if he upsets Julian Marquez. And you'll just, again, you'll have to have Jed or one of the other talented members of the NBA fighting stand. Oh, my God. Look at this card.

I apologize. If they, if they break the freaking fight night gate record again with this friggin thing, good Lord, guys. UFC is invincible. They're invincible. 14, 14 fights. The main event is. Jared Cannonier versus Nasredine Imovov. The co-main event is Dominic Reyes versus Dustin Jacoby.

That's a good fight. The featured bout is Julian Marquez versus Zach Reese. Brudo Ferreira versus Dustin Stoltzvus. That's got to at least be fun. Punisoriano going down to Welterweight to fight the returning Miguel Baezza. I am intrigued about that one. Raul Roses Jr. versus Ricky Tersios finally happening. Eduardo Mara versus D.

D.C. Gomes, Puja Tomar versus Ryan Amanda. Cody Stamen is back against Taylor Lappalus. Brad Cotona versus Jesse Butler. Tiago Moises versus Ladovitt Klein. Charles Ratge is back against Carlos Pratchez. Daniel Marcos versus John Castaneda. That fight's going to be friggin fun as hell.

And then Andrew Lee versus Montana de la Rosa in Woods probably a loser leave sound match, one would assume. So high stakes in the curtain. Jerker, but boy, that is UFC Louisville. That's, that's a tough one. There are fun fights on here. There are names that I think can be players in their divisions in the future, but that is a tough sell, I think, to ask someone, like, for, to, like, again,

if you're watching from home, no sweat off your back, you throw that ESPN plus on, it's all good, it's all good in the hood. Or is that ESPN? It'll be on ESPN. Hold on. Yeah. There is, there is a very important question that needs to be answered. Okay.

What is this? please, please, please, for the love of God, give me good news here. All right, it's not horrific. It's not the best, but it's not horrific. Prelims at 5 p.m. Eastern, main card at 8 p.m. Easter. Okay. If this was a 7.10, I would have been pretty pissed if this is a 10 p.m. main card. Yeah.

Listen, guys, if you're just watching casually, pick your fights. Again, actually, I do think there's fights on the prelims that could have been on the main card instead but yeah i get you know i understand i'm just looking at a glance i see the logic behind the main card construction so guys again it's saturday night if you got nothing else to do throw that on the background we don't have that option normally again i won't be covering this card sorry everyone but uh mike it's uh you know have fun have fun covering this one like i said there are there are names hey i i like the more denisi gomez fight uh shout out poohsumara the first indian woman to fight the ufc it's pretty terrible yeah i i i

Yeah, I mean, look, look, I love you, buddy. It's pretty terrible. This is a pretty terrible card. This is an apexe apex card. Castaneda Marcos. Castaneda Marcos. That's going to be fun. That's going to be a fun fight.

But literally, there's no stakes. There's no stakes. There's no stakes. Frankly, in a lot of these fights. If we're being straight, there's no stakes. And so if you're watching for stakes, you are going to be left feeling very hungry. But again, like I said, if you're not like us, you don't have to watch from beginning to end. Selective viewing guys, it'll make your M.

They fandom go down a lot easier. So shout out to show us to people in Louisville. Anyone who goes live in Louisville at your hardcore, and I hope you have a great, great time. Look, look, guys. Just think. All we have to do is just get through Louisville,

and then we are back at the world's most famous apex, once again for Alex Perez versus Tessu or Tyro, which is kind of interesting. And then it's Saudi. Then we got Hamsat Chabaya versus Robert Whitaker, leading into UFC 303. It's going to be a stretch by friends. It's got to be a stretch.

I'll throw this up there real quick. How many games do you have the Celtics winning against the Mavs? I took a lot of shit yesterday with the MMA our crew at the watch party. I got to tell you, I am extremely confident in the Celtics here. Like, extremely confident. Even though the Mabs have played really well, Celtics and 5. is what my heart's telling me. I hate that because, you know me, Mike.

I'm from Toronto, so our sports team share a lot of divisions. So by my nature, I hate all of Boston sports. But I am also picking Celtics in five. I think Mavericks win. Yeah, I think not go. Let's not go. I'm not with you on this one. My best friend, we are on the same page in many things.

I am not rooting for Boston. I hope the Mavericks win. I am strongly rooting for Luca and the Mavericks. Let's go. But if I guess my pick, I think Mavericks take game one. They kind of surprise Boston and take game one. They're the more, I want to be an informed team or something. And then sweep Celtics win the next four.

That's what that's what it's going to have. I think the Celtics have to win game one. I think they win by six touchdowns, baby. Like this is going to be a beat. Tyree is going to shed a tear. They haven't done that to slump unlucky again. They haven't done that to any one of the playoffs. They've barely, they eked out like three wins over the facers.

They don't play anybody out. And they played like shit. Yeah, that's who they are. Your team sucks. They have not had a good game yet, but it's coming. It's coming. And they're going to get posing this back in the finals, and that's going to be a huge help.

If they get him back, I mean, I just don't see how the matter. Oh, he's coming back, baby. All the programming here. Thank you all very much. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Back next week on the podcast network with myself and a mystery guest will figure out, but appreciate that. Always remember the golden rule, everybody.

don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun, and we will have more fun following UFC Louisville right here on onto the next one, the podcast. Have a great rest of the weekend, everybody. You guys rock.

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