Ep 329: UFC 323 Preview - The Last ESPN PPV. UFC Looks To Start 2026 With A Bang.

Episode 329: We preview the last UFC PPV on ESPN, UFC 323 this weekend. UFC plans to start 2026 with a bang on Paramount+. All the latest news.















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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up everybody. Welcome back to m m A after hours.
It's Michael Carlisle along with Micah frankl Micah.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
How you doing, man, Man, I am awake from the
Turk to fin trip to fan.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Trip to fan. Yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure that's a myth. No, no, no,
I ate so much.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I needed a nap. But I don't know if it
was the Turkey, just the fullness the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
It was nice you, Oh, it was a good, good
holiday weekend. No UFC, But UH should probably get used
to that. You think we're about to go six weeks
without UFC, So yeah, I think we should get used
to that.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's freaking wild. I can't actually believe that we're getting
this kind of layoff, So as you bring it up,
that means most likely we're gonna have like twenty eight
thirty six weeks in a row of UFC at a point. Possibly,

(01:08):
That's what I'm excited about.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, show certainly, certainly, Yeah, I could absolutely see that.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, you take three weeks off at the beginning of
the calendar for a schedule that usually has a week
of breaks here and there. We're lucky if you get
the Thanksgiving. There's talk about possibly the holiday calendar changing
this year. Maybe it's gonna run a little later into
twenty twenty six with the late start, But yeah, five
weeks in a row is crazy for the network transition,

(01:36):
and I think it's gonna come into a crazy marathon
on the back end.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I think they're gonna start out hot and try to
keep that momentum going. I also would not be surprised
if you don't have a few more APEX events, which
I'm guessing a lot of people don't want to hear,
but that's an easy way to put on cards to
fill weeks. You're making up time after taking off the
first three weeks of the year, four weeks of the year,

(02:04):
whatever three weeks of the year. So I mean that's
certainly very possible.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
At least the year is gonna start hot as all
can be. To back weeks of pay per view, I'm like,
I know that you were there for three events in
one week. There was a Fight Night, an Ultimate Fighter finale,
and a pay per view, but back to back weeks
of pay per view and across the globe Vegas to Australia,

(02:30):
this is quite the statement coming out.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, it is. And look, I don't know how the
move to Paramount Plus is gonna be, but I'll tell
you this Paramount is doing, I think a phenomenal job
of plugging this on their websites during NFL broadcast, during
college basketball broadcast, during college football broadcast. They certainly seem

(02:55):
to be all in on this. And if you're even
the most casual of UFC fans, if you don't know
they're moving to Paramount in twenty twenty six, you've got
your head stuck in the sand, because it seems to
me Paramount is pulling out all the stops to let
everybody know that they're going to be the new home
for UFC.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
This is the investment they are banking on. The accessibility
will grow the market space. I think they truly are
banking on that lack of pay per view, the second
paywall coming down, that that will increase their consumer their
subscribership or just subscriber base, so you could see it.

(03:37):
And they are putting all four front assault that they
can on the marketing. You said so many different entities
that already get millions and millions of viewers to try
to uplift the UFC to that same starting point. And
as we mentioned, the UFC coming hot out the gates
with the very first announcement, there were I think eight

(03:59):
fights in all that we could talk about that are
announced for this first one, and at least six to
seven of them are consequential starting with that main event.
Iliots Aporia, I guess moving up in weight doesn't mean
you're going to be more active. Well, well, I want
to play. Where in the world is Eliot's Aporia and
Hamza team. I have later, but for right now, justin

(04:21):
Gaechee and Patty Pimblet are going to battle for the
belt thats Aporia just won six months ago.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
They're not even doing that, Micah. They're battling for the
interim lightweight belt. Toporia is not giving up the title,
but he's dealing with some personal stuff and is not
going to fight in Q one of twenty twenty six,
so you get an interim title fight. Like you mentioned
Gaichie and Pemblet. I'm guessing right up until the last minute,
they were hoping to convince Taporia to take this fight,

(04:54):
and they had this as their backup. Now I've got
no problems with this fight unless my name is Armin Serukian.
At that point in time, I'm like, what in the
ever loving frick have I got to do around here?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh? I thought you had more to say besides just
what the friend do I gotta do here? I was
kind of stuck where you said that you're pretty sure
they were trying to convince Ilia. Yeah, that just, deep
down in my soul feels wrong. He's going through emotional turmoil,
whatever these personal issues are. And to throw the thought
into my brain that they could be on the phone

(05:32):
with him at the eleventh hour, Hey, we're about to
sign justin Patty, they're gonna go for an interim title.
Are you sure you don't want either one of them?
I'm sure they were doing it, But that's the cd
under belly of the fight business that we really don't
need to talk about, because that just seems like an ick.
We're just giving the man an opportunity, or you're harassing him,
depending on how you look at it from that perspective.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh, I don't think it's harassing at all, as just
you're the champ. We're trying to book you. Are you
sure you don't want this? Got it? You got stuff
going on? We all got shit going on Ilia, you
sure you can't fight, And I don't think it was
like nefarious or anything like that, but but I think
they were hoping that Tuporia would be able to set
some of this stuff aside and take the fight. Yeah.

(06:15):
I did not mean it that they were trying to
bully him into it, but I'm certain it was their
overwhelming preference that he take the fight. I mean, let's
not be naive about that either.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Oh no, I'm sure they'd like their champions to be active,
but sure some are and some aren't. And I guess
we should start holding the guys that are active in
a higher reverence. That's just my opinion. Activity should garner
that extra exerlon of respect. You take a title and

(06:48):
you hold it for six months, you never defend it,
you watch other guys defend it three times. Maybe we
should garner a little bit more respect towards the guy
that's willing and able and successfully doing it multi couple
times a year. But none of that's the conversation that
we're trying to have right now. Patty and Justin are
booked for an interim title and the most mind bolling

(07:13):
in part about it, which the UFC has done this
in the past. Quite possibly the biggest fight in women's
MMA history is relegated to the co main event of
an interim title. If you add a superstar of Ilia's caliber,
it makes a lot more sense. But I also think
that compounded with the strangeness of this announcement. You don't

(07:35):
have Ilia, it's an interim title fight, and then you're
going to try to market the biggest women's fight of
all time. But don't worry, it's only a co main event.
So I think there's a lot of different elements of
this story that came together and make it feel a
little bit strange. Not to mention, we kind of wondered
why we hadn't heard last week more iyre out of

(07:58):
Patti Er or Justin you figure how to be training
getting ready for January. I expect they all really were
in play and expecting that date for a while. Now,
how does this all come together? There's so many great elements.
I think the fight is the most intriguing one because,
as you said, armins aar Yukian just blasted through Dan Hooker,

(08:23):
and as far as we look at the wins from
Justin and Patty, he's got the best finish the most
recent win of the bunch.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
I can I can only assume if your gun shy
about Serukian in the first place, having him come back
a little short notice probably makes you even more gun shy.
So maybe that's why they weren't interested. What's probably far
more likely. And we talked about the Dana White doghouse
or the UFC doghouse last week on the show. I'm

(08:57):
guessing that's what it is. Seruki is still in that
doghouse and he may never get out. Doesn't mean he
won't eventually get his title fight, but I don't think
they feel like they can trust him.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I know that you might lean on the side of
the business, but the announcement of this fight almost makes
it feel like to me, the schedule is more important
than the fight. We are having UFC three twenty four
this day. We have got to load the cards with fights,
and hey, Eliat, we want you to fight. We want

(09:29):
you to fight if an interim title with your belt
is gonna be on the line on that date, rather
than the thought of and I'm not gonna say that
boxing sits on a high horse here, but there was
a point where they said the most deserving heavyweight title fight,
was you sick Fury, and we're gonna put that on
a date, and if one of them gets injured, we're

(09:51):
gonna move that date because that is the fight to make.
And there's a little bit of where it feels like, Okay,
there is no real problem with a Patty justin interim
title fight, But the fight to make is Ilios Aporia
armins are Yuki, and that is the fight to find
out who the best lightweight in the world is, not

(10:13):
just have a UFC title fight on a date that
the UFC has to fill because of their paramount contract.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
My guess would be perfect world, you had Ilia and
I think we talked about this last week, but you
would have done Ilia Patty on the twenty fourth, and
then Serukian gets winner. This ain't a perfect world because
if it was, assuming Seruki is not feeling the effects
from his last fight, and it doesn't sound like he is,

(10:47):
he would have to be one of these people in
this interim title fight. But here's Geechee, and look, I'm
not knocking Gai Chee here. I think this is going
to be a fine fight. But if I'm Armin Serukian,
I've got to reevaluate some things here. I get it,
you're where I assume you want to be. But if

(11:08):
you've hit your ceiling and they're never gonna let you
break through it, you know, I don't know that you
want to be here.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
It's a hard question to answer because it leads to
what are we doing? Are we looking to see who
the best lightweight in the division, is the best lightweight
in the world. Are we just handing belts to the
people that win fights that we book because we book,
because we're selling tickets with dates that we have in
the works. It feels like a little bit strange because

(11:36):
you look further into it. Justin Gaichee back in the
title picture. We all love Justin Gaechee. That Max Holloway win,
it isn't that far removed UFC three hundred, one of
the biggest fight cards of the year. And then uh,
the most recent recent win is ha Fayel pH Zebe.

(11:59):
We're not talking about a top five win in the
division for Justin Gagee. We're looking at Patty Pimblet, who
respect to all these men, he has not beat anybody
under the age of thirty eight in like two or
three years. Like we are seriously catapulting this man into

(12:20):
title fight off a Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler victories.
I know they're recognizable names, but gosh, they they're not
the caliber of fighter that they were in their title runs.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Ew I'm trying to come up with a good comeback
here other than.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Patty Pimblet. Yeah, gives you the feeling, well that someone
has really been able to captivate the boxing motto and
bring it over to MMA. I'm not discrediting any he
really feels like somebody that his management was able to
navigate in that boxing model. We worked him up in

(13:07):
a certain point, we got him as tools, and then
we started taking out recognizable names. Well, we mitigated the
risk that was coming at us. There's nothing wrong with
what he did. But when you get to saying, how
did this guy get to a title fight without a
recent top five for victory? Like, how does he jump
the apple cart so far?

Speaker 1 (13:29):
And he's probably getting this fight even if Tuporia is
ready to go, so you can't lean on the well,
it's interium fight. We had to scramble. Pimblet was probably
the opponent anyway, So I hear you on that I
will say this, pimblic fresh face in the title picture,

(13:50):
gae chee, it's been a while, like because look, if
you're going strictly about rankings, if I'm Charles Olavera, I
got problems with this as well. But how many times
do we want to see Charles Olavera deserve you know,
and I'm not saying he's not deserving, but fight for
the title?

Speaker 2 (14:09):
I understand, you know, at least Charles Olavera coming off
of a victory. Sure, then that's a weird one to
bring up because his case is actually as strong as
probably the other two, with the caliber and victories coming
off of the main event win. So it's not like
we've seen these guys fight each other to separate the pack.
Besides saying, oh look at armins Aryukin he beat Charles Olivera,

(14:32):
Oh look he beat Dan Hooker, there's seems to be
a lot of concern about an injury that flared up
and took the man out once, and the Dana White
doghouse appears to be a real thing now. I don't
know if that also then says that the Dana White
privilege has also become a certainty because look at who

(14:54):
we're in this title fight. Guys that have promotionally hype
things up, Guys that they have been behind a Justin
Gaechee that, probably, to his detriments, shouldn't have taken the
Max Holloway fight when they said they had to go
fly to his home and sit there in his living
room for twelve hours to convince him to take the fight.

(15:15):
I mean, right, maybe you are in a title shot
just by doing what the company needs you.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, it's I don't have a problem. Well, okay, I
do have a problem. I don't have a problem with
Pimblic Geechee, although I would have booked it differently. My
bigger issue, and we don't have to go deep into
this because nothing's ever gonna change from it. I'm not
a fan of interim titles. If the champ can't fight,
strip him of the title, let him convince him to
give up the title however you want to phrase it,

(15:45):
and crown a new champion. And in the case of Taporia,
all right, he's dealing with some personal stuff. Hey, give
up the title when you come back. You're first up.
You know, I'm cool with that, And I bring that
up because that gets us into something. You brought up
ale of minutes ago the Komain event, the biggest women's
MMA fight of all time or not, whatever, whatever. I

(16:07):
don't care necessarily that it's the komain event. Honestly, that
makes sense. Where it starts to lose making sense is
when it's a comin event in favor of an interim
title fight. If you do away with interim titles, you
have Tapouria voluntarily give up the belt or you strip

(16:30):
him of the belt. It's a lot easier, I think,
for those who have an issue with Nunez Harrison being
the komain to get it all right, biggest women's MMA fights,
komain event, but it is a damn title fight at
the top. A lot of people don't look at interim
title fights the same way they look at actual title fights,
and I think that's really, at least for me anyway. Micah,

(16:52):
where the issue comes in with the Komain event.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
You're totally right. You're totally right. The UFC has done
this before. I can't bring up the actual number events. Sorry,
I probably should have had that locked and loaded. But
I've seen other references online where interim title fights have
headline over women title fights it's just what the UFC
has done. It's been in the past, this though, feels different,
biggest one of all time. Amanda Nunias either knocks out

(17:17):
Kayla han Andrison or Kayla Harrison puts Amanda Nunia's on
her back and probably ground and pounds are all the shit.
This is gonna be amazing, assuming that they both can
healthily make weight and move it to the cage, probably
the last time we ever see one at one, if
not both at bada weight. There's so much at stake
for the greatness of this division and the future of it.

(17:38):
I'm stoked about that one. I just want to be
happy about the fight. It has odd ass placement, with
the stakes so much, supremely more important than the previous
fight than the fight that we're talking about as the
main event. But if you want to talk about banda
weights that don't make sense, at least we get the
fight we want here. How the hell are we getting
Umar and Nurmaga Metov and Sean O'Malley on the same

(17:59):
motherfucking car with same dudes calling for a title fight
and not fighting each other. This is simple math. You
both want it, go get it?

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Oh wait, no, no, no, no song.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Your dong's in a fight, O'Malley and the figy Eto's
getting Umar Nirma got met off, and we're supposed to
believe that both of them fighting down instead of each
other is more important than if they would go at it.
What is happening here? Why they're not fighting? I know
you don't have an answer. I'm sorry, I just throw
that out.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
No, no, it's fine. You build the you build the anticipation.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't know what they're both like already down down
against Marath. Assuming that what works out this weekend, what
else is there to do besides make the biggest fight
possible the day a white model, Why he needs to
go in a box and we're gonna make the fights
the fans want to see and the biggest fights possible.
This one was a layup and you just air balled

(18:55):
it and went with two guys.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
On the bench. See I don't think he careballed it.
I hear you. And there's no guarantee you get where
you want to get, but you build the anticipation and
then when you do book it help. Maybe there's a
title along the line, Maybe it's for next for the title,
it's even bigger. I hear you, and I don't. I
don't disagree with you, but I think I see what

(19:18):
UFC is trying to do there. I want to go
back real quick to Harrison and Nuniez because I want
to speak as honestly as I can, but hopefully not
come off as an asshole here steaks on titles or not.
Geischie and pimblet is a much easier sell than Harrison Nunez.

(19:41):
You can like that, you cannot like that, but I
believe that to be a fact. And ultimately that's the
reason that your comaine in Geichie and pimblet Or are
your main event, even though that that's an interim title.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
And twenty jump go ahead, go ahead, Amanda's already retired.
Kayla is on death's door every time she cuts weight,
and Patty has been groomed to be a mini McGregor
because he's never gonna hit McGregor by rates, but a
minie McGregor in regenerating attention from the European market. He
has been groomed put front row almost immediately out of

(20:20):
VIP opportunities in front of the media to have this
kind of accessibility. He is a much bigger star in
the UFC universe through that grooming.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, and I think also you're setting up other things
with Jay, with Getchee and Pimblet. Almost certainly the next
fight for the winner will be to Poory and you're
reunifying those belts. Let's be really honest. I don't think
Amanda nuniy has fights again after this fight. Now. It's

(20:53):
possible if she wins and there's enough interest and money
in a rematch, she comes back for that, but I
kind of get the feeling she's one and done. I
don't know for a hell. Okay, Harrison wins, I don't
know what the hell's next for her that we haven't
already seen. That's interesting, it makes sense. So again I

(21:14):
think the story is better. But again I think above
all else, they just felt like, hey, we can sell
the shit out of Gaegee and Pimblet. It's harder to
sell the women, no matter who they are, even if
this is arguably the biggest women's MMA fight of all time.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Oh yeah, it's definitely harder to sell the women to
sell divisions that you haven't put any attention into. Growing
from what we can tell that you haven't relegated from
new Talent that you're not showcasing all the time. So yeah,
it's a lot easier to sell one of the deeper
divisions in the world, to sell the fighters that you've
already put for a front that you're constantly putting in
front of media, that you're constantly putting in promotional videos.

(21:57):
I think those guys are a lot easier to sell
when it's Gaechee, when it's Patty. You don't see Kayla
and Amanda out those kind of opportunities in those kind
of videos.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
We talked a second ago about Armin Serukian and getting
screwed over here and a raw deal. Ain't nobody in
this scenario getting a more raw deal than Waldo Corteza Costa.
My man fights and wins, takes a nasty eyepoke, comes
back on stupid ass short notice, flies halfway around the

(22:29):
world to take a short notice fight and wins. It
wanted to get on this weekend's pay per view that
they couldn't work that out, Hey, don't worry, We'll book
you on three twenty four against Derek Freakin Lewis. If
I'm Waldo cortez A Coasta, I'm like, ah my aspinaut.
I mean my iye, I can't fight. No, no, my

(22:53):
man's gonna get murdered by Derek Lewis.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
That's a possibility. But it's also a possibility that if
they booked him against Diotain Omeida or Curt his Blades,
that he was just gonna be fending off takedowns all night.
And we don't know if he ever gets to uncork
a fastball. So I'm guessing from his perspective, when the
any of those names, the one that you're gonna be
most likely to stand in trade with is the one

(23:17):
that he selected. Kind of surprised that they didn't maybe
have him all the way down to February in Tayito
i Vasa. But out of the three up ra Echelon names,
it's the best one I could see.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Look and in all honesty, and I know I just
said Derek Lewis is gonna murder him. Cortesa Closter could
absolutely win this fight. Derek Lewis is where he is
for a reason. When he's on his game, he looks
as good as anybody. When he's not, he doesn't really
look like he wants to be there. He looks uncomfortable
and We've seen that in fight, so you know, I

(23:51):
guess it will depend on which Derek Lewis shows up
for Waldo Corteza Costa.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
That's the ebb and flow, that's the yin and the
yang of the Derek Lewis. Sometimes he's a world beater
and sometimes he's already kind of mentally defeated. It feels
like before he walks in the cage and he's just
there to get it over with. In the women's flyweight division,
we also got the former champion, two champions going at it.
It's rosanami Unis and Alexa Grosso. This kind of feels

(24:20):
like a pivotal moment to me for Grosso to keep
in the division.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Probably probably you know what, when we talk about that
Dana White privilege or where there's certain people that the
UFC just can't wait to promote.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
I love you Geene Silva, how the FuG is he
fighting up a number six against Arnold Allen? Like there
are certain flyweight featherweights we know that I would was
dreaming of them getting this fight, and a guy coming
off a loss is the one that's going to get it.
Not to mention, I wonder how much how many calls

(25:04):
it took to Arnold all And to remind him that
he was a featherweight after publicly announcing he didn't think
he could make the way and he was going to
go to lightweight.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Uh, yeah, that's a good question. Look, I don't hate
the fight. How we got to it? Yeah, I hear you,
but I mean it's it's a good fight.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
If your armin's are Yukian and you're reassessing your career opportunities,
are you having Mosar Evylov jumping the car with you
to go on that? You know?

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Maybe? Well yeah maybe maybe?

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Because now a week later, a week later, we are
talking about seven days people. Yeah, we get UFC three
twenty four on the twenty fourth of January, the thirty
first Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy Sydney, Australia Alexander Volkanowski in a
rematch that no one saw coming against Diego Lopez.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Not no one.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
We kind of speculated this was a possibility because of
their favoritism towards him.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
But wow, was ev you la? Is he good to go?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
We don't know about that one, but you know who
is good to go is l Ron Murphy. And it
felt pretty damn sure of like a world title fight
after he done crowned Aaron Pico, because Aaron Pico was
gonna take on Evy Lov in a number one contender fight,
so we all felt like and no one denied that
that then inserted la Ron Murphy into a number one
contender fight. We know that he would have to do

(26:41):
something spectacular and we're talking about a decision machine, so
it was really unlikely he was going to do it.
Oh wait, knockout of the year, spinning back elbow started
the spinning back elbow. Crazy that it's taken over twenty
twenty five. Let's thank l Ron Murphy for that one.
And you know I was gonna work that one in
and not to mention, now we're getting a rematch because

(27:03):
Diego Lopez fought down and Beatjeene Sel a incredible fight,
but I did not think that was the number one
contenders fight going into it.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
No disrespect to Diego Lopez, who I like a lot,
But if Revulov wasn't available for whatever reason, Murphy, like
you mentioned, hell, I'd rather have seen Yayar Rodriguez.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
He is not available. He is definitely sideline with.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, true, I mean I get I don't hate on it,
but all right, so we look, I realize if you're
a fighter, you can't go into it this way. But
if Lopez loses again here, he's not sniffing the title
shot certainly as long as Volkanovsky's around, and he's probably
gonna have to do work to get his way back

(27:54):
up there. Anyway. I mean, you better be damn sure
you're ready for this.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
There's a lot of speculation could be the retirement fight
for Volkanovsky and the issue with Rodrigi is the issue
with Lopez. Been there, done that, Yeah, and they're done that.
Volk wants to go out on a high note, adding
a name to his resume, adding something that adds legacy,

(28:19):
Taking the streak of Murphy, taking the oh from evy Lov.
I think both of those would have added to the legacy.
We're a second win over a guy that he'd just beat.
We're gonna look back at him and be like, why
they run that right back? Oh, we're not really sure
why they ran.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
That right back. Yeah. Look, all that being said, I'm
looking forward to the fight. I think it'll be great,
but yeah, I don't. Yeah, I can only assume for
whatever reason, Heavylov wasn't ready and for whatever reason, not
that he's in the doghouse like Serukia, but Laron Murphy
was it the guy they wanted to put in there.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Steve Garcia has been added meant to me that he
believes Volkanovsky is a much diminished version of the great
that we saw ruling the division. It's kind of been
Steve's opinion that the next guy will be the guy
to finish off this story. So maybe we get to
just see that brawling implement that Diego offers. If he's

(29:21):
able to utilize the wrestling and reverse stuff off Volkanovsky
a bit more now that he's been working with Oklahoma
State Wrestling for quite a few years, maybe that makes
the difference and Lopez is able to get one back.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
The other thing buried in these announcements. Micah and the
fans should take note, but I think it's probably more
for the people covering the events. New start times for
everything so early preelambs, PRELAMBS, main cards will all be
starting an hour earlier.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Now, yay, I'm excited, and the night a little bit earlier.
I mean it always, even back to the days when
I was gonna go out after an event. It always
just felt so late getting out to get your night started.
So just even in a benefit economically for the city

(30:17):
that they're visiting, getting everyone out to the streets, to
the bars for the after party an hour early, I
think it's going to be beneficial for the economy, not
just US journalists.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
And if you're looking at this from the paramount plus
side of things, this is a little more attainable for
fans on the East Coast, which the events aren't ending
until after midnight yet, you know, so it's bad.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Have you seen that they are starting some East Coast
NBA games on Peacock late as ish?

Speaker 1 (30:46):
That's rough, man, that's rough. But yeah, no, in all serious,
I like this. I think it's better for the fans,
especially the further east you go here in the US. Yeah, so,
you know, didn't get all the attention that the fighting
out does got it understandably so, but that is worth
pointing out as well.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
I just wonder how that's gonna affect fight nights and
what we're going to see with the international events. We
do know this will be for the pay per.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Views, correct MIC at the end of an era this Saturday,
the final pay per view on ESPN Plus for UFC
at UFC three twenty three in Las Vegas t Mobile Arena,
a pair of title fights at the top of the car.
Before we get into that, I realize we still have

(31:31):
another ESPN event to go. We've got a fight night
next week, but the last pay per view for ESPN Plus.
You want to reflect on the ESPN era a little.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
It was cool. We had some huge fights ESPN Plus
that at least fricked one of us over a time
or two and threw us out. I've had playback issues,
but for the most part, I have appreciated all the
fight nights on the app, the accessibility, every thing that
the partnership has brought to us. We've definitely had some

(32:03):
innovation with graphics, innovation with how many logos the UFC
can fit around there. We saw innovation with stats other
things that I don't know if it comes to grips.
If you don't have the infusion from the ESPN side.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, some of that probably would have happened anyway, but
I agree with you that at least some of it
probably does it. I don't think we're going to notice
much of a change, and we can talk about more
about this as we get closer to the paramount debut,
But you know, with UFC handling their own production, other

(32:41):
than you know, there may be some things they decided
to upgrade, but I don't think you're going to see
a big difference with the move as far as when
you PLoP down on your couch and turn it on
and start watching the fights.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
The biggest question, and it's been the questions since the
UFC move from Spike to Fox, how much bigger can
we grow the audience and how many return customers can
we generate? And that's gonna be the biggest challenge. Do
we lose people? Does this move gain people? Like you said,
there's been a full fledged advertising push on many outlets

(33:20):
that draw millions of viewers on sports, but does that
change from the ESPN model and hopefully the second paybal
coming down, I think does at least help the number
of counted eyes that will be.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
On this Yeah, I think it's going to be really
hard to tell. Now it's not gonna be hard to
tell the number of eyeballs that tune into an individual event,
but instead of selling pay per views, you're selling paramount subscriptions.
Paramount's pretty popular streaming platform, so I don't know that

(33:55):
we see a massive jump in the number of subscribers.
Now maybe we do no disrespect to Paramount, but it
ain't quite Netflix either. I think it's a safe that
more people have Netflix probably have Amazon. But you know,
with the model being different, you're not as concerned about
selling events as you are getting subscribers. But you could

(34:15):
always fall back on well, a lot of our fans
are any subscribers.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
I think it's gonna be I'm not sure if we're
gonna feel the difference. Like you said, arenas are still
going to be backed. Numbers about viewership will still be
speculated between streaming and traditional events. When we do get
those townpole events that may feel different. That may be
when we feel the difference. The one QI year or

(34:43):
one per Q event on CBS that may turn out
to be something different to where I don't know if
ESPN Fight Nights really felt that much different, whether they
were on the road or in the a AX or
on ESPN Plus or an ESPN. I think that's the

(35:04):
biggest aspect that will feel is possibly those once a
year or once a quarter big events on CBS may
feel grander than what the ESPN events did.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
The other thing. And I don't know if this matters
as much anymore or even if it's an issue, but
I'm assuming while ESPN is not gonna suddenly start ignoring
the UFC, maybe they're scaling back their coverage a little
bit as far as Sports Center and things like that.
But having said that, like not to sound like an

(35:38):
old man, back in my day, watching Sports Center over
and over and over again was the thing. I don't
know if it's that much of a thing in twenty
twenty five going into twenty twenty six as it used
to be. So even if you're not getting quite the
love from ESPN, you know, on Sports Center and things

(35:59):
like that, does that even matter as much anymore.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
As far as the ESPN side of it goes, unless
you have a show that they allow to hang around
that still covers MMA, which I expect will get dissolved.
I don't think they're gonna cover the sport much at
all or talk about the UFC really, because think about
how they treated boxing matches that weren't on broadcast networks

(36:28):
associated them where we just got the one frozen still
and the real quick recap that's what most of us
were used to for a lot of ESPN box and coverage.
Or maybe I could just go a little shorter with you.
You remember what happened when the NHL deal did not
include broadcast on ESPN. Yep, motherfuckers did knock over shit
about hockey.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
True, and that was all that was my first thought
as well. But ESPN didn't have any problems Thanksgiving Day
in the middle of three NFL games, going on crazy
on their website about the three twenty four and three
twenty five announcements. So I mean, so, I don't know. Yeah,
but again, website and Sports Center coverage may be a

(37:12):
little different. Yeah, I don't know, but yeah, certainly from
the UFC standpoint, huge getting a big payday from paramount paramounts,
putting a lot of eggs in the UFC basket and
hopefully that all works out. But three twenty three, this Saturday,
Tmobile Arena in Vegas, the final pay per view on
ESPN Plus, and we get two title fights at the

(37:32):
top of the card. Let's start with the main event,
micah bantam weight title on the line. The champ Morob
Devilish Philly takes on the number three ranked Peter Yarn
this card.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
Think about it. We have probably at arguably worst, the
number two bantam weight all time and the number two
flyweight all time in MMA.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, most people.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Might look at this from a historical perspective and say,
holy freaking cow, this is stacked. Not to mention I
believe there's a there's a former world champion. Oh yeah,
another former world champion. Oh wow, a two division world champion.
Wait wait, wait, triples triple C. Excuse me, the champ

(38:18):
reigns triple C. Not to mention a good number of
ranked competitors for the undercard, Well, let's not under sell
that while we're thinking about the big things to come
from the future. It's not like the UFC just kind
of gave a middle finger to ESPN walked it out.

(38:40):
This is not the guns blazing that a Patty pimblet
brings with you from a kind of charismatic standpoint. But
we got two of the greatest fighters all time on
this card, and Mirole dulash Philly I could possibly say
he loses this fight, I still think he's my fighter.

(39:02):
You know what, That's interesting. I hadn't thought about that.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
But yeah, theoretically he could still be Fighter of the
Year even with the loss. Now, yeah, I'm guessing that
ain't the way he's looking at this, But uh yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
This is a rematch March twenty twenty three. And the
biggest problem for Peter Jan how much different are these
two individuals, and if they are different, which one has
taken the most steps towards evolving their game. I think
both answers lie in mirob Dwallas, Philly and the positive.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
I I no disrespect Peter Yan, but yeah, I'd kind
of have to agree with you on that.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Five wins since they met three title defenses, Yan is
three wins, three decisions. It was Song, it was fig Y,
it was McGee. Well, he did shut down the takedown
attempts from all of those guys. There's a different beast
when we talk about the cardio weaponizer in the machine

(40:06):
Marob du Wallash Philly. He just does not stop coming.
This is someone that hit Yan with eleven takedowns the
first time they met. In his last fight, he hit twenty.
He's had forty three takedowns since the last since they fought.
This is a man who applies this running gun NonStop,

(40:26):
overwhelming offense. This is like make them take him in basketball,
and you just keep hitting them, and you keep hitting them,
and you keep hitting him. And the problem for Peter
Jan is he's an analytical technician who I'm sure will
come in in a better physical shape. I believe we've
started to see some apps s pop out of him
in the last couple fights, understanding that he has to

(40:47):
take that cardio to the next level to be able
to keep up with a Mirob Duallish Philly. The problem
is he's still a slow starter, and it's not like
he has shown this increased volume to us in his
last couple of fights. He is still the same Peter
Yan And well, that might be one of the five best,
but Adam waits in the world and he's an absolute killer.
I don't know what changes in this matchup.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah, and if you start slow against Morob, you're fighting
from a deficit right right out of the gate and
you're never catching up. Now, something wonky could happen, I guess,
and you can knock him out or get him down
and submit him. But yeah, good, good luck with all that.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
I think you have to come with an ephesis on
explosive offense from the get go. You're not gonna run.
You're not gonna win a marathon with Morab. I think
you have to try to go for both almost immediately.
It's kind of gonna be prevalent for Peter jan and
I think to have an incredible warm up for them
to get him going in the back. I don't know
how he's still gonna feel though, having to analyze Morab.

(41:48):
The thing about Morab and what I've heard from Rielano interviews,
is that we saw it. We saw it in Salt
Lake City when he held y'all Jose Although against the
fence for fifteen minutes, there were moments in the climb
where Morab was playing it safe. There's a thought process
that he's not playing it is safe. Now. We've seen

(42:10):
him just relentless. We've seen him charismatic. We've seen him
almost dramatic against Umar Nurmagen Metap, We've seen him aggressive.
How does that change the formula now where a guy
that was already spamming offense is now putting the finishing
emphasis on it because he's willing to take the risk
because he's already accomplished his life goals. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Now, look, there are a couple of fights on the
early prelims that they're not odds on yet, but would
you be surprised? And it ain't even close. The main
event has the biggest favorite and the biggest underdog on
the entire card. Morob is a minus four to eighty
five favorite. Yan is a plus three p seventy underdog.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
You know, I'm not too surprised because I don't know
if people know what's a mean mansor Abdul Malik him
and versus Antonio Trikoli. I thought might possibly hit that
big odds spread, but for most of this car and
it's actually very well matched. I could see a lot
of pickups here and the one guy that you would

(43:16):
focus in on, You're like, I can trust Morab. I
feel like at this point you can trust Morab that machine.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
He's that sturdy car.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
You go out each morning, you turn him on and
he's gonna work. We know what he is going to do. Now,
you are right. There are losses on that record. He
has been caught before and Peter Ian is heavy handed.
But outside of that first five minutes, every minute that
they're in that cage, you're more and more confident in
Arab drowning his opposition.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Twenty twenty five for Arab decision unanimous decision win over
Umar and nurmagametof submission of Sean O'Malley, unanimous decision of
Corey Sandhagen. You lock in that fourth win. There's no
denying he's Fighter of the year. I don't necessarily disagree
with what you said earlier either. Even if he loses,
he might still be the freaking fighter of the year.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
And normally the activity would be in question. How many
times can you step in the octagon, how many continuous
camps can you have before it comes back to bite you.
I seriously believe that Morob Dwallers Philly is a different individual.
If you hear the accounts from Syndicate Mma, he was

(44:31):
sparring a full five rounds the day of the fight.
They said he sparred all Joe five rounds to get
his warm up in at the arena and then went
out and fought Corey Sanjagen for five rounds. We're talking
about fifteen rounds in one day, and then went back
to the gym on Monday and was ready to spar again.

(44:54):
I would be concerned, but I don't know how you
match this. It's a freaking nature. We're watching.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
He is a freak of nature. And not only that,
but two of those three fights going full five rounds
this year. It's not like he took a lot, especially
in the Sandhagan fight. He may have taken any damage
he might could have fought the next week if it
had been needed. Yeah, he doesn't take a lot of
damage even you know in these fights that go the

(45:21):
full five rounds.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
He's just a machine out there. And you're right that
Cardio is second to none. He is an absolute animal. Yeah,
somebody else i'd be concerned. At some point in time
this maybe does catch up to him. I don't think
he's gonna catch up to him on Saturday though.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
It's kind of the same question that we asked in
the co main event. You have Alice Chandre Pantosia on
an historical run of his own, defending the flyweight tile,
getting to the rarefied air where you have separated himself
from the pack, and only Demetrius Johnston lays ahead of him.

(46:00):
He defends the title against Joshua Van. Joshua Van was
a prospect that I don't think I shut up about
for quite a few months. We saw him live in
a place where he faltered against Charles Johnson, and he
has so far rebounded going on a tear of improbability.
The Texan of Mayemar descent, who has this lethal boxing,

(46:25):
incredible power, can scramble like a motherfucker, is now jumping
to the front of the pack. And the biggest question
is is it too much too soon? He really had
nowhere else to go here, but we've seen that Pantosia
has just been another level from the Brandons.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, to answer your question, is it too much too soon?
The easy answers we'll fight out on Saturday. I think
it might be, but we'll see on that. But yeah, Pantosia,
you know you're selling point when we started talking about this.
You may have your co main event two of the
all time greatest champions in their respective divisions. Very hard

(47:06):
to argue that. And in the case of Alexandre Pantosia,
you line him up for him and he just knocks
him down. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
He has a blast double leg, he has trips off
the cage. You cannot show your back. We saw that
Van's ability to scramble was key and pivotal from defeating
Brandon Royval. I think Royval went in there with a
wrong mentality. I think that Pantosia is coming in with
a dominating mentality, and I think that he is truly

(47:38):
he feels almost once I've heard more comments from him
that there's a necessity to defend the title against Koiji Harragucci.
So I don't think that he's looking past this fight
in a sense that he doesn't respect Moreno, but I
think he's motivated in what can be ahead of him

(47:58):
rather than the josh Van that's in front of him,
because it's an all time fight for his legacy and
for someone that help him get where he is. There's
a lot of danger, I think though, for Pantosa because
we've seen that chin cracked and we all just keep
wondering when is it going to be that moment because
he has had this brawling style. But much like the

(48:19):
main event, every moment we're in there longer, unless Joshua
Van's just getting off, it's gonna be an uphill climb
for him every moment that we're in there, because it
feels like the pressure of Pantosia will be wearing. They're
both forward moving fighters, but Pantosia literally takes a step
back for No. One.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
He takes a step back for no One to play
devil's advocate. And just to look at this from all sides,
are you at all concerned that Pantosia's last two fights,
the second round submission of Kayasa Kira, the third round
submission of Kaikara France, We're against a guy who maybe

(48:57):
shouldn't have been there, and then a guy who may
have been broken.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
No, no, you're doing what you should do. You're getting
out of there. And they came in with the requisite
resumes at that point to have earned those title fights.
We were all sold that oscin car was such a
big flyweight, he had a punter's chance. He had to
win over Horagucci. We did not know how horrible the
transition to America would actually go for him.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yeah, No one. And that's not even if you believe
that it's not Pantosia's fault, but if you're looking at
how that equates to this fight. You know, the fight
before that was the Ursic fight, which did go the distance,
and then you get that roy Val Moreno Perez roy

(49:45):
Val again series of matches. My point was maybe the
Moreno fight might be the last time that Pantosio was
really tested. Is that because of the cop addition, is
just because he's that damn good No.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
I think it's both, Okay. I think that the Moreno
fight we saw the most extreme version. The rey vaalpfight
pushed him, But since then we saw lesser guys that
he was able to take advantage of and in circumstances
where he grew and learned from it to get to
the point where he's just upping the game. Now. The
finishes are coming faster literally as you say it, because

(50:26):
he's taken out the top of the division and now
we're dropping down looking for challengers. So he's kind of
doing what he should be as we are having to
just pull up new contenders.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
YEPU. Pantosia, by the way, a minus two thirty eight
favorite for those interested in such things. Vanny plus one
ninety five underdog Brandon Moreno's name came up in our
co main conversation, and look there he is fighting in the.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Feature fight, and I believe is he an underdog or
is this a pickam fight?

Speaker 1 (50:56):
They're both favorites, but he's a minus one zero two
who his opponent is minus win eighteen, so yeah, he
would be the lesser favorite.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
The former world champion back wins off of er seg
al Bosi. We've seen Moreno in big places before, five
round fights, all the spotlight. This is a feature fight
in three rounds. Talk about going to be able to
let the fur fly and not have to worry about

(51:27):
his cardio For an already aggressive fighter, Tatsuga Tyra lost
two roy Vall and then was able to rebound nicely
with hung stung Park, who came in on last minute
notice and he submitted him and he dominated a foe
that he was able to really take advantage of who

(51:48):
Since then Park, we've seen his grappling is not of
UFC level. I guess we're assuming here from the betting
odds that the bottom has fallen out on Vall, because
for my eyes, he's the better striker, he's the better wrestler.
He should be able to box, sprawl and brawl in

(52:08):
reverse and keep this fight standing. You got to anti wrestle.
We have seen Tyra jump on the back of Alex
Vedez and create a knee injury. This guy is a
very very dangerous crappler. From my eyes, Moreno's a better fighter,
more well rounded skill set, has had the higher wins,

(52:28):
has taken out the better competition. I am surprised to
see it at pick him and to not see Moreno
getting the respect that he deserves for having that championship pedigree.
Do you think that we've seen a diminished version because
I kind of think under safe slide we've still seen
the guy adding tools together. We forget how young Moreno is,

(52:49):
just how long he's been in the game. I don't
think he's done yet. I don't think he's done yet.
I think maybe there's some questions about the wear and tear.
I mean, he is just thirty one. Yeah, the odds
are a little interesting on that. I'm a little surprised,
but again it's it's not like he's a huge.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Underdog or anything. That they're both in the minus. I
get it, but you gotta favor one person over the other.
I think I still lean Moreno in here. Honestly, I
don't know that three rounds doesn't work against Moreno. He
might be better suited for a five round situation. I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
You think what he needs to analyze get going, he
might just be able. He'd be able to manage those rounds. Definitely,
he would have the advantage of knowing how to use
his cardio in this scenario. I just think that he's
the more damaging offensive fighters. He'll be able to get
his striking going first, and you know the mission how
to be all camp. Do not allow this vanagrab a

(53:47):
hold of you punch him in the face. That is
also probably the same kind of thought process that Hayden
Talbot should have as he takes on Henry Sehudo. Who
doesn't it, say, Tommy, when you heard this again? But
I just went silent because we didn't even need to
start it. He says he's retiring after this one.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Yeah, we've heard this pot. Look, let's be honest, whether
it was just time catching up to him, whether it
was the three year layoff, the return is not gone.
Well now, look, there's no shame in losing the Aljamaine Sterling,
Morob or Sagya Dong. But I don't feel like he's
looked good in any of those fights, to be honest.

(54:30):
That now, the Sterling fight was a split decision. Uh
what was the wonkiness? That was it? The ipoke against
you Dong? I believe so, yeah, yeah, and he wasn't
able to continue. So I mean, maybe it's not as
bad as zero and three in the return, but I
just don't feel like we've seen the same Sahudo that

(54:52):
we saw before. And if that's the case, and if
his heart isn't one hundred percent into it, yeah walk
away now, man.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
He's to wrestle in this fight to be victorious. Peyton
Talbot has shown off his striking skills and the one
fault that he had was against Hi Ni Hiloni Barcelos.
Barcelos was able to implement the wrestling what we saw
in the fight against Felipe Lima. Lima was not able
to do and replicate the same such game plan. Looks

(55:20):
like Talbet might have worked some of the kinks out
in his takedown defense. It feels like for a guy
that the UC has really been trying to build and
trying to promote, that starting them off with the thirty
eight year old victory might just be the plan of success.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
I think this is set up for Peyton Talbot to
be successful and yeah, get him to that next level.
So Hudo does come in as a plus two thirty underdog,
Talbot is a minus two eighty five favorite and this
one will kick off the pay per view portion of
the card with pair of top eleven light heavyweights, Yan

(55:58):
Blohovich and bogged In. What do you think about this one, Micah?

Speaker 2 (56:03):
I think that it was really hard for me not
to slip and say Patty Talbot huh wow. Sorry, sorry sorry.
It was gonna be down that road when we're talking
about beating down thirty eight year olds who might be
over the hill, and you're just adding names to your
resume like they're kind of doing something to build your
record in a certain kind of way. Not a promotion

(56:26):
with the best fight the best. That's hoho. We cock
of what I'm saying to myself. Yan Blohovich is old
but tested, powerful and sturdy. Like the guy is usually
granted his chin, he doesn't get knocked down. Polish power
has come through a couple times. Guskov, we did see
him jump on a guillotine. But from what we've seen,

(56:47):
like Pahovich has been able to go to his wrestling
and held down Israel Autosania. You would think more well
rounded skills set coming out of Blahovich, but again it's age.
It's when does the rest come come up? How much
slower will he be Guskov hands down? You hate that.
Maybe Behovich is able to pound away with the jab
low kick, but if he's not, the awkward angles are

(57:10):
going to end up catching up with him. And that's
Guskov's whole game. I'm either coming over, I'm coming up,
I'm coming straight at you. But there's a lot of
awkward angles from a guy with hands at the hips
who is pretty much untested. I don't know how you
feel about beating Nikita Krylov, but again, there's not much
death in this light heavyweight division, so I guess I

(57:33):
understand the matchmaking, especially with Bahovich. I haven't been injured
for quite a while. This feels like a fight. Though
he should overcome. Consider him he was just fighting Rockets.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
One win in his last five fights. There was a
draw in there. Talking about Blahovich here, he's still the favorite,
and I get why say what you want about Gustkov,
but the dude hasn't fought anybody, not saying that he
can't or won't beat Plahovich. But I get why the

(58:02):
odds makers have this the way they do that they
want to see a little bit, and they're also banking
on most of the people putting money down feeling the
same way. If you want to call this an upset,
I could definitely see the upset happening here. I don't
whether it's age, whether it's just a wear and tear
of the body. The Adisanya win, maybe the Rays win

(58:24):
might be the last time I've really been impressed by
Jan Blohovich.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
You so, who do you favor in the fight?

Speaker 1 (58:33):
I don't favor either one of them.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
That's the problem. Yeah, that's the problem. You can favor
both or not favor both for those reasons where you're like,
could Yan just hold down Guskov? Could he low kick
him and hurt him? Could he Could he jab him?
Could he catch him?

Speaker 1 (58:47):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Could Guskov? It's less likely that Guskov hurts Yan, though,
is the thought, because Jan is hardly ever been hurt
on the feet. But I'm scared that he's gonna have
age much that he's going to be slow enough that
Guskoff will be able to get off.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
This fight is either going about half a round or
it's going to be three long, painful ass rounds one
or the other. And by long and painful, I don't
mean painful for the fighters, I mean painful for those
of us watching tikes.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
I don't disagree with you.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
I'm not sure which is going to be, but it's
either ending quickly or we're all going to be wishing it,
which is end.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Before we go away from the main card. Just prediction wise,
not saying you want to do a parlay like this,
but the Wallash Philly, Pantosia, Tall Bit Moreno kind of
where you're leaning so far you're not gonna win any
money off of it. But yeah, I wasn't talking money.
I was just kind of talking our picks. I mean,

(59:55):
if you want to tell me that Tatsuoa Tira chokes
out Brandon Moreno and f's up that that parlay which
is all favorites, So you got to be a baller
to really throw down a lot of money to make
anything off of it. I'm not gonna say you're wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Yeah, but again Tara is the bigger favorite. I guess Morino, Yeah, yes,
if you're talking just picking, yes, uh, Morab, Pantosia, I'd
lean Moreno, Talbot. If you're gonna hold my feet to
the fire, I guess i'd say Blahovich. I mean, because
I think we're far more likely to have three long,

(01:00:31):
boring rounds of very little action, and that's somehow benefit
Jean and that one. But yeah, that, yeah, that's how
I'd probably picked the main.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Card if a title changes hands. Do you agree with me,
it's more likely that Joshua Van pulls off the upset
than Peter On. Yes, we look at the prelims, guys.
I don't know if this is still the way it's
actually said on the website, But last I saw ESPN
two E plus four your middle pre limbs. Is that

(01:01:03):
what you're seeing? Yep, yes, sir, last thing I saw
Grant Dawson Manuel Torres is our feature pre limp Dawson
coming in rank. I'm a little surprised that Torres getting
this opportunity. He did have his setback, but he is
a big lightweight with a lot of power. His last

(01:01:23):
seven wins all come in the first round. Grant Dawson,
we saw what happened when he believed in his striking
too much against Bobby Green. He is a monster at
taking the back. A three fight win streak. We'll I'll
tell you the level of competition all really solid. We're
not talking about top ten guys, but we're talking about
really respectable other prospects. That one's an interesting one. Either

(01:01:45):
Torres is able to hurt Dawson early or this is
a long passfight for Manuel Torres, not for us the fans.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Right, Yeah, I think Dawson probably gets this taken care
of fairly early.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
I wonder how it's gonna be Dawson, I think in
his teammate are sharing the car. It's also Chris Duncan.
I believe they're both out of American top team. At
this point, Duncan is going to be taking on Terrence McKenny.
Terrence McKenny is one of my absolute favorite fighters in
the UFC because whether he wins or loses, this shit
goes down in the first round. He has been a

(01:02:19):
bit more withheld in the last couple fights we've actually
seen in the last two wins McKinny get to his grappling.
I believe both wins are by submission. He has had
and we've been told that he has world class neear
Olympic level wrestling from Spokane, Washington, that is, grappling has
been off the charge. But once he figured out he

(01:02:40):
had a knockout Bauer, he was like, let's just go
do this shit. So it depends if he ever gets
that kind of rage in the cage, you know, if
he has that red bull and he just goes fucking nuts.
This could be a really fun fight that goes the
other way because so far, Chris Duncan somebody that's been overlooked.
A three fight win streak, two subs of life US
competition that are no longer in the UFC, and then

(01:03:03):
a decision win that matters because he was able to
outgun Matthew's Rebeccy. I believe that McKenny his potential is
world champion, so he could win this fight, but his
inconsistency would make you lean towards Duncan because Duncan has
proven to have the medal to take a whooping and
stay in there, as he did in the Rebeccy fight.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Mckinny's last five fights, he's four and one. They all
ended in the first round. Micaeh, they all ended in
the first round.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
It's big boom or big bus for a guy that
I wonder if he likes the big bang theory, Hey
he might. Mc macy Barber returns. It's been a while
since we've seen her taking on Karini Silva Silva. It's
five and one, but she lost to Viviana Aruzio. She
bounces back beating Barbosa. These are kind of names that
you're not going to recognize for a fighter that I

(01:03:54):
think is going to be the smoother more I guess
a pleasing fighter to watch, you know, if you're talking
about technique wise, But basically, Barbara pi five win streak.
If she's right, she's a monster. If she's healthy, she's
gonna bring pressure, and I think that pressure could eventually
break Silva. She's nasty in the clinch, nasty with her

(01:04:14):
ground and pound. But the fact that we don't know
where Barbara's health is is what can make you question
this fight. But I think this is an appropriate opportunity
for her to kind of have a tune up fight.
If not, it's like Silva's like, hello, I'm knocking through
the door.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Silva's got a big opportunity. On Saturday, I think Barbara
puts the kaibash on her.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
The lightweight division this is a stupid great night for
them because you also get Nazim shatty CoV versus Vazium.
I think this is going to be the fourth lightweight flight.
We're mentioning on this card Shatty CoV, smooth technical boxer
coming out of the Ray Longo system. Four zero to one.
He submitted McKenny. He's knocked out a bond theme and

(01:04:59):
a Mota on the other side for Asium, Nasty muay Thai,
a lengthy French striker, a five fight win streak, like
the win over Mike Davis where it showed his grappling
game and he did knock out Matt Freevola, a also
Sara Lango trained fighter. So I wonder how that will

(01:05:20):
do for the camp, that this is their second crack
at him, but they're a bit angry about it too.
I like how that one plays out because it's gonna
be a banger. We go to the early prelims. Marvinvatori
is on the early prelims people ranked middleweight action. This
is usually where we put ranked women's bianna weights and highways. Yeah,

(01:05:41):
you're right, and instead you get Marvin Vatori. Marvin the blockhead,
because the cinder block. You cannot hurt him, you cannot
knock him down. He's a volume striker. We look at
him as this imposing figure. He does not put together
the volume that you would expect. He's on a three
fight skid, but most of these losses have come to
guys that are still a top or at least pre

(01:06:03):
healthily in that middleweight division. On the other side, Bruna
Fraihara been on a tear. He did get submitted though
by a boost mug a met off. That one kind
of sticks out on the resume where you don't know
what to make on him. He's an undersized but ridiculously
powerful middleweight. This is like a flying fire hydrant when

(01:06:25):
he unleashes a big overhand. So we're either looking at
a long night for Fahara or a big knockout. Talk
about big knockouts. Jalen Fuller versus Edson Barbosa y Jalen
Turner nine months just long enough to have a baby retirement.

(01:06:45):
He all of a sudden is back in the octagon
and Edson Barbosa this could be the last time that
we see him fight. This is a guy that's kind
of been in some big fights. He's produced some incredible knockouts.
He's had a long run in the UFC, but the
damage has taken its toll At this point. I think
that you get a big knockout win from Turner on

(01:07:07):
this one, probably the best of the early prelums. That
you get some real key veterans that the fans will
recognize on those early ones.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
For sure, looking forward to it should be a great
net of fights. Early prelims start at six pm Eastern
Time on Plus ESPN two ESPN plus for your prelims
at eight Main Card ESPN Plus ten pm Eastern time,
Micah Tell everybody how then keep up with.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
You cageminds dot com, cage Mindscombat Sports News, Facebook, YouTube,
cage Minds Underscore CSN across the rest of your social media.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Get the show on x at MMA after Hours. You
can find me at real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of MMA After
Hours here on the After Hours podcast network.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
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Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
That's c A G E. D M I N d
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Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
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