Ep 303: Fight Night Main Event Canceled at the Last Minute. UFC 316 Preview. Latest News.

Episode 303: Maycee Barber had a medical episode moments before her main event fight at UFC Fight Night.  Two title matches headline UFC 316 this Saturday...we preview the card.  All the latest news. 







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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up everybody? Welcome back. It is MMA after Hours.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Michael Carlile, joined us always by Micah Franko.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Micah, how you doing? Man?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Oh already told you pre show. I had a rough night,
some abdomen issues. I'm here surviving.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Just go ahead and say it. You got the squirts,
It's okay. We it all happens. Food doesn't agree with us.
We pick up a little virus. We a little upset Tom, Tom,
and uh, yeah, it's like a water well in a
third world country.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
If I can hold anything down and I wasn't throwing
it up, I'd be happy here. You described actually sounds
nicer than what I went through last night.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, that's very unfortunate. Almost as unfortunate, Micah.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
As UFC fight night this past week, as we are
all set for the main event, they do the pre
video time for the fighters to come out, and nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Nothing Never seen a more confused bunch of people and
an unprecedented situation that got more confusing. And I'm guessing
I don't know if it's due to hippa or what,
but I don't know if I've seen a full kind

(01:25):
of play out of events. We know that the video
starts playing. We believe that Nancy Barber is staged to
walk out, and I've seen reports that they turned around
went back to the locker room. Apparently. I'm gathering that
that would be when she wasn't feeling well, and then

(01:48):
the medical episode that is being called a seizure from
Hunter Campbell to Aaron Blanchfield was what happened. I believe
that's the timeline of event. It leads to no main event,
shortest cancelation before a main event that I can recall.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, and I don't even know that there was actually
a seizure, especially if she turned around and walked back,
which we've heard stated multiple times. The only time we've
heard the seizure is why Blanchefield said she was told
by Hunter Campbell. Yeah, yes, to your point, Hip, The
lows certainly come into play here a little bit. But

(02:30):
whatever the reason was, Macy Barber not able to go
this after she misses weight and despite having the opportunity
to try to cut more weight, she decided not to.
And look, she would not be the first person to
ever make that decision. Sometimes the weight cuts just rough.
It is what it is. You get to a point
I can't do anymore. But it wasn't a good fight

(02:54):
week for her, and it certainly ended on a sour note,
not just for her but for everybody who had tuned in.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, there's obviously has to be some addressing of the diet,
and I'd hate to pile on where we don't know
what happened. If you want to say it was an
anxiety attack, a panic attack. Was there some more serious
of a medical episode. But Macy Barber Misswait by a
half hound. She's had weight issues before, and everyone was

(03:28):
very noticing a photo that was going on the internet
of the new additions that she had going into the fight.
We're talking about the breast augmentation surgery. If you're already
having issues with weight cutting, adding just more weight onto
your body that you're going to be carrying when you
get on a scale might not have been the best idea,

(03:51):
As now the rest of her body is forced to
cut even more weight. Whatever that added somewhere else, you
have to lose it when you're trying to get on
that scale. We don't know how much that put her
body into some kind of failure. But a rough week
for Macy Barber. Financially, a great week for Aaron Blanchfield.
And there's a possibility that this worked out as good

(04:15):
as it good for Aaron Blanchfield, because realistically, you're not
jumping over Natalie Silva and you're not jumping over Alexa Grosso,
I mean not Alexa Grosso. Excuse me, You're not jumping
over Natalie Silva, and you're not jumping over Jangway Lee.
So for Aaron Blanchefield, a win in this night was

(04:35):
just gonna set up your next fight. This fight doesn't happen,
and you still got your show money, your win money,
and her twenty percent, which is being reported financially, it's
as good as windfall as it could be. And I
don't think the consequences of the fight not happening or
her winning changed the next circumstance for Aaron Blanchfield either way.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Ah, it could have a couple things.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm not going to pretend to be a doctor, but
you would be surprised how little, if any weight, any
breast augmentation she may or may not have had, what
would have actually added to her body. Now surgery things
like that, maybe you are doing some changes to your
body that makes a weight cut a little harder, But
the breast augmentation probably did not have a negative effect

(05:22):
on her weight cut.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
I would say.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Blanchefield did miss out. Now, look, she gets her show money,
she gets her win money. Like you said, I believe
she's getting the twenty percent for Barbara missing weight, but
a dominant win worst case scenario probably gets her Natalie
Silva winner gets winner of Valentina Waylee. Maybe she still

(05:47):
gets that anyway, but no guarantees there, so maybe. But
you're right, even with the most impressive win ever, she
wasn't getting a title shot because Valentina, Sir, certainly, it
seems has other plans we all assume, and Valentina even
as alluded to it. I think I'm getting Waylee next,

(06:08):
and if that's what she wants, and if that's what
Waylee wants, that's definitely what's going to happen.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
So you're right.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's didn't cost Blanche Field a title shot, but it
still wasn't optimum.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Wasn't optimum, but it's barely it's barely getting grazed as
far as not optimum, I mean, not optimum. Is all
the questions that we have circle back real quick to
Macy Barber. You start to question if it was a caesar,
how valuable she is to compete And maybe the breast

(06:44):
augmentation didn't add anyway, But you've seen these fighters on
the scale. I don't care if it added one ounce more.
Adding anything, growing your hair out longer, I would suggest
against as a fighter, because taking out nutrients and hydration
from your body for anything that is specifically vanity, it
is a harsh trade off in this industry.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, you're not taking anything out per se, but you
are correct.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
In the fact that she missed weight by half a pound,
even if you're not talking a lot, like you said,
We've seen fighters step off the scale, cut the hair,
come back and make weight. So that fine line between
making weight missing weight.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
It doesn't have to be a lot.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
It can be a few ounces here or there, and
we're talking a half pound is what she wound.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Up missing weight by.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yes, it would be naive of me to say, oh,
it had no impact at all. But it's not like
she added three or four pounds of breast to her
body that she's now got to compensate for with her weightcut.
That's not the case. But yeah, you're literally talking ounces, right,
and sometimes even less than ounces. So yeah, I wouldn't

(07:54):
totally say that didn't factor in at some point. I
just don't think it was that biginning that it should
have been something that would have been easy enough to
compensate for in the weight cut. Like you said, she's
had some weight cut issues in the past. We don't
know what's going on medically, If it was more of
an adverse reaction to a rough weightcut, if there was

(08:17):
a seizure, what caused a seizure?

Speaker 1 (08:19):
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (08:20):
And you know, Blanchefield was critical postfight of the way
Barbara had handled herself leading up to the fight, and
I get that, But right now, I think the most
important thing what caused whatever happened on Saturday night to
cause Barbara to have to pull out of the fight
at the last literally the last second. And is that

(08:41):
something that's going to be able to be controlled, taking
care of what have you, so that she can continue
her career.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
And like we speculated, Hunter Campbell to Aaron Blanchfield is
the only person that said seizure. When Aaron Blanchfield even
accused and threw it out in the post fight press conference.
Macy Barber's life is messed up. Macy fought back against that.
Macy hasn't said seizure, if this was anxiety attack, if

(09:09):
this was performance anxiety, a panic attack. We don't fully
know what happened, so there's a lot of room to
leave speculation for what is the future medically wise? Is
she emotionally physically capable of competing again? So there are
a lot of big questions coming out of this, unfortunately

(09:31):
for Macy Barber, and I feel like this might be
you know, bigger questions and scarier questions than if you
would have went out, got put on your back and somehow,
you know, got tapped out or kyote in the first round.
I think this is worst case scenario for Macy Barber,
a fighter that had so much potential when she first

(09:54):
came into the industry, you know.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
For sure, Again, until we know exactly what's going on,
we're all just speculating here. But if this was nothing
more than adverse reaction to a really difficult weightcut and
all that, again, you're talking about a fighter that's had
weightcut issues in the past. If you're UFC, are you
going to be I don't want to say insistent, but

(10:21):
very encouraging.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Of moving up? How much are you going to trust her.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Without at least getting a couple of fights under her belt,
you know, as far as making weight the next time
and things like that. Yeah, assuming everything winds up okay
and she's able to resume her career with no problems,
she's going to.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
Have some trust issues.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
And look, that's nothing that can't be overcome. She wouldn't
be the first fighter that's had weightcut issues, and you're
a little hesitant about where you booked them and how,
but that is something else that she's going to have
to overcome.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
You have any blowback or give any negativity towards Aaron
Blanchefield for moving pass right away? She is negative, a
full negative on wanting to discuss the possible rebooking of
this fight, said they had tried to make it in
the past, So this is at least two times. First

(11:21):
time was back in twenty twenty one, right, but this
is at least two times that this fight has fallen out,
and she considers now Macy to be an untrustworthy dance
partner because when you go through that way cut, you
go through a training camp, you want to be sure
that the person across from you is going to show up.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
No, I've got no problems with that.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
I have just a teeny tiny problem with some of
the things she said right after the fight was canceled.
But I also understand it. You're frustrated, and for a
lot of those same reasons. I just went through all
this stuff. I sure feel like she didn't take it seriously.
She didn't even make weight and now this, so I
do understand all that. But no, as far as her
saying I'm not interested in rebooking this, I don't blame her.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
My guess would be UFC is gonna be okay with that.
You just move on to whatever's next, whether that is
eventually against Silva, for you know, winner gets Winner of
Valentina and Waylee or if it's someone else.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I don't think that's a huge deal. And no, I
don't blame her for that.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
I do have a question because I wondered, and I'm
guessing that I'm thinking about it in a more grandiose way.
Should the UFC have came out of me in a statement,
Should Hunter Campbell, Dana White, Sean Shelby, nck Maynard, should

(12:50):
somebody else have been the first one on camera to
talk about the cancelation of the main event besides Aaron
Blanchfield getting the first interview backstage. I can understand, as
things are going on, you're having the broadcasters relay it,
but you said it. Aaron Blanchfield might resent or regret

(13:15):
and not resent but regret a couple of those things
she uttered immediately afterwards, emotions are high and they're thinking
of what kind of content they can produce, and someone's
running in to get your immediate reaction, as you could
see a very shock like carr accident kind of shock
look on Aaron Blanchfield of disbelief in the moments leading

(13:38):
up to that conversation.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
I would say, no, look, you've got a medical emergency
that's at least serious enough that this fight's being canceled
while the fighters are standing there ready to walk out.
Other than that, we don't know how serious, but you've
got stuff going on. I think where the mistake was
made Hunter Campbell should have probably ever uttered the word

(14:01):
to Blanchefield seizure, or it should have been followed with
when they interview, you do not say seizure. I think
that was a huge misstep because that does get into.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Hip or stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
But no, I don't think we necessarily had to immediately
hear from Dana White or Hunter or anyone else.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Relaying the info to the broadcasters.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
I think was sufficient, certainly in the post fight press
conference and all whatever information could be given, then you
certainly start to feel people in a little bit more.
But yeah, I don't know that we needed to rush
Dana or anyone else out there while everything's going on.
I understand why they had Blanchefield on, and I totally

(14:50):
get that, but someone should have said, don't mention seizure,
medical issue, medical emergency, or whatever you would to call it,
but don't get into any specifics because.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
That quickly went away.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
And I don't mean necessarily that it went away because
it wasn't true, but it went away because you didn't
want that information out, or the fighter in this case,
Barber didn't want that information out, and that would be
her right.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
So that to me, if you want to look for
a misstep here, that would be the misstep.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
I was searching and I must be missing it. I
was wondering. I'm not seeing if the UFC's even released
like an official statement about the cancelation of the fight.
I've seen a lot of the rhetoric from Aaron Blanchfield
post fight, and maybe that's just overwhelming the quick searches
here on Google, but definitely a unforgettable finish to the

(15:51):
night for all the wrong reasons. If I had to
bet on it, though, I think that we end up
seeing Macy Barber at one thirty five. It's not the
deepest see if you're gonna come back. I think that
would be the healthier move because she has had weight
cutting issues. And on the Aaron Blinchfield side, I think

(16:13):
we get that Natalie Silva fight. I think that jangwe
Lee versus Valentina Chefchenko it's time for that one.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yeah, I'm with you on all that.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
I think that the one concern with Barbara would be
the concern every fighter has about moving up in weight.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Am I going to be undersized? Certainly? Look, I think
every fighter should fight closer to a natural weight.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Obviously, most fighters don't agree with that, or if they do,
they realize they can't because nobody else does. So I
wouldn't be surprised if there's not still some hesitation on
Macy Barber's part about moving up in wait. But ultimately
I do agree with you. I think that's probably best
for her, You're right. Other than at the very tippy

(16:59):
tippy top.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
It ain't that deep. Hell, none of those divisions are.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
So I think you still have a chance to be successful,
And if you can do it with a smoother weight
cut and not feel like shit stepping on the scales
or leading into the fight, then you're gonna be better
off than whatever.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
The negatives are.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
As far as maybe being a little undersized or anything
like that.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
People gotta remember that, Frankie Edgar Jose Aldo, they're outliers.
Most fighters aren't moving down later in their careers, they're
moving up. Cheap plug go over to cageminds dot com.
I've talked to Chris Brown this week. He's fighting for
a c FFC middleweight title. Dude was an LFA lightweight champion.

(17:46):
He's all the way from fifty five up the thirty
five and now five years later. So you get bigger
when you get older. It just happens.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
As far as the fights we actually saw on Saturday
at the Apex wound up being the main event.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
We didn't know it at the time, but.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
To scam Rot it gets the unanimous decision over a
Ludvig Kline, What do you think of that one?

Speaker 3 (18:09):
I think now that it's the main event, I need
to be a lot more animated, impressed, and emphatic about
how we discussed this one. First, it's the.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Results the same, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Where's the fun in that? I mean, come on, let's
make it fun. Mattias gam Rock, he put together that
pace and pressure that he's known for, a relentless wrestling effort,
and nine minutes the top time gets it done on
Ludwig Klein. And I like how at the end of

(18:47):
the fight, how the commentary is appreciating and crediting Matthew
Mattaskamrock for his boxing because in the third round he's
landing with Cline. Well, he just had ten minutes of
weakening the man's arms standing wrestling him. It's not like
this was the first round and he's like, hey, I'm

(19:07):
just a better boxer. He's like, oh, look, I begoned
you down now to where I can be the better boxer.
So I don't want to take away from the greatness
of Gamroth, but I just thought the commentary it was
a bit weird where you're giving credit to not the
full performance. You're looking at one aspect. In one instance,

(19:28):
for Gamrod, I think that this was the necessary when
to obviously hold on to his spot in the rankings.
I just unfortunately for him, I don't know if I
see the world champion right now. There's a couple prospects.
There's people that go after and get finishes that I

(19:50):
feel like I like more, and there's still some work
to be done. But Gamrod is gonna put a pressure
on a pace again anyone who's not able to keep
himself off the cage, which was very interesting. You saw
the level of how his effectiveness see with the wrestling
declined when ludovicline was in space compared to against the cage.

(20:12):
So that's gonna be something for future opponents to really
take note of. Stay in the center of the octagon,
and if you were, say a Gae Chee al Poyer
style and you're able to keep the fight there, it
becomes a lot more in your advantage. All that being said,
if you don't have Cardio Gambrock's gonna put an ass
open on you for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah, I think to me, the biggest issue for Gamrat
going forward is just what's above him in the rankings.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
You got quite a little logjam.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
There you got olivera to Poria fighting for that belt
in a few weeks. There's a lot of names between
him and the top. Not saying it can't be done,
but there's gonna be. He's gonna have to put in
some work to move past some people and get into
title contention.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
I saw and this is I'm gonna have to say.
I don't get the polish now because I don't understand
what Gamroth was doing. Because you're talking about it. There's
not a lot of room to move up. And that's
what we all want to do, right, that's what everyone's
looking to do. You don't want to fight back. Gamrod
just defended his number and how to do it against

(21:22):
an unranked Ludwick Cline. He did have a call out,
and I like when fighters have a call out because
at least that gives the UFC a direction. But his
call out was to Benjo Saint Denis, who's down at
number thirteen. I don't see the reward in that call out.

(21:43):
I'm surprised if you're Gamrod, if you're gonna call out
somebody below you. Patty Pimblet is one spot below you,
and at least a superstar with an upside, Gamrod, I
guess if you really want to turn around and breaking
news fight in September because the UFC is returning to France.
Maybe that was the thought process. They're just going, I

(22:04):
want a quick turnaround. But it loved the call out.
I don't know if you saw it, but I just
didn't love it.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
I don't love it either, but I think you just
hit the nail on the head. The reason for it.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, most everybody ahead of him is spoken for it
at the moment if I'm not mistaken, So you probably
are having to call out someone below you, but you
didn't have to go all the way down to thirteen
other than you feel like that's something that that's very
bookable and very doable with Benoi Saint Deni probably in France.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
So yeah, that's probably.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
Why armins are Yuki in isn't booked and true credit
to him, he's now two and zero in grappling matches
since that UFC three eleven cancelation. That would have been
my call out. They already ran it once. I believe
sar Yuki and got to win. If I'm Gamrot, I
go right after that one because I want the number
one ranging.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, but I think the problem there and I hear
you look swing for the fences with your callouts. Serukian
has no interest in that, and I don't blame him.
I'm gonna sit there and wait for Olivera and Topori
and see what happens, and then I'm gonna call next
and we'll roll the dice.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
But yeah, you're talking call outs, Yeah, swing.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Big or likely Armins are Yukian gets the Teporia Olavera
winner or justin Gaichi gets the Taporia Olivera winner.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
I'm gonna say Serukia, but I wouldn't be surprised if
it was Gaichi. But even still, and even if Armand
knows that that there's a good chance he ain't getting it,
I'm not just giving it up. I'm not just gonna say, ooh,
Gamrock called me out. Heck, yeah, let me fight down
at number seven. I don't have any interest in that
if I can possibly avoid it. But again, and we're

(24:01):
talking Gamra's call out. No reason not to make that
call out. At least get that fight in people's minds
and talking about it a little bit, and maybe at
some point you can will it into happening.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
That's interesting though. Uh yeah, I'm gonna say it's just here,
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
You're like, I'm not giving it up like that. What
kind of dinner do you want before you're giving it up,
mister Serukian?

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Well, I don't want to fight that fucking far down
when I'm the number one contender. So yeah, you have
to work really hard to get in my panties. Micah,
if that's the analogy you want to use. But yeah,
uh shit, now you got me thinking about is it
gonna be gae Chee? Is it gonna be Serukian?

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Uh? This may not work out well for Arman.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
This may not because I just don't feel like he
has curried curried any favor with the UFC. I feel
like if they were that mad at him, he would
have been quickly rebooked for something after three eleven, just
to stay busy, just to earn that number one spot.
We'll move on to him to a guy that probably
has just as much hair grown everywhere from z Brahim.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Look at you making it sasquatch jokes.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
A sasquatch that could choke our lights out. Billy Golf
then jumped into a guillotine and ram Miz Brahim. The
dude has twelve wins eleven or by submission, one hundred
percent finishing rate, back to back wins. Looks like someone
that's putting it together, revitalizing their career. And that was

(25:41):
an absolutely wretched choke. And did you see afterwards it
looked like the referee actually started to push people. Bay no, no, no, no,
he's taking a nap. Gave him a second, letting Billy
Goff four lay.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
There was this the UFC's like worst case scenario. Not
only do you lose the main event seconds before the
fighters walk out, but you also had two fights on
the main card that ended in the first round, this
one with the submission, the Dustin Jacoby Bruno Lopez match

(26:15):
the first round TKO. So you have two fights in
really short and then your main event, with no warning whatsoever,
just goes away.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
I don't know if it's sports case scenario or best
case scenario. I like some bang for your bucks. The
value permitted went up for the UFC. You're like, we
were making this much money per minute. That's freaking great.
And we know how TKO is into profitization, maximizing that
shit and Dustin Jacoby, there is nothing I want a

(26:48):
change about that fight. He drops Bruno Lopez with a
jab and then puts them on the cage and absolutely
lights him up. Dustin Jacoby, you can call him the
hiak to know that translated into Brazilian prospect killer, but
that's what he appears to be.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
I thought to me that might have been the most
impressive when on the card, certainly the main card, there
might be one for me on the prelims. Caitlin Vieira,
though I thought she looked really good getting the unanimous
decision over Macy.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Chason got pair of top five women's featherweights.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
The little piece of information note so that changes my
view on the fight is that one had to be
at one forty five, and it appeared that coming in
at the one forty six the necessary adjustment in weight
was due to Vieira being unable to get down. There
were reports that Chason was almost on weight at five am,
so there is a little bit of negativity there. But

(27:49):
it was a bad game plan from Chase Soon and
probably worst case scenario for the women's vandom weight division
because we just can't give any life to this shit.
Chaseson hasn't been in the big fight vi Era coming
off of getting bludget by Harrison. I don't think we
need to see that again. This just reaffirmed that there's
a level. We've got the two ladies fighting for the

(28:09):
title this week, that we'll get to the one lady
that's retired, and then there's everybody else way below and
that is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, feel free to fill in anything I'm skipping over here, Mikah.
But the other thing that really really stood out and
impressed me Jordan Levitt his first round submission over lah
blah blah. Not that I was necessarily shocked that Levitt won.
I didn't see it coming, and I didn't see it
coming that quickly.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
That quickly, beautiful transition. Credit to creativity attacking the grapple
and going after his red his wheelhouse, getting it right
in there, the transition from the front show to the
anaconda beautiful. Oki is an athlete. He's someone to watch
at fifty five. I don't know what we draw from
him beating a forty five on short notice, but the

(28:59):
guy has a lot of composure, puts together his shots nicely.
And Alice Ardion, I have no clue how you get
that out of her last name, but let's credit her.
She was able to get her first UNFC win. It's
been a long road a seventeen fight. That a big
moment for her. Her boxing looked really nice on the evening.
So all in all, were those last two ultra impressive? No,

(29:20):
but let's give them a little shout out forgetting the
dubs for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
For sure, if I'm not mistaken, Micah, We've got seven
straight events now that are not in the Apex, between
fight nights on the road pay per views, and I
know they're doing some renovations over on the APEX, but
if I'm not mistaken, the next seven UFC fights fight cards,
none of them will be at the Apex.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Well, real quickly, we head to New Jersey. This week,
it's Atlanta. The week after that there is the Baku
in the morning, then we get to International Fight Week,
Music City, the no ya Abu Dhabi. Finally August second,
back to the APEX. So that's one, two, three, four, five. Yep,

(30:07):
you were right, a seven fight stretch in a row
where the UFC take us back to pre COVID baby.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Now again, I don't have a problem with Apex fight nights,
but I know a lot of people do, So here's
your summertime gift.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
No APEX for a couple of months.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
There is an interesting thought process going on right now,
and it is with the TV broadcast rights deal going up.
From that aspect, I've heard a lot of people saying
it looks more than assured that the UFC will be
turning to ESPN plus more than likely. I don't know
if we'll have some additions to that adds and end.

(30:48):
It looks like Amazon not a real player. We've seen
that they're for array into sports. I don't think his
win as swimmingly as they would have won. Apple totally
not interested, and Netflix apparently turned off off by perky
Elokashi and TKO negotiations just on the boxing side, not
to mention their desire to only want big events. So

(31:11):
do you think there's always going to be a place
for the APEX or there's the APEX with these renovations,
what kind of number of seating do you think they
need to reach for it to feel like these are
not less than events compared to the drastic difference on
the road fight nights.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
I might be wrong, Micah, and you might know something
I don't. I don't believe they're adding seating capacity. If
they are, it's minimal. This is more about, as you know,
because we've been there many times, there's one bathroom for
the men, one bathroom back. This is more about things
like that, I think. But I think if they're staying

(31:54):
with ESPN, I think that calls for a greater need
for the Apex fight nights because as you're talking number
of events, assuming it's something similar to what this deal is,
and you're not gonna be on the road for all
of those, especially if you're really locked in on trying
to get site fees and all that, I think that

(32:17):
becomes harder when you're doing that many fight nights and
you're trying to put on.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
The type of card that warrants site fees.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
So I think there's always going to be a place
for Apex fight night cards, but that doesn't mean every
fight night or most fight nights need to be at
the Apex, especially if you can get site fees for them.
The more you're out there, the better, you know. Even me,
who again don't have a problem with the Apex fight nights,

(32:48):
there's also no denying. Yeah, if you're in a ten
thousand seed arena, or more. There's gonna be more excitement
there just is. You can't get around that. So yeah,
depending on what happens with the TV rights deal, I
think there's always going to be a place for some
APEX fight nights here and there.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
I could see that from the UFC perspective. It is
a conversation that saw on the Internet where the thought
process was how desirable is that going to be to
other broadcasters besides ESPN to have those fight nights that
feel lesser and that feel that much different. And it's
not just the UFC not saying it's lesser, it's you

(33:31):
can just take the temperature of the audience that if
there's a fight night to miss, it's gonna be an
APEX one. So in the negotiations it almost didn't seem
like that volume of schedule was benefiting the UFC.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Well it made from the TV rights deal.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
If ESPN or whoever wants X number of events, hey
we just want events on plus, then it does. Yeah,
if they went somewhere else, I could totally see them
reevaluating the number of events that they in a year.
Real quick, while we're talking about the APEX, you saw
that PFL came out and announced that they would not
be returning to Orlando the sound stage there.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Next year. And they even made it.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
You know, we did it just like UFC does at
the Apex. The fans just didn't like it. It is
a little different. You had to pay something to be there,
whereas the UFC owns the Apex that they've everything there
is in house, so you're saving so much money on production,
whereas the pfl's foray to a sound stage seemed more
out of necessity in order to save.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Money and going to I love Universal Studios if I'm
taking a vacation, That's one of my favorite theme parks
to go to and walk around and look at everything.
But it doesn't seem like anything. Since check out Pro
Wrestling After Hours here in the After Hours podcast network
to get this reference. Since early Impact wrestling has really

(34:56):
been able to thrive at that sound stage, and there
have been many live action shows that have tried.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Nope, I agree, and look, I think this will be
good for PFL. Get back in even if you run
small arenas, get back into arenas in front of more fans.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
I think that's the way to go. Michael, before we
get too far down the road, here. What else happened
this past week.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
We did have b k B forty one, the brawl
in Duvall and Jared Grant comes out on top, your
new interim lightweight champion, a great job of harrying every
left hand that came his direction. Now, this was another

(35:42):
crazy story on the weekend. It didn't have a main
event getting canceled at the last minute, but Jared Grant
fought Jorge Barralio on twenty four hours notice because original
opponent shows up overweight, and then Barholio, who was gonna

(36:06):
fight Nate Williams. In the very first fight on the
car it is asked you want to go to the
main event, So we had even craziness in BKB Jara Grant.
Look forward to seeing him unified titles here in the future,
Yeah for sure. Also on that card, Rolando d Earns

(36:27):
the number one contententship at super welter Way defeating Robert
Durant Junior. He actually exploded Duran's left ear, hunched it
so hard it started to swell up, and then exploded
that stuff. So one more gnarling ear injury to follow
up from last week.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
That might be the most gruesome injury in all the fighting,
the ear injury.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Leading out your ear when the ear is splitting apart.
That one, like you showed me last week, that was
actually even worse. This one was just bleeding out of it,
splitting apart. Though it's grewsome kgemyonds dot com for the
Rawlin Duval article recap results, all that good stuff.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
All right, you got to fight announcements for us, you
know what we do.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
There's just a couple. It was a really quiet week
on the fight announcement front, so we only got a
few things for you if I can pull them up,
as I'm having an inability to do right now. But
we did mention September sixth, the UFC is a back
in Paris, France, so that is probably the biggest announcement.

(37:36):
There was a fight scheduled a Betta Gutrier versus Robert Valentine.
That one was supposed to be taking place on July twelfth.
It gets pushed back to UFC three eighteen in New Orleans,
so that's just a little bit of a pushback. You

(37:58):
do have Alex Paris versus Steve Ersik talk wearing flyweights.
That one's for August ninth. You also get Myra Buenososa
versus Jocelyn Edwards on the same card and August sixteenth,
UFC three nineteen Creamy Silva versus JJ Aldrich added to
the early prelimbs.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Yeah, some news to get to real quick before we
look at the UFC pay per view this weekend, Micah,
real quick, and we don't have to spend any more
time on it than this. But Tom Aspinall has wish
John Jones happiness and retirement. Aspinal says he's got plans
for the.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Heavyweight division.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Of course, UFC has said none of this. And I
think we all know John ain't retiring just yet.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
But will they won't they? The back and forth, the
war of words. Aspinall just upse it by wishing John
Jones well in retirement.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
Fifty five thousand people, if not more, I don't know
what it's at Change dot Org petition to stray John Jones. Bravo,
mister Aspinall. The UFC make them beg for it. This
is a brilliant fight promotion. Without fight promotion, people are

(39:13):
gonna be dying to see this fight by the time
they announced it. Oh, poor Tom Aspinall. Tom's doing just
fine right now.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Everybody will they be dying to see it, or at
some point in time do you just get the fatigue
of it and people are like, fuck it, I don't
even care.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
You know, the fatigue, fuck it of all of it.
I think that most of us journalists are at that
point right now. I'd say that there's a lot of fans.
So if we ain't hit that point yet, we're not
announcing October for a while or November whenever they're back
in Madison Square Garden. So I can't imagine that the

(39:53):
fatigue's gonna wear off at any point. I mean, this
is some fatigue. It's only gonna keep going.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Some legal news Mike UFC Hall of Famer Bjpenn arrested
last Friday in Hawaii for the third time.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
In six days.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
This is related to ongoing claims from Bjpen that his
family has been murdered and replaced with impostors.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Yes, that is all factually true. One of the oldest
photos I have left on my phone is a photo
with DJ Pen. He's an absolute legend beloved in the sport,
and this is one of the scariest, most tragic stories

(40:42):
where you can only assume there's something neurologically going on
that has led him to believe that his entire family
has been taken over by impostors. His poor mom if
you read the story what she's going through?

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Is it his poor mom? Or is it some woman
pretending to be his poor mom? And I look, I'm
kidding that. There's nothing funny about this at all. This
is a sad situation. And for me, it's even sadder
because BJ Penn might be the nicest current or former
fighter I have ever met, just and look, maybe he

(41:21):
was putting on a persona I don't know, but just
the nicest, most down to earth person. You hate to
see this with anybody, but certainly someone like that. We
know that Bj has had issues with the law since
his good career has come to an end. Don't know
how much of this is due to what he went

(41:43):
through as a fighter, how much of it is his
lifestyle a combination of the two, But in all seriousness,
it is certainly a sad situation. You definitely hate to
see it, and you certainly hate to see it from
a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
You hate to see it happen really to anybody, this
is this is so sad, in tragic that the delusions
are getting to him, this bad, that it is allegedly
turned violent, that it is turned into breaking and entering,

(42:18):
and yeah, possible robberies. Uh, this is such a sad
and we look back at the end of his career,
the seventh losses in a row, the wars he went through. Uh,
we're gonna probably look back at at it. This could
be the day or later and was it all necessary,

(42:39):
should it have been stopped or should he been released earlier.
It's probably gonna be way too long before we find
out what's going on in his head. This is so tragic,
so sad, and quite a warning to everybody out there. Uh,
these are the harsh risks that we can't prove it,

(43:04):
but these are the harsh risks that come along with
playing this game.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
UFC found themselves on the receiving end of a couple
of lawsuits this past week.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Micah Yep. It appears that Phil Davis and mis Just
circin Off have now each entered their own lawsuits, and
they're both being represented by the law firm that was
handling the most recent settlement payout. These two, though, are
a little bit different. On the Phil Davis side, they're

(43:38):
not looking for anything financial from what I've read, they
are looking to change contract lengths and language within the
contracts of how it ties the fighters. I think to
a promotion possibly talking about contract extensions and on a
lot of the language in contracts. So Phil Davis said

(44:02):
that his plight is more something for fighters going forward
to supposedly have more options. But in the landscape that's
drying up by I'm not sure how that's going to go.
And on the NICHA circin off side, it appears that
the language that was put into contracts, but different sections
of it is what his lawsuit focuses around. More of

(44:24):
the language that says you can't be a part of
a lawsuit or you can't sue us for signing a
UFC contract. Some of that language is what his lawsuit
is examining.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Most employee contracts have something along those lines. Any disagreements
are settled by arbitration. Now, whether that's legal or not,
you know, But yeah, that's not something that's necessarily unique
to UFC.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
Again, is it right? Eh?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
I guess we'll find out in the courts real quick.
Speaking of lawsuits, Micah and not even sure if you've
seen this one yet or not, but Kevin Lee has
announced that he is suing the GFL. Of course, we
know about the failed attempted launcher of the GFL, but
according to Lee, the GFL as exploited fighters with financial

(45:14):
promises that he didn't keep, and he is just and
his team are going to go so far as.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
To take legal action even if he has a leg
to stand on.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
You can't get blood from a turn up, So I
don't know what the endgame is here.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I'm not sure on that front because I've heard a
really good old expression, you can't get blood from a
turn up, And I just said, this vegetable in a
garden is never going to grow. The only person that
believes that the GFL still exists is Tony Ferguson. Please

(45:52):
someone check on him.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
I was going to make a joke that I probably
should have made, so move along. Yeah, you're probably uh,
you're probably right on that.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
You know what, we didn't know? We should have brought
it up.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
I guess h with the fight announcements and stuff, but
not too much of a surprise.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
But UFC no Cha Micah getting a new home for
this year.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
It appears that the Guadalajara arena is undergoing massive construction
and events from now through September have been canceled. That
includes UFC note Cha picking up and moving to San Antonio, Texas.
It's a very bright, very colorful city. They haven't been

(46:41):
to the area in a while. It's still a Latino
market and with the construction, it was a necessary logistical adjustment.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Right, Also, this is no longer a pay per view.
But if I'm not mistaken, Micah, and maybe I am
wrong here, we already knew that before THEE change, right,
that this was not going to be a pay per view.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
There had still been speculation was it going to be
USA three twenty was it not going to be I
think they were going back and forth on the notion
because of the expectation that was gonna be Yayi Rodriguez
Alexander Volkanovski. And it's been quite a while since the

(47:25):
UFC gave a prominent title fight on free TV.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, well you're gonna get one at UFC no chain
before we get to UFC three sixteen this Saturday.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
What else is coming up this week?

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Well, this week we do have BKFC seventy five Friday Night, Albuquerque,
New Mexico, Tingley Coliseum pound for pound number one rink
fighter in the sport. David Mundal five fight seven fight
win streak, excuse me last five or knockout looking for
his fifth defense of the title defense against Donald Sanchez.

(48:07):
Donald lost his debut up a weight class Unbeatenson, dropping
down to middleweight. A apropro seventy fifth professional fight for
Donald Sanchez at BKFC seventy five in front of his
hometown audience. You also have Russian striker Murrat Kilimetov from

(48:31):
Jackson Wink on the card. He is a top five
wing cruiserweight sod say one more win after this fight,
you could be seeing him knock on the door of
a title fight. So that's probably the most prevalent one
to also keep your eye on after that main event
when you go over to kgeminds dot com. We talked
to Donald Sanchez, We've talked to David Mandel Zagarcia, Bill Albritt,

(48:56):
Brian McLain, a bunch of interviews up with the event
being here and in close proximity.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
There you go, all right.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
This Saturday, micah UFC three sixteen Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey.
Your main event bandam wait title on the line. Morob
Avish Philly defends against Sean O'Malley. Your co main event,
Julianapana puts the women's Bandham waight title on the line
against Kayla Harrison. Let's start right there at the top,
Micah Morob O'Malley.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
What do you think?

Speaker 3 (49:27):
I think that it's such a short timeline that it's
always been my biggest question about this one is what
difference will there be in Sean O'Malley. This feels to
be a real definitive statement from the O'Malley camp that
they fully believe that they were the better fighters and

(49:49):
that they from the team that they had the better
fighter on the night the first time around, and only
the injury led to the victory in the Philly side,
unless it's a real feeling that O'Malley is cashing in
on his fame, his leverage and doesn't see his time

(50:10):
in the weight class being long. It's that mindset that
do they think that it was the injury or are
they just taking the biggest opportunity because that's the best
business moves.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
I think it's yes to all of those things, Micah.
I think they feel like O'Malley's the better fighter. Now,
we could debate that, but I think that's what they feel.
I do think O'Malley's probably not long for the division,
and I do think that this was the best fight
that O'Malley could have and take and because of his popularity.

(50:44):
Even if he loses, unless it's just the most spectacular
loss you've ever seen, like a flying knee eight seconds
in that you know, just knocks him out cold. I'm
talking about you, Ben asking, unless it's something along those lines,
I don't even if I think a loss hurts O'Malley
all that much.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
That being said, I don't.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Know that I like this fight for Sean. I think
Morob is a damn little machine.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
And I don't know.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
If O'Malley or anybody else anytime soon is going to
be able to stop him.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
That's an interesting concept, is stopping him even the necessity,
because can you stop what he does? Although stop the takedowns, yeah,
doesn't matter. Marabou just and holds you against the cage.
I was listening to Ray Longo earlier this week. There

(51:42):
is an advantage he feels four O'Malley going into this fight.
You cannot simulate what marab duallash Philly does. That pressure,
that intensity, that volume, that energy, you can't simulate it.
It's undescribable until you feel it. But when you walk

(52:03):
in for a hyped up sparring match that you know
you have an automatic rain check for Sean O'Malley has
more information and I think a better opportunity to beat
the wallash Philly than anybody ever before, because he got
a freebe to let it go the first time and

(52:23):
not care, and now he knows what it's like and
knowing what it's like may give him the opportunity to
prepare for it in a much better way. Not to
mention gives me of being a prisoner of the moment,
but JDM kind of gives me hope that you could
see Sean O'Malley do the same shit to Morob. Where

(52:47):
you keep it in the center, you're able to turn
on the angles. If you're able to keep Marob in space,
it makes the takedown that much harder. I just don't
think that Marob's gonna go all below and forget about
his game plan.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
I see.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
I'm with you on that. I think Morob is too
disciplined to abandon the game plan. Look, I'm not gonna
count Sean O'Malley out, but if you're asking me who
I think is gonna win, I completely understand why. Morob
is a minus three twenty five favorite and O'Malley's a.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Plus two sixty underdog.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
So yeah, I again, I wouldn't count O'Malley out, but
I don't think i'd pick him to win either.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I might regret these I might regret these words because
I said it with Balel. But you're just not gonna
out Cardio Morob.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
We said that when you just jinx the hell.

Speaker 4 (53:41):
Out of this Micah exactly. But it feels like it
feels like Sean O'Malley has to get this done early
when Morob isn't fresh. We've seen him get clipped a
couple times. I think even got clipped early against O'Malley
the first time around.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
And did O'Malley find a vulnerability? He is a machine,
he is a tank. He did get hurt really bad
to the body at the end of the fifth round,
I believe. So is there opportunities for O'Malley. Does O'Malley
just come out that much more on fire? Because the

(54:19):
shoulder is healthy or on the flip side, people, is
the shoulder not healthy? And is he TJ. Dillon shawing us,
We don't know, We don't know.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Ooh ooh, I've never seen somebody in a forty five
second time span do as much as you just did
to jinx this fucking fight, Michael, What.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
In the hell is wrong with you? Good lord man?

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Because it all makes sense, it does all out there.
We know the length of O'Malley, the movement, what he
has to do to keep this fight standing. We know
the repetitive takedowns, the pace, the pressure, the crazy combinations.
Think there's anything to my theory though, that O'Malley at
least has a better chance because he's felt this storm

(55:06):
before and it's hard to prepare for something you've never
felt before.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Oh look one hundred.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
But the flip side to that, Morob's been through this
with O'Malley now too, so he knows what to expect
as well. But yeah, I think O'Malley's going to be
much better. Not that he wasn't prepared for the first fight,
I'm not insinuating that, but having fought Morob, he's.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Yes, I think you're one hundred percent right.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
He's certainly going to go into this fight more prepared
than he was the first time around.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
I cratched the narrative that Morob is not, so you
gotta tell me if I'm wrong. Is he respected by
the general MMA fan, by the novice fan? And can
this win a second one over O'Malley get him in
if he doesn't have.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
It, I don't think he is respected, and I do think,
whether you like it or not, if he beats O'Malley again,
you're gonna have to give him his due.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
I think that it's gonna be hard for the O'Malley's
if they haven't already, If the little sugar babies have
not already acknowledged that Mara Duallas Philly is a better
champion than Shaun O'Malley, they're never going to because I'm
telling you, his title defense a lot more credibility than O'Malley's.

(56:22):
Sorry chio vera, all.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Right, Speaking of credibility in champions, Juliana Penia defends the
women's Bandam White title AGA's Kayla Harrison. I bring up
credibility because Juliana Penia is a.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Plus four point fifty five underdog.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
I don't know the last time, hell if ever, I've
seen a champion someone walk into the octagon with a
belt being that much of an.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Underdog, it is crazy. It is the thought that if
Kayla Harrison can get past the scale, she is gonna
be inevitable. But I'll tell you the striking is not
the cleanest. The weightcut does deplete her. Juliana Penya is,

(57:14):
if nothing else, a scrappy gamer who all of a
sudden succeeds in the craziest situations. She took out Valentina
hif Chenko by arm bar, She has rear naked choked
Amanda Nunia's. There are some crazy shit on her record.
Maybe I got that wrong, maybe Valentina armbard her or
actually I think I got that backwards. But there's just

(57:36):
those wins. With the Nunia's win, Repanya pulls it out
where you don't think so. Because she has been a
perennial underdog. I believe she loses this one. But if
you told me that Kaylee Harrison has a horrendous weightcut,
still manages to get in the octagon and just can't

(57:57):
get the gas going. And if she doesn't get the
finish early, then she's more depleted, sluggish and loses the
championship rounds. I could see a decision going Penya's way.
I could also see her getting put on her back
very early and getting her face mashed in. That's the
intriguing part about this fight.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Yeah, and by the way, he has Valentina arm barred her.
But look, you can't take away.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
A man in Nunya's win, right.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
I think Kayla Harrison's toughest fight this week is not
against Pania.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
You alluded to it. It's against the scale.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Assuming she has a clean weightcut and there are no
adverse effects in that weight cut. I completely get why
she is the favorite that she is, even if it
comes off as incredibly disrespectful to the champ.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
I don't know, Micah.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Look, even with the nunieas win, I should I just
don't see elite fighter in Juliana Penia. Now I see
elite talker. She's broken out the old, tired narrative. She
just switched it to a new person in the last
couple of weeks about you're afraid to fight me, you're

(59:15):
on this, you're on that, blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
We've heard it all before. But she is good with that.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
I just I I do not see everything being equal
on Saturday night. I don't see Juliana Pania walking out
with that belt.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
Dude, take my foot back out of my mouth. You're
right about the Chefchenko win. It was beating Shana Baisler
on Tough, it was beating Jessica I and kats and
Ghano early in radio C career, even submitting Sarah McMahon
all the way to the Nunias fight. All of those
betting underdog upsets, bigger names, more experience. That's where this

(59:54):
underdog mentality has come from. You are right, though I
thought Pennington won. I thought split decision when it's going
to go in her favor, even as far back as
UFC three oh seven. So I can't say that I
have that much faith in that the time off has

(01:00:14):
made an aging Penya, who has been through more wars,
that much more dominant. It's the weight cut, and there's
a chance that if the fight gets into the deeper rounds,
deeper water, you could see that weight cut play in effect.
But there's a reason why the betting odds are what

(01:00:36):
they are. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's a
lot more competitive than that in spurts because it's gonna
be hard for Harrison. I really feel to have the
flidity in the striking that Penya has. I just don't
think Penya's going to be able to land hard enough
to really hurt Harrison.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Here's probably the biggest question for most fans as it
lace of this fight is Amanda Nunya is in the
crowd on Saturday and does she get next?

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
It is a promotional failure on the UFC. If she
is not in the building, she should probably be sitting
next to Dana White, in between Dana and Hunter octagon
side as this fight is going on. And if she's
not wearing a possible lioness headdress or at least a
queen's crown, it would be doing us all into service.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
I agree, and I think, and I don't even know
if UFC has a preference, but but I think Nunya
is definitely gets winner, whether that's a third Painia fight
or whether that's, you know, a fight against Kayla Harrison.
Assuming Amanda's committed, and I'd be shocked if she's not.

(01:01:51):
This is going to be We've talked in the past
about some issues with the women's divisions. This is exactly
what UFC needs right now, some hype around this women's
bandam weight title and the possibility of Amanda Nuniaz lurking
for the winner of Juliana Pana Kayla Harrison.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
You can only choose one two new champions, or two
in still champions.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
Those are my two choices. Two and News.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Just wondering how you e gauge that, because it's not
it's not even a question to sake, which title is
more likely to change hands. That's the one thirty five title,
I mean the women's Excuse me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
If I had the third option one and new yeah,
I'm totally taking that one. But based on the two
options you gave me two and News, I again, assuming
Kayla Harrison survives the weight cut, and she's done pretty
good thus far in UFC, I don't see her losing.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Is and I think I am agreeing with this. I
believe it is true. Is Kayla Harrison's next fight her
last fight. I've heard comments that people think she could
be a face of the UFC, a face of women's MMA.
I think there's a good chance that after the Nuniaz fight,

(01:03:14):
that could be the last fight.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
I think it depends on how that fight goes. Hypothetically,
should she win and she's thirty four, she'll be thirty
five in July, so by the time you get to
that fight, she'll be pushing thirty six.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
If she wins, she probably walks away.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
If she loses in a manner that we all want
to see it run back again. I think there'll be
enough enticements, But yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
More so than anything, it's the way cuts, and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
If somehow Nunia's coming back rejuvenates one for five, maybe
she sticks around longer. But I don't see her continually
cutting to one thirty five, So yeah, I don't think
she's around more than a couple more fights.

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
Is it possible, you think for the UFC to just
look at it and say, hey, Jocelyn Edwards, Chelsea Chandler,
Norma Dumont, Chase so Vieira, you're all forty five ers now, Harrison, Nunyaz.
You got a couple opponents to feast on, and we're

(01:04:32):
gonna go with forty five because that would be the
best for Harrison and Nunias. Do you think that's a
possibility to say, hey, we could keep them both around
longer if they're not killing themselves cut in weight. We'll
just get this weight class because it's really for them,
even though we can tell all these women it's so

(01:04:52):
they're not cutting, and then we have eight bodies. I
know that hurts one thirty five, but I don't know
how to help one thirty anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
I don't hate that idea.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Let me ask you this, Micah, what if you just
make women's man of weight one split the difference?

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
Is that enough to make those weight cuts a little.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
Easier, but you're not terribly hampering the one thirty five ers.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
Maybe we save a year or two on Kayla Harrison's
life by doing that. Let's not forget one seventy judo
gold medalist, one fifty five PFL champion. Yeah, forty five
has got to be a hell of a cut. But
I hear where you're saying, split the difference, and then
you know we have the fifteen pound gap from fifty
five to seventy. Why not do it from twenty five

(01:05:45):
to forty Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
The rest of the main card, you got Kelvin Gastill,
I'm taking on Joe Phifer, Mario Bautista, and the debuting
Patchy Mix, the Cente Luke, Kevin holland what do you
think about the rest of this main card?

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
Joe I believe comes out to make a statement. I
believe that the narrative about now I want to fight
in Mexico, the illness, the food poisoning that led to
the fight cancelation the first time. I think that makes
him want to put together a statement and get the
last little bit of what you can out of what

(01:06:19):
Kelvin Gasterilim's name represents. I think it's a big opportunity
for a big middleweight who's a hard puncher to have
a huge to have a huge, successful night. Mario Batista
Pachi Mix. This is interesting because we've seen Batista choose
to grapple, and this is a big opportunity for Mix,
who's been on the sideline for a year. So that's

(01:06:42):
the biggest question we have. Is Mix really prepared. He's
been begging for the opportunity. God his release from the
PFL was right alongside of Tatiana s forres her whole
camp for Valentina Chefchenko. He's been alongside Morob dualash Philly
for his camp. Even though the two have quarrels with
fighting each other. Is Patchy Mix ready for this opportunity.

(01:07:05):
If he is, his grappling is probably better than Batista.
It comes down to the striking then that's the real
trickeration is his striking on the UFC.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Level, And we're gonna find out on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
It's an interesting question with Kevin Holland versus Vacinthe Luke.
I just got a feeling that Kevin Holland gets put
in a darge joke.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
Oh look at you, look at you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
Luka has got a really good one. So I feel
that move coming on Bruno Silva josh Van Silva's last fight.
I was there in Tampa. He is willing to throw leather,
and we know that josh Van his best attribute is
his boxing. I expect that one to be a lot
of fun, uh not to mention. Also looking on the card,

(01:07:51):
Jeka Saraj versus Joe saying, Yo two young, excite, hard
hitting one forty five vers that one's gonna be exciting.
Same thing with Quil Quillan Salagid versus Yano osmof. I

(01:08:12):
believe that those two are both gonna produce some really
big finishes.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Early prelams six pm Eastern on Fight Pass, middle prelams ESPN,
ESPN Plus at eight Eastern and your pay per view
ESPN Plus ten pm Eastern time.

Speaker 3 (01:08:30):
I couldn't believe you didn't take the opportunity to say it.
We will find out if Wayang Kung has any dance
legs on Saturday Night. Picking on Arianna de Silva, Wayang
Kung had the submission. Loss has rebounded. I think we
learned a lot about her taking on a very experienced Arianni.

(01:08:52):
I was trying to set you up for that one.
You didn't even mention the SLOTPY heavyweight fight. Where is
my Carlisle today? All right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
I didn't mention Wayne Kung because I don't think everybody
finds that as funny as I do. The only thing
I could come up with with the heavyweight Spivac and
Cortes o Costa is winner gets next at aspinall and
I'm afraid that might be the case, so I don't
want to even bring it up. I don't really think
it's gonna be the case. But yeah, I know, I

(01:09:22):
know I'm a little off my game today.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
I can see that one being a top ten winner,
But realistically, and I shuddered to think this. You think
it's the real gone Tom aspinall headlines the September sixth
card in Paris.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
God damn you, Micah, God damn you. Yes, No, Actually
you know what I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
I think UFC knows exactly what what they're gonna do
with aspinall and Jones, and we're gonna be patient.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
If they don't, or if John's playing hardball, or maybe
I want it, maybe I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
Then yes, ESP ESPN UFC pivots and we get asked
in all thrill Gone in Paris.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
I could see that happening. I just shudder because if
if it's not that main event, do you think Matthuse
Gamrock versus ben Wi Saint Denis is big enough? I
think that's the most logical pivot point.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
Well, I say no, if you're doing it more for
the hometown crowd, yeah, maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
I don't know. The Paris is a pay per view, right,
it's not a fin night? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
I I don't, or is it not? I think it's
actually gonna be a fin nite. I think it's just
gonna be fight Nite Paris. Or am I getting that wrong?

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
I've got the email right here. Hold on, I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
It's a fight night, so yes, to answer your question,
yes on that. I still don't okay with it being
a fight night, even if things go walky as shit
with Aspinall and Jones. I don't know that you're doing
Cereal Gone Aspinall as a fight night main event, even
if it's for the real heavyweight title.

Speaker 3 (01:11:11):
But saying that it is a fight night main event
does make it kind of possible a surreal gone Alexander
Volkov rematch from that robbery of a pay per view
we are at could be the headliner there. Actually, that
might be a bit more intriguing. One other news of
note that I had for the pay per view this week,
there's a possibility that Andreas gus Stuffson's fight is canceled.

(01:11:37):
But if it isn't, he's just one of many guys
that don't worry. He was literally gonna be the first
fight on the card. There's gonna be a debut patch. Now.
I don't know if you saw this, but a debut
patch on UFC fighters debuting, and that patch will then
go into the signature tops Debut You card for that

(01:12:01):
debuting athlete. What do you think of the UFC trying
to interject creativity with tops into the trading card game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
People like that if you're in that world. So yeah,
I don't have a problem with it. I'm surprised they
don't do more of it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
Actually, better idea than the NFTs that came and went
really quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
Well yeah, yeah, NFTs, what are you gonna do? I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
You could go over to cageminds dot com and see
what we're doing. This week again, we have the results
of the recaps from the UFC Fight Night, from the
BKB forty one Lebrawl and Duval. This week we will
have full coverage from BKFC seventy five and from UFC
three fifteen. Cageminds dot com Cage Mindscombat Sports News on

(01:12:54):
YouTube and Facebook. It's Caged Minds Underscore CSN on TikTok
x and Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
Get the show on X at m m A After
Hours you can get me at real Mike Carlisle. We
will talk to you next week for another episode of
m m A After Hours here on the After Hours
podcast network.

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
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, that's cageminds

(01:13:42):
dot com.