December 14, 2025 • 12 mins
Manel Kape got an IMPRESSIVE KNOCKOUT WIN vs. Brandon Royval in the first round of UFC Vegas 112 fight night, and Daniel Cormier is here to give his instant reaction on the incredible fight to end 2025. DC speaks on what that means for Kape and the title shot at flyweight with Joshua Van currently holding the belt. Cormier also speaks on Kevin Vallejos' impressive TKO victory over Giga Chikadze and what makes "El Chino" a problem in the featherweight division. And DC talks about this being the final fight on ESPN before the January switch to Paramount +. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, guys, say show is brought to
you by a new sponsor, hard Rock Bet. Hard Rock
Bet is a top rated sportsbook app. It might just
take the belt from any other sportsbook app that you
use once you open it up and you see it
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(00:24):
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can get one to fifty and bonus bets if you win,
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you not only get your winnings, but you get one
hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets right away. Guys,
Today's a great day to try the hard Rock Bet
sports app. So it's not just the welcome offer. You
(00:45):
can get bonus bets. You can get parlay, insurance and
other rewards. The rewards and the promos are NonStop. So
download the hard rock Bet app and make your first
deposit today and bonus betts is not a cash offer
offered by the Seminal Tribe of Florida in Florida, offered
(01:07):
by Siminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states.
You must be twenty one or older and physically present
in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about
gambling in Florida called one eight eight eight a d
(01:28):
mit it. In Indiana, if you are someone you know
has a gambling problem and wants help, call one eight
hundred and nine with it. And if you have a
gambling problem, call one eight hundred gambler. All right, guys, hey,
(01:50):
this post fight reaction video is brought to you by
Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They're in
your corner. When I lend you five G data that
will not slow you down. So last night at the Apex,
the UFC end of the year with a fight Night
feature in Minel cop and Brandon Royval. When we got
(02:14):
a new champion at one five, you knew it would
open a world of different opportunities for fighters, in a
world of chances for guys to try and become a
world champion, especially if Alesandre Pantosia is injured and it's
gonna be out for a while. A new champion puts
(02:35):
a whole new canap paignt on his division. Tatsuro Tyra
was on the card the night that Joshua Van became
world champion, and everyone Russians to say Tatsuro Tyra is
next because he hasked the momentum. He was their president,
(02:58):
which is always great. He got to go inside the octagon,
though actually he didn't go inside the octawn with Joshua Van.
They showed him before the fight, but they didn't bring
him in as they did with Joshua Van. When Pantosia
defended his belt right before he fought him. The overwhelming
(03:19):
sentiment was that test thorough tire was gonna be next
for the new champion, Joshua Van. But Joe Rogan actually said,
but Manel Cop fights next week. I gotta remember we're rushing.
Here's the issue. Manel has long been one of the
best flyweights in the world. I remember he used to
(03:40):
come to AK and train and you knew right away
that he was very, very special. But there was always
a little something missing, right And I'm gonna give you
a stat here in the second that kind of makes
you wonder why he hasn't gotten the time of shot yet.
But uh, Manel Cop had that thing that was missing,
(04:01):
and I believe what it was was those missed opportunities
where he would have these big fights and while he
would win, it was never something that was so like
wow that you were like he should definitely fighting for
the bill. He beaten the best guys, but he hadn't
(04:25):
beaten them in a way where you felt like it
was it had to be going into this fight. It
was probably the most high stress situations going into in
regards to the title opportunity, because not only did he
have a tough Brandon roy Valley in front of him,
(04:46):
he had the idea that in order to get past
that sirl tire in terms of who's next, he had
to look impressive. The new champion had his hands full
well manel Cop knocks him out one round, finishes him.
(05:08):
Manel Cop finishes him, finishes Brandon roy Valve in the
first round side of the octagon, hits him in the
right hand, stumps him. Herb Dean jumps in, stops to
fight one thing. Brandon roy val Two Fights to go
(05:28):
was in the number one contendent's fight with the new champion,
Joshua van Is, widely considered the fight of the year.
Now he was in a number one contenders fight, essentially
from a nel Cop only and he's on the receiving
end of a knockout. It's crazy how fast this game
(05:51):
turns on the fighters. It's insane. So did I wonder
manel Cop now is tied for the most knockouts in
Flyway history? Yes, guys, Yes, Manuel has finished and knocked
out more people than anyone in the Flyway history except
(06:11):
for one person that's tied with him. Are we ready
now to say that Manel Cop now has to fight
for the belt? Now? Are we ready to say, Hey,
I get that zorol Tyren look good against Brandon Moreno,
but Manell just won to fight in the first round.
(06:33):
Are we ready now to proclaim that it's Manel CoP's turn?
And if not, what's keeping us? Because the reality is
Manel has made some missteps over the course of his
career to where people kind of turn on him. I
know him personally. He's not a bad guy. People think
(06:54):
he might be, so they may have this idea of
who he is. He's not. But if you aren't ready
to proclaim him the number one contender today, then you're
holding on to something more than the result. Because once
again I am talking to you about the person that
has more knockouts than anyone in UFC history in this
(07:17):
weight class, He's only tied with one person. Luis, tell
me what it is. Who else holds that record with
Manel Cop? But I mean his last three fights are
chaos and t KOs. Nineteen of twenty two fights that
Manel Cop has had are finishes. Generally, a guy at
(07:42):
that weight that finishes people at that rate would have
already for for the title. Because he only tied with
Joseph Benavidez for knockouts. And we know that Joe B
had title fights, We know he had opportunities. What is
making us not want to see? But they'll cop giving
that opportunity. And look, I didn't want to do this
(08:05):
video to uh make a case for Minel. I just
think that it's fair if you put him in the
situation that you should consider him right alongside Taturo Tyro. Hey,
Tatsuo Tyra being a former world champion. There is a
(08:27):
lot of stock in that win. It is by far
the best win of his entire career, but there were
still Hey, maybe they stopped to fight early. Brandon ma
Reno looked up and goes really at the end of
the fight, there were some reasons why you can go, well,
maybe Brandon Moreno could have kept fighting. Nobody's saying that
(08:48):
about Brandon roy Vellen, but they'll cop after what we
saw last night. It's just not true. It's just not true.
Just not true. And Tet sirl Tyra got beat by
Roval a couple of fights ago, so when you're building
the resume, that's another thing that Cop and his team
(09:10):
and can say, hey, we just beat the guy that
beat the guy. Why is it not my turn? Don't
I don't know, I don't know. And honestly, Manel Cop
and Brandon Joshua Van is a crazy fight because they're
both tremendous strikers. They're both amazing strikers, and Van will
(09:34):
make Manell fight. It won't be tit for Tad. Let's
see who has the better technique. Joshua Van will make
this into a fight. And that's exactly where you see
Manell involved in some fun fights. You know, it was
fun watching the UFC last night from the Apex was
(09:55):
a bit bittersweet, right because now you know that is
the end of the UFC. In ESPN Monday Tail and
I will have good guy bad guys for the final time.
Anytime we move from a different place network, it's sad
because you will leave a lot of people that you
build relationships with over those times and you hope that
(10:18):
they're fine. The one place that I know what people
will be fine is ESPN. A lot of the people
that we work with at Fox it wasn't fine because
there is no replacing the UFC. But ESPN is such
a monster that there is so much work to be
done that I believe that these people will be okay.
(10:39):
There's been some ups and downs in ESPN. Hell, at
one point, Connor McGregor even broke the app. It's all
learning and growing. But I gotta tell you, I believe
that the UFC on ESPN has really helped to elevate
the UFC in a way that I don't know that
we would have been if not for the time spent
at the Worldwide And I always say, no matter what
(11:05):
they tell me, that little boy from Lafayette can always say, hey,
I work for ESPN. There's a lot of pride in
that because that is the network that we all grew
up watching for our sports stuff. Seeing Scott van Pelt
and see and Stuart Scott Chris Berman and all those
great sports and anchors that made sports so fun for us.
(11:30):
So it was good. Seven years at ESPN. I enjoyed
every second of it, and I will cherish it for
the rest of my life. But I thought it was
fitting last night that the ESPN deal ended with a knockout,
because I believe that for the UFC, that's exactly what
that partnership has been. All Right, guys, until next time,
(11:51):
like subscribe and tell your friends at dcl's and YouTube channel,
and you can get content like this every single time,
especially after fights and post fights. And now you're gonna
find us exclusively on Paramount, so it's gonna be awesome,
all right. Peace
The volume. All right, guys, say show is brought to
you by a new sponsor, hard Rock Bet. Hard Rock
Bet is a top rated sportsbook app. It might just
take the belt from any other sportsbook app that you
use once you open it up and you see it
for yourself. And guys, if you haven't tried your first
(00:24):
bet on hard rock Bet, there's still time if you
can get one to fifty and bonus bets if you win,
so place a five dollar bet. If that bet hits,
you not only get your winnings, but you get one
hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets right away. Guys,
Today's a great day to try the hard Rock Bet
sports app. So it's not just the welcome offer. You
(00:45):
can get bonus bets. You can get parlay, insurance and
other rewards. The rewards and the promos are NonStop. So
download the hard rock Bet app and make your first
deposit today and bonus betts is not a cash offer
offered by the Seminal Tribe of Florida in Florida, offered
(01:07):
by Siminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states.
You must be twenty one or older and physically present
in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about
gambling in Florida called one eight eight eight a d
(01:28):
mit it. In Indiana, if you are someone you know
has a gambling problem and wants help, call one eight
hundred and nine with it. And if you have a
gambling problem, call one eight hundred gambler. All right, guys, hey,
(01:50):
this post fight reaction video is brought to you by
Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They're in
your corner. When I lend you five G data that
will not slow you down. So last night at the Apex,
the UFC end of the year with a fight Night
feature in Minel cop and Brandon Royval. When we got
(02:14):
a new champion at one five, you knew it would
open a world of different opportunities for fighters, in a
world of chances for guys to try and become a
world champion, especially if Alesandre Pantosia is injured and it's
gonna be out for a while. A new champion puts
(02:35):
a whole new canap paignt on his division. Tatsuro Tyra
was on the card the night that Joshua Van became
world champion, and everyone Russians to say Tatsuro Tyra is
next because he hasked the momentum. He was their president,
(02:58):
which is always great. He got to go inside the octagon,
though actually he didn't go inside the octawn with Joshua Van.
They showed him before the fight, but they didn't bring
him in as they did with Joshua Van. When Pantosia
defended his belt right before he fought him. The overwhelming
(03:19):
sentiment was that test thorough tire was gonna be next
for the new champion, Joshua Van. But Joe Rogan actually said,
but Manel Cop fights next week. I gotta remember we're rushing.
Here's the issue. Manel has long been one of the
best flyweights in the world. I remember he used to
(03:40):
come to AK and train and you knew right away
that he was very, very special. But there was always
a little something missing, right And I'm gonna give you
a stat here in the second that kind of makes
you wonder why he hasn't gotten the time of shot yet.
But uh, Manel Cop had that thing that was missing,
(04:01):
and I believe what it was was those missed opportunities
where he would have these big fights and while he
would win, it was never something that was so like
wow that you were like he should definitely fighting for
the bill. He beaten the best guys, but he hadn't
(04:25):
beaten them in a way where you felt like it
was it had to be going into this fight. It
was probably the most high stress situations going into in
regards to the title opportunity, because not only did he
have a tough Brandon roy Valley in front of him,
(04:46):
he had the idea that in order to get past
that sirl tire in terms of who's next, he had
to look impressive. The new champion had his hands full
well manel Cop knocks him out one round, finishes him.
(05:08):
Manel Cop finishes him, finishes Brandon roy Valve in the
first round side of the octagon, hits him in the
right hand, stumps him. Herb Dean jumps in, stops to
fight one thing. Brandon roy val Two Fights to go
(05:28):
was in the number one contendent's fight with the new champion,
Joshua van Is, widely considered the fight of the year.
Now he was in a number one contenders fight, essentially
from a nel Cop only and he's on the receiving
end of a knockout. It's crazy how fast this game
(05:51):
turns on the fighters. It's insane. So did I wonder
manel Cop now is tied for the most knockouts in
Flyway history? Yes, guys, Yes, Manuel has finished and knocked
out more people than anyone in the Flyway history except
(06:11):
for one person that's tied with him. Are we ready
now to say that Manel Cop now has to fight
for the belt? Now? Are we ready to say, Hey,
I get that zorol Tyren look good against Brandon Moreno,
but Manell just won to fight in the first round.
(06:33):
Are we ready now to proclaim that it's Manel CoP's turn?
And if not, what's keeping us? Because the reality is
Manel has made some missteps over the course of his
career to where people kind of turn on him. I
know him personally. He's not a bad guy. People think
(06:54):
he might be, so they may have this idea of
who he is. He's not. But if you aren't ready
to proclaim him the number one contender today, then you're
holding on to something more than the result. Because once
again I am talking to you about the person that
has more knockouts than anyone in UFC history in this
(07:17):
weight class, He's only tied with one person. Luis, tell
me what it is. Who else holds that record with
Manel Cop? But I mean his last three fights are
chaos and t KOs. Nineteen of twenty two fights that
Manel Cop has had are finishes. Generally, a guy at
(07:42):
that weight that finishes people at that rate would have
already for for the title. Because he only tied with
Joseph Benavidez for knockouts. And we know that Joe B
had title fights, We know he had opportunities. What is
making us not want to see? But they'll cop giving
that opportunity. And look, I didn't want to do this
(08:05):
video to uh make a case for Minel. I just
think that it's fair if you put him in the
situation that you should consider him right alongside Taturo Tyro. Hey,
Tatsuo Tyra being a former world champion. There is a
(08:27):
lot of stock in that win. It is by far
the best win of his entire career, but there were
still Hey, maybe they stopped to fight early. Brandon ma
Reno looked up and goes really at the end of
the fight, there were some reasons why you can go, well,
maybe Brandon Moreno could have kept fighting. Nobody's saying that
(08:48):
about Brandon roy Vellen, but they'll cop after what we
saw last night. It's just not true. It's just not true.
Just not true. And Tet sirl Tyra got beat by
Roval a couple of fights ago, so when you're building
the resume, that's another thing that Cop and his team
(09:10):
and can say, hey, we just beat the guy that
beat the guy. Why is it not my turn? Don't
I don't know, I don't know. And honestly, Manel Cop
and Brandon Joshua Van is a crazy fight because they're
both tremendous strikers. They're both amazing strikers, and Van will
(09:34):
make Manell fight. It won't be tit for Tad. Let's
see who has the better technique. Joshua Van will make
this into a fight. And that's exactly where you see
Manell involved in some fun fights. You know, it was
fun watching the UFC last night from the Apex was
(09:55):
a bit bittersweet, right because now you know that is
the end of the UFC. In ESPN Monday Tail and
I will have good guy bad guys for the final time.
Anytime we move from a different place network, it's sad
because you will leave a lot of people that you
build relationships with over those times and you hope that
(10:18):
they're fine. The one place that I know what people
will be fine is ESPN. A lot of the people
that we work with at Fox it wasn't fine because
there is no replacing the UFC. But ESPN is such
a monster that there is so much work to be
done that I believe that these people will be okay.
(10:39):
There's been some ups and downs in ESPN. Hell, at
one point, Connor McGregor even broke the app. It's all
learning and growing. But I gotta tell you, I believe
that the UFC on ESPN has really helped to elevate
the UFC in a way that I don't know that
we would have been if not for the time spent
at the Worldwide And I always say, no matter what
(11:05):
they tell me, that little boy from Lafayette can always say, hey,
I work for ESPN. There's a lot of pride in
that because that is the network that we all grew
up watching for our sports stuff. Seeing Scott van Pelt
and see and Stuart Scott Chris Berman and all those
great sports and anchors that made sports so fun for us.
(11:30):
So it was good. Seven years at ESPN. I enjoyed
every second of it, and I will cherish it for
the rest of my life. But I thought it was
fitting last night that the ESPN deal ended with a knockout,
because I believe that for the UFC, that's exactly what
that partnership has been. All Right, guys, until next time,
(11:51):
like subscribe and tell your friends at dcl's and YouTube channel,
and you can get content like this every single time,
especially after fights and post fights. And now you're gonna
find us exclusively on Paramount, so it's gonna be awesome,
all right. Peace
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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