MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Robert Whittaker After Quick Knockout Win At UFC Saudi Arabia?

Episode Date: June 23, 2024

Robert Whittaker closed the show at UFC Saudi Arabia with a quick, and brutal knockout of Ikram Aliskerov, and sent a message to the top of the middleweight division in the process. While "The Reaper" hinted at wanting to be the backup fighter for the Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesnaya title fight at UFC 305, would that be enough to get him the winner, or will he need another fight? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Whittaker following his second consecutive victory. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Alexander Volkov after his dominant decision win over Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event, Shara Magomedov following his third-round knockout of Antonio Trocoli, Volkan Oezdemir after his nasty knockout of Johnny Walker, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. Yes, the matchmaking crowns have returned following the UFC's first trip to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. UFC Saudi Arabia goes down early day MMA. Everybody was in a great mood. I think people are still in a great mood considering we weren't up till 4 a.m.

covering a UFC warehouse apex events, but pretty decent card wasn't the greatest fight night card of all time, but it was pretty darn good. We got some storylines coming in. out of it, a spectacular finish in the main event, and a message sent to the top of the middleweight division by one Robert Whitaker who will discuss the future of Bobby Knuckles, and much more here on the program. I am Mike Heck, and joining me to answer those questions, and much more is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. And gosh darnity,

he's my best friend as we kick off UFC 303 Fight Week. He is Alexander Cayley, a.K., how are you, sir? Hello, my best friend. I've watched a lot of MMA over the last two days. I was on PFL duty on Friday. Not a great car. Top two fights were really good, I thought.

Actually, really enjoyed the Mads Brunel Clay Collard. I always like watching Mads Brunel and Clay Collard fight, so that was a good fight. But before that, we had a fight of the year candidate with Implica Kisangani and Jacob Nito. So it ended well, but boy, PFL was a bit of a struggle. I think anyone who was watching will agree with me. With respect to the co-leader, the pacing is weird.

This actually was my first time, I think, sitting through a whole PFL event from beginning to end. I'd like seeing clips. I, you know, I tuned in for some fights, but I never sat through from beginning to end. And I know usually one of our guys who are in the Slack is talking about, who's covering the show, is talking about the pacing. And I'm like, it wasn't like as bad, I think as this has been. But some weird stuff with the PFL. They'll do it after the fight ends.

If it goes to decisions, they'll run like three promos after and then go to the decision. Maybe that's not their fault. Maybe this takes a while. And then we had Bell Tor on Saturday. We had UFC. Man, like, there was just a lot of decisions on these cards. A lot of decisions. And decisions are not inherently bad, right?

If there was a card with like 10 decisions and like six of the fights were like just all-out brawls, you wouldn't be complaining about decisions. But I think anyone who tuned in for the majority of these fights this weekend will tell you, there was some forgettable stuff that went down in three of the, arguably the three biggest M-A motions in the world. There was, oh, I guess, Beltaire and PFL's one, but you guys know what I mean. So, for any of who tried to watch all three, you're a champion, again, there's just a lot of fights from this weekend.

We won't be remembering. But there was a lot of good stuff, too, a lot of good stuff. I thought the Saudi Arabia main card for the most part, pretty strong, pretty rife with storylines. We got some drama even in the fights like that weren't that great. So I think Saudi Arabia was a hit, was a hit. Not a home run, not a home run, but like a solid double, a solid double and ended with a pretty feel-good moment. moments for all the Robert Whitaker fans out there. So overall, I'm going to say a net positive of MMA this weekend.

Yeah. Ground rule double. I would see UFC Saudi. Solid. Like there's no chance that the UFC could get thrown out at third because the ball is out of play. It's an automatic double. There's no risk there.

It was what it was. And it wins according to plan. The base runners are doing a nice little trot around. You're not like, you're not like, oh, you're not like, oh, wow. What a thrilling, exciting double. It was like, oh yeah, yeah, it just kind of, you know, hit at a weird angle, bouncing over the shortest part of the ballpark and there you go, take your bases, you know. Yes, that's what it was.

It's just, I don't want to sit there and just dove on PFL ator, but it's just so tough when like your biggest storylines are either your fighters or your promotion, straight up promoting the UFC. Like, that's basically what they did. Chris Cyborg promoting the UFC Saudi Arabia card over the Bellator event on social media. And then the biggest story of the weekend for that promotion by a mile was Connor McGregor showing up to Bellator Dublin. And they made sure to put a camera on Connor McGregor the entire time he was there. Even during the welterweight championship main event, where

Connor McGregor had zero attachment to either fighter, any chance they got, they did the Conner Cam as he's watching a fight that doesn't interest him in any way, shape, form. It's just hilarious the way they promote. It's hilarious the way they feel like they have just won the race and they don't even like try to be better. They just feel like they've done it already. And it's, that attitude has been crippling them from Jump Street. It's just, it's so bad because I want them to do so well. And everyone with great knowledge, people who they respect media, fighters, etc., are all giving PFL this advice. And they just don't. listen to anybody. It's unreal. It truly is unbelievable, but they had two events. We won't remember

either of them outside of Connor showing up. UFC was in Saudi Arabia. Some memorable moments, and we're going to discuss some of those right now. So let's get right into it, AK. Let's get right into Robert Knuckles, who had an interesting couple of weeks getting ready to fight Hamzaa Chamaif. Hamzaa Shamaiaf falls ill. In comes Iqramalaskarov on a About nine days notice, of course, Alaskaroff was supposed to fight Antonio Tricoli at UFC Vegas 93. Alaskaroff jumps on the opportunity as he should. Watching the betting lines for this fight, AK, was super interesting because I was curious to see

what they would look like in the open. Alaskariff opens as a plus 120 underdog, which I thought was very, very interesting. And then throughout the week, we would see fluctuation towards Whitaker. Then it would come back to Alis Garup being like plus 130, and we would just see it kind of go back and forth. I was live blogging the main event. By the time the fight started, both guys had minus numbers on their betting lines. Whitaker was minus 118. Alice Gariff was minus 102. It was basically a coin flip fight. And then Robert Whitaker just went out there dusted up, Icrum Alaskarraf, something proper. That was incredible, unbelievable performance. Yes, I see people in social media,

oh, Icrum got exposed. He's a fraud, all of that. It's just the most ridiculous take you could ever have. Robert Wodeger's is very, very good. And Icarav had to overcome a shitload of adversity just to even get to this fight. Multiple weight cuts has to travel across the world going from a three-round fight against maybe the 117th best middleweight in the world to a five-round fight with at worst the third best middleweight in the world. And it didn't go his way. But Bobby Knuckles gets it done. Teases he's going to be the backup fighter for the DDP Israel-A-Sania fight at UFC 305. what do we do here?

He was asked at the Post-Fite Press Conference, AK, would you just fight in Perth? It's close. It's your home country. You want to just do that? And he said, I got to go talk to my team and we'll figure out what's what. So I feel like we're on the same page here.

I feel like everybody's on the same page here. What do you think? I'll just honestly, I just want to quickly say on the L.S. It's funny because, like you mentioned, he was supposed to fight Tricoli last Saturday in the Vegas 93-comain event, which is essentially a showcase fight for him.

him, right? Good for Chocolie because, you know, the guy has been trying to get, like, trying to get the UFC for so long. He's had stops and starts. He's had about cancellations. But he was essentially being brought in to get smashed by Alice Gerov. And if that had happened last Saturday, Alice Geroom improves the three and O, I'm pretty sure what happened in the first round, because if Shara could, not great Shara Megamatov, I'm talking about his performance, not his potential, had to go three rounds to finish Chircoli. Trust me, I don't think Chakoli would have gone three rounds with Alaskarov. And I don't think Tricoli's bad. I I think Alice Garrow is that good.

I think Alaskarov takes him out another first round finish. And then we're talking about, oh, my gosh, this guy is so dangerous. This guy's still the sleeper contender of the middleweight division. Give him a top 10 guy, blah, blah. And then again, it's just because he got thrown to these very less than ideal circumstances. This was his third UFC fight. This was Robert Rinker's 22nd UFC fight. The Gaffin experience was just so enormous.

Like, look, I picked Alaskaroff because I'm cynical these days when it comes to, like these younger guys fighting older guys. I'm almost always leaning a lot towards the younger guys. So I was way off. I should not have doubted The Reaper. And very happy to see Robert Whitaker win. I was happy to be wrong. I just read that completely wrong.

I mean, obviously, Whitaker still has it. And I don't know, maybe another world. I'm from him down. But I don't know. It feels like nine times out of ten at the stage of their careers. Probably Whitaker's a better fighter. So, again, I was way off on that prediction. But Alice Garev is not a bad fighter.

He wasn't exposed. Stop for people. again, if he just ran through Jacoli last week, everyone would still be riding on that bandwagon, not doing very quick to get off when he did the OCO Favor in any way. As for Rob fighting at 305, 305, I, yeah, I think, like he said, we're on the same page. I don't really necessarily want to see him be a backup. I think he deserves to just wait for that winner. I'm sure that people at the Harrow will say, look, he got definitively. beaten by DDP. He's lost twice

to Izzy. That's fine. It's been a while since that second Izzy fight now. The DDP fight fine. He lost, but I don't have no problem with running back again, especially with how good Whitaker has looked since. And before, he looked great in the Vatori fight. I thought he looked really good in the Costa fight. Yeah, he got

rocked one time. Otherwise, I thought really strong performance. He is, as you said, a top three, top four, middleweight still. There's a storyline with him sort of being, again, near the end of his prime, near the end of this title run and he deserves a shot. I'd really want to see him just get the winner of it. I'm not interested in him seeing him be the backup. So if he wants to show up and get an extra

paycheck, that's fine with me. I mean, those who listen to this program every week, you already know where I'm going with this because I already teased it after UFC 302. Sean Strickland versus Robert Whitaker is the fight. No matter what happened in this one, it was still Sean Strickland versus Robert Whitaker. This is what we have to do. I would love to see it at UFC 305. I'd love to Like, this is a tremendous co-main event. You do it right underneath the title fight. A little Grand Prix. Love that.

And then if something weird happens, one of them gets hopped up to the main event, and it's all good. But, yeah, I'd love to see this fight at 305. I know Sean Strickland is, you know, he wants to chill and wait, and he feels like he has done this. And I feel like Robert Whitaker doing what he did really help Sean Strickland in a lot of ways. But here's the thing that people keep forgetting.

as we talk about Sean Strickland and where his place is in the middleweight division. Yes, John Strickland is very popular. Fans love him. He kind of speaks the UFC's language of, we don't care what you say, yada, yada, yada. Sean Strickland has been doing something that really pisses the UFC off lately, and that is questioning the UFC's business practices. He's been dumping on fighter pay.

He's been telling people around the world don't be a fighter. You won't make any money, especially if you fight the UFC. Like he's saying all these things that are negative about the company. And no matter how popular you are, unless you are Connor McGregor or somebody of that stature, the UFC doesn't really like that too much. And they make you work for your opportunities at that point.

So while I do feel that Sean Strickland is in a pretty good position after a win over Paul Costa, but not one that lit the world on fire, I still think he's going to have to fight Robert Whitaker, man. Like I don't think the UFC's going to be like, yeah, Sean, here, just go get the title fight. you shit on us for and still continue to do so weeks after your win over Paula Costa. So I think this is a no brainer fight.

You could do this at 305. This could be a roadshow main event anywhere in the world and people would be happy about it. This to me is the fight to make. So good for Rob Whitaker. We'll see what a way to close the show. I'm sure Strickland would be more than happy to go to Perth. Australia, that is, I mean, that's Strickland country. We all saw this.

The Izzy fight, right? And I know they love Rob out there too, but, boy, I'd be interested to see. I think, I don't think, like, Strickland would get booed or anything out there. It would be almost like just, I thought people cheering for both them or something, but that is kind of, that would be kind of like a weird dynamic. The only reason I didn't go with Strickland, Mike, you're right, it makes a lot of sense. All the sense in the world. Very popular listener pick this week, too, is I had this, I remember I had drawn up this whole scenario after Strickland's last win. I was like, I said, Izzy was going to be, I said he was going to get Izzy too, because I thought Shemiah was going to be.

Whitaker. I thought Izzy is going to beat DDP in the rematch. And then Shemaya would have been the number one contender, but not able to compete, so Strickland would just step in. But my whole flaw, my whole flaw in my math was having Shemaya making it to this fight in the first place. And I don't

know why I assumed that was going to happen. Huge mistakes. So, yeah, I personally don't know what to do with Strickland, but you're right. You and the listeners are right. I think it's very likely he just fights he ends up fighting Whitaker. But I don't know. Either way, I think you are correcting he's going to have to fight someone.

Speaking of Strickland, he's going to fight someone first, maybe not quite as much in the UFC's good graces as he previously has been. Yeah, it's, I mean, plus, look, it's today's UFC, and availability is your best friend, so just be ready. When that phone rings and it's Hunter Campbell, you best be ready to answer it because it could be opportunity knocking on the other end of it. So good for Bobby Knuckles, great win,

and like we said earlier, pump the brakes on the Alice Gereff as a fraud thing because I still think this dude's going to fight for a belt. It's not going to be as quick as maybe some of us thought, but I think he's that good, and I think he will fight for a title. So let's go to the co-mate event. Look at Alexander Volkov, AK.

Look at this man. Four wins in a row. I don't remember outside of maybe Alistairoverim who kind of took down Sergei Pavlovich a whole bunch. Very few men have stood on the feet for 15, minutes with Sergey Pavlovich not only lived to tell the tale but looked way better facially because he beat the hell out of Sergey Pavlovich. He kept him at range, just kept kicking him in the body, that jab. Sergey Pavich looked like a different person when the fight was over, even to the point

where Sergey Pavich shubs Alexander Volkov right in the chest what it was all said and done. Volkov's getting his hair combed in the corner. I mean, this thing, this fight just had it all. What a performance. Thought he won all three rounds pretty easily. And he's unfortunately not going to get what he wants. He wants a title fight. I don't think he's going to get it. He's certainly not going to get John Jones,

even though it was the most respectful John Jones callout, maybe of all time. This was maybe the toughest one for me, AK. Do we do the Cyril Gan rematch? Do we, like, what do we do here? So what I landed on was, Cyril Gan is not going to fight this man, even though this man is really pushing.

for it. He is on social media twice a day, every day. Let's go, let's go, let's go. But Cyril Ghan, when they go to Paris, he would be best suited not to fight this man. But Alexander Volkov does not care. And I think he will fight this band. So let's do Alexander Volkov versus your boy, Jelton Almeida. Oh, yeah, I'd some people of recommending that too. Yeah, I like that a lot. I can't remember what I wanted for Jelton last time. I think because he was my wild card. Oh, oh, no, I said he should get gone. So I'm still riding. that but you're right we also said at the time like gone almost just no chance that was more like a magic wand pick than a crystal ball thing i just why would god fight him um i want to say first

about the sergey shove i felt so bad it made me feel bad because i know their friends and other train together before uh volkov explained later that like he thought maybe there was some beef because Pavlovitch's team was under the impression that they asked for this fight and and it was like you know that was like a perceived slight i just think that like you said he got pieced up I think he was a little embarrassed. His face was all blood just pouring down his face. I honestly think he was just frustrated and just in the moment did not want to shake hands. That's my reenon.

Maybe some of that drama didn't help, the pre-fight drama, but also just like, yeah, he lost in his mind. He didn't get to do what he does, but just smash people. I just think, you know, a normal post-fright reaction, I think, to someone punching you in the face a lot and taking a very disappointing loss. So I'm sure that'll be fine. Mike, I'm going to say something controversial for the show. Please don't be angry with me. I don't think we're getting Lewis and Jarzino. I don't think it's...

I know. Did you see what happened? He's fighting tied to Ibasa. Which I don't hate, by the way. That's fine. I'm okay with that. It's a great match. But it's not Derek Lewis and Jarzino,

and they keep not giving us Derek Lewis and Jarzino. So I think they're going to throw him in there with Volkov. Give him a rematch. Volkov Lewis, too. The first fight was a long time ago. And I think Volkov really needs to shake that off because, again, I also picked the co-made event wrong. I think I always have that fight in my mind that all it takes to someone with insane knockout

power to eventually find Volkov's chin in a five-round fight and put him down. And that didn't happen with Seggy Pavlovich. It hasn't happened to Volkov in a while. That's really not how he's lost his fights since the Lewis fight. It just happened with Lewis. And every time he's in there with a slugger, we think, oh, it's going to happen, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. So if we really want to prove that that's not a thing and that was just a one-time, you know, a bit of

misfortune in a fight that he was dominating. Let's not forget he was dominating Derek Lewis at UFC 229. Sorry, that's a three-round fight, not a five-round fight. But he was dominating him until the very end of the fight and then Lewis just caught him. So I'm ready to run that one back. It's been suggested multiple times. We've seen it when Lewis wins fights. We've seen it. We've woke up wins fights before. So timing is still good. And I think there's a chance this happens before the end of the year. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to pre-sales, preferred

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Available now, only from Audible. Let's go to the featured boat. Actually, AK. Oh. We're not going to the featured boat, are we? Go to the feature. Oh, no, okay. Okay. Oh, no, fair enough. Fair enough. I was sure what you meant by Featured bout.

I thought, like, Featured bout, you meant Shara and Tricoli. I was like, yeah, that's the featured about I'm thinking of. Right. Look, ladies and gentlemen, Calvin Gasselm fought Daniel Rodriguez. It was supposed to be a welterweight fight. It became a middleweight fight. And this was probably the biggest story of the week because Kevin Gasselm showed up to the media day, talked about the struggles he had with his weight cut, looked fresh as a daisy up there,

looked like there was no contrition at all, looked like he did not care, looked like he was almost setting Daniel Rodriguez up to fail, and he knew it. And it was kind of evil and sinister in some respects. That rubbed people the wrong way. Now, let me just preface this by saying that we don't know what goes on behind the scenes.

We truly don't. Maybe something horrific happened with Kelvin Gasselm. And you know what? That's, it could be that. I'm still not going to feel bad about the things that I've said because of the way Kelvin Gaslam acted about this entire situation. If he just came out and said, look, I feel terrible about it. It's apologies to Daniel.

Like, I didn't want it to go down this way. I don't want to talk about what happened. I'll reveal it in another time. But trust me, things are really bad behind the scenes. I couldn't do it. And for that, I apologize. I'm going to do this. I'm still going to compete.

I still want to give Daniel this, but we're going to go ahead and make this a whatever fight. And again, I apologize. Didn't do that at all. In fact, he did the exact opposite. And then seeing Daniel Rodriguez show up to media day, just completely sucked out, cutting weight, looking miserable, dry mouth, all that. And he's angry. But he knows he can't not fight. He's already in Saudi Arabia. He already knows that if he flies home, it's going to be super expensive. Dude hasn't fought in over a year. Guys got a family. He has to fight. He has to fight. So it's almost like he got set up by Kelvin Gasolum, and he goes through, fights at middleweight,

and you could tell, and I'm not saying that if everything was perfect and it was at welterweight, that the fight wouldn't have gone differently, but certainly the weight difference mattered at moments in this fight. Daniel Rodriguez went to Instagram after the fact and said, look, you could tell that the weight was a factor. If this fight was at 170,

he wouldn't have been able to take me down as easily as he did because he would have had to suffer a little bit more, But Daniel Rodriguez got paid a whole bunch of money. He also said on Instagram, he got a new contract from the UFC. He got to raise a six-fight deal. And we're wondering what the penalty was. And Daniel Rodriguez in one of Instagram stories said that he got 30% of Kevin Gaslam's purse, which to me is probably a good amount of money.

Like you probably got like 50 or 60 extra thousand dollars out of the deal. So not all is lost for Daniel Rodriguez. He helped the UFC in a big way keeping this fight on the roster. But tough road for Kelvin Gasselam, and AK, I'll give you the floor, because as a unit, as a team, we have made a decision here on On To the Next one this week. Yeah, and I don't think anyone's surprised. I think we've done stuff like this before. Calvin Gassel will not be getting matched up.

He will not be blessed by the matchmaking minds of OnTo the Next One. I just realized I probably shouldn't even read the listener picks. I wrote them down already. You know what? I'm not going to read. Some of them were funny, though. So we'll see. You know, I'll go in a case by case.

I'm going to try to avoid reading Gasselin listener fix. With some of them are funny. Mike, you have a child. I'm sure you've given your boy the I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed. I am, I am legitimately angry with Calvin Gassel. I'm not disappointed. I'm angry at this point.

I've been disappointed before with him with all the weight cutting stuff. I've been disappointed before. Now I'm angry. I like Calvin Gassel. I still love watching a fight. I actually thought Saturday's fight was pretty good. I liked that fight. I loved the Chris Curtis fight.

That fight was so good. I really enjoy watch this guy fight. And I don't think he's a bad person. I just think he has this huge, huge professional and character flaw that he cannot get over. You just to kind of add on to what you said, if we hope he's okay, we hope it's not some major health problem, we hope it's not some personal problem. But if he knew about all these things during camp, he said this is all stuff during camp. How is he not, how is his team, I know you don't want to give anything way to your opponent, but at the very least telling the other team for, you know, for reasons, We can't disclose.

I am having trouble making $1.70. They could have told Daniel Rodriguez this three weeks ago. Again, if these problems supposedly happened are real. Told us how three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, two weeks ago would have been nice. Two weeks ago, don't worry as much about the weight cut. Meet us at 185 or meet us at 180. It's ridiculous how Gasolm's team treated Down Rodriguez.

It's good to hear. It sounds like the UFC at least has taken care of Dan Rodriguez. But, yeah, Gaslum really disappointed. The post-fight speech was just whack. It was just whack. It's like, thank you. Thank you. Just begging.

Just like begging. Please let me keep my job. I promise. Mike, he promised. It's okay. Mike he promised. He promised that Hill. He even said, I know I've said this before.

I promise I'll make 170. And we're not body. I don't want to body shame Calvin either. Look, he's a high level athlete. So I'm not shaming him as far as like, oh, he looks terrible. No, I just, but for a welterweight, for a guy who's supposed to be fighting at welterweight, at the ceremonial weigh-ins, he looked ridiculous. His physique just did not look right for 170.

It was, it was absurd. I felt so bad for Galler Degas and for Calvin Gasselin fans out there who put so much faith in this guy that, you know, he's making the right moves in his career because dropping to 170, I support it if he could do it. I know it didn't go well against Sean Brady, but I do think he can do a lot better in this weight class. I don't know, Mike. I'm just glad we're not matching for him. Again, like I said, I'll leave that to the listener some, which I'll read so much I won't. But Calvin, get things served out. You're a great fighter, super talented fighter, great fighter.

But the way you're handling all this weight stuff and your diet, it just is not right. It isn't right. Do you think the UFC cuts him? No. I think they like him. Dana said he was extremely. Dana gave him the disappointed. I'm disappointed, which has to hurt coming from the big boss.

He does seem like a big ticket guy too. I don't think we know exactly how much he's making. I imagine he's in a low. He fought for a belt. So he's making six figures. And he's been around a while. He has been around a while. He's been a lot of main cards.

he's he's an Ali guy right he's Alia Bill Aziz, dominance, I'm a yeah so they usually Might be his saving grace honestly Sure and again it usually Negotiate pretty decent contact for the guy It's not necessarily the best but decent And yeah if he's not making low six figures That would be shocking

It's a lot of money It's a lot of money for the USCD pay up for a guy Who they can't rely on to make weight But he did win I don't it wasn't a pretty entertaining fight I think they'll keep him around But gosh he's got to be a thin ice at this point right Yeah I mean

And it's not like he's won six in a row. Yeah. He's what, three and six in his last nine? Something like that. Yeah. I mean, again, I don't want this to be, I'm not going to be Michael Bisbing here. Michael Bisbing was ferocious. He wasn't having it.

It was, I mean, Dominic Cruz says some pretty ridiculous things on these broadcasts and just does not have a filter. But this was something, I mean, I've never heard a color comment. talk like this about a fighter ever before. He's like me, Mike, he's had enough. Yeah, no, I get it. I didn't hate it. Yeah. I didn't hate it.

It was just everything he said. You know, look at the belly on this guy and, oh, why didn't it happen at 180? Yeah, because Kelvin tried to negotiate a fight at 205 pounds. Okay. And like, idiotics, like losing his mind. That was a lot. It was a lot. It was a lot going on.

So, uh, Calvin Gaston does not get his own portion of the program. Will his name be mentioned? And it's more than likely, but he doesn't get his own section here on the show. But we'll stick with middleweight right now. Shara Bullitt, AK, goes out there and gets a victory, fought Antonio Tricoli. And that's another thing I forgot to mention about the whole Calvin Gassalm's situation. Icarav made weight, no problem. Cut weight twice in a week.

Let's just throw that out there. Yep. And Antonio Tricoli also cut weight, getting ready to fight Icarat. Malaskarov had no clue he was fighting in Saudi Arabia, took a fight on three days notice against Sharra Bullitt and made weight and made weight like a professional. So that hurts the whole thing. Yeah, our dear Guillermo, you can find that interview still very relevant. It's not like something like, oh, the fight's happening. No, read about Tricoli's weight cutting roses. He had to start on the plane. Like he had to start water loading on the plane, which sounds horrible. It just sounds

like a miserable thing to have to do. A lot of people are miserable flying anyway. I imagine it was stressing about a weight cut and having to go through a weight cutting process. I guess the water loading isn't like the worst part, but it's still part of this. It's unpleasant. Weight cutting is an extreme weight cutting is an unpleasant thing to do. Tricoli is a huge guy. Like he's so, he's super tall. Cutting weight for him can't be easy under normal circumstances.

Yeah, check out, guys, check out what he wrote about it. It just sounds horrible. And yes, he made it. He made it. And Calvin Gaslum couldn't. I don't know. Craziness. But Tricoli fought, fought his ass off.

gave Sharra Bullitt some problems early on in the fight, and then he just got so tired. He was so exhausted by the time the third round started. Chocoli was just kind of standing there with his hands down and just knew it was going to get real bad. And eventually it did get very bad. Sharra Bullitt gets the knockout, but this win didn't curry favor with a lot of the MMA community.

Again, we're getting a lot of this guy not worth the hype. Even though he's winning, he's a fraud, all this stuff. So where are we going with Charabullet, okay? This is an interesting one. I feel like you and Jed named this guy a couple of times last week. I wanted this. This is a stand-up fighter. This is a striker.

That's what I want with Shara right now. I wanted this guy to fight Paul Craig on a previous show. Craig fought since then. So I feel like I freed this guy up. Just give me Shara and Shabazian. Give me Shara and Shabazian. Just give me a stand-up battle. Someone getting K-O'd or a three-round war.

I don't think that fight would disappoint. So that's my big. I don't know if people are going to like this pick, but this is, I thought about this, and I'm just sticking with it at this point. This is what my gut told me, and I'm going with it. I'm going Chris Widman, AK. I'm going with the All-American, former middleweight champion Chris Widman, because Chris will stand there and try to strike with him.

He did it with Bruno Silva. Yes, he poked Bruno Silva in the eye multiple times, and, well, that very well could happen here. But Sharra Bullets got to learn how to, he's got to have to have. to learn how to defend a takedown, man, because the UFC is going to push him. They're going to do it. They're going to keep giving him opportunities to shine because he can be one of the more exciting guys in this division. But I think this is a win-win. This is about as win-win of a fight as the UFC can make right now. Because if Sharra Bullitt goes out there and beats Chris Wybman,

yes, we'll kind of feel bad about it. Shara can play the villain to some respect. And getting a reaction in the UFC for good or for bad, unless it's a Kevin Gaslam reaction. that you're getting Xbox heat, it's never a bad thing. And if Chris Wyden somehow, Hans, Shara Bullet, his first loss ever, all the negativity surrounding the Bruno Silver win goes away. The road back to a title shot is on, and Wydenman will be so over if he goes out and wins this one. This is about his win, win, win as it gets.

So I'm going with this one. I think people, if they see this poster, are going to react in such a weird way, where it's sort of Patty Pimbleit, Tony Ferguson-esque kind of reaction, which for the UFC is not a bad thing at all. There's just no gray area. You either think Chris Wyman's going to get clobbered in there, or maybe Chris can do it.

Maybe Chris can beat this undefeated guy who's on a nice run. So I'm not in love with it, but sometimes you just got to go with what your gut tells you and you can't fade away from it. So Charabler, Blev, which is Chris Widman. Let's just do it. Somewhere near New York or the tri-state. area and let's have some fun.

Yeah. You make some good points, Mike. It's not something I would have thought of. It is hard to book Wydenman these days. Middleweight, as you have argued, is a pretty, like, compelling division right now. It's got some really, like, dangerous fighters in there who need a name. And I feel like Wydenman gets thrown out there for a lot of them. And I'm a Wyden fan, so I always like, I'm just wincing a little on him facing some of

these newer guys, so I feel like could really hurt him. I think he could beat him. I think Chris can win this. right. Shara's take down defense is very suspect. People saw the, the Blindado fight. He won, he won, because Blendado did nothing from top position. But he did hold Shara down for, like, a lot of that fight. He just didn't do any offense. And that's why Shara, like, won. That's, that wasn't a robber or anything. I thought Shara deserved to win. Fruno had any ground and pounder, like, submissions. He probably would have won the fight. He just did absolutely nothing. But Wydenham would be much more aggressive. You're right. Wydenman would be much more aggressive on the ground. He's, he's, he's an all-offense guy, which is, you know, to his detriment as, has been in some recent years. Ah, you talked to me into it, Mike. You talked to me into it. It's better than my Pimlet, um, Ferguson fight, which was just insane and which I still love,

but I mean, I knew that was a trash fight. Uh, Sharon, Gwitman would be compelling. All right, Mike. I'm with you on that. I like it. I like it. Let's go. Let's go.

I talk. We're here. We're here. Yeah. I think, I think, UFC pay attention. I know you guys listen to this show. I know that I think is this program. Just think, I mean, AK and I have so many Otno points this show.

year it's not even funny it's crazy uh let's go to the main card opener aka you just cannot quit vulcan osimir you can't quit him you have been riding this train ever since we got to m fighting when people have jumped off board oh you're like come on i'm telling you come back on come back on jump in the in the train car this is going to be worth your while i guarantee it and i you got paid off last night, okay? I think I'm the only reason he's, he enters Saturday in our rankings still, because he's number 15. He was number 15. Obviously, he'll be hired now. He beat with a win over Johnny Walker. I think he was number 15. I think that's only because of me, because I have him still in the top 10 or at least top 12, which is like just enough points like by our system to like

sneak him in there. So, ha ha. Yes, Mike, you're right. I was, I was correct. I think Baldwin is good. Um, yeah, a lot of people, when we first did the rankings, a lot of people, I think had already dropped him or something. And I'm like, come. He was on a bit of a bit of a bit of a rough stretch back to back wins now huge knock out of bulk gun Mike I feel like we could friends forever here I feel like we could friends forever here I went pretty high with my pig I don't know if you did I went pretty high in the rankings I don't think we're friends forever oh no okay okay because my thought is with availability and one that just makes a lot of sense my thought is if he can wait he should wait for uh Jan block of this oh okay he'll have to wait he'll have to wait

we know Jan was uh had to withdraw I think from an in with an injury with an injury right from his last fight. So we'll have to wait, but probably no longer than I imagine early 2025. I'm not a doctor, but nowhere earlier than that. And I don't know my Volkan would be rushed to get back in there unless he's, again, again, he's high off the way and wants to get another paycheck, wants to fight another opponent. But if Jan is, his manager to talk to him, think about Jan.

Think about targeting Jan. Or if he's just like, yeah, man, I'm feeling myself right now. I'm on a roll. Let's fight a dude who's going to stand there and scrap with me, a guy who will be available as soon as July, again. As soon as July, he will be available. I am talking about the man who's supposed to commit at UFC 303 in the co-main event against Jamal Hill. I'm talking about one Khalil Roundtree Jr.

There's no way that fight stinks. That's a banger. Still gets Cleo Roundtree a rank guy. Still gets Khalil Roundtree, a guy who's fought for a belt. And who knows? Maybe Cleo Roundtree can get the one thing he has asked for since the beginning of all this. a main event at the world's most famous Apex AK. And this could be it.

This could be the one, Khalil Rontree versus Vulcados de Mereyke. That fight deserves a crowd. That is so upsetting that you said that. And I know you're not even, like, you're only half joking. Like that it probably is. He wants it. No, she wants it.

We'll go to Kansas City, Missouri with this one. Somewhere. You know what, I'll settle for Kansas City, Kansas. I don't care. Pick one of the Kansas cities. I was either one. Let's go to Invicta country. I don't care.

Yeah, no, great. I thought you were going to go Oldberg for a second, which I also wouldn't have had a problem with, by the way. I think I think Alberg would also make sense for Oostomere. And again, I think we'll see some of that with listeners as well. Oostomere, again, you got a big knockout, back-to-back wins and light heavyweight. Guess what? You're right back on the title picture.

Not a deep division. So good for you. Sure. Well, let's go to the Wildcard, A.K. Let's select one fighter who not match made for yet. And let's matchmake for them right now. Okay, who you got? Who is the wild card recipient today?

Mike, I tricked you because on Slack, I asked you, should we do Icrum as well as our, you know, sometimes we do the main event winner, usually only in title fights. And then I said, well, we do have the wildcard for what we've got to what we want. So I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I did the same thing. Oh, good. Oh, good.

I don't think we landed on the same person. No, we did not. I did not go high in the rankings. I want to just again find him. And like I said, he was supposed to fight Tricoli and get another showcase fight, get another, highlight and have people just just hyphen him up and now now i want to be down on him for at least a few months until his next fight but uh give him a favorable matchup someone that's gonna gonna meet him uh on the feet if they if it goes to that or somebody he could possibly out

wrestle either way i think this ends in a finish i like him and uh bruno for him oh that's fun yeah that is very fun so i tricked you twice okay at least i thought i tricked you once but i actually tricked you like truly truly tricked you I also think of Alaskaroff because he deserves it. I mean, he dude went through a lot to get to this fight to save this main event. And let's be honest, if Vickramal Scarf says no to this fight, I'm not really sure what the UFC is going to do here because this is Saudi Arabia. If you watched the Dana White interview on the post fight show with John Anick and Turkey Al-Ashea,

Turkey like put Dana's feet to the fire pretty much the whole conversation, basically saying like, yeah, we put 12,000 people in here. You need to give us something that will put 30,000 people in here. We demand women on the card. We demand multiple power slap events. We want this. We want that. We want all of this.

And if they don't get Robert Whitaker fighting on this card against somebody intriguing and interesting, they might just cancel this thing. They might just say, nah, we ain't giving you our $20 million. We're out. We're out. Go to the apex, whatever. So Alaskaroff saves the day. You know what they would have done.

What would they have done? They would have bumped Shar-up. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. I think that totally would have bumped Shar-up. Yeah, you probably right. I guess not, 1-0 in the UFC, and then pretty seems like a popular guy. And then we still could have got Alaskara versus Tricoli anyways?

Oh, my gosh. Just re-book it. Oh, that's not where you went with your wild card Al-Scaro Arctic? Oh, okay. I did not. Look, there needs to be more of a penance. delivered here. So what I'm going with

is a great opportunity for Icram Alaskarraf, but a punishment for another fighter who competed on this card. I'm going with Icram Alaskerav versus Kelvin Gasselma. He's going to wreck Kelvin Gasselm. It ain't going to be fun. And I know Calvin is

very, very difficult to get out of there with strikes, but Icrum doesn't need to knock this man out. He could just tackle him and submit him. There's many ways that Icram Alaskarraf could put a thumping on this man. I think this will look very similar to what Sean Brady did to him. And look, man, you don't want to make 170? Cool. Now you have to fight this friggin demon on a full fight camp.

Good luck to you, buddy. Good luck to you. And this would be, this would have to be the quintessential. All right, man, you want another chance? Cool. You got to fight this dude. And if you don't win, that's it. You're out of here.

Like, I don't like it. I know you don't like it. I almost hate it. And I'm going to elaborate on this actually after the listener picks because there's a lot of listener picks that are kind of in the same vein. So I'll elaborate later. I'll elaborate. But I do not like it. I do not like it.

Yeah. I can't, I got to give it from something cool. That's not cool. I mean, it'd be cool for. I mean, it is kind of cool. Like it is, it's, it's, it's, it, it satisfies a lot of. different things. It gives Alice Gareff a fight against a former title challenger.

It gives Alice Garev a name. And it's probably a fight. He's going to be a minus 600 favorite in. How long does Gasselam get to ride the Izzy fight? Forever, I guess, right? Because it's MMA. You have one moment in MMA. And it is just tough.

Because like every time they brought him the broadcast several times, this guy took Izzy to the limit. It was one of the best title fights we've ever seen. All true. All true. It was back in 2019. 2019. He gets to ride this fight.

forever. Like, I think it was just his night. I think it was a good matchup for him. Again, and maybe if you put him in there with Easy again, they put on another all-time great bank. Again, like I said, it might just be the right matchup for him. But man, I just don't know why he gets to keep riding this. Like, I've had, and he's looked good in other fights.

It's true. I have said it myself, I'm a fan of Gasolm. So I don't know. Maybe I'm peeing too hard on him. He has had good performances since. But man, they just keep bringing up UFC 236. And it's like, it was so long ago at this point. I bring up this reference a lot.

I haven't brought it up in a while. People always give me crap for it. They said it was kind of cliche, but this is Tom Coughlin coaching the New York football giants. They were terrible most times, but they beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl twice. So no matter what, how bad things got for the Giants,

he could ride those Super Bowl wins for like another four or five years before. They were just like, all right, man, enough is enough. We got to fire you. And that's kind of where Kelvin Gaslim is that right now. I don't like Gaslam is more. more like the, no, I was going to say the Atlanta Falcons that blew the lead, but that's not quite that.

If any, they didn't know, they looked bad. He looked good. Yeah, I don't know if I have a good compare. Who coach, who was the coach of the young Falcons that year, Mike? 23, the 23. Oh, I don't even know. I don't even care. See, we don't talk about him anymore.

Not like I talk about Calvin Gasol. Anyway. I know Matt Ryan was the quarterback. I mean. Oh, everyone remembers that. Yeah. But it's not, yeah, that's a little bit different. But that's just kind of like that mentality with this also.

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Did anyone demand Otno point say, no. No, but our pal John Ray, who is quite a pedantic fellow, had to correct me. This is a little check the tapes for me, guys, because he had to correct me. I said last week that Tatsuro Taira might want to fight in Perth because it's closer, like a closer flight to Japan. And I think if you go to Sydney, that's theoretically true, though it's still not that close. I think even from, like, Tokyo to Sydney, it's like 10. hours, so it's still an incredibly long flight. But he had to point out that to Perth, Australia, people you may not know, is, it's

friggin massive. Perth is like a 14-hour flight or 15-hour swimming. Apparently, it's even longer to go from Tokyo to Perth than it is to go from Tokyo to Las Vegas. So I, my sense of geography is terrible, but also John Ray, you're a nerd. So there you go, Mike. There's my checklist for myself. And it's not, wow.

I'm not happy about it. All right. Well, let's get right into the listener picks. The big rule I'm going to say is we're not repeating anything. A lot of these are very, very popular. So once I say at once, that speaks for almost everybody. So Alex, let's go from Alex. Good day, Mike.

Dese card today. Good start to the morning. Here my picks. Bobby Nuckles versus Sean Strickland, main event of co-main of 305. Bobby still the backup for the main event. Volkov versus the winner of Blades v. Aspenol. And he says in parentheses, it'll be the loser.

If Jones decides to face the winner. Spoiler alert, he will not decide to face the winner. Gasolm versus Carlos Proches, praying he makes Welterweight. He did want to chime in there and say like the UFC is going to probably force him to fight at Walterweight. Sharmauga made up versus Roman Copulov, Vulcan O's Demir versus Jamal Hill. I saw a couple of these guys, Jamal Hill is probably going to be out for a hot minute. So we probably shouldn't be matchmaking for him right now. Knee injury doesn't sound good in terms of like a short recovery time.

So maybe we have to pump the brakes on Jamal Hill matchdaking right now. Unless it's somebody that's going to wait until 2025, at least. But Jamal Hill is kind of a freak and heals very, very quickly. The aforementioned John Ray, Gafferoff versus Victor Hugo, Fokritinoff versus Jake Matthews, Lima versus Nate the Train Landware. So let's get this out of the way. Lima fought at Featherweight for this fight on Saturday. Yes.

But it's because he took this fight on four or five days notice. He's a bantam weight. He is a bantam weight. I will say, I don't mind it as long as people just picked. I had some people to say like, oh, if he goes to feather, if he stays a featherway, do this. If he goes back to bantamway, do this. I'm okay. Mike, we don't know.

Maybe he likes to not having a cut weight. And maybe he decides to, maybe he likes to fight with Nate the train. I don't know. So I agree. I think it's very, very, very likely. But I didn't hate featherweight picks for really 80 months. No, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, this is a crazy fight. This would be a lot of fun to watch.

But I'd be shocked if Lima sticks a featherweight, unless it's a short notice opportunity, kind of like this. Hackperass versus Rebechke. That's interesting. Oh, wow. What did you think of the hackperast Jared Gordon's scoring? I thought Jared Gordon won the fight. Yeah, I don't know.

I got to say, I wasn't watching super closely. Every time I watched it, like, Jared Gordon was landing more. I guess the case for Hackpressed is they thought he landed some bigger punches. But if people can go to M-Aid Decisions.com, it's pretty firmly in Gordon's favor. I didn't see him complain about it after Jared. I don't want to say he doesn't complain because he did complain about the Patty Pimbleau fight a lot. But I thought that also does do it.

He just doesn't like Paddy Pimblit. I think he respects Nasrod a little bit more. So we'll see. We'll see if he talks about this scoring a bit more. But yeah, tough break for Jared. It's hard, man. It's hard when you fight his style where his fights don't have a lot of big moments. You really kind of have to watch him for you really, we have to focus for 15 minutes to see how, like, how effective he's being.

Because it's a lot of volume. And unfortunately, a lot of volume. and some pretty tactical striking at times too. And unfortunately, sometimes the judges just don't see that. They see forward movement from the other guy. They see cage control aggression, whatever, and that just wins for someone around. And I guess this might have happened with Nazrat here. But yeah, another tough break for Jared Gordon.

It's hard. Yeah. Osir versus Blovich, Malamadov versus the Jun Young Park, Brad Tavaar's winner. Gasolin versus Alaskarov. Yeah, don't miss weight by a weight class, he says. in Volkov versus Cyril Gun Part 2 Robbie Gaslam versus

Anthony Fluffy Hernandez I got this one too I hate that even more than the Alice Garev one Like, why? I don't, should I go on the rant now? You know what, let me just say quickly then some of the ones I got I won't, I got that, I got Gaslam, Joe Pfeiffer Barrio

I don't hate that What was the other one I hated? like a lot of Gaslam versus like Muniz which is not like just I don't think he deserves to fight a top 15 top 20 guy Anthony Hernandez's one what like four straight

five straight yeah he doesn't deserve that fight these this seems like a punishment fight this seems like all right Calvin you're gonna get run through the ringer with this guy people are forgetting there's what if he wins one of these fights you know then it's like and I know he'd be a huge underdog to us care of

I know he'd be a huge underdog to Fluffy but like I said Gasolam's really not a bad fighter. Like, his problems are not in cage. And if he wins one of these fights, you really have not punished him at all. And you've also screwed with the contender. So I just hate these suggestions. I cannot, I cannot get on board with this one, my best friend.

So you would prefer Gaslam versus Tricoli. Sure. So exactly. So that's a punishment to me on an apex prelim. On an apex prelim. That's a punishment. All right. Shara Magamato versus Kevin Holland, AK.

Time to see if he can hang with the big boys. What do you think of that? I actually don't mind this one. Yeah, I like Holland's option. I actually like Holland kind of an option for Icrum as well. Yeah, I think Kevin Holland takes Shara down. And yeah, I don't think it goes well for Shara. O'Semir versus Ankelyfe 2.

Ankelaive ain't getting the title shot and he needs to fight someone. Don't hate that at all. When was their first fight? I keep forgetting that Ousdemeur's fought like almost everybody. He has fought just about everybody. Oh, pretty long ago. Yeah, sure, run that one back. Yeah.

I spent a long time. Honorable mention, shout out to Felipe Aleema for a great UFC debut. Wild card. I thought Jared Gore won the fight, but give Hackparass to Patty Pimblit on the next card in Europe, winner lose against Bobby Green. I don't think Hack Brass is getting Patty Pimbley. I know. He should if we're going by mayor.

If there's four straight wins now for HACPras by the way, very quietly, I don't know if you will know, this guy strung together four straight in a very tough division. You're not knocking off like huge names, but it's still lightweight. It's a very difficult division to string together wins in. So good for him. Like, merit-wise, he should get it, but now he's not getting Patty Prattie. Yeah, Hack Brass is probably going to unfortunately fight Mick Debecke Oralbi or something like that, which is just, that's just tough, man.

Harry, Changho-Lee versus Sir Hai Sadi, Gadsi versus Rodolfo, Balato, Gafferov versus Gian Matamoto, Fakratina versus Jeff Neal. Is that right around where you should be, or you think that's a little bit too high after this? So I saw a lot of that. I saw a lot of that in Magni, and I'm like, yeah, like, yeah, like, But you kind of have to give him a top 12 guy at this point, right, Mike? Or top 15 at least because he's 4.0 and 1 in the UFC. We know he's good.

It wasn't like an amazing performance on Saturday. But it's pretty hard to have an amazing performance against Nicholas Dalby. The guy is tough as F can fight any style. Again, you could even make a case that maybe you thought Nicholas Dalby won that fight. So maybe people want to pump the brakes. I don't know, but I just think Renaud's really tough. do want to know how good he is. Again, 4-0-1, undefeated in the UFC so far. I think you toss him a Jeff Neely, you toss him in the old Magni, and I don't think anyone

would have a problem with that. Yeah, I kind of think Magni is the right one. Like, if we're going to... We'll learn more with the Magni fight, I think, because Magni's really tough to finish, and if this fight gets to round three, could be tough sailing for Mr. Fokrotitinov. Lima versus Al-Tang-Haley, Nasrad versus CDF, Vulcan versus Kov, Vulcan versus Kalil Roundtree, Shara versus Michelle Pereira. I just think Michelle Pereira deserves better.

No disrespect. I'm not saying like Shara is bad, but Michelle Pereira's going out there and just beating everybody. I'd like to see him get like a ranked dude next. What do you think of Pereira and like Iqram? Sure. Who has higher stock after Saturday? Ikram right now? Icrum or

Shara? Oh, Icrum. He should. Okay. Okay. You should. Yeah. I would go Ikram. KG versus his own lack of discipline. Okay. Left plane. Alaskarraf versus Abus Magamadov. Oh. Yeah. I keep, not bad. I keep forgetting about Abus. Yeah. Be an easy fight to put together, I believe both have the same manager.

Pavlovich versus Biggie Boy after he beats Ty to Ivasa. Gaslum versus Robocop. More punishment of Kelvin. Do you like this one? I don't mind. I think Gregory is like top 25 maybe. I don't think he's like a top 15 guy, right? And I think he's, I think he's very entertaining. I just think he hasn't strung together enough for ins yet for us to say, like, oh, Gregory Rodriguez could be like a dark horse contender.

That actually makes a lot of sense. That's a really good match. Is Gregory not, no, no, he's not booked. He's not booked as far as I know. Yeah, he's teasing fight news, but nothing has been announced or reported yet. Okay. Shara versus Brnoferra. Walker versus Bogdan, Gooscoff.

Yeah, someone's going to But he's saying he should move up to 265. Yeah, I don't hate that one. At 265, I still think you're going to see him catch some loopy ass knockouts. But I guess that's what we love about Johnny Walker. So, yeah, go for it. Yep. I mean, he's a get-a-get-out all-star.

Hack Brass versus Jalen Turner, Lima versus Pedro Munoz. Wow. I saw some pretty aggressive matchming for Lima. Again, he's- I love that fight, by the way. Yeah. I don't think they've, I think it's a little too, soon to throw him in there with a ranked dude, like immediately.

But I got to tell you, from like a stylistic perspective, that fight is friggin fun as hell. But I just think it's too soon. He's a very good fighter, Lima. Again, a lot of people who maybe are just seeing him for the first time, he's a very good fighter. I do think he needs a little more experience. Yeah, that might be too soon. And by the way, big shout out to Octagon MMA for no drama about it.

So he was the, he won the Octagon Bantamweight Championship. in his last fight for them last year. And he was actually booked, I think, to rematch the guy he beat. And I do think there was a clause in his contract that allows him to pursue UFC opportunities. And Octagon put out a tweet saying, like, you know what? We wish them the best. And again, they may not have had a choice as much as to be a good PR. But good job by Octagon.

Don't make us think about it. Let your man go. Octagon is doing great. Octagon is doing great, great things. And this is just another kind of win for them to have one of their fighters go to the UFC, get a win. and then for them just seemed like they're just very cool about all of it. So big stuff. Good, big positivity right there.

Yeah, Octagon might just find themselves in the MA fighting draft. Yeah, I saw you say that. I think they do have to be next year, yeah. Yeah, I mean, who knows? Zach closes us out, Alaskarov versus Muniz, rebooked, fight proved it was a little too soon, still will be a contender. Volkov versus any of the three title contenders in a rematch, gets the injure. title shot next after Manchester winner probably if it's gone.

Gasolm versus Derek Brunson after he gets cut and signs with the PFL. I mean, again, easy fight to book. Same management. Sharabola versus the Mab Piperr-Luser, Hackperas versus Matt Ravola. Hadna Fokritinov versus Michael Morales. Holy smokes. Love it. Jeez.

I think Marles. I think Marilis. I'm a big Morales guy though. But yeah, I mean, hey, test him. I'm all in on throwing in prospect, not prospects, not prospect at this point. I'm all in on throwing contenders together. I just think it's fun. I think it's good for the fans and a loss shouldn't hurt other guy.

Jared Gordon versus every commission in the entire world. And lastly, Mark Goddard versus Jason Herzog in a battle for who can refuse to take a point the best. Boy, that Sharra fence grabs was something else. And that really may have affected the fight because if Chocolie gets him down in that round, That probably saves him quite. I know wrestling takes a lot of energy, but being on top position, if you know how to, you know, if you do it effectively, as I'm sure, as I've seen Tricoli can do, probably saves him some energy, probably wins him around.

And, yeah, instead, it probably still gets finished in the third. But maybe not. We don't, like, maybe not. Honestly, we don't, like that take down. We've said many times, sometimes a big taked on that can really change a fight, but we'll never know because Shara got a fistful offense. That is true. A.K., who did you have?

All right. So I got plenty, actually. So let's go to, let me see some of the popular ones that we haven't said yet. I had at least a couple of people say, Gaslum versus Derek Brunson, like cut Gaslum to send him to the PFL. Come on, guys. Also, PFL, I think, still doesn't have a middleweight division. Are they playing to, did they say they're going to do one in 2025?

I don't remember. And that's why Brunson is there. I mean, they said Jake Paul was going to fight. They said Amanda Serrano was going to fight. Francis and God who is coming, by the way. He's got, he's caught. I saw the commercial. I'm like, he is coming.

He is coming to the BFL. You saw, I don't know. I don't know. We might be going back to boxing. I don't know. I don't know. Okay.

But yeah, I feel like if Gaslam, like I'm just, I had this horrible thought now of Gaslam and Derek Brunson at like 205 in the fief. Oh, God. Yeah, let's do it. What else did people like. Usdemier Rockich 2, sure again.

Just going to run that one back. Ustamir won a very pretty controversial decisions the first time, so I saw a little like that one. I saw a couple of Gatsia Zulovs versus Oslan, Igbo Aslan. So I don't know.

People must know something I don't. People said that's very likely lead to a finish. Sure. Let's go to Twitter. Sean Haywood, Felipe, Lima, and Sudec Yusuf. See what I'm saying? Mike? People have been aggressive with their Lima matchmaking.

I like this guy. Shara and Jacob Malcun, Fakertinav, Kios Williams, Volkov, And Hoseerio Delima, a bit of a step back for Volkov. I do think it's an entertaining fight. I also think he handles DeLima pretty easily. He's just so much bigger than him, but could be right.

So real quick, real quick. Jacob Malkoon is booked. Is he? So just throwing that out there. Tell me. So it's been reported. We don't like fully confirm this, but I feel comfortable enough to say this. Jacob Malcun versus Gerald Mearschart.

Wow. Breaking. Wee, we, woo, woo, we, woo, we, breaking news. But, of course. Oh, people are talking about this. Okay. It's already been reported.

But I had to make sure. I've talked to a few folks who says, yep, that's what's happening. So be prepared. It'll be probably a roundup fight. So stay tuned. This is breaking news for us. Felipe Lima and, was I, brain no, Neil. Felipe Lima and Ricky Simone, Venetius Oliver winner, sure.

Gaffarov. I like that one. You like that? I like that fight. Yeah. Gaprov and Katona. I don't know. That could be a stinker.

I mean, at least Gaprov like punched a little bit. That's not bad. I'll say this. If that fight gets booked, take all the money you have. All the money, Mike, and take the over. Over one and a half. The over one and a half of that fight should be minus 25,000. If that line is like minus 750, like, I may have to get back in a gambling.

I've said I'm done with my gambling for 2024. My $50 budget, I already blew it away. I may have to like, I could, I feel I could win it all back by betting five grand on over one-na-half, Galfroftatatat. It's just no way that's getting finished. Now I really need to see that happen. Chang-ho-le-le-V versus Carlos Ferry. Chang-ho-le-le-by-which-stay, I would say the congrats road to U.S. see a bantamweight winner.

You read Zach. Chase Kola, Chase Koloch, Chase Kolo, I hate this so much. Gaslo and Bo Nicol. No. Oh. He doesn't deserve it, Mike. He doesn't deserve it.

I mean, look, apparently Bo Niko wants to fight Valentina and Shepchenko, so. I don't know if you saw this on social media. I want bullet. I won't want that was fun. Oh, no, I meant Shepchenko. What are you?

Not funny. Not funny. Barry O'Reilly, Chang-Houli and Dan Argueta. It makes sense. I just don't like because I think Dan Argeta is better than his very weird UFC run has shown so far. He's looking at no contest in there. There's a premature stoppage in there, too no contest, got the premature stoppage got overturned. I actually think Argetta is way too much for Chang-Holi right now, but fine.

That's, I don't mind it. But I think I've got it. Actually wins that pretty handily. Filippi Lima, David Onama. That's a little bit more in the range. I like. Gaslam, Anthony Hernandez. Okay, enough.

Liam Perry. Alscaroff, Paul, Craig. Sure. Sure. Pavlovich versus Tabura, Spivok, loser. That's going down August 10th. Okay. I try to see the industry.

Daniel Rodriguez, Matthew Semelsberger. I think that's perfect, actually. I love the D-Rod versus Semmelzberger. I think it'd be great. Two guys who are on losing streaks. unfortunately, but I think, I hope Rodriguez has a little more job security after what he just did for the UFC. Mike, what did you think of the Shara Bo-Nichol? What did you think of the call-out, the actual call-out from Bo? It's fine. It's fine. I wouldn't do it. You don't love it. It's fine. It's fine.

But, but what, I mean, the fight itself, I don't like, but what Bo-Nichael is doing, I like a lot. Like, he's just getting himself, he's inserting himself into all the conversation. with everybody who's relevant at Middle Way right now. And I think this is a brilliant move on his part. Walker and Rackage, I love. I thought that had happened before for some reason. I love that matchup. And I also love...

They haven't fought before. They haven't. I just... Let me double check. Maybe I'm missing. I swear I thought they did, but I looked. No fight, no booking, nothing. It feels like it has to happen.

And I also love that Liam Perry. I think you knocked out of the park with that one. And also, you know, Mike, if Jared Gordon is worried about the scorecard, so much. How about we just make it so there's no chance to go to the score cards? Put it in there with good old Terrence McGinnying. T-Mack. Oh, good call. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. That's not going on the scorecard. Someone's getting, someone's getting smoked or submitted or something.

Did you do four-corner sports? I do not. Okay. I'll read some of these. We'll call Lewis, too. I think it's going to happen. He likes Pavlovich and Delima, which I also, again, that's a first-round finish way to happen. Let me see. Gordon versus Fresium. No, that's another Gordon's split-de-d-lose to happen. Felipe Lima versus Davy Grant. I just want to see Davey Grant back in there.

I miss on. I miss Davey Grant. I think he's getting up there in age. I think he's just, the injuries are adding up, and it's just getting hard for him to get into. It's not a bad one. It would have to be in Manchester, though.

That's quick. That's quick. Shara, Cesar Almeda. Sure. Sure. I mean, you just, God,

that's the fight goes well for Almeida. Good. That's all right. We're trying to build Shara here, I feel. Are we not? We should be trying to build Shara. So we're just,

we're just crushing Elmada. We give Alameda, like, a big opportunity. Or Almeida kicks his head in. I don't know. All right. And let's end with Instagram here. Jason Colburn. Long time I'll see, Jason.

Usdimir, Albert, yes. Shara and Chris Curtis. I thought about this. I know Chris Curtis is dealing with an injury. I did think about this. I was kind of hoping Chris would call for the fight. Maybe he did. I didn't look at his social.

I think he did. I mean, I know he roasted Gasolam a bit too. I don't mind. that one. Apparently, like, Chris didn't suffer like any major injuries. Okay, that's good. He's already like back, I don't think he's like cleared

to fully train, but I know not long after he was in there hitting pads and moving around a little bit, so I don't think it's as bad as we thought it might be. Gaslam versus Battle. I hate this pick so much. I hate it.

I assume at Welterway, I know Battle fought, I know he won the ultimate fighter at middleweight. I assume this is at Welterweight. That's for battle fights now. No. No. No. Volkov versus that's all I'm saying. Volkov versus the rematching, I should say, the

Aspenol Blades loser. Yeah, that could shake up for him, I guess. Yeah, he has. I don't think he got the Asploid rematch. He could get the Blades. But that first fight was so one-sided. Both fights were one-sided. I just don't know. I don't know if you can run those back. But it's heavyweight. Sure. Why not? Sorry, a few more Instagrams here.

I did not have a chance to go through. Gage, what do we got here? Some popular picks that we read before. Nazarat Jalen Turner. Yeah, I like that. Nasarajan, Jared Gordon, Nick Selebeck, Oralby. Oh, ouch. And Felipe Lima, Desmond, Blackshire, I don't mind that.

Gerard Biagin. Sharra Bruno Federer. Yes, I like that. Oostomere, Rocket, rematch, shirt. Felipe Lima returns to Banuette versus Daniel Marcos. That's a banger. That is a banger. headset. Jason Dernay.

How was Dernay? Not Dernay. Jason Dernay. Volkov Vulkov versus Stepe for the second interim belt when John Jones pulls out because why not? That would be, if we somehow had it with Volka Leper after all this time, I will laugh. And you know what? I hope that's what happens. I hope that's what happens. That's incredible. I like that. What are we got here? Hock Prasolid Vic Klein. Fakhritina versus Kevin Hall.

insure Gafrabav Argueuette. Another Gadsiasula v. Ibo Aslan. Is there some beef here I'm not aware of? It's like, how did all these people independently come to Gatsia Zulov versus Yipo Osloin? Incredible stuff. Tino. What's up, Tino? Once a Nipronat Magnet. Like I said, I saw a lot of this. Again, a lot of picks we've already seen.

But thank you, Tino. And then close that with CV, who just sent this in as we are recording. So just stuck in there. Volkov gone to Ustramur-Uz-Uz-Mur-Berk. Oh, Mike, what do you think of this? I shouldn't even read this one. Sergei Pavlovich and Despain, Dispain. I like it. Oh, you like it.

Your face brightened up. I like it. I wanted Despain versus Taito Ivasa at 305. That's the one I wanted. Not Jarzino, because we know who Jarzino should be fighting right now, but Spain versus Tai Tiavasa is like the perfect fight. So that's the next iteration of Derek Lewis versus Jarzini Rose Drake is Tai Tuivasa versus

God. Taitoivasa versus Rubellas to Spain. Our rankings would be annihilated if Dispain got the Pavlovich and just knocked Pavlovich out somehow. I don't know what the hell we would do

with our heavyweight rankings. That would be incredible. I guess you just take Pavlovich out and just unrank both of them or do you throw to Spain into the top 10 after you got friggin. Who was it that like exposed him? Waldo Cortez Acosta.

Oh, it's awesome boy. Yes. Terrible matchup. And then I'm glad I say this for last Because Ceevi says Gastilum versus Shemayev UFC Apex 100 Free weight weight doesn't matter

Don't even, you know, he's not saying this But I'm saying this Don't even weigh them in. Skip you skip the way in, Mike. I love it. These two goofballs in the cage Hopefully Shemaiah can fight in America I don't know what's going on with that stuff

But and hopefully he's recovered from again But I am very sure I'm not a doctor so I'm purely speculating, but I'm very sure is like these just effects of long of long COVID. But yes, if at some point their schedules line up, screw it.

Yeah, throw these two jerks in the cage and let's see what happens. That all of me? That's it, Mike. People, if you want to reach me, you can hit me up on Instagram, Alexander KK Lee on Twitter. And you can do it in two weeks. And you can do it in two weeks because please do not send in picks next week where I do a live show for

the highly anticipated and not what we're We were expecting it all at UFC 303 card. Yes, UFC 303. We got Alex Pereira versus Yuri Perashka 2 in the main event for the light heavyweight title. Brian Ortega versus Diego Lopez, Anthony Smith versus Roman Delizze. Man, that was Jamal Hill versus Khalil Round 3. Then Jamal Hill versus Carlos Oldberg. Then Carlos Oldberg versus Anthony Smith.

And now it's Anthony Smith versus Roman DeLizze. It's unbelievable. Mara Buizzo Silva versus Macy Chieson and Machado, Gary, versus Michael Venom Page. That's the main card. B. Joe Pfeiffer versus Mark Andre Barriole. Cubs Swanson versus Andre Feeley. That's going to be an absolute banger.

Charles Jordane versus Giann Silva. That's going to be fun as hell. Peyton Talbot, UFC very high on him. Very smart to put him on this card. Peking on Janus Gimor. I believe Peyton Talbot's already a minus 1,700 favorite heading into that fight. What? Yep.

Yep. He's going to be like minus 2,000 by the time we get to Saturday. The disrespect, the disrespect to... This is exactly what you want. Michelle Waterson-Gomez is back against Julian Robertson. Andre Arlowski is back against Martin Boudai, Carlos Hernandez, versus Ray, Saruya, and we mentioned this earlier, Ricky Simone versus Venetius Poliva. That is UFC 303, A-K.

Not to do, not to get all No Betts Bart up in here. I'm sorry, I'm still reeling from the Janus thing. He's plus 900. Listen, don't gamble on M.A. Field, but if you must, don't have a fiber on Janus. Gammar. He's a lot more experienced. Not a lot more, but he has more experienced than Peyton. I feel like he's more experienced.

He's been fighting better opposition. I know Peyton is a hell of a talent. Plus, minus 1600. Yeah. I don't know about that. I don't think Janus is bad. He's not bad. He's just what he's not good at,

Peyton Talbot is very good at. Okay, okay. Fair, fair, fair, fair. We'll throw that in there. This is classic UFC matchmaking right here. So that is UFC 303. Before we go, A.K. Uh-huh.

Your opinion, your thoughts on Page Van Zand going into Power Slap. I have to know what you think about this. To me, absolutely brilliant move from the Power Slap folk. This is brilliant move. From Power Slap, yeah. From Power Slap, yeah. Page, I agree 100% what what Jed said on the post-fight show yesterday. Her reasoning of, I'm just doing this to piss everybody off is truly one of the worst takes any fighters ever made, in my opinion.

But them pulling this off is, it's a truly brilliant move. Who is it making mad? I'm not mad that she's doing it. Like, who is it making mad? I don't understand. Who are the trolls that are supposedly like angry that she's doing power? That's the thing I don't understand. Yeah, that's why this is such a horrible take.

Yeah, or they don't care. And that's not hating. That's just like, okay, we're confused. We just want to know why. We don't, you know, we're not angry. We hope you're making the bag for this. But as far as we know, she's been making good money with her only fans, made good money with BKFC. Unless she's been making some terrible investments, just blowing all this cash.

I assume she's pretty financially secure. I support, again, any combat sports athlete to do what they want, you know, professionally speaking. And I saw people, of course, people question bare knuckle. People question, oh, a lot of boxing, why did she do the box? boxing match with Elle Brooks. Again, one, money. And two, she enjoys fighting. I think she enjoys training. She enjoys fighting. It's been a huge part of her life since she was very, very, very young. And she wants to keep doing. And that's great. So that I understand. I don't understand the thrill of Power Slap. I just don't like, maybe she enjoys the product, but she can't enjoy the

preparation for it. I don't even know what preparation you do for Power Slap. She's not going to enjoy the fight because it's not a fight. It's two people hitting each other in the head as hard as possible. That's not fighting. So I don't see the thrill there. They better be. paying her a lot. But yeah, Power Slap, it's a very smart move by them. That power, so we reported this on May fighting, of course. That's the first Power Slap story we've reported since probably we were about ratings a year ago, whatever the, whatever the ratings were when they were on TV. Or their fighters, their sloppers testing positive for cocaine. That's like 20% of them. We never report signings. We never report results. We don't want to talk about Power Slap, but just we just don't think it has

any real credibility as a combat sport no matter what Dana White and the Power Slap team say. But we had to report on this because it is it is intriguing it is again a well-known a may fighter combat sports athlete uh someone who again just generally gets a lot of attention uh as as we were all sort of to figure out you know reading over the story and posting it i i i you know had to put the the uh killian murphy opanheimer face there that's how i felt hitting that published button on that story like i'm like what are we doing power slap you win you win we're talking about it you've done talking about it you win you in. You're on the website. So well done there. But yeah, page a little confusing.

Again, hey, if it makes her happy, if it is something she's generally told to do, good for her. If she's getting paid, very, very, very well for it, even better. But yeah, of all her post-GFC ventures, this is the strangest one. But again, I'm not hating on it. I don't know why she thinks that this is going to make people super upset, which some of us are just concerned of like why she would do this. But I, you know, whatever makes her happy. Yeah, dude, she's got to be making a whole bunch of money. I hope so.

That's really it. And I kind of like the one gimmick I do kind of like with all this outside of the haters are going to be really mad and really pissed off, which no one cares, is the fact that she just wants to be like sort of the, how do we sort of pull it? I don't know. She wants to be like the utility fighter where she wants to do everything, getting all the stones, if you will. That's cool. And I think that's a great gimmick. That's a tremendous gimmick. Do it all.

And then we'll see what other crazy sports you could do. the you know the dodge ball the combat dodgeball thing that people talked about during do it post fight show like do all of those things like do them all life is short yeah and for the first time ever for the first time since power slap started credible mMA websites are going to cover it because we're going to at least we're going to cover the page fight we are going to cover it more than likely we will this will probably be one of the only times it happens so this to me to me is a brilliant move. It's an absolutely brilliant move. And yeah, I mean, that's all I can really say. You say that. I'd be actually somewhat interested in how this power slap event goes. I mean,

just for that one thing. But yeah, good on them. Yeah, I'm not a believer. I'm not a believer, that all publicity is good publicity, but this is good publicity. If you're power slap, this is good. And again, I don't even think it's terrible publicity for page by Zand either. Because like I said, She's, we're talking about her this week. I'm sure it'll come up on, you're probably not done talking about it, Mike. It's probably going to come up on a heck of a morning. I mean, I definitely, we'll talk about it. Paige Vazant, Power Slap, we're talking about you.

And that's the name of the game in combat sports sometimes. The other question is, is this the beginning? Is this the beginning? Will we see some other names like Paige go in there? Like, we had a great time talking about this on the post-fight show. Is this where we could do Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler? Because you don't need

9, 10 working toes. Is this where we finally get Dana White versus Tito Ortiz in a slap fight? These are the types of things they should be trying to put together. Mike, this is an credible matchmaking show. This is a trusted matchmaking show.

Let us not sully it with this ridiculous power slap talk. Everybody supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be fun. And boy, we're going to have some fun live next week around 10 a.m. Eastern. I think I'll be live in Atlanta, Georgia for this program. Oh, my. I think that's where it's going to be.

Watch party will be on the road, but it will not be in New York this time. So stay tuned. We hopefully have an official announcement about that later on this week, but it's officially UFC 303 fight week. So thank you for listening, everybody. for Mike Heck. That is Alexander K. Lee. Always remember the golden rule.

Don't take the stuff too seriously. M.A. supposed to be fun. And we're going to continue having fun right here and on to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

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