Ep 311: UFC Fight Night -RDR Defeats Robert Whittaker. BKFC Results Latest News. Fight Night Preview

Episode 311: UFC Fight Night recap....RDR beats Robert Whittaker. Gruesome injury on the prelims. All the latest news. A preview of this weeks UFC Fight Night and more. 














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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, hey, everybody, welcome back. It is MMA after Hours
on Michael Carlisle, joined as always by Micah Frankel. Micah,
how you doing, man, man?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm good. Off another action pack weekend. There was BKFC Friday, Saturday,
you got UFC. They jumped over to lf A Sunday.
I was at my first ap FC event, APFC eighteen.
Busy weekend. It was good. It was good.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
What was also good? I'm glad they don't do it
every week, but I love it when we get a
UFC that main card is in the afternoon. The main card,
I think started at three pm Eastern time on ABC
kind of freeze up the evening, whether it's other combat
sports stuff, whether it's you know, spending time with the wife,

(00:53):
the family, the girlfriend, whatever your situation may be the boyfriend,
but but it frees you up. But I enjoyed that
on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
You no talking about that for Saturday. I hadn't even
start to contemplate it. But do you think that three
twenty one, which is also an Abu Dhabi, you think
we're gonna get a morning or an evening pay per
view on that one?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh a pay per view? I will get an evening.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Okay, okay, just wondering there was a point in time
back in the day where even if it was a
pay per view those overseas markets, we'd still be getting
at ten am eleven am for that main card here
in the US. I just wondered that, because you're right,
it's a it's a nice change of pace, and they
will be back literally in that arena here very soon,
which we'll be talking about a little bit later for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
For sure. Hell, let's jump right in UFC Fight Night
this past Saturday at Yas Island, Robert Whittaker or Anier
de Ritter in your main event. What'd you think about this, Micah?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I thought that depending on when we did this show,
you could have got a whole lot of Romca's over
the last couple of days before we actually got to record.
Not to mention, if you go watch the interview I
have up with Anthony Pettis, you can tell the exact
moment Robert Ridiker clawbers our dr in the third round
because Pettis stops everything in screams knock out, which was

(02:18):
kind of fun and enduring, which was not actually a knockout.
I was kind of confused, is what was happening. But
I thought that this was a strange fight that you
could look at in many different ways. And what we
know what to make of our dr is he is tough,
and he will move forward, and it feels like the

(02:38):
best version of Robert Whittaker is slightly behind us at
this point.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I would agree with you on that. I not that
he's watched up or over the hill or anything, but
you know, and look, I know there was a lot
of people online debating the scorecards and should Whitaker have
gotten the split decision? Dey Ritter, of course gets the
split decision. When I didn't have a problem with the scoring,

(03:10):
I also probably wouldn't argue to the death on it either.
I thought it was a pretty competitive fight, but I
thought Rainier de Ritter did enough to get the win.
I had no problems with it. But to the point
you're making, I do think we might have seen pete
Robert Whitaker. Doesn't mean he's still not capable of fighting
at a very high level. I think we saw that

(03:30):
on Saturday, but his high level at this point may
not be enough.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Pardio wasn't there. The sustained output and effort wasn't there.
But to your point people arguing online, I'll be honest.
The first time as the fight was live, I was
out the APFC way and so I think, get to
watch it as soon as I ran home, and I
watched it. The first time I watched it, I scored
it forty nine to forty six Whittaker the first time

(03:57):
I watched it. The second time I watched it, I
went back to the and scored at forty eight to forty
seven for Whittaker. But I could see where you would
go and give rounds to our DR. It was a
very interesting point from the standpoint of judging criteria, where
they tell you the first criteria is effective damage. The
first round, we all agree Whittaker won. Second round, we

(04:19):
all agree DR getting the tape down. He won third round.
Robert Whittaker with the big knockdown. I swear there's an
elbow in that sequence too. In the knockdown, it's the
second right elbow that lands RDR goes out and the
third elbow wakes him right back up. Because you can
see the arms flail out for a split second, we
know what it is and then they come right back together.

(04:40):
Because of the impact of the very next blow, waking
him up. I thought that the biggest point. Though in
the championship rounds, I think the commentary did a very
good job of illuminating it. I thought the body language
of URDR lost the fight in the championship rounds because
even though it was minimal amounts of strikes that Robert

(05:00):
Whittaker landed, it was massive reactions of covering up, of
the head, snapping back, of impending looks of pain and
of impact were being generated from what Whittaker was doing
to ourdr while on the other side, it felt like
one team was throwing home runs or throwing the long

(05:21):
ball and the other team was great with running flock.
It looked like a weird football game. Robert Whittaker's throwing
touchdowns and RDR is fine with running down the field
and kicking field goals, and the judges are like this matters.
It didn't matter to me because the body shots weren't effective.
They didn't do damage to the point of anything that stop.

(05:44):
Whitaker doubled them over. The one knee in the second
round I'll give credit for, but it just didn't feel
like there was enough sustained impact. It didn't feel like
even though the ref left them in the clinch that
there was really a reason to let it elongate as
much as it did. Are you effectively working to finish
in that position or were you running clock? Just imagine

(06:05):
a guy hanging out in someone's guard and going body
body head. You will all the time hear the referees
and the commentary knock that person and possibly get a
stand up. In this instance, they allowed it. But my
biggest point was from the damage and from the reaction
of the landed shots of RDR. I thought Whittaker won
the championship rounds on damage.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Well, let me ask you this then, because and I'm
just looking for clarification. I'm not calling you out, but
it seems like you're sending mixed signals here. You started
out with as the fight game passed Whittaker by, and
I'm paraphrasing that you said it a little more eloquently,
But you also said you felt like Whittaker won the fight.
Now I get it, he gets the l so you

(06:48):
have to deal with that. Dey Ritter gets to win,
he reaps those rewards. But if you felt like Whittaker
won the fight, do you really feel like maybe his
best fighting years have passed in by.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Okay, I feel like he won the fight, yes, because
he did more damage. I feel like if it was
a better wrestler, we don't have such a good outcome
for Whittaker. I feel like if RDR was actually trying
to finish and push the pace, we might have more
evidence of what's going on. And also it's the fact
that Robert Whittaker did not have the energy to get

(07:22):
himself off the cage in those last ten minutes, even
though he was the more expective striker at distance. The
fact that this massive man was able to hold him
in a position that not many people have done before,
and the breathing was so much labored and looked like
the effort was on a decline from Whittaker ever, so
slight declined. But that's where I said, I feel like

(07:44):
the peak Robert Whittaker is behind us, and we might
have last seen him against Paulo Costa, maybe even in Houston,
but still at that I think he won this fight.
I just don't think he beats one of the guys
ahead of him fighting for the title here in a
couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Okay, I got you, I got you, and that makes
total sense. Let's swing this around a little bit. Ray
Neer de Ritter. He is victorious. I like him a lot,
but I'm not sure how he's going to fare as
he continues to go up in competition. And look, Whittaker
came in ranked fifth in the middleweight rankings, so obviously

(08:22):
this was a highly ranked opponent. But you look at
the upper echelon of that division, I think he can
be very competitive. Talking about de Ritter, I just don't
know that he's going to have enough to pull out
the victories.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Think about it, Robert Whittaker is not considered the greatest
grappler in the world. We know that he's a GRACIEBA,
a Gracie Jiu jitsu Brazilian black belt in Australia, but
it's not like we ever see like a competent, real
grappling game out of him. Raner day Rider disappointing me
most in this fight. In the second round, he had

(08:57):
his position, he had hurt Whittaker to the body with
that knee you needed to finish. This is where I'm
the greatest omission artist. I'm the greatest grappler in the
middleweight division. I'm the two division champion from one. I'm
here to establish how dominant I am. If it was
decres duplus c he finishes Whitaker in that position, you

(09:17):
know why because he did. If he finishes in that position,
because he did, reneered de writer cannot and then he
ran fluck, he stalled. He neutralized a lot of Whittaker's game,
and that was enough for to garner the judge's decisions
from two of the judges. But I don't think it
was enough to say I am confident in him getting

(09:39):
over one of those bigger flights. Now. Is there an
argument to be made that du plus e versus RDR
should happen because it's just going to be the weirdest
fight ever because they're two of the most unorthodox, awkward sobs,
and that just feels like a great selling point when
we get past tim du plus c. I don't know
what the selling point is after that for the next contender.

(10:02):
But I don't think that he grabbed the opportunity by
the hornets. I think that this performance from RDR left
a wide gap. I'm talking about huge wide. You're walking
into the end zone. Columentary is laughing at you and
bringing up a whole bunch of other sports analogies this week.
The winner of Kyle Bihalio Naserdina Mavov has a golden

(10:26):
opportunity that RDR could have snatched up this week, but
he opened it and gave it to both of them.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think you're one hundred percent right on that. And
as far as Whittaker, again, I didn't think he looked
bad at all, and obviously most of the people online
didn't think so either because they felt like he won
the fight. But I feel like Whittaker's probably going to
have to fight down for his next opponent. You got

(10:53):
anybody in mind for Robert Whittaker.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Robert Whittaker was already talking about retirement heading in to
the UFS into this UFC event, making one last charge.
He could see it only has two or three fights left.
I think that he is preemptively doing a smart thing.
I think that you kind of end up in a
dustin ployee situation here. I ain't sticking around to be

(11:18):
a gatekeeper. Brilliant move, call that out, get a couple
of big fights left and go away. If Sean Strickland
gets off of suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission, that's
a desirable fight that has never happened. If quite possibly
you are talking about fighting down Charol Bullet is an
interesting name, and I don't know if Izzi and Whittaker

(11:40):
are both thinking on the same page. By now we're
getting out of the game. Could we see a trilogy?
You and I were there and we felt Whittaker will
won the second fight. There's a lot more argument for
that trilogy than there ever was for the Ployer Holloway
for the Usik du Baugh. I mean, there's quite a
few trilogies we get in call bad sports that would

(12:01):
have less merit than this one. So there's three options
for Whitaker where real quick. One last thing in RDR,
I just don't think he compete athletically with some of
these other guys. Also, it's not just that he's awkward
du Plus, he is strong, he is fast. There is
a strength to RDR, but the guy is just so

(12:24):
robotic and not nimble. There's an explosiveness and an elusiveness
also to Chiemi of that, RDR will really surprise me
if he's able to extend past this very narrow victory.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Right, I'm with you on that. I'm with you on
that your co main event the bandam weight. Peter Yan
gets the unanimous decision went over Marcus McGee. At least
we didn't have a lot of controversy with the scoring
of this one.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Marcus McGhee came out landed some power shots in the
first we saw the normally coy, timid assessing Peter. After
that he was locked in on ready to rock lened
some beautiful combinations only let basically let Marcus migue he
get off when he won. It was allowing him to

(13:12):
hit him all over the arms as he shelled up
and then exploded right back with counter combinations when McGee
was hoping to exit and recompose himself. A brilliant game
plan from Yan. It's exactly what vintage Peter Jan does,
and he puts himself right back in an argument for
a title opportunity, or quite possibly let's finally get that

(13:34):
Umar and Omriga meta fight. But there's speculation that with
the US having to make that too maybe three times
already attempted, that Peter Yhan's just a little burnt out
on the idea, feeling that Umar doesn't really want the fight, but.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
That might be the fight to make look, I think
Jan is definitely in that conversation. Again, I don't know.
I don't know that he gets it though he may
have to fight again, and if he does, I think
number gon Metov makes a lot of sense. But look,
I also assuming what you just said is accurate and

(14:09):
Yon maybe Look, we've tried to do this multiple times.
It just has it worked out.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Let's just move on.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
I totally get that, and don't fault him for it,
but that might be the fight to make Micah buy.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Me up for it. I think it's a good idea.
I don't know if Big EIGHTO and the same win
that Corey Sanagan had and then just one more is
good enough to get right back there. Then again, there's
a lot writing on the next band weight title fight,
and Yon has history with both men, so he's in
a good position. But I would rather see that umer far.

(14:45):
We need clarification on that. I don't know how we
can have either one of them fight for the best
band weight in the world when we don't know who
the best band weight of Russia is.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Well, should one of them win the title, you could
always come back to. But I totally get what you're
saying there. I'd like to see that fight as well.
I think that that'll be interesting, for.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Sure, It'll definitely be interesting. The one thing that I
worry about is that for Umar, he needs this fight
to show that he can level up to a championship level.
I don't really feel like he's ever got that win.
And for Peter Jan, we need to see something different
out of him, because well, I like Yan, he did
the same thing, so he always does. That's why I

(15:28):
call it a vintage performance. And I don't know if
that's good enough against the Mirob duwalash Philly who just
spamed through him, who just hit him with so many
spamming takedowns and overwhelmed him. I don't think that equation
changes if Peter Yon faces Morob in his next fight.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, I'm I agree with you on that. Michael Metov
gets the unanimous decision to win over Mark Andre Barrio. Again,
not a lot of complaining about the scorecards in that one.
I thought, well, Miga Metov look really good here.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
This is my favorite Chara bullet flight. I know everybody's
gonna love the debut. When he beat up on hand
pick opponents, he hit a DOUBLET spinning back this, this one,
this one. He got his nose smash the other side
of his face in the second round, nearly got finished
bit down on the my mouthpiece and started flinging elbows

(16:24):
right back. That was a dig down, deep performance. I
was really excited about that from sure a Bullet, not
to mention even I was talking about with other martial
artists this weekend. That lead leg high kick into the
sweep with the low kick. Incredible dexterity in the hips.
A lot of creativity for Chara Bullet. And like we said,

(16:46):
if the UFC wants to make it happen, they can
put him against Robert Whitaker. But just me, if we
have that in Australia, let's stop making Whittaker fight every
fight against a fighter that is a fan page in
Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia. Like, what did the guy
do to not get a favorable geographic location?

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Probably timing more than anything, but I hear you. Look,
if Whitaker is only going to fight a couple more times,
let's do what we can to make at least one
of them, if not both, somewhere in Australia.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's what it's gotta be. Let's honor the man. I mean,
I don't know if we gotta go the full dust
employer send off, but there should be at least that opportunity,
if not just from the UFC. It seems like a
brilliant marketing employ Your last opportunity to see Robert Whitaker
in the UFC cage. How big would that be? In
Australia He is the second biggest mixed martial artist that

(17:44):
country has ever produced.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yep, for sure, for sure main card wise, what else
stood out to you? Micah?

Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know what? The main card actually bugged on Griscov.
He lands a crazy heavy punch after looking like he
wasn't able to catch the timing naked kicks from Cry Love,
Cry Love? What are you doing out there? Man's that's
just like so many years of experience that you let
go to waste. Also, he might be in the running

(18:10):
for I don't even know how to describe that backtattoo.
I want to say best back tattoo in the UFC,
but it's like a panda with a hat and a
bunch of jewels around it. I need explanation actually on that.
It's quite the weird backtat that really did it? For
me from the main card on the free limbs, the pre.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Limbs are fucking wild dude between metal plates, coming loose,
nasty ass, swollen up eyes with softballs under them. Dare
I say Bryce Mitchell at bantamweight looked pretty good? Look
not that the main card was bad by any stretch.
I don't want to insinuate that at all, but I

(18:50):
thought the pre limbs over delivered.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Bryce Mitchell got the victory, and why was Bryce Mitchell?
I might take some time off from MMA and reassess
my game, maybe look into another line of word. I
did not like that performance from Byce Mitchell getting sat
down and put out to a point where he didn't
remember it. So if you wonder if met Up should

(19:18):
have won that fight by knockout, quite possibly the impact
it in the ground. So damn hard woke up Bryce
Mitchell because he don't remember that shit. I don't know
if he's rehydrating properly at bandonweight and correct me if
I'm wrong and overblowing my expectations. But I expected the
Bryce Mitchell that we saw against Edson Barbosa. That's what

(19:41):
I kind of expected to see in abandonweight debut, not
a Bryce Mitchell, who hung on for dear life and
ran clock the last three minutes of the third round
in top position. I didn't see the thug nasty. I
didn't see the attempt at submissions. I saw a guy
that was able to to have slightly deeper cardio than

(20:02):
a fighter that is known to have notorious bad cardio
and a lower fight to you in the last round.
So a good win. But I don't know if it's
a good sign from a guy that was top fifteen
at one forty five taking on somebody that wasn't ranked
at one thirty five.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
I guess it's all in perspective and look to be fair.
I think Normaga Metov got gassed as that fight went along,
for sure. I saw that fight as Ryce Mitchell weathering
a rough first round. I don't know if he really
doesn't remember most of the fight or not. He says
a lot of crazy shit, maybe it's true, but I

(20:39):
thought he rebounded nicely in the second round. What one
man's running out the clock is another man's dominating the
final round to get the win. So and there are
different ways to dominate now, like you just beat the
hell out of him and Normiga Metov was able to
stay awake until the bell. But you can dominate in
different ways. He controlled, we'll put it that way. Maybe

(21:01):
dominates not the right word. I also, while trying to
give Bryce Mitchell as flowers to your point where I
agree with you, we just take different roads to get there.
I do think there's a ceiling on Bryce Mitchell, and
I don't care what the weight class is, and I
don't know how much higher he can go.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
The most action in the third round was the ref
fighting Normica Medov's put out of the cage. Bryce Mitchell
did dick all to keep that top position, Nermaka Metov
did less to get up.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
You can't say shit like that when I've got a
mouthful of coffee. Man, I almost ruined a whole bunch
of equipment. Good lord, Yeah, sorry, yeah, no, I look,
I hear you, but I look at that as doing
what you got to do to win a fight. Not
every fight's gonna end on the feet with both guys
slugging it and there. Look, I hear you. You're not wrong.
It's just how I interpreted how things went versus how.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
You do it.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
And that's fine, But I mean, you're not exactly wrong
on that assessment. That might have been the most action
in that third round, but I just looked at it
as Mitchell doing what he had to do.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
I'm just criticizing Mitchell for why were you not striking?
Where was the ground and pound? You have been notoriously
exciting and ferocious with the ground and pound. You had
that position for three minutes, and you had the least
amount of offensive effort I think I've ever seen from
Bryce now. Well, at least he got the win at
Banda Wait, one more ban and weight. I want to

(22:32):
bring up real quick, have we seen that ceiling hit
on the Mond black sheear? I thought this was his
fight to win or lose, and they gave him a
tricky veteran striker and it looked like he was absolutely
mystified by what was in front of him.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
No, I think you're probably right on that, and for
Black Cheer, that's certainly unfortunate. Nice win for Grant, but
such as like could be worse. At least the metal
plate in his face didn't come loose at least the yeah,

(23:07):
at least the referee, you know, didn't just stand there
and let him get the ever loving fuck beat out
of him until the knot on it under his eye
was like in his hairline. And that's a little bit
of an exaggeration, but that was nasty as well. Look
exciting things, fun things to watch in person. But both
of those situations that the I thing, especially because you

(23:29):
could see that that was very scary. But the he
bossed it with the metal plate that that could have
been really bad.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Read boss. At least from that situation. It was one
tomahawk elbow right into the eye. She went down and
there was the ground and pound, a beautiful, finish, beautiful
technique understanding what her corner was calling for from Tabatha Ricci.
That was all amazing on that other And though as
you're talking about the swollen up eye there was three

(24:00):
to four knockdowns in the first round. The fight should
have been called Ronnie Yahya is able to land how Mary?
Or excuse me, that was where we were getting all
wrong all week and not Ronnieya Mohammed yah Yah is
able to land? How Mary? Is strike to kind of
wobble win in the second round because you're flailing around,
throwing haymakers because you're in such danger. And in the end,

(24:23):
the knockdowns are just coming and coming and coming. Jason
Herzog should answer for why he thought none of those
cancussive blows were worth it. I've seen some people saying
six knockdowns. I think that's what the UFC might officially have,
but I'll tell you it was seven and that was
a devastating performance that I don't think we'll do Ronnie

(24:46):
yah Ya any favors in the long term for his hell.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Or or Mohammed Yay Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Sorry, Mohamed Yahyah for his health. Sorry, I'm looking at
a wrong window right here, so I keep looking at
jiu jitsu things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just it's got being up.
Herzog needs to answer for it. That was a shame
from what a guy that was feeling like he was
taking the place as one of the top referees in
the sport, and now this moment the lewis to share

(25:13):
a moment, we're starting to have moments again to maybe
falling down a second. Already, as soon as we anointed
him the best referee in the business, I.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Wanted to say, I don't want to be too critical,
but damn he let ya Ya take a lot of
punishment that he probably didn't need. To take in his defense. Though.
If ya Ya doesn't want to fight, stop, I mean,
I get why you would be hesitant to step in.
But at some point in time, and we've talked about

(25:46):
this a lot before, you've got to protect the fighters
from themselves, whether it's the corner stepping in and throwing
in the towel, whether it's the referee there. I get it.
They're out there competing and maybe, deep down, Yay I
was like, I can come back and win it. I
can do this. Dude, you're getting your ass beat. Your
eye looks nasty as fuck. You know, you've got a family, presumably,

(26:07):
you've got a whole rest of your life. It's time
to call this one and get healed up and move
on to the next one. I would have liked to
have seen Herzog step in. We know that's not what happened.
It was not a good look for sure.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Within his hometown. They let it go too long. That's
Owned three in the UFC. You say, live for the
next one. After own three in the UFC like this,
I don't know if there needs to really be a
next one. It was good they didn't even bring in
the doctor. Yah Yah couldn't even lie that the eye
was slightly opened. It was horrendously closed. A lot to

(26:48):
be examined we from that fight, and also just on
your point, the stoppage you could think about. We've seen
fights with standing tkos. Yeah, anytime a fighter standing, they're
not happy about it. That dude got dropped enough times
that you probably could have just waved it off and
just said you've taken too much damage in my assessment,
you're done.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
No, and look at you just brought up another good point.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
He goes back to the corner they asked, right, he didn't.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Try to lie.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
He's like, yeah, I can't see all. I wonder if
he was waiting there taking those punches, waiting for Herzog
to step in and stop the damn fight. And Herzog's
letting it go, and he's like, shit, shit, shit, stop
the fight. Good God, I'm getting my ass kicked. I
don't want to go out just quitting. But you know,
then we get to the end of the round, he
goes there, yeah, I can't see, and at that point

(27:34):
he knows they're not going to let the fight continue.
So maybe he was waiting for Herzog to step in
and stop it. So he could save a little face
and it didn't happen, and he goes back to the
corner and he's at that point he's got to be honest.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, to beat well, I don't even think Jason Herzog
gave him the chance. He said, what it's over either way.
We move on from that one. One punch knockouts, especially
the walkout for any are awesome. Carlos Layal, I don't
understand why you went from a blated stance, just kind
of like standing square right in front of Muslim Solakov,
who eyes lit up like whoa, and yet he made

(28:12):
it count great one there also, the world of mme
will never cease to amaze you when a prime athlete
of his career who dominated an entire generation, a thirteen
time world champion, ends up losing a decision to a
guy that was a former professional gamer weighing four hundred pounds.

(28:35):
Martin Boudai ruins the debut of Buceca, who I don't
know what we're really gonna get out of Marcus Almeida
if he's not able to get his takedowns at this level.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And yeah, Marcus Bruschetta, you mean yeah, yeah, yeah, you said,
I that threw me. I'm like, the fuck it might
it just jumped to the.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Sorry, yeah no, that'sh nickname. Almeta is the real last name.
You know how they do that with.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Ye yeah, yeah, yeah, it just threw me off there.
Yeah no, look I'm with you of that. All in all,
I enjoyed this card. Now, UFC does head back to
the Apex for a couple of weeks. We'll talk about
that in a little bit. What else did we have
this weekend?

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Micah LFA Wildness, so they lost the main event due
to illness. Right then they lost the co main event
due to illness, and in the end Belatory Evet Christnzalez
beats LFA staple Jacob Rosalez by unanimous decision. In the

(29:41):
main event. Most of the card was elevated to the
main car due to all the illness that happened Wildness
from LFA. We got those results. If you have UFC
five pass, go back and watch that main event. It
might be one of the best non UFC fights you
see all year. Crazy Wild Brawl also APFC this past

(30:03):
weekend eighteen. Give credit to Roland Dunlap couple great jumping knees.
His boxing was on point. Takedowns gets the five round
unanimous decision win to claim that they get one hundred
and eighty five pound title. We got a whole bunch
of results up there. Of course, there was controversial at
that event. Go read the full story that I have

(30:25):
at Cage Minds, not just the article to read all
about that. We also had a BKFC fight night in
Philly to touch on that real quick. There were three
winners that I don't know how. It feels like it's
just a fight night, right, So you never expect big
results from a fight night, but all of a sudden
you get a title shot. You get a title shot.

(30:46):
Dustin Peg getting knocked down, gets off the ground in
the first round to come back get the finish in
the second. He says, what do I gotta do to
get the winner of what's coming up this weekend? BKF
season sturges for the second time. Go Go Slovski, former
BKFC welterweight champion who was stripped for fighting outside of

(31:09):
his contract, is fighting Julian Lang. We all know, let
me bang from the Ultimate Fighter. So two co incredible
brawlers right there, they're gonna fight for the welterweight title
pay or vacant interim something. I'm not sure. Austin Trout
did have that title a couple of days ago according
to the rankings. I don't know why he doesn't have
it now, but yeah, Peig wants the winner of this

(31:29):
interim vacant something kind of welterweight title fight. Dave Feldman
is there to oblige. Said, yeah, man, you fought with heart,
you fought with balls, you got knocked out and get up.
We're gonna give you that kind of opportunity. That one's cool.
Rosso Linda Rodriguez puts a drumming on Gabrielle Roman that

(31:50):
was four versus five at one hundred and twenty five pounds.
So there we are. We're going to the microphone. We're
waiting for the call out for the one hundred and
twenty five pound champion. But you start thinking, Christine Faria
BKFC already told us the one twenty five champion is
going to have a super fight with the one forty
five champion, Jessica Borga. So very awkwardly, Cyrus Fees tells

(32:13):
Rosalinda Rodriguez, so I guess you're calling out Britton Hart
now the one fifteen champion. We just came out of
a one twenty five fight her three no o at
one twenty five, and apparently it looks like she was
led down the road now of calling out Brenton Hart.
So miss Rodriguez, a former boxing world champion, looks like

(32:35):
she's getting lined up to try to make one fifteen
to go after Briton Hart. We also got the successful
debut of Lessio Sakara, got cut open, had to wake up,
got into the clinch and was able to get the
victory with some starch left hands. Afterwards, BKFC is basically
already telling it, telling us, hey, guys, we're going back

(32:57):
to Rome, Italy in October. You know what I'm saying, Carlisle,
Ellegius Alessio Sacara versus Chris Camosi cruiserweight title fight. What's
bigger than an Italian blooded fighter and then the biggest
fighter in Italy fighting for a title fight. Screw everyone

(33:17):
in the rankings.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
I thought, if the Rocky movies taught us anything, Italian
fighters had to fight in Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
That's why we finally started him in Philadelphia. That's why
THEREFC fight Philly, run the steps get that Rocky love
and then we're gonna give you a title fight. Like
I said, I like KFC, isn't Yeah, I like BKFC
is in Sturgis this weekend. Taylor Starling's back in the
co main event Bkfcason Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. August ninth, Budeva

(33:49):
month to Negro. I don't even think I've heard of
that place. August thirtieth. Back to Hollywood, Florida, bk FC
eighty September twelfth, teasing that that's going to be the
Trout Palamino rematch, which will be the semifinals of the
Lightweight title Tournament. BKFC Fight Night, Manchester, September twenty seventh,

(34:13):
October fourth, the company is debuting in New Jersey. That
looks like the return of Mike Perry. So BKFC keeping
it interesting and keeping the fans and media on their
toes all the time.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Another busy weekend this weekend, Micah. Before we start to
look into that, let's talk some news and notes and
then get into some fight announcements. Sean Strickland got into
an altercation back at the end of June at an
event this week officially suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
That shit says indefinitely. When a fight is going on
and you're cornering a guy and he's getting choked and
his opponent is, you know, sticking his tongue out at you,
calling you a bitch and then gives you the DX
crotch chop, you got to remember at that moment, you're
not the guy in the fight. You are a corner man,

(35:12):
and you need to act as cordial and respectful as
so not run out the guy and try to attack him.
Sean Strickland needs to get his needs to get a
damn grip. We've talked and alluded about the the mental
issues that appears to have, you know, consume Sean Strickland,

(35:32):
and for the most part we wondered if a lot
of that was talk and now he really did have
a public incident flying off the rocker. He needs to
get a grip.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I agree with you on that. I also, and I
may be proven incredibly wrong on this when it's all
said and done, I don't think this is all that
big of a deal. He suspended indefinitely because well, that's
what the Nevada Athletic Commission does until they hold a
hearing to actually hand out punishment that was originally scheduled

(36:03):
for Wednesday during their monthly meeting. They decided for whatever reason,
to postpone that to a later date. I would assume
six months cornering suspension. I'm curious how hard the Athletic
Commission goes after Strickland as it relates to being able

(36:25):
to fight. He just fought in February, so all things
being clear, we probably weren't that far off from getting
a fight announcement for Sean Strickland. That could get delayed
a little bit, But at the end of the day,
I bet this winds up not being that big of
a suspension.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Depends what you mean. I could see him not fighting
again in twenty twenty five, possibly, yeah, So I'm not
sure it costs him a scheduled paycheck, is what I'm
thinking this will do, and postpone it, or you know,
put him down from where he was expecting to this
year to only one. So that may be you enough, maybe.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, And you could be very right on that, just
the way things are lining up. Maybe there was a
chance he wasn't gonna fight again this year anyway. I
don't know, but as far as whatever the Athletic Commission
eventually hands out, I bet it's not that big. And
I'm not saying that's the right thing. I'm not saying
it's the wrong thing. I'm just saying I think that's

(37:32):
gonna be the thing, that's all.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
What do you think should be the thing? If I've
never seen someone do what he did at a lower
level event, being such a high profiled mma fighter, I mean, look,
I agree it's.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
A bad look, and personally, I don't think he should
be allowed to corner again. I don't know if they'll
go that harsh. Probably six months. I would guess a
six month suspension. But look, which is the case that
if that is the case, that what you just said
is one hundred percent right, he fighting again in twenty
twenty five, whether that was going to be the plan

(38:13):
or not, that decision would be made for him at
that point.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
You're wondering if this is a bigger sign of concerns
that now we're seeing the psyche of Sean Strickland crack.
He went from an agitator who felt like he wasn't
gonna really throw punches too and he'd be pushed over
the edge. This easily.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Well, now see, I think that's a whole different conversation,
and I think it's a very worthwhile conversation because we've
seen signs of that for a while now. I don't
think that's something that the Athletic Commission will take into
account that much when handing out this punishment, But to
that point, I think you're probably one hundred percent right
on that. I think this is another sign that and

(39:02):
I know he ain't gonna want to hear this, but
it might not be a bad idea for Strickly to
have someone to talk to once a week twice a week,
work out some issues, some anger things and stuff like that,
and maybe get a better hold on his life.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
I could agree with you that I think a little
just friendly conversation might be well for him. Being a
Las Vegas native, though, and being such a high profile
I don't know how much the Commission will we'll take
that into account the persona or not. It's just food
for thought.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Maybe a little less time shooting guns with influencers and
beating up random dudes that show up at his gym
talking shit, a little less of that, a little more
focus on the important things in life might go a
long ways towards helping Sean Strickland.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, you can't really get up there and make your case.
You guys shouldn't suspend me. This was an isolated incident.
I'm not a hothead. Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C.
If guys walking into the gym and Sean's ready to
throw down with anybody.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
T Mobile arena, yeah, T Mobile arena. Who the fuck
did he go after? I don't remember now, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah DDP yeah. I mean, look, you don't even have
to break out the random guys at the gym. The
wonky shit he does with you know, social media influencers

(40:27):
and stuff like that, just what he's done during fight
weeks and things like that is probably enough to warrant
someone sitting down with him and saying, hey man, there's
no shame in you know, talking with someone working through
some of these issues making yourself a better all around person,
so you don't even have to go to there now. Conversely,

(40:50):
if the Athletic Commission does want to take all that
other stuff into account, and like you said, certainly not
an isolated incident, that there's a history of incidences involving
Sean strict, but I mean, they could really throw the
book at him if they wanted to. My guess is
that doesn't happen.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
I'd say six months to a years on the table
with everything that could be brought up in us not
knowing how they're going to approach it and saying we
obviously know this isn't a model citizen of that community.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
We don't know for sure when they're going to reschedule
that hearing as of yet. Also whether it's next month
or two or three months down the line. I bet
whatever they hand down is also retroactive to the what
was it June twenty ninth date that this happened, So
even if they don't hand down punishment until September, he's

(41:47):
probably already three months into serving whatever suspension they're giving in.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah. Probably. We also got this week a couple interesting
announcements well quotes. One announcement I wanted to bring up
to you. Sheikh Mohammad ben Takmav ben Jamal Makatov joins
the PFL Fighters League Ownership Group. If you're wondering who

(42:13):
he is that wrote to Dubai Champion Series, He's part
of the Dubai Royal family, and also he is credited
with the several other financial things that he is in
charge of, like I believe tourism in the country. So
there is a now even bigger financial I guess pushing

(42:36):
from Dubai or at least one member of the Dubai
royal family into the PFL. I don't know how they
keep doing it, but they keep finding investors.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Man, I can't believe they're that many people in the
world that have so much money they don't mind absolutely
pissing it away. Look that being said, if you want
to get into the combat sports game, the MMA game
and US, he's not really looking to cut you in
and sell you off a steake. Pfl's plan B, right.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
It's a lot of bad plan B. I don't know
about from the other promotions in the world, their ownership groups,
or how much they're looking for investors. So the easy
answer is PFL is begging for money because they're hemorrhaging it.
And if you're just happy having your name on the placard, well,
the money goes down the drain. It seems like they're
fine with using it, which actually I don't know how

(43:32):
much it's going down the drain because according to venue numbers,
the last three overseas PFL events and the one here,
the last seventy finals event they had. I think Nashville
four events in a row sellouts. So good for you, PFL,
no matter the size of the venues, you're running.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
The venue here though, they sold word all the tickets
twenty five bucks or something.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
In Las Vegas or the Nashville one.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, and that their new model. Well, what wasn't that
going to be their new model?

Speaker 2 (44:05):
I think that was for that event for the global season,
that all all all general emission tickets for twenty bucks.
I do believe something more expensive.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Could ye, But that's why I was gonna ask you
how much of this is? And obviously we have to
be speculating. I guess at this point how much of
this is enough money to stop the image imagery? Easy
for me to say, to stop the to stop the bleeding,
Mike Jesus Christ, I think I had a stroke to

(44:33):
stop the bleeding. And how much of this is an
infusion of cash that will allow them to grow and be.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Bigger and better. I won't let you hemorrhage.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Thank you, geez. I don't know why that was so
hard hemorrhage, hemorrhage, hemorrhaging. Money shouldn't be that difficult.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
They're just opening it, letting you gush out. What I
know is they're not wasting it in the way they
were before. You're not seeing big name free agents. They
gutted that bellatour roster, let go of everyone that was
in the six figure pay rate. If you're looking at
what the PFL has laid out for the next last

(45:14):
three of the year global season events that are featured
with the championships that we'll talk about here a little
bit later, the undercards are a lot less familiars, and
I'm talking about now you're basically seeing the PFL as
a refreshing brand. These are unfamiliar names the grassroots again,

(45:35):
and I think that their costs are a lot lower.
So I wouldn't be surprised if some of this investment
is just putting them back in a place they were
before they fucked off a lot of the money trying
to keep some of these bellotor names that never panned out.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
All right, I won't even get into the hole buying
beltur thing. I actually like the idea. U. Look, I'm
not saying you go perge your roster.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Not at all.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
But there's only there's only one MMA company that's making
significant money, and that's just a fact. I think if
if they learned anything from the Francis and God, who's
signing again. I get why they signed him, but if
you don't have a dance partner, you just pissed that
money away. I like the idea of at this point,

(46:27):
you've been around enough, you've established a fan base for you.
Now you want to grow that fan base. You want
to get it bigger and better. But I hope they've
learned you don't have to waste money to go out
and sign free agents that other companies didn't want anymore.
Develop your own talent, grow your own talent, make them

(46:47):
names on that level, and then build from that. I
think it's really hard say what you want about UFC.
I think by and large they do a fantastic job
of when they're letting fighters go, there's a reason for that,
and with few exceptions, for the most part, when they

(47:09):
go somewhere else, the level of success they had before
they don't maintain or have again. And look, if John
Jones were to become a free agent, all right, different story,
and someone like that, but you know the latest round
of roster cuts and you will want to go line
up and overpay for those people. I think those days
should be over with.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
I think the PFL, they've already showed us strategically that
they're their business model has changed. Well. The end all
be all is the global season, and they do promote
that more the UK season, having fights for the UK,
having fights in France, having fights for the PFL Africa,
PFL MENA, those minor supplements of the PFL. When they

(47:55):
go to those countries, those countries look at the global
season as a big deal to see their guys that
win that local season get there that regional season. I
think that's going to in turn help them build their
fan base. It is good to ye shut the old
names start rebuilding something new. You're doing well selling out
in these European and overseas markets. You're making those tournaments

(48:18):
feel important to where when they're filtering those guys over
here to the global season, those fans will follow. I
don't know how PFL is going to generate the American
audience that they failed to garner, but their global numbers
are very strong.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Well, maybe that should be the focus. I would argue,
though that didn't work out so well with Bellatour. Of course,
now Belator is also doing Mahigan Sun eight times a
year or whatever whatever.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
But but look, really, quitn't say that they wanted to
go global and European like you said when they kept
doing Connecticut. They wanted to go back to Thacker, Bill,
you wanted to go to Pachonga. You weren't doing any
big markets except for Windstar Arena outside of Chicago. And

(49:10):
not to mention BFL, well, Bellator was very concerned about
the US market being owned by Paramount. Even though it
was a global network, it was very concerned about its
American numbers to where I think PFL is seeing the
benefit of the global perspective just for their brand.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
This one, Micah, I might be a bad person. I'm
not sure. You sent me something yesterday, and I guess
a real man would have just addressed it with you
in person or privately, and instead I just sat on
it and then was going to bring it up here.
You sent me a video yesterday of Derek Lewis being

(49:52):
interviewed and the numb nuts interviewing him asked him something
about would you ever cheat in a fight? Or something,
and Derek Lewis, not surprisingly doesn't hold anything back. He
always says what's on his mind and talked about things
he's done in fights. You know, anything you can get
an advantage. Why the fuck did you send me that
damn video?

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Just because I was watching something from the UFC before
I saw that video that was associated with Saturday Night
and a fowl and oh it was with the toes
in the cage and they were why are we not
taking a point? Like they even brought up the same
thing that was kind of brought up in the interview,

(50:35):
and they said it you guys are told in the
back right not to do this, or we're gonna take
a point immediately, right, And the fighters are like, yeah, no,
the commissions say that everywhere we go, every time, and
they don't mean it at all. So it's just another
one of those thoughts where it felt like a nice

(50:55):
moment because I knew that little clip was gonna get
some traction to bring up and say, I know that
referees like Jason Herzog don't want to take points in
a fight or a foul or grabbing the cage on
a takedown or grabbing it with your toes or poking
the eyes or low blows because we don't want to

(51:16):
affect the fight. But from the fighter's mouths, we're expecting
the point deduction because you told us. We're arguing with
this with you about it, because it's a fight. Everything
is theatrics out here. Of Course I'm cheating to win.
Of course I meant to do in a purpose. Of
course I know where I'm aiming. I mean, it just

(51:39):
feels like there should be a lot more onus, on
the referees to make the appropriate calls and stop having
this imaginary excuse. I don't want to affect the fight. No,
you're there to engage in the rules. That's like imagining
an NBA game or an NFL game going the entire time,

(52:00):
no penalties. We just didn't want to affect what was
happening out there.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
If officials called every foul they saw, we would have
some of the most uninteresting fights in the history of fighting.
And I'm not talking about all right, that was a
low blow point deduction. Sometimes shit happens, but whether it's
fence grabs, whether it's hands in gloves, every fighter cheating

(52:25):
is a very dirty word. Every fighter is looking for
any and every advantage they can get, and if they
know the officials are going to give them leeway, like
very rarely do you ever see the grabbing of the
fence called Sometimes it does, but even when it is,
you get a warning, you get two warnings. Hell, sometimes
you get three warnings. Same thing with ipokes and stuff

(52:48):
like that. I look, some of those things can legitimately
accidentally happen as well. I think that's part of the
reason referees are a little hesitant to take a point
away for an eepoke because look, well, certainly there's been
an ipoker two that was intentionally done. A lot of
them are unintentional as well, So I mean, I do
get that. But if you're a fighter as well, And

(53:11):
that's kind of what Derek Lewis was alluding to in
the clip you sent me And all I gotta do
is act surprise when I need you in the nuts
and he I don't remember the fight, but he talked
about one time he did it on purpose. He felt
like he needed to at the beginning of the fight
calm down. He was a little amped up. I need
to catch my breath here, regroup. I forget exactly how

(53:31):
he said it. So he went out and need somebody
in the nuts. And you know, then they stop, you know,
they pause things, let the person recover, sorry, and then
they continue on to fight. You're always looking for an advantage.
I don't disagree with anything you said. If you tell
me in the back, if you grab the fence, we're
calling it. We're deducting a point. The fucking deduct the point.

(53:54):
If you're telling me low blows, eye pokes, whatever, illegal punches,
illegal kicks, there's no warning it's going to be a point,
then deduct the point. But as long as the fighters
know there's leeway, there's wiggle room. By the way, not
cheating at that point, because if you're gonna get warn
two or three. It's just like different sport pro wrestling.
If you know you got the five count to break

(54:15):
the hold when the guy gets in the ropes, why
are you letting go at one when you can beat
the hell out of them for four and a half seconds, right,
I know sports entertainment versus real sport. But point being,
if you've got that leeway, why wouldn't you take advantage
of it?

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Oh yeah, I've tried all data. Hold my tongue about
r DR and his use of the interesting clinch he had.
I think he held Robert Witter secures glove for about
six minutes of that fight, and Jason Herzon's looking in
there and I'm like, call it, bro, I can see
it on the camera. I'm calling for refs to be proactive.
That was the whole thought of the point, because oh,

(54:49):
you just got to look surprised. I didn't mean to.
We've been to fights ourselves. We will see an eye
poke and you or were watching them and the fighter
right away he sticks his fingers right back out and
the reft ups in there. Stop that again, aren't you kidding? Dude?
Who are you kidding? He poked him in the eye
and he goes right back to it, and you're like, no,

(55:09):
stop that, stop that, but he's not stopping it.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Take the point, and I think that's your overall point,
and I agree with you. Take the point. But if
you're a fighter, you know that's gonna happen, whether the
original ipoke was intentional or not. You know you're in
their head now, especially and there's some fighters who I
pokes have followed them around a little bit and there's
that that aura, so you I poke them the first time,

(55:36):
all right, warning, all right, Yeah, when I come back
up again, I'm sticking my damn fingers out. I'm gonna
make you think about it. Holy shit, he just ipoked
me once. Oh my god, there's his finger. He's trying
to do it again. The ref's gonna let it.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
You know.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Part of that is gamesmanship, but your overall point, it's
very easy to eliminate a lot of that, enforce the
rules the way you're supposed to, and that goes away,
whether it's fence grabbing, whether it's ipokes, whatever, what you
if there is no first time warning, second time more
stern warning, third time really stern warning, and then the

(56:08):
fourth time we're gonna take a point. If you're taking
a point right away, ninety nine percent of that goes.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Away, exactly. And I'm still all right with a warning.
But it just feels like a lot of this goes
with warning field fights where you will see it, just
consistent warnings where you will it's as bad as the
knockdowns and the ya ya fight. Well you will see
that many ipokes, cage grabs, the ref inserting themselves in,

(56:33):
and it's just when is it enough is enough? Here
comes the point deduction. It has to happen. The refs
need to be proactive because, like you said, fighters are
looking for the advantage, so there's no reason to be
as proactive as they are. Do everything to do your job. Ref.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Yeah, you've got some fight announcements for is Micah.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, one last thing, and I'll expect this to get
really into this one. I don't know if you saw it,
if I sent it to you, Hope. Irmaga met up
came out and said fights should be one fifteen minute
round or one twenty five minute round. Do you have
any thoughts on that at all?

Speaker 1 (57:09):
He's wrong and that wasn't the most entertaining thing he said.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
The most entertaining anything that he said. I missed the
rest of it. Oh.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
He was asked if he would consider coming back, and
basically answer was no. But he said, if we're speaking hypothetically,
it's not practical because you got to have six months
at least before you can be ready to announce a fight,
and then he went into detail why, And that's what
I found interesting. It's not the cardio, it's not the

(57:39):
lifting weights, it's not like that. It's the actual sparring
when you've been away for a while getting used to
being hit again. Anybody can go out and get into
good cardio shape. Anybody can go out and lift weights
and look good, but none of that does you any
good inside the octagon after a long layoff like that,
if that's what you focused on and have done minimal

(58:01):
sparring and things like that, you start getting hit in
the octagon or in the cage, and you're fucked. I
found that way more interesting than his barbaric idea of
fifteen or twenty five minute one round fights, and that
that's just me.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Now, would you consider just one round barbaric.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Because it's fifteen minutes or twenty five minutes, I feel
like it's a it's a guaranteed hundred percent finishing rate.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
Somebody is getting tired in that time and something well
getting fus Well, no, you.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Well, you're probably right on that. It's probably you'll see
a lot more finishes for sure, very a lot less
fights will go the distance. I don't know that if
we care about fight or safety, I think that's a
horrible idea. But again, look that's just me, and if
you really wanted to talk me into it, I can
be weak about some things. You could probably twist my arm.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
I don't know how much more that would change fighter's
safety compared to you know, we we have power slap
where fire safety does not exist.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Different sport, different sport, different sport. We have bull riding
as well, where rider's safety, eh, all right, different sport.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
I don't know how much fighter safety there was for Mohammed.
Yeah yeah, where we're just coming off of a guy's
eyes closed. And come on, this is really a sport
where ninety nine percent of the time when one eye
is closed, the doctor doesn't even close the other eye
for the eye inspection.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Okay, you brought up that fight. Here's how that saved
him because instead of two five minute rounds of that shit,
he gets his ass beat for the whole fifteen minutes
unless he gives up. And who knows what that eye
is looking like. Then if that big ass thing under
his eye explodes or something specifically in that fight, because

(59:59):
we know with the bene offit of hindsight, herzog wasn't
stopping that fight, that could have been way worse. If
that's one fifteen minute fight instead of three five minute rounds, I.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
Guess you're right in that account. Bad refereeing has to
be dealt with because one guy's eyes closed and it
feels like you're the closest to the action. If the
rest of us could tell, how are you not acknowledging this?
And that's again where I just harken back to reps
cannot be afraid to do their jobs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Nope, I'm with you on that. All right, fight announcements michaeh.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
Oh yeah, all right, well let's just let's just do
it right away. I thought this was a possibility last week.
I told you get ready to be disappointed, and I'm
gonna I don't. This isn't even chronologically the first one
to come up, but October twenty fifth, Tom aspinall surreal
gon UFC three twenty one the now, I guess we're

(01:00:58):
calling it heavyweight undisputed heavyweight is making his first defense
terribly disappointing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
But he shouldn't be because that was going to be
the fight.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
You know, we talked last week, and hell, before I
can hit the episode uploaded, this news came out. But
about Alex Perira, let's do that. We've seen video of
him walking around. He's like two forty five or whatever.
Now he always walks around big, but that's the fight
to make. We should do that. That's the name it
was probably once John Jones retired. It was probably always

(01:01:31):
going to be Surreal Gone Tom Aspinall, So we shouldn't
be that surprised by it. But I still find it disappointing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Horribly disappointing. I don't know if you saw Matt Brown's comments,
but he said it will be a travesty to the
heavyweight division if Tom Aspinall doesn't defeat Surreal Gone. Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
I think he's right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
We do have that Alex Perreira announcement because he is
gonna rematch Akliav for the light heavyweight title Earlier in
the month October fourth, UFC three twenty in Las Vegas,
BA Dawallas, Philly, Cory Sanhegen in the co main event,
Yuri Prochaska Khalil roundtreet you and your title eliminator. I

(01:02:17):
bet Gutier is making a quick turnaround to take on
Ozzy Diaz, Edmund Shabazian Andre Munize also on that card.
How do you react to those top three announcements?

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Well, sadly, Alex and Ankle I have has to be
a little disappointing if you were holding out hope for
Asminall and Alex. I'm fine with it. I like those fights. Uri,
by the way, it will serve his backup for Alex
and Magamed should one of them fall out. But yeah,
I mean that's that's the route you were planning on going.

(01:02:52):
You decided to go down and look to be fair,
Alex said after the loss. Yeah, I'm not moving up.
I'm not doing anything. I want my belt back and
then we'll figure things out. So any disappointments with those
with the light heavyweight and the heavyweight title matches being announced,
maybe that's more on you in this case talking specifically

(01:03:13):
me than it is what UFC wound up doing, because
if you read the tea leaves, it was pretty obvious
that barring something spectacular, this was the road we were
going to go down.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
We also now end up with an announcement August ninth, euros
Metic Gilbert Yourbina gonna be UFC Fight Night August sixteenth.
I think this is gonna be the co main event
for the UFC three nineteen part Aaron Pico versus Larn Murphy,

(01:03:47):
one of those names not as Harold that in the division.
But Pico will make his UFC debut this one with
a lot more to lose now, name recognition wise, and.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Pico
doesn't get the win. Now, look, we got a long
ways between now and then, But based on recent guys
from other promotions making their debuts, I don't think this
goes well for Pico.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
He's in a little bit different spot. He's a much
younger guy than a pit Bull, than a Asakura. Some
of those other guys what we've seen debut with losses recently,
so maybe that changes the tide. But just going off
recent history, I'm not sure this goes well for Aaron Pico.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
I'll get second card. Steve Ursega is gonna fight ode
Osborne h Austin Boshi is taking on John Jannis. Both
of those, I think we're gonna end up seeing yeah
this weekend. So already last minute adjustments to this weekend's
card Zachary Reese, Sadikris Dumas and Tante atisaus Amanda Lamoche.

(01:04:57):
You have seen Notcee still not as no as much one.
Note Cha you added to add the two fights, so
four fighters and only one note.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Check, I don't think you can say it like that, Micah.
I'm just saying, yeah, I get your point though, for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
Right Juliana Postori versus Carolyn Nicola Kavic, Victor Petrino versus
Thomas Peterson, Jonaitan Gaginiez versus Marian Pinto. All of those
are happening October eleventh, as the UFC returns to Rio
Ozmatt Bakuya versus you. Sorry, Bigari. We thought it was
gonna be this weekend. It's postponed to Vancouver in October eighteenth,

(01:05:40):
with Manor Fioric Jarsman Jazz Davicius also being on the card.
Belgari couldn't make weight this week, Hikram Alascarra June Park,
and we get the return of Michael Carlisle's second favorite heavyweight,
Chris Barnett Hassan Abdi abdu Wad October twenty fifth, UFC
three twenty one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
There's your future UFC heavyweight champion right there, just saying, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Just glad to know that he didn't blow everything the
shit out in his legs with that crazy jump and
then still fighting on that leg. I thought we might
never see him walking again.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Yeah, no, you're probably right on that. All right, Micah.
UFC returns to the Apex this Saturday. Uh hold on,
I'm I'm I'm trying to figure out how to how
to do this in a and I was gonna say
interesting card, not even interesting in a card at the

(01:06:37):
Apex for UFC fight night that has fighters on it.
Put it like this, it's gonna be pretty that fucking
unspectacular card. Micah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Anything I sounded like today to sound like a hater
was just taught by that sentence from Michael Carlile, yes,
a UFC credentialed media member who loves the sport.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
It's it's just on it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Look.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
I mean, I if you want to tell me it's
fine for the Apex, that's okay. But I think but
when people talk about Apex fight nights and fight nights
on the road, I think this is what they're talking about.
Because this does not seem very good to me. Please
please tell me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
How I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
I'm look, I can be corrected. And if I'm wrong
I'm wrong, tell me how this is not on paper
an incredibly unspectacular card.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Okay. Now, the problem the card put together as a
whole makes no sense. Like you ever seen someone just
paint a picture. It doesn't make any sense. They built
some of the legos and you're just like, what the
hell is that thing? That's the problem with this card
putting together particular fights in particular markets. There are several
Brazil versus Brazil fights on here. If they're on that

(01:07:48):
October eleventh card, no difference, great for that market. If
this main event is in Korea, in Japan, in the
appropriate market where you have two of the top prospects
kly Way and Klatsujiga Tiro and a Hun sunk Park
who is a road to UFC winner three to zero
in the UFC making this big jump up on just
day's notice, replacing Emir al Bazi. There's a place where

(01:08:11):
the card looks better. But putting this assortment together is
not the best job done by the matchmaker, is what
I'll tell you. Because Chris Duncan versus Matthew Rebeccy is amazing,
Tetsuyatara incredible submission game, he is a big favorite, He's
top six in the world. In the main event, Hun

(01:08:31):
sunk Park is an aggressive finisher, He's young, he has
a multitude of skills, but I think this is gonna
be too much too soon on the short notice. I
think he's not gonna have fear of the moment though
he is the better striker. Chris Duncan is a brawler
who's evolved back to back. Guyetine wins four and one
in the UFC big since coming over from Bellator. I

(01:08:52):
don't think many expected this out of him. Matthews Robecki,
the Polish fighter, has dug down deep is a better
boxer wrestler. I think he's a more efficient striker. For me,
he comes in as the favorite. That one is an
incredible fight, no matter what card you put it Esteban
Rivivitch was setting a crowd on fire at the Spear,

(01:09:12):
having one of the best fights we had seen at
the last UFC. Note Cha, he's got to be a
big favorite coming on against Elvis Brenner, returning from a
year away, a Brazilian with a good submission game but
a tendency to brawl. I think that Rivivich is just
gonna be too tight and technical. Neil Magni is just
gritty and grimy. We know capuaa easy ds with his incredible,

(01:09:35):
energetic striking game. It's either somebody gets Magni and drugged
into the mud, or the Age of Magne starts to
show and he's put down. Danny Silva versus Kevin vjejost
is two incredible prospects at one hundred and forty five pounds.
The last time ve JE host lost it was going
a decision with Jeans Silva on the Contender Series. His

(01:09:56):
last two wins first round knockouts Danny Silva. He's been
thought to have some of the best boxing out of
the younger generation coming up at one forty five, he
just hasn't put the power together. He's a better wrestler
than vi JE hosts, but if he's get sucked into
the sprawl, I think that the Argentine fighters power will
win out in that one. Ringya Knakamura is an incredible

(01:10:18):
talented wrestler who's on the free limps. Like I said,
if this card was in Japan, there'd be a different
feel to that one. Adolfo Vieira, the Brazilian jiu jitsu
veteran looking to cling on to the last of what
was a promising UFC career, at a point where he's
gonna take on Treshawn gro has shown moments of greatness
and also able to falter. He can definitely take a

(01:10:40):
punch and come back. That's gonna be an interesting one.
And the best two prospects on that prelims you had
Austin Bashi versus John Jaffis. Yaffis a former or Janis
a former Fury champion, big knockout power, Austin Bashi, well
rounded skills and edible wrestler. So there's three fights there

(01:11:02):
on the prelimps to dug into for MMA fans. Just
remember this is better than anything on the regional scene.
I don't know, do you think the PFL looks better
this weekend because we do get welterweight title fight unbeing
Thad Gene versus Logan story. Someone gets a half a
million dollars and the twenty twenty four champion Kayu Movik
Kyle Bulov, Russian wrestler versus Peruvian knockout artist he sus

(01:11:27):
Pineda for the one forty five title. You also have
one on Prime Well, it still lasts with an incredible
Muay Thai main event lightweight champion Reagan Ursul. This weekend.
WILL One Championship is still broadcasting in this country.

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Yeah no, I'll still be watching Fight Night prelams for
USC Fight Night six pm Eastern, ESPN, ESPN plus Main
Card nine Eastern, also ESPN, ESPN plus anything else Micah.
Before we get out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
Cageminds dot com. We got a whole ton going on
over there, stories, a bunch of news and recaps from
last week, whole a ton of interviews. Cage Mindscombat Sports
News on YouTube and Facebook. It's cage Minds Underscore CSM
on Instagram, TikTok x look for talking you guys all
on X this speaking about that UFC Finite Card.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
Get the show on X at MMA After Hours. You
can get me at real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of MMA After
Hours here on the After Hours podcast network.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
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 two thousand and one,

(01:13:00):
that's cagemids dot com.