MMA Fighting - No Bets Barred | Are Erin Blanchfield And Maycee Barber Fighting For A Title Shot At UFC Vegas 107?

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

After a rare week off, the UFC is back in action this weekend. On Saturday, UFC Vegas 107 goes down at the World’s Mightiest APEX, headlined by a Top 5 women’s flyweight matchup between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber, with possible title implications on the line. But before that happens, Mateusz Gamrot and Ludovit Klein mix it up in a pivotal lightweight contest, and nine other bouts of varying import take place. And after a brief hiatus, No Bets Barred is back to break down all the action this weekend. This week, host Jed Meshew flies solo to preview this underwhelming APEX card before next weekend’s big UFC 316 event. Topics discussed include what Blanchfield and Barber are fighting for, how Klein will fare in his big opportunity to climb the lightweight ladder, which underdogs are live on Saturday, the latest updates on The Climb, and more. Tune in for episode 128 of No Bets Barred. Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to MMA Fighting⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Check out our full video catalog⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Like MMA Fighting on Facebook⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Service fees exclusions in terms apply. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is up, y'all? We are back for another edition of No Betts Bard, and we've got to start things out with an apology, everybody, because I am sorry it has been a little while since we've had one of these. The last one, in fact, we did was UFC 315.

Now, obviously, this past weekend was Memorial Day here in the United States, so we had a rare week off the UFC and just, you know, big MMA in general. No, you know, PFL shows, anything like that. And then the week prior, I had some personal obligations come up that got in the way of doing a no-bets barred for UFC Vegas 106. It's a crying shame because I had every intention of climbing that week with Tisha Pinnington, Luana Paniero, taking the over two and a half in that. And that was an easy cash. We would be 18 steps down on our climb. But since the episode did not run,

did not place the climb bet. Didn't bet at all last week since I realized I wasn't going to be able to get that up. And so we continue our journey forward from U.S. 315, which was not a wonderful night for us. Ultimately, was it the worst night because the climb was successful. Shevchenko Fioro over three and a half cashed, moved us to 17 down on the climb. If you were new here, if somehow you have not been following along, the climb is my attempt to string together. There's 30 consecutive bets all rolled one into another. We are impossibly 17 steps down over halfway.

It never gets more insane, less insane to think about that. The rest of the evening, not so great, though. Ended up losing a unit and a half. My belief in Belal Mohammed, I ended up changing that belief later into Fight Week, but not enough to back off the bet I made early. Valentina Shibchenko did come through a couple underdog caches and spots, but ultimately just just kept missing, have missed all year. So frankly, if you listen to this program week over week, I thank you. That means honestly more than I can say to you.

But you probably did better two weeks ago for Vegas 106 without me around because I am down 11.5 units on the year. That, of course, does not factor in the climb in where we're out there. If I pulled that in, we'd actually be quite profitable this year. But that's just a whole separate entity to deal with, much like this week. Because, guys, I don't, you may have noticed by now, no guest. We do have a guest plan for next week, UFC 316, but I am just going to level with you. UFC Vegas 107 this Saturday going down in the world's mightiest apex. It is not a terrible card as far as entertainment value goes.

I think there are a couple of fights here that I'm pretty interested in. A couple of marquee matchups going on here. But it's a terrible fight card, at least from my perspective, from a betting perspective. As I was going through this trying to see about finding another guest, I just didn't like anybody on it. I have four bets going this week. One is a climb, though. So we will get that in. I'll get the other bets.

Nothing exciting. and frankly nothing I'm even really looking to add because I just do not like a lot of the matches from a gambling perspective. As a result, I suspect this will be a fairly quick episode, y'all, because y'all don't want to hear me talk for an hour about UFC Vegas 107 anyway, but let's dive into that now. UFC Vegas 107 is headlined by a women's flyweight contest,

Aaron Blanchfield taking on Macy Barber. Title implications here. I would not say that the winner is guaranteed a title fight, but at the minimum, it's looking like the winner is going to fight in Talia Silva. If not, you know, be next in, next in line or something like that. Blanchefield, your betting favorite minus 245, the comeback on Macy Barber plus 200.

Blanchfield, if you've listened to any of the content on NMEFighton.com, great website over the past few years, you know how high I am on her, seven and one in the UFC. That lone loss, obviously, the Menon Fior loss. Fior just fell short against Valentina Shepchenko in a, I won't call it a great fight, but a spirited and competitive effort from her. Blanchfield rebounded from that loss most recently with a win over Rose Nomi Unis back in November,

looking to make it two in a row, put herself right back in contention for the 125 belt. Barber, on a heater right now, six-fight win streak, unanimous decision win over Caitlin Serminah at Nature Cagian in March of last year. So she's been out for quite some time here. And now coming in against, I would say, the biggest test of her career. And I think it's going to go quite poorly for her. Barbara has never, you know, she is the future. She's great at branding.

I have been very impressed by this win streak, her ability to, you know, piece her career back together because she did suffer a two-fight losing street. Now granted Roxanne Monteferey, long-time veteran the sport. Alexa Grasso would go on to win the belt after that. But being some good quality names here and has continued to improve her, you know, she came in with a little bit too much pep, a little bit too much spice saying I'm going to be the youngest champion in UFC history. That was not to be, but she has turned herself into quite a formidable flyweight with that sort of all-around game. The problem is Aaron Blanchfield is not an all-arounder. Aaron Blanchfield is a specialist and she is quite special at the specials that she,

specials in. Aaron Blanchfield is a fantastic grappler. She is, I would say, plus athlete for the division, though maybe a touch undersized, but also maybe, you know, there are just some women who are enormous at 125, Minotaur.

But plus athlete, still super young developing. I still believe this woman will hold UFC gold one day, and I believe this is a great matchup for her. Barbara has never been that great of a wrestler. Her Achilles heel has always been the ability to control her.

on the ground. That's how Roxanne Monteferry had success when she was a massive underdog. Blanchfield, much more capable of doing that. I personally would love to see Blanchefield try her striking out a little bit. Hopefully she has been working, developing that because Barbara is not really kind of person who is going to one hit quit you. And so it could be a little bit of freedom for Blanchfield to not go full Belal Muhammad, right? We don't need to go Canelo Hans Blanchfield, but maybe continue to develop, continue to work,

mix that in and become a more potent grappling threat with the striking as an added bonus there. However, though, even if she doesn't matter, I think she's going to have plenty of success taking Barbara down. I think Barbara is a solid athlete, but she is not a hoss like Manofior. She's going to go to the ground. And the question to me is whether in Blanchfield will get a finish in this or just win a dominant decision over 25 minutes. Barbara never been stopped.

don't think that that is necessarily prescriptive here. I could see Blanchfield getting a stop and as a result. I just don't like any of the prop options available. And I'll level with you. I'm so confident in this fight, I genuinely considered making this decline. No, it's only minus 245, not that's sort of minus 500 target. But if there had been no other options, I may well have done it.

Instead, I threw a double bet down on it. Just took the action straight at minus 245. put two units on it instead of my traditional one. And I really like Aaron Blanchfield to come out of this and be very, very much in the mix of 125 pounds. That takes us to the co-main event, a lightweight contest between Matouche Gamrot and Ludovit Klein. Gamrot, minus 180 betting favorite to come back on Klein plus 150. Gamrot, 7 and 3 in the promotion, coming off that split decision loss to Dan Hooker back in August, valid loss. I think most people scored that fight for Hooker, though.

Credit to Gamrot made it quite fun in there. Probably to his detriment to some degree, but credit to him nonetheless. Klein, 7-2-1 in the promotion. And on a four-fight winning streak, his last performance, a win, a unanimous decision win over Roosevelt Roberts in September at UFC Paris. And now he is getting his opportunity to step up. Got to feel bad for Gamrod a little bit here. This was a guy who was the backup fight. for the lightweight title not that long ago and the UFC just clearly does not care for him they

don't like his style he has tried everything he can to get people interested to get fights going he has constantly throwing his hat in the ring hey i'll step in on short notice i'll do this i'll do that and just getting absolutely nowhere with it instead what he's getting is ludovit klein all due respect to klein klein absolutely deserves an opportunity into the rankings this is a tough scene for Gamrot to, you know, have to hold his position against a guy with very little fanfare around him who's damn good and a tough, tough out for anybody. I don't know if Gamrod's going to do it either is the thing. Like this might be, Klein is not the world's most exciting fighters, so the UFC can't be like super pumped. But he is a, he's much more fun than Gamron.

Well-rounded, great defensive grappler. I mean, an elite takedown defender. also mixes in his own grappling as well, certainly part and parcel to his game, so interested to see if this goes into more of that. He's got a win over Ignacio Bahamondez, who's come on strong with that Jalen Turner win. Klein is a legitimate top 20 lightweight out there right now,

and now he's getting a big, big opportunity to move up the rankings. I think he might be undervalued slightly here. I think that Klein has a real good chance to win this. but I wouldn't say like a great chance. I think I would have Gamrod as a very small favorite, but the number at minus 180. It seems like there's a little bit of action you could put on Ludovic Klein. That being said, it's not enough that I want to

because I have another bet going on this fight. I could totally understand taking a Klein bet, and I honestly probably should, since I only have four bets. I'm going to talk my, I might talk myself into doing this on air. F it. Eff it we ball.

That's what I say to you, the beautiful listeners here. I'm going to end up taking a play on Ludovit Klein because I do think he is slightly undervalued. Again, not massively. And I would say that you could probably pass this. I just have so little action. Might as well add one. What I do have action on, though, the climb bet is the over one and a half here.

The over one and a half is minus 500. Haven't gotten to put this in yet, not available at any of the places I can play. but should come in there somewhere around that looking at some of the books out there. And I really, really like the opportunity for this to score. And Gamrod's 10 UFC fights, he's hit the over one and a half seven times. One of those was the knee injury loss as well, the fight that seemed very likely to hit that over. Klein, eight and two, he's hit the over one and a half in his UFC career.

Both these men tend to go long. I suspect we're going to get some grappling going here. I mean, the last time, Klein did, I guess, stop AJ Cunningham not that long ago in the first round, but Gamron, not much of an early finisher. I think that this fight is very, very, very likely to drag on a little bit, be a competitive back and forth affair. And so the over one and a half for step 18 of the climb, that's where we're going, kids. And now that we've got the two big fights out of the way, we can move a little breezier here because there are a bunch of, I apologize. There are a bunch of fights,

or I don't have a breakdown that's meaningful. Just like, yeah, here are these two fighters. I don't care much about it. And one of those is not this one. At least there's that. I can't say the feature bout of the evening. At least I think it's a feature about some discrepancy about what's getting placed where,

because there have been some movement happening on this card. I am speaking, though, of the, well, I'm sorry, the welterweight belt between Rami's Brahimaj and Billy Ray Gough. Now, this fight is a bit of a Frankensteiner. Originally, Brahimaj was supposed to fight Oban Elliott, and Billy Ray Gough was supposed to fight Seokun Co. Co was forced out with visa issues.

Elliot also forced out with visa issues. Two dudes can't get to Vegas to fight, and so let's do a little mixing, do a little matching. Suddenly, BRG and Brian Maj are going at it. Billy Ray Gough minus 340. Brahimaj plus 270 is your underdog. Both men 500 in the UFC. Gough coming off unanimous decision lost to trade waters in May,

whereas Brahimaj coming off a knockout win over Mickey Gull in November. This is a pretty simple breakdown here. You know, Brahimaj is a grappler by trade. Billy Ray Gough, high volume, high output, can grapple mostly wants to be punching in the face. ever been taken down the O.C. But I think that if he does get taken down, I suspect Bramaj has a chance here. It's just a big price for against Billy Gough, who is unproven. And I wouldn't bet the farm on it, but I am betting a half unit on Brahimaj. I think you can just

get those takedowns, create some grappling exchanges, maybe make something happen out there. And that takes us all right on down the road to a light heavyweight contest, Dustin Jacobi, taking on Bruno Lopez. Jacobi minus 185. They come back on Lopez plus 155. Jacoby, two and four over his past six. Pretty tough run right now for the former glory kickboxer. Did though get a knockout win his last time out,

finished Vitor Petrino back in December. Lopez won and O in the O.C. Natives decision went over Megamid Ghazilov back in January in his promotional debut. Lopez was a contender series guy in the 2024 C. season. I graded him as a day three prospect, basically a guy who maybe hangs around, maybe win some, just nothing to write home about, nobody to get excited about. Mostly a wild striker will mix in the takedowns, and that is what he is going to need to do in this one, because Justin Jacoby is just a much, much superior striker. I think the odds on

this one are pretty close to right. If the line moves, I might take a shot on Jacoby. I think he's just a superior striker here and he hasn't been taken down a lot lately so you know i think you should win the the big concern here with jacobi definitely getting a little long in the tooth he's 37 years old uh but a lot of mileage on him you know 30 30 mhm fights with ton of kickboxing fights as well just been around the block and so i don't basically the reason i'm not betting him despite thinking is he's a almost two to one favorite, a lot of miles, a little bit older, I'll just pass and wait for a better opportunity at this point in time. And then the final main card fight of the evening, Zachary Reese taking on Dusko Todorovich

in a middleweight contest, Reese, your favorite minus 235, Totorovich, plus 220 as the underdog. Reese, two and two in the UFC coming off a TKO loss to Azamette Bekoev back in January, whereas Todorovich, three and five in the UFC, but on a two-fight skid, TKL lost to my guy, Mansour, Abdul Malik, back in November. I mean, this is a fight, right? Like, to me, this is a fight where if I was really reaching, I was looking for something,

I could make something happen here because Zach Rees' man does not believe in defense. Todorovich, not like a great defensive fighter either. These guys are going to come in, somebody's going to get finished. that's how they go about their business. But the price on that is already insane. It's like minus $4.50 for the under two and a half.

And I feel better about the Gamrock Klein over one and a half as a climb bet than I would for the Reese Tolorovic under two and a half. Just be sweaty, making sure a finish comes through. That's not bad parley fodder, but I couldn't even piece together a parlay of bets that I like this week. And so I passed on this all together. Slight favor does Zach Reese think he is the more dynamic offensive threat? but this is just going to be a very fun bit of wildness for however long it lasts. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story until now.

People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed and in my new podcast I talked to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma to other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison After Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things. Exactly.

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Two-fight win streak. Same can be said of Nassiminto. Nassiminto, though the betting favorite, minus 155. Come back on filial plus 130. Both men coming off long layoffs here. The last time we saw Nassiminto was 2023 when he choked our Carlos Hernandez. Well, for Filio, it was March of last year when he choked out Ode Osborne. Both men like to grapple.

I think we're going to be in for some really, really fun grappling that can go here. And I suspect the Nassimento is the better one. Can't be 100% sure. I do think that he's just a little cleaner, a little more classic. Can probably avoid, you know, getting into danger and will win the scramble positions against Svilio. The fight probably goes long. Just didn't care enough to take the over. price isn't really worth it either in my opinion and so I will just be watching these fly weights

not hit in under most likely. So it takes us to our last bet of the evening that I have down and consequently I would say one of the best fights on the card arguably the best fight on the card I wouldn't say it is but there is certainly a case for it I'm talking about a women's bantam weight contest Ketlin Vieira mason both women minus 110 pickham fight here between two top, might be two top five, not looking at the UFC ranking women's bannam weights right now. Vieira, three and two over her past five.

The unanimous decision lost to Kayla Harrison at UFC 307. It's the last time we saw her. Jason, two-fight winning streak, TKO win over Maya Buena Silva at UFC 303. Last time she was in the octagon. I love that this is pick-um odds because I think Mason Jason has a very good chance to get this done. Viera is gritty. Wouldn't stun me if she made this close. We saw her make Kayla Harrison really have to work.

At the same time, she's not bringing a ton of offense to bear either. So maybe this goes, I mean, I would strongly suggest this fight is likely going to the cards. But maybe it gets a little nip-tuck there. Things don't look good. But Jason is much bigger. She throws more volume, puts more of a pace. She's got the momentum right now. I just think too many things are in her favor in V.

is probably going to lose this. And so I'm getting pick-a-m odds here, giving Mace Chasen, took a bet on quite possibly the next women's banimate title challenger, depending on how the Amanda Nunes situation unfolds. And so let's blitz through these final four fights, y'all, because I don't have any bets on them, and I have very few things to say about them either.

A catch-weight contest between Chevin-Giles and Andreas Gustafson, or Giles plus 130, Gustafson minus 155. Giles is two and six over his past eight. The unanimous decision lost to Mike Malott in November. I thought that would get him his walking papers. It did not. Gustafsson, on the other hand, making his UFC debut coming off Contender Series,

where I graded him as a day three prospect. And to me, this should tell you, like, how, quote, unquote, good Andreas Gustafson is. He is making his UFC debut from Contender Series. Usually these are fighters given an opportunity to excel, and he is barely a betting favorite over a man who's on a three-fight losing streak and has won just twice in the past like five years. He's not great, and it would not shock me whatsoever if Giles stuffs some takedowns and just colded him. But I can't bet on Giles at this point.

I can't bet on Gustafson. I can't bet this fight at all. I would encourage you to pass the same as I am doing. A lightweight contest is up next. Kurt Hollabot taking on Jordan Levitt. plus 150 underdog to come back on Leavitt minus 180. Hallabout 2 and 2 in the UFC since his return off of the ultimate fighter. Most recently lost a unanimous decision to Alexander Hernandez just a couple of months ago in March.

Meanwhile, Jordan Leavitt, four and three in the promotion coming off a submission loss to Chase Hooper, but that was in November of 2023. Leavitt did fight in karate combat last year, but he has now been out of the cage for 18 months. So a long layoff, never feel great about. betting on a fighter coming on a long layoff. Don't feel great about betting against him as Kurt Hollabot is old. You know, I think he's still got some game. I think we're going to get some fun grappling going here.

This is just a fight that screams. Don't invest your money in it. I don't have any feeling that I need to bet on either of these men. Our penultimate fight to talk about another lightweight contest, Markell Madero's taking on Balagie Oki. Oh, I lied. I'm going to have a bet on this. I just, I didn't do it yet.

Oh, see, look, this is why are we doing it? it. I am going to be betting this fight. Fantastic. Marco Maderos, plus 160 underdog, Balaji Oki, minus 190. Madero's 2 and O in the UFC. Split decision win over Austin Hubbard in March. That split was valid. To do most people thought he wanted. I certainly thought he wanted.

Oki, one in the UFC, a submission loss to Chris Duncan in September. Now, both of these men coming off the 2023 contender series, and I had Maderos ranked as a big pause prospect. That means a guy I thought had a real. future in the promotion. I had Oki as sort of a fun guy, a middle rounder, nothing too great in regard. And I feel like their careers have played out that way. And then we get to this fight, and Maderos is your underdog somehow. To me,

I understand the Blagiochi is a dangerous dude. He is powerful. He is aggressive. I think Markle Madero's is, I comped him to Chris Gutierrez. I think he's just an all-arounder, but he's also really, really solidly athletic, like a plus athlete for sure. I just really like his chances, to me, maybe should even be the betting favorite. And so plus 160, 100%. One of my guys, you know, I like to bet on the big pause guys. And so we did.

And that takes us to the first fight of the evening, the final fight we will talk about. And we ain't going to spend any amount of time on it. It's a women's strawweight contest. It's between Rayan Dos Santos and Alice Ardellian. Dos Santos minus 285 the comeback on Ardellian plus 230 the TikTok superstar O and 2 in the O.N.2 in the O.C.

But so is RDS. And neither woman is particularly good at fighting. That may be disrespectful. I've watched them fight. I do not think either of them are sensational. There's a world where RDS can grapple and so she can submit Alis Ardellian

because she has never been a great defensive grappler. but mostly just nope not interested in this fight whatsoever not interested in placing a wager on this just pass all together and uh tune in on saturday and you can watch it and figure out if or you can skip because this is not a fight that you need to see if you've got other things going on and ladies and gentlemen that is it told you this is going to be a quick one ufc vegas 107 in the books which means once this saturday is over we are officially on the road to ufc 316.

Morav de Valachvili, Sean O'Malley 2, the fight nobody asked for or wanted. Julian Epinion versus Kayla Harrison. The fight many people asked for and wanted. Calvin Gasolm, Joe Pfeiffer, Mario Batista, patchy mix making his UFC debut, and then a fun little banger

Vicente Lucke, Kevin Hahn, on the main card. Josh Van comes back. God love Josh Van. One of the best fly weights in the world. Sergei Spivak, Waldo Cortezza Costa, ranked heavyweets getting after it. The undercard leaves something to be desired on this. The main card pretty solid.

I know that main event is nobody's idea of a good time. But UC316, you can do a lot worse than that. And it'll be a fun time. We're going to have a good time. We will have a guest, Long Island Luke, Maincar Minute and Morning Combat joining us. Been a while since we had him on. Figured it was time to bring him back as we do another pay-per-view.

So until then, thank you all for listening again. and you do not know how much it means to me. You listen to this show, even when it's on some garbage card like this. You got any questions, anything like that? Hit me up on social media. Twitter is usually the best place to find me. But I'm on Blue Sky. I'm on Instagram.

Jedmishu, all that sort of stuff. Thanks for listening. See you next week. Love y'all. Unwap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrance Sets. Our special selection has something. For every style and price point,

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