Ep 319: UFC Perth Preview. Fantasy Booking The White House Card. Latest News.

Episode 319: UFC returns to Perth on Saturday. We fantasy book the White House card. All the latest news and more. 













Hit up the show:

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

Email: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome back to MMA after Hours. It's Michael Carlile, joined
us always by Micah Frankle.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Micah, how you doing, man?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Man?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know what I'm being excited for this weekend. We
got some Perth, we got some Spain, we got some Manchester, England,
and a little bit of bare knuckle happening in New York.
So overall kind of excited to see a bunch of
people hit each other this weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It'll be fun to watch people hit each other this weekend.
I know of UFC this past weekend. I don't know
if it was just a regularly scheduled weekend off or
they took it off in favor of WWE, who had
a big event on Saturday. Whatever the reason, they were
off last week, but they were in Australia this week Micah,
So we've at least got UFC this weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Huge missed opportunity I think from BKFC and BYB, who
neither won stage in event last weekend. And all four
of the events I mentioned for this weekend that we'll
touch on later, they're all happening Saturday. So this is
a giant scheduling era to me from at least two
of those companies. One of the companies is on fire Pass.

(01:11):
They're doing whatever UFC says, But those are the two independents.
You had to take full advantage of that open spot
on the calendar. And even if it wasn't trying to
go head to head with the wrestling, Friday Night was
wide open itself too.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I don't know, because look, UFC, their schedule is pretty
laid out.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Far in advance.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Why at BKFC, why big boxing events don't take advantage
more so than they do, and certainly nobody did this
past weekend. But yeah, well it wouldn't be that difficult
to schedule an event on a UFC off weekend. It's
not like you find out at the last minute, Oh
there's no UFC, let's try to throw something together haphazard.

(01:54):
You got plenty of time to do it. It really
seems like a missed opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Oh, I feel like that completely. It was why it
was a smart tactical idea from Baroka to team up
with xFC and to be in Las Vegas. They knew
this was one of the few weekends that there wasn't
another fight around the corner. I don't think tough enough
how to fight. UFC didn't have a fight, So that
little niche audience that might be going to the Apex

(02:21):
that's looking to get out on Saturday night. They did
a good thing. They had b in sports. They got
their little audience of hardcore MMA fans to tune in.
They had a nice live audience there at the Virgins Hotel.
So I think that they were one of the few
promotions that did what they could to take advantage of
this hole in the calendar.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, for sure. All right.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
We mentioned we do have UFC this weekend. We've got
other stuff as well. It's as almost as if last
weekend just didn't happen in the world of combat sports
to a large degree.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Where you want to start today? Man, we got news,
we got fights, we got fighting now it's we got
fighters pulling out of fights.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
We got White House card coming up. That's always fun
to speculate on.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Where would you like to start? Good sir?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, real quick. We did have a couple of small
things last week and Baroca did have their event. Shout
out to one Archiletta. I talked to them before the event.
A second round rear naked choke of UFC vet Jose
Johnson that's now back to back wins. Maybe it takes
one more, but I think we are on the verge
of one Archiletta, one of those last few pieces that

(03:27):
was synonymous with Bellator of possibly making his way over
to the UFC. Outside of one Archiletta Sergio Pedis, I
don't know if there's many other names that we crave
to see in the UFC, but I think there's a
couple of those Bellotour guys that we still have some
questions to be answered, and I think one is on
the verge of being able to give us those answers.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Certainly a good performance for him this past weekend. Yeah,
we'll see how that goes for him now.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Also, some guys are just trying to stay active. I
guess I don't know what the story is for Arminsar
Yuki in A big shout out to him as he
used an arm triangle this week at the ACB Grappling
to submit Benson Henderson. This is like the third grappling
match in a row for sar Yukian. Is he like
on some low key suspension lists from the UFC? What

(04:21):
is going on? Why is Armansar Yuki in fighting but
not actually fighting.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, I think he's still in the doghouse. But okay,
the same question back to you, but for a different reason.
You got the back of an eighty year old or whatever.
That's why you had to pull out of the fight, right,
And why the fuck are you doing all these goddamn grappling.
I get it, you want to stay active, You're waiting
for UFC to give you what you want.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
But if your.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Back's really that jacked up and all that, why are
you out there doing this.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Maybe he got the treatment, Maybe he had some weird surgery.
Maybe he is trying to prove to the UFC that
he can sign a contract and make a date. Once again. Hey,
you guys don't think I could do it. I'm in
the doghouse. Let me show you I can do it
because I can go grapple. Let me show you that
I'm healthy in heck, let me show you that I'm dominant.
I'm beating up guys that you might know the name of.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
I mean, I guess.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Heck. And then also, one more thing to throw out
at you. His hair is growing out. So I told
you that he was baby brock Lesner Frederick Vascon fighting
an octagon improves his unbeaten record first round submission victory
this weekend. He is now considered Patty Lesner. I don't
know if you've seen that across the hair grew out.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Man.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
He's got the whole bowl going, Paddy Lesner. I think
he's into a UFC soon.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, I think he's trying to get to present day
brock Lesner.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
If you saw him on the WWE card on Saturday
with the longer hair, and you know, the hairline has
received a bit, but it's longer everywhere else.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
So maybe that's the look he's going for now.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
You never know, but at least there was a fun
side story spectacle on a slow weekend. Vos Gon baby
brock Lesner in more than one way, because I don't
know if he can strike better than brock Lesner right now.
And we know in brock Lester's career there was that
one big right hand that stuck, that stuck seventy year
old Brandy Catour. And about That's about the book on

(06:29):
the brock Lesner striking experience. One other thing from this
past weekend, The eleven fight losing streak of Melvin Gallard
comes to an end and the one time known as
the Young Assassin, has announced his retirement from combat sports.
That desire to go out on top to get his

(06:51):
hand raised one more time ran probably deeper than it
needed to.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
But oh no, hold on the desire to go out
on top by snapping in eleven fight losing streak. That's
going out on top.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know you want to walk off the court making
that last shot. He just wanted to walk out of
the cage with his hand held one last time, and
it's almost sad to see with At one time, there
was a point where I think there was like an
eight fight win streak and we were all clamoring for
Melvin Gaillard to be fighting for a UFC title. They said, no, no,
we're gonna give him one more grappler because we don't

(07:27):
know for sure. And then I believe Joe Lozon fucked
up everything that Melvin Gallard had built. After that, he
was never the same fighter again, but he was a
guy that gave it his all every time he went
out there, maybe a little too recklessly like in the
Donald Ceroni fight. But I'm glad to see that if
he is okay with ending it, that he is finally

(07:49):
I'm glad for him that he has got to a
point where he's good with walking away.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, in all seriousness, yeah, and it was probably time.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
You want to get your hand raised one more time
was going to happen. But it does finally for him, so.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
That probably, yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Probably time a while ago to walk away. But from
someone that probably should have fought for the world title
and never got to, he was cut short of that goal.
It was hard to tell him not to finish out
whatever goals he wanted to, even though it'd probably be
for the wiser. But Melvin Gallard shot out and thank
you for a bunch of really fun fights, for sure.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
And look, in all serious is that there were a
lot of those, and you brought it up that long
wind streaking. At one point in time, a lot of
people were slamoring for a title shot and it didn't
come and things got sidetracked.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
One of the first MMA T shirts that I bought
that wasn't just like a TapouT T shirt and affliction
T shirt that was actually a signature specific design athlete
T shirt was a silver Star shirt for Melvin Galard. AWESO.
Now let' let's move on to some news, because we
got some big news on this one, and I gotta

(09:05):
get your insight, okay, because the return of Charles Olavera
to Brazil absolutely massive in the heart of the Bronx,
a true headliner for a UFC fight night in Brazil,
and unfortunately Raphael Fhaziv once again bitten by the injury bug,
he is withdrawn. What do you make of this situation?

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Do we know what the injury is? We we don't.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
We don't ride at this point.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I think it's unfortunate. I think Olivera stays on the card.
You've had a couple of people step up, Uh Gamrot,
I know, Uh Diego Lopez said he'd fight Olivera.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
I have a sneaky suspicion it winds.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Up being Gamrot. I don't think Olivera would turn that down.
We haven't heard anything from the UFC yet on that,
but but I think Olivera definitely says on the card.
It's certainly disappointing with the injury to physive because I
think that would have been.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
A really fun fight.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Now, look, we could also talk about maybe this is
a hidden message to Olivera that he shouldn't be fighting again.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
This soon.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
But I don't think there's any way that he's not
going to be on this card in Brazil. I think
he really wants to be on this card, and whether
it's in his best interest or not, he's gonna be.
So I don't know that if we want to focus
on the why is it smart to come back this
soon part as opposed to who's the opponent going to be?

Speaker 1 (10:33):
My guess is it'll be Gamoran.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I think Gamrot is a safe bet, but there is
a lot of injury going on. I don't know if
you saw the video, and I did see some outlets
that were able to translate it that Charles Olivera had
posted on his social media and it was almost telling,
and I'm not sure who he was talking to, but
he was saying certain fighters should step up, should be

(10:57):
a man, they owe it. So it almost felt like
there were bigger names or other names that Olavera was
honing in on. That there were some people that said,
I'm not coming back to America training camps. I'm not
flying back over. I'm not sure what the disagreement is, because,
like you, I saw a Gamrot say I'm jumping on

(11:17):
a plane. I'm getting right back to South Florida. Let's
get this camp going. I'm raising my hand, I'm fighting Olavera.
That seems like the most likely destination. But it seems
like there has been some hesitation, or maybe it's a
disrespect thinking there's a name, bigger name out there from
Olavera than rather just jumping on this opportunity and saying, yeah,

(11:39):
thank you, coming to Brazil. I got to do this
for my people as I want.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh hell, there's nothing more fun than wildly speculating on
stuff we know nothing about.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yes, let's go, Yeah, let's do it. Who you think
he was talking about, Micah?

Speaker 3 (11:54):
You figure it's not about I don't know, Patti Pivolet,
Michael Chandler. Who do you think he'd be going out
out there?

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Well, let's take Chandler out of the equation, because we'll
bring him up later in the show. Sadly, I think
they're bigger things for or not sadly, but I think
they're bigger things for Chandler on the horizon.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Finally, sadly was perfect.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, it probably was. Yeah, I don't know, Patty.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Maybe maybe, Hey, Serukian, stop with this damn grappling shit.
Get your bad back in camp and let's fight.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
That's the intriguing part to me because when you look
at the top of the division, who is it that
Olivera was so clamoring for. I'm not sure was this
a message to Dan Hooker. Dan Hooker's kind of been
I don't want to say missing an action, but he's
healing up, he has other things going on. I haven't

(12:52):
heard a lot of Dan Hooker actually fighting rumors. Uh,
there was there was talk and speculation actually that the
first name that jumped off with somebody that just got
a huge win off of a Brazilian, a Frenchman, ben
Wa Saint Denis. But I don't know why you would
want to be going lower down unless Olivera is like

(13:17):
a surrogate fighting nerd that we didn't know about.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
And that's far down.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Look, you know, Olivera, I think is fourth in the
latest UFC rankings at lightweight. So it's one thing to
fight a spot or two down, which you would be
with the Hooker with a.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Pimblet what have you.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
But yeah, no disrespect to ben Wi Saint Denis, but
he's thirteenth. I would think that in Olivera's mind that
would be looking a little too far down in the rankings.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
If you're OLIVERA. I don't think you're What you want
doesn't matter in this situation because you're already getting what
you want right, you're staying on the card. I think
the Gamrock fight makes the most I don't know if
there's any need for it. If you've been neiled our USh,
are you throwing your hand up? Do you want to

(14:07):
run it back from what happened two years ago? You
did lose, there was a first round TKO. This is
short notice. There is no memory on short notice. Is
that a good option?

Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's interesting because if you'r Darrius should I think we
talked about this several weeks ago, that window might have
shut as far as title contention again, unless you have
stepped up on short notice and took the ola verifight
and we're able to get the win. Now, that in
and of itself ain't gonna get you back there, but it.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Is a huge step in that direction.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
It could make you a legit player in that division again,
at least until some other things play out.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
So yeah, I think that's actually kind of interesting.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, because it's not far fetched. If we played it
out just long term. Olavera fucks around, and I mean
he takes the fight. He foks around, he beats Olavera,
You get sar Yuki in next.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
You can find.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yourself in a title fight by the end of the
year and all of a sudden have a career resurgence
and take out a Brazilian a Brazilian and take out
the guy that the UFC has benched. I think that
if you're Dar yush, you should absolutely jump on this
opportunity because it's probably your only way back into a
big fight.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, where's he at right now as far as.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Being in a position to step up.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
And take a final short notice like that, assuming he's
not not hurt, that he's healthy. I would think long
and hard about it. If UFC came to me, and
I'm Bidiel d'ari yusch.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
So let's hope that Charles Olavera stays on there. We
threw out an interesting opportunity with Benil Daryus. I literally
think it's gamrot though it's his fight to take or not,
and he seems to be the one screaming I want it,
and that goes a long way in the UFC eyes
of really going for that brass ring.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Let me throw out one more monkey wrench into the
Charles Olivera saga.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right now, we've talked a lot.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's no secret Olivera at times has had trouble making weight.
I was just reading an interview with Alexandre Pantosia talking
about Olivera, who says, look, maybe Olivera is just too
big at this point for lightweight. Even when he makes
the weight, the tolet takes on the body, the dehydration.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
And all that.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Maybe he would be better at one seventy with physique
dropping out, needing a short notice replacement. Maybe it's not
a bad time to dip your toe into one seventy
just to see if it doesn't work. You can say, look,
I really wanted to be on the cards short notice,
didn't have a full camp, couldn't prepare.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
It was a lot with the different.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Weight, so you could try it theoretically without hurting yourself.
Do you think maybe that's an option we see Olivera
take on a one seventy or at in Brazil.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
If you want to do Charles Olivera versus Colby Covington
in Brazil, I am all up for it. Oh, we
might need extra security, but oh, we could get somebody
to sell this fight like no tomorrow and quite possibly
could choke out.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
I like that idea, I'm not sure. I don't.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
And again, look, I don't want to pretend like I'm
inside Olivera's head. I get the impression. Is not really
something he wants to do. Now, maybe in a one
off you try it. The idea of fighting Covington. I
love the hell out of that, and I would think
he would too. But yeah, I don't know if he's
not going to be committed to it, or at least

(17:51):
committed to trying it. I don't see him messing with it,
so I don't know. I think it's an interesting situation though.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
I jump on the name Colby Coon and people will say, well,
is it really the American thing? Is the way that
he's able to promote a fight for me? I jumped
on it because he is the highest ranking small welterweight
I can think of. It's kind of almost comical how
people talk about Colby basically being a one to seventier
who walks around at one seventy. He's not this massive guy.

(18:21):
We're not cutting twenty thirty pounds, so That's why if
you're going to bring up a lightweight, I think he's
the name to focus in on as a welterweight automatically
for a lot of people, because he's the size of
a lightweight.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
No very true.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Also, Olavera obviously wants this to be a big fight
fighting in Brazil, putting Colby Covington on the other side.
Hell set aside the American part of it, just the
shit talking. This will have a big fight feel to
it if that were a direction that everybody decided to
go into. So from all that, like you said, smaller

(18:58):
welterweight as well, if you're going to dip your toe
into the welterweight waters, Covington would seem like the perfect
component to try it out on.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Definitely, I think it's a good stylistic matchup. You're talking
about two pressure fighters, so it's going to be a
forward moving presence. And then also from the ola Era perspective,
Covi of thing's not the biggest puncher, and we know
that the chin of olaver Era has been questioned and
it's a great question to answer. We're going up to
one seventy strengthen that chin because now he's more hydrated

(19:29):
or are we just kidding ourselves because now he's taking
on much bigger punchers, so that just kind of completely
nullifies that strengthening of the chin because now it's getting
cracked by a much heavier weight.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Did you see the pictures, I think, last week of
what they expect the UFC at the White House to
look like.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
I did. That looks like that looks like quite a
few days of construction to erect with their planning, And
it almost felt comical the way that the bleachers were
put up, because I think there's been speculation of five
thousand people, and with weight considerations for just the area,
I'm guessing we're gonna get down to around three thousand people.

(20:11):
And just the the image also of the fighters walking out,
it looked like they were walking out into like a
Super Bowl arena almost, And I get these are just
graphic images, but it's gonna feel like the Apex people
a couple little bleachers.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
This is a.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Show being done for an audience of one, and everything
else is just gravy. And as long as that audience
of one is happy, that's all that matters.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Hey, it's gonna be a pay per view caliber free
card on CBS, So I literally don't care about any
of the other circumstances that they are talking about with
this event. Besides that we get a free, big ass event.

(20:57):
God bless you guys for doing that.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Well. Look, I think a lot of people will will
take issue because it's just the way it is, will
take issue with the look of it if they don't
like it. You're right, though, They're gonna load this card up.
There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
From a fighting standpoint, You're gonna have big names.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Now.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Are you gonna have a shit ton of title fights?

Speaker 2 (21:16):
I don't know, but I do think you're gonna finally
get the long anticipated by at least one person kind
of regreggor Michael Chandler fight.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
It looks like that's gonna happen. There were three people
on the forefront of talking about ufc DC. I'm not
even sure what we call this. That's just what I'm
giving the name right now, ufc DC. Yeah, Dana White
putting out his pictures, and then you had Connor and
you have Michael Chandler on Fox News. And if that's

(21:52):
not a very big flashing light hint that we are
finally gonna get this fight, or at least announce this
fight officially. I don't know what we're doing having those
two other gentlemen joined Dana in this press tour.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Look, barring injury, it is an incredibly safe bet that
Connor is going to be on this card and he's
going to need an opponent. If you're not doing a
third Nate Diaz fight. The other fight that makes sense
that you already have the groundwork laid for is the
Chandler fight, the one we thought we were getting two

(22:30):
years ago, whatever it was now, I would actually be
surprised if Michael Chandler is not the McGregor opponent at
the White House.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
So I've talked to quite a lot of UFC fighters
in our years doing this, and I don't know if
it'll surprise many people that Connor McGregor is quite civil
behind closed doors. I could see that he is quite
respectable of a business man. I think that there is

(23:03):
a general respect that Connor has for Michael Chandler as
a fighter, as a businessman, and I think that there
is the slightest there is a slight bit of iowe
you from Connor McGregor. Where there were all intentions of
going through with the fight after the Ultimate Fighter finale,

(23:24):
and I think that will lead us to that being
the fight that is announced now whether Connor is seriously
healthy enough to be able to make it to the octagon,
because I do wonder about that with the years off,
with some of the injuries that he's occurred, But I
do believe that's the fight we're going with because of
a respect factor to get this done. I owed you,
you put so much in, and.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
You were a good business partner well, and the other
part of that respect factor, Micah, You're still going to
get the shit talk.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
And all that, but you know where to draw the line.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
I don't mean this disrespectful to anybody, but if you
followed the lead up to the first two fights, and yes,
the first one was very short notice, but that line
got crossed several times.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
The last thing you.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Want fight week at the White House is lines getting crossed,
water bottles getting thrown, a fucking congressman getting hit, or
something wonky. That might be a little too much of
a risk for everything else going on. So the Chandler
fight probably the safer fight for the reasons you just

(24:30):
laid out.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Do you think it's the main event.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I think there's a really.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Good chance it's the main event, especially assuming you're doing
your regular June pay per view this event and then
International Fight Week a week or two later. This might
be your main event. There may not be a title
fight on this card. Maybe there's one, but let's be honest,

(24:55):
you can build this card around Connor McGregor if you're
confident he's gonna be there, and you can sell a well,
you don't have to sell anything. You just get a
lot of eyeballs turned into the TV and whatever tickets
are available, then they're gonna sell regardless of who's on
this card.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
So yeah, if.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
We get Chandler Connor, I would not be surprising the
least if it's your main event.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
I have an eleven fight card I want to pitch
to you real if you'll indulge me, sure of what
I think should be the UFC DC card. Okay, okay,
we are gonna have a title fight on this card.
It's not gonna be the main event. It's actually not
even gonna be that high up there, people, I'm gonna
give you the biggest card ever, the biggest card in
UFC history, for one man because he wants it, and

(25:42):
we're gonna put on a spectacle like you've never seen
before for CBS, because Connor McGregor is fighting Michael Chandler
in our main event. And then there's another guy that's
been begging to be on this card, and we're gonna
give him the co main event. We're gonna give him
the opportunity. John Jones fights Derek Lewis, because if John
Jones pulls out, I'm throwing Curtis Blades right into that

(26:03):
position and dropping it further down the card. Kayla Harrison,
Amanda Nunia's we're just postponing it. It gets to be
on this card, Kayla Harrison, American Olympian, no more American
than these Olympians, and I think we have to honor
the ones that we have on the roster. So Kayla Harrison,
Amanda Nunia's happens on this card. Hell, she's putting out

(26:25):
the photos. She said the card was no interest to her.
That means it's huge interest to her. She's already back
striking in the lab. Fuck it, We're doing Ronda Rousing
Mesha Tate three. Because if you want to risk your
brain and get in there, I guess we're gonna do it,
and we're gonna give the fans quite possibly one of
the only fights that they would care for with someone
that's still under the UFC roster. Now as we get

(26:48):
through this, we also got to have some American darlings,
and I don't know how we could do this card
without getting Sean Strickland near the White House. So I'm
putting him in a rematch against Israel Attasania because Audisnia,
his coach, Eugene Berman, just came out and said, auDA
Sonia probably has a couple fights left. We need something big,
We need something that interests him. I think that's a

(27:10):
fight he's gonna want to get back. You put it
in a circumstance, in a placement like the White House,
on a mega card. Who cares where it is, because
this is the biggest card ever. Now on top of that,
I'm gonna go with al Jermaine Sterling versus Steve Garcia.
We still have to see how that plays out. Colby Covington,
if he's not facing Charles Olavera, I'd like to see
him on this card. We know Donald Trump loves him

(27:31):
and we can finally see the long awaited meeting between
him and wonder Boy Steven Thompson. Now, these last couple
might not be huge names in the UFC, but Gable
Steveson will be signed to the promotion by then, and
he should take on Lucas Brazinski because at this point
in his maturation, who cares who he's fighting. I'm just
giving you a name from the roster. We continue with

(27:52):
Joe Piper versus armand Petrosian bo Nickel versus Andre Petrowski,
and I close you out with Jimiler versus Landin Vanada
because I talked to Lando this week. He's still got
a couple fights left on his contract. He's coming back.
He's going to head out to California and trained with
the Bloodline team led by Cups Swanson, And in conversation

(28:14):
that Jim Miller fight has been offered to him like
three times. So he said, Man, I would kill to
have that fight anytime. So just me thinking I want
to see Jim Miller on this card. I gave him
of Vanada as an opponent.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
When was Vanada's last UFC fight?

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Man, we're probably going back two three years, but he
said he's still on the roster. He's been in communication
and he does have a run left in his body
now that he's got some things worked out.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
See, he's thirty three, all right.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
His last fight was April of twenty twenty three, so
by that point you would be a full three years.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
And some change since that last fight. That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I don't think you get Rousy on this card, but
and if you want to get into this, we can.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
If you don't, that's fine as well.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
I do think we see Ronda Rousey in an octagon again,
but I'm guessing it's going to be taking on the
winner of Kayla Harrison Amanda Nunez.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
So vile.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Well, I didn't say, I'm just saying I think that that's.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
What we're gonna get. And you know what, I don't
even have a problem with it, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I just are we clamoring to see Rowsey make me
should take tap again?

Speaker 3 (29:37):
I want to know what condition No, no, no, no.
What I am clamoring to know is what condition Ronda
Rousey is in, and if she couldn't get past me,
should take That's all we need to know at this point.
And it's a name that we know. Heck, I've seen
other people throughout that she should be fighting Holly Holme
in a rematch. I'm just like, well, Holly's boxing. You
can't actually make that fight feasible. It's just the amount

(30:00):
of time that Ronda has been off, the amount of
damage that we thought she incurred, how tinny she was
at the end of her career. To just jump her
right into the deepest part of the division makes a
shit ton of financial sense for the UFC, but feels
like you're just asking to get Ronda hurt because we
have no clue what conditions she's truly in. Even retired

(30:22):
boxers come back and have a tuno fight.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yes, And from that standpoint, it does make a lot
of sense, because if Ronda can't beat me Sha Tate
at this point.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
It's a bort you know, as quickly as it starts.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Let me ask you this, since you brought up Holly
home and I don't think this is happening at all.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
But within the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think it was on Jim Rome, maybe it was
on something else. My apologies where it was, but almost
without prompting, Dana started talking about how Holly Holmes camp
shot themselves in the foot by not waiting for the
Rousey remat It just seems so out of left field.
We've kind of heard bits and pieces of the story before,

(31:04):
but it seems so out of left field. You almost
have to wonder if Dana doesn't have an inkling that
Ronda would like to come back and was maybe laying
some groundwork there to get the rematch we all wanted eight, nine,
ten years ago whatever it is now and never got
And maybe the same stakes aren't on the line, but

(31:27):
you might get it in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
Any chance. And I agree with you on everything you said,
but I also just wonder, from the data perspective, is
that the one that got away promotionally where we were, like,
you know, how much we could have killed it at
the gate, at the box office with so minimal amount
of effort or work. The whole story was right there
in front of us. The country was craving it, You
fucking idiots. This was the easiest payday any of us

(31:53):
were ever gonna have. And they were adamant how bad
of a matchup this was gonna be for Holly, and
she took the NISA tape fight. I wonder if it's
just one of the biggest blunders that got away from
Dana that he really feels like he could have controlled
where some of the John Jones thinks. He's like, I
just can't control that, dude, But this one I should

(32:14):
have been able to make this happen. I do like
your theory though, of just paving that driveway to open
up the doorback for Ronda to come in.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Yeah, it will be interesting. I also don't think we
get John Jones on this card. I really don't. And look,
Dana's a businessman first and foremost, and business is gonna
trump anything. But all things being equal, if you can
put together the type of card you want to put together,
I would think there's a little bit of a whether

(32:43):
he'd ever admit it or not.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
A little bit of a I'm gonna stick it to John.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
He fucking drug us around forever on Aspinall retired a
week later. Oh, I'm not retired. I want to fight
at the White House. No, I'm sticking it to you
this time. A lot of things with John I can't control.
I can control this one. I'm not giving you what
you want this time and letting you fight at the
White House.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
If for no other reason than that.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Now, if you are having problems filling out the card
with the caliber of fights that you want. All right,
all bets rough, because again, you're about making money, you're
about delivering spectacles. Maybe then it happens, but I'd be
really surprised if John actually fights on this card.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Okay, so let me rebuild this. Then how about this
for a main card for our UFCDC main card. I'm
going Derek Lewis Curtis Blades is my opener for the
main card. Okay, I'm going Al Jermaine Sterling Steve Garcia
as that next fight. Our feature fight is our Strickland
Auto Sonja rematch. Comin event, it's our women's bandweight title fight.

(33:47):
You go, Harrison Nunez, We finally get this women's story completed,
and your main event ends up being Connor Chandler because
I just don't think they're gonna be comin event, even
with that one title fight on the card.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I would flip Al Joe Garcia with I'd put that
first and put the Blades in Lewis second.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
But yeah, no, I think that's a very good card.
You are.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Look, it's a fantastic card for this. You can do
that without compromising your June pay per view or International
Fight Week. So in a lot of ways, it makes
a lot of sense. I think we get Harrison Nuniaz
well before this though.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Now maybe you get a.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Rematch there, maybe you get Harrison or Nuniez versus someone
else at the White House.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
But I would be a little surprised if.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
We're not getting Kayla and Amanda in December.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
It waits to be announced. I'd like to see that
just throwing it out there because we haven't got it.
If we haven't got it, maybe we postpone it. I'm
like quite sure on that one, but it looks like
we do have something special being brewed there for the
UFC in DC and more than just that. Do you

(35:08):
think this is gonna end up because of the date
they're doing it late June? They've already talked about this.
Yere a stage there, We're gonna have an extra screens
so people can watch out a park, We're gonna have
fan expo. Do you think they end up just saying
this is gonna be International Fight Week?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (35:22):
I don't think Las Vegas will allow that to happen
because of the money that comes in International Fight Week
from a tourism standpoint, and maybe International Fight Week isn't
what it once was when UFC was doing two and
three events in addition to everything else going on, but
the fan expo, the grappling, all the other stuff. There's

(35:46):
a ton of people that come in for that, and
all of those things looks small compared to what they've
looked like years past without a UFC pay per view
culminating the week.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
I mean, look, anything's possible.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
My guess is whatever the deal is with the city
of Las Vegas for International Fight Week would prevent them
from doing an International Fight Week somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Who fights sooner? John or Ronda? I only slightly think John, Well,
what do you say?

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Uh? If Ronda is adamant she ain't fighting at the
White House, I'm gonna say John, not that I think
John's going to be there, but I don't see an
earlier opportunity for Ronda.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
So yeah, I'll go John on that.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
But I think it's it's closer than most rational thinking
people might think.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
I agree, I agree, I agree, And that's wild to
say in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Right, all right, Micah, before we get to this weekend,
you got some fight announcements for US November.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
First, we have a headliner for the UFC one ten
or you Vegas one ten in the Apex, You're gonna
get Steve Garcia versus David Onama. So that's twelve versus
thirteen in the featherweight division. The card is also gonna
see Phil Roe versus Soki yun Oke and Waldo Cortes

(37:18):
Acosta versus Ae Dilia. So two rank fights there announced
out of the first three. Bo Nickel, Ridolfo Vieira, Roman
Copylov versus Gregory Rodriguez all announced for the November fifteenth
UFC three twenty two card. Marco Bulo versus Jose Lunez

(37:42):
is a addition to the UFC Qatar event November twenty second,
Mansor Abdul Malik versus Antonio Tracoli is. In addition to
the December sixth UFC three to twenty three card, Caesar
Almeeda versus Sersee only A Lanschuk and aj Fry versus

(38:04):
Galerme Pat. Yes, the last name is Pat. That is
in an addition to the December thirteenth UFC Vegas one
twelve card, and their rounds out are UFC fight announcements
for the week.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
All right, busy week this weekend.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
We've got UFC in Perth, but we've also got LFA,
We've got BKFC, we got BKB.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Tell us all about it, Micah.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
So let's start off with some bare knuckle. It's a
packed Saturday night over on Vice TV. You can say
see BKB forty six Empire State Brawl Salamakia in New
York Seneca Algary Kurk Casino, So upstate New York. You
get a featherweight title main event, Harold McQueen defending against

(38:52):
Yampierre Rodriguez. Rodriguez three and zero in the sport. The
kid absolute bricks in his hand, just knocking guys dead
left and right, really intrigued to see where he can go.
I feel like the challenger coming in actually is a
big favorite over the champion in this one heavyweight comine event.
A literal name that I didn't think we were going

(39:13):
to see back in BKB. Dylan Rush, who we saw
in that horrendously gruesome fight with Cody East almost looked
like dude lost an eye. Dylan is back and the
elusive moving Hawaiian is going to be taking on the
former champion DJ Linderman, big brawling Midwestern midwesterner, so that

(39:36):
one's interesting and also at super middleweight eight fight Vet
Ryan Jet is going to be welcoming Jesse Ronson to
the Trygne. I know Ronson is his name that you'll
recognize pfl bellatour UFC longtime Combat Sports VT earlier on
in the day. That one's your evening event earlier on
in the day from Manchester the AO Arena in Manchester.

(39:58):
It's BKFC A This one starts at two pm Eastern Time,
headlining the car. This one is crazy for a bare
knuckle fight. So BKFC eighty one main event. Two time
super middleweight Champion of the World James Degal twenty five
to three to one professional boxer clashes with former Australian

(40:20):
boxing champion Matt Floyd Floyd fifteen and one as a
professional boxer. This is crazy good boxers transitioning over to
bare knuckle Now in the co main event, he is
reality TV star turned fighter Aaron Chalmers. He really came
to fame from fighting in Bellator to combat sports fan.

(40:42):
He's back to take on Jack Finch and we do
have a bk FC UK lightweight title fight with Johnny
Graham versus Navid mansor some names that bare knuckle fans
will recognize, like David Ascar and John Chipchase are both
also gonna be our Juno Chipchase are also gonna be

(41:04):
on this card. You mentioned LFA. They debut for the
first time this weekend in Spain. The Tariffy Sports Pavilion
in Santiago Martin will host LFA two eighteen. You get
seven unbeaten prospects across the entire card with an interim
lightweight title fight, because of course, when you're debuting in

(41:26):
a new country, you got to bring a belt to
the occasion. Brazilian Jefferson Nacimento eleven and oh will take
on Sweden's Bassargart Mayakaf, who is seven and one, so
a pivotal one there in the lightweight division. From two
top prospects as BKF or as LFA steps foot for
the first time in Spain. Excuse me, it's BKFC, that's

(41:48):
normally in Spain. So I was sleeping on that one.
So we got a full Saturday slated of other events
around the world. Thought to mention that main course of
your food, which is gonna be the UFC Perth card.
I believe that one is exclusive from our friends at

(42:10):
ESPN plus.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
ESPN plus ten pm Eastern time. Your main card on
Saturday from Perth. Your main event Top seven light Heavyweights.
The third rank light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg takes on number
seven Dominic Reyis.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
Dominic Reyes back in the main event Carlos Olberg. These
may not be the same alluring names of yester year
from once upon a time with the light heavyweight division,
but that doesn't change that the circumstances that the consequences
of a winner loss aren't that prevalent. I mean, it's
a wide open light heavyweight division. We haven't had anybody

(42:51):
that's taken the contendership by storm. We know that we're
about to see the Anka LII of Perreira rematch. That
almost feels like we're to the edge the cliff. Where
does the division go after we have that rematch? If
Pereira doesn't win and ANKILAIAV is just standing over everybody,
we're most likely thinking that the Roundtree Potrosca fight on

(43:12):
the same card will give us our next contender. But
the winner of this fight Olberg and Reyes it's probably
one went away from that position. This fight is so pivotal.
I know it's not the names. They might not have
the allure that they once did, but Dominic Reyes has
had a career resurgence that has flown under the radar.
He was left for dead the four fight losing streak.

(43:35):
The Jones effect was in full process. He is the
first one to break the Jones effect. This three fight
win streak puts Dominic Reyes back in a position of
prominence that I didn't think he was going to reach now.
On the other side, Carlos Alberg is a guy that
was seen being groomed and ordained for this position, a

(43:56):
city kickboxing member coming up with the likes of Israel
Ata Sonya. We know that Volkanovsky spend some time there
Dan Hooker, so he's in a camp with a wealth
of knowledge. He has a good amount of kickboxing experience
to his own right. He had the right people there
to guide his career, to get him the right matchups
came into the UFC, and when you start looking at

(44:17):
the strengths of Carlos Holberg, it's his striking technique. He
can kick, he can punch, and he does it with
great precision. It's not like anything is fundamentally inaccurate. He
has great distant management. That is one of the things
that has made him so destructive to his opponents is
that they have to come in to his accurate strikes,
his accurate counter striking, and he's able to bludgeon them.

(44:39):
The man looks like a mile model. He cuts an
imposing figure, which is an intimidating presence. He also is
able to stick to his game plan because we see
how well he is able to continue that distant management.
But is it distance management and a fight IQ or
is it just really sticking to a game plan? I
think that's the fight aspect of how we evaluate Olberg

(45:03):
is gonna be really put to the test here against
a dominic Rayes, who I think has the better grappling.
Both guys have some of the same issues, though where
the cardio wanes later in the fight. They're both freak athletes,
like huge, massive men. First ten minutes, Oh my god,
that last five minutes, and considering this is a twenty
five minute fight, managing your energy expended to throughout the

(45:25):
fight is going to be also prevalent, which brings in
that experience advantage that Dominic Reyes has. He's been in
main events, He's beat Chris Wyman, He's been in there
with John Jones. This is a guy that has fought
so many minutes inside of the octagon. The experience factor
to me is big in the Dominic Reyes way of leaning.
But we also got to announce that of the two,

(45:48):
the durability of Dominic Reyes still looms as a huge question.
What We've seen him be much more offensively efficient when
he was losing, there was a couple vicious knockouts. He
is the bigger puncher here and I think the more
ruthless finisher of the two. But that's not to negate
that Carlos Olberg. Yes, his last two fights have went
to the decision, but before that he was hurting guys,

(46:10):
So there is a real striker. I feel there are
so many intriguing elements to this fight. I'm sorry I've
taken up so much time talking about it.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Yeah, I don't really know where to go on this
fight now. Betting odd wise, Olberg's a minus one seventy
five favorite, Reyes a plus one fifty underdog.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
So nothing big one way or the other there.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
But you brought up Reyes' career resurgence and after the
Jones fight that was the first of four in a
row that he dropped, and it really looked like the
in for Dominic Reyes, He's put it together, Like you said,
three fight win streak right now.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Meanwhile, Olberg comes.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
In having won eight in a row, so he's certainly
on a huge run here. I like what he does,
but I also love what I I've seen of Dominic
Rayes in these last three fights.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
But when he seems to have put things back.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Together again, you could almost flip a coin here, Micah,
I really do.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
If you want to look up the betting gods, let
me know what those are, but real quick. I do
also want to say that there is a worrisome part
to the fight where I think you could see a
boring fight. Both guys have a tendency to be the
counter striker and where they've been their most effective pulling
the opponent into what they do. I don't know which
guy here is going to be able to outflinch and

(47:29):
outfake the other one into attacking when they don't feel
they need to.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yeah, Olberg again a minus one seventy five Favorite Rayes
a plus one fifty hunderdog damn.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Say, I think it's a much closer fight than that
i'd literally have in the one, you know, one twenty range.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
I think, yeah, I think it's interesting. I'd probably lean
slightly with Olberg, but it would be very slightly.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
If this gets to the decision is it a Carlos
Olberg fight? Do you think that benefits him the longer
this fight goes, because I wonder out the cardio management
and the fact that both of these guys have spectacular
takedown defense leads this to dominic Ray. Is this plunging
power keeps sticking out to me at least as what
could be a definitive factor in this fight. But that's

(48:13):
the same thought of could the Olberg kicking game, keeping
the distance nullify Ray is getting to use that power.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I think it's going to come down to stamina and
you know who can best whether the fight at the
longer it goes, and I don't know which one that
really benefits.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
And we got to bring it up. This is in Perth, Australia.
How much will the travel having to literally go all
the way around the world, the adjustment and acclimation to
the new time zone. What will that do to Dominic
ray Is because it's always the thought process when we're
bringing fighters from other sides of the world into America.
Now it's a hop skipping the drump from New Zealand

(48:55):
to Australia for Alberg compared to the travel that Rays
is having to make.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Well, this is certainly a lot different than training in
the Pacific time zone and going to the Easter time
zone to fight where it's a three hour difference, or
Central time zone where it's two hours, what have you,
what have you. It's halfway around the world. It is
a huge time difference. I don't know how early Reyes
went out there, but certainly that could help negate some

(49:22):
of that. But I don't know that it's ultimately the
deciding factor. But I don't dismiss it either because it
certainly comes into play.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
It's something.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Look, the moment he signed the contract, he knew he'n
have to deal with it. But yeah, it is something
that any Fighterica coming from America over there with that
huge time difference, is going to have to deal with
and you're going to be at a disadvantage fighting in
Australian and New Zealander anyone who's more used to that
time zone.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Dominic Grayis has been in pressure situations before. I wonder
how this pressure is going to affect carless Old. How
much did he absorb from being around atas Sonia during
his championship reign. Because it's not just that this is
your first main event. It's not it's your first UFC
main event, your first UFC Fight Night main event, but
it's a Fight Night main event all the way in
Perth where you are basically the biggest name fighter on

(50:16):
the card. This card is made around you. Besides the
fact that the three letters UFC are attached. Is Carlos
Alberg mentally equipped to handle this situation? That is going
to be an interesting question that we get answered.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah, it'll be interesting for sure.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Well, something else I find interesting, Micah. As we start
to move towards the co main event, this fight is
to Australia what No Cha should have been to Mexico.
With the exception of the opening fight on the card,
every fight listed here has at least one Australian or

(50:51):
one New Zealander. Yes, I get it, it's in Perth,
but you're you've loaded this up for.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
The local audience.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
I like that you're selling it. You know your market.
Sometimes you need these market specific events, especially outdoor fight night.
I feel like when it's a pay per view, when
you're putting Adasania Volkanovski in the top of it, I
don't think you have to be as regionally focused, but
I feel like for a fight night where we're talking
about what are the pieces that really are going to

(51:23):
grab an audience member, I think this makes a lot
of sense the way this card got structured. As we
go into that comin event, you're going to be saying
what when you look at Jimmy crue versus Ivan Erslan
Crewe well rounded finisher ten finishes of his thirteen wins,
this guy has a ton of heart and eleven fight
win streak or an eleven uh. He has eleven fights

(51:44):
In the UFC, he had a major losing streak that
was like three fights a couple draws. There were so
many circumstances that his submission win over Marcine Pragno was
Crew's first win since twenty twenty. I don't know how
he's on the roster, but the UFC stuck with him
through a bunch of valleys and now we saw a

(52:06):
much mentally clear crew in his last performance getting that
submission victory. Where now I've an ersline ten knockouts, huge puncher,
two decision losses so far in the UFC. You wonder
what to make of this fight Erslin. His low volume,
his conservativeness, a lack of real urgency has been a

(52:28):
huge issue with him coming into the UFC, where it
seemed like on the regional scene it was just so
easy for him to knock guys out. He needs to
really have that focus and that intensity because you know
Krew is going to be on fire in front of
his home nation.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
Crewt before getting that win.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
At three eighteen five fight winless streak, two of those
fights were draws.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
I mean, talk about bad luck. Yeah, that's bad luck
right there, man, we.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Know where that was. That was some great starts and
some really bad finishes, my man. I think there was
a ten eight in there in the third round against
him in one of those fights. So yeah, it's been
an up and down for a Jimmy cruit that I
was really high on coming out. A really good technical
boxer who seem to have a handle on the submission game.
I think overall he's more well rounded. But does he
get caught up in a fire or fight here that

(53:19):
could be detrimental to him.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Yep, creup minus two to fifty favorite Erslana plus two
ten underdog.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
The feature fight, you get Jack Jenkins versus Ramon Tavera's
an interesting contrast of styles. Jenkins a more methodical, thought
process guy. If someone's gonna be explosive in coming out
to make this fight raw and aggressive right away, it
has to be Tavarus because I think that's his keys
is to be explosive, to try to hurt Jenkins early

(53:46):
and go for that finish. Jenkins is so technical that
he's a kind of guy that's gonna settle into the fight.
He's gonna have a low output to start. He's gonna
want to see your offense and then he's gonna absorb
it and start to come up and counter. So I
think the longer this goes, the better goes for Jenkins.
But you want to look from a fast start from
Ramon Tavares fight that might be flying under the radar,

(54:06):
but probably the one that gets us most excited. Fucking
Neil Magnie's going all the way around the world to
take on Jake Matthews, and well, Matthew's probably the favorite,
the younger, more explosive athletic guy in this equation. I
think he's the more technical striker, and he's the more
well rounded submission artist. Neil Magni will drag anyone to

(54:28):
the ground and beat the shit out of them if
you fuck around too long. It's an interesting task to
see if Jake Matthews a guy that, again, much like
Jimmy Kruz, had a lot of potential expectations coming into
the octagon. Mixed results have really tempered those expectations. He
was a guy just kind of hanging on in the UFC,
and he's put together a couple of good performances. This

(54:51):
is that litanus test that will beat the shit out
of you if you can't pass it.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Matthew is a huge favorite here too.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
He's a minus three hundred favorite, Magni plus two fifty underdog. Certainly,
I think part of that minus three hundred being in Australia,
Magni coming over from the US at the time.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Difference we talked about earlier.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
That may wind up be being the difference here, just because,
like you said about Magni, he'll he'll drag you down,
He'll he'll do what he has to do. I just
think Matthews is probably gonna be a little too much
for him.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
That's what I would expect at this point with the
decline in Neil Magni. But the moment you really start
to buy in in the demise of Neil Magni is
when he scores a third round TKO from ground and
bound exactly justin Taffa's on this card. I believe he's
going back up to heavyweight. He's taking on a Louis Sutherland,
Sutherland making his UFC debut. We need more heavyweights. That's

(55:48):
why you get Brandau Preknick and Alicia Ellison. That's actually yeah,
we'll see how they actually announced his name, but those
are heavyweights with he combined nine and two rec that
it can be early on in the card. So we
are trying to breathe life into this division that has
been ohshos shallow for so long. We're not kind of

(56:08):
get disrespectful on anybody, but the USC already did that
for us. Loma lock Boome, who I believe is like
number fourteen in the strawweight division. She's getting an unranked
Alexa Tainara should be a fun five. Tinnara twelve and
one a talented prospect, but this fight just opening up
the card. I wouldn't expect this to be the comain

(56:30):
event or something, but a little more respect for a
Loma lock Boome who's been with the promotion for quite
a while.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
It's the one fight that doesn't have an Australian or
New Zealander participating in it. That would be my guess
as why it's placed.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Where it's placed.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
You mentioned that, and that's probably why a lot of hope,
potential and expectations on the six and oh, Michelle Montague
making her debut, we will get to see some thickness
see on this pre Limbs. We've loved saying his name
so far, but he could put it together. Good bet
that Jamie Malarkey versus Rolando ben Dye is going to

(57:09):
be a fight that we'll be talking about, possible Fight
of the Night contender. Two guys that like to strike
off hand. Charlie Campbell versus Tom Nolan is another one
that you could kind of highlight for what could be
fighting for Fight of the night. Those performance bonuses and
a big opportunity here also in the lightweight division for
a Navajo Sterling coming in at seven to zero. We've

(57:31):
seen he's also coming from that same camp with Carlos Alberg,
getting that feature pre limb opportunity in front of his
home nation or I believe he's from New Zealand, but
going down there to Australia right there with Alberg, I
think that's going to be a huge opportunity in his maturation,
with a Ridolpho Blato who's going to give him everything
he wants, a forward pressure guy who's going to be

(57:53):
looking for takedowns, and Sterling will be able to use
his counter striking, so a very good opportunity for him.
I think that we got some fun, exciting fights, even
though there's a lot of names flying under the radar
as the UFC is in Perth this weekend.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Yep prelims seven pm Eastern, ESPN Plus again that main
card ten pm Eastern, also on ESPN Plus.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
If I told you that the winner of this fight
fights for the light heavyweight title by the middle of
the next year, would you be surprised? No, how big
of a fight this one is.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
People, all right, If I told you the winner of
this fight fights for the vacant light heavyweight title by
the middle of next year.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
Would you be surprised it could be quicker than that
if it's the vacant title. If it's the vacant title,
and we're saying the alberg Rais winner is getting the
Roundtree Prochaska winner, you know that that means Alex already
won and he is about to fight Tom Aspinall at
the White House.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Or International Fight Week or yes or somewhere for sure.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Yeah, is that really gonna be possible? We've already said
the words that combine them a couple times, but I
got to bring up this question before it happens. Is
it going to be possible for this mega fight night
to happen and three to four weeks later we get
a International Fight Week pay per view that is worthy
of that title.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
If everything falls into place, Yes, if you're headlining the
White House with McGregor Chandler, you don't.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Have to have a title fight.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
You've got Connor McGregor that say what you want and
it's all fair and I won't dispute it. But from
an attention seeking standpoint, Connor's as big as you can do,
as big as any title fight. And I don't mean
that disrespectfully to any challengers or champions out there. That's
more of a tip of the captain to Connor and

(59:57):
his popularity despite not having fought and seemingly forever.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
So I do think it's possible.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
We don't have pay per views anymore. We have numbered
events that looks like or premium live events, So the
Connor McGregor in necessity to be on pay per view
goes away a lot when we don't have pay per view.
Now you already have this one point one billion dollars
a year you're getting for CBS, So satisfying CBS paramount
is the biggest issue, and putting Connor McGregor on free
TV will freaking wreck everything else going on that night.

(01:00:28):
Pulling that number, so White House, the spectacle Connor McGregor,
it all makes a lot of sense, and it doesn't
hurt anything else that you're doing throughout the year for
these pls or for an international fight Week or anything else.
This is just kind of adding another spectacle onto the table, exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
And you bring up a very good point, and things
have changed a little bit with the paramount deal and
all that you're not beholden to pay per view buys anymore. Also,
and you said three or four weeks later doing the
International Fight Week, you're probably looking at a week or

(01:01:08):
two weeks later.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
So because it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Looks like the white House is going to be June
twenty seventh, you're probably doing an International Fight Week the
week of July fourth. If that's the case, probably no
later than Saturday, July eleventh. So it is a quick turnaround.
And that was my first thing when this was being
talked about, is all right, you're spreading yourself really thin.

(01:01:34):
Either this card isn't going to be that good. International
Fight Week's going to take a hit. Stuff before it
or after it's going to take a hit because you're
doing these big events. But if you book it right,
if everything falls into place.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
It's absolutely doable. You gotta have some things going your way.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
But yeah, and again McGregor sells the white House thing
if that winds up being a part of it, so
I think that makes it a lot easier as well.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Oh, I think there's it's a huge selling point. It's
it'll definitely be something. I'm so intrigued to see how
a lot of this plays out, how it all comes together.
Mostly the fight card. So we'll see how this all works.
I'm sure it's going to be splendid and real quick.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Bringing up this ties into to the White House thing,
I guess. But we were talking about light heavyweight titles
and vacated and possibly and all this.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
John says he wants to fight at the White House,
but if he's really concerned that Tom Aspinall doesn't do
anything for his legacy, the best thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
For John probably is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
The Hara beating Anklia, regaining the light heavyweight title, vacating
the belt, moving up to heavyweight and now, look, a
lot's got to happen, but beating Aspinall, and then you
get John and Alex.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
If it's really all about legacy, and I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
John says he wants to fight at the White House,
but the Bhara fight would be a much bigger legacy builder,
just based on Alex's success over the last three four years.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
It would be huge. It would be massive. I feel
like we are many steps away though, from seeing that
play out where the UFC gives John a title fight.
It's well, the most the biggest question to me is
how does this play out with Daana White and John
Jones agreeing that John takes a fight. To me, it's

(01:03:41):
so confusing because it feels like everything besides Tom Aspinall
is below John. But John's the one that's adamant that
it doesn't do anything for his legacy. So are we
doing a Curtis Blades fight? Are we doing a Derek
Lewis fight? Where is John Jones fighting before he comes
to his senses that he needs the title fight? And
if you do let Alex win the title, he vacates,

(01:04:01):
he goes up, he fights Aspinall. Are you then giving
into John to say, Okay, you're right, Tom wasn't worthy,
here's Alex? Or hey now is Tom worthy?

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Well yes, And look, I don't think John fights before
a title fight. And if you're talking too heavyweight title
fights before that best case scenario, you're probably looking at
the latter part of twenty twenty six, right, So yeah,
that scenario definitely takes the White House out of play.

(01:04:33):
But yeah, I don't think John fights anyone else unless
it is for the title. And yes, the other point
of that equation which you just brought up, I was
gonna come back around to should Aspinall beat Alex then
all of a sudden Aspinall in John's eyes would have
to seem more worthy. I would think so at that
point maybe you could do that fight. But unless I

(01:04:56):
have to because of injuries, because of scheduling, I'm not
bending over back words for John Jones here.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
If I'm the UFC, I'm just not and I don't
think they do.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
I think you've as long as everything plays out, you've
got other options now ankle Ia destroys Alex Aspinall successfully
defends the title. If you're John Jones, at that point,
you may have to accept the fact if I'm fighting again,
I'm fighting Aspinall and there's just no way around this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
He may have to give into that thought process. It
just seems confusing that we could just come back around to, well,
fuck John, you could have just fought Tom anyway. Oh no,
he's worthy. And there's a weird thing of playing out
that now. It kind of has that the UFC has
given into John's demands because they've given him a more

(01:05:46):
worthy opponent, And somehow I feel like there's a part
of maybe cooler heads will prevail, but a feeling that
the UFC somehow wants to stick it to John a
little bit in this equation.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
Again, it's business first, but if you can do the
best business and stick it to him a little bit, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Probably what's gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Look, worst case scenario, you're looking at one two successful
title defenses for Aspinall, and at the way John looks
at Aspinall maybe has changed a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
At that point, you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Have started that that legacy build a little bit, So
then it's not really giving in.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
I think if.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Okay, John, you want to come back, okay Aspinall at
the White House after he beats Gone, that is giving in.
If you're making John wait for a couple of title fights,
I don't think it's quite as much giving in as
it was before.

Speaker 3 (01:06:50):
We'll see how that one plays that. Like I said,
the situation hurts my head, and inevitably it's probably not
gonna matter. It's all gonna work out and we're end
up getting the fights that we wanted just forever delayed,
like what we're talking about with UFC DC, All of
a sudden, we might get Connor versus Chandler even though yeah,
there was an injury, but there's no reason for like
the last two years, why we just haven't got Chandler

(01:07:12):
versus Connor. So one day, Jones versus Aspital may appear
on our door. Even though John may be the age
of Steve amyochicch and it will matter that much when
he finally does fight Tom Aspital.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
It'll be interesting anything else.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Micah, I was just looking it up because it kind
of brought up just kind of grabbed at me a
little bit. Alexa Tayanara a sizable favorite over Loma locked
Boomy this weekend. Guys. That one's surprising lock Boomy four
fight win streak number fourteen in the world. As we said, Tayannara,
she wrecked Molly McCann in her debut, and I'm looking

(01:07:48):
she's a pretty sizable favorite over the UFC veteran. I'm
not saying bet On Lockbaumey. I'm just saying that gives
me some more intrigue about the potential for tayar if
the odds makers are like, hey, we're giving her the
advantage in this one, and not to mention, I think
we kind of undersold it. Cam Roerstyle, who is making

(01:08:10):
a quick turnaround. He just earned his contract last month
in the Contender series. He is an Australian. It was
a spectacular first round knockout, So that guy also huge
amounts of potential on this card. Should you be checking
it out Saturday night, go over to cageminds dot com.
We got a lot going on this week. Got to
talk to LFA lightweight champion Richie Miranda. He's hoping to

(01:08:32):
get to the UFC, get that call soon a six
fight win streak. Also got to chat with UFC featherweight
Danny Silva coming off an incredible fight with Kevin Vejajas,
a fight that probably would have won Fight of the
Night if it hadn't been on one of the craziest
UFC Apex cards we've ever seen. And also got an
interview going up this week with Jessica Borga, the BKFC

(01:08:53):
Women's featherweight champion who will be fighting for the Queen
of Violence title against Christine Faria at bk FC eighty two.
Will be previewing that next weekend, so get on over
to cageminds dot com. It's Cagemindscombat Sports News on YouTube
and Facebook, cage Minds Underscore cs N on x Instagram

(01:09:16):
and talk.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
There you go, there you go, get the show on
X at M m A After Hours.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
You can find me at real Mike Carlisle.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
We will talk to you next week for another episode
of M m A After Hours here on the After
Hours podcast Network.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Love combat Sports. I have a website for you, cageminds
dot com. That's c A G E, D M I
n DS dot com. Fight news from around the world,
in depth interviews, live event coverage covering combat sports for
over a decade. Established in April twenty eleven, that's Cage

(01:10:00):
Mines dot com.