MMA Fighting - UFC Fantasy Draft, Season 5: Which 72 UFC fighters Will Close Out 2026 In Style?

Episode Date: July 4, 2026

The MMA Fighting team is back with Season 5 of its fantasy league! Who is set to star inside the octagon over the next six months? Will Conor McGregor return to the octagon with authority, or will Max Holloway get his revenge? Can Islam Makhachev retain his welterweight title, or is the other Irish MMA star set to break through? Plus, which under-the-radar standouts could fight more than once and produce the kinds of finishes that make the difference between winning and losing the league? Join the MMA Fighting staff as they select the 72 fighters they think are best poised to end 2026 with a bang. Follow Alexander K. Lee ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Damon Martin ⁠⁠⁠@DamonMartin⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jed Meshew ⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠ Follow Mike Heck ⁠⁠@MikeHeck_JR⁠⁠ Follow Guilherme Cruz ⁠⁠@guicruzzz⁠⁠ Follow José Youngs ⁠@JoseYoungs⁠ 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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Oh, yeah. Yeah. That is right, ladies and gentlemen, those horns, they mean it's time to get drafting again, baby. It is time for the 2026 part two, aka season five of the MAA fighting UFC fantasy draft league. At this point, you probably know what's going on. we've built our own fantasy MMA game.

It's not year round, but it's half year round. And we just wrapped up season four. And so we're bringing back the full MMA fighting crew to restock, re-rack, and get going. We'll explain the rules as we go along very briefly. But again, you probably know this already. So before we do, let me first introduce to you in the order we will be drafting because we are drafting in reverse order of the winners, basically.

So my name is Jed Mishu, if you don't know this already. Hi, I'm actually drafting a second to last this year. So I'm slightly out of order. But first up, the Brazilian beast, a man who is proudly representing his country as they prepare to face the mighty Vikings of Norway, Germann Cruz, Guy. You finished dead last? How are you feeling about this draft? I'm not surprised that I finished last.

I think it was the same way last year. I suck at this. That's why I'm coming with this shirt. I know if you guys are going to remember. But last, I think it was 24 years ago. 24 years ago? I, math sucks. In 1994, not going to Sexy Diego.

We wore these jerseys. to beat the USA on 4th of July to then win the World Cup in the United States. And then we are back to the United States to win our fifth World Cup title. So I had to bring this, to bring me luck to maybe get a better result on this year's enemy fighting draft. Well, to be fair to you, Guy, basically nobody did very well. year but for our champion who mop the floor with us, but we'll get to him in a moment because we are going to the hardest working man in MMA. He will be drafting second as he prepares for his Mexico squad to take on the evil English

team this Sunday as well. Jose Young's Jose, who's your first draft last time? How do you feel about it? You ready to get going this time? Yeah, I did no research that time. I've done no research this year. You guys reminded me I had a team. every single big event.

I'm like, oh, yeah, I did that. And then I looked at him like, oh, he did have Carlis Saldberg. So, like, yeah, looking forward to not paying attention and kind of stumbling through the season. But maybe I will do better this year, I promise. Last year, it was a learning curve. There's a lot of people I should have drafted.

Also, not for nothing, my lightweight got investigated by the FBI. So I feel like I should get something. So that was a big bummer, like right out of the gate for like the first event of the year, but we cursing it. That is a tough look. A man who could not care less about the World Cup, but does have a potentially exciting season ahead of him

as we near the football season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Damon Martin coming in and the middle section number three this year, Damon, tough scenes last year. Everybody you had that weighed more than 155 pounds, mostly let you down. And your bold selection of Connor McGregor was just a couple of weeks too early. How are you feeling this time? Let me just start by saying, Who day?

And yeah, listen, what was it? Two drafts ago? I had a really strong draft. I either won or I came close to winning this year are back at the bottom. So very much a bingles style a couple of years here. But I'm ready to go. Hopefully some of the champions, if I pick champions, will actually fight during this six-month span, unlike the last one. You, yeah, it was pretty tough scenes for you there.

as Islamakov already are just not out there competing. The man who finished in the bronze medal position, last season's winner, by last season, I mean season three's winner, a man who will be joining Jose Youngs out at UFC 329 and the return of Connor McGregor. Also a man who had several people not compete this year. Mike Heck, how you feel in? Look, the bold pick of Gable Stevenson didn't work out.

But maybe, maybe it's going to work out for you now. Oh, it's got to work out. Spoiler alert. I'll just leave it at that. But, you know, the guys who did fight did pretty well. I made some sneaky picks that all paid off. And then, you know, sometimes you take a risk and you draft Macy Barber. And she's on the wrong end of one of the craziest knockouts in UFC history.

So take the good with the bad. And excited to be back here for part two of the 2026 fantasy season. You also take a risk by drafting Daniel Zell Hubert, despite me telling you not to believe in Daniels. Worst draft ever. And look what it got you. As I mentioned, I came in second place this season, but when I say that, it's not that impressive because I was a million points behind our winner. Justin Gachie doing just God's work for me, though, with two title wins in the first part of the season. But our champion are reigning defending the king in the north.

Alexander Kaylee, preparing to play Morocco this weekend as well, by the way, for Great Canada. Headspace there, sorry, guys. The man who selected, and at the time we laughed, we joked. I can't believe A.K. Lee is drafting Josh Oket, MVP of season four, 650 points. Also, several, multiple other fighters getting you over 200 points. And Jocelyn Edwards, 350 points, 2,700. hundred points for last season, the most ever scored in our four full seasons of doing this. A.K., congratulations.

How are you so good? I just want to say, thank you, all you guys, great competitors. I may seem arrogant at times, but I am a benevolent winner. So I got you all something. Hold on. Let me reach you to my little bag here. Just hold on, just a little bit. How about that?

You better shoot us the bird. How about that? Wow, my best friend, are you serious? Jed, for those listening via podcast for him, you described that was great. That was great. On screen right now.

Alexander Kaley has channeled his inner Josh Hokit and withdrew his middle finger from a mystery bag. I think there's a little more. Hold on. And then there's another one. Oh, and there's another one. Wow, you let the king in the north win one time.

He's going to let you hear about it, boys. All right. We are not going to spend too much time fart around because we got a lot ahead of us. A very quick recap of what is about to go down. We are drafting MMA fantasy rosters. There is a full point breakdown. There will be an accompanying written piece to this on the website.

But it basically is you get 100 points for a win, 50 for a finish, 50 for a ranked win, and a couple of other bonus incentives as well. Title fights, champion or main event fights, et cetera, et cetera, going on there. So, oh, 50 for a bonus as well. I don't remember if I said that. We're drafting teams of 12, one for each of the major weight classes, and then one wild card selection.

You can draft in any order you choose for any weight class. Very simple. We are, I have allowed, as we did last season, two keepers for each team. So before we begin the draft, we will go around Robin and say, who are the people we are keeping if any of you choose not to keep a fighter or to only keep one? You may do that. That's totally fun. when the draft starts, the rest of us who have kept our two,

when we have completed all of our remaining selections, you then get to fill out your remaining gaps in your roster. If multiple people don't keep two people, then it will stay in draft order to select and fill out. It should be fairly self-explanatory. Any questions before we dive into this, y'all? Nope. Terrific.

So, as I mentioned, we're going to start with the Keepers, and Jeremy Cruz, you are for, First up, would you like to, and if so, who are you retaining from your team at the beginning of this year? Yes, yes. I am keeping two fighters. One of them is a man that scored me no points last season. But I'm hopeful that he's going to get back to activity now. Already has a fight coming up.

And he's bringing another foot to Brazil. and that man is heavyweight Walter Walker. And my second keeper is a big controversial, not that confident, but I'm hopeful that's going to fight. He already has a fight coming up, and I hope for that he's going to get another one, and that man is Petty Pibblet. He's fighting this weekend against Benoit and Denis.

I kind of anticipated Walter Walker would be, keeper but that is a shame because he was high on my boards for heavyweights which are slim pickings this season but excellently done hose are you retaining people and if so who will yeah i am retaining the man who already has a main event lined up and that is umar namaga made off who will probably get another big win uh probably the only time he's going to fight this year but you know he's been known to be a little bit active when it's not ramdon season and the other one is a guy that is very good at punching people in the face, and that is Carlos Bratis.

Yeah, I'm not surprised, frankly, looking at the roster. Those are two very good choices. Damon, who are you keeping from last season? Well, you've got to go with the champs. One guy has a fight coming up in about a month and a half, so hopefully he fights, Islun Bacchav, of course, number one pound-f-pound fighter in the sport. And I'm going to go out there.

I'm going to keep Alexander Volkanowski, because he's going to probably fight Moussard. I think he's going to be favored. old man Volt got a little bit left in the tank at least for 2026. Oh, wow, double champ action. Wow. Fantastic. I wasn't sure you'd keep Volk.

Islam seemed pretty likely, but not a bad selection at all. Sadly, Mavstar will ruin you. That'll be okay. I was contemplating Bin-Wa, but I don't know, man. Like that fight with Patty is pretty tight, so I didn't want to, I was kind of hesitant on picking it again. So I went with the pants. It's pretty closely lined odds-wise, too, which I was a little surprised about. Mike, we move to you.

Should I just write Gable Steveson already, or do you want to say it before I write it? Oh, it's Gable for sure. He's probably going to fight three times this year, so I'm very excited to get all the points. And, you know, this was a little bit of a tougher decision I thought it would be getting the second one. But I have all my faith in a guy fighting in a really bad division. Iwo Baranowski will be my other keeper. Oh, wow. We love that for you, Mike.

You very high on him. You were glowing about Ewo on onto the next one the other week. So a reasonable keeper. For me, I think I said this the last time we drafted and nothing has changed. None of you will ever get to have Carly Judice on your team. So I'm keeping her forever. And I will also be retaining my women's flyweight fatigued. McLean will be my keeper as well.

A.K., that opens the door for you, two to keep, and then we can get to draft them. Yeah, sorry, I'm just taking my own notes here. Okay, Fatima Klein, Carly, Judy's question. Mike, was Gable your wild card last year? Yes. So is he locked? So, Jed, he's locked in as his heavyweight or his wild card? That's actually a very good clarifying question.

Mike, I assume you'd like to move him to your heavyweight. Sure. Okay. that seems i think and i think that's fair to do so mike has gable heavyweight uh i will not be keeping my heavyweight believe or not guys josh hawkins is a free agent josh hawkins is a free agent wow the MVP listen what if what a six months we had together we thank him for his servants uh there's some character issues i'm going to be honest some comments uh do not agree with those comments were there when you drafted him last time this is true that's why we joked about it i will tell you this during the last six months

we had no there was no chance we're going to cut him all right we i Kevin Yosso, there was no doubt we were cutting him. We had discussions, but we're pretty firmly on our roster. But now that we are at the six-month mark, it's time for a fresh start. We wish Josh well in his future endeavors. And honestly, if he already had a new fight booked, yeah, we probably were going to keep him. But because it's in the air, we're not. Kevin Bachejos, I'm going to hold on to featherweight.

Oh, you son of a big. And this will be a little controversial. But I mean, this person is about to become a UFC champion. So obviously, I'm keeping my. my straw weight, Jillian Robertson. You're welcome to keeper. This is a stunning revelation here. Completely, completely okay.

Let me continue. Is there a fighter on the UFC roster that is more of an antithesis to Josh Hokit than Gillian Robertson? Not many. That's way up there. She's not American. She's a small woman that submits people pretty regularly. pretty bubbly personality

so he look he won and he feels dirty about it because he won as a direct result of Josh Hokit and when I say that the joke like the character concerns were there he's made the exact same joke hoax long before

so AKA bold you're taking your team in a bold new direction I'm trying to get the rest of these filled out and we are there and so gentlemen it's time to draft Everybody kept two, which means 10 rounds to go, and Giermei Cruz. You are on the clock with the first overall selection for season five of the NBA fighting UFC fantasy draft.

Yeah, it's such a choice, but I'm going to start right off the battle before my wildcard because I kept my lightweight. And I was hoping AK wouldn't select this fighter as a keeper. And I'm going with Max Holloway. who's fighting Conan McGregor. Damn. It's got to be a big win for him. And hopefully he gets another fight this year. Maybe Charles de Vera, Amuner, the UFC has a lot of options for him.

And I'm quite surprised that AK didn't keep him. But AK, AK, as our reigning champion, probably makes the wiser decisions. So, but I'm still going with one of his fighters. Max Hollow is going to win against Connor. hopefully get another big win another big fight this year if not for the belt I mean

who knows what the EPS is going to do just get to you but yeah Max Hollowies on team because this year that's a really good pick he's very high on my draft board Jose we move to you

you've got your welterweight and your band and wait but the rest of your board is wide open where are you going with your first selection of this round I think you're muted I am certainly muted I'm going to pick someone that will probably be the UFC heavyweight champion by the end of the year.

Don't particularly care one way or another if he is or not, but if he's on my team, I hope he succeeds in all aspects of lights, and that is Cyril gone. Ooh, Cyril gone off the board early, probably going to be the UFC champion. Bold, bold statements from Jose. I mean, if anyone will watch the first round of that first fight, Cyril was having a real good day until he decided to stab someone in the eye. And we all know referees don't do shit.

So he'll probably be heavyweight champion based on skullduggery. So AK has cleaned his soul by removing Josh Hokit. Jose has decided to take the sports foremost cheater with his first selection in the round. He's learned a lesson.

He knows how you win this game and it's not by playing straight up. It's getting your hands dirty. God love the trier. Damon Martin, you are on the clock. sir, who are the Cincinnati Bengals taking in the first round of this draft? Well, as you well know, it's been rough scenes in women's

MMA for a little while now, but I'm trying to go to fighters who are booked and who I think are going to win, so I'm going directly against the incredible AK with this pick. I'm going with the current U.S. Women's Strawweight Champion McKinsey During. Let's add on the champions run here and McKenzie getting her first title

of defense because it's not Zhang Wei. Yeah, I was going to try and snake her for my... You had no chance of getting her. I was going to try and stake her from my wild card since I already had fatigue. I was like, I'm definitely getting her because there's no way Damon's going to draft a women's MMA fighter with his first pick.

And look, you got to ruin my day. Women's 15 is pretty tough out there. That's why I kept the team up. That's why I got to pick someone who's actually on the board and it's a title fight. So that always adds a lot of your points there. And she's almost certainly going to win that. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry AK in Canada, but that's how I feel about that. Uh, that then puts Mike Heck, your plans have been thwarted where you go in the first round here? My whole draft is in shambles right now because I was like, I'm going to get McKenzie Dern in the first round

and then we could just kind of build off of that. But that's not what's happening. So you know what? We miss this man on our team. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm actually going to bring in somebody else. I'm bringing in somebody else. He is a former UFC middleweight champion of the world.

He is going to defeat the first. former UFC welterweight champion on July 18th welcome to the squad drickus duplice my middleweight sorry you did it right in front of me like you know you know what you're doing that's a choice you kept you on the screen for the for that exact reason so as soon as you said former I was like well it's definitely not Israel so I guess it's DDP sure uh man that's a I'm crossing him off of my board right now Um, look, it's all Damon's fault. You would have had him if Damon didn't draft McKenzie Dern.

Just say him. It's okay. The first round has, there are a lot of great choices out there. And there's a guy I feel great about it. He's got a fight coming up. I know some people think that he might not win. I think he's going to win. And then we're going back to Paris.

And this man's going to headline it. Lightweight, Benoit Sandini. Thank you very much. Look, he's kind of like DDP only just a little bit smaller. And I do love him. So BSD come on down and we move to Alexander K. Lee, who is your first round selection. And then pause because you will get the next pick after that. Yeah, this is tough.

I mean, there's always a good position to be in, I feel like, but it's a lot of pressure. I'm at the turn here. All right. Sorry, guys. Just say Mike Malat. We know you want to. If you had a fight booked, I 100% would pick him. This is tricky.

This is a tough act to follow. Man, I wish there was another. I could just get Josh Hockett back now, right? you can absolutely i almost took him but i was like i don't want the bad vibes oh boy oh boy okay let me go so i have feather if you don't jose is going to take hockett for his wild card though just be aware well i'm going to take someone who is going to come back this year i assume and win a title fight and i think she's going to win an impressive fashion let's just let's keep coming with the good women vibes give me oh give me kela Give me Kayla Harrison.

Give me Kayla. Kayla Harrison now. Not booked. I know. Not booked, but it does seem extremely likely that she will fight against Amanda Nunes. But now, AK, we move to the second round. That's right. That's our draft time because round two has begun on your wheel.

I've done this. Man, there's a lot of good choices here. We're in that weird stretch where we have this next six months where we can't be like 100% confident that a lot of these champions do I think a lot of us are eyeing are necessarily going to fight there could just be a carryover

where it's like oh they're probably going to fight in January February so it's a bit of a guesswork here I think he's finally getting at his shot you know give me Armand give me Armand

wow this is so against type for me to go I almost always start off with people who are already booked give me Armis for yeah I mean a great fighter you do know their wrestling matches and grab match. Don't count.

I did not. No, R.A.F. I thought those were worth points. This is. If R.A.F. counted, he would be the first pick and it would not be remotely close.

Yes. If Armin fights this year, it's going to be a non-title fight. I don't think Gasey's coming back. So good luck on that one. Yeah. B. M. Stavis.

Yeah. Armand versus Olivera, too. Get ready. Bacon. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take it. Yeah, I'll take it.

problem is there are only like three fighters that I'm interested in having left but there's one in a weight class that I just don't have any good choices for so I'm just I don't love the pick

but he's going to get me some very easy points and maybe he can compete again he is set to take on a former bantamweight champion and he's going to beat this soul out of him Adrian Yannes please send Cody Garbrand

out of the sport and get me 200 points for doing so as my bantam weight. Okay. And then that takes us back to Mike. Heck. Mike, where are you going? Well, I was hoping to maybe get Kayla, but that is not happening.

So where we are going, we're going to women's bantam weight. And I'm going to drop a name that maybe some of you in here don't even know, but she is making her UFC debut. I can't believe I can't get her later than this. Nina Milosevic, Welcome to the squad taking on Haley Cowan at UFC Belgrade.

This is a fighter who is going to fight for a title. She is that good. She should have been in the UFC like two years ago. But luckily the UFC is heading to a different part of the world. And she is probably the best fighter to compete out of their pound for pounds. So, Nina, welcome to the squad. You are the women's band and weight of Team Heck. She was the number one for me at Phantomweight.

She was the number one. I just thought there was no chance y'all were going to draft her before like the middle of the draft. Your mistake was I could cheat around. You ranked her. Isn't it your, aren't you have her ranked? Didn't you? Yeah. Yeah.

I was just like, you guys, nobody will pick her early and I can get her later. I'm like the only one in all of MMA media to interview her this year. So there's a very good chance she was coming on. I think, uh, you know, maybe that helps get her sign. Who knows? I didn't think she was going to go in the second round. That's all I'm saying. Let's go.

I mean, she's going to kill Haley Cowell. So it's fine. Oh, she's got it. Finish bonus. She's probably going to fight again this year. It's a great pick. David Martin, you are up next. Are you ready for two women's MMA picks for me in a row because it's about to happen?

I'm doing it. I know it's probably going to be a decision, but it's on the radar. No. I'm going with, I'm going with, I'm going with Aaron Blanchville for my flyway. She's got a Canadian beating post to take on here in a couple weeks. and I think she's going to beat up Jasmine and Jazz Delicious. And, hey, it may be a decision, but it's going to be a win. Damon took the, like, the only two people I had written down for wild cards since I already had those weight class.

Like, eh, if I can get them perfectly fine wildcard selections, Damon competing with me for a strong women's division. By the way, this anti-Canadian agenda is going to bite you guys in the ass so hard. All right. When Carla Krois gets matched up with Mike Malott, oh, man, it's going to. make it even sweeter. So it's going to be great. So, let's put your money

for your mouth. Oh, Jose Youngs, you are back on the board. Where are you going next? I'm just making sure, because the last time I did this, I kept drafting people

that were already taken. So I'm just making sure no one has this gentleman because I bet people forgot he's even competing in this weight class now. And that is my middleweight will be a man who is competing

at UFC 330 and will probably smoke this dude. We'll probably compete at least two more times, maybe even a main event by the end of the air, and that is Vicente Lucca. Oh. Who is fighting... Who is fighting five and four Trayshon Gore in Philadelphia. So probably some solid points coming my way. Yeah, that's a good pick.

I forgot Luke is middleweight now. Also, just for your... He was my number one at middleweight. Yeah, I know. For all of you, I just put it in our work slack. I think it went through if it didn't. let me know. So you can keep up with our draft selections as they go along,

so you don't have to figure out if we've drafted somebody or not. You can just take a look at the sheet that is active. Guy, got your second rounder and then take a pause, and then you will get the first of the third round. But who are you going for the second round selection, Guy? Yeah, I'm losing a lot of first picks here to HACC and Jose Youngs. So yeah. Okay.

I'm going to light heavy weight now. And I'm picking a man that also fighting next week. I think it was a big issue for me that a lot of my fighters didn't even fight the last seasons. So I'm trying to at least get a fight in. And my life weight is going to fight a former champion. And that is Nikita Krilov, who's fighting Robert Whitaker. at UFC 3.29. I like that.

Really supporting the minor here. Okay. Guy, we love that for you. Now, Guy. We head to the third round. That's a great song. And you have the first pick in the third round.

Where are you filling out? Yeah. I'm getting a mini-in-venter now. A headliner. And that is Uros Medich, who's headlining UFC Serbia. I guess Daniel Rodriguez. God damn it.

He was one of my wild cards, too. I think that's a very good pick because I believe he is going to beat D-Rod up. So a good strong wheel for Guillermo Cruz. Still no women on his team yet. Well-known sexist, Gierme Cruz, we've established. Jose, are you going to finally draft a women's fighter? Or where are you going with your first or your only pick of the third round? No, but close.

I feel obligated to pick this gentleman. A, it's not a bad pick because he is incredibly violent and exciting. And he'll probably be in a main event sometime this year. And he's also stolen a lot of my jewelry. Before this draft kicked off, he messaged me a photo of one of my necklings as a necklace. And I was like, well, no, I get that back. And he goes, when I'm the champion. And I go, when I get the belt, you can have it back.

So I'm like, well, now I have to draft him because I want my earring back. And if he gets the belt, he gets me points. So I can't root against that. So I have to go with John Silva as my featherweight. He has multiple of my earrings. And I want them back. And I will not be getting them back until he has the belt, apparently. He'll probably get it pretty soon.

So that's fine. Then he'll lose to Kevin Vosos, but AK won't get the points for that. Jed, speaking of me, I have a question. So, Guillermo Hick has Patty. Max Holloway and Euro. So one of those guys is a wild card? Max Holloway was drafted as a wild card. Okay.

All right. So thank you. Very good. Thank you. Damon, back on the clock for the Bengals. Where are you going? Is it finally time to draft a man? It is.

And it's my first gamble because everyone else I've scheduled has been people who actually have fights already booked. But I'm betting on this man getting this title back showing up better than he did the last time, probably in November, December. And I'm going to go with the former champ, Hamzot, Chamisat, Maya for my middle weight. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies.

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Yeah, it's not a bad selection. I'm not sure if he's going to get the title fight, but he will almost certainly fight again. And probably do pretty well. So Hamzaa Chamaev is the selection. Mike, you are back. guys we are flying through this i'm so proud of us mike you're up we're drafted our first champion ladies and gentlemen we're drafting our first champion and uh you drafted dracus du plus c he's still a champion

in your heart in your heart uh but actually is is wearing the current belt uh she's gonna fight natty ice at some point before eventually making the move up to 1 35 to become a two division champion uh but she's got beat natty ice first so valentin is chenko is my women's flyweight selection Ooh, going against your girl, Natty. Yes, I'm shocked. I'm shocked. AK kind of stole her from me. So I put it on the map, but AK just kind of ran with it.

So I'll let AK pick her if he wants a woman's flyweight on the squad. Now this puts me that I just don't think there's anybody else who's good here. So like I probably don't really. even want to take this because I'm not sure she's going to get multiple fights in, but I've been rocking the same three women for a hot minute and they've been doing great coming off a win. She will get booked again this year, but women's bandwates garbage. So give me be a mosquito for my draft pick because she will finish somebody when she fights them and that's a huge, huge bonus.

A.K. How do you close out the third round? Dang. All right. Sorry, I just have a little slots I got to fill here. Okay. We got like fly weights we got to talk about. We got any of my welter weights.

I'm going to go middleweight, I think. No, I can get these guys later. You will functionally have two picks. Okay. I want this guy now. I believe in him. I believe he will be champion again. I'm taking Tommy Aspinall.

Oh, damn. I kind of thought it might get... I actually agree with you. I just sort of thought I might be able to get him a little bit later because people are so down on Big Town, but... That's not coming back to me. That's not going to do the math here. Now that I'm like, at the end, I'm like, will that come back?

When you have the turn, that's very far away. So Tommy Aspinall closes out round three. And you know what that means? It's time for the fourth round. Alexander Cayley. still on the clock, how do you proceed from here? Let's go bantam wait.

Gosh, I'm still going against my what I do. Oh, no, no, wait, hold on. Oh, no, I have it further away. You know what? I'm going to do my wild card. I'm going to do my wild card because I really think

this guy's going to become champion. And it's kind of going against who picked him? I think Damon? Damon. I'm taking Mosa. Okay. That's my wild card.

that is that's an early wild card selection for a guy like Moseyriva but if he becomes champion you will get a healthy selection of points off that I am certain it has come back to me and I think looking at this there are only there's one way class

where there's nobody good to pick anymore so F it I don't need it I'll just take whatever rags come to me in the backstretch I'm just going to keep drafting people that were previously on my team. And he's got a fight coming up next weekend against a former title challenger.

And a guy I suspect he will demolish an impressive fashion. Give me Lonnie Kavanaugh. He will beat up Brandon Royval and then hopefully get one more in before the end of the year to cement himself as a future flyweight title challenger. He is my flyweight and that puts Mike back on the board. Yeah, I think I got to play the odds here and just close out the women, close out the women's selections. And there's a new rule that if someone is booked to fight Amanda Lemosch, I'm just going to draft her.

So Alexia Tynara, welcome to the team because you're about to be a top five fighter because you're going to beat the holy hell out of Amanda Lemosch. And it's going to be glorious. Nice. So did you and AK just trade Tynara for for Natty Ice? Is that which is you just, you've, you've swapped your allegiances here. It was like a, it was like a Jalen Brown for Paul George situation. You know what I mean? Oh, I'm so sorry.

I'm just sorry. Too soon. Oh, damn. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, my bad, my dad. It's the first thing that came to my head. My best friend, it's not personal, man. You know, I wouldn't do you like that.

You have to be upset to be offended. That's not an offensive joke. David, Martin, you were back on the clock as we move through this fourth round. Who are you going? I think I'm going for the record for most UFC champions on one team and I'm once again betting he's going to fight before the end of the year. I really hope so anyways. I love you, Marab, but I'm going with Peter Yan as my bantam wait for this season. Yeah, that's a good call. He's definitely going to fight this year. Probably won't get a second one in, but after his performance against Marab in the rematch, you got to like his chances in the

trilogy. What's that? Does that make four? Five current champions for you. Because Hamzat, Islam, Volk, Jan and Dern are all holding belts. Hamzad. Hamzat is not holding a belt. Oh, he's not. That's right. I blocked out that Sean Strickland is a champion. Sorry. Much like Josh Hooker winning three fights. We've kind of tried to block that out. Yeah, four, four though is quite, quite a robust number when you have six people on your team. You're 66% champions. Jose Youngs, you are next on the board, sir. Where are we going?

I guess I should start picking women now. and I'll probably do the same route you did and just picked fighters that were already on my roster last year. So Tatiana Suarez, come on down. Me and your mom became best friends in Miami when we were sitting in the hotel restaurant. So might as well be on my team. Hey, we love friendship here.

We did. We talked his friendship with Mike. That's true. We talked exclusively about astrology, which in my face was literally just, yep, yep, this all makes. sense this all makes sense so be on the lookout for an anything but fighting with tautiana s'm ms morris's mom i would love nothing coming soon to the enemy fighting youtube channel gie close out

round four for us that is the round we're on right yeah close out round four gey bring us home yes uh right now i'm going to pick uh middleweight i'm going forward heavier guys to stock my team and and again is a firefighting this month. And that man is Christian Leroy Duncan, who's fighting Jared Cannonier on the 18th. Yeah. I think he's going to get a big win. It's a good pick.

You are just standing in opposition to anybody who doesn't weigh 155 pounds or more. But as we start the fifth round, you're going to have to select somebody who doesn't weigh a lot because you have filled up all of your heavy spots on the roster. Where are you going? Yes. And I'm going to fly away.

Still picking, selecting male fighters, leaving the women for last. And that man has been very active this year. And I hope he's going to continue that way. I talked to him and he plans on fighting a lot this year still. that band is Alessandro Costa who's going for his third fight in four months

I think three or four months is against Cody Durden International Fight Week and I think he's getting another win that's a really good pick he won bonuses for almost heavy

win and he's fighting a guy he's probably going to finish again another knockout so yeah I think he's going to hopefully get out of I mean, it's hard to get a bonus on a corner card, but in a max card. Hopefully.

Yeah. But I mean, he, nobody drafted him last season. He would have been. He was by scoring flyweight last year, last season. He was my first draft pick ever. Ever. Oh, that's right. And then he's supposed to fight match now.

And then he got hurt. And Cody Durdon ended up getting the fight and finished match now and got all the points I would have wanted. And now it comes full circle. and those two dudes are fighting each other. And then Costa finally fought match now and finished them. So I still want those retroactive points and good luck. It's the name of the game we play.

Costa is a great pick, especially this late in the game here. Jose, we are back to you. Where are you going next? I am going in the same way class, but I am picking the future flyweight champion of the world. Pantosia. The once and future king. Alejandro Pintoshia.

Correct. I got a lot of Brazilians, I might seem. I just noticed. Oh, you do. You're going to a full Guillermo cruise here in this one. I love that. I tried that once and didn't work out for me. It did not that one time you tried it.

But, I mean, now Jose is going to learn and see, see how it goes for you. Damon, back to you. You filled out your women. No, you haven't. You still have women's band-em weight. And then a smattering elsewhere. Where are we going, Damon? Well, funny enough, I'm just going to keep adding on to the champions on this incredible roster,

and I'm going to go directly against Jose by picking the current champ and the man who will beat Gumbiarm when they fight later this year. I'm going with Joshua Van. It's not a bad pick. Because depending on when the pants fights happen, Van fights a lot. He could maybe even get one more in, too. That'd be a feel up, but man, it'd be awesome. Great.

I look at the just, we are living exclusively. in the flyweight division right now. Mike, are you going to keep that alive? No, I'm not. But what I am going to keep alive, what I am going to keep alive is the trend of taking Jed's favorite fighters from my lightweight selection, man who retired, but only for a short amount of time.

Maybe he goes up to Walterway later this year. Who knows, but he is fighting at UFC 330. Jalen Turner is part of the team. It's a great pick He's on my board But you know Jalen It's tough to trust

He's tired And he's fighting Kawee Fernandez I feel pretty good He's gonna win that one That seems very likely And you know I always support Jalen Turner You've got a couple of my guys

That's for sure And Nina Milosevic Who I really wanted to take But it's fine Me and Bea will keep riding along Oh shit it's me I'm up next I have I've taken all

light people. I don't have a featherweight at this point in time. And there are only two feather weights I'm interested in and one of them isn't booked. I don't know if I want to do that or not. I guess we will take the bird in the hand instead of the two in the bush and we will not draft a guy who I already have on my team. At featherweight, we will take a man who is booked I think next week against Kai Kamaka the third. He is. Just check it out.

I'm stealing him from Jose Youngs, but give me Luke Riley, who I think is going to get a win there and then maybe we can get one more in before the year. I was hoping he'd crawl back. I was hoping he'd crawl back my way, but, Salavi.

You know, I just looked at it. Now I've taken all my low spots. So, hooray, we move on AK, You close down the fifth round. Who are you filling out your roster with? You're muted. So you should unmute yourself and then tell us. I feel like I'm not ready to fill in some of my heavier weight classes yet.

We are getting into the range where I'm trying to gamble on who you guys are going to miss. But I don't think this guys can get back to me. Give me a little Corey Sandhagen. Oh, I love this. Okay. I love this. Currently booked to take on Mario. Batista, is that next week in the Batista felt or that's what it is?

So he is slightly favored against Batista, great fight. And I think there's a pretty high likelihood he gets another one in. So a great selection. And AK, that brings us to the next round of the draft. The sixth round, we're past the hump. Where are you going here, AK? When are you guys going to take Connor, right? Like, I don't need to take him.

One of you guys are going to take him, right? He's right. He's right there. I'm not going to tell you what I am. in a mater. Oh, I need a welterweight. Maybe I don't need a welterweight yet. Okay, I will go.

I will instead fill in. Sorry, guys, I just remember who I don't have yet. I wish I said I don't have yet. I think we'll go middle. Let's go middle. I don't need to fill that. No, no, I do. You know why?

Because I'm taking one of these beasts, man. We got a lot of our middleweight beasts are coming up. Give me Mansour Abdul Malik. I knew you're going to pick him. It's terrific. You know me. I thought that was going to be one of my dark horses last year because he knocks a lot of fools out. And then he just got, it's like he forgot how to fight for his only fight.

So I was like, I'm not making that mistake again. I love the guy. And he's one of my favorite interviews, but that sourd be so badly in our fantasy draft. He's a reclamation project. All right. We're going to build him back. We're going to build them back. Yes, yes, yes.

I'd like to stick in the same vein that AK has gone on, not at middleweight, but with a guy who he knocks a lot of fools out and he's got a fight coming up against the toughest test of his career but let's be honest Kevin Holland probably passed his best years. Jacoby Smith. I think he gets one and gets another one this evening later this year. So Jacobi Smith, I keep on building up my roster and I'm good with it. I hate you with the fire of a thousand sun, Jed. That was my next pick. It's, uh, you know, I was so ready to get a good wild card from Jacobi Smith, damn you. I'm a huge fan.

I really liked him coming off Contender Series, and he's been just beating the tar out of people. So hopefully that continues. Mike, I took Jacoby Smith right from under you, because I'm not sure you were about to take him. I was actually. So Damon had no chance of getting him,

which is tough scenes. But you know what? I was prepared for this moment, because I knew at some point, like I lose McKenzie Dern and lose Jacoby Smith, but you know what? I got to play the smart, ladies and gentlemen, because

just because he says he's going up to another weight class, doesn't mean he actually is going up to another way class. So mine as well, just kind of bide my time a little bit. He is going to headline Noce UFC, where and when that event will happen.

Yes, yes. Whether it'll be at 45 or 55, a man who just got a knockout victory over Steve Garcia at UFC White House. Give me Diego Lopez. Great pick. This was the guy I was debating with Luke Riley because he isn't booked, but like he's Diego.

He's going to fight at least once, probably two times. He'll headline no-J. Yeah, it's a great, great pick, Mike, can't argue it. But Damon, that puts the ball back in your court. You never were going to get Jacoby Smith. You never had him, but who do you have? Well, some divisions are a barren wasteland, so I'm kind of going with who I know is scheduled. And this is one of the weirdest rematches that got booked, but why not?

It's coming up in a couple weeks. give me Bogdan Goosekoff as my light heavyweight as he gets ready to take on the former champ Jan Blahovitch who is I mean listen the guy I love Jan but he's like 45 coming off another injury at some point the wheels have to fall off damn I was really hoping he might slide because I love Bogd but yeah I think my exact same thought process like yeah they went to a draw but Bogdan probably was better anyway and Jan's just older it's a very good pick Damon Jose, Diego was taken from you. Are you going to take another Brazilian?

No, I'm going to take a Mexican. And the woman that's probably going to be in the co-man event of Notia UFC, and that is Alexa Grasso, for sure. Yeah. She probably, she has our knockout slash submission of the year, and I would imagine they want a big Mexican win. So who she fights, I have no idea, but I want to see it happen because she's going to need to win in Nosea U.S.

Both for my team and for the country of Mexico. Good. future. You know, I really think you can bring everyone up. This is important for everyone to hear, whoever's producing. I think you would be really excellent if, you know, Alexa and Diego win at Noce and then they get to pass the World Cup back and forth. Mexico's World Cup trophy back and forth. I'm calling it now. It's probably not going to happen. But a man can dream. Yes, I see you, Guy. It's not going back. It's going. It's not going to South America. It's a good chance we have a Brazil against Mexico game at the World Cup. I know and I'm terrified. Look, Jose is correct. The World Cup is it's coming to North America. Let's go, boys. Let's come and let's go.

We're going to dominate. 10 men doesn't matter. 10 men, two countries, doesn't matter. We are just better. You sound like all the propaganda before Freedom 250 fights. Yeah, and look what happened there. America was victorious. against the villas spaniards one half of that is true uh gee you are here to close out i think

this is round six you're here to close us out where are you going it's getting getting rough out here uh i still need featherweight and a bent away but those divisions are pretty much done for every one of you guys so i'm yes i'm going with with women out is it's quite complicated and um So, okay. First, in the flyway division, the flyway division, I'm going to choose Gianni Barbosa, who's fighting later this month against Veronica Hardy. I love Veronica, but I think Gianni is going to hurt her bad. I didn't even realize that fight was booked, but yes, if she's fighting Veronica Hardy, that's going to happen.

And you know what that means, boys? We start round seven of the draft. Gui, are you sticking with the women's weight classes? Yes, I need to. Yeah, I need to. I think this is my first pick that isn't booked right now. But with the UFC going back to China, I think in August, she's going to fight there.

Maybe in the UFC or those roads to UFC main events. Do that counten as a main event that should? And that is Ming-she. The doctor? Headlining. Yes, his headlining every World's UFC event in China. U.S. is going to China in August. She is going to headline that.

And she's going to get another easy opponents for her to walk through. So, yeah, it's a rough division, but yeah. So wait, that's Ming-Ming. I just want to make sure. S-H-I-M-H-M-H-Megs the other way around. Is it the other way around? Okay. All right.

Wait, so we are counting a road to UFC as a main event. Why not? You should. You should. You got a UFC win for her. I'm going to look into the bylaws later. Jed, we're going to go over the bylaws later.

We're going to have to discuss that at the minimum. It's not a contender serious. Wow. But they don't count road to UFC events as. They got her fights. Her fights. Her fights. They're not even five.

Those are three round fights. He's trying to squeak out 25 points. 25 points where we are as a society. They're not five rounders. They're not five round fights. He needs this. I think Matt is desperate enough to bring up Road to UFC as a main event to get 25 points. He deserves it.

I say I'm kind of willing to give it to him this time, but we can make a future rule. It's not. I did pull up the tapology. And I've never seen this before. If you go click into the fight, her fight against Puzza Tamar. Match belongs to the road to UFC event, but count. towards fighter records in UFC. Correct.

It does. So it's not a UFC fight, but it's sort of as a UFC fight. It is a UFC fight happening at a road to UFC event. Yeah, that's so weird. Didn't think this is going to be where we are. We did not think about this. I mean, she would be fighting the UFC in China

if they didn't do those road to FCFAC events. Okay. I think she's probably going to fight in the, in the China card anyway. So sheming is your. straw weight has been taken and Jose I'm flabbergasted right I want it but you I want to hold on bring everyone back up for a second I want this on record that I'm in our draft board and Jed filled in Waley Zhang well well before he driving it that was like I don't think that's who he's taking it would be when he was like she's going to she's going back to

to China I was like all right jang weili because like and it was like oh shit never mind yeah curveball. I was like, oh, boy, that was funny. Anyway, and then I just see you like, this. I was like, that's funny. Anyway, anyway, that's very funny. All right, for my pick, I might as well go back up to light heavyweight, one of the worst divisions. A guy that already has a main event lined up at one point in time was thought to be the uncrown champion. At one point, was the champion. I have a feeling he could get in another one after his main event fight to it, especially if he wins because he's going to be red hot. And he has a lot of beef with someone that just fought for the title and that is you filled it out ahead of

time and you actually got a ride jett got to say you gave me a lot of clues and it seems like i got it yeah it would have been funny if it was just like a curve honestly i would have been cool with it because if you wasn't i angelaide was who i was taking this round if he got to me so i would have been fine with that alas that is not to be damon martin you need heavyweight lightweight women's bantam weight and wild card once again i'm going with the odds here of him fighting in this year and he's still a lower rank guy so i'm hoping he'll get another you know big win and i don't think they're going to feed him to somebody like gable steveson quite so soon because he actually is pretty dangerous i'm going to add to my heavyweight i'm going to go with brando parich

oh so he's not booked right not booked but obviously three knockouts in a row he's still lower ranks. They're not going to jump him up too far, but yeah, I think he's, I think he's like 13th ranked by the UFC, so, and a desolate division. He's a guy who's going to get a knockout, so I'll take the risk that Brander's going to fight again this year. Crafty, crafty. Mike, heck,

that puts you back on the clock, where you going? I have choices to make. Let me take a look here. Oh, man. So, reference, you need a A welterweight, uh, bantam weight, flyweight, and a wild card.

You know, I won this thing because I took a risk on a guy that not a lot of people believed in in a bandam weight title fight. Um, I took Piotr, Yan, he took me to the, to the promise land. And now this time, Damon has Piotr, Jan who, and coincidentally enough, I won the whole thing because Damon had this guy and now we're going to do the little reverse here. So we have a guy. We have a guy. who is taking a long breather, which isn't like him, he's just doing a couple of wrestling matches.

Yeah, he gets his nose shattered every three weeks, but that's just his being. That's just the way he is. So for my band, I'm going with Marab to abolish Billy to hopefully regain the title. And if he, this happens in short order, probably getting two out of Marab this year. I say,

even if he doesn't get the title back, he still may well get another crack with him before the end of the year. So I think that's, probably later than Rob should have gone, if we're being honest. Yeah, that was a value. That was a value pick. Definitely some value there for Rob. I need all my big boys.

I need middle light heavyweight and the heavies. And they don't know where to go here. I don't know where to go here. I should probably take a light heavy since AK is right there. But there aren't any good ones left. All the good light heavies are gone. um jett there's one light heavy

you know who hasn't been I mean there is but he's not booked and that's a problem no no this one is booked he just has not been a light heavy you know as we know oh yeah he's Robert Whitaker's on the board I just don't think I want to take him here

if you don't I'm not he may go untrafted you can let Bobby Knuckles go untrash take the other one take the other one and moved up who who you love as part of your family look he is also his name is on my board

and it is possible but I think instead what we're going to do is be a bad person I don't have to ooh maybe I do have to I have to and I hate this I hate that I'm doing it

I'm not fucking I'm not going to be the bad person who takes Josh Hoken I'm just not going to be that guy I thought about it I should logically it's easily the best pick I can make here not going to do it look I got this far and my life by by sticking with my family and i'm going to keep doing it i will take a light heavyweight and his name will be yuri prehashka uh come on to my my big beautiful idiot boy wow not what i

expected he's not booked but he'll fight somebody and he'll have we'll have a real we'll have a great time you're prohashka it's my light heavyweight i can at least be okay with it because i do love him so your heavy weight spot is still your heavyweight spot like i i'm saying now jid you this come back to you. Like, I mean, Josh Hawker just come right back to you in like two seconds. Yeah, I know. You're not going to take him either. Okay. I think I'm just going to let it go. This is crazy. He was... Live with it. Almost dominant fantasy player that we've had so far. May go. Correct. I believe he scored the most points anybody has ever scored. May go undrafted unless someone wants to use one of their wallet card

spots on him, which seems actually very appropriate. Uh, okay. Could happen. But AK, you were here to close out what round is this? Around seven. Yep. I'm really glad you did not take this. guy. Oh, I need a welterweight. Oh, shit. You need a lightweight, a welterweight, and a two-o-five. I know what I'm going to do. Okay, it's fine. Yeah, I need a, sorry, my light heavyweight is going to be love this guy. He's kind of the evil, Iwo Baranuski. I'm going to take Abdul Rachman Yakyaev. He will fight again. He will fight again. He's fought twice as you already.

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The best RIP. I am desperately trying to figure out how to spell this name off the top of my. I'll give you. You got time. I got it now. I've pulled it together, but my first three efforts were not remotely correct. So, you know, there we go. And then AK, that takes us to the eighth round.

Kick us off, please. This guy has got a squash match coming up, I think. Give me all, I'm a fling on my flyweight spot with Alden Korea. Alden Korea. I don't know who the hell that is. Okay. He's fighting Stuart Nicol, and I'm very sure he's going to get me some points. How do you spell that name?

A-L-D-E-N. Okay. C-O-R-I-A. C-O-I-A. That is pretty close to it. You'll be seeing it against soon enough. Good pick. Good pick, AK.

What was that? That's your flyweight? Yeah. Now take Josh Hockett. Never heard of that. You've been in my life. So, uh, he's Josh, Joshua Vance team, if I'm not mistaken. Mm.

No, good on you, boys. Um, I mean, there's just no reason not to, but I don't want to. So I'm not going to. I refuse to take Josh Hockett. Um, I just flatly refused to do it. So I'm going to go to my middleweight selection. here and uh i mean a few really big names left a middleweight right like uh out there sean strickland the champion is available i could have done a hockett strickland turn and really had the best vibes

going but i've chosen not to do that and instead look i'm i'm just a man ladies and gentlemen and i can't resist the fun that gets to be had by selecting this man who has a fight next weekend or the weekend after is it 329 uh it is it's this next weekend where he will continue his road of knocking people out and having a very fun last name, Damien Pinas, please join my roster in my middleweight spot. Yay. Yay.

And then that takes us to Mike Heck. Mike, you are, you're closing up your team right now. You need 170, 125, and wild card. I've been known to pick a wild wild card or two, and I got to do it. The time is now, because I don't think it's going to happen, Again, I don't think he's going to be there on the way back. And you got to take risks to win this.

You have to do it. And while I don't think he's going to win, if he does win, he's going to fight for a title in his next fight. There's no doubt in my mind. And he's going to want to do it very, very quickly. So going head to head with the great Guillermo Cruz, I'm choosing Connor McGregor. Oh. I'm not surprised, motherfucker. despite the fact that Connor said he would be fighting in April.

Yeah, but he is full of crap and, you know, that's fine. If he beats Max Holloway, I can assure you he's not waiting until April to fight his next fight. That is for damn sure. But is the UFC giving him another fight that soon if he's the last one in his deal. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Guy. we'll see I look it's definitely a good keeper for for next week for next year it also could be a decent keeper depending on how it shakes out if it has to but damon we're back to you lightweight women's band and weight wild card so I looked at lightweight I was like oh man who's booked who's out there and then I remembered I already have a lot of champions and now I'm going to go for a new combo the we wanted to punch dylan danis combo after Hamzaa Chama I'm going to add the great john pork chanko himself who fights in a couple weeks in abdububi magomed zanyukov that's a bold pick and i love it because he might lose and i'm very much looking that fight that is one of my favorite fights that is

booked right now so it's got to be a good one great pick i'm going but very risky i'm going with team habib and team habib and abu dhabi i'm going to stick with that pick and i'm going with chanko yeah and there's like a pretty decent chance he'll get in a second time too so Chanko, solid pick, Damon. Jose, that brings us back to you. Where are you going? I am going to pick someone

that I said was the worst fighter on the UFC roster last year. She ended up being great for me. I need a bansom weight. Elise Pereira, come on down. Look, sticking with the proven commodities from your own team, that's just, that's classic draft strategy right there.

That brings us to Guillermo Cruz. Guy, round eight, close her down. You need featherweight, bantam weight, women's bantam weight. Yeah, it's not good. Yeah, I'm going to select my women's bantam weight now because who knows who will be left if I leave that for my last pick? And I had a hard time selecting anyone because this is a vision. It sucks.

And I thought about picking Luana Santos, but, I mean, who knows who she's going to fight next and whatever. And I'm hoping this one fights this year if she does. She's fighting for the title. And she's fighting someone with a bad neck. and hopefully that gives her a better chance of winning. That is the lioness Amanda Nunes. I wondered

how late she would go and the answer is quite late, especially in a week class. That's a great pick because she could beat broke neck Kayla maybe. And then that's big points in a weight class where nobody's going to score.

Not a lot of fighters available to their good selections. It's hard. When I was building my draft, board. I like went to the topology worldwide rankings or whatever and I would just scroll down and be like who's booked. There are almost no women pen and weight fights booked. It is a miracle. Like if you look at the rankings, almost everyone is coming up a loss. I don't know how that's

even possible. It's it's impressive. It's so bad. It's so bad. That uh, that takes us to the penultimate round of the draft. Round nine, Guy. Just two spots left to fill. Featherwood-Bahnway. Which one? Yeah.

You all got better than Ben-Wain. All right field, so it doesn't have the order. You're not going to choose any one of these groups, this two. But so, yeah.

AK, I'm going with Canada now, and I'm selecting Charles Jordan. Oh. Oh, that's a really good pick. I don't think it's official, but it's rumored that he's fighting Cheeto, if that's official or not. Yes. And we know Cheeto, not official.

If he gets that fight, we know Cheeto won't punch him, so probably win because Cheeto will just stare at him for 15 minutes. And he always gets bonuses, so extra points there. Charles Jordan, look at that. See, Canada love, AK. We, all your slander is not founded. Charles Dordane selected that leaves you just with featherweight, but Jose, wild card and lightweight,

which one you're solving? I'm going lightweight. I'm going on a newly ranked fighter. He's been on anything but fighting out in Abu Dhabi. Apparently his entire Instagram discover page is just different types of cheese, which is my kind of guy. Quill and Salt Hill come on down. I was considering him strongly as a wild card.

I was between him and another lightweight that's also booked. I'm going to go with you. youth. Yep, I think that's a very solid pick there for Jose Young's. Man is doing nothing but killing people. So, yeah, good selection. David Martin, you have wild carded women's bantam weight, which one you're fixing? Well, I need women's bantam weight. They're not booked and probably not going to be booked, but who knows with this division? I'm going with Julia. No, I'm kidding. I'm going with Michelle Monaghew. She's undefeated and she's undefeated and she's, she's sure, why not?

That was a really good one, David. I got you all with that one. You did. I was like, oh my God, what's happening? There's still time to make it real. He can change his mind, right? We haven't moved on to the next pick yet. No.

He can take her in wildcard, though. So that's still an option. I thought Chenko was his, I thought John Pork was his wild card. No, that was not. John Pork was selected as his lightweight. He has Islam, no? Yeah. Oh, my God.

What am I doing? Wow. I actually behind her, AK. Thank you. Yeah, I actually almost wrote that when I was writing about Islam earlier this week. I was like the lightweight champion. I was like, yeah, I'm being in Matt of Gary or something.

He'll obviously be a lightweight in my heart. Good, good work, AK. Mike, you have filled out your wild card. So you got to pick a division. It's 170 or 125. Where are you going? If AK had already selected a 170 or I would, I would wait, but I have to do it now because i think he's going to be a little sneaky here uh and i don't want to let him have

this and i know a lot of people gave him crap for his last performance but he did something that no man has ever done before he took chris curtis down 5 000 times uh he is fighting jeremiah wells a ufc 3 30 and he's going to win uh mctabec orle by welcome to the squad yep i mean just how do you argue that the man is the man is getting w's even if sometimes they're not the most exciting. He was on my board. A.K. Oh, no, it's me next. Sorry, it's not. I am the guy who follows. What do I need?

I need a heavyweight and then I have my wild card. Hook it's still here. I could still take him. You sure can. I don't want to take it is the thing. Is there anybody I could snake as a wild card from AK that I'm

like super excited about? There are a couple of good choices actually. I should have just not drafted lightweight like they're just an infinite number of good lightweight decisions that could be made here um i don't guys should i take hoit i don't know what to feel about it do it yeah obviously he might fight for a belt jed he might get a title shut listen i'll write you i'll write him a reference letter jett nothing but good times nothing but good times uh just big victories feels like i'd be getting in after the peak you know you're trying to sell them because you've already gotten all the jude

out of him he can. I would never do that to you. Because he's going to have to start fighting good fighters. And he probably won't beat good fighters. Sergey Pavlovich, come on. I don't know that he would beat Sir Gavlovich, no. Fine, but it's not, I'm not taking Josh Hokka.

I just, I refuse to do it. I'm going to take a man who you could never say isn't trying, if by the definition of trying, we're talking about cheating because this is a man who's been popped for many, many, many drugs previously in his life.

And he's got a fight booked. I don't remember who it is. He's probably going to win. I hate it. But I guess I'm taking Risvan Cooney as my heavy weight. That's good. He was pretty high. As long as he doesn't get popped for all the steroids again,

I'll at least get a fight out of him. He's fighting the great Tyrol Fortune, Jed. Oh, yeah, he'll be Tyrol Fortune. That doesn't it. I mean, that's an awful fight, but he will win it. Yeah, that's got to be a tough hang. Yeah, but maybe you'll get another one after it. And like, what am we going to take Alexander Rackich, Johnny Walker?

I'm not doing that shit. So give me, here's Van Cooneyev, an AK. You can close out round nine. Yes. Welterweight, lightweight. That's where you need. I think I have Armin. Oh, you have Armin, but he's not, that's right.

I need Walter, weight and women's 2425. Okay, that's what it's. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, you said welterweight, right? That is correct. Okay, well, I'll go Women's 125 first.

Give me some, I think she's going to win, and it is against a ranked opponent. Give me some Wang Tong. Give me some Wang Tong. Who's she booked against? She's fighting Tracy Cortez. Oh, yes, that's a very winnable fight. Yeah, I think so. It is ranked, at least.

So, like, you know, there's a lot of upside to this pick. I actually don't think that Wang is that good. She got super hyped after, like, knocking out the great Victoria Leonardo. And I was like, everyone just calmed out. Neither is Tracy Cortez, so it's fine. And I actually think Wang has improved in her last few fights. So I will like, you know, there's something there. And then AK, this is the final round of the draft.

Three of us have wild card selections. You are not one of them, though. You got to pick a welterweight. Who is your welterweight? I could play it safe. But you know, guys, I'm not like you, cowards. And also, I don't know if you've noticed. Our pound for pound list is in shambles.

because the gentlemen at the top of these lists just seem to keep losing. And I think there's one more guy. I think the last domino's got to fall. So you know my welterweight, Ian Machado Gary. Oh, a big, bold man. Yep. I kind of thought someone would take him

because it just sort of does make sense. But damn. Okay, Ian Machado, Gary, closing out, closing out AK's draft team, and that leaves me and a wild card. And I'm going to level with you guys. I got a lot of dudes who I thought would be gone. And I don't know which one to pick here.

Josh, it's not Hokit. But there are a few, I think, really good draft selections available out there. And so, oh, man, like, lightweight has like five that I think would be pretty viable. But what we're going to do We're going to take a man who's high on my draft board He is booked to face Who's he booked to face?

Let me look this up Because I know he's currently book Oh, that's right He's booked to You know, one of the foremost cardio monsters In the sport Book to fight a guy who is Looks like he's built out of bricks

And does not have a gas tank Anthony Fluffy Hernandez Is going to run roughshod Over Robocop And then he's fluffy Probably gets another fight in there. Give me Fluffy Hernandez to. I think that's a tough fight.

Man, he's looking. Another cop then looking his picture of his Trump's Frickler. Yeah. His shape there. I mean, if Robocop doesn't nuke him in the first round, he's going to win. Totally. RoboCob can beat him, but if this thing is in the third round, I will just assume I've won. Robocop is sick at Jiu-Jitsu, too. That's like one thing.

Yeah, but he never uses it. Yeah, but he's going to have to use it. He's lots of muscles. He's going to have to take oxygen. Yeah. I just want to say he's going to cook him. Sean Strickland. Sean Strickland, unless, I don't mean to spoil Jose's wildcard pick,

but Sean Strickland has not been picked, and it looks like Will not. Damon also has a wild card pick. Damon also has a wild card pick. Sean Trickland has picked. I thought he lost the Hans out the first time. He also picked. He also didn't make a lot of sense for Damon. Okay, because I think Sean's going to fight for the end of the year, and we all have no faith.

There are three dudes on my board that I consider it over Fluffy here, but I feel the most confident and fluffy. But there are a couple of very good selections available, in my opinion. Damon, are you going to take one of them with your wildcard choice? What about me? I think Mike is next. Well, Mike is up next. It's $1.25. I apologize.

I also don't think there's anyone good there. I'm so curious what Mike's going to do. Actually, no, that's not true. But you think there's one, there's a good flyweight left. Yeah, of course there is. And, you know, he's got a fight again. He just fought. And I think he is one of the three best fly weights in the world right now, after what I just watched this past Saturday in Baku.

Osama Biaf is going to fight this year. And I'm taking him. Dude rules. He is, he does rule. If there was a men's 115, he would be the champion of it. I love that. I thought you were going to take, I'm not going to say it, because. Damon and he let me take him.

There's a dude I thought who actually is a really good pick. But Damon, yeah, he's got a game for a wild card. Well, I need, I want a, I want a guy who's got a pretty much a guaranteed win and couldn't fight two more times this year. He's already booked for Abu Dhabi. I'm going to go with a former model turned knockout artist in the UFC. I'm going to select Islam Doolotov. Doolotov. Yes.

Yeah, he's taking on well, he's taking on the husk of whatever is left of Wellington Termin. And he's going to nuke him hard in the first. round and then after that's such a random fight it's a really random fight term it's lost like four a row and i'm like yeah they're just like they're just like i think you just just realized oh shib me too got this guy here we gotta keep him yeah dual tom is going to absolutely nuke him in the first round

i like i like that you're trying to sell some tickets too damon you know like we're at the range we're like you gotta sell some tickets you know guys are gonna look good on the on the front of the poster you know yeah it's july so you know pretty good chance he gets another one in for the end for the year so I think that's a good pick. He's on my board. He's in that mix of a couple guys left. Jose, your last selection.

It is in Wildcard. Where's it going? It is not going to Sean Strickland. Sean Strickland is not going to Sean Strickland. It's not because they're goblins, but because I don't think Sean Strickland's going to fight by the end. I bet he fights in January. He wants to fight in December.

I can't imagine he's going to fight in L.A. I can't imagine he's going to fight in Salt Lake City. Certainly can't imagine he's going to fight in Abu Dhabi, New York. Vegas would be the only one, but I bet they stick him in January. So I'm going to stick in the same way class go, though, a guy who's already fought twice this year. I bet fights in September, and I bet he fights in the same arena where the Lakers play, and that is a Tiva Gautier. Oh, I didn't even really, like, I forgot that he existed. Yeah.

Man, he could, if he's, if he nukes a dude, he could get, he could get one more in December. The dude, like, doesn't spend a lot of time in the office. It doesn't spend a lot of time in the office. That's a pretty, that's a pretty wily one. I like that picture. That's good big. You can, you can, you can make the most wily pick of this entire draft right now. Don't do it.

145 pounds. Don't do it. Bring us home. You know what I'm saying. You know what I'm thinking, AK. I think I know what you're thinking. Don't do it. I don't know what you're talking about.

I'm going to share who was going to be my wildguard. If AK had kept. Max Holloway, it was going to be Usmano Margomedov. That's, yeah. Oh, right. He was on my... That's crafty.

He's on my wild card, too. Yeah. I thought about that, actually. I thought about that one, actually. He was going to be my wild card. But, okay, I didn't need to select a feather way, and I had no idea who Mike Hacks talking about.

I struggled with this one, because I almost picked Lehi Ann Douglas, who's an incredible final. better. But I think Vinisus Olivier, a lock dog, is getting probably a ranked opponent next. So

those are extra points. He's going to fight more often now that he doesn't cut way to all the way down to 35. So he's exciting. He's going to get a more finishes, probably against a ranked opponent. He's a crazy dude.

I like that. Come to the team. I like it. I hadn't even thought about it. That's a very good pick. And boys, we've done it. We want to do it. Mike, what's talking about? Were we talking with,

Mike, you want to do on the count of three? Yeah. Okay. I'm so, I'm actually rad. I didn't get him. One,

two, three. Tommy Mcmillan. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I thought. They're just going to keep

feeding him squash matches three more times this year. He's going to fight three more times this year. That was my other wild card big, but then I looked at dual top who is fighting. I was like, it's well and determined. There's a pretty good shot. He's going to nuke.

him hard. So I went with Billetop, but yeah, McMillan was on the list, actually. There are a couple of names that I thought would go that didn't, looking at my board. I didn't know if y'all would take John Paul LeBosniani just because he's got a set-up fight and he'll probably get a couple in, good talent. The ones that I'm surprised by Esteban Rievovich and Terrence McKinney are both booked. Reivovich is going to win. McKinney's fighting King Green. He might lose, but it's Terrence McKinney. He'll fight two more times. One of them he'll get a knockout in 97. I have Rebovice on my list as well.

Yeah. Rievich was pretty high up. Marisa Ruffy just because he's super fun. But we mostly got the dudes I thought would go off the board. Sean Strickland. No Michael Chandler. My surprise. No Michael Chandler.

That's just stunning. No Steve Garcia. Yeah, Steve's coming off a tough. Whitaker. The disrespect. I can't like I'll think that Quillard is just because. No. I actually think Whitaker's going to win, but I took Yerry.

because Zier, he's my guy. The flyweight I thought would go is Ramazan Timorov, who's set up to get a W and probably compete again. But mostly, I think we all did great, everybody. I'm proud of us. And the season is reset. And AK, I hope you don't roll. Like, you won by halfway through the season.

I don't think that's going to happen this time. That Hawket surprise was really something else. Like, I took him as almost a laugh. And undrafted. Undrafted. I also don't think I'm getting like 350 points from my women's bantam weight. Like, I surprised on you. I didn't want to say it because I didn't want you as bigger like Jocelyn Edwards.

Actually got like 350 points out of her, which is insane. Yeah. Insane. She was like the fourth or fifth high scoring player last season. Junior Robertson got to get, AK, 600 points. Oh, my gosh. Finish. Title.

Ranked. And then defending again. Oh, it is. All right. This has been the enemy fighting season five, 2026 fantasy draft. there is a written piece. You can see our full rosters up on Numerfinding.com. Make sure you go check that out.

And Road to 329 begins. Connor McGregor's back. Keep it locked inamyfighton.com. Great website for all of your coverage for that event. For Mike Heck, for Alexander Keeley, for Jose Young's, Damon Martin, Giermey Cruz, and your boy, Jed Mishu. Love y'all.

Josh Hoke, it wasn't even picked. He's there. He wasn't drafted, dude.