MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Jose Aldo After Triumphant Return At UFC 301?

Episode Date: May 5, 2024

Alexandre Pantoja capped off UFC 301 with a unanimous decision win over a game Steve Erceg to retain his flyweight title, while Jose Aldo returned to the octagon to sweep the scorecards against Jonathan Martinez to become one of the sport's top free agents. What's next for the hometown heroes following Saturday's pay-per-view event? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Pantoja and Erceg following their main event clash in Rio. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Aldo — both in, and out of the UFC — Anthony Smith following his quick submission of Vitor Petrino, Michel Pereira after his 56 second stoppage win over Ihor Potieria, along with fellow main card winner Caio Borralho, and more. 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 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 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. Yes, we are back. There we are.

Following, I don't know how to describe. UFC 301, but it was, it's going to go down to history as an event that certainly happened. And for those who decided to partake in such events and part ways with your $80, I think you had a pretty good time. I think you at least enjoyed yourself. And now we're here to matchmake following an event that the UFC was just kind of viewed as a throwaway card in a lot of ways. but Alexander Pantosia still the flyway champion after a spirited battle with Vinny Siggs, Steve Erzeg, who feels like he just kind of threw the fight away and he said he blew it. And then some big upset wins.

We had the triumphant return to the octagon of the King of Rio Josealdo. And we will discuss that and much more from a matchmaking perspective live on the program. I am Mike Heck still here in New York City for the next few hours. And joining me as always in Canada, the Great White North, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, Prince of Positivity. My best friend, the boxing enthusiast himself, Alexander Kay Lee. Yeah, yeah, boxing enthusiasts, what's up my best friend? Yeah, mostly if anyone was keeping up on MAAFlling.com, I was doing a lot of the live blogging

of the Canelo Mangia fight. Great main event, great opener, a bit of a stinky card in between. But I think anyone who tuned in for Canello on Saturday was very, very pleased. And as you said about UFC 301, Mike, I think it's rare that this happens these days. I think my pre-fight evaluation of the card was perfect. I gave it a pretty low degree of difficulty score, or maybe I didn't give one, but it would have been in the 7-7.5 range. And I think it nailed it.

I think this was like a 7-7.5 card. And more importantly, I said, if you were on the fence about buying this card and you didn't buy it, I don't think you'll be sad about it. If you're someone who buys pay-per-view every year, sorry, every pay-per-view every year, I don't think you'll regret it. I think if you're someone who has the has the dough to like say, well, this is my budget for the UFC. 14 pay-per-views. I'm paying for all these.

And UFC 301 is in there. So I'm going to do it. No buyers or more. So I think you were like, yeah, you know what? I'm glad I budgeted this. I saw some great moments. Pantoja's a fun champion. Jose Aldo, King of Rio having his moments.

One big upset there on the main card by Anthony Smith. I mean, maybe the odds shouldn't have been what they were. And then Michelle Pade has a lot of fun. some great finishes. So yeah, not a car you'll regret missing, but not a car you'll regret buying either. If that makes sense, Mike. Yeah.

If you were already planning to buy, if you're already planning to buy. I do think if you were, like I said, if you are, if you're straight, if you are like the average Joe these days, Joe or Jane these days, and listen, we're all trying to make ends meet here and you don't have that $80 to spare,

no one's going to blame you for missing this one. No one's going to come to you Monday morning, but whoa, you didn't spend $80. dollars in USC 301, I don't think that'll be the case. But again, if you were already planned to buy, if you live in a country where you have a really good UFC pay-per-view deal, I think like the UK and the Gia was selling us in Brazil, it's much more affordable to watch all the UFC pay-per-views. You had a good time.

You had a good time. You were just like, yeah, glad I tuned in, saw some great moments. But, yes, it was a fine card that, you know, the $80 price tag made a little bit harder to swallow, unfortunately. Yeah, there's just no buzz for it. Like, I don't remember, I don't remember a pay-per-view having less buzz heading in. GC on the watch party was like, yeah, I would say 289, but I didn't really agree with that because 289, at least at Charles Oliva and Benile Darayush on it. So, like, that one at least stole the headlines.

And I know Jose Aldo is very, very popular. And he's one of the best fighters of all time. But he's nowhere near the star that Charles Oliver is. So I think there was a lot more buzz for 289. And there was, like, very little buzz for this. like Dana White didn't even go to it, which is fine. I'm not blaming him. I'm not saying he should have gone to Rio,

but it just kind of goes to show you just how the UFC viewed this one. They went all in on 300. The after effects of that was 301. And then look at 302 and 303. Those are, those are going to be pretty big, considering the name value and the star power on those cards. And then they're going to Manchester for 304. And you know, they're going to stack that up.

So, you know, unfortunately, 301 caught. proverbial stray, but still, it was, it was a fun card. And we're going to go ahead and get into this, AK. I got to say, the last few weeks we have done this program, it's been relatively easy. It's been pretty fun. We could throw some darts around and just have a good time with it. I have to say preparation-wise, this is a little bit tougher for me. Yeah, yeah. I had to dig pretty deep here. I've, I'm just going to warn some people. There's going to be a couple of these fights that we're going to go on a little bit of a journey with because it is just so difficult in some of these. But let's get right into it.

Alexander Pantosia, still the flyway champion, gets it done. Fun fight with Vinnie Sig, Steve Ersig, who showed up. I think he's going to learn a ton from this fight. This is going to be sort of a crossroads moment for Steve Ersig. Will he just let the fact that he believes who let this fight flip away to totally affect the future? Or will he learn from this, grow from this, and earn his way back? We'll talk about the speaker at a second, but Alexander Pantosia gets it done again, A.K.

And this is a guy who on the road to getting to a title fight and then eventually winning the belt and now defending it two different times. Dude's fought everybody already. He's already gone in there and just kind of run through a lot of this division. Now, there are some other things that he has not fought yet. This division is kind of a mess right now. So, AK, I ask you, my best friend, what is next for the flyway champion? Let me start with that. I really like Alexander Pantosia.

I always have. I am dubbing him, and I hate when media tries to give someone a nickname or push a narrative too hard. But I call him our imperfect champion. I think that's how he'll be remembered. If he ever gets a damn episode, which probably won't just because, I guess, the level of fame isn't there. Who knows?

Who knows how long this, if he can string together, a really good flyweight championship run? That's how I would want the title to be, Alexander Pintoza, the UFC's imperfect champion. because the way he got to the title was a bit strange. He has some very clear, like, he has some very clear losses on there. Let's, let's be honest. Ascar, Ascar, no controversy. Figuerato, lost.

Never got that win back. Like we say he's beaten everyone on a flyway. You never got the biggie win back. Biggie in his mind probably thinks it's probably one of the reason he left the division. He's like, well, I beat this guy once upon time. I feel like I could beat him again. And I don't know if that's the case, but it's not like Pentosia on his way to the title was this, was just running through everyone.

Very exciting fighter. We all knew he was one of the top three or four, lightwoods in the world. That was no secret. He had those wins over Moreno. So for a while, we were pushing for him to get the shot. But again, it's not like he ever felt that he was this inevitable train. When he finally got it, we were like, oh, well, the UFC should ran out of options to finally giving Pantosia a shot. And even then, he won an incredible fight, one of the best fights of 2023, but it was controversial. I'm pretty sure I scored it for Moreno. I don't remember if I was if I was live blocking that night, but I do think I was scoring on Twitter.

I think I had it from Moreno. Not a robbery, just a really close fight. And then his two defenses, his fight with Roy Val. Clear win, but not a memorable fight. Again, a lot of people sort of more like, oh, what was Roy Val? What was his game plan? So more criticism with Roy Val. And same thing with Ersig. Now we're kind of criticizing Ersig for maybe throwing away the fight in the fifth round.

Some people had them up anyway heading into the fifth. So maybe it shouldn't have mattered. But part of being on top is just finding ways to win, man. And yes, maybe you're getting lucky on the cards sometimes. But I love Pentosia style. He can grind out wins. He can win brawl. He can finish. He's a finisher. I know he's got the decisions coming up. He's got a lot of great finishes. I love Pantosia. So I think continuing his theme of being the imperfect champion, I think he's going to fight McAyev next to Mike. And that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean that Maccahav's next fight is Pantosia, if you understand what I'm saying. I do think Makayev is going to fight in Manchester. I think it makes too much sense to. Unless I'm missing, he has some injury that's keeping him out, because I know he hasn't been booked yet, but it just makes all the sense in the world to have McCoyev.

fight there. I don't know who he's going to fight. That's a prediction I can't quite make. But give him anyone. Give him anyone in the top 15. And if Makayev wins, when Pantoja comes back, he's going to take a little break. That's the fight to make. That's the fight to make. And I don't think it's a walkover for Makayev at all. I think Pentoja is so tough. I think it's a great matchup for anyone. And I think experiences on his side. So I'd love to see that fight. So this is both kind of a waving a magic wand and a crystal ball. I think down the road, maybe closer to the end of the year. Maybe even if Pento, yeah, close to the end of the year. I don't think 2025. I think it'll be before.

the end of the year. Pentosja versus Mikhail. Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of people screaming robbery, uh, which I honestly like on the watch party, again, it's so confusing. There's so much going on. Uh, I scored it for Steve Ers sake, but it was, and I even admitted it was a, it was a very biased scorecard on my part because Vinnie Siggs winning the flyweight title last night would have been hilarious to me just to see what they could have done with this and how over he could have gotten. I was just very curious to see like what kind of star power

this guy actually had. won the belt. And then I just went to M.A. decisions and pretty much everybody scored it for Pantosia. A couple 49-46s don't love those cards. To me, I thought four of the five rounds were pretty easy to score. I thought one was Pantosia. I thought five was Pantosia. I thought two and four were clearly Steve Erseg. Three was just a very, very close round. It was super duper close. Pantosia had more moments, but Erseg, when he landed, he did a lot of damage. He didn't land a ton in round three, but when he did, he made it count. So it was a very, very close third round.

It's not a robbery to me. And I feel like taking the bias away, I think Pantosia won the fight. I think you went 48, 47. But again, if you scored up for Steve Ersek, I ain't got to sit here and be mad at you. So this is a weird one, AK, because I have to, like I said, there's going to be a couple journeys here. So I'm going to go to the future and sort of build my way back because the answer truly is I have no idea who he's going to fight because he did say in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier that he is going to take some time off. He's had three fights in the last

year, which I totally understand. And this division, frankly, is a mess. So I'm going to matchmake for Vinny Six first. I think he fights in Perth in August. He's from there. I know it's a somewhat quick turnaround. It's three months after a five-round war, but I think this guy will do absolutely everything he can to fight. So I'm going to throw him in there with Medell Cop. Give Cop a little extra time to heal up from the injuries, put him on a big spot on a pay-per-view card. Let's see if he can make weight. And I would book that fight. I would book Mahama Mikhail to fight Brennan Royval. I would do it UFC 304 in Manchester in July. And I would book Amir al-Bazi because the original matchup I had for Alex Perez was the winner of Josh Van versus Tattoo Ro Tira,

and now I'm going to give that winner to Amir al-Bazi, and it's just going to be kind of a Ron Robin. I would probably favor a Minel Kopp win if he goes out there and beats Steve Erseg as being the favorite to get the title fight if he makes weight and wins the fight. If Erseg wins, I would lean Mohama Makayev, if he gets the win, and then if Royval beats Makayev, and he does so in entertaining fashion, So if he goes on finishes Makayev, like he's in the driver's seat still, even though we saw that fight recently.

But if he goes on just like squeaks out a split decision, then we kind of move on down the ladder. So I guess I don't really have an actual pick here. Mike. But that's- Give us a name. Do the thing. Do the thing.

Give us a name. Say middle cop. Oh. Like I'll just, I'll say menal cop, man. With a win. You're saying he does have to fight and you're saying Minal Copp has to beat someone to get the shot, right? Yeah.

Not just fall. Maybe not. Oh, God. But maybe not. He doesn't deserve it. No, I know that, but him sitting out, like, might just be enough. You know what I mean? His wins.

He might just be enough at this point. Listen, I love that he's the alliteration assassin. Nothing but respect. O'Day Osborne, Zalga, Zubukulov, David Devorak, Philippe de Los Santos. That's barely better than Steve Versaig's resume. Steve Versaig, almost killing him getting a title shot. Yeah, but, I mean, he's got the rise in experience. That's a big bite.

That's great. That's true. Kastaker, a huge win. But that's almost like five years. years ago, how much credit we're going to give this guy? That Nicolaan fight was very close, but he didn't win. He didn't win that fight, very close fight. And he's fought Patoja already and Pantosia beat him. And again, that was also a while ago. You could certainly run it back someday, but I hope he doesn't just fall. Yeah.

Bass Akors into a title shot. Give me a win, no. Give me a win, please. No, that's what I'm saying. Like, he goes and fights, he goes and fights, he goes and fights, he goes and fights, he wins. He's got to say a bunch of heinous stuff to try to sell the fight. And he's going to say a bunch of heinous stuff about Pantosia if he wins. And, And like if cop had gone in as the challenger last night and did what we'd expect cop to do, like I think there would be a lot more buzz for this card because he would just sell it. Stevie Vinnie Siggs is just not that dude. So yeah, I mean, unfortunately, we just have to wait to see how this all plays out.

And we don't know how long Pantosha's planning to take up. We might not see Pantosha fight again the rest of the year at this point. Unless like something big comes along. But maybe he fights in December. Co-made events. do something there, but... I was trying to remember, I don't know, randomly, because I was thinking about Manal Cop this morning

because I was doing the thing about the picks. What was, what did he, in one of your earliest interviews with him, you know, you were always on top of things before things really blow up with with Kyle, well, it was under Risen, but what did he call Cody Garbrand? He wanted Cody Garbrandt so bad, and I can't remember his name. He had such a mean name for him. I can't remember. I'll have to go back and look it up, but he had such a mean name.

And it was, I believe it was with you. I think it was the interviews with you. It definitely was. Is it something we can repeat on air? I'm trying to remember right now. It was a very mean name. Sorry to, sorry to put us on a tangent here, people. I'll find it.

Yeah, I'm looking it up right now. Yeah, I'd love to. Maybe it was something we can't stay on air. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it out much. It was very mean. I forget what it was. That's all right. You actually wrote the article from that interview, but I don't remember.

Okay, if I find it, I'll let you guys know. Yeah, I don't know. We can move on. Sorry, because I didn't mean to distract people. We'll figure out. We'll figure it up. Move on. Who are you picking for Steve Versaig?

My best friend. Oh, right. Yes. Steve Versaig. I think the timing is going to work out that he can fight Brandon Royval? I think. Brandon Royval, I think I had said, I said I wanted to run it back on the Hantotia, even though I didn't know what I knew that wasn't going to happen.

I just thought this was when they were still booking the 301 main event. And I was like, Royval's healthy. I wasn't satisfied. I'm a big Royval fan, so I just wasn't satisfied with how the first fight went. Not necessarily that he lost. Oh, thank you. A, Cody Garbage. So nothing offensive.

It wasn't too bad. No, no, no. But I just remember being mean. I just like, oh, I don't know why. When I first heard it, I was like, oh, what a know? That's not a nice thing to say. Yeah, so things he said recently are probably quite a bit more vicious and not broadcastable. But yeah, Brandon Royville, I wanted him to get title shot at 301.

I know it didn't make sense. I knew it was unlikely he was going to get it. And then when Erseg kind of came out of nowhere, I was like, oh, yeah, I guess that was the way to go. But I still feel like there's a path back to an way to an way to know. there's a path back to another shot of Pantosia for Royval. I still want to see them run it back someday. He does have to, again, beat a top five guy, which is maybe where people would rank Ersig now.

Again, I know a lot of thought he won that fight. I didn't move him up too much just because he didn't win. I'm pretty harsh with that. If you didn't get a decision, I'm not going to bump you up as if you did. But I'm sure he's viewed as at least a top five talent. Certainly a guy who could fight him in the top five is being of Ursaig, and Brennan Royval is in there as well. So, yeah, if they can make that happen, I think that's the right way to go.

And I don't know if either guy gets the rematch off of it, but at least keeps them on track. And it's just a really fun fight. I just love also would love to see those two scrap. Yeah. And going back and looking at the media scores, 22 of the 25 media members scored for Al Janda Pantosha. So just throwing that out there. But yeah, it's a fun fight. Good.

Good way at end of the night. And there you go. A lot of people are very mad that Steve Urseig is not the flyway champion. No, it's really just one guy in the comment. Yeah, that's true. Fair enough. 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 rink 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. Enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See out 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-training tread plus at one peloton.ca. It's time to have some fun right now because the king of Rio returned to his throne. He gimmicked it up beautifully with the crown and all, Jose Aldo,

fights Jonathan Martinez, the silence behind the violence. And it just seems like Martinez couldn't get much going, at least in terms of what Factory X and Mark Montoya believed that the game plan was to be in that fight. because all you could hear, even over the raucous Rio crowd, the entire fight was Mark Montoya screaming at Jonathan Martinez to do some stuff. And to me, I cash a dog ticket on Joseo. I felt very confident going in there.

And I was kind of surprised. And this is no disrespect to Jonathan Martinez. But there are so many people who just thought Jonathan Martinez was going to roll last night. And I'm like, unless Joseoaldo is just completely cooked stylistically, I just don't see how he'd lose it. this fight. Fight went pretty much exactly the way I thought it was going to go, although almost gets him out of there in round three, but he sweeps the cards, 30, 27s across the board. But now, AK, now he's a free agent. He even said in his post-fight interview,

even said in the post-fight scrum, his UFC contract is officially over, the one that he just recently completed. But he's not shutting the door on a UFC return. He said he wants to sit down Dana White. He kind of laid out what his contract looks like that the UFC has matching rights to whatever offer he gets. So if someone throws him an offer, they bring it back to the UFC. The UFC could decide whether or not they want to match it or not. They could, I don't know how long the matching period lasts. Could be six months. Could be a year. The UFC just waves it all together because Jose Al is a Hall of Famer. Who the hell knows right now, AK? But let's have a little fun. What are we doing for the King of Rio?

I was just working under the assumption that he can come back somehow without any strings attached, which is crazy, of course. Aldo and Aldo's team, please don't sign a multi-fight deal. If you must, by multi, let's say two. Two-fight deal. If I read some report that he signed a four-fight deal with the UFC or God help us, an eight-fight deal with the UFC, I might cry, Mike. I might cry. I want this man to have, you know, career freedom. I want him to be able to box.

He wants a box. him to be able to MMA if he wants to MMA. It was a joy seeing him back in action last night. It was truly a pleasure. Jonathan Martinez was the right matchup. The UFC did something cool by accident. I don't know if they meant to do something cool, but damn, they did. And I don't know if it would help with the pay-per-view buys, but it definitely, I mean,

it probably helped a little bit. I don't know how much. I don't think it added like 100K or something, but it couldn't have hurt. And again, at least from a critical perspective and looking back on it, this is something they can sell this card on. When they're doing their montage of the best moments of 2024, they can say, hey, remember UFC 301, that card that everyone crapped on? Well, guess what? It gave us the feel-good moment of the year, Joseo Aldo coming back from retirement and defeating Jonathan Martinez.

And I wanted to say giving us a farewell, but it really wasn't a farewell, was it? Because he did leave the door open for a return. So let's say he comes back. Let's say he comes back hopefully on a favorable deal for him. I still want the dominant cruise fight, Mike, and I won't give up on it. And I think it kills two birds with one stone because it's a great fight. It's a great fight name value-wise, legacy-wise, the whole WEC thing, just their UFC resumes alone are fantastic. It's a fight I've always wanted to see it's a dream fight.

I never gave up on Gagee Holloway, and I won't give up on Aldo Cruz either. And for those who are saying, well, oh, but we kind of want to see if there's an outside shot, he can work his way to Sean O'Malley. I don't think that happens. But if you don't think the UFC would give Jose Aldo a title shot at O'Malley off of wins over Jonathan Martinez and Dominic Cruz, then you don't know the UFC, man. They would love to give Josie Aldo a title shot,

especially depending on what his contract situation is, should he be signed. So, listen, fans will complain about it. Fans will be like, oh, I can't believe. Some fans, anyway. Aldo's getting a title shot off of a, you know, outside the top 10 guy and wash Dominic Cruz, whatever, whatever.

It doesn't matter. It's sellable. It's Jose Aldo. He should have gotten a title fight against Aljo. They screwed that up with Dela Shah. If he gets the cruise fight, and if he wins, the UFC can definitely do the right thing. And if you're O'Malley, come on, how can you not sell that fight? You're getting a favorable matchup with a considerably older Aldo, and you can tell people,

oh, I beat one of the greatest of all times. So O'Malley would totally be into it. He understands how the game works. And unless that Ryan Garcia boxing match comes along, he needs challengers inside the Octagon. Aldo would be a perfect bit. So I still think it's unlikely. I don't even know if Aldo comes back to the O.C. But the path is there for one, a dream fight with Donald Cruz and also,

can't believe it made me in 2025. A title shot was Sean O'Malley. I got to tell you, I am stunned that Sean O'Malley didn't tweet out a whole bunch of stuff about Joe. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely shocked. I thought for sure that he had like drafts ready to go and nothing, like literally nothing. So a lot of people like, wondering what I think is going to happen with this.

I got a bunch of DMs. Is Jose Ali going to stay with the UFC? I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no. Only because I think someone's going to come. And look, I know this is the most ideal thing. And we would love to see Jose Alito fight Sean O'Malley and maybe win the ban on white title.

Like what a cool-ass moment that would be if he was able to win. And I'd probably pick Sean O'Malley in the fight, if I'm being honest. But I'd have to like go and watch tape and date where it's happening. et cetera. So I'm putting myself in a different, in a different pair of shoes here. Just for the sports and like kind of what I want to see. What I, what I think should happen. And if I'm Don Davis and company, I am on the phone right now with Jose Al those people. And I'm saying we will offer this band two to three million dollars per fight to come fight for us for multiple reasons. One, they have it.

They could just throw money around like it's nothing. They have no problem losing money. Although is a very good name to have on their pay-per-views for sure, because you need to bust those up if you're going to ask people to spend 50 bucks on them. And the UFC is not going to match that. They're just not going to. And if Josea Aldo signs a new deal, he's going to have to sign a four to eight fight deal. And he may not have the luxury to go box or do BKFC or things of that nature.

and you do that. The other reason is I want to see Jose Aldo fight Patchy Mix. I kind of want to see that happen. Patchy's got a fight. He's fight. Now he's just kind of recycling opponents. And I think Aldo versus Patchy Mix is like a really good fight.

And we could see what we may not get Patchy in the UFC for a while until this new contract of his expires, which I would guess is probably going to be like another four or five fights. He's probably getting paid very, very well. well to compete for PFL ator. But just think like it's answer some questions about Apache. I know a lot of people at MMA fighting have him as the best band of way in the world. I just can't quite get there because he's just not fighting. He's not fighting the top five guys.

He just isn't. And the only way to do that is to fight guys who are either a former UFC fighters who are probably top five or six in the world or he just comes to the UFC. and I just think that them signing Aldo, but allowing him to do all these different things in box and do whatever would be good for everybody. And it gives them a little bit of a boost if they wanted to do all that.

If he stays, I don't think he's getting the title fight. I think they do the Dominic Cruz fight or at least present that. I know there's a lot of rumor that, and even Josealo is on the impression that Dominic was the opponent, I did listen to Anik and Florian earlier this week and John Anick, who is very, like, very,

very close to Dominic Cruz and even said to this point like if he married his wife like now instead of all those years ago Dominic Cruz would be a part of his wedding party. John Eddick said that Dominic Cruz told him he was never even offered the fight, which is what I heard as well. You know, maybe there was like preliminary talks like, hey, we're thinking about maybe you fighting Jose Aldo, but from what I understood, there was like no true formal offer presented to him. And that like when it was actual, you know, if there were two fighters for one fight, Jonathan Martinez was kind of the only name in play. That's what I had heard.

That's what I'd said the day after this fight was reported and confirmed. I think although kind of corroborated that, right? I think he said he spoke to the UFC about a Dominic Cruz fight, not that they had offered not that they had ever put the fight together, just that it was something they had talked with the matchmakers, but not between the two fighters. Yeah. I think it all adds up. I think it does all add up that it was never really offered to Cruz.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just like a fun nostalgia fight, I guess. But man. With if Marab doesn't get the title shot here, it's just ridiculous. Barab is as over as he will ever be at this point. And he even got to the point where Dana White's like, yeah, dude, he's fighting for the belt next, which he hasn't done with Bala Muhammad or anybody like that.

Like Marab has done the work to at least get over with the fans and at least generate some excitement. I even got Sean O'Malley's attention just to a certain degree. And I got to tell you at this point, like, Sean O'Malley just needs to fight Mara. He just needs to fight us. And I want to see what that fight looks like. and I honestly think that Sean O'Malley has like a chance to win that fight. I think he's a lot of people think Maraub's going to run him over. I don't think it's that simple.

No. I really don't. So I really want to see that fight. But I, if I'm PFL, I'm just, whatever Jose Aldo wants, give it to him. And then do Aldo versus Patchy Mix, like underneath Francis versus whoever. And I know Francis is going through a hell of a lot right now. And I feel so frigging bad for that guy. But man, Jose Aldo on that roster right now would be fun as hell.

and be a nice little boost for PFL. And that's what we want everybody. We want competition. We want the UFC to feel like they are tested in some way. We want Don Davis going on Twitter and saying outlandish dumb things, which is why he's the funniest man in the history of the sport. And them signing Jose Alos as a free agent would be incredible. It would be absolutely fantastic.

So that's what I, that's what I'm going to go with just because I kind of want to see it. But I have no idea, honestly. He's going to go box for sure. I don't know how to feel about this PFL. that would look so bizarre that would just look so weird to me boxing fine like we've seen it like I saw

his boxing I'm like yeah it seems normal seems like a normal thing to do seeing him inside the smart cage with like pfl club man I don't know like I don't know if I'm ready for that it's a distinct possibility I just I don't know I don't know if I'm ready and by the way I'm sorry I kept talking about Aldo fighting O'Malley it could end up Aldo fighting Marob somewhere down the road

and I think that's a sellable rematch I know the first fight was like a miserable one to watch Because it was in Salt Lake City and it was the dumbest booking ever. And I also know a lot of people who feel like Aldo won that fight anyway. So there's a story there. By a lot of people, I mean Jed Michoud. Yeah. That's a lot of people in my estimation.

All right. His opinion counts as like 20 men for me. All right. So I would, it's a hard fight to sell because again, that first fight was real bad. But I'm just saying if Aldo gets to tell the shot, I'm intrigued by other him fighting O'Malley or Mara. I don't think it happens. I don't think it happens.

Aldo versus Cori Sanhagan would be a lot of fun. I would enjoy the hell out of that. I don't want to see Aldo fight Umar. I don't want to see that. No, I don't think anyone meets Umar. I still, I stand by it.

I still think he's maybe, he doesn't have the resume yet, but I do think he is the best phantom way in the world. Yeah, but Mara's got to get the shot. I just, especially Sean's silence at this point, like basically said everything we needed to hear.

And even if he comes out and tweets up a storm, now, like it's going to have some impact, but not as much as it would have last night. Although getting a title shot now to make up for the title shot, he didn't get against Al Jermaine Sterling would be like when they gave Pacino the Oscar for Ascent of a woman because he didn't win the Oscar for the Godfather part two. I know that's a out there comparison. A makeup call. A makeup call, right?

They should never do those. So real ones know. Real ones know. Well, it was a good moment. And to me, Jose Aldo saved that card in a lot of respects. There's no way they're getting 14,000 people in that building. Jose Aldo's not on the card. There's just no effing way.

I don't think it's sold. I don't think it did anything for the pay-per-view buys, maybe like a couple hundred. Just, I mean, although the hardcores love him, but the casual fans just don't know who he is, especially that he was out for almost two years. So, and he's popular amongst, like, us, but he's not like a big pay-per-view draw. So it's not like if they throw Aldo in there, it's like, oh, they're going to do a million pay-per-views to Toronto Malli versus Jose-Aldo. But honestly, like whatever they do with Barab, it would be the same number.

You know what I mean? It's not like Aldo would bring in 500,000 extra pay-per-view buys compared to Barab. It's not that type of conversation anymore. So which is why like Marlon Verra got the shot over Barab because they felt like Marl was the bigger star. But I don't think we really have that conversation here, honestly, with these two guys. So I don't think it makes much, much of a difference. So we'll see what happens at 135 pounds.

Jose Aldo back in the NBA fighting global rankings, you'll see how high he will go when those launch either Monday or Tuesday. Let's go to the featured bout. I got to tell you, A.K., you say it all the time, don't bet on MMA. Don't bet on MMA.

It brings out different emotions than you. And I had a great night at the office yesterday, gambling. It would have been a perfect night at the office. And I mean perfect, had Vitor Petrito beat Anthony Smith last night. So there's a part of B, that was a little upset with Vitor Petrito's fight IQ in that fight.

It was just awful. So, so bad. The one thing you don't want to do with Eddie Smith, he just went right in there and did it. And it was just awful. It was so, so bad. But Anthony Smith locks up Gilley, huge win for him and gets it done.

So this is, again, another really tough one because Anthony has fought literally everybody already. Like, he's fought everyone. So my pick is Dominic Reyes. And I know Dominic Grayis is fighting Dustin Jacoby next month. And it just so happens that Anthony Smith and Dustin Jacoby are teammates. So if something happens, maybe Dustin Jacoby tweaks an ankle or something. Anthony could just step right in, go to Louisville and fight Dominic Reyes.

And if Dominic Grayis somehow beats Dustin Jacoby, we got a little bit of a story there. Anthony Smith can come back. Former title challenges. John Jones. They could battle it out. They would see what happens. But if like Dusty Jacoby just runs over Dominic Reyes, then it's just kind of like, what do we do?

Maybe he gets Jamal Hill. Like that's probably like what could happen depending on based on what the Cleo roundtree fight looks like. But I'm just crystal balling it, Dominic Reyes, just throwing it out there, Dominic Reyes and Anthony Smith. And I think people will be okay with that. But I actually have no freaking clue what to do with Anthony Smith right now. Yeah.

Anthony Smith, big win. Don't gamble on MMA, we always say, and also definitely don't gamble on M.A. using my predictions as any sort of gauge. My opinion is horrible. I mean, yesterday I think I got like 11 out of 13, but also it was a very chalky night. I think like the only, I think Anthony Smith was the only, oh, no, Anthony Smith and Aldo. Though Aldo, like, I almost feel like Aldo shouldn't have been an underdog.

I understand why he was, but I feel like he shouldn't have been. Anthony Smith was a huge underdog. I think he was something like plus 500 or something to portray. Yeah, he was massive. Really, that's going to go down. It's one of the biggest upsets of the year when we look back on it. And if you watch how the fight played out, you wouldn't understand why. The odds are probably a little wonky on that.

But, yeah, otherwise, it was a good night. I think, again, like I said, 11 out of 13. But if you just picked favorites, you probably got, I think you got 11 out of 13 if you just won favorites. So I'm not bragging about that. But if people see my prediction, I had picked Anthony Smith all the way. I was like, the level of competition is so different. Anthony Smith is just his so much more experienced, high-level opponents. The grappling, I don't think Vitor's going to have an answer for it.

And then at the end, I was like, wait a minute, I said the exact same things about, like, the Kaleel Roundtree fight. And I was so wrong there. You know what? I'm going with Petrino to knock him out. And, like, I don't know why. Like, my brain just is not good for picking fights because I had all the ingredients, Mike, to just say Anthony Smith is going to win and submit him or beat him with his grappling. And I just didn't do it. And I don't know why.

Anyway, I'm an idiot. So, Oven, same proof. There you go. All of that is to say open St. Prue. I'm going another old guy battle. You said it, Mike. He's fought everyone. I kind of just had to go down my list and see who is he likely to get in the top 10, probably not that many fights available.

Who has he not already fought in the top of Dean? Again, not a long list. So I had to go a little bit outside of the top of Dean. It's really just keeping both guys busy. And I don't think it would be a cool, classy battle. It's for two guys who have been in the O.C. for such a long time. It's weird that they've never fought each other. So I'd be happy to see OSP and Lionheart throw down.

Yeah, I apologize. To be a word to be too much on the watch fire. I was like, I called him an effing idiot. I was like, I would have hit a nine leger if Vitor won that fight and then and a five legger. So I was like, oh man, like it was so close and I like and we said the whole time that like out of all these fights in like the big favorite parlayas we had and I even had Jose Aldo and the nine legger as an underdog, which would have been really, really nice.

I was actually going to donate that money to like a cause that's kind of near and dear to my heart. I'm still going to throw them a old something. something anyways, but that would have been like a really nice thing to just add to the list. So I think that was like most of where my emotion came from. But the whole entire watchfire were like, man, if there's one fight that scares the hell out of us because GC and I both had Petrito in some parlays, it's that fight for that exact reason because I think Petrillo is going to do might just try to grapple with them, which would just

be the awful, awful thing to do. And boy, oh boy, did you just go right in there and do it. But shout out to Anthony Smith. Guy just gets it done. Yep. And now maybe he's going to grab up. Alex Pereira for $50,000. It would be very, very fun.

Okay, now things get fun. Things get a little easier here. Let's go to the middleweight division, A.K., Michelle Pereira, makes the Rio de Janeiro fans dance and sing because the duelist was silenced by Michelle Pereira, who knocks him down, hasn't been big trouble, locks on the gilly, it's nasty, gets the tap. Ihor Potiaria, like, is kind of out on his feet.

He hits the mat and he just kind of spazes out down there. It was kind of like a nasty look at submission, especially the aftermath of it. And Michelle Pereira, middleweight Michelle is a bad, bad man, AK. He is a bad man, Majama. And he's, what, three and O in the division? He's fought for less than three minutes total. And he's just putting fools away real quick. So, AK, what do we do with Michelle Pereira?

How high up do we go here? Middle late, Michelle is the best. Oh, and by the way, it is very important to say. Yeah. He does do the freaking moonsault and knee, poor, Ehor, Poitieri. So good. That's a legal move. That's a legal move as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I don't give him. Like, when he leaves Potieri, kind of like kicked him in mid-air, so, you know, the momentum. But still, that would have been, that was wild.

That was very Bichel Perreraish. I guarantee you part of the discussion that the officials were having, like, oh, what do we do? Like, when they were reviewing that footage was like, okay, that's, really definitely super illegal move, but also it was awesome. And we can't overturn that. And I think that's what they lean to have like, okay. You don't overturn. You don't overturn awesome things.

You just don't. You don't. That was so cool. That was so cool. Middleweight Michelle Padetta is a menace. Walter weight Michelle Palletta was fine and a little bit of a contender, also a little boring, a little conservative time. Let's be honest.

Middleweight, Michelle, is just unhinged. If anyone has not seen his fights in Korea before he came to the UFC, and I know a lot of have. I think by now, I think a lot of it went back and watched his fights just before he was signed. Please go back. Just look at Michelle Podetta and just rode FC. His fights in Road FC. Those are maniacal, no rules, like jumping off the fence for no reason in the middle of the fight.

His opponent is standing and he's jumping off the middle of the fence and launching himself at them. It is unbelievable stuff. And like, you're seeing the restraint. Like that, him doing that to Eeyore is like the restrained version of Demolidor. He's so fun. I love him. Middleweight. If we're up to me, I would give him the Middleweight title shot right now, all right? Dooply see. Dupac.

Dupac, Izzy, is not booked. All right. If it were up to me, this man is a hero. Hero, he completed the blood sacrifice of Eeyore to Shogun. I know you guys are talking about us in the preview show. I can't remember how you guys refer to it as having the Shogun announcement and having Eeyore come out. I think Penance, I think you guys call it with penance.

No, this was a sacrifice. This was a sacrifice to the blood god that is Shogun. not only did they honor him with a video, they honored him with a human body for him to absorb his essence because he'll never avenge that loss, but you know what? DeMaldi Dorre did it for him

and he did it spectacular and highly illegal fashion, and I will forever love Michelle Predeta for this. So I can't give him the title shot. The match where I have from is actually pretty boring, but he needs, he deserves a top five guy. I know he has said many times, I don't care. I'm not calling for names. I don't, if I'm not chasing titles,

the UFC gives me who they give me. So fine. It's one big thing lacking in his show much up. He does not call for names. So I guess he ends up with the Jared Canineer Nasardine E. Mavov winner they're fighting in Louisville on June 8. So not a sexy choice, but just looking at where everyone else is right now and who's scheduled and what have you, who I've already have picks for on previous episodes of on the next one. Those are the guys that shake out.

It's fluffy her to end as AK. Give it to me. Just give it to me That fight is going to be insane That's really good Let's just go Fluffy is supposed to fight Roman De Leeds A

June 1st UFC 302 Obviously Fluffy is hurt But he said he'll be able to return Later on the summer And boy oh boy Would that be a fun ass fight So that's what I'm going with

There's just no way that fight sucks In any way shape or form So yeah That's where I'm going And let's just have as much fun as possible Michelle Pereira Let's just do it Let's go to Kyle Bahamas

Hollyo, AK, comes in. So he's got to knock out Paul Craig, knocked out Paul Craig, fun little scrap, gets it done. And he didn't call out Jerkis 2.C. Good stuff. Kai was learning. Learning on the fly. He calls out Jared Canaaner, which I don't hate. Some people thought it was doo-doo because there are reports that Jared Canaaner is

fighting Nasredine imov off in the main event of UFC Louisville. From what I've been told, fight is being talked about. but to say that it is a done deal is not wholly accurate at this time. So that fight is still in play. I did not go in that direction. The direction I did go, AK. Kyle Baha'ali returns to his actual home, his fighting home, Las Vegas, Nevada,

the world's most famous apex, and he will do so in a main event. Yes, main event, Kyle, taking on the only man he should share an apex cage with, in a main event spot. Mr. Middleweight main event, Jack the Joker, Hermanson, A.K. Are we queuing up the band?

Are we chewing up the band? They don't need to be queued up. They've been queued up for like three weeks because we've been teasing them and not letting them play. Count us in. One, two, three. Friends for ever.

Easiest pick of the day. Come on. I tell people all the time to do their homework. Kids, if you're out there, do your homework. Don't watch MMA for one thing. Do your homework. Should be watching the MMA. Yes, back when Jack Kermanson's last win, I said, give him the winner of Bohalia and Paul Craig.

There we go. Ohio takes care of business. There's your matchup. Easy. There you go. All right. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What?

Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun. Boarding will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Concern by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 18665331-2-60 or visit comexonterio.ca. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. We're going to go ahead and do our wildcard picks

and then we'll go to you guys for just a full-out wild card round. You guys just throw them picks. We'll pull them up. Super Chat and get to the top. A.K., let's matchmake for one fighter. We have not matched for yet. We'll matchmake for them right now. Who's your wild card pick coming out of UFC 301?

I got to do something for my man, your car close. What a weird run this guy's been on. We all know he's a top 15 lightweight talent. We know this. It's insanely deep division. but you could put him up against many guys in the top of Dean or the top 10, and you know he's giving them a competitive fight. The guy is just really good, just well-rounded, experienced,

knows how to work out of trouble. A lot of guys would have panicked that last round against Joachim Silva. I was, again, I was watching the boxing, but I was watching the fight, and I thought like he was done. All we needed was Joe Rogan screaming like, that's tight, that's tight. And I, but again, he's so poised. He just waded out, popped that head free, that guillotine, And, you know, get that decision win.

Get that decision win. He works so hard for. So I love Jukar. Nine and two now in the UFC. Four straight wins, but he just doesn't have that name. I like the B'Neal Darius callout. I think it's an okay time to run that one back. It would be better if there was someone maybe on a, you know,

coming off of wins that you could match Jekar with. But Benny has that previous win over him. It's quite a while ago now. Benny probably would see that as a fight that he could. win to break out of his own skid that he's on. So run that one back. Not a sexy matchup, but nothing about Joucar Close's career has been sexy so far. No disrespect to Joucar, Harry, handsome man.

I just mean his arc of his career. It's not like the most buzzworthy. There's people just don't talk about Jekar, even though he's been a great fighter in the UFC during his time there. A win over, B'iel does not make him a household name or anything, but it gets a number next to his name. I mean, it gets him like probably makes him number seven, number eight in this division. And that's pretty damn great, again, for a guy with, who doesn't have a ton of fan buzz behind them.

So let's get Joucar, that big fight finally. It's not exactly the same, but I've been saying all week that Jukar Close kind of reminds me of Anthony Fluffy Hernandez in a lot of respects. Like when he fights, people are excited that he's fighting. And then we want to see him fight more and just see where he can go. But then something happens, he gets hurt or he has a fight booked and then he has to withdraw, like just bad luck. and just when the momentum starts to just really go downhill, you know, something happens and we have to like wait another six or seven months.

And then we're like, oh, yeah, Dracar closest fighting. And I kind of feel like we're dealing with that with Anthony Hernandez. We just can't get them like consistently in there like three times a year like we'd like to see from these guys just to answer some of those questions. But lightweight, AK,

lightweight rules. The fight that I told you was going to rule, absolutely ruled last night. It was the fight I was looking forward to the most that includes any of the main card fights, including the main event and the co-main event, Mick Debeck Oralby versus Elvis Brenner just did the damn thing. It was awesome. It was incredible.

Elvis Brenner is a freaking dog. And then Mick Debeck Oralby, we're wondering what that third round is going to look like. I was a little nervous. I got to tell you from a guy who doesn't usually put decent chunks of money down on betting on fighters. I had pretty sizable wager on Mick to Beck to Beck Oralby to beat Elvis Brenner. So that third round scared the hell out of me a little bit. especially with the wild point deduction, a referee actually following the rules,

taking just a quick point away from Mick De Beck Oralbide, didn't even stop the action, just puts the finger up in the air, takes the point. So I was a little bit nervous. And G.C. and I are watching the end of the fight. It's the final 10 seconds that are exchanging. And I literally scream, like,

drop him, Oralby, drop him, he's right there. And then he freaking dropped of it. I was like, oh, thank God. Like, we're all good. I do I couldn't lose the bet, but winning it was nice. and Oralby just kind of outdogged Elvis Brenner, which is not easy to do. Elvis Brenner just you can't put this dude away. So great performance from both guys.

But Orrubai is going to be a problem. He is a little raw. He is a little bit green. But I think he's so good, man. And I think he's one of those guys. You just have to throw him into some kind of fire. And let's just see if he can extinguish his way out of it. So it might be a big jump.

But honestly, I had Elvis Brenner like sort of high on my personal rankings, like a top 25 guy. And you can only go up from a fight like that and a performance like that. So you know this guy's going to take the fight. You know he's going to take it. And it's going to be fun as hell. Mick Debecke Oralvi versus one Drew Dover, AK. Damn. Damn.

You just went right for it. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Yeah. Let's see what he's got. If you lose it, so why, he's 26.

We all know he's going to be fine, but I kind of just want to see it. Like you, there were some different suggestions of the post fight show, but like, if you go out there and you beat Elvis Brenner after the 2023 he had, you can't really go backwards now. Now, if they do Oral By versus Decar close, I don't hate that idea. You want to throw those two dudes together? Drew Dober's booked. Is he really? I don't know. Maybe there's a rumor.

Did I just do it on a live program here? Let me see. He's not booked. What are you talking about? I see nothing. I see no. Tristan, speak your truth. Tell us what you do. I have not heard. Drew Dober is not booked. Tapology says he's not booked. Amate fighting says he's not booked. He's not booked.

So until that happens, it's not doo-doo. So it passes the tapology test. We are do-do free here on the program tonight. But let's go ahead and do that. Oh, he's referring, he is referring to apparently Drew Dober posts on Instagram that he has a fight booked or But that's not. That's not official. It's not official. Dude, fighters throw out shit all the time. Oh, fight news coming.

Sometimes you don't see this fight news. Yeah, Oroby is serious, man. And I was just saying what Michelle Padeta, go on YouTube, finance fights. You can do the same thing with Oral Bai. You can watch some of those more recent fights, LFA on Fight Pass, and then go watch him. You can also go to YouTube. He's got a bunch of fights on there, him just manhandling overmatched Kyrgyzstan.

He's opponents, excuse me. So he's a real good. So what a great addition. And him and Brenner are both when he, guys like if you're in the lightweight division and trying to move up like you should not want to fight these guys they're going to like if you're if you're trying to crack the top 25 you like those are not those two the guys like you don't want to run into yeah let's just see it I want to see what he could do throw him in there with the with the grizzled wily veteran that's just going

to bring the fight to him love that idea and who knows even if drew is booked who gives a shit no matter what happens in that fight he could fight drew after win or lose whoever it is let's go all right let's go to the peeps let's see what what you have to say for the next 10 to 15 minutes because I'd start packing my shit and get ready to go home. So let's go. Fire in your matchmaking suggestions, send them in. If you super chat them, you get bumped to the front of the line.

And we're just going to go rapid fire here. Trevor Pink versus Marisha Ruffie. I think you kind of have to do that. I don't know. That's going to happen. It's going to happen. Those two will cross pass. Robocop versus Michelle Pereira.

I like it. I just don't want to know. I need Michelle Panetta to get a top 15 opponent. It's only fair. But another excellent matchup choice. I feel like that, like, I feel like I should have liked, I should like that fight way more. I like it, but I don't love it, if that makes sense. I don't know why.

I feel like I should like it way more, but maybe just because I like Pereira Fluffy so much more. What was the, by the, by the, Brazilian winner tally? Every fight was a Brazilian versus non-Brazilian, right? I'm not crazy, right? Yeah, Brazilians won. every fight except for the oral by fight in the Dracar close fight. And Anthony, Anthony Smith.

So 10 out of 13. Damn, that doesn't, much better than 203. Last January's trip to Rio, which was a bit of a bummer. Again, ended with two Brazilian champions losing. So that was tough. Brandon goes to the Smith versus Menafield, Oberg winner, which I don't hate, but I already picked the Menafield Oberg winner for Bogdink Goosekopf.

So I couldn't go there. I also feel like I would, it's funny. I would just love to see him fight oldberg because again, I feel like it's, it's, it's the third fight in a row, him facing someone with much less experienced and considerably less grappling ability. And again, again, Khalil got smoked, B tour, took him out. Oldberg would be like the decider. I don't know.

That would be a weird one. But that's interesting. I don't think it happens. I like, I like, I do like the Spittholberg idea. Sure. A lot. I think that's one that makes a lot of sense. And I would feel quite confident that if Carl Solberg beats Alonzo Menefield, he's going to call it Anthony Smith.

I'd be shocked if he doesn't. Blue Raider Ersig or Pantosia versus Cop because that's just how flyweight is these days. I mean, he's not wrong. Dirty Rag, Ruffy versus Oral would be dope. It's a little too soon for Ruffy. It'd be fun, but Oral by is a big problem. Let's just throw Ruffy in there with like, just get him in there and fun fights and let him just build up a highlight reel. I think that's how you build him up.

Pereira versus Martin Vittori. Are we ready for some armatory action? I thought about it. That was probably one of the first picks I had when I was drafting up matchups. I just, I do think Michelle Pinnettit beats him. Michelle Pryor is pretty difficult to just outr wrestle outside of that one very strange Tristan Connolly's fight. That fight is always going to be held against him, losing to a welterweight after he missed weight, just getting, again, totally gassed and wrestled for three rounds and losing.

but that is really the exception rather than the role. That doesn't happen to Michelle Pader that often. That was such a strange fight. Could Vittori do that to him? Probably. Vittori's really strong. So in that sense, I don't like the matchup. But if he keeps it on the feet, I mean, Panetta will smoke him.

We'll absolutely annihilate him. Yeah, but you can't hurt. You can't finish Marvin Vittory. No, no, no. I mean, he might survive, but he's going to be a really messed up after 25 minutes. Yeah. Honestly, if there's like one fight at middleweight, that I don't want to make right now, it's probably that one.

It's a ranked guy. It's a ranked guy. Like, there's a lot of behind it, for sure. It's a top 10 guy. I think you do Vittori versus Allen still, but we'll see. Pereira versus DeLizzi at 302. Where do I have delete C in my rankings right now? I got Delete say.

I mean, if Deleez is he wants to kind of stay on that car, but man, go from Fluffy to Michelle Pereira, that's, I mean. Yeah, I mean, I guess you could That was the original matchup, right? Deletese and Fluffy? Yes. Damn. Deletes it coming off. What were Deli-Sate?

He's coming off two losses. What were those losses? I don't remind myself. Marimvitori. Yeah. And who the hell is the other one? I look it up. Oh, Nasradiens.

Nastynian. Yeah, okay, those aren't bad law. I was going to say, it's always weird to me, like someone at eight-fight win streak, and then someone, oh, I guess, three-fight, win streak, and then someone on a two-fighted But those are like those losses are not ones that we should be like oh roman delude say is not going to contend it's like no marvin matorre's good nassarthenia bob's good okay yeah Raymond likes petoio machia fight the prospect soon and later since future is macaa fattaira bataura brett mowledo sanhagen i love that fight i do i think sanhagen i think san hagen can win that one

i do soon i think that's all the reason i would like to see i would definitely favor san hagen but that's okay i think aldo would end well put although Although Sondi Nong, I don't think Jose Alta is resigning to fight Songu Yadong for being honest. Very little fight for Jose though. Aldo versus Zahudo if they don't give him the title shot. Can I ban Sehudo matchmaking picks or not? Didn't I do that in the episode already? We're talking about, you're talking with the rankings earlier.

Like, where's Aldo? I'll be honest, guys. I'm the stick in the mud. I am not ranking Aldo in my top five. It's certainly very justified to do so. He was top five when he left. He just beat a top of Dean guy. I get it.

But when you're out for that long, I just cannot let you keep your spot. I was just considering how gifted the division is. But I bring that up because when Suhudo came back and then arguably beat Sterling, he still didn't. And I used to rank him. So I don't know. I am just not down with the Sehudo keep getting big fights thing. I'm over it. I don't need to see him fight Aldo. And if he did, I think Aldo would beat him. Yeah, and she'll see a real path victory for Henry Sehudo since he won't be able to take Jose Aldo down. So, yeah, I don't love that idea. I don't love that idea.

Um, let's move on. Can we finally get Brito versus Ege? Oh. I could see it. We didn't even talk about Brito winning by putting a hole in his opponent's leg. Yeah, super weird. Yeah. Weird stoppage.

I'm fine with it, but I'm also fine with people who are saying, like, it didn't look like there was like an injury that was going to hinder, that was really hindering, uh, um, um, Jack Shore. Uh, I would consider a hole in the leg, a hindering injury, but again, I'm not in there fighting. As long as his adrenaline was pumping, he probably could move fine. It just looked feel bad. But I think you have shot in the shin. Yeah, I'm not a doctor.

Please don't. Is that the best way to test is just poking your finger into it? Is that how it's done? Yeah, I think that was, I think you guys got a little bit dirty there. Then you had to stop the fight because I'm like, people just don't want to watch this anymore. I was getting nauseous. I'm good. Yeah, stop to fight when someone starts poking a hole in someone's like, like, oh, God, horrible.

I had, like, I understand both sides of it because we're obviously the watch party had started. like right when that fight was happening. So we were watching it live. And, you know, we could hear the commentary just slightly in our earpieces. So it's not like, it's not like we're listening to the commentary full on. Like it's just faint. Like if there's certain things like we're trying to listen for, like we'll listen. So we obviously heard at the end John Anick say, I think it was maybe the beginning of the main card fight or before they went to pay review, whatever, that the reason they stopped it was because they thought Jack Shore broke his leg, which is, you know, in high.

say what it was, but then, you know, all the tweets and stuff like that. But it was one of those things that as soon as I saw it, as soon as the doctor stopped it, we got a close of view. I'm like, oh, shit, this fight's over. Like, it just immediately, like, we saw a doctor's finger. It was like knuckle deep in his shin. Like in the, like middle part of his lower leg. It was just super weird.

I've never seen anything quite like that instead of the UFC. So dude has a hole in this freaking leg. Like, I understand why. a doctor would be like, okay, we're done here. Like, I get it. I understand it. I understand it. If you have an issue with the stoppage, totally understand it. If you're Jack Shore, Richard Shore, totally get it.

I understand why you're upset. But immediately when I saw that, there's no way they're going to let this fight continue. By the way, Brito, five straight wins. He's good, man. All finishes, all finishes. None of these. And Jonathan Pearson there, that's a good one. Andre Feele is in there.

I actually like Lucas Alexander. I know that's kind of a non-factor for most people. I think that's a really good win. Weston Wilson was kind of a walkover. over sorry Weston. Jack Shore, I think is a good win. So I think that's four quality wins. Again, five straight overall and none of them go on the distance.

You've got to get behind this guy, man. He's exciting. So never. Michelle versus Hamzad. I don't mind that. If Hamza, the thing is, if Hamza beats Whitaker, he's getting a title shot. Then again, we've said that about, I would love to know how many times, if someone wants to a super cut, how many times have we said about Hamzat?

Oh, Hamzat wins this fight against a title shot. And then Hamzat wins and it doesn't get a title shot because of whatever weirdness is going on with Hamza. It feels like he's been the number one contender like three different times. So he just, he just fought Kamar who's been in a number one contender fight. Dana White, that quote has lost the time. Dana White, it wasn't like an elaborate answer. Danny White was asked before that fight. I believe it was Dana White.

When he announced the fight on Instagram, it was a number one contend of fight. Never mentioned again. Never mentioned again. It just, it's not going to. And again, that's how it is with Hansa. I don't blame Dana White. That's how I do with Hamza. Hansa's kind of weird. It's, you can make these plans to make a number one contender and then weird stuff happens. So it's very possible he would have to fight Michelle Panetta and not get the time of play.

I think Writaker gets him a shot, but it's Hamza. Yeah. Hamza got the we don't make fights the night of the fight treatment from Dana White after he's been over Kamarverson. Tristan Brenner versus Mike Davis, sure. Fire. Great match. Riffie versus Charlie Campbell. Sure.

Oral by versus Napervola. Don't hate it. But I honestly feel like oral buys, I have Oralby ranked higher than Mattivola right now. Oh. I do. Damn. Okay. I do.

Not by much. I like oral. I don't, I don't, if they make that fight, I'm totally fine with it. Mike's calling a shot. Mike's on the oral buy train. Have been for a minute, man. I was very excited when he got signed. Okay.

And now I was curious to see what he would look back, look like back at lightweight. Because I think he's last like five or six fights or a wealthier weight, including the Euros menage fight. Yeah. But yeah, he looked damn good at lightweight. He looks like a fucking monster at 155. He looks like a man, like a man man man. I want to see the Erseig rematch.

I am winning 3-2, but no robbery would have a fight. It was a very good fight. I said, remember on the preview show, I think Erseg is going to be our new Tim Elliott. Maybe, maybe, maybe, well, I was going to say do better than Tim. Tim's had a great UFC career. If he has a career like Tim Elliott, I know, and I know Tim's kind of like, if you'll just look at his USC record,

I think it's either at 500 or slightly below. He's kind of held back, but I think like his first run with the UFC is like one in four or something or one in three. His second run, though, he's like, he's a few fights of a 500 and fought everybody. Like Tim Elliott has fought all the big contenders. I think, I think that's, the road for Steve Erick too is he got a title shot earlier than expected. Tim Elliott got it off reality show, got an ultimate fighter. Ercet got it just because circumstances fell into his lap.

And I think I think Ersick's the same way. So I don't know if we ever see him get that rematch, but I think he's always going to be someone who people have to go through now to prove that they're a legitimate flyway contender. But I would love to see them run it back. Yeah. All right. We're going rapid fire. Aldo versus John 2. Yeah. People forget Brito has beaten Lopez. Bonfim versus the Moise versus the voice as Klein winner. Sure. Oralby versus Joel Alvarez.

Good. Two giant lightweight. Oh, yeah. Futures pick, Lucinda versus McKenzie Dird. Damn, a lot of faith in Jasmine. 22 years old. Beating the veteran,

Carolina, about 16 year age difference, guys. We were trying to figure out on Slack when is there being a bigger age difference. I think there was one from like UFC 4 or something like that. Like the barbarian. It's the biggest in women's MMA.

women's UFC history. 16 year difference. Good for you, Carolina, for getting in there and facing a prospect who's not a lot of people want to face, that's for sure. Shama giving you props for Roy Ball Erseg.

I think that's what I'll be on two, good one. UFC 301 was a glorified fight night. Yes, it was. That you had to pay $80 for. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, like I said, if that was UFC St. Louis,

we'd be pretty damn excited for it. Petitia Urseg probably was a fight of the year, but it'll be an honorable match in the end of the year. I don't think it will. No. I don't think it gets a vote. But it was good. Oh, I'm not going to vote.

It was a good fight. Close versus Gamron. Wow, that's a big jump. It's up there. Caught Pantosia next. Could happen. No. You guys said Chris Curtis versus Brandon Allen's pitch up.

Okay. Come on now. You're telling me if you could go back and rewatch one of these fights, you're rewatching Pantosia Ursaig over Brandon Allen, Chris Curtis. You're insane. We don't need to start down, you know, going down playing other fights. Just a big up Ursaq, Pantosia. Let's not.

Let's not do this. No. wasn't that i was less fined his contract yes but we'll see what happens oh i see people asking oh i didn't mean to put that up there but yeah uh i i suppose asking do you think this is better than 2997 um oh my god it's not even a question it's and especially i responded to a comment earlier yeah especially because all the canadian men lost shoutouts to uh the canadian women uh jasmine yoslovich and uh i think jillian robinson was that i think was the other one, both holding court, bless you ladies, but the five men fighting in the card lost

sucked the life out of the arena. I'm like, you know, you guys know I was there. I was on site. It was such a bummer, man. Good, good main event with Strickland and Duplacy. People really got into it. So I think if they just look back on that, they think it was a pretty good night. But other than the main event, which, again, yeah, got a great reaction. It really built well. Like, it kind of started off slow, but by round three and on, the crowd was nuts. Like the life got back into the crowd. But it was nothing. It was the Canadian. and the male Canadian fighters in the card, unfortunately. So, yeah, 297, pretty forgettable.

You never want to feel like you watched fights for 14 hours, and that's how I felt after watching 2907. Alan Mavzar was a good fight, but the rest of that car was a friggin slog, man. It was tough. Brita versus Loll, don't hate that. Martinez versus Fawn, I think Martinez probably lost out on that opportunity.

That's lost. That'd be, yeah. Unfortunately, Bannon Wage is too crazy right now. What else we got? Real quick. Michelle is the MVP. Where's Jose Alda go from here? We touched on that already.

Strick and Lose is the best thing that happened, room 297, okay? Another Anthony Smith versus Gouska. I mean, you're against that, right? Mike, you don't want to see the twins fight each other, right? I mean, I could see them doing it, but I don't know. It doesn't do anything for me one way or the other, if we're being honest. Last one, Joan says he's got a date.

We think it's steep A or Asped all. I think you guys know the answer to this question. Yeah, we all know it's not. It's not big time. It would all be. I think it's going to be steep A at MSG. At steep. That's what I think.

Yes. It's been the fight. If it's Aspinall, dude, like if Dana White announces that he's fighting Tom Aspidol in Manchester, that'd be frigid. I would be really excited. It won't be. Why, Mike? Because John Jones is a coward. John Jones doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall.

He's afraid of Tom Aspinall. Hashtag, Gaslight John Jones. Great fighter. Argued the greatest fighter of all time. Guess what? Right now does not want to fight Tom Aspinall. And I don't blame him. because there's a big good chance Tom and asked me.

I'll beat his ass. So there you go. I want to see it. All right. Well, with that said, this reminds me of the post-fight show. We need to get out of here.

There's so much talk about John Jones and the Go conversation, like so much of it, like 45 minutes worth of chatter. You go back and watch us. Fun debate. It was like a bonus edition of BTL between Jed and New York, so you can go back and check that out. But we're done.

But we'll be back next week. Let's pull this up real quick. I don't want to not give shine to this incredible. incredible fight night card we're about to get in St. Louis, Missouri, because nothing screamed St. Louis like a Rodrigo Nassimento main event, ladies and gentlemen,

and that's exactly what we're getting. Derek Lewis versus Rodrigo Nassimento, Joaquin Buckley versus Norsalton Rudesabayef in a Walterweight co-main event. Rudesabayef, making 170 is going to be very interesting to watch. That's going to be a test, yes. Alonza Mennifil, Carlos, Solberg.

Diego Faheda versus Batush Rebatchi. Love it. This is a pretty decent card. The main event is... Yeah, the main event is so weird, but the main card is really fun. That's a fun fight night main card. Alex Carrey-Shawn-Wudson. And the main car will open with the man who should have fought Alex Pereira at UFC 301 last night.

Bellas to Spain versus Waldo Cortez-A Costa. Chase Hooper versus Slava Claus, Terence McKinney versus Esteban Rivavich, Tabitha Ritchi versus the Reti versus the returning Tisha Tori. Welcome back. Tiny Trane. Yeah, that one's flying completely under the radar. Trey Waters, taking on New England's own Billy Gough, Jake Hadley versus Charles Johnson, Jared Gooden versus Kevin Jussette, and no one opens up a card these days better than Veronica Hardy.

At least their third straight card opener. Yeah. She just looked pretty damn good in her previous two fights. She takes on JJ Aldrich. And that's excellent. that is next week. And we'll be back on the podcast feed next week. So thank you all.

Guys, the MMA hour back in your life tomorrow after a two-week hiatus. And then we'll be back live on this year, channel doing some matchmaking following UFC 302, which goes down June 1st. Thank you all very much for A.K. I am Mike Eckhart's. Remember, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun.

We'll have more fun after U.S. St. Louis on onto the next one of the podcast. We love you. Have a good rest of your weekend, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots?

You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey-crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees

on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over deliver. Service-based exclusions and terms apply.