MMA Fighting - UFC Fantasy Draft, Season 2: Which 60 UFC Fighters Will Start 2025 The Strongest?

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

The MMA Fighting UFC Fantasy league is back for Season 2! Join the MMA Fighting staff as they draft fighters to determine bragging rights for the first half of 2025. Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin Follow Guilherme Cruz: @guicruzzz Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Wi-Fi available to AeroPim members on equipped flights, sponsored by BAL. Conditions Apply. See AyrCanada.com. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is up, everybody? It's the best time of the year! We're in January 2020, and guys, so excited. You probably know already by clicking on the thumbnail by however you

gotten here we're drafting again that's right we did the inaugural m-m-a-fighting fantasy UFC draft league last year the esteemed alexander uh k lee one and we're running things back slightly different rules this time very very minute changes occurring for season two the biggest change though is we got a whole bunch more people joining us we had four competitors in the inaugural league this time we're kicking it up at six So before we get into the very brief intro and the rules breakdown, let's just go right to the group of human beings who will be losing to me in the second season of the MMA fighting UFC draft league. Casey, bring them all in. Yeah.

That is right. If you are not watching, if you're listening to this on podcast, we have David Martin. We have E. Casey Liden joining both behind the same. scenes and taking part in this. Mike Heck returns after a solid effort, but short in the inaugural season. Gierre Mae Cruz, the Brazilian Beast joining us,

and are reigning, defending champion, Alexander K. Lee. 50% more people, AK, do you think you can beat them? Do you think you can run it back? Hold on. Let me do the math for, correct, correct, 50%.

I'm very confident I can't because I won with honor I won with integrity I think the system cannot fail it's certainly a few more variables to consider this time a few more a few more knuckleheads to have to deal with the present company included like whoever that was and uh it's going to be a repeat guys it's going to be I hate to spoil it I hate to get me feel poor you know they're seeing the same person win over and over again but When you're good, you're good. I hope it's not because I hope I get to take this from you. And guys, we are just going to jump almost right into this because otherwise this will take us three hours and we just think out time for that. The rules breakdown for those who do not know who weren't around for the first season of this.

Had a lot of people reach out to me after the conclusion of our inaugural season that they like the idea, riffing on the rules, debating. We made a couple of changes. So big picture. Each of us is drafting a team of fighters. 12 fighters to be specific. One in each of the 11 main weight classes in the UFC.

And then we get a wild card. This season will run through June. So the final event is not yet on the books for the UFC. Whatever the last event is in June will be the last event of season two of this league. Theoretically, season three then will probably start with International Fight Week or something very close. to that. But we run through June. On the books right now, there are 11 UFC events. We will probably have something close to 20 when this is all said and done, but a little bit up in there, which kind of makes a lot of this interesting, because certainly we have some fights that are already, we know

are happening soon. Some of these picks will be speculative, but everybody's got to come out of this draft with one fighter per weight class and the wild card. Scoring is simple. We simplified it this year because it was a little unnecessary the way we did it in the inaugural season. You pick a fighter, they get a win inside the OC, 100 points. They get a finish inside the OC. That's a 50-point bonus. If they get a performance or fight-of-the-night bonus,

that's another 50 points for you for that fighter. If they beat a ranked opponent, UFC rankings, plus 50 more points. If they win a title, or not if they win, if they are competing in a title fight, you get 25 points, and if they are competing in a main event, event, win or lose, you get 25 points.

So the max any fighter can score in one bout is 300 points. But if fighters fight multiple times over this next six month period, you get all those points. That's how improbably, Joachian Buckley was the MVP of last season. He got in two fights in our sort of truncated in our role season. So before we go to the order selection, does anyone here have any questions about the rules? We good. Terrific.

then Casey bring up the wheel. Oh, the wheel! I know that Mike Heck loves the wheel. We did it last time and we're very excited to bring the wheel back. This is how we will determine. It is going to be a snake draft order. So whoever gets first pick goes and then they get functionally the 12th pick. And so, Casey, if we're all ready, I'd like to spin the wheel to determine the first overall draft pick

in the MMA fighting season two UFC Fantasy League. All right. Oh, the defending champion goes first. Why did you let me touch the wheel? No one stopped me. I literally stopped the wheel physically to where I wanted to go,

but no one stopped me. Honestly, I didn't know that was an option. Stern warning. Stern warning. I've received my stern warning, but there's really nothing to be done about it. Was I number one? Did I get number one last year, too?

I have no idea. I was number one, number two. Okay, I was number two. I was number two. Okay, number one. Yeah, sounds like Mike, and then you were two, and then it was Sheen and then me. You don't want to be number one.

Number one is there's a lot of pressure with that first overall pick. As you may notice, the wheel is now down to five. We have moved A.K. From it. Just put it over A. A.K.'s face. Casey, we don't need him now. He's not involved anymore until we start making some draft picks.

The number two draft pick will go to. Ooh, me. I don't think I really wanted to be number two, but I'm going to be number two, okay. And we can keep right on moving around. I think three or four, like those might be the really good one. So these are the,

these are the ones you want. Gee. Yes. The Brazilian beast taking right in the middle should always have his choice. For number four. It's a big spin. This is a big spin.

Oh, and it's an E.K.C.C. Liden spin for sure. E. Casey Liden. Hey. And now. This is the worst. This is the worst one. Five is terrible. This is 10.50 to either get five or half the wheel.

I don't know which one you would prefer. But it looks like Damon is five. Mike, heck, you are going to be taking the wheel in this. All right. So everything is now in order. I got a fancy spreadsheet where I'm tracking all the picks, who they're going to stuff. I've got my own draft board over here that you guys can't see.

And fellas, I don't have like a gong to hit, but let the 2025 season two fantasy league draft begin. A.K., you are on the clock. Well, I'm not brave enough to pick someone that isn't booked yet. That is an option. I think you should know. I'm not picking someone who I think is going to fight twice. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I'm picking a champion.

So a champion is already booked. Someone that I'm going to see the results very, very soon. I'm picking someone from the first debut of the year. Give me Omar. Give me Omar. You're picking a champion. He's not a champion. I mean, well,

Well, he is in my mind. Let me put it this way. I wasn't gutsy enough to make him number one in our MMA fighting rankings. But I've been saying for a year, like at least two years, I think this guy's going to be the champion. He's got his shot. It's book. It's lined up. I don't think there's a chance he's going to defend in the first six months.

If he did, that'd be great. Super points for me. But I'm really just, I have to go with my gut. I have to go with my gut. I have to go with a fighter. I've been supporting for a long time. So, boom our number one. not a bad choice he was very high on my draft board i'll be honest guys uh as we move to the second

pick where i am on the clock this is pretty tough because there are some weight classes where like middleweight has a bunch of fights already booked some weight classes like women's band to weight does not have a lot of action down going to have to be a little speculative but not for me not this time because I don't love a lot of my later choices that I've already got mapped out I'm going to go very similar to where AK is feeling I want to have a title fight early I want to have a title fight that I feel good about and in a way class that frankly I don't think there are that many great options give me Tatiana Suarez at which she is going to come and she's going to win the women's strawweight title Tatiana Suarez is my first draft pick

right I'm putting a lot of faith that she can make it to the cage at some point in time but I believe that's going to happen and we keep moving because Gareme Cruz who is your first draft pick those were two good names I have them on my list as well as options but my number one pick he doesn't have a fight book right now but I'm pretty confident he's got to fight probably March or April and I did expect to have the in available without being the first pick. And my number one choice is Alex Pereira. He's got to fight next. He's going to fight soon.

And he's going to get me a lot of points. Alex Pereira was the first overall draft pick last season delivered in spades. Can't go wrong. I mean, the guy who finished runner-up and fighter of the year was one of like the number two or number three biggest point score last season as well. Terrific choice. I hope he does not fight this year.

And by this year, I mean, the first six months. I hope he sits out waiting to fight Tommy Aspinall or John Jones. And then this backfires entirely on you, Guy. Well, we press on. There's a good chance if it's twice this first half of the year. I mean, it's always fighting. Yes. He is always fighting.

Hopefully not. But if he fights twice, you're probably going to win on that pick alone. Casey, the man behind the ones and twos, come in front of those ones and twos and get in here. Get involved. All right. Well, this is my first ever fantasy picks since I think doing baseball fantasy picks back in high school, back in the wonderful 20th century. But I am going to pick my favorite. middle weight in the world

Driches duplice You son of a What? What? What is it happening? I think there's, I thought I was going to get him. I truly thought I was about to steal DDP with the sixth pick.

You suck, dude. I can't believe that. That's really good. Out of nowhere. That's going to be the best pick of the draft. Oh, I mean, he was my number one middleweight, of course. and now he's off the board.

Casey, oh, we're just going against his brand to pick Drick his QPC. I'm stunned. The first shocker of the draft has occurred. Damon, do you have another one in store for us?

Well, but with the draft away is playing out, you go champions and you go champions early, and I'm actually shocked he didn't go because I think he's, I don't want to say a lock, but I think he's got a really good shot to win. And the problem is he's probably not going to

fight again before July, but again, you got to get guaranteed wins. So I'm going to go with none other than the number one pound for pound fighter in the world, the UFC lightweight champion, Islam Mahachev. I think he's going to win at UFC 311 or whatever number we're at now. And while I don't think he's going to fight again before July, I think that's going to be a big enough win to rack up some points in the first half of year. So I'm going with Islam. Yeah, the only reason Islam's down on my board is just he's fighting once during our season. I know he's not on Mike's board, because Mike doesn't believe he's going to win. The question, though, Mike, as we move to the final pick of the first round,

do you have the minerals to take his opposition? Your boy with the first pick, are you going to boldly try and wheel Armam Surukin sometime later down the line? No, because I could probably get him in the 13th round at this point. This is a beautiful thing. Damon just lost the draft. You think so. It's a beautiful thing because Armand Sarucan's about to knock this man out in the first round.

You heard it here first. I'm going with, he doesn't have a fight booked, but I feel like he's going to fight pretty soon. The man who could end the year is the number one pound for palm fire. The featherweight champion of the world, Ilya, is my number one. Our first speculative choice,

and I'll be honest, I very much considered him with my pick, because featherweight does not have a lot of options on the table right now. Yeah. And then for my next pick, I'm going to take somebody from one of the deeper divisions in the sport, a man who I believe at this moment is the biggest favorite in the UFC in 2025 with the fights that are booked. I'm going to draft Peyton Talbot with my second pick. Oh, you bastard. Yeah.

Wow. Oh, I was really hoping he would make it to me. Oh, that's a way better pick. That's a really good one. I don't like that. I don't like what Mike just did with the wheel there. I mean, Peyton Talbot's like a minus 1,200 favorite. He's definitely fighting once probably a couple of times.

Great, great choice, Mike. Damon, Mike was talking a little bit trash about the standard bearer for the Damon Martin Maniacs. How do you respond? and who are you following up the Islamachio pick with? Well, just to answer Mike's call, I mean, this is a guy who roots for a team that was coached by Gerard Mayo. So, you know, I don't really have a whole lot of faith in Mike's,

Mike says selections here. But I'm going to go with a guy who stays very active. And also because he's not getting a title shot, he's going to stay active. And he's probably going to be racking up more wins in his division this year. And I'm going to go with none other than flyweight contender, Brandon Royval, because he stays busy. He's not going to get Pantosia again.

I think he beats him in L. and I think he probably takes out another random flyweight and he likes to stay active. So I'm going to go to Brandon Roy Ball for my second pick. I heard I heard the peanut gallery way in there, Damon. I want to let you know brand of all was my number one flyweight on the board. I wouldn't take him too highly, but I am with you. I think he does beat the old cop and I think you've got a fair chance that he gets back in there as well. So I Casey, I'm so sorry to say words that hurt your feelings like that.

But fortunately, it is your pick to decide. where to go from here and how to channel that energy positively for your team. Okay, okay. Now, I'm pulling the pressure already. Okay. My second pick is going to be Mr. Performance of the Night, always, Chuckie Olives. Oh, another, our second speculative. Oliver is not booked, right?

Nope. No. No, is not. Okay. I mean, I don't hate that at all. Two lightweights off the board early. I respect that. Charles Oliver is whoever he fights,

if he gets Dan Hooker or whatever, it's going to be sick and he's probably going to run five the night or a performance bonus. So a solid speculation. But, Guy, we head back down to the, humid, warm,

sunny beaches of Brazil for your second draft pick. Yeah. I didn't consider Charles Aliva an option because I don't think he's going to fight anytime soon, so who knows? But, yeah, I'm staying in that Lightwave, and I'm thinking one that's fighting next week, in Hanato Moikano.

And I think he's going to fight again in May because I'm hearing the UFC's planning on coming to Brazil, in Brazil, in Brazil, we're in advance on May 3rd 1st, and he's from Brazil, so there's a good chance. He maybe headlines the card. So, yeah.

He's using sources. He's using sources, Jan. This is a loud. This is totally legal. He's totally legal. Moikano was my number, was my number one lightweight, so totally reasonable because he is fighting next week. And if he beats Benny, he's fighting. Definitely.

If you see coming to Brazilian in late May, he's definitely fighting there, definitely. Well, we, you know, you think that. But they also went to Brazil and headlined a pay-per-view with Alejandro Pantoja because they didn't make prep plan so you never know oh uh man i don't want to have my draft pick again because i really thought paid and talbot might still be there for me to take and i hate that that he is not looking at my draft board uh you know what we've been too kind frankly to each other and i'd like to be a mean mean person to uh I'd like to be a mean person, Alexander Cayley.

I'm just going to take him right out from under his nose. Give me Jailton Almeida as my heavyweight contender. Almeida's fighting like next week, I think, right? He's on a pay-per-view. And he's going to get a dub because he's jailed out. As long as he's not fighting somebody like, great, he's going to beat the hell out of him, get an early submission. Jailton Almeida, my heavyweight representative.

The gauntlet has been thrown. Alexander K. Lee is you have two picks. Yeah, that's like, that's like, you just got like 200 points right there. He's fighting Sergey Spinoffat. He's going to take Sergey Spinoff. Yeah, he's going to take him down and submit him instantaneously. Oh, boy. All right. I don't know if I was going to use this pick on Jelton. Probably a good chance.

That definitely was up there. I got a lot of spots to fill. All right. Let's go with another guy who's booked. Pretty company is going to get a finish. And if I'm lucky, fights twice in the six months. I don't have sources in Brazil. like ye.

But give me John Silva. Give me John Silva. You son of a bitch! Yes! Yes! I had no expectation that anyone would take him. Of course, he's fighting

Melcic Fagasari. Who's very good. Yeah, but he's my boy. And I knew that. Oh, wow. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the jailton. It's personal.

No, it's personal. Gosh. Okay, and I do another pick. There's so many names I know I can get later. But I guess we're at the point... You think that. And for me, it's tough because this is my last... This is my pick, and then it's got... There's like 11...

Yeah, 11 picks in between or 10 picks in between. Okay. I got feather. I got bantamweight. Oh, should I get cheeky with welterweight? None of these people I'm looking at her books. None of these... But I think he will be.

Oh, I can't do it. I'm scared. How much time do I have? I was under. Give me a countdown. Two seconds. One. You're at Brochka. Great choice. Great choice. Great choice.

He would have been gone. He would have been gone if it came back. Definitely. Definitely. Here he was not making it another round of the table. I can assure you have that. Terrific choice. Okay. All right.

We're looking at the old draft board here. This is just there's not a lot of great choices for some of these way classes guys. But the other way class, like the ones where there aren't great choices, I don't even like the choices I would make, whereas ones that I like my choices, I'm really confident I can get later down the line. So I don't know that I need to force the issue. And so I think I'm going to go off the grid here.

with, I'm gonna just do it. I'm gonna take, I take my wild card pick here because coming up in like a week, a month, I don't know, whatever, something in February, there's a man fighting at heavyweight. He's facing Giorzini Rosenstrike,

and he's a dude who all he does is kill people in the first round. Take Sergei, freaking Pavlovich is my wild card competitor. And I'm just going max heavyweights early on in the game, boys. Fuck. I don't have a lot of flexibility now,

but I really like my two heavyweights. They're going to deliver a lot of points, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to middleweight now. He's also fighting in February and he's headlining a card. And I'm thinking him of all. Oh. Oh.

Now that is a spicy one. Wait, who somebody here predicted Massardine Imov to be the middleweight champion. Is Casey? No doubt about it. I like it, Keith. Yeah. Massardine Amavov. You're getting main event points.

If you wins, ranked point. Like, if it pays off, it pays off in a good way. So, Nassardine Imov is the selection for Gierma Cruz and Casey, your boy has been taken from you. Yeah. I don't think you probably saw that one coming, but how do you respond? All right. This is not a pressure now. This isn't funny anymore.

The 30 second shock clock, a lot of pressure there. I'm going speculative again. and crossing my fingers because he only wins in the first round, and he's a main inventor, Tom Aspinall. The big swing. The big swing. I don't hate it. Like, surely Tommy's going to be fighting at some point.

Will he? I know I'm crossing my fingers. If he does fight John Jones, things get interesting. We don't know. We'll see. I am fascinated to see if somebody takes John Jones. Damon, perhaps you, as the man with the whatever pick this is, your third rounder.

Yeah, I love that you took that chance, Casey, but I don't think, I think if he fights John Jones, it's going to be like November. So I have two options. I'm really hoping someone doesn't circle around and take my other pick, but because somebody who took Erie, I'm going to go the other way because I think he is going to knock him out next week, and I'm going to go with Jamal Hill. I know he's not a popular pick right now, but Yuri takes way too many chances, gets hit way too often. I think Jamal's going to knock him out. So I'm going to go with

Jamal just because I think it's going to get a win. And also, light heavyweight is awful. So the picks are pretty thin there. I, this is our first official. I think we all anticipate someone will take Armans Rukin. Our first official head to head battle. And it's coming up in like 10 days or whatever. The head to heads are the most fun when there's people on either end of it. So a solid pick Damon Martin and Mike you did some damage with the wheel last time we're back to you you got two picks what sort of chicanery are you going to get up to this time around yeah um you know I'm just going to go ahead and and take my middleweight off the board I was going to go

I was going to go a little head to head but I'm not feeling it it's going to go with Israel out of sonya not doing it but I am going to go with the man that I have a futures bet on to be the middleweight champion at the end of the year through some craziness I'm going with the man who is probably going to run the F over Brandon Allen in their rematch, Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. To get a ranked win at 185, I'll take him. I'm deeply unsurprised by that choice. Just deeply unsurprised.

And you know what? I'm just going to, I'm going to do the little speculative thing. I'm going to play this game. I'm going to get my women's banimate off the board because I feel that this. fight is going to happen sometime within the first half of 2025. This woman is going to challenge for her first UFC title. And I don't know if she's going to win, but a lot of people feel like she's going to.

I'm going to go to Kayla Harrison as my women's band and weight selection. It's not a bad choice. Women's band and weight does not have a ton of options out there. And if the timeline works out, I certainly will be thinking you're going to do very, very well there. So not as devastating as taking Peyton Talbot from me as you did the first time round, but a solid wheel like. I was going to just to pick Kayla out. Oh, no. So sorry. Well, unfortunately, there's not a lot of other options. So good luck in this way. Damon, the ball is back in your court. So I haven't gone, I haven't gone speculative yet.

and I'm going to stay away from that for at least one more round because I, again, this is another guy who's probably going to fight once, but I'm looking for guys who are going to probably get wins and do it in usually pretty spectacular fashion. So I got to go with the man who will fight at USC Saudi Arabia against a guy that I think is well documented.

I've never been a massive fan of on this panel, and I'm going to go with none other than Sharra Bullitt to go out there and finish Michael Venom Page a welterweight who probably shouldn't be a middleweight. I was very interested to see where Sharra Bullet would fall, just because, uh, I mean, he's been turned in a lot of performances, but I wasn't really sure if there'd be anyone scared of MVP. Obviously, that is not you at all, Damon. So it makes sense for you to be the man who takes Char, uh, Charbuton, Magamette

off and Casey back to you with your fourth round selection. You've been very speculative so far, Casey. Yeah. Very, very speculative. Are you going to be a little more grounded this time or keep your head in the clouds? both because I'm she's fighting but I don't think she'll win but who knows it could be exciting I'm going I'm going to I'm going to champion wailiesang ooh now we have another head to win love it I mean just I've been riding the Tatiana train for eight years now I stand by it but Casey I look forward to our

head-to-head battle in like a month, month and a half, or not even a month and a half, like five weeks or whatever. It will be exciting. Only half is exciting, though, as where Guillermo Cruz is going to go here, as he was preparing to take Kayla Harrison, who's no longer an opportunity for

him. Where are we going now, Guy? Yeah. I'm just, I'm just said, heartbroken. So I'm going to pick someone who's fighting, who's also fighting for a title. There's no date yet, so I just hoping it happens is the first half a year.

And his name is Shavka Hamonov. I mean, that's an A plus choice. If you're going to speculate. Yeah, but I just hope that happens first half the year. If you're going to speculate, we've been speculating on Shavka Rakhmanov for a long time already. Might as well keep going. Will somebody do the same with Hamzaa Myev? Let's see.

It won't be me though, because we are back on me and Hamzaa Jem. my have is not on my big board. I am forced to pick in a weight class because I already burned my wild card, but it's a great pick by me, no regrets. Which of these weight classes will the worst things happen? I will go with my women's ban on weight choice because the weight class is hot garbage and give me the surging Macy Chiesin she is taking on Kettlin Vieira in a couple of weeks. And this weight class is poop soup boys and curls.

So give me somebody who at least has a fight booked, Macy Jason is my choice. Dean Thomas is proud of you. Yeah. Lighting the draft world on fire with that pick, Jet Badd is. It is such a bat. Like I have stars next to what I think are the worst weight classes to choose from. And it is the number one with the bullet. There are two women's band and weight fights booked, I believe, right now.

So you are specking hard. Give me at least the person who I think is going to win one of the two fights that's booked. Should I make it back-to-back women's bent wait? No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. Boy, this is tricky. I'm looking like women's flyweight. There's like no fight booked.

That's going to be an interesting one to pick forward eventually. Also a very bad weight class. Oh, boy. Okay, with my first pick of this go-round, I'll take... I mean, should I take, it's coming up soon. Just, just to take the lid off? But I'm not confident she's going to win. I'll go.

No, you know what? Oh, no. Okay, we're going to go with, all right, hold on. Give me a second. Make a pick. We're going with Reiner de Ritter. Reiner de Ritter.

Oh! Legitimately is all my draft board. Of course he is. He's fighting Kevin Holland. He's going to submit him. This is automatic points. He is. It's going to be the silliest thing you've ever seen.

I don't even. Why is that fight happening? It's so stupid. I heard someone, who was laughing when I made that? You laughed the loudest. It was like my best friend. I believe my best friend by Kevin. Well, I'm so happy.

I'm proud of you. That's a great. Thank you. You picked the middleweighty, middleweight champion. Okay. Well, okay. See, I took that the wrong way. And, you know, because of that, like, I guess I'm upset at you for no reason. And I'm going to take...

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speculative picks on my board calls Prattis was absolutely one of them because I mean breakout fighter at 2024 he's gonna fight like three times in the next six months probably just one maybe once is good for us Mike I almost did Armin I almost did Armin because I thought you were laughing at me maliciously but you know what I said I I, there's a real world where I'm picking Armand just to spite Mike, but I can't, I can't do it yet. We'll see if I get there by the end of things. These weight classes are not good. And there's not a women's flyweight that I want to take with my pick now.

And I don't, middleweight has too many options. I don't even know how to choose middleweight. POTUS is now off the board. Oh, poop. I don't like my choices right now. I will go to the featherweight division because the guy I thought I was going to get his off and Iliate Tupuri is out. Give me a man competing this weekend. Our first real low, low bar, but a guy who was super high on coming off Contender series,

who I think he's one of the best prospects in the UFC at this point in time. Give me Austin Bashy, who is fighting this weekend. And a sneaky, difficult opening matchup, but I think he's at least going to get, he obviously fights this weekend. He'll probably get another one. So give me Austin Bashy as my featherweight person. And Guy, that brings us to you. Yes.

And I'm also going for the same card, someone who's fighting this weekend. And I'm pretty sure he's going to fight against before the second half of the year. And it's another hewice. I just hope she stays at straw weight, yeah, I just hope she stays at strawweight and going to flyweight. Then she can get me two wins on this practice. No, I think even if she fights the flyweight, he gets points, doesn't it? Yeah, but I mean, she goes up to flyway.

She will probably lose if she goes up to flyweight. She sucks at flyways. Oh, I see, I see. Okay. I think her one here, she was eligible for two to me. Yes, you're right. She might want to stay. That's really.

Okay, who did you take after RDR? I took Carlos Prakis. Carlos Prosses. Sorry, I was not. I'm keeping a lot of things together. So terrific. And Casey, that brings us back to you. You're kind of all over the board here.

You've got a lot of great named fighters. Yeah. Oh, okay. Where's my list? Where's my list? All right. I need two of my verse. In Interference, you have three current champions on your team.

Nobody else has that. You know what? Let's keep it strong. I'm going easy champs, picks. Who knows if they win or not, but I'll, Blahpahman. Speculative and a championship pick. I for the record I think that right does happen before June yeah or before July and so heads up against key you and Ghee doing battle when they fight it out Damon you've yet to

take a woman just pointing that out there you and AK are both firmly opposed to the women's weight classes is what I'm learning are you going to change that now or will you march forward and choose some other weight division I'm I'm going to march forward and choose a different division mostly because the coverage are going to run bare pretty quick and you're not helping that fact and I'm also picking a guy who has a fight one of the most confusing fights booked to start 2025 and I'm going to go with my heavyweight none other than Mr. Curtis razor blades why he's fighting Rizvon kunev I have zero idea uh but I hope he's going to win and we know he's not going to fight aspirin all again so he's going to continue to fight random dudes at heavyweight

and if he gets two fights in six months I think he'll be good because Rizvon Kunev has a win over Hinnon Fahedah, who is one of the 10 best heavyweets in the world. So obviously, this fight makes sense. Totally makes sense. He's my number four heavyweight, Damon. So if I didn't do what I did early, I was looking to get there as well.

But Mike, the man with the wheel, once again, it's on you. Ask away. My question is, if I draft a fighter from one weight class and they are fighting a different fighter who is ranked in a different weight class, does it still count as a right? I think that that will count as ranked points should they win. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Fair enough. Okay. I might just knock all the women's divisions out right here. Okay. So women's flyweight. I'm going to take, sorry, A.K., we're going to Canada for this one. She is fighting. Myra Buena Silva.

It's boy she's going to whip up on her. She's probably going to get some extra money after a weight miss. Jasmine, Jazz DeVizius, women's flyweight. I think I'm going to spell this super roll. It was my number one pick. The number one pick. I see you, Mike. I see you, Mike.

You see me? You don't know where I'm going with this Because I am going straight to the Shaheen al-Shadi playbook right here But this is a little bit different This name is at least a little more known They are setting her up To get a finish against a woman who is I believe lost four fights in a row in the UFC

And she's going to do it in the UK I'm taking meatball Molly McCann Who is going to hand Estella Nunes Her fifth consecutive loss On March 22nd in London there you go. So we're clear, that is not a Sheehan al-Shadi pick at all.

People know who Molly McCann is. So that's totally fine. You're competing with honor, even if, yes, that's clearly a setup. Shaheen was picking people whose names he couldn't even pronounce.

She was picking people he's never seen fight before because they were fighting the next day. What we were doing is like, maybe they'll fight again before the end of the year. That's how little regard he had for the human beings that were putting their lives on the line for him could not even remember their faces or names she'd tell me one fact about him don't the fact is he's a minus 850 favorite and he's gonna win all right i guess you got it you are you are competing with honor thus far mike heck uh rest assured on that

point damon we are back to you for i think this is your six pick now i think that's where we're at boy it's getting it's getting rough out here uh yeah the the the selections are getting a little tough here is get a little deeper into this strapped and look at these women's divisions man i said jeez it's getting it's getting hard especially with like hardly anyone book that makes it even tougher um it's very tough yeah i i mean jeez i i'm gonna once again i'm gonna avoid the women's division just for a little while longer and hope that this speculative pick gets a fight and the reason i'm picking him is because i know they've been trying to match him up with a big fight to start 2024 so i assume he's going to get books sooner rather than later so i'm gonna hope upon hope that he gets one but i'm going to

to go with Michael Morales at Walter Waite because I know he's been getting looks for a lot of big fights and he's on a run so I'm going to go with him hoping he gets to fight in March or April that's been the rumor so I'm going with my sources that he's going to fight and he's been on the run sources.

They're using sources again. This is the new dishonorable fighting. See, you know what? We got rid of one dishonorable character and we read it too. Replace them immediately. I don't hate that pick at all. Michael Morales should fight before July,

and he's very, very good at fighting. So solid, solid choice. Casey, we are back to you for your sixth pick. Maybe you will take someone with a fight booked or maybe not. Who can say? I am going to a Shaheen outshadie pick. Remember that guy?

He's fighting this weekend. And he's a big favorite. and he has it been picked, correct? Nobody's fighting this weekend, basically, it's been picked. I'm going, uh, I'm going, uh, Marco Tullio. Oh,

Marco Tullio is probably going to win Casey. So, that's fine. That's not as the most boyfriend. That's what? No, now hold on. Uh, no,

we have a, oh, go ahead. What you say? No, just Just a random fact He's dating Normadouan. Oh. Who may be who may be picked later.

By the most of a couple. She may not be available in your life, but she is available. So we're clear. This is your wild card selection. Yes, I was going to say. Because you already have Drinkas 2 plus C as your middleweight.

Oh, I thought that was, I thought he was a 205er. No, this is a middleweight belt. This is a middleweight. He's fighting. I don't know, Ihor. is a middleweight, but, you know, he'd fall in a little. So if you'd like to, yeah, hold on a second.

We're generous. If you want to, we want to run this back and pick somebody else, we'll allow it. Okay. Oh, that okay, guys? Yeah, well. All right. I honestly thought, yeah, sorry, I thought yours a two or five. And then I will go with, oh, let me do a quick pick then.

Um, I don't know, yeah, crap. And, hey, I control the buzzer. Oh, I'm sorry. What do I need? 205. Okay. Carlos Solberg. Oh, yeah.

Carlos Solberg facing Jan Belhovic in March. So it does have a fight booked and probably going to win that fight. If we're being honest, don't hate to pick, Casey, as we keep on chugging along now to Giermei Cruz, we're back to you. Does I have to figure out? And I have a, I'm going with this trend to pick parties. have have

five books and this wild one let's see it's going to work and the bands away

division I'm going to take davidson figgerido because I think he's either fights

a top-rank bandweight and get probably another bonus because his fights are always

exciting or he's going down to fly away to challenge from Tonja and then we have

a possible title fight with a lot of wins and all that.

So it's my, it's a red one pick, but I think there's a good shot of him going down to flyweight by Pontaja. I think that's a great pick because you are, you're putting in that opportunity for the flyweight option. Even if it's remote, you know,

points, points are points. And so it's still there. I didn't even have, I didn't even think about Davis de Grado as someone on the board. That's a pretty good, pretty sneaky good pick. we are back to me.

I have a list of people that you guys just aren't going to take for any of the remaining weight classes. And then a bunch of women's flyweight who I don't want to pick. And I don't really know which way to go. I think we're going to go up to 205 because there are some other people I could pick here. But I like this pick, I think, the best. And give me, give me Bogdan Guskov. Give me old Noho Hank himself.

He's fighting Johnny Walker, and if there's one thing Johnny Walker likes to do, it's get dead in fun and exciting ways. So Bogg and Gustav, come on down, join my 205 squad. He was the number one name for my wild card pick. I mean, this is me picking against Johnny Walker. He's going to get a wild knockout and get a bonus with his weird as Johnny Walker. Yeah, this is me picking against Johnny Walker more than anything. Plus, Johnny Walker's ranked, so we get the rank bump here.

too. I like Bogdan Guskov, at least as a draft pick in the middle round. So that's where I'm at. Nakee, we're back to you. You have a wheel. Yeah. Yeah. Are you finally going to choose women or you're going to continue to not? Oh, am I? Am I? Yeah. First of all, I love my team so far. And I love all the picks I have left. This is, this is maybe this is the greatest draft ever. I'm so excited. So first, let's knock out my flyweight pick, men's flyweight, Josh, Van. son of a bitch A.K. That's mine. I'm right that in there.

That's mine. And then my favorite pick probably a little bit. I'm going women's band to wait. Because I actually think she will come off the board. Like, just there's not that many fights. And I think she's going to get a finish too. So this is good points. Jacquelinee Cavalcanti, man.

Let's go. She's book. She's fighting Julia Avila. I think she wins that one. So my first woman picked the Jack Lady Talbotta. Honestly, she was on my board absolutely a women's one 35. It has to be. I think she's on everyone's towards.

She's one of the few people who has a fight booked. These books. But yeah, probably going to get a win. But my board just has a lot of other people that you guys might say I'm dishonorable for choosing. So I didn't want to go to her. But absolutely reasonable, okay. And I think honestly,

we looked at if I would love the fans who were watching this to be like doing it blind because I think they would be like Jed Jed is AK's team I think they would think you've taken a lot of my people so uh but it's my turn to take somebody and I don't know where to go things are things are getting tight here and there's just not a women's flyweight worth anything so Uh, one 25. I don't even like those choices since we've all left the board. I'm 35. I'm stalling for time.

Give me for, uh, fudge nuggets. 125. I'll take, uh, I'll take Ray Saruya, who you son of a bitch. That's a great. That was my wild card pick I had. God, I hate you, Jed. That was going to be my wild card. I don't have my 125 plan was entirely getting Brandon Royval.

And as soon as he's off, I looked at the rest of my bore like, I don't like any of these dudes. Raceery is the next highest ranked. So I'll take him. And I hope that that works out for me. But, Guy, we move to you. How are you filling out your roster? It's just sad for this point off.

It's, we must. Yeah, they're about to be some tough picks. We must fly with it's a disaster. It's getting hard here. But I still have an opening for Federway. So I'm going with my boy, Diego Lopez. He doesn't have a fight book, but he's always not delivered. So at least a bonus doesn't fight for the title.

So who the hell knows what's going to happen with him? If he doesn't fight Topuio for the title, at least, he's got to fight someone he had a chance to murder and get another bonus so yeah it's getting hard a bad choice at all featherweight was such an interesting weight class when i was doing my like board preparation because just nobody's booked and like a lot of the ranked big names that don't have any idea what they're doing like volkenovsky's waiting max holloway's not there Diego Lopez kind of such a weird weight class for featherweight. So taking a shot on a guy like Lopez, not a bad choice, but Casey, where are you at?

You filled out all the top end. You've got, you've got your head. You're just working top down at this point in time. She fights this weekend. And apparently by the rules, we have to pick a women's band to weight. So I ain't picking, Aline Perez. But by the rules, you in fact do have to select women's weight. And totally unsurprising that's one of the ones book, it's picked a perfectly fine choice, Casey.

Sometimes you just, you got to eat your vegetables. I had no idea this if I was happening. Or now you know, good job, good job, I'm a good job, I'm a journalist. I got to tell you, that doesn't inspire confidence because you and I are doing a show about this. Um, where does that put us at? Oh, we're on to Damon now. All right. So I was looking at the board here and I'm like, I need a featherweight and there

aren't a lot of featherweight fights booked. So I'm taking a, taking a swing on this one, taking a swing on this one, a guy who is booked, but I don't necessarily love the matchup, but he's facing a guy who loves to get hit and has some of the worst defense in the division. And he is a massive finisher. So I'm going with my guy, Steve Garcia. He takes on Edson Barbosa. Edson loves to get hit.

And Steve is a known finisher. So I'm going to go with my guy, Steve Garcia. I think that's a terrific pick, Damon. Steve Garcia was number three on my featherway board. I think that's a great pick because Edson's, God love Edson. He's been doing it too long. I think you got a real shot there to get big points. Mike, we are back to you with the wheels for picks seven and eight.

Can I see the chart? Please. Casey's in charge of the chart. I want. Just waiting for a producer extraordinaire to show me what I need. Okay. I need like everything. You have expertly filled out your women's weight classes, which I respect a lot.

Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to get, I'm going to take my light heavyweight off the board. No, I'm not because he got picked already. Son of a bitch. All right, I'm going to take my flyweight off the board. He is going to fight at UFC Mexico City on March 29th, and he's going to get a finish. Lazy boy, Ronaldo Rodriguez, come on down and join the team.

You are going to improve to 18 and 2 as a pro and remain undefeated in the UFC. And then I will take... I didn't can't do it can't do it and then I now's the time I mean there's so much value on a guy who's going to get a first round finish and become the lightweight champion of the world in less than two weeks so I have to to pull the trigger I am more than all in on the 2025 soon to be fighter of the year and soon to be UFC lightweight champion arm and serukin let's go We all knew that was happening at some point. I'm really happy with this pick for you, Mike, because it frees me up. I'd been holding my lightweight pick because I wanted the threat that I might just take Armin away from you to exist. And now I can go with my heart and do what matters to me most.

But I can't do it yet because the guy who is going to prove you incorrect, of course, Damon Martin, who has is the Markachev. He is up next on the board. Fill us out for your eighth pick, Damon. So it's starting to cover, starting to run a little bear. And especially when we talk about guys who already booked. So I'm going to go to the guy who I've heard rumors will be booked in the first quarter, or first half of the year.

And I've heard a couple different potential matchups. I'm taking a risk here and just saying that I always have faith in this guy. So I'm going to pick him. I'm going to go to my bantamweight, Corey Sanhagen. Ah, that was my, that was my next pick. A.K., how do we feel? Damon didn't go to sources. He went to rumors.

A rumors an acceptable tool to To deploy. Twitter, I mean, it's acceptable. It's not advised. But as you were good sir, I suppose. It's true. As the great Mike Heck often says, it's not true until you hear it from us.

Don't take what Damon said to be confirmation of anything at all. But Corey Sandhagen, I mean, he's probably going to be in a fight of the night if nothing else. If he does compete. But that brings us back. Casey, it seems like Corey Sanhagan was snaked right out from Undy. where do you go instead? Taco, taco. Oh, do I have it?

I honestly thought I got a lot more of his friends than he's done this time. I got, I got Chalachia. I got Chalachiaz. No life. I picked it to him. Hold on, hold on. I am going, I'm going to stay on my brand and he probably won't win, but I'm going to Monaco, Mn, Kopp.

Hey. I mean, that's a terrific pick. We can't. You're getting main event points, right? Ranked. Ranked fighter. Yeah. Fighting a rank fighter, yeah.

Yep. Get a W. It'll be big time. And maybe, you know, Pantosia gets pretty busy. If he gets a win, maybe they turn them around fast. We'll see.

That means our fly weights are almost filled out. Gee, you are up next and you're the only person who doesn't have a flyweight. Are you going to go there? Are you going to go somewhere else? Yeah, because I have a question about fly weights. about the rules of the drafts. What happens if I pick someone that ends up fighting someone to my own team? That's I will you will get wins you will get the points for the win

guaranteed unless a draw occurs. But yeah. If there's a if there's a draw he should get like 500 points. We don't have any rules in place for a draw that'd be pretty far. I'm picking from Georgia. I don't I mean he's gonna get a defense in It is, you know. So there's double title, title fights, points for title fight and all that.

You get, you get double points in the title fight if he does fight Figgie. You're guaranteed the win points. You'll get double bonus if they get fight of the night. Yeah. A lot of opportunity for success there. That's even more solid. That's even more solid if he fights in May and Brazil and takes out Kai Karra-France in the first round, which is what I predict will happen. So it's pretty much guaranteed lock

If he fights that one, so Yeah, maybe he should have taken Pentagia instead of surreal The flyweight, so yeah I will say, I think he has more speculative picks Than fighters who are booked I think he has five I think he has five

Question question question Triple question marks as I have indicated on my own documentation and two And three actual books Yeah, that's two way to win He's a bold man Wow Wow

He's a bold man Or maybe you just don't have the sources. Oh, damn it. I definitely don't. I can't speak for AK. Everybody I'm picking is a fightbooked because I'm not trying to play the spec game. Now where do I go? I do love that we now have our first completed weight class.

Men's Flyweight is the first weight class where everybody's got to pick down. Women's flyweight. Only one person has a selection. We are all just waiting to pick up the dress. eggs of that way class later on in the future. And I don't think I'm going to be the person to do that. Because Mike took Arm and off the board, I am a little, I'm freed up to make the lightweight choice I wanted to make the thing that I think, maybe isn't the smartest, but I like him a lot. I think he's going to return after a big long laugh in a big way. Give me Hafeel Fiziv as my

lightweight contender. solid my issue is he's fighting like march so that's less time for him to turn around whereas like could take terence mckenny but also terence mcquine might fight again and might get knocked out in the second fight so you never know uh but a k that brings us to you for the wheel and you can close out the lightweight division if you so choose or you can go somewhere else fazeve is not booked right uh i believe that fazeve is booked or is rumored to be booked against Matush Gamron. I have not seen it on MAAfighting.com.

So I'm just saying, it is not, it's not, it doesn't look like it's happening. So. Yeah, it's not, it's not happening. Way to go, Jed. Well, now I, you know what? I regret my choices. You got to get those sources, man. Can, can I change that pick to somebody who's books?

I mean, he'll probably fight in the next six months. If your whole thing is, is he going to fight the next six months? Well, well, six months. Uh, I, you know, hand up. This is, this is why you don't trust sources that aren't in MMAfighting.com. Because I'm pretty sure I was trusting Wikipedia and Wikipedia apparently lied to me. First time Wikipedia has ever lied. So unfortunately, I am the victim of it.

What do I got? Heavyweight, lightweight, uh, women's flyweight, strawweight wild card. Correct. Mama Mia. Uh, okay, let's go. That's right. Wildcar. If Fizzis doesn't fight, I'm going to be so mad.

I'll fight. I mean, you mentioned a guy who I guess now's the right... No, no, no, I don't want to take that yet. I don't want to take that yet. That's not funny enough. Let's go... Because I'm pretty sure this woman will fight before.

Let's go Natty Ice. Let's take Natty Ice. I think she's going to fight. In the next six months, she's going to fight. And she's going to get a win. So let's go Natty Ice with one of these picks. Mike, how do you feel about that? I mean, I know you already have your person,

but you could have had Natty Ice as a wild card. I mean, it's just guaranteed points. That's a guy who wants to go back to back right there. So I respect it. I admire it. And you're in a great position now. I think you're a minus 12 point favor now to win this thing. You can with that pick.

Thank you, my best friend. Thank you. Heavy weight is so crap. That's why I took the two good ones. That's why I took the two good ones. It is absolute dog, dude, do you. Mercy me. I'll use my wild card now that.

I use my wild card on the least sexy well card possible one mr leon edwards because he will be headlining ufc london so um yeah let's go let's get leon off the board man i got to tell you i did not it you could give me a thousand guesses where you were going and i've been leon edwards's wild card the crowd the crowd just went pretty mild i'm not going to lie so i'll go real mild right there boy not a sound not a sound Okay, so this brings me back. I need a bantam weight, a middleweight, so many middle weights. And you all have middle weights.

You can't really take any of my middleweight options. A welterweight, which I could use. Who do I have as welterweight that could be? Oh, I've got some decent options for welterweight. Wait, let's, uh, let's go, let's go bansom weight. I'm going to go with a guy I really like a lot. He came off the contender series last season. Already already picked up one win in the UFC.

It has a fight booked in like a month. Give me Cody Haddon for my bantam weight. He's a young pup and a very good prospect, I believe. And then Guy, that brings us back to you. Damn, it's just musical now. It's pretty tough scenes. I just have heavyweight, women's band's weight, and women's flyweight. I can't come up and come in.

Julianna Pena those are the worst weight classes remaining Julian and Pena is still on the board yeah yeah oh okay so look right way okay and I'm going the name I'm going women's bent away is Carol Rosa for the soul reason that she has a fight book and I think she's gonna win against Harry Perez so that's just the only that's the only reason why I'm choosing her that's a great pick Carol Hosa was my number two

women's fan away because she has a fight book That's going to win. That's it. That's all you need there. So terrific pick, Guy. And we move on to Casey. You and Guy are just at loggerheads all day here. So many in opposition.

What you could take, who could you take to really oppose Guy? Nobody. None of Guy's open picks can you fight him from this point. So where you going, Casey? I am going this young flyweight. Okay. And she seems to fight a lot, and she has a fight boat, so maybe she should fight again. And she's exciting.

She gets finishes or gets finished. Song Wang. Well, it's my bad choice. It's pronounced song. It is pronounced song. I always remember her first appearance. I kept calling her Kong. So I just made me laugh.

Kong, uh, victim of the one of the 10 biggest upsets in UFC history last year, but Casey is undeterred. And I got to be honest, totally reasonable pick. She's one of the four women that could be picked here. So, uh, Damon, you are now, I guess you're not forced to you. You can take a wild card, uh, but if you don't take a wild card, you're forced to pick a woman for the first time of this draft. Who is it going to? I am going wild card, actually.

And I'm going with a guy who. I'm going now here's the one this is a this is going to be a this is going to be a tough pick and it's going to be a controversial pick but I'm picking it because he's going to fight in March he's going to fight in London and Jed you're going to love this pick because he's fighting a guy or at least I hear the rumor he might be fighting a guy that you're not a big fan of I'm going to go another than England's own Patty Pimbledt oh my God what an asshole phenomenal phenomenal that is phenomenal thank you thank you Damon I mean you didn't even say Mike and Sandler's going to kill him.

Great pick. He didn't even, you know what's funny? He didn't even say the name of who Patty was going to fight. And we all know who he was talking about. That's what's so great about that. You didn't even say it until. I can't hate the pick. That sucks.

If he wins, it's a ranked win too, like big time. Yeah, big, big points possible there. And most importantly, you kept the bit alive where you have not taken a woman until you will physically be forced to choose one coming up. Mike, you don't have that issue. Your women's weight classes are pulled out. You have heavyweight, 205, welterweight and wildcard option. You got two picks here. Your penultimate wheel.

How are you going? God, that patty pick just sucked the life out of me. I really wanted that one. I don't know why I was so excited about it, but I really wanted it. You know what? You know what? We're going to go a little head to head. I'm going to go head to head with you, E. Casey Liden,

because there are levels to this game, and I just don't know if this man is there just yet. So I am going to go with the former UFC light heavyweight champion, Jan Blahovic, as my light heavyweight. Very good, my best friend. Very good. Just tackle him. Just tackle him, Jan.

All you got to do is tackle. That is good. Just tackle them, and you win. Tackle and grapple. Tackle and you win. Tackle and you win. And where do we go to the wheel? I have no fucking idea.

There are not a lot of good heavyweight choices out there. Heavyweight, welterweight, Mike? You still do Walterweight, I believe. Heavyweight, Walterweight and Wildcar. It's your wild car time, buddy. Also, light heavyweight is now cash. Way to go, everybody. It's the second weight class.

Congratulations. Woo. God, I might have to draft Shamil Gadsieff right now. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to drop Shaviel Gazzio. He's fighting Thomas Peterson. Yeah, I'm going to do it. I mean, give the main eventer.

They're giving him a walk in the park fight. So let's just take it and see if you could do something with it. Why not? And Damon, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You must select a women's fighter this go-around and all the remaining go-rounds. Pick you out of payment. There's just, no, that's not going to pick. David, let me just say,

Giuliana Pena paid off for me, and I feel similar to you. I picked her with my teeth gritted, and it worked out. I did the same with Lockheed Buckley. Honestly, like, this is just for wins. So I'm not even worried about that part. I just don't think she's got to fight.

That's the problem. But I'm going to go, I'm speculating here, but she's not fighting for the title, but she might be fighting for the title. February. I'm going to go with Virna Jandaroba. She was supposed to fight Tatiana. There's

a chance. If Tatiana doesn't, if Tatiana doesn't fight in February, she's probably going to get the fight. And if she doesn't, she's probably going to get Yan-Jown-Nan, and I think that's a winnable fight as well. So I'm going to go to Verno Janiara as my strawweight pick. I put that ju-ju on my Tatian's story. It was literally my

number one pick for my Routka. Yeah. That was going to be. She might fight with the title. That was going to be my my straw eight pick. And I just so I could laugh at Chad, but yeah. Don't. That's a bad juju on my Tatiana pick.

Okay. Tatiana's going to do great things. And she's going to fight and defend the title before July. That my number one overall draft pick will pay dividends. Casey, you have 145, 135, and your wild card left. Where are you going for this selection? Well, he's got to fight booked. You will lose.

but I guess it's a ranked opponent and then you might come back again later in the first six months and fight another ranked opponent so I'm going to Rob I'm so surprised he went this far I know everyone believes

who's gonna win I guess I thought I just missed it that someone hadn't picked him I thought like or said to someone to pick it I hadn't written it down wow the disrespect uh same sort of stuff happened last Like Max last time went super, super late. Mike got him as a wild card or in like the 15th round,

whatever, something insane. Yeah, he's like my last pick. Yeah, that's how I got Julianna Pena is. I just like no one wanted to pick her. I was like, screw it. I'll do. And so if Maraub wins, this is the steal of the draft case. If he wins and then if he does what he says and like fights Sean O'Malley,

this is the steel of the draft. So I think that's an electric pick and a great choice. Guillermo, you've got heavyweight, women's flyweight, and your wild card left. Which one are you filling out right now? I was going for my wild car. I was going to speak to dinner. I was quite confident no one was going to pick her. And then, okay, I'm going to go with my wild car next.

He's got a mad. And then, Casey got married. Thank you very much, all of you guys. So I'm going to stay, stick with my wild card. someone who's I don't think any of you guys we're going to pick him so just go with it because I'm trying to avoid at all course headwates and fly weights uh it's going to be Gregory Rodriguez who's headlining a movie of Cainer near so he's booked at end points and I win yeah ranked opponent yeah that's winnable fight ranked opponent yeah smart smart also Robocop

usually really fun as hell so you feel good about it feel great about it i feel less good about this but i didn't think she'd still be here and so i have to take her she's entirely speculative and even as a spec is still my number one one's flyweight because i'm not i'm just not picking my point of silver give me the champ valentino shivchenko for my women's flyweight if she defends the title this will be great i think so give me bullet and I don't know why she's still here when this weight class has no good choices, but it's a gift, a gift for me. I'm surprised you haven't filled out middleweight somehow.

There's like 9 million middleweight. I guess that's why I guess there's so many middleweights fighting. So there are so many middle weights and you guys all already have them that I was just like, I don't care. I'll pick it last. That's true. That's true. Pick it.

Yeah. You get the cream of the crop. Well, I mean, now is definitely the time to take Mr. Am I right? Oh, yeah, force. Yeah, it'll come back to me. Let's take Mr. Terrence McKinney. Good choice.

It is now the time, yeah. He's definitely going to get you a lot of points in one fight, and then if he doesn't get knocked out in the second fight. I love the matchup he has now. Oh, boy. What are that? Straw weight and light, no, lightweight. You have strawweight and heavy.

I'm kidding with my lightweight. I'm sorry. I'm heavy. Okay. Let's go, let's go, Strowway. I'll take whatever's left. Oh, please, if only it was booked. I'll take whatever's left at Heavywood when that comes around.

Strawway, I got a smart choice. I got a dumb choice. I'll go with the smart choice. I'm checking her. I'm going with Amanda Lamoche, not McKenzie Dern. McKenzie Dern would have been the way more fun choice, because this could be her year, guys. But I like Amanda Lomboch's chances against Yasmin Lucindo.

She gets finishes. She's one of the most proven finish in the division. Let's go with that. Let's go with the Meta Lohm. I mean, very, very reasonable. I was going to absolutely take McKinsey Dern if I didn't get Suarez early, but now here we are. So back to me, my penultimate pick, I have middleweight, I have welterweight left. Everybody else has their middleweight.

There are a couple of wild cards. Mike does still need a welterweight. So Mike and I could be scrapping over the appropriate welterweight. So I think it would make most sense to go welterweight. couple of choices here one you can either speck or I could take a guy that I like speck or should I speck or should I take a guy I like

we're going to take a guy I like because he's coming off the contender series I likened him to john jones not quite john Jones not saying the same thing but very very good prospect he is fighting this weekend as a slightly short notice replacement Give me a Jacob Jacob Schobey Smith. Thank you very much as my welterweight contender. Like it.

Stakey. He's probably going to fight twice and I'm hoping he wins. But Mike took Peyton Talbot so I take Jacoby Smith in case you were trying to take him, Mike. But Gee, your penultimate pick, women's flyweight and heavyweight.

The two worst weight classes probably. coming into this thing. I'm losing my mind here. I'm going to stay at a flyweight. There's literally no one there to choose. So I'm going to this just for the wind points. Luana Carolina was fighting in early March against Montana Delaroza. She's coming out three wins.

So she's going to do it. Hopefully, I can get a few. I feel points for me. I don't, a totally reasonable choice there. I spelled her name wrong. I should do that better. Boom. Also, geez, I got to get back up.

Casey, that brings us to you. So what question? Does this draft go until International Fight Week? So the end of the last event of June is the final event that we are playing. It's usually the first. first week or two of July. It feels better for us to be like, hey, let's start for July.

Like, and International Fight Week gets us in for the next season. But yes. All right, right, right. But I change in my pick. All right. Okay. Clock on.

So I need a wild card and featherweight. I thought I just featherweight. None of these feather weights are going to fight. Federal weights tough. There's a pick that I would like at Featherweight for you, but I'm obviously not going to help you. I'm going to go at Featherweight, Bryce Mitchell. Oh, is Bryce Mitchell booked or is this just Pierce Beck? Pierce Speck.

He's not booked, but he came off a relative injury-free fight against Crone, so he should be booked and he'll probably get a ranked opponent. And, you know, it's Bryce Mitchell. You never know. You never know is terrific way to describe them. Damon, your penultimate pick, you have women's ban away, women's flyweight, which are you solving first? I think, I don't think she's been taken.

So I'm throwing it out here because I've, I've just blocked women's band's way completely out of my mind. But I'm going to take a shot here. Has, has Norma Dumont been picked yet? Because I don't think she has. I'll take her because, I'll take her because why not? just why not give me somebody who's you know she's a decision machine she gets wins and lord hopefully

she doesn't end up getting Kayla Harrison which is a fight she's pushing for but assuming that doesn't happen then yeah I'll go door with Dumont so I deeply love this because this means that assuming Mike or Casey don't take her with their wild card juliana paina will be our only champion who is not selected why would you assume that why would you assume that I'm just weather Mike or Casey take her with a wild card. They could, and then that might change it. We'll find out because we are about to get Mike's two final picks right now, a wild card and welterweight, Mike.

Which are we, uh, which one do you want to, to be your last pick versus your second to last pick? So I got, I mean, I got to take a spec swing here, I think. There is a part of me that wants to take Michael Kiesa because he's going to fight in Seattle and they're probably going to give him like an easy fight, but I'm not going to do that. I will go I'm going to go Sean Brady because I think he's going to fight somebody I just don't know who

the wild card pick is the wild card pick's interesting because there's a couple of ways I want to go because I want to go with somebody with multiple fights and then just kind of looking at they're both booked right now so I'm actually going to draft another featherweight and this kind of hurts my heart a little bit

to have to do this, but I got to take a big risk here because he's about to start off the air fighting a ranked featherweight as an unranked fighter. And I think stylistically, it's a pretty good matchup for him. So I'm going with Yusuf Salal. And even if he loses to Calvin Cater, he's going to fight again before the end of June. There's no doubt about it.

So I'm probably going to get two fights out of this. And if he beats Calvin Cater, a chance to get two ranked wins. So I'm going to go ahead and take that shot. You did the right thing, my best friend. Yeah, you did the right thing. you did the right thing you'll notice i filled that in when you started talking before you even gave your answer uh as soon as you said this would hurt you i was like oh it's usuf uh which i think is very considering how thin featherweight was that was a good pick to to grab in there damon you are

now forced to choose a women's flyweight uh to round out your squad who is it going to be because there's not a lot of great choices okay this one actually kind of hurts me because i i honestly don't think she's going to win, but it's a title fight and she's out there and she's available. So it hurts my soul because, you know, I think everyone knows Valentin is my girl, but I'm going to go in Manofiore on the off chance. She fights in the next six months and she somehow pulls it off and wins the title. Again, I don't have a lot of faith in that pick, but, you know, if I get some points out of it, great. If I don't, literally there's no one else booked, though. Like, there's no one else booked. Like, there's just nothing out there to pick.

if I tell you who will you will you will you will you be willing to change your pick oh who's your who's who's who's who's who's fighting uh jj i'll pass i'll pass i'll pass i'll pass on okay all right i'll just put it out there i'm just putting it out there i'll just put it out there lee's she's andrews she's andrew lee's on like a tony ferguson street she's lost like nine in a row and somehow still has a roster spot you could pick j j july she's on my board i don't have a whole i don't have a whole i don't have a whole lot of faith in that And I don't, that's probably, that's, that's probably an easier win because, you know, Andrew at least not on a great run right now and her selection of boyfriends, the whole other conversation.

But, uh, yeah, I'll go. I'll just stick with men. And just hope for the best. Okay. I, you do what you got to do in this way. I get it. Casey, your wild card selection. You have the opportunity to take Juliana Pena and have six champions on your roster of 12 people.

You can be 50% champion. If you take Julianna. Pena and if you don't, then she will be undrafted. You cannot pick Sakea Zawa, by the way. You cannot. Well, you can. I can. As the Adam Waite.

Adam Waite debut by the third, final quarter of 2025. I thought about picking a Belator fighter from my wildcar pick, to be honest. I thought there was a few names out there. I think save that for Q2. Yeah, yeah. No, no Julia Pena. picking her. I am picking just because he gets a bunch of knockouts and I hope he fights a couple

of times, but we'll see. I'm picking the, uh, the mountain tiger. Me and Yang Zhang at 205. Oh, not a bad choice. If he fights, I mean, it'll obviously be a great choice because he will get a knockout immediately. He's not booked. He's not booked right now. And he fights multiple times. He's not booked and you're hoping he fights twice? Yeah. All right, your final selection as we wind this down three draft picks left in Guy. You need to close out the heavyweight division to round out your team. Who is your heavyweight representative for the NBA fighting draft lead? Can I keep just just keep a blank space there?

And don't select him. No selection. Sadly, no. Yeah. Look, there's a heavyweight. champion out there right now. That is an option. We said that Pena was the only champion that wasn't picked.

We got another guy. The other guy. The other goat. So I'm changing another thing. I'm choosing a fighter that has a fightbook, and I think it's going to fight at least one more, hopefully. And it's Jonathan Denise who's fighting in early March against Victor Petrilo was moving up from light heavyweight.

So there's a good chance of a finish there. And maybe the BBC revisits him against Derek Lewis before the second half of the year. And then that's two fights for him and that rank your opponent. Just hopefully. That would be electric. Vitor, just tackle him. Just tackle him, Vitor, you win. You know, Vitor's fall off has been impressive lately.

So we'll see if it continues. I am left with middleweight and I have two choices. Let me actually pull up UFC rankings to see if Chris Curtis is to rent. Oh, poop. Chris Curtis isn't ranked anymore, which makes taking Roman Koppelov less appealing. Can I, can I give you a couple of, I mean, can I give it? There's many options here. It's very big names.

You have thoughts. Why not? I mean, we got Izzy. We got Izzy. We got Sean Strickland. Izzy is on my board. There's two former chip. Okay.

I'm not taking Sean Strickland. because I don't think he's going to win. And even if he does, those are dirty points. I don't want those points. Izzy makes the most sense. I don't know if I'm going to commit to that. But let's have a little more fun. I've picked a lot of guys that I liked off contender series already.

So I don't need to do another one of those. There is a guy I really like off contender series. And I'll be more competitive. I will pick Israel Adisina. So Guy and I have something to fight about as he has Nisradineamov. I see you. A.K. You are our last like, by the way, I really want to take

Monsor Abdul Malik, who is fighting this weekend or next weekend, and is a hot shit dude coming off contender series, but I'm trying to be more Every 22nd. You got another month for him. Oh, then I don't even feel nearly as bad. In my note, he's fighting.

No thought of Edmund Chibazi? No, absolutely zero thought of Edmich. He is going to, I think he's going to smoke whoever does he's fighting. I applauded that camera guy's name, but I think he's, that's a knockout. Anyway, I've thought Edmund Schabezian was going to win a lot of fights so he didn't win. So that's how we go.

A.K., you close out our draft with your heavyweight selection. A.K., I would like to point out, your MVP last year is available. Jonathan Bones-Jones was the MVP of your team last. He carried you to victory with his dominating performance against Dipe Mietich. You can take him to fill out your roster. You can get the greatest fighter of all time. The pound for pound best fighter, according to Dana White, with the last pick of the draft.

Will you do it? I need someone to tell me, like, why I shouldn't? Because, I mean, if he fights, if he fights, Fadetta or Aswell, the first six months, I'm picking to beat either of those guys. Because my other options are guys who are a book, Jarzino, who is fighting Pavlovich, who was picked, and Marchant Tobora, which, you know, who I love.

He's ranked but not funny right back. Specking on, specking on Volkov or gone. F, that is. Or Derek Lewis. No. We're going to, just to make it so, just to make Dana happy or mad, angry, I think. Of course we're going John Jones. The upside is too high.

There's just so many points to be had. And I owe the man. We're running it back. We teamed up last year. Listen, personally, we might not be on the same page. We don't get along. But when it comes, Shaq and Kobe, once it gets on, the court it's all business and we win championships is that we're going to do again this year so

okay let me just say i think this is a great pick i was astonished that your best friend mike heck did not take this man and took shemiel gaziev because mike has been driving the bandwagon the john is going to fight alex perera and i just thought you i thought you i thought you take the shot instead you've backed shameel gaziev you've left no i've changed i've changed course i've changed course. Pereira's going to fight Tom Aspinall and then the winner's going to fight John. That's how... Yeah. I think that is the main concern around John.

It's just not in the first six months. I think I would want to pick John. Yeah, I think he'll be a very... Obviously, if he doesn't fight in the first six months, he'll be like a top you know, top two, top three pick like in the second half of the year. I think that's the only thing. I'm gambling that he's going to fight in the first half but... Last pick, it doesn't really matter.

Plus AK, most importantly, by taking John Jones, that does mean that officially Juliana Pena is the only champion who did not get selected. So well done, everybody. We did it. And that does it for the 2025

opening season M&P fighting UFC Fantasy League. That is a mouthful. Come up with something better. You could see on the board, those are our selections. If you're watching this on YouTube, thank you for joining us.

We will have an article coming up. You can kind of follow along with us as the year goes on. if you guys have thoughts questions concerns comments ideas about how we can make this more robust shoot them my way because i'm happy to tinker we've already started talking about some things for season two but from ufc Vegas 100 which takes place this weekend until the last event in june we will be scrapping i'm pretty confident i'm going to dominate the hell out of my lovely enemy fighting compatriots but we'll find out over the next six months guys any final thoughts

we get the heck out of here. Just, guys, no, just know that no matter what happens, even as I stomp all over your fancy teams, that I love you very much. I want that. Aw. I'm so excited for our first head-to-head matchup and be ensuing Slack messages that will prosper as a result. Thanks for sticking with us, guys.

This is how fun, and I'm super looking forward to how this plays out. And doing this again come July, because we will absolutely be doing this. And that time, I will be the person holding the fictional fantasy championship belt. So until then, thanks for being here. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.