We've got a bit of a grab bag for you on this week's episode of Heavy Hands, what with so little of interest happening last weekend in Raleigh, and UFC 247 still a week away (and looking remarkably thin, at that). 

• Rafael Dos Anjos was supposed to blow Michael Chiesa out of the water. He should have. What happened?
• Three years ago Junior Dos Santos would have given Curtis Blaydes serious problems. Is he officially over the hill?
• What good are pound-for-pound rankings?
• In particular, what good are pound-for-pound rankings when they include the likes of Jessica Eye and Katlyn Chookagian?
• Kamaru Usman: his chances of putting together a legendary reign, and the challengers most likely to stop him

The vaping scooter gang takeover continues, as the Fight Site's Srirarm Muralidaran joins us to break down last week's fights, and (surprise) next week's fights, too. It's a good one, folks!

• Conor McGregor did the thing he was always going to do to Donald Cerrone, who reacted in the way he always has
• Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington conspired to put on a fight even more boring than their first one
• Carlos Diego Ferreira surprised us, not by beating Anthony Pettis, but by using his best Nate Diaz impression to do it
• How awesome is Roxanne Modafferi?
• Is JDS a secret poison matchup for Curtis Blaydes?
• Would it be funnier for RDA to finish Michael Chiesa with body shots, or leg kicks? 

The UFC is back after a three-week hiatus, and so is Conor McGregor, though his own break was both longer and significantly more full of sexual assault allegations. MMA, folks! Our topics this week:

• McGregor's gonna knock Cerrone out in round one--but what if HE DOESN'T?!
• Does Claudia Gadelha have the physicality to stop Alexa Grasso overwhelming her down the stretch?
• Carlos Diego Ferreira's long-overdue opportunity to break out
• Drew Dober makes for a great foil, but does he actually have a shot at beating Nasrat Haqparast?

Connor and Phil claw their ways out of bed to compare Bellator champs to UFC champs. Then they die.

Billy Crystal and Phil Mackenzie join forces once again to celebrate another absurd(ly technical) year in the world of MMA. 

That's right: here we are, once again, giving out Handies. And you're about to listen to it. Who had the best knockout of 2019? The best gameplan? What about the best gameplan that didn't actually work? Will Cody Garbrandt hold onto the coveted Worst Brain Thinking Award for the second year in the row? Who will take home the Patrick Wyman Memorial Award for Explosive Muscularity, and how could it not be Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa?

All of these burning questions answered, with only the slightest chance that you will experience a burning sensation in the bathroom. What better way to kick off 2020?

Audio issues and cynicism abound! We spend the day before Christmas talking about the UFC. YOU'RE WELCOME

• Korean Zombie ends 2019 by giving us our first accurate prediction of the year. Better late than never!
• "Is Aleksander Rakic good?" we asked. In answer, the light heavyweight division laughed
• 2019 was the year in which all of our old favorites either started falling apart (Jose Aldo) or were finally ground into dust (Anderson Silva)
• Also this was the year we found out that Henry Cejudo is the greatest fighter on earth. Merry Christmas

This week on Heavy Hands, UFC 245 was awesome! And we've got Frankie Edgar vs Korean Zombie coming up next week. It's all good stuff, folks.

We only had room for the main and co-main of UFC 245 on this episode, but don't despair: we did break down just about every other undercard bout, and you'll be able to find those over on our Patreon, where all of our bonus episodes are available for just $3 a month. As for this ep:

• That nincompoop Ed may have convinced us there would be wrestling, but we did learn a lot about Kamaru Usman's striking
• Alexander Volkanovski proved himself a worthy champion with another brilliantly planned and executed strategy
• Does Edgar have the wrestling to get past Korean Zombie's laser-guided uppercut defense system?
• Aleksander Rakic: is he actually good?

UFC 245 is finally upon us, and if it took seeing the inside of Alistair Overeem's face to get here, it was almost worth it. And The Fight Site's Ed Gallo joins the show once again specifically to break down the main event. 

• What makes Alexander Volkanovski one of the smartest fighters in MMA today, and is that enough to beat Max Holloway?
• What do the college wrestling careers of Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington tell us about their UFC title fight?
• How insecure is Colby Covington, exactly?
• Germaine de Randamie is bantamweight's dark horse, but are reach and timing enough against the well-rounded attack of Amanda Nunes?

We're back on our bullshit. After two beautiful weeks off, we've got more UFC events to preview. The good news is, of all the fights on next week's card, only one of them is Overeem vs Rozenstruik.

• Does Alistair Overeem have the composure to take down a kickboxer with no wrestling ability? The answer may surprise you
• Marina Rodriguez wrecked Tecia Torres in her last fight; now how about a scrappier version of the same opponent
• Cody Stamann may lack Song Yadong's transcendent talent, but he does have a pretty solid wrestling game so... this is a great matchup.
• After years of waiting, Jose Aldo is finally changing weight classes! We can't wait to see the greatest featherweight of all time at ligh--wait

This week on Heavy Hands, Ed Gallo of Bloody Elbow, the Fight Site, and Twitter's own vaping scooter gang joins us to discuss wrestling, how it applies to MMA, and how it's killing the sport.

• Did Ben Askren's wrestling game prepare him so well for MMA that he was able to get away without learning any other skills?
• Why do we remember as a short-lived king of the punchers, and not one of the best wrestlers ever to grace the cage?
• And if Hendricks wasn't able to adopt a new wrestling style for his new sport, how the hell did Daniel Cormier do it? 
• Stipe vs Fedor redux: Ed decides