MMA Fighting - UFC 259 Post-Fight Show

Episode Date: March 7, 2021

With UFC 259 in the books, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and E. Casey Leydon break down the top storylines from Saturday’s event in Las Vegas, including Jan Blachowicz and Amanda Nunes retaining their titles, and Aljamain Sterling becoming the bantamweight champion via disqualification against Petr Yan.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow E. Casey Leydon: @ekc Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, our friends. We are back on the other side of the double header for UFC 259 post-fight coverage here on MFAfighting.com. This is the UFC 259 post-fight show. I know I sound like Jim Nance at the Masters right now, but I got a wife upstairs sleeping. I got a seven-year-old upstairs sleeping. I ain't messing with that. I'm not doing it.

No matter what happened tonight, and a lot happened tonight. Three title fights, two champions retained, one new champion in a historic and sort of unfortunate way. But we're going to talk about this with all of you guys. I am Mike Heck and only joined by one person. We're going to get through this 30 minutes or so. We're going to try to break down as much as we can on the ones and twos, the co-host of the post-fight.

Joe, the incomparable E. Casey Liden. There he is. You're like a Ron Burgundy. It's a beautiful thing. Thank you. Stay classy. Stay classy. Stay classy, everybody.

All right, well, let's get right into this thing. We see the two names on the top of the bill here. Behovich versus Adisani. That was the main event. Jan Behovic, despite being a two-to-one underdog, comes through, unanimous decision. Wins on all three judges' scorecards, four rounds to one, even got a pair of 10,

rounds to wrap this up. So it was 4946, 4945 times two. Your thoughts on the main event, the scoring, and Jan Bojovich getting his first successful title defense. Actually, I think everything that Dana White said at the postpresser was pretty much accurate, especially if the 10-8 rounds for rounds five, I assume, there were not 10-8 rounds. There were solid 10-9s. And the 4-1 score, as far as four-round. to um yeah yon and um one round to uh izzie i i don't agree with it i can i can't see that with round one going to um oh my god it's so late i'm sorry with round one going to yon round two going to yon because rounds one and two i think we're pretty close and you know depending on the angle of the

judge i could see it but regardless the judges still raised the hand of the correct what the correct guy and um Jan was the better fighter tonight. And so scoring was dumb, but the right guy won. So I think after a couple of days, we'll forget about the score. And I think that's all that really matters is the right guy won. Sometimes, like, when you're in these positions, like, doing the media and stuff, like, one, you're hearing the commentators. Two, you're seeing the reactions on Twitter. And I felt like things were all over the place.

Like, I saw people after three rounds saying it's 30, 27 out of Sonia. I'm like, okay, I don't know if I agree with you on that, though. I just, I didn't see 3027. I just didn't. I had Balehovic, I had 29, 28 out of signing after three, but I just, I didn't see Behovic down three rounds. I didn't think there was a case to be made for that, you know? We pretty much saw the fight the same.

Rounds one and two for Izzy. I'm sorry, rounds one and three for Izzy and rounds two, two being a very close round, but I think we both gave it to Jan. And four and five were pretty easy to call for Yon. So, yeah, the right guy I won. It was, I think, yeah, Jan Blahawich finally used that size advantage. And the size advantage really becomes a much bigger advantage once it goes to the ground. And I think that was the difference.

I think that's what we kind of, if Yon was going to win the fight, I think that's kind of how we saw it, you know? I mean, I picked Izzy. I know you picked Yon by decision. Is this fight kind of how you saw it in your mind? Exactly how. Exactly how it saw it. I thought the wrestling and the clinch work would start a little earlier in the fight,

but kind of seeing it all play out, it was actually a really brilliant game plan by Blahovic. I'm glad he, you know, for those picking Blahovic, and on his side, I'm glad he didn't go to that game so early because he was clearly getting tired, but he still was able to find that second gear when he needed it. But had he gone to the clinch and gone to the wrestling really early in the fight, who knows if he would have been able to do that in the fourth and fifth round?

So I actually thought it was a pretty smart game plan on his part. He fought great. I mean, he won the fight and a fight. He was an underdog. And most almost, what was the line coming into that fight? He was a plus 200 or something like that? Yeah, he was like a two to one dog. Yeah.

So whatever he did, he did it right. right, Mr. Blahewitch. And, yeah, I think now he's the champ. Now he's a true champion because he defended his belt, you know, as the saying goes. So congratulations. And I like sharing my bad picks. My tap, I shared it on the Instagram, on the Twitters. But let me throw this graphic up real quick.

Where is it? Look at this. For a moment. You see this? These are the last, my tapology, the last five fights, one, two, three, four, five. I've picked against the champ. So, and you know what? When they finally book Jan versus Glover, I still have Glover.

In my mind, I'm already, Glover's going to beat Jan. So, yeah, I don't know. For some reason, I just, you know, when Jan turned around goes, you know, you're talking to Dana, you know, you don't believe in me. I think he was talking to me. Yeah, it was a collective question for a lot of the haters. I will say this, coming out of that fight, I felt like the MMA gods owed us something, and they paid us all back at a big way

because of what happened in the Bandaway title fight, which we'll get to in a moment, because the way that ended, I feel like the MMA karma, so to speak, kind of came around in a good way because, one, we got a, a, a, a title defense from Yombo Hoveitch, I feel like this is one of those,

listen, did it blow the doors off? No, was it one of those fights we're going to be talking about for years to come? Probably not. But it's a win, and it's a respectable win. It's one that he's going to get respect on his name, so that's great. We got Adasania handling the loss like an absolute legend. Fantastic. Love when that happens. And three, the fight that is supposed to happen

is going to happen next. We're going to get Yombovich versus Glover Tashara, New England's own Glover Tashira is going to get his shot at the 205-pound title. And had Israel-A-Assani won tonight, it probably wouldn't have happened. But not that we're like rooting for Adasani to lose or anything like that, but like the right thing that was supposed to happen happened here. You know what I mean? So I feel good coming out of this main event.

I think all things considered this is like the right thing to happen. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, if Izzy would have won. I mean, while I'm sure Dana White would have enjoyed that with all the, you know, the potential for giant blockbuster pay-per-view, Glover finally gets his second shot at the title again, and deservingly so. And with Glover's age, I think he's 41 right now. I felt like Glover's been 41 for like 10 years, to be honest. But it's great.

I'm really happy for those two gentlemen to fight. for all the marbles, because they have paid their freaking dues. And that's just good. It's nice that there's, I mean, unless John Jones just says, I'm coming back down to 205 or something crazy like that, barring anything crazy, yeah, the two guys that, the number one contender will be fighting the champion. And sometimes, yeah, we don't get to see that enough in the MMA,

in the UFC especially. So it's happening. So good times. In a weird way, I actually think because of the way out of, Asani handle himself, I think his stock actually rose on the loss tonight in a strange way. Because it's not the, like, listen, this, all we were looking towards with this fight, if he won, was, when are we going to get Adasani versus John Jones? And maybe it's just not the time for that fight to happen.

And that's fine. And it's not like it still can't ever happen. Adasani can go back down to 85. Clearly, that's where he's at his best, physically, mentally in the Octagon competing. And there's some fights for him there. They've got the Whitaker rematch. There's Darren Till, who could be the favorite if he beats Marvin Vittory. You got Marvin.

You got Derek Brunson. You got Kevin Hollins. You got lots. He's got... The well is not dry. We could have a sober costa. Sober costa. I don't think we're ever going to see that fight again.

I don't think we'll maybe, you know, maybe a game of like drunk poker or something. But we're not going to see. We're not going to see those two fight anytime soon. I don't think so. But that was the main event. You know, it is what it. You know, Blahovic gets the win. Probably not the outcome the UFC was hoping for.

But at the end of the day, I think this is a good thing for everybody at 205. Even good for Izzy. Gets them back down to 805. You could focus on really cleaning out that division. That's his big goal. And I think every, you know, I kind of think everyone comes out a winner in that fight. Even though Adasani gets his first loss, it's not the end of the world. It's not taken as such.

I don't think it's going to affect them along the way. It was one, it was one of the most respectable losses you can have in a title fight, if that makes sense. Especially for a guy to lose his perfect record. I mean, a lot was on the line for Izzy. In the sense of, if, a lot of it was on the line in a sense if he had won, like, oh, my God, I don't know, the doors were being just crazy. Like, kind of like when Connor beat Auto, you're like, oh, my God, nothing, the

MMA world is not going to be the same once Connor was able to throw that belt around on him. If Izzy won't have got two belts tonight, everything would have changed in the sport, I really feel. And as far as like for Izzy and the UFC, that might be, that would have been beneficial. But I think for every contender underneath, it would have kind of sucked. So there you go. Congratulations to Jan Belhovic. He gets it done and still the UFC light heavyweight champion of the world. Co-made event, another and still.

Amanda Nunes defeats Megan Anderson. Took her just over two minutes to get it done. I saw the video. I don't know if you saw this, a video of like Megan Anderson walking in to the building. She kind of had that. that sort of worrisome look on her eyes. So I was curious what she's going to look like when she walked to the octagon. And when she walked the eye, she looked like a completely different person.

She looked ready to go. She didn't look overwhelmed by the moment. And I was like, okay, maybe, you know, maybe this Megan Anderson that we've been talking about that could make things interesting is going to show up here. She took one punch from Amanda Nunes, that right hand to the dome, and everything changed. That was it. Whatever, like, championship will was in her, just kind of left her. just shows just how powerful Amanda Nunes was.

But as soon as that right hand landed, I was like, oh boy, this is just not going to go well. Did you kind of have that same feeling once that first punch landed? Yeah. Honestly, like, yeah, the way she walked. I mean, when Megan Anderson walked in, you know, they know the camera's going to be there. They only have to kind of look tough for like that 15 seconds, you know, then they can be all worried. So I was, I'm just kind of surprised that Megan kind of like, all right, just give me 15 seconds of mean face. you know, intense facewalk, but she looked so nervous.

And, yeah, I, you know, coming into the fight, I did pick Amanda Nunes, but I was hoping it was, maybe I was just being positive. I was, I was hoping for a more competitive fight. I mean, I still thought Megan Anderson winning was a long shot, but I was just hoping at least hit Amanda once, you know, so we all can go, whoa, you know, before their reality sets in. but yeah I guess that James Krauss kind of magic pill

we were kind of hoping for just didn't develop and yeah it just turned out to be one of Manan Nunes is probably most easy I guess easy I mean I don't think anything easy

because obviously is a big training camp but just from an outsider watching it looked it almost looked unfair to be honest yeah we're kind of I know like one of the narratives had a thing it was like

well now Amanda has like these different things in her life she's a mom maybe she should not get in the sleep that she would normally get having a baby in the house and all these different things like maybe you know with her being a mom and everything she's accomplished

maybe the fire's not there anymore but clearly that was not the case there's probably more fire in her now than ever before and I know this is a two minute win and it's a fight that she was like a 10-1 favorite I felt like that fight lasted like 30 seconds

I know. I know, right? Yeah, I'm sorry, yeah. I was like, whoa, two minutes. I really thought that fight was like less than a minute, to be honest. I just don't know what to do with her from here because, you know, there's Juliana Pena. Dana White didn't seem to like, he was like, yeah, we could do that. There's GDR.

There's Aspen Lad out there. But it's funny. I went back and kind of looked at it as Dana was talking. There's only one fighter in the top five who's actually on a winning streak right now at 1.35. It's Yonakutut's Kav. the only fighter at 135 in the top five that is on an actual winning streak. Oh, Julia outside the top five right now? Julia Pena?

Yeah, but she's just got one win. One win. Oh, she lost to GERR. I left her. A streak, yeah, more than one one one. Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry, got you. You got to. Holly, Holly's got one.

The streak starts at one. Well, that's why I hated some, I've hated the UFC matchmaking at 135 for the longest time. Like when they booked Aldana versus Holly Home, I was like, why? If Holly Home beats Outana, Holly Home's not getting a title shot. So I just didn't understand a lot of this matchmaking. And I think this is kind of, no, it's showing now. The fact that, you know, the UFC matchmakers, that's kind of their job is to set up number one contenders through the matchmaking. And I don't think they have.

I think actually they've done a, I've kind of, they've done a port. They've done a great job in other divisions, but I think in the women's band and weight division, they've done actually a pretty poor job of creating contenders that fans want to see. And that's a bummer because Amanda Nunes deserves better opponents in front of her. Or at least opponents that fans can get hyped behind. Even the week, you know, media just has fans. And we want to get excited about fights too. It's not just like, well, I guess you've got to fight somebody.

That's aren't fun. That feels like kind of those boxing mandatories, you know, like, oh, well, I guess you got to fight this guy. but I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I honestly don't know what to do at this point. I think maybe Holly Holm being injured and out of the fight with Giuliana Pena at this point

might not be like the worst thing in the world because now you can book Holm versus Durand and me get that rematch. Like the fight we actually want to see. And you could do pain like Aspen Ladd's coming back from pretty gnarly injury. I think she tore E.C.L. She's, I think she's coming back the summer.

You do Pena versus Aspen Ladd. maybe the winner of that gets Amanda Nunes next. I don't know. There's not a ton of options, but there are still, I guess, a couple. You know what I mean? Yana versus Pena, if the UFC feels like Pena needs one more win to get a title shot, I'm not sure. Yeah, it's just a mess. Hey, my dark horse, I'm going to say Alexis Davis.

She's coming back to 35. She has a victory over Manna Nunes. she finished Amanda Nunes. I think that was a... Yeah, she gave Amanda Nunes her first loss. It was back in Strike Force. And I don't know. I'm grasping out of straws here, but...

I think, yeah, I mean, maybe... Maybe Panny Kanzad is an interesting dark horse. She's on a winning streak right now. UFC, signed Sarah Kaufman. Have Sarah Kaufman fight any of the number one contenders. And boom, there you go. Sarah Coffin. Or sign Pam's...

Or sign Pam Sorensen. Stude Nunes-Nus versus Sorensen. Yeah, that... It's a fight, for God sakes. Yeah. And... It's some... She needs someone.

I mean, she's her champ. It's not her responsibility... It's not a man of Nunes's responsibility to build up contenders. That is literally the UFC's job and the matchmaker's job. So, uh, yeah. Is there going to be a 45 division anymore for the women? I know the...

I know the... Dana says so. I know he's like, yeah, yeah, but, oh, come on. Do we believe that? How much, I wonder, like, how much does Pena have to cut to get to 135? Didn't she used to be a 25er? Julianna Pena? No, no, she was never a 25er.

I thought, sorry, I thought she was a 25er. Well, you think you'd think just do that at 45 just for the heck of it? If she's just like, yeah, I'll just go to 45 and fight her. You get your fight. Yeah. I don't know. Well, that does make sense because, that wouldn't make sense because then Nunes, you know, if they want to bring her back pretty quick, like in a month and a half or so, whatever paper, I don't know, whatever the schedule is, then she doesn't have to do a big weight cut. She pretty much, I guess, what, cuts like 5, 10 pounds to cut to 55, so that, whatever.

I don't think people really even, I don't think, I don't care, I don't think fans really care what weight Nunes fights at. Just as long as we kind of get the most, we get this year as many times as possible before she decides to, you know, call it a day and move on the next chapter of her life. Before that happened, the one title that changed hands went down inside the octagon. And for 19 minutes and 28 seconds, Casey Loden, the fight that we wanted to see between Peodorianne and Al Jermaine Sterling for the intercontinental title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we were getting it. We were getting it in then some. What a fight it was. The pace was incredible. And then Peoriaean makes the most costly mistake in the history of UFC title fights.

He is cruising along. I had him winning all three rounds. I had him winning the fourth. I know not everybody agreed with that sentiment. Some people had Sterling winning the first round. I don't know how people had, because Jan dropped him. I just didn't get how that was. Be that as a may, it doesn't really matter.

In the end, Jan was cruising in that fourth round. At worst, he was going to be at three. rounds to one. He would have been tied on another scorecard. So on two of the scorecard It felt like a lot of momentum was on Peter's side too. 100%. Dana White thought, Dana White said at the press

conference, like Sterling was, Yon was breaking Sterling. I wouldn't go as far as he was breaking him because I thought Sterling was still competitive, but the momentum was clearly in Peottyon's favor. He has him down, Jan's got the back of his head, both knees are on the mat.

Jan looks at his team. thinks about it and then throws the knee. Sterling is down. He's done. He's trying to get back up. He kept falling over. disqualification. Al Jermaine Sterling is the new UFC Bannonweight champion.

First time that has ever happened in the UFC, it was like the worst fight to want to see it in. And it was just super unfortunate. I don't blame Al Jemaine Sterling. Piotr Yan gets all the blame here. He's taken it. He felt bad. It is what it is.

We're going to see the rematch. But, man, my heart absolutely. broke when that knee landed because I just didn't see a world where we were going to get the Anthony Smith thing where he's just like, you know what, I'm going to keep going. Sterling was clearly out of it. And I saw people on Twitter saying, like, he's faking and all this stuff, T.G. Jell is like, shut the hell up. Come on now.

You people are absolutely out of your minds. Al Jermin Sterling, a professional cage fighter at the highest level, he was crying from just disappointment from winning the championship that was. Like, what, do we think he's that good of actor? I don't get it. Like, why would fighters say stupid crap like that? It was unfortunate. It's just, when it happened, I just went, I swear, I slammed on my table and went, no!

Not because I was pulling for somebody. It's just, don't end a fight like this, especially, like, the idea that, I know when, the idea of an intentional need, I don't, I think it's a really bad term. Yes, he threw a knee intentionally. Now, did he throw an illegal knee intentionally? Basically knowing, oh, this is an illegal shot. I'm going to try to get away of it. No, of course not. He was winning the fight.

I had him winning, what would I write down? I had Jan winning rounds one. I gave Aljo round two, and I gave Yon round three. And he was not dominating, but all the momentum was on his side. I don't think he was breaking Aljo, but Aljo said, such a high pace in that first two rounds. And I just felt there's no way that he was going to keep, he could keep that pace up for 25 minutes.

It was such a bummer. It's such a bummer from a stupid rule. It's just a stupid rule. But it is a rule. Everyone knows it. But it is a stupid, stupid rule that we have for MMA in the United States. Oh, sorry. Here we go.

We're still there. Just kind of looking at the numbers. significant strike, Sterling had 97 to Jan's 86. He landed 16 more strikes total. But I felt like Jan was landing the more impactful shots out about that. The takedown numbers, wild. Sterling, one for 17, Peter Yan's 7 for 7, 100% of his take down. Those trips were so awesome that Jan was thrown.

All those freaking trips. And the way starting was just basically at points so exhausted, he was just like, just take my back. You know, I felt in the last two, I thought the fifth round, if the fifth round, if anyone made it at the fifth round, I felt at that point with the odd, how tired Aljo was and just getting beat up. Yon was like going to be the better striker and the better grappler and the better wrestler by that fifth round. And that's why I said coming into the fight. I thought, I thought Sterling would start strong, but I felt that cardio from Peter Yon and his incredible wrestling defense was going to win him to fight. and I was like, ooh, I'm a genius.

This is how it's going to end. I predicted this fight perfect. And then it blows up in my face. But at least you get a rematch. It's just, man, that's the first time of UFC history that someone's won the belt on a disqualification. Is that? Yep.

It could have happened before, but, oh, oh, one, oh, I got, I got to, I got to listen to replay again. But I remember when, when he got hit that knee, I think it was D.C. that said, oh, it's like the Anthony Smith situation, but he took the high road and, you know, went back in. But I think both of them, D.C., then Rogan realized, oh, okay, never mind. This is, you know, it was just, yeah, it sucks. I feel bad for Al Jermyn.

That sucks. That's just, and now he's like a UFC, now it's going to be this weird thing, unless he beats Yon and the rematch, if he loses Yon and rematch, it's going to be like, you know, a former UFC champion, Al Jermine Sterling,'s like, oh, you know, it's just, it's just, it sucks.

but what a bummer I actually thought he handled it great like he I don't even think he realized that he was going to be the champion like maybe it was like pro wrestling

you can't win the win the belt via disqualification I think that Joe Rogan I think as Joe Rogan was mentioning is like well I get he he gets to win

but he can win the belt on the disqualification I felt weird when they put up they put the bill when Dana put the belt around him as if he had just knocked out Jan it was just like

I don't know I think when he went and disqualification like that, you kind of hand the belt over, especially when you were down on the scorecards and things like that. Man, that just sucked. It just sucked. Yeah. Gosh, just the one fight we didn't want that to see that happen.

We got punished for all those awesome prelim knockouts and finishes. We get punished by, you're like, ugh. Oh, man. So there you go. Those are the three title fights. We know what's going to happen there. So there's no mystery as far as the match we can go is they'll run that one back. Hopefully, soon and we're at them later.

From what I understand, Al Jermaine Sterling is already out of the hospital. He's good to go. He's feeling better. So that's good. So we'll see. There is a hole in May right now. I don't know if we can get those two guys back in there that quickly, but there is a hole in May. So that could be an option, maybe doing in July or August.

It just depends on the travel and where the world is at this point. But we're going to look forward to probably five more rounds of these two guys. And I'm pretty excited for that. That's exciting, but it's a member we had to get there this way. Yes. So we're actually getting a bonus, some bonus of May out of these two guys. So if we're going to look for silver linings, that's the silver lines that we're going to go with. Big win for Islam Makachev.

He was your lock of the night. That was some performance. I mean, Drew Dober is not a slouch whatsoever. I picked Makachef. I was fairly confident in picking Makachef just because Drew Dober is a powerhouse. He's a damn handsome man too, but he's a powerhouse. He can land that shot that changes everything, but he's very susceptible to the takedowns. Even Alex Hernandez was taking him down in that fight that he ended up finishing Hernandez,

but Hernandez was taking him down whenever he wanted to. So with a guy like Islam Makachev, it's just so scary that you can prepare all you want, you know what's coming and you cannot stop it. How dangerous is this man, especially looking that good coming off of like a year and a half layoff like that? that was the only question I had coming in. Was the layoff going to hurt him? And clearly did not. He might be a much better fighter than how long was he out for?

18 months or over a year? Something like that. It was a while. I think our colleague from the athletic Shahina Shadeh asked, you know, will Machachev be fighting for a title in next year or 18 months or something? And I said, and my answer was a big fat, no. And it had nothing to do of how good Mokachev is, is that. But I just feel, unless the UFC throws a lot of money at someone,

I don't understand. I don't see any ranked fighter above Mokachev fighting Islam. Yeah, fighting him. I just, I just, he's such an incredibly tough fight that it's going to be very tough for to match him up with someone coming off a win, especially, who's ranked above him. Yeah, guys behind him, sure, they can take fights. But, I guess, what, Chandler? Chandler's not going to fight.

I don't see Chandler taking that fight, you know? I mean, maybe Olivera, because he just kind of, he needs to fight. But, yeah, he's freaking good. He's really good. You can rebook RDA. Yeah, I guess. Is that, yeah. But what is that?

What is that? I don't know. Yeah. It's going to be tough to book Islam right now. I don't, I don't, like, who do you see? Oh, but first of all, dude, that submission was sick. Oh, my God. It was so, it was so sick. And like, Rogan and D.C., guys who have watched fights for billions of years now, D.C., you know, one of the best wrestlers ever to enter the Octagon, they didn't even recognize that it was a submission until it happened. They were like, oh, wait, fights over. They were just talking about. something else. I don't know.

And they're like, oh, fights over. I guess it was on one. It was just like, and when he just put that squeeze on and like, it's like, good Lord. And like, and like, all of a sudden, Markachev's, like his back got like 50% wider and like extra muscles started popping out. When he put that squeeze, like, I guess that kind of arm triangle, I got to look at it again. It was great. Yeah, I feel, that's going to be, yeah. Next fight for Marketschev is going to be really interesting.

Man, he made, and he made, he made Dober look so. So pedestrian. Like Dober is a bad dude and it was just, yeah. You look like you look like a fit dude at Gold's Gym. He didn't look like, you know, one of the best lightweights in the world. That's how, that's what Habib did too. Habib made you look very, he made great fighters look mediocre. And he called, yeah, he called for Tony Ferguson after that.

I don't see Tony Ferguson taking that fight. It doesn't make any logical sense for him to. take that fight. So I do have an idea. I think I have the perfect idea and you'll hear that idea tomorrow on onto the next one. Actually, later on today, probably in like 10th, seven hours we're reported. So great win for him. He looked great. We'll see what happens with him. There's a lot of options and he's probably, he's favored against a lot of these guys. He could beat anybody in this division in my opinion. I would favor him against honestly everyone, to be honest. I can't, yeah, I think he's that good.

Yeah, it would be fun matching him up, but these guys are going to take it, especially if they're ranked above him. Yeah, I think there's one fight that makes tremendous sense, and there's been some heat building up between these two guys for a couple of years. You guys could probably figure it out by then. Alexander Rackich gets a win over Tiago Santos.

He's 14 and 2. He wants a title fight. He's not going to get that title fight, obviously. He's a win away. It's pretty obvious what they're going to have to do with him, Either you give him the probably the winner of Yuri versus Dominic Reyes

seems to be a sensical matchup and then you do a number one contender fight there or you can do Magamette and Kalamov. Ooh, I like that fight. I think, I think, yeah. I like, how do you say his name?

Magamad? I got to say his name. Enkulive. I got to start remembering his name because he's like, he's going to be, he's going to be a name that we're going to see at top of cards pretty soon. Enkalev, Inkylaif.

Absolutely. Uh, prelims were outstanding. Oh, before we move on from Rackich, man, I did not appreciate the crap talk that D.C. and Rogen were given that fight. They were, you know, like, Rackich did exactly what he was supposed to do. He bought a very dangerous man in there. Did he take any real damage? Did he even get, no, he took 15 minutes, and they took no damage, and he got the win. And that is exactly what he, like, if he would have knocked out Santos in a round,

round, I think he's in the same position. Instead, he got good 15 minutes in there, used all those big martial arts skills, and did exactly the way he needed to, yeah, he does get the extra 50K, but he, Alexander Rackich is, I think, a very good fighter, very, very, very good,

and he will be fighting for a title, you know, within, he'll fight for a title during his UFC career. I don't know if we within the year or a year and a half, but we're going to be seeing more of him. I would agree. But what we did learn is that the Alexander K. Lee curse continues on for his lock for fight of the night. That was not the fight of the night.

That's for sure. Dominic Cruz first win since UFC 199. That's crazy to even think about. Yeah. True story. Who is it? What, 2009? Oh, my goodness. 199.

Who was that against? That was favor. Favor. It hasn't been anyone since his favor. Oh. Wow. Oh, the injuries, the Garbrand fight. Yeah, he had a couple losses.

Hoodo. Yeah, just, yeah, he was good. He looked good. It's good win. Yeah. So, um, was that the, was that the Dominic Cruz that's going to win the title? I don't think so. But Dominic Cruz is still a player.

He's still an elite A-level bantam weight. I think we agree with that. It was a close fight, though. Yep. It was a fun back and forth competitive fight. Yeah, Casey Kennedy is going to be at that level eventually. He's just, I don't think he's there just yet. But I think this is going to be a very important fight for his career,

spending 15 minutes in there with Dominic Cruz. He's only going to grow and get better from that time. And I think he'll be back and he'll be a top 15. He'll be a top 10 guy in the UFC by 2022, in my opinion. I would agree. I would agree. He looked very good. He fought composed, ate some shots from Dominic.

I thought once he figured out Dominic's timing a little bit better, and I think Dominic slowed down a little bit toward round three. Casey Kinney did get more comfortable in there, and let's just say if that was a five-round fight, Casey Kinney could have won that fight. But there's three rounds. They knew what it was, and that's how it goes. Yeah, I think if he go, going back and watching it,

I think he would want to start a little bit faster. It's hard. It's hard when you're fighting a guy. like that. You're in there, you're watching to move around and you're like, damn, this is like everything that was advertised. But much like out of Sonia, I thought Casey Kinney

was one of, Casey Kinney, it was one of those as bad as respectable a loss as you can have. Sure. He got a judge. We got to judge the score for him. Yeah, right. Yeah. Split decision. There you go. His teammate, however, Kyler Phillips, had a great night at the office.

What a performance against Yadong Song. Unreal. He looked tremendous, man. The Matrix himself. I was wondering if his style would be like kind of kryptonite against a really technical, powerful guy like song. I was, I mean, I picked Song to win. Kyle Phillips proved me wrong.

This guy is the real deal, Casey. He is a legit Bannam Wade. He's going to be a ranked fighter come Tuesday. And I'm excited to see what is next for him because him versus pretty much any of these guys from a stylistic perspective is a, fun fight. Dude, the freaking bantamweight division just rules.

It just rules. And actually, I got, like, I was busy doing some other work on the site, so I kind of get, I didn't get to watch that fight as close as I wanted to watch it. But, yeah, I was impressed by Kyler, Kyler, Kyler, Kyler Phillips. I pick, I pick Song to win. And, yeah, but Mr. Phillips really impressed me. He looked great. Asker Ascroft looked great.

He should be fighting for the title in his next fight. No doubt about that. I think he earned himself a title shot. I hate the fact that he missed weight. That sucks, but it doesn't matter. I mean, listen, the way he beat Joseph Benavides tonight, his next fight should be for the belt against the winner of Moreno. Unless Moreno wins, then you know we're going to get a trilogy fight.

But if Figaro goes out there and beats Moreno on June 12th, it's Figurato versus Ascaroff. No doubt about it. I don't know. you don't know What about Pan to Did he already beat Pantoja right? Ascar

Yeah he's beat everybody Yeah Except he had to draw with Moreno Which he should have won But it is what it is Do you think You know what For the men's flyweight division

Yeah I don't think Moving the needle Is that important to the UFC They just need Contenders in there And hopefully I hope the UFC Can tell us a little more about them

Through something You know video packages because he seems to be a very interesting dude of a very unique background. And I don't know very much about him. Other than I know he has 70% hearing in one ear and 40% another. That's really all I know about him.

Yeah. It's a good win for him. He capped off the flyweight action for the evening. Kikar, France. What a comeback win against Regeria Bonsarie. That was. Oh, that was so cool. That was crazy.

That was crazy. How many times? Dude, DC turned into Joe Rogan in that fight. We're like, it's over. Oh, it's over. It's over. And then like, and then when it was actually over, we weren't sure if it was over. It's like, that was, what a, what a, yeah, using that dad, that brand new dad's strength.

That was, that was an awesome. But that went, that one fight a, oh, I didn't want a fight a night. They gave a performance of the night. Interesting. Performance of the night. I could have won fight of the night too. Yeah. For that, for that four minutes, 55 seconds.

Tim Elliott gets a big win over Jordan Espinoza. Go back and watch it if you didn't watch it. There's so much to dissect in and out of that fight. It's just wild. I'm not going to dive into what was said about the domestic violence stuff because we only know one side of the story. We know it from a social media direct message, so we have no idea what happened.

So we'll just leave it at that. But good win for Tim Elliott. James Krause, Juju, definitely rubbed off on him. No doubt about that. How about Kennedy and Shakuku. God. In Zachu. Man, I'm sorry.

Made me look like a million bucks. Made me look like a million bucks. Knocked out the upset pick. No one picked him. I picked it done. Carlos Oldberg is going to learn from that fight. No doubt about that. Big win for Kennedy.

He's got a great story. Carlos Oldberg will be back. He's, you know, first team, team handsome. No doubt about that. And he's a legit guy. He's playing some big shots. They got to be careful, though, with Oldberg, because being only three and one now,

with four fights, MMA fights total. All of a sudden, if you lose your next fight, you know, three and two, like, it's just, coming in that, you know, obviously you're a 500 fighter, you know, that's just not good, you know, a couple more loss than the UFC.

So hopefully the UFC, he seems like a good dude, exciting fighter, just obviously. Actually, I thought Izzy broke it down pretty well and his post-presser just saying, Um, Oberg just, he just, they, I don't want to say octagon jitters, but like, it was a big fight for him. And, you know, flying across the world, you know, for this fight, you know, in UFC Apex, it was a big deal. And he got, I think, abnormally just tired in that fight.

And his fundamentals just went out the window. And, yeah, I just, you know, inviting a guy like Kennedy, who we haven't seen very, how much is he called him Kennedy? Like, he's my buddy Kennedy. But finally, guy like Kennedy, Kennedy just had, it just had more experience. And he was able to just to withstand those body shots. And I think it really, all the offense being just ineffective for Oldberg really actually broke Oldberg until he was just getting countered too much.

And like they said, he was not moving his head. And then when he did move his head, he actually moved it right back to the center line again. And that's when that big hook lands. did and put him down. So, yeah, super fun fight. That's a prelimit for, so it's like that. Yeah, we had five finishes in a row to start the night.

Kennedy was the fifth. Sean Brady, another finish, second straight submission win over Jake Matthews. Can we stop with this? Sean Brady is not the real deal conversation because the guy is the real deal. That win sealed it. I'm sold.

I'm sold. I wasn't super high on Brady. Maybe because that giant back piece just kind of threw me off sometimes. I was just like, geez, that's a really big, whatever devil mask or something that's so i don't know maybe i just didn't take him seriously enough and i i've been high in jake jake matthews for a while um i thought like he was going to finally get into that groove or he's going to be like a legit no top 10 guy but uh not tonight not tonight

john bray looks that fight all that fight almost went the way i thought i was going to go the first round was a little surprising because brady was able to do what he wanted to do on the ground and get it down quickly i thought matthew was going to have a lot of success on the defeat in the first round, but, man, great performance of Sean Brady. It was a dominant one from start to finish. How about one name that we're not going to, it's just not going to get mentioned after these cards, which is unfortunate. Amanda Lamos, good God.

She got, Amanda Lemos should call the Las Vegas Police Department because she got robbed at $50,000 tonight. How did she not get a performance bonus? That was 100% just start to finish, ass kicking. Good Lord. She made, Susa is a tough fighter. She was an evicted champ. She is, I don't, I don't think Susa is no top five straw weight, but she is a tough out.

And she made it look way too easy. And Limos, if she can, if that weight cut is easy to start, not easy, but if she can make that weight safely to one, to straw weight, dude, she is, she is going to be trouble for a lot of ladies. Kind of like, it kind of reminds me of a lot of words when Tatiana Swares, kind of came into the UFC. We're like, whoa, this lady's, like, she's just a, she's like at just a different level. Unfortunately for sores, no injuries, you know, I've really dampened her career.

But Amanda Limos, who, that was, her last fight over Missouki Inouye, who I'm very high on, she just blew Musuke Inouye away away. And tonight, man, I don't know how she, why didn't she get 50K? Is this too early on the card? I don't understand that.

Why did she not get 50K? I don't know. I mean, that is, that is a performance. That is a performance. You know, unreal. Trevin Jones could have got 50K. Euros Medich, who did get 50K. That guy is a monster.

Good God. Yeah. By the way, and going back to the Lamos fight, first time, Levinia, Susan, had ever been finished in her, in her, she had 16 fights, never been finished. That changed tonight. That's a legit win right there.

And, of course, she's managed by the great Wally and Ishmael, who has predicted. that Amanda Lamos will be his next champion. So we'll see what happens. Very possible. She's very good. She's very, very good. I mean, like, yeah, there's some, you know, some, when you see, there's few fighters.

I don't know that when they fight, oh, my God. Like, I know she's unranked right now, but I feel like she could get in there with the top five right now and give everyone a tough fight at the top of the division. Yes. Euros Medich, great win for him in his Octagon debut. I feel like that fight could have been stopped. way before that. But Mark Smith's one of the best referees in the game.

And it was one of those weird situations. I was kind of reminded of the Tyson Charterier interview where so close to stopping it. But Cruz, along Cruz would try to, would do something. He would defend himself. He would take instructions.

But Medits just put it on him. That's that this is a guy to watch. 7 and O comes from the Alaska scene. I know some people kind of like frown upon that regional scene, but now he's at King's MMA with those crazy folk over there. And he's just getting better. and better. What did you think of his performance tonight? Great performance. Actually, I'm kind of bummed out that Rogan and DC were so harping on the late

stoppage because it wind up being the storyline. And I'm watching the fight as like, dude, we've seen enough fights. I mean, yeah, it couldn't have got a couple punches maybe too late. But there weren't like punches that were like just like Cruz was just going to get his head banged against the cage or something like that. No, he just wasn't going to win the fight. And I felt it was a, actually, I felt the stop was just fine. I actually, I didn't see a giant issue with it. I understood why people thought, me, said it was a late stoppage or like a really egregious late stoppage, but I thought it was fine, honestly. And so it sucks because they were even talking about the stoppage rather than how incredibly good that guy looked.

So, yeah, I got to get Kings and Marais right down the road. I got to get my dang vaccine and go visit Kings and MMA. I haven't been down there a little bit. So say hi to them. yes and then the night started with an upset uh you know we we we talk about legendary fighters different like you know sea level cane motivated you know whoever uh fifth round robbie laller silver costa bald brian ortega i think it's time to put second round trevin jones in that conversation because this guy is like a completely different beast of the second ride loses

the first did it again tonight to maria batista who is a pretty sizable favorite and trevin and jones just comes out and lands that like hook uppercut combination like that hybrid shot yeah good god man he's he's legit guam guam you got yourself you get yourself a killer and i love the way trevin jones just talks i love his like kind of i don't know it it is a cool acts he just has a cool voice i just like i just like hearing this dude talk and apparently he stopped smoking the marijuana so good for him and then joe rogan told him go celebrate what's a girl. No, I did, I criticized Joe Rogan for one of the, later in the card, but for that line,

it's like, all right, you're cool with me, Joe. I enjoyed him talking to Amanda Nunes, too. That was fun. It was just cool. It was very chill. Yeah. I don't know. I try to find the good in these commentators.

I know people like to crap on him all the time, but. It was a long car. It was a long. It was a lot. And at some point, I was like, oh, John Annick's there. And then he'll do his no promo read. but um it was just yeah it was just wild man and i i will say there's only been like two times really that not having fans was super noticeable i would say DC stepe versus DC3 was the first time like

i really noticed it the main event tonight i really noticed it in a positive or negative way it was just weird it was just it was just it was like a golf event you know what i mean it was like Tigers on the 18th green putting for the, you know, putting for birdie trying to win the masters. And you couldn't hear a thing. It was just really weird. Even like, even the Anik was speaking like very softly,

like taking in the moment. It was just, it was just weird, you know? It was. And maybe it kind of came from, you know, we just saw the unfortunate ending to the Jan Sterling fight. And then like, and as great as a man,

Nunes looked, it just felt just unfair and just not even competitive. It just felt mean. But the Megan Anderson knockout Because it's just It's just Obviously man in units Is just so far above

The other 45ers right now Yeah so when that fight came It was just That's a fight we're all here to see But yeah Just The setup wasn't there You know

But But once the fight got going Yeah It did miss the crowd I mean Yeah I know what you're saying It was just Yeah I can't

It was different It was just different I don't know. Yeah, just the magnitude. It just felt weird. It wasn't good or bad. It was just weird. Yeah.

Yeah, it just felt out. Yeah, it kind of, yeah, it was weird. It was just weird. I agree. I don't know. I don't have a word for it, too. It was just weird. Yeah.

Well, at least we, I guess we're not going to Texas at the end of the month, as we kind of found out of the press conference with Dana White. But I wouldn't count Florida out of this conversation by any stretch of the imagination. I don't, I mean, the state governors can say whatever they want, but it's up to the city mayors to still allow. So because what Dana says, if we're going to go to any place outside of the apex, it has to be an arena and it has to be zero social distancing, I assume.

That's like, which I don't see any city allowing that for another six months at least. So, but maybe Florida. Dude, you just see that? Remember knucklemania? I didn't see a lot of social distancing on that card. There's a lot of people in that. building. Yeah, well, I think it was one of the things on, that's also knucklemania. What was, where was it, Blexi? Where did that take place?

No, no. That was, oh, yeah, you're right, right. That was in Florida. But that was still, that's also still in a, like, a big ballroom with like maybe 5,000 capacity. We're talking about, they have to know, whatever, wherever the Miami Heat play or, is there a Tampa? Yeah, I mean, that's a different story. I mean, yeah, they can go to, like, a big ballroom or, you know, a convention center in Tallahassee, but that's not how the UFC rolls. You know, they go big, you know, so, yeah, good luck. My parents have been in Florida for the last several months,

and I was talking to my mother the other day, and she's like, yeah, all the St. Paddy's Day festivities, they're all on, all the stores are open. I mean, people have got to wear a mask, but everything's open. It's a business as usual down there right now. And they're loving life. It's crazy.

It's just wild, how different it is. Yeah. Good on them. Yeah. enjoy it enjoy it while you can so listen folks i know this is one of those times where you're just like i want to ask questions and give comments and all this stuff but listen it's been a long night all right i promise i swear to you we will make this up to you okay we'll make it up to you in some way extended coverage i actually have an idea on this and we're going to talk about this

throughout the week about how we can make this up to you actually it just popped into my head a great idea of how we're going to make it up to you. But for the time being, everybody gets some sleep. Okay? It's 404 a.m. on the East Coast. All right. I appreciate you guys watching, getting our thoughts. I will go through personally and read your comments and react to them.

How about that? I'm going to sleep. Casey, it's 104 over there. It's 4-4 over here. My kid's going to wake me up in two hours. I'm going to try to get a little nap in. So thank you all for watching all of our coverage. It's just been a crazy week.

And then back out again next week. We'll do it all over again on the road to UFC 260. There you go. For Casey, I am Ikech. Good night, everybody. Go to Sleepy Weirdos. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.