MMA Fighting - The 2023 MMA Draft: Which 35 Fighters Would You Build A Promotion Around?

Episode Date: April 25, 2023

With the 2023 NFL Draft set to take place this week, it's once again time for the MMA Fighting team to don the hats of the premier combat sports promotions in the world and select the 35 fighters they would most want to have on roster to build a promotion around. Listen as Jed Meshew guides the action and the staff drafts seven fighters to their respective organizations: The UFC, Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship, and BKFC. Other promoters include Shaun Al-Shatti, Mike Heck, 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? Tune in to find out. Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, Power. powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans,

real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Draining Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. That's right, kids. It's my favorite time of year.

The 2023 MMA draft is upon us. was Jedman Shirema Ryder for MAAFighton.com. Great website. Today we are doing the second annual MMA draft. Now, if you don't know what that is, pretty simple concept. This week plays host of the 2023 NFL draft. It's where franchises pick their choice of the best collegiate players, hopefully to, you know, improve their roster,

make a run at a Super Bowl, or in the case of, you know, Damon's Cincinnati Bengals, to turn the franchise around and now have an endless Super Bowl, window with just one pick. There's nothing like that in MMA, so we decided we're just going to make it happen. We did it last year. Last year was myself, Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, Mike Heck, and Shihina al-Shadi.

We each took the reins of one of the premier MMA franchises or promotions out there, and we drafted for the future. And so I'm happy to announce that the gang is back together for year two. There are a couple of small changes, but before we get to all of that, fellas, how we doing? Doing wonderful. Doing absolutely wonderful. I'm so happy to be back in this space.

I don't remember what happened last year with the results. I would love if someone maybe could update that. But I just remember it being a real fun time. Oh, you don't remember, do you? No recollection whatsoever of last year. Let me give you a brief rundown. The 22 draft, we had five franchises. It was one, it was PFL, it was the UFC, it was Bellator.

It was also Eagle Al. We're going to get to some of these things a little bit, but the end result was a fun draft, a good draft. And the readers of MMA fighting selected Cheyen Auschadi, who was at the time heading up Bellator, renamed Showtime MMA, 45% won the poll. Coming in second place, Damon Martin, heading up one championship with 24%. Myself, Jedmishu, was in charge of PFL with 16%. Mike Hack who had had a tough position with Eagle FC, 13%. I don't think he got a fair shake. I think he did better than the poll allowed.

And number five, Alexander Cayley is the UFC. 2% of the vote in the UFC. Listen, can I, is it my time, is it my time, Jed? It is, you know what, AK, I want everyone to be able to talk about last year's experience. and I think we should start with you because let me also just explain to the readers because I'll be honest I thought the readers gave you a bad rating as well two percent's low your draft Charles Olivaire in the first round Kayla Harrison in the second round valentina shivchenko in the third round al Jermaine sterling in the fourth and henier the hitter otherwise known as Riniy

de Ritter in the fifth round not even close on other one but not right lasted at the time that seemed rude, but the critical I might note, four of those five people lost since last time. First of all, when we read out, listen, no one had a home run. We'll look over everyone's drafts. No one had a home run with their draft. Some people did pretty good. No one had a home run. We did a little free show powwow. And we, two percent. Okay, first of all, first of all, the readers of the NBA fighting are a bunch of hipsters. Oh, they're so cool. Oh, I like Eagle FC and I I like Verizon, and I like, I don't know, what's it, Open FC or CFFC. Oh, UFC is lame because I'm so cool.

All right. So I was already working against a deficit. All right. It's hard to be, it's hard to be on top. Secondly, these people, listen, my fighters let me down. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. I believed in these people.

I believed in Charles Oliva, Kail Harrison, Valentina Shepchenko. I believed in these people, and they let me down. Okay? They let me down. But for the sake of transparency, I will, I will, elaborate on what Jed just said. Yes, my fighters saw some misfortune. So April of last year is when we did this draft.

And since then, Charles Olavera, people are already thinking, oh, he lost Islam, already bad. Before that even, he was stripped of the lightweight title, literally a month later. A month later was the Justin Gagey fight, stripped of the title because he missed weight by half a found. So he had already technically lost the title before the Islam fight and then a chance to get it back against Islam gets completely dominated and smoked. So not great for a number one.

pick guys not great suboptimal uh kala harrison cruised to the pfell season cruised uh immediately after the draft before losing to loressa fecco third time was a charm for the very talented Brazilian it's hard to beat the same person three times all right it's hard it's hard so Kayla you let me down but i don't know if i blame you a valentina shepchenko oh boy uh narrowly beats tyla santos not the not the most impressive performance arguably your worst pick which I didn't have to be This is bad. This is bad.

I don't, let me, as I'm going to this, guys, everyone knows very publicly. I don't believe in jinxes, curses, superstitions are the least superstitious person you'll ever meet. But this, if there was ever a case that I cursed the people that I drafted, it's a very strong case. It's a very strong case. So barely beat Salinas and, of course, was delexo Grasso this year. Al Jermaine Sterling, all good in the hood, I guess. We did find out that he's a big Andrew Tate supporter. so a little disappointing.

Also, what type of defense is weird, and that's not his fault. And that's not his fault. It didn't ring home the way people are still doubting him because of that. He was my least terrible pick. But in retrospect, kind of a bad pick because I wonder if you would have, like I was so member of people, I was the UFC. So I don't even know if anyone else would have picked Al Joe. And I might have just got to me anyway.

He wouldn't have. We would not. So I was a waste of a pick. And then because I was thinking about that, I want someone else to tell. I went with the Dutch night. Reiner de Ritter in my fifth pick. He did retain his title in his next fight, and then he lost his light heavy tail to Anatoly Malikin.

The first loss of his pro career. So four. Bad of a pick? It's not a UFC. You don't want to take a UFC. You're going to get all the undrafted people for the most part. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'd pick someone.

But it is tough that he took that out. The one that I picked suffered the first loss of his 17 fight career. So four of my five picks suffered some, sort of calamity to varying degrees. So a lot of regrets, a lot of regrets, guys. Look, I mean, it was a tough year for you, arguably, the toughest year belonged to Mr. Mike Heck, who frankly had a great draft. I mean, Francis Inganu, John Jones, Aegee McKee, Brandon Moreno, Vicente, Lucke, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep Eagle FC afloat. I am not sure what happened to Eagle FC, but Mike can... Wax poetic.

if you will, on the disappointing year for Habib's franchise and kind of where you are now, because you, you are, unfortunately, your promotion has been relegated. They will not be a participant in the 2023 MMA draft. Well, I'm certainly not the CFO of Eagle FC. And never was because I had no idea how they had the money to do the things they did to begin with. So I was in the dark. I was just about talent relations. I was about getting the right pieces to generate income,

but when you have no income to begin with, or if you had income, you just threw it all away on your own arena in a bunch of other fighters that you signed that were about 18 years past their prime. That's kind of what happened. So they didn't listen to me at least enough with the incredible roster that we had. I thought the talents involved did great. France and Ghana was the most interesting story in MMA in 23. John Jones returned, won the heavyweight title in the UFC,

Brandon Moreno won the flyway title, AJ McKee emerges as the biggest star in Bellator and Vicente Lucay, even though he lost. He got knocked out in such spectacular fashion that we salute Vicente Lucke for his ability to not only get people, but get God and it's just an A-plus fashion. So all and all, happy with the roster, happy with my selections, but I ain't the CFO.

I don't control the finances, and I don't know what the hell Habib and company did, but has nothing to do with me. I will say that I think certainly with the benefit of a year looking back, I think you may be won, like if you're just looking at it now, even though in Ganu didn't fight at all, I think you may be won, but if you didn't win, I think the actual winner with a year full of hindsight would be Damon. Damon was heading up one championship last year. Israel, Dissnia, Yuri Pajshka, Islam Makachev, where it was now you. Eunice,

Peoria, on obviously a couple of tough performances from some people in a major injury, but two current champions still holding their belt. Damon, how do you feel looking back on one championship's year with the number two overall pick? You know,

I'm pretty happy, consider I went back and looked at my draft, and I was like, you know what? I feel like I had a Bengals-esque draft. I went Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, right back to back there.

I had a great hitter. So, you know, closed out a little, you know, had some issues on the back end. with Rose and, you know, and that was not maybe the strongest. And Peter Yan kind of shockingly has had a couple of losses, which I don't think anyone really predicted.

I don't know that he really lost to Sean O'Malley, but that's a whole other discussion. But yeah, I was pretty happy with that. Israel and Asanya, great redemption story. Uri Pajshka, you know, incredible performance become champion. Unfortunately, he has the shoulder injury, but he's still the uncrown champion. I don't care who's holding the title right now. Let's be honest, Yuri Pajaska is the UFC Light Heavyweight champion. So yeah, overall, I'm still very satisfied with my overall draft last year. I think that's fair.

I'm going to quickly go through mine because mine was a bit of a mixed bag. Hamzaa Chimae of Max Holloway, Jorge Mosfidal, Dustin Porre, Tom Aspinall. Aspinall got super injured real fast. Hamzat fought the once. Max is still doing Max things. Jorge lost a bunch and then retired. And Dustin Porre is still doing Dustin things. So not an awful draft.

I was going for something. Positionless MMA was what I was shooting for and couldn't quite drive at home. But let's go to... I just say, Jay, we should know that you were the PFL. So you were almost drafting also for tournament, like, to follow the PFL format, guys who are working on the PEOPRA.

I was trying to draft people who can compete in multiple weight classes and kind of do would fight BMF style all the time. But let's go to the big loser because he was so excited to get his name out for the winner. Oh, okay. Let's frame it like this. But with a year of hindsight, Shaheen Al-Shadi as Bellator rebranded to Showtime MMA, Kamar Usman took two L's, including getting smoked in one of them.

Justin Gachey, who did rebound earlier this year with a great win, but also took a pretty tough loss to Charles Olivera. Connor McGregor, who didn't fight. Though I don't think he got arrested in the last year, so you can call that a win, right? For Connor, right? He at least didn't go to jail. Alexander Volcanowski, who, you know, suffered his first UFC loss, just shameful, really, for a man like Volcanovsky to lose.

And then Dana White. And we don't need to rehash the bad year Dana White's had. But Shaheen, how do you feel in hindsight about your draft? I find this all to be quite losing. I have to say, this sounds like four losers who couldn't handle that they were losers that are now trying to re-spin this. I had the 1984 draft. I had Jordan Olajuwon, Barclay, and Stockton out here.

Like, this is 45%, 45%, almost half of the people viewed my draft as superior. And sure, you can go back and poke holes in it or whatever. I'm looking at that five lineup, and I'm looking at the number one superstar in the sport, one year later, still. I'm looking at the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, one year later, still.

I'm looking at, you know, Kamar Usman in this world, he's going to be in Showtime MMA this whole past year. He's not losing to Lorenz Lark. And like, what are we talking about? He's still the number one pound for pound fighter in the sport right now. You know, Dana White is still as popular as ever, whether you like it or not. And Justin Gachie's the number one most exciting man in MMA. I still have a killer's row right here.

45% was for a reason and all this erasure, erasure of it is just, it's, honestly, it's quite delicious. I'm enjoying this. Shaheen, Showtime MMA was the 2011 Boston Red Sox. You got Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford and you just loaded up the roster. That is so lost on me. I have no concept of what you're talking about right now. And then your season ended with playoff hopes on a line drive to left field with your

overpaid left fielder missing a routine fly ball. That's what Showtime MMA was in 2023. Very good on paper. Much promise. But in the end, hindsight being the right word. I don't think you won, Shaheen. I don't think you won. But on paper, you do great.

First of all, I clearly won. I clearly won it's documented that I won. So I did win. And even a year later, I still win because I have, again, number one superstar, number one most exciting, number one pound for pound, number one promoter, and also, you know, Kamar Usman. AK, you are the prince of polls,

the prince of positivity, but also the prince of polls. Maybe we can throw up a poll, a year later poll, to just see who won with a year, of hindsight while we do this. We can settle this forever. Might I also suggest new nickname? The Prince of 2%. Oh.

Wow. Wow. You drafted Dana White. That's my counter. Who still like the most popular dude in this sport? What are we talking about? How did that work out for you? I want to state in Showtime M.A.

I don't want to state in from Showtime MAA on the behavior of this authority figure. earlier or the end of last year. A.K. We would have released a statement. So when is, when is, when is,

when is showtime slap fighting starting? When is that happening? That's, that's your biggest accomplishment there, Sheehan, is showtime slap fighting. No, no, no. You see, I actually saved the MMA world

because by getting Dana under our pre-perview, he was not surrounded by yes man. He was surrounded by people who were like, that's actually a really fucking dumb idea and we're not letting you do this at all. So you didn't get slapped in a date in your life over the past year in my world.

I'm just saying. I'm the hero of this story. Okay. All right. This is going to be a long one. Let's cut it here and I can explain the rules before we hop into the real meat of this pod. As a reminder for anyone who wasn't here last year

just needs a refresher, brief rundown. We've got a couple of changes I'll go over at the end. But basically, as mentioned, each of us is going to represent one of the premier mixed martial arts organizations where it's going to draft one of the changes we're going to do seven rounds this year instead of five it will mimic the NFL draft in full so two extra rounds of banter and choice and argumentation uh drafting a fighter is going to lock them into a five year contract that contract means that that fighter cannot compete for another organization it doesn't mean they will necessarily fight for you you still have to negotiate with that fighter

the same way with, you know, NFL's a little different, but you can't force somebody to fight or work. You're still going to have to get them in the cage. If they have legal issues, if you're the UFC, you saw the issues. If they just retire, that's on you. You burn the draft pick on something that didn't work out for you. At the end of the draft, every fighter who wasn't drafted, their draft rights revert to the organization that currently in the real world holds them. So obviously the UFC has a major advantage.

in this regard. And as a result, they get to pick last. Our draft order, last year we did it from worst to best in organizational standing. I'm absolutely certain. Nobody is going to argue with this or be unhappy with where we are valuing them in the greater scheme of it. But our draft order will be the same this year. It will be first overall.

We're replacing Eagle FC with bare-knuckle FC. BKFC is taking the first overall draft pick. They've moved up from the championship into the Premier League. They're getting the first one. One championship will retain the second overall pick. The third goes to PFL, Bellator four, and the UFC rounds out each round at five. And because, I guess we should also explain who's got teams, because since Mike's team fell off the face of the earth, we decided to do a full reshuffle. Instead of everybody keeping their promotion, we didn't want AK to just continue to suffer as the UFC.

we did a reshuffle, and so the draft order stands as thus. I have taken over BKFC from David Feldman. I get the first pick. I've got some ideas, guys. We're going to take this right to the top. Shaheen has, after a good, solid 2022 draft that is either awful or great, depending on your perspective, he was headhunted away from Bellator. He's now joining one to help one get over the hump and move upward and onward.

similarly damon great 2022 he's moving from one to the pfl to try and help them surpass bellator move into that number two position he gets the smart cage the billions of potential viewers and he gets the third pick a k after a disastrous run with the ufc endeavor just kicked into the curb but no hard feelings no hard feelings guys no resilient man that he is he found another job and it is with Bellator, Scott Coker hanging up the gloves, A. K. Lee, taking in, stepping in, going to handle it from there. We'll see if the precipitous fall continues, and if next year he's working for PFL. And wildcard, Mike, after fronting a promotion that fell off the planet, he's still got the vote of confidence based on that draft by endeavor. They have selected him to be the replacement for Dana White. Did they do it because he is also bald?

we don't know, but they made the choice. Mike Heck is now in charge of the UFC and we're picking last. So before we get into it, the questions. You know, will Connor McGregor fall to the third round again? Shaheen, that was the feel of the draft last year. Will A.K. draft Kayla Harrison only for her to lose. Or will he just draft everyone that loses because he's cursed?

Will Mike somehow show confidence in Vicente Lucke? Will this be the year that a trade? takes place. All of it's on the table. There's only one way to find out. And the way that we'll find out is with the draft. So let the 2023 MMA draft commence. BKFC, you are on the clock. Hold on, hold on. There's trades now. We can do trades now. Oh, is this thing? We could do trades last year. We just didn't ultimately end up doing it. However, I'm going to peel back the curtain. I've got a potential trade that I'm waiting to unveil for in the middle of this draft. But how do you say?

Oh. Can I ask one question? This change is everything. Okay. Can I ask one question? Last year, we did have a name change last year with Bellator being renamed Showtime M.A. Is Belator under the purview of A.K.

Now being changed to 2% MMA? Is that the name you're going with this year? Uh, no. Because we got one percent of the world's best fighters. All right. One, how about that? That's not a lot. That's not a lot.

I turned that around on you. Wait a minute. Oh, no, I meant like the... That's not what you want. It's not what you want. We own the... What's the... Oh, I screwed that. How did this man get headhunted?

He was in charge of a very successful promotion, even if maybe he didn't optimize that promotion. Corporate America, baby. Corporate America, you can only fall upwards or at least sideways. I love it. I love this energy. Let's get to the draft. Okay. Guys, I'm so excited.

because I control the draft as the plucky upstart, BKFC. I've got some problems, guys. We're going to see this as the draft comes out because I have restrictions that you all don't. Not explicitly in MMA organization, not everybody's cup of tea. So you've got to find the right guys to come in. But I think there's a clear and obvious first pick. I think it's pretty obvious. There is.

It works even for me. a guy who's going to fit in even for me and he's going to help elevate us. Last year I tried to moneyball it. That was a mistake. It was a mistake that allowed this man to fall last year where he shouldn't have been. Because for the first overall draft pick, BKFC is proud, happy, exultedly thrilled to welcome the biggest star in the sport, one of the biggest stars on the planet to their organization. Connor McGregor, come on down to bare knuckle fighting. Because as I said, as I said, guys, you got to thread the needle.

Not everyone's going to want to do it. Usman and Murgamatov, great guy in Bellator. He's never going to fight in BKFC. You know who doesn't mind throwing hands? You know, this sort of tum, a rough and tumble guy from Crumlin, who is, frankly, has spent most of his time the last few years punching people without gloves on and not getting paid for. getting arrested for it. Instead, we're going to give him two minutes. He's going to fight bare knuckle, and he is going to be the flagship around which our franchise is built.

Connemar, BKFC, let's go. Can I ask if you have Connor, are you going to do the Ardom Lobov fight? Because if that's the case, then I think you've already won the draft. I was going to say this. Why are you giving him ideas? You now have the number one. You have the number one. I may listen, we can still stop him. Any of us can take Arton without number one. I was just to need ideas here. It's just to, any of you all want to spin to pick on Artem Lobo. I don't think you do if you do feel the thing.

Because I've still got Mike Perry. I've got Chad Mendes. I've got Eddie Alvarez. You guys have to take them from me. And are you going to want to do that? No, I don't think you are. Connor McGregor. Louis Palomino and Connor McGregor.

I'll do them all. Bear knuckle, the biggest star in the sport. he's not going third round this year. I refuse to allow that to happen twice. Give me notorious. I'm the new kid on the block. We give him some shares, if that's what it takes,

make him a full-on partner. Proper whiskey all over everything. We'll just give proper whiskey away for free at events. That'll turn up the heat, the intensity of the BKFC. Let's go. As someone who was not a CFO of a falling promotion, I like this pick

because you have to spend that trailer money while you can because there's a very real world that next year's draft BKFC might be out of business and maybe we'll need a new promotion. So but listen, you're playing for this year, Jed, and that's a good pick for this year. I am a thought that I cannot build for a long-term future. I have got to survive year over year and no one will be better served to help me survive

than Connor McGregor. Of that, I'm sure. I'm scared. This draft is already a scary start. I'm scared. No, this is just great. This is a man bringing an infected syringe to a knife fight.

I am scared. I don't like this. An infected syringe? I don't like this. Easy. Well, we've settled that up now. On the clock one championship, Mr. Shaheen Al-Shadi, where are we taking this one? So this is just really, this is just great.

Because first of all, you just spent five minutes telling me about how. terrible my draft was last year, and then you took my third round pick first overall, over everything. So that kind of, you know, another notch over here in this corner. So I got some changes that I need to announce, first of all, before we even launch into the actual picks portion of this. We got a good thing going here at one championship. My predecessor, Damon Martin, he did a very good job building an infrastructure here. We are a respected name with over one billion fans. No one else can claim that. here. But I see some tweaks. I see some changes that need to happen in order to maximize our

potential to dominate the eastern hemisphere of this whole global sports expansion that we're doing. So first of all, this feels very obvious. We're abolishing all these dumbass weight rules and divisions and all this stupid stuff that we're doing, the hydration tests, all this murky crap that causes 4,000 arguments on the ranking show and various things about where's DJ, all this stuff. It's gone. We're just doing normal weights, normal weigh-ins, no hydration tests. It's all very above board. You can see what's happening.

Just first thing right off the door, that's happening. Number two. How don't you show about drug tested? Well, let me get there. Let me get there. Number two, we're going back to our roots. One FC when it started was soccer kicks and stomps. We were set up to be Pride 2.0.

that's back on the menu baby we are the spiritual successor to your favorite fighters favorite fighters promotion we're pride 3.0 baby we're going all the way with it soccer kick stomps back on the menu and to that no drug testing you want to come over here hey get up on that horse meat give me uberheim give me whatever i'm here for it i am here for the circus i am here for ruckus i am here for ridiculousness and if you're not doing drug if you're not taking some kind of peds over here you're probably behind the curve. So just throwing that out there, you can get as juicy as you want.

And last thing, we celebrate all sorts of combat sports here at one championship. You know, we got the Muay Thai, we got the kickboxing, we got the grappling, we got all sorts of stuff. We're going to lean into that.

In fact, we're just going to go full bore. We're going to go bore on the floor here. We're going eating competitions. We're going obstacle courses. We're going every possible stupid thing that you want to see these dudes do and women, all of it, it's on the table.

You want to see, you know, Bob Sapp and whoever eat 100 hot dogs and see you can do it the fastest, I got you. You want to see Yoel Vermeiro doing an obstacle course? I got you. Come over here. We are pure entertainment all the time. I'm just saying. What's happening?

Options are open over a one championship. We are coming for those dollars. We are coming for those pride and nostalgia. We're coming for all of it. And so to that with my number one draft pick, Jed, you made a mistake. it felt to me like there was a very clear, obvious number one pick here this year, especially if we're going short-term one-year type of situation. Who's the most interesting man in the sport right now?

It's not Connor McGregor. No drug testing, baby. John Jones, come on home. Welcome home, Johnny Bones, baby, let's go. We got the heavyweight. We got the heavyweight John Jones in here. We got the potential goat in here. He's getting as juicy as he wants.

He's doing obstacle courses. He's doing eating competitions. He's doing jump rope. Whatever he wants to do, he's doing it. bang lock it down i knew he would be a first rounder i will admit like john john's clearly a first round talent nobody can can debate but you know it is we hear this every year at the draft it's the outside of the cage concerns you know i from a man who also took connor mcgregor i recognize plenty of outside of the off-field concerns but i don't hate the pick i knew it'd be a first

rounder makes sense to go number two overall can i say i'm a little disappointed jean i'm a little disappointed because you should be increasing drug testing to make sure that your fighters are using performance-hancing drugs. You're not going far enough. That's what I'm saying. Okay, okay. You're behind the curb if you're not doing it over here.

Yeah, yeah. Also, John Jones? Just saying John Jones, a heavyweight John Jones with grounded knees to the head, soccer kicks and stomps, you're all in. Like all of you are in. You want to see that. No, I'm in on John Jones on the gear

because as we all know, he's never touched the stuff. No, of course not. A totally clean fighter. So I've long said that I want to watch athletes on PEDs. If you say in Bolt is as fast as he is with clean, put that man on the gas. Let's see if he can run down a cheetah. John Jones, we need to see John Jones on the gear. We've never seen it before.

What can he do with a little extra vitamins, you know? The damn they were goods on Shaheen's roster with these new rules are going to be incredible. Incredible. I know my target audience and I'm going for them. I love it. Strong start. That puts the PFL on the clock. Damon,

PFL on the clock with the third overall draft pick. What are we doing? Well, I got to say, you know, I want to say thanks to everyone and the PIFL for putting their faith in me.

You know, Jake Paul gave me this job. I appreciate it, Jake, for hiring me for this gig. But we are going to make some major changes of PFL this year. First things first,

we're getting rid of the smart cage. It's not very smart. Kind of annoying. Smart cash is gone. We're also getting rid of the weird AI scoring because if you could actually manage to score worse than the real judges, then you do not allow. You do not deserve to be a judge in MMA. So the weird AI scoring, computer scoring, also gone out the window. We no longer watch you as part of PFL.

My last major change is the format. The esteemed Jed Mishu, who I can. consider a friend and a co-worker, had a great tweet recently about the PFL season. A season is not two fights. That's not a season. That's the most ridiculous amount of time for season. So we're going to change the format now. Our champions are going to be our pay-per-view fighters and they will no longer participate in the season-long format.

The season, as I will say, and the playoffs, as I will say, they will crown a number one contender to then move on to fight the champion, you will still win a million dollar prize, but when you go fight the champion on pay-per-view, you are guaranteed a $2 million payday plus 50% pay-per-view profits. That's how we do it in the PFL. You're going to get paid and you're going to pay for it. Everyone's going to be out of business. How are you affording this? I need to see that spreadsheets on this for this one, man. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. How can we currently afford to pay a million dollars to Sattaboo C, okay?

That should be your real question, AK. In the Smith, K, K, think of the money that he saves by. Oh, that's true. Oh, that's part of it. That's a big part of it. That's big part of it. I like that David's, I like that Damon's whole strategy is just go pure Bjorn Rebney circa 2000 in like, what, 12, something like that.

Mexico. Go for it. Go for it. Listen, I like the tournament. We like the tournament format. But the points are dumb, okay? The points are dumb. You know, we live in a world right now where Olivier, Alvin Mercier, picks up a big winner of Shane Burgos.

There's still a realistic chance he could miss the playoff simply because he doesn't have enough points, which is utterly ridiculous. So we're going to go old school, crown a number one contender, and then you move to pay-per-view to fight our champions. And that way we will have, you know, we can actually, you know, get bigger fights on pay-per-view. So with that being said, as we change the formats, we are leaning into pay-per-view, which was an incredible success, judging by all metrics last year.

My first overall pick, I don't have to worry as much about the tournament format because I don't need to necessarily worry about somebody that has to fight four times this year. I'm looking for a superstar. I'm looking for somebody that can go out there, get the crowd amped up, and also can do a little crossover with us.

You know, PFL is open to bringing in guys like Jake Paul. We want to have fun with this. So with my number one overall pick, he is the top free agent in all of mixed martial arts and combat sports right now. going with the true heavyweight king, Francis Inganu. Welcome to the PFL, where you will gladly send anti-delegia's head into the fourth row, and we'll pay you $2 million to do it.

Francis, welcome to the PFL. I can't wait for Francis to make $2,500 after the pay-view cut that you're going to give him. So, hey, good call, man. I love it. Listen, listen. It's always a risk going to pay-per-view, especially in charge for $5,000. But we have faith. We have faith that it will be a market that will work out for us.

And listen, I still don't know. Listen, I'll be honest. I took over the PFL recently. I haven't looked at our books. I have no idea how we have the money we have currently, okay? I have no idea how we're paying people we are now. So I'm just hoping the Ponzi scheme doesn't run out and we can continue to pay people this kind of money.

Look, I love to pick. Francis was full transparency. He's number two on the board because it's like you said. one of the biggest, the biggest free agent out there. The heavyweight champion of the world, it's a great pick. And that brings us to the fourth pick. The man who fell from grace is no longer in charge of the premier organization in the world. He's trying to get Bellator to elevate even more.

Really, let's be realistic. Belator's just trying to fend off all these hungry young up-and-comers, a.K. Lee, where is Bellator going with number four? First off, let me say Ari, if you're out there, please return my calls. He has not been responding to me ever since last year's draft. I think it's some sort of miscommunication,

but yeah, not return my calls. We know have a lot of mutual friends, and then when I asked him about Ari, they kind of just changed the subject. So really not sure what happened there, but again, you know, no hard feelings. I'm in a new place now. We're all happy.

We're all better off. We're all better off, I feel. So I want to do a quick little thing here. I want to say, so after our first three picks, So, Connor McGregor went number one overall this year. And as Shaheen pointed out, he would have been a third round pick last year. He was John Jones was a second round pick last year. This was, of course, when we weren't even sure if he would ever fight again because he's John Jones.

And Francis, third overall this year was the number one overall last year. So not a big surprise for Francis remains a super hot, intriguing name. I'm going to go. Oh, and before I make my pick, since we'll say, tell the people. Of course, making organizational changes. I am really doing a reversion. Last year, when someone took over Beltor M.A. They made the terrible decision to change, to rebrand it to a very generic sounding

Showtime MMA, much to the disappointment of millions, millions of Bellator fans. So don't worry, everyone. I'm here to let the Bellator loyal fans know. we are going back to the best promotional name in all of MMA. Bell Tour is reborn. It's back again. Showtime M.A. Get that out of here.

Belator, listen, there's no promotion with a name like it. Some people would say there's a good reason for that. I would say, yeah, there is a good reason. It's because Belator is great. And this brand, this name is exactly, well, it's synonymous with excellence. It's synonymous to greatness. It should never have been changed. So don't worry, everyone.

It is Beltor. Question A. Yes. You in the front. You know what Belator actually means? A warrior, gladiator. He nailed it. He got it.

Ah, ha. And he's like his research. Sheen, everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. That's what makes it such a strong name. Everyone knows. Is there another language you could translate 2% into like a Bellator name and make that the name?

Oh. The presentage. Do percentage, MMA. Listen, there's, here's a, here's a, here's a, here's a, here's a, here's a 0% and that's that any chance that you're you're going to get any fights out of your number one pick because this guy's asked for way too much money he's too rich for your blood i'm telling you there's two and a half million dollar your offering it's not enough apparently the guy's a maniac uh you're not you're not going to be able to afford him he's going to price himself out of your

promotion already your or your your league you're your league uh all right uh this year i am going with i may have been a little too cheeky last year i was the again i was in charge of the ufc it's a little hard you're kind of playing defense you're kind of trying to think who are people not going to draft? So I've got a little more freedom, you know, when you're not, when you're not the big show. So you get to take from the big show. And let's not overthink this. Let's take, let's start with excellence, to start with a guy who could be a leader in two divisions, two of the deepest divisions in all the M.A., certainly in Belator. Let's take the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, maybe not officially

in the NBA fighting rankings, but a man considered by many to still be the number one pound-for-pound for in the world. Give me Alexander Volcanowski. He'll throw him in there with Pitbull, throw him in there with whoever, Usmander Megamatov. This man could be a two-division champion in Belvoir. He's a great ambassador. I love him for the sport.

We're going to Australia. Obviously, we're going to Australia. We have a big show in Australia, and this man will lead the way. So you can't go wrong with the best, and that's Alexander Volcanowski. That's a phenomenal pick. Also, just maybe she,

maybe you're on to something, too, of your draft picks went in the first round this year, but two of Damon, sorry, too. Just saying. Also went in the first round this year. So dead heat, I kind of anticipated we might be getting the number two pound for pound

fighter off the board early. But let's see what Mike does. Because Mike, you are the hunted now. As AK said, you're playing a lot of defense. So who do you value the most as, you know, when you're reporting to your boss, Vince McMahon,

Who do you say, Vince, this is the guy we got to keep, so I'm going to draft him as early as possible. I have a question. Is this a snake draft? It is not a snake. It is not. We reset. That's a bunch of BS, but okay. It's like the NFL draft because if you give you a snake draft, it makes it too even.

It's really hard to be the UFC in this thing. Okay. You'll be lucky to get 2% my best friend. Trust me. Trust me. It's tough. Well, I mean, promotional changes. First of all, I tried to give Dana White to Bellator.

They wouldn't take them. So that didn't really work out for me. We wanted to kind of retain his services over with Showtime MMA, but the LLC change. And now they sent him back to us and now this deal with Endeavor, I can't, I can't do anything about it. So he's with us. I will say this, Dana White is removed from hosting press conferences from now on. John Anick is now the press conference host. he will allow questions of all kinds.

I love that. To all the fighters. So let's just say Kevin Hollinen, Jorge Mazadol have a run in at the hotel. John Anick is going to allow questions from the media asking both fighters about that. Now, John is a professional. He's not going to let these guys go off on a 10-minute tangent, but he is going to allow the questions to be asked. He's going to allow both fighters to address the situation. The other thing I'm going to say is we can't do anything about the ESPN deal.

We can't do anything about the number of cards that are going to happen. but we had an emergency board meeting yesterday. No card. For the remainder of this draft cycle, we'll have more than 11 fights on it. 11 fights max. That is it. Including pay-per-views, 11 fights max.

No more. And look, if you want to throw... Swinging. Yeah, I think I win the draft right there. You know, look, if there's 600 fighters on the roster, I get it. Maybe we sprinkle in a Wednesday card with like five Rando Finging. fights on it. If you just want to watch more fighting, you have the option. But for our main broadcasts, 11 fights. Nice and tight, in and out, 11 fights. That's how we're going to do it.

Look, I have to do this. I didn't know how this is all going to play out. My strategy was going more towards a snake draft, but at this point, I just have to pick the low-hanging fruit. I'm going to choose the driver of the best division in the sport. I'm going to choose the guy is probably going to hold the Cadillac Divisions Championship. for a long time. And in my opinion, the true number one fighter on planet Earth, a man that is going to sell out Eddie Hatt Arena for years to come as the champion. Islam Makachev, I was going to say welcome to the UFC,

but welcome still to the UFC. And I expect you to be holding that title for a very, very long time. So welcome Islam. It's a great choice. I think if you had told me beforehand, this probably looked like the five. would have picked for first rounders. Does anyone have anybody different that they thought? They want to tell me who they think is still out there so I can take them in one

extra. I just want to say, my best friend, we are on the same page because I did the same thing with the last pick of the first round. I went with the number one person in the lightweight division, which at the time was Charles Olivera. I think you'll have better luck with this Lamachachad, frankly. But, yeah, I mean, listen, you can't go wrong with that. With MX Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only

satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those.

Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

Certainly. So it's a great first round, which brings us back to the top of the batting order. BKFC is back on the clock. I'm so excited, guys, because I knew this guy would fall to me. If Nganyu was still here, I would have taken him for all the reasons. But I was really confident this guy would fall. I could probably wait and take them later, frankly, because I think it'd still be there,

but it doesn't matter because I have the opportunity to do something that I have been wanting to do for years and years and years. If anybody's talked to me over the last several years, they've asked me, Jed, what is the one fight? The one fight you can make. And it's Connor McGregor versus Justin Gaichie. So with the second round pick, I am taking Justin Gaichi, I've got Connor McGregor under.

You know who else? I got Eddie Alvarez. We can run that back in bare knuckle. You know what else we can run back? Luis Palomino, two unbelievable fights in World Series of fighting. We can run that in bare knuckle. We can get crazy with Chad Mendez or Mike Perry or maybe some, you know, seventh round draft pick that I've got in my mind as well.

Justin Gage, the most electric, exciting man in the sport versus Connor McGregor to open up the next BKFC pay-per-view, we're going to sell a million buys. Everyone is going to leave delighted and thirsty for more unimpeachable pick on my part, frankly. Justin Gagee, welcome

BKFC. You're not playing the long game there, are you, Jen? Look, we... Yeah, you're really going to ruin, run out the last few things of Justin's career right there. You're going to draft like 14 picks next year to replace all the guys that you're just going to send off into retirement. I'm going to have... Also, by the way,

yet another pick from my draft class that you crapped on real hard at the beginning. It's just saying you're two for two so far from old heen picks. But look, Gaggy McGregor, it's the most exciting fight in the history of combat. It's unimpeachable. It's the fight I've wanted. I am now in a position to make the fight I want. And like I said, I can't play for a long-term future. I've got to get results now, lest I fall the same way that Eagle FC does.

Connor McGregor, Justin Gage, they're going to deliver. for me. Okay, boom. Love it. The next pick, we're back. It's one championship, Shaheen Al-Shadi. Who are you following up

your John Jones selection with? Okay, now this is tough. Because I thought you were going to go a different direction, Jed, and I was almost convinced while you were saying that you were going to go a different direction. And now I'm left with two people, one of whom I have to abandon,

because there's no way it's going to come back to me. I'm not kept. I'm going for, I'm going to have. have to pick for the future here. This is a pick for the present and the future. It's a man full of intrigue right now, a man who we have not seen his best days yet. His best days are ahead of him. He's a multi-division man. He could go across different sports too if he wanted to. He could maybe do some grappling against John Jones even, maybe if we wanted to get real crazy.

I'm going to Hamzaa Shemayev with this number two pick. Twenty-eight years old could fit into multiple divisions, could fit into multiple spectrums, probably the best fighter in the world at one of these weight classes. Also, let him get geared up. Wait, this way ins, you can do whatever with these way ins. We're pretty lax over here. So, you know, Helms out Shemaya, go for the future pick. Go for the pick that can cultivate a little bit, a little mass here over the next few years. My former first round pick from last year, a solid addition to any roster, certainly, really going to fit in with who is the one Welterweight champion right now?

Christian Lee. Christian Lee. But Welterway, isn't Welterweight their lightweight division or whatever, like, their fake one? Something. No. It's now, getting rid of that. It's now just Welterweight. It's just multiple.

Well, uh, look, you're never going to go wrong. So Homsdashamai of RDR, baby. That's, that's a, that is a star in the sport and a guy you can build for now and for the future. Love the pick. Which brings us, PFL is on the clock. Damon. Martin, your second round selection.

I am shocked that this guy fell to me. I was sitting there waiting with BATED. breath because I thought for sure he was going to be the second round pick of BKFC because he fits in and he's the star. Listen, we already got Francis de Ghanu. He's going to be a mantle piece for us. And listen, not only are we going to make our second selection, but I'm also going to make an announcement now that we do have this second pick in our selection, our debut pay-per-view card will happen in Africa because our number two pick is none other than Israel. Trick is two plus C. No.

He's actually banned from that card. Israel Adesanya is our number two pick. I'm shocked he fell to me. He was my number one pick last year. He is now my number two pick this year. And we are taking the PFL to Africa. And we are doing a big pay-per-view headline by Israel Adesanya and Francis and Ghanu.

What a card. I can't believe Israel Adasanya fell to me. Superstar, massive draw, always exciting. redemption story, finally beating Alice Pereira. I don't know about the old exciting part. That's put it on a little thick. See, but now, you've made a mistake, though. Now we know that we've got to take Kamar Usman,

or you're going to take him next. This Africa card. You've showed your hand. Well, I've got the two biggest at the top now, so I'm good. That's going to sell out a massive arena, and there's going to be a lot of people coming over to see him. And Drake, if you were not invited, I'm sorry. That's a shame.

That brings us to, A.K. Lee, with Bellator, you are on the clock. I mean, listen, it's no secret. Izzy would have been my pick if David hadn't taken him. If I could have, if Bellator could add, have, enter the next calendar year, 12 to 12 months with Alexander Volcanowski and Israel at Disney on the roster. Holy crap. I mean, I said before the show, I said I wasn't going to try and like turn Belator around in one night. That would be pretty good. That would have pretty good.

I've got to gotten both those guys to turn things around real quick. Gosh, I'll tell you right now, I hate to show my hand so much, but I've got a name, and I was kind of hoping he would fall to the third round. And now I think I have to take him. At the same time, I know there's a very good chance that this pick will alienate the 2% that voted for me last year, which are so. Oh, God. It might only make things.

They might only make things worse. But you know what? Screw it. Screw it. I only got 2% last year anyway. These people obviously hate me. So guess what? From hell's heart, I stab at the MMA fighting readership and listeners.

I'm taking Jake Paul. Whoa! Sorry, PFL. I'm taking Jake. I'm taking Jake Paul. Wow. Listen, he wasn't... Al Davis, like...

Nobody saw this. when coming the first. He wasn't going to be there in the third round. I know one of you was going to pick him. I know one of those. He was absolutely going to be there in the third round. He would have been there in the sixth round. We are making a splash.

We are going after the youth audience. All right. Listen, people don't know. I've been told I have a very useful energy about me. But people should know, I'm pretty old. I'm pretty old. I'm almost 40. I don't know what the kids are into these days.

But I know the kids are into. They're TikTok-in and they're Snapchating. And they're definitely Jake Pauling. I'll tell you that. Jake Paul and KSI and all this jazz. I got to make a splash. All right. Listen,

I'm under a lot of pressure here. I'm under a lot of pressure. Is it possible? Is it possible we can rename me from to 1% M.A? Is that the new name? Like, are you going for? Damon, after this move, I might be lucky to be Mr. 1%. I understand.

This is going to make people angry. He's going to vote for himself. and that's the only vote he's going to get. You guys, the other thing I should know is I handle a lot of moderation of the M.A. So of this group, I'm like the only one who regularly reads the majority of the M.A. fighting comment section. So I'm aware of how much the people, at least the people who comment on the site, hate Jake Paul and hate Jake Paul coverage. But I'm sorry, people.

I apologize now. There's this broader audience that I'm hunting after. Again, I'm in a lot of pressure to make a splash after, you know, what happened last year. Maybe this is a bad splash. I don't know, but this is going to get people talking. We're getting him in the, and he's fighting in MMA. We're going to make it happen. He can box two.

He can kickbox he wants to. Jake Paul is competing for Bellator. We're making headlines, people. We're making headlines. I love this pick. I had to do it. Jake Paul, I was on my board. He would have made it to the third round from me, from me.

I can't speak for anyone else. He would have made it a couple more rounds, but he was certainly a person of interest. But mostly I love this because you're accepting your role. Belcher is not going to chase down the UFC. You've just got to keep yourself distanced from the oncomers. And you just took a critical piece from PFL and their future plans. An investor in the company is now an investor with you. Thank you.

You know, can we move on? I don't know. I don't know what I just did. We can because on the clock is the UFC, Mr. Mike Heck, with your second round pick, what is the UFC doing? First of all, I, like, when you said Jake Paul's name, I was like, I was disgusted a little bit, but I have to say, I have to say, if there's any organization this makes sense for, it is Bellator. And in fact, they should have made this move a year ago.

More than that, if we're being honest, they should have locked him and his brother up. as integral pieces of the promotion, even if it's just like a one championship kind of a deal where you represent us, you come to a couple of cards, show your face on television, and then if you do fight for, fight in MMA,

you have to fight for us. They should have absolutely done that. So I hate a little less. I think the values, I think you overvalued it a little bit. I think you overvalued it a little bit. I think you get away to like three more rounds to make that pick,

but that's not here nor there. AK, you brought up youthful exuberance. youthful exuberance. And I feel like this gentleman personifies youthful exuberance. Plus, he just kicks the shit out of everybody he fights and he finishes them. And all he does is play

with Legos and win world championships. In fact, he won two world titles last year. He won an interim title. And then he went on in January and slayed the dragon, Figgy Smalls. In fact, I think he won the last two fights. I actually scored the trilogy fight for Moreno 2.

So technically he should be up. He should have three wins. in his last three or four in his last four, but it doesn't matter because we're going to Mexico, baby, and we're going to make this happen. Unlike Dana and his reign, we're not going to F this up. We're going to get there in September.

And Brandon Moreno, after he defeats Alexander Pantosia, will be in the main event of that card. So UFC Flyway champion Brandon Moreno remains with us. The sponsorship deals are going to be a plenty. And I'm very excited to have the definition of youthful exuberance still on our roster. Two world title holders. Let's go.

Great pick. Only 29 years old. He wouldn't have made it back to you. That's a great big. Also, I think this is the first retread. I believe you drafted Marana last year, and I don't think anyone else has... I did.

No, Damon got out of Sonia. That's right. I did get out of Sonia again. You had Adasania last year. So great pick. on the clock is BKFC and you know I think it's time guys Mike you were just talking about how you were

anticipating a snake draft so I'd like to approach you trade off or on the table Mike Mike I would love to swap picks with you this round you can have the next pick the first of the third round I will take your pick in the third round the only thing I'd like you to kick in I'd like you to kick in two fighters from me

just just a little add in to move up four picks and what's What is happening right now? Look, they're not high-profile fighters. They're not fighters you're going to care about missing, Mike. You just add in, give me Robbie Lawler, and give me Calvin Cater. You throw both of those in with it, and you can have the first pick in the third round. How are we feeling about that, Mike?

I feel, hold on. Are we about to lay in? Yeah, go ahead, Shane. Yeah. I feel like you have to do an asset for an asset, because you're going to end up with more fighters than the rest of. of us. I'm sorry. No, I don't have an issue with that. Trading is just great like this. I'm offering him to move up four spots in the draft to get his next guy, and I'm asking for throw-ins, for guys at the end of the bench. Roby-Law has maybe one fight left in him. Do you guys care

about Robbie Lawler? Calvin Cater suffering a major knee injury might not even compete this year. I'm making a risk to these people and move back. No, I'm all for trading multiples for one. I'm all for I have no problem with this because I love Robbie Lawler legend, but he wouldn't have been on my draft board, and neither is Calvin Cater. He was typically going away for me. I know I intentionally picked two guys that no one would draft, but would make a lot of help for me as I'm building,

building some things here. So, Mike, how do you feel? You're welcome to counter, obviously, but that's the offers on the table. Can Calvin Cater still co-hosts some of the preview shows for us for the UFC? I accept. You accept? Okay. I mean, how could I not do this?

I feel like it's kind of a no-brainer at this point. So, okay. Everybody's happy. Boom. But-na-na-na-ma-ma-ma-ma. Major trade happens. The UFC moves up to the first pick of the third round in exchange for their third-round pick.

Calvin Cater and Robbie Lawler going to BKFC. Mike, you are back on the clock. I wasn't prepared for this, but, uh, man, I got two, man, I got three, three names. One is the highest ranked, but I'm not confident in his next fight. One is guaranteed going to be a champion with the way these rosters look. And one is just the definition of excitement. Hmm.

You know what? We got Islam Makachev, who, it depends. on your definition of exciting. Let's just put it that way, but he is the best fighter on the planet. We have Brandon Moreno, who's super exciting. And I think Brandon at 29 still is room to grow into that excitement role.

So if Damon's going to pick the real heavyweight champion, then I think it's fair that I picked the real light heavyweight champion. Derry Prakashka stays with the UFC. And this is why trade because Shaheen was clearly about to take him.

Mike moved up in an expert maneuver. Shaheen, you could have counter, but who do you have to counter with at one? See, I wasn't, I wasn't trying to just redraft my team because I, I was pretty happy with my draft picks last year, but Yuri Prohoshka absolutely would have been my third round pick. So he just stole it from two people. Damn it. I would have got tremendous value at this pick, uh, regardless, because I think the two

other names that I would have wanted, both would have stuck around. At least one of them would have. But yeah, I got to go with Brashka here. I love the pick sliding in right in front of Shaheen, who is now on the clock with one championship for his third round draft pick. And I'll be honest, you can't see this. This is audio only. Shaheen is in shambles right now. I'm shook. I'm shook. My dog is right here pawing at me because she thinks something's wrong. I don't know what to do now. You just really ruined this for me. Okay.

Refocus in here. Not going to lie, you threw me for a loop with these multiple people for one trade. So you're going to get three people this round now, Jed? Yeah, I do because I'm building something over here. Oh, wait. Did you also, you're also taking Mike? You're swapping picks as well? Mike, is that true?

You're just going to end up coming away with so many more fighters than the rest of us. I didn't know you're swapping. He's just taking Mike's fifth pick overall and he gets Bobby Loller and Combinator. And Combinator. Plus he picks. they're switching spots. He's taking my pick this. Oh, Mike, I didn't know that.

He's going to get three fighters this round when all of us get one. I wouldn't have done that if I was Mike. Yeah, but no one was going to pick. No one was going to pick Robbie or Calvin, let's be honest. But I would have wanted to keep my pick, though. I wouldn't want to keep my pick this round. I wouldn't have swapped. I would have asked for more than cater and law just to give up my third overall.

Yeah, I'm okay with it. The reaction of Shaheen and Damon made it worth it. Yeah, I agree. I agree. The erie pick made it all worthwhile. Mike, I think you came out ahead, frankly. Yeah, you see, the thing is, so I got my whole draft board divided up in tiers, and there's a big drop off after Yeri.

Like that first tier is clearly gone now. So now we're working with extras. The third round, that's how the draft works. You don't have the bulletproof prospects of day one and two. I almost did. All right, I'm just going to go with the best fighter on the board right now. I don't know that I'm very excited about this pick. It doesn't inspire me in the way that something else would have.

Where to get the fan and steer up. No, I mean, I'm just be honest. You know, I'm an honest, I'm an honest CEO here. I'm not super, super stoked about this one. But he is very, very good at his job. And at some point, you just got to get talent. And I'm over here trying to collect some talent right now. So I'm going to take Leon Edwards.

I'm going to take the best welter rate in the world. I got Hamza Shima. I've already in the back pocket. So immediate fight you can just put together there. Let's go. We're going to London. Look, the welterweight king, that you, a stacking talent, that's, you know, maybe the, maybe the one crowd can appreciate him a little more than, than other people do. So I like to pick.

Honor, respect. He's 31 years old. He's got a long way to go here. He's got some time. I'm okay with it. I talk myself into it. I think it's a solid pick, a solid pick. I will also note as I look over the previous year's draft, AK is the only, person who has yet to have anyone drafted from his 2022 drafting. I wonder why. Wait till this round's over when he drafts Kayla again to go Jake Paul. So, you know, we're waiting hard.

Leon Woods is now only the second person who wasn't drafted last year to be drafted this year and done it in the third round, along with obviously the Jake Paul wild card pick, which we didn't see coming. But that does bring us to the PFL. Former home of Jake Paul, Damon Martin, how are you recovering from the loss of? of Jake Paul. Will you fight back at Bellator? You know, that, that stung a little bit, but also he wasn't going to get drafted,

so I don't really know how much of a sting that is, especially considering he'll probably lose his first fight in MMA, so maybe it all goes away. But anyways, I think you're here and there. It's pretty clear right now with Francis and Gano and Israel, Al-a-Sania on the roster, we're going to Africa, we got a lot of star power, but we need to sell pay-per-views. Point-blank, PFL's going to pay-per-view, we need stars. We need stars.

So I'm going with my third overall pick. He may not be the best guy in the world, but he is by far one of the probably top five stars on all mixed martial arts right now. I am going with none other than Sugar, Sean O'Malley. It's a good pick. That is good. I knew where you were going.

That is good. That was my next step on the board. Yeah, same. Same. Right ahead of, again, right ahead of me. Particularly because PFL needs to do a Bannemweight division, that they need to be getting into that business. So that's a good move.

love that pick. Sean's going to draw eyes. He's going to draw eyes. So that's what we need. We need eyeballs. And Sean O'Malley does that. Also, another debutante to the draft. So a lot of new talent coming in in the draft this year.

Excited to see it. But we are back to you, AK. Bellator, who are you attacking this time around? Guys, I still haven't recovered from my last pick. I'll be honest to you. I don't think. KSI is still on the board, AK, in case you're curious. Has thrown out of the ideas.

As thrown off as you guys were, I think I'm the most thrown off by what I just did. I've got some very, there's a lot of great names in here. Like a lot of great names where I really can't go wrong, unlike that last big. I'm going to go, you know, let's go with excitement. Let's go with excitement. Let's go with a guy who, listen, has already been in some massive, I mean, recently, a couple of massive MMA fights. And I think still has plenty ahead of them.

also again for bringing back bellator kickboxing this guy could be an asset man give me give me poetan alex praira give me bowtad alexpara give me out of i think he can be a face of belator i think he's so proud you a k i'm so proud oh that's so fun he's so fun uh i don't know if he makes 185 anymore but that's fine because i need to see him fight your well romero that is it we are booking him against your well romero right away and then And whatever happens, whatever happens from there, but we're at least getting that one huge fight out of it. So Poetan, listen, I don't know, 185, 205, probably 205, but you have a home here. You have a home in Bell Torcer.

I'm so much like you came over and just burned his house down. This is just true. I'm so proud of you, A.K., because I knew as the picture going on that he wanted the snake so he could guarantee himself, Alex Pereira, and A.K., you did it. I thought through this round so I could get a little extra value. and get him in fifth pick and not have to use 3-1 on him. Oh. Incredible. You've devastated this man.

This is tremendous. A.K., you have instantly redeemed yourself. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That would have been, he was my next round. He was my next round pick to do the, to do the Audosania Quadrilogy. But yes, good, great pick, AK, you rebounded strong. I'm back, I'm back.

I don't even have to do it. I was young. I was going to make Luke Rockhold versus Alex Pereira. I think we can all admit that would be the funniest thing that's happened. Do you want to work up? Would you like to make some kind of trade? Well, I'm going to have to, but right now I have to deal with this because he was going to be a three-sport champion. A.K., I had a plan.

He just ruined it. This is tremendous. Oh, that hurts so. I already worked. wrote it in in the tracker. Oh, God. I don't even know what to do now. Get that eraser out, boy.

I'm in shambles, and BKFC is on the clock. I had such ideas, and this is all gone to shit now. Oh. Okay, clocks, clock. A.K., this might be your finest moment. I'm not going to lie. I'm very happy. Okay, clock's ticking.

I'll go with who was going to be my fourth rounder, I guess. Settle down. You know what? We're just going to lean into it. I'm sorry, I'm still wheeling right now, but we're going to lean into this. We've collected, you know, Connor McGregor, Jesse Gachey, exciting guys to pair with Eddie Alvarez, Chad Mendes, et cetera.

Let's get another guy, one of the most exciting in the sport. You know, got drafted last year, a former champion. argue, let me, still has it. We just saw less than a week ago. The man still got it. I took him last year. I'm going to take him again. Give me Max Holloway with the fifth pick of the third round.

We can do Max Holloway, Justin Gagethe. That's a fun fight. We can do Max Connor 2 in Bear Knuckle. Obviously super fun. You know, let's go. Give me Max as I try to recover from this terrible thing that's happened to me. See, that hurt me, though, because I, actually had plans for Max Holloway as well, because I wanted to take them to, take them to,

I was going to do two shows a year, built around Max Holloway in Hawaii. Look, and Kim, we'll come back to you. Why don't you take some time work up a trade proposal? Because I'm going to deal box for Pereiro. We may have to talk about it. But BKFC is on the clock again, and so I don't have time to trade right now because I've got to put in the first pick of the fourth round. And I think at this point, I just need to lean fully into where I'm at.

just commit all the way to it and I'm going to take Dustin Porreier that gives me McGregor, Porier, Gaichi, Max Holloway, Luis Palomino, Eddie Alvarez. That is a crew of dudes who are going to get after it in the cage or in my case in the squared circle. It's going to be awesome. Give me Dustin Porre as the first pick of the fourth round and that brings one championship as she now shot he back on the clock. Okay.

Okay. let's see here an AK you think about a trade package for Alex Perea okay Mike I have a trade proposal for you I'm listening

my current pick what is this the fourth round my fourth round pick I will swap picks with you for the rights to Jilton Almeida and Curtis Blades oh now can you can now, now how does this work

if one of us was going to draft one of those guys though? So I think can I interest you take them. So if you if you end up drafting whoever gets traded, you still get them and that trade is just a loss for whoever acquired them in the pickup. Okay. Because

those are a little high right guys. Wait, hold on, what? So if you, if this trade were to go through, Shaheen and you get Jailton Almeida, but if Damon drafts him in round six, I I think Damon gets to get him in round six because the draft supersedes. Wait, what?

No, whoa, whoa, no. I think if someone trades for someone, they just get them. They just get to keep them. That would be me acquiring the rights. Yeah, yeah, they just keep them. Those people are going to count it as like they're off the board, I would think. That's, right? Yeah, that's the only way this makes sense.

That's not sure it makes sense that way. Like, I can't pick, like, Robbie Lawler or Calvin Cater now, for example. Like, I think they're off the board. You can serve as the tie break here because I think Damon and I are on one side. and AK and Shaheen are the other Damon's on one side because he wants one of these guys so we are split so Mike gets to be the determining factor

we are nothing if not a democracy well Shaheen if you if you want Jailton you're just going to have to draft them I can't I can't do it I can't trade for him the spot it's too early it's too late in the draft so yeah you could just well we'll just

do you have a counter if you want him huh do you have a counter Curtis Blades and Steepay How's that? Oh, that's not bad. Okay. I'm not taking Stepe.

I have a counter for your counter. This would be the final one. Then this is going to be the final one. Curtis Blades and Sergey Pavlovich, the main event of this weekend. Interesting. Mike is mulling it over. I mean, we do it.

have a division without John Jones in it, but I do probably have the guy who's going to beat all of those dudes. Sure. Trade has been put in. So, two clarified. Lock it in. Shaheen Al-Shadi is moving back to the fifth pick

of the fourth round. Mike is moving up with the UFC. Mike is giving up Sergey Pavlovich and Curtis Blades to make this move up. Okay. Mike did not. Let me just throw in really quickly. Yeah. Let me just throw in the justification on my end for this.

I'm building around John Jones. I'm all in on heavyweight John Jones. I think Curtis Blades is the most fascinating fight for John Jones stylistically in this division. If you're looking for someone to beat John Jones, it feels to me like Curtis Blaze is that guy. Also, Sergey Pavlovich is the number one heavyweight that I want to see on PEDs. So we're going to load that rushing up and we're going to get him on everything that Overeem was on during the run. Listen, it's a perfect trade for both of us, I think. Perfect trade for both of us.

But Mike did not wait. So, Mike, you did not give a deciding vote, though, on the trade rules. Still need a deciding vote. If Damon were to go and draft, Sergey Pavlovich or Curtis Blaine. Hold on. The trade's already done. That's the risk you take. That's the risk you take.

No, no, no, no. I think, Mike, way in, way in here. What's your opinion? that feels like it's going to be incredibly complex. I'm willing to change my side and just side with AK and Shaheen. If a trade happens, they're out of the draft pool. I'm okay. I agree.

I agree. I mean, is anybody really going to draft Curtis Blades and Sergey Pavlovich? Maybe he's not. Does anyone really going to draft Curtis Blades? I just. It was on my board, but the very low of it. Like if Curtis fought like four times a year, that's one thing.

But he's going to fight once. And then he's not going to fight again probably the rest of the year. So that means it's my pick. It is your pick. You'll pick. The UFC is on the clock. Well, this worked out anyways. Like, I had to make this move because I was going to pick Jailton,

Almeida with this pick anyways. So now it's going to just guarantee me that I get Jailton Ameta. So Jailton just stays with me. And that's what I wanted to begin with. So can I? I have a feeling with A.K. And his vast, wonderful talent-making roster of pundits that could be picking guys. I have a feeling Jelton I made is probably at the top of his list.

So now he's not. You can just cross him right off, OK? Can I offer a trade for him right now? Mike. Give me Usman and Amaga Madoff and he's yours. Oh. Oh, that's a, I mean, listen, that's a better offer. Honestly, that's better than, okay, yeah, I'll do it.

Yeah, all right. Congratulations, AK. So, USC select, I'm trying to log this as well along with you, Jen. C selects Jelton Almeda and then immediately traded to Mike you could have just picked Usma Nurga Madoff that's okay uh he didn't want heavy weights heavy weights sucks heavyweight sucks anyways we're we're I have the real

we're dwindling down the division that's okay I just got the real best heavyweight in the world by the way just just for the record uh Mike I was actually gonna argue I hope he loses to the Jarzino so bad and it's just gonna be hilarious I was gonna for you like like the choice of any three champions not named patricia pitbull so so i'm happy to only give away one oh well listen i'm happy i i think i have i think i have the better fighter and i think i have the better long-term guy no doubt this is this is the best friend's trade this is this is also this is also this is also where the trade thing comes in because oosboo would have been on my board somewhere so like now i just lose him because he's no longer available that's right

i will say this is going to be this is going to be the single most complex write-up that we have ever done. Let's just be honest. Nobody wants anybody on the PFL roster, so I got no one to trade for. That's not that's not true. Just taken. Look, if you hadn't just gotten rid of the smart cage, you're going to talk to me. I'm going to use

a smart cage in BKFC, but you throw it away. It's in the trash. I will say, Mike, I love you, you've got lightweight covered. You've got Islamakov and the future. You are doing things, you're keeping the UFC in business, but we are moving to the

pfl they are on the clock for round for damon who do you select so i am disappointed jelton omeda was on my card i didn't know he'd go quite so high i thought maybe fifth round but you know it is what it is he's gone so um as it's been stated all thus far i'm going a lot of star power haven't really built matchups yet and that's okay because matchups will come people will pay to just see francis launch people's head into the fourth row and it's always going to be fun so continuing that trend i'm going away from star power and I'm going for the future. He could be soon, very soon, the best welterweight in all the mixed martial arts.

I'm going to my fourth pick. Shavkat Rachmanoff as my next pick. Damn it. He is going to anchor Welterweight division in the PFL and anyone who opposes him will fall and fall hard. So welcome to the PFL. That's great.

Great pick. Great selection. He's solid. That's solid. He's on my board. This year. He didn't make it last year. I knew this year. He would for sure be getting taken he was 100% going to be my back of the back of the round boy for sure i want the hamzat shavkat fight that was my goal but good pick dam now mike did we swap picks as well no no that was a straight-up trade oh yeah straight-up trade so aka you are on the clock with belto your oh my oh my what do i go with this okay uh i want to go for quality now i think

quality i mean not that my other picks weren't quality i mean uh you know but uh i want some i want i think i might go champion again We need to look champion. Let's go champion. Let's think big picture international. Let's think women. Let's think women, guys. We don't have any women off of our board yet, if I'm not mistaken.

None have been taken. Which is a bit silly, which is a bit silly. Belvoir doesn't have this division, but should. There's no reason not to have this division. So let's expand into the Straway Division. Let's expand into China. Please give me, arguably, the best women's fighter in the world, Zhang Wei Lee.

I'm a big fan. We love her under the belt or banner. She can fight at 125. Again, we're looking at two divisions here, like a Volcanovsky. So, uh, Zhang, come on down. Good pick. Love it.

That's just a very solid pick through and through. Nothing to change there about this. And that puts, just making sure, I do have this correct. This is the pick that Shaheen traded away for Mike to move. Yes. So, Shaheen, you are closing out round five.

you already picked up Curtis plays in Padovich in this trade. Who do you select with the fourth round pick for one championship? Okay, I was going to say this is round four, right? This is round four. The last pick of round four. Okay. Okay. Let's see here.

So I have two options that I'm sort of going between. Both very exciting. One would be a pure play to block something else that someone else has going on right now. And I just don't know if I'm willing to commit that. No, I'm not willing to commit that. I'm going to go Charles Oliver. I'm going to go DuBronk. I'm going to bolster this division that we have growing here.

You know, there's some fun stuff we could do with him. You want to see him grapple against Ayoki maybe. Him versus Christian Lee is a fun fight too. Gary Tonin's here. Like, we could throw him in a different grappling competitions, all sorts of stuff. I'm going Charles Oliveira. He's still got some tread left on those tires. He's all action all the time.

I feel good about it. I think that's a perfect pick for one. one that that feels like he fits directly with one. So I think it's a great pick. I'm very much on board. Round five, previously the ultimate round. We've still got a few more left, but round five, BKFC is on the clock. And AK, I like what you said, you convinced me.

I thought about doubling down, sticking with my kind of guys who I can put in with Connor and will be fun. Still plenty of them out there. But instead, we are, we're going to branch out because BKFC has a robust group of female fighters going on and you need some people to fight you need somebody who can get out there and get after it uh i need someone who can fight britain heart and while wiley jang would be a great great opponent doesn't fit entirely with the theme you know who makes the most sense you know who's versatile competes in multiple weight classes and has those hands the one the only i'm taking and Jessica and Droz with the first half the fifth round.

I think she is going to do brilliant stuff for us in BKFC. We're so excited to have her. That is good. Great pick. Damn, that is good. She is going to do some damage in BKFC. I got a bunch of hitters.

That's where I'm just a bunch of dudes and women who can throw them things. And that brings you right back on the clock. Shaheen, one championship with their fifth round pick. Where are we going this time? Okay, didn't expect this to still be available. And now I'm sort of, I'm not sure where to go here. I love this part of the draft where it's like somebody that you had higher up is like still around.

And you're like, can I just keep waiting them out? Can I pick them later and maybe find somewhere else? This is where it gets real fun. That is very much where I'm at right now. I had no idea if Andrade would still be on there. So I was like, I feel like I need to add her. but there were several other people that I was between. So I love this part.

So let me just throw this to Damon, AK, Mike. Is there anyone here interested in trading up and would you like to make an offer? Okay. I'm good. I'm good. All right. Just throwing it out there.

I don't have anybody to really trade. You know, one. So this is round five. That means we got three picks left. I still see what I'm trying to do here and I think I could still pull it off. So I'm just going to go, I'm going to keep with this youth. I'm going to keep with excitement. I'm going to go Yair Rodriguez, a man who might be the best featherweight in the world. We don't know yet, but you never know he might be the guy to dethrone Alexander Volkanowski. He's 30. He's super exciting. We'll get him fighting a lot more often than he has been. And, you know, our lighterweight divisions are kind of nice anyway.

So throw him in the mix. I feel good about it. Don't hate that pick. Yeah, he was on the board. I was trying to target him for round six maybe. So it's a good pick. Don't hate it. Don't hate it at all.

And that brings us up. Back to the PFL Damon Martin. Round five pick. Where are we going? So far, we've been pretty much lining up just the best of the best of each division that I could get at the time. And I'm going to continue that trend. because while I was really sad to lose out on Yuri Parhashka,

because he definitely would have been a higher pick for me, I got to go with the other guy, the guy who could be the best light heavyweight and all the mixed martial arts right now. I'm going to go with current Bellator champion, Vadim Nimcoff, is going to join the PFL, and we're going to maybe look at a future showdown between Vadim Nimkoff and Israel Adisania.

That's a potential fight down the road. That would be a banger. Welcome to the PFL, Vadim Nimkoff. Not my Vadim. David I was going to take Izzy. I was going to take Izzy. You took him one pick before me.

I was going to take O'Malley. You took him one pick before me. And now you're literally taking one of my most credible champions. We need some light heavyweights. And Vadim's a monster right now. I know he hasn't lost to Pajasca, but, you know, again, he's been on a role right now. So I got to go Vadim Nimkoff.

And it does set up a potential Vidim, Israel, Adis, Sanya showdown, maybe in Africa. We don't know. Look, you're just, you're accruing talent, and that's what matters. A.K., you attacked him with the Jake Paul. He is now bid back. Are you going to fight PFL with another pick here because Bellator is on the clock?

No, I can't. AK, just so you know, if you want to, if you want to trade for Sadaboo C, he's out there. I'm just letting you know he's on. That's it. I'm not saying. He's available, you know. So just so you know, just here where I can't. I, uh,

David, I'm not in there, you mentioned Africa. I don't love, I'm not in love with this pick, but it's crazy. This guy was, uh,

the number one pick of the former owner of Belter MMA Ashahina al-Shadi last year. He, his number one pick, and he's not been picked yet. I guess I got to do it. Uh, he's still a great fighter.

He could do fantastic things in our well, weight division. And I guess I am glad to do this out of spite to spoil the Three Kings show. I'll take Kamar Usma. I mean, in the crowd goes mild. That's how I felt saying it. That's how I felt saying it. But the other people I really want, I'm sure will be available later. I'm sure they will be. So I'm good with this. I'm good with this. I was both not surprised and not surprised that Usman fell this far. I mean, obviously a first round of pick last year, but a pair of losses and an uncertain future has cratered him down to the fifth. And that brings us back to the UFC, the premier organization in the sport

with your fifth round pick. Mike, UFC is on the clock. Man, so this is round five, right? The end of round five. This is the last pick in round five. I'm torn between two names here. This guy was on the UFC roster, part of the draft, went a little earlier last year, and you can make a compelling case that this is the MVP of AK's UFC. And I feel like I'm getting tremendous value on this guy,

and I just have to hope that this other name that I'm looking at makes it to the next round. So we got flyway wrapped up. We got lightweight wrapped up. We have light heavyweight wrapped up. Let's keep the UFC Bannamway champion on the roster because this guy might be going up to 1.45 pretty soon. I'm going to go with Al Jermaine Sterling.

I just can't ignore him in round five. I have to take him. So Aljo, welcome to the squad. And I think you're going to be Henry Suhudo anyway. So I like that pick. And Aljo, the number seven ranked pound pound fighter, M.A. Fighting's global rankings falls to the end of round five. Might be the best value on the board right now. Yeah, the only reason I don't like this

pick is because it was incredibly funny to me that Al Jermaine Sterling was still available. The disrespect. It just went undrafted as the champion of the vision that many people claim to be the best in sport would have been truly hilarious. Unbelievable. To be fair, to be totally fair, I, listen, I pick Sean O'Malley for Star power. Now, I said flat out. I didn't pick him because he's the best bantamweight. So the best bansomweight is Alcily and I just picked. I purely

went Sean O'Malley because he's going to draw fans and we all know that. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts. So you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer.

Handpicked the finest sweaters from the rest. Ooh, cashmere. Landed makeup pallets from the brands you love. Brushes too. and hustled all those wishless topping toys. So plush. Our buyers have got you covered. Marshals, we get the deals.

You gift the good stuff. I look, you, that's how this goes. I took, you took Conn-Megroger number one overall. I didn't take it because he's the best fighter. He very clearly isn't. So I got you. And that's the end of round five. We are on to round six.

And BKFC is back on the clock. And now this is where things get very interesting for me. because a lot of late round picks I can go a lot of ways do I want to keep doubling down in the lightweight featherweightish that kind of middling area just just strength on strength or do we branch out a touch and find because I know who I want to take next round I got a lot of choices out here you know I think it's time I think it's time to to be a bit mean here to to one of I won't call him a competitor because BKFC, we love everybody. But the guy who's drafting immediately behind me, Mr. Shehinaw Shadi in one championship,

they are a good organization. But they've got one guy on their roster who I am in love with. I love this man, as if you were my own child. And it's easy to see why, because when you see him fight, he just kills people. He does it in two weight classes. the light heavyweight and the heavyweight. And he just punches them out with the mitts. And that's what we're about in BKFC.

I need somebody to fight Alan Belcher. Alan Belcher can't be my heavyweight champion. And if you put myself in the mirror, that's not the kind of promoter I am. You know who can be? Anatoly Malikin, come on down. You are joining BKFC. We are so we couldn't be more excited to have the Russian.

He has a nickname than I don't remember, but just the Russian marauder. he's going to just do great things for us. Malikin, join the team. Damn you, Jedmishu. That was my next pick. That was my next pick. I needed a heavyweight, and that was my, that was going to be one of my next picks, though. Good pick there. I like that pick. Y'all can have the four, the four people. John Jones' opponents. No, I didn't. The four people in the world who have watched this

man fight are very sad right now. Everybody else is asking who the hell you're even talking about. John Jones got Curtis Blaze, he's got Sergey Pavlovich, he's got stuff to do. I'm not even remotely worried about this. Have fun. You know, I still feel great about the choice. I think he's a good addition to the roster, but Shaheen, you're up. It is one championship six-round pick. Where are we going?

Okay. I have two routes here that I was debating how I'm going to handle this. And I'm not sure still which route I'm going to go. So I'm going to leave some options open to myself with this. next pick. I'm going to pick a man who's very, very divisive, a man who some people are really, really into him and almost based their entire personality on just being into this man. And I'm going to pick, you know, some other people really dislike this man, but really, really, really want to see him get his comeuppance. And, you know, I have somebody who would be a really

great first matchup for him if you maybe want to see some comeuppance. I'm going to take Kobe Covington. I like it. Tremend his value. Yeah, it's great value. Hamzaa Jemaya versus Kobe Covington is happening first up. This does not carry on the honorable brand of one championship. One championship is built on respect, mutual respect between competitors, not talking trash, and you bring this poison into your organization. Shaheen, al-Shadi, you should be ashamed.

You should be a pain. And we get Hams on on PEDs. We get Hams on on PEDs fighting, Colby. Did you not hear what I'm giving you? My whole rant was about how this is now about soccer kicks, stumps, PEDs, and eating contests. Those are all great. Honor and respect for the birds. Those are great, hold on the birds, my man.

Those are all great, honorable, time-honored traditions. All right, those are wonderful things. So no one is, is question. You can show those to the children. Colby Covetive is an appropriate. It's an appropriate. He's churlish and subordinate. We got a churlish on the show.

I don't like this pick at all. I'm going to get it so it doesn't matter. Shaheen, put this over the top of me. Can we get a Colby Covington versus Hamzaa Chimaeuf social studies B? We can get whatever they like. Or they can debate world politics. Past president.

How does it bill become a law? How does it bill become a law? How does it bill become a law? You don't know. No one knows. Sold. No one is aware. I'm just saying right now you look at my welterweight division.

I got Leon, Hamzaat and Colby, might be the top three. Just saying. Also, Sage Northcutt. One of those is not like the other. For now. For now. For now.

You better draft them. Well, David, is I, yeah, it's not a drafting Sage Northcutt with their six level pick? I will not. You can continue you to promote Super Sage.

You are safe there. I was actually, I had another idea and I'm just going to have to hold my breath and see if this pick sticks around to the seven because I'm going to go in a different direction that I was originally going to go with my sixth round pick. And with my sixth round pick, I've been building divisions. I haven't been building a lot of matchups, I've been building divisions.

And this is a guy who I believe can be a player at both featherweight and lightweight down the road. He's a banger. He's exciting. He's fun to watch. I'm going to go with Ilya to pour you as my next pick. Great pick. Nice. The hardcores all just went crazy for you.

Pure excitement right there. And he knocks out people, knocks out dry herbert a lightweight. He can knock out people with featherweight. I like the two division talents, so I'm going to go to Iliate Taboria. It's a great choice. He's on my board. But, you know, certainly a build for the future, build around guy. Great selection.

And AK, Bellator, your penultimate pick for Bellator, you are on the clock. My last pick was pretty boring. I'm not proud of it. Not proud of it. I'm still, that was me trying to maintain respectability now, throwing that out the window. I like the Aliasa Puriah, pick, Damon. I'm going with someone who has also competed at featherweight and lightweight, not nowhere near as talented as Ilya.

And thank God he's in your organization, because if these two were ever to fight, the guy I'm about to pick would get smashed in about, oh, I don't know, two minutes. But listen, going back to my Jake Paul pick, I should have stuck more along this vein. I know I haven't been consistent. I should have stuck along this vein because people know this man's name. I tell you, one of the most talked about fighters in every name.

Oh, Patty the Patty. David knows. Number six. My number six-th round pick. Patty, Pimlet, let's get people talking. Listen, I don't know. A lot of things I don't like about the man personally, but I'm going for personality.

I'm going for controversy. I need people to just tune in. Maybe he's a star in Bell tour. We can do a lot of good things for a matchmaking-wise. Patty Pimbleet. Yeah. You're just going to give him the MVP treatment for the next five years. As you should.

single real person. Ideally, yes. Ideally correct. As you should. Go to 02. Usman's gone. What you guys? Put her to Usman.

Someone took Usman. I gave away Usman. You traded Usman. This is why. This is why. Yes. That's really good if you think about it in that. I don't want to anywhere near.

I don't want any of that. Mike has U.S. is on the clock round six. So I heard Shaheen's, pick and there are some things that I agreed with in terms of value, but I decided to go to the complete opposite. With the way the board looks right now, this guy is a friggin' steal in the sixth round, and he's guaranteed to be the UFC world champion for, I mean, years and years to come with this division looking the way that it looks. A division's so good and so compelling in the

UFC that, AK, there's two world titles in the division. There's the actual world title, and then there's the middleweightiest middleweight title. This man will not fight for the middleweight title, but he will absolutely be the longest reigning UFC middleweight champion. This is a great pick. Or one of them. Robert Bobby Knuckles Whitaker,

welcome still to the UFC because you ain't going to fight Izzy. You don't have to fight Hamzaa Chimaiif. You don't have to fight Alex Pereira. You get to fight fucking Marvin Vittori and win the title. It's glorious. So there you go, Bobby Nucks.

You're going to be the champion forever. A phenomenal pick. I mean, I look forward to, I look forward to Bobby Knuckles versus Jared Canaan near heading your next pay-per-view. Nah, it's a co-main event. Don't worry about it. I thought that was going somewhere else, but I won't say it until. I thought that was going somewhere else as well.

Okay. Sheen and I think the same thing. Okay. Oh, well, that's interesting. I don't know where that. Hey, if you want to drop Brennan Allen, he's right there. Right there. I sure don't.

Christof Jocko, I'm coming for you. PFL, isn't the PFL? I got nobody anyone wants. All right. We are on to the seventh round, and it's BKFC on the clock. And I have a real, real tough time with this one because I don't know which way to go. I think there's one that if I drafted it, I'm winning the fan vote a billion percent. I'm probably winning it anyway, but a billion percent I'm winning it if I take this one gentleman.

But there's another one that I want to take because my heart wants it. can't decide whether to chase glory and riches or just do what feels good in the soul. I think I'm going to go with the soul pick. I don't think I needed to draft him because I'm confident nobody here would be picking him. But then I don't know that I could get him in free agency. You know, he's a hot commodity. This man is going to be competing very, very soon. And let me just tell you, I want salt poppy.

BKFC. I love to see it. I hope someone I would do it. To this stew that I've created of super fun, exciting guys, bare knuckle Salt Poppy versus Connor McGregor, sign me up.

Justin Giac, Chadmane, sign me up. Salt Poppy, Anatoly, Malikin, come on. Listen, he was on my board. Salt Poppy's on my board. That's all I'm saying. He's on there. This isn't the pick for the fans. If you're listening right now, I know who you guys wanted me to take.

You're screaming at the mic, and I know these buffoons, they're never going to draft the guy. I knew who I wanted, and I'll tell you what, I'll try and get him later, you know, once I've got everything up and running. But Saul Poppy had to have him just a little bit of spice. That's all you needed to round out BKFC's phenomenal draft. Sheen Al-Shadi, one championship, has one less pick. Who's it going to be? Oh, boy. This played out so perfectly for me.

I am so, so tickled with how this worked out. I was stressing a little bit. Things are starting to get a little weird with these picks, and I thought it might get a little too weird and interfere with what I was trying to set up here. Oh, boy, fellas. So I'm going to go with one of the most beloved characters in MMA, one of the most beloved men in MMA,

one of the hardest workers in MMA, someone who can do what he's doing for decades to come someone who is just so damn good at his job you can't help but respect the hell out of the man and also I'm not going to lie someone who maybe has a little bit of beef with Kobe Covington and we can set up some side stuff here

we can maybe do a little something something on the side to get a little competition going between these two I'm going John Anick to lead my broadcast I'm so angry right now Mike you thought John Anick was going to lead your press conferences Dana Weiss no longer the fingerhead for the press conferences no he's not

I'm so angry. He was supposed to come home to Bellator. The Bellator season one commentator. He was supposed to come home, Shahid. You son of it. It's okay. I'm talking to Brendan Fitzgerald right now. Brendan, the plan worked.

You're the lady guy. You're better. Have fun. Thanks, buddy. Have fun. I love Brendan, but have fun. That's okay. John Hennick versus Colby Covington and too.

I'm good. I'm good. John Adig versus Colby Covington and so many things. It's going to be. The team, just throw in the chaos into this final. round. Smart play. I love it. I'm so bad. Damon, how can you follow that up? Because one, it's...

A.K. Steamed! A.K. Stemed! A.K.S. I wish you guys could see him. You know what? It's all good. I got John McCarthy. I got... Who's the other... Who's the... Josh Thompson, baby? Josh Thompson. I'm good. I'm set. You got the weighing in crew, boy. John Anick was just gravy. All right? See, here's the thing, A.K., you actually needed to draft John

Enick, like, first overall. I was... The hellful needs more than anything is a revamp of that boot. I thought... You need people on the goal. I thought I could save him for the end. I forgot how crafty Shaheed is. That's a great pick.

He was one of the first names. Like, he wasn't high in my board, but when I was making the draft, like he was one of the first names that came up. And I kept bumping him down. Oh, my gosh. The moment Mike opened with John Annick's going to be doing the press conferences now, I had such a sweet little chuckle inside. Like, my heart just turns.

I was going to see the exact same line. The press guy, Sam, you Shaheen. Oh, fantastic. I did that. Look, I got. one of you guys to draft. Look, John Hennick is a valuable piece, but it's okay. It's all right. The plan worked. You drafted a broadcaster, which he's the best of, he's the best in the world. I very much did. Great job. I mean, I'm stoked about it. Look, I'm just going to bring Brian Stan to

BKFC, so we're going to be okay, baby. We love that. David. David. Well, so real quick, one last note, John Anick, you're going to be on so much gear, dude. Like, you're going to be on so much PEDs. Why? Fine. It's PEDs, bro. You're going to be so spectacular. Just wait until you've seen You just wait until you've seen Roided up John Anning beat Colby Covington in an obstacle course. Just wait. Good God.

PFL's on the clock, Damon. Who is your last choice? So, you know, I've gone, I've gotten talent and star power is kind of like my, my ebb and flow of building the new PFL. And I had an idea here to go, you know, best, like, guy that's available and it's kind of shocked he's available. I almost went that draft,

but we're all having a little bit of fun here in this final round. So why play it safe? I mean, come on. Safe, safe for, you know, that's, that's too easy. Why play it safe? So in the honor of my good friend, AKA, the 1% for himself, I'm going to actually go in a completely, in an odd direction. He took Jake Paul.

I'm actually going to take the more talented Paul, brother. I'm taking Logan Paul with my final pick. Whoa. The actual, the guy who can actually fight in M.A. who is a third place finisher here in the state of Ohio in wrestling, legitimate athletic credentials. He can hop from one side of the ring to the other, put him in training.

He is going to be fighting in the PFL. Logan Paul, welcome. We got the, we got the better Paul brother. It's a good pick. And I still get to work with Logan with the UFC. I still get to work with Logan and the UFC.

It does the prime deal. And we get prime energy drinks. We get prime energy all over the place. You get the whole company? How dare you? They fund us. They fund us. You could have drafted.

KSI. You had the chance to draft KSI. I don't want to hear about it. He still does. He still does. Still does. I didn't know we could draft a child company. Hold on. I didn't know we could draft five star match professional wrestlers. Can I draft

Kenny Omega to Bellator? Please. Please draft him. Please do it. I love it. Also, wait. Hold on. Did Logan get a five star match? No, I was like, you got like 4.75, I think, though. Wow. The Roman match. Dave, loving him

some Logan. I love that you just upgraded Paul Brothers, Damon. That's spectacular. I mean, I mean, you know, that's a kid in this round. This seventh round has not been kind to AK, but, A.K., you can draft Kenny Omega, because you were on the clock with Bellator, the final thing for that organization. As much as I would love to do that, there's, frankly, just not a lot of suitable matchups for him here, if we're being honest.

We already have, uh, Jake Hager. So, you know, listen, we got the AW, we got some AW talent on the roster. I'm happy about it. Who? I'm going to, I'm going to go. I'm going to go with the man that I thought Mike was going to draft with his last pick. Great pick. It's a great.

Yeah, who will, who is going to be the best middleweight in the world very shortly, at least recognized as such. And this fits, honestly, this fits Bellator so well. Like this is, I was amazed Bellator kind of missed on this guy because they've been signing guys like him for years and a lot of them haven't panned out. And this guy's probably the best of them. You got to go Boe Nickel. Got to go it. Yeah. That is the perfect pick.

Very Bellator. Very Bellator. That is the perfect pick. That is where I thought Mike was going last round. You fell right into my trap, baby. Another trap. Felt right in my trap. Another trap.

Because I actually thought you were going to steal my last pick because Bobby Knuckles needs somebody to fight, AK. He needs somebody to fight. And why not bring over the man that a lot of people consider to be the best middleweight in the world? Let's decide inside the UFC's, Octagon. So, Robert Whitaker will fight Johnny Eblen for the vacant UFC middleweight title. There you go. And now, I was going to play some value here. I was like, maybe I'll get Tatiana

Juarez. Maybe I'll get Aaron Blanchfield. But you know what? I already have them. I already have them. So Johnny Eblen, come on down, baby. Let's go. Wow. AK, this seventh round, it looked like you said, you know, you made a great pick. And then, but you took some hits in the seventh draft. I opted not to protect any of my guys. I knew I knew Johnny was a risk. Again, right now, maybe the best middleweight in the world. I still think, but I think Bo can surpass him.

But I did take a lot of it. I did make a decision before the draft to not protect any of my guys. This is the price I paid. This name and my beloved Vadim. I mean, Johnny Evelyn versus Robert Whitaker sells like two pay-per-views. We have, we have the draft picture officially over. But can we have a last second trade? Is there a possibility of the last second trade?

Oh, of course. I'm speaking to you, Mr. Mike Heck. Is there anyone on the PFL roster, Saddibu C? Brendan Locknain. Brendan Locknain is out there. He's available. Mistake from the contender series. You can sign him and have him.

Yeah, you could do that. You can bring him over. You can have, I can't remember who else is on the PFL roster right now. Oh, you're driving a hard bargain, David. It's the star pal. I know we have a lot of star. power over there. You can have Bubba Jenkins. You can have Chris Wade. You have Kayla Harrison under contract. She was not drafted.

Listen, wow. Second round pick last year, not even drafted. Yeah. So here's what I'll offer up because you do need, listen, you have a women's division and we all know how bad it is. So I'm going to offer you a massive trade. You can have Larissa Pacheco, Kayla Harrison, and Brendan Locknain. And all I want in return is what I want for my commentary duo. I want Laura Sanko. That is a lot. So I compare, so I compare the second best play by play man in MMA, Sean O'Connell, with Laura Sanko.

I'm sorry, Kenny. I'm sorry, Randy, you're jobless. I want to pair Laura Sanko with Sean O'Connell as my play-by-play team. Can't do it. Oh. Can't do it. Can't do it. It's a smart move, Mike.

Can't do it. Because Laura Sanko is going to. No, Laura Sanko. No, there's no counter. There's no counter. Laura Sanko's going to make history this year. Not only is she going to be part of the broadcast team, she's going to have at least two events this year

where she is the play-by-play announcer. She is leading the pack, baby. She's the face of the freaking broadcast. That is going to happen. So, yeah, I can't. As much as I would love Larissa Pacheco to be a part of the division that we don't even really have anymore, I just can't do it.

I mean, we can book Harrison Pacheco 18 times. You have to admit that, you have to admit that Larissa Pacheco. check on Amanda Nunes is a little more interesting nowadays. Come on now. That would be an interesting fight you could book. No, I'm good. You got nothing else for Amanda Nunes to do. You might as well book her in that one. Dude, she'll just fight a man. Look, we'll just trot them out.

This is the Canadian provinces and she keep fighting Giuliana Pena. It'll be great. This is the desperate please. Oh, hold on. I'll throw one more sweetener. Just one more if you're willing to reconsider. One more sweetener. You can have the smart cage. Now. spilled our own.

We'll do it better. You already got rid of this arcade. We had it laying around the back. I thought maybe it was a cycling bin. It's in there. We had it out back like the Merv Griffin set on Seinf. Oh, yeah. I was just going to try and throw it in there.

Jed, can I do a rundown of the people who weren't picked or do you already have, are you planning to? From last year. People from last year. I have the list of people from last year. So the people who didn't get drafted this year from, that were drafted in 2022. AJ McKee, which I was maybe the most surprised at.

I really thought. I almost went with him in that last pick, but I had to go with Johnny. But he reverts back to AK. So Bellator holding on to Agent McKee. It's a big one. Vicente Lucke, we all knew he wouldn't go this year. Rosnamu, Unis, not surprising, given her performance last year. Piotr Yon, on a bit of a skid.

Still touch surprising. Kayla Harrison and Valentina Shvchenko, not really surprising. Neither is Rini A. de Ritter, because, you know, all of AK's team just didn't get drafted this year. Dana, Dana in the throes of scandal was not selected this year. And Jorge Mastrol, who obviously retired, and Tommy Aspinall,

who maybe had an outside chance to get drafted, but was not. So that's our rundown. Before I get to a brief rundown, and we close shop here on what it's transpired today, I would like to say, you know, post-draft, I can't say I'm going to sign an undrafted free agent,

but I want everyone to know, the BKFC is initiating negotiations. They are extending an offer to a man I am stunned, was not drafted and remains a free agent. One Nathan Diaz, who I think fits right in line with everything else that's got going. I consider taking him over Salt Poppy, but I knew you, I knew you bozos wouldn't draft him. So I'm just going to back up the money truck and be like,

let's do that Connor fight right now. Let's do all the other fights you ever want. You fight Saul Poppy, Nate Diaz, and make all the money in the world. BKFC swinging for the fences. Does anyone have any last minute notes before we do a rundown of the draft and get out of here? I think AK is a better shot of getting Connor McGregor than you do. I have Connor McGregor versus Jake Paul, baby. I have Connor McGregor.

Or Nate Diaz versus Jake Paul on MMA. Excuse me. That's the only reason I didn't do it because it's already being done in boxing. And I'm like, you know what? It's been done. That's how the Bell Tor is about. not about retransed. We're not about using other people's cars. That's not the Beltor brand. I will say, I will say I did my last pick for fun with Logan Paul. My actual seven pick

just to throw out of who it was going to be. I was going to say the actual best band to wait in the sport. I was going to pick Umar and Nurmock Medov. That was actually going to be I'm surprised. That was going to be my seventh round pig, but I decided to have fun with and go with Logan Paul instead, just for the fun of it. I have a feeling Umar gets drafted next year fairly highly. I will say too, uh, two names that I was sitting on for while and almost took like fifth roundish and kind of just kept sliding down very stunned paolo costa did not get picked considering he toes the line perfectly between popularity meme worthiness talent etc also looks good getting off the bus kind of almost wanted some some real secret juice

paolo costa over here at one championship not going to happen also aaron blanchfield who might be like the best prospect in the sport i didn't need to draft i would have but i didn't need to Aaron Blanchfield. Aaron Blanchville was on my list. The only reason I didn't is because I just have not had a lot of faith in the women's divisions recently. It just hasn't been like as exhilarating as past years. Was Zhang, was Zhang Wittley and Jessica Andross,

the only women drafted this year. Yeah. Aaron Blanchfield was a sixth and or seventh round pick for me, but I decided to go in a different direction and, you know, that yeah, she was, Aaron Blanchville would have been on my board. She was like the one on my board,

but I ultimately went with another. direction. Look, I think that was a coup for Mike, but Aaron Blanchefield and BKFC, I can't take her. Sometimes it just works like that. All right, we've been doing this for some time. Let's get out of here before we do a rundown of what just transpired. Instead of doing it by round, just going to do the overall teams, the final results.

BKFC has Connor McGregor, Justin Gachie, Max Holloway, Dustin Pori, Jessica and Drudge, and Atoly Malikin, and Sully Malikin, and Sulte. poppy and they also picked up Robbie Lawler and Calvin Cater in trades and of course we're extending an offer to Nathan Diaz. One championship, she now shoddy, has John Jones, Hamza Chimae of

Leon Edwards, Charles Olivaira, Jaeira Rodriguez, Colby Covington, John Anni and picked up Curtis Blades and who else did you get? Pavlovich. Sergei Pavlovich. Love it. Love it.

PFL, Damon Martin's PFL, is coming out of the gate swinging with UFC Africa Francis Denganu, Israel Adisina, Sean O'Malley, Shavkatakhanov, Ladiqq, Ilya, Lugin Paul, and he tried very hard to get Lorisanko, but for some reason the UFC was being unreasonable. I would have taken that trade in a minute if I had something similar to offer you. Mike, you did the right thing. Damon.

Bellator, A.K. Lee's Bellator, M.MA. No longer Showtime M.A. Back to Bellator M.A. Alexander Volkinovsky. the upset Jake Paul in the second round pick, Alex Pereira, Wiley Zhang, Kamar Usman, Patty Pimlet, Booneckle, and picked up Jailton Almeda by dealing Usman and Ramedo for that trade. And then the UFC might be pretty good haul. It's not a bad haul for AK, I got to say. Not a bad hole.

I think AK definitely did better this year. And Mike Heck with the UFC comes in with Islam Markachev, Brandon Moreno, Yuri Perashka. Jailton Almeida was drafted, but then was. traded, but does end up with Usman Narmigamatov, Al Jermain Sterling, Robert Whitaker, Johnny Eblen. Those are the teams. Guys, this has been just a delight, as always. I am excited to see the rise of BKFC this year.

It is just one heck of a promotion. And we're going to do big things. You guys are going to tune in, going to drive a lot of traffic. And I'm anticipating that this year I win the fan vote. Shaheen's rain atop What is this? What is this? And little does Mike Heck know that just because he kept Laura Sanko in the trade

doesn't mean he's going to keep her in free agency because I guarantee you I'll offer her more money than the UFC will offer her. Free agency is a wild game. But gentlemen, I thank you for being here for all the listeners at home. I'm Jedman Michoud. That's A.K. Lee. That's Damon Martin. That's Mike Heck.

And that is Shaheen Al-Shadi. and we will see you 365 days from now when we do it all again for the 2024 MMA draft.