MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | What's Next For Sean Strickland After UFC Houston?

Episode Date: February 22, 2026

Sean Strickland entered UFC Houston as a sizable underdog, but he delivered, quite possibly, the best performance of his entire career stopping Anthony Hernandez in the third round of their middleweight main event matchup. Where does Strickland go, and could it be ahead Nassourdine Imavov in the title conversation? 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 Strickland after his spectacular performance at Saturday's UFC Fight Night card over Hernandez. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Uros Medic after his thrilling knockout of Geoff Neal in the co-main event, Melquizael Costa following his highlight-reel finish of Dan Ige in the featured bout, along with fellow main card winners Serghei Spivac, Jacobe Smith, Michel Pereira, and more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MikeHeck_JR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. After a week off from UFC action, the matchmaking crowns have returned following UFC Houston. What a roller coaster ride it was, and it was capped up. Sean Strickland, getting the finish over Anthony Fluffy Hernandez in round three. And the question now is, was that win enough to live? leapfrog everybody and get a championship opportunity against Hamzaa Shemayev. We'll discuss that and much more.

But this officially puts a bow on a Sean Strickland fight week. And I got to tell you, couldn't come soon enough. Not for any like particular reason other than a Sean Strickland fight week just tends to bring the worst out of people. And I'm not even talking about Sean. I'm just talking about like the community in general. People just get real angry and mad about about a whole bunch of things. But we're going to move forward from the week. And we're going to give kudos to Sean Strickland and his performance.

And we'll discuss what is next for him and other winners from UFC Houston on today's program. I am Mike Heck. And joining me to do exactly that and a bit of a somber mood, if we're being honest. I'm at a pretty good mood. The United States of America hockey team, gold medal winners. Not only did the women's team capture gold earlier this week, but literally about 35 minutes ago, as we record, the United States just bested Canada in overtime in an incredible game on

Sunday morning and the U.S. men's team are the gold medal winners, which means Canada brings home another silver, silver. And you know what, AK., a silver medal, is it better than no metal at all? Is that how we're feeling right now? Listen, we, you know, we're up here in Canada. We love getting silver medals in hockey. It's like our favorite thing to do. We always say, oh, at least we're at least we're top. Top two in hockey. You know, we don't care about the sport that much up here. Just being considered for the gold as an honor.

No, my best friend. Yeah, it's tough times up here. I'm a very casual hockey fan, I should say. But I am a patriot. You know, I do lock in when these tournaments come around. You know, the Four Nations thing. I was locked into that. And, of course, Olympic tournament.

You have to, you have to. So, yeah, it hurts, man. But I think for anyone, and I imagine a lot of people watch the game, even though it was, you know, in North American time, a little bit early. I was a big really sorry for the West Coasters who had to get up at 5 in the morning to catch that one Oh no really the West Coasters actually

Had to change things up come on But if you're in the West Coast of the United States of America I'm sure you were very happy that you got up It was an amazing game, this is true Great game, very competitive I think the right team won I know Canadian fans are going to kill me Like I think Canada have played better

Don't wrong, don't you're wrong Canada 100% they're the better team You can just look at the shot numbers You can watch the game they're playing better But that don't matter if you don't put the puck in the net man I mean, Connor Hellebuck was just heroic. I mean, that was absolutely hero.

Devon Taves, buddy, you got to put that one in. A great save by Hellebuk, you got to put that one in. You got to put that one in. So no excuses. I don't want to hear anyone complaining about officiating. I don't want to hear anyone complaining about, oh, 3 isn't how these games should be decided, which I agree. I don't like 3rd 3.

But hey, you don't want to get to that point? Probably should have won the game regulation. Put the fuck of the damn net. So, you know what? Big weekend for America, Mike, with USA winning, winning the gold mill. I think the first time since the, isn't the first time since the miracle on ice is that repeller yes 46 years

Olympic that's crazy and so absolutely incredible there I thought do you see that Johnny Guadro they're holding up his jersey after yeah that was really cool I was thinking a really great moment so uh you know doesn't make doesn't make me feel that much better but uh no it honestly a very very classy very nice moment um so congrats on that

and then Sean Strickland of course the embodiment of the United States of America also being a big win so just it's just all USA weekend really sure was let's just get right into it AK let's discuss Sean Strickland who, I mean, I'll say for the 500th time. I was wrong. I had a terrible read on this fight, apparently.

Yes, I thought Fluffy would have a different game plan, but you know what? Sean punched him in the face a whole bunch before Fluffy could really implement anything. I rewatched it. I still think Hernandez could have come out a little more aggressively earlier on, just set a tone, set a pace,

and Sean was just, by the time, like, Fluffy was probably, like, taking his third breath in the fight, he'd already got punched like 12 times. And did that jab from Strickland look good. Physically Strickland looked incredible. And he just delivered a fantastic performance. And, you know, I've been talking to Eric Nixick for years.

He's told me in interviews, you can go back and listen to all interviews, how frustrating it is to coach Sean Strickland sometimes. Because he knows what Sean is capable of. And, yes, Sean will win fights and get decisions and things of that nature. but Eric Nixick tells me every time I talk to him like, you got to see this guy. Like people come in and they see Sean do work in the gym and they're like, man, he's like way better than anyone gives him credit for. He's way better than I thought he was. And he's like, yeah, that's why I bang my head against the wall every day because I know what he's capable of.

And I think we saw what he was capable of. He just ran over a really tough dude and Anthony Fluffy Hernandez halted an eight-fight win streak. And now, AK, we're in a very strange. time. This is no longer 2016 or 2013 or 2012. This is not about the best fighting the best. This is not about the

number one contender getting their day in court. It is about who has momentum and what is the biggest fight we can put together right now. So Hamza Tchaimai if I know there's rumors that he's moving up to 205 to maybe challenge for the

light heavyweight title. I know there's reports he's fighting here at Pajasca. Dana White kind of slam the door on that last night during the press conference like, nah, I kind of want to see this dude defend his belt. And then we could start doing that because you could see Dana's getting tired of the act as well with fighters winning belts and being like, I'm going to go up and be two division champion, what have you. Where is Sean Strickland going after this?

Is he going to be fighting Hamzaa Tchamayev or whoever is the middleweight champion? Or is he going to be watching Nasredine Imovov fight Hamzaat Shemayev and hope he gets the winner where are we going here with Sean Strickland after this performance? Yeah, and just more thing about your point with Strickland and his team. You know, this is a very public thing. There was a, they said in interviews after the second DDP loss, how frustrated Eric Nixick, welcome to him. There was almost like a temporary rift.

I think we were like, is Sean Strickland and him like just not going to work together anymore? Because these are some pretty damning, like, comments to just air out there. I remember Nixick actually took some heat for kind of mentioning that stuff. You know, that's normally behind Jim Dors. But yeah, but it is, All that stuff is true. It's not a secret.

And, well, it didn't matter on Saturday. Whatever, if you want to see maybe the best version of Sean Strickland, besides the one that beat Adisina, you saw it, man. It was good stuff. Boy, yeah, Mike, where do we go here? This is so confusing because in a perfect world, Hamza Tchamaya should be staying at 185 to defend his title against Sean Strickland or Nasredini Mavov.

Like, that just makes sense. He won the title in August. he has not defended at once. It's not like Hamza is this dominant champion. And if we're being honest, as impressive as I still believe that win over DDP was, it left a bad taste a lot of people's mouths. Like, he should have been, they should have found a way to get him back in there within like four months, line him up with Imov or whoever was available.

I don't remember that. I think the timing didn't work out that way, obviously. But line him up with someone and just let Shemai do what he used to do, which is run through someone. But now it's just this just lingering. stench from that fight and there's all this buzz around shemaiah like he'll always have buzz but it's not as big as it could be mike i settled on accepting the fact that maybe shemaiv is going up and that the title be vacated so we just do strickland and imovov too so we run that one back

the first one was kind of weird circumstances it wasn't a two of five right it was kind of a weird one yeah it was a two o five and strickland hopped it on super short notice sure and and and one and and beat him of M.V. So it's not like Strickland has anything to prove there, but I'm sure it was for the title. That's all Strickland really cares about. I know he really wants to fight Shemaya, of course. But we always talk about.

You fight for titles. You're fighting for more money. If that operandi comes up, Strickland would jump on it. So, yeah, I don't feel strongly about this, but I'm thinking Shemaya out of the picture for whatever reason and Strickland versus Imov for a vacant

or at the very least like an interim title. That would be so disappointing. It really would be. Honestly, there's no hype around this match. Like there's a, we talked about, on the people got a little extra otno uh you know we did the post fight show guys if you missed that

um but uh there's a storyline there but it's not a particularly compelling storyline him fighting imov again um so yeah just just look at the look at everything shami if has tried to do and what he's like attached to right now there's no buzz for shemai if imovov there's no buzz for shemaiah perera there's no buzz for shemaiah versus yuri there's no buzz for shemaiah against anybody outside of Sean Strickland right now. Like, Sean Strickland is the most buzzworthy fight he can have. It is the, I don't know, I mean, prayer is so over right now that in the UFC machine is really good at getting casual people who don't regularly watch the sport to care.

But to me, as someone watching the sport and has been watching the sport for a long time, Hamza v. Sean Strickland is the most interesting fight that can be made right now. from a stylistic perspective. Like, Imov, 100% deserves it more. He has done the work. He's on the winning streak. He fought Kyle Bajalio. That was supposed to be a number one contender fight.

Kyle was on a great run as well. And Imovov dominated him. Like, he has done what he's needed to do. Sean Strickland kind of walked into a title shop because DDP was hurt and couldn't fight that early and did the damn thing and won the belt. And then he fights DDP, he loses the belt,

fights Paulo Costa. I thought he dominated Paul Costa, but it ended up being a weird split decision. Not a splady for anyone who actually watched the fight. But even then, like, we were just like, okay, there's other guys at 185. Like, we don't even want to see Sean Strickland get a rematch at DDP right now. And Sean got it and got Molleywopped.

Like, that fight was so uncompetitive. It's unbelievable. But Sean takes the year off. He heals up injuries. Yes, there is the suspension as well. But I'm sure Strickland was fine being suspended so he could heal up and get. healthier. And now like, and look, Jed and I and even Chehen al-Shadi were saying after

Sean beat Izzy, we're like, you know what? Like Strickland versus Shamiyev, this is a really interesting fight. And now we're right here and now, like, we might not get it. I got to say, I don't agree with Dana White often these days, but I was happy to hear him say, no. Like, what are we doing here? Defend your belt. Then we can talk about like, just defend it once. he's not even saying like he has to go on a lengthy run here just defend it once and then we can start talking about moving up and stuff like that to me like none of that has meaning

if you don't actually get a defense under your belt like Ilya moved up quick but at least he defended at least he fought Max Holloway and finished him and then he moved up to try to get the Islam Makachev fight like even then like I was still bummed because there were still fights I wanted to see from him but at least he defended the belt Alex Pereer moving up like at least

when he won the middleweight belt like you put it back on the line tried to defend it and then he was like nah it's way he cuts crazy I can't do it anymore Hams on Shamaif cutting to 185 like stinks I'm sure but it's not as bad as cutting to 170 it's not like a

crazy cut for him I don't understand this notion where he has to move up right now when no one's asking for it so go fight Sean Strickland you're the guy that keeps saying like I don't care who I fight man I just want to make the most amount of money i can this is your money fight this is the one you get sean strickland

who's a terrific dance partner in promoting fights whether you like it or not whether you like what he has to say or not sean strickland in his own sean strickland way knows how to draw attention to his fights for good or for bad better or for worse sean strickland is excellent at that he's a great dance partner just do this fight it sucks for imovov but do this fight imov would be the backup fighter and you know if shemaiah ends up beating strickland and moves up then imov could fight strickland again or we do whatever even if off could get his day in court then but it's a bummer for him of off it really is but he's not getting it he's just not i i do think there's some juice to uh humza up padena like it is kind out of nowhere it is kind of like this to just talked about it too much without any real movement on it i think on

a casual standpoint though that one would you know that one would permeate a bit like i said the buzz on Hamza has like died down but it if you match him up with Alps Panetta I think that's the right combination to get people kind of going like oh yeah oh I'm interested again like I wonder oh the wrestling versus the striking but again that's that I don't know if that's in the works and the fact that we're even saying Strickland versus Shemab is comparable is probably pretty shocking for people to hear but but on that on that I agree like I think you don't lose much if you get that instead of Humzaa Panetta like because again I of course I want to see Hamza at Shama Fai Pipera I think that's cool like I think that's a cool match

up. But right now, it's, this guy Shmive is supposed to be, he has all the make is to be a dominant champion. So Strickland, I think it would be a great teledefense. Imov would be a great title defense. Even Paulo Costa, like he talks before, not a guy who's deserving a title shot right now, but there's heat to that. There's heat to that fight. So, you know, in lieu of there being some white hot contender, which was what Anthony Hernandez would have been if you won, if we don't have, if we don't have that, at least you have storylines. You have heat with Strickland. Imov,

not so much, but very competitive fight. And then you have the heat with, with Apollo Koss. And then maybe during this time someone else called, maybe Joe Piper smokes Izzy

and we're talking about him, you know? But we don't get to find any of that out, Mike, if Shemajov just leaves. We don't even get to find him. Yeah. Why even, like,

take this risk with Shemayev, right? Like, why give him a light heavyweight title shot against anybody? Because if he wins, guess what he's going to do? He's going to go up to heavyweight and not defend that bell.

So we're just going to do this? And then what are you going to do? Like he wins the heavyweight belt and then he's going to retire still not defending a belt? Like what are we doing here? Just tell the man and his team just fight somebody. Defend the title, then move up. Please defend it. Give us something.

Imagine if it's the Yuri Prohashka like interim rumor or whatever or vacant rumor. Like there's no heat to that. And again, not like a terrible match on paper, but no one's asking for this. No one wants this. Yuri might actually be the A side in that fight because he's such a wacky. lovable character, but it's just so random. And then you screw Carlos Oldberg, who has done more than enough to get a title fight. Like, I'm actually, I'm fascinated by Ulberg versus Yuri.

I think it's a great fight. That is the fight that should be made. The whole thing is just a mess. So, but again, from what we were told, doesn't seem to be like a lot of smoke to the Shemai of Yuri news. I'm told that has it been like laid on the table as a possible Hail Mary for some reason? just like, hey, here's a wacky thought, I guess, to some extent. But I mean, we've been told by people who will know, like, yeah, it's not true.

Yeah. And then Dana White coming up there and being like, yeah, man, defend your title. And then we could start talking about this. Like, I think that puts us in a better spot here. Yeah. And that's why I think some of these rumors, like, and why we're talking about it so much, Mike, is like they're unsubstantiated. And they're not like, you know, they're not confirmed.

You like said, you talk to people. But I do believe, like, whoever, you know, sometimes people point in those rumors out there, that they actually have talked to other people who, like, are not in a position to make decisions and not in a position to actually, like, confirm official stuff. But, like, yes, they've heard, like, oh, yes, I talked to someone who's talked to someone, they said, oh, yeah, it's being discussed. That, I believe. A lot of fights are discussed, right?

It's like, she just won't see us report them in a MA fighting because we know it's like, oh, yeah, this manager talked to this coach who talked to this fighter, and they said, yeah, that'd be a cool idea. Like, we're not going to write a story about that. But if they want to use their Twitter platform and do it, they're free. to do it. You know, you just won't see us doing that. But I'm, yeah, that's why we're entertaining it so much because, yeah, I'm sure these things have been discussed. But guys, you'd be amazed how much things get discussed that never, like,

come close to the surface, you know? Yeah. So we'll see what happens with Sean Strick and we'll see what happens with Fuffy Hernandez. Let's go to Welterweight, AK. Eurostmetic goes out there and just blast out Jeff D.L. Nasty, nasty knockout, gets a bonus, gets on the mic, talks like Eurosmedich talks. And then he calls out Leon Edwards. He ain't getting Leon Edwards. I can assure you of that. I hope not.

My pick was not Leon Edwards, was my pick for yours. I don't think Leon wants that smoke right now. I really don't. And I know he's a great fighter skill-wise still. I'm just so worried about his mentality. Like, I feel like he's just not, I don't know, not in there protecting yourself properly. There's something.

I was thinking about this last night and then like even this morning. By the way, my pick is Bonfeme. Let's just do that. Two surging guys. Like, let's just have some fun. And because Bonfim really isn't going to get a name that he hopes for either. Euros Medich is like such a fun fighter. He's got such a personality.

Like, he's great on the microphone. But like, it's so weird. It's, do you ever see the movie Little Miss Sunshine? Of course. Yeah. The dad in the movie with his, with, is eight steps or whatever. Like, interesting cat. Like, he speaks well and you're like, I'm fascinated by what you have to say. And then you realize, like, what he says is like,

it's interesting, but like nobody cares. It's so weird with yours badge. Like, there's just something missing there and there shouldn't be anything missing there. You know what I mean? Like, he's got it all, it seems. Great personality, great on the mic, great fighting skills. He never goes to the cards. I feel like he should be way more popular than he is, but it's just like, eh, it's just over and done with after he fights. And I don't know why. There's, you, you didn't love Houston. You don't love Houston. You have a problem. I'm the problem. I liked it. That was okay. I liked it. Is he, is he Vincent, Vicente, Lucke-esque in that sense, whereas feel like he should be more popular than he is? Yeah, that's, actually, that's a,

that's a pretty good comp right there. Because like, it's, with Lucke, it was always like, those like if you know you know like we were always like team luke because he was like such a violent dude and he was like fun when he got on the mic but never got like the big opportunities even when he went on like that long winning streak when he's knocking out everybody submits michael kieser like oh big things coming for luke and then they just never got over that hump i luke is a great comp yeah he's he's got the luke isms going on right now manage is a dude who's going have to fight a whole bunch and like quickly like he's going to have to fight like every two months this year if he wants to get really, really over.

So do bond theme or just take whoever they give you. Like if they say like, hey man, needs somebody from Miami at 170 against this dude, he should just say yes and not say, nah, I want Neil Maggi or nah, I want Leon Edwards or nah, I want this guy. Like he just says yes and fights all the time. That's what he needs to do. And I think all that will go away. It just, I don't understand why he's not more popular AK.

strange. Yeah, he's an odd guy to push. Again, he doesn't have a sexy long winning streak. That's the other thing. I think people get obsessed and load too much of winning streets because he says it himself. I'm going to go in there. I might win two, three, knock guys out and then I might get knocked out myself. Like, it's how it goes. And I love that. And people shouldn't care about that. But I think we fetishize like

oh, five, six, seven, undefeated guys at this level, honestly, at the U.C. level, it's not that important. And it's weird because you also like you have guys who are on long winning streaks who are considered relevant, but not necessarily popular. Like, it's not the same thing. Lauren Murphy is on a huge winning streak.

He's not like a household name in the UFC. So it's weird. It's hard to find that right mix of success and also, like you said, the It Factor, having that charisma to capitalize that success. And it feels like yours is somewhere in there, but not quite. Selfishly, Mike, I want him to fight Carlos Pratchez. I had originally matched up Pratchez with Chavkot some time ago. I'm guessing Shavkot's not going to be available anytime soon.

I think I may have to just sort of like provisionally suspend him from the show. just I want him to get his health right. I hope he fights for the UFC title someday, but we have no clue when this guy's going to fight again. So I'm shifting, I'm shifting Medich into Shavkat's spot. Because I would, maybe it's probably too soon.

I would just love to see Medich and Pratchez throw down. That'd be very fun. That'd be very fun. For as long as it lasts. It might last 90 seconds, honestly. I think Pratchez is in line for like, see, Pratchez is super over.

He doesn't speak English, but he's like super, or he does it a little bit, but he's super, he's just very over, because he fights a lot. And when he fights, it's always extremely fun. And he's got the gimmick with the just ripping Sigs and all that stuff. Like, he is just, he's gotten himself over in like a really fun way. And I think Medich could get there. I love that fight.

I hope that someday that happens. I kind of feel like Parchis is in this sort of like re-elimination, Walterweight championship conversation. Like if he gets the title shot right now, it's kind of ridiculous. But I could see Pratch is fighting JDM or fighting Michael Morales or somebody of that ilk right now. And Medich, I mean, there's opportunities for them. I'm like, I could see them doing like Meditch versus Wonderboy, like maybe doing something like that. So like how much, uh, how much longer do we have with Jeff Neal?

Boy. Hard man. Just turned 35 recently, I think, if I'm not mistaken. I hope not much longer. That was a bad one. That was a bad knockout. Super scary. Really scary.

And one of those shots, like as powerful as many years, you do, you know, you tell yourself, man, if Jeff Neal had taken that shot two years ago, and it was on the button, don't get me wrong. That probably could knock to almost anyone. But you do look at it and say maybe Neil was taking shots like that two years ago and able to survive them a little bit better. But definitely not now. I mean, that's to say he's been in some battles too.

like Jeff Neal has been in some fights where he has got even some of the ones he's won where he's gotten hit a lot so lots of mileage hopefully he's okay I hope he's doing all right I think I was looking at his socials just trying to see if he he posted a statement I haven't checked recently but yeah I'm just curious I don't think he's going to retire like off this fight but I do wonder if we're maybe maybe the last year last couple of years here I feel like he left everything in the he let everything out of the tank when he fought chavkat that fight rocks by that was brutal that fight is incredible It's incredible.

And like he missed weight and all that. And I still think they gave him a fight of the night, right? You did, yes. And they still gave it to him at a rare. He missed. And he didn't miss weight by a pound. He missed weight by like four pounds for that fight. Like way missed.

And they still gave him a bonus. That's how sick that fight was. And then he gave him a Machado Gary a tough fight. You guys may not remember that fight because it was a tough scene to go back and rewatch. And then he kind of finished the ghost of Haffield, Sanjos, which is like, because of that nasty leg injury. And that was like tough to watch. And then Prach just nuked him and then managed nukes him.

So four out of five finished in three of the three of those losses and in pretty nasty fashion. So yeah, I hope he's okay. Maybe he gets one more. And then we'll, we'll kind of call it a day from there, hopefully. Let's go to Melkeke Costa. I didn't think it could be done, A.K. I didn't think it could be done.

but we've seen things in this featherweight division that I thought were impossible over these last couple of years that have shown to be possible. I didn't think Max Holloway could be finished via strikes. I certainly didn't think Danny Gay could be finished via strikes. And we saw both of those things happen over the last 18 months. And Melchie Costa with this spinning back kick, nasty stuff, just crushes the face of Danny Gay. And the man has won five fights in 12 months.

He's on a six-fight win streak, AK, and now he is going to be a ranked fighter. I'll just get my pick out of the way because I've already given this away. I want the Diego Lopez fight. I thought the call was great. Obviously, if you're the UFC, if you could do Diego Lopez versus Jairo Rodriguez, I think you have to do that. There's no fight in that division that has more heat than that one. That is a main event for Noche UFC.

You could do that. That can main event any fight night card. That could be a co-main event for a numbered event. You can do so many things of that fight because of the history between those two guys. But Yair doesn't seem to be in a rush. He seems to be very picky these days. So if he doesn't fight Diego Lopez, you just kind of take him out of there. And let's give Melky costs of the opportunity to fight Diego Lopez.

Your thoughts. Yeah. This is not a best friend for ever moment. If it is because we're best friends, Melky apparently. Yeah, Diego Lopez is the right way to go. Perfect call out. Perfect call out. What a run.

Melke is on. They have real potential here. for this guy to be. I'm not saying like again, I, I, as super mainstream star, but one of their like faces of the featherweight division right now, he can be that guy. He's a, he's very well-rounded. He's a fight finisher. Good interview for, you know, he's spoken to our man, Jeremy Cruz a bunch of times. Good interview. He's got a story. Yeah, so let's keep it going, man. Let's let's see, put him up tough test against Diego Lopez. He beats him. I mean, we're talking now,

legitimate top six, top seven guy in the division and could be fighting for a title sooner rather than later. great performance guys nasty featherweight just a great division it's really really good uh we'll see where dandy he goes i think he's kind of getting close to that jeff neal conversation at this point um but again like i said on the post fight show yesterday dandy gay is is in a ufc employee for as long as he wants to be the ufc will never release him they will always resign him he has bailed them out of many jams including on a pay-per-view co-made event he stepped in on like two and a half hours noticed to fight Diego Lopez and was very competitive with Diego Lopez in that fight,

despite taking it while he's eating like a water burger cheeseburger. And they call him up and say like, hey, let's go fight. And he's like, all right, bet. Danny Yeager will always have a job with the UFC as long as he wants it. So if Danny Gates to leave the UFC, it will be on his own volition. It'll be like, yeah, man, can I try other things? And guess what? They'll let him try those other things too because of what he has done for them.

So great win for Costa. We'll see where Ege goes. And that brings us to the heavyweight division, this is why everybody's here, the UFC heavyweight division. Sergei Spivak beating anti-Delijah. Not the worst heavyweight fight of the year. Certainly, there was.

Honestly, maybe the best heavyweight fight of the year. If we're being honest, it probably was. It's not saying, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was certainly entertaining for, I mean,

our bar is just so low at this point with this division. But yeah, they got after it. They were trying to, hurt each other. Both guys were beat up and Sergey Spivak gets the victory and I'll just get it out of the way. I mean, they try to book this fight 18,000 times already. So let's just do Spivak versus Gatsyf and maybe maybe this is the one. Maybe this is the time we we could do this. I don't know how many more times we could try to book this before this fight actually happens. So let's just keep trying until

it does. No, it's a cursed. It's a cursed matchup. Like we got to let it go. I struggled. I struggled because I'm like obviously I just feel like you can't really go up with that matchup. Yeah, I saw people saying Cuniav and yeah, maybe, but I like Cunyev and I don't know I don't know. I just I just don't think Spia gets to fight up after this one. So yeah, I kept going down. So he's top 10. I kept going outside and I learned on the perfect name and I realized, well Mike, I want to introduce a new second here real quick that I just thought of.

It's called a TFS. It's called This Fight Sucks where we make matchups that make perfectly logical sense and that We know we're going to be bad. Hopefully so bad they're funny, but regardless, like, it just feels like they need to be, you know, we just need to do it and get it out of the way. So I landed on Sergei Spivak and the great Talasin to share. I think that's such a fun, horrible matchup. Could end in a first round finish. Could be 15 minutes of the, again, just the worst fighting you've ever seen.

Either way, I'm locked in. So my first, my inaugural TFS pick is Sergey Spiebac versus Talasin to share. Like my whole thought with this is I'm like I can't just book Josh Hoken against every single I thought about right I thought about that too yeah I feel like that's every single week on the show it's like a ranked heavyweight gets a win I'm like all right now I just fight Josh okay so that's what I put cooey of with I'm pretty sure I did it with Talasin too like I just don't know who these people are supposed to fight at this point so yeah I don't think there's a wrong answer here but yeah if you want to get that one out of the way that that's totally fine with me

let's go to Jacoby Smith, the welterweight phenom who just, just an absolutely brutal knockout of Josiah Harold. The miracle story did not come to fruition, but I still think it's a win nonetheless that Harold got to make his walk to the UFC octagon and he'll do it again and he's going to get some UFC wins. There's no doubt about it. But Jacobi Smith is a freak. I don't know how this guy even makes 170.

He was like two weight classes bigger than Harold in there. it seemed. And as soon as I saw the face off on Friday, I was like, oh, my God, like, Jacobi Smith's going to, he's going to hurt this man. I didn't, I just, I thought it was going to be much more competitive. I didn't realize just how big the size difference was going to be here. And boy, did that prove out because Harold landed a takedown and then Jacob just, just like swept him and got on top.

And then the fight was over 10 seconds later after some vicious ground and pound. But an exciting guy at 170K. Jacobi Smith versus fill in the blank where are we going here? All right, I struggle with this one as well and I'm not as satisfied with my answer as I was for the spitback choice. I settled on Lee Jingleang.

Oh, I like that one. Tough veteran tests. And I had to remember, I want to double check on how old Lee is and he is like 37. And I don't mean to just like, you know me, you guys know I'm a big fan of age-appropriate matchmaking and I don't like to just throw these guys to wolves. Like I would like to find someone else.

who's had as many UFC fights he has, who's in that, you know, 35-plus range. But at some point, I think you do need to give these up-and-coming guys a chance. So I don't think this one's likely to happen. This is more of a magic wand pick. This is like what I would do. Because I think Jacobi Smith is really good. And his athletic and physical advantages are very obvious.

He is capable of some incredible, incredible sporting feats inside the cage, which you can't say about everyone in this division. So is that enough to beat someone with the experience, the high-level experience that Jingleong has? I don't know. I think it's time to find out. I like that pick a lot. I like that pick a lot. I think there's some people that might be really sad with my pick.

Because first of all, let me just say this. The call-out of Kevin Hall was stupendous work. Like, it was really good because if there's one thing we've learned about Jacoby Smith is that he's not good on the microphone. At least he wasn't after his first UFC fight. he was like real bad and it seemed like we're seems like we might be heading that in that direction um he started with another one and i was like i got to call out for you i'm like oh my god what is he going to do what is he going to say something ridiculous right he that connor he's he that connor was coming connor i was like if you walk him buckley this i'm going to be so mad uh but then he said

hey this is we got a star here in texas and then he uh he called kevin holland and like a kind of to a disrespectful way, which I thought was pretty cool, honestly, just based on the moment who Kevin Holland is. I just thought it fit well. And I was like, all right, this is what we're hoping for. And then it is just unfortunate for Jacobi Smith that literally like 17 seconds later, they did the crowd shot. And they're like, oh, there's Kevin Holland again.

He's fighting Randy Brown in Miami. So that goes down the drain. So how about on that same card, AK? We can do it in Miami. God, I'm sorry for this, for fans of this man. Jacobi Smith versus Neil Magni. Let's just do it. I want to see what this kid's got, man.

He's at this point, how old is Jacobi Smith? He's not the youngest man of memory serves correctly. Is he in his early 30s or he's still not in his 30 yet? He is 30. He just turned 30. So like you kind of have to go. Sure. A little bit at this point.

Like he's got so much talent. We can't just do the, well, let's just build him. him up slowly anymore. We got to kind of see what he's got. I would certainly pick him to beat nail Magni at this point, even though Neil seems to be a tough out for everybody. But I think he just got to do it and see how he does. If he goes out there and just smokes Magny,

then do Kevin Holland after win-lose or draw after the April fight. But yeah, he's 30. We got to get him out there early and off. And he probably took very little damage in this fight. So if Neil Magdey's ready to go in Miami, let's just throw that on the same card. Yeah, I think we're kind of targeting the same sort of thing for Jacoby Smith, right? Because again, skill-wise, there's probably some ways to go.

But I think he is at a stage where these athletic advantages he has will be enough to carry him through some tough matchups against more veteran opponents. So we'll see. Yeah. Let's go to the middleweight division. How many fights were on this card? Seven billion, AK. What is going on?

I feel like we did a whole show already, Mike. Where is that? I think it was after the, it was after the Korea fight. I remember like going on our Slack channel, like, we still have nine more fights. And I was like,

this is crazy. It just slogged around and it was, it was tough. But eventually the action picked up and it was all good. But Michelle Pereira, okay, the man gets a win. I didn't think he won,

but he sure got a couple of the judges scorecards in a fight that worried me to no end about the future of the card because I was like all right Leale and Cheaty was fun I was like now we're getting Pereira and Reese like this fight ain't going more than three minutes and then both guys decided like

we're not going to throw anything and then when Zachry's actually threw stuff Michelle Pereira LeBron James flopped all over the place in milk time so you could get a rest which by the way I take nothing away from this man That's just a smart veteran savviness right there. And then Perrner goes out, wins a middleweighty, splity fight against a guy who's like not really even middleweighty, middleweight. That got middleweighty real quick.

So I almost went full middleweighty here. Like I almost just like just do Jacob Alcun and like let's just get super weird and strange and not fun. So you're not getting middleweighty? No. I was like. I thought we were going to have friends forever moment because I went very middleweighty. Do you went Torres Finney, didn't you? No, God.

Okay. I wouldn't put my two, two of my favorite fighters against one other. Come on now. I went with the matchup. I was going to go a little bit higher. And then I was like, no, this is just no one's going to believe he has a chance here. And I think this name is kind of in the same boat, but not as bad. He's ranked a little bit lower.

Let's do Michelle Pereira versus Ishmael Nardiev. Oh, I like that. It's a deep cut. It's a deep cut, but Pereira is probably going to get nuked pretty quick there. But if he goes out there and beats Nardiav, then maybe he's back, AK. Maybe we're on to something. It's so crazy that Pereira is only 32. Like, which is in five years is very young.

I thought he was 49. He's been fighting for a long time, though. It's definitely a guy like, don't worry about his actual age. You look at his fight age. I think he's close. He's well into 40-something fights. I'm pretty sure. Yeah.

That's a lot, a lot of mileage. I was like the way he fights so much, so much athleticism, so much like he's put a lot of wear and tear in those joints. Mike, I just got wacky with it, man. I got wacky. I said, we're going with another life first. You know, we're going with like something's just fought a hundred times. Let's tell him there with Gerald.

Oh. Wow. That makes you really good. Weird style matchup. I have no idea what the fight would look like. Like, I think Michelle Pereira should be able to avoid getting grappled and just knock him out. But again, I don't know. I honestly don't know what to expect from Michelle Pereer these days.

Maybe he could even lose a striking ball to Jared Mersh. I honestly have no idea. He's such a strange guy to watch now. So yeah, I'm saying total wacky chaos. I would hope it's not a main card because I do not want to write a prediction for that fight. I would have no idea what to say. But I'm manifesting this. I actually love, oh, man, I really like that.

It's so weird. Because it's one of those things where, like, you would have to think Pereira is going to be like a pretty sizable favorite in that fight. Yeah, because like Mierchart's chin just seems. seems to be gone. Yeah. And like he was hitting Reese with some big shots. Like he landed some big knees up the middle in the first round and then he just died. He just gassed out.

So to me, this would be like the classic. This is the classic. What's that dude? What's his name? Who's the, who's the lightweight that like always had tremendous first rounds? And then we knew like after the first round was over. Mr. Finland.

Is that his name? Oh, uh, Makwana, Miracani. Yes. Yes. Michelle Pereira has Machuan Amir-Khani vibes to him where it's like he's got five minutes to win or he's just not going to. If he fights Gerald Mirashart, he has five minutes to win or he's not going to. Because if he gets tired and Mirashar takes him down, he's going to get tapped in pretty nasty fashion. So I am intrigued by that matchup. So that's really good, AK. Well done. Let's go to the wild card round where I had no idea where to go. And then I finally landed on something like three minutes before we, we went to the recording here.

One fighter we've not matched made for yet. We'll matchmake for them right now, which you got, AK. Oh, you're going to love this, Mike. Shoutouts to Jocelyn Edwards, who streaking at 1.35 in a very thin division. The only, my roomed my only bed of the night. Friggin every, I thought that was a lock school. the decision. I put a little bit of money on that. It was the only fight on the prelims that did not go to a decision

somehow. But that's not Johnson Andrews's problem. Her problem is wondering, man, Mike, how can I get to a title shot now? Do I have a realistic path to a teleshot by the end of 2026? After Amanda Nunes comes back, after the stuff with Kayla Harris is resolved, maybe Norman Dumont or Yonnas Santos that winner of that fight, maybe they're the ones

who get to the front of the line? Maybe, but the spot is there for the ticket. And do you know how Johnson Edwards can get it, Mike? Do you know who she's going to fight? Who? She's going to fight the Venezuelan vixen, Juliana Pena. No. Yes, yes she is.

Julia, Daniela Pena will accept this fight. One, it's winnable. Two, it is her chance to just, essentially, she's been sitting since the Harrison loss, and then to come in and just steal someone's thunder. Steal a fighter who has actually, like, Josh Edwards, figured out her weight is one of the few finishers at 135.

Like, she actually has, I think she's on four-fight win streak. One of the fights she missed weight. But either way, win streak, all of them ended inside the distance. So I was very foolish to bet against her to put Nora Cornoli away. But yes, I think there's incentive there for Juliana Pena. I actually don't even know who I'd pick who I'd pick to win. Probably lean towards Jocelyn Edwards at this point.

I think I think Pena is kind of near the end of her like high level competitive days. But I've been wrong picking Pena fights before. So let's keep women's bad and weight is cooking, Mike. I will be at RAF next week covering that event. So perhaps, perhaps I will speak to Juliana Pena. And I will ask her about that matchup and see what she thinks. I'm sure she's got thoughts about a lot of things going on in women's MMA at this point. I went with, I went with Jed Michoud's favorite female fighter,

Krispie Carly Judice, who just beat the hell out of Julieta Miller, who, by the way, Julietta, she was a, as Jed and I like to say, she was a trier. She tried very hard. She had a couple of moments where things got a little dicey for Carly, but I think that was good for us who see big things for her to see her overcome some of that adversity. And we wanted to see what her ground game was going to look like. We want to see what happened if she was putting in compromised submission attempts.

And she battled through it. And Julianne Miller is a very good grappler for the weight class. And she did a great job, avoided danger, got out of trouble, and just kind of pieced her up for a minute. Let's just keep the USA versus Canada thing going, okay? The UFC is going to Canada with a, I mean, with the card, with the main event that's officially going to happen. Might as well just go U.S. versus Canada versus for all this. I mean, we'll go Brazil versus Canada, but it should be Canada versus the world.

Jamie Lynn Horth on a nice little run right now. She's on a win streak. Let's do Carly Judice versus Jamie Lynn Horth, AK. like this you're shaking your head be careful what you wish for my man jamy linhorth and uh who's that other fighter who's always upsetting people she's still in the o's a different weight class i think um that's traway who's who's the who's the woman who's always upsetting people is trawate who like sam hues sam hues yes uh jammy lindhoreth could be the sam hues of 125 so i would say be very careful carly the judiths great fighter jenn mishu loves her very fun to watch very careful very careful right now no this is i i i am this is this is this is not for

This is not a get over fight. This is like, okay, we need to continue to learn about her. And we need to keep progressing her in the right way. And I think going from Giuliana Miller to Jamie Lynn Horth is a good step. You know, Jamie's won two in a row. I think three out of four. Yeah, let's just see. She might lose.

She might lose that fight, but we will learn something one way or the other. I'll love it. I'll love it. Okay. You know what I'll love. All right. Let's go to the peeps, AK. Let's see what the peeps have to say.

We'll start with Jamal Smith. They didn't get a ton of these, and didn't expect two. But let's get into this that we'll run down UFC Mexico next week, which is certainly a card. Jamal Smith, Strickland versus the winner of the next middleweight title fight. So Jamal, I don't know what he's expecting here.

Perhaps he is a fan of, hey, this is a sport. Let's treat it as such. If that's the case, I think he's picking Palmsop versus Naserdine. and Strickland getting the winner, which kind of like, honestly, like I like sport and merit too, but I feel like if we're getting Hamzat defending the belt, it's going to be like the only time he defends the belt. And I kind of want to see the Strickland fight over the Yimbab fight. Medich versus Leon, main events of the rumored bell garage card.

Is it rumored? Is like, or did that rumor just start literally last night when he said it on the promo? I had seen things on social before. that but I don't know okay so that's why he brought it up it wasn't like a crazy out of left field like hey come to bell yeah okay you know maybe they look if they're paying they're going so like if they're paying the UFC to go then the UFC will go melkie versus arnold allen interesting i mean if we can get arnold back relatively quickly then i i don't mind that fight spivac versus kudiev uh smith versus the brown holland loser perera

versus Marco Tullio, AK. Is he still, is he coming off a win? What's the last we saw of Mr. Tullio? He was, he got flatlined by Christian Leroy Duncan. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, I don't mind that, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Okay, that's where you had guys of Tullio around for.

Sure, sure. Carlisle versus Nicholas Dalby. I've seen a lot of that because, you know, the Brazil killer. The Brazil killer. Like his luck has to run out eventually. He can't beat every Brazilian fighter. Though I do feel like this is a match that's kind of tailor-made for him, if I'm being honest.

Coria versus Mitch Raposo after he loses to Nassimento. Sorry, Mike. How dare you? How? Wow. I mean, if we're being honest, I like Mitch, but I don't know if that fight goes very well for him. I mean, we'll find out Puna versus Magni,

JPL versus Veritenekov, Judees versus Wang Tong. I think that's a little... I think that's a little much. You think so? I think we'll... maybe if she beat Jamie Lynn Hoart, then we could start talking about. I don't know if I'm a hater.

I still don't think Wong is not good. I honestly still think she's not good. Yeah, I think she's, I think Judice is around her level. The Mara fight showed me a little bit. Showed me a little bit. I don't think she's going to, like, fight for her belt or anything. But she's, I think she's a little better than I thought she was. But I think I'd like to just get a little more seasoning before we start talking about throwing her in there with somebody with that much fighting experience.

He has more overall combat. sports experience for sure yeah uh left lane strickland versus hamzot it's just what's going to happen uh left lane gave a pick for every fighter in the card i'm not going through all that uh you guys what's catching your eye what's catching your eye mike uh i'm going with the winners and i'll go with fluffy fluffy versus bohloyalio with a w in a few weeks so he's he's making some predictions here along the way uh meditch versus leon ufc serbia melch milky versus patricio pitbull just for another showcase on a quick turnaround i reckon i don't mind that i'll some people say that i just always get a weird with the booking where it's like two guys beat the same guy and then it's just like oh and now they

now they fight each other it's weird i mean it happens all the time it's just yeah spivak versus blades i guess jacobi versus magni prayer versus ataba goatea um i i kind of like it if we're if we think gottie is just gonna run him over then i like i don't think he will though i don't think he's there yet where he can do that okay i get it he didn't run over who do you fight last time that's a yeah see he put the big tall dude the big tall dude who's pretty good who's pretty good exactly exactly yeah and i and i and i said that's time like i don't not hold that against the tape i still think him going uh pulyev excuse me pulyev sorry polio uh i feel that him going go to a decision was actually beneficial for him in the long run but i don't think he's improved

that much they can fight a guy like um pettano who just has quite a bit more experience um So let's pull back on that. Maybe down the road, maybe down the road when they really are just using Michelle Panetta is like a sacrificial life. I mean, I thought that's where they were doing here. No, I know. I think that's what they're doing. I don't think he's that bad yet. I don't think Bras fall off that far.

Leal versus Randy Brown, no matter of the result against Kevin Holland. Adiris versus Borjas with a lost next weekend. Coria versus Shira's with a win next weekend. Edwards versus Chiazon with the lost next weekend. Soriato versus Jake Matthews, JPL versus Curtis with a loss to oral by. Leavitt versus Feely, Judice versus Wangton.

Another Judy's versus Wang Tong. Yeah, I saw a lot of that. It makes some sense. It makes some sense. But I think you're right. I don't think they'll do it next for either fighter. John Ray, Judee's versus Horth. Well done.

Friends forever. Leavitt versus Austin Boschie. That's interesting. I actually really like that fight. Austin, Bashi, where are you, buddy? Yeah. Where have you been, friends? That's a great question.

He did bounce back from that. He did. He did get a winner. Okay, he fought in August. Not too long ago. But yeah, got to go back in there. Oh, he was supposed to fight in November. Jamal Emmer.

So he's hurt. He's hurt. He's hurt. Yes. That's a problem. He's been hurt a couple of times. That's not good for a young man. No, he'll, there's plenty of time to heal. JPL versus Cheedy and Jokawki.

Soriano versus Magni again. Edwards versus Hosa 2. Let's have her revenge all her losses. I totally forgot that was a two. I saw a lot of bunch of people recommend that. And only one person put it to. And until I saw that, I was like,

oh, yes, right. Five years ago, I think. I do like, like, if we're not going to just give Edwards

the pain news of the world, like, let's just do that. Like, you get to a revenge tour? I love the, yeah. We don't do enough of the revenge tour gimmick in MMA.

God, I can smell, I could smell the Paramount Plus subscriptions. Yes. Korea versus Ochoa, Adairus versus Jungsung Park, Lial versus Dalby again, Pereira versus Marfittori. Whoa, boy, yeah, I saw this is John Ray. This is John Ray, yes. John Ray, yeah, I saw this okay. I'm like, I see these because I saw I know he didn't send to me, but um, boy, that would be middleweighty.

That might be, that might be like the ultimate middleweighty, middleweight fight. I actually don't. Boy, I'm actually like some i'm actually kind of intrigued about that fight how many how many trips like how many apex events you think they're going to hold this year oh like 16 that's not that many so like these so these

spots are hard to come by um that'll be one of them headlining spots i mean that's one of them oh no yeah oh you can't do that you certainly can you can't and there's more people there to see it too like when kind of versus chris duncan is like a whack main event for like a UFC card but like at least that's going to be

fun. That's the apex? Oh, yeah. Sean Brady and Joaquin Buckley's at the apex. God, come on. Okay, there's people. Oh, there's a few with what, thousand people there now. Okay, fine. Okay. But like, Brady Buckley is like, that's a, that's a solid fight night main event. Like, that's like two ranked dudes who like really need to win badly after getting dusted up in their last fights. Like, I want to learn, we're going to learn so much about Joachie Buckley here because he's out there, like, talking a bunch of smack on social media again instead of talking smack i hope you're like working on your get up game because if sean brady starts tackling you like you're gonna be in for a really tough night my man so i actually that's excellent matchmaking i think that's terrific

fight yeah that was really well done uh smith versus salikov costa versus allen meditch versus joel alvarez how is that not fun it's it's definitely going to be under take the under certainly you have to take the medic the under in every meditch fight at this really mine minus 2400. You're not getting any. That lines. He likes Hernandez versus the Bahalio RDR winner. Strickland versus a DDP Allen fight winner for the vacant title after Shamiya beats

Imovovov and moves up. You hurt my head. Okay. So in this scenario, DDP and Brennan Allen are going to fight. So yeah, in this scenario, DDP and Brennan will fight.

Strickland gets the winner. Strickland would get the winner for the vacant belt because Shemai is going to fight Yemov, beat him and move up. Okay. Some sort of rematch test trilogy. bout for Strickle. Depending who wins

the DDP. Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah, because he beat up Brendan Allen too. Yeah, he beat the hell

on Brandon Allen. Boy, I hope it's not DDP. One more time. So close. I don't know if I can do that. So close.

I don't know if I can do that again. Five more rounds. Five more rounds. I mean, I kind of feel like if he's going to beat him it was going to be a 297, but I don't know.

I mean, who knows? What a story? What a story could be? We could be doing this is cinema, 10 years from now with the Sean Strickland story. No, say that.

I got to mute my notifications. I just don't know. A couple more. Robbie Ryan, Fluffy versus DDP. I love that fight. They should have made that to begin with. Yep,

still can. Still can. You still can. But I think DDP Brennan Allen probably makes, with how everything has shaped up, DDP Brennan Allen makes all the sense in the world. Medage versus MVP with a win over Sam Patterson. Whoa.

Wow. Could wow. Boy, Euris match might go to the scorecards for the first time. I don't know. Or he has that style that brings out, you know, because it's just that MVP highlight that we've been waiting for in the OEC, right? We haven't had that viral clip yet. Oh, that's pretty smart. That's if he wins or is it win-l loser draw?

It says with win over Patterson. Man, you could do win-lose-traw, honestly. I don't mind it. Oh, wow. I didn't get about it. Melkekeke Costa versus the Josh Emmett, Kevin Vahejos winner. I actually think Steve Garcia is going to get that fight. I think Melke honestly I was talking to somebody about this the other way and the last night and they were like Garcia's won six in a row he deserves something being I'm like yeah he does but he's just not going to get it

you want to know why because he had a microphone in his face and he called on Max Holloway like you don't do that like you have to be smart about it uh at least Valleos like Vlaos is bad callouts but at least like it's something that could happen Steve Garcia versus Max Holloway is a fight that will never ever take place so Yeah. What do you think about Melke and Garcia running it back at 1.45? I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I think it's possible, right? I think it kind of makes sense, actually, for right now, for both guys a lot. Like, I'd want to see them get different opponents, but it's been a while since that lightweight fight.

Yeah, that was a weird one because, like, Garcia got sick the week before, and then they moved it back a week, and then they was at lightweight. And yeah, Garcia finished him. It's part of this long win streak he's on, but, and they both deserve steps up. But Melchie cost is just way more buzz than Steve Garcia does right now. I think Garcia went in there and just beat up David Onama, and that was a great win. But going out there spin kicking Dan Ege into a stoppage is, I mean, it's just so incredibly impressive. But look, Steve Garcia versus Josh Emmett or Vahos is like, those are big fights at 145 pounds. Spivak versus the Parker Pinto winner.

Sure. That fight is changed. That fight has changed now. As reported by M.A. Oh, yeah. I'm Garemet Cruz. That is now an even more anticipated matchup between Mario Pinto and God help us. Felipe, like, you know, this guy from Contender Series.

He didn't even win a Contender Series. I was just looking at it. Felipe Franco. Felipe Franco, I'm sorry. Felipe Franco. Oh, yeah. That's right. Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. This went from a matchup of like borderline top 15 heavyweights to whatever this is now. Yeah. I'm not condo doing that because that was the thing reported that yesterday. So you guys should be up to date on M.AFundee.com. This wasn't exactly breaking like widespread news. So fine. For those wondering, by the way, I would love to just run down the resume of one Felipe Franco.

Felipe Franco. Please do. MMA debut wins in 28 seconds against a fighter who is 0 in 5. Second fight, submission 2 minutes 30 seconds, fighter who is 0 and 2. Okay. Third fight, first round TKO against a fighter who is O and O. I'm noticing a trend. Fourth fight, first round TKO against fighter who's 0 and 2.

Fifth fight, two minutes, 30 seconds we're going to get choked against a fighter who's O and O. But at least we get a little more experience here. okay okay uh nilton dos Santos was the opponent uh in june of 2024 uh with a record of 19 and 18 at the time wow uh he is uh he had lost two out of three heading into that fight and has not won a fight since 2016 flea he fought okay uh he fought philippe franco by the way in june of 2024. Before that, Nilton Dos Santos did not fight. That was his first fight since

September of 2016. So after an eight-year layoff, Felipe Franco gets the retirement after round one. Then he fights Luis Henrique, who was 0-1, and then fought a dude who was 0-0 in his 8th pro fight.

And then he went on Contender Series, fought a dude who was 3-0, and got submitted in the third round. And then he went back to the regional scene and fought 10 and 7 Claiberson Tavares, who was 10 and 7 at the time. But at least was on a decent win streak. It was a shootout champion. So that was like a decent win.

You finished him? 32 seconds. Okay. TKO. So that's a good win. So one good win. Heavyweight is back is what you're saying. This is what I'm hearing.

It could not be more back. Yeah. So Franco Pinto winner is versus Sergis Pevac. Jacoby Smith versus Putus Oriado. And I will turn it over to you, AK, after Ian Fargus, who sent this to me a few days back. And it was just five, six words. Gable versus Big Tuna on Netflix. And I get to tell you, that scratches me right where I itch.

That is terrific matchmaking. Only Ian Fargus was part of the Bellator matchmaking team when they needed him. Because this is what we do with Big Tudor. We give him big opportunities. When Big Tuna enters the fight as an underdog, that's when he shines. Can we bring Big Tuna back? We had something with Ben Parrish and we ruined it. Damn it, Bellator.

Damn it, Bellator. Yeah. There's a reason why they had to be absorbed by the frigging PFL. God. It's so frustrating. You ruined it. A silver platter. silver platter but I love this idea

um are you a little sour that uh gable's racking up like wins but not you know not technically be able to garden garnering fancy points for a fancy team oh no it's fine okay look the way I saw it was like worst case scenario

I just get to keep Gable forever I'll just keep him this is true because eventually he's going to be there and he's going to fight like every two months and he's just going to run everybody over uh I know I know he's a little He's a little green right now.

I know people are a little concerned that he got kicked in the face. But just his athleticism alone, he beats 60% of the UFC heavyweight roster right now. And he's only going to get better. So, yeah, I'm okay having him. He's, he's going to debut at the White House, man. And we're all going to be good. Yeah, I see the vision. I see the vision.

Yes. Please. Let's see what you got. Oh, geez. I forgot to, I forgot to load up my whole nut. I've got all, yes, let me start with the Instagrams. Let me load that up. Sorry, guys.

So unprofessional. Because I got quite a few. I got quite a few, but I want to save Twitter for last because I think I got a really, really funny, somewhat intoxicated suggestion from one of our regulars. And I want to go to that. But let's go to Instagram first. Sorry, guys, just open up my DMs. We just got one here anyway. From our pal, Jason Dernay.

What did it work? You know, I wrote this down. Sorry, guys. This is a Houston hangover, as we call it. Levitt versus Nymov, I think is interesting. I don't know where this is coming from, Mike. Euros Medich versus Kamaru Usman. Now we're talking.

How much would they have to pay Kamaru to like if they can take that? Not because he's scared of him, just because he has nothing to gain from it. He beats Euros Medich not, it barely registers on MAAfighting.com. Like, just no one will care. I'll care because I'll be like you and our direct family members maybe but I think it's a good match out I just I can't I don't see how the match beggars get to that unless unless Usman has another fight and mid each steps in I think would be like the only solution but he's funny yeah I was saying he's fighting is well you're into it because it means that he wouldn't be fighting Islam yeah I was I was like half-heartedly joking on our Slack channel after Punisoriata when I'm like Punisoriano is one one way from disney I was fighting his one way from dissoning

deserving a title shot more than Kamar Usman. And that's probably not true, but I was just having fun with it. But yeah, man, like, sure. Like, this is, this is what Usman should be doing right now. Like, again, if he goes out and beats Yurrish, like, it's not enough for me to say, like, oh, yeah, you get a title shot because you're not beating a top five guy. Just like beating Joachim Buckley is not beating a top five guy when everybody else who's ahead of you has beaten top five guys and guys who are like in line to fight for the belt.

So that's my whole thing. But listen, I love the, I love the gusto. And I can assure you, if the UFC somehow books this fight, you will be getting a full out no point because I don't think anybody else is picking that one. Yeah, if it manifests in any way. Big point for you, Jason. Gmail, Tristan Gordet, Levitt versus Jack Jenkins, Alden-Carrer versus Honsong-Sung Park. I like both those matchups.

J. Donagie, Strickland, versus Bajalio after he beats RDR. So calling a shot there. Michelle Pareda versus Hidalfo Balato. Jay says they're in a different weight class, but I think they go to the same acting school. Oh, wow. Yes. Blotto, I believe, is booked to fight Luke Fernandez in March.

But again, for the sake of the joke, well done, Jay. Well done. Jocelyn Edwards versus my one-time number one ranked women's band to weight, Mara Brenno. I thought he was going to say, at first I was going to say Pereira versus hit off of Vieira. No, no, no. And I was like, boy, that could get, like, real weird. I don't think Michelle Perez

going to have a normal fight again for a long time. Even the Zach Reese matchup, but that was weird. Super weird. Yeah. All right, Twitter. Nathan Trussell, first timer. Welcome to the party pal. I'll read all these.

Strickland versus Brennan Allen, too. I just don't think Strickland's going to be down for that. Why would he take that fight right now? Yeah. I mean, I get it. Like, it makes sense, like, meritocratically. but like that just seems like I mean it seems like he has a very real chance to you got to see what's actually happening right now my best friend my wife has a microphone in her hand and she's like trying to mimic me and my child is recording as well while it's happening and I didn't notice it this could have been going on for 15 minutes okay I don't even know this candid behind the scenes footage I like it yes this is great continue yeah yeah sorry but I'm just Nathan I don't know if he's the one who recommended that or I don't know if he's the one who recommended that or or I'm probably meant to put that under, like, other people

had to recommend this. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just looking at my notes. They're not matching up with his actual tweet. Sorry, he won a Strickland Shemaya, but good to bring it up anyway. I think multiple people suggested Strickland right now and too. So, yeah, I'm sorry. No, Nathan says, Strickland Shemaya,

yours Medich, Alvarez, Melchie Costa, Yusufzalal, love it, Spivak, Cooney. Oh, that's a good fight too. Yeah, I think a few people may have also suggested that. Jacoby Smith, Neil Magny. Michelle Pareda, Jimmy Suss by Sengroa Succia. Ooh.

That's a feeding thing, though. That, like, tells me you think Michelle Pura is done and that he's just a name. And I don't know if I'm there yet. Like, he might go out there and beat him. Like, Pereira might beat Jimmy Suss right now. Probably, well, I'm really high on Sucaya. But, yeah. No, I am too.

I need to see a young man that's, like, a little humble before. You know what I mean? Like, he's just so, he's just so cocky. when his skills are there, but, like, just hasn't shown them against any sort of high or decent level competition.

But they could do that. I actually don't, I actually don't dislike that idea. I'd just like to see Jimmy Suss, like, go out there and just, just wreck a dude. That's, like, we're,

you know what I mean? Like, he's gotten two, he's gotten matchups, like, two of the worst guys in the division and, like, had to work for both of those wins.

So I'd like to see him just go out there and melt somebody before, we start talking Michelle Pereira. And lastly from Nathan, Jocelyn Edwards and Ketland-Vayana. Yeah, let's find a contender. Let's get Jocelyn a contender. Please, please.

She deserves a shot. DGB, maybe the first ever middle-weighty featherweight bout, Mike. Leavitt versus Giga Chikaze. Oh, that's a odd one. Okay. I'm glad you brought up Giga-Chiccadze. Did you not love his tweet?

Oh, my God. What is wrong with this man? What is he? Honestly, that screamed Ali to me. And I'm just like, why are you doing this to your client? Because he's going to get hurt. He's going to get badly hurt in there. So don't do this to Giga.

Don't do this. For a little wondering, sorry, we didn't explain. So Giga called out, Giga, quote, unquote, called out Melki. Yeah, please. And why would you do this? This is just insanity. So, and again, I don't, I don't. believe he tweeted this so i'll throw that out there because it's just it's just sillyness but

yeah don't do that but if you jordan levitt i actually am someone i'm intrigued by that matchup yeah i could could giga could be good giga is probably the favorite to win that fight but it could get real weird too i would so bet on levin i think levin could be a a real like just uh upset like success at one point i think he is going to be the underdog in a lot of these matchups in what did you, when this fight ended, and I thought Levitt's comments were really interesting. It was like, yeah, this is the first time in a fight. I felt like the stronger fighter. Because people were asking like, oh, what's his ceiling at 145? And he just went out there and it dominated. But again, the story wasn't about, oh, Jordan Levin looked great. It was about,

oh, Isaac Delgarian should be arrested and sent to prison for 20 years because Del Valle's awful. So Jordan's still not getting credit for this win. But as a guy who feels like Jordan is underrated, Raiden was under, was really overlooked heading into this fight. What do you see for a ceiling out of this, out of this guy in the new weight class? Ranked, man. The dude can be ranked. Top 10? I don't know, man.

The other way is a very good, very good division. There's not a division that's like on the downslope right now. I think it's in a very solid place and arguably trending upwards. So I'll say top 10. I could say top 10. Sorry, sorry, top 15 and maybe like the 9, 10 spot. Can you go higher from that? I'm not sure.

I hope so. I like Jordan Levin a lot. But I'm being pretty conservative with my projections for him. But that was a very nice performance against an experienced guy who was expected to roll through. I do like Levin v. Giga, though. That's a good matchmaking. Yeah. DGB also had the perfect matchup for Michelle Piddette. I actually considered this, Calvin Gasloom.

But last time I said, I am not talking about Calvin Gassel. He missed middleweight last time. He missed middleweight. I'm sure he can still make it. There's no physical reason he can't make it. But I said, I am not like picking a fight for him. I want him to take a fight at like light heavyweight or heavyweight, honestly. I think him at heavyweight would be so funny.

So yes, this actually was the perfect matchup. I do think for both guys, at At Gasselam makes sense. And I think it's actually what will happen. But just personally, for me, I'm just not picking anything at Gasselm for at 185 or lower right now. I'm just so irritated with this situation. Braden O'Neill was some good ones.

Dan Igay versus Geranderson Brito, Love. What else we got here? Lebos-Noyani versus Chuck. Buffalo, Charlie Radke, fun. Levitt versus William Gomy. Not as fun as the Giga matchup. But also, I shouldn't say it. Also very potentially middle weighty, feather weighty.

I mean, William Gomy should, we already know who William Gohmey should be fighting. So, yeah, we've seen as Aaron Pico. They're not going to do it, like. No, I know. Sam Schaefer wants Strickland versus the potential Shamaev imov winner. Yeah.

Again, Strickland could theoretically wait to see, but it could be a while because we just don't know what they're doing with that division right now. Zach Schultes. Sorry, guys. My notes got just messed up for a second. Zach Schultes Strickland versus Derritter, Pohallo, winner. Oh, Melke versus Murphy of Loya of Loser, Mike. Wow. That's a big, that's a big jump up.

I like it. You like it? Sure. You're into it. I mean, I'm giving Diego Lopez, so sure. That's right there. Yeah. true.

Spivak versus Tabura, a Walter Walker winner, hopefully Tabura, to set up the least serious trilogy of all time. Don't do it. No, Zach, don't do this. Please don't do this.

Marcus McGehy wants Chuck Buffalo for Jacobi Smith. Michelle Perrinordiev. Okay, all right, okay, okay. Correa and Joseph Morales. Oh, I love that. Love me some Joseph Morales.

I want to do it. Justin Edwards versus Jacqueline Calvocante Gosselin versus Jacqueline. I like it. I can keep cruising here. Speezy 32 is with me, Spivak and Talasin.

Rebook Sukhounko and Jacoby Smith. I do want to see this matchup. Would they just rebook it? I don't think they're going to rebook it. No, they're not going to. I do like that matchup a lot. Carlos Laal versus Andreas Gustafson. Oh, fantastic.

Fight of the night. Fight of the night. Someone's getting hurt. Lebes Nayani versus Temba Grimbo. And Speezy also has what I think is my favorite Judee's matchup, because I have them, I was moving Judees up the rankings. And this is where I stopped. I said, I can't put her above this name, the very experienced, JJ Aldrich.

And I think Judy's would actually eat, despite the huge experience gap, would be like a two to one favorite. But man, I'd be, I'd be looking at. I would probably bet on JJ Aldrich. Depending on the value, right? If she was like, plus 200, I'm sure I'd go for it. Anything less than that. Good run right now. She has been for a while.

There's like a five-fight win streak? I think it got snapped. I swear it got snapped. But she's like, has always been a very competitive fighter. There was a loss to Veronica Hardy in there, which is really disappointing. I remember I thought JJ was going to win that one. But yeah, three of four, three of her last four. And just generally a tough fighter.

She has a win over Gillian Robertson for a long time ago. Wow, I don't remember that. Okay, almost wrapped here. Four Corner Sports. Crea and Clayton Carpenter. Judees versus Horth. There you go, Mike, Friends Forever. Neil versus Wonderboy 2.

I don't think they're going to run that one back. I just don't know. Frod. Anthony Hernandez versus Piper after Izzy gets his first wins since 2023. So he's speaking of Piper loss and then Piper fights fluffy in the loser's bracket.

Medici versus Malott after Mike KOs Gilbert Burns in Canada. Yikes. Coles, going to happen. Cold world, man. That's it. That's where we are with Gilbert. I mean, that's the way they read why they're booking it.

Jeff Neal versus Amasov. Okay. Delicia versus Pinto Franco winner. This is a man who is up to date. And Korea versus Odey Osborne. If Ode loses, he gets cut. Oh, pink slip match for O'Day Osborne. It's been around a while.

By the way, left lane asked for many firings. Odie Osborne being one of them. Sorry, O'Day. Really nice guy, but yeah, just the results haven't been there. Thomas Collins, Demolador Vittori, Jocelyn Edwards versus Bia Mosquita Randon, winner. I could see them doing that. It would suck because, again, Jocelyn's putting a work, Vias is relatively new,

but there's a lot of hype around being. A couple more, Barry O'Reilly. What here jumped down to me. Leavitt versus Morgan Cherrier, good stuff. A lot of great Jordan Levin matchmaking, guys. That's wrong point. He also likes Lael versus Dalby, Brazilian killer versus a toughest hell Brazilian. Mike, do you think they would do

Oh, let me read this one first Jacobi Smith versus Gunner Nelson I think the athleticism gap there would be like hilarious at this point Like I know there's a skill difference probably But I just think man I don't think Gunner Nelson can hang with him

Athletically speaking Mike would they do Michelle Pineda and Sharra Bullitt. Ooh Yes, they would I thought about that But it's like it's tough because you can only book sharab bullet on like certain cards

like he has to fight in like abu dhabi or saudi right like you can't really fight anywhere else right yes and when are they going there sometimes this year probably probably twice they'll do like a fight night in august and then they'll do a paper view in october but like i don't know man seems like i don't know you could do it i mean if the timing lines up sure. I don't know if it's like next, but maybe it's like the next next. I'm going to let Finn Hamilton close out the show. Finn says, I had some adult

beverages during the prelims and each fight further made me question what I was doing with my life. But here we are. Let's get odd now. And I think some alcohol may have been involved in some of these comments as well. Labos Nehani versus Fuget. Fuget has been released. I think we were able to confirm that. So Finn, we're off to a bad start already.

Soriano, Gabriel Bonfim, Jocelyn Edwards versus Raquel Pennington just slower into a top five matchup my goodness I actually really like that one it is good it makes a lot of sense I just I don't know I don't know Rakel just never fights anymore so uh Carlos Liao versus a piss test or how dare you or Dahlby but I prefer the former so wow he's gonna prefer the latter so maybe I sorry I think he said I put the ladder not the former so maybe he wants the Dauby fight but I mean I think Lial Dalby is like the most popular matchmaking he really wants to see they just love I love matching Dobby up with Brazilians.

I think people just like making money. I think people just bet their whole life savings on Dobby anytime matched up a Brazilian and just laughed all the way to the bank. Chee-en-Jekwani versus Max Griffin 2, Mike. Did you know this was a 2? It did not happen in the UFC.

Is this an LFA fight? No, dude, I had to look this up. Or is like a Titan FC fight. Tachi Palace. What? I think like 10 years. I had to look this up. Was not aware.

What a deep cut by Finn Hamilton. Had no idea this was a team. Wow, great shout. He could have not put that two there. There is no way I would have looked at it. I picked up on that. You know it would be a great place for that fight to take place. Tachi Palace.

Oh, geez. I mean, Dana still owes them from 2020. So, I mean, what a time to be alive, you know? Full circle. Full circle. Zach Reese versus the Tebow-Gotee. Yeah, that might be the logical evolution of this of Goteer right now. Jacoby Smith versus Gilbert Arena.

Wow, just I think setting up another. walloping. Sorry, Gilbert. And lastly, Herb Dean versus an anatomy class. So he understands that unless Michelle Pereira has a medical anomaly, his balls are not on his hip. Okay. Okay, Mike. What do you got?

So, fine selection there, right? Find selection. I'm trying to find... Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? it. I blame Herb Dean somewhat because, you know, it's Herb Dean.

Jeff Rex Road, however, should be on another planet of like dung being flung in his direction. Because you want to know why. Like, Herb, it's a quick moment, right? It's a quick thing that happens. You stop it. The fighter is telling you, in round one, by the way, I got kicked in the ding ding. Okay, fine. You do it. And then, Herb Dean, like a professional, at least this is what they said on the broadcast, looked at Jeff Rex Road, who was like the replay advisor. And the replay advisor with the monitor looked at that and said, yeah, illegal blow.

What? What are you talking about? Texas was Texasing in a huge way last night. And Jeff Rexard, like, what? He was throwing in some, she was judging some fights too, wasn't it? Yes. And like some questionable scorecards. Jacob Montalvo was judging fights too, and he was.

Horrific in his refereeing job as well. You got to be another level of brave. Like fighters, of course, are all brave. You've got to be a little extra brave to fight in Texas. Yeah. You just don't know what's going to have to you in the cage. You don't know what's going to happen to you on the cards. I guess scared.

Like, poor Nora Cornoli, like she might be, I don't know how much extra damage she took. It might not make a difference. It looks like she got injured. She seemed to be favoring her shoulder after her. And if she got like, if that shoulder injury got aggravated in the time, hear it you could hear it in the replay she was visibly upset she was not trying to like hide it um and if that costs her like two three more months off because of the additional any additional

damage it happened you know she should sue jacob antov like that was just just really bad moments last day yeah no uh i'm waiting for a statement of some kind uh from nor or nothing yet yeah uh anyway guys yeah so that's it for this week uh we will not be again we won't be live again until next next week where we go back back on uh payper views right 2.6 yeah we got to do have a card next week, guys. So please for after next week's cards, send us. Hit me up on Twitter. My DMs are open at Alislander K Lee on Instagram at Alexander KK. Lee on email, Alex.com. And Mike, they can get you on IG, right? Yes, M underscore, heck, J.R. I don't think I'll be on the show next week, though.

Okay. We have to figure something else out. I'll be traveling back from R.A. Oh, that's right. I might, I'll probably have to grab the Jetsster. The Jeter. Or just you and the peeps. The peeps are amazing. And I love you. But of course, the match meeting will continue with UFC Mexico. They'll be in Mexico City. The main event, Brandon Marino versus Lonnie Kavanaugh at 125 pounds. The co-main event, Marlon Vera versus David Martinez. So far, so good.

Number three, the featured bout, 155 pounds. By the way, very busy Fantasy Day for me next week. Brandon Moreno, I have. Daniel Zellhuber, I have as well, who's fighting King Green. That's the feature about 155 pounds. You have Edgar Chiraz versus Felipe Bunez. We have Iminal Rodriguez versus Kevin Borjas. We have Santiago Luna versus Angel Pacheco.

That's the main card, AK. That is the main card. I'll say now, because you get to the prelim, it's going to kind of more of the same vibe. I actually think these matchups could be super excited. I actually love on paper some of these matchups. Not from a name value standpoint. I get it.

Most of these names are not going to pass like snuff with a lot of fans. Totally understandable. It's a lot of people and not a lot of named veterans on here. But I think the matchups they picked, like if you are familiar with any of these fighters could actually be like really, really, really, really entertaining. So it would be great for the live crowd, I think. We're going to get some, we're going to get some, there's going to be a couple of heaters in there, but we're going to get some squash matches.

Yeah, yeah. And that's fine too. Again, for a live crowd, that's kind of the mix you want, some heaters and squash matches. But they'll keep mind, though, guys. I also said the UFC Houston like prelims look good. So take my. you know, my positivity with the greatest. I think we have three squashy squashes in a row to start the main card.

But boy, before, what better way to lead you into a main card, okay, than a Jose Medina fight, because that's what we're getting. It gets it gets got, man. He sure does. He sure does. Beautiful. Because if things get sluggy, Jose Medina will make sure that the spark flies, taking on Ryan Gondra, ranked bantam weights, aka women's bantam weights, buried on the

prelimbs again. Macy Chesson versus Eileen Perez. People thought that was going to be the co-main, like back when the cars and it's like really still being planned out and they only had like seven or eight fights announced. That was like, people were like, oh my gosh, this is the co-main? Any chance they bump that to the main card? Nah. I don't think so either. Although they like Eileen Perez, so perhaps, but I don't think they're going to. Christian Kenyones taking on Chris Moutinho. I don't know what's going to happen. Hanging around. You thought, you thought this guy was never, you know, going to get back to the UFC. He's hanging around, man.

He's hanging around. Boy, what a story that would be if you go on there and get a win. Douglas Silva Day and Drogh versus Javier Reyes. Ernesta Caracate versus Sophia Montenegro, Eric Silva versus Francis Marshall, and Wes Schultz versus Damien Pinyas is the opener as of right now. So that is UFC Mexico going down next week. And the crowd always brings it.

It's always good when even if the card is not great on paper, when you have a crowd that's like into everything and they're like loud and boisterous, it usually takes the performances of the fighters and just boost it up a notch. And I do think this will be a fun watch. I definitely do. Is it the best Mexico card the UFC has put on? No, not even close. But there is a good balance of like fight of the night potential and squashy squash batches.

And that's kind of what you're looking for. And the crowd is going to go bananas for all of it. That is UFC Mexico, the go-home show for UFC 326, the BMF title headlined numbered event. So we're less than two weeks away from Max Oliver versus Charles Oliver to the fight we've been asking for for years now. And that's it. So thank you all very much. I will see you guys back on the show in two weeks time. We'll be live on the MA fighting YouTube channel.

Of course, shout up to the Twitchers as well. We'll be there as well. But AK will be holding down the fort next week. following UFC Mexico right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.