ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto and Marc Raimondi discuss the fights already announced and hypothetical that they want to see in …
suffice that you’re looking forward to maybe the top fight you’re looking forward to that has been announced already in the UFC’s first quarter I mean this is uh maybe this is cheating but I mean how can I say I’m not looking forward to number one versus number two right the pound for pound king battle Islam makacha versus Alexander Hamilton uh coming up just here in a couple months in February in Australia then maybe that’s a cop-out answer Brett but how often do we get number one pound for pound versus number two in in a sport that’s a weight class sport where you know sometimes number one number two are are 50 60 pounds apart we’re actually getting the two best fighters in the world I mean we’re talking about the bona fide best right I mean no one’s arguing that these are the two best guys pound per pound on the planet right now and they’re gonna fight each other they’re both around the same weight and it’s gonna be a huge pay-per-view Main Event that’s going to be an amazing fight an amazing Clash of styles I’m incredibly excited for vulcanovsky versus makachev uh personally yeah no that’s not a cop-out that’s the obvious answer and that that I think that’s the correct answer I mean any other answer to that you’re either a huge fan of someone who’s going to be fighting or you’re trying to get queued because uh yeah Islam versus Volk is is an outstanding flight and definitely so far of what they’ve announced it is the cream of the crop I would say if I was gonna throw any other one out there it would be the co-main event on that card yeah year Rodriguez versus Josh Hemet that’s a fantastic fight I think that yair could represent some problems to volkanovsky in that further away Division I mean volcanovsky’s going to be heavily favored against all of them not to I could see Josh uh representing his problems too with his his uh his power but yeah you’re as tricky man I I do think yeah here is tricky I do think the yair is coming into this uh this level of confidence um that could give him a shot against volcanovsky but hey he’s got to beat Josh of it first and then and then you know if ever were to win we’ll see how he would do against uh volkanovsky let’s turn to some fights that maybe are not on the schedule um one that you are hoping to see in 2023 I’ll go first on this one I think the obvious one probably is Francisco versus Jon Jones I really really really really really really hope we see that fight I do we’re going to see Jon Jones ahead anyway if we see him against someone other than Francis and Gano it’s still going to be exciting but it’s going to feel a little bit like a letdown it has to you know and that’s just going to come down to the negotiations between uh in Ghana and the UFC um but uh another one I would throw out there is hafael busy versus Justin keichi I would love to see that fight I think it’s I think it’s a monster fight I think it’s a fire fight and I do think we will see that one as well so hopefully fingers crossed we will see the top two that I just gave what’s on your mind in terms of potential fights for 2023. I I again uh in Gano versus Jon Jones is a fight that I think that might have been my fight for last year the one that I wanted that’s still number one on my list but I’ll throw a few more out there that that I’d like to see I’m the more that I think about it Brett the more that I love the idea of Conor McGregor’s return fight being as Paddy pimlet Patty can definitely move from 170 if that’s what McGregor wants to do at 170 it seems like he’s looking pretty big right now and to me that fight has that has all the elements of making perfect sense because you you have McGregor coming back right you don’t want to throw him in there against I know I know Dana White said Michael Chandler but do you really want to throw my uh you know McGregor in there with a killer like Michael Chandler in his first fight not saying that Patty pimple is not a killer but not nearly as explosive as Michael Chandler is and he’s on the top of the division Chandler has been fighting guys at the top of the division now for for a couple years in the UFC Patty pimblet is a star fighter and if he were to beat McGregor sky is the limit right I mean we’re talking about maybe the next McGregor you know passing the torch moment if he wins if Conor wins Conor is back maybe you can even get him a title shot off that I know that the hardcore fans are going to lose their minds but let’s just be honest still Conor freaking McGregor he wins that fight against Patty pimblet he’s right back in the driver’s seat he’s on you know he he breaks that streak that everyone talks about all the only one win since you know 2016. and he’s back and we’re talking about him again and that the lead-up to that fight will be enormous and the pay review numbers will be just outrageous so I mean I think that fight makes a lot of sense and uh it’s a win-win for the UFC so that I would love to see that fight one more I want to throw one real quick I really want to see the rematch between Sean O’Malley and shito Vera uh I really really want to see that fight maybe it happens for the title this year I don’t know but I would love to see that fight at some point run back because both those guys to me are really just entering into their primes and I think that they are the future stars of that bantamweight division a very good band of my division no disrespect to you know the algeman Sterling of the world yeah yeah I don’t disagree with either of those man I think the Paddy piglet Connor one might feel to some people like coming out of left field but when you listen to your Arguments for it you think about it makes some sense makes some sense to have Connor fight fight Patty thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus