The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE W.A.D.E. Concept - WEEK IN REVIEW - Moses Itauma Fight week, UFC PPV is GONE, Darren Till and Luke Rockhold face to face and more...

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

In this weeks WEEK IN REVIEW, Wade gives his FINAL prediction on the Moses Itauma Vs DIllion White fight, thoughts on Paramount buying the UFC broadcast rights, and how Luke Rockhold might have already fallen into Darren Tills trap... 0:00 MOSES ITAUMA VS DILLIAN WHITE PREDICTION! 15:49 UFC PPV IS GONE?! 35:02 DARREN TILL VS LUKE ROCKHOLD FACE 2 FACE 1:07:49 UFC 319 PREDICTION #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council. All right, so we are back on the way concept presented by the Ring Magazine. I am in North Carolina, taking a little bit of a trip before I get into a ton of boxing commentary later this month. But today I wanted to talk to you guys about the fight coming up on Saturday. The best prospect that the UK heavyweight scene has seen in a very long time. Moses Atalma is taking his biggest step up in competition. he's taken on Dillian White in a fight that I think is getting looked at the wrong way, but can also be a launching point for the Moses Atalma era if, and only if he overcomes his biggest

challenge. What do I mean? The breakdown, let's go. All right, so like I said, Moses Atalma, this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, taken on Dillian White. Dillion White, who is, I think, what you would consider now, honestly, a bit of a gatekeeper at heavyweight, not because he isn't top of the world talent, he is, but he's 37 years old. He does have a couple losses. It's coming off a four-fight win-street, though, and does have wins over, two wins over Derek Chazora, has a win over Joseph Parker, has beaten some big names at Heavyweight and has fought pretty much everyone at Heavyweight outside of Usik. So I tried true test. And more than that, more than a test for Moses-Talma,

a real top-five, top-10 guy at Heavyweight that can test him and put him in position to be talked about as one of the best in the world because the only people that have beaten Dillian White, Povetkin, he avenged that loss. Anthony Joshua, who's looked at as one of the current generation's better UK heavyweights, Tyson Fury, probably this generation's best UK heavyweight. Those are the only three guys that have beaten Dillion White. So Moses Atama this Saturday has a chance to put himself, and we're going to talk about pushing him too far too quickly, but he's 20 years old and he has a chance to put himself in the same conversation as an Anthony Joshua and Tyson and Fury strictly off of this fight, not an entire body of work, not what they've done in

their careers, not the titles they've held, but I am specifically talking about the level of boxer he can be and maybe already is at 20. And this fight is important for a ton of reasons. Number one, everyone is looking at this as Moses Atalma's coming out part. And it very well could be that. But let's not forget again, Dillion White, yes, he's 37. Yes, he is lost to the top level guys. But we still have question marks on what Moses Atalma can bring. I think he's the greatest talent. I've heavyweight in this generation, strictly at heavyweight. At his age, I haven't seen anything like it. The speed, the quickness, the precision, being able to punch forward and backward, being able to have power and finesse, he's got it all. He really does. It's just a matter of, does he have too much

too soon? 20 years old, is he ready for this moment? Being compared by people like me to the likes of Tyson Fury, AJ, and they're pushing him like, you know, a Mike Tyson push when he won the heavyweight title at 21. So it's like, you're seeing a lot of this big time pressure for this young kid that we don't know if he's ready for that yet. We don't know how he deals with the limelight yet. This will be his first real step into that. And I told you guys this when Alexander Usik just beat Daniel Dubois for the second time, I said the only guy I see in the division, no disrespect to Joseph Parker, no disrespect to Cabiel, the only guy I see in the division. Right now, that potentially can give Alexander Usik a bit of a problem in a couple of years or

maybe year and a half, whatever, is Moses of Talmas. Strictly because of his skill set, his speed, his agility, his, his light feet, his power, his eyes, everything that I see with this kid. I'm trying not to get too excited, but he is the real deal. And the only problem is we're living in the unknown. We truly don't know what will happen when he keeps stepping up, because we've only seen what we've seen. We've only seen him go against guys that we think he should be. Again, only 20 years old. We haven't seen him fight past six rounds.

He's only been scheduled to go 10 rounds. This one's scheduled for 12. So it's just that matter of the unknown where you want to be excited about a prospect in boxing, but you just don't know just yet. But man, he passes the eye test with flying colors. But again, this is no walk in the park. And Dillion White is known for playing those mind games. Look back to the Anthony Joshua fight and how he tried to get in AJ's head.

It didn't work out for him very well. But he tried and he had some success with it, at least in parts. I can remember watching that fight and watching him throw that freaking axe overhand over the ref. It was a spectacle. And I expect the same. during this fight week. It's been a bit quiet so far, and I think that's the way Moses Atama likes it. If I'm Dillion White, I'm trying to pull out all the stops. Give this kid every mental game you have because you want to test him. You're not there to lay down for the youngster.

You look at Dillian White in camp and he's in shape. I mean, he is in shape, shape, kind of like, what are you back on that stuff shape? But he is. He's in great shape. He's taking it very seriously. And obviously, he's a bit of a more awkward guy as well to fight, chopping hooks, big time power. That Derek Chazora knockout left hook. It left Derek Chazora flat. That's something, again, you know, boxing math doesn't always work, but that's something Ussick wasn't doing, you know what I mean. So it's not really the same comparison.

But you get what I mean. It's a dangerous fight for Moses of town. This is what you could call a hype train derailer if Moses doesn't go out and take care of business. And, you know, when we're on that subject, we talk about Moses's upbringing. I've been watching a lot of the zone in the day of the life camp stuff with Moses. He's talking about how, you know, when he started with Ben Davis,

he didn't want a box. He didn't like box. And he had to, you know, fall back in love with it. And Ben brought him to that place. Fair play to Ben Davidson. You know, he's been around a lot of the UK heavyweight scene, trained Joshua for the Dubois fight, trained Tyson Fury. When he came out of retirement, there's definitely something that Ben Davidson has that fighters attach themselves to mentally, right? He got Tyson Fury out of bed and got him ready for that Deonté Wilder trilogy when it looked like Tyson Fury was done for. I mean, completely done. And now you hear Moses Atama talking about how, you know, Ben really brought him back for the love of a sport and really got him ingrained with a sport again. I just worry, you know, when I hear a 20-year-old

talking about, I didn't love this, I didn't want to. It's like, man, you haven't even gotten to the hard part yet, you know, you haven't even gotten to the dance. And again, this was when he was younger and he ended up going and winning European gold medals and all this, but what happens when you get some? You know, what happens when you get to the top of the mountain? What satiate your hunger then? Because right now, the hunger's the same for everybody. It's chasing the gold. It's chasing glory. It's chasing legacy, right? And Frank and the boys over at Queensberry, they have really pushed him. You know, they pushed him to the top of the heavyweight division with only 12 wins. And again, if he is to beat Dillion White, it's only going to go up from there. Like,

you can't go backward after that, right? This is why, you know, some people wait before they give their prospect a high level fight. But then again, we're in an era where prospects are taking high level fights sooner and sooner. And I love it because there is no ducking, no dodging, let's pad your stats, let's get you experience when in reality the best experience is, Iron-sharpening iron in a fight. Yeah, that may mean dire consequences, but the test, if you're able to come through it, will make you better.

Mike Tyson fought upwards of what, like 10 times, 12 times in one year at one point? Like, he was getting experienced by going in there and he fought former Olympians and all this. So I like the trajectory they're on. I just, I wonder, I even saw him talking about Simon Jordan, how, you know, it's unbearable listening to Simon Jordan. It does his head in talking about Moses of Talma. Again, he's 20 years old and now starting to get a taste of the,

other stuff, right? Not inside the ropes, boxing, the media scrutiny, the, like I said, the bright lights, potentially the fame that comes out of this. How do you handle it? We have seen time and time again, boxers that aren't necessarily ready for that moment yet too soon. Mike Tyson, others that even Tyson Fury to a degree, others that grasp that goal and then go, well, what else is there? This was it. Let's go party or let's go do something else in my life. And it spirals down. And I may be reading too much into that. I just, you know, I want to see a high-level prospect in boxing. I want to see that next wave.

And I think this is the time for, especially for UK boxing, which they don't have, I think they have one world champion right now. Or maybe they don't, which is rare for the UK. I mean, that's their second biggest sport. They've dominated. It feels like the higher weight classes and even some of the lower ones in the last, you know, five to 10 years. Where America's starting to have that 130 to, you know, 154 division kind of locked down.

But now, without a UK, world champion, it does feel like the hopes and dreams of the next generation, kind of rest on Moses and Thomas' shoulders. A lot of pressure. It really is. We'll see how he deals with this Saturday. And I'm excited. I'm excited to see that because it's put up or shut up time. As much as I say, oh, you know, let's not put too much on the kid. He's only 20 years old. Let's not, you know, it's moving. You can't really do that, especially when you're talking like Frank and, you know, Queensberry people are about him being the next great heavyweight. I think Frank had a quote somewhere where he said Moses Atalem was going to have the star power of the LeBron James

or a Tiger Woods or somebody like that. And that's, I mean, as an American, I don't know how it is for Ronaldo or Messi, but when you're talking about those type of names, that is pressure of the highest order. That's LeBron James coming out of high school and being on Sports Illustrated with the words, the chosen one above his head, right? That is being the next Michael Jordan. That is Tiger Woods at the, I think it was the U.S. Open in 2001 with the fist pump and he's the newest thing. That kind of pressure can break people. I've seen it happen in combat sports way too many times. How many boxing prospects have we seen prospects? Jump up a little too soon and unfortunately they pay for it with their career. So it's a fine line, but if we're going

to go that route, which again, Queensberry's doing, he's doing, Frank Warren's doing, everybody's talking about it. Then you also have to accept that if he is to win this fight, that we have to talk about him like he is a world-level contender for the head. heavyweight championship. I don't think he's the number one guy because that goes to Joseph Park. Cabiel is probably somewhere in there as well. And Usik, you know, he's 38. He says he's just getting started, so we'll see how many more defenses. But I think again, if Moses Atama can beat Dillian White, I think he's a year and a half away, maybe one or two more fights away from a shot at the heavyweight championship of the world. And you're talking about a guy that at that time will be

21, maybe 22, which is fucking insane. But that's the way we have to operate. Based on what's being said about and based on them jumping him up this quick. in competition and based on this fight with Dillion White. Now, as far as the fight itself goes, you're hearing Moses Atama say, we're probably going to get this done in round two or three. And again, saying that when you're about to fight Dillion White is crazy to me. It's nuts, because he's only lost to the top level guys. And yes, they've been my knockout, but still, that's a big statement for a 20-year-old, for a 12-0 guy. But his skills pay the bills. But it's not his words that are making the statement, y'all. It's his skills that are

paying the bills. They're the things doing the talking. And his confidence, rises from the fact that he is truly a nasty, nasty South Paul, like I talked about earlier, the speed, the shot selection, the setups, the feints, by the way. Again, I go on and on about Tyson Fury and his faints and how it sets up everything he has, and he's six-knock, and he can kind of get away with fainting with his hands down and touching you from the outside. Moses is a Talmud, he'll faint you to drop the bomb on your ass. And I'm talking left hand, and then that lead hook, his right hand out of Southpaw, that lead hook, is dirty work. His last fight, he touched old boy on the chin,

bow, and had him doing a freaking Tinkerbell Cinderella dance, a pirouette, and fall to the ground. It was nasty. Scooted on the ground a couple times for good measure like he was in Stomp the Yard. So that right there is special. Timing, execution, I think that will be the difference. Again, the big question marks, what does he look like if this fight gets pushed into round 7, 8, 9, 10, 1112,

potentially, championship round. rounds. Dillion White can get into that zombie mode, start walking forward, just pressure in your face, hit you with those body punches, make you feel a little bit of that. And again, I'm not sleeping on Dillian White at all in this fight. Watching him train, looking how trim he is, he's going to show up in shape and ready to shut down this hype train, which is why when I sit here and predict, I don't, I don't know if I'm going to go, oh yeah, Moses Atalma, next generation golden era heavyweight of the UK is going to knock him out in two rounds. I don't know about that. I think there's a possibility because of how sharp this kid is. I mean, he's like a freaking razor blade with boxing

gloves on, but Dillian White can make this a tough fight for him. And if I'm a fan looking at this and asking myself, what do I want to see? Sure, I want to see Moses Atalma go in and shut the showdown, right? Completely lights out. We have a new prospect. He's on the scene, not even just a prospect. We have a new contender at heavyway. If he goes in and completely flatlines Dillian White. But as somebody that looks forward to seeing how he grows over the next five to 10 years, I'm kind of going, man, he may need a little bit of a welcome to the show moment in this fight. And I don't want to wish a tough fight on anyone or whatever, but that may be what we're getting here, right? We may get a Dillion White that's like, hey, listen, all that other stuff's cool. All these other TKO's great.

I'm different. And you've gotten to the level that matches your own now. But saying all that, I just think this kid is special. I do. I think he is, is for a heavyweight, a combination of power and speed, the feints, the timing, the set up the execution. I don't know if I, I mean, Usik is the guy that you remind you of, like, all those things I say. at the highest level, he's the guy that you think of when I'm like, who's the best at that? But now you're looking at a kid that's 20 years old, has those same traits to a degree, and let's see if it carries to the next level. Let's see if it carries to the world level like it has at every other level he's ever been at.

So I'm just going to say it. The eye test tells me that Moses Atama is going to knock out Dillion White. And honestly, I think it is going to be early. I do. I think just because it's so hard to get used to his speed and timing early on. If you can slow him down, maybe, but I haven't seen him. slow down yet, right? I haven't seen him really show any scratches, any, any dents, anything like that in the arm. But if you can show him, you can get up here with a kid that's already questioned himself

a couple different times before he got to the dance, before he got to the pro scene, then maybe we will see him struggle. Maybe we will see a flaw in the golden child, right? But as of right now, I'm taking Moses of Talma. I don't think it'll be a first round knockout, but I think that second, third that he predicted might be spot on. I'll say fourth. I'll give it the fourth round. Maybe he hurts Dillian White in that third finally finds an opening right after a bit of a chess game to start or a bit of a slow start as Dillian wants to come out, get in his face, be aggressive, and try to take control of the fight. And just the issue of being a little too aggressive with a guy that can box on the front foot and walk you down, but also probably as better as a sniper

off the back foot, you get a little too aggressive, you overreach, over extend, and then Moses Atama's there to bang the left hand and the right hook over the top. That's the way I see this going. I see him using Dillion White as a vehicle to showcase the announcement that Moses Atalma has arrived on the heavyweight world scene and is a legit contender for the world title. At 20 years old, now again, does he need a couple more fights? Sure, because we have contenders lined up in people that have already showcased what he's trying to do on Saturday. But the eyetest speaks loud. And if you can go in and beat a guy in Dillian White who already has a win over Joseph Parker, who's the number one contender right now for Ussick's belts, already beaten high level guys that Usik has fought and that holds a bit of gravitas in the heavyweight

scene. Like I said, Kabeel's there and he should potentially get his shot as well. But Moses of Ta-Mah on Saturday can prove he's the real deal. Because people are watching right now and there's definitely a lot of hope and a lot of hopefully and maybe and I think he will be. But on Saturday he has the opportunity to turn that maybe into absolute. Does he get it done? I'm saying yes by knockout, fourth round. But you guys let me know in the comments below a game Dillion White. trained his ass off. It may not be that easy. But in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this Saturday, Moses Atama versus Dillion White. What happens? I don't have those answers, but I guess we'll find out.

All right, folks. So breaking news, we are back here once again from Carolina Beach on vacation, but the grind never stops because the UFC just sold its TV rights for $7.7 billion to paramount. And we have to break it all down. For one reason, amongst many that we're going to get into in this video, but the biggest being, ladies and gentlemen, paper view and MMA is dead. What do I mean? The breakdown, let's go. All right, so as I woke up, about to go to the beach today, the news hit across every major wavelength in combat sports media.

The UFC's rights deal has been announced, and boy, it is a big one. $7.7 billion to the winning bidder, and it's oddly enough, one that's, that I never saw coming, not that I had inside information, but even people with them inside information, did not see this coming. The UFC is partnering and selling their TV rights to Paramount. Now, for people that are not in the United States, Paramount is essentially a major player in the U.S. nationally televised market. Now, we're not talking about just cable, like you've seen in years past with ESPN or Fox Sports or any of that stuff. Now, they had their own national providers like ABC and Fox's actual channel.

We're talking Paramount, which in other words is CBS, a national televised channel in pretty much every home in America, whether you have cable, subscription, whatever, that channel is in your household. Now, a couple of things about this deal is that all events are going to be a part of this package. It isn't just some sort of UFC fight night package and then you still have your paper views. Paper views are gone. You are going to get to watch. UFC numbered events, meaning when the deal starts, events like UFC 319, 320. I'm not saying those events specifically, but the numbered events, the big paper views, the big end of the year card, international fight week, start of the year, those kind of

of Connor McGregor level cards, you're going to get to see those apparently on Paramount, and apparently according to Aero Hawani and even Dana himself today talking on various shows, at least four of those events. I don't know how many they're going to run per year now, but at least four are going to be on CBS nationally televised. That's insane. So yeah, pay-per-view is gone.

And, you know, I have a smile on my face, but it's a bit of a nuanced situation. Number one, yeah, it's great for fans. I saw some number like UFC fans were paying $1,061 a year are now going to be paying like $120 a year. Right now, I think as it sits, Paramount Plus is either $599 or $799,

which gets you pretty much all access to all Paramount property. And for fans, that's a massive win. Think about what combat sports specifically because they're pretty much the only sport left in the pay-per-view business, what they've struggled with for years. And that is pay-per-view sales. That is paywall.

That is illegal streaming, trying to get fans to pay $80, $50, whatever, $25 to watch a pay-per-view level card already behind a paywall when it was at ESPN. You had ESPN Plus, and then an $80 pay-per-view behind that. Now looks like it's going to be behind. Again, the Paramount Plus paywall for most events. And then if you just want to watch the major cards, apparently those are going to be on CBS.

That's, again, this is huge, huge for fans. Because in an ever-changing market, pretty much every sport is going away from paperview, even though it's kind of odd the way it works now because companies are banding streaming services together to almost make a new version of cable TV. It's very odd. I just saw an announcement with ESPN and Fox working on their direct-to-customer

provider being a collaboration. and I'm like, this is just cable, right? So we'll see what happens with that. But this specifically, Paramount, the UFC, apparently the way this thing went was they were only going to pick up a certain amount of events for the UFC. I don't know if that was Dana White Contender Series. I don't know if that was the ultimate fighter. They were only going to sparse out a couple of things for the UFC,

which I thought was going to be the play here. I thought the UFC was going to go, okay, Netflix, take our pay-per-view events. Instead of being pay-per-view, now they're on Netflix. Dana-Wy Contender Series over here. ESPN gets the fight. I thought there was going to be like four or five different places like you see with the WWE right now. You have Smackdown on a different place than NXT and a different place than Monday Night Raw and a different place than the WWE premium live events.

They're all over. They're not in one spot. The UFC said, we don't want to make you fans pay for this subscription, for that subscription, for this subscription. And I have to applaud it because that's one of the big gripes of all MMA fans. We've got to pay for this and that and this. They just said you're going to get it in one place. at least here in the United States. I assume, you know, my UK people, you guys are still going to have

TNT sports or however you watch the UFC now. But for fans here in the U.S., this is a massive, massive move. And I keep saying for fans, for fans, because it, you know, it was an entertainment product, it is a massive move. And for us to be able to enjoy the sport of MMA like we enjoy here in America, the NFL, which is predominantly on CBS or Fox, the NBA, which is predominantly on ESPN, ABC, or your local NBA game time. Baseball, which is on Fox or ESPN, or just you don't see a lot of MMA and for that matter boxing on big time national broadcast television anymore, not here in the U.S. So this feels like it's a step up in legitimacy, honestly, for the sport of MMA,

because you feel like you're kind of playing where the big boys are now, right? Look at the adjective, play. Sorry, Kevin Nash reference. This feels like a major sports move. And again, you got to give credit to the people over. over at TKO. Sure, they're gonna line their pockets with this. 7.7 billion dollars is an insane amount of money for a TV rights deal. Just, just to give you guys reference. I got a couple

stats for you. Does everybody remember when the UFC sold in 2016 to what now would become TKO? They sold their entire company for $4 billion. Not the rights, not the archives, the entire fucking company. And almost a decade later, just their TV rights have sold for just over a seven-year period, $7.7 billion. Just for one year of being on Paramount Plus, the UFC is raking in a fourth of what they sold the entire company for just nine years ago. Also, I talked about other sports comparisons. The NBA, that's right, the National Basketball Association, one of the most profitable leagues in the U.S., their media rights deal is $24 billion over nine years. It comes out to about $2.6 billion

per year. The UFC is at 40% of that while not doing what, I mean, you're talking about the NBA runs over a thousand games a year. The UFC, as it was announced today, they're going to do 43 events per year. 43 events for $1.1 billion per year. That right there is a steal sign. It just feels like MMA has become like, it's taken that next step, right? When they got to Fox, it felt that way. When they got to ESPN, it felt that way. And now they're on CBS, Paramount, Paramount Plus, but CBS, And you hear Dana, I'll run the clip, talking to Pat McAfee and others about the potential for this big White House lawn card they're talking about doing next year, potentially being on CBS. Think of the millions and millions of people that are going to watch that event. Take a listen.

July 4th, 250th birthday of the United States of America live on CBS from the White House. And now I know we still have some cynical UFC fans that are saying, well, we'll get the four big events, the four big ones that Dana's talking about and everything else will be crap because they don't have incentive. to do big time cards anymore because paper views gone. And to that I say, you guys just hate everything. Because not only does this give you more incentivization to build a star because you're not having to try to create one behind an $80 pay-review wall before they even become a star. Like think about the way the UFC is trying to build stars now.

There's a reason you're not seeing the Brock Lesners and the Ronda Rouseys and the Connor McGregors and even the Chuck Liddles and GSP's. You're not seeing them because, one, you're in an era of paper view where you're trying to build the star on under cards of people that aren't stars. So you're building under a card that not as many people are seeing as it is. And granted, there's a lot more that goes into it, fighter personality, promotion, etc. But now in front of a national televised audience, whoever is on these under cards is going to get seen by so many more eyes, so many more opportunities to build stars.

And honestly, that right there is a talking point that I turn around and I look at the boxing game right now and saying, Are you watching this because this is why the UFC keeps growing and why boxing, especially without Big H.E. Turkey-E. Turkey-A. Sheik is kind of spinning around in a circle because what the UFC is doing is what boxing has failed to do for two decades now, which is get their shit together and find a way on one specific platform or to find a way on one specific platform without pay-per-view, without every single promoter being at every walks and ends of the earth. So you have to find this subscription or go over here or here's boxer and here's de zone and here's this and here's that, that plus the different sanctioning bodies and boxing is a real problem for why

we're not seeing that breakout major star. I mean, again, also comes down to personality and everything else. But my point being, there's a reason that TKO got into boxing. And yes, the Ali Act will be something that we have to talk about as it continues to develop and how that's going to work with fighters' rights and everything else. But they got into boxing because boxing. shot itself in the foot over and over and over and turkey al-hashate got into boxing for the same reason because there wasn't this natural excitement about the sport it wasn't growing the sport was maintaining not growing and i'm telling you if you're looking across the aisle and seeing what the ufc's doing i think they're going to do the same thing in boxing and it's going to take over the sport again

tko build relationships with these companies build a relationship with these partners these tv rights holders they're going to see the same type of thing go on in boxing and i don't think that these other promoters are ready for it. I really don't. And I only think they have themselves to blame because you had years and years to figure this out and you didn't do it. And now the UFC is kind of showing people how it's done.

Turkey has gotten in business with Dana White for this specific reason, with TKO for this specific reason. You're going to see it on Netflix in about four weeks. They're going to run a huge event. With Canelo Alvarez and Terrence Crawford. I got more videos coming out on that as we get closer. But not to get away from the point.

I guess I just wanted to show you guys. The UFC is miles ahead of boxing in this way. miles ahead. And it's going to keep their sport growing where boxing's tried to maintain and just, we have our two or three or four big stars. And outside of that, pay-per-view has been dead on that side for years as well. It's just no one wants to admit it, except Turkey. I mean, honestly, Turkey's the one trying to pull back the curtain on pay-per-view and say, hey, listen, no more paper views when we do ring events. Here we go. But this is just a monumental announcement and one that I think is going to change everything when it comes to combat sports. And also, this comes off the heels of another

big announcement in the UFC that does have to do with this. You know, you have these paperview gone. You have the UFC numbered events going to be, you know, easily accessible. And then you have the big four events that Dana wants to do potentially on CBS. Again, national syndicated television. And, you know, people are kind of throwing the jokes about, oh, the UFC's going to do four big events and the rest are going to be in the apex. Well, normally I'd be like, yeah, that's bullshit. But also, that's not happening, number one. We're not going to have 40 straight events in the apex. But the ones that are in the apex, the apex events are getting expanded. It's like every complaint an MMA fan would have is getting just slashed as I keep breaking down this announcement.

It went from, you know, no fans at the apex and people don't like that. And for good reason, it's not a great watching experience for the average fan to hear someone get flatline caowed and just crickets after. There's no energy. The fighters don't feel it either, right? It's just not a great place to hold fights because it feels like sparring almost. It doesn't even feel like an actual big time event. You're going to see 5,000 to 10,000 people in these arenas, wherever, if it's going to be a build on to the apex or if they're going to put more seats in or however they're going to do it, they're actually going to have fans. And these things are going to be centralized in Vegas, I assume still, but that's a massive win as well. So even when you don't have the big

massive stadiums, you still get that big fight feel from a 5 to 10,000 fan base perspective. Now, the only real underlying thing that hasn't been addressed just yet, and I think some fighters I saw Tom Aspenol was on Ariel Show today asking about it. The question now is you move away from the pay-per-view model and you keep hearing me talk about a big w for the UFC big w for the fans big w for the sport everybody seems to be legitimized more things are growing going in a great direction fans questions concerns all that are being answered in real time but what about the big elephant in the room which is fighter pay if paper view points are taken away from champions which is kind of their big incentive once they get the belt to sell paper views

guys like tom aspinall and magamette on calliah drakis duplicey who's fighting on pay-per-view this weekend. Jack Delamadalina, Ilya, who's probably the biggest star in the UFC right now, and so on and so forth, what happens to that extra bonus they get for pay-per-view points if pay-per-view is no longer there? What's the big difference now

and pay for a champion and how is that going to be addressed? I mean, for one, yeah, the fighter split has never been great in the UFC. I think it's somewhere around, you know, 18% of the revenue share goes to fighters. Even when that number soars to 7. point seven billion over seven years and even when the UFC's probably going to be raking it in hand

over fist at the gate still meaning their ticket sales are still going to be massive now they're introducing new ticket sales I assume to be a part of the apex events and be in that crowd all that stuff you still want to know okay that's great revenue is going up but is the share percentage going up for fighters I haven't heard anything like that and even tom aspinall he really had no idea right because it's all coming out in real time so instead of pay-per-view points are we going to get streaming points or, you know, is it going to be one of those things like a music industry change where music went from record sales to streaming numbers? Is that how it's going to be now with, you know, bonuses for champions or, you know, whatever it is that is going to replace paper

viewpoints? I don't know. I really don't. And I know that's a big concern for people. And it should be, right? Because selfishly as fans, of course, we want the best, most affordable option for us, the people paying to watch these fighters fight. But just like FI said, the sport was going to grow to be recognized in the same space as the NFL and the NBA and MLB and HL. If the UFC is going to treat their fans that way, they should treat their fighters that way as well. Not to say that every fighter should walk in there and be on a $10 million con. I don't know. I'm exaggerating, but you get what I mean. There does need to be some sort of compensation relief for the paper viewpoints going away. And I don't really know how much the paper viewpoints in today's era were as massive as they were

in like 2016 with Connor doing crazy numbers. Like if you were on a Connor McGregor card, your numbers were going up instantly and Connor was making money hand over fist. Or even, you know, a guy like GSP or Brock Lesner, who they all made pretty decent paper viewpoints. I don't know if we've seen paper views to that level in years. So I don't know how much of a difference it would really even make. But regardless, there does need to be something in place and that needs to be a topic of conversation when we're talking about it. Because it is a really good thing. Like seeing this happened is a massive win for MMA fans, for MMA media, for the sport itself. But at the end of the day, the fighters fight. And this also needs to be a win for them. This also needs to be, yes, you're going to

get more exposure. Yes, you're going to get more eyeballs on the product, but they need to have more money in their pockets based on this. Because ultimately, yes, Dana, TKO, Mark Shapiro, Hunter, all those guys, the big wigs, they're the ones that are going out and getting these deals done and negotiating and all of that. So sure, reward them handsomely. But these fighters, unless they're stepping in the cage and providing highlight after highlight guys like ilia teporia guys like a guys like alice perera guys like tom aspinall guys that are changing the sport changing the level of the sport and you hear about kana mcgregor potentially coming back i know i say it in pretty much every mma video but he's two days in a row training so i'm getting a little hype there but without that

none of it happens so yes selfishly as a fan this is great i want it to be great for the fighters as well but yeah it starts in january 2026 so you have about five months a little less give or take to get through the ESPN era, but this is it. ESPN is gone. No more ESPN plus sitting on a blank screen waiting for the commercial break to end and, you know, hopefully no more buffering issues and all the issues that came with them working with ESPN. I think everybody is on the same page with thinking it was not the greatest viewing experience for fans at times, even just trying to buy the pay-per-view on the platform. It was rough. But you can say goodbye to that and you can say a buy to pay-per-view because MMA just got a massive, massive upgrade for the fans, for the company,

for the sport, and for the fighters. But again, we're going to see how that plays out payment-wise and everything else. But the exposure, sports growing, boxing better take a look. I'm telling you now, if you're not looking at this and you're in the boxing scene, this is what's coming. Promoters, everybody else that's sitting here and doing deals with different people, this is what Turkey Lashik and TKO are going to do. Make no mistake about it, that's not a prediction. It's a Spoiler, there's a reason he brought these guys on board. This is that reason. And if TKO is able to get it done, being the newest kid on the block in boxing,

I think that tells you all you need to know about the cesspool and the chaos and the just flat-footed, melodic, quite frankly, lazy era that boxing has been in. This feels like what the BBC wanted when they went to Amazon and didn't get, except the UFC got it. And it's also telling that Paramount just did away with Bellator and did away with Showtime boxing just recently over the last couple of years and then immediately once they signed their new merger deal brought the UFC in. I think someone also said that the deal is worth more

than Paramount itself as a company is right now. Obviously, with the merger, you invest to make more money back and it drives their value up, but still, they just signed the UFC's TV rights deal for $7.7 billion. The entire company of Paramount, I think, is worth $6.6 billion. That shows you how willing they were to go in business with the UFC and how trusting they are that MMA is on the upside is going to grow and that this is going to be the way forward in the future.

I agree with them, but you guys let me know down below, this is massive breaking news. What happens next for the UFC? What happens in their first big event on CBS? Who's going to be fighting there? How is this partnership going to go? Can they even top this? In 2016, I never would have thought they would sell for $4 billion.

And then after that, I never in my wildest dreams would have thought they'd sell TV rights deals for $7.7 billion. But here we are, nothing's off the table. except pay-per-view because it's dead and the UFC buried it. And I'm going to be honest to my appreciation and I think a lot of fans out there as well, what happens next to this whole thing, don't have those answers. But keep your eye on this. Again, if you're a boxing fan, because I'm telling you, it's coming. But 2026 is when it starts.

Like I said, 7.7 billion over 7 years. Those are the answers we have. There's a lot more that we don't. But starting January and next year, I guess we'll find out. It's the way concept presented by the Ring Magazine. And today we are, hold on. make sure this mic is working. Good. And we are taking a look at the face off between Darren Till and Luke Rockhold. Misfits 22 Ring of Thrones is on August 30th and it's headlined by Darren and Luke

Rockhold. The last time we saw them face to face was at their press conference and that was pretty much just complete chaos. I think these things are filmed on the same day as the press conference though. So we'll see if they still have that same energy. I'm not sure who this man in the middle is. I probably should know. But he's hosting these two, the main event. They're going to sit down and talk their shit and here's where things get a little more real. You're not trying to play it up for an audience in front of you. You are just there talking man to man face to face with the man you're about to try to fight on a misfits main event. And I want to see how two of the highest level operators in combat sports, Darren Till fought for a world title. Luke Rockhold held two

world titles. And by the way, I got to get up close and personal with Luke Rockhold just a couple of days ago. That video's coming soon, but I want to see how they talk that talk when they're in front of each other. I want to see when the crowd's gone and they strip away all the pump and the filler and they're just sitting there man to man what they got to say. So let's take a look. But before we do, guys, you know I'm trying to stay jacked and you can too with the sponsor of today's video, First Form. Folks, before we continue on, I want to say a big thank you to the sponsor of today's video, First Form. Guys, First Form is top quality supplementation from a top quality supplement brand. What I love about First Form is that they're not trying to just sell you supplements.

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formula 1 way isolates multivitamin super greens creatine whatever you're looking for in your supplementation needs first form has it and if you want to feel better train harder become the best version of you click the link in the description and start your order today with first form and if you buy over $100 worth of product you're going to get free shipping and kind of the kind of the the best part. You can try it all for 30 days. If you're not absolutely happy, if you're not absolutely loving your product, first form will refund you 110% of the purchase you made. Undefeated in misfits, Darren Till takes on former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockold, making his misfits debut live August 30th from the Manchester A-O arena exclusively on

design. I'm not taking steroids, don't. No, I'm not. Hey, you don't work like that for the age you are. I work every day. Yeah, but you don't look like that. You're all right. Let's do a test. Let's get test. I'll test right today.

Let's do test today. You've got the full. And he's fucking test. Test me today. I work. I work every day. Oh my God. Oh, my God.

You know how much. I don't know if Darren actually believes that Luke Rockhold's on steroids or if he's just trying to play mind games with Rockold and just be like, look, you're not, you're not training that hard. And he tries to psychologically push Luke to try. train harder, maybe over-trained for this fight. Because we all know that Luke Rockold comes from AKA's gym, where they train like Madman. It's not even close to the level of like, the level of dedication in that gym is like why they had at one point, one, two, three, they had four world

champions in the span of like five years in that gym. Luke, Habib, Daniel Cormier, and Kane Velasquez, all in that gym at the same time. So there's no doubting Luke's work ethic. It's more about the mentality of what happens during the fight for Luke Rockhold. And for Darren Till, you know, yeah, there's been some of that as well, but his has been mostly about work ethic and other things. So Darren's saying you're not working hard is very interesting as well. Could be my games. I'll test. I'll test right now. But before they meet in the ring, they meet here. This is face-off. Who's men? Who's hosting this? I like him. It looks official. When you look into each other's eyes right now, what do you see? Well, just like,

Just an old frail guy. It's not really about anything, is he? You got some confidence. Just an old frail guy. He's not really about anything. That is, yeah, Darren's playing mind games. For sure. This is clearly the same day as the press conference.

And he's continuing to follow up with the whole, you're old, you need steroids, frail mentally, your vein. Like, he was kind of cooking him. I'm not going to lie, Darren was cooking with some of the stuff he was saying about Luke in the press conference. He's just following up on it here in the face off.

It's because he beat up two bombs. Oh, but like, you'd be a little dwarf and the guy with two left. Six years ago, I battered Perry for fun, you just got annihilated. You quit, didn't you? Quick. No, I realize there's a dumb sport. Yeah, it's a dumb sport. Perry's made for it.

But, like, when we put the gloves on and stuff. You haven't, you haven't signed up. They have offered you millions of dollars, and you haven't done it because you realize how dumb it is. Luke's like, yeah, you're smart. I'm not. This is why I love Luke, because he's like, I realized it was a dumb sport after I almost got my teeth knocked out while fighting. but not before that, not while training for a bare knuckle fight, not while seeing bare knuckle for the, I don't know,

six or seven years, it's been a thing. But only when Perry split his lip and Luke, I mean, I hate saying fighters quit because I am not a fighter, and I don't feel like it's very fair for me to talk about fighters' heart and quitting and all that. But it's clear that, yeah, that fight Luke just stopped fighting. He was like, I don't want to do this anymore. He definitely did not want to continue fighting Mike Perry bare knuckle.

So, yeah, he quit, all right? And again, Darren Till using that, it's a little mental game, I think he's a genius play, because all Luke can say was, oh, yeah, you were smarter than me to not do it. And I'm sure Luke got a lot of money, but Darren Till can be like, yeah, we spied. Spah, you want to do a spa, mate? And they did years ago, Darren Till and Mike Perry spard. And apparently the story was Till beat the shit out of him. You haven't signed up.

They have offered you millions of dollars and you haven't done it because you realize how dumb it is. I'm in the, like, I'm paidy too. You're like, what are you, 56 or something? You should be in that, just getting paid. I'm still on a little thing, so, like, Perry, I'm 32 or you, like, 56 or something. This is like how I feel my YouTube comment section talks to me when they call me unc every day.

I'm 32, y'all. I'm still somewhat young, dude. And he's just dog-walked it. Like, that man will not fight me. You can't, you're lying. You can't. He would have took the fight a million times. You've been denying the fight.

You were brilliant in Strike Force UFC at the start. You were fantastic. but you were technical. You've got no, like, you haven't really gone any balls and you've got no power. You ran away from the hardest sport in the world in the prime of your life. Mm-hmm.

That's a nice line from Luke. Darren says you were top, you were class in Strike Force and in the early days of the, or his, Luke's early days of the UFC, that's because you were technical, you don't have any heart. That's interesting because, again,

there are some fights where you've seen Luke check out a little bit, right? The Palo Costa fight, he was kind of in and out and kind of walking around. around and you heard his coach screaming at him to get like locked back in and then the Mike Perry fight and Darren again he has been a fan of MMA and MMA fighters like Luke for a long time. He watched him on the come up. So he's not talking shit there. He's kind of talking truth.

But Luke with a truth bomb back. He's like, yo, you left the UFC or they were done with you in your prime. So what are you talking about heart? How are you going to talk about my heart? You couldn't even keep going in the UFC. You had to come do this. Even though it's like both of them are trying to insult each other for being on misfits. But at the same time, they're both there. It's like, yo, you're not even in the UFC anymore. Well, neither are you. It's a Spider-Man meme of we were once big-time UFC fighters, right?

And again, I don't look at it as disrespect to be in misfits. I think it's a great thing that guys that are either in that period of their combat sports career where they want to do something different or they need a change and they don't want to do MMA anymore. Or, yeah, they're maybe done with their MMA career, can come to Misfits, get a crazy bag and still compete and still have the adulation of their fandom them to root them on and maybe carve out a new lane for themselves. Mike Perry is carving out of the new lane over in bare knuckle. So is the Let Me Bang Bro guy.

What's his name? Julian something. He's made himself six-fight win streak over there. Perry has come over to Misfits and has become the main attraction right now with KSI not boxing. So, yeah, I think this is a great avenue for anybody that wants to get a little switch up from the MMA scene or any other sports scene. Oh, Jekis. I bothered him.

He broke you like a- Broke me. When he tapped me out, when he was on the feet, I had me hands down just looking. This is what you do. You break. And I was just like, get off the way, get out the way. Like, when it comes to strike and I can't be beat, you break. The best thing you've got over me, is the left kick.

Your left kick is. But anything else, mate, I'm going to bulldoze you. I am. I am. Don't forget. Driggis did break, Daryntill. Like, again, I don't like to talk like I'm somebody that even knows anything about stepping in there in the octagon.

But Darren's right. He was out striking Drickus. He was piecing him up. But Drickus was able to take him. take him down over and over, gas him, and eventually break him and choke him. Both guys are telling truths to each other here. They don't want to hear it. Like, Luke doesn't want to hear that he's a quitter.

Luke doesn't want to hear that after his two world championships, that things changed, or that he's vain, or that he's not got the mentality for fighting. Darren doesn't want to hear that Drickis broke him and that he couldn't stay around in the prime of his MMA career in the only place he wanted to be in the UFC. They don't want to hear that stuff, but they're both telling the truth. Particularly, it's like force. I was a fan of UFC, but you're old now. You're just there to get paid.

Come on, let's just be facts. So what then? So do you train harder than me? You wake up. I train. I wake up this morning. At 4 a.m. I ran. Okay.

Yeah, you're wrong. You're just doing, you. No, I worked. I got off the plane last night. You've been fighting all your life. Your body's frail. You'll see. I'm fresh.

You can believe that. You believe that. And you're on the juice. And you're on the steroids. Everybody from your camp is on the stereids. Everybody's pop from your shit. From what I understand. Have you seen my belly?

So they're talking about steroids again. And Luke says, everybody's poked from your from your ends from what i understand that's local knowledge from what i understand and that's local knowledge it's like i think they did but i know this from talking to the i guess he means from talking to the locals i'm not sure i don't know who he's speaking about that's pop for steroids and darren's team but i don't think darren's ever been associated with p eds in any way shape or fashion like this is this is a nothing burger for both guys like luke's not on it darren's not on it luke's always looked the way he looks now it's it's you know he's

looked that way consistently throughout his career. So I think that's a nothing burger there. I'm a big fucking hook. I don't understand. Hey, I'm ready to get tested anytime you want. Trust me, there's no problem. Do you see this fight being more of a technical battle or based on this animosity right now?

Is this going to be an all-out war? Hey, it's going to be a fight. A fight to fight. He got, I mean, this guy, Darren Stewart, put you to the fucking ropes. Luke, I'm not that good, really. You're not that good. You're really not.

You really not. You look at my security at, even a loss on that. Has anyone even been coming to come to come? close apart from Mazdaa to beat me on the fifth. I love Darren, man. He's like, look at my entire career. And he's right that on the feet, he's had a lot of success. But, you know, he's fighting MMA and talking about on the feet.

I get it because we're doing boxing. But yeah, Jorge Mazvedal did leave him unconscious. You know, it was controversial. Him and Stephen Wonderboy Thompson in that fight, I think in his backyard, right? That was in Liverpool. In the Robert Whitaker fight as well, that was a fight where Darren did hit him with a nasty elbow. but Robert ended up finding a way to win. So, yes, Darren is somewhat right that on the feet, as a striker,

he is far better than a lot of people. He's one of the best in the world, and even as a boxer. Darren Stewart, Anthony Taylor, they were no match. Darren Stewart was tough as nails and had his moments. But in this fight, the difference absolutely will be how Luke Rockhold adjust. And of course, I think everybody is leaning toward Darren Till winning this thing because of his experience as a striker, because of his ability. But if Luke Rockhold is surprising and he's able to be tough,

this thing could change. And I don't want to say too much about what Luke looks like. In person, you guys will see that in next week's video. But Darren is talking as if Luke has nothing for him and Darren's just levels above him. And he may be right, but it's a dangerous way to think if there's a lot of unknown in that picture. I'm a master on the feet.

Mosvah. Yeah. Like, okay. You know what I would do to Mazvado? It happens. You know what I would do is Mazvah? It's smoke him. He'd be done in a round.

Okay. What happened with Perry then, mate? Mike Perry. This is bare-knuppable. This is bare knuckle boxing. It's completely different. Okay, but he's still dog walked. No, he didn't want to.

Dog walked me. I didn't want to lose my teeth for a dumb, he was calling out of you. This whole exchange is crazy because I don't know if they're even talking about boxing or if they're talking about MMA, but Luke's like, you know what, I would have done to Masvedo? It was smoked him inside one round. And I assume he means an MMA.

I'm not boxing, I don't know. But then Till says, well, what about Perry? And then Luke's like, well, now that's a different thing. Well, yeah, but it's close. closer to boxing that it is in a MMA, I mean, I guess. But then Luke again, being like, he said this to me too. He was like, it was a dumb sport and I didn't want to lose my teeth. He about lost his tooth when Perry cracked him, but I just don't know like, what did Luke think he was getting into? He keeps saying, oh, I realized it was a dumb sport. It was a dumb sport. It's bare-knuckle boxing. You're punching

with nothing on your hand. So, of course, just like in MMA and just like in boxing, you run the risk of getting hit. And if you get hit, it's going to be so much worse, you know, aesthetically, because there's no padding in your hands. I don't know why Luke keeps using that as like, the thing to go to. I realized at one point it was stupid, not while training for it or when I accepted it. You were throwing hooks like that? Like what's that about me? Get involved. Get involved. Have you ever put on no gloves and walked into the ring? No, because you're... I love Luke so much, man. Have you ever put on no gloves? Let me go put my no gloves on, son. I mean, everybody obviously knows he's like, have you ever fought with no gloves on? But just the way he says, have you ever put

on no gloves? Like, what are you even saying, dude? Have you ever not put raps on and then put on your no gloves? So I've ever had no gloves? Well, I'm basically fighting in my city center every Saturday and Sunday and then I go and train Monday. So what are you about? You don't think I put my time in on the street? You're not that guy. This is what you think. You're not that guy. I know, you're not that guy. I know you're not that guy. I've been a fan of you. You're a brilliant strike versus UFC jam, but you're not that guy. You know you're not that guy. I am a lot more than you what you think. You're not that guy. You're about that guy. I'm not. I'm about I'm not for God.

You're old now. I'm very young still. The thing about this is these two are talking like neither of them know how to fight. When we all know they both do, but they're in this little separate conversation of like between people that know how to fight talking, you're not what you say you are and, you know, vice versa. What Darren is saying is like, oh, you're not a street tough guy like that and Darren's like, I am. Neither of them have to be street tough because we're boxing.

They need to be boxing savvy, boxing tough, but also tactical and strategic. and strategic and have some ability and some technique and some skill and some ability to adjust. All that is more important than the whole I'm a better street fighter than you. But its ego comes out and a little bit of machismo as well. This is how you're building your confidence. I want you to build that up. All I know is I'm game as for fighting. I love fighting.

So I'm not trying to build anything. Yeah, I love fighting. Without being said, Darren, all for both of you, what does a win here for I review prove at this point in your career and moving forward? Even Luke does nothing for me. He's a bum right now, isn't he? He wasn't a bum 10 years ago, but right now, Luke's not. 20 years ago.

So just, you know, me and Misfits are going to pay him well, and that's it. I'm the star. Luke used to be the star. Like, he did, didn't he? He's a great champion. You're here now. I said this in my breakdown of their press conference, and I think I was more right about it than I even knew.

I think he's being a little bit facetious when he says Luke's a nobody, because Luke may not be the biggest star MMA ever produced, but he's a big name and a two-time. a two-time former champion in the sport of MMA. Like, that's, that's nothing to slouch yet. He's a main event in a guy wherever he goes. Main event in an MMA, obviously had some massive moments there. Main evented in Bear Knuckle.

Main event in, I think, karate combat as well, on main events here on Misfits. What I think Darren means when he's talking about all this is, he's talking to Luke saying, I used to watch you as an MMA champion in Strike Force and the UFC, and you are the man. And now I'm the man. Now you're coming over to my thing, right? He said, oh, me and Misfits decided to pay you.

Now Darren's the star. Now he's the one at the marquee. He's the one given opportunities. And I think that's been more important to him for this fight than probably even money or anything else. That he, in his mind, it's so important to him to beat an MMA champion, even if it's not an MMA. Because Darren still looks at himself as a UFC fighter. He's not even looking at this as like, oh, misfits boxing. It's like Darren Till versus Luke Rockhold and their UFC accolades kind of on the line.

Like he can be like, I beat a world champion. And that confidence it gives him to potentially one day go back and fight it. but I'm telling you, there's something about that that Darren loves more than just boxing. It's that it's Luke Rockhold and that it's an MMA, specifically UFC champion that he can potentially beat. You're building this confidence off two guys that absolutely suck. No, I ask my coach today when we're on the track and I'm like, is Luke training like this and he's like, not a cat in hell's chance because I'm putting proper working.

I will love. You believe that, but I also understand I'm working harder than you every fucking day. You know, I've watched how you're working, you know. You're on the track where. Cheeto and that and you're just doing a few laps. I'm not doing anything with Cheeto. I'm doing my own thing. I'm in a boxing gym every fucking day working.

Yeah, I've watched in the boxing gym. No one's teaching you. Because I'm using two pound gloves every day. You can judge it. Okay. Read it while you want. Wait until he put on the... We're not beating your ass.

I can confirm that Luke does use two pound gloves every day to train it. It's one of the craziest things. I didn't even know people did it. But again, you'll have to stay tuned next week for that video. I tried them on and did some work with him and it felt like a fucking sledgehammer was attached to my arms. It made no sense. But this is an interesting kind of thing, too, and this is why I said at the beginning of the video. I don't know if Darren Till's trying to play psychological games with Luke, but you hear him even talking in his training, he's like asking

his coach, he's like, I'm asking my coach, do you think Luke trains this hard. And his coach is like, not a chance in hell. I know a lot of fighters do that. And there may be, you know, you could read into some insecurities there, but I think every fighter has insecurities when they're coming up to a fight. And they need some reassurance, right? You need them, sometimes your coach to be there to be like, yeah, no, he's not training like you are. Ain't no way he's training like you are. No one trains like this. When in reality, everyone trains hard.

I'm sure some more than others, but I'm not going to chalk this fight up to who trained harder. I think it's going to come down again to skills, pay the bills. Not necessarily just who trained harder. I'll let you throw the first kick. Hey, if you're losing, you can throw the first kick. No, I'll let you throw two. Because here's what I'll tell you, we'll both of us.

I'm a realist. Your left kick is Chris. We're just boxing and I'm going to smash you. I liked what Luke said right there. You know what? If you start losing, you can throw the first kick. Matter of fact, you can even throw, too. Call back to Darren Till saying he was going to kick Tommy if he started losing.

I liked that. That was clever from Luke. I'm going to be in on you, whacking you and making you quit. And I'm younger. And I'm probably stronger, even though you're juicing up. This is not. This is just me ready to come. And you're coming here.

Bear in mind. You're flying. Mate, I'm going to proper do you in, Luke. I'm going to batter you. Hopefully, we'll be great after it. I know you love yourself enough. But, you know, I'm going to, part of you and I know that.

I want to put it on you. It's a psycho, like, way to think. Number one, there's a couple things Darren said there that Luke is flying to the UK and that's going to be a big factor. It is. I mean, depending on when Luke gets there, he might get there a little early and adjust. When I got there and I was fighting,

because I live in Orange County, Luke was training in Orange County in L.A. And I went to Manchester. Luke's fighting in Manchester. It was a big adjustment. It was a real adjustment for me. Granted, I'd never fought before. So there was a ton of nerves

and, you know, me just trying. to even sleep with all of the anticipation and just wanting to get in there and, you know, trying to make sure that it wasn't cutting weight, but I was making sure that I wasn't eating a ton and, you know, just keeping myself ready to go. It was a lot. It was training and sleep schedule being the main thing. But that's a major factor. And I don't think we talk about it enough when we talk about where these fights are held, but that's an eight-hour time difference. So your sleep schedule has to change like that. It's insane to think about. But outside of that, you know, Darren keeps prodding him with the steroid stuff. But even the way Darren's talking like,

Like, dude, I'm going to smash you. Like, the confidence he has that it's not even going to be close tells me that, again, Darren has built himself back in this misfit scene and that he relishes the idea of someone now coming over into what he's built and trying to take it away from him. I like that. You're going to put it on me. I'm going to put on you.

No way. You have no idea what I'm going to bring to the table. I'm a lot different. No one's ever seen me in boxing. No one's ever seen me stepping in ring with shoes and gloves and movement and not having to worry about kicks. It's going to be different, Darren. Okay.

I guarantee everyone. I'm going to change a lot of opinions and I'm going to put it on you. I'm going to go back a little bit and say maybe you're right. You got hit. You got hit by Stewart. You got hit by Stewart. You haven't got there anymore and I'm going to smash it right off. I took it from Paul.

I went to see you going. I took him very. I knocked out Joe Schilling. I took his best punch. Are you going about Joe Schilling beating old guys up in by? Hey, you'll be. Shut off, Luke. Shut the fuck.

Why did Joe Schilling get wrought up? That's no. I mean, listen, Joe Schilling was a nasty, nasty, nasty, She striker in his day, but Darren says Joe, she'll have beaten old people up in bars. Look at the last two guys you beat, dog. You got little chin. It took you six rounds and put away that little dwarf. That's a good point.

That's a good point from Rockold. It did take Darren a lot longer to put away Anthony Taylor. Anthony Taylor's tough. Tommy Fury couldn't put him away. There's a lot of guys that may able to put away Anthony Taylor. Like he was getting soundly beat, but a lot of guys can't put him away. Darren did. But that's a good point.

Darren did struggle to put away Anthony Taylor, who's not naturally that heavy of a guy, usually fights at around the 170-175 range. And Luke is a big dude. He was bigger than me. When we, you know, I'm saying, I train with him to a little square up to see where I was at. I was a little taller, but he was just big. He was a big dude. I'm just going to be like, Stuart.

Stewart. Can't even walk. The guy's got too left. Have you seen that guy? Have you seen the most? How you seen me? You seen the bowl of it? Yeah, you're tall.

But you, you know what? You got a lot, but you got no chin. I'm that makes me happy. I sleep at night going. You sleep at night? Because you think I'm not working, you think I got no chin, but you're going to find out everything.

I know you're working, but you're old, you're old and your body. When you're waking up, your body's a little bit broken, and it's like, oh, do I really want to go to the track? So you're having days off. You're on the beach. No.

Posting all selfie. You know, you know, coconut waters. I'm in cold England. There's only, we can only train there. There's nothing else to do. I'm putting the work in town. Hey, man. I'm not going to lie.

Yeah, trying to do hard work in Orange County is probably tough. Like you have to be, I think even more mentally locked in to push yourself harder to go out and train hard when you live in Orange County, California, or when you live in like a really beautiful place because it's so easy to not do it.

So you really do have to be committed if you're going to train and live in California to being a fighter because there's way too many distractions. London? I've been there. Not so much. I'm putting the work in and I'm better than I've ever been. When I fought Polo Costa, I f*** off harder than

you've ever f***ed off for three years. And I didn't take care of myself. And coming back from that, since then, three years later, four years later, I've been working. I live up. Polokosa's a bum, some Brazilian bomb. He doesn't he can't even string a sentence together. I'm just saying when I fought.

Paulo Costa is not a bum, especially after his last fight. Polo Costa is fully back. And yeah, Palo's had a little bit of a on and off career. He's taking a lot of time off. But if Darren's going to call Paul Costa a Bum, he kind of has a similar career to Darren. until, right? Had some great fights, beat some tough guys, lost a world championship and hasn't gotten back to it yet. Darren, that's a, you can't go and say you're the best striker this,

that, and then call Paulo Costa Obama because the careers are very similar. I fought when I fought that fight. Now I've been working nonstop every day and it's different. I know you're not. And everything's improved and you never really seen it. No one never really seen it because I test myself in every dimension. But they're not teaching the logistics in Boston, boxing. You still got your M.A. stance. And it's different in boxing. That's what I found out. I got a stance, trust me. I box one of the best, some of the best guys in the world.

Who? Who? Just watch. Don't tell me, watch. Give me the facts. Who are you boxed? No, I'm in a gym with proper world champions. I am.

Trust me, I do, I do work with that. Your coach is mean, but you're not, you're not with all the world champions. I actually am. All the guys are all professional boxing world champs. I'm fighting the legs of Camelo with me. There's the fact. I love how it's both these guys are like, I fight world champions in the gym. In my boxing gym, world champions go in and out.

Luke's like I spar, I spar, world champs. Darren's like, what, who? Ooh, ooh, you sparring? Luke asked him the same thing, and neither of them want to give names of us. So let's talk facts. And both guys went, no, yeah, yeah, me too, yeah, world champions. Fuck, no, fuck this.

I mean, I'm sure they're both right that they fight high-level guys, but why won't, I mean, if we're going to talk about sparring, which you probably, you know, it's one of those things you probably shouldn't. If we're going to talk about it, just say who it is, you know? Otherwise, none of this means anything. Both guys are just being like, oh, yeah, no, you, you.

Just fighting the legs of Camelo over. There's the fox. Yeah, I boxed Lord... And I can't get... I need to spy for this right because guess what? No one wants to spy me because I've knocked every sparring partner out.

Did he just say I need to spar you for this fight because I've knocked all my sparring partners out? That's hilarious. Head guard. So you want to spar before? Well, we can, yeah, because I can't get sparring partners. Ah, I can... You don't want to spy me?

Oh, you're scared me. I'm not scared about you. The problem is... If we sparred, there's no way you're making it to the fight. Well, that's funny because I spy like a fight. I just want to air people. to f-you're not that guy. You're technical, look.

That's what everyone thinks. But I walked in the fucking ring last week against a six-foot-six, two-hundred-pound professional boxer, and I lit him the fuck up. I'm not assed. You think I'm asked, I'm not asked. I fear you, yeah, of course.

But that's where you're wrong because you're saying you don't fear me. You should fear me. This bridge-of-weight title is on the line. It's so weird. I don't, like, Darren is talking that talk to him. Like, yeah, I believe what Darren's saying. Like, yeah, I go in there and spark people.

I just fight him. And again, there's that mentality difference in his mind. He thinks, like, I'm a proper fighter. When things go bad, I'm still going to fight. He's like, Luke, you're technical, but when things go bad, you'll quit. And that, that is the thing that I think Darren is really holding on to and saying that's what separates us. Like, I'm technical. I'm a good striker, but even when I'm not having my best day, I can get through it. Even when someone's putting on me, I can come back. Luke, if things go wrong for you, you're going to quit. Because I know you're technical and you're good, you're strong, all that.

But when someone stands up to you, when someone pushes you back, you quit. Keep that in mind for the fight. Because I think that's, if I'm psycho analyzing this thing, I think that is such an important point that Darren keeps going back to and Luke's just like, no, I'm different, I'm different. Which again, I don't, it could be deflection, could be the truth, but I'm hearing a lot from Luke saying,

like, I'm different now, and things are different now, and I'm working harder now, and things are changed, and no one knows and no one's seen it, and it's a lot of hype, but I need to see it. That's the biggest thing, I need to see it. I've seen it from Darren, I need to see it from Luke. On the line, for both of you, start with you, Luke.

How much does that belt mean for you for the next next stage of your career. Where does that belt take you? I don't know what the fucking Bridgerweight. I don't get a belt. Let's just get it tonight. He's got one thing I want to be a SEC title. Yeah, I don't care. I called him.

I'm sorry, I'm laughing. I've told you guys that I don't think the crossover boxing belts should be as big a deal as they are. I get it, you know, it's a symbol, it's symbolism for being the best in misfits, but I've never understood why we even have belts because we just want to see fights we want to see. It is what it is.

The belts, I'm not going to gripe about them anymore because they're here, whatever. But the fact that both these guys go, yeah, fuck that. It's because, again, they see themselves as the UFC top tier level guys. And you heard Darren say it right there. I called this stuff. The only thing that's motivating Darren externally is the fact that Luke Rockhold is a former UFC world champion. And Darren always saw himself as a world champion level fighter. So when he beats Luke, he in his mind can justify.

that he was world championship level. That's what he said right there. I see a UFC belt when I look at him. That's what I've been saying. Care about that belt. Lula, are we even fighting for the belt? Yeah, you are. I don't give a fuck.

What's next for you? We're fighting for one reason, one reason. We know we want. We want the money we want to, right the wrongs of this stupid this world that is boxing and there's this fucking clown

and someone's got to put him down that's going to be me. For you? What the fuck is he talking about? No, bro, I love Luke. That's awesome. We got to fight the wrongs of this world of boxing. Someone's going to put this clown down and it's me.

Bars. Luke, how does this one play out? Don't just say you're going to smash me. Be a realist. Oh, whatever I want. I'm going to, I'm going to. You can't say that. Darren's going to come.

Darren's going to come. He's going to play his game, but he doesn't like pressure. He doesn't like pressure. He doesn't understand how hard I hit. I can move him around. You don't hit hard? Oh, mate. You don't?

You don't. You don't? I hit hard. I hit hard. I hit hard. I hit hard with both. I hit hard. hands, I can put people down with both hands.

Obviously everyone who's watching this knows. I mean, again, Luke was never known as like a hard punch or in MMA. Definitely like Darren said, a hard kicker, but Luke is a 210, 15-pound guy that's cutting down, naturally bigger than a lot of the guys Darren Till has fought. He's going to hit hard, maybe not, you know, boxing hard or, you know, someone that's punched their entire lives hard, but Luke's going to crack. Darren can't just rely on the fact he's going to take punches to give punches. I don't think that's the right move for Darren.

heat coming off this matchup, two fantastic strikers, two of the best Southpaws ever, in my opinion, to do it. Guys, thank you. Don't forget to tune in August 30th live from Manchester A.O. Arena. Let's go. And exclusively on to zone. Banger of a face off. Okay, so thoughts.

Again, I think Darren is so giddy to fight Luke because he sees him as what Darren sees himself as. Like, he sees himself as a world championship level fighter, and Luke represents that. Even if Luke is not the UFC champion anymore, Darren always wants him. wanted to get there. That's why he relishes this moment. And he's super confident, right? I mean, he's telling Luke that he doesn't have the mentality for it, that he's going to quit, that Darren's going to make him quit. And I believe it when Darren says, like, hey, you're not about that scrapping fight. You're about being technical. You're about when it comes down to it, you're better

than the other guy, which is why you'll win. But Darren's essentially like, listen, you're not better than me. And even if you were and things went bad for me at certain points, I still would have something for you. I would still find a way to come back because my mentality is different than yours. Darren sees himself as a fighter and sees Luke as an athlete or a sportsman. And, you know, the age and the fact that Luke is not a natural striker or a natural boxer, like I think Darren is. Realistically, again, I love this stuff because you get to see a little bit of mentality and Luke is essentially saying, I'm the best I've ever been, you haven't seen this, you don't know what I'm going to bring, all that. And it's great to hear, but I've heard a lot of guys say

stuff like that. And then it end up being, you know, not as great as what they thought based on there sparring because you can't necessarily replicate a boxing match even in sparring even if you've been an mMA world champion the match itself is different the speed is different timings different distance is different and it's just you can only do so much in sparring to get yourself ready but both guys are confident i will say what i have seen from luke is a bit different than i expected and he is a lot better with his hands than i expected being in person and knowing what i did know about his in a career. So maybe he's right to tell people do not sleep on him as a boxer. I just, I don't know how it's going to translate when Darren's in front of him. But if you want to see that,

stay tuned this week, me, Luke Rockold, training vid coming soon. You don't want to miss it. As far as what happens in this fight, listen, I don't have those answers. But one answer I do have is this is going to be a banger of a card. Darren Till Luke Rockold in the main event, Tony Ferguson versus Salt Poppy and the Coal Main Event, a ton of other great fights on Miss Fitz-22. You don't want to miss it. August 30th, I'll be there as far as what happens, don't have those answers, but I guess we'll find out. All right, folks, so we are back on the way concept presented by the ring. But today, folks, we are talking MMA because UFC 319 is just around the corner. You do not want to miss it. Hamza Chimayev taken on Drichikas duplice for the UFC middleweight championship of the world.

This fight, my opinion is going to go one of two ways. We're going to break it down. We're also going to talk about the co-main event and the Aaron Pico title run. starting Saturday, in my opinion, as well as some other fights on the card. But the main event, like I said, Tom Zachimaiv, Drickus Duplese. I see the path to victory for both guys being very straightforward and very simple. But I could be wrong and it is fighting 50-50s at the end of the day. But let's take a look at my final predictions for UFC 319. But before we do, I want to say a big thank you to the sponsor of today's video,

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The Crown is yours. Thank you to Draft Kings for sponsoring this video. Always, always gamble responsibly. Now, let's get into my final prediction. All right, so like I said, UFC 319 this Saturday in the Shytown. Chicago, Illinois, and this is a banger of a card, man. Kaya Asakura, Tim Elliott, to start out the main card. I'm looking through the prelims now.

We got King Green on the prelims, Gerald Mearschart, Jessica Androge, Alexander Hernandez and Chase Hooper, man. Feels like Chase Hooper is like in perpetual limbo there. Edson Barbosa on this card. Man, yeah, some OGs in the game on this one. But we're going to take a look at the main card, and we're going to start with the Michael Venom Page and Jared Cannon-Neer fight. I mean, listen, no one's been able to strike with Michael Vennon Page

since he's got in the UFC, really since ever outside of Douglas Lima hitting him with an uppercut as MVP tried to be all snake-like and flatlining him there. But in the UFC, especially Ian Gary had to grapple with him. He beat Shara at his own game. He's just a difficult matchup for a lot of people. I don't care if he is close to 40 at this point and he got into the UFC late. He's fighting a guy in Jared Kennanier that's also up there in age. He also has that weakness of, you know, being able to go strike for strike with some of the higher level guys. And also, Jared can be exposed going strike for strike with some of the higher level guys. But the main factor I see here is obviously the weight that Michael Vennepage is fighting at.

It's 170, it's 185, it's 170, 185. He's bouncing around a little bit. But also his height, his reach for 170 or 185. It's kind of like Kevin Holland when you watch him fight. It's kind of insane to see how much taller he is than guys, even at 185. And his reach is incredible. He's got a 79-inch reach there. So I don't know if Jerry Kennear is going to do a ton of grappling.

If he does, he can slow this fight down and potentially make it. a boring decision, kind of like Ian Gary did to MVP, but if this does remain a striking bout, MVP will win this fight, in my opinion. I think he has enough ability. He's got great time. He's obviously explosive. Potentially, you can see Jared Kennedy or tries to grapple. I don't think Jared Kennedy is a big time grappler in his own right. So maybe that attempt makes him more fatigue, opens him up to more shots. I mean, we're only going three rounds here. And I think Jared has fought an average of 15 minutes or so in the UFC, and that's probably because he's been in five round fights multiple times now, but I don't know. I think MVP can win a decision

here. I think Kennedy, if he does try to grapp a little more, you'd think potentially, there's a chance for him to win a decision, but I think striking, if we're going to go strikes for strike, canoneer is more open to being hit, but also more open to hitting Michael Venom paid. You see his strikes landed per minute, strikes absorb per minute. But when MVP does throw, he throws with high velocity, looking to damage and looking to hurt you. So, you know, if I could go either way, I'm gonna rock with MVP though It may not be a super flashy performance And it may be something where he wins by

Just a little bit more striking Just a little bit more damage But I can see him being a bit of a stalemate Coming into that third round And one big shot making the difference And I think MVP will be the more accurate guy Take less damage This welter bout bout next

Carlos Prattis and Jeff Neal Two just scrappers dude Two guys that are really gonna go for it I hope in this fight You look at their shots landed per minute Jeff Neal, his output a little bit higher, but he also absorbs more per minute. Carlos Prattis, when he's not out here chain smoking and destroying his lungs, he is a wizard on the feet.

Obviously tattooed Muay Thai on his chest for a reason. The guy is a high-level striker. So again, you're looking at another fight that I think is super close, but I just think Carlos Prattis, for whatever reason, maybe it's his reach, maybe it's the way I've watched him fight. The way I watched him fight, he and Gary, after being controlled in that fight for a long period, still having the ability to potentially knock you out at any point. Jeff Neal's been in there with some of the toughest guys at Welterweight,

but I'm going to lean Carlos Prattis here. I do. I think he ends up getting this done. Yeah, I mean, you even look at their takedowns and takedown defense. These guys are not going to go to the ground. At least you wouldn't expect them to end up in many grappling exchanges outside of some clinch work and, you know, re-separating from there and getting back to the striking.

I'm going to go Prattis. Both guys are getting knockdowns in each fight they're in. Prantis has two per fight. I can see protest stopping him. Yeah, I can see that. Let's go protest by stoppage. Then we get to the co-main event and oh, I am excited about this. I have put all my eggs in the basket of Aaron Pico making his debut in the UFC. I love this kid. I really do. And listen, Jerome Murphy is a high-level prospect making his way through the rankings in his own right. Number six in the world at Featherweight. Just come off a five-round decision where he pretty

much beat the shit out of Josh Emmett and dominated that fight. But I'm telling you right, Now, even the UFC, don't even have Aaron Pico's debut picture up here, man. They got him as a blank slate. I know he's 13 and 4 in MMA. I know he lost his debut. I know that Aaron Pico is a Belator guy, and he's coming over and Bellator guys haven't had a ton of success in the UFC, even though people love watching Michael Vennam Page and Michael Chandler and some other guys as well. But the point is, this, I think, could be the time where we finally see the prophecy come to life for Arapico. If you guys don't know who Arupico is and, you know, you just started watching MMA four or five years ago. Aaron Pico back in 2016, I think was the time period, maybe even

2015, I'm not sure, was supposed to be the next big prodigy in MMA. This kid was supposed to be the next coming of, I hate to put this on him, but Roger Huerta, right? Like, if you don't know who that is, he was like the first MMA fighter on Sports Illustrated, but he was supposed to be, you know, John Jones reincarnated. He was leading the idea that MMA was practiced as a complete martial art versus being a specialist coming into MMA. Like Aaron Pico had already, I think he was 17 years old and one match away from qualifying for the USA Wrestling, like Olympic wrestling team. He was a gold gloves boxer and he was mixing the martial arts when he made his pro debut.

And then everything kind of went left for a while. He lost his first fight, got knocked out and I think his fifth or sixth fight. He lost a couple more times and you thought, okay, maybe the height trains over for Aaron Pico. But after that, quietly, Aaron Pico has gotten better. and better and better. In Bellator, I get it, competition is not the same as it is in the UFC, clearly, but you watch his style. He's not a big time kicker.

It is mostly offensive boxing, body work, hooks to the body. He's knocked out some guys with nasty lead hooks to the body and upstairs. And then clinch work and grappling. He's got good knees in the clinch. The only problems with Aaron Pico is that he does drop his hands and wants to get into some firefights sometimes in the clinch and gets caught there and clipped. He's been knocked out doing that a couple times,

But it seems like he's shored that up. He's implemented his wrestling more into his game when he was a youngster. I think he's 28 now, but when he came into MMA as a pro, he was 18. He was looking to knock people out with his hands. Wasn't utilizing his almost Olympic level wrestling at 17 years old. You knew he was bound for the Olympics. Wasn't utilizing it. And now he is.

So Lorone Murphy taking this against Pico, that was a big time shout for him too because he didn't need to fight an unranked guy in his debut coming into the UFC from Bellator as the number six featherweight in the world. So this would be an interesting fight. Murphy doesn't really impress with his power, at least not to the degree Aaron Pico does, but he's able to control fights, and that's got him to this number six spot.

Pico, very flashy at times, has some big time knockouts, has some big time finishes, but can he sustain at this level, right? This is, like I said, the big boy leagues, so we'll see. Purely off bias alone, I'm taking Aaron Pico, but it's a lot to ask.

It really is. It's a lot to ask for Aaron Pico to come in and face the number six kind, world and, you know, and swim with the sharks here. Because Lorone Murphy certainly is that, especially over his last couple of wins, Josh Emmett, Edson Barbosa, Dan Igay, he's got all those. And he's 16 and 0. So this is a big time step up. I'm going to say Aaron Pico, again, pure bias, because the matchup itself is pretty interesting for the way Lerone Murphy fights. He could be a bit of an issue for Pico if he keeps this thing at distance and kind of frustrates Pico because he can't

get to him with his hands or he's not able to grapple with him. But I do think Pico grapples him. Maybe a submission on the table here for Pico, I don't know. But I'm going to say he gets it done by some sort of stoppage. Because I think he needs that. I think Aaron Pico needs to arrive in the UFC on the main stage of MMA with a big time statement. And I hope he does that in the co-main. Then we get to the main event of the evening. And this one has take your pick written all over it, right?

I have looked at it and looked at it. And I can see multiple avenues for both guys. But realistically, you come down to two choices, at least in my opinion. Number one, it's an early versus late fight. Early on, Hamzat Chamaev, very dangerous. A very, very unique and talented grappler that doesn't do things other guys do as far as how he enters grappling, how he holds you down, how he continues to attack,

how he systematically breaks you down once he has a hold of you and puts you on the fence. When you watch him shoot at guy's legs, he doesn't really do it from conventional spots, right? Whether it's underneath a rider left hand and he ducks under and gets your waist, he is attacking almost like not in the same way, but kind of in the same way, Habib used to attack, diving at your legs from long range, right? It's something that he'll shoot from what looks like five yards away.

Like he's not even close to touching you with a right hand or a jab or a kick. And here he goes diving at your ankle or diving at your knee. And if he gets a hold of it and he works his way up, it's almost GGs from there. So that's, I would say, what everybody understands is the most likely scenario for Hamza to overwhelm Drickus with his grappling early. And I'm not saying he has to land the first takedown. But if you watch him in the Robert Whitaker fight, he came out Southpaw and did a lot of fainting, did a lot of, you know, stuff with his legs and his feet to try to get Robert Whitaker to settle down a bit or just to use that to pressure Whitaker against the cage. And then from there,

shot at the legs, got it, broke the jar, or whatever happened there, we all know the rest. I don't know if that is going to be the case because Drickus Duplessi has such a will to win that even when he's in bad positions, even when he's being outstruck, Darren Till, Israel out of Sanya, or when things are not going his way and he needs to create a moment, he's a great scrambler, he's unorthodox, he's a bit awkward, and he just finds ways out of bad spots and turns them into really good ones for him. I mean, even in the Robert Whitaker fight, that fight goes from Robert Whitaker having, you know, a good amount of success, at least for a bit there to just Drickus running him over out of almost nowhere. It's like, what the? The Daryntil fight before the deviated

septum got fixed. He's on the feet getting pieced up by Daryantil, who's no longer even in the UFC, even though he'll be fighting on Misfits, August 30th, I'll be there, make sure you tune in. But then he out grapples Daryntil and then figures out how to beat him, jokes him. And it's just like he has a will to win. What did he say? I'm willing to die in there, but more importantly, I'm willing to kill a man. And I know that sounds super morbid, but the case of Dricus DuPla. I see it's kind of true. He fights like that. Like every last breath is dedicated to winning. Like no situation is without hope. Now again, if Hamzat gets that freaking arm under his chin and starts to squeeze, it may not mean shit what I'm saying right now. Like Hamzat has a different

level of strength and size apparently according to Twitter, because today they had a little face off that we're going to take a look at. This is the first interaction apparently they've had during fight week. A little handshake. And that was it. Now if you watch this on Twitter, the MMA expert will tell you that both guys mocked each other, which I think I'm a little too old to understand, that Hamzot was fidgety, that Drichus was fidgety,

that he emasculated Drickus, that Drickus humiliated Hamzot by tapping him on the shoulder and sunning him. In other words, none of that shit means anything. Yeah, you can take away from this if you wanted to post a screenshot that Hamzai is tall, right?

He is. He's about, I think, 6, 3, 6.4. He's a tall guy. And for that height, and at this weight, he's very strong. He's not, you know, I'm bodybuilding, just super, jacked up monster like that, but he is strong in all the right areas. He's got great grip strength. His legs are super strong, and he's explosive. And for a tall guy, when he does shoot across the

cage, like he does on seemingly everyone after the Gilbert Burns fight, which will come back to, that's a massive advantage. Having his height, being able to, you know, his reach, being able to get to your legs and work his way up. You know, Dracus, on the other hand, is tall on his own right, you know, but he's not the most towering figure at middleweight, but he doesn't have to be to do what he does to people. Israel, Adasania towered over Drickus too. And again, Driggis found a way to beat him. And had a reach on him in the striking, and Drickis found a way to beat him.

So that stuff doesn't really matter to me. You'll get the body language experts and everybody else talking about what matters and people looking into it. But that's complete bullshit. What isn't bullshit is the idea that Hamzat can be beat. I think right now because he's 14 at 0 because he's pretty much steamrolled everyone,

there's an aura of invincibility around Hamzat. But it seems people have a lot of short memory because we did just watch him arguably lose to Kamaro Usman in their fight, or at least have a draw in their fight. You could argue that Gilbert Burns. While Gilbert Burns may not have beaten him, or maybe you thought that Gilbert Burns did,

he put hands on Hamzat Chamaa then made Hamzat rethink about standing there and striking with even the gatekeeping level of striking ability at welterweight, let alone middleweight. So right, you've seen where some weaknesses have been exposed from Hamzat Shemaya. Not being able to go strike for strike with Gilbert Burns. We have a high-level kickboxer. As much as y'all want to say,

Drickus is just throw and prey. It might be awkward, but it works. And he is a high-level kickboxer. He knows what he's doing in there. It is unorthodox, and I don't know how much Hamzot can train for it. And listen, I know Hamzot was in Orange County training. He was right there at Jackson Gym. He was up in L.A. doing his thing.

I know Armin was out there with him. Aaron Pico was out there with him, and they were getting work done. So I don't doubt that Hamzot will be ready at all. I don't doubt that his conditioning is in good shape. But since Strickas got that freaking septum fixed, I've watched him become an almost unstoppable machine of cardio, or nothing seems to really break him. Where Hamzot, I've seen, get tired when he gets into the later parts of fights,

and the striking's not as effective, and the grappling's not as effective, and he's standing there taking punches and not necessarily as explosive and active and looking for those takedowns like he was earlier. And I'm mainly talking about the Gilbert Merns fight, but, you know, Kamarro Usman as well, he slowed down a little bit. So over five rounds, this is why I said one of two things happens. Hamzot early with his grappling, or Drickis wears him down and takes over late in this.

fight. And I don't know. I don't know because Hamzad is so strong. And this is where I think a little bit of the conversation changes if Hamzot isn't able to stop Drickus early and Drickus is able to keep that pressure mounting. And Hamzat starts to gas a little bit. And again, he's kind of floated between weights and he's had the sickness and he's been out for long periods and all that. This may be the point where all that catches up to him in a fight where it's not three rounds. And in that third around, he can just let the gas tank flow and hope for the best. He's got to go the full five and take the belt off the champ. I think this is going to be that moment where it finally catches up to Hamza. Not because he's not trained well, he's not conditioned well, but because the style in which

he fights is so explosive, so early on and so offensive control, grapple heavy that their arms eventually are going to get tired unless your name's Marab, Tavallishvili, and then I don't know what you're on. But maybe, maybe Hamzat's cut from the same cloth. We just haven't seen it yet, so there's a lot of, we don't know what we don't know. That's the biggest problem here. So when it comes down to it, like I said, I think it's a two-way street that we're looking at for this fight. I think Hamzot very dangerous early. I think he starts to fade a little later. Drickus, if he can weather the storm early and trust me, it's going to be a freaking thunderstorm, hail storm. It's going to be a fucking hurricane when Hamzot walks through that first round. He may be a little patient and feigning to

start out, but as soon as that first shot comes out, Hamzot's going to go balls to the fucking wall. So Drickis's mentality in the way he is just cut down, champion after champion after champion makes me want to lean Drickus Duplessi and still. Because what I thought would give Drickus real problems would be a taller guy that could strike from the outside and pick him apart. And Izzy did give him those problems. I think Izzy was probably up in their fight before, again, Drickus just found a way to scramble and jumped on top of Izzy and choked him.

I just, I think that is probably the best way to handle Drickus. Now, again, does Drickis have the same grappling as I'm Judge Maev? No, but he doesn't have to. He just has to have enough to defend himself and get back to his feet. And that may mean time and time again early on, but if he can weather that storm, I think he has a really good chance. The problem is, I can be saying all this, and Hamzaa could go out there, shoot once, take him down, get the arm under the neck, neck crank or rear naked choke, and it's over like that. And it's just like, well, okay, never mind. None of this shit mattered. So, ah, it's just hard for me to go, Hamzaa's just going to do what he's done to 12 other guys

is Tadrykis duplessi. It's very hard for me to see that. Not because it's not a reality of what can happen, but because certainly as you step up in competition, you can't just make it look that easy, right? Like you can't just continue making it look that easy. I know Robert Whitaker, that one, I don't even know if that was Hamzad or it was Robert and his whole jaw came apart. I don't know. That was freaky. And if something like that happens again, I'll never doubt Hamzat and Chamaev's grappling strength or anything like that. He could maybe just Habib his way through 185, 170, and 205 if he wants to if we're talking about that level of freak, but I'm going to err on the side of caution here and say that's not the only thing that this fight's going to be. I think it's going to go a little longer

than that and because of that, I think Drickus Duplessi can and will and still win this fight. I don't know if it'll be a decision. I don't know if eventually Hamzat gets tired and Drickas goes on offense and looks for TKO strikes or whatever it is, but I think Drickis is going to turn the tide on Hamzat-Chayah. And I'm probably wrong on that and I'll probably get flamed by the MMA community, but I just think Drickus's mentality, the way he trains, I don't think it's as easy this time for Hamzada is just walking in, taking him down, choking him, or, you know, ground and pound, whatever. And if he does want to stand and strike with Drickus, then I think that that could be a potential issue as well. But hey, who knows? And the casual concept over here, when we make

picks, they usually go the other way. So if you're going to play on draft kings, make sure you guys do so responsibly. But that's UFC 319, my breakdown. What happens in the United Center in Chicago Between the champ, Triggins 2 Plus C, and Hamzachima. What happens on Saturday? Don't have those answers. But I guess we'll find out. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers.

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