Ep 298: Ian Machado Garry Shines at UFC Fight Night Kansas City. Preview of This Weekends Card. Latest News.

Episode 298: UFC Fight Night in Kansas City - Ian Machado Garry does it again. One last ride for Anthony Smith. A preview of the weekends Fight Night in Iowa. All the latest news.









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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up everybody. Welcome back to MMA After Hours. It's
Michael Carlisle and Micah Franko. Micah, how you doing, man?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Man? I'm doing all right. And there's a there's a
question that that jumps out at me right away that
I need to ask you.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Okay, are you excited for boxing this week? Uh? Sure?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Like it's the quote unquote big weekend in boxing history.
This is where we get this wild outdoor event on
Friday in Times Square and you've got Devin Haney Ryan
Garcia on the same card, and then Saturday you get
Canelo Sunday. There's in a way, if there was ever

(00:52):
a time for a a fringe boxing fan to be excited,
and you're a little more fringe boxing fan and I am.
I was wondering if this would be the weekend that's
my question for you. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
I mean, I guess that still falls behind UFC Fight Night.
And yes, I realize you've got a Friday in a
Sunday as well, but still falls behind UFC Fight Night
on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
That's where I wondered, can it truly be boxing's biggest weekend?
As the Zone top rank, everybody is at least in
the boxing industry, playing nicely and saying it all together,
But can it truly be the biggest weekend in boxing
if most of us would rather just baut UFC Fight

(01:42):
Night from Des Moines?

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Can it be a big boxing weekend if the biggest
boxing draw isn't fighting?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Who's the biggest boxing draw?

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Would? Oh? Come on, Micah, we both know.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean, Canelo's right there, And if we're talking about
who's been the pound for pound king of pay per
view and of the boxing industry for the last decade,
I see him hand right up on board going for
another undisputed crown against a challenger that at least is
of an appropriate age to be considered an athlete.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, yeah, I'm talking about the guy who sells out stadiums,
crashes Netflix. Yeah, I'm talking about Jake Paul. Somewhat tongue
in cheek, Micah, but yeah, no, look good for boxing?
Is boxing any better for it come Monday? You'd certainly
like to think so? Kind of don't, but you'd like

(02:44):
to think that.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
That's where I wondered. Yeah, on this side, where I
know you're someone that, as I said, loves boxing a
little bit more than me. I just wondered if this
triple feature was attractive or not. If we're through this moment, boxing,
I gave you your respect. Oh yeah, du bas versus use.
That got enough for July nineteenth. I feel like we

(03:07):
have to do our due diligence and report that that
heavyweight title fight is happening. And now that I did
mention boxing Garay talking about Ian Gary sure.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
UFC Fight Night this past weekend from Kansas City, Ian
Gary short notice takes on Carlos Protests in the main event,
and I don't I was gonna say, no real surprise.
I don't want to sound like I'm sliding Protests either.
But Ian Gary just went out and does what he does,

(03:39):
and he did it very well.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I think that well. We both said there was an
opportunity for Carlos Prats to get the job done. There
was a acknowledgment for most people, most analysts, that Ian
Gary had a more defense, a more diverse arsenal, and
that's what he leaned on. Mixing in the takedowns. I mean,

(04:05):
my notes started off with footwork, distance management, all the
things that we know Ian Gary to already do, used
his fire IQ, mixed up the game and then really
constantly attacked, even though his footwork was as a defensive
fighter where he was constantly avoiding the pressure. Protez to

(04:30):
his fault never cut off the rank he was chasing
after Ian Gary and Ian Gary, whether it was the
tea kicks, to the knees, to the face, his combinations,
he was able to put together a diverse offense that
for at least three rounds had Carlos Prats absolutely behind

(04:51):
the eight ball. He's just trailing the whole time, and
that's when the headlines are going around the internet. This
is a masterclass and a expert performance for Ian Gary.
That was the first three rounds.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, then you get to and look, I thought Gary
won the fourth round, but debatables certainly the fifth round.
And this is what I was gonna ask you does it.
It's again not trying to disrespect Carlos Protest, but it
seemed like Ian Gary's like, all right, I ain't efing
this up. I'm coming out with the win, and that

(05:25):
almost caused him to fing up. Did you feel like
Gary took the foot off the gas a little bit
or did Protest realize I got to get a finish here,
so it's time to go for broke.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, I'm gonna read rhyme real quick to one thing
you said. I had it forty eight forty seven this
fight for Ian Gary because I gave Carlos brought this
the fourth round, because when he's jacking the head back,
busting the nose open, doing the most damage that was
done in the entire fight came from that fourth round
where you see the blood start to come out from

(05:56):
Gary's nose, or at least the most damage until that point.
I said, Carlos Prots just stole this round in the
last ninety seconds with his effective damage and the power
on the strikes. Into the fifth round, I thought that
Gary went into prevent defense. I thought he was a
little tired. I thought that what we credit him for

(06:16):
mixing up the game. I think that the takedowns without success,
really did chip away at the Gary gas tank, and
I think he was more tired than he led onto
that fifth round knowing this is my wheelhouse. I'm a mover.
I can move forever, so I need to move because
that's my default setting. I thought that Carlos Proths had

(06:41):
the finish right in the palm of his hands when
Gary was on the mat, he allowed it to get up,
he allowed Gary to run away again, and that tossed
pratas the moment, and it leads a whole bunch of
questions to me from where I go from a master
class from Ian Gary to he survived a Carlos Practice

(07:01):
come back and onslaught and the fight. Well, I am
fine with it being forty eight forty seven. Some people said,
could you give it that fourth round to Ian Gary?
I said, maybe you could. Could you give a ten
to nine to Carlos Practice? Yes, so Ian Gary should
be a little bit relieved that he didn't screw up
and get a draw in that fight and all of

(07:22):
a sudden be in a bad position. I think it
was a brilliant fight to a survival fight from Ian Gary.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, it's interesting how it changed. And I guess your
perspective on him is maybe dependent upon your perspective of Gary,
because I think we can all agree control the first
three rounds, then things get interesting in four and five.
And while ultimately it didn't hurt him, there was a

(07:51):
point in that fifth round where I thought Protest was
going to finish him and Gary was either able to
get out of it, Protests let him out of it whatever,
and like you said, was able to start moving again
and avoid a lot of contact there at the end.
But yeah, it was either a great performance or he

(08:13):
screwed around at the end and barely hung on it,
depending on how you want to look at it. I
think it was a great performance. I get why he
did what he did. I've been critical of fighters at
different times. Why aren't you staying well, why are you
standing there trying to trade, trying to fight when you're up? Well,
this is why. Because when you take the foot off
the gas and the other fighter knows that they have

(08:33):
to put their foot on the gas, you can open
yourself up for trouble. I still don't know that it
was the wrong strategy, but it certainly did not work
out for him, and it almost cost him dearly.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
It's a bad look for the last seven minutes because
a lot of I and Gary's recent rise meteoric success
is due to the fact of an incredible third round
on short notice against showcott Rie on off. Now, how
much does Carlos Protest benefit from a monster last six minutes?

(09:08):
You just got your ass whooked and made look like
a fool. A lot of exposure and there are a
lot of holes in the game of Protests footwork that
have to be fixed. He just got exposed. But all
that happens and you're the guy kicking the other guy's
ass the last six minutes of the fight. Do we
have any of those kind of luffy feelings now for
Carlos Protest as we did he and Gary?

Speaker 1 (09:32):
No, But I don't think Protests. I think he's gonna
be just fine. He's gonna look back at those last
six minutes. He's gonna use that as fuel. Yes, they're
things from the first fifteen minutes he needs to work on,
for sure, But I think he's gonna be okay in
the grand scheme of things. I think just because of

(09:54):
where Gary was going into that fight versus where Protests
was going into this fight, the dynamics a little different.
But I think Protest is gonna be fine.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Is I and Gary gonna be okay? After this? Ian Gary,
to me showed some major issues. If you're wondering if
we know who Ian Gary is by now, we do,
And I don't think that's the world championship winner at
this point because there's not much authority behind his strikes.
Will you are out moving and outclassing and touching up

(10:25):
a guy for three rounds that never stopped him from
coming forward, that never really except for one upper cut
in the second had protest looking hurt to me. There's
not enough finishing power, whether it be on the feet
or on the ground with the submissions for Ian Gary,
and I worry about that because now as we get

(10:46):
a little bit above his head, I think the guys
that mix it up aka the champ is more effective
at it and everybody else it's kind of a straight killer.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Ah finishing power. I don't think you're wrong on that.
Who's the champ in that division? Balal Mohammad uh You
say a lot of things about balal Mohammad, finisher maybe
not one of them. Now you're also not wrong about
the rest of the division either. But look, when jd

(11:24):
Im pulls out of this Mohammed fight, Ian Gary's gonna
get his damn title shot. And if he doesn't, and
not being a bit facetious on that, I don't think
anything happens. But we know Ian Gary's going to be
the backup for that. But I think there's a very
and I know we can get into this and this
will be fun there's a very strong argument to be
made that Ian Gary's got next. So whether that's JDM

(11:46):
or whether that's Balal Mohammed, I think Ian Gary is
sitting right where he wants to.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Be well to go back real quick. You are right,
Balo Mohammad does not finish people. He demoralizes them for
twenty five minutes. Because Leon Edwards to Gilbert Burns to
Sean Brady, we're all exhausted and beat up at the
end of twenty five minutes, and Carlos Protes was not.

(12:13):
He was exhausted because he smokes up back and a
half of cigarettes a day and he didn't have the
umph to finish Gary when Gary was on his back.
That's where I see a difference. Where below Mohammed has
that one tangible that we are able to point to
that is super special, that cardio ability, the ability to
go at that level for twenty five minutes. Where we've

(12:35):
talked about jdm's punching power, Sean Brady on the ground
is just gonna mangle you, and we saw his improvement
on the feet adding authority shof Catt Rockmana has big power,
big chokes, and Walkie Buckley has incredible knockout ability and
Ian Gary that's why I have him at six. That's
where I go one through six those names as I

(12:57):
just laid out for the best welter weights in the
world right now? Did you want to get into why
you think Ian Gary? I understand he's the backup fighter,
but I don't believe he's the next in line for
a title shot. Why do you believe so?

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well? I can make the argument that he deserves it,
although you can also make the argument he doesn't. But
this is back to back short fights that he has taken.
He's done UFC two solids. They reward you for that,
and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The
problem and I kind of know where you're gonna come
with this. It's really hard to look Sean Brady in

(13:35):
the eye and tell him he's not next after Mohammedan
and JDM, and I totally get that, all things being equal,
the bigger fight, the fight you can more easily sell,
is going to be Iamachile Gary versus either Blah Mohammed
or JDM.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
The UFC doesn't care about selling fights anymore. They were
a begat juggernaut that as soon as tickets go on sale,
they have no problems moving them. So I don't know
if Ian Gary's stardom is that much of a requisite
over these other guys, and I just want to sit
here on Yes, I understand it's a favor, but seven
just beat twelve and he had an oppressive three rounds

(14:20):
before surviving the last two, where Brady is still on
a win streak. He's had the last couple and he
just mangled the former champion in ultra impressive fashion. And
the UFC still hasn't backed away from saying that Shavcott's
lost his title fight should he be healthy, And that
also leads us to well walking Buckley just also knocked

(14:45):
off Kolby Covington. He has cameroon ousman. Once we get
past that fight in Atlanta, there's a possibility that Buckley's
ahead of Gary once again anyway, and I'd like to
see those guys face off because the only thing that
Ian Gary is missing for me is the victory over
anybody in the top ten.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Fair fair.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think if he gets the Moyicano, we need a
last minute replacement, you get a title fight. Maybe Ian
Gary gets it. He is always ready and that I
will give him credit for I don't know if some
of these guys will, but I see there's a few
things going against him being the straight off. Hey, we're
announced in a big fight and Gary's the name announced.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
We'll see on that, and look, you may be right.
And if you want to tell me is Sean Brady
is Sean Brady? Is Sean Brady? I get it, and
it is hard to argue with that. But like I
wouldn't sit here pitching a fit if we were doing
the show after that was announced. I get it. But
all things being equal, i'man out of JDM and blah Mohammed.

(16:01):
I think you're gonna see Ian Gary's next.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
You know who's in the worst spot of all? Who
the poor schmoe who's the manager for Sean Brady.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
You know why why?

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Because he's also the schmo that manages Ian Gary. So
how do you fuck one client over for the other one?
How do you go into a meeting and pitched one
harder than the other?

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, I don't think you have to worry too much
about that, because you in either way.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
We'll see how that one works out. A mixed bag
of sorts, though, I would say on the night for
Ian Gary, there was good, there was bad. I definitely
say he affirmed that he's a realistic top six guy
because I know they have him at seven in the rankings,
where he probably didn't move up from this because he'd
beat a guy five spots lower than him.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
But he moved up.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
He didn't move up, he moved up. What did they have?
So who moved down to seven?

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Buckley?

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Buckley was actually ahead of Gary before this.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, yeah, they fun spots.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
I guess that's a good question for you. Do you
put more value in twenty twenty five in a win
over Covington or Pratess?

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Oh this breaks my heart? Protests A. You're gonna say, yeah, even.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Though he had never beat anybody of this caliber at all,
Protests was on the rise.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
God, this breaks my heart. Covington's on the backside. I
mean that's now backside. I'm not telling you Covington's ready
for the retirement home, but I do think he's peaked.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
I was just going to say I didn't think seven,
beating twelve and hanging on at the end was really
necessitating a move up in the rankings. But I'm not
the guy that still has Camerou Ousman somewhere in that
top five also, and the dude hasn't fought at one
seventy and like a year and a half, so I
obviously don't get to vote.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Here, right And look, you brought up Buckley earlier and
the Ousman fight coming up, anything can happen. I think
we all kind of assume Buckley's gonna win that, and
then Buckley can start really start making that argument as well.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
And could there be a world let's just do it
Buckley Gary number one contender fight. Neither one of them
has a win that we love over a real contender
right now, as we just diminished Colby Covington, that means
one of them needs a big win? Why don't they
fight each other? So far are Gary's best win is

(18:47):
a loss to Shavcott rock Mona. These two guys would
be an honest to gosh number one contenders about and
buck versus cut Buckley's there at the way and standing
too close to e and Gary's wife there's Adam and
here we love stories in this industry that's already made
soap opera drama right there of a build up.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
It is, and if we're being honest, that's probably what
happens assuming the Muhammad JDM fight goes off without a
hitch and all that. If we're being completely honest, it
is more likely Brady's next and you get Gary and Buckley,
assuming Buckley takes care of business as a number one contenders.

(19:31):
I don't disagree with you on that, but I do
think there's a path where I and Gary bypasses all
that and he winds up next. Does it happen. We're
gonna have to see on that, but I do think
it's very possible.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
This is also the UFC, and I could even though
there are five legitimate contenders for legitimate contenders, excuse me,
after we get past Jadm, I wantn't be surprised if
JDM pulls off the upset and Islam Mahasha gets his
dream fight, just that the UFC can get the lightweight
title act of again. Iliotaforio is fighting for a vacant

(20:07):
lightweight title, Islam's up at welterweight. All these are still
possibilities too.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
It is, and there's a lot that could still happen,
so well, you know, we'll have to wait and see.
It's fun to speculate on it, but certainly in the
next several weeks, we'll have a lot clearer indication. I think.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Let's move on to the co main event. I need
to know, is there another Jang that you are ready
to kind of be intrigued by. Here coming out of
the co main event, Anthony Smith got sliced and diced up.
The story is Jang Min Yang twelth win in a row.
That's three consecutive first round stoppages in the UFC, and

(20:52):
that's impressive.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
But the biggest one of those is against Anthony Smith,
who look, I don't want to sit here and crap
on an Anthony Smith. I ain't gonna lie. I almost
tear it up in during the video they showed after
the fight. Good stuff. I'm happy for Anthony Smith. Anthony
Smith's the shell of his former self. It was beyond
time for him to hang it up. So I don't

(21:16):
as impressive as the win was, I don't know how
much weight to give it.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
I give it as much weight as we'd give the
first two wins. Really for Jang, I don't think that
we're able to learn that much more about him. I
know that Jang swung for the fences, he said. I
saw Uri fight in Singapore. I'd like to fight him next.
Why not climb all the way up the tree. I
think that it's way more likely that you get Alonzo

(21:45):
Meni Field you get bogg bogged On Guskov. I think
that we still need to see some incremental growth in
the twenty six year old. But at least for my money,
you look at the faces in the top fifteen, and
this is the youngest one, and so I gotta be
somewhat excited about him, just from the fact that we
don't have a lot of depth in this division. We

(22:06):
don't have a lot of oncoming talent. I want to
be excited about somebody at light heavyweight. Why Notajang?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
No, look, I don't disagree with you, but yeah, I
just I need to see a little more. That being said,
he did he those elbows. He just cut Anthony Smith's
head all to hell.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Looked like there was a Gelettemock three and that motherfucker. Oh,
we're just cutting people up, just cutting people up. That
was nasty. It was I love fighters, and I just
sometimes questioned them because even the dudes I know locally,
it's like, man, my family's gonna be here, Like my
family's gonna be here, Oh the Four Daughters of Anthony Smith.
As he's just a bloody mess there. I know it's

(22:47):
an emotional moment going out on top. We all love
Anthony Smith for the underdog story, for overachieving, just a
rough visual to go out on at the end of
his career.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
It was I am happy for him that he went
out on his own terms. No, obviously he would prefer
to go out with a win. He seems at peace
with it. I think that's good. We've talked about him before.
I think he does very good work at the desk
for these events when he's on those, I think there's
an opportunity there for that. I know he also talked

(23:20):
about coaching his teammates and things like that. So Anthony Smith,
even if his in Octagon career is done in progress,
he's not going very far from the He's not going
to be far from from the action.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
We'll still see him around. He's beloved by the broadcast.
We alluded to it last week. Maybe he'll get the
opportunity with the hot headphones on the sticks in his hand,
maybe he will get to call something cage side. So
Anthony Smith will not be gone from the UFC as
we won't be seeing him fight anymore. Now, what if
I told you I see two future world champions that

(24:01):
competed on this card, what would you say?

Speaker 1 (24:09):
I want you to just sell me on this.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Well, once they get released, I could easily see Gigat
Chakatse and Michelle Ferrara winning Karate Combat world titles.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Okay, that's not where I thought you were going to go.
But okay, okay, ah.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Giget Chakatse has long been heralded as an incredible kickboxer,
which I think he still is, but it looks like
his game has been figured out at MMA and his
takedown defense is not up to par. David Onama is
nowhere near this wrestling whiz. And I had no problem
with the twenty nine to twenty eight thought those last
two rounds were very apparent, and I think gi Get Shakatse,

(24:50):
in the nicest way possible, should go back to a
more striking base platform.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Okay, I actually agree with you on this. I thought
you were going to try to sell me that Onama
showed you something that that he's going to be a
future world champion. And while I'm not disputing the fact
that that couldn't happen. I didn't see anything on Saturday
that led me to believe that. So I get where
you're going now.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
And much in the same way, I feel like Michelle
Pereira has regressed some of his antics that made us
love him, the crazy acrobatics, who appoint to traditionalize his
game to a point where he's a shell of himself.
The better boxer was Maga mad the better wrestler was
Maga Metov, and it just looked like Perreira is a

(25:34):
shell of himself. And if he was to have seen
the end of his UFC career, because he's kind of
been up and down, we don't know what to make
of him and is he really going to ever reach
those upper echelons. I'd like to see him get that
excitement back into his game, and I think he could
do it, and also a striking based platform quite possibly.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
He fell out of the rankings, by the way, Yeah, yeah,
that's what was happening for him.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
So this is the back where it's trajectory. Yeah, when
you look at the eight fight win streak, you're like,
I don't know if I love a lot of these names.
Then we get some some tougher names and we're not
seeing the fuererra. I heard somebody else bring this up.
How could you be that ripped, that athletic and have
that bad a cardio. It just doesn't seem to be
a suitable equation, but it is what we get from

(26:19):
Michelle Pereira.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, I don't Pereira has always struck me as more
style than substance, if that makes sense, And I think
at this point in his career that that's really hampered him.
I don't know. Yeah, I guess it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
Forty four fights into his career. I guess we got
to just say he is who he is. But we
always tell that that athleticism, that that excitement, that potential
would all come together in a full symbiotic, you know,
meshing of something incredibly special. It felt like he had
that potential. Hell what was special? And it's gonna be
talked about. I think about December of January, did Randy

(27:05):
Brown have a knockout of the year?

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Quite possibly? Real quick, you're talking about future champions, the cornerman,
the doctor whoever it was that set Dalby's nose after
the first round, gonna be a future champion. Imagine being
Randy Brown, and you see what you've done to Dalby's nose.
He goes to the corner after the first round, comes

(27:29):
back out and all of a sudden, the goddamn thing
straight again. What the hell just happened? That being said
Randy Brown. That was a hell of a performance, hell
of a finish. And yeah, I think we'll be talking
about this one in December for sure.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Man put it together so brilliantly. And I don't think
a lot of people noticed the first right hand when
Darby charged in that wabble. Darby, you get him back
to the fence. Brown occupied him with the left hand,
was able to bring in the right hand. Then they
get into the wild exchange before that huge knockout. Know,
I don't have any problem with the commentary, but there
are points where it makes me laugh because you have

(28:04):
Megan Olivier going crazy after that knockout? How is this
man not in the rankings?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Well, U, you.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Had home reasons why Megan was nowhere in your Kansas
Sorry all right, Sorry I got the wrong name. What's
her name?

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Oh, Lauras sancom Sorry Lauras Okay, I got was on
the on the call going crazy.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
That Randy Brown should be in the rankings. That was
a nice knockout win. He needs to put a few together.
This is all of this potential, but I don't think
a win over Nicholas Dalby is what gets you screaming.
How is this man not in the rankings when we've
kind of went over one seventy right now, it's a
murderer's row. It's hard to get everybody in the rankings.

(28:46):
A huge bounce back win for Ifram ol scarerop Andre
Moonize looks like a shell of the guy that we
saw break Jocker Ray Sosa's arm YEP and look like
at Jiu jitsu whiz. That was a lot of fun
ground between match now, Jimmy Flick really thought that could
go either way positional control and damage. I thought, well,

(29:07):
in that fight.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, I would agree with you on that.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
A shout out to Evan Alder. That's one way to
win a fight. Just keep throwing strikes as hard as
you can so your opponent cannot answer. Brilliant offensive strategy.
Chris gu terras he kicks. He landed a big straight
left to get the knockdown. He still has an issue
with grappling. We knew who Guterra's is but great win
for him.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Let's go back one second to Dalby and Randy Brown,
because you and I talked about this during the fights.
How surprised are you that one of the judges gave
the first round to Dolby.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Oh yeah, somebody mistook that Randy Brown slipped for the
right hand landed, and I think that was an angle.
You know, there's three different judges quite different angles. Someone apparently,
I think, thought that right hand landed and said, holy shit,
he's right back in this round and he's on top.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Did they not see the angle of Dowby's nose.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Knockdown versus nose was turned sideways but didn't go down.
I'm guessing the knockdown was that seductive. That's the only
thing I could think. And I threw that out at you.
I said, did that knockdown count? Because in one angle
it looked like a knockdown, another one it looked like
Brown was like, holy shit, that's close and just kind
of lean back.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, even if you felt it was a knockdown, I
think Brown won the round. But I do agree with
you that probably was the difference. But still I was
shocked that one of the judges game and look, thankfully
that didn't come into play one way or the other
because we got the finish. But that fight, those three rounds,

(30:46):
I think that's getting a lot of play.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
That fall was awkward, But has it been as awkward
as the falls of Panna Vianna and Cameron Simon?

Speaker 1 (30:57):
No, Uh, Zimon totally going the wrong way. Yeah, that's
unfortunate for him.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Not a fan of his, but we saw his first
three fights. We were there live and it's not like
we ever got to do media day with him. He
wasn't that far up on the card. But there's a
part when I look at a twenty something year old
fighter that this crushing fall from grace for him. It
profoundly hurts me, just because we've talked about it. There's

(31:30):
not much lifeblood for Mma outside of the UFC, so
to not be able to see him progress in his
skills and for these results to be so damning, I
feel bad for a guy that's about to lose his dream.
Uh and should probably, I guess, have had some more
skilled development before getting here.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
He's the Molly McCann to dupless as Patty Pembley, and he's.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Just not as beloved by the Holy so we're not
keeping him. He hasn't come up with the spunky gimmicks
that Molly did. Like Molly, like you saw the kind
of separated camera from due plus thing. I think they
already knew this isn't gonna benefit you. We can't let
you write these coattails. That's been a hard one, uh,
Pollyanna Vianna, she has more Naruto tattoos on her than

(32:18):
any person I have ever seen yet. It was the
biggest one on her arms, and than the ones on
her chest or stumming. Basically everything on her is from
that anime. She came into the UFC with a lot
of hype. I thought Jacquelina Moury was gonna be the
better grappler, and she absolutely was. So now on the
flip side, not guaranteeing future contender, but do you see

(32:39):
some intrigue now, at least from amour because it's not
like we have a ton of oncoming prospects at one fifteen.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
I'm cautiously optimistic.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
I love that. Yeah that's about the best I can do.
But yeah I am. I am cautiously optimistic. I'm hopeful.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Timmy Kumba. That was a hell of a jump knee.
We saw some patience, we saw some diversity, and when
he saw his opening, he exploded. So not bad from
that young fighter. We mentioned Simon can't help, but not
shout out Malcolm well Maker. That was some real power

(33:21):
because he got hit by Simon's left hand before landing
that right hook. So between will Maker and Amore, let's
not say future world champions, I'm guaranteeing, but those two
are some bright prospects that are intrigued to see their
next outings. And Jocelyn Edwards opened up the card with

(33:42):
a beautiful left hook, some ground and pound finishing Chelsea
Chandler in the first round up digression. Nice finish from Edwards. Chandler.
I don't know about looking like a fighter. She definitely
though did have a commitment to fitness. She came in
looking more like an athlete at least this time. Didn't
get the good.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Results, though I thought the crowd was lively all night.
Of course, this was a TKO takeover weekend with the
bull riding and WWE on Monday. But I look, I
don't have a problem with the Apex cards like a
lot of people do. But you see the crowd like
that for a fight night, and it's really hard to say,

(34:21):
oh no, they should just keep all the fight nights
in the APEX. Look, I get sometimes you're gonna need
to do that. But the more you can get those
out on the road and get in front of fans
like that and a make that money the business standpoint
of it, But get those fights in front of rabid
fans like that, the better off you're gonna be.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
You're gonna take more money too. We know that someone
call it ticket gouging. We know prices are up for
live events, so just easier economics, you're gonna make that
money going on the road, and we know that the
UFC is a hot ticket, especially going around the world. Now,
I think this just benefits them. And also real quick
shout out to all the fighters because no one fell

(35:00):
into the trap. No one said thank you Kansas, no
one made no one fell into the trap. Everyone remembered
the Kansas City. No one even brang up the Missouri.
They just stayed safe with the Kansas City. Unlike when
we get to pro wrestling after hours, we had one
wrestler go thank you Kansas on Monday night.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
Uh you know what makes that one difficult Kansas City
right next door to each other. Well, Kansas City's in
both states, so yeah, I can see how that would happen,
but yes, none of the UFC fighters fell into that trap.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Beautiful weekend in Kansas City, like it was a beautiful
debut for BKFC in Italy, Chris Camosi. It's a unanimous
decision when Andrea Beach he cut him open early in
the fight between his eyes, and then from there on
it was all about the champion. Also shout out to

(35:56):
Rico Franco winning a war over Jimmy Sweeney to become
the first European BKFC welterweight champion. That one an instant classic.
And we have one more heavyweight has Ha's Happy Heppy
to look out for in BKFC, the Australian with a
devastating right cross knockout in the first round. So we

(36:19):
also had a little bit of BKFC on Saturday and
we got fight announcements and there's some huge fight announcements
for us coming up for the summer calendar. Someone that
we're really going to be looking forward to June fourteenth,
to reiterate at the UFC will be in Atlanta for

(36:39):
a fight night. The main event Joaquin Buckley and the
former world champion Kamarrow Usman. What do you think of
that main event?

Speaker 1 (36:51):
I like it. I think this is a huge opportunity
for Buckley and if Usman has any desires of finding
his way back in title contention, it's kind of a
must win for him. But it really seems like a
huge opportunity for Joaquin Buckley.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
It's perfect scenario of two guys careers going in opposite trajections,
but you kind of see these are the fights that
need to happen. Ousman had these moments, it's now up
to Buckley to cash in on it. Love the matchmaking there.
We move forward a weekend to June twenty first the
UFC in Baku. That's in Azurebaijan. You will see half

(37:30):
Ayel Phazise on the card in the co main event
against Ignacio Baja mondays. Are we looking at the same
kind of scenario here? Is this do or die back
against the wall for Rafael Phazase.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
It's close. I don't know if we're quite there or
not as he comes back from the injury, but.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Maybe coming up short against Gaichee now taking on a young,
hungry up and comer. It felt like he's had his
chance at the super huge fights and now it could
slip through his fingers. After this moment, it's close to
a make or break fight here for a physive. We
also have July nineteenth, UFC three eighteen announced New Orleans, Louisiana.

(38:21):
I originally thought that this card was going to be
a fight night. Turns out it is a pay per
view numbered card and our main event, dustin the Diamond.
Poyer makes the walk for the final time, and he'll
do so in a trilogy fight for the BMF title
against Max Holloway. And to remind everybody, this is a
trilogy fight where the series is two nothing in favor

(38:43):
of Poier.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
And that's my only problem with this, and I'm not
gonna make a huge stink out of it. I get it,
you're trying to send out Poyer the right way, but
I know he had mentioned Gaichee as a possible opponent
in some others. It seems a little weird to do
a third Holloway fight when you're already up two oh,

(39:06):
but you got those stakes now that prestigious BMF title
on the line, he said facetiously. So I mean, I'm
fine with it whatever.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
For one of the greatest combat sports careers of all time,
Max Holloway has sure been in some throwaway fights. Would
you beat Vulk a fourth opportunity to can you get
dustin if you have three d cracks at him? I
mean it's a weird one for me because there feels
like a lose lose for Poier. I understand bright shiny

(39:40):
BMF title. I understand making the walk in New Orleans
in front of your people in Louisiana, the King of Lafayette,
but a third win over Halloway and the second best
belt you won next year interim title. I just don't
love all the optics of this one. But I don't know.

(40:02):
If I don't, the Kachi trileogy at least makes sense
because it's one one. I don't love this matchmaking.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
I don't either. I mean, I guess win or lose
is not gonna hurt Poier. I don't know if what
he does for Holloway, even if he wins, you're fighting
a guy on his way out. Certainly if he loses,
you're like, huh, I don't know. Uh yeah, But I

(40:36):
get I don't like it either, Mike. I'm actually with you,
But with this being Poie Swan song and you're just
trying to send him out on a high note, I mean,
I guess it's fine.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
There's a huge opportunity I guess from Max Holloway to
back door his way into a title fight. You beat
Gichi at fifty five, you beat Heck, maybe we can
dust off Michael Chandler all the last Action heroes so
that Hollaway can backdoor into a title fight without fighting
the guys that are relevant right now. It's a weird

(41:12):
bit of matchmaking for me in this one, but they
are two beloved fan favorites. There's gonna be pay per
view draw, the arena is gonna show out. So I'm
over here complaining about these things that Jake Paul would
never worry about. It's fine by me. Wow Wow. Now,
as for the rest of the fight announcements that we

(41:32):
got May seventeenth, UFC Fight Night, Sadik you Seth this
is his last chance at relevance. Also because he's going
down ale As, he'll be taking on Marion Santos. We
also get Connor Matthews, Yadir Vidal and Juliana Rosa Malquez Costa.
Matthews Gamrot is returning May thirty. First, he'll be taking

(41:53):
on Lud mc klein. That's an interesting one. At lightweight,
we got Sue John yun verse is Jekka Sarrya at
UFC three sixteen. That's till June seventh, and then one
more for that Baku card. Does ims Soadakov, the other
Azerbaizjan fighter on the UFC roster, will get to fight

(42:16):
in his home country against Nicholas Malta.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
One that obviously not mentioned because still no fight. But
since we talked about him last week, Connor McGregor, just
when you think it's done, it's never gonna happen. He
goes to social media and kind of alludes to the
fact that he might like to fight again, but it's
got to be in a stadium. I only bring this
up because we pretty much decided last week never happening.

(42:42):
Connor's done. But just when you give up hope, he
manages to throw something out there that strings you along
and keeps his name in your mouth.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Well, we can keep the name in the mouth, but
he wants to take on a guy that's a shell
of himself a skelet of a man. At this point,
he saw Michael Chandler get exposed, beaten down and taken
apart by Patty Pimblett, and then Connor McGregor does the
gentlemanly thing. It says they're still business to be handled
between the two of us. The business is two years old.
The business is old and stale. The business has gotten

(43:17):
and kurned green grown legs, walked off a cliff and
been accused of sexually assaulting several women. So right now
that business seems to be like as uncaring as I
could possibly have. Because the further we get away from
the last Connor McGregor fight, the older Connor McGregor gets.
The more the UFC keeps showing us each week how

(43:37):
older fighters, Anthony Smiff and guys are just getting sent
on their way. And I can't get the same enthusiasm
between Connor McGregor and a guy that just got taken
apart as I could have after an Ultimate Fighter season.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Yeah, I mean, at this point, I don't know that
anybody wants to see McGregor Chandler. I just think that
ship is sailed. I did feel like it was important
to bring it up only because of our conversation last week,
and here he is again managing to find a way
to get it back out there that hey, maybe I'm
not done after all. Look that being said, if there's

(44:15):
any chance Connor fights in UFC again, those conversations ain't
happening until a new TV rights deal is announced. That
plain and simple.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
I was more surprised, and we brought it up earlier
in the show, and I did not bring up Connor
McGregor's name. I was more surprised about his absence from
BKFC Italy Big Florence event debut there. I thought we
would have had a little more Connor McGregor presence forthright
right there. That surprised me more than him taking an

(44:46):
opportunity on social media to make himself relevant one more time.
I mean, he is a very wise promoter in finding
the perfect opportunities.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I would agree with you one hundred percent on that.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Bringing up BKFC real quick. We did get some more
news on their calendar. June sixth, they will be in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. David Mundel will be defending his middleweight title
against Donald Sanchez. Unfortunate for Mondell, I guess he's not
getting that Perry fight he's been chasing after it. At
least somebody in the rankings gets a crack at the belt. Finally,

(45:22):
June fourteenth, we had mentioned the date. We had mentioned
the location backup Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Main event now announced.
It will be heavyweights. One of your favorites, Parker Porter
will be in the main event taking on Dylan Kleckler.
Kleckler three and one in the promotion. Porter one to zero,
coming off of a big knockout in his debut. Following

(45:45):
weekend June twenty first, it's the debut of BKFC in
Texas Fort Worth, Texas. This will be a mega main
event BKFC seventy six. It's the rematch for the lightweight
title Franco to Naglia Tony Soto, running back from the
instant classic that was the fight of the year in
twenty twenty four. We'll see who walks out with the

(46:06):
lightweight title.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Still no mention of I mean event for International Fight Week, Micah.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
I got to assume at this point when we're getting
the three eighteen announcement, and I don't think that just
came together because well, we know we're having Tooier in
New Orleans and Tooier and Holloway. Maybe it did come
together because Poier and Holloway are company guys. They're not controversial,
They're not going to make a lot of demands. I'm
just wondering if that's what led to the perfect storm

(46:37):
of three eighteen being announced before three seventeen and our
our conversation last week that was going around the internet
apparently non applicable bee Chris du Plus. He says, I'm
not injured, We're just not having the fight at International
Fight Week. So that still leaves us back to names
like islam Ilia, Jones, and Aspina.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I don't think it's going to be Jones and Aspinall,
although I would not hate on that at all. I'm
not necessarily saying it's this one either, but I think
before Jones and Aspinall is far more likely you get
Anklijah and Alex Mahara, And that would seem to go
against everything that Alex said after the loss, take some

(47:22):
time off, heel up, get ready, come back and take
my belt. So I'm not sure we're getting that one either,
but i'd put money on that before I put it
on Jones. Aspinall.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
When all else fails, you call Alex Perreira. But maybe
his team is able to talk a bit of sense
into Alex. We know you're the company guy. Every time
the clone rings, you answer and say yes. This one time,
we need you to say no. We need you to
understand that chips are all in here and the second
loss against Ank Kiliah is unacceptable. We need adequate time

(47:54):
to add some blocks into your game and fully prepare
for this.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Now.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
If you're the UFC, quite possibly double the man's pay,
which is somewhere around three point five to four point
five million dollars I've heard rumored to show up for
a fight. Maybe you risk everything for that biscuit. Maybe
that's the payday you're looking for. I feel like saying
Islam Mahasha versus a justin Gaetchee Richaros Olivera feels the

(48:23):
most likeliest of scenarios for our three seventeen main event
at this point.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Well, Olavera's going into the Hall of Fame that week,
he's getting the Forest Griffin A. Well, he's getting Forest
Griffin Award at the Hall of Fame. To me, that
takes him out of fighting that week, not that I
would hate on it especially, and I love Charles Olivera,
but the guy has a hard enough time making weight
as it is. Give him other things that he has
to do that week. I think you're asking for the

(48:49):
wheels to come off. So I don't know that he's
the one. Let me ask you this real quick on
John Jones, ESPN, MMA, Twitter, handle, ex handle, whatever fuck
it is these days. I don't know if they were
like trying for the ultimate suck up to UFC or
the ultimate fu to UFC they put out the other day.

(49:11):
John Jones officially has the second longest undisputed heavyweight title
reign in UFC history, at seven hundred and eighty five days,
behind only kine Veloska's reign of eight hundred and ninety
six days. Jones is one step closer to having the
longest title reign in two different weight classes. Couple things here, Micah,
how is John Jones the undisputed heavyweight champion when there's

(49:36):
an interim champion? To me, that reeks of disputed second
of all, Yes, seven hundred and eighty five days in counting.
We're a little past that now because he's been hurt,
he's defended the title. Well he Look, I'm not shitting
on John. I'm just pointing out it's seven hundred and

(49:57):
eighty five days because he's been hurt and he's only
had one title defense. So I don't know if this
was like a suck up move gone wrong by ESPN
or if this was like a backhand control. We're gonna
make it look like we're trying hard, but we're gonna
point out some discrepancies here that people are gonna shit
all over, and boy did they.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
This is why John Jones wants six more months to prepare.
He's gonna get that record, He's gonna get that other
one hundred and fifty days he needed. He's gonna pass
Kane Velaskiz, he's gonna be in the record books, and
then maybe he'll step inside the octagon with Tom Assball.
My opinion of all this is that if John Jones

(50:41):
was getting as much money as Alexander Yusik, Anthony Joshua,
any of those requisite boxing names that Turkey Yalla Cash
has thrown big paydays at, I don't think we would
have had a problem making John Jones tom asked. But
I still thing that there is a very big discrepancy

(51:03):
between the amount of money offered by the UFC and
the amount of risk in losing your legacy that John
Jones sees in fighting Tom Aspinall. That's just my personal
feeling about the situation.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
So it's not really so much about wanting six more
months to prepare for the fight. It's more about the money.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
I think it's very much about the money. I think
that it's very easy to believe that John Jones. I
think maybe I heard he got somewhere in the seven
to nine million dollar range for that last fight in
the UFC, and maybe I'm way overblowing it, but there's
been speculation that he wants twenty to twenty five million dollars,
and I think that he is steadfast and not moving

(51:46):
off that number. I think everything else is secondary. I
think that John Jones very realistically respects and acknowledges the
danger that there is in fighting Tom Aspinall and says,
I'm not doing this unless you back up a truckload
of money. If not, I am more than fine of
playing this negotiation game forever. It's not like he needs

(52:09):
to say his.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Image well, that's true, all right. Can we agree he
ain't getting twenty five million dollars to fight tom Aspitall.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I would lie. I would believe that is true, and
that's why I very much believe we're never gonna see
this fight happen.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Okay, that was my thought as well. So the question
becomes when do you move on? And look, there's only
one name that makes sense, and he wants his light
heavyweight title back, so maybe you don't have to be
in a rush, but at some point in time you

(52:49):
got to move on from this fight. Either give John
Jones somebody else for less money, or strip him with
the title and make Aspinall your heavyweight champion and breakout
Surreal Gone or something. I guess.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
Much in the conversation that we've had with Connor McGregor,
where we could speculate that movement won't happen until there's
a new broadcast deal, I feel it's the same conversation.
I think that the UFC is in no way gonna
pull the John Jones Tom Aspinall dream away from us.
Will a broadcast negotiations going on, you are no way

(53:29):
telling your new partner that that's not happening. You're possibly
dangling that carrot that you could help us make it happen.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
And that's a fair point as well. And look, maybe
at that point in time, new rights deal, whether it's
pay per views going away or whatever it is, maybe
at that point in time you are giving John Jones
the money he wants for this fight, and that's how
you're kicking off your new rights deal, whatever whatever. I

(53:58):
could see something like that happening. But in the meantime,
do you stay at holding pattern? Do you strip John
and say, Alex, I know you've talked about that light
heavyweight title. We need to do you at Aspinall, all
you got to do is beat Tom and John Jones
is they're waiting for you more money than you've ever
seen before.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
I think we are quite possibly looking at Tom Aspinall's
a real gone International Fight Week interim heavyweight title headliner.
We are dangerously close to approaching that is a reality
before you get the Alex Perira fight. I don't know
if they break glass that way. I feel like the
UFC might have the audacity of we will give Aspinall

(54:43):
a stay busy fight to get us a main event.
We're getting a BMF fight on pay per view. I
can't imagine that a heavyweight interim headliner is too far off.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
I dude, I still want to tell you how wrong
you are and how little since that makes, But I
think you're right and we're gonna have to live with it.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Heck, I could even see a falsified injury report coming
out of John Jones. We were so close to making
Jones aspinall, and Jones is injured, so to finally give
Tom Aspinall a fight that he deserves because he deserves
to stay busy, they give us a real god and
maybe Jones is injured, maybe he's not injured. I could

(55:27):
see that becoming something too.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
A broken toe you float out an X ray if
somebody's broken toe out there. I mean, I realized we've
done that before with another fighter, But you know, a pulled.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Groin, something you know, you never know. It could be
that quick to get away from us. But I feel
like Jones Aspinall is not something that we're getting until
the broadcast rights deal is worked out. I think right
now it's just a conversation piece, and it's unfortunate for
Tom Aspitaal. At this point, I would be begging to

(56:02):
defend the interim title just because you don't want to
waste your prime, but I wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
On the off chance I stumble against Surreal Gone, or
the off chance I stumble against Curtis Blades, then all
this has been for naught and I missed out on
my big payday. I get it, you could be a
hero here, but I don't know that I'm in that
much of a hurry to be a hero If I'm assmenall,
I'm waiting to get paid.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
How did it work out for Michael Chandler. Not Well,
that that's the risk that you run. You already have
a prime example of the negative side of the coin. Now, granted,
Tom Aspitall is much more diverse as a fighter and
much younger than Michael Chandler, but you've seen where going
to the bench can just delay your earning potential.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
And if you're Aspenall you're the interim champ, that does
give you some pull. At some point in time, you
either out to strip Jones or you just make the
interim title go away. In f you, Tom, if you
don't want to play ball, so I mean, I feel
like you have a little more lever. Whereas Michael Chandler,

(57:14):
if he was waiting for the Cadavergregor fight. He's still waiting,
so he almost had no choice but to move on
if he wanted to fight. I think aspinall in theory
could force some hands, whether that is forcing UFC to
agree to Jones's demands or moving on. But yeah, I

(57:34):
don't I will see. I will not be surprised if
we don't get an interim title fight interim heavyweight title
fight at International Fight Week. I don't think you're far
off there.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Sorry, I'm trying to google real quick longest interim title
reign in UFC history, because if Tom asked me all
wanted to start creating his own ESPN MMA stats, I'm
pretty damn sure he might be able to do some
of his is a own digging right there. I mean, yeah,
Tom ASTHMA five hundred and thirty five days past Hennen

(58:11):
Burrow for the five hundred and thirty four day interim
title ring he had with the UFC bandweight title. So
we're just here making history with the heavyweight division.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
So tell me again how John Jones is the undisputed
heavyweight champion. Uh?

Speaker 2 (58:27):
In words, it feels very disputed. I loved how you
said that, and I got to agree it's very disputed.
I mean, heck, it feels like we could even bring
Francis Saganu's PFL file back into the conversation and talk
about longest non defended heavyweight titles. I mean, it's not
a great lookout there for heavyweight MMA. We got some

(58:47):
of the pieces, they just can't get.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
It to go before we get to a UFC fight night, Micah, Well,
what else did you want to talk about?

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Okay, so this weekend or this week there are some
things for you guys to feast on besides boxing and
the UFC. We'll get to that second Thursday night. We
do have the PFL the final quarter finals. We get heavyweights,
light heavyweights, so Phil Davis, Rob Wilkinson, we know, monster wrestler,
hard hitting kickboxer, both of held titles with PFL Bellator.

(59:16):
That is your main event. Also on the card, Antonio's
Carlos Junior is back with the PFL. We've seen his
submission game excel at this level. And then UFC vents
in the heavyweight side. Alexander Romanov and Hadrigo Nacimento are
both on this card. So you get PFL Action ESPN

(59:36):
Plus for your prelims. ESPN Plus and ESPN two for
your main card on Thursday night Friday morning on YouTube
from Dubai. It's Karate Combat fifty four. It's a heavyweight
title fight Sam Alvi. Yes, he's had a resurgence here
in Karate Combat three big victories. He takes on the

(59:59):
returning two Combat Sports Tyron Spong and if you have
not seen Spong, he is one of the most dynamic,
hard hitting light heavyweight heavyweight kickboxers of the recent generation.
This guy was an absolute mauler in the WSOF before
he got more lucrative opportunities to go back to kickboxing,

(01:00:19):
and we never saw him in the UFC. Karate Combat
is right up his alley, so that one is gonna
be a banger. Mohammed Mukaiev is also on this card
UFC that normally a grapper grappler. He's gonna kickbox here,
so we'll see how that works out. And lightweight title
challenger ar Minser yuki In from the UFC is gonna

(01:00:39):
be in the Combat Square in a feature grappling match.
So that's Friday Morning from Dubai. Any of those names
kind of jump out to you, sure I thought you
were gonna say it was interesting to see that's our
Yukian's gonna grapple before we see him fight in the UFC.
That that's what stuck out to me is.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
It doesn't surprise me. It doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
It kind of I guess it doesn't. He's being punished
by the UFC, but I want to see him fight
in MMA, not grapple.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
I agree with you on that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
And then Friday night before we get to the UFC
action on the BKFC app, you do have BKFC Fight
Night Clearwater. Former light heavyweight champion Captain Deadpool. Jared Warren
meets Joseph Creer in the main event career a couple
big knockout wins, a lengthy distance fighter. Warren is aggressive
in creating with throwing in big power. Your co main

(01:01:35):
event former title challenger Ryan Reber looks to get back
on the snide. He's a calculated, effective technical striker. He's
taking on the big aggressive Matt Gimon. Guyman just looks
to make it pretty and growy. You also have knockout
artists Jay Jackson versus the JAB based Jomi Escaboza. So

(01:01:57):
that's BKFC Fight Night clear Water Friday Night, BKFC GAP
and Fubo TV.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
On Saturday, UFC back at it with a Fight Night
staying on the road there in Des Moines, Iowa, ten
pm Eastern Time, your main event. Top five bandam Waight's
Corey Sandhagen Davison figuredo.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Wow. I mean this one is a just stylistic opposingly
approaches to fighting. You get the powerful, the aggressive, dividson
figure Ato and you get the technical, flowy stance switching
of Corey Sanhagen. Both guys have a propensity to land

(01:02:42):
devastating shots. But with Thigurado, he's a guy that looks
to overwhelm. You load up with those shots at one
thirty five. It's been his wrestling that's really been his
trademark and his gas tank improving without cutting weight. Sanagan,
he's just so creative with his striking. He's loose, he's technical,

(01:03:03):
his kicks are intriguing. The only problem with Santaegan, though,
is he falls in love with his grappling and we'll
go for submission over position and lose that kind of exchange.
If this one stays standing, I see the length of
speed being a real issue for Figurato it's just if
Santagan gets too cute with the grappling and gets held
down that I see trouble possible.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
I've never seen such a huge underdog that I am
so in love with in MMA. Now, now we talk
about odds and all that, and you're, wow, this person's
this much of an underdog. I might throw some money
on that. There's doing that and hoping for the best,
and there's doing that, and holy shit, I could actually
win this. San Jagan's a minus five hundred favorite. Figuredo

(01:03:47):
a plus three eighty underdog. I absolutely see passed. The
victory for Figuredo doesn't mean it's gonna happen, But were
I to put money on this, I would grab those
underdog odds for Figuredo all day long.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
I already heard it from another gambling podcast that you
could go and find on a certain website that has
a crown that they said you could do a parlay
between Deevenson Figedo and Jeremy Stevenson Stevens and it would
be plus twenty three hundred and for two big underdogs

(01:04:29):
that I very much see why they are underdogs. You
could very much say, well, if Stevens lands one big punch,
on Mason Jones. That's one of the two parts I need.
And then if san Hagen gets a little too cocky,
as we've seen before with his grappling, and Figuado's either
able to get on top or take the back, you

(01:04:50):
could see three rounds of holy shit that the cards
just go Figaedo's way. So how do you feel about that, Parlay?
I wanted to throw it out later, but you already
bang up the gambling aut so I'm jumping out here.
He grabs me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
I want to tell you I don't feel good about
Jeremy Stevens.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
But.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Exactly, And I don't know enough about Mason Jones to
believe he's a minus five seventy five favorite against anybody
against me. Uh and I know, damn goodie, Well I
can't fight right, so, uh, I don't know. I see
at that point, I think you're hoping for the best.
I think you can legit win and with the odds

(01:05:32):
you're getting on thinking eight, oh, you can make good
money that just doing that. If you wanted to get cute,
if you wanted to get cocky and go all in,
gopher broke whatever you know saying you want to use yeah,
go for it. I think I'd still steer clear of
that and I just focus on the Figurado san Higan

(01:05:53):
fight now. Maybe do separately Jeremy Stevens, But yeah, I
don't know about trying to to linked those two together.
I think you're asking for a lot to happen on me.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
I don't like that most I got five on it. Okay,
that's about the length of how my bravery goes. But
I was gonna say, just on a straight who wins
this fight? Are we both going san Hagen the more
likely victor? Or are you sewing on figuido just on
the pick no money, you're taking figuedo.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
I completely understand why Sana Haagan is a favorite. I do.
I've counted out divison figuredo too many times, and he
has certainly proved me wrong with this move to bantamweight.
I'm riding theguedo as long as he doesn't throw me off.
So yes, I'm going straight up figuedo here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
I see too many advantages in the striking realm for
Corey san Hagen. I like him just straight up. I
think he wins this fight. That won't stop me from
going to casino. Maybe sprinkling a couple on figuedo because
that is such an alluring number. A former champion with
ways to win should probably get more respect. But in

(01:07:03):
that same thinking a former champion, what about a two
division former champion? Bow Nickel is at least a betable
favorite at this point, smallest favorite he's ever been in
his UFC career seven and zero. He struck the whole
time on the feet against Paul Craig. How do you
feel against bow Nickel versus Rainier Dey Rider.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
I don't like this for bo Nickel. Now, he may
wind up winning. I don't know, it's tough. I feel like,
you know, I can sit here and tell you, oh,
this is gonna be the biggest matchup of Nicol's young
UFC career, and that is true. But they're giving him
this fight for a reason, right, They're giving him They
ritter because they feel like b Nickel can beat him.

(01:07:50):
I think it's gonna be tough. I'd probably go Nickel here,
but I don't think it's near the slam dunk that
the other Bonnickel fights have been.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Render day Rider has the reach advantage. He has won
titles at two hundred and five pounds. You know he
has been able to hurt guys with strikes at two
hundred and five pounds. For my money, he's the bigger puncher,
but he is the more mechanical person here, more robotic
bo Nicol for nothing else. Did look smooth on the feet.
One issue I had with him on the feet he
seemed to be repetitive in throwing the same setups, the

(01:08:24):
same combinations. I need to see an expansion of what
he believes he feels confident in doing in the octagon.
I feel like he's wrestling, should get the win here. Yeah,
but if he chants suddens and falls into a triangle
in the last minute renter day Rider, is that good
of a black belt? There is that much danger. I
think that they're saying in the UFC, you have more

(01:08:46):
fluidity on the feet, you should be the better striker.
You have the wrestling to rely on. But this is
a bear trap for you to fall in. Can you
get past it? So entertained by this one, I think
it's a stay away. Maybe if you've got some parlays
you want to throw them in, but this is a
dangerous fight either way. Not to mention, Dave Royner has

(01:09:06):
three times the pro experience.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
This is a parlay killer. I would stay completely away
from this one Elsewhere on the main card, Micah, Hey,
there's still fighters out there that Santiago Ponzinibio could be
favorites against. He's a slight favorite against Daniel Rodriguez.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Rodriguez, for as much as we think he's a striker,
it's only eight of eighteen wins by knockout. It's seventeen
to thirty from Ponzinivio. This is a boxer versus a kickboxer.
That's why Ponzinivio is favorite. He throws more kicks. He's
a bit more diverse, where Rodriguez one two not a
lot of creativity. They're both kind of in the same

(01:09:44):
stage of their career. Also, the activity for Ponzinivio maybe
in his benefit.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
H I'd agree with you on that. What else, so
the main card sends out to you, Micah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Montel Jackson is a ranked battle Way and he's looking
to make that charge towards contention. But first he has
to defend him number against the unbeing Peruvian Daniel Marcos.
This one is highly intriguing to me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
The featured fight Mischa Tate and Yanna Santos. I only
bring this well. I bring this up because the feature fight.
But me Shatate this week talked about how a potential
fight with Kayla Harrison might help her exercise some demons
from the all those Rhonda Rousey losses. What world does
me Scha Tate live in that she thinks she's getting

(01:10:28):
a Kayla Harrison fight.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Oh, that's a bunch of delusion in my bad. I
thought when I mentioned Jackson versus Marcos and you put
your finger up, you had something to say because I
was gonna go a little harder on them. But I
let you jump in well real quick. Let me finish
up eight knockout wins. The last two are well. Three
of the last five are first round knockouts for Montel Jackson.
He has good grappling, big time power. I think that
gives him the advantage over a Daniel Marcos, who's a

(01:10:53):
very good, elusive technical striker. Last two who went to
split decision. I don't think he has the next level power.
I like the wrestling in the back pocket of Jackson
to be the difference maker. Misha Tate is obviously delusional
and has been indulging in one too many special cupcakes
there in Las Vegas.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
I think she needs a brain scan.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
I do like her in this fight, though, because Nana
Santos is just gonna hold you against the cage. I
want to say that Santos should be the better striker.
I like her kicks a little bit better. Tate's the
better boxer, Tates the better wrestler. I think she gets
to win here, but in no realm is she anywhere
near sniffing a title opportunity. I believe this is ten

(01:11:37):
versus eleven. I don't think that we see Tate get
into that realm of Panya Harrison. I understand the thought process.
If I can be at a judoka, it will take
away all my nightmares of getting armbard. But Kayla Harrison
does vicious and mean things to me Sha Tate if
they're ever in an octagon together.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
The rest of Kayla Harrison's UFC career is now. She's
gonna have to do some things to connect all those dots.
But it's mapped out and there is not a goddamn
thing Misha Take can do to change that, to insert
herself into that equation. I mean, that's just plain and simple.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
I can't hate on Tate, trying to stay relevant, trying
to throw out the biggest name she can. We get
the thought process of at least looking for those big
fights one more time. Jeremy Stevens, he's walked away from BKFC.
We believe this is a one and done with the UFC.
They want to see what he can do to impress.
Only eight and one in his last nine MMA fights,
but there is the one punch knockout power from Jeremy Stevens. Well,

(01:12:39):
Mason Jones is more dynamic as a striker, has more
tools that he uses, has a better grappling game. He
is hitable, so we'll see if that goes against him.
I'm also a little bit surprised on the prelimps to
see Osmo Bukev versus Ryan Loder. Boke came in on
short notice. Tko Zach reed in his debut. It's a

(01:13:01):
seven fight win streak, and for a guy with twenty
two fights on his belt, I wouldn't think you're gonna
test him against a tough winner. Tough winners usually get
guys that we feel pretty confident about their first foray
into the UFC. Well book I have has shown some
pretty stout takedown defense on the regional scene and Loader
is a straight wrestler, so it's an interesting matchmaking for me.

(01:13:23):
There also Gillian Robertson. She has the big enough opportunity,
even though it's on the prelimbs, to really start making
a way towards a title fight four and one. At
one point fifteen, Marina Hadriguez has lost four or five.
I think she's going in the wrong direction. So this
is Robertson's opportunity to break into the top ten and
start getting towards a title fight. Because we know that

(01:13:45):
there is not a great amount of death there at strawwaight,
as we're looking at jangwe Lee going up to Glywait,
so maybe Robertson catches up to John Jeroba, who looks
to be the next hottest scrappler in the division.

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
Pre Limbs seven pm Eastern Time, ESPN Plus, Your Main
Card ten pm Eastern Time on ESPN Plus and ESPN
two for UFC Fight Night in Des Moin.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
Before we get out of here, one more shouting shout
out to Nathan Rivera. He'll also be on those BKFC prelims.
He's giving me several interviews a top prospect there at featherweight.
Shout out to John Dotson. He's in action on the
Rising Card this weekend, so Sunday morning for us here
in the States. We got an interview with the BKFC
Flyway Champion up on the website before he headed out

(01:14:31):
to Japan. So shout out to John Dotson. Go over
to cageminds dot com. It's Cageminds Combat Sports News on
Facebook and YouTube at cage Minds Underscore CSN on X,
Instagram and TikTok.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
Get the show on X at MMA after Hours. You
can get me at Real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of MMA After Hours.
You're on the After Hours podcast network.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
H love combat sports. I have a website for you,
cageminds dot com. That's c A G E. D M
I n d s dot com. Fight news from around
the world, in depth interviews, live event coverage covering combat
sports for over a decade. Established in April twenty eleven,

(01:15:22):
that's cageminds dot com.