MMA Fighting - The 2024 UFC Fantasy Draft: Which 48 Fighters Will End This Year On A High Note?

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

The 2024 NFL season kicks off this Thursday, and in light of that, the MMA Fighting crew decided to get together to draft yet again, but this time, we’re drafting Fantasy MMA for the remainder of 2024! Join Jed Meshew, Alexander K. Lee, Mike Heck, and Shaheen Al-Shatti as they select teams of 12 UFC fighters (one in each weight class plus a wild card) to score points for the remainder of 2024 and ultimately declare a winner. Which fighters are most likely to deliver big points and carry their team to a championship? Who are the sleepers, who are the snubs, and who are the potential busts? And most importantly, who is going to win the whole damn thing? Tune in to find out. Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow Shaun Al-Shatti @ShaunAlShatti Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Mixed martial arts. Mixed martial arts. How do we like our martial arts? We like them drafted. Woo! What's up, y'all? My name's Jed Mishou, M.A. Fighting.

Great website. And we've got some really special for you today. That's right. I'm talking about the first ever MMA Fighting fantasy draft. Now, if you're a long time listener of this pod network, watcher of our YouTube channel, reader of our website, which you should be if you're not, get on that. But if you are, you might be thinking to yourself, self, don't they do this every April, like around the NFL draft?

Yes, yes, we do. But this one's going to be a little different. We're doing something different this time around, but I'll get to that in just a moment. Because before I do, I got to introduce the people who are drafting with me today. It's the A team. It is the crew that does the drafting. here in this wonderful establishment of ours. I'm talking, of course, about the king of the north.

Not my best friend, but I'm making a case for it. Mr. Alexander Kaylee. I'm back, guys. I am so back. I'm sure some people were wondering why my beautiful face had not been on any like preview shows or things like that or my voice on podcasts. I took a couple weeks off for some personal matters. Maybe I'll update people on social media.

It's all positive stuff, guys. Nothing bad, all positive stuff, awesome things happening in my personal life. And I just need a couple weeks off to take care of that. But I am back. I missed all of you. I missed the listeners. I missed the viewers. Of course, I missed my fellow MMFers.

And this fantasy draft idea sounds crazy. I have no idea what I'm doing, Jed. I have no idea what I'm doing. And I don't mean just in life. That's a whole other thing. But I mean, I don't fantasy draft. I've never played fantasy football. I played fantasy basketball the last time was at least.

17, 18 years ago. I'm not a big fantasy sports guide, but you laid this out pretty nicely, and I think I might kick some serious ass today. I mean, that's the Prince of positivity for you right there. And don't worry, you don't have any idea what you're doing. None of us do. This is about to be really wild.

But your best friend is also joining us, the voice of the MMA fighting podcast and video network. I'm talking about my golfing brother and the esteemed Mike Heck. Hello, everybody. I'm wearing a Patriots set and hopefully my it's Boston Mike I might get a little angry

I might talk a little crap but hopefully my team will be better than the New England Patriots will be this year but it'll be fun to watch them and it'll be fun to draft with all of you guys I'm very excited to be here

Mike you almost didn't get invited after you ruthlessly stole Alex Pereer from me in the promoter draft in April but we opted to allow it and rounding out our panel we're only doing four drafters this time around

keeping it tidy, the associate deputy editor, whatever his title is, the best goddamn writer in all of mixed martial arts. I'm talking, of course, about Shaheen Alshadhi. What's up, y'all? Oh, man, I am very, very excited for this. I am woefully underprepared. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. I think I have a strategy. It might be a terrible strategy. I might be completely out to lunch or it might be brilliant. I don't really know what's about to happen, but I'm very excited for it. Also, I got to say, I quite like, This show just sort of starting out with AK, just explaining how awesome his life is. I feel like we just generally need to start out shows with AK.

Just sort of be like, ah, some really cool things happen, but I'm not going to let you know about it. It took two weeks off work to just have a party and do wonderful things. I'm not even going to tell you guys what they were, but know that they were amazing. But we brought him back. We brought him back for this guys, because I've been kind of noodling on this for a little bit and seem like a really good timing because while we do the promoter draft in April, This is a fantasy draft, and I mean that in the exact sense of the word, because Thursday, this Thursday, the NFL season kicks off.

It's Ravens at the Chiefs. And as we're filming this, as everyone is watching this, there are fantasy drafts happening the world over to get prepared for this upcoming football season. And AK, you've never fantasy drafted, or you haven't in a very long time. We're doing it MMA style, and it's going to be real weird. is the basic answer to this. It's probably not a sport built for this, but we decided to do it anyway.

So here's the pitch and here's the rules. And then because it's going to take us some time, we're going to hop right into it, fellas. Talk to you about the rules before everyone at home. We are drafting full MMA teams. That means 12 picks each for us. There's not a bench. It's unnecessary.

One for each weight class, heavy weight, through flyweight for the men, and then women's band-of-weight, women's fly-weight, and straw weight. All of those, plus we're giving them, everybody gets one wild card pick. So 12-team rosters for all of us. You got to fill each roster slot. We're doing a snake draft with the four of us, and we've established a pretty clear point system for it.

So we pull up the notes because it kind of went through some iterations, but the points are thus. You get 100 points for a win. 50-point bonus if the fighter you draw. drafted gets a finish for that win, 20 points extra on top of that if it's a first round finish and another 10 point kick if it's a second round finish. So a first round knockout win or first round submission win will net you 170 points. It's a pretty big haul.

We're giving a 20 point bonus for a winner in a title fight. We're giving a 20 point bonus for a winner in a main event, a 50 point bonus for scoring a performance bonus. a performance or a fight of the night bonus, and then a 25-point bonus for any win over a ranked opponent. As you could probably tell in the talk of this, we're talking about performance bonuses. We are strictly talking about UFC fighters,

and as such, we're using the UFC rankings. They're not as good as the enemy fighting global rankings, but we also have a bunch of Bellator, a bunch of PFL people in there. We kicked around the idea of including them in this game, but frankly, that was a little more difficult that we were willing to pull off. in the time firm we're doing.

So at least for the first iteration of this, we're just doing it solo the UFC. Time till the end of the year. This is the 2024 draft. So it kind of functionally lines up with the NFL season as well, which many fantasy seasons will be ending first week of January thus. So we're playing it out through UFC events

through the end of the year. It's 13 total events. Not all of them are fully booked, so there might be some guesswork. You have the option of strictly drafting fighters who have fights on the books, or you can get a little, speculative and that's pretty much it.

60 seconds will be the time for every draft pick. We've got a shock clock and everything. Before we get to draft order, are there any questions from any of y'all? Is there a wheel? Oh, buddy. Oh, buddy, there's a wheel. Casey? Oh, I also left this out.

Our Steve producer, E. Casey, Liden, is on the ones and twos and going to make this look so much better than what I would do. as he brings in Casey the wheel. As you can see, all four of us here, this will be our randomizer. This is how we will determine draft order. So barring any other questions, because we don't want this to take three hours of time,

we'll just hop right into this. This is your last chance to ask questions. Otherwise, we're going to jump in and you'll have to ask them while we're in live fire. Let's do it. Boom. Casey, let's determine our draft order as I spin the wheel of names.

Spin the wheel, make the deal. First pick goes to... Oh! The wheel then himself. Mike Heck. My best best. First. Love is a overall draft pitch. You also got first pick in the promoters draft in April.

Did you not? I don't know, but if I did. I was going to take Alex Pereira and you took him as the ruthless man you are. All right. Wheels love Mike. Mike loves wheels and wheels love Mike. Mike, maybe that's why Mike loves wheels. Pick number two goes to, ooh, yellow is the hot color right now.

Alexander Kay Lee. The best friends. The best friends leading off. Great spin. Shaheen, would you rather be three or four? Which outcome are we rooting for here? I honestly don't know at this point because I don't. know if I have the right strategy.

All right. Let's see what the wheel does. I'm excited about the strategy thing because I don't think any of us probably has the same strategy and it does appear, Shaheen, that you got number three. So I will have the first real pick and that's it, fellas. We've we've effectively done this. We'll remove it. I would be number four. So it's going to be pretty simple, fellas. Mike, you will start us all. It'll go Mike to AK to Shaheen to me. I'll pick two.

Go back to Shaheen, back to AK, back to Mike. Mike picks two. We loop it through until we've all got 12 picks on the board. I am keeping track of what we've got of where our selections are. It's a 60 second shot clock. If you can get off, give a quick blurb. The point of the 60 seconds is not to be a hard and fast rule, but more so we don't spend three hours doing this.

And I'm excited to see where this goes. I went to a ton of different draft strategies. I settled on one. Don't know if it's right. I don't know who's going to be the first overall pick, Mike. But with that, the Mike Heck monsters are on the clock. So I feel it's fitting to draft my fellow New Englander straight out of Danbury, Connecticut, the man who is about to defend the UFC light heavyweight title for the third time this year.

He will do so in Salt Lake City. UFC 307, Alex Pereira, you're just going to be on all the teams and you're going to be on this team as well. Congratulations. Wow. The number one draft pick

for both the promoter and the MMA fantasy draft. Makes sense, Mike. You know, you're a man with a type, certainly. Yes. I mean, let's get a guy who just goes out and boops people. And he's probably get a boop, Kuliel Roundtree,

and lots of points will be coming my way. I think. If he gets a first-round knockout of Cleo Roundtree, that's 170 points plus a 20-point kick for the main event, plus 20 points for a title fight. So you're talking 210 with the chance of getting a performance bonus. I'm sorry, you're talking 235 because the ranked opponent boost as well. It can be a major points earner if he comes out.

If you can get something like that, you're going to shoot the moon very well. He was in my top-tier draft pick, so great choice. and that takes us to Alexander Cayley. Your best friend, Mike, is going number two. Yeah, listen, Poetan, top five of my big board as well. Again, and I'm using the same logic. My best friend just used for his pick. I want all the points.

My pick is a little bit sketchier because this fight is not official yet, but obviously I am going with the goat, the undisputed goat, who if you don't think he's the goat, you're frankly, you're a piece of shit. the man who is afraid of no one who only takes on the biggest challenges the biggest most relevant challenges and again this guy

I think he's given this fight happens he's going to get a finish over a rank guy all that stuff title fight blah blah blah blah blah blah let's do it let's go John Jones excellent yeah let's do it it's happening the fight's going to happen AK for a very long time I was concerned I was going to get on this thing

that I created and after everything I've said, pick John Jones with the first overall pick and just the internet would never let me not hear the end of it. But I think it's an unbelievable pick. He's going to get an early finish in a title fight and score you a whole heck of a lot of points unless he doesn't fight, which, you know,

I think he's going to fight. Great pick. Shaheen, as we move to you, is this where you were anticipating? I think, you know, you seem the most unsure about where you're going. where and you you teased us beforehand that you've got a really wild first overall pick

you are now on the clock Shihino Shadi what are we uh where are we going to talk us through your feelings right now so I'm feeling a little confused right now because I hadn't even you know they're looking at the rules looking at the scoring system I'm not going to lie I hadn't put together all the multipliers in my head of like oh yeah this this stuff actually matters and hearing you lay it out completely changed my strategy now

and now I feel a little lost my plan has gone out the window already. So I'm just going to go with a division that I think, I'm going to go with scarcity, essentially. I think there's probably, I'm not sure, but there's probably like four women's bantamweight fights for the rest of the year. I'm just going to go ahead and pick the one

that I feel certain about would be a finish, feel dominant, feel like it's going to happen. Give me Kayla Harrison with my number one pick. Excellent. I mean, an exceptional pick. I knew it. Taylor Harrison was number two on my big board, actually. She was number one for a very long time until,

and I thought there was a real chance I would get to wheel her, and I would have been, it was just been curtains for y'all, which instead puts me in a very, very interesting place because I, as I'm on the clock, Casey, throw me up on the clock, I'm going to talk you through both my picks because they're pretty easy and they go a line because they operate under the same theory. And the theory is this.

You want to get somebody with a fight on the books because you know they're fighting. You know, if you speculate on Alhandra Pintosia, maybe he does fight at, you know, 311 or whatever, maybe he doesn't. You want someone with a fight on the books. You want title fights because of the bonuses you can get. And if there's a chance, a world, a possibility that that fighter in a title fight can win and then fight in the December show in case Connor doesn't. actually do the whole fighting thing. That's where you want. And so with picks four and five,

I'm going to wheel the main event and the co-main event of the upcoming Noce UFC presented by Riyadh or whatever, UFC 306. I would like for my fourth pick, the number one selection for Team Mushu, give me the Sugar Show, give me Sean O'Malley, and then for number five,

the first of the second round, give me Alexa Grasso. It hurts my heart to take, her over my girl Valentina Shivchenko, but the bullet train is a little older, a little slower. Grasso has, in my opinion, won both of their two previous fights, even though the second one was a draw and it had the weirdness. This just isn't getting better for Shvchenko. I think Grasso not going to get me one of those finishes, but she can get me a title performance

win, and then maybe she serves as the co-main event in a December show to a future somebody. I can get a little extra juice there. I think the only chance a champion has to fight twice in the remainder of this year is these two people. So I'm taking them with the wheel and I'm feeling good about my position. Nicely done. Nicely done. Yeah. That's interesting.

Yeah, I thought I was going to wait on O'Malley for a little bit because I thought maybe, I think he's going to beat Marab. I've come to the decision that he's not only going to beat Marab. He's going to do it stylishly. and so I thought I could get him as a sleeper, but I don't want to risk it. You got to get those championship contenders in there for that bonus. Give me two of them. And Shaheen, that puts you back on the clock.

That's interesting to see you take, because both those fights are more or less pickums. So you could go easily, you could easily get zero points out of your top two pick. We could. Well, no, but the point he gets, we should remind people, you're getting points for them being in a title fighter made of him.

Right? I got my minute. Okay, okay. Petition to the commissioner to give me 20 seconds back. Oh, please. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Commissioner. I'm going to go. I think this is where I go out to lunch. I think that I'm probably wrong here. And I think that this is probably insane. But I'm just sort of looking at the board. I don't see a lot of title people left that I'm confident about. So I'm going to go back to my original thinking.

I'm going to pick someone who fights right away. Someone who fights this week, the weakness is coming out. And I think it's going to win and maybe get another chance to fight again throughout the rest of the year. Get an early stoppage. Give me a lot of points.

Give me lightweight prospect, Isaac Dolgarian, who is fighting Brendan Maret, Marat. I don't know how to say that man's name. On September 7th at UFC Vegas, 97. Give me Isaac Dalgarian for a light. I like it. Is that a featherweight fight?

Ooh, this is a great question. I don't know. What is the date of this fight that's supposed to be happening, Sheen? No, it's, Wiki has a lightweight. Okay. Topology says featherweight. I'm inclined. I don't know that.

Let's go to the official UFC website. Either way. I didn't anticipate this happening so early. And either way, shouldn't Sheen be allowed to choose which division? he can choose other one, right? No, because they have to featherway fight according to their website. Yeah, that'll change.

Yeah, it will change how his team breaks it out. Oh, no. Okay. It is. Yeah, I'm only seeing featherweight, and he's never fought it lightweight, apparently. Yeah, UFC.com has featherweight. Oh, dear. Okay.

And that's my featherweight. I mean, I say, Shaheen, because this is a live fire, we're free flowing here. We'll let you take that back in part, because I don't think Isaac Bulgarian was high on a lot of draft boards. So if you'd like that, this is what I'm saying. This might be.

I got to ask you. I got to tell you, I'm just going to be honest with America right now. He's pretty high on my draft board. Well, Shaheen, you're able to keep him and move him to a featherweight or we'll let you refire entirely. No, no, let's go. Let's keep up here. Keeping Dolgarian to featherweight, got it. All right.

By the way, just for the record, as of right at this moment, if this fight were to happen right now, now, Isaac Delgarian will close us the biggest favorite in UFC country in this fight. This is what you want. Yeah, that's what you want. That is good. I understand. Like, the core concept there, I think, is very, very solidly done. So totally reasonable choice.

And if he does get a second fight in, that's a big, big opportunities there. This is, we were talking to this all fair with Mike. This is the tight end tack for fantasy football. We're like, sometimes you just have to draft the tight end early, even though you wouldn't normally. because they get more points commiserate to other people. And so that's what we're doing here. So receiving running back Isaac Dolgarian in the second round. But that does put you back on the clock, AK.

Yeah, I'm playing it safe here. Again, I'm banking. I'm going to bank, I think, some main event points, some title fight points. I'm not incredibly confident about the result of this, but I will go with Mr. Ilya to give me to $100 for the week. as well. I highly doubt a finish, but get me 100 for the win. Again, 40 on the board just from the magnitude

of the fight. Maybe a fight of the night, something like that. So maybe I get to sneak in some points there, but I'm playing it safe. Let's go with Elydeo Porea. He was my number one rated featherweight and very high on my draft board as well. I think fight of the night is high.

And if he gets the win, I mean, that's just, it's big, big opportunities there. So don't hate to pick at all. And Boston, Mike. you're on the clock twice in a row now. Well, I'm going to begin with it with, you know what? I'll save my tight end for the second pick. But I'm going to go with a champion here.

Basically, I'm going tight end kicker here. I'm going to go with the women's band-oie champion, Raquel Pennington. We're just going to have UFC 307 on lock. I think she's going to, it may not be the prettiest, but I think she's going to go in there and beat Juliana Pena, so I feel pretty good about that. And then for my tight end pick, taking a page from Shaheen's book, where can you find the most value, but also get extra points on top of it?

And Isaac Dolgarian is a great choice. But I think my pick's a little bit better because I have an unranked guy who is about to fight a ranked guy, and he's going to finish this man. And it's going to be vicious and it's going to be nasty. This man is about to fight Matt Schnell at an upcoming UFC. Oh, you son of a biscuit. You son of him. So Alessandro Costa, flyweight, fighting number of Lachnell, all the points, all the points.

He's my number two flyweight. I really like to pick a lot. That is literally the only flyweight I had written down. He was my number two flyweight. I think that was a very, very good choice. And that brings us back to AK. You're back up. I am so unprepared.

No, I mean, I'm prepared, but I, it's weird. Like, now that I've got my top two picks, which I think we're pretty safe. Now I got to start thinking the way, you know, you guys have. I'm going to, the clock's taking you right. The clock is right. Plenty of time. You have a lifetime. Yeah, yeah, I've got a lifetime.

I need a finish. I need a finish. Guys, I need a finisher, not just a winner. I need a finisher. You need those touchdowns, you know? You don't want a wide receiver who makes a lot of catches but never finds the end. Okay. You don't want the Julio Jarvis.

Let's go. Let's use my lightweight spot. Let's use my lightweight spot. Let's fill it. Let's go one Mr. Ben-Wassandini. Let's go Ben-Wassanini. Main event coming up in Paris.

Hanato Moikano, not an easy guy to foot away, but I think he could do it. So again, a little bit risky, but a lot of chances for points here. So let's go BSD. I think it's an exceptional pick. He was my number one. ranked lightweight. Fight of the night odds are just so high. You're getting that performance bonus bump there,

main event bump. I think that's an exceptional pick, AK. For a man who was waffling like you didn't know, I think you nailed it. Getting him in the third rounder? Terrific. Which, Hine, do you have another Isaac Dolgarian in your back pocket this early?

Are you waiting for the sleepers later? I don't know. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants right now. I have a very short list, but this man is still on it, and I don't have another bantamweight fight that I highlighted. So I'm going to go ahead and just snatch this up because I think there's a good chance.

He fights soon. It's probably going to get a performance bonus. Probably maybe get a first round finish as well. Give me the youngest UFC fighter on the roster. Give me Carl Roses Jr. Show it out in the sphere for my band. Yeah. Yep.

Great time. I was taking him next. He was going to go, even though I already have a bantam weight in O'Malley, he was going to slot into my wild card. There was no questions asked. That is a terrific pick. Put 100 points on the board, Sheen. Put 100 points in the board.

That is a lot. He's going to get a bonus. So put the bonus points on the board as well. And then very real chance he fights one more by the end of the year. I think that's a lot of value that Shaheen has found. That gives me the wheel. And now things get interesting. So I'm looking at my draft board right here.

I have extensive notes written. fellows. And I know where one of these is going to go. So while this clock is going, let me work on round two just so I can make sure I have everything I need. Because I know one of them 100% no doubt about it. Let me just say that I will be furious if you pick my next pick. I'm not. I really would be surprised if I picked your next selection here based on who you've already taken, um, where we're going. I mean, I would feel great. about those chances there. All right, because I have one pick

and I'll have a little more time to waffle, the pick is in round number three. We are going to go to my number one ranked flyweight. I had him above Alessandra Costa for a couple of reasons. One, because he's the man. And two, getting a little main event action with my boy. And there's a real chance that maybe he turns around and gets a title fight after he beats Brandon Royval.

I am talking, of course, Tatsuro-Taira, join the squad in my flyweight position. And now I'm back on the clock again, and this is where things get tricky, fellas. I think we've taken most of the very obvious picks here. And I just don't know where I want to go. I don't know if you guys would take him, but I just want to have him on the team. This is a choice for me because maybe I could get him late. I might be a little bit of a reach, but you want to have your guys that you're rooting for.

And he was one of my second best ranked heavyweight. Give me the Black Beast, Derek Lewis. He said to take on Janata Denise is Derek Lewis. If I can get the most knockouts in UFC history in a striking matchup on my team and may end up being a main event with how things go, I'll take that. So Derek Lewis, you'll be my heavyweight roster spot. I thought you were going somewhere else, and I'm a little... I'm surprised.

And you terrified me. I'm very surprised. And I know he's picking this guy now. I'm not doing it. Maybe not next to him. But that does bring you up to task, Hachim. I was furiously researching while you spoke your first pick. What was the first pick there, Jed?

Tatsura Taira. Tatsura, all right. Thank you. Yeah. He's main event he is Brandon Royval in like a month. I thought you were going to go this man. I know you love him so much I'm so glad that you didn't

because I am so happy to have him on my team give me the giant give me the 6-7 behemoth give me Beast mode Robelis to Spain who's going to get that first round knocking baby get that performance bonus coming for revenge Robelis unless someone just shoots at his

frigging ankles for like stupid as Waldo Cortezic Austin Lane ain't doing that you know why they've kept Austin Lane in the O.C. Nobody thought Waldo Cortezic Coast was doing it either and he became D1 Dominican or Mike knew I did I hated that fight from Jumpstreet

I told the world not to book that fight and they did it anyways and that's what Mike loves this Austin Lane fight I mean it's it's how you book him it's how you book him it's gonna do very terrible things to all things great choice great choice yeah don't hate it at all and that brings you back to the back to the draft position AK oh my gosh

my best friend I'm so sorry from what I'm about to do I have feeling this is someone you you got two picks coming up I feel like this is someone you wanted

on your team but I have this is a position of need for me and I might not be able to fill it adequately later if I don't get this chance now so it's a cold move Mike but I got to take

your girl Natty Ice I got to take Natty Ice I'm taking a tie so yeah I think she's if she gets a finish of Jessica Andrage. I mean, this just checks off all the boxes in.

Every category of time for points, except for it being a main event or whatever, a title fight. But, I mean, there could be a finish in there. There could be a performance bonus. Win over a ranked opponent. Picking against Jessica and Draj. She's the real deal. Great pick.

If she's a real deal, this is going to pay off. If Jessica and Drodge can play spoiler and ruin AK's whole draft right there. Mike, how much did that hurt you? Not at all. Oh, wow. Too risky a pick. Two risk gave a pick. Two women's fliers.

I think Natty Ice is going to win that fight, but I wasn't going to pick her. I don't think she gets a finish. But what I'm going to do is maybe spoil a couple of parties here because I have to do this. You have two choices to do it. So I'm going to go ahead and do it. I'm going to do it right away. I'm going to pick my wild card pick right now. I'm going to do the wild card.

Oh, I love this. And I'm going to take. this man away from probably all three of you. He's fighting in Abu Dhabi, UFC 308, the man who probably should be fighting for the belt right now at 205. He's going to kill a man. I'm picking Magamad Ancolaev as my wildcard selection. Yeah. And I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Actually, I kind of did. You did. You actually said it as you made the choice. I'm going to take this man away from all three of you that was pointed and painful. I meant every word as well.

So now I have another pick. Let me just double check here that I got everything that I need. I have to take a heavyweight off the board since a lot of heavy weights are coming off the board. So I'm going to go with the man who will also be competing in Abu Dhabi. A man who's got a bit to prove here. He's going to be fighting with a big chip on his shoulder. A man who also believes he should be fighting for the heavyweight title right now.

We haven't seen him in a minute, but I think he's going to be ready to go. He's taking on a very tough man in Alexander Volkov. Give me former interim heavyweight champion Cyril Ghan as my heavyweight. That's good. Very solid. Yeah, certainly on the board. Certainly on the board. Great choice.

Mike is a, Mike's putting together a squad over there, fellas. He's a veteran of this. He's great at drafting. If only his Patriots knew anything about that, they might be in a better shape. than they currently are. But, you know, the same issue. He's not building through the trenches. This man has gone heavyweights, light heavy weights,

and the women's divisions. There's nothing in the middle. And that's, you got to build your O line. You got to fight in the trenches, Mike. And AK, you already have some trench work in there. You've got your 155, 145. Where are you going this time? Because you're back on the clock.

I'm so torn on some of these choices. I almost want to go like super risky here. But I think I can hold. I think I can hold off. I think I can't. Do it, okay. We got, no, no, I can't. Do it, okay.

I'm a coward. I'm a coward. I want to fill my metalweight spot. But I don't love any of those picks. I may have given up some information there. No middle weights, no welter weights, yeah, I mean, and no straw weights. That tells you about the calendar, you know, just kind of the calendar that's coming up.

Getting wins is really the most important thing, right? Like 100 points, 100 points, you know? I mean, the finishes are great, but you want the wins. Oh, gosh. Safe wins are big. Yeah. Time is ticking down. All right, all right.

Let's just be boring. Let's, no, not boring. You know, this is an exciting pick. Man, give me Hobzat. Give me Hamzat. Oh. Wow. And he's got to get to the cage is really the biggest.

That's the least boring pick you could make. Is it? I didn't know if he would get drafted, to be honest. That's crazy. I still believe. I'm not on my board. I have a board of whatever, like, 50 draft possible picks, and he's not there just because I don't have any confidence he can make it to the fight. That's the least boring pick you could make.

I feel terrible if I put this pick now. But you know what? It's hubs up. And I'm going to feel so good if it pays off. I'm going for vibes here, Jed. If it pays off, I'm going to feel so good. You shouldn't feel bad. If this works, if he makes it and he beats Bobby Knuckles, like you're going to be.

getting a performance bonus probably you're like you're going to be getting the ranked win bonus like it's this big time it's not boring that's electric it was electric drafting a k you're very well but we continue rolling because shaheen you are back on the clock i sure i don't even know what i'm doing at this point i'm staring at a sheet i'm staring at a sheet i might be i might as well be looking at Hebrew. I don't know how to read this sheet at this point. You know, we all have to do this in my head. I came into this. Okay, so I came into this with a light plan and the Isaac Delgarian falling into featherweight kind of threw off the plan. And so I say, you know, screw it. We're just going to keep going with the plan anyway and then we'll adjust. Give me another featherweight. I wasn't

expecting to take a second featherweight, but he's now a second featherweight. I'll take it as my wild card. This card's coming up. It's pretty soon. UFC's high on and maybe he can get another one. in December. He's also a gigantic favorite and he's probably going to do well. The hometown boy, give me the last pirate Morgan. Sharia.

I like that. I like that. I think that's a reasonable draft choice. It's a great pick. Casey didn't give you the cheers because no one's excited about drafting Morgan Cherry in the middle, but you're going to get a big wins.

Like you're going to get a W. It's like a minus 2,000 favor right now. Yeah. You're going to get the 100 points for the win. Wait a minute. Morgan Sherry. I'm so confused. Morgan Sherry.

Oh, wait, this is your wild card. Wild card. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Slotting it into a wild card that early. I kind of lose some flexibility,

but I like him. That's my thing. I'm not trying to take the wild card. I would have done it if I could have gotten Roller Roses Jr. And just have the double stack of Bantamweight because I thought the upside, but not worth it. That does put me back on the clock. And now I think I'm priced into one choice that I hate,

that I just. hate and then I don't know what I'm going to do with the other. So I'll make the choice that I hate because I do, I don't have enough people. Mike has already taken two light heavies off the board. Thin, thin weight class, not a ton of options I'm in love with. So even though he is only my third top pick of this division,

give me Dominic Reyes at light heavy wages. He's taken on Anthony Smith. Obviously, Dominic Reyes is back. AK has said it. Reyes is back after the one win. And he's fighting Anthony Smith, who is very much not back. He's not remotely here. He's gone.

So I think Dominic Reyes can start putting together a little win streak and be the feel-good story of 2024 end of my draft team. So I will take Reyes at light heavyweight. And now I am, I don't know. Because, like, the people I want to take aren't even good for me to take anymore because I already have the weight class covered. I think I can leave that a little while. No one's going to make a run there.

Okay. It's a bad weight class, and I think this has a real good chance to getting me the points and the finish bonus. I'm going to go down to straw weight. I'm going to take Jillian Robertson, who's facing Luana Pinera. like next month or whatever. So it's not a sexy pick, but filling out the roster as, you know,

filling a spot I need. Gillian Robertson, you are my straw weight. Nice pick. On my board, yeah, absolutely. The crowd goes very mild, and he's, you know, it's on the butt. So at this point, I'm just looking at scarcity, right?

Because you're right. Light, heavyweight is tough. It's a wasteland. And if one more person, person's gone, I got nothing. And I think all y'all have light heavyweights, but even just like... No, actually, AK does not have a light heavy weight, nor do you. Me and Mike have them. But Mike also took a wild card for light heavy. I'm not, I'm not being left on this light heavyweight train. I'm going to grab this before the run, before the run and closes out. Because I just, frankly,

I'm not going to be sitting here stuck with Ryan Spinn, which is what that would be. So give me for light heavyweight. I'm going in on the French guys. UFC Paris is going to be a big night from me. I don't know how to pronounce this gentleman's name. I'm going to guess it. Omar Sy? Oh, good pick. What? That's a good pick. Give me Omar Sae. I think it's a good pick. You are going to know how you've done in this draft at the Paris event.

Like when the Paris event happens, you'd be like, I'm either winning by a lot or I'm completely out of this. And AK, you're now free because you're the only one who hasn't taken a light heavyweight and I got to tell you I don't think people are fighting over to add Nikita krillov as their wild card selection so no you can kind of just not pick white heavyway until the very end no I think I think I'm kind of put a scare into me I'm actually amazed we all have heavyweights I know but you just said like the guy who I actually think is going to lose his next fight I like Azamat Mirzikana of a lot um so yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna do it I actually oh I guess you all you all have light heavies We we we we we. Oh I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. Yeah yeah yeah. And and Mike have both okay I will I will dare you know I will dare I'll just say it now I want that guy I will dare one of you to use your wild card to use your wild card to take a light every way to wait away. I would do it and I'm not then I would do it I would do it if I could I will fill up I will fill up my flyway spot with one mr. Asu al-Mabayae then I love it got a rank opponent coming up I think I like I like Patias Nicola, always been a fan. I do think his time is kind of up, and Asu is serious. So let's go with that.

I love the pick. He was on the board. I think it's a very, very solid one, AK rounding into form here as well. But Mike, you're back on the wheel. Whose hearts are you breaking this time? You got two chances to do it. This will be quick.

I'm just going to go down here with the top two highest weight classes that are still in the board. going to start with middleweight, a man who is back on the books. He's fighting Armand Petrosian. We got the Abu Dhabi card on lock. Give me Shara Bullitt as my middleweight. It's a set-up fight.

Very good choice. And he's going to be very well. And in the welterweight division, I wish I could go a little bit higher. I'm just not confident a lot of the rank guys fighting right now, 170. So, AK, we're going to Canada. We're going to Edmonton.

This man is taking. taking on Trevin Giles, bounce back fight for one, Mike Malott. There you go. Great pick. That's a great pick. That's a great pick. I looked at Malat because Malat already has a win over Giles and grappling. So, you know, M.M.A. Gratin basically the same thing.

I like the pick a lot. A.K., how do you feel about your best friend taking your Canadian brethren? I mean, I probably wouldn't have picked him. It did not go well for the Canadian, the male Canadian fighters when I saw them in Toronto. But that's really smart. Yeah, that's clearly, I think, booked as a bounce back fight for Double M. And I think my best friend is so savvy to pick up on that.

And Char Bullitt. I think Shar Bullitt, low-key, was like the best pick at 185 because 185 is pretty tough. I can't believe I haven't picked a women's bantamway yet. I mean, there's just, I don't, there are too many. Has anybody except me?

I guess now. No, I have, no, no. No. I have, no. Uh, I was, you, you are going to be so sad if she beats her Kelpankton, like double, like, triply sad now that she's on your fantasy team. Uh, let's go Sean Brady. Ooh, shone out the water. Swirms. You know, I want points. I want to, I want points now. I like, I don't, I can't, this is anticipation is too much. And this guy's fighting next week, like we said, we said, we said with the Paris card. We're going to get a good idea by the end of the month, like, how things are shaping out. I want to know by the end of next.

week how things are shaping up for me. Sean Brady was my number one pick at Welterweight. I think it's a great pick because there's a chance he can fight again if he beats Burns' main event ranked opponent. Like a lot of just solid points there and I think he probably beats Burns. I think that's

a very sensible way to draft. That's eating your vegetables is exact what that's doing. Heen, you're going to eat your vegetables? You're going to get a little spicier for us? I wish you wasn't my pick right now. I have no idea I'm going to do.

Oh, man. Okay. AK has drafted four of my number one overall picks per further weight classes. He's doing great. We know each other well. I feel like we know each other well, Jed, at this point. By my big board, you're doing great. Okay.

All right. I'm going to just go all in on these. Like you said, Jed, I'm going to know how I'm doing by the end of this month. I'm really going to win this or lose this by the end of this month. I'm going to keep that train rolling. Give me another sphere card. Contender prospect coming up. Looking at women's straw weight.

Give me Yasmin, Uruguay. Oh, good pick. As opposed to the men's straw weight. It's very important to know. Yasmin Uruguay. I do like the pick, though. I hate it. I hate it.

I hated it because I wanted that. I thought I was going to get her in like the 12th round, but not to be. Well done. The draft orders here are very, very strange. Like, I have no idea of what to expect. Like a couple of them, like I was pretty sure John Jones,

Alex Pereira would be first rounders gone. After that, like, I didn't have Isaac Dolgarian being a second rounder. And I don't think it's bad. It's just not, I didn't, I didn't see that line of attack. What lines of attack did I see? Because I am back on the clock. Where's the scarcity existing for me now? Women's band and weight is pretty thin if I'm looking at the board.

I just don't want to take them for the vibes. I really don't want to take this other dude for the vibes, but I'm kind of leaning certain... We're not. We're going to stick with good vibes only team. Pretty pleased with my team thus far. So let's start with an absolutely sensational man who will be our featherweight contender for us.

I am talking about Yo-Anderson Brito, who is taking on William Gomy. All Yo-Inderson-Britto does is kill people, and William Go-Mey is goal. to be the next guy that gets killed by you anderson brito at 1.45 so uh yo anderson come on down to the team and then where do we want to go after that uh i have a 155 guy but it just doesn't seem that fun this doesn't seem fun either uh i'm gonna take this is a riskier one but let's that no no we're going to go no risky give me the easiest win on the board i may dislike this

gentleman and I think that he has done more than anyone this year to lower his stock in all of our estimations, but he is still going to go out there and he's going to shoot three takedowns, then he's going to plant Stephen Wonderboy Thompson on his ass three times and grind out his decision win. I'm talking about Joaquin Buckley because everyone knows how to beat Stephen Thompson this point, and Joaquin Buckley can do it. Give me new monso. And that. Wow. I did not see that coming.

Sometimes you got to pick against your own vibes. And I may not like him, but I respect him as an athlete. And this seems like an extremely clear fight for him to win. And just get me those points, ranked opponent, win. Just fill up the chalkboard with the W for us. Heen, back to you. All right. I think this is probably a terrible pick.

In fact, I don't really have a follow up to it. This is probably a terrible pick. I don't know that this is going to work out. But I just, I'm not going to lie, I hate middleweight. And looking at, like I like middleweight as a division, but looking at what we have to work with and play with for the end of 2024, is just not a lot sticking out to me. So I'm just going to keep this same strategy going, play a little money ball here. Maybe this guy can fight again. He only wins by decision.

So it's not exciting. But give me Andre Petroski, who once again is fighting this weekend. You might get two bites of the apple, which is huge. If any of these fighters end up turning in two wins, it's going to be really, really big for your score. So look, your team is, it is the all-stars of people who are effective that no one likes.

Like, Beaumor C, Andrei Pertrowski, Isaac Dolgarian, like the GQ rating here is low. The Q scores are low, but they are going to be highly efficient and effective for you. Just money-balling this out. It's I mean you're getting on the board He gets on base What is he why do you like him? He gets on base

A.K. Are you moneyballing? Are you gonna, you know, where are we going? What's next? Because we're not that many picks left boys. I think we've got a four left five left for AK and Mike four left for me and heen. Oh, I'm gonna yeah, okay, I'm good. I'm steady.

I'm gonna go with a cool pick here. I think that's kind of impressed. I haven't been doing enough picks to try and impress you guys on purpose. I think some of them have incidentally, but I haven't been doing enough picks where, like, I really hope, like, Jed thinks I'm cool after I do this. I always think you're cool. Thank you.

Let's go straw weight. I think you guys are all sleeping on Jacqueline Amorim. She is fighting Vanessa Demopolis. Jacqueline Amory. Excuse me, Jacqueline Amoreem is a finisher. I like demo a lot. I think she's super tough. I think Jacqueline can put her away and get me some serious points with the late round pick.

So let's go Jacqueline Emery. I'm a believer in some of the hype she's had behind her. Reasonable. Was I, in fact, on the board at Strawweight, actually, because Strawade does not have a ton of finishing options out there. So very reasonable pick. Mike, that does mean you're the last person to take a strawweight. So you have that freedom available to you to not dive in. So where are you going to go?

because you've still got 155 through 125 in the men's weight class is still open. No, I got 125. I got 125. I have Alessandro Costa. Oh, in my listing, I have that wrong. Thank you. So I am going, I'm going to go a little value here. This might be a little bit of a risky pick,

but there are certain rules we have to abide by in life, especially from a predictions and a betting perspective. And anytime you can get this man as a slight underdog, you got to take them. even if it's at elevation, because I like this matchup a lot. Give me the featherweight goat who's fighting at Bannamweight,

Jose Aldo, who's fighting Mario Batista at UFC 307. So I'm going to go there. Give me some points. Give me some extra points for beating a rank guy. Exceptional pick, Mike. Can I just say? I must have felt so good to do.

Like just to have this man on your team. I was never going to get him because I knew if I get O'Malley. I just he wasn't going to be my wildcard, but I think that's an unbelievable choice. Now, now I'm old torn, although I, this could be really risky, play as well. But I think I'm just going to go ahead and just get this. Oh, all of you have middleweight. Hell yeah. I'm going to the world's most famous apex. I'm going to get my lightweight off the board.

Just there's just so much uncertainty right now. Is Arming going to fight? Is this is I'm going to fight? Are they going to fight each other before the end of the year? It's just too risky. So give me somebody who probably is a top 15 guy. I know he had a little stumble at the end of last year, but boy, did he make up for it earlier this year. He's fighting at the World's Most Famous Apex October 12th, fighting Rafa Garcia.

Give me Grant Dawson as my lightweight. I think he has a good performance, and he probably, you might even get a finish here. I know Raffa Garcia is pretty tough, but give me Grant Dawson. Don't, I like it. It's a classic good, not great. Very reasonable. I mean, look, we're late into the draft.

You're not going to get, you know, slam dunks all that often, but very reasonable pick. Even if he doesn't get the finish, you can get the win. And that's the most important thing. Lightway was a really interesting way classes to kind of look through it because not a lot. Binwa San Deneu was the only person who jumped out at me is like he's going to get points. The others are like either they're tough fights or like Charles Oliva isn't booked yet. whatever. So very interesting to see how light wit will unfold. I think it could be the weight class that kind of makes or breaks our drafts depending on how this works out. So there's that.

But AK, we're on your final four picks. Yeah. Am I crazy or have we avoided like picking against each other? You know what I mean? Like picking like, oh, I don't think this person's going to win. So I'm picking Mario Bautista or something. Like we haven't done. I don't think we've picked any opponents. We've all been like an agreement when still. There are no head to heads at the moment of time. I thought there were a couple. I thought there's a chance somebody might take Marab. I guess you still could. It's funny you mentioned that, Jedmishu,

because I need a bansom weight. And Marab actually wasn't that high on my list because I have been saying for a while, I do think Sean O'Malley can knock him out. But this late, it seems a bit silly not to take a chance on Maraub because I know there's a title fight next week. Yeah, and that's getting up to 40 points right away. And there's a lot of people think he's the man to beat O'Mellon.

So I think I have to. Let's do it. Let's create some tension here. Let's create some conflict. Marab, you're my bansom weight. I think it's a solid choice. I got absolutely no issues with the choice. And now that puts a little extra on that fight for us.

You and I get to watch it and be like, suck it, Marab. You're going to lose. And AK is not going to get the points that he needs to defeat me in the fantasy draft. It's how fantasy is supposed to work realistically. Yeah. So, perfect. And that heen, we're coming down the home stretch, man, not that many left.

You have welterweight, lightweight, flyweight, and women's flyweight to fill out your roster per my recording. And you're the only one without a welterweight, so you can kind of hold on that if you'd like. And the same for flyweight as well. So you've got some room to work. Yeah, the flyweight situation is stressing me out, but I'm going to have to have. to kick that can down the road. Not a lot of choices. Not a lot of choices.

So I'm going to go with light weight on this one. I don't feel super great about this, but I do like this man. And he is a bonus machine. And I know the UFC are high on him. So once again, I'm going to stick my lot with this sphere show. Once again, I'm going to stick my lot with September. By the end of September, I'm going to have so many points or so few points. But something's going to happen.

Give me Daniel Zell-Huber on that sphere card. Great pick. It's a very, very solid pick. That fight absolutely ruled. So I hope he let's me. Esteban Rieva just scares the hell out of me. Yeah. Riebivivits, like that fight's going to be a dog fight.

It's going to be sick. And I hope Riva Bich wins now. So you get fewer points because that's, that's now where I'm invested based on this show. I had two of my final four. I am in need of a middleweight, a light weight, a women's bantam weight, and then I have left the wild card open

because I'm an expert drafter. I've been looking at the same middleweight, and I can't decide if this is great or smart, and I am the only one middleweight, so I'll keep tabling that. I'm now the only one without a lightweight, which I like that. Okay, we can work on that then,

which means bantam weight. I should pick a women's bantam weight, so I'm not last at the dog bowl for that one. And I got two choices here, guys. And this isn't the smart choice. The smart choice, I won't even say because I don't want one of you to take it. I'm not going to take her. But AK, you've inspired me.

You've inspired me to be a little bit more combative. Let's have a little more fun, a little more head-to-head action. And I rode with her once and it carried me to glory. Juliana Payne, come on down. You are the women. Oh, no. How did that deal? I get a title fight kicker here.

If she does it again, she upsets Rocky Pennington, who I arguably disrespect it after she won the belt. It just feels like she needs to be on my team. My team is now bad vibes as I have both Pena and Joaquin Buckley on my unit. This is the reverse. This is the reverse. Yeah, this is the reverse of Mike picking Aldo. This is like, oh.

It's terrible vibes. But if she wins and, you know, you get the championship extra. It just the same way you picked Marab. I don't even know that she's going to win. It does feel like she should be off the board, and I really didn't want to pick the only other woman I had up for this weight class. So Giuliana Pena. That's annoying.

What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah. Way better.

Save on insurance by switching to Bell Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. And now I'm still going to leave the wild card just because I like that flexibility. It's a question of whether I take a middleweight or a lightweight. And looking at my draft board, I still think I could have fun with lightweight. We'll take middleweight. This is the number one guy on my board.

And this could be insanely stupid. But I'm going to do it anyway because I got to counteract what I just did with Payne. I got to pick one of my guys, aka one of our guys, a guy we've loved since before he joined the UFC. Oh, yeah. and who has moved up to middleweight and been a revelation, just early style. He's looking like vintage Tom Aspinall up at middleweight now. I'm talking, of course, about Michelle Paheta, the other Pereira.

Give me Demolador. He's taking on Fluffy Hernandez. He's got a really good takedown defense, like statistically. So if he can keep it on the feet and he can just do a cool capoeira shit and win, I'll feel good in my soul. And I needed to make up for the pain you pick. So Michelle Pereira, you are my middleweight champion. Oh, man.

Yeah, it was him or Khamsat for me. And I'm just like, I don't know how I feel about this Homs out pick now. Like, I don't feel great about Michelle. It was like, because Fluffy could fluffy the shit out of him and then where are we at? But middleweight was a very tough weight class. There were not a lot of things that jumped out at me as obvious. Charle bullet, I think, was a very good choice here. So, yeah.

Heen, that puts you back on the. board three spots left to fill who where are you going so if i'm unless i'm mistaken two people have taken women's flyweight's right uh women's flyweight's correct two people have taken i have grasso aka natalia sylva that's the only way class where you are not priced into a choice right now okay i don't love this i don't love this but i don't see another high value target on the board I don't even really see another target I feel confident about on the board. So I'm going to just go with the, I mean, there are so few women flyweight fights on the damn schedule at this point. I see Mike stressing this is, that makes me happy.

I think there's a very obvious choice that I didn't pick here because I didn't want to put it in my wild card. Well, I'm going to go with the woman who not long ago we were all calling like the uncrown champs, the best in the world. Give me Aaron Blanchefield. It's a main event. I don't love the match with Rosnamoy Unis. I think that's a really tough matchup for her. especially with the holes that we've seen with Aaron Blanchfield's game. Give me that anyway.

I think she was my number two, and I think a very, very easy choice. I think she's a matchup against Rose is great. I just going to do fine. I love it. So that's a steal. Getting Blanchefield in the whatever ninth round, I think is a steel.

So great choice. I mean, really your team's really coming together. Plus, you got a name value person in a main event. You don't have a lot of main event fighters. Don't have a lot of it. You had a lot of Omar Cs, not a lot of main event fighters. Now you got one. So rounding out the squad, AK, that does bring it back to you.

You got three slots left. Gosh. Can I get 600 seconds for this pick? Because it has to be on my one off. It gets harder the further we get. Yeah, because I have a free shot at heavyweight and women's band to wait now. I got my pick of the litter, as it were. But now Wild card, holy cow.

Holy cow. There's someone I wanted so badly, but it just doesn't feel like it makes sense. Where's my clock here? What do I got? 30 seconds. All right. There's some names.

I'm surprised haven't been picked yet. Do I dare go with someone that hasn't been booked? Where's my clock at? 20. 18. 18. Might count me down whenever it reaches 10. I would love to.

10. 9. 9. And keep going. We'll fight before the end of the year and get me a ton of points. Three. My wild card. One.

Is Peyton Talbot. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I think he's going to get a fight. I think he's going to smoke or every he fights. I didn't see that coming. That's an unbelievable choice. Yeah.

He was almost like phantomweight in choice, but he's not booked. Actually, I love me. The more I'm thinking about it. Peyton Talbot. That's a great thing. He picked. He's going to fight. He's going to fight.

Yeah. He's going to fight. He's going to fight. He's going to be a massive. favorite. I think it's a very good choice. I'm so mad of myself. Never mind. You shouldn't be because you have

two more choices. After this, you will have one left, so on your wheel. All right, I'll pick my women's flyweight. I was hoping Shaheen didn't cherry pick this one, but he didn't. So it worked out great for me. She will be fighting

at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden on November 16th. She'll be Facing a 37-year-old, soon-to-be-38-year-old fighter who has lost three of four and is ranked at 125 pounds. And this fighter has just won a whole bunch of fights in a row. Four and O in the UFC. About to be five and O, about to extend her win streak to 10 fights. Give me Corrine A Silva as my women's flyweight selection.

The other side, the other, Sylva. The other Silva. Not Natty Silva, but Green Silva. Great choice. I have much more confidence in Karina, even though I think Natty Es will still win. But she's on the board. Great choice. Now featherweight.

Hmm. So we can make things real interesting here. We can do a head-to-head for the belt. Or we can go with a man who, like, Noche UFC, was kind of built around to some extent. So basically, I'm torn between Max Holloway and Diego Lopez right now. That's where I'm at at this point. I may have just given away a pick. The tail is old as time.

But you know what? Everybody loves an underdog. And as this man has been telling us this entire time, everybody's been laughing at him. No one ever, ever, ever gave this man a chance to ever have a significant fight again after he lost to Alexander Volkovsky for the third time. He said it himself, nobody gave him any chance to get back to this position.

So 11th round, I got to take him. Max Holloway. Oh, damn it. I was so ready to do it. I was so ready to do it. Oh, that's a great pick. It's a great pick, Mike. If he wins, it may be this pick of the draft.

I win the league if he was going to get the fight of the night bonus. Championship main event. Like, it's an unbelievable pick. I can't believe he went this late. Great choice. I've no other notes, frankly. And that puts A-Pid back on. the clock,

a little bit broken up. That was my wild card right there. So, AK, you're up. Yeah, I've been locked in on this guy since much earlier, and since you guys all picked Light Heavy's

before me, that meant I could just sit on it. But it is his time. It is time to get called. I'm Mr. Asimat, Merzikonov. I just want you to know, you would have been picked much higher.

You may go down in the records as whatever the, I'm not looking here, 60. I'm sorry, 42nd pick, but you were a top 20 pick in my heart, sir. So bring me Osama and Mirzikanav,

who I think is actually going to get the finish of Nikita Krilov. That's a great pick. I mean, obviously, light heavy was a bit thin, certainly on the board, getting him late, you know. I don't think it's any worse to end up with him

than me getting, you know, or Michelle Pereira at whatever pick. I think you're doing fine there. Heen, you're peeing. Penultimate decision. You have, what do you have left?

You got welterweight and flyweight left. Where are we going? Man, so I've been sitting here staring at all the flyway fights on the board. There's not a lot left to pick through them. Y'all really left me with nothing here. But there is one that I keep coming back to. And I mean, at this point, I'm so locked into this strategy. I'm moneyballing the crap out of this.

I'm just going for wins. I'm just going for dubs. Y'all are sitting here looking for bonus points. I'm just trying to get points, period. So give me, anytime someone's name ends with O.V., I'm already in. Give me Rams on Beck Timoroff at my flight report. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I need to look up if this is a real person. Hold on, hold on.

He's fighting CJ Vergara on the Roy Val Tessorot. Yes, right. Okay, I just put that in the right. Yes, I saw this other day. Okay. I got to tell you, you had a couple of people that weren't on my board. You're really moneyballing this game. We're trying to stack wins over here.

That's what we're doing. Now I have to figure out if I'm going to moneyball this game, or at least try to moneyball this game, or if I'm going to just pick from the Cajonis, you know? And maybe I split the difference. Maybe I get a little saucy for one, a little not for the other. We'll start by selecting my lightweight because I do have to fill out lightweight

and a guy who is fairly high on my board he is fighting in Nocha UFC not like a massive favorite but is a favorite I do expect him to win talking about Manuel Torres who's taking on Ignacio Bahamondez I think he's going to get the win and then there is always the chance

since he's fighting so early maybe he sneaks in there gets another one so give me Manuel Torres for my lightweight which brings me to our wild card selection fellas and there's still a lot of people that I think would make reasonable sense to choose here, you know? There's, there are options out on the table.

I was so prepared for it to be Max Holloway. I thought I was going to sneak by with that one and Mike ruthlessly stole it from me. Then I hate a lot of what's happening right now because I don't feel good about any. I'm trying to find a title fight guy who has a real. chance to win. And I gotta tell you, I don't think Cleo Roundtri has a real chance to win. So I can't like pick him for my wild card. And same for Stepe. I'm just not, not throwing away my draft on a pipe dream. If you really believed in yourself and your gimmick, you would pick Steepay right now. I don't. And I believe in myself in my gimmick, but that that part of it is a lie.

And so I think we don't. Try to go for vibes. Yeah, yeah, I wanted to hear the buzzer. because we actually, I'm really proud of us. We've yet to use the buzzer today, guys. So well done for all of us. And with my final selection, let's go head to head. Maybe, maybe it's not head to head. Because maybe this man doesn't end up fighting the man

who's already selected by Alexander K. Lee. Because I don't know, Hansa doesn't make it to fights all that often. Give me for my wild card selection, Robert Whitaker, Mr. Bobby Knuckles in the corner. I feel terrible about this pick, but it is where I'm going to round my draft out with. I'm surprised that no one went for that. Unless you all thought that Hamzaa will go out and drag that fight down with him. But I thought, because whatever it be a sexy off the pick.

I think Whitaker will fight regardless. If Hamzaup pulls out, Whitaker's just going to fight another dude that they'll pull in and kill him. So I don't feel great about it, but I don't love the rest of my board. I was I was really thinking about like just taking a flyer on Charles Olivera, but he's not booked and that feels risky. So we're at. But he, you got to round us out. You got a 170 pounder to finish up here.

Where are we going? Yeah. The Welterway lineup is just not inspiring with what's left. It's really tough. Buckley. Come on, I know. Mike, you already took Sean Brady, right? That's a thing.

AK took Brady, Mike took Mike Malott. Okay, yeah, that's right. I was upset about Mike. Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and do it then. This is probably stupid. And this is either going, this is a moonshot. This is either going to win me the whole draft or it's going to, I'm going to end up losing because I got a zero spot here because this dude didn't even fight.

I just look ridiculous. But screw it. He's already been offered a title fight this year, apparently, according to the interviewer, a wonderful Mike Heck did with him. Didn't happen. There doesn't really seem to be a spot on the schedule for him to slip into a title fight if you were assuming that Connor's going to fight in December. But let's say Connor doesn't fight in December.

They need somebody to come in. Shavkat, Rachmanoff, or is the obvious pick to sort of fit that slot. And Shavahat's going to win that belt sooner or rather than later. Give me Shafkat Rakhmanov. I love the vibes. It's great pick. I love the vibes.

I just realized that I screwed up. Can I change my Robert Whitaker pick? No. No, because I thought the same thing. Because I thought we're going in the same direction. It won't be anybody you'll take because you can't take them. but no you I wish I

I don't want to I don't want to lie in this bed I want to lie in the Connor McGregor Michael Chandler will happen oh I mean I'm okay with that which one though

Chad Connor Connor or Michael Chandler look I'm not going to give you that for free you know you got to pay for that kind of content I mean I hope you're right Gene I have no faith that you're right but I hope

you're right because if this is year Shavcott, that would be exceptional for all of us. A.K. though, your last pick, women's ban and weight. You saved the best for last, expertly done. We're not swapping out Whitaker. We're not letting you swap out Whitaker.

I don't believe I should be allowed to. I think we said we're all about it. He made his bad. I feel he's bad. Yeah. I don't think I should be allowed to. I'm just upset about it. Yeah. By the way, by the way, can you stop the clock for a second? I have a very

important question because there is a moment and I thought you you got to this moment this place as well Jed did nobody pick bow nickel no uh he was high on my middleweight list I just I was so mad I didn't pick him because he's gonna get a fight I think so too but if I was going to roll the dice I got I'm rolling the dice with with Hamza that's my more there I don't know okay I guess exciting I'm actually I hadn't considered Bo until you just said Mike and now I'm legitimately mad at myself Because he's obviously going to fight on the MSG card or the Conner card. Who is your middleweight, Shaheen? Shaheen has Petroska.

Yeah, Mike, I'll be honest. That just totally slipped my mind. I didn't even think of him until you said it. I would have been a great choice. Yeah. I mean, I like my share a bullet pick, but man, I was so pissed. I was like, damn it. I have a lot of it would have been a great wild card pick.

But it's all good. Sorry, no, no worries. I had him. I had, I had, I had, I had, I had, I had, I had bow. just slipped through middleweight and slipped in my wildcard. Yeah, women's bandit. I actually did say this for last because I do have two names in mind. Yeah, I have Best Division for last.

I had two names in mind. Nora Cornol, who is fighting GDR, I think. I believe fighting terminated around to me, who is ranked. I'm pretty sure. And the UFC's very deep women's bandamweight rankings. But I'll go. Are you saying Cornoli or GDR is ranked? They both are, I think.

GDRs, GDRs. GDR cannot be. Oh, she. Wow, she is? She is. But I will go with Irene Aalda. Irina, who I'm pretty confident will beat Norma. I just don't think Norma Tumont is good.

I just don't think. She's not, but I didn't want Arina al-Donna on my team. I think Irene is very good. So this is, I just see 100 points in this matchup. I mean, and that brings us to the last pick of the draft. And Mike, I think I know where you're going. I'm so confident I've already written it in. Well, it is women's travel.

wait and I have a choice to make. I have two names on the board. One is somebody who has a fight booked and one that I feel confident that she's going to win and one that Shaheen and Jed will predict will win the fight even if they don't actually believe she'll win the fight. And then there's the champion of the division. Who's never given up? It has not been booked yet. I will never get and so it's either McKenzie Dern who's fighting Amanda Hebas and I think Dern will win that fight or we go with Zhang Wei Lee, who is not booked, but they do have a card

of Macau coming up and they have a couple of paper views that are going to need title fights potentially. I've written, I will say I've written one of these names down preemptively, believing I knew where you were going. Let's see if I'm right.

I'm going, Zhang Wei Lee. She's shining, she's ready. She's Haasen. Like her Instagram, she's lifting like three figure kettlebells with the greatest of ease. She's got, got a fight she's got a fight coming up i don't know if she gets tatyana i have a feeling she

headlines them a cow card i don't know if tatiana tatyana is going to be next in line to matter what so she probably fights verna jangiroba and i think i think wily wins that fight the apple car uh but i'll go john wayley i'll take i'll take my shot and see if she gets a great it was a great choice it was who i thought you'd take i didn't realize it because i didn't have one of my board she didn't have a fight and as it was going i was like she's definitely going to fight this year and that's probably good. Like that probably should be where you should get. A couple of notables.

The most notable to me that I realized as we were doing this and I wasn't going to take him because I backed Tetsu or Tyra. I am a bit astonished. Nobody got on Brandon Royval. Just because like, I don't know, Brandon Royval is in a main event against the unproven prospect. I would have picked him if someone took Alessandra Costa before I got the chance because the way Shaheen was picking,

I kind of felt like he was going to drop, like, real quick. I would have, I thought there was a real chance Costa could be a late round pick for me. And then he went very early. I was like, shit,

he's going to fight for exactly laid out. He's going to fight soon. He might get another one. Fighting a rank dude, he's going to beat. Like, a lot of benefits there. He's a finisher in 125, too. I was like,

he might be able to be my wild card after the thing. But yeah, I am fascinated with that. I think that speaks to how highly all of us think of that'sura-tira. I mean, it definitely does, but like, I think we probably, as we, you know, this is our first time doing it, we'll learn some lessons, but I think

probably we may be underestimated some of the just like getting on the other side of a title fight because we don't know shit. And so, like, we could be wrong. And, you know, like, the Max Holloway pick was so good for Mike because I was like, I don't think Max is going to win, but I absolutely might be incorrect, and then this would be big. Same with like Roy Vall. I think there are a couple of others.

I'm fascinated to see how to see. Chanko, I'm surprised Valentina. Yes, the disrespect. I'm looking at her name right now. The disrespect to Valentina, my goodness. Some of the other ones. And Stipe Mietchich, I mean, the greatest heavyweight of all time. What are we going to do disrespect him by taking the fight away from him?

I'm surprised no one went Miles Johns, who's fighting the human punching bag, Cody Garbrandt at this point. Thumbah Garimbo would have been a sneaky Weldoy thing He was on my board He was a future Walterway champion I thought that's where Shaheen would go But I do like the Shavkaa pick

It's much much more intriguing But I thought Thambo's like a safe bet They're just they keep I think they're lining him up against guys They think he can beat and get finit Movesar No Mobsar guys Again not a finisher

I don't want any part of that flight Wow really I don't think there's going to be a finish I don't think it's going to win a bonus And I don't even feel confident Who's winning I was really trying to to people I felt confident we're winning

like wins was the main priority and then it was wins and finishes and the other bonus multipliers there so Chris Widman didn't make that cut Judd you didn't have a lot of faith in him taking out Eric Anderson no I don't have a lot of faith in that one

I did look at the Cody Garbathed Cody Garbrand plan but they didn't get a lot of really good options honestly so it was like that was pretty easy a couple of these middleweight had mostly trash options heavyweight had a ton of viable options because they're heavy weights

so I will be interested to do this again at some point next year or whatever so I think we can all learn some lessons but mostly I'm interested in the beat down I'm going to put on y'all for the remainder of the year because let's not lose sight of what's happening here

this is now a competition our teams are set there's no waiver wire this is not fantasy football it's fantasy MMA we have 13 U of events. They start this weekend coming up for you guys. So we will be firing at UFC Apex 97, I think

is the number for this weekend. And rolling right through the end of the year, there will be, you know, you're obviously watching the YouTube video right now, but we have a post coming on the site where you can vote on whose team you think is most likely to win. And then at the end of the year, we will

celebrate the king, aka myself, after I've been victorious. But fellas, before, we get out of here. You guys have any last words? Because this was quite fun. I enjoyed it. And I want to thank you all for joining me in this. Yeah, this was, the format, I think, is, I don't know, we'll see how the scoring shakes out. We may have missed something with the scoring. And like, when we get our end result, we're like, oh, wow, we totally overvalued or undervalued, whatever, whatever. But in the moment, I think everything we did make sense. Like, again,

I've never done, I told you guys, I've never done a fancy draft before, especially for football. But this felt like how a fantasy draft should feel, where you get to the later rounds and it's no longer like big names, right? You are trying to fill out like, like, oh, I need, I need Irina Aldana, I need Manuel Torres, you know, I need Ramazon Tamirov, right? And that's what happens, right? In real football drafts, if you have a deep league, like a 10-person league or something, right? It's like you're getting guys that are, you're just going for value. So it felt, it felt right. I feel like I made up for a lot of lost time today. I, AK, we all know you're being honest, because when you just said, if you've got a deep league, like a 10-person league, actually,

know it's like deep leagues are 14 people leagues and then those are impossible. Ten people is fine. You'll have plenty of good players. 14 people your last few rounds are garbage much like all of your teams. They're all garbage because I'm the only good one here.

I think I'm going to go 12 and 0. I think all 12 of these people are going to win maybe multiple times and we'll have to figure out a reward and a punishment for last place in first place. We didn't suss that out ahead of time but we'll come back to that later. Anybody else got anything or can we get out of here, fellas, and keep this under

two hours? I'll just say that I'm surprised no one took a chance on the glory killer. Calillo Roundtree sitting right there. If that happens, that's a first round knockout, title fight, main event. That's so many points. I just thought somebody would take that chance and no one did. So when I was first conceiving of this, before I like pitched you guys the point totals as I kind of did it, because I spent some time tinkering to find what I thought were numbers that made sense where like winning is the most important thing but these other things do also matter

I was like should there be a like an underdog bonus for like being a not like a small underdog but like a big underdog to incentivize people to kind of take that shot because there is no real incentive to Roundtree other than thinking he will win but if he gets like a

hey he's a plus 400 underdog or greater you get an extra you double your point total or whatever I thought about that but I wanted to keep it simple for the first iteration. But I would love it if in future drafts, we could have people picking guys like Glory Killer or whatever, because I would just make this really, really fun.

Maybe we can add a waiver wire next year. Could add it. If you draft a fighter and they get injured, we can't add it this year because AK got Hamzat and he knows both Nichols is killing right there. I can't believe I took John Jones and Hamzad. This is two things. that could be home runs or might could put literally yield nothing they could yield nothing

Jones is going to give you a lot of points if he fights we don't know it's going to get booked I don't know if they're going to make it to the octagon if he gets knocked out by Steepay it'll be the funniest thing ever it'll even be more funny if like that's the performance you needed to win if you're like I'm actually ahead right now if Jones just gets a big win I'll probably win this and then Steepay colds him in the first round and none of us took Steepay or even thought about taking Steepay. Or I'm surprised none of you gambled on Stepe not making it and Tom Aspinall stepping in and just smoking John Jones.

John would not accept that fight. John would not accept that fight. You're right. There was, I briefly thought about taking Tom just on the flyer that he would be the 310. Like he'll get called the service at 310. But it just seemed way too risky. They're just a ton of heavy weights you're going to knock people out. and then get those points.

Derek Lewis being chief among them. So all right, fellas. I'm going to call it. Major thanks to you, Casey Lydden, the man behind all of this functionally. Without him, this could not have happened. We got to do this in video form instead of the podcast. Podcast will be up on the feed. So if you didn't watch us or you just want to go back into this and you can.

Huge thanks as well to Alexander K. Lee, to Mike Heck, to Shaheen Al-Shadi for joining me in this. silly little endeavor. M.MA fighting. Shout out to you, best damn website in the whole widest of worlds. And big shout out to y'all. If you watch this,

if you listen to this, if you're reading the article about it, we love you. We'll see you next time. Bye. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.