MMA Fighting - Rankings Show: Can Tai Tuivasa Actually Break Into HW Top 3? Plus Islam's Rise, the Mousasi Dilemma, March’s Big Movers

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

Is Islam Makhachev’s takeover of the lightweight division inevitable? Does Gegard Mousasi have a case for being the No. 2 middleweight in MMA? Tai Tuivasa is suddenly a top-4 heavyweight in the world — will he ever be ranked higher than he is right now?? The MMA Fighting Rankings Show returns after a hectic February to debate the biggest winners and losers of the past four weeks, crown an MVP of the month, and predict who will be the breakout story of a busy March. Then, co-hosts Shaun Al-Shatti and Alexander K. Lee are joined by MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Damon Martin to dive deep into the sport’s top storylines with a round of "Fact or Fiction" and forecast the futures of Makhachev, Mousasi, Tuivasa, Jamahal Hill, Johnny Walker, Sean Strickland, Jim Miller, and much more. Catch new episodes of the MMA Fighting Rankings Show on the first Wednesday of every month. Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Follow Damon Martin @DamonMartin Follow Mike Heck @MikeHeck_JR 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. Welcome to the MMA Fighting Ranking Show. I am Sean Oshaddy and I'm joined by my good friend, the Prince of Positivity himself. I will say it seems like he's losing that nickname these days, at least a little bit. He is the King of the North. He is Alexander K. Lee,

and we appreciate y'all for joining us this month, AK, how are we doing today, my man? Mr. Shaheen, my good friend, I am confident that by the end of the show, you're right, you're right. I have been down on some of the cards that we had in February. worry. This is true. I tried to be positive where I could, but frankly, some of these cards were a bit of a a bit of a poop sandwich. It taken in their totality. I'm sorry, that's more than fair. And I think for people who have limited time, I don't think that, I think it's irresponsible if we tell them,

oh yeah, you have to catch every, every fight night that happens every U.S. fight night, every Saturday night. It's just not true. It's just not true. You know, be judicious with your time, pick fights you want. Respect to all the fighters, of course. That's always the disclaimer. I know. I know it's a record, we had to say that, but it is respect to the fighters, respect to the matchmakers who have to put these cards together. I understand a lot of hard works being put in. But I've had to be critical. But I'm confident, Shaheen, that by the end of this, end of this entire show, this edition of the ranking show, I'll be in a better mood. Look at that. I didn't even know, I think I accidentally hit a nerve there. I didn't even mean to have you defend yourself.

No, it's true. No, it's true. It's true. You're still the Prince of positivity in my eyes, my man. I try, you know, try it. I want to be. So you guys already know, but just in case you don't, this is our once-a-month look into the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, which come out first Wednesday, every month. Check them out. It's out right now on MMAFighting.com. A.K., February is behind us.

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful February, and all your February dreams came true. And for our purposes, what a month it was. You usually think of February shortest month of the year, not a lot going on. But Lordy, Lordy, that couldn't have been further from the truth this time around me. You have four UFC events, although apparently some of which you were down on AK

two Bellator cards and seemingly half of the entire middleweight top 15 on our rankings were in action. So as we emerge quickly, let's run down where we stand heading into March. Yet tied to Ivasa making the biggest jump this month he rockets up from number four, or two number four, I should say,

from number 14 at heavyweight for that knockout win over Derek Lewis. And that might actually be the biggest jump in the history of these rankings for us, a.k. you and I were talking about this off air. Ten spots. That might be the biggest jump we've seen so far. In the seven months we've been doing this. Derek Lewis drops down two spots to number six.

Jamal Hill, also making his debut here in the rankings at number 14 at light heavyweight after the first round K of Johnny Walker, one of the more brutal knockout sequences you will ever see. Poor Johnny, the way he fell. That was a tough one. We'll get more into that later in the show. Also, Jared Canaanier, Sean Strickland, both moving up at middleweight to number four, number eight, respectively, while our top three of Izia, Adasena, Robert Whitaker, Gagar Musasi, all her hold firm in their spots. Islam Makachev breaking a tie he had with Benil Daryush for number four after the win over

Boppa Green. And then finally, on the pound for pound front, Gagar Musassi, the legend, finally starting to get some damn respect. He jumps up six spots from number 20 to number 14 on the men's pound for pound list. You love to see it. AK, that's the list. Biggest movers and shakers of February. When you look at that and you hear it.

Who's your MVP? Who won the month? Uh, Shaheen, before I endorse this man and everything he's about, I, I want to make it very clear. I've, I have said this from the beginning. I have never wavered on this. I have, uh, very publicly made my stance clear on this. Shooeyes are disgusting. Uh, you know this.

You know this. You, you, you, you're aware. I'm aware that you're the biggest shooey fan of the MMMA media. I, the shooys, I don't drink in general. And then the idea of drinking out of a stranger's shoe. Now, I do love, obviously, you know, to answer your question, I am talking about Tai Tui Vasa, the man who defeated Derek Lewis in a thrilling slugfest. And yes, as you said, as he has moved into our top five, really the top four. He's number four, baby.

Yes, number four, right behind former world champions, sorry, current world champion and interim champion and a former champion in Kanu, Selaan, Stephen Miotich. So that's a quite illustrious company to be. And I'm sure people wouldn't group him with them again. That's probably that those three are a tier on their own. probably would tie below that, but the fact that he's even within spitting distance is pretty shocking, given where he was. Oh, I see what you did there. Spitting.

Yes. I see it. I see it. I thought about it. You love it. That was intentional. I'm just going to say, I know I'm derailing us, but at some point this year, we're going to have to make some sort of bet that is shooey related because I'll do like five shooies right now. I have no, I absolutely do not care.

I'm a gross human being when it comes to that kind of thing. Can I drink milk out of a shooey? I'll drink milk out of a shoey. Oh. Yeah, I know. I know. That feels so much worse than anything else. Because people say at least the alcohol, you know, would disinfect, provide some disinfection

if you were to like drink from a stranger's shoe or something. Oh, I just gagged in my mouth. Pouring milk into a stranger's shoe and then drinking it. It doesn't sound great. I'm not a doctor. It just sounds like not a, it sounds like a recipe for me taking two weeks off in the hospital or something. Dude, that feels so much incredibly worse.

That feels levels and levels above. What a shooy actually would, like, you couldn't pay me enough to do that. I don't drink alcohol, but I'll tell something. If I do it, I won't fake it. I don't, I do, you see those guys on TV. They do the, the stone cold, the stone cold, dribble 90% of the beer out of their mouth, like, over their chin onto their shirt. They drink maybe, right? I would not do that.

Yeah. And they just, like, sticky with, yeah, I will do an honest one. If I, if I do ever have to do one, I will do an honest one. I will say that. You won't see me, uh, I don't know if I could, like, you know, chug it like, like a full spitz, or what? Do you spit yourself or someone else spits into it? No, someone else definitely spits into it. Yeah, because at that, oh, I don't care about that.

Because at that point, you're drinking a beer out of a shoe. So what's a little extra spit going to do? Like the thought of it is gross, but I know, but I, you know, I don't care. I'm like, I'm like, this is, this whole thing is gross. Two people can spin in it. I don't care. Like, it's not going to make any difference. Oh, I like that.

All right, put a pin in that. We're going to make a bet at some point. Whatever. If we could get a lucky, someone from staff and a lucky fan will have a contest, A lucky fan gets a spit in the shoe. You know, that's great. Let's get this, let's make this a real social thing. But yes, back to Mr. Tai Tui Vasa.

Again, I know there's going to be some debate. How much does a win over Derek Lewis, who again, perennial a guy's been sitting in the top five forever? Does that instantly make Tui Vasa a top five guy? It certainly does in my books. Great performance. He'd been trending in that direction, Shaheen, at least as far as popularity goes. The cool walkouts, again, the shooy, just his general demeanor. Beating up Greg Hardy, that's always going to endear you to a large group.

with the fans, I think. So for him to get the signature win, it's just so huge. And I have no problem saying that he's legitimate top five heavyweight in the world, top four, and I think my MVP for the month of February. It's hard to argue against that. It really is. I mean, that's probably the right answer, if we're being honest. He's the number four heavyweight in the world, dude.

Tied to Ivasa, a guy who was unranked, I think, like two months ago or three months ago in these rankings. Number four in the world, that is crazy. and maybe he's not actually the fourth best heavy way in the world. We're actually going to get into that topic later in this episode. But he's there and he got favorable matchmaking. The Derek Lewis fight is probably the best possible opportunity for him to make that sort of advancement up the rankings.

He made it. He definitely won the month for just in general. If you're picking a right answer, he's the right answer. But let me make the case for Jamal Hill just quickly. Because Jamal Hill was someone who, I won't say he didn't matter before this month. but he wasn't on the he wasn't sort of in the periphery right like he was not in anybody's view when they're looking at light heavyweight who the names that matter the names that are potentially you know coming up through the ranks nobody was out here mentioning jamal hill

and now i feel like he's really forced his way into that conversation i mean that johnny walker knockout as i said was one of the more vicious brutal ways you could see someone get knocked out like the actual photo of johnny crushed up against the cage is devastating man like that is a real do you want to be an F and fighter type of photo if you just show somebody that Jamal Hill matters now in this light heavyweight division and the light heavyweight division doesn't have a lot of names uh that look really daunting in front of him outside of you know in that in that I would say like the top five uh but once you get past the top five like anybody can beat anybody on any given night now it feels like Jamal Hill's in that range he's

young he's obviously got a lot of power he's able to cut a promo Jamal Hill made a name for himself in February. And I think he's going to be in this conversation now moving forward, especially for the next couple of years. Yeah. Look, cracking into the rankings in pretty much any division is tough. Some are thinner than others. Light heavyweight, probably on the thinner side compared to like, you know, the lighter

weight classes, bantam weight, featherweight, etc. But still, quite an achievement. And a big turnaround, I think. The Paul Craig fight was definitely viewed as sort of a big test for him. And I don't know. I can't speak to the populace. I don't know people were disappointed that it didn't go his way. But again, Paul Craig, I think, is, you know, it's just a more experienced.

Experience goes a long way. I think Paul Craig has that on him. You run this fight back 18 months from now. Could be a very, very different story. So, yeah, it is nice to see that the promise that he showed, you know, in his first, the contender series and then his first few UFC fights was not a smokescreen because he's bounced back from that Craig loss with back-to-back first round knockouts. And that has people very, very excited for his chances at 205 pounds.

So, yeah, Shaheen, I am shocked. You didn't go with Moose. I mean, you know me. I can talk 10 minutes about Moose right now. But he beat Austin Vanderford. Like, yes. That's all you got to say, right? But every, but every, we talked about this on early shows.

Every fight he has now is so high risk, or depends who it is. Medium to high risk, low reward. Absolutely true. Yeah, right? I would call, you know, a van der Furty. He was undefeated, so there was that mystique of the undefeated. But I guess, I think if you'd watch this fights pretty closely, it was hard to, outside of, again, doing what other people had done in the past and maybe being able to out-wrestle

Gagard for, you know, 25 minutes, that just didn't seem to be another path to victory for him. So he was probably on the medium to low risk end. John Salter, again, medium risk. And yeah, any one of these guys, if they beat with Sassi, I mean, I don't know how we're going to handle it if he loses to like a Tokov. I mean, I know how we'll handle it. I know how everyone else will handle it, I guess.

What do you think? Everyone's just going to do the thing about, oh, okay, Gaygar was never that good and then drop him down to like number eight or number 10, which is utterly ridiculous. How low does it go, right? Because if you lose, it admits who it is, but, okay, the names are thrown out that Tokoff, Johnny Eblen, you know, these aren't exactly household names. Good fighters, for sure.

Not household names. If any of them beat Musasi, I don't think any of us would be in a hurry to throw, like, do what we did with Tuivasa and throw one of them in the top five, if more rather, Musasi would drop several, several spots. And then the person would likely jump just one spot ahead of him or not or just move closer to the top 10. While Musasi plummets to, like you said, eight and nine. I am very curious if that loss finally comes, how far will people drop him? It's going to be tough to watch.

But it doesn't matter, Sean, because this week, like you said, this month, excuse me, flying up the pound for pound rankings. Flying up. You love to see it. You love to see it. He finally gave him some respect. We had some of our colleagues, definitely course correct. Yeah, I was speaking to you about the rankings, you know, again, off air and saying like, man, I'm surprised that just, you know, such and such person moved him from whatever, like 20th and their pound for pound at 12th or 18th to 11th or 10th or 10. And I'm like, this is them saying this is where they knew he should have been all along.

You know, this is a course correct. So it is a big jump, but I think you and Mishahen know that that jump shouldn't have been necessary. He should have been top 50 in pound for pound right now anyway. Absolutely. And I mean, next fight, it seems like he's probably going up to light heavyweight, probably face the Grand Prix winner at light heavyweight. And you know, you say that's, there's not a lot of high risk, or I guess all of his fights are high risk, low reward.

That actually feels like it's a high reward fight, where if he goes up and he beats a Corey Anderson or of the team Nemcoff, that is a legitimately crazy win for Gagar Masasi at this point in his career. And in that point, he has to shoot up a lot of people's rankings, whether it's pound for pound or middle eight or however it is. But anyway, we have a lot to get to this episode. we're going to be bringing in the rest of the crew here in a few minutes. Mike Heck and Damon Martin join us.

But quickly, AK, let's look ahead at what we're working with for March. Another four UFC shows, one Bellator show, plenty of other smaller promotions as well. You have a lot on the line this weekend, UFC 272, Covington Mazvedol, Kevin Holland, making his welterweight debut, Bryce Mitchell, he who of lots of theories. He's got theories about the world versus Edson Barbosa, RDA versus Moikano now. a lot to like there. And then later on in the month, you have Magamette Ancalia

finally making that move against Tiago Santos, Tom Aspinall. Hopefully, hopefully getting a chance to do the same against Alexander Volkov if all of that works out. Hopefully that fight can stay together. Curtis Blades versus Christakis,

a lot more I didn't mention. So, AK, what are you eyeball it? What's the biggest storyline? What's the biggest rankings play? We're going to be talking about this time next month. Well, okay, we got... I hear you rubbing your hands there.

Yes, that was me audibly rubbing my hands. That's a special effects for you folks at home. I'm very interested to see, well, this weekend, let's, we got Covington and Mazvedal. I know Coventon's a pretty heavy favorite. I haven't looked at the odds. It's got to be at least minus 250, maybe minus 300. There's just a lot of people who just don't see a path to victory. But Covington has been the de facto number two welterweight for a while.

So that division gets shaken really considerably with a Mazvedal win and also puts the match in the sticky pickle because, I mean, I guess no matter who wins, neither of them is getting that Uzman rematch right away. But it was Mazvedo. You just say a sticky pickle? Yeah, a sticky pickle. I've heard of being put into a pickle, but I've never heard. Pardon my language, everyone.

A sticky pickle. That sounds really gross. I do wonder how Madadol... Between that and the milk shooies. I'm just, you're on a different wavelength than me right now. We have Mazadol currently 11 in our rankings. I do wonder how he'll be viewed if he actually managed to beat his rival. And again, a guy that we all consider to be 1A at 170 pounds.

The flyweight division, I don't know if he's... If you looked at this, Shaheen, it's really busy this month. Yeah. We've got, yeah, we've got the man that Damon Martin considers the number one flyweight in the world at Duranemar Mottis, facing Yu-Wakamatsu. So this will be his first title defense since knocking on Demetrius Johnson. DJ himself competing in a custom rules bout. We've got DJ still number four.

Can't wait for that. Yes, it's very cool. So I know it doesn't really have rankings implications, but I know there's also a lot of our listeners out there who are like, where has Demetrius Johnson been since that knockout lost about ice. It's like, well, this fight with Rod Tan got delayed, but it is happening. It fingers crossed March 26th. Ascar, Ascarov is fighting Kai Kar-Franz. That's two top-10 flyweights. So we have three chain, three of the top five flywates in the world competing this month in some former fashion. Mathias Nicolao also fighting David Devorak and Tim Elliott.

So again, we've got a lot of flyweight action. A division that hasn't always had these kind of bursts of activity, I think since we started doing the rankings, it's the first time we've had a month where it's like, wow, like four, four bouts with real, real implications. And I do want to tell people to keep an eye on a fight that just kind of got put together today, Shaheen. Manon-Fioro, facing number six former flyweight title challenger, Jennifer Maya. That's a good one. We were expecting Manon to have a jump up anyway. You know, she was finally going to knock Jessica I out of whatever rankings that she was still in. Unfortunately, that fight fell through. Now she gets an even bigger test. And I think she was, I didn't see the odds.

She must have been at least again, two to one favorite against Jessica. I don't know if that's the case against Jennifer Maya. Jennifer Maya, yes, short notice, but so much more experience, a very, very good fighter and way, way better than anyone that Madanah has faced. So that's coming up just in a few days, guys. Keep an eye up for that fight. We could have a new contender at Flyway. I don't know what happens if, Philo, who's a big fight finisher. If she knocks out Jennifer Maya, again, I wouldn't bet on it.

If she does, we'll definitely be talking about it. next month, that's for sure. That was a great rundown, AK, that was very thorough. I appreciate it. For me, the one, all of it, I mean, it's almost the default answer, but the one that I think will be

the most impactful once we're doing this show again next month is what we're looking at on Saturday between Colby and Jorge Mazvedol, because Jorge Mazvedo is in such a bizarre spot right now within this division where I think, I don't know the UFC rankings. I don't have it up right now, but I'm sure if you look at him,

he's like top four, top five in that Welterweight division. Whereas if you look at our rankings, I mean, we have an eight-person panel. Three people don't even have him in the top 15, just globally, when you consider all the talent at 170. And then the five that do have them in sort of this number eight or number nine spot. So we have them much lower than I think the UFC has him. Because right now it feels like a lot of people have lost some faith in Jorge Mazin and all his ability to compete with the very, very best in the world at 170. He's obviously not shot.

That's not what I'm saying, but just in terms of the global scheme of this. But, man, if he's able to beat Colby, that is the biggest, reaffirmation he could possibly have after those very tough fights against Kamar Usman. Is that the biggest win of his career? Gotta be, right? Has to be. In particular, when you consider just the stakes and where he's at at this point in his career, because if he loses, just even within the UFC itself at that point, like what's left for

him? He's at that point probably lost a lot of the shine that was on him after that incredible fighter of the year run. He's lost twice for the title. He's lost to one of the top contenders. At that point, he's just kind of the guy that you throw in either for fun fights or to have other people build the name off of them. And that's not what Jorge Mazel

wants to be at this point in his career. Yeah, he goes back to kind of where he was before the Darren Till fight. But with some fatter paychecks at least. But yeah, I know what you mean. As far as status goes, it'll be a very clear arc him going up, the Darren Till,

the Ben Ascran, and then coming down with the Usman title fights. Oh, sorry, and Nate Diaz, I almost forgot, excuse me, but then peaking, boom, coming down. So there could be a second peak this Saturday. Could be. And also the same could be said for Kobe Covington, right? If he loses this fight, same. O.N. 2 against the champ. Loses to someone who's sort of a periphery contender. That's a rough spot to be in at this point in his career. I mean, he is someone who I think a lot of people believe could be a champion if Comeriusman didn't exist. For Kobe Covenant to suddenly find himself in that spot, that'd be tough. But we'll see, AK, that is why they fight the fights. In the meantime, let's bring in some pals. Let's have some fun here. We'll be right back. All right, we are back. Join now by. the rest of the crew, Damon Martin, Mike Heck.

Appreciate your fellas for coming on and making this a bit of a party. So we're jumping right in. February was an extraordinarily busy month. Lots going on. March looks just as busy. So we have here today 10 major threads that we're going to tug on from everything we just watched over the last month. We're just going to play a little game of factor fiction.

I'll tee a statement up. You guys tell me whether you agree or disagree, whether there's a case to be made there, and really whether it's factor fiction. It's very simple. And so let's start here. And Michael, go to you first. Number one, Islam Machachev is the best lightweight in the world.

Fact or fiction. We have talked about this man quite a bit over the last week. He was almost coming back this week. It just didn't end up happening. But Mike, factor fiction, Islam Makachchev, best lightweight in the world. So we originally, when this concept was brought to my attention a couple of minutes ago before he hit record, there was going to be a third option of whether or not it would be like an incomplete. And I feel like that's exactly where I would go with this.

So I'm going to say... You didn't want fence sitting. You said no fence sitting. I didn't say that, but it's okay. I'm okay for anything. But I'm going to say fiction. I'm going to say fiction right now. He's right up there.

He's definitely in the conversation. And if you want to come out and say that Islam Makachev is the best layweight in the world, I'm really not going to argue with you. But just in my mind, again, resume matters to me. Windstreek is great. The way he's disposing of these competitors is just awe-inspiring. It's just unbelievable to watch. But he's still.

doesn't have that signature win yet. He doesn't have a top five win. I need to see that. And his first test in that department is probably going to be for the title. So I guess I'm going to say fiction for right now, but he's certainly got an opportunity to change my mind and change my mind in his next fight. So I'll say fiction for now, but very good chance that the next time we have this conversation, it is fact. Damon, I mean, this is a man who goes out there. He barely gets touched at this point. It's not his fault. He's not getting these big fights. He keeps getting teed up for these big fights and it's just not happening. Can you blame him for it? Like the way you, when you see him go out there and he just dominates these people, is there enough to visualize

him as the best lightway in the world, do you think? There is. I mean, stylistically, he's a monster and he's a horrible matchup for, you know, just about anybody, much like his predecessor, you know, Habib was. I mean, he's just a guy who will take you down and absolutely mall you. Um, so he's a monster and the problems he's had getting bigger fights, you know, have not really been his fault. I mean, he was matched up with Jafel DeSanjos multiple times. He was matched up with Kevin Lee. You know, he's been matched up with other guys and just fights fall apart. And it's been unfortunate, you know, of course, you know, this time, Benile Daryush, you know,

would have been a huge signature win for him considering to run the Benile's on. So it's not really his fault. But, you know, I do agree with Mike that, you know, based solely on resume, he hasn't had those signature wins. beating Bobby Green is great. Bobby Green is on top 15 fighter. You know, beating, you know, Dan Hooker, solid win. Dan Hooker's barely a top 10 kind of fighter. Now he's moving to featherweight.

He doesn't have those kind of signature wins. Do I think he could be heavily favored in fights against guys like Dustin Porrier or, again, even the champion, Charles Oliver, sure, but we still need to see him. I'm just, I'm a seeing his believing kind of guy and we haven't seen it yet. So it's not really his fault, but, you know, it can't be ignored. Yeah, on a, on a, I mean, on a. different scale, but it's almost kind of like the argument that one would have against like Chris Cyborg being, you know, the pound for pound. Like I was never, uh, someone who thought

Chris Cyborg was like definitively the greatest, you know, women's fighter of all time. Like even, even when she was running to, just because her level of competition was so poor. And again, it wasn't her fault, much like with Makachev. So I mean, based on, you know, based on her performances, I understand why she was the de facto answer for, you know, greatest women's fighter of all time. I understand that. And say, in a similar vein with Makachev, just, based on how he has won his fights, how he has strung together, this 10-fight wins. I guess good competition.

And let's be real. This is good competition. It's not top 10. It's not top 15. I understand that. We have reiterated this many times, not top 10 in the UFC's rankings, not top 10 in our MMA fight in global rankings.

But you have to, you know, when you watch, you have to extrapolate from the results. You can make reasonable, educated guests about performance. So, of course, you guys know, I'm a Charles Oliverer all the way. So I have to go fiction here. I have to go fiction here. The number one lightweight based on merit and also performances.

It's not like if we're going to praise Makachap's performances. I mean, you have to praise Oliver's too. Yeah, he takes more damage. Yeah, the fights are probably more exciting than he and his family and his team would like them to be. But I don't feel like that makes you necessarily an inferior fighter. Like again, it does depend on the level of competition. Like would Macha Chav also go untouched against Michael Chandler? Would he go untouched against Dustin Porry?

Maybe. Maybe he would. I can't say he wouldn't, but this is the case where you cannot ding Olavera for having, you know, to face adversity against elite competitions because Machchav has not had that opportunity yet. So we can't give him the benefit of the doubt. We can't, we can't punish Olaver for putting on exciting flights of those guys. Olaver is still the answer at number one. But that's the beauty of the lightweight division is.

By the end of this year, we're going to have a definitive answer of who really is the best lightweight in the world. I don't know. I'm going to have to zig where you guys are zagging or Zag where you guys are zigging I'm just saying it may be unfair

and I feel like I at this point I've continually been unfair to Charles Oliver and I don't really know why because he's such a good fighter he's such a you know his resume is kind of unparalleled at this point in his career especially all the records that he has

and things like that but this past weekend just sold me it really did and I do feel at this point I think I'm on Jed side at this point are a good friend Jim Michoud don't say that I think Islam Makachev is the best lightweight in the world, man. And I know I just keep continually disrespecting Charles Olivera,

because I was saying the same exact thing about Dustin Poriier for months last year. And then, you know, he goes out and beats Dustin. There is something to the projection of what we're seeing here, right? You go back with, uh, it could be Novemberg Madoff in the run that we saw with Habib. I know we were talking about Islam doesn't have that signature win. But Habib didn't have that signature win either. By the time he won the title, there was no signature win. There was like an Edson Barbosa.

maybe, or a Michael Johnson. And that wasn't some type of, you know, world beating win. That's just the way he was going out there and dominating those guys. You were able to project it forward of, I bet he could continue to do this against the best in the world when he gets the opportunity. That's kind of where I'm at now with Islam Makachev, because nobody does that to Bobby Green. And I know it's Bobby Green, and it feels silly to use Bobby Green as this way to prop up Islam. But Bobby Green's been fighting a long time, man.

Like, Bobby Green doesn't get finished. Bobby Green doesn't get run through like that. And there was no resistance whatsoever. in that fight. And you can say, you know, short notice, everything that goes into it, I don't know, man. The way that Islam is winning these fights and the level of dominance that he is putting out there, it feels very easy to project that forward. And at this point, he just feels like a nightmare matchup for everybody in the same way that Habib did. And I know it's not his fault that he's not able to get these matchups. I wish the Benil Dahrir-Ush fight had happened, but I just can't see

anybody beating Islam. And that may be unfair to Charles Oliver, but to me, he is at this point the best lightweight in the world, then I'm sure we're going to find out later, but I'm sold, guys. I feel like I'm completely sold. You're not thirsty right now, are you, Sean?

I'm a little thirsty. Are you thirsty right now? A little thirsty. Because you've been drinking some hater aid, son. That's all I'm saying. Am I? Am I, my hating?

It's just so impressive at this point, man. Two words, two words for who ran through Bobby Green, Dustin, Poyer. Just saying, just on that out there. Fair. That's fair. Although that was a very different style

of running through, but I agree with you. Just saying. Just saying. Just saying. Just saying. Shaheen. Shaheen, nothing, no, no opinion or idea that's good has ever started

off well with, I'm with Jed Mishu. Or Jed Mishu is starting to make sense to me. And I hope that's the last time we hear it on this episode. I mean, I hope it's the last time we hear it ever, period. But if I hear it more than once today, I'm going to be very concerned. I'm very concerned. I'm just saying Jed Mishu was out here arguing for Valentin and Shavchenko to be the number one woman in the world way before it actually happened.

the man has some ideas sometimes. He makes like 20 crazy predictions and like one hits. Maybe this is the one. I'm just sold. He also said Dustin Forre, which is going to straight up smoke, Charles. I wanted this on the record. He was all in on Dustin.

He's like, oh, Joseph Verre is going to kill Charles Oliver. Well, to be fair, everybody was more or less. And you were all fools. Maybe I don't know what it is with Charles Alvarez. He's just my blind spot, man. I can't. I keep overlooking him. So we'll see.

Let's move on, though. Number two, factor fiction. Gaygard Musassi. The legend, beloved legend. I have to say probably like a top three interview in MMA right now. That guy is just on fire in these interviews. Gagart Musassi is at worst the number two middle weight in the world. Damon.

Fact or fiction? Fiction. I love the big moose. I love Gagard Musassi. He's a monster. I think I have him in number three. But, you know, beating Austin Vanderford in a minute 20 doesn't really show me anything that I didn't expect. Gay Guard should have smoked him just like he should have smoked John Salter.

And he went out there and did it and good for him. It was a great, you know, quality wins, quality performances. But unless Robert Whitaker just stopped existing, I still have Robert Whitaker's number two. Because when you look at Robert Whitaker's credentials beyond the Otisanya fight, and even the Otisanya fight, you know, you can take that into argument that he lost that fight 48, 47, very close fight, you know, put on a really, really good fight with that one. But he beat Jared Cannon here, he beat Kelvin Gasselm. you know, he beat Darren Till.

He's on a good win streak outside of them. He's only losses that middleweight have come to Israel out of Sanya, who is the number one middleweight in the world. And I love Gayguard Musassi. The problem is gay guard's running into what AJ McKee is running into right now, what a lot of other guys in Bellator, one championship are running into is just unfortunately, once you get through the best guy,

the next step down in competition isn't as good. And then that's the problem he's going to continue to run into. I like Austin Vanderford, quality guy. he would he's nowhere near the top 15 in the best middle weights of the world uh john salter i like john salter very much nowhere near the top 15 in the best middle weights in the world so he can continue to win and continue to plow through you know top 30 guys but as long as robert whittaker exists and robert whittaker doesn't go out there and just get smoked in his next fight robert wittaker's still number two in terms of the best middle weights in the world

Mike, this is a man who left the UFC in 2017 off of five stray wins, four of those finishes, and the names on them still hold up. Tiago Santos, Vitor, Belfort, Uriah Hall, Chris Widman. That's a good list. Is there a case here? I mean, you could probably make one, but it wouldn't be a very good one. I don't think it would hold up in any court, to be honest with you. It's hard to really build upon what Damon just said because he said everything, but

allow me to add a chimney, so to speak. Musasi is number three in a lot of our rankings except for one individual. I think he's number three across the board except for one person. And I think, and I, okay, I'm sorry to say this, but I think our friend Jedmishu kind of said it correctly. He just happened to say it first. Look at this. Two times already.

How are you guys doing it? But a little bit of that is because we adore Gaygard. You know what I mean? Like if Gagar Musassi fought Robert Whitaker, I would pick Robert Whitaker. If Gagar Musassi fought Jared Kandineer, as much as it would pain me to do it because I just admire Gagard so much, I'd probably favor Canaaner in that fight. I'd probably favor Martin Vittori against Gagar Boussasi. Down the list, I think it's a little closer, but yeah, I just can't, I can't see a world where Musassi, I think Musassi would compete and have a close fight with Robert Whitaker. I think Whitaker would probably 49-46 him.

And I don't know if, Adesanya, I don't know how that fight would go. I would say he's probably a three-to-one dog in that fight. So, yeah, I'm with Damon. It's fiction, but I admire the guy. In my heart, in my heart of middleweight rankings, Musassi's top two, easy. But in the real world, he's number three at best. And that might even be just because we admire him so much. That surprises me to hear you say that you would favor him over a guy like a cannoneer

or, you know, a Costa or something like that. He's his wrestling's just so good. I wouldn't favor him over cost. Canineer, I think his wrestling is so good. And Musassi's a very strong guy. He's very good defensive wrestler. And he can deliver some good ground and pound. The cannoneer leg kicks are just so nasty.

It's kind of pick your poison with a guy like cannoneer. I think maybe it speaks more to how underrated cannoneer is because cannoneer gave Whitaker some fits. And if that was a five round fight, I'm very curious to see how that. that would play out. I know Canaanere got hurt in that fight, but I think canadaer is better than a lot of people are giving him credit for. A.K., this is a man who's 12 and 1 over the last six years. Please give me something here. Fact. Fact. I get what Mike and Damon are saying,

but there's nothing in his performance of sense other than a regrettable loss to Hafeo Lovato Jr. who I think is a pretty good middleweight. Which is a close fight and could have gone either way. And again, one of those, you know, one of those fights we've seen with Sashi lose. It happens. It happens, right? But other than that, like we said, he's dispatched of his competition pretty, pretty clearly. I'm a Cheetah, tough matchup, he beat him, but he finally won the rematch. Tough matchup anyway. Not a guy who's going to blow out, probably if they fight 10 times, probably never going to blow up Machita.

Other than that, very strong forms all around. I haven't seen much drop-off at all. I know we're considering age. I know we're considering level of competition. And I'm going to sound like E. Casey Liden here a bit. So there we go. So second person that we probably shouldn't use as a reference point. I don't know definitively that some of the guys he's beat, maybe not Ashton Vanderford,

but some of the guys he's beaten in, in Belator aren't like, you know, aren't of the quality of like Darren Till at middleweight. Like, Darren Till at middleweight is really good. But like, I don't know, is he that much better than half fail Carvalio? Like, I'm willing to ask that question. I know people are going to say crazy. John Salter versus Darren Till, who you favorite? John Salter, I don't feel either.

But I do think John Salter actually is pretty good. Like that, Darren Till is riding a close. spin over Gaslam and a kind of a decent performance against any loss to Whitaker. And that's fine. I understand people watch those two fights. And from that, you can say, well, Deren Till is, I have Daryntil highly ranked. I think people know I'm one of the, one of the supportive of having him pretty highly ranked at 185. So I'm as guilty of this as anyone.

But I also, I mean, people should know, I'm pretty UFC bias, pretty UFC leaning with my rankings. But I cannot objectively say like, oh, John Salter would just get straight up, like, destroyed by Daryntel. I don't know that. I don't know that. I do think they've been facing a different level of competition. Douglas Lima at middleweight, I think, would give Darren Till a really good fight. I mean, they're both essentially just welter weights anyway, right? Or Daryntil was once upon a time.

So that's a really good win for Musassi. I feel like we should count. And the biggest thing that we kind of brought up, how would he fare against Whitaker? I would really like a matchup within Whitaker. I think Whitaker would be favored. I'd be shocked if it was anything more than like minus 150. I really would be surprised. I know he's a bigger name now, so probably the odds would move in his direction.

But Musassi's quite a bit bigger than him. He's still, I think, one of the best strikers at 185 pounds. And as is Whitaker, but there's nothing there. I see where I'm like, oh, Whitaker has surpassed him by so much. I'm like, I don't see that. So I'm absolutely happy to make a case that Musassi is number two. Shaheen, you mentioned again, those wins hold up. I mean, I know they're quite a few years away now, but he was knocking off elite guys.

He should have fought Michael Bisping. He was basically the number one contest. tender winning last. He would have been a two to one favorite over Michael Bissping if that fight ever got made at the time. He would have been a two to one favorite. I'm pretty sure. Minus one 80. It would have moved to 200. People were saying he definitely would be, and this has so much to do with also people criticizing this being sort of title run with respect to the legend. But so imagine if Musas, he just won the UFC title, would we view him differently now? And if he had done that and still, you know, still ended up leaving the UFC eventually,

would he be able to hold that number two ranking for longer? Because I have no issue doing that. I do think I like him both a matchup with Whitaker. I think his strength of resume. It's better than people think, minus maybe the Vanderford win. Blowout we just saw. And again, his past accomplishments are just, you know, nearly unimpeachable. So, yeah, I'm going to go fact. Wow.

I want to have the balls to join you, AK. I really do because I'm the biggest Musassi Mark in the world. I mean, the amount of slander that was on the timeline after he was, after he won over the weekend and was sort of proclaiming his staking. his claim there in the division. Kind of blew me away a little bit. Silly. It feels like people don't actually have an understanding of who Gagar Musassi is, and maybe

that's just, that comes with the territory when, you know, a lot of the fan base is probably a newer fan base, either who joined along during the pandemic or even maybe a few years before that. But like, this is a genuine legend of the game. Like, almost 50 wins, titles in Bellator, two titles in Dream, titles of Strike Force, cage warriors. If you look down his list of wins, it's shocking how good it is and how air. Spanning it is. I mean, this is a dude who beat Mark Hunt in a fight, a heavyweight, like a lot, like not too. I mean, it is a long time ago at this point. But like that was like good Mark Hunt. That wasn't like a past. It's probably Mark Hunt. The list is just crazy. And to me, the level of disrespect he gets is, maybe it's, it's expected because he is in Bellator. And anytime you have a Belator fighter proclaiming sort of their spot as the number one in the world, this kind of happens. I would love, I wish, I wish so badly we could see either the

Whitaker or the Audits Senja fight. Because I think both of those are close fights, and I don't think he gets washed by either, and I think he could win either of them. And it's just kind of a bummer that we don't get a chance to see this play out, because it does feel like something weird happened with this last one with Austin Van derfer where, like, kind of open some people's eyes. Like, Gagar jumped six spots in our pound-for-pound list just for a win over Austin Veneford.

And maybe that was just because he was being louder or because he was maybe being more open with doing more interviews and things like that. But I don't know. It does feel like something of a switch flipped over the. this last one that is unexpected, but maybe welcome in some regard in the way people are viewing him. Am I alone in feeling that? I don't say, I mean, being vocal, being vocal and things like that. I mean, yeah, I don't disagree. I think people are kind of taken notice and, you know, for some, for some reason, this, you know, this fight got a lot more attention than let's say the

John Salter fight, which is kind of weird, considering, you know, John Salter has a, you know, far better resume at middleweight than Austin Vanderford. But yeah, I mean, again, it's out of sight, out of mind. And that's kind of the problem you get with Bellator in particular right now when they're kind of buried on, you know, showtime sometimes and people, you know, they switch channels like, you know, 19 times it seems like the last three years. And, you know, the ratings haven't been great. So it's kind of out of sight of mind.

So I think I think Musasi, Musasi being so vocal, you know, helped. And again, I agree. Musassi is a, you know, top three interview guys, hilarious. you know, it's so funny, you know, he used to be the most stoic guy and you really couldn't get much out of him. And he just started finally loosening up and having fun with interviews. And now he's hilarious. And again, you know, to quote one of my all-time favorite movies, personality goes a long way.

And I think that helps with Musasi. But again, unfortunately, resume, you know, will just continue to haunt him. Like I said, I have Musassi ranked third. Marvin Vittori have ranked fourth. And Marvin Vittori goes out there and beats another, you know, top-teen guy. He goes out and, obviously, I know, we're talking about maybe I'm fighting with him. which would be a whole of our animal, but even if he fights a Strickland or someone like that, like I think another signature win for Vittori, and I would bump him over Musassi because I think

Martin Vittori just has a better resume right now. So, again, he's just a victim of his own success because he's in Bellasor right now. Well, it does at least feel like we're about to get a very big year from Musassi. It seems like they're going to keep him very busy. The light heavyweight tournament winner is sitting out there. That might happen next. We'll see. Anyway, it could be a very fun year for Gaggart. Mike or Shane, did you know what movie Damon was quoting that? their personality goes a long way. Did either of you know what movie is scored? I got nothing.

Not at top of my head, no. Pigs got personality. Personality goes a long way. Pull fiction. Come on, guys. Come on. I see you, Damon. I see you.

I see you. Thank you. Thank you, A.K. I'm glad someone could back me up there. I love that. I love that scene. Good call. Good catch.

Number three. And this one is, I think, a debate that we all kind of had internally just amongst ourselves of trying to figure this one out, because it was a very weird situation we have now playing it out heavyweight of a little bit of MMA math, a little bit of rock, paper, scissors here. Tai Tuivasa is a top four heavyweight. Fact or fiction. And the reason I ask this is because he is now in this nebulous zone with Derek Lewis and

Curtis Blades in that four or five, six spot where you have Curtis who lost very badly to Derek Lewis. And then you have Ty who lost or who obviously knocked out Derek Lewis. What do you do in that situation? Is Ty above Curtis, even though his resume is nothing compared to Curtis? How do you figure this out? Mike, Tai Tuivasa, top four heavyweight in the world? Yes or no?

No, he is not. But that means nothing here. That means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things because I have been very vocal since the moment that elbow from hell landed in Houston, Texas, that if the UFC cannot get John Jones and or Steepa Michich, one of those two guys on the same page to fight for an interim heavyweight title, I firmly believe that even if Curtis Blades goes out there and destroys Chris Stock, on March 26th, that Tai Tuivas should be the guy to fight for the title.

But that doesn't mean he's a top four guy because I think Curtis Blades is a nightmare matcha for him. I think Cyril Gahn is a nightmare matcher for him. There's a probably a sizable chance that Steepa is a nightmare matchup for him. And John Jones would probably be a nightmare matchup for him. But Ty is still great. Like he's one of those guys almost like Derek, but in a different way right now because he's just on a tear right now where rankings mean nothing. It doesn't matter. If he loses his next fight, he goes out there and gets blasted in the first round, it does nothing to him. It really doesn't affect the way people view him in any way because the next time he's booked to fight, people are going to be excited.

Just like the next time Derek Lewis is booked to fight, no matter who it's against, it means nothing. There are some guys that just the number next to their name doesn't matter. But Tai Tivasa, I'm happy to say he's the top five guy. But again, look at some of the guys behind him. If he fought Alexander Volkov next, I have a hard time favoring Tai Tuvaa to win that fight, but that dude just needs one to land and he can win. But yeah, I cannot say as much as I would like to,

because I truly respect and admire what Tai Tuva's done lately, I cannot say that he is a top four heavyweight in the world, although he is in the title mix more so than some of the guys that are ranked ahead of him. Damon, Tyree, Tyre right now is our number four heavyweight on this new update of the rankings. Do you agree? Tai Tuivasa, top four heavyweight.

fiction, disagree, even though I have him ranked in the top five. And basically the reason being is accomplishment. I, much like everything else we talked about with Islam and Gaygard, it's all about accomplishment. You knocked out Derek Lewis. Derek Lewis was the top five guy. You get in the top five, but I don't truly believe he's a top five heavyweight. And, you know, I don't need any further evidence to that than to look at his record.

I mean, Junior DeSantis knocked him out. He lost a Bligoy even off and he got choked out by Sergei Spivak. Now, I like all three of those guys. Spivak has got a fight coming up, you know, really soon. And I like Sergey very much. He's not a top 15 guy. His wins, Stefan Strue, who retired, Harry Hunsucker, who, Greg Hardy, who, Augustos, Akis, Dipper.

And Derek Lewis, he has one, he has one really good win. Is one really good win is over a really good heavyweight. And so, of course, he has to get in that top five. But I said this on my podcast with Michael Bisping right after the event. I don't see him beating Steepa. I don't see him beating Cyril Gahn. I don't see him beating Curtis Blades. And I agree with Mike 100%.

I would not pick him in any of those fights. And I think some of them are like I think Curtis Blades is a horrific matchup for Ty. I totally agree. It gets taken down and finished probably within the first round, maybe second round. I mean, that's a horrible matchup for him. Stepe, same way. If Stepe actually goes out there and wrestles, it's just, it's a nightmare. So he gets to the top five because he's legitimately knocked out of top five guy.

But I just don't believe my heart of hearts he's a top five fighter. A.K., what do you think? Be poop, boop, boop. Guys, that is, sorry, guys, that was me punching in, punching things into the MMA math calculator. Making this simple for myself.

And if the M.M. Math dictates, do you like to? Yeah, really. Everybody really no soul down. I'm sorry. We're really stepping up, the budget on the show. The high quality sound effects, man.

I thought of the sound like. We should have sold that better for you. I'm sorry. I'm a regular Michael Winslow over here, all right? So, Derek Lewis knocked out Curtis Flates. Taito of Austin knocked out Derek Lewis. Taitovaasa gets Lewis a spot. He's number four.

He's number four. He's number four. I'm a simple man, guys. I'm a simple man. I'm not an intelligent man. You guys know this. You've worked me long enough. The listeners, readers know this. I'm not an intelligent man. But I'm a man with.

systems. I'm a man with processes. I'm a man who finds ways to simplify his life and especially to simplify his MMA fandom. And in this case, fortunately, we do not have a scenario where like, you know, again, the MAMMA math always gets screwed up, of course, when you have three or four guys and they fight each other and, you know, there's sort of an uneven distribution of wins. Then you kind of have to use your, you know, your discretion. But here, two of us has not fought blades. Yes, Blades would be a massive favorite if they were matched up. But that fight has not occurred yet. Toie Vossel got a much more favorable matchup still dangerous with Derek Lewis. He took care of business so he gets Lewis to spot it. It's very, very simple for me.

There's, again, there's a lot of cases I know in our rankings where we can use, and we discussed earlier with Makachev, would this guy beat this guy? And I think there has to be some element of that for anybody when they're doing their rankings. But for me, this is just pretty clear cut. I think Blades will get his chance, of course, to claim or reclaim that top four spot. And that's fine. And it may be at Tuva's expense. It may be at Seedal Ghan's expense. We don't know, right?

Curtis Blaze is such a dangerous guy. And other than a couple of, again, missteps against Lewis and twice against Inganu, it feels like he's like championship material, right? So people don't have that same faith in Tuvasa. I understand. It wasn't long ago. He was on a three-fight losing streak.

He was joking about being released by the UFC. So calling him a top four heavyweight seems absurd. But everything about Tai Tai Tai Taiwboss is absurd. So I have no issue putting him in there. This is definitely a fact for me. He's top four. It's fact for me too, but I don't even feel good about it if I'm being honest, because right now I have it. I have it the same as a lot of us.

I mean, Francis de Gaon number one, steep A number two, gone number three. That's kind of consensus among everybody. But then I have tie number four just because I can't put Curtis blades above Derek Lewis. Because you can't. You watch that fight play out. I feel like Curtis should be above tie, but the MMA math aspect of it just trips me up. And so that actually leads us to question number four. tie to Ivasa will never be higher ranked than he is right now.

Mike, fact or fiction? Man, that's a great question. No, I don't think. I think this is the ceiling. I think he's not even reaching his hands above his head at this point in touching the ceiling

while standing on top of a ladder. I think he's that. I think he's reached it and power to him. Again, I just feel like the matchups don't suit him at all. But that's exactly why I think the UFC should just push him to the movie. right now, like throw them into a title fight. I know the biggest fight you can make is Jones versus Stepe while in Gano was on the sidelines,

but if for some reason, and historically, these two guys like want what they want and they don't get it, they're just not going to fight. Ty should be the guy. He should be the guy over anybody else. So ride this train till the wheels fall off and then push it even further. But at this point, throw him into a title fight. Give him his next fight. I would like to see his next fight for the title because I don't think we'll ever get to

that place again. So, but ride this wave. Like people seem to to really like him. He draws numbers. He's people just enjoy tied to a boss. He's getting Dana White to do a bunch of shooies or funnels out of a funneled shaped like a shoe. I mean, there are not many gut fighters on the roster that can pull that off right now. So yeah, push this dude to the moon, but I think we're as high as we're going to get right now. And that's fine. That's totally fun. Like I said, having a number next to your name matters for most, but not for everybody. And tied to a voice. is one of those guys. He can still make a lot of money and make a damn good living and headline tons of cards without being a top three, two, or, you know, the best heavyweight in the world.

And who knows? What a story would be if Tai Tuyvesa could prove me wrong right now and where a UFC title. That'd be one of the coolest stories in MMA history. AK, do you agree? Is this the ceiling for Ty? Fiction. Fiction. Look, aside from the obvious, this is M.A. Anything can happen. I just believe he's really made like substantial improvements. Now, again, I'm not any against Ghan, Miochich and Ghanu, we said it already. Curtis Blades, he's going to be, he's going to be an underdog.

You know, he'll be two to one and up, depending, depending on which name we're talking about here. But stranger things have happened. And when you have that kind of knockout power at heavyweight and again, and I really believe that he's a very different guy, I think, he's a very different guy, I think, he's a very different guy, I think, he's a neslumpe, who lost like an And Jorlovsky, you know, that I don't think he's the same guy. I think he didn't show a great defense to Derek Lewis fight, that's for sure. And it feels like at any moment he could have, you know, he could have been killed. But he wasn't. But he wasn't. He dances along this razor thin line and it's working for him so far.

Would it work against a more technical, again, opponent like Ngano or Gant? I don't know. You know, we can't say. But I'm never going to say never, especially when a guy's on a run like this, when the top of the heavyweight division is so uncertain. And Ganu may never fight him again. He may leave for boxing. he may decide to stay in boxing and he's out of our rankings, you know, 18 months from now or or end of next year, right? And then there it goes.

Suddenly a top spot opens up, you know, in the, and, and Tuvaas moves up to number three, number two, we don't know, right? So technical, I'm going by technical. Cal is here, but these things happen. I will agree, though. If he ever won the UFC title, I mean, he goes right up there with, you know, I put him behind these guys, but in that Michael Bisping, like Jan Blahovitz category, you know, we're just like, wow, really? just just because if you look back to three fight win streak if anyone had told you he'd be fighting for a title after that third loss of that run you'd be like no like he's a fun guy if I was sticking around but he's not gonna I didn't pick him to beat Lewis I thought it'd be a fun fight I thought Lewis was going to beat him and I thought I thought Lewis was his ceiling so now that he has gotten past that the ceiling has completely shattered for me and I'm definitely on the fiction that this is as far as he can go what do you think Tim it's a fact and and the reality is beyond AK being completely wrong um Yeah, let's not forget a month ago, a month ago, Taito Ivasa was number 14. I mean, he was number 14 in our rankings because his resume just wasn't there.

Now, he got a great fight. And again, probably the best possible matchup to get into that top five, he jumped a huge list of guys. I mean, he didn't have to go through, you know, even a Marchine-Tybura. I'm not saying he wouldn't beat Marche-Marcin Taibura, but that's a top-10 guy. That would be like a good test to get in that top-10. He didn't have to go through an Alexander Volkov.

He didn't have to go through Darsena Rosenstrike, which I'm not saying Jarzino is the best guy in the world but he's still a good test. Chris Dawkins is a good test. Of course, Curtis Blaze, we've all said, you know, a thousand times by now,

that's probably the worst possible matchup for Ty in this division. But he got a huge jump because he had a huge opportunity. He made the most of it. Good for him. You know, great job. Tye's an incredibly likable guy.

But he got that huge jump because he got that opportunity. When you look at Derek Lewis's resume, I mean, he's fought, you know, he beat Tybura. He beat, you know, Chris Dawkins. He beat, you know, he beat Francis and Gondon.

He's got, you know, those huge signature wins that he deserved me in that top five. Ty has one. He has one really, really quality win. And that's over Derek Lewis. So it's fact because there's there's not enough. There's not enough tape out there to say, man, this guy is going to continue to rise and get better. We've seen him do what he's always done, which is knock people out on the feet. Have we seen him suddenly have a great ground game?

Have we seen him really have to use his cardio? Have we seen him, you know, get tested with, you know, different things coming at him where a guy doesn't just. stand out there and trade shots with him. No. So, yeah, I mean, again, he's a good guy. I like Ty very much. When I say he's not a top five guy, it's not a knock on him. It's just the resume's not there. So I think the ceiling has been reached because when you look at the guys in front of him, I wouldn't favor him to be any of them. Yes, you always have a puncher's chance. It's heavy weight. We all understand that.

But yeah, I think he's hitting the glass ceiling right now and I just don't see him breaking through. Yeah, I have to agree with both of you fellows. I mean, it's, he kind of just got the perfect set of circumstances to land where he's at, right? And the Derek Lewis fight was kind of the best possible matchup for Ty in that top five and that top ten even. And it's just you look at the three ahead of him. The idea of Tai Tui Vasa beating Cyril Ghan, Francis Inganu, or Steepamioch, just feels kind of ludicrous. And maybe that's incorrect. Maybe this is a guy who's still very young and he's obviously still growing and he's getting better. He's getting more confident. He's learning more about how to treat his body, things like that. But I just can't. I mean,

you're going to pick him against Cyril Gahn? You're going to pick up against Francis? Like, I just, it does feel like we've reached the ceiling. And from this point on, it's only just incredibly tough matchups and it just feels like maybe he's not at that point and maybe he won't get to that point. I want to be wrong, though. I'm also saying that this is fact, but I want this to be fiction. I want to be on AK's side here and be the optimistic one.

But we'll see. Next up, number five, Johnny Walker, man who is unranked as of this moment, loser of four of his last five, just got brutally knocked. out by Jamal Hill this past a few weeks ago here in the first round. Johnny Walker will never be a top 10 lightweight or light heavyweight. I'm sorry. Fact or fiction, Mike. Never be a top 10 light heavyweight.

Unfortunately, that is, that is going to be a fact, Mr. Alshaddy. I just don't see it happening, man. Like if he beat Jamal Hill, we can make an argument for it. And what Jamal Hill has done lately is super impressive. This guy is getting opportunities making the most of. them and he's doing it in devastating fashion. That's how you get on the map. He's got a great story. And he's doing everything he can to become that story. I just don't, like, I don't even know if Jamal Hill is the top 10 light heavyweight at this point. Like, we'll see what he can do.

Give him a couple more fights and see what he does. But how would Jamal Hill fare against, you know, the Anthony Smiths of the world or the Ankylaifs of the world or even the Dominic Reyes of the world? Like, we don't know. We don't know. And I don't think Johnny Walker can be any of those guys right now. I wouldn't favor Johnny Walker in a fight with Paul Craig right now. I wouldn't favor him against a lot of these guys, like, especially in our rankings, Ryan Bader, I don't think he beats Ryan Bader. Maybe Shoeface, maybe it's probably the best opportunity he has, but any guy right now in our top 15, I think Johnny Walker would struggle against. Maybe Shoeface would give him the best chance, but I wouldn't even pick him in, like an M.A. fighting pick him thing that we do. I would

still pick Shoeface to win that fight. So no, unfortunately. as much as I like Johnny Walker and respect him, I just think there's a million things going on in his mind, like which camp's the right camp, which coach is the right coach. He just doesn't have like a clear path to to a top 10 spot or even like he's not even in my rankings. I don't even know if he ever gets back to my rankings if we're being honest, never mind a top 10. So I don't see it happening. It's just I think it's too little too late. But who knows? Maybe a change of scenery. Maybe that changes things and maybe I'm wrong. But as of right now, I just don't see a world where Johnny Walker's top 10 205er.

Damon, this is a man who's 29 years old. Not too long ago, we were talking about him as a potential title contender in this division. What do you think? Have you seen enough to know? He's not making it to the top 10 ever again. I'm going to say fiction, but not based upon skills I've seen out of Johnny Walker. I'm saying fiction based out of light heavyweight typically being a barren wasteland of

talents. Light heavyweight has not been the greatest in terms of the deepest division in the sport. you know, you'd struggle to name the 15 best light heavyweights in the world. Unfortunately, that division is not what it once was when, you know, guys like Chuck Liddell and Antito and guys like that were ruling at the top of the division. And light heavyweight was kind of the marquee division in the UFC. That's just not the case anymore. And so I say fiction based solely because he might fall into the top 10 because he gets one good win, you know, in a fight. I don't know.

I'm not, you know, again, I'm not saying he would beat. I wouldn't favor him to beat a lot of guys, but he just went to a really boring decision. with Tiago Santos one fight ago and Tiago's ranked, you know, in my rankings, I have number nine. So, you know, yeah, he got knocked out badly by Jamal Hill. Yeah, great.

Jamal Hill's just got beat by Paul Craig. I mean, it's just, light heavyweight. It's just not a great division until you get up to that, like, top five in the world. And, you know, while I do think that Johnny's got a lot of work to do, I think getting Kavanaugh didn't help him any.

But, you know, can I say that he wouldn't be the Nikita Krilov? I can't say that? Can I say he wouldn't go in there, throw hands and maybe catch Paul Craig? You know, I can't say that. I can't say he couldn't have a chance in that fight. So, yeah, I say fiction, but it's not because I think Johnny Walker is, you know, going to be a title contender or a champion is because White Heavyweight just unfortunately

doesn't have super, super deep talent. And again, he wins one fight against, you know, if he edged out Tiago Santos, he'd be in the top 10. If he edges out Anthony Smith, he's in the top 10. So that's why. It's not because I'm a big Johnny Walker. believer. I just don't have a lot of believe in the light heavyway division. I just want to add real quick that a lot of this has, again, I feel like Johnny Walker does

have skills. I feel like it's a mental thing. And I honestly feel like the UFC screwed him up in a big way. I think throwing him in there with Corey Anderson at MSG after picking up those quick wins over guys that, you know, were certainly nowhere near Corey Anderson's level was a travesty. And that ruined him. That ruined him. Now, if they, they did more of a bell. approach and just built him up correctly and kind of slow rolled him instead of putting him in such a big spot. Maybe we'd be having a different conversation right now. But the physical is important, but the mental part of this game is maybe even more important. And I feel like that type of matchmaking and that type of quick step up was was such a detriment to his run right now. And unfortunately, I don't think we're really going to be able to see the best Johnny Walker we could have seen at this point in his career. And it sucks to say that. I mean, AK, does the Johnny Walker of 2019 beat the current version? Because I actually would favor him.

Just the confidence, pure confidence alone. Yeah, yeah. Again, Mike said, this is just an example of how badly poor matchmaking can derail someone. I mean, it's a real thing. I know fans don't want to, you know, don't want to baby fighters. And we want to believe, oh, the crime, the crime. The cream always rises to the top, no matter who you end up fighting. But in the fight game, it's just not true.

There's a reason, you know, professional boxers. you know, boxing, which has such a more recorded history than MMA does right now, some guys fight frigging what, 100 amateur fights before they, before they turn pro, or they fight, they go 25 and O before they sniff like a title shot, you know what I mean? There's a reason that boxing does that. Like, it does matter. It does matter developing confidence, developing reps. And you've got to give people an MMA good reps.

MMA, unfortunately, has a completely different infrastructure. So we're never going to see a system develop like that. And once you get to the UFC, forget about it. They don't care about giving you reps. You know, they're just trying to fill up cards. You know, they're trying to fill up cards. And any buzz they hear, it's great for you. It's great for your fame.

Might be good for your contract negotiations. But they're not going to try and protect you once that buzz gets going. Because let's not forget. There was a time when Johnny Walker was like calling out John Jones. And it didn't sound unrealistic. We were pretty starred for John Jones challenges around that time. That's, you know, kind of what motivated that. But yeah, but people were like, oh, yeah, he's long.

He's athletic. He's a great striker. you know, he's unpredictable. It's not the kind of guy that needs to fight John Jones. So there was a real, real prospect there. And it is a shame that we remove that label, even though he's only, he's only 29 years old. But again, this is sort of a case, like the proof is in the pudding.

You know, I know I said with Tai Tuvasa, anything could happen. It's certainly true with Johnny Walker. But Tai Tuva, you got to see, I mean, his run is actually pretty decent, the one he's on. Like Stefan Strove, yeah, near the end of his career, but a veteran heavy way, that's a good win. Augusta Sakai was in our rankings, I think, when tied to Avasa beat him.

So there's something substantial there, and against Derek Lewis win. Johnny Walker, every time he's faced ranked competition, has not done well. I believe Misha Sarkanov was ranked in the UFC's rankings when they fought, so that's fine. But Corey Anderson, top 10, top five guy,

Corey Anderson crushed him. Nikita Krilov was in the top 15. He lost to him. Tiago Santos, top 10, lost to him. And now Jamal Hill wasn't ranked, but now is ranked. So there you go. That's technically four ranked guys, and he did poorly against all of them.

It's not a deep division, but we do have guys coming up. I think Don Jun is a future top 15 guy, maybe top 10. I think Jailton Almeida. I think we're all thrilled with his debut. We all see him as a future top 10 guy. I don't know where Johnny Walker slides in here. So that's a fact that he's not getting back in there. God, what a murder it would have been had he got thrown against John Jones back then.

That would have been so bad if they would somehow manufactured away for him to get to that spot. That would have been rough to watch. They were trying to do with Corey Anderson. I think they thought that Corey Anderson would might have gotten it. That was the one. That was the one I was going to leap from. I have to say fiction here just because he is so young.

Damon kind of hit the nail on the head there. That light heavyweight just historically is not the greatest division. And you know, you have some guys like a Mago Man, Ankaliev and others who maybe are young coming up, but there's not a lot. And at some point, a lot of these guys are going to age out

and maybe Johnny Walker is able to stick around at that point in B, one of those periphery top 10 guys where he's just kind of hanging around that nine, 10 spot. But yeah, it just feels like, A, he needs to get away from SBG, Ireland. Totally agree with you on that, Damon. And he just needs to find some confidence.

And I don't know. That's going to be a hard, hard thing to do in the UFC when they really just do not believe in giving these guys, these rebound fights, the bounce back fights, to work their way back up. So it's a tough spot he's in right now, man. I mean, that was a brutal, brutal knockout that he suffered against Jamal Hill. And that's the type of knockout that you can't suffer more than a few of those

this early in your career and continue on and have it be what it should be. So it's a rough spot for Johnny, but I do have faith maybe that he'll be able to turn around in the future. We're going to take a quick break. Then we're going to get to the other five on the other side. All right, y'all, we are back. Number six, Mr. Mike Heck. Jamal Hill, our new number 14, light heavyweight, debuting after, of course, the knockout over Johnny Walker, who we just talked about. Jamal Hill will fight for a title by the end of 2023.

Fact or fiction? Uh, fiction. I just, I don't know. This, this would have been another incomplete. I need to see more before I can actually make that statement. But again, I just, I just don't see it. It's too early to say he, nice, nice win over Johnny Walker. That was great. But how will he do, like I said before, how is he going to do against the Anthony Smiths and the Santos's and the Dominic Reyeses, the guys who fought for titles? How would he do against, you know, Yuri Perashka? Because, you know, if Yeri doesn't be Glover, and I don't think he will and I've said this many times.

He's going to have to fight Yuri Parashka before he gets to a title shot. And I don't know if there's a world. I mean, maybe he lands a lucky shot, but that would be a massive upset, be a gigantic upset. So I'm going to say fiction on that one, but you never know. It would be, I just don't see it happen in fiction for me. David? Yeah, I agree with Mike. You know, it's fiction for now because we just don't, again, I keep saying resume and I

hate to keep saying resume, but it's just resume right now. Quality winner, Johnny Walker just got tapped out by Paul Craig. So I can't, I can't jump on that train just yet. Do I think he has the potential? Sure. But, you know, again, we got to see those matchups to actually, you know, completely get on board and say, man, this is the guy. What do you think, K?

I have to go fiction. I had to go fiction. I like Jamal Hill a lot. That win was huge. Again, outside, his one loss, Paul Craig. Paul Craig is an excellent, lighthead. heavyweight. So there's no shame in that. And maybe just a bad matchup for him. So I'm not saying like, oh, I, I'd favor him in a rematch with Paul Craig. But yeah, I just think with light heavyweight,

I know we say it's thin. I know it's true, but it does feel like there is sort of a a pretty clear tier ahead of him. I don't know if people want to already move Jamal Hill to tier. I mean, I would have been tier three. I think tier two is where the like the Anthony Smiths and the Tiago Santos is in the Dominic Reyes's lie. And then tier one is where I would put like, Rockich, Blackovich, Pachka to share. Maybe I'm wrong on this. Maybe you can sort of blur those a bit.

But that's how far Jamal Hill is away from me. And end of 2023, this is probably a question now that I'm thinking about, do you think he'll ever challenge for a title? So in that case, I am leaning towards no. So it's not even about end of 2023. I just don't see Jamal Hill as someone who's going to fight for the title. Can I make the case?

Can I make the case? Am I allowed to make the case? Make it. Jamal Hill right now, I know we don't care about the UFC rankings, but they matter in terms of UFC matchmaking. Jamal Hill right now is number 10 in the UFC rankings. Looks like he's looking at like a matchup against like a Vulcan O's the Mere type, who's like number eight-ish, seven-ish, somewhere in that range.

Those fights feel winnable for Jamal Hill and sort of what his style is, whether it's Dominic Reyes, Ozdemir, however you, Kryloff, however you want to throw in there. At that point, he's just won away. I think there's a path, right? Like an Anthony Smith or Tiago Santos, who is still somehow number five in this division. All it would take is one of those. And then Jamal Hill's right there.

He's 30 years old. He's young. He can cut a promo. Has a very marketable style. I feel like there's a totally a case in a roadmap where he could be fighting for the title by the end of next year. Just purely based on the way this division is set up right now and how absolutely bizarre 205 is.

Glover Tachara is going to need fresh blood after he takes out for Hachka. So this is a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a fair point. I'm going fact. I just see it. I see that there's a path, and it doesn't seem that far fetched for me.

Number seven, Shavkat Ramanov, who got some love this month from several panelists and the others receiving votes category. I think, Mike, you were the earliest on this. And now people are jumping on board

is a better prospect than Hamzat Shemayev. Fact or fiction. I'm going to say fiction. He's maybe skill-wise. that remains to be seen, but I just think the total package. I think prospects,

there's obviously skill involved, but there's like the total package. Like can you market yourself? Can you put yourself over? Can you put yourself in a position where you are a must see TV and that everyone is clamoring? They have to get to the television

to watch you fight. I feel like Hamzaa Chamaif is like top three to five fighters in the world on that list. While Rachmanoff, I think people were planting some seeds, right? We're planting seeds. want to grow this beautiful garden of tomatoes, but right now we're just seeing like little red balls, but no, nothing near tomato.

So I think it could be a delicious harvest. There's a beautiful metaphor. Yes, the Rock Monoff tomatoes could be a delicious harvest, but I still think it's going to take a couple years before we get there. So no fiction. Damon, this is a man, 15 and 0. 3 and O in the UFC all finishes, purely skill-based, not even just promotional wise. better talent, better prospect than Hamza?

Fiction. I like Shavka very much. I think he's like a killer. And hypothetically, he's faced, you know, solid, decent competition. But no, I mean, Chameh, Chameh's a monster in every sense of the word. And where I go Chameh's so heavily is because I'm a wrestling guy and Chameh has incredibly good wrestling. That's going to be a huge weapon for him all the way going up through the top 10. I mean, of course, if he gets Gilbert Burns, he's going to get the, you know, the tie to Evasa possibility where he just kind of jumps everybody else and gets right into title contention. But no, I like Shavka very much.

And down the road, that could be really fun to see him take on better guys in the division. But no, I mean, I'm a Hamzot believer. I think the only guy to beat Hamzot right now that I would favor to beat Hamzot right now is Kamar Usman and maybe Colby Covington. So, yeah, I just, I'm a Hamzaat believer. What do you think, AK, is there a case? There's a case. And I want to make it.

I want to say facts. so badly. I want to say facts so bad. I'm literally looking at his resume right now. And, and again, you could say that his wins over Cowboy Olivera, Michel Prezeres, who was 26 and two, I think, or 26 and three, either way, had, 26 and three, excuse me, when they had fought. And now Carlson Harris, who's a prospect, I think, I wish to say prospect, but a UFC prospect, who I think very highly of, and I thought that fight would be closer than it would be. That's an amazing three and O start. And I think better than the first three wins that, that, that, Hamzad had. But the mystique of Hamzah, the, I think the impact with which he finishes with,

the fighting in two divisions, the quick turnaround. I've probably fallen in love with a narrative here, but I am one of those people who is just dying to see him fight Usman sooner rather than later. Again, you know, I've made the case that Usman should call him out now and get that fight. And while I would favor Usman, it's pretty amazing how many people I think, whether they're just trying to be, you know, outsmart the system, or if there's just good betting odds, whenever when that fight happens, who would lean towards Shemayev, who would definitely give him a shot. I can't say the same about Shavkat right now. I don't have the same urge to see him fight Usman or even to fight a top five guy.

For some reason, I'm still, I still want to see him taking along slowly and maybe fight another good veteran top 20, top 25, not necessarily a ranked guy. If you got a rank guy, I wouldn't complain. But Shamaev, we're talking, again, top five, we're talking a guy, could be fighting for the title sometime this year. So a reluctant fiction, a reluctant fiction. Man, how good are the question marks right now 170? Between these two guys and a few others, prospects coming up, like the idea that you could

have a title fight between Hamzat and Shavkat within the next like two years, that feels totally feasible, right? Like that doesn't feel out of the realm of possibility. And how crazy would that fight be? Be sick. Kazakhstan. You know, Kazakhstan, M.A. Yeah.

But in that case, did Kamar Usman retire? because I don't think he's going to not be champion unless he just decides to hand over the title. Well, I mean, you give it two years down the road, right? What's he 36 right now? It's got bad knees. Like, at a certain point, this ends for everybody. Like, everybody looks unbeatable until they're not.

If he were, like I said, if he beats Leon Edwards and beats Hamzot and defense his title two more times, I 100% could see Usman just wrapping it up, hanging up the gloves and going on to do something else. 100% could see that happening. Yeah. I mean, the end comes for everyone,

regardless of whether they want it to or not in this game. He will lose the title in the cage. I agree. He will lose the title in the cage. It happens to everybody, except unless your name is Habib and you just get out before that time comes. But yeah, I have to agree with you, fellas, I say fiction. But I think there's a genuine case here where two years down the line we look back and it's like,

oh, no, maybe that was actually right. Maybe that was correct. And we were looking at the wrong guy. We'll see. Last three here to round this out. Number eight, Sean Strickland, Damon. Our new number eight, middleweight. Sean Strickland is the most marketable fight left for Israel.

Addisania and the UFC. Fact or fiction. Oh, man. Outside of other divisions, we should say. Oh, boy. Most marketable. Good Lord, that's a, that's a weighted question. Yes, however you want to interpret that, David.

Thank you for going first. Thank you for you. I guess I'm going to say reluctantly, I'm going to say fact only because, you know, Adasania's already beaten everybody else that could be considered a more marketable. I like Jared Cannon. very much. And I think that's a really fun matchup. And I actually think Jared will give him fits here and there. I still pick out of Sonia to win. But Jared's not that guy. Jared's not going to promote that fight. He's not going to say crazy things to get people on board. And

Sean Strickland lives in crazy. That's his, that's his home base is crazy. Crazy might actually be a compliment compared to where that guy goes sometimes. So yeah, because again, who else is they're going to be? I mean, they're not going to even Costa. You know, Costa, you know, fights at, you know, 285 pounds now. Brunson ain't getting a title shot again. Vittorri's not getting the rematch. Whitaker just went two times in a row. And again, I like Canineer, but Canada's not going to be that guy. So, yeah, I mean, just based on who's in the UFC and who's in the rankings right now,

John Strickland probably is that guy. What do you think, Mike? I mean, it's hard to argue with everything Damon just said. That would be a pretty horrific fight build. just to be different, I will say there's probably one name that a lot of us have ranked in the top 15 that would be more marketable because it would be such a feel-good story. If Chris Wyman comes back and starts running off wins, if he comes back and starts running off wins and gets to a title fight without Asana, that is the most marketable fight you can make.

Because it would just be the culmination of just this incredible comeback story of what happened in the Uriah Hall fight. If somehow he comes back and wins like three. or four in a row and gets up there and somehow finds himself in an opportunity. And Adasani says his name. I think that would be the most marketable fight. But that's just, I guess, that's like the angel against the devil that is Sean Strickland. So unfortunately, I'm going to go with fact, but it would take, it would take Chris Wyman to go on this incredible comeback run to change that. I did not expect that Chris Wyder mentioned during this question. I had not going to lie. And Mike, I don't know if you, you probably didn't cast the first half of our show.

Widman, shamefully, has actually dropped out of our top 15 for the first time. For the first time since we started doing the rankings, he has lost his top 15 spots. But that would make the story, I think, even more, as you said, kind of even more, you know, that. He's been, even the MMA media has abandoned him, you know, has abandoned him as a contender and left him for dead. So that's a... And you could throw, and you could throw Darren Till in there, too. If he, all he needs to win. That's the one. That's the one.

Oh, yeah. He needs to win two fights, and he's fighting for the title. So, yeah, he's another name. So, you know what? I'm just. talk myself out of it. Fiction. Darren tells the correct answer. Yeah. No, I'm like, I'm with you.

I'm fiction all the way because, I mean, Strickland is his own. I know we use the word marketable and that can mean a lot of things. I mean, the controversy creates cash, right? At least people are talking about Sean Strickland. But man, he is just so, he, the big, eventually he's going to reach a level where he's going to get more mainstream attention and you do not want people scrutinizing his past comments, his social media. He's got to scrub that social media.

That's going to be bad. really, though. Yeah. We're not in, this isn't basketball. Nobody cares. That's fine. That's fine. It's bad to say, but no one cares, right?

I think people will care. I think it's the bad kind of controversial at some point. I know we just had Colby Compton, but I don't think Colby Compton is like this. We're about to have the ugliest week lead up for a pay-per-view. He's not like an A-tier star either. He's high,

he's high up there. He's so high that he can main event a, that they can feel comfortable having him and Horamazzo-Dal main event or pay-per-per-view after losing two title fights. But I still don't consider him an A-tier star, which is a very short list, you know. So, but the other reason I'm saying fiction is, I think there's another fight that's even more, that's marketable another way.

And he might set himself up for it, this name in a couple of weeks. Alex Paheta. I mean, I know he's not that well known yet to the hardcore anime fan base. Sorry, to the broader Emmy fan base. The hardcores, of course, would love to see him fight again. He has two wins already to send you a decision and a highlight real knockout. But most people, like me, had only saw, like when he first heard of Alex Behead, I don't follow kickboxing that closely, only saw that knockout and thought, oh, man, this is the, this guy's the Adesania

killer. He's got to do MMA. Adesania was actually, like, winning that second fight. So it's not like he has, like, solved the Adesania puzzle. I was, like, dominating him and then smoked him. It was actually kind of like this come from behind, like, you know, miracle knockouts. So amazing in a different way. But I do think there's that heat there.

And I think it's easy to market because that clip is so digestible. I think if he gets a big win over Bruno Silva. not a guarantee by any stretch, by the way, because I think Bruno Silva is also a possible contender. Then you immediately, that is the only win for me that Alex Baheda needs. You're assuming him right to the title shot at that point. Give him a title shot.

I think you can talk, I just see out into wanting to get that fight back. And I think he probably sees you as an easier win in MMA. Though, again, probably a bit striking battle. So who knows? But yeah, and then you just play that clip over and over and over again. That's a sellable fight.

I'm an Alex Perrier fan. I actually really like that. Good poll, AK, but I will say it always worries me when you get those outside wins. Like we all thought Joe Duffy. Remember Joe Duffy? Whenever he came in? Everyone's like, oh my God, he beat McGregor. He beat Connor. Holy crap. And you know, and then, you know, Darren Till. I like Darren Till. He's one and four in his last five. I think he's closer to Johnny Walker than his title shot contention. Just throwing that out there. Who's the guy who beat Kimbo, the cop, Sean Gannon? Was Sean Gannon? Rest in peace. And UFC signed him strictly because he beat Kimbo in a, yeah, in a street fight. And then he got beat by

Brendan, Brendan Lee Hankel, baby. The Hammerhouse original, Brendan Lee Henkel, Columbus, Ohio. Yeah, those outside winds don't always translate. Yeah, I have to say fiction as well. I mean, you guys named two of them, Pereira until, to me, would be the two that would be bigger fights for Izzy outside of Sean Strickland, because obviously Sean Strickland will talk. It'll be a different type of promotion, but he'll talk nonetheless.

But right now, man, the cover's looking a little bare for Izzy in terms of big fights. Like, he really is not going to have like a big marketable type of, foil for himself, unless he moves up, or unless someone comes up that we're just not thinking about at this point. All right. Last two here, fellas, we're going to zoom through these. This next one is the Jed Mishu special. Mike, Andre Alaski, unranked, but forever ranked in our hearts. Greatest heavyweight in USC history. Fact or fiction. I love Jed. He is, I mean, he's become so synonymous with BTL, and I enjoy him just being that other view and being missing no gray area.

but this is just a horrific take by Jed Mishu. I'm sorry. It's just so bad. And let me just say this for people who gave Jed crap. And I'm not even trying to give Jed crap here. Jed's just stating a case. He's stating a case. He's basically doing what we're trying to do.

Like even if we don't believe it and we want to just be different, we're trying to state the case as to why this could be true. So I think deep down Jed probably doesn't even believe that. I actually listened to him live, try to work this out in his own brain while we were doing Twitter spaces when he was fighting, Jared van dera and somehow it just landed that oh maybe Andrea Lofti's the best heavyweight of all time. It's just not true. I don't think I need to say anymore.

I think is that what he is doing now, the fact that he is still picking up wins in the year of our Lord 2022 is just absolutely ridiculous. But let come on now. Like what's he going to do like against anybody in the top 15 in heavyweight? What is this guy going to do if he's fighting? I don't know. Anybody. Anybody in the top 15. It's just not going to get you.

I picked Ty to the Wasta. I picked Ty to win. I'm just saying. I'm just saying he's beating the guy in the top, technically in the top five right now. Right. But I think if they fought again, tie wins. But, you know, at the end of the day, yeah, Phil de Freeze would probably whoop on him. Like, I think Andre Arlowski is great. What a story. But no, just absolutely not true. Yeah, this is utter fiction. This is complete fiction. I mean, David, what do you think? It's utter fiction. I mean, I like Andre very much. And in terms of, In terms of longevity, man, that guy's got a career. I mean, he's 40-some odd years old, still fighting the UFC, still getting wins.

Good for him. I was at his fight with Travis Brown when he came back and everyone thought his chin was shot and he was done. He came back and, you know, got, you know, relatively close. And, you know, he got knocked out by Steepa, but he got, you know, relatively close to the title contention at one point. So, you know, longevity, man, great. This guy's put it together an incredible career.

But even his championship run, you know, had a little bit of an asterisk next to it because he never got to beat Frank Mir at the time because Frank Mir went to that motorcycle accident. We never got to see them fight kind of in the prime of their careers. You know, early in his career, the biggest win was over Tim Sylvia. And I liked him very much, but that was at a point when the UFC's heavyweight division just wasn't good. I mean, it was just a really, really bad division. The best heavyweights were fighting in pride at that time. So career longevity, legend, Hall of Fame, 100 percent best heavyweight.

You're out of your mind. Andrea Laskie, 43 years old. He's on what, like year 24? at this point, year 23, somehow this five and one stretch that he's on right now is the best UFC stretch he has had since 2005. Or 2008, no, 2005, yeah, 2005. That is the best stretch he has had right now

since 2005 in the UFC. I'll quickly just jump on the fiction pound to say, if you want to say he's had the best UFC heavyweight career, I mean, go ahead, sure, sure, longevity matters, a lot of quality wins, he was a former UFC champion. It's always crazy that even now anytime we write like an article about him, like a matchup announcement. We almost always refer to him

as former UFC heavyweight champion, even though it was like a lifetime ago and the UFC was very different. But it doesn't go away. So, yeah, if you want to say he's had the best career inside the Octagon, yeah, I think that's fair. But, I mean, just stack him up in his prime

against other UFC champions. I know he's fought some of these guys. I know he's beaten some of these guys. But at their primes, again, him, he wouldn't be favored right now against, you know, steep, Cormier, and Gano, even for Doom. I know he beat him a long, long time ago.

I think they're peaks. I think for Dune be favored. JDS, just Brock Lesnar, I think, would be favored. I'm not saying he had a better career than Orlovsky, but, so just looking at it from that perspective, yeah, you can't do it. All right. Well, then last one here. And let's end on a high note, end with the legend himself.

Jim Miller, the ageless wonder. We're talking about ageless wonders with Ander Oluski. Jim Miller's doing it at a lighter division at 155 and he's still out here, win and fights at age 38. He wants to make it to UFC 300. So that is the question. Jim Miller will make it to U. UFC 300, factor fiction.

The way this plays out now with schedule, we're looking at probably UFC 281 at the end of December. And so you're looking probably like 2000, you projected forward, probably like 2024 range

to get to 300. Mike, factor fiction, Jim Miller makes it. Sean, I'm glad you started with me because there's fact, there's fiction,

and then there's the incomplete one. I'm going with something we haven't said before. I'm going fact, fact. That means fact twice. Oh, I like it. It is going to happen.

He is absolutely making it to 300. And I mean, I don't have to say anything else about that. The guy is so smart in picking his fights at this point. The UFC understands this role. They're going to do whatever they can to get him there. So basically, Jim Miller's, the next bunch of fights to get Jim Miller there, or he's going to fight a bunch of debutants, a bunch of contender series, or Ultimate Fighter alums, or he's going to fight a legend like a Joe Lozon or a cowboy Seroni.

There's no, like, he's not getting in there with the Raphael Fizzives of the I'm going to put him in there with the Matush Gamrots of the world, or the Armand Syrucians of the world. No, he's going to put in, he's going to fight guys who are like 0 and 1 in the UFC or making their debuts or he's going to fight a guy who has like 35 UFC fights that are on the last legs of their career. So this is a fact.

No, I'm sorry, this is fact fact. Fact, fact. And we'll probably get a victory, Sean. Strong. I like it. Fact, fact. What do you think, Damon? If there's a way I could go beyond that and say, fact, fact, fact, I would say it.

You're going to, you're going to question, and I won't curse here, but you're going to question Jim effing Miller. No, you're not. Jim Miller will make it to USC 300, and I will pick him to win at USC 300. I don't care who he's fighting. Jim Miller is a legend. He will get there. We just talked about longevity with Andre Arlowski. Jim Miller's in that same kind of category.

Again, there's a reason why Joe Silva once said when he asked him to take a fight, and he just said, of course I'll take it. And Joe Silva famously emailed him back and said, of course you will. You're Jim Fenn Miller. He is Jim F and Miller. He will be there at UFC 300. Hey, John, I think you should change this question to UFC 400. Jim Miller has to be doing this until 20 is 50, man. I think like, I guess for a second, you say he said, I think it's closer like summer

2025, I think, if we're going to conservative one pay-per-view-a-month estimate here. He'll be close to 42 years old. it could happen. Oh, it'd be amazing if it happened that he's born in August. So it'd be amazing if it happened the same month as his 42nd birthday. That would be absolutely incredible. But it'll probably be around that time. Sports so unpredictable.

He's been very lucky to not have any like serious, serious injuries that have knocked him out for a long time. I think he's fought at least twice a year for the last like decade or something. If not more, he's knocked and he's, you know, three times, four times. He just keeps this insane schedule. I know we're so common, but the odds are against him. However, guys, I am the Prince of Positivity. And it would be, I would lose my title forever if I went fiction on this question. If anyone deserves positive vibes and positive projections that he is going to make into that magical 300 after doing 100, after doing 200, it is Jim Miller.

He has earned this. He has earned the media pushing him to that and hopefully convincing him never to retire until he hits that magic 300. and by then fight number 60 something probably. 60's only UFC appearance probably be close to 50. I mean, it depends on what his schedule is. Probably be close to 50 around that time. Gosh, imagine UFC 300 UFC walkout number 50 for Jim Miller. Just imagine that.

I love it. I'm imagining it right now, and I absolutely love the imagination of it. I mean, he's at 51 fights right now. He's at 39 UFC fights. So you've got to imagine he'll probably be at like 58 total fights by then, maybe, 57, depending on the breaks he's taken.

Yeah, this is total fact. I mean, there's no way you could say anything but fact. Jim Miller's going to be doing this and knocking out these up-and-comers and submitting them and finishing them in all sorts of various fashions until he's like 75 years old. Like, I truly believe Jim Miller

could do this until he just doesn't want to do it anymore. And this is a guy who fought Lyme disease. I guess it's still fighting Lyme disease? Like, you don't get over the Lyme disease? And it's just, he's incredible. Jim Miller's Hall of Famer. First Ballot Hall of Famer, yeah? Everybody?

I don't know. Yeah. If there's such a thing in the UFC, yes. If there was a true M.A Hall of Fame, it's not even a question. So hey, thank you gentlemen for joining us. We very much appreciate it as always. This has been this month's episode of the M.A. Fighting Ranking Show for Mike, for Damon, and AK.

Thank you so much for joining us as always. My name is Sean O'Shti. Keep it locked to MMA fighting as we give you coverage from USC 272 all week. Jose is out there in Las Vegas. It's going to be a fun week. It's going to be a weird week. probably. Might get a little dirty, might get a little messy, but we'll see. But anyway, thank you once again. We love you guys. We appreciate you. Keep it locked to anybody fighting.

We'll catch you next month.