MMA Fighting - The 2022 MMA Draft | Which 25 Fighters Would You Build A Promotion Around?

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

Which 25 fighters would you build a promotion around if you had the chance? With the NFL Draft upon us, that's the question we set out to answer in our inaugural 2022 MMA Fantasy Draft. Listen as Jed Meshew guides the action and the staff drafts five fighters to their respective organizations: The UFC, Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship, and Eagle FC. Other promoters include Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, Damon Martin, and Alexander K. Lee. Who will be the first overall pick? And which drafter is best set up for the next five years? Find out right now. Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Follow Damon Martin @DamonMartin Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero Pembers on equipped flights, sponsored by Bound. conditions apply see air canada.com you're listening to the vox media podcast network hello friends my name is jedd meshu and i'm a writer for mhmafiting.com the greatest website in the world and i'm so excited because today we are bringing you something a little bit different the 2022 m ms fantasy draft what is that you might have Well, we'll get to that in a little bit.

But first, let me introduce to you, a panel of esteemed colleagues who are going to come with me on this journey. Got four gentlemen joining me, also from M.M.A.fighting.com, the world's greatest website. Mr. Damon Martin, Mike Heck, Sean O'Shawaddy, and the Prince of Positivity himself, A.K. Lee. Fellas, how we doing? Hello. Doing well. I have no idea what we're about to do here, and I'm still a little confused, so I'm very excited. What is a draft?

What is a fantasy? We've spent an hour talking about the rules so far. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I just lost my attention. We haven't come to consensus yet. So for all you listening, what we're going to do here today is the start of the 2022 NFL draft.

And sure, the NFL and MMA have almost nothing in common, but for the fact that, you know, prominent NFL washouts seem to make their way to our sport with relative frequency. But I love football and I love the draft process. It's just a really fun time of year where hope rains. Anything can happen. Possibilities are endless.

And I wanted to do something like that with MMA. I wrote a piece last year for their MMAfighting.com, but I did it all by myself. I had a lot of fun and I wanted to bring some more people in. And so this year, we've got a crew together. and we are going to fantasy draft our top 25 MMA fighters in the world, basically. It's going to be really simple. The rules are each of us will take the reins of one mixed martial arts organization.

I'm going to say that the top five in the world, though I'm sure somebody will argue with this ranking. But we've got Eagle FC, 1 FC, PFL, Bellator, and the UFC. Each of us will represent one. and we are going to draft essentially fighters to organization. A couple of key stipulations. All fighters are available to draft. So anyone who is active or not, you can draft Habib if you want to. But whether he fights or not, you're going to have to work that through with your potential fighter in this scenario.

So when you draft them, you lock them into a five-year promotional contract. Same with NFL first rounders. you get the exclusive promotional rights, but you also still have to get them to play for you, right? So drafting John Jones, high-value guy, maybe he brings a lot to the table. Also, maybe he fails a drug test. Maybe he gets arrested.

Maybe he sits out for two years because he pretends he's going to go be a heavyweight, but we haven't seen him actually do that. So risk reward, gentlemen, that's where we're at here. At the end of it, any fighter who is not drafted, they will revert to the organization they currently compete under, and then, you know, because what are we doing this for, if not to have winners and losers? We're going to put it up, put it to the fans, to the listeners, have them judge who's, who made out like a bandit, who succeeded the most, who has set their organization up to have a strong future five years.

Maybe, AK, I know, you're a man who loves polls. Maybe you can help us out, create some polls for the fans, and that's how it's the winner. I would love to do that. So I have a couple of questions right off the bat. I was about to say, where are we out on the questions? So question number one. So essentially everybody who doesn't get drafted rescinds back to their original ownership, basically, right? Our umbrella.

So like if I, for example, if I'm PFL, do I need to, like, get ahead of it and draft Kayla Harrison to protect her? Like, is that how this works? It's a, so because I'm going to, you know, peel the curtain back here a little early, I'm representing the PFL, And I am thinking that exact question over because on the one hand, if I can skate through five rounds and no one takes her and I can just, you know, pull in some talent, maybe a Chris Cyborg, create those kind of fights. Then I've won. But if I go ahead and draft Cyborg in the first round and then somebody snakes Kayla out for me, well, I have just screwed myself in horrendous fashion. So it's a gamble. But if you can pull it off, that's going to be a big success.

you. So you should, I guess you can draft your own person. You can defend your, your position because, I mean, frankly, AK is going to be mostly defending his position as, as the UFC representative, or he is just going to let a lot of talent walk out the UFC doors. The brand is so powerful. I may just draft nobody. I may pass on all my picks just to see, just to show that it's going to carry on no matter what. Take 25 of my best guys. I don't care. It's true. You can pretty much just replace them instantaneously with contender series guys making 10 and 10. Probably less money too. This whole drafting is a great cost-saving measure.

I love it. Other questions. Wow. None for me. None for me. We spent so much time talking about it yesterday. I feel like I'm ready. Yeah, I think we're going to have more as we go.

Yeah, exactly. Okay, I'm going to jump back in because I still have at least one more question. I was letting the floor go, so I didn't just barrage it. So the goal, I'm not creating just one super event, right? Like I'm trying to set up for like five years of events or so like I don't understand. If I draft Connor McGregor, am I not guaranteed a Connor McGregor fight? Because like what does that mean? I'm hypothetically negotiating with him.

You're still going to have to negotiate with them because you can't, I don't know if you know this, Sean. You're not allowed to force people to work or fight. That's preposterous. They're pretty strong laws against both. of those things, but you can own his promotional contract. So, you know, maybe you take him and then it's just on you to negotiate with him. You know, if you're not the UFC, it's probably a lot easier to negotiate with Connor, frankly,

because you're just like, whatever you say, yes. Okay. Sure. Last question then. Connor may get arrested because that's a thing that Connor has historically done. Last question, trades. Yay, Nate? Oh, I'm all for the chaos hammer.

Anarchy abound. You pitch a trade, and it's on to you. If you can make a trade happen, let's make it go. All right, I like that. Let's go. All right. So we have no more questions. Oh, no, wait.

Oh, regarding the trade thing, are we only talking about trading guys that we have drafted, guys and gals that we have drafted today? Oh, great question. Anyone that's technically on the roster until someone else takes them. I feel like you can draft anyone that's on the roster, but if someone else takes them, then the receiving party of that,

so I'm saying, like, Oh, that's confusing. You'll see, but if there's still an open draft out there, like it's a bit dangerous, right? If I'm trading with you to accept, oh, you're going to throw in Dustin Porier in this trade, and then two picks down the line,

Mike takes Porier. That feels like that. Then what happens to my trade? Then what do, yeah. Oh, then only the person receiving that fighter gets screwed. It seems like that that's how we should run this. Oh my gosh. Oh, okay.

That's spicy. I like that. It seems like how we should run this. Or you could put Stips on the trade. So you know, I would take you're going to trade me, Justin Porier, AK, but if Porier is no longer under contract with you by the end of the draft, instead I will get my choice of two top 15 featherweights or whatever those that I want. Okay.

This is going to get. Okay. So essentially it seems like there's two ways we could approach this. One is to go the long road, like to play the long game of get like young guys, young women who are going to grow into something in five years or just go all out short term gain like big event, just get the superstars. Pretty much. Mike, what you got? So kind of building upon that question, is this going to be an annual thing? Like if we draft five people now, do we keep those five people for next year's draft?

I love that idea. You know, I'm going to answer this very simply that I have to, I still have to be employed by invading.com next year. But if I am, with that speculation in mind, I would say for sure, let's add that role in. That's, that's, that's, I was going to say we also have to be alive. That was more my concern. I mean, employ. Get a beneficiary.

Just get them on the books. What if I'm PFL and I draft, you know, Chris Cyborg, And then next year, Chris Seiborgs with somebody else. Like, how does that ownership transfer? I don't know. We can cross that bridge when we get that. It doesn't matter. I feel like you just get to hold your ownership if you've made the draft and we're doing this back next year.

But Mike, I love the forward thinking. That's why we have you here. That kind of vision. And it's important to have that vision because you, sir, have the first overall pick in this draft, 22's M&A fantasy draft. And you are representing Eagle FC. The new kid on the block, expansion draft, we're letting the new guy go first. Do we have any other questions before we officially put Mike on the clock?

Oh, I guess we should also tell the people who we are each representing. Sure, that's fair. So Mike is going to be taking Eagle FC with the first overall pick, the second pick. That will go to one, Damon Martin, who is representing the billion dollar or the billion fan company, one FC, one championship. I will take the middle spot with PFL, you know, the greatest organization. The smart cage, that's what I'm about. Stats, lots of stats. Sean, you have Bellator in the four spot, and A.K. Lee, you're closing us down.

The fifth and final pick of each round, the UFC. Hey, hey, I'm Dana Wyatt. Hey, I get no respect. Hey, no respect. Hey. I didn't think about it. When did Dana become Rodney Dangerfield? But when did this happen?

No, you guys haven't watched enough BTL or any other program. It's all. It's got more and more danger fieldy. And I think accurate. I think also more accurate. Like it's somehow in the same way. It is. Man, AK, you just got all the tools.

You've got Rodney Dangerfield. The five tool player. He's a five tool player. And you've got the calculator. You've got the MMA math calculator to make you. We all have access to it. This show is going to cost a lot of money. Oh, no.

I haven't gotten access to that. Oh, you haven't? Okay. I'm still new enough to the site. You're still my new guy. We'll still get to that. So this is also, this is not serpentine, right? No, not serpentine. We're doing this NFL draft style, mainly to just really make it hard on the USC is primarily the structure.

So yeah, that's going to be it. We are about to kick things off. Mike, you are on the clock. Whenever you are ready, you walk across that stage. You hand the pick to commissioner. Jed instead of Goodell and make your announcement. And, you know, let's kick it off. Do you want us to message you the picks or should we just read the do them ourselves?

Do you want us to do them ourselves? Oh, no. Unless every time you message, you're going to have a, uh, da-na-na-uh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. All right, I'm ready. First of all, I'm so excited for this. Mike was, my, before the show, Mike was like, I got my number one pick.

I already know it. And I'm very excited. He's been so confident the whole time. And that's what you want. That's what you want with the first overall draft date. Hack the holidays with the PC holiday Insiders report. Try this PC Porchetta. Crackling, craveworthy.

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the mysterious money, man, or men, if you will. I know we are an organization that has a million unanswered questions, but I feel like this draft will set us up, so you'll forget about those questions. With that being said, I would also like to apologize to my good friend, Alexander, Dana White, K. Lee, because I'm about to take, I might actually be doing you a favor here,

but I might be taking a very prized possession of yours right off the bat. And the reason I'm making this election, one, because this gentleman deserves it, two, he's a terrifying individual, and three, I'm going to use this individual to set us up for future success. Because if he wants to try boxing, if he wants to fight Tyson Fury, I'm going to let it happen. Oh. We are going to let it happen.

We had a late night meeting last night. We are in. No matter what we have to do, we will make this happen. So with that being said, for the first pick of the fantasy draft, Eagle FC selects the now former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Inganu. Make that money, son. Welcome aboard, baby. Wow.

Nice. That's a big. Nice. That's a strong. Number one. I look forward to, I look forward to Francis and Ghanau versus Jorgon de Kano versus Jorgon Castro in your first event. That's okay.

He's going to fight Tyson Fury first. Our bank account is going to be set for the next five years. So no matter what I pick now, we're good. We're just going to put on fights. We have so much money now. Also, frankly, I kind of do look forward to Tess, or Inganu versus Yorgina Castro. Just seeing more mercy killing. He's like, you just run these out.

And Jed, Jed, you'll like this. You'll like this. Our first event, we're going to do Francis Ngano versus Tyson Fury tetherball match in the middle of the game. Oh, there we go. Oh, we're just having fun now. We're just having fun now. Mike, people know Mike and I are best friends, of course.

So our board's probably very similar. I had Francis guy number one, specifically, right in parentheses, and he will be allowed to box. I think it's just so logical. And plus, you know, do a little MMA. I think we'll still like to see him mix the martial arts. I'm not crazy about it, but I mean, that's the kind of thing we're doing here. So that was number one on my board.

I'm really, really curious. Well, I guess you guys don't want to reveal that yet. can probably bring that up later. But I can reveal, obviously, it's gone now, so I can say that it's. I love that pick, especially because of what Sean said, because even after you get the Fury fight, do you, does anyone really care who Francis is fighting? You could just go watch him uppercut fools into the stratosphere. Like, that's, I love, great, great start.

Also, there's a shelf life on that forever. Like, he could be 43, just uppercut and fools into orbit. So, you know, I got him for five years. This is, this is value personified. That was a great pick. Dare I say, Lance upper cutting fools into the stratosphere? That's deep. If you haven't already, it dropped, should have dropped this week.

Go listen to the MMA fighting ranking show. And then you will understand all of Damon's in the eyes for this. All right. We are on to the second pick of the draft. Damon, the world is your oyster, one FC. You have a billion viewers. What are you going to let those billion viewers, what kind of damage, what kind of violence do they get to enjoy?

Well, I have to say as the new head of one championship after ousting Chachri Sit-Yatong, I'm sorry, I'm taking over, you're out. I have to remember we're playing to a different kind of audience because one championship, of course, primarily holds events throughout Asia in that part of the world. And also, one championship is a multifaceted combat sports organization, meaning they promote grappling matches, they promote Muay Thai, We promote kickboxing.

So with that being said, the athlete I'm going to select needs to be a multifaceted athlete, one who can crossover boundaries, become a huge superstar on a global scale, and also potentially go out there for our, you know, for our billions upon billions of potential viewers, go out there and compete across multiple sports. So with that being said, my first selection as one championship is none other than current UFC middleweight champion, the last style bender Israel ad dis on you because Israel will be able to go out there become the best middleweight potentially become the best light heavyweight he'll also cross over and do Muay Thai he'll cross over and do kickboxing we're going to get Israel doing everything for one championship that's why he is my first selection man that's a excellent

that was a great thing that's spot on I think we've had two perfect picks so far and can I just say and I hope the listeners are like are feeling the same thing. I shouldn't be as enthralled with Damon's pick as I was. Like, I was on the edge of my seat, honestly, while you're making that speech, I couldn't wait to see you were going to pick. Like, the more you spoke, the more I was stuck to my chair. So I can't, I'm, this first round rules, and I hope the listeners are experiencing the same thing. Did you mention time zone, because even time zone alone, you have a guy who's from, you know, roots in the oceanic region. That will be, you know, he'd be happy to fight in some, you know, I mean, any fighter would be.

He has a background in China. Like he was the black dragon in China. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of benefits to a guy like Israel in one championship, especially considering. And also as one championship also plans to expand into the United States,

that would be a natural fit for a guy like Israel who already has, you know, conquered a lot of stardom in the United States. So he just seems like the perfect natural fit. And again, he could be a four sport champion in one championship. He could win the kickboxing title, Muay Thai title,

all kinds of things. So, I, man, I hate this because you guys have done very well. Yeah, I don't know who to, who. I don't love where I'm at right now, frankly. So I am up on the clock, PFL, our first overall pick. And I, I don't know. I'm going to let that clock wind down as I thought. You have that sweet, sweet tournament format, which I love, and a million dollar prize.

That's the problem, though, in the smart cage, the smart cage. Punch velocity. That's true. Somebody needs to know how fast they're kicking. Can you draft a damage bar? No, because I will just implement the damage bar. Because, again, the damage bar is the easiest thing in the world to make, especially when you already have all these stats.

It'd be as simple. That's why we're going to go to the top. But it's difficult to find a fighter that's going to fit this because it's got to be somebody willing to fight, you know, multiple times in the span of a few short months. Uh-huh. Juanna McGregor, come on. We really think I'm going to get Connor in the smart cage four times in a year.

There's no chance in hell I do that. John Jones, also no chance. Like I can't take the big, obvious ones. And so I'm going to go a little off the board. This is an Al Davis style pick. I'm picking traits, picking attributes here. Not a ton of production thus far, but I'm projecting a lot of greatness here. Give me number three.

a man who will fight. We've seen him fight multiple times in the span of a month. Give me a lot of my have. Let me build up that welterweight division a little bit more. And then I can have arguably the best welterweight in the world right now, even though Kamar Ushman will still hold the title. But my welterweight division is pretty strong. I've got Rory McDonald.

I've got Ray Cooper. I've got some interesting fights there for him. And this is a guy who will love the opportunity to come in and fight. three times over one summer and just kind of continue to build the smash brand. You could put him in two divisions too, Jed. There's so many. Three. He could be the first guy to compete in two divisions simultaneously for the tournament.

He can be a welterweight and a middleweight tournament entrant, and we'll just make sure we stack those so the events aren't overlapping. Easy game. Give me Tremayev. I'm going to build my company around. around him. As if the PFL doesn't have enough stats, is there a chance you can actually put like smash stats on the bottom line to just add on to like what else is in there?

Well, a lot of people out there say that the PFL does too much. This is too, too busy. It's got too much. Disagree entirely. I want more stats. I want to smash that. It's going to have it. I don't know how we're going to figure out what that means, but they make up stats all the

time for like baseball. Like we can make a war in MMA stat that means something. smash over replacement or whatever it would be fine. You also just guaranteed yourself plenty of Darren Till cameos on the broadcast. Look, you know, there's a lot of draft left, and maybe I want to get the Smash Bros in my draft. I'm not going to say what we're doing later. But there's an opportunity to have the Smash Bros.

Recreating some Mighty Duck's goodness in a small cage. I'm not taking that page. I'm not taking that page. Better to have Till on the camera. than in the cage based on his recent performances. Wow. Anyways, sorry, just so now. Wow.

Hey, listen, that's my fighter for now. Go and shade. You should throw in shade from the side. I love it. Technically still on my roster. So you watch yourself, Martin. Well, that brings us to number four here. Mr. Sean O'Shouti.

You are in charge of, for now, we're going to call them Bellator MMA, but I think that that might be your first order of business. Free name. It's a great name. Yes, before. So thank you. all for joining me as we set on a new era for what used to be Bellator MMA. My first order of

business before we even get to the draft, I have to announce that we have changed the name of the promotion. It was a bad name anyway, if we're being honest. No one particularly knows what Bellator is. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't represent fighting in any capacity. You tell that to a stranger on the street. They're not going to know what you're talking about. So we are now, formally, moving forward, Showtime MMA. Simple. It has prestige. It has class.

We also may have also adjusted the circle cage. That no longer exists. It's just a normal cage. It's much better. And, you know, we may be fixed up some announcing crews and commentary crews and such. It'll be a very different broadcast. Don't worry. New graphics.

Total rebrand. It's a new era. This is a travesty. new graphics, new commentary crew, new everything. Is he going to Mexico as well with Bjorn or is that we don't, we don't just let that be? Let's put a pin in that for the... Listen, listen, listen, I don't mind you the commentary team thing. I think that's fine.

I don't mind the change in the cage. That's fine. Changing the name is a travesty. How dare you? How dare you? Veltor, I feel like I think I'm joking. I actually don't mind it only because I will say this. I will say this.

There are probably better options. But I'm just tired of kind of like, such and such fighting championship such extreme fighting you know arena whatever things I get it branding doesn't need to be complicated you're the ultimate fighting championship

I know I was to say I'm not about to change my name maybe that's the other reason is I wish I could sue all these people who did the three initial that's why one less is all the better

so I encourage names like Belator but I do agree it's a name that it's just it doesn't resonate it with you immediately, especially associating it with M.A. So that I understand. But Showtime Fighting Championship or what have you. It's just so, I don't know, so generic. But sometimes generic and entertainment is good.

I understand that. It's Showtime MMA. Show some respect. Oh, excuse me. Okay. Showtime M. So Anthony Pettis, you didn't have to make a big payoff. Legal approve this.

You're good. Because he has his own organization that has Showtime in the name as well. I think he's... Anthony Pett is fighting championships. I think where he landed. Now he showed Showtime FC. Oh, I thought it was Anthony Pettis fighting championships.

I thought they had to... Are they changed it? I thought they couldn't do showtime because there was a contractual... Like somebody already had the name. Yeah, us. Showtime. We had it.

All right, you got it. All right, you worked it out. Are you going to draft Anthony Pettis to really just put a bow on all of this in? That's the lead. That's actually not a bad idea later, but I can't waste the first thing.

Waste. Waste. Waste. Yeah. If you're out there, We're always welcome to have you back. We've never used that kind of language to describe a fighter. So as our first step in this new era of Showtime MMA,

Jed, you actually made my decision much, much easier. I was sitting over here really stressing out about what I was going to do. You actually just made my choice for me. If he's still on the board at number four, I'm going to take him because I can say I have the best fighter in the entire damn world. I'm going to take Kamaro Oussman, the number one pound-per-pound man on the MMA fighting global rankings. rankings that matter.

UFC doesn't have the best fighter in the world anymore. Showtime MMMA does. It's a new era. Let's go. I can't knock it. I mean, there's nothing you can say that's wrong about it except for, you know, your champion doesn't have any knees left. How long can he be a champion without the knees?

Doesn't matter. He's 34. He's got a few years left. I'm planning it for the next few years, not five years. Francis and Gunn was 35. He also has knee problems. It's not a big deal. I had the same thought as Jed, so I am happy for you to take Kamar Usman off of my hands.

Our fans don't really, you know, we've run some numbers. The UFC teams run some numbers. Our fans don't really care about who the best fighter in the world is we found. So that's, you know, that, yeah, I, I'm just saying it was secondary to a lot of other factors. And I do worry that he's kind of ready to Habib at any moments and just kind of be like, oh, that was it. That was my, that was my retirement. So actually, I will say that's another element of this. We're very open to other things.

If he wants to box, Canello, we're all for it. If he wants to go to a jump rope championship. Yeah, that ain't happening. Well, this brings us to you, though, AK, and I got to say, we're four picks in. I think we all anticipated it, but you have really taken a beating. Your organization lost a lot of talent through four. How are you going to staunch the bleeding? My top two guys I would have protected

I told you already in Kanu and of course Hamzat was my was actually obviously my number two pick Yeah yeah yeah I definitely would have got Hamzat I knew you were going to take him though regardless I think of which organization Yeah because I think of your Eagle Fisd I think of your Eagle Fiske you probably And you didn't have the number one pick you still would have taken him There's the friction with Habib This is true

Okay that is true that is a problem but I didn't think of working out I really I really wanted yeah I was really hoping to fall back in the Comzat because my next I just see how you guys did it I should should go away from my big board. I should do what a smart sort of GM would do. And, you know, you have a big board, but you don't stick with it. You change it depending on kind of how the, how the landscape is shifted.

Yeah. If you're late in the draft, you can't lock into one pick. We already got, we already got AK shook a little bit. Oh, no. Oh, no. A little bit. I like this. But I am locking it.

I am locking it. That's the thing. You're right. I am shook, which is why it's, I have to put my emotions aside or maybe go back to my emotions that made this list in the first place and go to the list. That's what the list is for. I have a lot of responsibility here being the steward of the largest

fight promotion in history I've done my homework I should trust the numbers trust the research trust my my crack staff I'm going to just turn this draft upside down and probably get some laughs here I'm going with the guy who I think just still isn't getting that respect

I think he's the number one fighter in the best division in the world I think he's a classy guy I can't believe this. This is my guy who I want to lead the new face of the UFC into the next century. If you have five to ten years. My number one pick is Charles Dobrox-Olivera.

Oh, wow. I like it. That is not where I thought you were. I thought you were taking Aljo for sure. I get it. This man does not have mainstream cachet. I totally understand. But listen, he's fighting soon.

I think a win over Gachy is going to do a lot for him. I wish we were doing this almost a couple of weeks later, so I had a better gauge of how people view him. He may never be that A-level star, but like I said, this is the UFC. We don't, I'm very fortunate. We don't need A-level stars. We can hopefully triple-cross one in the future.

I need to keep my roster strong. I need to keep some quality, despite what I was saying earlier about the sort of the fan feedback to that research. So I'm going on the guy, like, I've been, I've been tuned this guy's horn forever, and I've been very happy with seeing his rise. I think he's super exciting. I think if you market him the right way,

he can be a bigger star than he is, if not ever, again, you know, A-A-A-A-level. I'm very comfortable saying Charles Levera is my number one guy who I'm picking slash, protecting from you, Heathens. Wow. That's a little surprising. I like Charles Lovera as much than the next guy,

but UFC's all about Star Power and you pick the guy who can't speak English. That doesn't strike me as a Dana-Wyish move, but I guess it's a new era in the UFC. Not this UFC, pal. A guy who's not even going to be champion, like a week from now. Wow. I also.

Oh, full shade on for Charles Olivera. I thought AK was about to pull a huge algro call, and that was going to be the least day and a white thing of all time. That's where I thought I was going to say. Do Bronx, I'm like, I recess, like, oh, that's a fine pick. Because it's like, he's going to be crazy. He's going to take Sterling. You heard me saying deepest division and you assumed I was going to say it.

And I do love that. And I do consider bad, but I'm saying historically lightweight. Obviously, as soon as you said, the deepest division, I was like, oh, AK and Casey are on that hill. So glad if nothing else, we have gotten you to recognize lightweight is the best division. That's great. All Joe's out there. I'm a fan. I'm just going to say, I'm a fan.

Oh, man. We've had that. That's, I think, the biggest upset pick in the first round, for sure. because I think Olaver would have been on the table in the third or fourth round, probably. Can we review? I've taken the notes here, but can we review for the listeners very quickly? We certainly can. Eagle FC, Mike, took Francis Ngano with the first overall pick on the board.

Damon followed that up, one FC taking Israel Adisanya. Myself with the PFL, I took Hamzaa Chimaev, Sean, with now Showtime MMA, took Homor Oversman. That's right. and A.K. Lee, coming sort of out of left field with Charles Olivera. I will also note here, I said at the top of this broadcast, I did this myself last year, and three of the five were also taken in my own individual one last year. The three African kings and Gano Usman and Adasanya all were first round picks last year for me.

So the more things change, the more they stay the same. And so just for the people know, I think we're going five rounds. We are going five rounds. We don't want to be here all day, you know, but maybe if everyone loves this next year, we'll do a three-day extravaganza. We'll do three-day staves into everybody. It'll be fantastic. So on to round two. And Mike, how is the landscape shifted for you here at Eagle FC?

Did you lose out on anyone you were hoping to get? Everything kind of chalked. Did it feel right? How are you feeling before you make this next big? I'm feeling really good. I think everything's going the way I thought it would go. Shemayev, like I figured he would go in the first. So that would have been a nice addition to the roster.

But I got to say, having the first pick has so much value. But I think there's more value following AK because he's just, he just looks at the sport in such a different way. And I knew that this pick, albeit slightly controversial, I knew I was good here. And I knew I was going to get tremendous value, although it's a very, risky pick. However, we are a new organization and we need to make an impact right away. So with that being said, we're going to give the fans the fight that they desire, a fight that they have wanted for almost two years. And it's going to happen. I feel good about it. And just think of the things we could do here. So with my second pick, Eagle FC, selects Yorgen, no, just

kidding, selects John Jones with the second pick. Ngano versus John Jones will be the first MMA fight for Francis Ngano for the Eagle FC heavyweight championship. I don't care who has the title now. They're being immediately stripped. The title is vacant. And Francis and Gano and John Jones will fight for the vacant

heavyweight championship of the universe after Ngano fights Tyson Fury, of course. So congratulations, Francis. Congratulations, John. Welcome to the team. Stay out of trouble. And we will hire you a driver. We will hire you somebody to follow you around to make sure you're making the right decisions.

And I feel like you're going to fit in quite nicely with some of the guys behind the scenes that we don't know about. So there we go. Wow. That was a great pick. I thought that's where you would go once John cleared the front and you got in Ghanu and you just have that preset. I think that's a great pick. Your Eagle FC is really reinventing themselves right in front of our eyes. I think that's a great thing.

That was tremendous. Thank you, my best fan, for taking this malcontent, this problem child. Says it's first in his eyes and his hands open. I am so, you guys probably thinking like, oh, I was hoping nobody would draft John Jones, so I just get him by default. No, no, no. I'm glad when you guys is wasting a pick on this guy who might not even be good anymore. I mean, we don't even know his, you know, his performances have been,

you know, they've been wins, but they've been less than inspiring. There has a lot of bad blood. Your mind is obviously an amazing place. You have set up two potential incredible attractions with the Francis and Ghanu, Tesson Fury, Tetherball match, and then the John Jones actual fight, fingers crossed. I'll tell you guys this. Is he all your big board at all, A.K.? No.

I was not going to protect him. I'm not even kidding. I was not going to protect him. I just think he's so unreliable. Like we said, like we said, we have established that there is some real world rules. I think we're all making our picks with sort of the most optimistic viewpoint possible that like, okay, well, we'll, you know,

we're more willing to bend over backwards than some promoters, excuse me, to make certain fights happen. But when you have a guy like this who has so many like real world issues and in cage, I mean, the failed drug test, things like that, I'm just not willing to go there.

I'm not willing to go there. I've essentially become one championship now. I'm not willing to compromise the established, this high moral fiber of the UFC. I look very forward. I look very forward to John Jones fighting in 2026. So good pick, Mike. I look forward to that fight in like three years.

That's okay. I have him for five. I have him for five. I only need him once. I only need him once to fulfill the obligation that I need him for. I just need him for one fight. One fight. The John Jones comeback fight.

Like actually the longer goes and you still get him would be like. More mistake. So much. This is a value pick if there ever was one. Frankly, I actually really love what you're setting up over there, Mike. I feel like you're winning this draft by a mile right now. You got a bee promoting John. Like that's, you got a goat promoting a goat.

Like, it all works. Plus they've got two fights set up basically. Like some mysterious benefactor that I feel like could make John Jones's problems, like go away. I feel like just mysteriously like he could get some DUI. It's like, oh, no, no DUI. What? No DUI. It's like, what?

Also, like, I don't know that Eagle FC's over there doing a bunch of drug testing. Like we get a really juicy John Jones over here. John's going to be about 325 before, yeah. He puts pen to paper for his first fight. I'm glad you pointed that out because I thought that was low-key Eagle FC's like strongest. It's like, yeah, we don't really do that. I don't care.

Uber bones, Uber bones. All right. Pick to, Sean, you're looking a little shook by how much Mike is put in the wood to us right now. I am a little bit. Oh, no, I'm impressed. I'm sitting here impressed in an awe of what's going to be. And as the man with the next pick, I can tell you right now, we do not want a problem

child like John Jones on the one show. We are all about honor, respect for our billions upon billions of potential fans. That's right. I was about to say, because one man who doesn't look shook at all is Damon. It seems like everything is right in line with what Damon wants to do. So with the next pick, Damon, you've taken. and you've taken Israel to Sanya. Who are you taking next?

Well, so I will give credit where credit is due to AK. While I didn't think the Charles Olivera pick would fit the UFC's mold, I actually did have him pegged for a potential second or third round pick because Charles Oliver seems to fit what one championship does. So kudos for taking that off the board. That being said, again, I'm looking at one championship as a global brand, a brand that is, again, primarily over in Asia, that part of the world, love entertaining fights, love high,

profile high impact kind of fights and again the potential of crossing over multiple sports and multiple weight classes with that being said i'm going to look at an athlete for the future not necessarily a guy who is a champion right now but a guy that is going to bring nothing but pure excitement to the to the one circle i think they call it every single time that he steps in there and there is a potential down the road of a showdown with the man who i will believe could be a two division champion with our first pick in Israel, I do this on you. So with my second pick, I'm going to take the man from the Czech Republic, Yeri Prohashka.

Dang. Damn it. That is a tremendous. That is good. I was going to go for Yeri this round. Well, that's to do it. Yeri is pure excitement. He is dynamite in a bottle.

And again, we're won championship. We're real fluid with our weight classes. So he might fight it. He might fight a middleweight. He might fight at light heavyweight. Super fight with Israel. How much fun would that be? So, yeah.

Yuri Pajasca is my second pick. I just have to say one thing about this all, though, Damon, because I am disappointed that you took Israel Adisina and you took Yer Pashka, and you haven't even mentioned the potential to have Riniere Ritter fight either of those gentlemen. Maybe the best one. I don't want to mention. it because he might get taken. I'm trying to stay away from the guys who are currently in my roster because that there's

a chance that they get taken and I lose out on those matchups. It's fair. I'm not going to take him in the second round, but watch out for the late round picks. I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that you didn't, that you picked him over your number one, like, heavy in the world. Mr. excitement himself, Beasts in 258 overtime, Corey Anderson.

Hey, let's, hey, let's calm down with the Corey Anderson talk over here. See? Oh. Oh. We respect for it. We were some tampering rules. Come on, man. We fully, over at one championship,

we fully respect the number one light heavyweight in the sport, Corey Anderson. But I'm also planning for the future, and I'm also planning for a guy who fits the one championship mold. And that to me is Yuri Parashka. Is he technically the number one light heavy heavy to golf the board? We're not counting John. John Jones is a heavyweight, essentially, right?

Yeah, first one. Oh, yeah. First two or five guy. He's the first actual. 205 or John's a heavyweight. I mean, you know, some of our ranking panel is still consider Izzy a light heavy weight.

So, man. All right. We're already background to me. PFL. Second pick. And I am, I've got two that I really like. And I think one of these counterintuitively has a much higher likelihood of making it through.

So I'm going to pass on them because AK is a crazy person. It's basically why I'm making this pick now. And I think that this man will leave the board if I don't take, if I don't scoop him up. It is, you know, I'm glad we've talked about on the ranking show. He is no longer, in anyone's view, the top featherway in the world, but he is still one of the best fighters in the world, one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world, one of the most exciting fighters in the world, bar none, and a guy who can compete at featherweight,

you can beat it lightweight. Hell, he can go up and compete a welterweight. I need more bodies that can fight multiple divisions in the PFL, guys who are going to come in and just promote. They're going to promote themselves. They're going to make things fun. Give me Max Holloway. Wow.

Because that man is, I think you can build a promotion around him and he can make a run at the featherweight at the lightweight title. It can just be a good time. So give me Max Holloway. It may be a little early, but I feel like AK was eyeballing that. and I wanted to get him first. I'm stunned.

I will say, I admire your Messiah Ujiri, Bobby Webster-like, dedication to positional and versatility. You are essentially going all six, eight forwards here for your team. You want guys who can all handle the ball. Wingspan, baby. Massive wingspan. We need that lift. What are divisions anymore, right? You're going for divisionless, feel like a positionless basketball.

You're going for divisionless, divisionless MMA. That is impressive. I have to. And like there were a couple of guys that I had above him in my big board. Wokinovsky, not one of them. What? Oh, no, not a chance. No, I think he's a better fighter.

We talked about it the other day, but Max is a much more promotable. I feel like Max is just much more exciting. And I want to be getting the high excitement because also the understated part of this. If you thought Max Holloway with UFC stats was fun, just wait until he gets in the smart cage. We can stop piling up all of those strikes that he throws. We're M-Max in the smart cage, and we're just going to have all sorts of fun with numbers. Can the smart cage handle that? I don't know.

Are we going to have like a Y2K problem, like a Y-2K problem where like the digit changes, and it's like, oh, no, and then the cage explodes, killing everyone inside of it and around it. That's how you get better, though, A.K., you've got to test the limits of your own technology, and that's what we're going to do in the BFL with the smart cage. Sean, that puts you, you are on the clock, sir, Showtime MMA, your first round pick, former UFC Walterweight champion, Kamau-Uzman, top pound fighter in the sport. Who are you following that up with? I have to say, gentlemen, I am a little stunned with how this board has played out in this round.

There were multiple people who I expected to be gone by now, who are still here available for me. Pretty much the top two, top three names I wanted are still available to me. And I know where I'm going to go, but I'm actually surprised that I have this bounty of riches right now. I already have the number one pound for pound fighter in the sport. Next up is the number one pound for pound most exciting fighter in this sport. Oh, no. I'm just going all in on excitement at this point. They could even maybe fight each other.

I know they trained together sometimes, so whatever. But we make things happen. We got money at Showtime M.A. We can maybe, you know, open the coffers a little bit for it. I'm taking Mr. Excitement himself, the man who's probably going to win the UFC lightweight championship. chip next week. Justin Gachie. He's 33. He's got more mileage in the tank. Let's go, baby.

A.K., just stole your main event for next Saturday. Nice job. Hold on. I got to. Connor. Connor. Connor, what are you going to? How's your leg? Now Connor has a free run to the title.

Thank you. I'm so upset. Sean, Gachie was the guy I was considering, like, he was the dude that I was going to take. I was certain he was going to be off the I just, I felt like everybody was just kind of forgetting about him for whatever reason. And he was just not at the top of the list. And so I was trying to snake him in the third.

That was a terrible miscalculation on my part. I want to ask, did everyone have Ging in their top? I had him right in my top 10. Did everyone have him in my top tier? I have a little top tier going. Yeah, because you have to. I mean, like you said, he's the most exciting fighter in the sport. He could lose, like, he could lose like two or three straight fights.

It just wouldn't matter. His name has so much cachet with the fans. He's must see TV. Like if Justin Gagey is on, you are going to tune it. There's no way you're not going to see it. Plus you're Bellator. If you can't find a way to get a world title. I'm sorry.

Your showtime, I apologize. You are Showtime M.M.A. You are the showtime MM. If you can't find a way to get a world title around, Justin Gagetty's waste, then you have messed up. Oh. Book it up. Tricky pit bull has already been vacated, baby.

It's going. No, no. You haven't beat up Petriekey Pitbull. What are you talking about? just let him beat patricia no we don't take chances he just gets the title that's already happened all right uh okay close us down for the second round who are you taking to follow chucky olives charles olivera i think you guys would be surprised like how many of these huge names weren't on my list either because i was worried they're kind of closer to you know stepping away from m may than they

are being able to contribute for the next you know five to ten years we're and also something like I think I just assumed would be taken. So I'm like, okay, let me save space on my board here. I'm tired of having people steal from the UFC. I'm tired of people picking talents out of the octon. I think it's time for me to take someone. I think it's time for me to take someone that, frankly, my predecessor, Dana White,

should have made a stronger offer to get recently. Oh, no. Oh, yes. Listen, this person is going to be a special attraction. I hate you. It's tough because, again, but it kind of goes with, Jedd's divisionless MMA, because we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. For this woman, we will figure it out.

I'm taking her. I am taking Kayla Harrison. I don't. Listen, I think she can make $1.45, obviously, is the plan for her. But even if we want to throw her in there for 155 freak show fights, I don't care. 160? Whatever. We're going to have a lot more catch weights in my UFC.

Let me put that way. Sorry, fans, I hate that stuff. We got a lot more catch weights that any, any catch weight just to make fun fights happen. So if there's boxes out there that want to fight Kayla Harrison, if there's, again, international, you know, fighters overseas, Gabby Garcia, if you're out there, I'm just saying, call me. I just like that she's, she's unique. There's really just no one in an MMA like her right now.

How good is she? We still don't really know, but I want her to be tested, and I want that to happen inside the UFC Octagon. So let's usually get one here. You guys, I know I'm risking losing another big name here, but let me get one. Let me take one from one of you guys. So, PFL, thank you very much. She will miss the smart cage, but she'll have to deal with the no-frails octagon.

I don't hate it for me. I was vaguely hoping that I could get Cyborg in the fifth to make that fight happen if everyone just decided we were going to stay away from the Caleb quandary. But if you're going to take a YouTuber early, I already, okay, sweet, I'm abandoning the women's lightweight division. That is no longer a thing that I'm trying to promote as a company. Cool. I can put all my resources in divisionless MMA and just really focus in on this. So you did me a favor.

Take it or this early, AK. You know, if you wait a little later, would have stunned a little more. All right. We're back to the top of the batting order. Mike, you, I think probably you're leading right now. I would say that the fans listening are probably saying, oh, Mike's running away with it. but how can you follow up what you've done? What can you add?

I immediately take back my AK words because that made me think about a lot of things. And now do I have to play defense? Do I want to go the route I was going to go? What do I do? Because do I take somebody else that will have to force a trade down the road

so we can make these big fights? I don't know. But with that being said, we're going a different direction because after we booked some big fights and we got some huge, names, we took some risks. We're going to go after a fighter who deserves more, okay? He deserves more people to know who he is. His social media following should be much larger. And in fact,

he has already booked for Good Morning America, the Today Show. He's even booked on food truck dyers with Brendan Schaub next week. Ladies and gentlemen, let us welcome to Eagle FC, a man who deserves to be a star in this sport. And the frustrations of his built career to this point are going away. I apologize to Showtime MMA. We are drafting A.J. McKee with our third pick. AJ McKee, welcome. Get ready. I don't care. Get ready to be a star, my man. Get ready to be a star. And you know what your first order of business is going to be? You're going to be in a grappling match with Habib Narmaga Madoff just to get you on a poster next to that, man. After doing the media rounds, everyone's going to know who you are by the end of next week, AJ. So welcome to

the show. Welcome to the greatest promotion of all time. We're going to build you quite the roster. We're going to put you over, my friend. Welcome. Oh, my God, all this talent on the board and you take my guy who has 7,000 Twitter followers. Come on, man. He deserves better. We need to build our future too. We have our present built. Our next five years are set. Now, how can we enhance this? So we're going to bring in AJ McKee. I feel like he would have gotten this round. I feel like someone to take a flyer on him. And it's time to make him a star. Let's treat him the way he deserves to be treated.

Oh, he wasn't long for Showtime M.M.A. anyway. That's fine. That's the first. And you know I'm a big AJ McKee guy. That's actually one of the first kind of surprising pick there. I was a little, yeah. Listen, I got five years to play with, and I feel like we could do a lot of AJ McKee over the next five years.

He's drafting youth. You know, this is what happens in the middle of rounds. You draft upside. And there are few men in the sport with bigger upside than AJ McKee. I think we can all agree on that. David, was he on your board? Was he on your top 25 board? He was not, actually.

He was not on my board. And I like AJ very much. I was just one of those guys. He was kind of like a fringe guy. Again, I think he's an incredibly talented guy. But I feel like there's other guys that I could build around a little easier than AJ McKee, which I'm actually very excited because I thought Mike was going to take my next pick. So should I go ahead and give you my next pick?

because I'm building an organization with not only the best fighters, but the fighters who are going to bring the most eyeballs from across the globe. And in my opinion, the guy I'm about to pick is on the verge of becoming a massive star. He's already kind of breaking through a little bit that way. And, you know, unfortunately, he won't have the benefit of a certain person promoting him, but he will have him there as a coach. So with my third pick, I am going to select a man who, I believe is actually, even though I don't have him ranked that way, because again, I have to go by, you know, what's actually occurring in the cage, the guy who I believe is the best lightweight in all the mixed martial arts, I'm going with Islam Makachev for my third pick.

Solid, solid pick. I won't get Habib to promote him, but I will get Habib as a coach. He will be in the one circle constantly, and I am confident that Islam will be the dominant force that Habib will be. once was. We'll see about that. We'll see about that. I think Alib's contract's about to change from the board of directors about what promotions he could be a part of, Damon. So we'll say, I'm really interested about next year's draft because let's say Habib decides he wants to return. A lot of stake in a lot of games here now with Islam at one FC, you know, Eagle FC he owns it. The UFC is still the UFC. Things could get interesting next year. I love the pick

and we're going to move on to try and keep this at a timely pace. PFL, our third room pick. It's not my favorite. I would have loved to be taking Gachie here. I think Gachie would have been just a chef's kiss moment for me, but I'm pretty excited. This guy shouldn't have fallen this far. He sticks in my realm of positionless MMA that we're building out here.

He is one of the biggest stars in the sport. And, you know, the reality is he's one of the biggest stars. he's not he's a fine fighter but he's not one of the best and if you keep putting him up against the top welter weights in the game he's going to keep taking else but in the pfl where the welter weights are a lot of guys he can beat horre mosterol is going to be cooking with gas for us that man is going to be promotional i know we got some outside of the cage problems to deal with those are going to go away very soon and we are just going to be straightforward to success we can do a lot with that man a lot with he's going to bring a lot of eyeballs to us

and, you know, we can get him a lightweight, we can get him at Walterway, a lot of divisional action. Give me Jorge Mosvital, one of the biggest stars in the sport. I'll take him in the third round, no questions asked. This is a stunner. Oh, my God. I was going to say, I thought that was going one way, and it did not go one way. Shane, what did you think he was going to do? Probably take the guy about to take.

Okay, okay. But, like, apparently the best gift I could have ever asked for is being after Jed, because this man's going off the board like crazy. This is nuts. You just took Mazvedol before the gentleman I'm about to take. Yeah, because again, you have to consider what I'm working with. I got to have a guy who will fight three times in the year. No questions asked. When has Jorge Mazvedol done that in the last like five years?

2019. Dude, Maswell is all down, down to scratch. Okay, 2019. Before he was Jorge Mazvedol, the superstar. Yeah, because now he's looking for big fights. He's with the PFL. Every fight's a big fight. It's the biggest organization.

with the smart page whatever look i can't i just can't draft connor and i want to and it feels like connor should already have been taken but he's never going to fight for me if i draft him he just won't fight for five years so give me mothsbril give me that that star power and let's start cooking i want to see the second the second half of this conference i want to see what shaheen says i need the second half of this conversation before i comments so who are you who are you so mr mr shodan m mhm i'm just blown away at how this Draft is turning out. I had, you know, a list of guys.

I had this separated into tiers. So far, I've gotten three of my first tier guys because I have the number one fighter, pound for pound in the sport. I have the number one most exciting fighter in the sport. And I have the number one star ever in the history of the sport. I'm taking Connor McGregor. We do weird stuff over at Show 10 MMA. If he wants to have an eating contest with Joey Chestnut, we'll set it up.

Like at a certain point, I can just say I have Connor McGregor and market it on the paper, on the board and people are going to come and see it. Like, we'll figure it out. I think Connor likes money. I like money. We all like money at Showtime M.A. We'll figure it out. Yeah, I mean, honestly,

Showtime MMA is the only place for McGregor. Like, that makes sense. You need him so badly. You have to have him. So great pick. I thought you should have taken him over Gachie. That's why I thought Gathe was going to make it to me. It was like, someone's got to take Connor because it's freaking Connor.

I can't take him because I just won't be able to promote him with the stipulations of the stupid BFL. So it's like, yeah, someone will take Connor, you know, maybe we get, you know, John or somebody in this, something will happen and then I can get Gachie, he'll fall to me. Instead, you, you just waited and you got them both. So it worked for you. Just to be able to land the biggest star in the sport in the third round, middle of the third round, end of the third round, I'll take it.

And even if you only get two fights out of him, McGregor Usman and McGregor Gagee, that's pretty good. McGregor Gagee right now, like who's not watching this? that crazy fight plus showtime boxing you know mcgregor canello that's the that's the big one mcgregor ozman in boxing let's go thank you thank you for taking another problem shot the UFC is getting it's so much purer now okay with like

connor obviously super tempted to pick very high in my big board very high but again there's just i i don't want these people like i'm taking more you know chatry is no longer with with one championship because obviously a Damon is taken over. I'm not going to lie, I might be, you know, might have been consulting him a little bit on the new direction of the UFC. So I don't know if we want people like Connor anymore. Just so many problems, so much baggage. Happy to, he is in the second, probably whatever, third stage of his career. And that's where, that's where he belongs now is in Belator. That's where we're in that stage of their career. So happy, happy to see him go, wishing you all the best Showtime. I may, excuse me. I'm just going to keep having it. I'm not doing it on purpose, I swear. I'm just the only person who likes Bellatory. That's why I keep saying it. Showtime MMA, Conn McGregor. It is a perfect fit. And yeah, look, glad that he's gone. I'm, in case you guys can't tell, I'm killing for time here.

Because if you guys want to keep talking about that pick, go ahead. You see is on the clock right now. No, I think you guys want to talk about the McGregor pick more. No, UFC is on the clock in part because we also need to move our time along here. There's so many good options. And, oh, and the other thing that Shaheen's doing smartly is setting up actual matchups with his three fighters. Like he can, you know, have these guys kind of kind of mix and match them. Speak on it, please, yes.

Yeah, I haven't been doing that. But I realize now I can kind of do it with this one. Honor, integrity, best of the best. That's clearly has sort of been my focus here with Charles Oliver. So I'm going to go down that route again. How can I not take the actual pound-for-pound best women's fighter in the world? Give me Valentina. Give me Valentin.

My best friend. We're on the same wavelength. We're on the same wavelength. And I, again, much like with Charles Olivera, I feel like she can be a bigger star. They've done a pretty good job with her, but I feel that they can do better. She speaks like three, four languages, just super charismatic. She dances. She dances.

She dances. America loves that. I don't know why America has not embraced her more. She's the living environment of two ways. Yeah, and she's just a great fighter. And I'm a Netflix star with this isn't a movie with Halle Berry. I mean, that's something. So, yeah, give me Valentina.

I'm going all in. And listen, I'm not ruling out of some sort of catch rate. fight with Kayla Harrison, maybe Valentina even willing to go up to 1.45? I think it's possible. I think, I think she could, Kayla Harrison's got the size, athleticism, all that. But I mean, skill-wise, I don't think anyone would say she's near close to Valentina. But guess what? We get to find out because now I got them both. I'm just looking at Mike up here in this top corner. He is steamed.

I'm pissed, dude. I'm pissed. I thought there was, I mean, I was ready. I had a speech prepared to welcome Valentina in because we were going to change trends. at Eagle FC, but alas, you effed me. And I'm not happy about it. I take no pride in it. Fortunately, you can do something about it because we're back to the top of the order. Eagle FC is on the clock with your fourth round pick.

As a quick recap, you took Inganu, John Jones, and AJ McKee. How else are you building out this roster? Take one of my champions, Mike. I got so many that no one's taking. Take them. So many champions to take. Hey, hey, my champions are getting. No respect.

No respect. Oh, man. I mean, I'm, I'm befuddled. You shook me, A.K., because I thought, I mean, there was no, like, I thought this is about as simple as a God for me. I think we're going to get a lot of this because I was going to take Connor. Connor was actually my next pick and that she needs to him. So that's why. After all that talk of getting rid of your, you're, I mean, well.

All right. You know what, A.K. Here's a thing. I'm reminded at this moment because. I'm just so fired up. Like, it's just business, Mike. It's not personal. Of the movie training day,

where we have to control our smiles and cries. And while my roster can produce a lot of cries, I need to bring somebody in that will produce some smiles. And Valentina was going to check all those boxes. We were going to change trends. But it's okay. Because I'm going to bring in a guy and we are going to get him all the sponsorship deals that he deserves.

He's going to make us a lot of money. Logos are going to be everywhere. They're going to be thrilled and they're going to keep sponsoring our athletes. They might even sponsor our entire promotions. This is a purely business pick. This is a purely selfish pick. And I talked to Habib about this because he's angry with you to AK. But we're going to spice things up in a delightful way.

We're going to bring in the soon-to-be once again UFC Flyway champion of the world. Brandon Moreno is now going to be part of the Eagle FC roster. We're going to balance out the cries and we're going to bring in lots of smiles. and we have a lot of, we just have a lot of gas left in the Brandon Moreno tank. And I'm very happy about this pick. Holding the vented Lego land, just really, really diving. Just thinking of the business. Like, we just became, we are more valuable than one FC right now.

We're worth a floppy trillion dollars right now because of just signing. Damon, David, shots are fired. Defend yourself, David. Right, Adam. I just signed a deal with Amazon Prime. I got all the money I need more. I got Bezos money. I got Bezos money coming in now.

I have to say I did not have a flyweight on my board. I was looking at maybe Moreno in the 5th, but probably it was going to depend on how this shook out. He was on my board, though. He was not. I had one flyweight on my board, and that was Valentina Shochinko. So that was, yeah. I also had Valentino on my board. Then I had to realize that I'm.

I'm giving up on women's MMA in the PFL because A.K. already took Kayla Harrison. So what do I have to do? Damon, your fourth round pick. As a recap, you took Israel de Sanya, Iri Phrashka, and Islam Makachev. How are you adding to this team? Well, you know, there's a lot to be said about where one championship is going to go. But again, I'm playing with the hand I'm dealt, which is the honor, the respect, and the billions upon billions of potential viewers. and I'm playing the odds with a fighter who can be a star

but also is very respectful and well-liked. I think well-liked across the board and just a tremendous martial artist in every aspect and also could be potentially going into grappling matches, things like that. So with my fourth pick, I'm going to select the best straw weight in the world, Rose and I'm a Eunice.

Nice. That makes my decision a lot easier because I was thinking about it. Okay. I'm back. It's back to the PFL. And this is, this is my least favorite pick

because I know the two men I want to close my show with. And apparently you guys don't value positionless MMA as much as I do. So maybe I should wait. But I'm not going to. I'm going to follow it up. I'm going to stay the course.

I'm going to do the same thing that I've been doing. I'm going to draft Star Power, baby. And that's, there's one. One guy left who is a big, big star that still actively competes in the sport. He is a gym member with the guy I took in the third round, Jorge Mastro. So maybe them fighting is maybe off the table. But I want former UFC interim lightweight champion, one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, a guy who has already fought Max Holloway twice, one of them, one of the best

fights you'll ever see. Give me Dustin Porre. And let's just continue positionless MMA. I just want to mash, I want to take my action figures and just smash them into each other, regardless of the weight class. So give me Dustin Fourier. I've got two of the UFC's four biggest stars in my roster. I feel like I'm doing great right now.

I'm going to take your silence as a matter. No, it's just a solid pick. It's just a solid pick. And I thought, actually, for some reason, I thought that's where Damon was going when he was leading up to his pick. The Rose was really good. That was a great pick. It doesn't pour a. Yeah.

It fits the positionless thing. God, that is a, he's a class guy. I'm sad. This is, that's one of the, the ones that hurts me the most to see him go. You know, I've been, I've been a little classless and crapping on some of the, the guys who have, who have gone, who have big, been named who have been picked, kind of questioning their character and saying, oh, I'm happy to see them go. I am not happy to see Dustin Boriego.

That is a man I was hoping either, that I just, that just wouldn't get picked so he would, you know, revert back to my roster. We need guys like him around. that's a great like ambassador for the pfl not just an exciting fighter damn damn you jed is what i'm saying damn see i have one major issue with my own pick and it's that in so doing i have handed sean of what i think is a very obvious next pick for him yes and in the eternal struggle of the pfl to supplant showtime m ms as the number two organization in the world i have really made it a lot more difficult on myself yes john take the man that i i suspect

you're going to take. And if not, I will, I will gladly scoop him up if he falls to the fifth. I mean, I don't know if this gentleman's going to fall very far in the fifth if I don't take him right now. I have to take him right now. I had at least two different soliloquies about this guy on yesterday's ranking show. He is someone who has sold me completely. I have the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. I have the most exciting fighter in the sport. I have the biggest star in the sport. And now I have a man who is easily the number one featherweight in the entire sport. He wants to try out lightweight. We got some lightweights. If you want to try out lightweight, my guy. Alexander Volcanovsky, the eternally disrespected. Alexander Volcanovokin.

Now I have my top two pound for pound fighters in the sport under my banner. I'm just saying, I got a lot of claims right now to having the best in certain divisions in Showtime MMA. That's great. And 13 people will watch. Oh, no, we got it. We're going to have him doing cooking shows. Yes. There you go. Don't even. even worry excellent not not who i thought you're going to take great pick i mean when you're getting one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world deep in the fourth round you're doing something okay well well he would have he would have fit the position of this fighting league very well also yeah exactly

yeah it wouldn't have been by connor he can fight gait she i just i didn't want to double up on the max thing because i'm i'm tired of watching them fight they they've done it enough we move on give me fun more fun fights aka fourth round you've taken charles oliver Kailah Wilson, Valentina Shivchenko, who is the UFC either stealing or holding on to? Damn, well, I got to hold on to this guy because I kind of got lucky. I actually definitely assumed he's in my top 10, my board, which means I assumed he would have been taken. I would have to go a little bit lower, but no one's taking him. I have, like I said, Charles Olivaire, the man at the top of historically the deepest division in MMA.

I have the number one pound women's fighter in MMA. And then I have the, now I want the guy who I think is number one in the current deepest division an M.A. A guy who's very comfortable with the media, is a polarizing figure, and as now, finally, at last, I think, for the most part, undisputed, Al Jermaine Sterling, give me the Funkmaster. Give me the Funkmaster. I was kind of hoping

I could wait, but I have a feeling he would definitely go in the last round. So this is a, this is a, this is a pragmatic pick. And... He could have gone in the last round. I also think there's an opportunity for the fifth round to just be full chaos.

Absolutely, and I hope it is. But I will say sheen, I also, I think Shaheen would have had to take him at the end because Belator's Bantamway division is so solid. And I think throwing him in there with like Sergio Pettus and Horacucci and Mix and all those guys who we just kind of have kind of flown up the rankings. Rufian Stotz would be frigging sick. So this is almost, this is very much a defensive pick as well. A.K. We have tolerated this slander several times on this podcast.

Showtime of me. Not tolerant anymore. Showtime of me. Okay. Look. I think it's a reasonable pick. A very undamated. a white pick but you know

Dana would have taken Peoria on for sure just been like yeah you can have Aljo can you take it take him for free I don't need him but we're back we're back final round Mike last pick this is the last one you get to make for Eagle FC how are you ending ending this draft for your promotion there's so

many ways I can go with this there really is but I'm in a weird position right now I can't look at my organization the way you guys look at yours you guys are one, two, three, and four. We're the little engine that could. Now, are we going to make some impact with these four other picks? Absolutely.

But now we're going to give something, we get to add a cherry on top of the Sunday. Okay? We got to add violence to this mix because we have great fighters. We have the biggest fight. The two biggest fights arguably you can make in combat sports ready to go. We have a guy who's going to be a massive star when he couldn't have been a star. We have just a delightful guy who is already, by the way, breaking news, he's replacing Henry Sohudo in the booth, Brandon Moreno.

So he'll be able to pronounce the names just way better. But Suhudo will still be able to bounce around. But we have to get a guy who's just going to viciously decimate everybody he fights and do it in incredible fashion to the point where the greatest website in the world will have to do Eagle FC-75 video. This man absolutely obliterates with a ferocious knockout. The guy might not be conscious even by Tuesday. Vicente Lucay is joining the Eagle FC Reigns

as just a middle card just phenomenon and we're just going to put him in there we're going to pay him a ton of money he's going to be our champion and he's going to knock out the Kevin Lees of the world he's going to fight at 175 doesn't have to cut to 170

we're going to build a division around him and we're just going to let him violently just boost our ratings so Vicente Leuke welcome to the team you don't have to fight the Bilal Mohammeds of the world anymore you're not going to get taken down five times. You're going to get in there with a bunch of scrappers and you're going to look like a madman.

So welcome to the team, my man. Look, I love it. I had Lucke on my big board. I will note you, you're the only person who's taking two people coming off losses. So I love this is a scrappy mentality for Eagle FC, you know, and. Gates Glee will be soon. Three. He'll be taken three people coming off losses.

Oh, Moreno. Oh, Moreno. I didn't even. Marino didn't lose that fight. So it's okay. And, of course, John Jones probably lost his last fight as well. So interesting strategy. Listen, this is the impact year, okay?

Next year, we're drafting for life. But this is the impact year. We're making an impact. Also, I do like the concept of Vicente Lucay being taken to, quote, boost the ratings. As if that has ever happened in the history of the Sente-Luke. I love the guy, but that's not what he does. Right. But he's not going to fight Balal Muhammad.

He's going to fight dudes who are he's going to have. absolutely eviscerate with his hands and feet. He's just going to violently knock guys out and he's going to be the champion. And we can build that in a big way. No one's going to care about, I mean, it's a beautiful thing. Trust me. You're right. The next five years is going to be Loucai versus Diego Sanchez is going to be can't miss TV.

I'm really excited for it. I can lend you I can lend you Wonderboy if you want that rematch, Mike. You want the Wonderboy rematch? I'll lend you that. We can work out of trade. No, we're not going to get that. No, we don't want to see that. Oh, no, no, no.

Vente is going to be a 19,000 favorite. against everybody he fights. That's called good promotion. Damon, your five. One FC. Where are we going? Once again,

I'm going for the international flavor. A guy I know who trains in Thailand regularly. And there are some, not maybe on this particular call, but some who would still call him the best in the world. But I think the potential is there for a lot of growth and a lot of crossover and a lot of star building for his potential in the move in and forward.

So I'm going my final pick in the fifth round. I'm going with former UFC interim bantamweight champion, Pieter Yon, as my final pick. He was also just the former bantamweight champion as well. Yes, that's true. He was. That's right. I forgot.

Yeah. They've changed that title so many times in the last, like, two years. I forget who actually was a champion, interim champion, whatever. I love that pick because I think that's who Sean. If he wasn't going to, it's who Sean should have taken with Showtime M. May's final pick for all the reasons, AK, earlier noted. I find myself with the opportunity to take the man I thought Sean would take last round. I think we all know who this is, don't we.

No, this is, this might be my biggest off-the-board pick, but I feel great about it. I know who it is. I have built a lot of time to build positionless MMA. But sometimes, sometimes you just need the big boys swanging and banging, doing the damn thing. And we at PFL, we have a heavyweight division, and it needs a little bit of sprucing up because God love him. But, you know, Bruno Capulosa is not putting fans in the seats. Fine, fine. You can have Ryan Bader. Jeez. Oh, damn it.

Change Sherman. No, no, no, because there is one man who fills out arenas, who gets the crowd singing, chanting his name, and he is the guy who's going to take PFL international. We usually host our events in Florida. We're going to be hosting them in London from now on for the one, the only Tommy Espino, Tommy Espino. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, give me the heavyweight. Let's go, baby. It's a good pick. It's a good pick.

It's going to be great. We're going to have a lot of fun with him. And then, Sean, if you don't take this guy now, I don't know what I. I just have everything red wrong. Wait, I'm going to say... He said, so much with your team. I'm going to say this. I don't think this is who he's picking.

Was there no thought to Patty Pimbleau, Jed? No, not at all. Zero? Absolutely, zero. He's going to get run over in the first regular season of fight he's in. So, yeah. Free pick. Free pick for me.

He is a free pick for you. Oh, man. Okay, so I have two options that I can go here. But I think I'm kind of headed towards the chaos route. Because if we're being honest, Showtime MMA, like new era. We got all this excitement in. We got the best fighter in the world. We got the most exciting fighter in the world. We got the biggest star in the world. We got the best feather weight in the world. We need someone to put it all together. We need a figurehead. We need someone

who's going to propel this engine into the new generation. And also, I wouldn't mind crippling AK something fierce right now. Give me, for my last pick, 52-year-old Dana White, he's off. He's my. He's fine. So, AK, that means you could draft the actual tandem of John McCarthy and Josh Thompson if you want. That's one pick? That's one pick. Yeah, I mean. We'll allow that to be one pick.

They're going to be released, so you probably shouldn't spend a pick on them. Characity. Sean going full chaos hammer. Love that. Sean's probably going to sign Tito, make that fight happen 20 years after the fact. I got Dana. I got the illusion of respect now. I have all these bests in the world. I have Dana at the front. I'm going to fool people into thinking I'm the UFC. Love it. Okay. This train is all the way off the tracks. Dana White, the fighter, promoter has been taken to join. The new face of

Showtime MMA, baby. The new face of Showtime MMA. I kind of feel like maybe you just did that to A.K. Because A.K. has been repeatedly calling you Bellator the whole time. Feels a little personal, but A.K., it is now on you, my man. You can get him back. If you want to take Scotty Cokes, you can take Scotty Cokes right now. The world is your oyster. The final pick of the 2022 MMA fantasy draft. UFC, you're on the clock.

Damon, did you want to say something? I could ask one real quick question of Showtime MAA real quick. I'm sorry. I just have to ask one question. By getting Dana White, did you fire Stephen Espinoza? because I feel like that's a whole other dynamic. Is that the fight you're booking or like... I mean, we are up for all kinds of white ex-espinoza shenanigans.

However, we want to do this. Again, we could set up obstacle courses. We could set up eating contests. I'm just here for fun. And those two dudes hate each other. And so let's see how it works out. I would pay so much money to watch Dana White run an obstacle course. I cannot stress to you the amount of my dollars that I would give you to watch

staple white, just do a ninja warrior course. What's staying his actual role with Showtime MMA? Mouthpiece, front facing, sort of the guy that you're going to see at the press conferences, really, we're taking him away from A.K. He's like, he's like Drake with the Raptors. Yeah, he can do, he can kind of do whatever he wants, as long as he's associated with Showtime MMA and no longer associated with UFC. Really, all we're trying to do is we're trying to trick people into thinking that we're

the UFC. And so then they're going to come watch our stuff. That's it. Does he have any decision-making power? Not over me. I mean, I'm obviously. So he can't change Showtime MMA back to Bellator if you want. Oh, absolutely not.

Okay. That's all I needed to know. I was going to say, you mentioned like him, you're all about fun. I'm like, Dana White's like the least fun person I know. But, but he would volunteer to do like the optional course. Like, you know, he does like the looking for fight stuff. He does, if there's a camera and if there's like money involved, and he's getting paid to do it.

I think there is sort of a part of him that is like into that wacky. I think he, I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the, you know, the reality show aspect of the first like two seasons of the ultimate fighter and stuff.

So I don't know, are we bringing back Fight Master for Showtime in the May? Ooh. You should draft Fight Master, A.K. Draft Fight Master. Like the rights to Fight Master? You get all the reality shows,

but Sean gets after Friday. AK is really, really, I know, listen, I don't want to spoil. I'm going to spoil it. I'm going to spoil it. I know your pick, A.K., I'm going to spoil your pick. You're really going to screw over Showtime MMA because you're going to draft Josh Thompson, aren't you?

That's what you're doing right now. You're drafting Josh Thompson. You get the whole duo. The whole duo should be one. They're worth one person. I really feel like him and, him and Rogan. Like, I mean, that's my new two-man team, I think, if I got Thompson. And, um.

Okay, okay, what closes out here, because we've got to wrap this. We've gone far too long already. Yeah. Where are you ending the 2022 MMA fantasy draft? Well, you guys are disappointing because we should have ended with Cheyne if we wanted to end like the craziest note possible. Dana White would win a great caper. But I am going to go with the name that we've almost sort of, I feel like some of us have hinted at. And it's not a sexy pick, but actually I need it.

I don't know if you guys notice. I've taken a very practical approach to kind of rebuilding or preserving this UFC roster. My middleweight division is taking a big hit is he's gone. Light Heavyweight's Air Yer for Hachka could be the Light Heavyweight Champion soon. I just lost him. Okay, I would like to remind you that anyone that isn't drafted that is under U.S. contract reverts to you, okay? Oh, yeah.

That's what's great. Is I, as I, is a hunting pick. I at least have Glover, like if Glover, you know, beats Yeri, I at least that I have that champion still. So that's great. You know, I still have some big names. That's why I want to kind of have someone for both my middleweight and light headweight division.

And I want to take someone, I think from a promotion that hasn't had anyone stolen from them yet. And I'm having to take this man I'm disappointed You did not give this man a home Give me the two division champ Ryder to Ritter Wow

It's coming home Undefeated Two division champion Again I've lost both my champions At this and just gone Oh I haven't lost Glover to share Excuse me But one of my big guns

Alight heavyweight Yuri Prakashka So I'd love to have a guy I could fill both those roles Love to take someone away from Damon That's fun And I wish I could say I'm taking it away from Jed, but I bet Jed's actually happy that RDR is getting the love and respect he deserves and finally the spotlight of my views.

That man's going to be the future champion. I think it's a great pick. You've been drafted for the future. I had to. The best of the way in the world. Oh, I agree. I was absolutely terrified. You were coming for my precious moose.

That would have been like personally, like for me, obviously I love Musasi for personally. I think of age and things like that. But, yeah, I mean, obviously that was definitely a factor. He's on my list. He's in my top 25. I thought, I thought maybe you might, you might give the fans the fight we want, and you would just take Chris Cyborg. You know, Dana White's no longer with the company because Sean has taken him from you.

So Chris Cyborg, you can make the Kayla fight right there. You're back in business. Well, we should note that we didn't say that anyone who wasn't trapped, like, everyone who isn't drafted, excuse me, reverse back to their company, they're not necessarily locked in the next five or ten years, right? So I still feel like that. They're in their same contracts. And Dana White's gone it.

Dana White is, if anything, she's going to leave now because Shaheen took Dana White, her nemesis, and she could come back to the new UFC. So thank you, Shaheen, essentially handing me Seifmore. Hey, that's a risk. I'm surprised you didn't draft Ronda Rousey and try to throw her in there with Kayla Harrison. I just throw that in there. Just bring her out of retirement.

Listen, that's an undrafted free agent negotiation that we're looking into. I mean, her rights still probably belong to you. I guess so. Yeah. And to be fair, to be very, to be very. stylistically, we know that Derriter is a full-on nasty grappler. Hypothetically, he would be a tough matchup for Israel, my new middle-weight champion, Israel. I diss on you.

So, yeah, in that regard, you may have actually done me a favor. Or we work on some co-promo. Guess what? The new UFC, it's open to it. I feel like the new UFC is like the second coming of ECW, where it's going to be on the sci-fi network and then it's just going to fizzle out in two years. Oh. Oh.

Wow. Shot thrown, man. I'm still mad about the Shevchenko pick, A.K., and that's why you're getting that straight. Over a course of an hour and a half, AK, you have systematically destroyed the UFC. And you have to destroy things sometimes to rebuild them and make them better. That was A.K.'s playing all along to just burn the UFC down. Who needs the Ali Act? You could just throw A.K.'s into the driver's seat, and we suddenly have parity overnight.

It's brilliant. Well, gentlemen, I appreciate you all joining me on this ride. A recap of our teams, and then we'll close this down. Eagle FC, the man, Mike Heck, has taken Francis and Ghani, John Jones, A.J. McKee, Brandon, Moreno, and Vicente Luke. Started Strong, Mike. I'm not sure how everyone's going to react to your closeout picks, but we'll find out. One FC, David Martin, has taken Israel Adis on you, Yiri Perhashka, Islam Makachev, Rosnami Unis and Piotrion.

Strong. I love your squad. You've got a lot of young champion material right there. A lot to build to the future. And a billion people worldwide are going to watch those fighters and fall in love with them. Myself with the PFL, I've taken, I went full star power, Hamzaa, Shemaya, Max Holloway, Jorge Mastrel, Dustin Porier, and Tommy Espino. Tommy Espinall. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Sean with I almost said Bellator I'm sorry I almost did it I appreciate you I appreciate you catching it Showtime MAA has gone All champions Kamar Usman Jesse Gagee Connor McGregor

Alexander Volkovsky and the wild card pick of Dana White Let's go AK burning the UFC to the ground With Charles Oliver Kayla Harrison Valentina Shipchenko Al Jermaine Sterling

and my guy already already had to ridder we are we're going to have an article posting on the website uh mmafighting.com best website in the world uh where we will also discuss some of this and there will be polls involved

and you can all weigh in to let us know who you think has set their promotion up for success but before we get out any last words fellas any final thoughts on this experience your team others teams aka burning it all to the ground let me i'll go first since i picked last and I have, I think I had the country

the biggest advantage having the UFC. I just want to remind people. I still have all the people that weren't drafted. Again, maybe not forever, but at least in the immediate future, Julianna Pena, Mena Nunes, two people, two days. You still have Nadea.

I like that you started with Juliana Pena. I was just looking at that. I have a roster thing up here. I mean, she's a band-in-weight champion. I don't even think we mentioned her. Davidson Figueroero, the actual UFC flyway champion is still in my roster. So I had a big advantage going in.

I'm going up the rosters here, T.J. Dilleshaw. Jose Aldo, people love, Brian Ortega. Yeah, you're Rodriguez. Anyway, I go on forever. My roster's still huge. It's still stacking. And I had that advantage when we only have, you know, we're only doing five picks each. So maybe my sort of starting core there isn't letting people's, you know,

hair is on fire. But I hope he'll look at that core. Plus, I mean, the plethora of talent that's, that has already been signed by former, you know, by all the executives and former now Showtime MMA global ambassador. They know why. You still got the brand and the contenders. Well, I mean,

he's got the brand, but he also lost seemingly 75% of his champions. He got Rine and Ritter. Stars and his head promoter. He got Reney to Ritter. That's a full 10. I would, I would like to take this opportunity to announce

our first event here at one championship, since now that I'm in control, I want to let you know that we are going to be holding an event first of its kind on the International Space Station now that we've teamed up with Amazon. Oh, wow. We're going to take Blue Origin up in space.

And our first main event, our first main event is going to be Israel Adisanya, taking on Sexyama. So that's our first main event. We're going to throw it right into the fire on day one in space. Thank you, Jeff Bezos. I got to say,

I'm not confident that, like, Islam Makachev is the best zero gravity fighter in the world. I feel like these game is the fire's gravity fighter. That's why it's not on the first card. We're throwing, we're just going to go, we're going to go stylebender Sexyama. That's how we're going to get people to watch. Look, I'll tune in for any Sexyama. You know this.

Mike, send the people out with a promo for what you're building with the Eagle FC. First of all, some of you non-hardcores out there are going to judge my last pick of Vicente Leuke. But see, now you realize after watching UFC 268, you need to start each fight card, main card with a moment, with a banger, with potential violence. And you're going to get that with Vicente Lucke. So that's just a value pick. It might pick up Vicente Lucke because I think he's going to be the greatest

welterweight of all time. Absolutely not. He is there as a showcase piece to set the table for the rest of the show. Secondly, my roster eats all of your rosters. Absolutely eats them. I just need Francis and John Jones. The other three could just take a rest and they're whooping all your roster's asses. And next year, I cannot wait.

to see the rules reversed when the success in my promotion leads me to having the fifth pick, while AK's UFC 2.0 gets the first pick in the draft next year. So I can't wait to see how this thing comes full circle in 2023. Hot fire. Love it. I'm just excited for 2023 to see how Sean O'Malley responds to being an undrafted free agent. I was going to say, let me say a few names that I'm, surprised that didn't get drafted.

Nate Diaz, easily number one. I can't believe no one took Nate. He's so difficult to work with, you know? Is he, is he, if you're not the UFC? I couldn't get him to fight three times in a year. PFL's no chance. Well, you picked, you picked Dana White after I made my last pick. So that screwed everything.

That opened the door to a lot of potential people that wouldn't be available otherwise. Also, surprise, Sean O'Malley's didn't get taken. Yeah, you Rodriguez, Tai to Ivasa, like Robert Whitaker, Patty, Pimblit, Colby, a lot of names out there still on this board that are basically all reverting back to AK. But I will say very quickly, Showtime MMMA, we here at Showtime, MMA, we came into this draft with a very specific purpose. This is the new era. This is a rebrand. This is a refresh. Everything's brand new. Everything you thought you knew about Bellator is no longer. This is the new Showtime MMA era. And I think we have done that. We have succeeded in our mission. We are a

legitimate promotion here with the best fighter in the world, the most exciting fighter in the in the world, the biggest star in the world, the best featherweight in the world, and the number one promoter in the sport. I mean, come on. What are we doing here? Also, you're reverting, you're keeping Corey Anderson. So, you know, potentially the best 205 in the world. I'm just saying, look, we're stacked.

Can I ask you this, Sean, since, I mean, you've had a tremendous draft, I must say. But are you going to be working on putting together Kamar Usman versus Canelo? Will you allow that to happen? We will allow it to happen organically. If Canello wants it to happen, then we will work towards it. If Canello obviously doesn't seem to want it happen, because why would he? Then maybe, you know, we'll nudge Camaro into some other fights. There's a Justin Gachie sitting around.

There's, you know, some other stuff. There's a Connor McGregor. You want to smash on Connor? Let's do it. I don't care. Was that your Scott Coker impression? That's a very cockery response. For my own, for my own visual, like just from my head, listen, I know we're competitors, but, you know, listen, we're all, we're all friends at the end of the day.

Is there any chance I could coach you into a matchup between Kamar Usman and Michael Venn and Page? Could I see that fight? Is that possible? There's a sick twist. It's done. It's done. The checks are signed, Damon. Just for you.

I want to see it. I want to see it. For an interim title. Why I want to see it? You all know why I want to see it, but I won't tell the world why I want to see it. You all know why I want to see that fight. If you listen to our ranking show... You want to see MVP get smashed.

I understand. I will give you what you want. If you listen to a ranking show, you know how I feel about that. Showtime in May, just an organization of the people. All right, y'all. We have spent far too much time on this. It has been incredibly fun. Again, listeners, tune in.

Vote. Give it to PFL. We are the company of the future. We have the smart cage. For now. until Max Holloway blows it up. That's right. Also, next year, I'm drafting the smart page.

If you had taken the smart cage, I would have been so, so mad. I'm shocked you guys didn't draft the billions upon billions of potential fans from me. At least the trademark for it to say it. It's definitely a trademark phrase, and like, we are not allowed to say it. You're the only float like that. It just felt like that was against the spirit of the competition. Then we're just buying a fan base, basically. That's not what you want to do.

All right. We've spent far too much time on this. I love you all. It has been Mike Heck, A.K. Lee, David Martin, Sean O'Shti, and your boy, Jed Mishu. Good night, everybody. Happy birthday, okay? All right, I'm birthday. Podcast Network.