MMA Fighting - OTTNO 2025 Predictions Extravaganza | Look Ahead For Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Khamzat Chimaev

Episode Date: January 5, 2025

Following a chaotic and unpredictable 2024 in the world of MMA, 2025 is shaping up to be even crazier — both in and out of the cage. Could this be a year that will see Conor McGregor actually fight in the UFC? Does Jon Jones remain an active fighter? Will Khamzat Chimaev finally get his hands on UFC gold?  On a very special edition of On To the Next One, those questions — and a lot more — are presented during the 2025 predictions extravaganza. Hosts Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee will go through a slew of buy/sell questions presented by listeners about a variety of topics, including McGregor, Jones, Chimaev, Francis Ngannou, Dana White, Dustin Poirier, Tom Aspinall, Israel Adesanya, Nick Diaz, and much more.  Additionally, they will make their choices for who will end the year as UFC champions in each division, along with their bold and spicy predictions for the world of MMA in 2025. Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to on to the next one, first show of 2025. And there is no matchmaking, no predicting for matchups following a UFC event. But today, we cast a wider prediction net, if you will. We answer your questions about what 2025 could have in store for the UFC and for the crazy world of mixed martial arts, as this is the 2025. on to the next one, predictions, extravaganza. And thank you for joining us live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel or wherever you find your favorite podcast if you're listening or watching after the fact.

I am Mike Heck and joining me for one of my favorite shows of the year. Each year is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity. And my best friend, Mr. Alexander Kay Lee, aka I know it's past the Larry David's statute of limitations, but since it's the first time we've seen each other this year. Happy New Year, my best friend. How are you? Oh, happy New Year, happy New Year, everyone. I am good.

If I look slightly redder and darker than usual, I did was back. I'm back from a vacationone. I celebrated New Year's with my wife and still good in Trinidad and Tobago. So shout out to, shout out to Vishal and Johnny, my host out there. And my dear Antinera, they're amazing hosts. And now I'm back in Canada. Now I'm back in Canada. And it is freezing.

and surrounded by snow. But more importantly, I'm back in the end of the May world, Mike. Back with you, back with producer Casey. And I couldn't be more excited for this show, especially after we did our recap episode where I think you and I got like 95% of our predictions right. We were pretty good. I'm joking, obviously, but I think we did all right.

I would say four out of five. I think four out of five, we were pretty good with our predictions. I think collectively it was our best year of doing this. Yeah. And there were some weird questions, but we've almost gotten to the point where there is nothing bold, there is nothing that is off the table. Like everything is possible in this crazy world of ours.

So yeah, I thought it was a pretty decent year. The champ predictions I was absolutely horrific at. You did much better with the champ predictions than I did last year. And we'll see how the chips fall for 2025 because here is how the show is going to work. If this is the first time you were joining us for one of these predictions extravaganzas, you guys and gals have submitted a slew of buy-sell questions. Some of these are very straightforward. Some of these, which was a big case last year, require a lot of thought.

And some are just absolutely insane. But we love them all. And our wonderful producer, the aforementioned E. Casey Liden, who is fresh back from Japan, he will pull a bunch up. We have no clue which questions he is going to choose. We will run off as many of these as we possibly can. and if you're thinking to yourself, oh, man, I didn't know we could submit,

I want to submit, I want to ask some questions, you can throw in a super chat. We'll mix in some super chats as well. And then after that, AK and I, we will select who we think will end the year as UFC champions in each weight class. And then to cap it all off,

we will each offer a wild, bold prediction for 2025. What is AK going to pick? Is it going to be a Habib Nirmagamai made off? comeback prediction, perhaps, but these bold predictions are probably something that is not going to happen. But again, like I said earlier, you never know because the sport is absolutely insane. So with that being said, AK, are you ready? I could not be more ready. And full disclosure, let me tell people, I actually was kind of struggling with my bold prediction, but it came to me before the show. And I think I can build up to it. I think it'll go

along with some of the buy-sell questions. I will say, Mike, you were saying, you have not given a deep look at these questions, right? I actually did. I needed to kind of prepare myself. Not a super amount of research because I do want it to be somewhat spontaneous, but also, again, I've been out of the loop for the last week or so. So just wanted to make sure I had the pulse of sort of the questions happening. But I think some of these buy cells will relate to my prediction and I can build up to it.

But we'll see. We'll see. You never know how these things go. All right. With that being said, Casey, what is the first question? Buy or sell, AK, there will be more. More than one Brazilian champion by the end of 2025, I will at least assume this will be from the UFC, specifically. What do you think, A.K., buy or sell more than one Brazilian champion by the end of 2025.

I'm very quickly going back and just looking at our predictions post. You guys, guys, if you want to sort of a greater idea of how we think the championship, UFC championship landscape is going to play out, we do have a article on the site who will be our 11 UFC champions by the end of 2025. I definitely click on that. And it looks like, Mike, because I don't want to change our predictions already. I mean, this is the new years. We're only a few days in the new year. You can't get going back on your resolutions now. I have to say, let me see the question.

More than two, more than one. I'm saying no. No. So I have to sell this. I have to sell this, Mike. Just based on what I've already written, I have to sell this. And my prediction is Pentosia. And I guess if people are thinking Alex Perreta,

I guess I'm assuming he loses the belt one way or another, whether it's in a fight with Ankleyev or another light heavyweight challenger, just because he defends so much, it's just a law of averages. Or if he happens to make that jump up to heavyweight or something, and just rakeets the title. So, I guess he could win the heavyweight title, but I wouldn't pick him to do that either. So I'm sticking with the sell.

Yeah. Pantosia. I'm buying, and I'm going to leave it at that. There's going to be more than, I'm even going to just plant the little seed. It's going to be more than two Brazilian champions. Oh, boy. By the end of 2025. So there you go.

We're already against each other. This is awesome. So we're going to start things off on opposite ends of the spectrum. So there you go. Casey, next question. Bye. Bye. Bye.

We need to start. You know, we need to do. We need to actually start every, these buy cells with, like, actual fictional, like, money. Like, we have, like, $1,000 in MMA fictional money to spend. So, like, you know, so we can put weight on, like, like, I'm, more bought into certain things. This was, take all, take my whole bank roll, buy it. The goat will return in 2025.

So for those listening on the podcast network, the question is, buy or sell Ryan Hall has a UFC fight in 2025, AK could not buy this fast enough. His $1,000 hypothetical bank account would be gone. The show would be over. Two questions in. Ryan Hall, will he have a UFC fight in 2025? For you, AK, just for you.

I'm going to buy this. I'm not confident in this pick at all, but just to put the positive vibes out there, the problem is, AK, and you laid this out all the time, is there a featherweight on this planet who is man enough to sign the dotted line? That's the big question here.

Because I'm sure Ryan's been offered a dozen fights, and he's probably signed a dozen contracts. But it takes two to tango, AK. And it's not easy to step in with a man like this. Look at Iliate Tepori's career. He was man enough to do it, And now he's a champion. Is anybody else willing to do that?

And notice he's never spoken about fighting Ryan Hall again, because he knows. He knows he got lucky. And God bless him. You know what? It was his night. I've never heard him mention why in to fight Ryan Hall again. It's a little suspect to me.

I've been told, actually, you know, we don't know a lot about UFC contracts. They're very secretive. I've been told there is a clause for any featherweight or lightweight, anyone in his range that you do not have to accept to fight with Ryan Hall. It is like, it's in there. It's in small print, but it's like if you are a book, you know, if we send your contracts to write, Ryan Hall, we understand you have a life and you have a family and you don't want to die. So you are allowed to say no and we will not hold it against you. We will offer you another phone.

This is, this is true. Yeah. It's a terrific clause that they added. You need it. You need it. I didn't even like honestly, I haven't even thought about him in so long. This is a great question. It popped. I think about him every day. I think about him every day. Next question. That's a fun one. Super chat question.

Thank you, Stephen. Buy or sell, we get women's atom weight. Also, cheers from Spain. I'm spending the New Year's in Europe for three weeks to Mars, Rome. Good for you, Stephen. So by or so we get an atomweight division in the UFC, AK. It's just not this year. I just don't see them doing it in 2025.

It will happen someday. It will happen. It might even get announced to this year, Mike. Does that count? Should we change this to like announce that they're going to introduce an Adam Whit Division? Yeah, it needs to be like an official announcement. This can't be Dana at a press conference being like, yeah, it sounds like a great idea.

Yeah, we're going to do it. I know we like to take Dana's word as Bond, but that is not always the case. This needs to have like a video package. This needs to be social media posts. This needs to be on UFC.com, UFC News, all that. Like this needs to be an official announcement that on this date, we are officially introduced. the Adamweight division. The first Adamweight fight will happen in 2026.

I'm okay with that. I think I'm still going to sell. It has to happen. I think by 2026, I just don't think the announcement happens this year. I think they need Sika Azawa. Obviously, that's a big one. I think she needs to be available to site.

I just don't see how you can start an Adamweight division without her in the UFC. They have a lot of great fighters coming out in Victor, of course. A lot of, I'm sure there's a bunch of strawberries who will want to drop down. So it's there. Like, it's certainly possible to start a vision. you know, tomorrow if they wanted to. But as always like the best in the world, at least has that hype behind her.

So I think you'd really like to start with that. But hey, listen, they started a featherweight division without Chris Cyborg once upon time. So I don't know. What do I know, Mike? What do I know? But I'll go sell. It's going to happen within the next couple of years, just not officially in 2025.

I mean, they did the ultimate fighter without Yowana or Claudia, the two best star weights in the world. So I'm selling this, though. They don't, I think they like the concept of it, but I just don't think of like the top 25 most important things they need to accomplish in 2025. I don't think this is one of them. No disrespect. I just,

they have so much going on with the TV deal and all these other things. I just, I don't think it happens. And I think if you're, I know GFL, I believe has signed some atom weights. I think PFL should absolutely do an Adam weight season and just, they're not going to beat the UFC in anything. but at least you could beat them to the punch on this, at least a little bit of an FU in somehow.

It won't like affect the UFC's bottom line at all because they don't have to do this or anything else. They are just killing it. So I'll say no. I'll sell this. Yeah, I hope we're wrong. I hope we're wrong. Great, great question.

I hope we're wrong. Yeah, me too. Buy or sell. There being three or more UFC champs by the end of 2025 with undefeated records. Interesting. Well, Ryan Hall's coming back and he's going to win a title and he's never lost. So that's one.

Who is the one? Is Toporia the only one? Oh, no, Umar could. Umar could be one. Yes, Umar is. But is Deporia the only current UFC champion that's undefeated? Yes. Oh, the other one in the discussion, obviously, who was also fighting for the title soon would be Tatiana.

Oh, yeah, that's true. That's true. And John is, you could say, John is undefeated. You could say, oh, it was a BS loss, but it is a loss. It is officially a loss. So we're saying, Umar, that the year will end with Toporia, Umar, and Tatiana is champions. And then someone has to kind of come out of nowhere.

Yeah. What do you think, Mike? I'm selling this. I'm going to sell. I just don't think we're going to get all three. I don't think we're going to get all three. So I'll say I think we get one, maybe two. For all three to come true, I, there's just a lot, especially with Suarez in there.

Because you just don't know if she's going to fight. So I'm a little pessimistic on that end, so I will sell this. Oh, thank you. Left Lane in the comments. Reminding us also, like, Hamzat. Hamzat. Oh. And and.

Still selling. And Shavcott. Oh, Snikes. Oh, okay. So take a second. Take a second. Thank you, Leflane. Thanks for this.

Okay. So now I'm buying it. Thank you, Leflane. Now you're buying it. So specifically. I have to buy it now. You're going Elya shop. I don't want to give away on my, I don't want to give away my champ predictions.

But, well, I mean, I kind of gave three away because I just, it just changed my entire answer. So yes. Now I will officially buy this. I'm still going to sell. I feel like the stars are aligned. That's for sure. The fact that.

The fact that we have Umar and Tatyana Suarez is already getting their shot. Like, we could have three undefeated UFC champions by the end of February. Like if the, you know, if the challengers do what they're supposed to do. Man, that's a good question, smart question. I'm still going to sell. I'm still going to sell. Because this is also assuming that these champions, you know, fight or either don't fight and then are just end the year's champion or they fight again and then win, which is,

which is not guaranteed. There's a lot of tough competition out there. I think Molfsar could be I'll yet. Like I think Molfsar is really, is Molsar? also undefeated? No. Is he? He is.

Okay. So, you know, and Mossar beats Ilya, it would, it would satisfy this criteria anyway. I'm still going to sell, but boy, there is a, there's a really strong case that we could see three or more undefeated champions this year. God, that's a great question. I'm going to sell. I'm going to sell. Three is a perfect number. Three is a perfect number for this.

Well done. All right. Next question. One buy one sell. Buy our sell. Colby Covington and Jorge Mazadol will fight and the winner will jump right back into another title shot.

So we're saying, so this question is they're going to fight each other and then the winner of that fight gets a title shot immediately after. Is that the question? So we're getting the rematch and then they're basically fighting for a title shot.

This has to be, based on that, this has to be. There's no way. There's no way. And I know there's just, no. It can't happen. I'm selling this. I can't, like, there is a part of me that could try to justify this, trying to put the UFC spin on all of this.

There's just no way you can justify this. It would be. No way you can justify it. So no, I'm selling this. There has to be, this would be one of the most, this would probably be the most ludicrous title shot in UFC history. Honestly. I thought for a second I was reading it,

I was like they fight, one of them fights of this year, something and then gets a I don't know maybe I was given the question too much flexibility but because I was thinking like if Jorge like fought Leon Edwards and like knocked him out like knocked out Leon inside of like the first or second round then you could be like okay Jorge's you know popular guy he's can get a shot Colby I have no idea who he could beat to earn a title shot so yeah the way this is phrase has to be a sell but man shows you just how much like how relevant these guys still are somehow despite their lack of success inside the Octagon in recent years but that's that's the business. this. Let me ask you this,

A.K. If they book this fight, what would the, like, would it be a, like a fight night on the road main event? Is this a main card? Like, where is this at on a pay-per-view card? Like, if they did it in my, if there's a rumor card in Miami and April,

where does this fight fall on that card? Is it a main card fight? Is it a, like, the top prelim, featured bout, co-main event? Like, where would this fall, you think? What is pay-per-view? If this is, they did like, let's just say April, they're doing a pay-per-view in Miami

and they booked this fight on there, which honestly makes all the sense in the world if you're going to run this one back to do it there for the official king of Miami or whatever they like to call each other or call themselves. Where do, where does this fight lie? Is this the co-main event? Is this the opener for the main card? Where is this all? So let's say this does happen in April because by then, so again, they've already,

they've already blown through what, four title fights in the first. two months of January, February. We've got four title fights. I don't know what their plans are for March. I don't know how much they'll be able to stack the Miami card. So I think you will need name value on it. I actually think it goes third last. I think just good, just based on who they are.

Yeah, and the Florida ties, it goes at least third last. Maybe Coleman, again, depends what the card looks like. But it does sound weird to say it. Is there buzz around these two fighting again? Do people want this? I just don't know where either goes right now. Like, it would make sense. There's so much history here.

After they fought Colby won pretty dominantly. And then the things that happened outside of the cage shortly thereafter. And then we didn't see Colby for an entire year until he stepped on the scale in the UK before the Usman Edwards rematch. And then Mazadol hasn't fought since the Burns fight and then retired, but then said, like, now I'm going to fight again. So it would make sense for because Colby's, I mean, he got thumped up pretty bad by Buckley and then lost pretty dominantly to Leon. He's nowhere really near a title shot. And Mazadol isn't either. He's coming off of a boxing loss to Nate Diaz.

So I don't know. It would just be using their name value to kind of fight each other. It's probably maybe you do Mazadol, Leon, but I think that's probably the biggest fight for both guys currently right now. isn't it? Unless you do a weird one, like Mazadol Ferguson or Mazadol-Sorone somewhere.

If Donald comes back for real, I don't know. I mean, you can talk me into this fight being made. I probably won't care about it. But, you know, both guys getting another big paycheck. Good for them.

But yeah, it would be a very strange scenario to have, I don't think we'd be talking about any title implications if this fight would be booked. Yeah, sell, sell, sell. Next question.

Left lane, super chat. Appreciate you. Buy yourself out of Ferguson, Nick Diaz, Mazadol, and Cowboy. More than one will win a fight in 2025. More than one. That's, oh, okay. We have a lot of, sorry guys, my entrance breaking down.

We have a lot of will so-and-so win fight questions, I feel. Mike, is my audio at least okay? I can hear you. Mine is pretty slow as well, so. You're coming in. You're coming in fire an AK. You're just, you know, just pixelated. Okay.

Just my face. Yeah, yeah, my face is. But no one's complaining about that. No, they never do. They never do when my camera is malfunctioning for some reason. We're talking MMA fights here, right? We're not talking about if they drift into boxing, brainuckle boxing, grappling contest.

We have to be talking to win an MMA fight, right? MMA fight, yeah. this is a sell. This is a sell. What are we doing? I can't. More than one? I don't even know if one will.

And then again, people are saying Cowboy and Ferguson might rematch or something. So at least then you're getting one winner, presumably, assuming not a no contest or draw, but more than one, I got a sell. I will sell this too. Maybe one. Maybe. Yeah. I'll say one. Who is the one?

Who's the one? I'll say Mazdaal. Okay. Okay. Oh, I'm not, I'm not making a pick. I was just putting you on the spot. Because like Mazadal Cowboy like makes sense and I would pick Mazel to win that fight. Another DS question.

By herself, Nate Diaz will have a UFC fight announced for 2025, but it will not actually happen. That is great. I love the caveat to this one, AK. So Nate will have a UFC fight announced for 2025, but it doesn't happen by herself. A UFC fight. That's the other thing that makes it. That's good. If you just said fight, I'd say, yeah, obviously.

Some sort of fights can be announced and it's not going to happen. But a UFC fight, I return to the UFC. We all know it's, we all know it's going to happen. Like, it would surprise me if Nate Diaz never fought in the UFC again. Like, I do feel like that's where his career has to end. Will it be, will one be announced in 2025 and not happen? Mike, I'm going to buy. I'm going to buy.

I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. I'm going to buy. Yeah, not my most confident buy for sure. But I feel like we need to lean into the weirdness. I think we're being a little conservative with our portfolios so far. I'm adding this to my portfolio, my 2025 portfolio, Mike. Okay.

I am buying this too, AK. Oh. I'm going to buy this too, but I'm going to add a little caveat to this as well. They're going to announce sometime this year that the main event for, UFC 322 or wherever it is at Madison Square Garden in November, the main event will be Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz 3, and then the fight won't happen. And I don't even think it's going to be Nate's fault.

I think something will happen with Connor, and then the fight doesn't happen. So that's I'm saying. I'm saying he will be announced for a fight. He won't fight, but it won't be his fault. I'll say that. Now we're getting, Mike, we're not even at bold prediction time yet. You're already getting in there.

My bold prediction is a little weird. It's a little out there. It's a little out there. But yeah, let's buy it. Let's buy it. Why the hell not? It would make all the sense in the world for those two to not want to fight each other

to save it till like they're both not in the UFC anymore and just make all the monies off of it. The UFC is just going to not let that happen. So at that point, you might as well just do it. But then it still won't happen. So maybe there's a chance that happens outside. So I'll buy this. This is fun.

Yeah, I feel good about it now. Now that we talked our way through it, I feel good about it. Good question. Next one. Buy or sell. Alex Perey gets at least two more boops by the end of 2025. I have to sell. I think I have to sell because I think I'm not predicting him to win two fights in 2025.

So I can like, I'm an ankle I have truther, right? I think, like, you mentioned in the beginning that I did well with my championship predictions. I think it's because I just pick the same names like every year. I think I swap out like one or two names and it's just hope for the best. So Anka-Lyev, yeah, I'm still riding that train. I still think he can be the champion. And I also think a prayer goes up to heavyweight. Again, I don't pick him to boop aspinall or Pareda or, I'm sorry,

John Jones or whoever it is, he fights up there. So I have to sell. I have to sell. I don't think he's getting two knockouts this year. What a crappy thing for me to say. I'm sorry, guys. I suck. What a terrible.

I'm telling you that you won't see two cool Palletta knockouts. But I think we were spoiled in 2024 anyway. So hopefully that guys keep you guys warm until 2026. I'm going to sell this too because I think he's going to go to heavyweight his next fight. I think he's either going to fight John or he's going to fight Aspinall next. And I don't think he wins either of those fights,

but I don't think it's a situation where he should have to vacate if this happens. I would be full on board saying he should vacate the belt if he's given this opportunity to try to win the heavyweight title or any kind of heavyweight title. Because if he fights Aspenol wins, going to fight john and that's a huge deal so maybe he doesn't even defend the light heavyweight title at all this year but i don't like his chances going up to heavyweight and beating either of those two guys and then at that point he fights once at 205 and i think he wins that fight whoever it is whether it's ankylai if or some mother contender caros oberg or whoever um so i'll sell this i think

we get there you go next question uh by herself francis and gano has two pfl fights in 2025 i'm just going to go on on a limb here okay uh sell the shit out of this one no freaking chance he fights twice in the bfl in 2025 so i will sell all of this what if he fights once for pfl and once for bellator does that count is there a bellator i don't think so i i mean I'd know, they're lightweight champion

is about to defend his title soon. I have people Yeah, but on a PFL card, the PFL champion series headlined by

Bellator champion Usuna Magamato. This, this feels like a sale. This feels like a sell. I don't know if Francis, at least in an MMA, ever fights more than once in a year again.

Now, Mike, what if he fights in a boxing match under the PFL banner and also fights in MMA? Would you consider that likely at all? I don't know. PFL boxing.

Oh, come on. You want them to start a boxing promotion with all the shit they can't already handle? Imagine Don Davis. I beat you, Dana. I beat you. I beat you. I did it first. I did it first.

Oh, my God. Yeah, sell this. I think he boxes. Yeah, I think he boxes first. and then he fights like in October again. It's going to be like an October tradition. He just fights in October in Saudi Arabia. So no, he doesn't have too many of those.

Not two league. Okay, not two league fights. Yeah, I got a so. God, no. By herself, two or more champs moving up or down a way class to challenge for a second title. Okay, so we're asking for two or more individual champions fighting for a champ, doing a champ champ-champ fight.

What do you think, AK? I really hope not. I really hope not. I know we had so much of that talking in 2024. I just am not, I'm not curious. As much as I love the Volkinovsky, like Makachev fight, the first one. Have we got to keep these things special, you know? It's just, I don't know.

And there's just so many guys who haven't cleared out their divisions. But Edda's like the only weird one because, again, he fights light, heavyweight, heavyweight. I mean, these divisions are shallow anyway. I wouldn't care if he changes divisions and jumps up. It goes for a champ champ, champ status. Like, great, go for it. But when you're talking about light welterweight down to, like, flyweight, like, it's just so stupid.

So I'm going to definitely say sell. I know Ilya says he wants to make the jump. So maybe he's the one. Islam wants to, too, but I just don't see them both doing it the same year. I just since those stories are intertwined. So, yeah, I'll go sell confidently selling this one. I will. So I just need two.

I already have one. I think Pereira is going to do it. So I just need one more to do it. Because it could be Zhang. Maybe Zhang moves up and fights it for the flyway belt? I'm buying. I'm going to buy this. I think because we didn't have any this year in 2024, right?

No. Does this count if Zhang loses the titles of Tatiana and then moves up to flyweight? No, she has to. This is a champ having to go up and win another title. Two or more champ. So they have to be a chance. Okay. Okay.

I will buy this because I could see Islam doing it. Bilal has to lose because he's not going to fight Bilal. And Bilal, if you fight Shafat, it's a way more interesting fight than I thought it was going to be. But I would probably still pick Shafqqad in that one if that's the next one. Maybe Pants tries? I don't know. because he will like he's legit like outside of I mean he's already fought like

Pants has already fought like everybody already except for Kai Kaysi Kaysi that's he has a fight Kai Kaur franchise right they didn't fight before like before he was champion they fought on Tuffin exhibition Oh thank you KC I just wrote about that recently too Thank you Casey that's right

Correct correct yeah I'll buy it I'm still gonna buy it Why not do UFC it's a it's a it's a TV contract year. I could see them doing a lot of weird shit this year. Right. So, yeah, I'll buy this. Yeah, I'm thinking of Pentosia. I still got to see, we can still got to see that cop fight.

But you're right, after that, yeah, second half of the year. I don't know. If he wins, we'll see. I'm selling. All right. AK still selling. All right. Next one.

Buy or sell. I mean, the amount of Hamza questions that we have gotten for this and other shows is unbelievable. buy yourself, Hamzaa Chamaif competes for a belt in a weight class that is not 185 pounds, AK. I mean, this might do with the last question too. He might, let's say he runs through Drickus, which I don't think is, I don't think he necessarily well, but let's say he runs through Drickis and then says, screw it, I'm going up for another title fight right away. And again, it's like heavyweight.

There's, you know, it's not hard to jump to the front of that line. I'm definitely selling, but this might be just me saying, like, I hope this doesn't happen. Like, I hope he just wins it and defends the middleweight title, at least a, couple of times before he'd been talking about changing weight classes. But I mean, the guy's been talking about fighting in three divisions for a year. But he hasn't even won a title. He's been talking about fighting in three divisions. So I will sell, but it's very, very, very possible.

I have to sell this because this is the first year I actually thought about not making Hamzaa a champion in his actual division. Because not only has he not won a belt, he has never fought for a belt. out of all these years since 2020, we're like, this guy's going to fight for a belt this year. Go back to every champ predictions thing we have done for M-May fighting since then, and we have put Hamzat in the mix

at least in one division every single time, sometimes two divisions, sometimes two, and yet he has never fought for an actual belt for a UFC title. So before I could ever buy this, I need to see him actually compete for a title. I need to see Dana White actually announce that Hamzot is fighting, for a belt because we haven't even gotten that far yet.

So until I see that, I can't buy this. So I will sell this. Very sensible. Very sensible of reasoning, my best friend. I think you're right. Can't wait. The show will end five minutes later in Dana will announce at Homesteads fighting like Altspur or something for the latest title in March.

Next question. Shout to John, Super Chat. Buy or sell, RDR will be a top 10 ranked 185 or by the end of 2025. that's good I'm selling this you're selling it okay so obviously

we're talking about UFC rankings not the NBA fighting global rankings I'll sell both I'll sell both he doesn't have his next does he have his next fight booked already

yeah he's fighting Kevin Holland he's fighting Kevin Holland okay that doesn't get you ranked very soon very soon so here's the bottom half of the UFC's top of dean right now Michelle Perreta

Sharra bullet Fluffy Hernandez Jack Hermanson and Paulo Koso So that's 15 to 11. I mean, it's a really good division right now, but can he, he has a name.

I feel like they believe in him as, you know, they're invested in him somewhat. Like, could he get a fight against like a Roman deletes, like, a Brendan Allen? Top 10, right? Top 10?

He has to be in the top 10. Top 10. I will say, oh, I will sell. It's a hesitant sell, though, because I think he could be in the top 10 someday, just maybe not by the end of this year. So I will. No, you know what?

No, you know what, Mike? That's such a weak prediction for me. Because I've already said that a bunch of times, like, oh, it's going to happen eventually, just not 2025. Do it. You know what? This one will happen, this one will happen. He will get a big, like, fight night or something,

main event before the end of the year. That will, he'll catch someone coming down, the middleweight rankings. Like, I think someone from the, the top 10 will sort of be coming down, and then he'll catch that person and take the nine or 10 spot. Yes. You know what, John Shin, RDR, top 10, 2025?

I'm still going to sell. He is the middleweighty, middleweight champion for life. He will no will ever take this title from him. I don't care if he loses the next seven fights. He will still be the middleweighty, middleweight champ. He's the Demetrius Johnson of middleweighty, middleweights, especially after watching the Gerald Mearshire fight. I don't even care about his ranking.

I just want him to fight everybody because he's just so fun to watch and kind of funny to watch at times because of just his style. It's hilarious. But like I just don't say, like he ain't beaten Anthony Hernandez in a fight. It's just not happening.

He's just going to get dusted. It just can't happen. Him and Pereira would be incredibly fun. I would love to see that fight. That is a tremendous apex main event for like May. Just do those two in the apex for five rounds. I just don't think he's going to get enough. I don't know if he's just going to get the matchups for it.

So I think he will be ranked. I just don't think he's going to be top 10. So no. What else we got? Yeah, what have we got here? Good ones. Lazybed. Buy or sell.

PFL seasons no longer occur in 2025. I hadn't thought about that. I, I'm going to buy this. I'm going to buy this. I have no insight to this whatsoever. But Don Davis has been teasing big announcements, big changes. This 2025 year is going to be unlike any other. I think the writing has been on the wall for a while that the season is dumb,

that it makes no sense. Like, I get the concept and you're trying to be different, but you can't do, Jed's been saying it for years and he's spot on with this. You can't do it an actual regular season in two fights. you can. It's just silly. And then just kind of like dotting the eyes and crossing the T's from the town hall and Don saying,

we've talked about just doing these different things where like a fighter can do a call out or we do some sort of round where the fighter who is like the higher he gets to call out his or her next opponent. In the season format, like it would be fun, but it doesn't really make all that much sense. So perhaps they're going to a Grand Prix model, which if you're going to take anything from the Bellator brand,

I think the Grand Prix model makes way more sense and is way more digestible to the fan than the season format with the points and the bullshit and the weird matchmaking where you can actually set it up however you want. Like it worked out great for Dakota Dichiva because she's just tremendously talented. She's just very good. But it was clearly obvious what they tried to do with her. Like poor Liz Karmouche is the freaking champion of Bellator. and she's one of the seven best flyweights on planet Earth, yet she had the toughest matchups out of everybody, and Dakota got the worst fighters in the, no disrespect,

but the lowest ranked fighters back to back to make it, not only to the playoffs, but to get the top seed so they can matchmake for her the way they wanted to. And again, it worked out great because she beat that shit out of Tyler Santos in the finale. But doing the Grand Prix, I think, is way more digestible. And I think PFL, this is going to be. be a very crucial year for them where they have to just kind of put their feet in the sand be like this is who we are this is our this is like our this is how we're viewed we are the

grand prix promotion we are this promotion we are that we have an identity now so i think they're going to go to that route and sign some interesting fighters so i'm going to buy this but mostly because it makes sense and two for positive juju so i'll buy it You talked me into it. I'm going to buy it, Mike. I'm going to buy it. I was hesitant. I was hesitant because I still like, I still love the idea of a league or promotion doing something different. But yeah, every criticism that's been levied against it is spot on from Jen from everyone else. Like it's just not enough time unless you're going to go again, January to December every year. So start your events in January, start your events in February and try and get a three fight regular season, which would still be really hard to do.

Again, there's just like health permitting and scheduling all so much stuff that can go wrong. But unless you're going to at least try that, the whole two-season, two-fights regular-season format just didn't work. It was always hilarious when they show like, here's where fighters stand at the halfway mark. Like they show a graphic. And I'm like, yeah, that's, you mean, after one. Just say after one fight. It's not a halfway. Literally, it is a halfway mark.

So not incorrect, but it just sounds so silly. So unless they're going to change to a January, February, like January to December model, which again, it's already too late. We know they don't have any events scheduled for the next couple months. It's not feasible. So I would love to see it continue in some form. I see a lot of people saying you still do some sort of Grand Prix tournament thing at the end, which, yeah, I agree. I think that's the way to go.

Tournaments are cool. Grand Prix are cool. But it is disappointing that they just weren't able to quite get that amount of time they needed to make a season work. And before people, and the ceiling is, I don't know if they wanted to, like, they were so adherent to making it like other sports leagues. I think they felt like, oh, well, you know, January to March is our off season. And it's like, there's no off season in MMA. Like that's the whole point. One thing I think fans love about it is there's no off-season.

And even if you want to point to other professional leagues, like if you just look at football, soccer, excuse me, I'm being, or I'm being pretentious. If you look at soccer, like around the world, yes, they have an off-season,

but essentially the players are playing so much. Because of all these tournaments, they have all these cups and things. So they're playing almost year-round in the international tournaments. That's what PFL should have aiming for, to just say, we're like a regular league, but there's just no off-season.

You could have made that part of your, you could have made that part of your, your campaign. I don't know. You're doing an event in January. They have one of the books. What events? Oh, yes.

I just said it. The one with, with, what's it called? Usman and Paul Hughes. And Paul Hughes. Yeah. But I mean, again,

and that, if they were going to do that, I wish that's, like, say, the regular season starts in January. Like, I wish that's what they would have done. But I think,

I think you got, you got to buy this one. We got to buy this one. We got to buy this one. Seasons are over. It was, it was an okay run. It wasn't okay run.

I don't mean about it, but I mean, it was. It was a nice thing. You tried it. It doesn't work. Yeah. That's it. That's fun.

Buy or sell, the fighter of the year will be someone ranked outside the top three of their division as of January 1st, 2025. I'm going to go first. Let me just look at it. Let me just look real quick. We're talking about UFC rankings. I have to sell this because you already know. who my fighter of the year is going to be. It's the man who's currently ranked number one in our hearts

and number one in the UFC lightweight rankings. His name is soon to be and new UFC lightweight champion of the world, Armand Sarukian. So I have to sell this. When we say outside of the top three, we mean, so the way the UFC does it, of course, is the champion is just like champion, not number one. The champion is champion.

And then the next one to three are the one to three contenders. So we're talking about outside of the one to three contenders. right, not champion one and two? Hmm. I think we should add champion to this. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, well, you still... The champion plus the top three.

Yeah, you still can't pick Armin, like I said. He's essentially number two, the number two lightweight in the world right now. Yeah. So outside, I mean, that makes things easier. Because, okay, so technically, that would include Hamzot then, if we're going by that criteria.

Hamzot is the third ranked contender by the UFC. Do I think he has enough choose to be the fighter of the year? I kind of want to say yes. So that's an option. What else we got here? I'm just looking at these names here. I mean, there are some interesting ones. There are some interesting names.

So are we saying champion one and two? Are we saying champion plus one, two, three? We're saying champion one and two right now, but I don't know how people want to interpret it. So we'll say champion. Well, because by our rankings, you know, again, we just put, well, we don't care who's a champion necessarily. just most of the number ones happen to be UFC champions excuse me.

We just go straight one, two, three. We don't designate between title holder and, you know, contenders. But UFC does. UFC has champions separately and then the contenders listed next. So I'm going to say champion one and two. So does that change things for you, Mike? Does that change things for you? No, it doesn't.

Okay. Although one of my divisional champion picks is pretty wild. And if this happens, he's going to have a terrific case for being Fighter of the Air. and he's currently number three in his division so but i'm still gonna i'm still gonna sell this and still this is all i didn't have that it was a year too early pushing all my arm and surruki chips in the middle but now i have to redo it i bought back in and i'm going blind all in firsthand i want to pick hums that's so bad i just don't have confidence he fights more than once a year and again if he does that thing is if he does then he'll absolutely

and wins, assuming he wins two fights. Let's say he wins his middleweight championship, defends it once. I mean, he'll definitely be in talks for Friday of the year. I just don't know if he fights more than once a year. Optimist pick, I'll buy. I'll buy. Okay.

Yeah, I love it. The number three contender, the number three contender in the UFC rankings, but technically outside of the top three counting the champions. So let's do it. Let's buy. Quick question, gentlemen. In the last, say, four or five years, Has any fighter of the year met this criteria?

Oh, Sean Strickland. There you go. Nice, nice. Easy pick. Damn, that, damn, that was crazy. I was going back and looking some of our previous part. I was like, man, we really did it. Like, we really pulled the trigger on Sean Strickland.

What a crazy year that was. Alex Pereira must have been two, right? The year he won the middleweight title. Oh, maybe, yeah. He was definitely, he might not have been ranked. because he was coming off the Michaelitis debut win. Oh, yeah, yeah, true. And then won the belt in November the following year against Izzy.

Damn, so I'm definitely buying because if it's not Comzad, it could be some other frigate. You know, maybe it could be right under Ritter. We don't know, Mike. It's so unpredictable. I love that question. Yeah, so the last four years, two of them, 50% have fit this criteria. Pretty good. Pretty good.

It's not bad. I mean, these are terrific questions. Uh, buy or sell. Jack Della and Shafcott will have more Octocot appearances than Greg Hardy will have knockout losses in 2025. Holy shit. What a question. Oh my God. More appearance.

Just appearances. So we're talking JDM and Shafkot's UFC fights combined. Does that number, is that number higher than the amount of knockout losses? Greg Hardy will have in 2025. I'm so confused. Okay, so how much has Greg Hardy been boxing? I know he had that ridiculous not getting knocked out a few, not too long ago. Has he boxing that often?

Like honestly, I'm pretty out of the loop other than that one highlight I saw. When it comes to his box. No. And what was that, bare knuckle or something? Was that boxing or was that bare knuckle or what was it? That was boxing. That was straight up boxing. I think he's in the boxing, like, there's like a team boxing league.

And I think he's a part of that. And he got, oh, nuked a couple of times in that. Okay. So I'm to understand he's. They always come up. So we'll know. Yeah. It hasn't been going great for Greg Hardy on the boxing scene.

If I'm, if I'm to understand it. Yeah. He also signed with GFL. He also signed with GFL. Oh, God. Oh, God. He's probably going to have an MMA fight at some point. He was a now.

He was at least, from what I understand, he was supposed to fight. for Game Bread last year and then it didn't happen. So, I don't know, man. It's a great question. I'll say Shafcott fights twice. So both these guys fight twice. That's four.

And you're so for that for me to, for me to sell this, we need Greg Hardy to get knocked out at least four times. No, five times. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, they'll have.

More. There just needs to be more. Oh, oh. I will, man, because I just don't know when these guys are going to fight. I'll sell it. I'll sell it. I think they'll fight at least three times combined, and I don't know if Greg's going to fight three times. I'm going to.

We'll have more. You're selling. So you're saying Greg Hardy will get knocked. Well, you're saying Greg Hardy will get knocked out more times than you'll see Jack and Chuck. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay, so I'll buy this. I'll buy it. Sorry.

Yes, I'm going to buy two. And if only because, like, and listen, I have no love for Greg Hardy. You guys all know, I think the guy is trash. I think he's human trash. I really do. I think he's a terrible person. I hate that he's still involved in combat sports. I just think he's bad, bad, bad, bad guy.

But that said, I don't wish for anyone to repeatedly have their brains bashed in. I don't care what their past is. I mean, there might be some exceptions, but either way. I don't care what their past is. I don't believe that's like, I don't revel in that. I don't revel in someone who I don't like, who I think is a bad person, getting pummeled repeatedly and getting brain damage.

I think it's just horrible. So for his sake, I will say, I will buy. I will buy and that we'll see more Delamadena and Schaukkut. Because if not, it's a rough year of Greg Hardy. If we're doing like three or four posts this year, of Greg Hardy just getting hammered, I mean, I know a lot of people will love it, but that's a rough way to make a living.

That's bad. Yeah. Okay. I love these questions. Oh, buy or sell. Kayla Harrison either misses weight or loses a fight this year. So one or the other. I don't think she's missing.

Well, if she fights for the belt, she has to get to 135. She's not gotten to 135 yet. That extra pound is a pain in the ass. I think she hasn't had to. I think it's very much, She just hasn't had to. And so she hasn't bothered.

I think she hasn't felt like to make, you know, make that statement. Like, see, it's like, no, it's really hard. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Excuse me. I love how this is worded, though. It's one of the, like one of these two things happens. I don't think she misses weight. Does she lose this year?

All right. I know. I know everyone's, you're buying. You think she's going to miss weight. You think she's going to miss weight? You think she gets to get a minute. Or you think she's going to lose. respect for the champ.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not. Okay, I don't want to, I don't want to step on your prediction, but, uh, okay, you know, we cut up people changing weight classes. It would not surprise me if, and I'm, I, look, if this is like a three round normal fight, just a regular, like UFC pay-per-view three-round matchup, I would pick Kayla pretty comfortably over Giuliana. But her having to make 135 in fighting Juliana for five rounds, that makes that fight way more

interesting to me. Plus, but that's not why I'm buying this. And as you'll find out later in the program. Okay. Okay. I'm going to sell. This is Kayla's year. I'm going to sell.

Okay. No hiccups. No hiccups. Next question. Oh, I was waiting for something like this. Buy or sell, a current Belator fighter, fights for a title in the UFC in 2025. So someone that is on the Bellator roster, I would assume we're talking champ here.

So maybe Pitbull, maybe Patchy Mix, maybe Johnny Ebblin. Who knows, AK, maybe your pick from last year of the Bellator defector. Maybe it is Ryan Bader's year to come back to the UFC. If you're running 24 show, Ryan Bader, out of all the guys, you chose him. So, okay, what are we going here, A.K.? Buy yourself, Ryan Bader fights for a UFC title in 2020. I buy that exact scenario. I'm going to buy, I'm going to buy here.

And I hate that I feel like I'm being very influenced by Kai Asikur, just coming in and getting a title shot, right? Like, you know, because that was a cool piece of booking, and it made sense of the time. And it was also like still somewhat surprising because we're like, wow, it's so rare for the UFC just take, you know, an established guy for another promotion and just throw them right into a title shot.

But maybe, again, maybe that's where we are now. Maybe that's something that, you know, well, again, we look, when it happened, we say it's rare, and then five years now, we look back at, oh, that was the start of the UFC sort of, you know, being very creative with their booking and just snatching talent from other emotions and throwing them right into teloshots if it made sense. And yeah, you can have some like Johnny Evelin come in and fight right away. Patricia Pitbull, I know he's a bit up there in age. I know they'd want to see him earn it, but he has a name, man.

He has a name. And just what a cool story that would be to have a way. fight for the UFC title. So this is, yeah, I'm going to buy. I'm going to buy. I don't know if they win. I don't know if I pick any of these guys to win the UFC title in 2025, but to get a fight, man, it's January.

It's a long year. It's a long year. And that last six months of the year, I'm telling you, I think we're going to see a lot of things we didn't think we'd ever see. And that could include a Beltore fighter, just stepping right in and challenging for the title. Would Aaron Pico count if he's currently a free agent? but even though PFL is matching rights

Wait, what do you mean? What would he count? Like if they didn't match. So Aaron Pico's manager did an interview with MMA junkie Ali Abdulaziz and said that Aaron Pico is a free agent right now. Yep. Yep. But PFL has matching rights.

So if the UFC were to offer him a deal right now, PFL could match their offer to retain his services. But Don Davis has come out and said they've already offered him like a title fight and a very lucrative contract. But if he's a free agent, is he considered a Bellator fighter right now? Oh, definitely, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. Yeah, for the purpose of this question, absolutely.

Like, he technically might not be a Bellator fighter as we speak, but I think if you ask people, they just think he is considered a Bellator fighter. So yeah, Pico, so that is your, is that enough for you to buy? I'm just, I'm just curious. No, it doesn't really change anything for me. I am just curious. I have to sell this. Ooh.

I have to sell it. They ain't going to let, if I'm PFL, like, I know like the, the, the right thing to do, I guess, quote unquote, is to book them or release them. But I think they're going to book them all. Like, I truly think they're going to book all of them. And it wouldn't shock me if they've already offered fights to Patchy Mix and Patricia Pitbull at this point. And maybe Patricia O'Bitts just, he's just done with all this. but even so let's just say like this back and forth on social media goes on for six months and patricio is gone say like june or july he ain't fighting niliate to poria like he ain't

jumping into a title shot at 45 or 55 right away he's going to have to earn his freaking stripes and those stripes are not going to be earned easily because he's going to have to fight mobser of loev or aljabin sterling or something. somebody of that ilk in order to get there. And I don't know how confident I would be picking him against a lot of these guys. And then Patchy would be really interesting, but I think they're going to try to keep him. I sell this because I think they will all still compete for PFL ator in 2025. They're not going to release any of them.

And if they do, there won't be enough time for them to come into a title shot. Because even if it is patchy, he ain't getting a title fight. They're not throwing him in for the belt. They're going to make him fight somebody else. They're going to make him earn it. He's going to have to get at least one win, maybe two. Same with Petricio at this point. Because they have terrific lineages,

terrific runs with Bellator, champions, all of that. But UFC fans for the most part, especially this newer, broader audience that the UFC has attracted with this wide net and using social media influencers to bring on more fans. They have no fucking idea who either of these guys are. They have no clue. none. So I will sell this. No UFC title shots for a Bellator fighter. I'm going to buy. Ryan Bader it is.

Next. Ryan Bader versus John Jones, two AK, the heavyweight title. Finally. And then Parker Porter. Well, he's got Parker's book. Did you see that? I did. Exciting stuff. That leads the next question. PFL releases at least one current's Belator champion. Yeah, I mean, I have to buy it. I got to buy. I got to buy.

Yeah, I got to buy. I'm going with something crazy happening. One of these guys getting free and getting a title shot. God, maybe it's Ryan Bader. Maybe it is in fact Ryan Bader. But man. Okay. So this question is different than the other one.

Because this is, yeah, this is different than the other one. They can go anywhere. They can go anywhere. This doesn't mean go to the UFC. This just means release, yeah. Okay. I'm going to buy this. This I'm going to buy.

I could see them releasing a Corey Anderson or something like that. I could see them doing that. He's had a lot of shit to say. And good fighter. But even if they did, the UFC's not bringing Corey Anderson back. So, yeah, I think they will release one of these current champions. Corey becomes the new face of the GFL. Could be.

Maybe it's not. Maybe it is Bader. Maybe it's, who the hell knows? I don't think it's going to be Eblen, Patricio. or patchy. Maybe Patricio. Wait, why do we keep saying, wait, why do we keep saying, Bader's not actually a champion right now?

Is he? Why do we keep saying Bader? He is. He's the Belator heavyweight champion. He's the belt, stop it. He is. He's holding the Belator heavyweight title. He's the Belator heavyweight champion.

He fought him for Herrera, but it was just, it wasn't for the Belator belt. It was just for the, for the crown, for the, to sit on the big throne. It's like when a superfights title. It's been two years since the Fadorffle. Or almost. I'm sorry.

What? He's still the champion. Yes. He's still the champ. What a promotion. What's the best. That is wild. I did not.

I did not realize that. It's crazy. Next question. That's so funny. Maybe we should have more Ryan Bader questions. Will he fight in 2020? We've had, we've talked way too much about Ryan Bader than I.

I thought we would. All right. Next. All right. Like this one. Buy yourself. The aforementioned GFL hosts at least three events in 2025. Hold on.

So this is holding. Do birthday parties count? I mean, are these fighting events or do they just have to be like, oh, we had a, we had a birthday. We rented out, we rented out of Chuck Echise for, for Tanya Avenger or something. And we had a party. That's an event. That counts an event. We put the GFL banner on there.

GFL sponsored birthday part. We're bringing in. Andy Elliott out to motivate the truth. Goodness, me. Yeah, these have to be fighting, fighting events. Does that change your prediction, though? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think JFL's being doing a lot of, like, events.

I think they'll be showing a lot of face in 2025. But I mean, actual fighting events, come on. So you're selling, you're selling. I'm still not sure they do one. I'm not sure they do one in 22. I just don't know. I just don't know. I have to sell this.

I just, I don't even know if they do one. I have to sell. Yeah, I got to sell. all too. I just, where are they getting this money? What are they doing? How many people on their roster right now? I think it's like 60 or 70, but they're all like big names and apparently just based on some of them, they're all getting paid like, and I've talked to like a couple fighters who were just like, yeah, they threw this like ridiculous amount of money at me. Like I couldn't say no. So, but I just don't know where they're getting this. And they don't have, as of right now,

from what I understand. And I could be wrong about this. this. They don't have a TV deal in place yet. I mean, maybe they just did something over the last like 48 hours, but as of like a week or week and a half ago, just kind of talking to people, it didn't seem like they have any television. So they just, you're spending all this money without any distribution deal where you're generating income on that end. How are you making, how are you going to make money in order to host this event? Like, I just don't understand where you, where you just have unlimited funds to do this.

You know? So maybe they do one event. Maybe to, I just, I feel like the first event is just going to cost them so much and they don't really understand it. And will it generate enough buzz where like TV, like distribution entities are going to just throw them a bunch of money?

You know what I mean? Like say what you will about Mike Perry and the dirty boxing thing. like them not airing that first event was actually fucking brilliant on their part because now there's like all you saw was like little clips of things and you saw like how they laid it out in the production elements if this just dark dingy sort of airline garage with like a hundred people in it like dimly lit in this ring like everything about it rocked and to me it was just like I want to go to the next one as long as it's in the same

place as the first one. Like it just seemed like a cool place to be. And they did it so perfectly without distribution or anything like that. Like they were able to pull that off. And it probably didn't cost them like a whole hell of a lot of money. I just, GFL is already spending, I mean, millions and millions. And they haven't done anything yet. So I think we get the inaugural event.

But I just the team concept and all of it, like how are you going to fulfill all? all this. I just don't see it happening. I hope I'm wrong. I really truly hope I'm wrong. Yes. I just have been around this space long enough that we've seen players like this come and go very quickly. Mike, I hope we end up. I hope that GFL they do like the like the Dana White Fight Island video where they like, you know, collect all the journalist quotes and the media member quotes and like compile this video to make us look like fools. I hope that happens. I hope by the end, I hope by the end of 2026 that GFL has this three-minute video saying how dumb the media was. GFL is now the co-co leader in MMA and we look like fools.

I hope. I really hope that happens because, yes, the more the merrier, the more promotions out there, better for the fighters, better for the fans, better for the business. So I hope we're wrong. It's just hard for us. We just see so much of the writing on the wall. And I don't think we're being cynical. I think everyone has these same questions.

And so hopefully they have answers that just have not become apparent yet. I was still reading things while I was on vacation, Mike. And you wrote up the signing of Paige Van Zand, or she announced that she was signed on her podcast. And like, I don't know why the quote just jumped out at me. She just said, they're picking up anybody and everybody who has a name of this sport that's a free agent. They offered me a contract and I said yes. Like it was just such a weirdly like mechanical way of just say like, What a thrilling free agent chase that clearly was.

Like they're reaching out to anyone. This is what the page man's that saying. They're reaching out to anyone. Here's a contract. And they're just like, yep, okay. There doesn't seem to have any thought, any thought or strategy, other than the obvious strategy of trying to get, you know, as much name value as possible. It's frustrating to watch.

It's confusing. And if they pull this off, God bless them. We are keeping our eye on that space. That's for sure. If there's one thing, we are talking about you. we are talking about it a lot. So let's just let's just see them just pull off one event. One event in 2025 be great.

I am selling this, but one event, one fighting event last quarter of the year. That's it. That's all I ask for. So I'm hearing April is like kind of earmarked for the first event. But again, I don't know how they do this. I don't know how they pull this off. the thing that really like maybe shake my head a little bit was the cane velasquez thing kane velasquez is on as a team manager which is cool like good on you bro

the dude might be going to jail forever like in two weeks his sentencing is coming up june 20 or january 24th for this whole situation it just seems like a weird press release when this thing hasn't even happened yet. So I don't know. It's just, it's so odd and strange. The roster is super weird. Like, Vandal A. Silva should not be fighting for anybody, especially after you look at some of the things he said

when it came to the antitrust lawsuit and all that. Like, what are we doing here? And if I, I just, how are you going to matchmake here? Like, when you draft these fighters, are we drafting like a Legends fighter to fight other legends? If that's the case, I don't love it, but at least I feel better about it. I could sleep better at night. But if we're doing like Frank Meir against 28-year-old the next Tom Aspinall,

then fuck that. I don't want to watch that. I have no interest in that whatsoever. I do not want to see a 44-year-old man who was once a UFC champion just get run over by four evolutions better of an MMA fighter. That scares the shit out of me. So that I am not interested in. But if we somehow can make it work where like they all fight each other and they're still like a decent mix of other things happening, maybe they have something.

But I got a, yeah, three events. Like their first event could just put them under completely. They could sell like zero tickets and have nobody watch it. It's very possible. So we'll see. Go GFL. We want you to do good. Buy or sell an unranked fighter will be on the main card of a UFC pay-per-view event.

What? That's a question? I'll buy this 100,000 times. Yeah, I thought this question before. Kevin, is Kevin Hall in rents right now? A pay-per-view main event. Yeah, I feel like this is already. Wait, what?

But they didn't say main event. It'll be on the main card of the paperview. Main card. You're right, you're right. Oh, it just says, it just says main card. I assume they mean main event. Let's change it. I assume they meant main event.

I would have like a chaos. I would hope so because this is a regular occurrence. We have unranked. Okay. Okay. That, yes. Well, unranked fighter being the main. Oh, yes, absolutely will because again, I have to go with this because, you know,

Ryan Bader or Johnny Epplin or whatever is going to be inventing one of these people's views. So, yeah. So let's change the same. a pay-per-view main event unranked fire um i did say but but again i could see one of those belter guys coming over and getting a title fight and it being the co-main event not just being the main but also gosh things change so quickly like and become like you know fights fall through and then you just need to throw someone in the main event like who knew who knew alexerina

pentosia and steve ursac would have been event did a pay-per-view in 2024 we got that right so um i'll buy i'll buy i don't i don't have an exact scenario in mind. Again, it's probably going along with my Bellator thing. But yeah, if we're talking main event of a pay-per-view, yeah, this is going to be a weird year. 2024 was weird. It's just how they say, 20-3 was super weird. So it's just how these things go. We're in this era and I'll buy. I will buy. I will also buy this. One, because Connor McGregor is not ranked right now. And if he fights, he's going to be the main event. Wow. Good one. And two, I'm not even buying it because of Connor, but that's like a nice little chip to have to play with.

But the reason I'm buying this will be revealed when we do the champ predictions. Next question. This is like my favorite question. I saw this. This is like my favorite question. Buy or sell that Celtics legend and champion and soon to be back to back champion, Jason Tatum, ends the NBA season with more 40 plus point games than UFC 311 will have total knockouts in the entire card.

I mean, we got to do a little research here. Hold on. Did you, did you prep for this? So I saw this question and I looked at it. All right. How many 40 points? I was going to ask. How many do you think he has so far? I think he's two.

He has one. He had a 43 point game against the, in a monster blowout of the Chicago Bulls. Just not too long ago, just past December. So he's at one. He's got one. A lot of games left to play. How many games are in this season?

Like 30 something. Okay, so 30 something. This is like 50 games left. And UFC 311 has, what, 14, 14 fights. 14 fights. 14 fights. So one, two. One, two, three, four.

Are you counting knockouts right now? I'll say I will I don't know if Tate I think there'll be at least four knockouts at 311 and I don't know if Tatum drops 440 plus point games this year The problem is

I will sell this So a major problem is the Celtics are so good That like there's a lot of games Where I feel like they're just blowing people I mean he's scoring a lot in these blowouts anyway But I feel like as the season goes on If they start getting more blowouts Obviously you're going to be resting him

More and more you know as the playoffs The real games matter right So like, because, you know, they play some shitty team like, I don't know, the Toronto Raptors. So I'm so, I'm so sour with our hometown squad right now. He could score like 25 in the first three quarters on like, you know, 10 of like 14 shooting and then just sit the fourth quarter because they're up by 30 points, right? And then so and that's going to happen a lot. There's a lot of bad teams in the NBA, unfortunately, right now. There's a lot of like kind of just shitty subpart teams that he won't need to drop 40 against.

So I am going to sell. and I hate to do it because my selling is based on the Celtics being very successful. I am going to sell. So, yeah, I'm, so Mike, you said how many knockouts you're predicting at 3-11? Optimistically? At least four. At least four. Yeah, at least four.

And this is more? More. So he has to have five. Tatea needs to have more than four, four. He needs to have, yeah, he needs to have five. God, there's just so much scoring the NBA now. I will also sell. also sell for the reasons I mentioned.

I just think it's hard for him to get to that plateau with how deep his team is and how much rest he'll probably just be getting in some of these games. But that's a really, really good question. We need more cross sports. I like the cross sports ones. We should encourage that one of the future. Great question. And you pick the right name.

God, I hate the Celtics. I hate the Celtics. We'll take a couple more of these. And then we'll get to the champ predictions and the bold prediction. Buy yourself, PFL books and MMA fight for either Jake Paul or Deonté Wilder in 2025? It's funny. It's funny.

I like the Deonté Wilder, like, possibility more for some reason. Even though Jake obviously. They do Deante. It's not an M.M.A. fight, though. Why not? It would be like a boxing with M.M.A. gloves fight. It would be like the mixed ones kind of weird hybrid thing that's not M.M.A. Do you think that's more likely than Jake Paul getting an M.A fight?

Yes. Oh, wait. But you're just selling this whole thing. You don't think either guy. You're going sell for both. No, I think the Jake Paul signing and promise of an MMA fight is maybe the dumbest promotional thing I think. Oh. Because there's just, at this point, it just doesn't seem like Jake has any.

I mean, I literally sat 10 feet from him. And he would just seems like he has no interest in doing it unless it's Nate Diaz. And Nate Diaz ain't fighting for PFL. No matter what they offer him, he's not going to do it. So it would take Jake. signing with the UFC somehow, and you know PFL ain't going to do that unless it's like some sort of blockbuster trade in some regard. And why would the UFC give up anything worth of value to do this? So I'll say no.

Like this is not going to happen. Like I think I think Jake eventually does it because he has to. But he's going to milk this for all it's worth before he does because he's not fighting Nate Diaz. And I just don't know what other name would make sense. or if he just goes in and does it. Like, I think at some point, he's just going to have to go in and do it. Maybe it's like the same card as Amanda Serrano

when she fights for PFL at some point. So, yeah, I'm selling the shit out of this. Yeah, I have to sell it. It'd be so fun. It'd be so fun if PFL could make something like this happen. But yeah, these kind of things always feel like a long shot. And we've talked about the PFL a lot. They just, there's so many other things they need to worry about right now

that necessarily putting together these weird, weird bookings. So I want to buy. I want to buy. I don't believe it happens. I can't do it. Yeah, Mike, you're right. Got to sell. Got to sell.

Yeah. I'm not happy about it. I want to buy. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Like, Jake doesn't need to fight Nate or anybody else. Just fight anybody. Like, literally fight anybody.

An O&O pro. Like, who gives a shit? Cigar, Super Chat. Buy or sell. Only men's belt to change in 2025 is the last. middleweight title. Only men's belt to change. We're turning this into a buy.

We're turning this into a buy cell question. I mean, we've got Umar coming up. We've got Strickland DDP rematch. Like, I have to. Only men's belt to change. Maybe Dana White 100% guaranteed John Jones versus Tom Aspinall. I mean, 100%. I think this has a lot.

to be a sell. We will see two male fighters lose their belts. Change in 2020. Like, if Alex put out a vacate, does that count as change? If a new champion is crowned, yeah. If he vacates and then they have a title fight for the vacant belt and someone wins it, that's a change. Yeah, I'm selling.

I'm selling. We're getting at least two new men's champions. Or end again, if I've Strickland. We might get two in the first car. It's very possible. I'm picking one. I mean, you definitely think you. We're not surprising if it's both.

So I have a bet. I'm yeah, straight pick. I'm picking Umar to beat Maraub, but I have a bet on Maraub. Like you're going to give me Maraub at like nearly plus 300 against anybody. I'm going to take it. So yeah.

Yeah. Uh, yeah, I have to solve this. Yeah. Yeah. Easy sell. Thanks, cigar. They see, buy yourself.

Dana White drastically decreases his role as the face of the UFC in 2025 and we're fed a steady diet of Hunter Campbell press conferences. I could not sell this fast enough. I mean, just throw it away. One, because there, could this happen in 2026? I think we're a year early on this because once they sign this TV, Dana's going to have to be a part of the negotiation for the TV deal. He's going to have to be forward facing.

He's going to have to be there when this announcement happens. He's going to have to be the one essentially to make this announcement. So I think we're a year early on this. Once that's done, I think we see a decrease of Dana. Because you could tell, like, you can tell he's been not checked out. He's checked back in a little more because of the importance of the time period for this company right now. Like, just the massive deal they are about to sign for their distribution is going to be, I mean, it's going to be multi-billions, billion, billions, billions, billions. like tens of I don't even know how much this is going to this is going to cost all these different entities.

So I will sell this. But if you ask me this next year, I could very well live in a world where we see less Dana. Will we see Hunter being up there as the face? I don't think so. But yeah, I'm selling. Where are you out this again? Yeah, that's the sell part for me, Mike, is you will see less Dana. So I think you will see less Dana in 2025.

But you're not going to get Hunter Campbell press conferences. You get some sweet, sweet Dave Shaw, the most electrifying man in M.M.A. So there we go, guys. Sorry, no Hunter Campbell for you, a lot of Dave Shaw. So that's my reason for selling. And I know my editor and everyone out there who looks for spicy quotes will be thrilled, Joel with that news. Shout out to Dave.

Yes. Speaking of the TV deal Buyer sell UFC stays with ESPN exclusively with this new TV deal which will be announced this year That's good I actually answer a really good question Because I know it just makes

It makes so much sense for them to try And obviously diversify their rights and sell The more buyers you have for the rights to your programs I mean the better right If you can get that that's a sweet-ass deal And I'm sure the UFC is exploring all options But there is this relationship to have the ESPN there is a convenience to it.

There is a branding thing. There is a strength in people knowing where to find your product. Like, that's always a good thing. You don't always want people scrambling like, oh, is this fight night? Is this one on Netflix? And then this pay-per-view is on ESPN, but then this next pay-per-view is, you know, two pay-reviews a year are streaming on Netflix or something like that. Like, because, again, the more money involved, the more creative they'll want to be, right?

If the price is right, I'm sure UFC will happily go like, yep, we'll give. Netflix, you're offering X hundred millions of dollars for two pay-per-views on your, on your platform a year. Done and done. But if there's one thing, again, Dana White and company are good at, it is making the product very, very accessible to fans. So I, so if I'm selling on this, it's because I think they're leaving ESPN like pretty much entirely and focusing on another network,

not that I think they're bouncing. Nope. If you sell this, you're saying ESPN will not be the exclusive. Yeah. No, I know. But I can still be part of it, though. I know, I know. But I'm saying my version of a sell, I think, involves them, like almost primarily being on one platform.

Like I said, just for the sake of simplicity to make it either. That if I sell, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. So I am going to sell. I am going to sell with the understanding that they're just done with the SPL. I think I'll sell this too. I think ESPN will still be in play somehow.

I think maybe the apex cards remain. I think contender series remains. In AK, I think the ultimate fighter remains. But I think everything else goes elsewhere. I would like to say, maybe the pay-per-views, who knows? I think Netflix is going to absolutely be a major player in this. I have no insider information, no insight to this at all. But it just seems like with the relationship of TKL,

what WWE is doing for them. Like if I'm the UFC, if I'm Netflix and I want the UFC, like I am overpaying them to no end just to have the pay-per-views on Netflix and just run them as a just run them as is. Because what people don't like really understand about the business model is like people think like the pay-per-view model really matters a ton to the UFC. But it doesn't. It really doesn't.

They are getting a whole shitload of money from ESPN just to house their product on their stable of networks. The pay-per-view revenue really helps ESPN more than it does the UFC because ESPN's already paying them a bunch of money in order to produce the program. So, and to house it. So this whole thing of like, well, then they lose it on the pay-view revenue. There really isn't a ton for that, especially with the model now, they're not selling million pay-per-view cards anymore. We'll never know the answer to that anyways, but unless Connor McGregor's fighting, they're not selling a million pay-per-views.

Like even John Jones fighting at 309 didn't do a million. Probably didn't even do like $600,000 for them. It's just what the model is right now. So, yeah, I think ESPN will still be involved. It'll be sort of at a minor degree, but to a point where Dana, say what you will about the man.

And I talked about this on BTL a little bit with Jose. Dana's loyal to the people who are loyal to, him and ESPN has always stood by the UFC they have always stood by Dana when Dana wanted to keep moving in all of sports shut down ESPN's like yeah dude we'll go maybe we ain't going to Tachi Palace just yet but we're going to go somewhere and we'll stick by you and Dana usually will reciprocate the loyalty so I do think ESPN remains somewhat involved but there will not be the exclusive TV rights deal if you will I'll do two more of these. Sleito, buy or sell, Jed manages to complete the climb in 2025. I mean, I want to be, you know, Prince of positivity here and just go by to support my boy. But it is just mathematically, it is a really tough thing to do. But, but, I will say, the logic behind the climb is so sound.

Do we need to tell me what the climb is? Maybe Mike, who don't very quickly, I think I should, I guess explain to people who don't necessarily watch every episode of No Bet's Bar. So essentially the climb is, it's like a $100 bet that just continues to carry over. So like you bet $100. I believe it's a is a three to one or five to one underdog? It's at least five to one favorite. Yeah, the key is to pick one like massive, massive favorite every card just to get a win and then roll that money over into the next week into the next week for how many?

30. 30 times. 30 steps. Yeah. So you want to get 30 correct heavy favorite bets in a number. row using like you said starting with his one hundred dollars i can't remember how far he's gone i don't think he's reached double digit steps before i'm not i'm sorry i'm not sure i'm not sure what version of the climb he's on right now at least the fourth i think at least the fourth version of the climb

um will he complete this in 2025 boy it's so hard you m mma is just so sports in general is so unpredictable m mhm even at the ufc level when you see some some supposedly like you know minus 600 minus 700 favorites gosh there's just so much weird stuff that can happen i'm buying it i'm buying it jad you're going to do it you are going to complete the climb sometime in 2025 it might take a while you might fall again a couple of times in the first three or four months of the year but i think by like climb attempt like numbers eight climb time number eight i think that's the one that's the one that's going to hit so you know what i'm buying now i'm just i'm an absolute dickhead if i don't say yes to this.

You could say whatever you want. I can't be the negative Nancy. Mike, you can't lie to the people. You got to be honest with the people. Yeah, but I also like to put in, put over a good juju,

but I can't be the guy. I'll say, I will buy this, but here's why I'll buy this. Jed will eventually realize that he can't do this on his own. He's going to have to tap in some friends for some advice

to help guide him down the right path. Because let me be honest with you folks there have been certain climb bets that Jedd has made that I knew as soon as I heard them on no bets barred they weren't going to cash I knew immediately I'm like that's this is what we're doing this is the climb bet

and then Grant Dawson would just pumble a man and finish him early and ruin the climb so I think he's eventually going to come to his friends be like yo should I do this this is the right play and maybe we will help guide him in the right direction as to the correct play to make.

And then when he does that, he will complete the climb and then he will put us over. And we're not going to ask for a cent. Not a cent. You know, just next time we play golf, you bring an ice coffee for your friend, and that's it.

I shouldn't ask for anything because I'm pretty sure I screwed him on the Malikin Roug Roo Grug pick. I think that week there was like no great bet on the UFC card that week. And I said, you know, one championship on Friday, Rug and Malikin.

I didn't screw him. The judges, screwed him and ru gru being amazing screwed him but yeah so i maybe your help maybe your help like maybe damon i don't know maybe he's got a lot of this i i i don't know if i want to be involved in this all right all right and our last our last buy sale last one buy or sell out of perera islam and pantosia all with three defenses right now one of them will end the year with five total title defenses. So what do you think,

A.K.? Either Pereira, Makachev, or Pantosia will end the year with five total title defenses. I think if you'll have been listening to the show, I think I don't want to answer for you.

Well, so obviously, you're not picking Islam. I don't think you're picking Pereira. It sounds like you think he's going to go up to heavyweight. Pantosia, Pantosia. Again, and I, Islam is also in play for me because I don't know about the arm and fight yet.

I have to look deeper into it. Pantosia, Islam. One of them will end here with five total defenses plus add inactivity and things like that. I'll buy. I'll just jump it and buy because I think pants will get there. I think Pantosia will defend this middle place. I'll sell. I'll sell.

I think Pantosia will get two title defenses booked. I think somewhere in there he's going to slip on the banana peel. Just because it's just such a, it's so hard to hold. to do it, not because he's, he's falling off. I don't think he's falling off at all. I just think like, every time you go in there, you're rolling the dice. I don't care how good you are. And I think flyweight, again, I think the top of flyweight is so strong.

He's going to run to the, it might be important. It might be against a guy he's already beaten before. I don't know. Like he made such a face like Brandon Royval again. It's like, F, I couldn't beat random Royval three times. What do you want for me? Like I beat them twice already. I'll sell.

I'll sell. It's hard to get five title defenses is hard. I think what? Who's gotten up there? Like Usman, like recently. I mean in recent years. Bontina, I think Bontina definitely racked up five. It's hard.

Is he racked up five? He did. Did he? He had to. I don't know, right? Had to. Either way, it's very difficult. This isn't like back in the day when we had, you know,

GSP going to crazy run, Andrews and Ziva, stuff like that. It's, it's, uh, try. Yeah, you got to, is he got to six, is he got to six before he lost a career. Nice. Okay. But I'm going to sell in this case. It's hard to do it. Too many weird opportunities to, like, change weight classes, things like that.

Islam, I just don't know how many times he's going to fight. So I will go with, I'll go with cell. I'll go with cell. But this is a really well-worded and well-structured question. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.

Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation.

Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPen members on equipped flights sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. SeeairCanada.com. Well done. All right. Thank you, everybody.

Now let's go to the champ predictions, AK. Yes. Let's get right into it. We will start off with the strawweight division, AK. Of course, this is going to be a very interesting division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We already have a title fight booked for this one. Zhang Wei Li will defend the strawweight title against the undefeated Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312 in February. Currently, the champion is Zhang Wei, AK, as we laid out.

will it remain that way in your eyes? Is it going to be Zhang Wei Li or is it going to be somebody else? It's certainly twill. It's certainly twill. I think Zhang is great. I think she's just one of the most well-rounded best fighters in the world. I like Tatiana a lot. I actually think this is a really good matchup for Zhang.

Over five rounds, I just think Zhang is a little more versatile. I think the striking is going to be a huge, huge difference. I don't think Tatiana can just rag doll Zhang for five rounds. And that's bad. So picking Zhang to retain there. And did she even, she did. She fought Jan in 2024, right? That was it.

One title defense is 2024? Yeah, the 1-800-300. Hopefully we see more of Zhang this year. Even if we do, again, I don't know who will be next up at Stroh-A-Virna. May Vierna gets her shot. I still like Zhang in that match-up. And if Zhang goes up, I don't think she's necessarily going to vacate the belt right away. We're talking about the second half of the year.

So, yeah, she'll be the 115-pound champion come. December. I am with you, my best friend. I am also with John Wei Lee. I just think she's so good. And I just, it's hard to, Verna's good too. I just, I don't know, man. It's hard to hinge hope on Tatiana Suarez, just getting to the fights.

Like, I hope she fights a lot. I hope she fights three times. But yeah, I mean, John's just, John's, I think she's the best fighter in the world, best women's fighter in the world. So we'll see. she jump maybe she jump maybe jang does go to up to 125 but who does she fight at 125 a k the women's flyweight division uh i'm going with valentina shepchenko to remain the women's flyway champion at the end of the year uh you would assume she's going to fight man in fioro sometime this year

and then it's just kind of a matter of who she fights next whether it be jean waley or or somebody else from this division but valentine is not the most active fighter on planet earth we might get won maybe two fights out of her. And if she fights Manon, I would pick her to beat Manon. So that's what I'm going to do, Valentina Shepchenko, A.K. Mike, I am so disappointed.

You know faith in your girl, Natty Ice, to get that shot this year and shock the world? Natty Ice. A.K., everyone knows how I feel about Natty Ice. Of course. We're a year too soon. We're a year too early. I just don't think,

I don't think Valentin is going to be active enough for Natty Ice to come, swipe that title away from her. But boy, oh boy, 2026, it's going to be good old Natalia ice. We're in UFC gold. I'm going with, I'm going with Natalia Silva. I think she's going to be one of the big shocks this year.

All right. I love it. Listen, it would be what a moment it would be. Let's go to your favorite division in all of sports, a.k. The women's bandamweight division last year, we both very confidently selected a woman who is did not win the belt.

And now is beginning 2025, not even in this division. We both admire Buena Silva. We put her over like she was the greatest fighter of all times. It did not work out very well for us. But now, Juliana Pena enters 2025 as the women's band-and-weight champion. Raquel Pennington won the belt a year ago. She defended against Giuliana Pena. Very controversial decision.

I still think Pennington should have the belt. But, okay, you said earlier, this is the year of Kayla Harrison. Are you telling us all that Kayla Harrison will end 2025 as the women's band and weight champion? Firstly, that my Anna Bueno Silva pick of ours was like, that's an all-time doo-do pick. That was just so short-sight. That was literally just looking ahead of the calendar and like, oh, literally her and Raquel are fighting in January. Okay, whoever wins this fight is going to be, it's going to be the champion by the end of the year. And we just, you know, we picked Maya and Raquel won.

and then Raquel was the even champ. Yeah, it's Kayla. It's Kayla. I'm not getting cute with it. I know there's all kinds of stuff that could come out of left field. I get it. It's women's 135.

It's not the deepest division. But I think she fulfills her destiny to be cliche about it and wins it, sneaks in a defense in there somewhere, and just has a great year. And then 2026 is when we'll start, I don't know, maybe seeing some more Amanan Nunes talk. I know there'll be a lot of talking about this year,

obviously, but I think that, That doesn't happen this year. I think it's just Kayla gets to shine. Perhaps she does get the shine, A.K. But you mentioned her name. And I've been teasing this the whole time. The Women's Van Nuway champion in the 2025 will be the returning lioness. Amanda Nunes.

She comes back and she beats whoever is the champion, whether it's Kayla Harris, whether it's Julianna Pena, she going to come back and she's going to win that belt. And then she's going to leave again because she did the thing. And then we could just do another vacant title fight to start 2020. just to go round and round with all this. But yeah, I'm actually, Julianna Pena versus Kayla Harrison is actually become like one of the more interesting fights for me in 2025.

It really, I'm very curious to see how that plays out, especially after seeing the Caitlin Vieira fight against Kayla Harrison, which I kind of expected it to go that way. But I don't know. I think it's an interesting matchup, especially five rounds. She's got to cut that extra pound.

And I know people don't really like Julianna Payne and I get that. But Julianna Payne is going to be in that woman's face for 25 minutes. And let's just see if she can hang and deal with all of that. But Amanda Nunes coming back. Again, contract year, TV deal coming up. They're going to pull out all the stops to try to get as much money as they possibly can. So let's go to the flyweight division.

The men's flyweight division. I already sort of teased it. I'm going with Alexandra Pentosia, AK to end the year as the 125 pound champion. I said he doesn't make it to five, and I think the banana peel that he's going to slip on will come in the form of one Mr. Asu Almabayev. Wow.

Does he fit our rankings thing too? Oh, no, sorry, that was Fighter of the Year. That's Friday. I don't think he'll be Fighter of the Year. But where is he now? I just must see where is he ranked. Amabayev is currently eighth, eighth in the Flyway Division. And I'm predicting him to get a win, obviously.

cop should get the fight against Pantoja first. But Amabayev, I think, is, I just think he has everything it takes to be a champion. I think he's that damn good. So let's see him get a signature win and then the pieces will fall where they may

with, again, depending if Pantosia has to do another rematch, if he gets past cop, or if they're looking for another fresh challenger, it is Osama Bayaev. And I think he'll be like a, probably like a three to one, four to one underdog, but guess what? That'll be an upset for you.

I'm picking it. Fresh blood. Albaev. Fresh blood. Let's go. Fight. So I'm about to fight a very dangerous man. Vinnie Siggs on a two fight losing streak.

That's kind of tough, man. But that's a perfect. Like you get that win. That's putting you in that title track. I think March 1st that fight's happening. I don't remember where I saw the report. But apparently it is a thing. Let's go to the Bannamweight Division, AK.

Currently, the men's band and weight champion is Marab de Wallis Philly. He's about to defend that title. against the undefeated Umar Nirmaga Madoff in 13 days from right now at UFC 311. What a friggin car that is going to be. Well, one of those two men, AK, end the year as the UFC bantamweight champion. Yeah, yeah, Umar. Yeah, it's going to be Umar. Umar.

And let me tell you, I'll give you a little spoiler. Here's my 20, here's my pick for who's going to champion at the end of 2026. His name is Umar Nurembergumetop. Uh, assuming this guy doesn't futz around too much with again, the two doubles champion ball, blah, going up to featherweight, whatever. I think this guy's holding under the bantamweight belt as long as he wants. Umar is that good. I really believe umar is that good.

And band of weight is so deep and it moves so quickly. I mean, by July, I could be eating my words. Not that he's necessarily lost to the title by then, but like, I could be going like, oh, this guy's going to be the next guy or this guy's going to the next guy because there's so, so much talent in that division. But I would love to see Umar hang around there for at least three or four title fights if he beats Marab because I just think he has a potential to be truly, truly, truly great. I get the pick, A.K., I totally get it.

But as you know, A.K., we've been doing the show for, I think this is the fourth time, maybe the fifth that we've done it. There's always a pick that your friend, Mike Hack, just pulls out of left field, like way out of left field. Like, how could we possibly get there? No one else is going to pick this. But I'm going to. Remember, this is the man who days before he stepped into the cage with Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi said that Calvin Cater was going to be the UFC featherweight champion. champion of the world at the end of 20 whatever year it was. And boy, was that pick over and done with very, very quickly after Max Holloway landed

a record amount of strikes to this man. I'm with you, A.K. I believe Umar and Magamatov is going to leave La La Land as the men's Bannamway champion. I think he's going to do the thing. He's going to go in there. He's going to beat Marab and he's going to win the belt. But he's not going to end the year as champion, A.K., because this year, the men's Bantamweight division.

The theme of 135 pounds in the UFC is y'all must have forgot. Y'all must have forgot about this, man. Now, I know 2024 was a year where he got back on your radars a little bit. You started to see those flashes of brilliance that you all fell in love with that made you so confident in him as a fighter as one of the best fighters in the world as a guy who may have ended his career as the greatest Banimit in UFC history, surpassing the Dominic Cruz is surpassing the Algemaid Sterlings of the world. But I'm here to tell you that at the end of 2025, we're going to be reigniting,

reinvigorating those conversations because the men's Bannemway champion, after pulling off a gigantic upset in the fourth quarter of 2025, is going to be none other than the former Bannamway champion. No Mercy himself, Piotr, Jan, will be the Bannamweight champion at the end of 2025, A.K. He's going to do it. it. He's going to do it. Incredible. Incredible journey we've just been on.

Peoria on is great, man. It is great. It's like a three-fight losing streak. It's so weird. It's so weird. And we all, like, I remember doing, I can't remember which post-fights show is on. I was at least one of those post-fight shows or at least some show after maybe just on to the next one, you know, talking about his results.

And every time we were recapping his fights, like, we were never saying he's done. We were never saying, like, oh, well, Pioter, he's cooked. Like, he just, he just, he has, he doesn't have. anymore. We're like, you know, if this had gone differently, or this match, which just isn't, you know, it wasn't meant for him, like, like the Marab fight. We're like, okay, you know, Maraub's just a better fighter, but that doesn't mean Piotor's done. He has all the tools to be champion again. He has all tools to be champion again. And he, I think we always tell people, like, he's younger than people think, like a lot of combat sports mileage, but he's only like

31 or 32. And sure, at Bant's wait, once you go past 30, like, you're, it's a speedy division. and the host of divisions, it's not like a light, heavyweight where you can actually be a dominant fighter into your late 30s, though some fighters are still very good there. But yeah, he's young,

just strictly age-wise. So, Mike, I love it. I can't go with you on this journey. I'm glad you let us, like, kind of tag along for a bit. It's a great pick.

It's a great pick. Thank you. Because of Mara B. Tomar, Jan ain't getting his shot. Marab's going to keep calm for it, but the UFC is not going to be interested. Like that,

the fight was not that long ago. And I know it's not the same. guy. I know he had a bad night, but I don't know if the UFC books that one anytime soon. So let's go to featherweight. Ilya, the champion heading into 2025. Despite all the talk about moving to 155 and all that, I believe Elliott Tuporia will leave 2025 still champion. And perhaps the number one pound for pound fighter in M.A. fighting is global rankings. It's very possible. That's how highly I regard this man. Ilya, don't be scared, homie.

Give Mozart a shot. I don't care if people think Mossar is not necessarily the most exciting guy, though he has had some very exciting fights. But if they look at an overall body of work and they're just like, ah, whatever. It's nothing. Mosar doesn't excite me.

Well, I'm sorry, man. The guy's undefeated. He's feeding some really good fighters. The fight with Al Jermaine was competitive. Don't get wrong. And that's because Al Jermaine, I still think is great. Al Jal Jem is an elite 135er. You know, winning a close decision over him,

it's nothing to be ashamed of. And I really, really think he has the wrestling to grind out a win over Ilya and to become champion. I think this guy is that good. So part of it, of course, is me just not wanting to, you know, go with the obvious pick. I fully admit it. I'm going to go at both. There's also the possibility that Iliad moves up, but he wouldn't vacate the title right away.

Anyway, I don't need to equivocate it anymore. Let's just go with most of my 145 guy. That was my pick last year. This happened before the weird Dana White saying Movzar was in the most boring fight he's ever seen, which kind of ruined him. I still don't believe Dana White knows who Mobsar of live is. No. Or knew that he fought Arnold Allen. He definitely had that confused with another fight.

There's just no doubt in my mind about that. But let's move on. Lightweight, I mean, I don't need to very... Who are you picking here, Mike? Mike, who are you picking here? Michael Johnson, obviously. No, it's Armin Saruriken. Arvin Sarukin will be the lightweight champion.

The chips are in the middle. I don't need to say much more. Just go back to 2024. I've said everything. I think he's going to beat Islam Makachchev. I think he's going to beat him twice in 2025, which to me winning and then defending the toughest title in all of sports and then doing it against the current pound for pound number one,

two wins is enough to get him fighter of the year. So give me Arm and Saruki, I assume you're going with Mr. Islamakov. Yeah, yeah, sticking with Islam. But that it's, man, what a great pair of events. we have to start off the year because it's going to the UFC is hitting the ground running. I mean, this is the definition hitting the ground running.

We are going to get our storylines right away, like what to watch with these first four title fights? Because if Tatiana wins, I don't know. What does that mean for Zhang's feature at 115? Do they just run that back? If Umar wins, again, is he a guy who's going to become a dominant champion or is he going to start talking about changing weight classes? You can say the same from Mara.

But Mara beats Umar. Like you said, does he keep calling for Piotei on fight? Or does he start talking about champs, champ stuff? Because, again, it would only be his first tell. fence, but how many straight wins does he have now, 135, right? Of course, Islam and Arman could determine the fighter of the year, depending on who wins that one, and then you have the DDP and Strickland rematch. And if DDP wins, sits up something with Hamzat. If Strickland wins also probably sits on something with Hamzat, but again, maybe you have to run it back,

maybe you do the trilogy bout. So, so much intrigue come out of these first four, these fours title fights. It's really exciting stuff. All right, just for the sake of time, A.K., unless there's a journey you want to take us off. I do. Let's run down the past, the last four. So we go Welterweight, middleweight, light, heavyweight. Who you got? I'm going, Shavkat, at Welterweight. Me too. It has not been booked yet, but I think we all know that's going to happen, him and Bowel. I'm going, my boy, Khamsat at middleweight. I'm going Magamene and Kalaya at light heavyweight.

I think I picked this last year, and again, I'm not wrong just early. Heavyweight, Mike. I'm going with the boy John Jones. I may not like the guy. I may be angry that he won't fight Tom Aspinall. But I think people like to understand. And this is what I think confusing people is like, when we call for John Jones to fight Tom Aspinall, it's not because we're like, oh, Tom Aspinall is so good. He's going to destroy John and John needs to drop the belt to him. No, it's because the fight we think on paper, the fight is so intriguing.

And we think it's, I mean, as close to a 50-50 fight as John has ever had in his career, that's why we like it. But to me, John Jones is until proven otherwise, not necessarily number one of the pound for pound list, because for me, that includes activity. But as far as like, take the best version of him and put him in there with the best version of any fighter right now, he is the best fighter in the world. John Jones just does not lose fights unless your name is Dominic Reyes. But again, even on that off night, somehow he did enough to earn a decision. So for me, that's the definition of great champions, right? As you win, you dominate people, you also win when you have difficult matchup, not necessarily it's your best.

I will pick him to beat Tom Aspinall. Part of me as a fan will probably be rooting for Tom Aspinall just because he's had to jump through all these hoops, just because I find John Jones trying to dismiss him so frigging irritating. But if I were a betting man, if he gave me $25 and I have to bet it, I'm betting it on John Jones. And he's not going to fight that often. So also this kind of goes with maybe my bold prediction, Mike.

So I will go to John Jones. as my heavyweight pick by the end of 2025. I'm with you a three out of four. Shafcott, Hamzat, John Jones as well, and Alex Pereira, light heavyweight champion. I do think Pereira, I stand by and I do think Pereira is going to go up to heavyweight. Either the UFC is going to give John everything he wants,

like fight Pereira and then you have to fight Aspidol, or they're going to do, all right, man, we'll send Pereira up to fight Aspinall, and then you have to fight the winner. So we're going to put both options on the table for you. And then whoever wins, that's who you fight. So Pereira somehow boops Aspedol, then you get your Pereira fight.

But if he gets tackled and destroyed, then you got to fight Tom Aspinall. I know Joe Rogan is trending right now as we record this, saying that, quote, they are trying to come to an agreement, on Jones Asman all the rumors Jones wants $30 million and the UFC is going to pay. I don't think that number is $30 billion.

I think it's higher than that would be my guess and it should be. Again, none of us have said that what John is doing is wrong. It's just what he is done to go, the way he's gone about it has been awful. The whole, well, he doesn't deserve to fight me thing, is dumb. Just say it like it is. This is a dangerous fight.

I will make more money with less risk to fight Alex Pereira. I want the most amount of money, possible to fight this young whippersnapper that nobody knows really like that at least the casual fan base is not fully aware of yet say that and no one has a problem with it but i also i'm with you a k i don't think this fight is like tom as well goes in there and just destroys john jones i just don't think that's the case at all and as i talked about on btl when we do a watch party for whatever whenever that fight does happen i'm just going to bet the underdog and something tells me that John Jones will be the underdog

and if I have to put my money on John Jones as an underdog, they're way worse bets to have. So, yeah, I do think this fight does end up happening and I'll go with John Jones. Why the hell not? There you go. Yeah, yeah. It might not feel good to say, again, based on his completely annoying personality

and personal life, but best fighter in the world. We want to see it. We want to see the guy who's the undisputed UFC champion face the interim heavyweight champion. It doesn't feel like a big ass. It doesn't feel like a big ass. And yet we're taking so long to get there. But I'm very optimistic and it'll happen.

And I think Pereira does fight, does defend his belt once. Maybe against Magamette Angolaev. Maybe not. But I've said this before and I'll say it again. If the UFC books Alex Pereira versus Magamette Ankelaif, if this fight happens in March, I am here to tell you right now, I'm picking Alex Pereer in that fight. Nice.

Picking Alex Pereira. I think it's a very damn good matchup for him. So all right. Those are the champ predictions. And now let us close the show by getting bold, AK. It is time for our Mu Caliente bold prediction for 2025. What's going to happen? What will be weird?

What will be wacky? What are we predicting will happen that 99.9% won't happen. But if it does, we look like absolute geniuses. No insight, no nothing. We're just going with the old gut here. AK, do you want to go first? I'll go first. I'll go first.

John Jones beats Tom Aspinall, holds on to the heavyweight time. We got all the retirement talk. We get all the, oh, he's going to fight Alex Palleda next talk. Again, the Pallano situation might be its own thing because of Pareda Lus Dan Goliath. I mean, does that just make it easier for him to move to heavyweight? Or does he stick around, try and get a rematch, take some more, look for some more boops at 205? I don't know. I don't know.

But either way, that John Jones will have options is what I'm saying. He can walk away. He's done it all. If he beats Ascomal, I mean, my goodness. all the talk, all the legacy talk, you know, it'll be at a new level. And rightfully so, rightfully so if he pulls that off because I think Espinall is the best heavy right now. He'll be looking for a new challenge going to 2026.

The UFC will be, well, by then I have landed a new TV deal, but I think we'll be still looking to deliver big moments, big, you know, social media drawing bookings, fights, matchups. we've talked about another organization which needs to get their shit in order and I think they'll have a fine year with this gentleman and we kind of talked earlier about how many fights is this guy going to have in the PFL how many opportunities are there for him you can always go home again Mike that's what I like to say especially

depending how much money is involved and I know that the relationship between one Mr. Francis and Gandhi and the UFC is very very sour very very poor Many comments have been slung from Dana White in Francis's direction. Francis pretty much just defended himself. He's also to talk some shit about the company, which is whatever. You expect this kind of public mudslinging of these things. But you can always go home again. Francis a fight wants some PFL.

I don't know. Maybe we get Galtzov mania. Like I said, he'll probably book a boxing match too. If the boxing doesn't go his way, he may have to consider focusing on M.A. Again, he may have to consider the big, big, big fight that we've always wanted to see. I think it won't happen 20. But I think by the end of 2025, Francis Gondon will part ways to the PFL return to the UFC, and they will announce he will fight John Jones in the first quarter of 2026.

So Francis comes home. He'll have his work with PFL Africa, hopefully by then, he'll have already like sort of established it as something so they don't need him around to necessarily take care of it. Like just to have made it happen as an achievement in itself. But Dana White or Summit ESPN or Netflix or whatever, whichever, platform they're working with at that point, we'll sign a check and say, give us this fight. Give us one of the most anticipated fights in history. John Jones versus Francongano for the UFC title, the title that Francis and Goddo never lost in the cage in 2026.

Wow. So you're saying this year, announce that he will resign, Francine Otto will have resigned with the UFC by the end of this year. Oh, okay. All right. Now is my follow. Yes, yes. So that is to what makes it a 25. 2025 prediction by the end of this year, done with the PFL, back in the UFC, and officially

it will be announced that that fight will happen, or at least is in the works or targeted or whatever, whatever, for the first quarter of 2026. That is bold. So your bold prediction was that a big name in the sport comes home adds to the UFC roster. My bold prediction is that one of the big names leaves the organization. and doesn't go anywhere else, just says, I'm done. No more. I'm going to do other things.

I'm just kind of done with all this. I'm going to say this. We laid out somewhat of a roadmap for Peoria on to become, once again, the Bannonweight Champion of the world. But he's going to have to do something on the road to getting to the belt, because he's just not going to walk into a title shot right now. He's going to have to get another win, maybe two. And I think Peodor Yan is going to go and get that win.

And then it's going to set him up for a big fight with the guy that a lot of people thought he beat. But then he lost a kind of a controversial decision to this man who went on to become the UFC Bannamway champion of the world. And I think we are going to get the rematch between Pejorie and Sean O'Malley. This time, there will be no judge's controversy. There will be nothing weird. Peirder Yan will have his shining moment and he's going to knock out Sean O'Malley. O'Malley and walk into a title fight. As Peotre Yon walks into a title fight,

Sean O'Malley is going to drop his gloves in the middle of the octagon and say, no mas, I am done. I don't need to fight anymore. I can make money in other ways. I can partner up with Jake Paul for new products. I can be a Twitch streamer. I have a pretty good YouTube channel. Me and the Nelke boys are pretty tight.

I just don't think Sean O'Malley's. heart is in the fight game anymore, at least not where it needs to be in order for him to become the guy he wants to be as a professional fighter. So I, again, no insight to this whatsoever. This is a full gut, like, close your eyes. What's the first thing that pops in your mind? First thing that popped in my mind for some weird reason. And I'm trying to justify this picture of you, and I'm doing terrible job with this. This will be Sean O'Malley's final year as a professional mixed martial artist. He will retire from MMA and from the UFC sometime this year. That's my pick. That's my bold prediction. That is bold. We both went pretty big. I mean,

this is as bold as you can get. Sean is only 30 years old. Just recently, this turned 30 not long ago. It's not like he's been in the game for what? Maybe a decade less. Yeah, a little less than a decade. Now just and just to lay this out, because I'm sure there's people in the chat like, oh, you guys are fucking stupid. These are not meant to happen. Like if this happens, then this is just wild and insane. Any of these things happening. These are not meant to come true. These are why they're called bold predictions.

99.9% this is not possible. This won't happen. But if by some chance, the 0.01% that these things happen, then we're insane. Like, we're just insane. That's how this is supposed to work. So just to lay that out there, this is not, we're not predicting reality. We're predicting something in, we are.

and outrageous and out of left field. Yeah, has to be out there. Yeah, has to be out there. But that'd be wild if all those things happen. That is for sure. I think we nailed the bold part. I think we nailed the bold part. But.

Yeah. Francis re-signing with the UFC to fight, John. That would be, that's the bold thing for me. Money talks. Money talks. I don't know. There's anything I know is, man, we cannot predict anything that's going to happen in this crazy, especially the last few years.

We didn't even talk about the frigging, McGregor and we did a whole podcast about a Mike but the the umbani thing he's really pushing that this umbani boxing match going to have with Logan Paul and there's like I don't know man I don't think it'll happen but we didn't do another of us did a bold prediction for the GFL which was surprising I mean I thought one of us was going to make some GFL thing but no they they ain't worth they're just not worth uh they're not worth it right now have an event first and then you know if you have two events we have two events we have two events we can answer the GFL questions,

but we don't know what they are yet. I have more questions than answers. So thank you guys very much. Appreciate this. This is the second live show of 2025 here on the MA Fighting YouTube channel. More to come. Of course, we have a UFC event next coming up this Saturday.

UFC Vegas 101 headlined by the rematch between McKenzie Dern and Amanda Hebas. That's going down at the world's most famous apex. the go-home show for the UFC's first pay-per-view of 2025. What a pay-per-view it is. UFC 3-11. One of the best fight cards, the UFC has given us in several months. This is just an outstanding start to the year, much better than the January pay-per-view in 2024. This is outstanding stuff with Armand Sarukian about to get his crowning moment,

his lightweight champion against Islam Makachev and Marab against Umar and Yuri versus Jamal Hill and so many just really compelling matchups on that card. And it's going to be a great year for the sport. It's going to be a very interesting year for the UFC with the TV deal and everything that's going on there to what's the GFL going to do. What's PFL going to look like? Can BKFC continue to make strong moves? What's game bread going to do?

What's Mike Perry's dirty boxing going to do? This is just going to be a very intriguing year in the combat sports world. And we will be here the entire way. with all of you. So stick with us at M.Afighting.com throughout 2025. Casey, you can hit the music. We are out of here. Shout out to Casey Liden,

the man on the ones and two sticking with us fresh off of his trip to Japan and covering the rising card. Matchmaking back next week on the podcast network for A.K. I am Mike Heck. Always remember the golden rule. Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. And we will have more fun throughout 2025 right here.

On to the next one, the podcast. Good night, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.