MMA Fighting - On To The Next One: What’s Next For Khamzat Chimaev After Championship Win At UFC 319?

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

UFC 319 is a wrap and Khamzat Chimaev is the brand new UFC middleweight champion after delivering a one-sided, grappling-heavy performance to beat Dricus du Plessis in the main event. With Chimaev finally realizing his goal of becoming a world champion, where does the undefeated phenomenon go in his first championship defense? Is it the streaking Anthony Hernandez? Or perhaps the enigmatic Reinier de Ridder? Should the UFC Paris main event winner between Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho be anointed as the rightful No. 1 contender? 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 both Chimaev and du Plessis following their championship fight in Chicago. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Lerone Murphy after knocking Aaron Pico out cold in the co-main event, Carlos Prates following his brutal knockout of Geoff Neal, along with fellow main card winners Michael Page and Tim Elliott, 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

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Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The matchmaking crowns are oh so back following UFC 319, went down in Shytown, the windy city. Last night, we have a brand new middleweight champion of the world. That middleweight champion has a name, and his name is Hamzat Shemayev just absolutely runs over. duplice for 24 plus minutes. Just an incredible outing, just complete and utter dominance. I know there's a lot of fans who didn't love watching that fight, but I mean, impressive as hell whether you like it or not.

We have a featherweight division that just looks a lot different right now and so much to talk about from a matchmaking perspective, but I am Mike Heck and joining me to discuss that and much more, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince the positivity and my best friend, the one and only Alexander Cayley, aka how we doing on this Sunday? You are muted and hopefully we can practice. What is up, guys? I was muted.

I was giving a little too much headspace. I'm a gray man against a gray background. That about sums up how I feel right now. No, I don't know. I'm actually in a pretty good mood. I don't know. The event left me on a bit of a high, which is weird because the main event was definitely a grind, my best friend.

It wasn't one I planned to rewatch any time. soon. I think it's worth discussing. And I don't think, like, I cannot get on the, like, oh, you know, darn you Shemaya for not, like, being able to finish and not being, not being a little more aggressive at doing damage. Like, I just can't get on that. Like, it was really impressive for me to see him control DDP. I, you know, DDP, you know, not the greatest defensive wrestler. We've seen this in previous fights, even the ones he's won. So I think we knew this was a possibility. we'd sort of hoped that Shimaev's usual like finishing instinct would kick in at some point

because yeah he russes a lot but he also usually when he takes people down and finishes to them. But there was probably a concerted effort here one, not to deplete the gas tank. This is his first time actually going five rounds. And also I think respect for DDP.

I think they know how unpredictable he is and how like if you try and get a little too cute with him, he can do some wild stuff. We saw that in a couple moments of the fight where DDP was able to just almost one time I think he did it, Lewis, he just stood up. That was, I think, in the fourth third or fourth round. And then, of course, the end of the fight where he had like the most significant offense of the entire, of the entire

contest for about 20 seconds. So, yeah, I was satisfied with what I saw. And obviously, we had some great finishes, Mike. So very solid, very solid pay-per-view card from the UFC and, you know, round of applause as usual for the fighters, you know, fighters, I think all delivered for the most part. Yeah. I mean, will this be the card of the year? I saw some people say, like, this is the best card of the year. I don't know, because I think you need the main event to deliver for that to happen. And I, again, I see Homestock getting a bunch of flack for the performance. I couldn't have been more impressed.

Like, that was more impressive to me than him just submitting DDP in the first round. Like, that was a scary performance. That told me this guy could be middleweight champion for a really long time. And Jed and I were both kind of on the same page that right this second, there is not a soul at 185 pounds who is going to beat this man. But it's not going to. Nope. Absolutely insane.

Just looking at the numbers, AK, 12 takedowns for Hamzaa Chmai of 21 minutes and 40 seconds of control time. The strike differential, AK, 529 to 45. That's a lot of strikes. Yeah, almost he, Hamsat Shamaif, almost outstruck Drickus 2 plus E by 500 strikes. Like, and that is not, that is not a mistake on my part. 529 to 45 were the striking totals. Ridiculous. Just absolutely ridiculous.

DDP had nothing for this man. I scored a 50-43. I think Hamsat Shemai should have got a 10-8 in the first round without question. I mean, DDP did literally nothing. He did nothing but get putt, but get crucifixed, controlled, almost finished at a point, and got hit in the face like 170 times. And DDP literally mounted zero offense in that entire round. And to score that round, the same way as Corrine A Silva versus Dione Barbosa is absolutely ridiculous.

You just can't do it. Round two, I gave it a 10-9. Round three, it was clear as day, 10-8. I mean, this is just one-way traffic. See, I'll always defend those kinds of 10-9s, though, because I need to see a little more damage. We mentioned the 500 total strikes. My best friend, I imagine you have the stats in front of you,

how many were counted as significant? I'm looking at it right now. It's 37. 37. That's a bad look. That's a bad look when you're in that dominant position. Miles may vary on what a significant strength actually is. Sure, sure, sure.

But I think we can agree. It's a lot of pitter-patter stuff. You know, that crucifixix, right? It's one of the hardest positions to sort of evaluate as far as, like, when we're saying, like, how dominant? It's definitely dominant. How damaging is it? How close is a fighter to ending a fight?

Because we've seen fighters get the crucifix and then win with those pitter-patter strikes just because, like, the other guy can't get out. The referee kind of has no choice. The referee's like, well, how many of these, quote-unquote, like, non-specific strikes? Am I going to allow? Like, if this guy lands 100 unanswered strikes and, like, none of them are considered significant, it's still 100, like, little strikes. Like, I think I had to do something here.

So I think DDP never, fortunately, never got into that position where it was so many unanswered shots, so that the referee had to stop it. But like I said, I like to see a little more substantial damage. But yeah, I think there has to be at least three 10-8s in that fight. Obviously, not round five. It was just incredible to watch. Was it a safe performance? Sure.

I'm not going to tell people like, oh, you didn't enjoy that fight. You're not a real MMA fan. Like, I wouldn't say that. But I do think that not giving credit to Shemaiah for what he did. And also, if you didn't like the fight, you know, not shifting some of the blame, of course, to do proceed for not right? for not being able to get up right he just he i was out of conserved his energy or um or just couldn't couldn't figure it out he he said i think he said the perfect thing after um ddp he said

it wasn't even i felt like shemai was that much stronger it wasn't like brute force it was like the guy knew what i was going to do before i was going to do it um and i thought that was such a such a smart and sharp comment um he didn't try and take away and just say oh yeah yeah like i was unprepared he was like no this is this guy's wrestling is amazing like it's a technique thing as much It's a skilled thing. So that to me is why I enjoyed watching it. But I understand the, you know, I understand the discontent from fans who maybe wanted a little more, a little more aggression.

Yeah. Jamal Hill, take notes. That's what you do. If you lay out a premise and a promise of how this fight is going to go and then you don't deliver that, then you can't do the, well, I dare to be great. You know, I twisted my ankle on the way to the Octagon. I overcame injuries in so many things you don't. don't know about.

You can't do that. D.EP. was just like, yeah, man, he beat the shit out of me. And hats off to the man. I'll, I get to go back to the drawing board and I'll be back and I'm going to get my that belt back. Like, good stuff all around. So now, AK, we have to match make here.

We have to match make. And I have to tell you, I had a really tough time with this. Hmm. Because I laid out, and this sort of is like a theme for the top two fights. There were certain things that. there were certain ways these fights could have played out, and there are certain roadmaps to get to where we needed to go, but based on the result and how the fights went and sort of the follow out of it afterwards,

I had a completely changed course on a lot of different things. So let's start with Hamzaa Shamaifa K, because he has a queue of contenders that are just, it is a mile long right now. We have, of course, the Kyle Bahalio, Nasredeen, E. of off UFC Paris main events. That is coming up in a couple of weeks. Timing could not be better for that fight at the moment. We have Rainier to Ritter who beat Robert Whitaker at a super close split decision.

A lot of people feel like Whitaker won that fight, but RDR, people want to see RDR, maybe get his shot. Then you have Fluffy Hernandez who, and I've said this publicly, and I'll continue to say it, if there is a award for performance of the year in MMA, Fluffy Hernandez has. as one of the three best performances in all of MMA in 2025. What he did to Roman Deleuzei is like, I don't know if Roman Deleese can look himself in the mirror and be like, yeah, I should probably keep fighting. He might have ended Roman Delead's career at that performance. So you have those guys, not to mention some of the other names from the past, the Sean Strickland's,

the Apollo Kost's, guys that Hamzaa has built up rivalries with. People have always wanted to see a Hamzaa, Israel out of Sonia fight at some point. Like there are so many options that the UFC can present to Hamzaat Shamaa. A.K., the question is, it's not what the UFC wants to do. It's what you are putting out into the universe that should be the move trying to get yourself at a no point. So, A.K. Hamzat Shemaya, first title defense will be against who? I'm not trying to get a point. I cannot predict necessarily what's going to happen.

I just know what I want. I know what I want to see. So I have like, I think I've made, you know, we had Anthony Hernandez's fights. We made a match up for him. We had Paulo Costa, who's weirdly in the mix, just because of his beef with Shimaev and because he talks a lot. I've matched to him already, Ryan De Ritter, I kind of matched with him. I matched him with Anthony Hernandez, I think. And then I think I even, I don't remember who I said should fight the winner of like Bahaio Imovov.

So technically I've mentioned all these names already, and I normally don't like to go back. But man, after this, you know, we got a new champion now, I got to wipe the slate clean. So I'm putting all those names back in play. All I'm not eligible for any of those previous outno picks. You can take those points off the board. So I had to go with what I really want to see, the guy who I think is most deserving. I'm waving my magic wand. And also I think has a chance to beat him.

It would just make for an incredible fight. Recency bias, for sure. But, Mike, we're going fluffy. We're going to Anthony Hernandez. I really want to see this fight. All these guys are worthy. If they booked RDR, I'd be fine with it. If they booked the winner, Bahia, Imov, I'd be more than fine with it.

If they booked Paulo Costa, I would not be so fine with it. I feel like you just cannot do that now. the way some of these middleways have performed, these other contenders are performed, you just, I think you can't do it. And I, guys, I know, go back, check the tapes. That was what I said, like Costa, win, loser draw for Shemayev. I think it's because I thought Shemaya might lose, and I was, like, keeping that option open, but with Shemayev winning, God, you cannot give Paula Costa a total shot.

You can't do it. Can't do that. Can't run back DDP right away. It doesn't even sound like he wants that. So let's do Fluffy. I want it now, Mike. This is a, I don't want a wait pick. I want it.

If I don't see this flight, I'll be very sad. So I need to see Floppy and calm side. So when you first started, I was like, we're going to do a Friends Forever here. I just have a feeling. And then you said what you said. And I realized I was absolutely correct. We are doing a Friends Forever moment. Cue the damn band.

One, two, three, Friends Forever. It's Fluffy Hernandez. It's fluffy because here's how I came out of UFC 390. no one's beating him. Hamza Tcha Mive is going to be the champion of the world at 185 pounds for his long as he wants. It does not matter who he fights. He is going to beat them convincingly. So the one guy who I think stylistically has any chance of beating him is Fluffy Hernandez.

I think he rolls RDR. I think he rolls Kayao. I think he rolls Imovov. I think he rolls everybody he could possibly fight. the one guy who has a chance is fluffy and it's a very small one at this point so i'm going fluffy because i need to see it the on deck circle is kio versus imovov whoever wins that fight is next and then the co-made event it could not be easier to make like or not the co-made event but for ddp like just think of the poster okay just think of the poster yes six letters actually ddp

versus RDR. Jed Mishu gets his wish. We all get the big goofy bozo fight. And that's it. Like I think the way we've laid this out, especially with Fluffy being on both sides, like, the band can kind of like, it's okay. No, no, bring them back. Bring him back. What is it? Count of it. Count of it. Plug it in. Three, two, one. Friends forever. I tried something new there. I got a fluffy. winner of that fight gets the Kyo Yemov winner and the DDP and RDR just do

crazy weird stuff and we'll see how it is right now. So yeah, that's our up. I'm so happy. UFC, do not mess this up. Do not mess this up. This division is so good right now. And it's, and I get,

it's a little disappointing that this was not like the fight of the year or highlight of the year or moment of the year we were hoping it would be. But that's okay. That's okay, guys. That happens sometimes when divisions are really good. We set our expectations really high and, you know, it doesn't quite match that. But, boy, you've got some great contenders here, amazing matchups.

Please, please, let's do this. I would like, I would like PandemicP to show me any sort of sourcing where either guy has said, I will never fight the other unless it's for a belt. Because Raniard Ritter said the complete opposite of that. And DDP would absolutely fight RDR if it meant getting a title shot in return. That is not a like bound, a bound friendship. that is not Michael Page, Israel-A-Sanya type shit. It just isn't.

So those two dudes are going to fight. And if you don't think they're going to fight, I need you to truly get on board because that is 100% the fight that is going to be made. And you think Ryan Yudder has literally any sort of negotiating power in the situation. Well, me and DDP are kind of friends, so I'm not fighting him. You know what's going to happen? The UFC can be like, all right, homie, back of the line.

you're going to fight Roman copulov now. Like that's what's going to happen to you. So he has no power in this conversation. He is fighting Dirkus duplicacy, which right now is the biggest fight he can get because they're not going to give him a title shot based on a split decision win over Robert Whitaker. I don't see it happening.

So I like this, AK, I think we've laid it out absolutely perfectly. It's time. We're in great shape. Don't mess around. Paulo Costa, go do something else. You're not part of this equation. Sorry, buddy.

You're not part of this equation right now. No, because of how, like, especially with how Hamza, just beat DDP. I mean, just completely neutralized him. DDP literally did nothing in this fight. At the end of the day,

like that just takes Costa out of the, out of the equation because there is nothing fun about Hamzaa versus Costa now. Like, cost is like a big silly dummy, like when he fights. And like the, in a respectful way in terms of like watching him compete in a

stylistic perspective. Like maybe costa just crazy enough to like weather or storm and win the fight. Costa has literally no chance of, beating him. Umzat would be a minus 1,200 favorite in that fight. So I literally have no interest in it. And it doesn't matter how much they hate each other. The UFC is just like, yeah, we're not booking this fight to headline a pay-per-view because Hamzad is going to absolutely run this dude over. So I think we got a lockdown. Now, how about this, AK? Who would have thunk it? Lorone Murphy, who by the way, I picked and had a bet on for a number of reasons. Did I expect

Lorone Murphy to have one of the three best knockouts of the year? No. No one, not one human being on planet Earth said that LaRone Murphy was going to obliterate Aaron Pico in the first three minutes of the fight. No one. No one said that. That was absolutely stunning. Absolutely shocking.

And now, A.K., the miracle may have just performed one himself. The man who was getting dumped on by everybody. Oh, he's boring. No one wants to watch him fight. Oh, thank God. Aaron Pico is fighting him. So now Aaron Pico can get rid of Lerone Murphy. And then he can go fight Alexander Volcanovsky for the title.

And Lorone Murphy said, nah, wait till you see what's about to happen. And now, A.K., the question is, is Lorone Murphy about to fight for a UFC World Title League after what just happened last night? After just colding Aaron Pico in such nasty fashion? Yep. Yep. That's the way to go, guys. That's the way to go. I looked back and I was trying to remember if I made any previous featherweight picks to challenge Volkovsky.

And I was like, nope, I have not booked anything for Volkovsky yet. I think when Volkovsky won, I wanted Avloev, obviously that's not going to happen. The UFC has, I don't know if they know Evloiev exists. They do not care about his win streak. He is almost in the same boat as Lorone Murphy, but I think they're like, you know, a huge win streak, a lot of decisions. but I think they're even less interested in Ivoia if that's possible. So, yeah, Evloia is out of it. It's Murphy time, man.

Murphy, I thought was so good. You mentioned who would have thought he'd have one of the best knockouts to the air? What if I had told you, Carl's Pratchez is going to have a spinning elbow knockout on this card. Oh, by the way, Lauren Murphy's going to beat that. Like, I didn't say, I wouldn't say how. I just said, yeah, Lauren Murphy's going to have a better knockout than Carl's Prach's. You people would have said I was insane. You would have had me fired.

So he not only beat processes finish. He did it with the same move, just with a little more impact and a little more, a little more sauce out or something. Both are incredible. I mean, if you liked the process one better, I wouldn't blame you. But yeah, Murphy, he needs it, man. I mean, great win streak. Not the most simulating guy in the mic, but he's good with the media.

Like, I do think he's okay, you know, when he has to do scrums and things like that. He's just not going to give you a big meme-worthy quote or anything. like that and that's okay that's like that's not every champion can be that way i don't think tom ashtonel's that way either right i think tom ashton's a pretty popular guy right now i think he'll like him he does get a lot of finishes so there's that um but but you're only as good as your last fight and a lot of people are going to be talking about this murphy k a pico for a long time so thank you erin pico for being you never loses my decision next he's kept that intact has never lost my decision even against lorenremy he will not lose my decision is going on his shield so

yeah give me that title fight now man i think it's time yeah I mean, the way I sort of viewed this fight, and it was a question that I've asked on, like, multiple shows is what was Aaron Pico's best win heading into this fight? Yeah. I was like, seriously look at his resume and just tell me who his best would was. Yeah. And the more I thought about it, the more I landed on, it was Justin Gonzalez is his best win. Not James Gonzalez? Not James.

Justin. Justin Gonzalez is the best one. I think the Leandro Higo win has aged the best. but Gonzalez to me was like, all right, this guy's good. Gonzalez is also like the 77th best featherweight in the world. Yes. And he was like 13 at the time and had like had some good regional buzz and Aaron beat him up. There's just like it's so cliche to say there's levels to this game.

Like literally Leroux, every guy Lerone Murphy has fought in the UFC and probably like his last two or three fights outside of it were way. tougher fights than anybody Aaron Pico had ever fought before. And I, I'm just going to give something away right now because I'm going to give you my biggest takeaway from this fight outside of like Lorone Murphy is about to get a title fight before the end of the year. The biggest loser of UFC 319 was Mozart of Lov. Because if you told Mozart, if Mozart was not watching UFC 319 and he just like read an alert on his phone that Lorone Murphy beat Aaron Pico, this dude is doing the worm up and down the

street in celebration. And then he jumps on Twitter and sees how Lorone Murphy beat him. And he's like, son of a bitch. So not only did he just lose out in that aspect, at the same token, and I even said it after, I don't know if it was BTL or something else. When they announced Mbazarer Vloyip versus Aaron Pico, I was like, Mubzarovalev is going to obliterate him. like that fight is not even competitive.

In case he tried to talk me off of it, and I get it. I was like, Mozart is going to smash him. So that's why I kind of liked the fight because if for some reason Mozart slipped on a banana peel and Pico had like knocked him out, like cool, push him to the moon. But worst case scenario is that Aaron Pico is going to put Mozart in a position

where he just absolutely ices him. And it's just like, see, I told this young man he wasn't fun. Dana White would go to the press coverage, be like, me and my, my motivational tools, Movesarov-Zar-V-Loyev wouldn't have to knock out Aaron Pico. That's all I wanted to see from the young man. Now he's getting a title shot.

And now he's going to have to sit and watch Lorone Murphy fight for the belt. And then he's going to have to sit and watch John Silva possibly beat Diego Lopez. Because if John Zahva beats Diego Lopez, Mavzorov no longer has to win one fight, he has to win two fights before he gets a title fight. And that's fucking crazy. So, uh, tough night for Mubz Zara-Vloy of. at the of the in avoy of nation but yeah shout out to the rome murphy man talk about doing the thing the man went out there did the thing mobsar's not like super active either i mean we haven't

even had him fight yet in 2025 so it would be like shocking if he somehow ends up getting in town if he gets a tough fight in 2026 it would be as like the third person they call you know it'd be like so someone got injured some way he weighed as a backup or something like there's just i cannot see the path right now where within two fights he definitely goes tell shot i have no i have no idea what that path is um and i like most most i think is on my pound for pound list like i have as one of the top 20 pound for pound fighters in the world and i just can't picture him getting a title shot right now um it's just a circumstance we're so against him i i'm not going back to look for this i just don't want to um if there is there really is there truly a conversation going on in the chat about what would happen

and that would be anywhere competitive if Bo Nickel fought Hamza Tchamayev. I really hope that's not happening. I'm not even looking at that. Hamsat Jemai F right now is a minus 7,000 favorite. And I'm not even joking. Like that's a hyperbolic. That's literally true what would happen.

Bo Nichael has zero chance of beating Hamsat Shabai F. Zero. I would just ask these people, have you seen Bo Nichael fight? That's it. And I'm not going to, you guys can discuss. Have you seen him fight? That is my only question.

He's tiny. You didn't, like he's, he's, he's going to get, he's got to get mushed. Hamza's going to smoke him. Like I don't, like, I understand his wrestling accolades are great. No, it's, they're great. But he's just going to get smashed. Absolutely insane. All right.

Let's continue on. Oh, hold on. I got it. We got, I got to talk a little more about Pico because, like I picked Pico. I'm so angry with myself because I have for years. I don't know. You know what? I got dazzled by the three letters of the UFC.

I guess I was like, oh, Pico's not that good. Then he got signed by the UFC and something like, oh, wow, this guy must be good. The UFC signed him. I'm such a fool. I've been doubting Pico for a long time. Like, love him. Super fun to watch. I think in our, in our, in our MA fighting rankings, I never, I don't think I ever put him in the top of team.

I don't think I ever had him near it. And then he gets put against a clear top seven guy. And for some reason, I was like, I talk myself into he's going to win, even though I had exactly the same top process you had. like holy crap he has not fought anyone near the top 50 i shouldn't say that no currently yes no it's currently as fair no we're near the top 50 of the featherweight division and i thought he was going to jump up and take out loran rick i'm so angry at myself so that was bad he's on my fancy team like why did i why did i why did i do that i had a great day in fantasy yeah a really good day um i even got both i with all the people talking shit about hamzad i even got i i even got i

I even got a performance bonus point. That was so funny. It was so pumped. Did you get, you got maximum points? He gave you the maximum points. Outside of the finish. Outside of a finish.

Outside of a finish. Outside of a finish. That's right. Didn't get a finish. But somehow got you the, damn right. I mean, 50,

43 a man? Joseph Morales was robbed. Joseph. Alexander Hernandez probably robbed. Hernandez is robbed. Yeah. Well, I think we'll say,

like, all the stoppage was not early, but I guess the timing was weird. something complaining like i thought it was great stuff it does the best thing jason herzog's done in a long i think just because it was near the end of the round you know people do the thing we're like oh he should have let him hang on it's like no it's not the referees that's not the referee's job either it's like he doesn't look at the clock yeah he looks doesn't what happened um where would you and this is where the conversation gets even dumber mike where would you rank pico right now in the and the ufc

fift featherways only ufc featherweight division oh boy i'm you're going to be so angry when i tell you I ranked him and I don't know why I'm doing this but go ahead let me pull up because I haven't like updated like my personal yeah I might have to change this he's not my top of dean I'll say he's obviously not he's obviously he's not being he's not getting a ranking he's not getting a ranking I think he's going to fall out I think he is in our no he's like a far of maybe I don't oh no no I'm sorry he's number 10 he entered number 10 I don't think he will be after uh Saturday he will be at number 30 oh Lord okay oh that's not that bad I have him behind Melchie Costa.

That's what I'm going to have. Yeah, he should be. Okay, I have to change this. This is so bad. I don't know why I have him like 17. That's bad, right? That's horrible, right? Like, I can't rank him above Daniel Wood or Du Ho Choi or Tepe Mariscol.

I'm changing it live. I feel terrible. Okay. Because I don't know why. I put him above like Giga. I put him above Jose Miguel Delgado, Hider Emil, William Gomi. He's probably not better than these guys, is he? All right.

You're right. He's 29 because I think Giga is one of the more overrated fighters. Oh, you have Giga that low, like super low. I just, I haven't updated him. Giga is like in the mid-20s, but I'm probably going to drop him even further. Yeah. That's just. And look, being the 30th ranked featherweight in the world.

It's good. It's good. It's really good. Like, Andre Feeley, who just had a great win, I have him at number 36. Okay. So, um, Yeah, man. Like, featherweight's a good division.

It's a loaded up division. And, yeah. William Gomez, Sean Woodson, I can't put him above those guys. That's messed up. That doesn't make sense. I think Sean Woodson would smoke Aaron Pico. Damn, okay. I got to adjust this later.

I apologize to America. It's also like 611 in fighting at featherweight. Yeah. So go ahead, Mike tell us how you don't like Lerone. Have I ever said I don't like Lerone? I think he thinks you're Jed. I think he's confused me. I'm not, yeah.

Jet is openly just, he has openly said, I don't like that. Go watch my question of the day where I said, Lerone Murphy, Lerone Murphy is unfairly treated. Yes, the Josh David fight was not great, was not a fun watch. But like the Dandy Gay fight was a very fun watch.

He beat the shit at Edson Barbosa, and that was like a compelling ass weapon. He's had fun fights. The, the, uh, Fite fight was not fun. It was a dominant win, but it was not a fun watch.

But yeah, I thought that was a little overblowner for being honest. But let's, you know, it's better than the one big thing. Two big things. Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on TELUS'

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Okay, okay. Try the season's hottest flavors from the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Please feast responsibly. Let's continue on here with this card. Carlos Pratchez-A.K. Wow. We mentioned spinning back elbow. Welterweight is very interesting right now.

I went with Joaquin Buckley. It was an eating, Mini Monty Mo. I just don't know. There's no, you book, you can book Carl Spragetters against literally anybody, and I'm not going to complain, but just based on like availability and where these guys are ranked right now, because

I'm going with Buckley because I kind of want to see that. I think they're going to do the, I think they're going to throw them in there to just sacrifice Gilbert. it burns forever and just be like all right go headline at the apex against gilbert let's put him out of his misery so to speak um i'm hoping they don't do that so let's just do walking buckley and let's hope for the best you didn't like the uh yos rio talk last night i'm i'm all in man i'm all in on on uh him and michael page saying like yeah well i mean michael page saying he's in for he's in for he's necessarily mentioned i just called for he called for he on edwards he's not gonna

He's not getting that in Rio. He's not getting that in Rio. He should. He could get Leon Edwards, though. He could get Leon. I don't know if he's getting him so soon. I don't know if we see a Leon fight again before the end of the year. I think he's chilling.

I think that dude is just chilling. He's just chilling. Probably being a little strategic with who he's going to fight next. So I just went with a low-hanging fruit, man. I love the Pratchez MVP talk. MVP, I know he said he's willing to stay at 185, but he's also just said, I just want interesting fights, man. I want fights that can be paid.

and I think Pratchez is really compelling and one that would get page, you know, ranked it, he'd be ranked in two divisions if he'd be Carlos Pruchess. He is. Yeah. He still is. In the UFC, not in the only rankings that matter,

but not in our rankings. Oh, that's true. But yes, in the UFC rankings, I think he is, definitely a middle-late. He just beat a, we'll talk about him in a second, but he just beat a perennial top 13, top-10 guy in Cananeers. So, yeah, I'm all into that. So my next picks are out of the way, man.

I like Pratch's page. I like having UFC Rio. Let's just keep the good times going from both these guys. I think it's a cool matchup. I mean, sure, if you want to do that. I'm keeping MVP at 185. I just think he's way more fun up there. And we could do like a lot cooler things.

We could still go to, at AK, here's the thing. We could still go to Rio with this if we want to. We could still do it. And unfortunately, unfortunately, the conversation around this man has changed significantly over the last couple of weeks. This man just defeated the legend that is Roman Copulov. it's MVP versus Paula Costa.

Like, let's just do that. Let's see it's get super weird and wild. I'm fascinated with what that fight could look like. Truly fascinated. Oh, man. I mean, I said this about the Cattaneer fight. That could get ugly. Any Michael Page fight at middleweight essentially could get ugly.

Any Michael Page at any weight class could get ugly. Like, the guy is capable of incredible highlights. He's incredible of also some kind of dreary performances that go to this. We saw a little mix of that even on. Saturday where like there were those awesome flashes where like he either knocked down or like caught cannonier off bounce and then did some dancing. It's in the midfight emojis. And then we had the third round, which, you know, did just didn't go his way and was kind of, kind of rough to watch. And there's fights that he's winning that are still rough to watch. So I don't know what we would get.

But yeah, I like that option. I think at least he would certainly get an entertaining build. And listen, if Costa wins that fight, then he can keep calm for Shamiya for whatever, whatever. He would still to me be like, you know, one more fight away. Like, he'd have to beat someone in the top 10. But, wow, I had not even thought of that, Paige and Costa. How'd that cross my mind, my best friend. Had not caused her to literally just now. Yeah, why not?

Let's give a name. Fancy build, so to speak. Why the hell not? Shout out to Tim Elliott, by the way. 38 years young, physically looked better than he's ever looked. Just in terrific shape. I thought he was about to get absolutely wrecked by Kaya's I thought Kyle was just going to knock him out.

I thought the age and the layoff was just going to be something that happened. But Tim Elliott's like, I don't give a shit what you think. And I'm just going with what I talked about after UFC Vegas, I think it was 109, whatever happened. I said Vinnie Siggs is going to fight the winner of this fight. And now Tim Elliott versus Vincenzo Erseg. Vincenzo Siggs Erseg is the fight to make. And I don't have really anything else to have. That's a classy fight.

That's such a classy fight. I wish I'd gone with that. I kind of went different direction. I'm going with Kai Kar, France. Oh! I want more Kai. I want Timalea to be the Kai killer. Oh, I love that.

I love a good gimmick. You guys know I love a good name gimmick. I think he'd be the Kai killer. Man, he looked great. He really is tough to figure out, Timela. Damn, he is funky as hell. And once he got the fight to the ground. Kai Sakura, man, I don't know what the answer is.

I know we're here to talk about Tim. But Kai Sakura, I don't know what the answer is. I originally was like, you know, after he lost Pantosia, kind of wanted to move up to Bantamway. Bantamway has a ton of good grapples as well. So it's not like going up there's going to solve that problem. He might look a bit faster and be better and less depleted without having to cut that extra 10 pounds. But such an exciting guy, maybe we just find more fun matchups from it flyweight. They're definitely guys that you could fight that are, you know, less grappling heavy.

But as far as him being a contender, maybe Kai doesn't make it there in the UFC. And that's okay. That's good. Nothing wrong with that. I think there's a lot of fun fights for Kai had. but the grappling is a clear, clear weakness. Oh, 100%. Dude, did we just, him and metal cop, like, just keep chucking them in there.

They can just fight every couple of weeks. Like, I'm totally fine with that. Let's go to the wild card round, and then we'll turn it over to our wonderful viewers. We will select one fighter we have not matched four, and we will match big for them right now. So, AK, who is your wild card selection? It was it?

Oh, I can't even remember his name. I said it. Joseph Morales. I said it earlier on the show. He opened the card. He's already been in the UFC, Mike. How could you not remember him? This isn't even your introduction.

This is your reintroduction to Joseph Morales. Now two in two in the UFC technically after a three-fight stint back in like 2018 or something. He's back. Justin Rales is back. He had to go to a frigging reality show to get back in the UFC. But here he has. Proved the Doubtors wrong was a huge underdog. I had picked Joseph Morales.

I'm not good at picking Ultimate Fighter finale fights for some reason, despite the fact that I'm the only person who still watches the show. But this one I was on. I like Elibi. I think Ulibe is really talented. Like I don't think that 10-0 record or whatever he was before going to this fight was like, you know, Feghese because I think Nize AFC is a good promotion. That's where he fought.

But I just think it's a cliche. There are levels to this. And I think Morales has been performing at a, you know, pretty high level for some time and just needed a break. And he looked good in the ultimate fighter. I think he just has more of that big game, slightly more big game experience. So Joseph Morales, I think he said in his scrum after with reporters, he sees a path to a title shot.

I don't know what that path is, Mike. But theoretically, we can build it. You know, let's build this path for Joseph Morales. So I'm just going, let's do the math here. Let's do the math. I have placed him at number 35 in the UFC's rankings after that win, okay? Maybe he should be higher, maybe she lower. I don't know.

But 35, I think is fair for a guy who, again. We know how he fared against decent competition before. He looked good on Saturday. And he's a veteran, right? This isn't some unproven product. So I'm going to try and get him into the top 20, the top 30. The top 30, I'm giving him

Jose Ochoa. Jose Ochoa, yeah, good fighter. Nothing's splashing here, guys. This is another card that's going to end up like in the, you know, one of the first three fights on a preliminary card somewhere. And let's see what happens there. Ochoa is also very talented. So this is not a layup. This is not a

oh, Morales is going to run through this guy. But if he's serious that, like, he really thinks he could fight for a title within the next three years. You know, he's 30 years old and his prime. Okay, we got to start building now. So you give him a guy who's not an overwhelmingly tough matchup, but Suuant, who I certainly have ranked somewhere in the top 30. And we go from there. So I will tell you this right now, people. I'll do this right now.

If Joseph Morales is not on a main card, but he keeps winning fights, he will be my wild card pick every time. I probably shouldn't promise that because there could be more options in the future. but I'll lay that light offer right now for you guys. He will almost always be my wildcar pick if he wins and we get him towards a unlikely title shot. Look, when we go on the show and we talk about middleweights that the UFC is trying to push and or should push, I mean, there's only one way to go with this. There's the perfect man on the roster to help put this ban over. I am talking about Bonsignor, Susser Kyev, who is who will be forever,

known ford on m a fighting.com is jimmy suss jimmy jimmy suss that's what we're calling him uh sursicaiev data wipe laid out the jimmy for us and we appreciate him he will be jimmy forever uh we're just going to call him jimmy suss we don't have to go through the whole thing uh he after look this was just brilliant matchmaking this is exactly how you're supposed to book him you threw him in there with eric nolan who is if you watch the watch for i'm like eric nolan is going to try his ass off, but he's going to get obliterated at some point in this fight. His style is just like, Sushikaa played around probably a little bit too much, play with this food throughout that first round, but then he just killed him.

And that was going to happen literally whenever he wanted it to. Eric Nolan is not a middleweight. Jimmy Suss absolutely is in a big one at that. So we're just going to keep building the sky up. There's no need to bust him up the rankings. There's no need for him to fight Mansour, Abdul Malik. There's no reason for him to fight Edmund, Abbasian right now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is the perfect man on the roster.

Perfect. His name is Robert Valentin. UFC, UFC 320 in Vegas, and this is what you do. You throw him in there with Robert Valentin. He just nukes him. And then you turn Jimmy Suss around for UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, and you do the rematch. You run it back again, three weeks later, and let Jimmy Suss just KO him twice in three weeks. And that is 3 and O in the UFC. He has four wins under the TKO umbrella and like a three-bud span. Yeah, Jimmy Suss, Robert Valentin is next and then slowly build him up. Slowly. Give him the Atta Goteer treatment.

Oh, my gosh. It's beautiful. I was going to say, poor Robert Valentin just got hammered by Tiba Gautier, lost in the ultimate fighter finale, got split decision by Torres-Fini, which maybe is a fate worse than death. I mean, maybe the worst loss of all those. And now you're throwing in a Jimmy. Oh, boy. James Suss is about to get that, man.

But hey, we always say, this is why we keep guys at this around, right? And a lot of people would be like, oh, 0 and 3, 3. This guy shouldn't even be in the UFC anymore. It's like, nope, this is why. That's 321. That's 321. Jimmy versus Akries. After he beats Robert Valentin, Jimmy versus Akrie's perfect matchmaking.

Perfect. Good stuff. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the peeps. Fire him in there. I'm not going to lie to you, World. I'm frigging exhausted.

So we're not going to be here for super duper long, doing your pick. So fire him in. If you get a super chat, you'll get to the front of the line. Let's get after it. Trevon wants to see MVP stay at Welterweight. I mean, cool,

but I just think there's way more fun fights for him at a middle weight. And it just seems like, it seems like the UFC doesn't want him at Walter Waite, right? It just seems like there's really no space for him. He's not going to fight for a belt at Welterweight. He's so far away in that conversation. I just think like the bigger names for him right now that are realistic for him to fight are at middleweight. Like what's a bigger fight?

MVP Paul Costa or MVP Carlos Pratchez? It's MVP Paul Costa by a country mile. Although Prachis would be fun in its own way as well. Middleweight just a more popular division. He is just so tall looking to. I mean, he's tall looking. What a stupid term. He is tall.

He's six foot three. He's gigantic man. He looked so much bigger than Canineer. Cantonier is listed at 5-11. Canineer was a heavyweight once upon a time, guys? Can you believe that? And like, MEPP looked like Stefan Strove in there at him. It's kind of an optical illusion.

Like, I think MVP has one of those bodies so long and rangy. He looks like even taller than he is. And again, he is already a gigantic man at 6'4 3. But he looked huge. If you were watching that and you would not, like, even if he did not know the weight class of those fighters, you would think like this was like a light heavyweight bout or something. He was towering over Canineer.

And yeah, I think this part of him that just doesn't enjoy cutting down to 170, but it's never been a huge issue for him in the past. I say that, not remembering if he's ever missed weight. I'm pretty confident he hasn't. Thank you, Topology. Quick glance, no, he's never missed weight. He's got all those guys. He's just blessed with being this big dude who can cut that weight down to 170 somehow.

And he's done it many, many, many times. Like I said, mostly without issue. I'm sure it's not fun. I'm sure it doesn't like it. But, yeah, he definitely likes it. funny at middleweight, that's for sure. Tristan likes Dracar Close versus Mike Davis and Alexander Hernandez versus Esteban Riva-Vitch.

Stevie Ribs. Good old Stevie Ribs. Good old Stevie Ribs. Can I just say I think Tristan is in the right neighborhood, but I think we need to bring out the heavy loading trucks and move some houses around a little bit. I think we're on the right track. I think we revert. We trade.

We trade Alexander Hernandez for Mike Davis. We do Jakar Close versus Alexander Hernandez. Hernandez, we do Mike Davis versus us versus Stevie Ribs. Yeah. But if they made these two fights, it's fine. You can't go wrong. Can't go wrong with this combo of fighters. Shout out to Alexander Hernandez, by the way, Mike.

He's on the longest winning streak of his UFC career. He has never won three UFC fights before. He debuted in 2018. And we all remember got that huge push, of course, because the, the K.O. of Benile beats Oben Merci, who was on his win streak at the time. And then kind of that Soroni fight happened. It's all been a bit weird since then. and had not strung together consecutive wins since the Hubbard Hollibaugh wins.

And now Hubbard, Hallibah, Hooper. Damn it, Mike. This is a name gimmick I should have gotten out. He should have been my wild card pick and had him fight and find another lightweight with eight of their name. And then there you go. I'll remember that for Twitter later. It's fun.

Gerard. Humza. RDR. DDP, EBov, Bahlia winner. Murphy Volk. Pico,

Choy. Boy, you're trying to get Pico. People are trying to get Pico hurt, man. let Pico fight back a little bit, like way back. Let's get this dude some confident. He has not developed,

like anywhere near where he needs to be developed. Like he's great coach and the talent is there, but like, there's just no like, like simple rise for this man. It's just like, here, you're going to fight Henry Corrales,

who was way overweight and rolled out the coach and has to fly across the world 72 hours before this fight's going to happen. A guy who knocked you out on full cams. And then 18 months later, your next flight is going to be in the UFC in a co-main event of a pay-per-view against Lorone Murphy. Like, let's let this dude walk a little bit before we start running. Like, who's, let's matchmake for Aaron Pico right now.

I think this is actually a pretty fascinating conversation. Okay, okay. Let me go to my rankings. How about? It's tough. Jack Jenkins. How about Aaron Pico versus Jack Jenkins? I wow I that is I like I like guy yeah I get guy has been finished a bunch yeah I think I kind of like that I mean just like look I mean Juliana Rosa yeah that's really tough because eros is like fought everybody I haven't like how do you book him I don't know how do you book Arapico do you just do West and Wilson Francis Marshall like are we going that far down I still don't know where to rank them because I feel like I mean I put him way too high put him at the top of

top 20. I will change that guys. I will change that my personal right. Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, you got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Mohamed Yahya. Oh. I've got it. You did it. Wow. I sure did. That was scary. He is the, the Robert Valentin of the featherweight division right now. I mean, it's okay. He only got knocked on seven times of his last fight. But that's like, that's it. Like, that's what we need to do. We need to do the, the John Janus's of the world. Like, That's who Aaron Pico should be fighting right now. You need to develop Aaron Pico like he's,

like he's Jimmy Suss right now. You know, I know he's got more of a name, but like let's develop him appropriately. Well, go back to the rest of Gerard's picks, but I see people saying, ugly MVP, Rob. Yeah. MVP, wow, MVP versus Whitaker.

Interesting. I like that. Yeah. I do too. Elliot versus the Johnson-Cavanaugh winner, Mikhail versus Coppulov. Herdanas, Michael Johnson. Sure.

I just want to say there was other Pico. I just want to get some of these other Pico things. Regiao saying Pico Filii, I just think that's the kind of guy that is going to get him problems. That's like, that's who he, like if you give him the Roberta Romero's of the world, and if he beats that guy, then he can. Then you can chuck him in there with like, I don't, I still don't even know if I'd go to Fili. I'd go to like Jamal Emmer's, which is a tough, still a really tough out. Like if Jamal Emers beat Aaron Pico, I would not be sure.

shocked by that. He's just kind of an underrated, undervalued featherweight who does hit hard and is pretty skilled. And then we can maybe talk about the Andre Filiis. But I don't know, he's only 28, so he has time. But you have to be super careful. If you are fully invested in the future of Aaron Pico as a promotion, you have to be super careful what you do next. Like really careful. Ben says give him Ryan Hall. Ben, we're trying to find exciting fights for Pico, not kill him. Um, sorry guys. No, don't do that.

Jfish, uh, DDPRDR and the UAE, sure. Yeah. Uh, Mozar versus Volk. Why are we matched? First of all, none of these guys fought. Um, um, Mike, Mike, how would you, um, E knuckles? What did you say for, so let's say they did the, let's say for some reason, RDR got the title

fight instead of, um, Anthony, right. Let's say they did RDR Shemiah, whatever. Great. would you do GDP and Anthony Hernandez then? Yeah, probably. Yeah? Either way, right? Okay, so I'm glad you said this because I mentioned this last night.

And again, circumstances change based on result because if any, there is not a single person on planet Earth who predicted that Lerone Murphy would call Aaron Pico the way he did. And there's not a single person on planet Earth who was like, Hamza Tcha if is going to 50, 44, Drick is Dupus C and win the middleweight title. and a supremely non-competitive fight. Like, no one picked that, no one saw that covering. So the circumstances have kind of changed based on what happens here. Having said that, last week, this made no sense. If the UFC made Anthony Hernandez versus Sean Strickland now, it makes way more sense than it did a week ago.

And Hernandez is going to absolutely wreck Sean Strickland. Like, playing his day, he's going to, to smash Sean Strickland. And then, you know, if that's, if that's a Fluffy has to do, if there's, if the cue's too long, it makes sense. But like, just the way Hamzat could have won and, and all these things, like, the situation of how I personally view Hamzot after this performance, if they go RDR, they go with the Kyle Bahalia winner, like, if you want to throw

Fluffy in there with Strickland, like, go ahead. It's got to go horrifically wrong for Sean. like really, really bad. And then, you know, that's just a name. And he gets, Sean Strick will be officially out of the title conversation at that point. But I don't know. It makes more sense now. I was very hard on Toke for picking that.

And a week ago, I was 100% right. Oh. Here to say after what we just saw, if the UFC wants to go this route, I will allow it. But just remember my words. That fight's not compelling. because we know what the result is already. Man, Tocke was supposed to be here. He sent me an email.

He's saying he couldn't catch the live show. What a moment this would have been for you guys to reconcile on that. And now, Toc, if you're out there, I know you're going to watch the show later, listen to the podcast. But you guys, you and Mike are okay. You and Mike okay. You and I'm got a beef. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners,

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Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. My guys wanted to follow up. Reggiea, who suggested Fili, you just have to make sure it's Fili on his loss cycle. Because remember, he's always, you know, he's been alternating wins and losses for the last five years. So he's coming off a win. So you're right, Mike.

You don't book Pico next. You're right. Pico beats someone else. Fili fight someone else. Oh, no, wait. No, yes. He should fight Pico next. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. He is coming. Fili is coming off a win. So if you want Pico to win, you give him Fili now. He's, he will now catch the losing Andre Feeley. Yeah, dude.

So much happening. MVP, Izzy, and MSG. They're not fighting each other. Those two guys are not going to. He said they would for enough money. He said they would for enough money. But he does not. You think UFC is going to be like,

hey, or Mike got, nice win over Jared Candidear, who's 41. You want to go fight Israel, Asi and Mass Square Guard. We'll pay you each $20 million. Like,

you can be the first fight of the main. card i don't know if you heard uh they just signed a 7.7 billion dollar broadcast deal with paramount and a lot of that money is going to go to the fighters you know they're just they're just they're just throwing it around they're like yeah we've always wanted the fans have always wanted MVP and izzie let's let's make it happen 20 million a let's go there's nothing drop in the bucket uh shows pico versus kyle nelson again that's like Kyle Nelson is fought at like so many he's tricky that's a spoiler that's a that's a like Kyle Nelson like plus 500 underdog and I'd be Like, yo, I'm on that ticket.

He is. Nolan versus Phil Row. I like that. That's like the sloppiest welterweight fun fight. Yeah. I mean, I'd watch it. Like, Eric Nolan's just going to hurt Phil Row a whole bunch of times. And then Phil's just going to survive and probably finish Nolan, like late in the third round.

And I come from behind win. Ask for her versus Baxum is interesting. Sure. Pico versus Bacquan Amir Khan. Bring them back. That might be, God, that might be terrific. But Machuan could finish Pico in the first round.

Someone's getting finished the first round. That's just that someone's getting smoked. And if not, Pico will finish him. So like, wow, that's interesting. Oh, see this one from Sam Unsung? Oh, you can get you chipped out later, sorry.

More MP as you talk to. Yeah, not anytime soon. Definitely not anytime soon. is it is it uh where is it pico versus cub swanson oh and cub retires with the w this this is someone who's going the other way with it mike they're trying to use pico as like it's like a device for some for some other storyline they want to see uh cub beat pico up i mean and he probably could too like no you can't do that oh you don't like this one even on the long losing she can't do that yeah you don't like that no i really don't he is tough i will say that i am uh i i i i i i i

People, if you have, we always help people not to send in picks because we're doing the live show. But guys, hit me up on Twitter, Alexander K. Lee on to, I think I'm Alexander Kley on Twitter. My DMs are open. Give me Pico picks because if someone can pick correctly what his fight is next for him, I will be amazed because there's like 35 different options. I have no idea. Pico been babied by Bellator. Now I want to baby him again. Yes.

Basa Bar. Come on now. There is a vast difference between the Belator. tour rise and what the UFC is. Jack, if this is, let's just put this in the perspective. And this is legitimately true. If Aaron Pico's UFC debut, last night was against Jack Jenkins,

that would be the toughest fight of his career. That would be the toughest name he has ever fought in his career. Look at his wins. Look at the guys he's beaten. Jack Jenkins would be the best win of his career. Okay. There's a difference, like building a guy up,

and babying him. Like, you can't baby him in the UFC. Because Jack Jenkins, like, you could make a case of Jack could beat Aaron Pico. What are you? Kevin Vallejos. Would you pick Aaron Pico to be Kevin Vallejos right now? I shouldn't. I almost made him my pick for Pico and then I thought better of it.

I was like, no. It's not a good time. Like, Isaac Dolgarian would be a tough fight. Like, featherweight is a loaded division. Jamal Emers. Like, I mentioned I was like, Embers could beat Aaron Pico. that like featherweight is good so let's get this guy win and then we'll go from there like Austin bashi is gonna like fly up the ranks like I wouldn't put put him with pico obviously but

like there are guys coming we just got to be smart with him like he's 28 you got one shot at this like the way you book garren pico's next fight is incredibly important unless you just want to dump him that's just like all right he's not whatever we thought he was let's just get him obliterated again. Like, if you really think he's got, you have something with him, let's build his confidence up a little bit. Let's get him a win. And then from there, then we could start talking about the Feles and some of the bigger names. That's how you do it. Because you're not babying him throwing him in there with Jack Jenkins. You just, you're, that's not a babying. Pico versus Jordan. Jordan's a bad way now anyways.

Pico versus Emmett. Please know. What are you doing? Don't do this. Don't do this. What the hell is happening right now? I like Aaron Ficole. Again, I like Aaron Fico a lot. I do too. He's been so badly developed throughout his career. It was a miss. He is like, if you were going to compare him to anybody, he is Alexander Hernandez. He was Bellator's Alexander Hernandez.

So he's a fascinating career. But now, look, look at what they do with Hernandez. He's back. He's fighting the hollow bows of the world. He's fighting way back. And then he just beats Chase Hooper as like the second biggest underdog on the card perhaps this is this is it like because hernda's never got the chance to develop either he went out there just obliterated binel derrush oh a m and then he's a meme forever because of the don't seroni fight and then it's just win loss win less one less one loss all that so yeah

pico versus eight landware someday i i i absolutely thought it not yet but they they have to fight there's so many i i'm sad that i feel like well i mean again i that's originally who I had him next to in the rankings. So how was he a minus 176 favorite? The biggest reason why I bet on Lorraine Murphy, I was like, you're giving me a little Murphy plus 150 plus. I'm taking it. I fell for it, guys.

I fell for it. I think I also picked Pitbull to beat, yeah, year I'm pretty sure. I'd have to check my predictions for that. I'm under the bell to our PFL spell guys. I'm like, those guys come over and I just think they're all going to crush. Pachi Mix, I definitely picked to be Mario Batista. Fool me once. Shame on you.

fool me three or four, five, six times, shame on me. If Bryce Mitchell is still at 145, I don't think that would be a bad fight. I actually don't think so either. I don't know, man. It's okay. Yeah, I can. Like, sending Pico back to the draw, like, sending Pico back to fight like a veteran, a featherweight veteran to just get a win is not a bad thing.

It's not bad. I mean, the Muhammad Yahya thing, like, maybe I went a little too far back for Yaya, but even still, like, if you want to throw them in there with Muhammad, like, let's just make them look good. Like, I don't know. I have no problem with the Yaya pick. I think that is hilarious, and now I really want it. I think that's actually, like, if I was the featherweight matchmaker,

I would, that is the fight I would make. But I'm not the featherweight matchmaker. So I stand by Oleg Zayek, versus Ruzabayev. Sure. If they can book it quickly, yeah, that'd be nice for Rizabayev.

I think him and I know there's that video of battle kind of like apologizing to him and saying like, you know, they're trying to re-book it. But if I'm Rizab, man, no interest. Sorry, man,

I'm just like, I'm moving on. I don't know how he stays employed after this. I really don't. I, he will, they'll keep him around, I think.

But if I'm the UFC, I'm just like, yeah, bye-bye. I like Brian battle to you, man. I think, I think all of us, so many of,

was like Brian Battle. Like I just, it was just a real tough. It was really bad look, man. And it doesn't seem to have been a health issue. I know he's kind of released a few statements about it. And if it is a health issue, he's keeping that to himself and that's fine. That's none of our business. But yeah, really bad luck. And yeah, gosh, I'm just so, I'm just so optimistic, guys. I just hope he's okay. And I would like to see him get another chance. But if the USC cut him like this week, would not. Would not. Would not blame the promotion the slightest. Would not blame them at all. Can not. They just can't do that. They should. It's not like you're slamming the door on him forever.

No. He, the way he handled the Randy Brown thing was ridiculous. And then blowing weight by four pounds, up a weight class again after all that. Twice. Twice. It's so brutal.

And it's not, he's not a star. Like, let him go. Get him a couple wins on the regional scene. Let's get his weight and check. Have him higher nutritionist. If he goes and wins like two or three fights, bring him back.

Like, that's just, I don't know. It is what it is. Let's take one last quick peek and then we'll get on out of here. Do to do, do. Bright battle. Brian battle will be a refreshing addition to heavy weight. Guys, he started as a heavyweight. You got to remember this.

He's that amazing sort of weight body change is such a big part of his story. He was a heavyweight when he started MMA. It was huge. Pico versus Billy Q or Sabatini. Give me the line for those fights, Mike. Give me the Pico line. I think Pico's probably favorite in both. How heavily?

Minus 1.10. Like minus 1.30, maybe. Maybe minus 150 for really cute. I don't know. It's a tough fight, man. What is, what is Shamiov's line in the Hernandez matchup? Minas 490.

I saw someone in the comments saying, like, What was Shem I have going into Saturday? Like minus 270 or something. Almost like a three to one favorite, I think, against the champion. It was like, right? It was like minus two. I think it's like minus 260. It'll never be in that range again for a long time.

It's going to, it's minus 400 and up for the next like, as long as he has the title, I feel like, and keeps winning. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing.

And I'll say it again. Homestat's beating Fluffy. He's going to beat him. And he's probably going to beat him convincingly. But Fluffy. is the only guy who has a chance. It's just plain and simple. And I kind of like just going with Fluffy first because of Hamzaa beats Fluffy,

he's going to be the champion forever. As long as he wants, he wants to put together 12 title defenses, he can. So I'm intrigued by that one. And Pico would be minus 180 against Billy and minus 250 against Pat. I don't think he'd be minus 250 against Pat. minus 200 maybe minus 250 would really shock me

yeah I don't I don't think that would really shock me again Pat has fought better competition than Aaron Pico I would be taking Pat if Pat was like plus 200 or something I would be taking Pat for sure I've jumping all over that pat line for sure yeah Billy Q I mean Billy Q's just bedded a bunch of wars lately and he's kind of on the back nine a little bit but here's the other thing too Aaron Pico is 28

but when he gets got like he has got got real bad in like all of these losses like the germany one was kind of a freak one but like bork killed him corallus smoked him and then this one like you can't keep getting colded like that it's very very tough so but pique but pica was his minus 180 versus the road yes but that doesn't mean like he's got to be minus 180 again saw what happens. We fight guys who have experience. We've learned from this. It was a ridiculous betting line. Yeah. The odds makers guys, trust me, they're going to be a major recalibration for Biko for his next fight. Yes. And see what they do with Hamza. Whoever they book him, when Hamza is going to open at like minus 400 or more. At least, at least. Yeah. So,

yeah, that's UFC 319. It's his era. It's his era. It's the Hamzaa era. We're in it now. It's been coming for a long time, but we're finally in it. We are finally here. Patience paid off. So now we're off to Shanghai, A.K. Yes, Mike, will you be? Will you be, I believe. Will you be covering this one live?

I sure will be, okay. Oh, my goodness. I could be not, I could not be more excited. I might just, I might just do everything like all at once. I might just cover the car, do the post-fight show at like 9 a.m. and then just do on to the next to buy myself, like right after and just have it in the can ready to go. And then, yeah, just enjoy my weekend. But let's take a look at UFC Shanghai.

The main event, Johnny Walker taking on Mingyang Zhang, co-main event. Damn good one, Brian Ortega versus Alchamette Sterling. Jed and I going head to head fantasy-wise, Sergey Pavlovitz versus Waldo, Cortez, Acosta. That's so good. That's such a good heavyweight matchup. Do you have Waldo? I have Waldo. Oh, you are. That is Sergey Val-Vos. Make the point. Write the points down now, Mike. And get those right down the points for title fight and main event too, because guess what? He will be challenging the winner.

Waldo Cartier is going to be Sergey Falovic and then challenge the winner of Tommy Aspinon. You've heard you guys heard it here first? That's my ought-no pick for next week. Well, they have to watch Derek Lewis fight the winner first. I'm never giving up on that dream. So Subadayorjee versus Kevin Borjas, Tailaki, Nuerg versus Keiko Crosby. I'm going to have a really tough time here.

I just saw that and I was like, I'm so glad you're reading this instead of me. I literally just saw that. I was not familiar with that fight. Mahasata versus Gage Young, Lonair Kavanaugh versus Charles Johnson. Love, love, love that fight. Very much looking forward to that.

Rang-Ju versus Austin Hubbard, Michelle Pereira versus Kyle Dawkes. Welcome back. He has been tweeting. You guys are on social media. He has been tweeting every day to get back. Every time a middleweight fight fell out, he's tweeting at Danny White.

He's tweeting at the UFC. Let me back. Let me back in. Give me in. Yeah. He's back. He's back. Yeah.

He's back. Yeah, he's back. Ysha versus Weston Wilson. How about that? Long Zhao versus Sue Young-U. D.R. Norghazai versus Uran Salte-Baldiev. So, which is going to be fun.

Santabadia back at 205 after having to eat that justice humble pie against Martin Boudai in his UFC. Were both guys from contender series? I know DR was. Iran was a short notice replacement to fight Martin Boudai at heavyweight. Okay, okay, right. Former LFA light heavyweight champion. So, yeah. should be good fight.

Cool. Yeah, let me finish my production stuff before I go take my nap. Oh, I just like, my actual, I will not be on this next week's show. And then there's no card, I think, the week after, right? There's no card after the Shankar. We turn our attention to misfits boxing, whatever the hell. Oh, my goodness. That's right.

King, ring the throne, king of the throne. Darryd Till versus Luke Rockhold and Tony Ferguson. Justin versus Salt Poppy. Oh, Lord. How are we doing here? Salt Poppy. Rock salt. Are you doing the Rock Salt Parlay?

Are you doing the Rock Salt Parley? Oh, God. Daredeo Luke Rockall is going to be super sad to watch. I will, guys, I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. So apologies to everyone for my absence. It is just, I'm having a delayed honeymoon, as it were, guys. I got married some time ago. Getting a little honeymoon in business.

Hopefully flying out of the country, Mike. But we'll see. We've got a little Air Canada issue up here. Get your stuff together, man. Pay your workers, damn it. Pay your workers, Eric Canada. This is ridiculous. But I'm sorry I'm missing Shanghai.

I'm missing some misfits boxing. But I will, I cannot wait. I'm going to have a great time and I cannot wait you back and see you guys. And I don't know. The MA fighting crew is going to hold it down. Enjoy your time off, AK, well deserved. Enjoy you the rest of your Sundays, everybody. Relax.

And we get a whole new week. By the way, if you want a question of the day, we had a whole week of it for the new M.A. fighting.com you get head to the site, go to the feed. I already dropped in the post where you could start asking questions. I think that's just going to be the sort of encompassing post for the whole week just to get everything in one one fell swoop. So head there. We're trying to do more video content and do some more fun stuff. So for A.K.I. Mikeak. Thank you so much. Back next week after UFC Shanghai right here. And on to the next one,

the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to luxe beauty and fragrance sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.