The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - MMA Hangout: UFC 311

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Tony and Uncrowned’s Conner Burks preview UFC 311. Breaking News: Lightweight Title Contender Arman Tsarukyan is OUT of the UFC 311 Main Event due to injury. Renato Moicano will be stepping in to fight Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev. This podcast was recorded prior to the news.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Cup eternity leaves short because we had to preview a monster card with the one and only Connor Burks from the MMA show, from Uncrownedowned from the boys in the back from what else you do everything, dude, everything, man. I try to stay busy. Uh, thanks for having me, man. I'm so happy for this card. I cannot wait. And uh, congratulations to you. Thank you. Hey, uh, new father, man. What a way to bring in 20, 25 insane, dude. It's been, it's been a crazy two weeks. She's two weeks old today year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year.

I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year.

I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year.

I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for the next year. I'm excited for up later on. I don't know if there's maybe a better matchup than Islam Makashev versus Armen Tsarukhin, right? I mean, what a treat we're getting from the UFC to start this year. This is an elite level pay-per-view. You're getting two title fights on it, pound for pound number

one on the main event. You got a guy in Marabdavaleshvili on a 11 fight win streak going against an undefeated Nurmagomedov who's trying to become a champion in his own right. And then just the card is as deep as it gets, man. It's unbelievable. Yeah, the main event, Islam Akhachev, Armen Tsarouki.

And we're getting a rematch. If you haven't watched the first fight, Islam won clearly, but it was competitive. It was close, it went into a decision. And that was Armen's debut in the UFC. He's obviously grown a lot since then. And I mean, like right now, I think the line is like minus 450 or something in Islam. I think it's gonna be a lot since then. And I mean, like right now, I think the line is like minus 450 or something in

Islam. Uh, I think it's going to be a lot closer than that. Islam has such respect around the community, right? And around the UFC, it's because he's fought killer after killer after killer after killer. And like outside of the Volkanovsky, the first Volkanovsky fight were the last like couple of rounds. It was like, Oh, wait a second. Like's kind of got him, right? He ended up winning that. You know what I'm saying?

Goes out, high head kicks him, sends him to the shadow realm. It's over. And Volk, obviously, we know kind of the end of the story there. But is he deserved of this much respect, or is that he's just been able to stack wins in a way that, in this division, seems really, really good? Of course he is, man. of course he's deserved of respect. 26 and one, a lot of people think pound for pound number one and it's exactly what

you said man, he'll fight whoever you put in front of him that's what's incredible about him. He went from fighting Bobby Green in the apex to a title shot against Charles Oliveira and he looked the exact same in both of them gets the finish and you know, wins the belt. And it's not up to him who he's going to fight whether it's going to be Dustin Poirier, Volk coming up from 145. He fights whoever is in front of him and he knows that he's the best in the world. I mean, he has the quote on the wall.

I think at the UFCP is just like, you're not afraid of anyone if you're the champion of the world because you know that you're the best in the world. And he's doing that time and time again. I mean, like, it really is just like such a cold line and you know, he fights Vulk. It's a very close fight. Some people scored it for Vulk, but ultimately he gets the win. And then he's excited to rematch him because he's like, I'm going to write the wrong. It actually isn't that close.

I'm actually way better than this dude comes out, head kicks him into the ether. You know, I still have PTSD from that being such a bullpen, but, but like, and then now he's fighting the rightful contenders, you know, maybe Porier got, you know, circumstantially lucky to get that title shot back in June, but he put on an incredible fight, you know, went toe to toe with Islam. And now he's getting the rightful number one contender

in Armand Sarukhin who's earned this title shot, who is an incredible fighter in his own right. So yeah, man, Islam, he deserves this respect. He is one of the pound for pound best fighters in the entire world. And he's gonna go down as one of the greats at 155. Wow, which is stacked division in and of its own right. Like lightweight is incredible.

Let's talk about Armin Sarukin for a second. Can you, if you're just getting into the USC this year, or maybe in the last year and some change that you've seen it, you've seen him fight Oliver, you've seen him be like, oh wait, like this guy is actually like really good. Can you put a little bit of a backstory behind Armintarukin? Yeah, man So like I mentioned it earlier like he makes the debut in the UFC against Islam Akhashif like what? Tall task to go up against and then since then I think he's lost one fight against Matej

Gamra in a razor-close decision that a lot of people thought that he won that one. They, you know, controversial round four in a 48-47 decision. All three judges had it for Gamroud. A lot of people had it for Armin Sarukhin though, including myself. And that's really the only blemish that you've seen him have. And he's going to, he's gone against the best, similar to Islam Makashef, Charles Olvera, Benildi Ryush got a nasty, nasty knockout in December of 2023 against him. He can grapple with the best of them, go back and watch the first Islam fight, go back and watch the Gamrath fight, the scrambles in that one, and then go back and watch the Charles

Oliveira fight. I mean, almost got submitted in the very first round against Oliveira, was able to get out of that, come back and win that fight by a unanimous decision or split decision actually. But you know, I scored that one for him. So yeah, I mean, Grapples with the best of them, has ability to knock people out on the feed if you watch the Benio Darius one, completely well-rounded game, jacked to the gills.

I mean- I saw the picture of him a week ago and I was like, this is AI, this can't be real. Dude, eight pack massive biceps. He's in the gym. His chest is like out to here, I was like, damn. It's terrifying, dude. He's in there doing somersaults. He's in there doing back flips.

Like one of the most athletic people in the UFC. He just hasn't really broken into, especially in the United States, into like star power. You know, he's a little bit more reserved, but he beat us on Makashev. That's how you jump into that stratosphere of stardom. So incredible athlete, incredible fighter. And I really do think it's going to be

closer than the odds are flat. It's almost like the thing that we talk about. The way to become a star is by beating everybody else that everybody likes. Right? It's a very simple equation. Continue to beat everybody, and you're going to become a star no matter what.

And Islam is that star, man. I mean, you can say it about him too. He's more reserved. He's not gonna be up there getting fired up, screaming crazy shit at press conferences or anything. Like man, he's got some funny lines, the interactions with DC, the respect he has for all the other fighters in Poirier.

He just did a sit down interview with Demetrius Johnson and just the respect he has for him. Islam Makashev is loved around the world, man. He's huge on socials. He's got millions and millions of followers. So yeah, man, get a win over Islam Makashev and you'll jump into that stratosphere of superstardom. And still or in new?

I'm going and still, man. Islam just finds a way. Can't bet against the boy, huh? Can't bet against him. Dude, he just finds a way, man. Like he will go to war with these people, but he ends up finding a way to get it done. Co-main event, band weight title on the line,

Marab, Diwala Shvili versus Umar Nomaga, Medov, undefeated versus 11 fight win streak, like you said. Last time we saw Marab, he was just taking it to Sean O'Malley in a fight that all of us kind of saw coming, where it was like, if Sean doesn't have an answer for the grappling, like, it's going to be over quickly. And it was over long, but quick, if you know what I mean. It was a quick night at the office that ended up

taking all five rounds. How do you see this one? Again, pretty similar as far as competency with wrestling, with scrambling, with being able to do stuff on the ground. What do you think about Marab and Umar? Yeah, I mean, Umar, obviously, you know, he can strike and he is a very accomplished wrestler and grappler as well. But I'm just curious as how he's going to handle

the endless gas tank of Marab, the Balashvili. He truly weaponizes that cardio. I mean, you go back to the Piotr Jan fight. It was like 54 takedown attempts or something like that. Like he just does not stop. Like you have to put this man out to get him to stop. So at this point on an 11 fight win streak, and like go back and look at the last four wins too.

Sean O'Malley champion, Henry Cejudo former champion, Piotr Jan former champion, Jose Aldo former champion. Like he is beating the best of the best in there. And he's doing it, you know, by by decision but in emphatic dominant fashion like he 50-45 Piotr Jan across the board who was one of the best bansom weights in the world. Insane. Whereas you know Umar his best win is Corey Sandhagen really the only time we've seen him truly tested. The line on this one is crazy disrespectful to me man. Marab as high as plus 275, 11 fight win streak. I just mentioned the names he's beating.

Like, I don't know, man. Like until I see someone beat Marab, it's just like, I have to have faith that like, he's just gonna be able to do what he wants. Like he has the last five, six, seven times out we've seen him. And this is tough too, because as the viewing public, as the casuals want to tune in for strikes, for the exciting holy shit moments that the UFC sells, and Marab sometimes

doesn't provide that in a way that the casual would like. The person who isn't understanding, like, all right, this guy's gonna have an endless gas tank, take you down 60,000 times, try to wrestle you to oblivion, right? Like the intricacies of it. I feel like this coming event is going to get buried a little bit, even by the fight that's before it, because the fight that's before it is pure violence too. Oh God, man. Don't even get me started on that. That's the next one. We'll give, we'll give it proper do, uh,

and still or an new. All right. I'm going, I'm going to go and still, I'm going to go with the dog, Marabda, defend his belt. You say he gets buried though. Undefeated, Nermaga Medov becomes a new champion. The lineage Abdulmanap father's plan continues on cousin Umar gets his belt.

I think it'll make headlines and make waves. 19 and 0 bantamweight champion of the world with Nermaga Medov last name. He'll become a star very quickly. Wow. The light heavyweight showdown, pure violence right before the two title fights, Eri Prochaska versus Sweet Dreams, Jamal Hill. Pure violence, pure hands being thrown. How do you feel about this one?

Because they both suffered the same defeat to the to the stone hands to poet on. Are they going to be the same after fighting poet on brother if you go in there to strike with Alex Pereira you're pretty much going to meet the same fate every single time and both these guys tried to do it. Yuri tried to do it twice so I don't fault them at all for that. I love the way both these guys fight they come into scrap. Especially Yuri. I don't care how many times this guy loses. I will always sign up for a Yuri Prahash fight. It's just utter chaos. And I think that's what we get here, man.

I think if you really wanna talk about the co-main getting buried, I think that this is just a mad chaos. One round, maybe a round and a half, just war that ends up with someone. It's a hands-being throne. Yeah, and then it ends up with someone getting finished and that's how the co-main gets buried. But I love this fight, dude.

I don't know how you can't. Jamal's got something to prove, man. He's always jumping on Twitter on his YouTube channel, talking about how he's going to come back to the belt and fight Politan again. And then Yuri, the quiet samurai focus locked in needs this win needs this one bad, man. You don't want to fall out of the title picture too far. So I think they're both going to put it on the line. I think it's going gonna be a banger. I for mentioned Benil Darius versus money Moicano and I told my kind of the boy.

How do we talk about like 35 years old? He's found the fountain of youth. I know win streak if he wins this one like I'm talking about he's one away from a 155 title shot like it's crazy man getting on the microphone blowing up on YouTube got to be excited about that one. Reigning a ridder from one championship, another one. Peyton Talbott, star in the making. This card is so stacked, dude.

The last like eight fights are must see television. I mean, we're gonna watch probably from the jump, from the early prelims, as we usually do. But this one's fun. I don't even wanna look at 312 because we're focused on 311 right now. Because 312, I saw some of the names and I was like, Oh, again, we always talk about it. Sometimes you have to sacrifice for great cards. You got to

sacrifice another card down the line. Yeah, man. It's not that bad. But Strickland, you got John Wayne Lee versus Tatiana Suarez could be an undefeated champion. Are you? But yeah, 311 is is the cream of the crop. It's as good as it gets man. Strickland DDP. Are you are you in for that one again? Or did you kind of see everything you need to see the placeholder brother?

All it is is just who's gonna fight Hamza Shmaev for the middleweight title. Exactly. Exactly. Brother, thank you so much. UFC 311. Go check out. We've got dueling much. UFC 311, go check out. We've got dueling streams. So here's the plan.

What I want you to do is I want you to have one of your screens on the boys in the back doing their thing on Uncrowned, and then one of the screens on MMA Hangout so you can get two different perspective, two different vibes from the boys. How do you like that? Nailed it. Nailed it.

3TV setup, middle, you got the actual fights on the pay-per-view on left. You got us right. You got you guys and it is this beautiful symmetrical. Just enjoyment of you got everything. You got the vibes, you got the intellect, you got the fights, you got whatever you're drinking, whatever you're eating, having fun with the boys. Uh, Connor, plug all your stuff on the way up, bro. Uh, yeah, man. Ariel, how wanting channel on YouTube. Go ahead and subscribe. Boys in the back on Thursdays's watch parties on Saturdays. Tony my man can't appreciate you enough congrats again on the newborn child brother. Thank

you appreciate it as always Connor Burks the boy the man the legend appreciate you. From fireside conversations to football Sundays, winter means more moments with the coolest people in your life. Make these moments even better with Miller Lite. I know I do. The grape tasting light beer for people who love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family, and grape tasting light beer. Taste like Miller time. Recently I had family over and while everyone's palate is different, I knew they all like beer and they all look like people who want to drink beer that actually tastes like beer. So I brought out a nice little silver platter of Miller Lite. That beautiful white can was an instant winner. Trust me, learn from my experience, set that bad boy out and you

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