MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Khalil Rountree, Rafael Fiziev After UFC Baku?

Episode Date: June 22, 2025

Khalil Rountree outclassed Jamahal Hill for five rounds in the main event of UFC Baku on Saturday to get back in the win column after getting stopped by Alex Pereira in his first championship opportuntiy. Did the lopsided win over a former champ get Rountree back in a title fight? 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 Rountree after getting his sixth win in his past seven outings at Saturday's Fight Night event. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Rafael Fiziev after his decision win against Ignacio Bahamondes in the co-main event, Curtis Blaydes following his split decision win over Rizvan Kuniev, along with fellow main card winners Myktybek Orolbai, Nazim Sadykhov, and Muhammad Naimov, and more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns are back following the UFC's first trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. And in the main event, Khalil Roundtree dominates Jamal Hill over 25 minutes, some might say workman-like performance, but a lopsided win nonetheless for Khalil Roundtree. We will discuss what is next for the one-time title challenger following his first appearance and victory of 2025. We'll also talk about where Rafael Fizib goes after snapping his three-fight losing streak and much more following UFC Baku. But I am Ikech and joining me to discuss the matchmaking, to discuss UFC Baku and absolutely nothing else.

The co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity and my best friend Alexander Kaylee, A.K., how we doing on this Sunday morning? Seems like the news cycle a little bit weak right now. Not much going on, is there? No, nothing going on, my best friend. I mean, we had some heavyweight news on Saturday. We had the heavyweight fight of the year, Hamdi, Adela Hav, and Moosem. So, I mean, the division is moving along.

Thank God, I feel like the division is finally moving along. That's what we're all waiting for. So that's great. Is workmen like the best way, like the nicest way, you can compliment a, you know, less than exciting fight. How about, do you prefer, do you prefer a workmanlike or methodical? Hmm. I think they both work here.

But it's also kind of funny because Kaleel kind of beat the hell out of Jamal Hill in this fight. He dominated. Dominated would be accurate, too. He 100% dominated this fight. That is like. And he should have got a 10-8 in round three, so he knocked him down twice. I think he knocked him down three or four times total in the fight, but definitely twice in round three. This was a, this is one way traffic, even though it wasn't as thrilling as we may have

built it up in our minds, I guess is a fair way to say it. I think most people just assumes there'd be a knockout. I picked the fight wrong like I went with Jamal Hill, but I did say, I did think it would go the distance. I just had a feeling it would play out sort of almost exactly as it did in the first couple of rounds where it's like, you've got two pretty skilled light heavies in a division that is not known for being super skillful. So I didn't think either guy was going to be going for a home run swing or anything like that. They're also both coming off of losses. And, you know, we talk about this a lot.

Like, you know, some guys are wounded animals. And then they're trying to come off a loss. They're going to go crazy. But I think that rarely happens at the highest levels of the UFC. So if you're, if you're roundtree, you're coming off that title fight. You just want to kind of stay in the mix. Jamal Hill, two straight losses. Now three, right?

But you have two straight losses. You don't want to get, and both by K.O. You don't want that to happen to you again. Kaleel Roundtree is incredibly dangerous. So there was always the chance it would be, you know, go the distance, go 25 minutes, be methodical, workmanlike, whatever you want to call it. I think people thought, like, in the third or fourth, maybe you would pick up and we'd see, you know, one of the guys go for it.

And like you said, Roundtree certainly was the aggressor, kind of got a 10-8 and the, you know, not like it didn't like rocking with punches, but those leg kicks look good, everything looked good. So, yeah, that's just the enforcer thing is that both guys had to be a little bit safe. They had to be a little bit safe. They're fighting for a paycheck, an extra paycheck. They're fighting for to stay in title contention. No one wants to like fall.

There's a reason there's so much risk taking when you're kind of going up. You're like, oh, you're number 30. You're going to the top 25, top 20, top 15. Once you're in the top 10, top five, you're just trying not to fall. And that sucks, right? With few exceptions, right? There's some guys just in Gates, you're always going to go crazy. He could be the number one contender.

He has been the number one contender. And we've seen him literally. He just going, I don't care. I'm going to go nuts and fight my way. But yeah, guys like Gatesier, you're few and far between. So it happens. It happens. But really good performance by Roundtree.

I don't want that to be lost in all this, right? Like he did what he had to do and he looked really good. Maybe not the most exciting fight, but that doesn't matter to him. And at the same token, and I don't want this to sound like I'm taking a poop on Jamal Hill. Because Jamal was a champion. He'll always have that. But here's the thing. If you had a problem with the fight, you don't blame Cleoil Roundtree for this.

Because we said verbat, like ad nauseum on the big. build to this fight that if Jamal Hill is going to give Khalil Roundtree a mid-range kickboxing match, he's going to get done up in this fight. And that's exactly what happened. And Jamal Hill just was throwing single jabs. And Khalil just got to the point where it was just like, all right, this is the fight you're going to give me. I'll take it and just cruise to a win. That's exactly what happens. So let me just ask you this because I do want to focus on Baku. Obviously, we had some big news and we'll touch on this in the second. I'll give you the chance to talk about it right now, actually.

Dana White shows up to the press conference. The whole thing is just super weird. He has asked about John Jones and the heavyweight division, and Dana just kind of drops the nugget that John called them. He's retiring. Tom Aspinall is a new champion at a rando press conference in Baku after a card. It just seemed like a weird way to drop this news. Would have been kind of cool to do it at International Flight Week,

or maybe do it at a fanatics fest. Maybe you fly Tom Aspen all out and make a big deal out of it. But that's neither here nor there. Because of what happened with Dana at the press conference in this big announcement, I thought about this for a while and I'm still thinking about it this morning. Will UFC Baku go down in the history books as one of the three most forgotten about cards of all time? Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah.

It's wild to think because there were some great moments. like the Zeme Satikov and Nicholas Boda getting all the bonuses was incredible. There were some great performances. But in the end, no one is going to talk about this card ever again after this, right? I'll be honest. That might have happened if the John Jones didn't break. Like this was, no, like you said, this card had some nice moments. Leslie Farrier, the card had some nice moments.

Satikov, for sure, was the star of the show. Roundtree, again, great, but great performance in the main event. Not one pillar we talked about for a long time. I thought Fiziv looked good, too. Like, there were good fights. even the prelims like you know we do this whole thing we're like oh my gosh decision decision decision like some of those fights are pretty good right they're just forgettable like i actually thought uh tagir and azot was a good fight uh daria melissa mons was a good fight uh park park uh it's like

jang yong park and nardia was just weird as hell um and co uh co put on a really good performance against oban elli so like even those decisions were like good like if you if you were watching the card you're like yeah i'm seeing some good fights but we always say this every week like There was good fights. It was just not memorable, especially with the way the news cycle moves. So, yeah, even without the John Jones stuff happening, I don't know, this card was like, it was fine. It was a good, solid card.

Yeah, we just won't talk about it a week later. And now we won't be talking about it by Monday because of the John Jones news, which just completely overshadowed everything. So, yeah, what a strange, what a strange situation for it to happen in. And then there was the news that came out after with almost immediately after, I think, the order was Dana White announcement. Tom Aspinall's statement. He obviously must have been included in that this was going to happen.

John Jones statement a bit later. Or was the John Jones. Oh, no, sorry. The John Jones saying, I think it was like just after a report came out from. I know. I think John's statement came out first, if memory serves it correctly. John's statement comes out first. And then we see, I just want to credit who it was that.

What a horrible story. where is this? I'm just looking at our own website MAFighting.com. It's the Albuquerque Journal, I believe. Albuquerque, God, there's so many John Jones stories on our front page. This is just absurd.

The Albuquerque Journal. Yeah, shout to the Albuquerque Journal for a point of it. And this all happened with a span of maybe 90 minutes, maybe two hours. Very, very strange stuff. No way it's not connected, like the timing of the release of the news. I haven't quite put the pieces together as to why this timing as it was. You guys, I'm sure, out there in listener land,

have your own theories, but obviously the timing of Dana White announced in their retirement and the timing of this story coming out are related, are related, right? Mike, if we're like wondering, like, you're right, why didn't they do fight, why didn't they wait a few days until Fight Week started? Why didn't they do it at Fanatic Fest, Fanatic Fest? The story was out there. You guys can read it again, maryfying.com. This has apparently been known.

I think the incident was in February or something. And like, it's kind of unclear why this didn't. come out earlier. So we're all trying to figure that out too. It's related. It's all related. And it's just a weird. It just made a strange night like 10 times stranger. Like what a weird because you have all these posts from the official accounts celebrating John Jones. Y'all all these players are celebrating John Jones. And then there's this report that comes out, which like the details are a bit murky, but also sound kind of really bad. Really bad. Yeah. So gosh. I'll tell people this. We're not going to like, you know, a drone.

on for 45 minutes on this show about John Jones. Guys definitely should check out the post-fight show that Mike and Casey did because you guys did have to pivot like 10 minutes into the show. You had to pivot from Baku Talk into John Jones talk and it was great. But I think I want to have a little bit of time to simmer. I think we'll talk about it more on the rankings show after UFC 317. I think there'll be a sub-topic of like, let's sit down. Let's let's appraise John Jones's career.

Assuming we don't just do a separate John Jones podcast altogether. I don't know. It's a lot to process over the last like 24 hours. Yeah, we'll obviously talk about a BTL and all that stuff is as more information comes along on it. But yeah, I mean, if you just did this seven months ago, it's this is all like a non-story right now. Like the John thing would be a story like the arrest in the charge, the alleged charges and everything. But like, what were we doing here? Just as you could see the disappointment on Dana's face as he made this announcement that he was like, man, I have to.

man, I have to prove, I have to admit that I couldn't get this done, that my guarantee is no more. And he slyly like puts it all on John and all that, but he didn't reveal the, I'm sure he's well aware of what happened in February and what John is going through right now. But yeah, just kind of crazy stuff. And like you said, let's let's sort of focus on UFC Baku. There'll be lots of John Jones talk and a lot of non-UFC Baku talk. And as a matter of fact, this card will not be talked about ever again after today, I'm sure, especially with the timing of it and international fight week coming up and so much going on this news. So let's get into what is next for one Khalil Roundtree, AK, like we said, dominant performance against Jamal Hill, one-way traffic. I scored a 50-44.

I'm a fighting's official scorecard is 50-44 during the live blog. How he didn't get a single 10-8 in round three from any of the judges is beyond me. It was all Khalil Roundtree and two knockdowns. I don't know how you don't give a 10-8, but that's neither here nor there. Khalil and this division are in a very interesting spot right now, A.K., because I will continue to beat the drum that the UFC should just pay Alex Pereira a whole bunch of money to go fight Tom Aspinall in Tom's first official undisputed UFC title defense, which Pereira told our own Jose Young's at Fanatics Fest on Friday, I'm not focused on heavyweight and I'm focused on light heavyweight

to want the Magamette Anklea rematch. He might be the only person to publicly say that he wants this rematch because I don't think anybody's really clamoring for it. So this division is in a very strange place, A.K. What is next for Khalil Roundtree? Because I actually had a pretty hard time putting this together. There's obviously fights I would like to see. But if we're in the business of trying to get this right,

this is a tough one, isn't it? Yeah. So fortunately for me, I had, previous fight pick for a winning fighter that was going to, you know, I was going to give them the winner of this fight. So I'll say that in a second. But it doesn't make as much sense at the now as it did at the time, as the time I made that pick because, so I don't know about you, Mike. I had Roundtree behind Jamal Hill heading into Saturday in the rankings. I'm not sure. Did you have, who did you have higher, Roundtree or Hill? I know it was close. In our consensus

rankings, it was Hill 7, Round Tree, 8. So, like, I was very close. Where did I have him? I'm pretty sure I had Roundtree ahead. Yeah, I had Roundtree. I had Roundtree at four and Hill at five. Wow. Okay, okay. So I had, I don't remember exactly the number,

but I had Hill ahead of Browntree. So clearly he beats Roundtree wins. He jumps ahead. Now I have Roundtree just outside the top five. And I was thinking like, okay, he's not going to Anka Live next. He knows that. Look, we just said, Alex Perra,

either he's going up to heavyweight, which he doesn't want to do, or he's getting this rematch. So those two are out. Yuri pro-Hachka, but I feel like we all think he should fight Carlos Oldberg. Like that is nowhere near locked in. That's not a guarantee at all. But I think after Elberg's last win, we were like, yeah, that's kind of like the only option for him.

And if he beats Yer, he gets a tell shot. And then there's Jan Blakovitz out there. And I thought that made a ton of sense too. But I will stick with my setup pick, Dominic Reyes after his last win. Dominic race after his last win, I said give him the winner of this fight. I think people might not like that because they'll assume, like, well, Khalil is now, like, after beating Jamal is like a notch above that fight. But again, if Roundtree is doing the whole whatever the UFC wants me to do, I'll do.

And I think this makes a ton of sense, even if you guys think like Roundtree is going to be a minus 600 favorite or whatever you'd be. I don't think he'd be that high, probably minus 400. He needs to fight again. He needs to fight again. So for me, it's Blockovitz or Reyes. I went with Reyes. Yeah. It's, again, this is a very strange conversation because I have no idea what's going to happen.

seems like the guy, but Yuri's getting some sort of educational degree or like a college degree or something. So he's like 100% focused on that. So I don't know what that means for his fighting future. It means he's going to fight against just a matter of when. So there's a couple ways we can look at this, right? Again, I don't want this to sound like a Magamad Ankleiv disrespect podcast. There, no one is clamoring for this man to defend his belt against anybody. And if they do Pereira fine, like it's a warranted rematch for Pereira. He's helped the UFC. And if Pereira wants it, you have to give it to him.

But I still think the UFC should just throw him a giant bag and go fight Tom Aspinall. Even though he's going to lose and probably get finished quickly, go make a bag of money. That's, that's all. Try to be the first three division champion. It'd be such a massive story. Having said that, we can at least let this division move forward a little bit. Like let Ankelype just sit on the sidelines. and just wait for somebody to emerge if it's not Pereira.

I'm giving Dominic Reyes. There's two things I would do with Dominic Reyes. One, Carlos Oldberg, straight up number one contender fight. Like, do it, book it soon. And the winner, if Ankeleif wants to fight for the end of the year, winner of that fights for the belt. If it's Reyes, awesome. Or just give Reyes the freaking title shot.

Because what a story that would be? Like, just the comeback story, imagine if he wins and he does it against Ankelaif, he will be a rock star if that happens. So because of the unknowns with Yuri Perashka and Khalil, I don't know if he turns around in like three months in fights. I'll say main card UFC MSG in November, Khalil Roundtree versus Yuri Perhashka.

Oh. And just a banger. Like just an absolute banger. So that's what I'm looking at. But again, this could go in so much. many different ways. I have no idea. And a Pereira ends up getting a title fight. That rematch, I still think these fights are all in play that we both put out there. Reyes and in Roundtree makes sense. I think whatever Dominic Reyes does next, it has to be if he wins, he gets a title shot next.

I think you have to present it that way because the clock's ticking. If we're going to do this comeback story thing, you got to give him a big fight or just throw him into a title fight. The man who beat the man who beat John Jones, right? Yes. Reyes is such an easy sell, right? You have the comeback story and then you go back in, but whatever year, like, oh, he was robbed,

robbed against the greatest fighter of all time. He's, he's, the only man who should feel to claim that he has a legitimate win over John Jones. It's a easy,

it's a very easy sell. Yeah, plus we were burying his career after those brutal knockouts, not even in like a disrespectful way, just in a, please don't fight any more way, like a Tony Ferguson type way,

and now look at him. Now look at this guy. What a turnaround of this bet. I do, I will talk about Jamal Hill later on, just throw, ring me a little spoiler. Jamal Hill will be my wild card selection.

I don't think Jamal Hill is going to like my pick all that much, but we'll save that for later on in the program. Let's talk about Raphael Fiziv, AK, because here's the thing. I'm not going to lie to the world. I placed two bets on this card. The only bet I had placed and I had done so well over a week ago was I bet on Raphael Fiziv at plus 120 as the underdog. To me, this felt like free money.

And this is no disrespect to Ignacio Baja Mondays. I like Ignacio Baham Mondays. The dude is going to be a problem in this division for quite some time. Fiziv has just been in there with everybody. He has fought way better competition. He is a slick, wily veteran at this point. And he is just way better than people are giving him credit for. That flight went almost exactly the way I thought it was going to go.

So Fiziv is back in the wind column. He snaps one of the weirdest three fight losing streaks that we have seen in this division. And I'm going to give the man what he wants. I'm going to give the man what he wanted when I first spoke with him and said, I'm cleared to fight, book me. This is like in August or September of last year that he was cleared and ready to book a fight and couldn't book one until the Gagee opportunity came up on a little over a week's notice. I'm giving him Dan Hooker.

He wants Dan Hooker. I'm giving it to him. That fight absolutely rules. It's unfortunate for Dan because he's gotten some good wins and he's not a nice little run right now. was booked against Justin Gaichi and what a fight that would have been. And had he beat Justin Geichy, he would have been in just a massive spot, maybe even gotten a title fight off of it. The problem is even though injuries are sometimes out of your control and they're

unfortunate, the division moves on while you're on the sidelines. And because of that and because of the weirdness of lightweight right now, we have a vacant title fight coming up on Saturday. Dan falls back a little bit. So now he's going to fight Raphael Fiziv and that fight absolutely. rules. Yeah, great, great fight. That is probably the way they're going to go. I feel like that's the most logical pick. Like, I can't want to see them rebook Gathe G and Hooker, but now Gatji and his management are saying all this stuff about how like, oh, no, I only,

I only want to fight for the title. I don't want to fight anyone else. So it sounds like, like, like, again, I feel like if they, you know, sent the contract as way, I feel like gave you back, yeah, yeah, I'll fight Dan Hooker, or whatever. But they're putting so many just like bad, like, vibes out there about that fight that I think the UFC might be like, maybe we don't, don't poke this bear. Like, they like Justin Gastyy, right? There's no reason and they're like, oh, well, we want you to fight down hooker or no one else. Like, I feel like they, I don't know if he's getting a title fight, but I feel like they're going to play ball with him and give him maybe a slightly bigger name.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure what they do with Gaci, so he's kind of in limbo. So, yeah, my pick is just kind of sort of a follow-up. Back in, I think, February, I wanted Foresseum to fight Raphael Viziv. Now, I don't have to stick with this pick because since then, Viziv has fought twice. He fought Gaetchi the next month, and then we just, some fight. So really, I should not be stuck on this pick. But Fress is still not booked. I think Fress still deserves a top 10 guy. So it doesn't make a lot of sense for Fiziv. If you're

Fiziv, you're probably a little bit like, why am I having to fight this person? But you just ended a three-fight losing streak. You got your first win in quite some time. I know there's an injury in there, but you know, it's a fact to fact. It's been a while since Fassiv's got a win. I don't know if he necessarily needs to get another top 10 guy. I think he might have to defend his spot. So Hooker more likely, but I just, I still like to match it with him and out of Zoom. What about Ignacio versus CM? That also makes a ton of sense. Yeah, I like that fight as well. Yeah. Ignacio's going to be great, by the way, anyone out there. He's going to be great. This is, this is, this was the definition of like, you learn from this. A guy more, just more experienced and like so

skilled, uh, he talked about Piziv and, uh, Ignacio. He's only 27. Crazy. But he can't keep making lightweight, can he? Maybe a few more times. He's a monster. He's a, he's a large man. He is a large man. Let's go to Curtis Blades, AK. I feel like the UFC just could not quit on Curtis Blades versus Rizvon Kouniab. They kept rebooking it and rebooking it and rebooking it. And we got to see it in a featured spot on this card.

And Curtis Blades, just kind of Curtis Blades all over Rizvon Kunyev in the first round. And then he kind of fell off a cliff in round two and ends up getting a split decision. People were not happy about this. And I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. I think the judge got it right. I think Curtis won that fight. I thought he won the third round. I know that people took some dog shots on Rizvon Kunev, and people who held those tickets were upset. And I understand that. If I was holding a Cooney-up ticket and that decision happened, I'd probably pretty pissed off as well. But I think Curtis Blades won that fight. I think Curtis, you should have saw sort of the

discussion internally and our Slack channel about this fight because I was just like, man, Curtis looks bad. And others are like, no, Cooneff's just actually a very good fighter. And I'm like, I don't know if that's true. I think it's like, I think Cootiev's like a hair better that I thought he was. But I think this is more on Curtis Blades being bad in this fight. And then Blades kind of made me feel a little bit better about those thoughts by saying that he tore meniscus or he heard himself, something popped in his leg in the first

round because he looked he looked 110 years old in the last 10 minutes of this fight but still did enough to win and then he calls out cyril gone and a k i don't know if you went with this pick because i just don't see any chance in hell curtis blades is getting serial gone after this win yeah gone is on aspinall watch right now i would think you know not my not my not my number choice i'd love to see well you know what let me let me get to that a bit later on another another thing um We'll see. So, yeah, I don't think gone has to fight blades right now. It might happen somewhere down the road, but it's not extra blades.

I was just looking at M-May decisions. Quite a bit of Kunev scores. I don't know. I do not remember it being this contentious on social media at the time. But yeah, I'm seeing something like 12 Kooniev scores and two blade scores. But either way, not, I wouldn't call this a robbery. I don't think anyone could watch this fight and say, oh, Kunev ran away with this fight. It's like, no, it was fine.

He looked good. You know what? It was a good debut for Kunio. It was a good debut for Kunio. Let's put it that way. But yeah, he fell just short. It's fine. He fell short against a top 10 guy.

It happens. God, I did not know what to do with Curtis Blades. I landed on Martin Tibura, who I was shocked to find one wasn't booked. For some reason, I always think Tabor was booked. I always feel like Taborah's book to fight like every four months. And that they had never fought before. That was the other thing. I had a triple check.

I was like, didn't Blades and Taborah fight? And somehow it hasn't happened. So there you go. March and DeBorra, Curtis Blades. Let's just keep this train rolling. There's only one name. It could be Curtis Blades is going to be the Eev killer moving forward. So he went from Cuniav to Gadsiev.

He's going to fight St. Oh, that's her good. He's not booked. You know who I, you know who I was? He was supposed to fight Sergei Spivak. And then Waldo Cortez Acosta took his spot. And now Waldo Cortez Acosta is going to be a ranked heavyweight in fighting Sergei Pavlovich in August.

So how about that? Oh, he was supposed to... Oh, okay, he was supposed to fight through. Oh, I see, I see, I see. I see. I weirdly get him... Who's the guy that looks like Anthony Smith at light heavyweight? Bogdan Gouscoff.

I don't know why there's... I get Gaziav and Gouscoff. Maybe I guess it's just their last names. That's it. Otherwise, they have nothing in common. Very strange. Yes. I am going to matchmake for Mick Debec Orel by AK.

He didn't miss weight. Mike, he didn't miss weight. Exactly. Technically, technically. Didn't miss weight. Yes. And Dana's mind and the UFC's mind, he kind of did because they didn't give him a bonus yesterday. Although Nizim Sadikoff and Nicholas Voda deserved all the bonuses for like the last six cards, honestly.

100,000 is just not enough for what those two gave us. That's a great call. That's a great call. But Mick Debeck Oralby fights Tofisayev. This was everybody was so fired up for this fight. And I was one of those people as well. And then as I watched some tape throughout the week, I realized there is a very real chance that this fight is not going to be competitive. that Mictabek-Debec Oralbi is just going to destroy Tauvique Bessayf. And I predicted first-round sub for Mictabek-Aurl-Bai.

And that's exactly what we got. It's just one of those things, man. Like Tophik is very, very good. He is a powerful striker. He puts on bangers with other powerful strikers. And Oral-Bai could be a powerful striker, too. We saw his incredible battle with Batush Rebetsky. And I love that fight.

It's one I go back and rewatch quite often. But when you, when he faces high level just gnarly grapplers, it typically does not go well for him. And Oralbae gets the win. I went a little off the board here, A.K. I went a little bit off the board here. McDebeck Oralbi cannot be a lightweight for his next night. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you. He cannot be a lightweight for his next fight. Correct. He is going to fight at welterweight. And I'm not going to give him anything cushy. He ain't getting a rank guy. He's not getting a guy that.

gets a ton of fanfare but a dude that is just got to give him everything give him the business and more i'm doing mctabak oral buy versus nicholas dalby aka i thought we were about to have a friend's forever i did not pick nicholas dolly or anyone remotely wow that's a good that's a really good fight that's a really good fight i went i i was looking at the winner of a matchup that is upcoming and i was like no he's got to even with those two guys who i'd pick orill by to be both of of these guys. I think he needs to earn it with a good solid weight make, uh, no catch weight type situation. So let's throw him through the fire, man. Nicholas Dalby is, is no easy out. That's a top 25 guy in my rankings. That's the top 25. My UFC ring. That's top 25.

Um, I just want to say, uh, anyone who saw my predictions. My whole prediction was like, I think Musayev can stop his takedowns and then he'll win. He could not stop his takedowns, Mike. Uh, that was my one, my one concern, my, like, my, like, my, my, like, my, my, like, My whole thing was like, yeah, if oral bite tackles him, like, he's probably dead. Like he's probably not going to win this fight. Yeah, and he did. He's way bigger guy, very good wrestler, took him down, won the fight. You know, no, no, I was wrong.

I was very, very wrong. I went also Welterweight, of course, and I'm going with opposite direction, a way less tenured UFC guy, but a very fun matchup. And a guy who I'm not quite sure what we have with him yet, but should make for a fun fight. I don't think he's going to get tackled. Andreas Gustafson, recent interview. Yeah, Andreas. I thought, for some reason, I thought we were going to have a totally wild friend's forever

moment there. But, yeah, I just want to see Orel Byatt at 170. There's a lot of good matchups there. This is the second fight in a row, Mike, that they had to do a catch rate for him. The fight before this was 160. The who did he beat before this? The Robechki? He lost to Robechke.

And that was his most recent fight, right? That was before this one, right? Yeah, that was at 308. Yeah. And that was a 160. And I'm to understand that was also changed to accommodate him. So, yeah, he back-to-back, fights, no official weight miss, but by all accounts, it was on the oral by side.

They'd even said in the broadcast yesterday. There was the oral by side that needed to go up to 165. So, yeah, 155 being for you, brother. But you're a very good fighter. I don't know why I'm talking like he's here. You're a very good fighter. And yeah, I want to see what he can do at Walterway. He did get a bonus.

He did get a fight in the night bonus for the Robechki fight despite if he had catchweight. That fight was awesome. Yeah, that fight was awesome. Wow. You had to. He was unrecognizable. So he has officially fought at lightweight one time. in the UFC. Of course, his debut was at Welterway. He took it on short notice against

Euros Medich. But he fought Elvis Brenner at UFC 301 at lightweight, made 155 and a half, and beat Elvis Brenner in a great fight. So, yeah, or by somebody to watch, man. Like, he is far from a finished product. He's still a little bit green and he's only 27. So, but I think, yeah, I think he's going to have to fight at Walterway for a little while. I think Welterway might just be his home moving forward. Speaking of lightweights and actual lightweights, Zizim Satikoff, I mean, my God,

all the bonuses. I'm clapping for the man. And I'm clapping for Nicholas Moda, too. This is terrific matchmaking. These two dudes just went at it and beat the holy hell out of each other. Moda hurts Satikoff in row one. It seems like Moda's going to win. And then the Connor Burke's doppelganger referee says,

nah, Dezim, you're okay. We're going to let this thing go. And boy, that was a very cool thing Because Nizim Zatikov goes out there and gets a gnarly knockout Dana White gives all the bonuses to these two gentlemen Fight of the Night, performances of the night, everything $100,000 each And Nizem Sadikov just continues to grow his fan base,

grow his appeal, what a performance, what a fight. I have no idea where to go with this band, AK, because I don't know what we have with Nizem Sadikov. I know we just have a fun-ass fighter who is never going to be in a boring one. This is kind of a dart throw, but like not a bottom level dart throw. And I feel bad for booking this guy against Nazim Sadikoff because he's such a nice guy. He looks good getting off the bus.

A damn handsome man. He's just had a tough run of dudes he's had to fist fight lately. Poor Drew Dober is going to have to fight Nazim Sadikov next. And it's probably not going to go particularly well for him. Wow. I was going to say that because that's a top 20 guy, but that's not that much higher than my picks. So like, yeah, and this is lightweight. Like that's this is, you got to get in the thick of it at this point.

Yeah, because Satikov was good, man. And by the way, shout out to Lucas Bozaki because I was a little skeptical with how he handled the Park Nordiev chaos. There was him having to consult Herb Dean and then like not being sure, can I take a point? Can I not take a point? Herb's just like, do whatever you want. But in the end, he kind of, he kind of did the right thing by taking two points away from Nardyev, so that worked out.

And then not stopping the round one between Satakov and Moda was perfect. If you were, like, I think we were all watching and everyone home just thought he's going to step in. He's going to step in. Satikov is not throwing back. He's clearly not getting like hit by any of these, like hard by any of these shots, but boy, that is just like,

how long can you go just turtled up against the fence with the other guy launching punches? And if you're Moda, you did exactly what was doing that situation. Just keep putting on volume and normally a referee steps in. But I think Bozaki read the situation perfectly. Satakov did yes enough. He kind of flicked out a punch here and there to show he was still defending.

And we got a great fight. We got one of the best fights of the year. So props to the two fighters and Bozaki, who I thought did a really good job officiating there. So, yeah, I went with a top 25 guy as well. I'm going with Nasrat Haq Paras. I'm going Nas on Nas. I originally wanted Nas to fight Rebetsky, but Reschpity is fighting Chris Duncan in August 2nd. So that frees up, Hock Phrast.

I think that's the way to go. I think we're both kind of in the same vibe where, like, we want to see Sattokov tested against a veteran fighter, someone who's been the UFC for a while. Again, and if he loses, that's okay. We recalibrate. We find more fun fights for Sattikov. If he beats Hock Pross, hey, maybe we got a sleeper here to be like a top 15 guy in 2026.

I don't know. Maybe. Great performance. Yeah, I like that fight as well. Oh, my, let me just also say, to all the modafans out there, I am sorry. I kicked a hornet's nest, apparently, Mike. I tweeted, like, what was meant to be a compliment of saying, like, you need to give 10 fight, no-cut, six-figure contracts to guys like Moda,

Jekhasaergi, Victoria Leonardo, who's not with the UFC right now, but they should bring her back, you know, fighters who go in there and get or get got. But I had several replies, like, don't lump Mota in with these guys. Like, Mota's a good fighter. He can at least win fights. And I'm like, okay, fine. I agree he's a notch above Jekka and victory Leonardo. He's more than a notch above both.

He's not that. No, I don't think so, man. I have him. He's my number in the UFC. He's my number 56 ranked lightweight, okay? He's not, I like, I get it. I get it. I understand you guys see the flashes.

He almost won this fight. He almost won this fight. But I'm saying he is in a tier of guys who like, I feel like you are putting him in there in certain matchups to showcase the other person. This was probably the best example of that because, of course, Satakov has roots in Azerbaijan. So, yeah, I thought this was a layup. It was more competitive than I thought for sure. And Moda looked great.

But I'm comfortable putting him in that tier of guys that, like, you can trust he's never going to fight for a title. But that's not his job. He's going to go in there. Yeah, maybe he'll win one or two fights. But a lot of times, he's going to get cracked and crowned. And that's fine. I love fighters like that. So my whole point is keep Nicholas Mota around.

Nicholas Mota's a lot of fun. Of course. I have Mota at 44 right now. A spot behind Aliyev, one spot ahead of Terrence McKinney. That's fine. I think that's a good place to put him. Let's go to Mohamed Naimov, AK, gets a win. I expected this fight with Bogdan Grod to be a lot more exciting.

It was gritty at times, but this is a guy who's just like, I'm not going to lose in Baku. I'm just not going to. And he gets, again, a work. workman-like win over Bogdengrad. He turned Bogdan into, made him kind of chase him a little bit. And Mohamed gets a win. He's got a quiet little record here at 145 pounds.

So where did you go with Mr. Naimov, AKA, after another victory? Similar to with Sadakov, I have, I'm taking a name that I had previously used, but they're free now. They're free now. I wanted, sorry, I wanted Naimov. Yeah, because I wanted Naimov. off to fight um sorry i wanted i want him to fight david o namah when david oama won his last fight i wanted o namah ike is now fighting pit bull at ucc318 so then he's out of the red but uh yeah naimov just keep moving him up i think o nam is a fun matchup i have o namma pretty close to the top

15 at 1.45 so like i don't know if that's where naimov is but i'm pretty impressed by what i've seen with naimov so far he's won some tough matchups i think he's won some matchups as an underdog um so again, I don't know if he's just a spoiler or if he's legitimately a top 15 guy. But yeah, similar line of thought to Satakov. It could be a guy. Could be a guy who's a player in the division or at least someone who hangs around the top 15 to top 25 for like the next couple of years. So yeah, just deal with him on a tough fight and both guys that could that have a lot of room for upward like movement. Julian Arosa.

Oh, like it. Yeah, let's just do it. I like it. Let's go to the wild card round, AK. It's select one fighter of not match made four. We'll match made for him now. So who did you go with? Why did you go with Mo Usman?

Am I so predictable, Mike? Am I so predictable? I mean, this is tough because there were two women's band-in-weight fights on this card. What did you say tough? Did you say tough? Ultimate Fighter? Well done. I did.

Well done, my best friend. That was good. That was really good. The Ultimate Fighter 31 champion, Mo Usman. Yeah, of course that went Mo Usman. He won a scintillating fight with Hamdiya Del Wahab. I'm so glad it was like, we got out of the way early because I was just like, ah, I need this fight to happen.

I should have put $10,000 on the over. I just like, I'm not a big better. So I put 10 bucks, which wins you like nothing. Because I think over like reaches the third round was like minus 300. No one is being fooled by these guys being heavyweights. It's like, oh, heavyweighs always knock people out. No. People have seen Moogu's my fight.

People have seen Hamdi of Delahabh fight. So it wasn't happening. Mike, I'm solving a lot of problems here with this pick. I'm going to Mo Usman and Tom Aspinall. Give me... Why are you laughing? Give me one good reason, Mike, why this fight shouldn't happen. What is up with the Usman delusion?

It's just like... What do you mean? It's not just the family being delusional. It's fans of them. And they're fighting styles who are delusional too. Give me one good reason, Mike. One good reason. Aspidal versus Usman for the heavyweight belt.

and then Kamaru versus JDM is the co-main event. Or Islam, or Islam, yeah. Or Islam, yeah, okay. What a story. Okay, okay, we're in agreement. Great. But that's fine. Like, if, if they're just like, if Tom fights Mo Usman at UFC 318, I don't care.

Like, I really don't care. Just get Tom in there defending his belt and fighting. That's a rule. He'll run through Mo Usman in like a minute and a half and then he can go fight somebody else. It's fine. that was almost that may as well have been a friend's forever moment i feel like if you had used mo you would have said tom aspenal so we should almost count that we won't we won't kill up the band it's not official but yeah all right you're going jama hill yes oh so you're this is the serious choice

uh it's a choice i don't know how serious i don't know how serious it is i may have thrown away a wildcard pick right today fair i mean i i get it you got a you get a live the gimmick i i appreciate that so jamaul hill is unfortunately for jamaul hill His title hopes have died. I'm not saying he's going to get cut or anything. He'll still have fights and, you know, he'll still make decent money in the UFC. And he can still get some good wins. But unfortunately, he will never, ever fight for a UFC belt again unless it's one of those situations where he's cornering somebody.

And there's a light heavyweight title fight on the same card. And the challenger tears at ACL the morning of Wayans and Jamal just happens to be near wait and makes it and steps in on a day's notice. So title hopes are over. it's tough to say. It's unfortunate that Jamal suffered that injury after he won the belt, because I don't think we'll ever know how good Jamal Hill could have been after that win over Glover Tashira, because that was like our biggest question. Like he could have fought Uri Pajasca like that summer or that fall or something.

And then, you know, the Achilles injury happens while playing basketball with Daniel Cormier and other UFC fighters. And he's out for another nine months. And then, you know, just everything he did heading into the Pereira fight, which I thought was great. And then he didn't keep the same energy coming out. So he lost a lot of buzz. He lost a lot of momentum. Then he has a great fight with Yuri and gets knocked out again.

There's no shame in that. But this fight was not close. It was not competitive. He kept going back to the well. I'm so much better than this guy. I'm levels above him. And then he got 50, 40. Ford. Never a good look.

So Jamal is sort of out of the upper echelon. of the light heavyweight conversation right now. And this division stinks. It's a bad division. He's going to have to fight Osamat Mirzikhanov next day, okay? Like, that's just, these are the fights he's going to have to take, at least for the next two or three of them. Because he is out of this championship discussion,

he's just completely gone. So if he's going to get back, he's going to have to win like seven in a row, even in this division, and he's going to have to beat all these types of dudes. So Azamat is out there finishing everybody. Jamal Hill's going to have to try to halt that momentum. Like, that's just the fight he's going to have to take next.

Damn. That's tough. That's tough. That's real tough. But if he goes out there, knocks out, and as about Mercosconoff, like, it's pretty damn good. Back in? It's more meaningful. To me, that's a more meaningful win than meeting a Janbovich right now.

Like, that will have more impact. Dominic Reyes is one win away from fighting for the UFC light heavyweight title. So I might dislike Jamal Hill, but you can't tell me, oh, Jamal Hill will never fight for the UFC title again. No, he's like, like you said, he beats Osmond Mersakana, beats probably two more wins. Like, there's a world where Jamal Hill absolutely fights for the light heavy title again. I don't think so. Jamal's 35. He's 35. Dominic was like, how old was Dominic when he's, he kind of was late starter, wasn't he? He's like 30, wasn't he? No, Dominic is. What he fought John Jones? When he fought John Jones? He's 35. So it was 30, he was 30. He was 20, 20. This is also

light heavyweight, which is essentially heavyweight now, right? You can hang, you can hang around. for a long time. Dom is the same. Dom is the same age now as Jamal Hill is now. Okay. That is bad. That is bad. It's very bad.

If Jamal, if Jamal was 30, it's a different conversation. But Jamal is, is narrowing down his career. Keep in mind this, though, Mike. The UFC also sucks now.

So I think that it helps Jamal Hill's case. I've got possibly getting a tail of the shot someday. Maybe, but he's not like a big star or anything. If Jamal was like super over with the fan base, maybe, but he's not. So I don't know.

All right, I'll never say never, okay? But he's going to have to fight the Azamat Mersikhanovs of the world for a little while before we start talking titles again. So that'll be his next fight. We have yet to hear from Jamal Hill since this wind is, at least after we record, I've been looking for statements or something on social media, nothing. I was hoping he was going to get a post-fight interview, but he didn't get one. So my biggest question is how does Jamal Hill handle this loss? My prediction, and I hope I'm wrong, is that Jamal Hill says, tough to fight a guy who's scared to fight.

One of those situations. He ran away from me the whole time. Nothing I could do. I think, I hope he doesn't go that route. I hope he takes some time, got a good night's sleep, reflected and just said, look, man, I talk some shit. Kaleel's way better than I thought he was, fought real smart. I wish we could have went through the fire a little bit more, but all props to Khalil for having a very good game plan,

him and his team. Give me that. I will put this man over forever. But if I get the, if I see the, well, this man was scared to fight me, I'm going to lose my friggin mind.

So hopefully Jamal Hill will come through. I was impressed with how he handled the year he lost. So hopefully that that train continues on. So let's go to the peeps, AK. I got a few today. I got a few. Most I've probably gotten in a while,

But let me do a check the tapes first for Marcus McGehy. I don't know if he was the only one, but the only one who reminded me. He had called for Waldo Cortez Acosta and Sergei Pavlovich. We know is apparently going down August 23rd. So I don't remember before you confirmed that, but that's at least out there, right? We did confirm. We did. That's right.

It wasn't at mefine.com. Yes, Waldo and Sergey Pallovitch. However, Mike, the point is immediately rescinded because he then made fun of Waldo. and I will not, I will not abide. Let me read this. Bittersweet moments calling Waldo Pavlovich. If it's official, I get a point, but I also get a Waldo fight. I don't, that's not a nice thing to say for a guy who's going to be fighting for the heavyweight title in 2026.

So not appreciated, Marcus, great, great matchmaking. As always, Marcus, great matchmaking as always, do not need the extra commentary. Very rude. Very rude. Marcus, I'm here to tell you. heavyweight is bad like it's just so bad uh but i'm also here to tell you if you feel this way about waldo cortez accosta it's only going to get worse because baldo cortez acosta is about to beat sergey pavlovich and get a title shot if he beats sergey's getting a title shot he when he 29 28 split

decision sergeant he's going to get a title shot he is going to tackle sergey pavich like he is rebellious to spain it's going to be it's it's and it's smart. This is very good matchmaking if you're a Waldo Cortez-A Costa fan because I think WCA has a very good chance of putting in this fight. So let's go to the PEPC if we can give away some more out, no points in the future. We'll start with Chris. Roundtree versus Ullberg. He is also with Mehill v. Mirzacanov, Fizzi versus Hooker, Baja Mondays versus Dawson. I know there's rumors about Dawson and Joel Alvarez fighting. Told it's not 100% accurate. It's not in Mayfiting.com, so that's all you need to know.

Blades versus Spivak Oralbi versus Benoit Santini Musayv versus Klein Sadikov versus Dober Naimov versus William Gomi Park versus Edmund Shabazian Interesting Ulan Bekha versus

Vinny Sigs Steve Erseg And Usman versus Kudiev AK how do you feel about that? Yeah, just do it Just whatever All right I like the part

Sorry to me to be so dismissive of those picks because I actually like the Park Shabazzian fight a lot because we are now, I think we are now past the point, well, we're not past it, but we are at the point where we can test Edmonds all around game again. Because I think he did really well against Petroski and, you know, didn't get tackle, didn't get tackled for 15 minutes and bludgeoned on the ground. Again, Jun Yong Park will test that take down to events again. Like he'll stand him a bit, but Jun Young Park will ground him at some,

or try to ground him at some point. I think he's a better grapple than Petrosky. So, but this is the logical way to go, I think, with, with Edmund. If we're not going to throw him in there with strikers, if you must, like, kind of test him and, like, say, oh, we still think Edmund can be a top 15 guy, top 10 guy. Then, yeah, I, Jen Narayan Park makes a lot of sense. That's, that's a good one. That's actually a good one. And Park is good-ish.

He's good. So he will not be like, oh, kickbox this guy, even though I have a clear advantage in this fight, like Antri Patrosky did. But that's neither here nor there. John Ray, Usman versus Pinto. Ulan Bekhov versus the Temarov al-Mabai of winner, Sugula versus Josiana Nunes, Zela Nayakova versus Yana Santos, Sikyongko versus the Jakehruz,

Chiquanee, Niyah, versus Giga Chikaze, that was actually a pretty popular one, Sattikov versus Ludwig Klein, Oralby versus Hackperast, Blades Volkov 2, Fiziv Hooker, Roundtree versus Yuri.

How about Juni Young Park versus Joe Pfeiffer, AK. Yeah. I was like, can we make that happen in, like, South Korea? That would be so great. But no, I don't want. You know, we don't need more of Joe Pfeiffer's, Joe Piper on the road. I think that's, that's maybe a bad path.

Can we do it on Noche UFC? Because that would be, that'd be something. That would just be so confusing. Yeah, so confusing. Let's go to Harry Tagir versus Josh Van. If he loses to Brandon Royval, Park versus the, wow, big step up. the Marvin Vittori, Brennan Allen loser. Okay.

Co. versus Malotte. Wow. Okay. I like it. Naima versus Daniel Santos. Satakoff versus Manuel Torres. Geez.

Lois. Awesome. Oralbi versus, I like this one. Brahimaj. That's fun at 170. Yep. That makes sense.

Fiziz versus Nazareth. Khalil versus Dom with a question mark. So he's with you there. Oralba. No, we did that one. Uh, where's the other one? I thought I had another one. Where the heck is it?

Oh, maybe that's it. I think I got them all. Oh, Blades versus anti-Delijah, AK. Oh, UFC's newest signing. Is this who Blades is now? Like, that's it. Like, again, he's fought everyone, so it's very hard to, like, find new opponents for him. So I guess you actually just have to sign people to fight Curtis Blades now.

Yeah. Or Tom Asvidal. Yeah. Really? Dawson. What's up, Mike? UFC Baku Picks. Mohamed Naima versus Joannex and Brito.

Satikov versus Klein again. Oral Bai versus Terrence McKinney after he beat Slava. And then he has the caveat. I know it's a big step back, but I just want to see what happens when a caveman fights a T-Rex. Step back for who? I think that's actually pretty accurate. I have him.

I would have, if Oral-Bai were staying at lightweight, I think I'd have them around the same spot, him and Terrence Bikini. I got Orby at like 22 right now. Oh, lightweight? I took them out, so I moved him already. I can't remember what I had him. Vizzi versus Gamrot, too. I'm surprised.

I haven't seen more of that. There were a few of those. I would love that fight if they did it, but I'd like maybe to see Gamrot beat BSD or something get another win. Then we get that one. Rontree versus Jan Blovich. Yeah. Micah, Usman versus Spivak,

marketable because of his brother. So let's give him a test. Okay. Damn. Top 12 guy. Oof. You're giving them aspiral. Fair.

It's a fair point. Yeah. No, yeah. Asma, a little bit higher. Yeah, that's true. It's true. Another Ullumbeckoff, Erseg, Coe versus Chaos. Satakoff versus Baja Mota versus Rebovich.

We need this fight in bold capital letters. Love it. Oralbi versus Joel Alvarez at Welterweight. He's saying both guys move up to 170 and 11th. Wow. That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, we don't know what's going on to Joel Alvarez right now.

Hill versus. Reyes, Roundtree versus Ank, winner, lose. I don't know if that means he's predicting he, Hank fights Pereira. We got a little bit of do-do here, A.K. Blades versus WCA. WCA is booked versus Pavilich, and if it's on M.A.fighting.com,

it's officially a doo-do pick. How about this, AK? Tofique Messiah, and the recent for this is because why not, Messiah versus Michael Chandler. Michael Chandler should take that fight in like a second. Yeah. love that idea by the way i don't think it ever happens but i would love to see it happen like that's just

be a wild fight belittor michael chanler wins that fight pretty easily but ufc michael chan there might might lose just go crazy let's go to jimmy roundtree versus yerry blades versus tibora obligatory apex main event yeah big time uh naimae maudson iron turtle versus abu's bagamadov aspin asmanal versus ghan asmanal Almeida, Aspinall versus three flyweight stacked on top of each other in a trench coat. Let's get heavyweight moving again. Love it. Great. Dan Fizzis versus Joel Alvarez, Satakoff versus Rebovich, Bangor, Coe versus Alex Marono.

P.S. Please stop pushing Aspidal versus Pereira. You and I both know Tom will tackle Alex and win in round one. It's not a competitive fight. Dan, can I just tell you something? Tom Aspinall is going to tackle and finish every single person he fights in round one. It does not matter. It really doesn't matter who Tom Aspedal fights right now. So let's just give him a bag of money for being so patient and sticking around and waiting for this John Jones fight that we all knew it was never going to happen.

And he even knew was never going to happen. Became a company guy. Let's just give him a big fight and a big payday. I mean, who gives a shit? I don't care who he fights. But Pereer is definitely the biggest fight they could realistically make right now. So that's why I'm pushing it. And who knows?

Her hits really hard. What if he boops him? It becomes a three division champion. You cannot make a bigger fight right now for Tom Aspinall, realistically, than him and Alex Pereira. You just can. That's why I'm doing it. There is no meritocracy at heavyweight.

No, we're putting butts in seats here, guys. Yes, that's it. That's all you can do. Just move this deficient along. Tom should be fighting everybody. If Derek Lewis beats Talos and DeShera, give Derek Lewis a title shot. Like, I'm fine with that too. Like, really, truly am.

Kyle, I can't believe I do do it on air a couple of weeks ago, so I'll try again. Main card, Roundtree versus Ulberg for a title shot. Fizzi versus the Darius Boikano winner. In parentheses, it'll be a two if Boycato wins. So very good. Blades versus Volkov 2 and a title eliminator. I don't think that's a title eliminator. Also, also, no one wants to see that fight ever again.

That's a bad one, guys. That's a bad one. It's not too-do, but No, no. Maybe, maybe pick a different one. Oralby versus Klein, Coe versus Song, Park versus the Chris Curtis,

Max Griffin winner. That is happening at Welterweight. I totally blacked out there. What was it? I'm sorry. He said Iron Turtle versus the Chris Curtis, Max Griffin winner. That is a welterweight bout.

Yes, yes. And I hope Chris Curtis stays at 170. Yes. If this is like the last two, like the next two or three years, or like the, you know, the end of Chris Curtis's career, which they might not. He could fight for another 10 years.

I hope it's a one-seum. He was, it was fun watching Chris at 185, for sure. A lot of fun fights, a lot of good moments. Give it one, if he can make 170 comfortably at the stage of his career, just one more, one more honest shot. So yeah, I don't think we see him. I was going to see that happen. I'm in a good mood, so I'm not going to do-do you,

but that's a little do-dush. But I'm not going to give you the full do-do speech here. Segula versus Giannasantos, UlyNBekha, versus keoggi rebooked wow i did not think i'd be reading that into a live microphone today when the reaction to that fight being booked was why like this is the keoggi comeback fight but it would be an interesting fight but again no one knows who tagir is and it's tough one for keogi usman versus austin lane win-luser draw after his fight with petrino and this one was for you a k Oh, Vito Bertrino's going up to heavyweight, right?

Yes. Oh, my God. What a division. What a division. And this is for you, AK. Zelas Nikova versus Jermaine Duranamy and Iron Lady versus Iron Lady match to be the ultimate female fighter. But he says, more likely the winner of Cornoli, Carol Hosa, since GDR is retired. So.

Big, by the big shout out to Marcus McGehy, Mike. Did you know there was three fighters on this card with iron nicknames? No. I did not know some of these types of their nickname, so I had no idea. Yeah, Marcus pointed this out. Daria, uh, Motta, and I feel like I'm forgetting the obvious one. Who was? Oh, and John Young Park.

Darya Zelzikov is Iron Lady. Nicholas Motta is Iron? I didn't know. His nickname's Iron. Were you wearing this? He's a big Michael Chandler fan. He's a big Michael Chandler fan. And John Young Park, the Iron Turtle.

So, as Marcus pointed out, 25% of this card, this card was 25% iron. So you got your daily intake if you watched all of you see Baku. Very strange, but well done, Marcus McGehy. We will mention him again. I didn't even get to his picks. Sorry, Mike. More to come? Yes.

And I'm still stunned, A.K., we have not had a heavyweight finish in over three months. I'm not stunned because this division is terrible. This division is terrible. There is no case we made anymore that like, that like, oh, well, they put heavyweights on because there's a chance for an exciting finish. No, there isn't. clearly statistically there isn't these fights are terrible um and and no these like a lot of these guys just do not have great technique to have finishes it's again you go to the top yes you have your assmels you have your almedas uh you have your derrick lewis this guys like like fine there are guys who are

consistent finishers but they are now rarities it is now more often than not you are not getting a finished i knew curtis blades cunia was going to the distance i didn't think that was going to go to a finish so yeah it's been a long time and of course who got that last finish salsa boy wall Aldo Cortez Acosta, knocking out a light heavyweight, Ryan Spann coming up to 265. It's bad, man. It's in a bad state. It's so bad.

It's horrible. You're up, A.K. Oh, am I now? Goodness me. Okay. Let me get a couple of, welcome to the party pals out of the way up. Welcome to the party pal picks by Frod, first timer. He says, first of all, let's go Charles Olivera, soon to be two-time lightweight champ.

Ooh. He likes Roundtree, Reyes. Alex Hill, Blakowicz, Fiziv, Dan Hooker, of course, by Hamondas, Jared Gordon, Curtis Blades versus Derek Lewis Tashara winner. Lewis would be two, right? I'm not mistaken. Didn't Derek Lewis knock him out or something? Did I make that out? Did I make that up?

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Derek Lewis killed him. So, where was I? Yes. So that would be a two, but that's okay. Picks by F Rod. That would, it's your first time. But yes, please add those twos, even if it's a winner of.

Kuneev, Taborah. You know, Mike, I thought Mo Usman versus Hamdi of Delahad was the best halfway fight of the year. How do you like Mo Usman versus Martin Boudai? Over two and a half, minus 600. Minus six. This is where I will make my money. I should have put, like, all my money on Hamdi of Delahab and Mo. I have no idea.

The only way these fights ended like before the, like, this third or round or go to the distance is, if there's an eye poke and like it ends by a disqualification or something. There's just no way or random injury. Damn, that's a terrible fight. That's so bad. Thank you. So bad. It's so bad.

We need, that might be more appealing than the Hamdi fight. Oh, God. You think so? We'll have to do it. That has to be the opener and we have to do a watch along when that happens. Mo' Usman forever, man. Moe Usman, I hope he has a five year career with you.

I'm sorry, or five more year. I don't mean like, I don't mean his, I hope his career ends soon. I hope he has five more years in the country. or makes enough money that he can walk away, whatever, whatever, whatever works out for you, Mom. And KD Goat. KD. Goat also a newcomer, welcome to the party pal. BSD Oralby. Fiziv versus Max after Max loses to Porriere.

I don't think Fadzee would get that fight. I'd love to see him fight Max Holloway. I just don't think it happens. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. Hill versus Ulberg. And Satikov versus Zium at UFC Paris, I'm sure. All right. Let's get to Marcus's picks.

We mentioned Marcus several times. already. Usman versus Pinto. Who's who's Pinto? My contender series guy? No, he fought already, right? He made his UFC debut. Mario Pinto.

Mario Pinto. Sure. Sugula and Zelaznaikova. I'm just going to see if he's new here. Kov versus Sam Patterson, sure. That's fun. Naimov, Melki, Costa. Yeah, that's really good.

I should like that a lot. He's with me with Nazan Nas, Nas. Satakov Hakpras. Okay. I don't want to repeat too many here. Thank you, Marcus. Great stuff. Great stuff this week.

Marcus, great stuff. Pike Put, I would like to see Izzy versus Khalil if Izzy's coming up to 205. Would Khalil get that fight, Mike? Would they give him Adis Sonia? That's so random. It is random, but I mean, is it possible? I kind of feel like Joaquin Buckley has a better shot of getting the rando out of Sonia fight than Khalil does. Joaquin.

Oh, Joaquin go up to 2080. and fight is he you know yeah they got some beef going on so interesting interesting my possibility for izzie all of a sudden i wasn't quite sure like where he could go next but he's he's he's got his name in people's mouths that's always good place to me dgb dgb uh a lot of the same stuff we had uh fazeve dawson sure uh uh uh uh uh uhulbeckov erzair prez winner yeah calil race as well okay good stuff guys good stuff zach schultes zach schultes Fadiv Gamrod 2 Yeah, we need to see this happen at some point.

Oral by Taco Padilla. Ooh. Oh. I wonder if you would just tackle Taco though. Good fight, though. Satakov versus King Green Diego Fahedo winner. Naimov versus David Onama.

Thank you. And Kuneev versus Unzachuku wakur-Walter winner. About halfway through round three, I had him winning. and I already typed, F it, give him the title shot. Yeah, that's heavyweight right now, guys. That's heavy way. Four corner sports, don't do to me.

Don't do to do this, bro. Already. Fizzis v. Moikano, too. Four corners for its physique. I want to see that fight too, but Mochaunas is fighting for Neil Darius. Indisi fighting on paper view. Am I, like, on crack? Is this fight not happening next week?

Is this fight not happening next week? Or this week? weekend. Oh, my Lord. What going to sports? What are you doing? What are you doing? Okay. Anyway, Kuniev, Sergei, Spivak, oral by, uh, Rufi, uh, arena Alexieva versus being cut from the UFC. After that performance, the UFC needs to cut her before she leaves Baku. Got off her performance. Seguila looked like Israel Adisanya versus Russian Ronda, pieceing up the leg, using the right hand. Russian Ronda was terrible to see by. has no control of the octagon.

Damn, I mean, you're not wrong, but I don't know. Everyone was so fired up about this. Barry O'Reilly, what is up, my friend? Oh, this is better than my pick. Moosman versus Dantale, Mays 2. Maze has been released, but the UFC can't possibly pass up the chance to book this money-making rematch. So good.

Thank you, Barry. That's fantastic stuff. Segula, Lisboa. Zelazniakova Luana Santos. What else? Co. versus Austin Vanderford, judo versus wrestling.

Co. versus Austin Vanderford. I think they like Austin and want to keep him out of that for now. I don't mind it. It's not bad. It's not bad. I just think they don't do that for Austin. There are people,

like there are literally people on the pre-fight show who are asking me if when Oban Elliot wins today, which ranked fighter should he get next? And I was like, what are you talking about? Seriously. Like he was a minor, and I like Oban a lot. Yeah. Like the reason he is popular is because it means just kind of a natural thing.

He got put over by Chale and then Ariel put him over and he was fun and great on the mic and got wins. But like, we have to really break down the resume. Like these wins were against. top 60 guys Basil Fez was maybe like top 57 but like these weren't like big huge eye opening wins

not like he went out and finished Jake Matthews or Neil Magny or Randy Brown you know what I mean like minus 500 against anybody was just insane like and that's what I kept saying like minus 500 is just a wild lot so I just don't like Oban is just a fine fighter and he is going to be popular. Nate Landware made such a great career for himself,

just being a fun guy on the mic and being like in fun scraps, but he's not going to fight for a belt or like be a top 10 fighter. And that's okay. And the way Oban handled the loss, just A plus plus. That's why I like this guy. He said, there were no excuses. He literally said, I could not be, could not have been more ready, willing and able to fight this guy. I was the best I ever felt. And I got my ass kicked. Yeah. And I'm going to take it like a man. And to me, respect to Obad Elliott.

That dude stock rose tremendously in my eyes. And it does not matter about him losing this fight. The way he handled it, there's no daring to be great. No, I hurt my toe at weigh-ins. No, oh, I dealt with this adversity, that adversity was, I got my ass beat. And I'll be okay. I'll come back. She's awesome.

I bet Vegas actually, even though the line was crazy, I bet Vegas actually did a killing on that fight. I bet a lot of people bet Obon or put Obon in like parley's and stuff like that. I bet Vegas made a killing on that flight. We saw, I think we were talking about yesterday, like Tapology, 93% of Tapology users picked Obon. So, you know, it's not as if like this was just a casual thing. Tapology users, I think, are pretty intelligent, or at least usually it'll be closer

if tapology users have like the sort of the inside track on something. So, yeah, we all thought, it turns out Coe's, I think also just really good, right? I honestly, I'm a shame to say it, knew nothing about Coe before Saturday or doing some research before this fight week. And like, yeah, he looked great. So like you said, no shame for Elliot. He may have just run to a guy who could be like a top, who might be a top 25, top 20 waltrowate. We don't know yet, right? Just Co's first UFC fight.

So, yeah, it's not nothing. No one was exposed. No one. Yeah, it was just someone who has a higher level of exposure probably than expected at this stage of his career. And that's why the odds were it were. And some people were like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened. but yeah cobs really good um mcta beck oral by versus the only jones in the ufc now mike mason jones uh curtis blades antedalizia uh calil roundtree europerasco thank you barry o're rightly a few more

just from attack m m mary usually just sends in one pick bahamandas oral buy so you know what i like that and i wonder if you try that at 170 love that idea too yeah like i get i don't know bahamundas might just have the kind of frame that he can make 155 like we always talk about like Jalen Turner, right, the guy he, that he beat in his last fight, who I'm sure it wasn't easy to make 155, but I don't think, and I know he did, I know he had a couple of fights in the UFC at 170, but he never actually missed weight at 155, I'm not mistaken. That could be wrong. So maybe Bahamadas just has that frame where, yeah, he's a six foot three dude who can

cut down 155 pounds, I don't know, but maybe just as a one-off, maybe just do that 170. I just don't see why you would need to do that at lightweight, but thank you, Taka-M-A. Thomas Collins Ranchi Ulberg Fiziv Dawson Oralby Ludovitch Klein If he stays a lightweight Out Ulan Bekhov

Versus albazi Tyra Luser Okay I don't know Yeah that might actually be what they decide to do He might even get the winner actually He might even get the winner Speezy What's up Speezy 32

Is the last one from Twitter Had a good time and join the fight's good Speezy I'm glad Yeah like I said the decisions weren't bad I hope people don't just look at this card and go like, oh, 10 decisions, this card must have sucked ass. Like, no, some of those fights were pretty solid, but just forgettable. I just think there's anything new here.

Yeah, he likes Park and Joe Piper as well. Mo' Usman versus Ryan Spant. Sure. I'm just reading all the Moosman picks. That's all I care about. Tagir versus Manel Cop. You know what? As we were kind of going through it, there's a real chance.

That's the fight that gets made. Man. Stinks for Minnell Cop, man. Because like, get a kind of title shot. Like I would have picked him to get the title shot against Fantosia over Kai. But he wouldn't have made it to the fight anyways. So which is just brutal. And now he's going to have to wait.

And yeah, he might have to fight to gear. Brutal. Man, if a cop ever, like, fights for that flyway title, that's going to make for a hell of a timeline. Like, we need Casey working that timeline now because the timeline is bizarre. Yeah. The timeline is truly bizarre if he ever makes it, which is not guaranteed by the there. There's totally a world where we look back like, man,

best guys to never fight for a UFC title. We go like, now, Malcobs coming up there if this weirdness continues. Just a few more guys. All right, we'll go to Instagram. Daniel Edwards, I said to read this because he was making a fight pick for Kunyev. This was, I guess, the middle of the fight. It says, assuming he got the decision,

Kuniev versus Jake Collier in a number one contender match, much needed heavyweight number contender. And then moments later, just, oh dear. So, yes, couldn't have to not get the decision. Gerard Biyagan, what's up, Gerard? A lot of picks we've already had. Naimov versus Gomia. I think that's an interesting one.

Co. versus Carlson Harris. Carlson Harris is not in the U.S. anymore, I don't think. Didn't I just see him get beaten by, what's his name? The Bellator champion. Oh, no. I'm thinking of. Who am I thinking of? Who did the former Belator champion?

Oh my gosh. Guys, help me. Help me. I'm forgetting names. I'm forgetting names. Who was the former Belator Welterate champion, Mike, that we had ranked super high once in a pot time? Redsarkin?

No. Oh, my God. What is wrong with me? Lima? Amosov. Oh, my God. Who did Amosov? Oh, Yaroslav.

He bought Millinder. I'm sorry. Not, not, yeah. Yeah. That was, let's edit. Cut it out. He is. Take it out in post.

Take it out in post. Yeah. Who is, who is Carl's? is Carlson Harris fighting? I don't know, but he is still in the UFC. I'm so sorry, Paulson Harris. That is freaking embarrassing on my part. Park Piper.

He's lost two in a row, though. He's got knocked out in two straight calls. Okay, okay. Gerard also likes the Lumbekov cop and Moosmond, Bouda. Oh, my lord. Now I need it. Now I need it.

Now I really want Moosman, but I forget my top national outlook. I need him, Boudai. And let's close out with some emails here. Tristan Gordet, Satikov Torres. Yeah, I mean, that is fire. Man, guys, speak this one to existence. Speaking into existence.

That's so awesome. uh, Naimov, Pat Sabatini. Jay Donaggy, uh, Faziv, Gamrot 2, Roundtree, Oldberg, Blades, Volkov 2. Guys, I don't want to see Blazbov 2. Watch Blades Volkov 2. Watch Blasov one again. All right. No, stop it. You'll change your mind real fast. Oh, God.

Um, Hill, Jan Blockabich, been calling for this fight for years. Okay. Jay, man, maybe, maybe. And wild card bonus edition, Ulaembekov. Oh, he's picking specifically Albaazi. He is picking Albaazi to lose to Tyra. and fight Lucas Cortez Let's close out with Lucas Cortez

Mostly bad card I try to be optimistic I was let down Shout out to referee Lukash Pizaki for not stopping that fight early Yes And for taking two points

From Nerdyev He did good Naradiev Paul Craig In a match where kicks and knees To a grounded opponent are legal Bahamendez

Joe Alvres Two giant lightweight It's a Piziv Hooker Roundtri Prajka If Alex is fighting For the title Okay

Oral by Mike Davis Satakov Mike Davis We have not confirmed this but Mike Davis reportedly fighting someone. So not Dutu. We did see a Mike Davis rumor out there. Who's he fighting?

Delgado. Jose Delgado. Let me just make sure. Mitch Ramirez, July 12th. You have some Nashville. Park and Bo Nickel. Not sure you guys will agree. It's about time Park gets a Sierra push.

That guy's awesome. Hope you're doing well. Enjoyed the card more than I did. Thanks to you, Casey, Jed, and Jose for all the awesome content. And Damon and everyone else and Guillermo and so I want to leave everybody out. But thank you. Yeah, thank you everyone who sent in picks.

And don't worry about sending them in next week. We live. We'll be live next Sunday following UFC 317. And here is the International Fight Week lineup. It is one of the weirdest international fight week cards of all time. We have Ilya Taboria versus Charles Oliver for the vacant lightweight title. I am so fired up for this fight. I truly am fascinated by it all.

Cannot wait. We got Alexandria-Pantosia versus Kikar, France. for the flyway title and the co-made event. Brandon Royval versus Josh Van. Huge opportunity for Josh Van. In the featured bout, we got Benil Darius. He is back against Hadato Moikano. Peyton Talbot versus Felipe Lima kicks off the main card.

Really interesting fight there. Jack Hermanson, Gregory Rodriguez. Speaking of Jose Delgado, he's fighting Hyder Amiel at UFC 317. Oh, what were we talking about then? What's this Mike Davis rumor? he's fighting mitramirez mishramirez i'm sorry okay mitchramaras uh i don't know why delgado's name came into my mind

uh viviani ara ujo versus tracy cortez terence mcini versus vayislav borshev slobaclav slobaclav that fight is just you want to talk about moe usbid and heavyweight overs terence mcini and lightweight unders uh there's no just hammer the under two and a half it's gonna hit it's just absolutely going to hit maybe the weirdest name on this card, I don't understand why Cedricade Dumas is competing in any UFC fight, let alone

a tent pole event. But he's fighting newcomer Jackson McVeigh, who is real fun. And Jackson McVeigh is probably going to annihilate Cedricé Dumas in his seventh pro fight.

Janada Denise versus Alvin Heinz, AK, because you know, when we're thinking international fight week, nothing screams it like heavyweight MMA between Janata Deneas and Alvin Hines and kicking off the festivities at least as of right now Jacoby Smith one of the up and combers at 170 pounds is probably going to put a real hurting on Nico Price

and that is that is UFC 317 that is international flight week and uh yeah that's that's a weird card I love the main card but and obviously like the The middle prelims are interesting and it will be like a good time, but just not your typical international fight week pay-per-view. It's a strange one. There's certainly some fun to be had on the prelims. And, you know, you've got two big fights at the top, which is always nice. But yeah, it doesn't feel like, like you said, I think you use the best word like 10-pull.

It does not feel like what you would see for one of their 10-pole events. But the train, the machine rolls on, Mike. The machine rolls on as the UFC approaches, you know, a new broadcast. deal so you know we just keep they just keep churning out the action right right we're preparing out the action we fighting all week they will be in Las Vegas all the activities and we'll be here for all the international fight week coverage watch party and back here next Sunday live on the NBA fighting YouTube channel for an all new edition of on to the next one thank you so much we'll see you next week have a great rest of your weekend everybody into the Vox Media Podcast Network