Ep 309:Derrick Lewis Does It Again! UFC 318 Preview. Latest News.

Episode 309: Derrick Lewis with another KO victory. UFC 318 preview. The logistics of a potential UFC PPV at the White House. Conor McGregor goes off the rails at BKFC press conference. Latest news. 












Hit up the show:

X (formerly Twitter): @MMAafterhours @RealMikeCarlyle @FranklMika @CagedMindsMMA

Email: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up everybody? Welcome back. It is MMA after Hours.
I'm Michael Carlisle, joined as always by Micah Franco. Micah,
how you doing.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Man, I'm doing well. We go from one busy weekend
to another busy weekend and a bunch of craziness and
the typical Derek Lewis fun lovability for us to talk
talk about.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm gonna say it right now, Derek Lewis should be
the one to challenge Tom aspinall first, not saying he
could win, I'm just saying name recognition, assuming John Jones
is out of the equation, and since he's retired and
maybe unretired, who the hell knows. But if John Jones

(00:50):
isn't in consideration, Derek Lewis is as good as anybody
else in that division.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Definitely the best actor in the division. Sure, and possom
like Derek Lewis and.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
I not even talking necessarily from a win lost standpoint,
most deserving, but biggest name. As far as a fan
likability and all that, Derek Lewis is your guy.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Hard to beat those points. I mean, Derek Lewis came out,
did what he needed to do, possibly got hit in
the face, maybe in the eye, maybe poked in the eye.
Who knows what happened, but he over exaggerates the eye injury.
Swings for the fences and strike one, strike two, Strike
three does not appear because that is the home run hit.

(01:40):
And there with the left hook down goes to Sherah
from the left, some clobbering happens. I wouldn't be surprised
if the Shara went out and came back in at
some point from all of that thunder, and as he's
standing up, the ref stops the fight in the most
awkward time possible, possibly after two knockouts. I wouldn't be

(02:01):
surprised that. Medically, if we had a doctor's assessment in
front of us, they'd say yeah. To Shera was concussed.
He was flatlined a couple times in there by Derek Lewis.
But even though he monkey barred and climbed his way
up the cage, it was still a very odd moment
for the fight to be stopped when he was theoretically

(02:22):
in the least danger he had been in the last
ten seconds.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Are we talking about fight night now?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I was just yeah, I was just talking about to
Sherah getting crushed by Lewis, and we could go back
to Lewis being the next one to possibly challenge for
Tom Aspinall. But I'm just that's a wide open crop.
His name is great, You're right, yeah, Hey, look.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
He's not going to get it, and I totally get that.
But if i'm UFC, I don't dismiss it because I
think it's an easier sell. Derek Lewis versus Aspinall then gone,
then Volkoff, then Blades, then Almeida, anybody else in that
division above him. But yeah, and now, as far as

(03:11):
the fight itself, if you want to tell me it
was a bad stoppage, I'm probably not gonna argue with you,
except that maybe, like you said, the cher might have
been out twice before that, so maybe it should have
been stopped before then, not after Lewis had woke him
back up by continuing to hit him. But it esthetically

(03:35):
it did not look like a good stop, did it.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
That one felt kind of rough, As rough as you
said it would be trying to sell derekly, it feels
like it's entirely rough, just trying to sell the next
heavyweight title fight. As rough as that stoppage was, I
think they equal each other.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
You might be right on that. You might be right
on that for all the high around to share and look,
one fight does not endo career. But regardless of whether
you thought the stomp was early or not, Derek Lewis
went out and did what he's done his entire career.
He goes out, he hits you, He hits you incredibly hard.

(04:18):
Hence why he's the all time knockout leader in UFC history.
And he was able to go out and get it
done again. I think the problem for lewis he really
hasn't been able to string that together over a period
of time in his career. You'll get a win here
and a loss, you'll get two wins, two losses, whatever,

(04:38):
whatever it's But as far as the fight itself goes,
I mean, he just went out and took care of business.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
At the biggest fault of to Shera is the inexperienced
We said it eight to oh, twenty five years old,
had a little bit of kickboxing under his belt and
showed the inexperience of falling into the trap that Derek
Lewis set. He believed that when he landed that little
jab that it actually did something detrimental to Lewis that

(05:12):
he had him in a vulnerable state and Lewis was
playing get up and brought him right into the fire.
I don't know what to read about to Shara, because
there's not many guys that Derek Lewis knocks out and
wakes back up and stand up. That is a credit
to him, because most guys just stay under Derek Lewis

(05:32):
getting pounded into oblivion. I don't know what to make
of a heavyweight division that is so shallow, because it
feels like one win gets you into the top fourteen,
as it did with t shera one more win, he's
right back into it. But there's a reason why it

(05:54):
feels like Tom Aspinall is a unicorn in a horse
corral this point.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
But is he a unicorn or is he just the biggest?
Is he a thoroughbread and everybody else is just old
broken down man? Maybe that's not the right word, but
just like regular horses, how about that.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
We're not gonna have the opportunity to put that thought
process to experiment because I don't know where you're finding
another thoroughbred to run him against at this point in time.
The one that we were alluding to John Jones arguably
a little long in his tooth already. And unless it's
happening on a white house law and it doesn't look

(06:37):
like John is that encouraged to do the fight.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
I don't think there's any here's the problem with all that.
And I know we're jumping all over the place here.
You're not waiting until July fourth of next year to
do that fight. There's no guarantees Aspinall is the fucking
champion come July fourth of twenty twenty six. Now, I
don't think he probably has more than one fight before

(07:03):
then if he's going to play a role in that card.
So if it's Volkoff, if it's gone whomever the hell,
if it's Derek Lewis, all right, you can go out
win one. I but you've held this division up so much,
even if it is at this point taking John out
of the equation basically a one man division, are you

(07:26):
going to continue to hold it up and drag it out?
I don't think so. So, you know, after once we
get Aspinall's next fight announced, maybe then we can get
a better idea look at potential turnarounds and things like that.
But I don't even know how realistic. If UFC is
even interested in it, and John's serious about unretiring, I

(07:49):
don't know how realistic Aspinall Jones at the White House
even is.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Right now, the possibility it's one fight, Like you said,
Aspinall needs to win one fighting, it becomes a possibility.
And supposedly John Jones is back in the testing pool.
And even if he's not in the testing pool, or
even if he falls out of the testing pool, Derek

(08:12):
Loose is on the phone with Donald Trump after his win.
That guy is as close to Trump. He's like the
third closest you know, fighter in the UFC two Trump
except for the ones to shake his head. I mean,
he's on the phone with him after the win. That's
like some Colby Covington's birthday wish level shit. Derek Lewis
could easily fight at the White House and not even
think he's to be an octagon there.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
You brought up something about John and I know he's
the one who brought it up. And I'm back in
the testing pool and Epher was only retired for like
a week and a half. Did he even have time
to get out of the testing pool? Is he just
back in the testing pool because he didn't have a
chance to leave it yet.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
That's a really good point. Did he just never fill
out the paperwork anyway? And when they asked him if
he was going to he said, nah, I don't think so.
This white House thing kind of sounds intriguing. But what
about John Jones versus Derek Lewis that could be intriguing.
I just keep trying to bring it back to Derek Lewiz.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, no, and that's fine. I don't know that John
would have any interest in that. Now that Derek getting
a great name, taking out the UFC's all time knockout
leader and all that. I mean, there could be something
to be said for that, but I don't know that
that interest John. And honestly, if you're John, you gave

(09:31):
up the title to retire and then quickly unretired. If
you're John, I could see you looking at title shot
or bust. But also if I'm a UFC, unless I'm
just in a pinch, I'm not doing John any favors.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well, you're not doing any favors. But it's John Jones.
He's inevitably if he does fight again, it's gonna be
a mass of fight, because that's just the kind of
crowd and orientation that John Jones brings in the celebrity
he has, and it'll be something big in the heavyweight division.
There's only so many heavyweights at this point. Like we said,

(10:08):
we now add Derek Lewis to a list of four
or five realistic names for Tom Aspinall, just because everybody
loves Derek Lewis and it's sellable and the Volkov God
names feel so unsellable on pay per view.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Here's the other thing with John fighting again, from the
fan standpoint, you drug this Aspinall thing out forever you're retired,
You unretired as long as it took you to decide
you're going to retire. Where to believe you quickly filled
out your paperwork to get out of the testing pool,

(10:49):
and then equally it's quickly filled it out to get
back in. Are you accepting John in anything other than
a title match Like I just talked about the Derek
Lewis fight with Aspinall, that's the biggest seller outside of
John you could do for Aspinall in the UFC. And
I do believe that doesn't mean they'll do it, but
I believe it. If it's what you just said, all right,

(11:12):
we're gonna have Aspinall and Volkov, Lewis Jones winner gets
Aspenall at the White House. Do the fans as much
as I think Lewis Aspinall is a sell? Do the
fans care about John Jones Derek Lewis because you want
to see John Jones in a title fight?

Speaker 2 (11:31):
I don't know, so I don't. It's hard to guess
what the UFC will do. I'm gonna tell you this,
the UFC. The fans will buy whatever the UFC does,
So either way, we really don't gotta worry about it
because they're gonna tune in and droves and whether you
tell me he's going against the all time knockout artist

(11:52):
or the scariest guy in the division and Tom Aspinall,
I think that the UFC is gonna do all right
selling it. I'm more impressed by one win thirty five
seconds a guy ranked below him. Derek Lewis doesn't even
move up this week in the rankings, but my god,
he has just moved up to where outside of Ferrera,

(12:14):
Jones gone and Bolkov, we're talking about Derek Lewis as
the next biggest name, easiest to sell in a heavyweight
title fight. Who has had a better thirty five seconds
on a Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
I hope his second fight on Saturday went longer. All
the ground and pound he was talking about he was
going to do for his wife's sake. I hope that
matchup went longer than thirty five seconds.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
You know what, I think he could lost a couple
of rounds in that matchup. We were seeing the cardio
wasn't even tested. This was the most in shape Derek
Lewis we had seen in years. At forty years old.
He was able to get into the brawl. He was
able to force the fight to happen. It's easy to

(13:09):
put and I know we'll talk about doesn't play here
later a lot, but Derek Lewis ends up I think,
even without the title, just having a spot carved out
in history for one of the most beloved fighters in
the UFC of this era.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, you're comine from Nashville on Saturday Night. Stephen Thompson
Gabriel bond Fame. I did not agree with the decision. Damn,
what a nasty gash on wonder boy Shin. I don't
even know what to say.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
First round was Bond themes second round. Obviously, the head
kick that was Land did put things in the trajectory
of Steven Thompson. For any of those that's ever questioned
him as a fighter, the dude is an fen mad man.
Everyone was saying, you know, look at he's throwing that
leg even harder now that the bone is exposed, like

(14:04):
it's an actual weapon that could hit you a like
he was trying to hit the bone right to the head,
like I will knock you out with this. That was
a g performance from Steven wonder Boy Thompson, on guts,
on charisma, on showing more aggressiveness than we usually get

(14:24):
out of a subdued, laid back counter striker. In all,
it is a very close fight that goes in the
decision of Bond theme. I've seen a lot of people
feel it goes the other way. I think the bigger
point to this is that there is the slow decline
of wonder Boy Thompson. He's probably the closest to Lebron

(14:48):
James level of decline. Like you look at Lebron James
and you squint, and there's some nights where you're like
that forty year old dude still looks like the thirty
two year old version of Lebron James close to his prime. Well,
wonder Boy tom and could have those moments, and there's
probably no forty year old as fast as him. The
thing is is that thirty two year old Lebron and

(15:09):
Steven was competing against guys his age. Now that he's
forty year old, that slight decline makes him human and
Gabriel Bonfime, probably a couple of years ago, is not
making this such a close fight. Bon Fiem does that
it shows the decline of wonder Boy. Unfortunately, even though

(15:29):
it's slow, Bonfiem himself, with the victory, does get into
the top fifteen. But if there was anyone that just
crawled their way into the top fifteen, it was probably
this victory. Because it is so debatable, and considering the
decline of wonder Boy, you wouldn't be surprised to see
bon Fime kind of defending this number in his next fight.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
A couple things. I wonder if there would have been
the outrage if bon Fiem had been fighting anyone other
than WonderBoy. I wonder how much that is. He's a
likable guy. Everybody wants to see him do well, so
deep down you are kind of rooting for him. The
other thing I wanted to point out, and to piggyback

(16:12):
on what you were saying, as good as he looked
last night, he's forty two years old. This is now
five of his last six fights. He's lost. He's not
going out there and getting Tony Ferguson. But it's also
obvious that peak in his career has been hit, and

(16:32):
like you said, now he's on the slow decline. I'm
not calling for WonderBoy to retire. I think he's got
fights left in him, but realistically, we've seen the best
of Wonder Boy, and it's probably there'll be moments here
and there, but you're probably not gonna get a lot
of those flashes to the heyday of wonder Boy, if

(16:55):
you will.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
I think you're absolutely correct on second point. I think
that in a fair world, we'd have other guys in
their late thirties for WonderBoy to be having some fun
fights with, to deliver things to the fans have always
wanted to see, and being kind of a super fight
mode rather than this gatekeeper for the division that he's

(17:19):
been slotted into. Fighting these younger guys taking these losses.
I don't think he's gonna come back on us. He's
still an incredible competitor. He's so crafty and sneaky that
I believe he can get victories, but he is not
at the physical prime. Some of these kids coming up
are just so big, fast, stronger than WonderBoy that it

(17:42):
makes everything, Even considering the advancement that he has and
skill tactic, game planning, I don't think we'll see that
Wonder Boy anymore. And what was the first point that
you asked about.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Oh, if bon Fiema had been fighting anyone other than
Wonder Boy, would there have been the outrage over the scorecards.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I think if we get a little more activity and
aggression from Bondfime that that easily dissuades the displeasure online.
I think there was what people would call or perceive
to be a stalling of positions so much in the
third round that when you're considering the effective damage aspect

(18:30):
of the fight, people were concerned about that where Wonder
Boy is out there trying to strike. So I think
that also made him a fan favorite. He's a guy
that wants to be in space and wants to punch
you and kick you and try to knock you out.
That's always going to be more lovable than a guy
that wants to hold you on the face or drag
you to the ground.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah. Tip of the hat to Steve Garcia. He gets
the unanimous decision win over Calvin Cator and he makes
his way into the featherweight rankings. Not the only one
who debuted in ranking, so I'll bring that up in
a second. But an impressive performance by Steve Garcia.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Steve Garcia put together the most complete performance of his career.
Was an avalanche of offense, attacking and consistently just making
uncomfortable Calvin Cator Kbrier unable to set up anything. The
huge pressure, the steady diet of jabs, the teeth kick

(19:27):
to the body was just a monster weapons chipping away
built on the jab with the left hook, and it
was incredible to see the knockdown. Only thing was Garcia
got so excited for the knockout it looked like he
almost slid over Calvin Cater when he tried to run
in for the ground and pound to kind of flatten

(19:49):
his opponent down and said slid over him. But incredibly
impressive performance from Garcia. With that level of composure, consistent
offensive output, That's what everybody he was concerned about the cardio.
How will we look deep into three rounds? He was
an avalanche of steady offense the entire time and even

(20:09):
like we said, carrying that power into the late rounds. Now,
the next question will be what can he do against
elite level competition? Can he do it in a fifth round?
And I'm guessing before we get to what's next for
Steve Garcia, we got to acknowledge Calvin Cator just hasn't
been the same since the UFC on ABC fight. He

(20:30):
had the Max Holloway beating, and it seems like since
then there's been moments from Calvin Cator, but he hasn't
been able to put together that consistent run, the consistent performance,
and has really been stuck into a box where his
offense has been so basic and boxing centric that a

(20:52):
lot of people have sorted out his game plan.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Uh, this is five in a row now for Calvin Cator,
certainly unfortunately for him going in the wrong direction. Five
in a row, six of his last seven to Katsa,
it is the only win in those I'm certainly heading,
Like I said in the wrong direction for him. But look,

(21:19):
Garcia debuts at number eleven in the rankings. What do
you think? What do you think he's looking at?

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Next? Last note on Calvin Cator. It's an unfortunate decline
in the sense that he did do a lot to
try to change things up. A Boston guy who I
believe did move his camps from the New England cartel
over to TriStar went to Fraza hobby, so he went
outside of his bubble and tried to do some new things.

(21:45):
Obviously hasn't proved paid off, as you mentioned in the
losing streak, So it's rough to see a guy in
that position who did it look like try to push
the balance of what he was comfortable with to try
to push it to that next level. Just Kinnon on
the Steve Garcia side. This weekend you have Dan Egay
versus Patricio Pitbull. I wouldn't be surprised if that's a

(22:08):
name that works out, because the UFC has just been
tentative in my opinion, to really book two up and
comers against each other. We've seen a lot more of
the Michael Morales, Gilbert Burns, the Stephen wonder Boy, Thompson
situations where you want to build that credibility and that
name rake off of a previous veteran. So I think

(22:30):
that it's more likely Garcia gets one of them. But
you could see Yusuf Zeleel has been looking to stay active.
He wanted a big fight that's a possibility just to
get them an APEX main event. And then l Ron
Murphy classically inactive all the way up at number six.
Now I think he fought over maybe it was three

(22:54):
months ago, but we haven't heard la Ron Murphy's name
in much discussions, so I could see la Ron Murphy
Arnold Allen that possibly being as high as Garcia gets.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Bryce Mitchell re debuted in the rankings coming off his
big win this Oh no, that's right. He didn't fight
this past weekend, but just in time for his fight
in a couple of weeks. Bryce Mitchell made his return
to the featherweight rankings.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Right of a headscratcher there because I believe his upcoming
fight is gonna be at one thirty five, So re
entering the forty five rankings really doesn't matter as much
as even Max Holloway wanted to form everyone, I shouldn't
be ranked number one. I'm not fighting at forty five ever.
Again A quick note then, for whoever does the UFC rankings,

(23:46):
you canna remove Max Holloway from featherweight. He's okay with
it exactly.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
So we had eight finishes on Saturday out of the
twelve fights. Mike, I realize this is going to be
a long winded answer for you, and that's cool. What
else stood out for you?

Speaker 2 (24:07):
I don't know why you just didn't want to talk
about the rest of the card. I mean, Morgan Sharier
absolutely put on a show against Nate land where for
everything that Nate land Wheer brings to the table, he
really couldn't get the craziness going against Sharier. I was
a bit surprised at how Morgan was able to win
the first round. Nate came back a bit in the

(24:29):
second round and that just got eaten up in the
third round. Impressed by that one. Overall, all of the
huge favorites that we saw last week, the four of
them that we commented on Bourn oh, so I'm surprised
to see just how dominant they were. From Victor Petrino,

(24:49):
I didn't think he'd be able to literally run through
bulldoz over and take Austin Lane to the ground so
easily on the ground. Not really so surprised how it went,
but getting the former football player there, I thought the muscularity,
I thought the size difference between the light heavyweight moving
up to heavyweight was gonna make that a more challenging proposition.

(25:10):
While on the other side, Junior top I had some
brilliant moments and nearly finished two cot Toscos on the feet,
but inevitably his takedown defense still isn't up to par.
Tuscos just runs through him on the ground, gets the
arm triangle in the second round. That was as quick
that was even a nice submission compared to Jake Matthews

(25:32):
quickly jumping on the back of titty in Jo Kawani
and Enja Kawani panicking so hard he tried to fight
the lock while still allowing the leg lock that was
around the body rather than fighting off the choke that
was around his neck. That was devastating Walter Walker. A
third heel hook submission in a row dropped down created

(25:56):
the exposure to the heel, got the lock quickly efficient
with a ridiculously dangerous technique. If you don't top quick
enough on that hold. It mangles your legs so big.
Shout out to Johnny's little brother, who's actually after three
wins in a row, begging to not be in the rankings.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yeah, I a good card from Nashville UFC Fight Night
this past week. They're back at it this week for
three eighteen. Of course, this is Dustin Poyers, presumably his
swan song. We'll talk more about that in a little bit.
I want to Micah, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Real quick shout out Lauren Murphy congratulations on her retirement
walking away from MMA. I think she achieved a lot
more than what a lot of people expected. Did win
a legacy title on the regional scene before jumping up
to the UFC, won quite a few fights in the UFC,
and considering she took her son to jiu jitsu for

(27:01):
them to get over some trauma and for him to
just find confidence and for that to catapult into a
full blown MMA career, just you needed to take a
second to shout out to lucky Lauren Murphy, who did
a whole lot more than anyone expected with a great career.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah, earlier, Michael, we were talking about John Jones and
he wants to fight at the White House. He's back
in the testing pool, all that good stuff. Dana white'es acknowledged, Yeah,
we're gonna do something. Don't know the logistics yet, but
I even think Dana said it would be a pay
per view. A couple things with this. Are you scrapping

(27:39):
International Fight Week? Are you doing back to back weeks
of pay per views? Let's address that first. Presumably typically
International Fight Week last weekend of June or first weekend
in July. You need to do back to back weeks
of pay per views.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
UFC will do whatever they want. We're getting two pay
per views in four weeks. You can move up International
Fight Week, you can move back your International Fight leek.
We're expecting that they're really gonna throw up in an
arena and logistically put something up that'll be pay per
view worthy on the White House premises this quickly. Eh.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
That gives me to the second question, what do you
think the chances are July fourth? They are in Washington,
DC or very adjacent, but it's not actually at the
White House. It's at it's in Landover, Maryland, at the arena.
It's somewhere else, but it's not actually at the White House.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Wherever the Capital's bullets play, mystics play, flying venue itself.
I'm gathering that would probably be more likely a lot
more sane. I mean, it feels like White a endeavor
to bring in a crowd, and UFC five corners commission
everything that entangles going into a fight into a highly

(29:05):
secure area like the fricking White House.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
I see lots of problems opening up for twenty thousand
UFC fans or more. Never mind the logistics of building
a temporary arena on the White House grounds. I have
no doubt they'll do something, but I have a hard
time envisioning a UFC pay per view on the fourth
of July in a tent where the Rose Garden once

(29:32):
was at the White House. I you know, I don't.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong on that, but I don't
know that I see that part of it happening.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
It's a fun story for people to talk about on
the internet. I don't know why it's changing the legs
that it has, because logistically, it's a sense so far
fetched from being able to really happen to have a
pay per view level twenty thousand people on the White
that just sounds ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, people are talking about it because the President of
the United States said he was going to do it
and Dana White said they were going to do it.
That's as close as to a confirmation as one can get. Now,
you're not wrong on the logistics of it and all that,
but I would also argue, if you're doing an event
at the White House, and I know Donald Trump said

(30:25):
twenty twenty five thousand people and all that, but if
it's for twenty five hundred people and makeshift outdoor set up,
I think the spectacle of it sells it. So, I mean,
I can totally see that happening. But if you're going
to do it on the scale that we've been led
to believe it's going to happen, I don't see how

(30:48):
you're building a temporary arena, temporary amphitheater at the White
House and you're doing it in time to pull this
event off. But let's be really clear, I have no
doubts they're gonna do something July fourth, and it will
either be at the White House proper or somewhere in
the Washington, DC area.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Believe you're right. I just don't know why people but
be getting excited to see the apex at the White House.
I mean, it's not like Dana White saying we're gonna
throw the fucking octagon in the front lawn and that
motherfucker is gonna be in the background. This isn't gonna
be as cool as the spear. This is just no
way gonna be as cool as the spear. Who cares.

(31:30):
It's just gonna be another venue, like all venues.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Oh, I don't think you could be more wrong, Micah,
it's at let's operate on the assumption it is going
to be at the White House. It's at the fucking
White House, Micah. That's a that's a huge deal. If
it's shot right, that's a cool visual. You've got all
the other landmarks adjacent to the White House, like how

(31:57):
they do all the shots of Vegas even when they're
at the apex, all the shots of Nashville you saw
on Saturday Night. They're gonna zoom in with the damn
fucking cameras and shit. And there's the Washington Monument, there's
the Lincoln Memorial, there's the Capitol Building, there's this, there's that.

(32:17):
I think it's actually a huge deal. Does it come
off the way Donald Trump said he envisioned it happening.
I think that is very debatable, but I think it's
a cool deal. I think it's as a one off
as part of the nation's two hundred and fiftieth birthday
celebration next year. It's an endeavor, no pun intended well

(32:39):
worth doing.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Queen the BKFC, all the WWE and ae W that
was going on on Saturday. If there wasn't a fight
on the screen that I had the UFC on, I
was not paying attention to the incredible scenery that Nashville provide.

(33:02):
Provides no disrespect to Nashville, but as we're tending to
have these overloaded Saturdays from every boxing and combat sports
entity on the planet, I'm surprised you had the time
to take in that production value.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, here's the thing you got to remember, Micah, everybody's
not you. And if we're being completely honest, the majority
of UFC fans could give two fucks about the BKFC card,
especially if there's a UFC fight going on, even if
it is a fight night, and the majority of them
didn't care about Bill Goldberg's retirement match on Saturday night's

(33:43):
main event or finishing up the AEW pay per view
from Dallas. I hear you, and look I got it,
and no arguments for me there. But I'm just telling
you most people don't ingest UFC, MMA or combat sports
the way you do, or to a lesser degree, the

(34:04):
way I do. Your fans of what you're fans of.
And obviously the majority of MMA fans are fans of UFC,
and I think the numbers would tell you not a
lot of other promotions.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Me. I apologize to everybody you thought I made that
comment to them. That was a direct fucking question to you,
not to other people directly. How did you have the time? Well,
you were watching at least two pro wrestling events and
an MMA fight. Because I know you don't care about
BKFC like I like I do. How you were able
to take in that that was happening, not that other

(34:39):
people I care about it? This was directly to you.
My bad?

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Well, all right, I watched Saturday Night's made event later
because I didn't care. I did finish up the AW
pay per view, and yes there was some tablet watching
of the UFC while while that was going on. But
but yeah, then UFC got my full attention after that.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Now to go to the general public. No one that
we've ever watched a fight night with, because we went
to bars and had groups around us, and I've been
to fight parties. At that point, no one has ever
commented on those production shots. I don't know if anybody
cares or not, but I've just never been in a
room where they're like, hey, Vegas, let's fucking fly tonight
while they're doing the overheads. I know they do them.

(35:24):
I've just never heard anybody comment on it.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Well, yeah, it's not one of the fucking fights. You
don't spend ten minutes dissecting it and how it was
a great camera shot, or oh man, that they really
fucked over New York, New York. You only got the
top half of the backside of the fucking fake statue
of Liberty. You didn't even get to see your fake ass.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
No, there's an ass on that chick. There is.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Don't ask, but yeah, Look, they do those for every
event for a reason, much like every week for the NFL.
If they're in DC, you get those, say, for a
Commander's game, you get those same shots. You get shots
of Dallas for Cowboys games and etc.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Etc.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
They do do those for a reason. Is that why
people tune in? No, of course not. But I'm just
telling you as part of the US is two hundred
and fiftieth Birthday celebration next year, doing a USC pay
per view somewhere in DC, whether it's at the White
House or somewhere adjacent. Yeah, that's a huge fucking deal.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
I think the biggest part of that is that John
Jones and Connor McGregor both say they want to come
out of retirement, get back in the drug testing pool,
and they both want to fight on the card. That
seems more noteworthy to me. You get Connor McGregor and
John Jones on one card, or even just one of
the two of them, hopefully that would be something huge.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
I think there's a good chance you get one of them.
I don't think there's a chance in hell you get
them both. Speaking of me, Lucky Charms, here's your own Micah.
The fuck was that goddamn BKFC press conference bullshit last week?
Mc Jesus Christ Connor dial it down a bit, my man.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
BKFC had already let the cat out of the bag,
so to speak, previously on their podcast, where they had
said they were in talk with some pro wrestlers, and
the conversation with those pro wrestlers more was about bringing
them in to help with personality and to help the

(37:36):
guys express who they were. Because we all understand Connor McGregor,
he won some fights by knockout. Many of dudes have
won fights by knockout. Connor McGregor's ability to sell and
his personality is what separated him from every other MMA fighter.
So Dave Bellman had kind of already on a podcast

(37:57):
announced We've been talking to some people in the wrestling
industry to bring in to help our performers bring out
their personalities, to help our fighters express who they are better.
I think that we saw the pro wrestling influencially to
possibly a entirely four yeographed pro wrestling like promo where

(38:20):
Connor McGregor is yelling in Mike Perry's face, you'll dance
for me, your little puppet, You'll dance for me. That
fell all scripted and vake.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
If I'm being honest, Mike, and I'm curious your thoughts
on this meant maybe this is just a me thing.
I thought it was damn near borderline embarrassing. You'll dance
for me, you little puppet and.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
I just.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
I mean, I I guess I get what they were
trying to do based on what you were talking about
with the pro wrestling influence, I think it was a
big swing and a miss.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
I'm just speculating on that pro wrestling influence, but I
felt like a really badly scripted pro wrestling press conference
that went off the rails. Might that they're not pro wrestlers,
They're not sure how to do it. So you were
literally having a bunch of newbies trying this for the
first time. You do have some people like Ky Stewart

(39:19):
in the mix that has charisma. You had some people
like Austin Trout who it didn't look like was playing
a part. But then you even went so far with
Christine Faria and Jessica Borga that it again felt that
almost over the top ness with putting together the fight Now.
The press conference was crazy. I didn't know what to

(39:40):
make too of the It almost felt like they had
dueling microphones. Feldman would come up and make an announcement, Oh,
I'll be right back, everybody, Is this the telethon? I'll
be right back. Here's Connor to make an announcement. Oh wait,
Connor oh, I'm making an announcement. I didn't realize up
here to make an announcement. I thought I was just
again yelling Irish Irish proper twelve whiskey, Irish whiskey. BKFC

(40:06):
is great. Oh yeah, wait, I got to tell you guys.
Things are happening, and weirdly enough, they made some crazy
announcements too. One of them the first one that strikes
most people, Equity in the company was talked about, which
I don't think is what they actually described. Equity in
a company would be getting money based on the company's performance,

(40:31):
and again not knocking them, but what BKFC was talking
about it sounded like is a bonus program. Almost how
much money you make per fighter per title defense. Hey,
guys with this many fights are getting extra. If you
have more than ten fights with the promotion, you're getting
this much money per title defense. So they announced an

(40:53):
equity sharing program that I don't have more details on yet,
but it sounds more like a bonus structure program, a
little weird.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
I'm curious to get some more info on that. They
also announced a twenty five million dollar tournament that they
expect to begin in March thirty two. Fighters one hundred
and eighty five pounds and up. Winner gets fifteen million,
the runner up gets a million, and the rest of
the nine million gets divided upon the people in the

(41:23):
lower levels of the tournament.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Right, So you're going, I believe you said it. It's
fifteen million, one million. That Final four you're guaranteed five
hundred thousand, Final eight you're guaranteed three hundred thousand, Final sixteen,
it's two hundred thousand, getting all the way down to
like one hundred thousand for being involved in the tournament,
and all the way to I think they're proposing fifty

(41:47):
thousand dollars for alternates who may not fight or waiting
around for the tournament, because again it is bare knuckle,
so there may be a pool of money for those
guys also, which could be thirty two fighters getting another
fifty thousand dollars. I'm not sure if all the math
breaks down, but twenty five million dollars overall from one

(42:11):
hundred and eighty five pounds to two hundred and sixty
five pounds haven't fully been given all the details. I
don't know if this just means all the heavyweights, cruiserweights, lightweights,
those are the divisions, they would encompasses everyone in the
company is just automatically signed or not. Because there was

(42:31):
the other announcement that I wanted to bring up, where
you get Joel Romero, Tiago Santos, Derek Brunson, Jared Gooden.
Those are the UFC names on top of Aspen Lad
Josette Cotton and notable boxers Jamal Herrick who's actually a
one like forty pounder, so he's not going to be
in the tournament and James Degal, a two time super

(42:52):
middleweight champion. So most of those MMA names that I
mentioned at the top, I want to be surprised for
those guys are just coming in for the tournament. Romero,
st Brunson and Goodin could be I've got to.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
Ask, where's this twenty five million dollars coming from, Micah.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
That's a good question. And with the tournament ending quote
unquote somewhere in the Middle East, they didn't even want
to say if it's riod Season, if it's Abu Dhabi,
if it's Dubai, if it's Katar where the UFC will
be making their debut. Some but with the tournament ending
somewhere in the Middle East, I heavily believe that that

(43:31):
investor is influencing the full shape of this tournament. BKFC
also announced on a smaller scale, they have gained the
majority share of Lipway. For people that don't know, that
is bare knuckle. Moy Thai. Don't know if that's gonna
mean much to us here in the United States, but
BKFC had dipped their toe into doing bare knuckle in Thailand.

(43:52):
They were like, there's so many fights in Thailand, it's
hard for us to stick out, and those people like
moy Thai. I think taking over the Lithway brand helps
that expansion in that particular branch of the promotion to continue.
We also get the announcement of a four man lightweight tournament.
We're gonna get a rematch between Luis Palomino Austin Trout
on one side, and then interim champion Ben Bonner versus

(44:17):
the former champion Franco Tenaglia, who's now signed with the company.
Those will happen, and while Trout is dealing with the
lightweight tournament, the next Sturgis event in August from BKFC
is going to be headlined by former champion Gogo Slowski
versus Julian Lane. Those two are now battling for an
interim title. BKFC says they're gonna do a four man

(44:39):
bannamweight tournament to crown the new champion in that division
with Alberto Blast having left for BKB and there are
plans after they are done with this Baddest man on
the planet to do a baddest bitch on the planet
women's kind of tournament, which I'm not even sure we

(44:59):
need when they're already talking about doing Jessica Borga Christine Faria,
the two biggest stars that they have in the women's division.
But a shit ton of announcements from BKFC this past week,
and on.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Top of all that, we had a BKFC card this
week as well.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
And Leonardo Padermo, the Cuban Mike Tyson, he has been
captivating audiences, has me enthralled. It looked like he scored
an early knockdown of Arnold Adams, pulls Adams down, it's
called a slip, and then there's an illegal punch landed
on the ground. There is a point deduction somewhere in this.

(45:43):
Predermo is actually walks up and taps Adams on the
back and says it's okay, man, let's keep fighting. Well,
getting that close to the opponent one, being allowed to
touch the opponent two, and then miraculously Adams turns around
and says, yeah, you're right, I'm fine, let's go. He
still had time left on the clock. That made no
sense for Dermo lands another big shot. Adams goes down unprofessionally.

(46:05):
Prodermo in excitement, is circling the ring, running around it.
It takes so long for the ref to corral Perdermo
that when he gets down for the ten count to
talk to Adams, he's already eight. So he's like eight nine,
ten fights over and Adams is like, you just started
the ten count? What are you talking about? Not knowing

(46:25):
what was going on. The main event ends in controversy
for Dermo's calling out Big Ben Rothwell and now kind
of doing it in a personal manner, saying he's gonna
kill him. I think, trying to draw Ben's eyre because
Ben throughout the week had been getting faced off with
andre Orlovsky, so you could see where bkfc's intensions lied,

(46:47):
and the eight to zero now heavyweight wanting to upset
that apple cart. That chaos wasn't enough. The co main event,
also for the We're not sure why interim flyweight title
was call. After the second round, Andrew Strode landed a
punch that ended up ripping the gauged ear of g

(47:08):
Petes and ripping petz ear to the point where the
doctor said the fight needed to be stopped for some
reason at the time. The fight is called a no contest.
Upon review of the replay, which is easibly seeable retroactively,
the Commission has given the TKO win and the interim
title to Andrew Strode. BKFC is strangely enough talking about

(47:31):
possibly a rematch. Bites end in BKFC all the time
due to cuts. I see this no differently. Strode was
behind on the scorecards, but the beauty of this sport
is that one punch can change everything. And Andrew Strode
has earned his shot at John Dotson. Let's unify those titles.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
What else do we have this weekend?

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Micah, you know what, to be honest, I think we
owe yeah, one more thing talking about interim flyway titles.
Down in Brazil, Marcus Deglia and a wicked right hook
the hammer fists follow up, he finishes Matthew Severino. You
could figure that Marcos on the short list for a

(48:16):
Paul from the UFC if we don't see him by
the end of the ten week stint that's about to
start here on the Contender series. I think that was
a huge win. Claudio Ribero, someone that we've seen in
the UFC before, huge knockout victory to get his first
win in a major promotion in a couple of years.
Full results for LFA two twenty two, along with the

(48:37):
UFC Nashville and the BKFC seventy eight results all at
Cageminds dot Com.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
UFC in New Orleans this weekend for three eighteen Holloway
Poia three. We'll talk about that in a minute. I
did want to ask you, Mike. Dana White, in an
interview this week, said that talkser progressing on a new
TV rights deal, but to quote data, the world's going

(49:06):
to change a lot in the next year with our
rights deal, depending on where we end up, but more
than likely we're going to end up with a platform
that is way more global than we are now now.
He also said he had no news to report, but
taking data at his words there, it sure sounds like

(49:26):
they ain't re signing with ESPN, And it would also
sound to me that either Netflix, where TKO's other property
WWE currently is with raw, would be a front runner,
as would probably Amazon Prime.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Gotta agree with you, I don't think that Apple has
really Apple TV has really doven too much into the
sports property industry. I think that Apple are Amazon Prime
and Netflix looked like the two most likely suitors at
this point. And Dana said the world's going to change.

(50:05):
I wonder what that does. If that does mean a
reduced schedule, what it does mean because you also start
getting more announcements of the global ability of the UFC.
Qatar in November twenty second was announced this week Qatar
Abu Dhabi. End up going to read there's a lot

(50:27):
of global deals that the UFC is doing, so it's
going to be interesting to see what the calendar leads
to now with this new rights deal. In talking about
a new landscape.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Apple probably does more sports than Prime does.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
It's baseball, or it's baseball, and it's soccer right now.
I have they dove into the fight world though, because
I know that Amazon has at least tried some boxing
and did the one championship. We know what Netflix is doing,
it would be it would be a huge move, and
I think it would be quite shocking if it was
Apple because it wouldn't be dipping the toe, it would

(51:05):
be just going all in. But I guess they did
kind of do that with the MLS and Messy. But
that's a global superstar that they brought in. I mean locally,
I walk around and I can't believe how many of
those plinking black jerseys I see per inner Miami around town.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Yeah, but again, global sport USC is global sport too. Look,
I agree with you. I think of those three, Apple
would be a distant third. I don't disagree with that
at all, but they have done quite a bit of sports.
I'm going to assume Netflix would probably be your front

(51:41):
runner just because they already have a relationship with TKO,
although I don't know how much money Netflix wants to
be cutting checks to TKO. Four between the WWE and
potentially Netflix are potentially UFC. But I would assume that's
probably your front runner, with being a somewhat close second.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
So I just I can't picture how this is all
gonna shake out. I feel like there will be pieces
here and there, because I could see Netflix wanting the
Ultimate Fighter. I could see them not wanting the Contender
series because they're not really into a weekly, smaller show.
I can see Netflix not being into the APEX fight nights.
They would love the on the road fight nights and

(52:26):
the pay per views. So there are some logistics there,
like the road to UFC series, some of these things
that could be eased out here and there, and I
wonder how that all plays out.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
I bet whatever Netflix doesn't want goes to Fight Pass,
although if you can sell that stuff to somebody else,
it would be silly not to. So maybe you're right
on that, and it does get somewhat split up, but
I'm guessing it's gonna be all inclusive. If you will,
you're gonna take everything which does Maybe Netflix isn't interested

(53:01):
in that. I don't know. Maybe Prime would be more
interested in having all that stuff and just having a
dedicated UFC section to their streaming platform. It'll be interesting,
for sure.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Do you think. And real quick again we bring up
the WWE association. It's not really it wouldn't be global.
It would be in a Jason move for ESPN. But
could you see there anything where maybe some of those
properties end up Peacock.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Maybe maybe there is still that TKO connection, right, that's
where the ww network is. I don't know if the
plan is to keep that there. I think that deal
expires sometime in twenty twenty six. I might be a
little off on that, but yeah, maybe that's a possibility.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
I don't know Bypass is shaking in their boots though,
if the UFC leaves, because the only other thing I
can think that I've watched on there is an occasional
hockey game.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Oh you said fight pass the ESPN Plus you Sorry?

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Yeah, on ESPN Plus sorry fight not fave past ESPNLUS.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
I don't disagree with you on that. I think that's
a struggling platform. Yeah. Hell, they might not be in
a position to offer what UFC is looking for monetarily,
even for everything. And yeah, I don't know. It'll be
interesting for sure, but since they had spoken on it
this week, I didn't want to get your thoughts on it.

(54:34):
What else we got that as we had to UFC
three eighteen on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Book we got some fight announcements. Neil Magni Is Lexi
Easy Ds added to the August second card, Maschate Gage
Young Wrong Ju Austin Hubbard and Jiao Long versus Sue
You or Sue Young You all added to the August
twenty third card, where the UFC will be in Shanghai. Vazium,

(55:01):
Keio Fernandez, William Gomes versus Robert Ruschal additions to the
September sixth card in Paris. The former champion Roquel Pennington
is back. She's fighting Norma Dumont September thirteenth at UFC
noe Che Hisshu's Aguilar versus Luis Godoule and Claudio Pulice

(55:22):
versus Joaquin Silva. Also on that card, Dujo Choi versus
Doniel Santos happening in Perth. The UFC, if you guys
hadn't heard, returning to Perth September twenty second, twenty seventh,
and that Quitar deal for November twenty seconds. So the
UFC full of news and just not want to make

(55:44):
a big deal of it. But are you surprised on
the lack of Mexican fighters being announced for the noe
Cha card. There's several with Mexican heritage or citizenship, but
a lot of Brazilians on this card so far.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Yes, I am surprised. We'll just leave it at that. Yeah,
I'm surprised.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
That's just the best way to put it. I'm just
surprised at the at the tenure of the card because
it does celebrate one country. So if there's ever a
time to heavily load a card in one direction, you
kind of figured it'd be this one.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Okay. I wasn't gonna bring it up, but since we
can tie it into the sports world and the combat
sports world, I will bring it up. There's a lot
of things going on in the United States these days. Micah.
Maybe I'm being dead ass serious. I'm not getting to
look I'm being dead ass serious. Maybe they don't want
to fight here, Micah. Maybe they feel like it ain't

(56:39):
worth the risk, as Julio sees our Chavez Junior. And
I'm not saying he's a victim or anything like that.
I'm just saying, maybe it just ain't worth the hassle
to fight in the US right now if you don't
have to.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
And but again, but you've also, like you said, you've
got a lot of Brazilian fighters on the card. Uh,
It's not like people from Mexico are the only ones
getting rounded up in ice raids and stuff, So I
don't Maybe that has nothing to do with it, but
I felt like it was worth bringing up. I whether
it plays a role, I don't know, but yeah it might.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
You're right, you cran't to qualify the notion. We really
don't know, just the talking point, like you would be saying,
why isn't this car just somewhere else in Mexico if
it's celebrating the Mexican people, But this weekend we're celebrating
a dime in in the NOLA.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
That's right. UFC three to eighteen in New Orleans, an
event specifically created for Dustin Poier. He is in the
main event, taking on Max Holloway.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
For the second straight weekend. The biggest fight in combat
sports is a trilogy fight that no one asked for.
Oh shout out to h Taylor getting a third victory
over Serrano. We may see a quadrilogy because you know,
Jake Paul does bake himself the promoter to the losing

(58:07):
party in this equation, So you never say that those
two were done. But this one, where are you at?
On the necessity, the pageantry, the intrigue people are a
lot more about this fight than I am. Ah.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
I don't understand why we bent over backwards to create
an event for Dustin Poyer. And I'm not crapping on Poier.
I'm not saying he's not a hell of a fighter.
I don't know why we're doing all this. Look, it's
great he's retiring. You want to do something nice for him,
But you went out of your way to create a

(58:48):
pay per view just for this in his hometown. I mean, fine,
I'm not going to argue over another big UFC card,
but it seems like a lot of effort. I don't
put it like this. I don't know that the fans
appreciated as much as UFC appreciates it.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Well, it's kind of surprised, but then there was a
thought process to me that is surprised. The UFC doesn't
do New Orleans more because we see super Bowls there
all the time. We see WrestleManias there. If you're hosting
a WrestleMania in a Super Bowl, I'm sorry, but shit,
you can. You can back an arena. You do it
for the Pelicans, you can do it for the UFC.

(59:28):
I think there'd be a lot less weird feelings if
this was a UFC fight night. I'm more weirded out,
not that it's a celebration of dust employee, but he
might win a BMF title and could quite possibly be
a Number one contender at the end of the night
when he walks away. If not, does Max Holloway even

(59:50):
lose anything for losing to a guy that's on the
way out the door. There's a lot of what is
on the line. What is there to gain in this
scenario for two guys that are lovable, they're all time grades.
But I feel like I don't have a question about
what's left to be answered between these two guys, even

(01:00:12):
though it looks like a pick them fight on paper,
I'm pretty heavily on the side of the favored Max Holloway,
just because I don't know if the pressure of the moment,
and maybe you could talk about this, the card is
built around you. You are such a civil servant, you
have put in so much. You are too and zero.

(01:00:34):
Is there too much pressure on Dustin Poyer in this
equation or does the possibility of getting swept in two
series three? Nothing? Is that too much pressure on Holloway?

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
I don't think there's pressure on either one, per se.
I think Poyer is probably very appreciative that they're doing
all this. He's gonna fight in front of the basically
the hometown fans. And again I'm not, let me be
really clear, I'm in no way hating on Poier. I'm
just surprised they're doing all of this for him. But

(01:01:09):
good for UFC for doing it, and good for Poier
for being on the receiving end of it. As far
as the fight itself, you asked that does regardless of
the outcome, does it hurt Holloway at all? I don't
think it does. What happens if Poier wins, does he
really walk away? I kind of think he does. But

(01:01:31):
this is the fight game. You do kind of have
to wonder a little bit, I guess, But yeah, no,
I don't. I don't think there's that much pressure on
either one, to be honest, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
All the way. Twelve wins by knockout of his twenty six,
Poier thirty finishes twenty or thirty wins, twenty three finishes
sixteen knockouts. Always jump for the guillotine. No chance for
a guillotine here. This is a straight boxing match. The
first time we saw them fight, it was at four
short notice, four fights in his career for Max Holloway, Poier,

(01:02:05):
a veteran, put it on him second time around the size,
the boxing, the short notice of Holloway jumping up and
pushing the bounds of what he was doing as a featherweight.
This is gonna be a boxing match. And my first
inclination is, like Eddie Alvaiz does, knowing this is your
last fight, put an ease or an energy into you.

(01:02:29):
Dustin Poier has gotten slower, He's been through hells of wars.
What is the toll of the knockout lasted to Eliot's aporia?
Just my first thought is that if Max is committed
to being a fifty fiver and we see the same
Max that we are able to see against Justin, he's
going to be faster, slicker, and that emphasis on hitting

(01:02:49):
harder will be there, nullifying What was the biggest advantage
that Poier had where Poier hit harder, it was if
you look back at their last fight, the volume was
on the Holloway side, but the impact and the emphasis
of those strikes was on the Poyer side. And I
don't know if that's the same equation now. It's a

(01:03:10):
pick them, but I'm leaning Holloway Employe's backyard.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
I think you're right on that. I think Poyer probably
fights a little looser, and maybe that winds up being
his detriment. You try something, you want to go out
spectacularly and you wind up getting caught in. Max makes
you pay for it. I think it's going to be
a heck of a fight. I kind of I'm leaning

(01:03:37):
with you, though, I kind of give the slight edge
to Max Holloway.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Cause the sheer boxing, the savviness. Can you knock out
Dustin Eploye? Looking at the countdown footage he's in there
sparring with Marvin Vttori. If you're taking big old two
hundred pounders hits, what can Max Holloway do to you.
It's such an entry fight from their two all time grades,

(01:04:02):
and it's still so weird to say, no matter what
happens at the end of the night, I'll tell you
Dustin Ploye was the better fighter because he BMX Holloway
two times and Max at best only one once. And
I don't care if it's a spectacular knockout. We're considering
this a retirement tour. A Swan song, a a emotional
moment and almost wonder if that's going to be a

(01:04:23):
detriment the hometown, the family. Do you fight two loose?
Does the pressure come in the emotions? I think there's
a lot of advantages for Holloway with that safety net
of dude, you're still top five in the world and
that gateschee win means so much. As soon as Poyer
walks out the door, this loss is forgotten. Should it
happen real quick before we get to the Komain event?

(01:04:46):
Should this be the Comain event?

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Costa copylaf Should that be the Komain Is that why
you're asking?

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
Yeah, it's what we have as the Komain event. Are
you surprised it's the comin event because not too far
recently I thought we saw a graphic that said egay
pit Bull and that made a bit more sense to
me as the Komain event.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Well, they did until Pitbull lost his UFC debut. No,
I get it. I've got no based on what you
have to choose from. I've got no problems with this
being the Komain event. If you want to tell me
they should have booked a better kmain event, I'll listen
to that. Argument all day, But based on the fights

(01:05:29):
on this card, this makes as much sense as anything else.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
You remember twenty twenty two we took a trip to
Salt Lake City, Well, you and I probably remember it.
I'm sure Paulo Costa remembers it because it was the
last time he got his hand raised beating Luke rock Hold,
bleeding all over him, Luke rock Holds balls out moment
on the table in the third round. Paulo Costa fourteen wins,

(01:05:56):
twelve finishes, eleven knockouts, his last two wins a Rock
Gold in twenty twenty two. In Romero in twenty nineteen,
there's four losses in that. Yeah, they're all elite level losses.
Roman Copulov twelve knockouts and fourteen wins not such an
elite level resume. The last two wins are coming over
Chris Curtis and Caesar Almeida. There is a loss to

(01:06:19):
Fluffy to Fluffy Hernandez. And you want to say, well,
is that a high caliber loss? Styles make fights? In
Roman Copulov is a striker. What worries me about Paulo
Costa is we haven't seen a fire in him. We
haven't seen a desire in him. We haven't seen a
guy that wants to bite down on the mouthpiece and

(01:06:41):
actually go fucking fight. We've seen a Polo Costa who's
happy to make tiktoks, a guy that's famous on social media,
a guy that still has this incredibly chiseled physique. But
there needs to be an emphasis on going after this
shit because I don't know if we saw enough of
it in the split decision loss to Sean Strickland. Well,
Roman Copylaf has to know this is his opportunity to

(01:07:02):
break into the top ten and if you're ever gonna
equal what you did in Russia becoming an ACB champion,
this has to be the path.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
On the moment you were asking about the main event
and pressure and things like that, I think no one
on this card feels more pressure than Roman Copylov because
of what you just laid out there. There is a
lot on the line for him, and losing to Apollo
Costa that maybe it's just happy to be here probably

(01:07:33):
derails whatever you want to accomplish in UFC, So I
think there's a lot of pressure there. I also think
Copylov goes out and gets it done. I do think
he's hungrier. I think he wants it more and he
goes out and gets to win.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
No one fights with less pressure on the card than
Kevin Holland because the dude just doesn't feel pressure. This
is a quick turnaround. Normally I don't like that for
Kevin Holland, but as long as he's actly made him
feeling good at one seventy, let's do it. Buss. He's
the bigger, stronger man, the younger man in this equation.
As much as I respect Daniel Rodriguez great boxing, he

(01:08:07):
can punch with straight accuracy, He's not the same d
rod that we saw make his debut. I like Kevin
Holland in this one that leads us to Ega versus
pit Bull. No who's on the most pressure on this card?
I feel like it's Pertucio pit Bull unless you were
literally just happy to come here and get a paycheck.
Because if you don't beat Dan Egay, what is really next?

(01:08:29):
If you come in and go owing to immediately against
Yair and and now against someone at the bottom of
the top fifteen. We love the incredible nature of Dan Ega.
These guys have very similar games. I think that pit
Bull's the better wrestler jiu jitsu player, but we've never
seen him really offensively incorporated. I don't know if he

(01:08:51):
starts at this point. I think he has slightly better kicks,
but Egay's hands, they are really deadly. I'm taking Egay,
but Patricio is a live one who I feel has
the most pressure on the card I see.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
I don't think Patricio does, because I think his UFC
fate was sealed when he lost his debut, And maybe
that's not fair, but I kind of think that's the reality.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
And I think.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
I was almost said I think Danny Gay walks through him.
I don't think that, but I do think he Gay wins.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
Do you expect in twenty twenty five to see Michael
Johnson on a pay per view card? No, and he's
taking on Daniels the Hooper the Hooper. If he can
stay at distance and make this a technical fight, he
has a much better opportunity to win it. If you
get in there and trade. The right hook from Michael
Johnson is always dangerous, but I think there's a lot

(01:09:52):
more athleticism and upside. Obviously with Za Hoober, this is
his fight to lose. Feature prem Venezius Olivera Kyler Phillips.
I believe Phillips is ranked and Olivera isn't coming into
this one fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Yeah, yeah, so they are both ranked.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
It's a low phantom weight matchup on the rankings. Olivera
is the power puncher. Phillips a lot more fluidity to
his striking. He likes to operate in space. He's coming
off of a loss. I think that people feel that
we've hit the ceiling with Kyler Phillips, and you're looking
for that physicality, verocity and punching power of Olavera to overwhelmed.

(01:10:33):
At least That's what I've been seeing from a lot
of predictions and a lot of the odds makers. That's
why Olivera is the favorite. Not in a Miami casino,
this time in the octagon. Marvin Vttori, Brendan Allen probably
buried way too far down on this down card. For
Brendan Allen also being a New Orleans native, the disrespect

(01:10:55):
for both of these gentlemen is outrageous. Vittori does not
look to be the same guy he is. He's still
a mad truck. He's been putting in mad work, as
we saw in South Florida at American Top Team. He's
a big, heavy guy. It's gonna be hard for Alan
to get him down. But I think Brandon Allen's best
opportunity to get the victory is to get the submission.

(01:11:17):
Get this one on the ground. If they're just standing
and trading and they're that mad at each other, either
one has an opportunity in the welterweight division. I think
that you're seeing Nikolai Verttennakoff come down in weight and
Francisco Prado move up in weight. So I think I
like Rittennakoff. Should he make weight in that one. Early
on on the prelimbs Ryan span at heavyweight versus Lucas Brazinski.

(01:11:43):
Loser probably gets cut. I'm telling you right there that
one is unfortunate. Jobs on the line, Jimmy Crew, Marcy
and Procneo. I think that someone's gonna get clipped and
subbed in this one. I don't know which party that's
gonna be. And look out. Bruno has started to find
his own and now he gets a Jackson McVeigh. Who

(01:12:04):
will He's getting a couple more weeks to prepare for
this opportunity. I don't know if he's ready for someone
that has the diverse skill set of Bruno Ferreira. A
huge card. You actually got five early threelimbs on this
one leading up to the four fights and the five
fights on the pay per view, A large day of
action from the UFC early pre.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
Limbs six point fifteen Eastern Time, the middle prelims eight Eastern, ESPN,
ESPN Plus, and then you pay per view at ten
pm Eastern. What else you got for this weekend?

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
Micah Saturday Morning ESPN Plus will have the main card
of the PFL Road to Dubai series from Cape Town,
Johnny Eblin, Castello, Van Steins, Dakota Dichiva, Sumiko Inaba, aj
McKees on the card Forrey Anderson's back. You can also

(01:12:58):
catch the earlier part, the PFL Africa part on the
PFL app which is free to download. That's like ten
am Eastern to see that. On Saturday, Karate Combat has
a huge weekend as they're doing Karate Combat fifty five
fifty six Friday and Saturday. Each card has title fights.
Aileen Ferreira, Alex Perreira's sister fighting on Saturday Friday. What

(01:13:23):
we wanted to tell you about a really cool thing
is a one night eight man tournament. You get Roblest
to Spain, the former Taekwondo bronze medalist, former Glory Kickboxing
champions Sole Calvarelli. You get BKFC former champions Alan Belcher
and Chase Sher. When you get UFC vet Zach Bwanga,

(01:13:43):
Braxton Smith, Tim Johnson and bellatore Vett Daniel James one
night eight man, the winner is gonna have to win
three fights and then they get Sam alb at a
later date. So karate combat, it's karate, but it's a
bunch of MMA fighters. It's something in a fight pit,

(01:14:03):
and that shit's gonna be wild because you gotta win
three fights in one night. So that is definitely something
to check out. UFC Fight Passing quite possibly also on
YouTube Friday Night.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
There you go, Micah. Tell everybody how they can keep
up with you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Hethminds dot com is the website Cage Minds Combat Sports
News on Facebook and YouTube. On Instagram you have the
at Cage Minds CS and Sames TikTok and X Real Quick. Also,
because I know CARLISLESTI want to bring up the boxing
Duba versus you Sick two. This weekend from the Riod

(01:14:42):
season promotion whole thing. That's the big one to be
looking out in the boxing world. Also the return of
Manny Pakiah.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
Get the show on x at MMA After Hours. You
can find me at real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of MMA After
Hour here on the After Hours podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
Love combat Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
I have a website for you, cageminds dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
That's c a g E D m I n d
s dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:15:15):
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 dot com.