Ep 308: UFC at the White House? Jon Jones Unretires? Fight Night Preview. All the Latest News.

Episode 308: Could the UFC hold a card at the White House? Jon Jones says he's back in the testing pool.  Who's first for Tom Aspinall? UFC Fight Night preview for Saturday in Nashville.  All the latest news.  



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up, everybody. Welcome back to mm A After Hours.
It's Michael Carlisle alongside Micah Frankel. Micah, How you.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Doing, man, doing and doing and doing it well?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
I guess oh, look at you. Look at you? An
almost topical cultural reference if you know you were born
a generation ago. But I got it, so, I mean,
I'm not knocking Itbay.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
The listens to the old skilled school hip hop channel.
I don't recognize them. Ll cool J Come on now.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Exactly how was your holiday weekend?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Man? I'm pretty sure you'll you'll have had the same
experience I did. It was amazing because I didn't have
to do much to have an incredible fireworks show. The
area town not too far away from where I lived,
went nuts, and I'm pretty sure you could see it
from where you are.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Dude, I thought we were being I ain't gonna lie.
And it's not all right quick rant time. And it's
not just you know, the fourth of July. It's not
even just the third and the fifth of July. Along
with the fourth. They started doing this shit while we
were in Vegas for International Fight Week and it just

(01:19):
grew and grew and grew. I had to hear about
it from my wife while we're out in Vegas. I
don't know what to tell you. All last week building
up to it, it just gets worse and worse and worse.
It was like living in little Beirut or something. I
don't know, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
And then.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Fourth of July it just goes on and on and
on and on. About one forty five, I'm like, all right,
there's still stuff going on in the background, but sounds
like the heavy artillery is already dropped. There's just some
some soldiers out on the fringe firing some shots and whatnot.
And then about three thirty my effing house shook. I thought,

(02:03):
like the neighbors blew up their meth lab or something.
I'm like, holy shit, what was that? And the fireworks
just started up again. Yes, that's three forty five in
the morning, the morning of July five, And yeah, it's
been NonStop ever since pretty much.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I sat in my driveway for an hour and a half,
two hours enjoying the show before I got tired of it.
So it was eventful, it was festive. I enjoyed it,
and it was memorable. I'm glad my neighbors calmed down
slightly before yours.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, I hate my neighbors. Hey, honestly, not even my neighbors.
It was like much further down around the subdivision and
all that, and yeah, it's whatever. I just hope there's
some random event going on next year on July fourth
that we can go cover, Micah, so I'm not stuck
at home listening to fireworks for a goddamn week.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
I mean, maybe that event could even bring back John Jones.
And if there's no better place to start with, then
let's get right there. You said it, are President hurt
President of the United States forty five and forty seven,
I believe was what they call him. Yes, Donald Trump
has put out a plan to host a UFC event

(03:22):
somewhere on the White House property. Maybe you have a
little more details on this than I do, But UFC
at the White House, says Donald Trump.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Wow, I'm going to be completely honest with you, Micah.
In some form or fashion, I have no doubts whatsoever
that it will happen. Will it happen exactly how he
laid out in his grandiose announcement on whatever his social
media platform is, I forget that the name of it,

(03:52):
but whatever, Yeah, I don't know, because he was talking
about somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty to twenty five
thousand people, which at that point means you're going to
have to construct an arena or amphitheater on the White
House grounds and you've got less of a year to
do it. I don't know that that happens, but I
have no doubts whatsoever if the President wants to host

(04:14):
UFC at the White House on July fourth and twenty
twenty six, that it happens in some form or.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Fashion so they can figure out a way. I'm sure
not to make light of it, but remember they've slapped
there's been makeshift arenas slapped together for Abu Dhabi events.
I knew the government took care of that, But to
think about just erecting some kind of building to throw
an APEX level event or maybe a Contender series, I'd

(04:43):
say it's possible, but well, something like that out of
the political affiliation. I just wanted to get to the point, though,
is there a why to any of this?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
No? Well yes, but big Spectacle Country's Birthday. I mean,
that's your why. If you were talking about an APEX
level event and I'm look, I'm a big proponent of
the APEX, so I'm not knocking it. You could put
up a big ass tent somewhere on the White House grounds,
but what the presidents that he wanted to do seems

(05:16):
like it's going to require more effort than that. I
suppose you could just have everybody flat on the ground,
but I think outside of the first seven or eight rows,
that's really going to impede the viewability of the fans there.
But yeah, in some form or fashion, I won't surprise

(05:36):
me a single bit in the world if it happens.
As a matter of fact, unless he just changes his mind,
if he wants it to happen, it's going to happen.
This gets us to what I know you want to
talk about about this. You've already had Connor McGregor say hey,
I want to be a part of this. John Jones
has said, hey, I'm back in the testing pool, baby,
I want in on this now. I wonder if he

(05:58):
was actually retired long enough to get around to filling
out the paperwork to leave the testing pool. But regardless,
so John didn't want to fight aspinall, but he'll come
back to fight at the White.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
House supposedly, but I mean, doesn't this fit the mo
of every retired fighter and not to skip sports or
topics or you know, direct the light. But Tyson Fury
announced last week he's ready to come back. He's looking
towards a trilogy fight with Yu Sick in twenty twenty six.
I don't know who's looking forward to that shit. But

(06:31):
the bigger point of it of that topic is that
a fighter will remain retired until the next bigger opportunity
or expected opportunity presents itself. And for some reason, John
and Connor both feel like performing directly in front of
President Trump on the White House Browns is somehow equivalent

(06:53):
to a Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia pay day, where you're
gonna get hands over fist to make this royal event happened.
Maybe they're just the two guys that love to jump
in the spotlight. Those would be my best two guesses.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
This is going to sound like I'm just picking on John,
and I'm not, But I look at him and Connor's situation,
it's different. John retired as the UFC heavyweight champion. I
think it's fair to assume he felt like Tom Aspinall
would add nothing to his legacy, so he had no
interest in the fight. If John wants to come back

(07:32):
and fight, that's fine, But he walked away from the
heavyweight title. I don't care who the champion is in
July of twenty twenty six. John Jones should not be
in an octagon across from them. Do you want to
make him fight Curtis Blades, Marcine ty Berra Hell, Derek Lewis,

(07:53):
who's in the main event at Fight Night this weekend.
I'm fine with that. Like with McGregor, all right, McGregor comes.
This means we finally get that long awaited Mikey Chandler fight.
All right, I'm good with that. Nate DS three, I'm
good with that. But Connor ain't walking back into a
title shot. John shouldn't either. If for no other reason,

(08:14):
you walked away with the belt because you felt like
your legacy was secured it and nothing was going to
add to that. If you think fighting it the White
House adds to it, that's fine, but that doesn't suddenly
make Aspenall more appealing. So if you want to come back,
you want to fight. If I'm UFC hell, yeah, come
on back, But you ain't fighting the champ. We'll make

(08:34):
you a nice opponent. We'll make it a you know,
a good fight, a chance for you to showcase your
talents in front of the president and all that. But
title shot, Yeah, that ain't happening.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, I love your idea. John Jones gets an easy
cake walk to another victory and then walks sway, still
not wanted to fight Tom Askenall I thought you were gonna,
I thought, Michael Carlyle, not the UFC, not the UFC,
not in a realm of possibility of reality. But I
thought Michael Carlisle was going to give us a whole soliloquy,
doubling down that you can only fight if it's Tom Aspital,

(09:06):
that you cannot abide this fight anymore, That you can't
just come back for the White House because the White
House forming in front of Donald Trump. Those are the
two things that a lord taught John Jones to make
this remark, to make this statement, not Tom Aspital. So
I think if you give him Jielton Amdia, give him
Courtis blades, you're giving John Jones everything he wanted performing

(09:28):
at the White House in front of Donald Trump in
a winnable fight away from Tom Aspital in an easy
way to retire one more time without having to feel
like his legacy was dented at all, because you can
dent it. But John will still say, well, Tom hasn't
done anything, and I came here and I fought in
front of the president. I did something historical, and that's

(09:49):
what I'm about. Fighting Tom Aspital still does nothing for me.
Now Tom can go and get two or three wins
before we announced this expected card net in twelve months, Well,
then that changes the legacy. Now he's running through the
heavyweight division. But I still don't see how the argument
has changed from the John Jones perspective, and by not
making him fight Tom Aspinall, I think for actually doing

(10:12):
him a favor, and I don't want to do John
a favor. He has to fight Tom if he's coming back.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, but it's a mutually beneficial favor. I don't reward
him for vacating the title, and look, Aspinall will have
at least one fight between now and then. As a
matter of fact, Aspinall says he's got the date, he's
got the opponent. We'll talk about that in a minute.
You didn't want to fight him, the location does nothing

(10:41):
to solidify Tom Aspinall as a legacy builder for John Jones.
And I'm not knocking to Aspenall here. I'm just if
you didn't think Aspinall was worthy of your time before
fighting man at the White House doesn't change that. He's
still not worth your time, regardless of whether it's the
White House, Abu Dhabi, MSG or Vegas. It just doesn't. However,

(11:05):
if you're working in conjunction with the President, you're putting
on a big spectacle and John wants to be a
part of it, then that's beneficial. Yeah, you're doing John
a favor because John is interested in that it's a
big spectacle, but he's also doing you a favor. It
helps make the event bigger. I'm all about that, But

(11:26):
I would not give him a title fight there. He's
got to go out and beat somebody. And if he's
serious about sticking around after that he's been rejuvenated after
fighting for the President at the White House and all that,
then then maybe we can talk afterwards. But to relinquish
the title, retire, unretire two weeks later before Aspinall's first

(11:49):
opponent's been announced, and just assume, all right, I'll fight
at the White House for the title he gains aspinall
now fuck that, but again mutually beneficial. I'm good with it.
Like I said, the Connor thing, I think is a
little different because I and maybe I'm wrong here, but
I don't think Connor is gonna come back demanding a
title shot. And that's cool, So I look at them

(12:13):
a little different. If John wants to come back, though,
I'm good with it. It just ain't gonna be for
the title because we could have done this title fight
anytime in the last ten months, nine months, and could
have up to at any point before July of twenty
twenty six, and he just didn't want to do it.
So you don't get to do it. Now.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
You're right, You're not wrong. John Jones is gonna fight.
He's gonna make history fighting at the White House, because
John Jones is the goat, and the goat makes history,
and then the goat will walk away one more time
with another legendary mark on his resume. Quote John Jones
when he says that, I'm just projecting that he will
say it.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah. And oh, by the way, I don't think John
Jones fights to the White House. I'm no particular reason.
I just don't think that happens. I do well so.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Well, then as you say that, how about let me
throw this out at you. For the White House, for
this prestigious UFC event that we're talking about, we have
to have a title fight. Right now, we only got
one American champion, and I feel like it's easily to say,
even if that American champion somehow was to lose the belt,

(13:31):
how do you feel about Kayla Harrison Penya or Kayla
Harrison Nunya's two or three, whatever way we end up
to two, possibly two is your headliner because right now
I don't know of another American champion. And this is
the red, the White, the Blue, this is Donald Trump,
this is make America great again. Besides giving Colby coven

(13:51):
Kendershawn Strickland, who both I do have on this card already,
titles that aren't real, Kayla Harrison probably has to be
the headliner.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Well, here's the problem with this idea. If you want
to make it all about America on July fourth, you
should be constructing a football field at the White House,
not Major League Baseball. That there are too many Dominicans there.
Micah and other national I not basketball. That's the international game. Now,

(14:20):
like you said, UFC as we speak has one American champion.
It's Kayla Harrison. They're not holding off Harrison Nunez until
July of next year. Now, you could do the rematch, no,
one hundred percent, I got you. You could do the rematch,
but they're no guarantees that Harrison's the champion by then,

(14:40):
and depending on how that fight goes, maybe we're not
clamoring for that rematch just yet, so that will be
I don't think. I mean, I guess you. Look, you
could put together a solid ass all American fighter card.
I'm sure that Donald would love to see Bryce Mitchell
in the main event on the White House grounds, but

(15:01):
we'll talk about that another time. You could certainly do that,
but I don't think you have to do all that.
I think you look, if you're putting Valentino Shoshenko on
that card, or Iliot Toporia or Morob or Volcano, I
don't think anybody's gonna complain.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, but it's like Mexican Independence take card with two Brazilians.
Who's gonna do that?

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Uh uh uh. I think he just made my point
for me.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Micah oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, they already did that.
They already did that.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah, well wait, so what's your idea for the card?
All right? So, so Harrison versus somebody either defending the
title or challenging for.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
The title, you could probably have se Sewn Strickland has
to be on the card at some point. I wanted
to fight somebody in the cage, not somebody give him
a sucket sign that's in the cage while he jumps in.
You guys know what I'm talking about it here on
social media, Jared Cannon here, I think those two you
could run that one back. I'm figuring any year they'll
both be hanging on to the top ten, top fifteen.

(16:08):
At that point, they'll both still be on the card.
There's some name value left with Sean Hoby Covington. We
need to have him around. He's one of the Donald's
favorite fighters. We might even just keep him sidelined until
that card for another year. He'll just keep doing chilcenon
podcast until that point, and Kevin Holland will probably have
twelve more fights in that point and probably be ready

(16:29):
for Covington. He'll have won a few, lost a few,
nearly won, the title won't be there anymore. Kevin holland
Hoby Covington would be my feature fight, okay. I'm also
expecting by the time that they've both had Neir's shots
at the title and fallen back down. Mario Batista and
Corey Sanhagen can fight somewhere there early on on the card,

(16:51):
and of course to open up the main card, you
have to have Bo Nickel. Most likely Dustin Stufolds or
Andre Pittrowski could be his opponent when Bo has time
away from real American wrestling.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
I was gonna say, is Bo Nickel still in the UFC?

Speaker 2 (17:06):
He is? He's gonna be call double duty. Apparently he's
been given the okay because of the lack of chance
of getting knocked out. I think so with the lack
of CTE, I don't think they're gonna go against letting
Bo do this wrestling. They don't really stop the guys
from doing the jiu jitsu either for the Fight Passed
Invitational for the Fury grappling, right, but.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
This ain't a fight Pass invitational or even a Fight
Pass production. It's outside the company. But so so I
believe you, and I take you a your word on that.
I'm sure you're right. But when I saw the announcement
that Nicol was gonna partake in hul Cogan's Real American
Wrestling Rock and Roll cartoon show, whatever whatever, I did

(17:50):
wonder what that meant for his UFC status.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Real quick bringing up wrestlers, and I may bump into
him because I think he's training here in New Mexico.
Gabe Well Stevens looks to now transition into his focus
being on mixed martial arts training. He had been around
John Jones and for quite a while I'd heard that
was assisting John to work on John's wrestling. Now being
around there, it seems like he's bit the bug now

(18:14):
talking about going to some other camps. He's been doing
submit work with Brandon Gibson. Am I the first one
to say I'm a little hesitant about Gable Stevenson's fifth
different professional athletic endeavor in the last two years to
be utterly confident that he'll be successful in MMA, because

(18:35):
there's a part of it where I feel like you
need to be passionate about the sport and a guy
that went from Olympic wrestling to pro wrestling to the
NFL to now looking like MMA is a last resort.
I don't know if I love that trajectory, but that's
just me judging without having met the dude.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yet, take out the Olympic part of the conversation, and
you just described one hell of a former UFC heavyweight
champion who went from pro wrestling to the NFL to
UFC and one gold.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
He did that in an error where we didn't have
good drug testing either.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Uh, fair point, fair point to answer that there was
hulked out of his gourd like no one else during
that era. Yeah, And of course talking about brock Lesner
to answer your question, though, I do wonder how successful
he'll be more from a not from a talent standpoint
or a physical gift standpoint, but from a focused standpoint.
And how committed are you really? I see now My

(19:36):
guess is over the long term, this is the bigger payday.
But all things being equal, I would have thought he'd
have been really interested in the real American wrestling thing
that would seem more up his alley.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
That would have been my expectation. And even saying to
the success that brock Lesner had not to be an
asshole pointed out, but everybody a lot of that was
attributed to his WWE fame, because this is a dude
that skyrocketed passed any kind of regional competition and jumped
into big fights. Not saying that that exposes toughness, but

(20:12):
when brock Closer started getting his face broken, we saw
he didn't really want this in some sort of a level.
And you might learn that sooner, depending on the path
you have to take. Like I don't think Gable Stevens
is getting a Dana White call, a Contender series call
right away. If he has to do a couple of
regional fights. We'll see how this works out.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Maybe I'm wrong here, but if he fights in the UFC,
my guess is he's not going through the Contender series.
He's not going through the Ultimate Fighter. That fight just
gets made at some point, but well, we'll see. It's
certainly interesting, I think. And to further answer your question,

(20:54):
if you want to compare him to ex pro wrestlers,
and maybe that's not even fair because he barely had
a coffee with WWE, I think he ends up a
lot more the CM punk slash Phil Brooks comparison than
the lessener comparison that I threw out yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Thought you're gonna put the middle and just go Bobby Lashley.
People like to forget about that. Bobby Lashley, though, had
to run in ballotour I believe a fight in elitic
c shark fights. He was a take you down, ground
and pound. His over muscle physique was never able to
get the cardio base you need to go to three
five minute rounds. So Lashly always looked like he was
tired at the end and was really just leveraging his wrestling,

(21:36):
And that would be the worry about Stevenson is do
you just level your wrestling and do you maybe not
hit that next level because we saw lastly he had
good success in bellatore and then it kind of just
went away when it was expected. Do you take that
next step up in competition, or hey, do you want
to fully commit back to pro wrestling because you built

(21:57):
up your profile enough a lot to be there to see.
But also because I brought up probably lastly, did you
hear that he threw out he'd be willing to do
a bare knuckle fight, which has to be one of
the wilder things I've ever heard, because again, he was
a ground and pound guy, not a stand in trade,
which Chi kinda dude.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, that's that's kind of interesting. At some point this
is going to fail, Micah, but I'm gonna see how
long we can connect every topic. Back to John Jones,
we brought up the White House, John Jones wanting to
fight there, which God is to Gable Stevenson because he
had been training with John Tom Aspinall, who John felt like,

(22:39):
You're gonna fight John? Yeah? Who John felt like didn't
add to the legacy. And by the way, I don't
necessarily think John's wrong in That doesn't mean I agree
with his decision to retire, but I get where he's
coming from. Aspinall says he has a date and an
opponent hasn't been announced yet, but it sounds like sooner
rather than later, we're gonna find out who Spinall's first

(23:01):
opponent first heavyweight title defense is going to be against.
You are a betting man, who would you place the
odds on.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Alexander Volkov October twentieth.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Well, you didn't say surreal gone, so automatically I'm interested.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody's interested in the
Gone fights. I just think it's been long enough. There
was the bad decision on the Volcal fight. I think
they just jumped. I think they just sit gone back on.
I think that Volkoff jumps in because it's the right call.
The decision should have went the other way.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Here's why I would disagree only because this gets Vulcal
of a title match. If it were a ranking situation
or who gets to fight in a number one contender fight,
I would one hundred percent agree with you because look,
I think we can all agree the decision was questionable
at best. But again, I'd rather see Volkov than Gone

(24:12):
versus aspinall, so I'm not gonna hate on this. Pavlovitch, Blades, Almeida,
cortez O, Costa, ty Burra, Spivak none of those really
excite me either. So I mean, by default, is it
Volkoff or is it really righting the wrong of this

(24:33):
Surreal Gone fight.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
Pavlich is already booked for August against Waldo, Corteza, Costa,
Curtis Blade just the fault Jayson made isn't booked I
think at all, and doesn't have a big win. There
are only three options on the roster. There is Tom

(24:56):
Aspinall fighting Surreal Gone, I, Xander Volkov or Alex Perreira.
Does Alex Perreira get the fight? Do they just jump
him to the top of the heavyweight division because we
need a big fight, And screw what I just said
about October. We announce the fight this week in July,

(25:17):
and that shit's the headliner for December. We go hard,
big time Canelo Crawford ross conference level shit, and we
take over the world again at the UFC proportionally, and
we end the year with a new heavyweight champion.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Maybe this is just me with my tenfoil hat on,
But the longer we go without an k Elijah Pereira
rematch announced, the more I think there's a reason for that.
And it ain't anybody healing up from injuries. It's Alex.
We really want you to be Aspinall's first opponent. Please

(25:57):
come save the heavyweight division. Win and you're golden. If
you lose, Hey, it solidifies Aspenall. So it's a win
win for the UFC. You just got to make it
worth Alex's time and effort. I think there could be
something to that. Uh, we'll see and maybe, like I said,

(26:17):
maybe that's just tenfoil hat thing. Well, they still haven't
announced Anklia have Perreira too, so there, you know, there's
got to be a reason. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't,
But I think that that would be your outlier for sure.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, most alluring Aspenall versus Pereira, most likely Aspenall versus Gone.
Most stomachable. I guess it's Aspenall versus Volkov because Aspenall
versus Gone just it feels realistic, but it doesn't feel
like stomachable. It feels a little nauseating.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I agree, I agree it. Yeah, it would be interesting.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
As we look at that one. We have those four
dates that we're talking about at the end of the
year that we're really looking get because we got a
doubled up pay per view in October. I believe it is.
We were talking about where they're doing Vegas and Abu Tabi.
You go to MSG in November, and then December is
Las Vegas. Those four dates, Do you have any inkling

(27:18):
of what we're gonna see? Because I'm believing aspinall JDM
Fallkov at least those three champions will be involved in
three of those four fights.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
I think December is going to be headlined by Kayla Harrison,
Amanda Nunez. Okay, we'll see. Maybe that's a Comaine, but
I think that's a women's fight that can absolutely main
have been a pay per view. Vegas seems like a

(27:51):
good place to do it. Kayla just fault recently. That
gives her plenty of time. Amanda's coming out of retirement,
that gives her plenty of time. Something tells me we
get that fight in December in Vegas.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
So do we do Van Pantosia as the Comain event.
That would be about five month removal from them, And
I'm trying to think up not to disrespect Amanda Kaylea.
Even if it's the biggest women's fight we've had, I
still feel like a women's headline pay per view is
going to have to have a second title fight, or
do you go all in on the women And let's

(28:29):
get really cheek. If we're doing Amanda and Kayla, do
you put Wayley Valentine on the same card?

Speaker 1 (28:36):
No, and not because you don't want it on the
same card necessarily. That just has the makings of a
Comain event on one of the international cards.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Okay, but Van Pantosia, then would you schedule that in
for December? Comain event feels like we need two title
fights or like a mega comin event.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Can Van go that long between fights?

Speaker 2 (29:02):
I think he should to get ready for Pantosia to
level up a couple of things.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah maybe maybe.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
So then that leaves what is the light of heavyweight division?
Here's a conversation we have not had, and I guess
it needs to be had. If we're pretty closer to
Alex Pereira is a heavyweight? Does Maga mad Ankulaia fight
Khalil Rountree? Are we doing a Khalil Roundtree Uri Prochaska
title eliminator? What do you think happens to the light

(29:31):
heavyweight division?

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Roundtree? I think round Tree gets if Alex is moving
to heavyweight, And again all speculation on our part Roundtree,
because you probably have a limited amount of time for
him because he's not getting any younger and not disrespecting Yuri,

(29:58):
but I don't think you have to do a a
number one contender match between those two. Hell Yuri could
just get winner, or you could do YEARI and somebody
for a winner of that. But I think if Alex
isn't in the picture, you just go Roundtree.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
But my Spidey senses of starting to tingle as we're
putting this together. I'm not sure what we do for
that first Vegas card in October, but it does feel
like a good landing spot. Like you said, with Nunyaz
and Harrison ending the year, that November card then feels
like it's the perfect place for that Aspinall Perreira fight.

(30:38):
I know that MSG has been long, Harald did bay Pereira,
and that Aspinall did win the interim title there in
New York. I think it'd be a great way to
revisit New York and solidify that heavyweight title. That just
lead to me to saying it feels like that Roundtree
and caliaphight would be a Vegas date, and Calia did

(30:58):
win the title in Vegas, and Roundtree is any Vegas native.
So because I think he's getting this fight because he
has more star power than Prochaska and that limited timeline,
I think we're maximizing it by putting the fight in
his backyard to make it as big as possible.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
I'm good with that. I got no problems whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
So hopefully then that leaves us figuring out what Volkanovski's
doing with the featherweight title. And when Islam is fighting
JDM on that other UFC Vegas day, or possibly we
still have to clear up the Abu Dhabi one. But
I'm liking what's possible to round out to fill out
the rest of the schedule for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, I think you've got a lot of options. Obviously,
injuries and fighter availability are going to come into play
on some of this, but yeah, you got a lot
of possibilities there for sure.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
You know, it's always great to have a lot of possibilities,
and that's what the UFC has.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Now.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
I wanted to throw one at you for somebody that
doesn't have any more possibilities, and that's actually one one Championship.
It's been announced now Amazon Prime when it runs out
in twenty twenty five, they are not gonna extend the deal.
They're not looking to negotiate further with one Championship. Do
you see that announcement having any effect on Amazon Primes

(32:18):
thought process towards negotiations with the UFC.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
That's a good question. I'm I'm gonna say no. Off
the top of your head. Do you have any idea
of what Amazon was paying One Championship for those rights?
But probably not. I'm assuming it's cost cutting, Micah, but
I'm also assuming there wasn't a ton of costs there.

(32:45):
Amazon does really well with the original series. My guess
is they'll just repurpose that money into a Reacher spinoff
or something. That's not to say it's not out of
the realm of possibility that they're like, look, we're not
getting the viewers we want from one. We want to
cut ties with that period. Let's go ahead and clear

(33:08):
the plate, go all in with UFC and see what
happens there. I think it's possible. I don't think it's likely, though.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
I didn't know if you had heard anything or if
it felt like that, and I could see that direction
scenario where you're just thinking, we didn't get the viewership
to expect to return. We are happy with combat sports,
why don't we just go for the big fish. Hey,
we're clearing our books and we just want everybody to
know we're done with one. We're gonna make you know,
and that would just kind of be a signal that
we're gonna make a push for the UFC. But, like

(33:37):
you said, I don't think it's likely. It's fun though,
question for.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
You, Micah And let me preface this real quick. We're
not getting political here. We're talking sports. Deportation is a
hot button issue in this country. This past week, you
saw Julio Cesar Chavez Junior get arrested. He's going to

(34:02):
be deported. He had overstayed his visa. Allegedly he had
falsified information on it. He's wanted in Mexico. I bring
this up because the arrest warrant was issued the day
before the Jake Paul fight. He was arrested two days
after the Jake Paul fight. With this being such a
hot button issue in this country, it's not like he

(34:26):
was hard to find. Why did they wait? Why did
they wait till after the fight?

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Well, because he was in a state that's been so
proactive towards rounding up illegal immigrants, where.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
You've got the military on the ground to protect the
ICE agents. I mean, and again I'm not getting political here.
I just find it interesting that they waited till after
the fight. They didn't want to deprive us of a
Jake Paul fight, so they and I don't know that
that's why, but it's easy to infer that whether it's
true or not. I just don't get why they didn't
go round him up Friday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
And why the Jake Paul people got no wind to
this to way afterwards. Oh, we didn't know. I it's
all a likely story, you know what I mean. There
there was no blacklist, there was no little client list.
There's none of that involved. Where we're not getting political here. People.
You know, things like this are just never deeper than
they seem.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
I guess, I guess.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
And by the way, I don't The allegations back in
Mexico against Julio sees our Cheves Junior, they're.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
They're pretty pretty much.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Oh by the way, mob tower, I'm not mob cartel
ties things like that. Now, his father came out and said,
look where we come from, everybody knows everybody. That doesn't
mean everybody's all doing stuff together. Well, we'll see. It
doesn't sound good for Julio Junior, though at least he

(35:54):
got his pay day, got his payday.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
We'll see what happens to him after that. That that
that might be even more surprising than whatever comes out
of BKFC this week. Oh yeah, State of the Promotion
press conference coming up July tenth from BKFC hold on
to your seats on whatever they could be announcing at
this one.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Interesting. Maybe Vince McMahon finally gets his paws into BKFC.
My guess is that ain't happening. You never know, Mike,
you got some fight announcements for US.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah. Unfortunately, Ismail israelav or Ikram israelv is out. Bruno
Pajeta will now be fighting Jackson McBay July nineteenth, UFC
three eighteen, also on that card. The unfortunate news continues.
The gunner Nelson is reportedly out of his fight with

(36:50):
Neil Magni. No word yet on if Magni will remain
on the card or what will be next for him.
The July twenty sixth UFC Abu Dhabi card has gained
Martin Bunde versus Brazilian jiu jitsu legend Marcus Almeeda, Butcha

(37:13):
coming over from one championship, we'll make his UFC debut again.
Incredibly heralded grappler Esteban Rivivich versus Alvin Brenner. Felipe Boones
versus Rafael Estevan both additions to the August second UFC

(37:35):
card that's going to be in Las Vegas UFC Shanghai
card on August twenty third as Song Kanan versus Keifer
Crosby Yo Denny's Duna will be back in the octagon
UFC Paris and she is going to welcome in promotional
newcomer Kennedy Freeman, Marcine Taybora versus Anti Jillian and Modestus

(38:02):
Bukowskis versus Paul Kraig. Also added to that September sixth
card for the French fans, and Alice Perreira not Alex
Alice Perreira six and OHO five wins by knockout. She'll
be making her UFC debut against Monstretta Rendon at the

(38:22):
UC Natch card on September thirteenth. And that's all of
our new UFC announcements for this week.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
After taking last week off, UFC back on the road
this week with a fight Night in Nashville. We will
get to that busy week, Micah, I know we've got BKFC.
We've also got boxing on Friday night on Netflix. It's
an all women's card. You get Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano three.

(38:52):
What do you think about this?

Speaker 2 (38:55):
The big card at big implications, The women's junior welter
weight titles are all on the line. That one hundred
and thirty that's according to ESPN Boxing Schedule where I'm
reading that from. It is gonna be the third meeting
between the two. It's been highly contested, it's been debated
about who's gonna win, and I'm guessing that they even

(39:16):
wrote down the wrong title. On what I'm looking at right,
what does it think?

Speaker 1 (39:19):
What would you say?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
According to what I'm seeing on ESPN, it says Women's
Junior Welterweight Championship, But as I was saying it, I
want to say that you're gonna tell me it's lightweight
because it should be one thirty five.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Taylor is putting her undisputed super lightweight title on the line.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Super lightweight championships. All the women or the majority of
the women that MVP Promotions have picked up compete in
this division. On the car you also get for what's
listed as a title fight, you get Alicia Bumgardner versus
Jennifer Miranda. You got Savannah Marshall versus Shedada Green, Chantal

(40:00):
Cameron versus Jessica Cameron. Like you said, a whole night
of Women's Action that comes to you on Netflix next
night on his own you boxing fans, Edgar Barlanga, I'm
as sure as are on a war path for each
other and the co main event for that one, chakor

(40:21):
Stephenson versus William Zapada. I know that Shakur is trying
to get back into many people's good graces and talking
about the MVP promotions. Stephanie Hahn also could be an action,
but that's in her hometown of al Passo, not on
the Jake Paul card, but she is a Jake Paul fighter.
She's fighting in al Paso on his own the same night,

(40:43):
defending her women's lightweight title from the WBA. Hey, the WBA.
That's how Jake Paul knows them to get ranked by them.
You know, you see where it's coming together.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
It all makes sense now well.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Also, who may be his next opponent? The guy that
got knocked out of the rankings in favor of Jake Paul.
He rose his hand. He's only twenty and oh with
fifteen knockouts. He's more than willing to fight Jake Paul
for that number if it's so important to Paul, because
it's everything that he's built to in his entire life.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
If something tells me Jake Paul does not have interest
in that, it.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Probably doesn't really have interest in earning that spot. I
agree with Peter, keep it going. There's even more boxing
on his own from Orlando, no title fights. Amazon Prime
even has a boxing card, so there's all kinds of
boxing on stream. Should you be a pugilistic man, be

(41:44):
on the lookout for that. This weekend, Carlisle brought up,
there's a ton of other stuff, so real quickly, Friday night,
you do have LFA from Brazil. It's LFA two twelve
interim flyweight title on the line. Marco Diglia. I'm saying
his name wrong. He is defending his interim title. Now,

(42:06):
what happened is you We're supposed to have a title
unification fight and Eduardo Chaplain, who is the regular undisputed champion,
got the opportunity to fight on the Ultimate Fighter. So
the interim champion ends up getting signed for a title defense.
Because I know, it's always interesting to try to explain
how an interim champion is having a title defense against

(42:28):
Matthias Servino Marcos ten fight win streak, nine finishes, defending
for the first time Servino. Six of his last seven
wins come in the first round LFA two to twelve
in all beatuers nine unbeaten prospects from Brazil. Friday Night,
enjoy some regional action. UFC Fight Pass Saturday, Huge Day

(42:52):
of Action. We'll get to the UFC in one minute,
Real quick guys. BKFC seventy eight. Also this weekend, the
BKFC apt from Hollywood, Florida, Leonardo Perdermo seven to zero.
In the main event, they call him the Cuban Mike Tyson.
He takes on former world champion Arnold Adams, a bare

(43:12):
knuckle Hall of Famer, smooth, long boxing game. In your
main event, this is a title eliminator. Explosifier works to
be put on in that one. And then in the
co main event, it's an interim flyweight title fight. Unbeaten, long,
lengthy boxer from Colorado, Reno Andrew Schrod takes on the

(43:33):
five and one Gee Petez, the cupman who's been a
foundation of the promotion forever. Will see how his official
one hundred and twenty five pounds debut goes. Gee has
never made that way yet, so to fight for the title,
it's gonna be interesting to see how he performs. This
card is ridiculously stacked with riches as rank fighters like

(43:54):
Roberto durand Howard Davis, justin Ibarola, former champion Princess go
Ricchi on the card and a shout out to Gosta Andriano,
who people may know from the Latino broadcast of the UFC.
He steps into the BKFC ring for the second time.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Saturday Night, Mike ESPN, ESPN plus UFC Fight Night. They
are on the road at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Your main event a pair of top fifteen heavyweights, Number
nine Derek Lewis versus Number thirteen Dallas and to Shiah.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yet Derek Lewis at oney eight and twelve, forty first
professional fight to go along with that forty years old.
On the other side, the eight and oh Talisan Taeshada,
I believe it's only twenty five years old. Is time
on his side? The youth, the age with that comes

(44:55):
so much experience. But it's easy to look at it
and say the downfall of Derek Lue. It has been
looming two and four in his last six, zero and
two in twenty twenty two, one and two in twenty
twenty three and just one to oh one performance last
year in twenty twenty four. I don't know if we

(45:15):
can build off the good vibes from the recent victory.
You think about the improbable knockout power that Derek Lewis poses.
He's always a freaking threat. He is always looming. He plays,
he'll play hurt, he'll suck you in. But there is

(45:36):
some realness too. If his back has been acting up,
if he hasn't been able to get that right, that
the cardio will wane. He is vulnerable to the stomach.
He's not going to run and resert constant amounts of energy,
but he can display herculean strengths, all feats of strength
at a moment's notice. Tallis and Tesheta. It's a big,

(46:00):
huge Brazilian standing at six foot seven. I believe a
four inch height advantage and I believe eighty three inches.
He has quite a few inches in the reach advantage.
He does have a kickboxing background, a wealth of experience
in that sport. If you've seen his fight in the LFA,
he was able to manage distance, hick his shots. This

(46:22):
ain't the LFA, this isn't even the Contender series. And
this isn't coming off of beating a Tafa brother with
a nasty elbow in your UFC debut. You showed great
devastation in the clinch, But last time I looked at
the odds were heavily in favor of mister Tashera and
buyer beware on going against Derek Lewis. As much as

(46:44):
there's a buyer, beware on taking him because it only
takes one but the entire fight he might only land one.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
All you need to know about the heavyweight division right
now is one fight against an unranked opponent gets you
in the fifteen. Yes, to share one Dana White's Contender series,
But like you said, one real UFC fight justin Tafa,

(47:11):
and all of a sudden you're now ranked.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
All that being said, I don't disagree with anything you
just laid out about Derek Lewis. He's certainly a fan
favorite any card he's on, He's always incredibly entertaining. The
man sells tickets. At some point in time, his body
is going to fail him. Does that happen on Saturday?

(47:36):
It could. I also wouldn't be shocked if Derek Lewis
doesn't land an impressive knockout and drop his drawers.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Use energy, length, the ability to have a diverse arsenal
of weapons. I can understand why you would lean in
the favor of Too Shaida. The only thing going in
Derek Lewis's favor is the knockout power. And is that

(48:06):
exaggerated to say that the experience doesn't matter? Do you
think the experience it's just gonna be to share a
second fight and it's not just that you're taking on
Derek Lewis, You're taking on Derek Lewis on the road
in a main event.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
The experience matters, But is it the end all be
all in this fight. I don't think so. In different
weight classes maybe, but I don't think you're gonna get
a very technical fight here. I think they're gonna stand
and trade punches and say who can knock who out first?

(48:42):
And if that's the case, I don't know how much
experience really matters.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Well, that experience doesn't matter. It matter, but power matters,
and not to knock to share a He shot on
a takedown on a Tafa brother and then ended it
with an l bowl in the clinch. That wasn't a
knockout shot. If we're just standing in the middle trading
blow for blow, I'm hard pressed to not take Derek
Lewis in that equation if it breaks down that brutally,

(49:11):
like I feel like the diverse arsenal, the youth, the
range is what works for to share his favor. If
we do make this in the pocket kind of clash,
I wonder if testing the chin of a twenty five
year old is going to be the best endeavor, because
Derek Lewis has this kind of tendency that it's not
Roy Nelson ish, But you're testing hins with him and

(49:33):
you might collapse all of a sudden.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
I've learned with Derek Lewis never overestimate him, but don't
underestimate him either, So I think that's and I don't
know what you gleaned from that, but I think, yeah,
I wouldn't sleep on him, but I also wouldn't go
in thinking his experience and punching power is just going

(49:56):
to be too much for every reason you just laid out.
I think this will be interesting. Lewis certainly the underdog
here in this, but I think it'll be an interesting fight.
But it seems like deep down, maybe UFC is hoping
this is something they can build on with the younger
fighter and his ascension up the rankings.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
If I'm staying consistent, consistently I've been going with the
youth movement. This game will take it away from you
and take it away from you quickly.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Well, that gets us to the Komain event Micah. A
little bit similar situation Welterweight's Do Battle Steven WonderBoy Thompson
versus Gabriel Bond theme. Thompson comes into this one pretty
significant underdog as well.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Which kind of surprised me because it's not that I
love WonderBoy in this spot so much. It's looking at
Gabriel Bond theme. It had me questioning if I thought
he's done everything needed. He's a guy that got the
thought by Nicholas Staal being looked uncomfortable in that buy

(51:05):
in a striking ring realm against a karate style striker
who had a wide stance. Now, can Dalby out grapple
put that top pressure on in a different way than
Wonder Boy, Yes, exactly, but the bon Fiem brothers have
a tendency to sell out for Guillotine's wonder Boy is
not going to give you that opportunity. He's not going

(51:26):
to incorporate the grappling. He's not gonna put his head
down and do wins over Angelosa and Chaos. Williams really
say that you're ready for this level. Wonder Boy is
still a wood chipper. The dude maybe forty years old.
I know he looks like not a day over thirty two,
but there's something athletically to him where he is declining.

(51:49):
But it's the closest to like a Lebron James level
declined that we have in Mma where when you squint
your eyes athletically, even though the crossover isn't the saying,
you're like, dude, this guy's looking really good for a
forty year old, and it just gives me the pause
about Bombine having enough layers to his offense to make

(52:10):
Wonder Boy uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
That's gonna be an interesting fight. Well, we'll see your
feature fight.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Steve Garcia looking to get a number beside his name,
he takes on number fourteen. Calvin Cater Garcia a slight
favorite here. This is really almost to pick him, though.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
It really is a pick. I'm looking at the betting odds.
Calvin Cator comes in with the wealth of experience, thirty
two fights, Garcia no slutch with twenty two under his belt.
I think you look at the high level experience. Calvin
Cater got beat like a drum by Max Holloway, but
he's been in there with Max Holloway. We like to

(52:48):
think about Cater as a as a straight up boxer.
When I talked to Steve Garcia cageminds dot com, obviously
for you guys, check out that one he pointed out
when Cater was fighting Jakat say he was shooting like
a rec We've seen that Garcia early in his career
was a sniper, a lot of head kick knockouts. Now
is his career has gone on his top game. His

(53:09):
smashing elbows have become a deciding and definitive factor in
his victories. From what I've seen, a lot of the
more sophisticated breakdowns would tell you this. Garcia's got to
jump on Cater, get to him and try to break
him down. He's a efficient, ruthless, elite level finisher. Five
straight wins all by knockout. Calvin Cator doesn't get finished.

(53:30):
Calvin Cator has a longer resume when it comes to
being able to manage fights, being able to build upon fights.
He has what would be perceived as the deeper gassing
because he has went decisions in these crazy ass wars.
We're gonna test Garcia's cardio, his IQ when it comes

(53:50):
to striking. Here how proficient his takedowns are. Because Cater
has the experience, I don't know if he's old enough
and his losses are of an elite level, will live
enough nature that I think people are expecting. It would
be quite a big start decline. Where Bonfime losing to
wonder Boy, wonder boys quality of losses has been slowly declining,

(54:15):
Cater's still losing to elite level of guys. This would
be a real statement making victory for Steve Garcia. Sorry,
I took up like three minutes breaking that down.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
No, no, no, no. This will be an interesting fight
as well, and again big implications for Garcia for sure,
Calvin Cater looking to hang on to his number.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
So what do you think about this one? What do
you think is the biggest factor that stands out to
you for this fight? In particular.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Garcia's elbows.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
It's Garcia's elbows, And there's what I'm wondering if he
can cause the damage early. I think you have to
make Cater uncomfortable early because the only thing that worries
me about his experience is that he can get the time,
and he can get the momentum, and if he gets
the rhythm in the fight, he can survive. And we'd
like to see Garcia make a statement for.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Sure Nate Land where takes on Morgan Sharier and featherweight action?
Did I say that right, Sharier?

Speaker 2 (55:17):
I believe so with the previous one we just mentioned.
Which one of those two featherweight fights? Do you like
him more for Fight of the Knight, because that's the
kind of quality of AOPs that Nate Land where normally presents. Yeah,
and Sharier is a willing party to strike. But Cater

(55:38):
and Garcia or some warriors, those would be my two.
I don't know if you like one better than the other?
Which one for Fight of the Night?

Speaker 1 (55:45):
For Fighter the Night, I'd probably go Land where Sharier
only because they both have something to prove, like trying
to climb the rankings, whereas Cater trying to hang on
to his num. He's got the experience, so you expect
a slightly more cerebral approach from him. Not that they

(56:09):
won't both be really good fights, but if you're asking
me which one I think is more likely to be
fight of the night, it will be the land where fight.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
You had to just guess, and I'll throw this out
at you, how much younger would you expect Nate Landweer
is than Calvin.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Cater I'm gonna guess not that much.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Three months three months, both are pushing thirty seven years old.
That's why you look at it in the cater Garcia
matter where they're saying is he getting along a little
long in the two? Because I just bring it up
in the manner that we look at Land where it's
still kind of young and inexperience at this high level.
It took me a little bit by surprise when I

(56:52):
was doing research. Oh yeah, he's thirty seven years old.
This doesn't see what you got. This is do or die.
And that's the one thing that I wonder about him,
is is he such a finished product? Because he's thirty
seven years old? Gives a little more even though Sherrier
has more fights, it gives a little more opportunity for
him to have room for growth because he's about ten

(57:13):
years younger. This card, we also get Victor Patrina. I
know you wanted me to move on. He moves up
to heavyweight from light heavyweight, coming off of losses to
Anthony Smith and Justin Jacobe. But he's taking on an
Austin Lane who's only one in three. He was a
regional seene Hammer has become a UFC. Now do you

(57:34):
have a either which way on this fight? Patrino, From
what I'm seeing, I think he was like the third
biggest favorite on the card.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Uh. From what I'm seeing, he is the yeah, third,
because they're two that are just crazy favorites. Yeah, he
is a huge favorite, somewhere around minus seven to fifty
favorite for Patrino. I'm going to operate on the assumption
that the odds makers know what they're talking about here,

(58:02):
and he's a favorite for the for a reason.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Nestin da Kobe has elite level striking, had that glory
kickboxing background. I would be a little worried about Petrino's
chin because he got knocked out at two o five
going up and taking on a hard hit in Austin Lane.
But I think with his just general jiu jitsu background,
the consensus is that Lane's not gonna be able to
handle this pressure or stay up, which is also the

(58:26):
same kind of thought for Junior Tapa finally dropping down
to light heavyweight. I know he's only six and three,
there's probably no reason for me to get excited, but
he has abs in a photo that I saw. Good
for Junior Tapa, as he's gonna take on Tuco. Tosco's
Costcos is an aggressive brawler, looping shots, wants to get

(58:47):
in your face, make it dirty, and brawl Tapa if
nothing else, timing, composure and heavy hands. I kind of
like Tapa in this one, just because the composure, because
I feel like he throws straight and Tukos is gonna
throw wide and walk into something.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Well toughest, got abs and it might not have been photoshops,
So yeah, why not?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Might not have been photoshop He's all the way down.
You lost like twenty thirty pounds back. I think we'll
give the apps credit for poking through even apedding him.
If he didn't develop them, they earned it themselves. Credit
the abs.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Credit the abs, that's your main card. The pre limbs
are your feature final the prelims. Max Griffin, Chris Curtis
a pair of welter weights.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
We love us so Chris Curtis Chris curtifs. I believe
it is the favorite in this one. His boxing, his experience.
The biggest question is after years at eighty five, how
is his body going to react to the first weight
cut in a while. We know that he naturally walked
around at eighty five, so hopefully this wasn't gonna be
that crazy of a weight cut. That's the biggest question.

(59:59):
Where Max Griffin is a good striker, He's had problems
off of his back. So for a reintroductor to the
welterweight division, this is a winnable fight, but not a
walkover fight because if this was a say, if this
was bow Nickel going down to one seventy, it would
be much more favorable. Just stylistically, Griffin struggles with wrestlers

(01:00:22):
and grapplers more than he does strikers, so I think
that because he is a little bit longer than Curtis,
even though Curtis is the one coming down, it makes
it an interesting matchup where it's a winnable fight for Curtis,
but Griffin does present some unique problems.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Chris Curtis, with just one win in his last five fights,
two wins in his last seven. Does he have to
win this one?

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Absolutely positively, And I'm a little bit surprised that after
being part of also the incident with Sean Strickling in
the cage, and let's be honest, when you're not the
more popular fighter, usually the punishment a lot heavier. I
think there's a lot of do or die on the
table for a guy that we've really been entertained by
and find incredibly interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
For sure, why else on the prelims sticks out for you, Mikah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
Overall it's a fun card. Jake Matthews needs to be
able to grapple. He is a well rounded fighter, but
Kitty and Jikiwani is a more lethal striker. Even though
his grappling has started coming together. It's going to be
interesting to see who dictates where this fight takes place,
because I think there's a stark advantage either way that goes.
Biggest thing is Kenna and Chikawani make one p seventy.

(01:01:34):
He's had some issues with that in the past. Lauren
Murphy hasn't been around it a while. She had lost
to Jessic gun Drogs the last time we saw her,
and now she comes in as a massive underdog. Teduarda
Maara Mara elite level Brazilian jiu jitsu. The younger fighter,
the more active fighter. You have a toss up between

(01:01:55):
Kennedy and Chique, who just has big, ridiculous knockout power.
Moves up to heavyweight, taking on Walter Walker a little
bit crazy, not the athlete, not the striker that his
brother is more the grappler, but is a mad man
willing to walk into it. You get your two biggest
favorites on the card. I think that Maura might be

(01:02:17):
that fourth biggest favorite on the car because you've got
some ridiculously lopsided odds on a few of these. Mike
Davis is a sizable favorite over Mitch Ramirez. Davis is
considered a well rounded threat. He is the more experienced
party in this equation and Ramirez, well, he's a good striker,
his defense is lacking in his cardio is in question,

(01:02:40):
so there needs to be some stark improvements in his
game to really threaten Davis. Well. Fatima McCline. She was
a handful to take down at one twenty five. She
hits like a mad truck. Melissa Martinez is a grappler
looking to get it to the ground. I think that's
going to be a big task against the power puncher Incline,

(01:03:02):
who I think just comes in is like, oh, minus
sixteen hundred. Maybe it's strength since I last saw it,
but that's what I looked.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
For those interested. Mora is minus six twenty five, Mike
Davis minus one thousand, and Kleine is minus twelve hundred.
That's some That's some heavy favorites right there. Both the
prelams and the main card ESPN and ESPN plus your
prelams get underway at six pm Eastern, your main card

(01:03:31):
nine pm Eastern. Again, that is from the Bridgestone Arena
in Nashville.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Are you gonna do a Derek Lewis Lauren Murphy parlay?
Can I talk into Derek Lewis, Mitch Martinez. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
No, no, you cannot talk me into any of that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
The UFC is in Nashville, Music City, Hot chicken, and
hopefully some crushing knockouts. You poke with what I'm doing
at cageminds dot com. Finally getting everything from menta National
Fight Week edited all the way put out on the
social media. A ton of other great things coming at you.

(01:04:14):
Cagemincombat Sports News, Facebook, YouTube, Cage Minds, Underscore, CSN, TikTok,
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Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Get the show on X at MMA After Hours. You
can find me at real Mike Kurlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of MMA After
Hours here on the After Hours podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Love combat Sports. I have a website for you, Cageminds
dot com. That's C A g E, D M I
n DS 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, skagemis dot

(01:05:01):
com