The highly anticipated UFC 295 is set to take place at Madison Square Garden, featuring an exhilarating lineup of fights. Ahead of the event, MMA Fighting presents the UFC 295 Preview Show. Join expert analysts Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, and Alexander K. Lee as they provide in-depth analysis, fight predictions, and a full event breakdown of this action-packed card.
Key Takeaways:
- Expert analysis and fight predictions for each matchup
- Insights into the implications of a win for Prochazka and Pereira in the main event
- Discussion on the future of the light heavyweight division
- An overview of the co-main event title fight and the potential for a unification bout
- Full event breakdown and analysis from the main event to the preliminary bouts
Main Event: Jiri Prochazka vs Alex Pereira
The main event of UFC 295 is set to be an electrifying showdown between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira. Both fighters will be vying for the vacant light heavyweight title, adding an extra layer of intensity to this highly anticipated matchup.
Jiri Prochazka, a former champion in the division, is known for his aggressive fighting style and devastating knockout power. With an impressive record and a reputation for putting on thrilling performances, Prochazka is expected to bring the heat to the octagon.
Alex Pereira, on the other hand, comes from a kickboxing background and has made a name for himself with his exceptional striking skills. This will be Pereira’s first major opportunity to make his mark in the MMA world and prove that he is a force to be reckoned with.
The clash between Prochazka and Pereira promises to be an epic battle between two top-tier athletes hungry for victory. With the vacant title on the line, both fighters will leave it all in the octagon, delivering an unforgettable main event for UFC 295.
Recent Performance Comparison
| Jiri Prochazka | Alex Pereira | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 29-3-1 | 8-2-0 |
| Knockout Wins | 25 | 6 |
| Submission Wins | na | 0 |
| Decision Wins | na | 2 |
Table: Recent Performance Comparison between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira.
Co-Main Event: Sergei Pavlovich vs Tom Aspinall
The co-main event of UFC 295 is set to showcase a highly anticipated clash between heavyweight contenders Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall. With the interim heavyweight championship on the line, both fighters are expected to leave it all inside the Octagon. This matchup presents an intriguing contrast in styles and skills, making it a must-watch for fight fans.
Sergei Pavlovich comes into this bout riding a wave of momentum, with a string of impressive victories that have put the division on notice. Known for his knockout power and technical abilities, Pavlovich has proven to be a force to be reckoned with. On the other side, Tom Aspinall has emerged as a rising star in the heavyweight division, showcasing his own skills and putting together an impressive winning streak.
With the interim championship at stake, both fighters have everything to gain and will leave no stone unturned in their preparation. The winner of this bout could find themselves in a prime position for a future shot at the undisputed heavyweight title, adding even more significance to this co-main event clash.
In-Depth Analysis: Sergei Pavlovich vs Tom Aspinall
| Fighter | Style | Record | Notable Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergei Pavlovich | Knockout artist with technical skills | 14-1-0 | Marcin Tybura, Maurice Greene |
| Tom Aspinall | Well-rounded with excellent ground game | 11-2-0 | Andrei Arlovski, Alan Baudot |
“This co-main event matchup between Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall is a fascinating clash of heavyweight talents. Pavlovich’s knockout power and technical skills make him a dangerous opponent for anyone in the division, while Aspinall’s well-rounded game and ground skills have earned him recognition as a rising star. It’s a pivotal fight for both fighters, and the winner will undoubtedly establish themselves as a top contender in the heavyweight division.” – MMA Fighting’s expert analysis
Full Event Breakdown and Analysis
The UFC 295 preview show by MMA Fighting’s experts offers a comprehensive full event breakdown and analysis of the entire fight card. With their years of experience and deep knowledge of the sport, they provide viewers with valuable insights and expert analysis that can enhance their understanding of the matchups.
From the highly anticipated main event between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira to the preliminary bouts, no fight goes unnoticed. The experts carefully assess each fighter’s strengths, weaknesses, and fighting styles, allowing viewers to gain a thorough understanding of how the fights may unfold.
Not only do the experts provide analysis on the individual matchups, but they also offer their predictions for each fight. This can assist viewers in making more informed fight predictions of their own, enabling them to participate in the excitement of UFC 295 with a deeper understanding of the potential outcomes.
If you want to stay ahead of the game and have a better grasp of the action-packed event at Madison Square Garden, be sure to tune in to the UFC 295 preview show. The full event breakdown, analysis, and expert insights provided by MMA Fighting’s experts will give you the inside scoop you need to fully appreciate and enjoy this highly anticipated UFC event.
Video Transcription
mixed martial arts mixed martial arts how do we like our martial arts in New
York City
yes that was an incredible introduction Casey well done yes UFC 295 back well
the UFC is back in Madison Garden for UFC 295 you see the faces they’ll be fighting for championships yes you’re
were supposed to get Jon Jones maybe in his final fight against Steve apit maybe in his final fight but injuries happen
Things Fall Apart sometimes but in the end we got a fascinating Main Event a very intriguing co-main event and a very
interesting MSG is lineup which we’re going to talk about right now here on the UFC 295 preview show Welcome
everybody I am Mike Heck I never do these alone thank goodness we got my bald Brethren the wise Wordsmith Deputy
edor for mmafighting.com the great Shan ALS how we doing sir I’m doing wonderful
my man this is my most anticipated fight of the year I’m back with you gentlemen this is great this is great time and
fresh off of hosting the weigh-in show like nobody else my best friend the prince of positivity Mr Alexander Kay Le
hey K how’s it going what is up what is up everybody happy veterans well be tomorrow Advanced happy Veterans Day and
happy uh Remembrance Day in Canada for my for my fellow Canucks but uh yeah super pump for Saturday’s card I’m with
Daniel Cormier give me this pavich Aspen fight over Jon Jones Stipe any day I’m
all about I’m all about being hardore Mike people know me is they call me AK hardcore Lee that’s how I’m uh that’s
how I how highly my fandom is regarded and this is a hardcore delight at the top I feel and and and a really really
good ban card overall that is very catchy no I feel
like you’ve had 18 nicknames fighting yeah I’m like Shaq it’s got a
lot ah well said AK you know what Shaheen I I want to begin with you because AK brought out a key word that
I’ve been hearing since this Jon Jones stpe fight fell apart hardcore this is a
hardcore fans Delight but may not have the Casual appeal like this card probably doesn’t pass the Public’s
grocery store test but for the hardcore fan these are two very interesting fights the main event is the one we’ve been
looking forward to we had the ranking show we ranked them it was like unanimous Yuri prashka versus Alex PR
was the fight but I don’t know man like The Vibes just don’t seem the same as
compared to most other MSG cards like it is very strange is it not like compared
to even 281 and 268 especially 205 that was obviously the historic event the first one at MSG but this just feels
like a like a regular pay-per-view not that it’s a bad thing but for MSG this I
don’t know it’s just the buzz isn’t where it typically is do you feel that too you know what I think okay I would
say that’s a fair assessment right but I also don’t care yes I’m being honest
right like we spend so much time worrying about how big things are going to be numbers excitement does it feel
like the Casual audience is involved all that I don’t give a I really don’t this week Mike this one’s for us
sometimes we get one for us this one’s for us this is Christmas come early this is birthdays come early this is all of
it wrapped in one for me at least if the gods of valaha came down right now and said Heen I need you to make this deal
we’re gonna wipe out the rest of the MMA calendar but you get to keep yui and Alex 100% sure you get it I’m signing up
for that deal right now I do not care Mike I don’t care whether no one likes this I don’t care where everyone whether Everyone likes this this one is for me
I’m so deeply deeply excited for this light heavyweight title fight this is chaos incarnate just to the two absolute
chaos agents of the UFC right now just going at each other and also you know this heavyweight fight is very fun and
probably is the whoever wins this is going to be the heavyweight champion by this time next year because of how the weird this division is so I just really
don’t care I really don’t I’m so excited for this and I just I I almost just don’t even want to talk about this Main
Event because I don’t want to jinx it but it’s going to be so much fun you you may not feel the buzz right now and I feel like that was pretty predictable
right you get two guys who aren’t really like hype up Masters they’re not really cutting promos out here but by the time
Jerry and Alex are walking out there tomorrow night we’re all going to be feeling it yeah these are four like Tom aspadol
has a great personality but the other three guys could just stand there looking stoic and you’re just like all
right these guys get it they don’t have to say a word they just look angry and ready to fight AK where are you at with this I’ll get your gymnastics score as
well but yeah this is the buzz may not be there but this is the Hardcore Delight kind of an MSG card this just
feels like a regular pay-per-view and that’s okay this is for us AK what’s the gymnastics score for UFC 295 where are
we at here uh first let me say Shaheen may not care about the people but I do I think uh their voice is important uh you
guys are if you people are out there you are important all right don’t listen to Shaheen saying who cares what the public
think that’s just absurd uh so of course I’ve thrown up a poll uh uh uh echoing a question uh Mike
that you asked on on heck of a morning that was discussed on heck of a morning earlier today even uh where you rank UFC 295 among the Madison Square Garden
cards and and I wish I could provide a better range I just gave three options best best lineup middle of the road
worst lineup uh worst lineup very few people picking up so far at 8% most people agreeing it’s middle of the road
uh 61% it’s it’s a heart it’s hard to um when you’re when you’re doing a gymnastics rating it’s you kind of have
to compare to what you would have given the other ones right you can’t just say like I think it’s a good card relative
to like maybe uh some of the other cards this year but comparing to mg’s so uh
just a quick recap of course the very first show yoc 205 I mean it was making history uh uh the support had been
legalized in the state you got Conor McGregor Eddie Alvarez I mean boom right there there’s that’s that’s immediately
a top tier card in addition to the other star power that was on it and the undercard there was uh the prelims I just say excuse me were loaded as well I
mean if you look at the names on the 205 card compared to the names on Saturday’s
card a lot of talented fighters on Saturday definitely not many who are you know proven UFC names uh 217 the return
of GSP 230 uh Daniel Cormier that was a pretty strong you would probably May ranking around here Dan Cormier Derrick
Lewis um what else we had 244 mazal Diaz BMF really well builtup car 268 Usman
cumington rematch and 281 uh petta uh Alex petta upsetting Israel Des so um
then Zang Le had T fight as well so that’s and that’s just again just looking at the top fights they’re considerably stronger than this so I’ll
relative like this is relative relative to the other MSG cards this card if you’re watching from
very first prelim to like uh to Main Event it’s like maybe a 8.8 8.8 and
before anyone says I thought you know you thought nine was a minimum for pay-per-view uh I’m recalibrating I I’ve
maybe been too generous my scores I think my scores have been a little wild Jed Michu michul and star system is outstanding has made me rethink my way
of scoring so we’ll go 8 if everything goes right I just don’t see a world where even if we get you know seven or
eight highlight real finishes and um a bunch of great back and forth battles that this is ends up as like one of the
most memorable uh pay-per-views to come to uh to MSG yeah I I get both sides of this
equation because I’m like I’m I’m with Sean here it’s just I don’t care what the Casual audience thinks because
they’re not going to watch anything unless the biggest stars are on anyways this is this is a pay-per-view for us and as Jed Mishu famously has said many
times the UF is one or two injuries away from putting together a great fight card and he thinks this is that exact card so
we got Yuri prashka versus Alex pran this is the fight of fights for you I know how excited you are for this
there’s just so much statistical like anomaly going on here because you have Yuri prashka this is his fourth UFC
fight his first fight since the Glover to Shar War where he won the belt vacated the title after the serious
shoulder injury but Yuri kind of explained that that’s not really the case here and in his fourth UFC fight
could become a two-time light heavyweight champion without actually losing the belt in a fight and then on
the flip side we have Alex Pereira who is a two division Glory champion this is a seventh UFC fight just is 11th Pro MMA
fight could become a two division UFC champion which is just absolutely ridiculous the quickest any fighter
would have ever done it so there’s just so much to talk about here Shaheen this fight’s going to be absolute chaos and
what’s so great about this new main event compared to Jon Jones Stipe I kind of feel like this is as
unpredictable as we can get here you said it you said it Mike I I I
hate to repeat myself this but this fight is everything to me just because it it em like the the possibilities of
this fight are what make it so fun right like both of these tudes are are two of the most unpredictable men in the entire
UFC and you you throw them together and it’s like you could have this fight 20 different times and I feel like it looks
completely different 20 different times just because they’re both wild men dude and and ultimately like at its core
that’s what this is about right like we can sit here and say we love uh you know technicians we can sit here and say we
love the wrestling and and the ground and pound and all everything that goes into the sport that we love and watch
but ultimately you get two wild men out there that’s it for me that is nirvana that that is fight game Nirvana and
that’s what this is I’m so I’m so excited for what this could look like it is so weird to see Alex Pera not as this
gigantic man in there you look at yui like Yi’s actually a little bigger than him which is like almost startling to
see we just haven’t seen somebody be able to physic like match Alex in that sort of physicality uh I just I I love
it man and also like if people are probably sleeping on Yuri because they’re they haven’t seen him in a while
and the short ter memory of all this but the last time we saw Yuri Braska the dude put together the greatest light
heavyweight fight in the history of the sport like full stop and that’s not hyperbole like him and Glover was the
big the greatest spectacle I’ve ever seen at 205 pounds like you could throw out John versus gustus and one go back
and rewatch that fight like without like the drama was what made that fight what it was because it was so stunning to see
somebody really like be able to match Jon in some way but just for action for Action sake second by second Yuri versus
Glover Takes the Cake for me and it’s not even close and I’m just so excited this man is now back in our lives it
feels like I don’t know if this is the the great rewriting of light heavyweight
like a reiding the ship of of sort of this weird division that has been a drift at sea for like a year and a half
now uh it it sort of feels like it in a way right like we’ve had three vacant title fights in this division since the
last time someone has been able to actually have a title defense which is just a very weird place to get to I
don’t know that this is it just I don’t think one fight can fix what how how broken this division fundamentally is
right now but it is certainly a baby step towards it it’s a it’s a nice first step and if we can get whoever wins
right whoever wins on Saturday and sort of the king of this division this division is set up really nicely to have
a very entertaining stretch moving forward because both these guys are so some like maniacs so I just love it man
I love everything about this and I just I again I I’m almost afraid to talk about it because we still have as Jose
Young says the fight has not started right like we still have 24 hours for this to get ruined and I just don’t want
it to I’m so I can’t wait for this Hey listen you fix chaos by adding more
chaos and there maybe no more two chaotic men in the UFC than these two gentlemen whether it’s just fight style
or just them breaking the sport in a number of ways like Alex Pereira has AKA
how excited are you for this fight what sort of intangibles are you looking at here how unpredictable is this to
you yeah 10 out of 10 man it’s uh I I have a pretty clear idea in my mind of
who’s going to win we’ll get to the predictions there so I won’t say it’s completely unpredictable I think I’m a little more uh torn on the co-main but
yeah listen this is this is uh this is a pretty um even matchup I mean I think you know you a year ago maybe not a year
ago maybe whatever 16 18 months ago you know the thought of Yuri and Alex petta
I think we would have favored you pretty strongly right I mean he just has the much longer MMA pedigree and you know we
weren’t 100% sure if Alex P was going to be that dude in MMA there was there was
reason for optimism there was of course reason to believe that uh he could beat Champion Israel adiso which he
eventually did um but you know Yuri was reasonably in higher esteem among the MMA Community now yeah it really feels
like this is pretty close to a tossup uh I’m I’m thinking about the intangibles
now I’m thinking about if we see some uh grappling from you know Yuri pach because we know listen he he knows how
to mix the martial arts and we know Alex pet has gotten better at that as well right so we’re all anticipating kind of
a tactical standup battle with some you know really nice uh like explosive flurries and and you know cool exchanges
but there could be there could be some some wrestling involved and that would be interesting to me that me see if uh we see something from from Yuri I mean
he won the title via submission right I mean now now saying that he just utilized wrestling in that absolutely
chaotic mad fight uh would not be accurate but we know the guy can grapple clear there’s there’s some uh there’s
some skill there so I really am not entirely sure what to expect even though I have a winner in mind uh the way I’m
imagining it playing out is believable but also one of like a dozen different
reasonable scenarios that you could present to me and I would like nod my head and be like yeah that makes sense you’re looking at this the right way so
um for all of these Reasons I’m very very excited because I just I just hope we get a winner because the I’ve also
considered the possibility that these two both th throw flying head kicks and knock each other out and the light heavyweight title just stays stays out
of someone’s grasp again the way this has been going the way this year has been going uh the way the light heavweight title picture has shaken out
I even that I think would not Shock anyone at this point Hey listen if that happens the timing would be perfect that
means these two get to fight again before Jamal Hill comes back like this is great that would be actually a really great outcome here as far as outcomes go
Sean because we talked about this a little bit on BTL I want to get your take on it whoever wins and whoever
loses it is super interesting because whoever becomes the champion obviously moves on and is going to try to cement their place to this division but whoever
loses this fight like trying to figure out what could be next for either Alex Pere or Yu prashka is another
fascinating conversation within itself so what do you think is the more
interesting scenario here Alex Pereira making history and continuing to break the UFC as we know
it or Yuri being the wild man y’all must have forgot moments to spin out for so
long what’s the more interesting road for the UFC light heavyweight championship picture a yui win or an
Alex win that is a good question that I had not truly considered until you it came
out of your mouth I mean my gut instinct in this question is to say Alex winning
right because Alex almost has like like I don’t know the Izzy loss maybe took a
little bit off this but there’s it has always felt like there’s a little bit of like a mystical quality to Alex pereira’s UFC run right like we have we
have been am amazed so many different times throughout the course of this man’s UFC career at the speed with which
he’s done it I I said you know in the past that he is speed running his way to a Hall of Fame career and that really is
what’s happening right now like if he wins on Saturday if he wins tomorrow he’s a he’s a Sure Fire Hall of Famer in
seven UFC fights two Division champion just that the names that would be on his resume like that is you’re putting that
guy in the Hall of Fame the moment he retires that’s crazy to me and so my again my kneejerk would be to say the
most interesting outcome for this is Alex winning because then you open up a couple doors that maybe Yuri winning
wouldn’t right you open up the potential of Izzy moving up to light heavyweight and we’re getting the trilogy there at a
different a different we class with Alex also just you know Alex is is a little bit older than Yuri it feels like he
sort of has a less time left to be able to maximize this so it would be interesting to see him sort of be the
king of the second division and see how long he can carry that forward as well but man we’re in a good spot either way
right because you just painted it you just painted the picture I mean we know what’s probably happening next is is Jamal Hill is gonna get a shot at some
point over the next year whenever he can come back we have Johnny Walker versus mango man KV presumably running that
back as well that’s sort of the next in line as well uh and and and we got you
know Alex rage coming back early next year we have yan yan blacko wit still out there very close fight with Alex the
first time I mean there’s a lot of really good options in this 205 pound division we just need to get it going
again we just need to get it moving again and this is finally what we’re doing because it’s it’s so frustrating and weird when these divisions are stuck
in stasis for so long and it’s been too long for 205 like it is it’s way past too long we need to just get this moving
and it’ll I think feel like this division will just feel better when we sort of have a sense of of where the momentum is headed rather than this this
weird place we’ve been stuck in what do you think AK do you agree that Pereira is the more intriguing Champion here or
do you think it’s Yuri I almost don’t want to speak into existence because and I know I’m a nerd
about this and this isn’t everyone’s top concern but I have not been able to stop thinking about what a Peta win would do
to our poor poor rankings which have already been put that have been put through the ringer in 2023 let me tell
you uh well when I mean before 2023 when when petta beat Izzy the first time we
were like man what the hell did we do Izzy was in our top five pound for pound has the more comprehensive M resume does
he just get Izzy spot how or how far do you bump down Izzy does Izzy hold on to his spot based on what we know and then
it kind of got correct kind of got corrected when Izzy beat him in the rematch um then the Sean strick thing
happens all this other stuff happens again people if you have time go look at our our pound-for-pound rankings and I’m
sure immediately you go like why the hell is this guy here why the hell is this guy there this is the discussion we have internally and amongst each other
literally every time we have to the pound-for-pound rankings they make they’ve barely made sense in the best of
times and these days they are just completely uh out to lunch they’re totally drunk and we have discussed
rebooting them uh at the start of 2024 so look forward to that and if we do and
Al petta is a two Division champion I don’t know how high he could go I really don’t I think he’s in our
top 10 right now I think if he’s if he’s a light heavyweight title going into January he has to be like top five which
is crazy because we’re talking about a guy who has after after this weekend we’ll have 11 proo MMA fights you you
can give him credit you know uh overall as an athlete for his kickboxing stuff but that shouldn’t you know contribute
to his M his M career but his M career in the UFC has been ridiculously strong
and impressive um so part of me is welcoming that is welcoming that uh that
Insanity because uh if if Yuri wins everything’s pretty much normal we’ve had Yuri at number one since uh even
since he vacated the title we said well look he’s going to come back eventually what he’s going to fight the winner then
that’ll that’ll decide it right he’ll fight the winner and if he loses he lose the spot otherwise uh otherwise he holds
on to it so we’re okay there if same thing he beats petta Yi still number one all good we carry on with our day but uh
boy PR could could completely change up the like heavyweight rankings completely change up the pound-for-pound rankings and I just had this hilarious thought of
like Jon Jones during his time off deciding you know what I’m going back to down to light heavyweight I I can’t stand these guys saying that they’re
fighting for the I I can’t stand this mess of light heavyweight I know I could beat all these I could beat Jamal Hill I
could beat Yuri I could beat Alex P I could beat Yan all these guys if I just came down and did it he’s probably above
that now like I said he seems he seems pretty happy uh being a heavyweight but uh I just don’t know if this division is
gonna settle down properly anytime soon well the beauty of this fight along
with co- event we’re going to talk about in a matter of moments pretty much a pick from the betting perspective we got
Alex per the slight favorite minus 122 The Comeback on Yuri prashka plus 102 I
mean we could break this thing down from a technical standpoint but we have no idea what the hell is actually gonna happen tomorrow night in M Square Garden
so Shaheen tough to make a pick here considering what we just talked about the unpredictable nature of this fight
but who do you think leaves MSG as the champ tomorrow oh man don’t make me do it
don’t make me this is like picking between my children right now I can’t i i d i I’ve gone back and forth on this
all week I think if you caught me an hour ago I’d probably give you a different answer than I would give you right now right now the the sense within
me is that this is a 5149 style fight 51 in favor of Yuri I
think if they run it back 20 times maybe he wins 11 of them uh this is such an evenly matched fight this is so
competitive with their matching skill sets and again just the unpredictability I can’t wait for it but I just get the
sense that we are going to see an absolute War uh Alex Pereira the damage that he has taken over the course of the
Izzy contests uh is maybe a little bit alarming obviously he had a lot of damage in his past as well as a two
division Glory Champion Glory Hall of Famer as well that’s maybe a little alarming once you start to get to age 36
37 in these in these heavier divisions uh I just I don’t know I’m I the gut my
gut tells me to lean yui and that we end up with one of the top five fights of the year I’d say third round stoppage
but I don’t feel confident at all about it and I wouldn’t be surprised the other way AK I’m not sure if you have a wager
on double knockout here I don’t know if there’s a prop for that but you got to make a pick here and if you’re picking
double knockout I respect the hell out of it honestly I feel like that’s the that that should be like minus 250 at this
point again given the light heavyweight the way the world is right now that that in that division uh no no I I I’m
picking Alex petta um I am just a little alarmed with how much uh how much y he
can get hit in some of these m match ups you know as great as he’s looked he got hit in the Dominic Reyes match up of course he got hit a bunch in the Glover
toar match up that’s pure chaos and he has a great chin there’s no doubt about it but that death touch of Alex petta is
not something that you want to mess around with right so if it comes down to it if it comes down
to you know who who’s gonna who’s who could do more damage who’s going to land the bigger bomb who’s going to land the
kill shot I’m gonna go with petta um Y pachka no stranger to finishes either I
mean again he hasn’t lost a fight in what 10 years or or he lost the one fight and he Avenged it he’s on a
ridiculous run and he and he finished fuel too he finish people from unorthodox angles uh
people always call it style kind of weird but you know there’s a lot there that’s fundamentally you can’t be the
kind of weird unorthodox fighter that he is without without having an extremely uh solid fundamental base right so
that’s what’s so great about him but but I do think there at some point petta is gonna land I think there’s going to be
exchanges in here and while with P it can be a coin toss I mean we we saw what happened in the second Izzy
fight I I think he can take barashka out and because I firmly believe that I’m
GNA go uh petta by second round
knockout this is so tough I actually like you know because of the watch party you do the the DraftKings thing with GC
and I don’t want GC to sit in that studio and feel the pressure of betting on fights by himself so I
bet way less than he does uh I do have a bet on Alex Pereira I got him at minus 122 pretty much for the same reasons AK
said like I don’t know what the hell’s gonna happen I feel like Yuri does have some defensive deficiencies he does
leave that chin W right up in the air to get cracked but it has served him well he’s also been knocked out in in some of
these fights like brutally ko’ed by leaving that chin open so Alex really just needs one shot to change the
entire aspect of the fight and Yuri does too and he’s going to do things a little bit crazier than Alex could but I think
25 minutes you’re giving Alex an opportunity to land on that exposed chin
at some point I kind of feel like he’s gonna find the button at some point so
the bet is Alex Pereira at minus 122 I do think he gets a finish and I don’t
even care who wins I just want to watch this these two dudes fight and it’s gonna be incredible we’re going to be
the winners we are going to be the winners the hardcore fans that are going to be watching this event this is for us
and this fight’s gonna absolutely rule much like AK I just want one last thing I want to
throw in because we didn’t we didn’t mention it I think it’s important to just hearing your guys’s breakdown of this Yuri’s durability for me is one of
the biggest keys to this fight because we’ve seen that man take some absolute Demons of shots in the UFC in ryzen ETC
and he has lived through most of them if not all of them right like he his durability is probably one of the best
in the entire Division and you’re right Alex with the death touch that that again is why this is so so just
fascinating to me is you you’re pulling that death touch up against the guy who can seemingly just eat nuclear bombs
like their breakfast I am so interested in just seeing that because you’re right Alex might just spark a out in one or
year might just take that best shot and keep coming in a way we haven’t really seen anybody do with Alex and that’s
very much on the table right yeah I know it was eight years ago but I’ve been seeing on Twitter the King
Mo knockout of against Yuri and it’s nasty dude it is a nasty n y KO so the
fight’s going to be incredible like if it goes 25 minutes it’s going to be like the fight of the century and I’m here
for it I’m here for all of it for however many seconds or minutes or rounds that it lasts it’s going to be
incredible and hopefully hopefully someone is wearing the UFC light heavyweight title at the end of the night let’s go to the co- Main Event uh
knocking on wood Sergey pavlovich versus Tom aspinal now again no Jones miic but
I gotta say the UFC did the best they could here this is as good as you can do on such short notice
you have two guys who probably were lining up to fight each other anyways interim title or not this fight makes a
lot of sense it is on short notice if I could have my DRS it’ be both guys on full training camps but both guyses seem
ready to go and it is going to be a very fascinating matchup so AK what are you
looking for here 12 days notice we put these two guys together to be the second title fight what are we looking at here
for this interim heavyweight title fight man I love this fight I mean this this to me is even more of a tossup than than
the main event it’s it’s a fight that we thought we’d see a little further down the line it’s one that has been mentioned multiple times on our
matchmaking show onto the next one Mike and I think I think again depending when it was was asked for I think we’ve had
varying levels of enthusiasm um I’m very much a you know I like to protect
contenders but I also at some point if they’re not getting that tle shot I like
if it’s not in the for both guys I need to see them uh thrown together so this is almost kind of The Best of Both
Worlds because we are getting an interim belt on the line hopefully this means both guys are getting uh you know that that title fight pay uh for this big
Madison Square Garden Show I don’t know if that’s guaranteed but again fingers crossed I hope that’s the case they deserve it um because I’m sure both
heavyweights would prefer to have this with a little more preparation but they’ve been in each other’s sites for a
while they knew this day would come eventually maybe one of them thought that they would be the champion defending against the other that’s not
the case uh instead got we got fresh gold up for grabs and stylistically I think it’s just a it’s really it’s
really cool to look at you have two guys who are I mean you would call them young heavyweights Sergey is 31 Tom asol 29
again at heavyweight that’s like being a teenager um both guys could have very very very long fruitful careers ahead of
them athletically I think they’re both upper tier Jed and I always talk about athleticism I mean being a cheat code in
MMA in general but especially at heavyweight if you’ve got Plus athleticism uh it can take you a long way and these guys have the skills on
top of that which is what we’ve seen with Sergey um on going on this very impressive run since a debut loss to
Alistair oim no shame in that such a huge experience Gap now since then he’s looked like a beast Tom aspal mixing the
martial arts a little bit more than Sergey and his fights um again another guy who you you know we put up I don’t
know if I’d put either guy on the seed gone range but you look at Tom moo man this guy looks like a welterweight in there looks like a welterweight or or
particularly like um coordinated middleweight and and I totally mean that as a compliment like
it is just impressive the things that this guy can do at his size uh plus both guys have that finishing instinct which
we love to see in contenders which some guys maybe could use more of JN ala um
but uh you know we all have our off nights so uh this one I don’t think it’s going to go the distance I think it
might go longer than people expect that’s how I’ll phrase my answer for now
until we get to our predictions longer than people expect all right John’s a
good one much more competitive in a lot of people’s eyes than Jones mies was going to be this is sort of the next
generation of the heavyweight Division and they’re going to pair off and get after it so biggest question you have
about this fight is it the short notice nature is it the quickness of Aspen against the power of pavich is it the
Striking of pavich versus the Incredible ground game of Tommy Aspen what’s the
biggest question you got my biggest question is for AK longer than people expect I think people expect this to
last 50 seconds how long is longer than people expect definitely longer than that definitely longer than that I think
it’ll go more I I think I’m going I’m going over round I’m taking the over on I don’t know over half over5 whatever
that is okay okay so I’m not officially betting I’m not officially betting I
should say but if the whatever the point five is I would go over so two guys who never get out of the first round both
getting out of the first round basically for the first time in the UFC career more or less Tom’s done it once I think right um yeah man I mean what’s my
biggest question my biggest question is just is this is are like I don’t know how to frame this in in the terms of a
question but like this is the future of the heavyweight Division and it’s happening sooner than we expected right like this this matchup it felt like we
knew that Tom aspal and Sergey pish were going to fight each other for a UFC heavyweight title at some point over the
next two years and we just sort of got it way more prematurely than we all expected this was sort of the next ERA
this was going to be the post Jones ERA this was going to be the post stee era and now they just get a little opportunity here uh just almost like in
through the back door right because of the weird circumstances involving this my biggest question just alog together
in terms of this specific one that we’re seeing on Saturday is what what is Tom asol gonna what kind of shape is Tom
asol gonna be coming into this because I think there is a different this is a whole different world if you give that
guy 12 weeks to prepare for this eight weeks to prepare for that even C Sergey pavich had been preparing for somebody
right he was the backup fighter he was the one ostensibly getting being ready being in shape just being there in case
they needed him and with a guy like Jones and a guy like Stipe who are both sort of at the end of their run you you might be needed and you ended up being
needed so I’m sure he was ready for that opportunity Tom Aspen all more or less just pulling the kamaro Usman here
coming off of a week’s notice right like this is maybe a little bit easier in terms of heavyweight being able to
mitigate that because you’re not spending all your time for that whole two weeks one and a half weeks cutting weight and trying to get your weight
right that’s not nearly as big of a deal so you can probably allocate your resources a little bit better in terms of your time time and your training and
what you’re able to do within that shorts window that you have so Tom has been able to do that certainly uh but I
mean obviously we’re getting a Tom as on a short notice going against a guy who has had time to prepare that to me is a very big factor in this but also man I
mean Sergey pavlovich like I it’s it’s it’s weird to me like how much he has
almost slept on um just within the community just within the sport within the fan base the hardcores Casual
everybody just in terms of there’s not a lot of dialogue around ser pavlovich right other than the fact that hey yeah
he’s big he’s scary he knocks dudes out that’s kind of it and yet he is almost
like the Francis and ganu replacement in this Division if the UFC has one I don’t know that obviously the UFC doesn’t have
a Francis and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t compare him say he’s Apples to Apples to Francis but he is the closest thing they
have left of just that Titanic Titanic Behemoth heavyweight knock guard artist who gets everybody out here in a minute
or two with some ridiculous heavy punching like that is sort of the role that this man now Phils and I don’t know
man it’s it’s seemed to be unbeatable so far in the UFC unless you go all the way back to the very beginning when he
fought Alistar overy like several several several years ago and that was a very different version of him than the
one we get now so I don’t know man I mean I I think this is a great matchup it’s unfortunate the way that it sort of
came about but again I think ultimately the way this heavyweight division is shaped up obviously we’re going to get Jones and Stipe at some point in 2024
and then I would assume both those dudes are just going to retire and whoever wins this actually be the heavyweight champion it’ll be a Robert Whitaker type
of situation when bisbing and GSP were doing their thing so altogether I mean this is the best UFC could do with this
situation and I don’t mind sort of sort of speed running these guys into this spot no or at least Aspen all into a way
that maybe we weren’t ready for him to be here but you know that man has proven us uh time and time again that he is one
of the big fish in this division so I’m ready to see it we’ll get into the predictions in a moment by the way AK
I’ll have you know over a half a round minus 320 minus 320 AK uh yeah so it’s not like so
it’s not out of the realm of plus people are are feeling it but over one and a half rounds is plus 160 so give you
something a little to think about there you mentioned something Shaheen you mentioned Jon Jones and
stpe do you feel that there’s any chance that if Jon beats DPE especially after
the long delay now if you ask if not at all you don’t think John would fight if Tom asol wins this fight gets the heroes
welcome hold on let me paint the picture for you let’s just say let’s just say the UFC heads back to London maybe in April before John fights
Dee Tom fights maybe cill Gan or somebody else and he has a star making
moment where he just goes bananas almost like Stipe and Cleveland just this massive moment for him you don’t think
John will see some dollar signs there You’ think there’s no chance he fights either of these guys even Tom if he gets over big I don’t think JN needs money I
don’t think JN cares I think John’s set I think John’s going for Legacy at this point and and as much as we
as much as for us John beating Tom Aspen would be a big Legacy boost I don’t
think for the greater MMA space that that really holds true right John going up to heavyweight beating the the next
the new hotness in serial gone or at least that’s how he was being propped up at that time and then beating the guy
that we kind of all consider the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time will be enough for him to get that
Legacy bump even though you know the history books won’t ever say the Stipe he beat was like a 41 42 year old Stipe
like that’s not going to that’s not going to matter it’s just going to be the name on the resume and that is solely it seems like what JN is in it for to be like looked at as this alltime
two division champ and I don’t know that I would consider him that if he goes in there and beats Stipe that was a conversation we would have been having
all week of like what does this actually mean if that fight was still here just because stee is so old at this point but
again I don’t think JN gives a what me and you are having conversations about I think he just cares about having
that name that legendary Mount Rushmore type of name on his resume and Tom Aspen is not that yeah I don’t think if like
if pavich goes out there and just Icees ASP like I don’t think John’s fighting Sergey I just don’t think the risk reward plays out in his favor but Aspen
has got something he’s on the cusp of something big here AK if he goes out and wins at MSG and gets a big reaction and
then goes in defends in London gets a pop and by the way no one has gotten Jon’s attention in this division at all
except for Tom aspal he’s the only one that Jon has responded to throughout this entire run anything Sergey pavich
has done calling out Jones he has not he’s just crickets to him but Tom Aspen after the London win over Sergey over
Martin tyor that somehow got John’s attention AK so same question for you is
there any way especially if Tom wins that he could entice Jon to come back for one more
after the Stipe fight yeah it’s definitely possible it’s definitely possible um I agree with Shaheen that Jon has Stipe in his sights
the name just makes a lot of sense the Stipe the you know UFC’s touted Heavyweight goat most tile defenses
and uh Jones a guy who’s who wants to be the goat you know claim he’s the goat in two divisions that’s really I guess in
his mind the quickest path to get there though it would really hurt me if um any
portion of fans said um that John beating CEO Gan and Stipe made him like a top five heavyweight like I don’t even
know if I put him in the top five it’s just absurd um so I think uh yeah as much as he wants that
fight it it it is going to lose its luster as time goes by um it may never
lose so much luster that it’s worth less than again a a win over as espanol or a
win over Sergey pavich or whoever Jil MAA um in the eyes of the more casual
fan but I part of me thinks that um John
is aware of uh at least to himself that beating 42 how old will step B be
probably when they get 42 or something or am I even older right sorry guys excuse my typing I gotta look this up
real quick he’ll be 42 yeah Pro probably by the time they they actually fight 42 without they’ll probably fight before
August so he’ll probably still be 4 okay and and uh close to 42 and not having fought in three years uh not that John
cares about that he went through his own B of inactivity certainly won’t see him um diminish his own accomplishments because of Hiatus but it it will mean
less I think if J and especially if Jon is ready to compete sooner um it won’t he doesn’t need the money but there I
think there will be some appeal to knocking off one of the young Gunners you know especially if there’s enough of
a chatter enough of a swell that like Aspen’s number one uh Lord knows me and the fake news media I will be doing my
best to make make that fight happen because I will probably uh vote whoever wins on Saturday as my number one
heavyweight um and I’ll drop John gradually the longer he’s out so uh John
get well soon so you can get back in there and um so yes I I I I will certainly be doing my part to try and
make that fight happen so this is this is maybe me manifesting something as opposed to really you know knowing J Jones’s thought
process and believing that it could happen but if he wants to get in there before uh Ste if he’s healthy and again
you just never know St I guess he’s waiting for Jon Jones too but it took so long to make that fight happen I I just feel like there’s weird
things that could happen to push it back even further if John doesn’t want to wait I think he’s got to get another heavyweight fight in there so it’s it’s
possible it’s remote but it’s possible well much like the main event this this is very close fight nearly
pick him it’s actually it’s actually close minus 118 for Tom aspal coming in on short notice Sergey pavage minus 102
so it’s basically a coin flip Aspen is like a smidge higher uh as the favorite
here again unpredictability Sean who walks out of MSG the interim heavyweight
champion of the world perhaps soon to be elevated to the Undisputed heavyweight champion of the
world I have a question I I don’t even know if it’s a question for you fellas CU I don’t know that any of us are so
deep into gambling that we would know this maybe the comment section is this the most closely matched like well
matched onew punch on a UFC pay-per-view in the last like several years like
because both these fights are essentially pick thems and I can’t remember another situation where we’ve had to big fights with that sort of
being the equation right we need to call Jose he probably
knows this that’s Jose question Jose if you’re watching slack us that’s yeah if any if any of you Sharps out there in
the comments know too let us know cuz I know you guys know everything uh I’m going to go for this one Sergey
pavlovich to me I think the the the weight or not the weight the the short time span that Thomas had to prepare for
this will have some level of an effect I mean Sergey pavich was getting ready for a fight extensively and that that is a
leg up on what Tom was doing um also I just think Sergey pavich a little more advanced in this division than Tom I
don’t know that the Tom was quite ready for this opportunity yet uh I could certainly be proved wrong I’ve been
proven wrong plenty of times in the past but for me this feels like a Sergey pavich first round
knockout AK where are we at here it’s funny that you guys kept mentioning
Steve a because I thought I feel like man they’re queuing me up for this prediction so one and also the we mentioned the um
Sergey pavich Franson Ganda comparisons there is a chance there is a chance and
I guess this is why I’m feeling that over that over half over one and a half because there’s a chance it vers
resembles the first uh Stipe in ganu fight not to say that Tom Mell has the
same wrestling style as Stipe he doesn’t it’s a different grappling style it’s not the same thing it’s not to say that
um sergey’s takedown defense is as poor as Francis was when he first watched Dee
uh it isn’t but there is some similarties there I think in our minds as far as like what is the best strategy
for Tom asol he probably does not want to stand and slug with Sergey so we’re going to see some wrestling I I really
firmly believe we’re going see some wrestling um Aspen has hands for sure a lot a lot of those first round Knockouts
we’re talking about they did happen on the feet it’s not just him taking people down grounding and panning like that he has hands but Sergey has a huge reach
Advantage uh just I feels like a power Advantage again hard to tell because both guys are great finishers but I
would definitely just based on the eye test lean towards Sergey um so it feels like there’s going to be some mixing in
the martial arts from Tom and if that’s the case he’s going to be we’re going to see some takedowns we’re see a lot of
takedowns and if he can’t finish in the ground the fight is going to stretch out a bit and that is your best bet if you
are feeling frisky and are like I’m throwing money on a you know PL because I’m sure you’re getting Plus for a decision that’s your best bet is that he
it resembles miic and ganu onean just a great wrestling from asol very timely wrestling um doing enough to hold him
down doing enough ground and pound to keep from being stood up but you know not not quite being able to to to put uh
Sergey pich away it’s a possibility it’s a possibility um for me though I’m I
just can’t take it that far I do think asona will will have moments in the first two rounds I think we will see takedowns I think we’ll have to see
Sergey working his way back up and I think in round three though uh Sergey is going to catch him so I’m going I’m also
picking pavich I’m going by knockout in round three after two like rounds where we feel like Aspen might be you know
tilting things in his favor I think that that power cc is going to come out and uh and end things real
quick I mean I I expect uh the song To Be Sung ladies and gentlemen Tommy aseno
Aspen Espen I just I have questions about both
guys and this is incredibly unpredictable and nothing really would surprise me other than this fight like
getting to the championship rounds that would surprise me of all the things of these two title fights this fight in
particular going to like round four and five would be stunning to me I just I don’t know I I feel like Tom
is saying the right things and shout out to py Carrol who was was once part of
the crew here he’s got a relationship with Tom’s dad and he recently did an interview with
Tom and he was talking about it somewhere I heard it and he basically said like the first thing Tom’s dad
taught Tom about martial arts when he made the choice to jump into coaching was basically for the first couple of
years of the martial arts Journey was just basically teaching Tom Aspen all like hey just don’t get hit just do
everything in your power to not get hit play defense don’t get hit do everything in your power and I feel like I don’t
know the Vibes after hearing that story this is like as full circle of a fight from the beginning of the martial arts
journey to becoming a UFC champion like this just feels like it’s in the stars for Tom I also I think the biggest
question I have in this entire fight is what happens if this fight gets to the mat I almost feel like Tom just needs to
go in there like use the quickness on the feet but then just tackle this dude we haven’t seen Sergey pavic really
battle on the ground since the Alistar overing fight and we saw what happened there I know that was a long time ago
and people love to mention that but we have not had that question answered since because pavage is going out there
and just crushing dudes in under a minute so we really haven’t seen what pavich can do off of his back so when
this fight hits the mat I do think it’s gonna hit the mat at some point how is pavage gonna react does he sprawl like
Francis did to Stipe in their second fight where you just kind of knew in that moment that something really bad’s going to happen to
Stipe can he get back up I don’t know I just have a million questions about this fight but that’s the biggest one I have
what happens if this fight hits the mat until I actually see something I feel like Tom has a real path to Victory here
if he takes this thing down so I have Tom aspal uh as as a bet and minus 118
and I have Tom Aspen I’ll bu submission at plus 350 but again
unpredictability who the hell knows I don’t care it’s gonna be fun for 30
seconds or however long this fight lasts so God bless all of us who get to watch this fight because it’s going to be
incredible I just want to say uh oh man Tommy Tommy Aspen by decision plus 1400
don’t bet on MMA don’t bet on May I’m just saying plus 1400 am I on an island all alone on both
these fights with us three I like it I know I’m pick I’m picking I’m picking pavic but I’m just I’m just giving
people like why I think it’ll go over and if it and how it will do it like if
if if asol really is able to just control with wrestling I don’t know if ‘ll be able to finish but he might again
he might Stipe angu won him that that that is in the realm of possibility unlikely unlikely but again I don’t know
I would love to know what the miic by decision odds were for over angu in their their first fight so probably probably not plus, 1400 but probably up
there that’s this is part of the reason why that Curtis blades fight is so frustrating the way that it went where
it’s just like Curtis I wish you had tried to wrestle man because I would love to see this right like I would love to see if Sergey has some wrestling
defense we just what are you what were you doing there Curtis bles why are you trying to strike with that man I think
Tom like gets the assignment I think he gets it just like let’s just get this the ground and not get punched by but
easier said than done we also got Mackenzie during J andr on this on this as the featured bout very important
fight especially for McKenzie der and Jess onra man the way she started the year to where she could end the year
just wild how the swings of this sport can work we got ma rol Ben was santon
which is be a fraking battle we get Diego Lopez versus Pat sabatini I
basically am describing this fight as a old school cartoon fight where you’re just gonna see two dudes tangle up
you’re gonna see rolling around and you’re just gonna see a bunch of dust flying because that’s what this is going to be just a bunch of scrambles on the
ground and then we got some interesting prelims but I mean there’s really no
low-key Banger here like Beno sanon ma rol is not a low-key Banger that’s basically the fight everyone’s knows is
gonna deliver here so I don’t know unless you guys have one that’s just buried on there that you’re
super excited about because I just think they’re all competitive intriguing and they’re just gonna be
fun you don’t think fola and Stony counts I feel like that counts I I feel
like most fans like except for the most hardcore fans could not pick ston out of a lineup yet but I feel like outside of
these top two fights this is the one everybody’s talking about even more so than the DAR andr fight
it’s like all right we get two title and we get we get BSD for vola like that’s what everyone’s kind of looking at the
top here like we’re getting these three fights that’s fair but that’s also probably just speaks to card quality
more than anything else yeah but we don’t care about that this is for us this is for us M this is for us this is
for us I’ll I’ll throw out the Jared Gordon uh the Jared cord and Mark Madson
fight I I don’t know if it’s going to be the most like visually appealing fight but I just I feel like Gordon has been
close to having a moment um you know it was supposed to be Patty Pimpin right
that’s the fight that was so close easily could have gone his way that was supposed to be his moment and and since
then and then the unfortunate Clash of heads with Bobby green um but now he’s F he’s from New York I believe right he’s
he’s a New Yorker um yeah this this this could be a really big moment for if he beats Mark mson uh Madson has been solid
in the UFC you know he came in with that great Olympic wrestling pedigree this is
the right matchup I feel like for both guys and I’m not saying Jared Gordon beats him inally goes in a run to a
title but he’s been like regarded this talented guy for so long and I don’t feel like the window is closed on him
just yet so I I I want to see if he puts on has if he puts on an impressive performance against Mark mson has the
crowd roaring behind him and just either comes out with a knockout or like a really convincing decision um he might
be one of the guys we’re talking about most at the end of the night and of course a guy with a great uh a great personal um personal Back start as well
so I I I’m really interested in that I think that’s when the card uh with respect to some of the fights before that I think when that’s when the card’s
really going to like really going to wake up yeah Jared Gordon’s grandfather fought on MSG so nice little family
history within the world’s most famous arena let’s bring in the incomparable ekc Leiden the badest stash in MMA and
let’s take a few questions from the peeps hi everybody up casy did you see I I I I took some
Liberties and I jumped into the pole AK did you see the poll I put up there uhhuh I see it so I was oh you can read
it AK uh will Jon Jones fight the winner of pavish versus espanol uh no
78% pretty uh pretty convincing I think we all see what’s happening we all see what’s happening yeah yeah we should ask
this question if Tom Aspen wins tomorrow on the postf fight show and we’ll see what the what the response
is see I don’t I’m kind of kind of both ways on this you guys are sgg suggesting
he would never fight Sergey but what you see Sergey is kind of like sural Gan in the sense like oh
there’s an easy path to Victory I don’t know I mean seral gan’s
not in the the enanu mold of puncher right like that to me feels like
pavlovich is in that like you know uh Shane Carwin T mold that that like Sanu
mode like I don’t know that we’ve never seen Jon fight that mode I think Jon would destroy that’s what I’m saying
like I don’t I don’t you’re you’re much more optimistic about Jon’s chances against a a massive powerful man than I
would be because I Jon’s like advantages have always come through size right like he’s always kind of struggled a little
bit with guys no like obviously he has other advantages too but like he’s always struggled the most with men who are sort of his he’s not a giant 205
he’s not a big 205 people tall and Incredibly long he has a reach that far
extends any other 205 and he’s much taller than other 205s and the only 205s who sort of match that reach or at least
were competitive with it put up pretty good fights with him right Dominic Reyes Augustus and one like those are sort of
his hardest fights at 205 and stature wise they sort of made sense I just that’s why it sucks that we never saw
John Francis is because like that was always the one big question for me is like what would it be like to see JN against this just ferocious knock artist
well France is is afraid to take so we know that God oh yeah that’s right
that’s right we forgot you’re right you’re right um also someone in the comments
keeps calling St Deni benois stt Den St Denim and I don’t know if it’s an auto
correct but I’m very much sure Ben Beno St denim is a great is a great has to be an autocorrect who cares about Jon Jones
searching for the easiest opponent in heavyweight I mean this is where he’s at right now make that money that’s prize
fighting he’s a prize fighter at fight he won’t be my number one heavyweight at the end of the weekend but uh yeah I
think joh that’s the weird thing because I I I know this uh comment is trying to say but then we also go well is this
price fighting and I’m I’m big on this is price fighting above anything else but does that will that kind of
talk would John feel that talk like oh well people know I make the most money but I’m not taking the tough
fight not anymore this is like five years ago maybe but not anymore he’s
done it like because we have talking but the whole Legacy like he wants to beat the the the the record for heavyweight
tit off defenses too you know are we gonna do you think that I don’t think he does
though just check beat stee get out yeah I don’t think he’s I don’t think beating
the title defense record at heavyweight is as meaningful to him as just getting the name like Stipe on the resume again
we call Stipe the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time and if John’s like well I got a victory over that guy
it’s no one’s going to like well at a certain year like yeah BJ be the
greatest lightweight ever if you beat BJ pen now it’s not like you’re the greatest lightweight now that’s what I’m like do you think because it’s true I
mean you beating step Bay now isn’t like beating Stipe four years ago or when
Francis beat him but you we we using nuance and no one actually uses Nuance
you know that the farther we get from that say John beat Stipe next year five years from now no one’s
gonna be like well it was an old Stipe they’re just GNA say John beat Stipe that’s how just like Anthony Pettis beat
Roy Jones Jr exactly or or to or uh you know uh Patty pimpl
beating Tony Ferguson you know when that happens I think we’re all gonna view that as Patty P beating one of the
greatest lightweights of all time and uh you know no one will think no one will think twice about it right I think we on
that I don’t know Patty pimp working with David Goggins I didn’t see any hell week videos of Patty pimp I asked this on the
way by the way I still don’t know who David Goggins is I asked this on the weigh-in show I when the closer he’s a
guy that runs a lot then he yells at the guy running next to him with a camera and he goes why aren’t you running a
jerk that’s who David go again this doesn’t quite explain I mean that really
that should be all the explanation I need but I’m still kind of lost in this whole David Goggins David Goggins yeah
he’s an English he’s an English guy right Walter Walter Goggins Walter no Walter Goggins is the
actor nice try nice try Shaheen good catch good catch nice try you’re not
gonna get me with that yeah last thing I’ll say about
Stipe not only is it the Legacy fight but and this may not make sense to
everybody but it is damn true outside of JN Stipe is the biggest star in this Division and he still hasn’t and he hasn’t fought in three years he’s still
the biggest the biggest name in this division outside of JN right now right now that could change for right now in
the UFC division I’ll give you yeah oh yeah obviously Fran is but we’re talking about realistic fights right now
yeah yeah yeah I’m so conflicted on this whole Jon Jones stay thing yeah do you
is hold on now now I’m thinking about it is St Bay a bigger star than Derrick
Lewis yes I don’t is he though is he though because I don’t think he is like
popularity wise I think PE I think he’s generally looked as a better fighter and so people are used to seeing him
headlining in big fights but I don’t know that everyone’s like oh man I can’t wait to see that Stipe fight in the same
way they are for Derrick Lewis if I went if I went if I went to the grocery store right now and I said and I asked 100
people who Stipe was and then ask that those same 100 people who Derrick Lewis was I guarantee you more people know who Stipe is
I bet you the same number of people I bet you the same number of people know I don’t think so no but here’s the thing
but my best friend I will say this though if you ask them do you know the B the my balls is hot guy is it would be
like 100 out of a 100 would know who that is and or not 100 but more I think more people would know the ball oh the
balls is hot guy so that might not be a great endorsement for Derrick Lewis but I do think more people know the balls is
hot guy I have a lot of casual made fans friends who like know balls is hot guy don’t know his name at all just just
know him as that guy and a little more in the stpe but yeah I just don’t think stpe star power is where we’re putting
it but but but I will say is just a fun dude yes Lage and is
still over man like he still is over people like when St says things it isn’t
much but people still somehow care what he says even though it’s one sentence
and not all that compelling and and I think just important L you can always sell him to
someone who doesn’t know MMA by just you he has UFC champion before his name right that that is something that will always give him a littleit more cach
yeah he’s definitely seen as a a better fighter because he is but I just don’t know that that equates the star power
but I don’t know I feel like we’re getting too great yeah neither guy is like a household name I wouldn’t say one guy’s definitely been gone more viral
but um I think being a UFC champion like again it’s just Cas oh US champion this guy whatever whatever okay sure even
even the Mike heck is a legend guy in the chat gar Clem is agreed with me so I feel good about
that Garr it to Garrett Clemens he’s a casual I’m just kidding I’m just kid my
opinion I’m stuck and I ain’t gonna change my mind no I’m just joking you’re a biggest fan and you’re turning against it I know I’m joking that’s why yeah
that’s why I’m apparently a legend I am who I am I’m stubborn and it’s got to take I’ll admit when I’m wrong but I don’t feel like I’m wrong here what else
we got are Yuri and Alex Hall of Fame worthy with under 10 UFC fights each
like right right now is that the question I assume the winner it’s win the winner tomorrow Alex
100,000% Yuri I would still has some work to do really you think Yuri yeah
just being a UFC champion doesn’t make you a hollow faor he’d be a two-time UFC champion though but what does that mean
that just means he got injured during his well just kind of the defense then it’s two- time regardless because you
you win and you defend or you win and you win it’s still two time yeah that’s like Matthew around like I’m a nine-time
welterweight champion or whatever is he keeps saying um like I I love Yuri but if he wins he’ll be 4-0 in the UFC like
that’s not a Hall of Famer well no no I think yui and Alex whoever
wins tomorrow are future Hall of Famers yes that’s why I definitely agree in that one well yui probably is already in
for the Glover fight like just as a fight talking I’m talking individual yeah as an individual yeah I’ll say both
I I’ll say I’ll say I think they both make it though obviously I this is coming with like no matter what year he’s not going to retire I assume not
going to retire you never know but I assume not going to retire so I’m probably projecting a little bit like oh we add on three or four more big fights
for Yuri but even if he retired after Saturday no you know what I I’m kind of
machine now actually um I I don’t know because the company rewards you for doing stuff for them that’s what the UFC
likes the most is did you did you spill enough blood for us and uh yeah four fights probably wouldn’t be enough as
messed up as that sounds yeah no I mean that’s I don’t feel like that’s messed up like a Hall of Fame has to mean
something right and already the offc kind of doesn’t because we’ve lowered the bar a lot on on who gets in and who
doesn’t but like if you’re just going to let in every champion who ever won a belt what does it matter at that point
and we’re not I guess we’re not counting at all of Yu’s previous career before UFC when he was no I mean it’s an it’s
not an MMA Hall of Fame if it was an MMA Hall of Fame every aspect of the criteria is different right like as long
as you fight like sakuraba is in the UFC Hall of Fame not based on his UFC career even though he did fight in the UFC he
they claim at this point at this point we’re just having a weird dialogue of what actually UFC Hall of Fame is yeah
you’re right I hate talking about UFC Hall of Fame because remember they claim Pride UFC essentially acts like pride is theirs they act like they claim the
pride because they own the tapes now so they’re like oh yes oh pride is us so if you did something in Pride and the UFC then that’s all UFC that’s how they look
at stuff sorry I got sucker I got sucker in talking about Hall of Fame it’s a great a great for him if you’re four- 0
in those wins are Vulcan o deir Dominic Reyes glev toera who was pretty old at that point and then Alex like that’s a
great run I’m not taking anything away from it but that just doesn’t you’re not like a by way GL was always old he he
literally was never young like he he was born he was born as a 38y old man by the way I just want you to know that that’s
super Fair don’t take that away from don’t take that away from Yuri I don’t know
have you seen bearded Glover Tashara this week no look tremendous Santa Claus it’s
awesome we’re all praising for Yuri versus Alex but what becomes what if it
becomes a snoozefest it could turn out like osanna versus Romero do you see a
world it actually could not it like actually could not those are two counter strikers yri yes yeah we have two
counter- Strikers there’s always that risk so yeah and what listen if it then
we’ll criticize it afterwards why why would we ahead of time go like well this fight’s probably going to suck because that is we were we were crazy about
adist versus Romero we were crazy about Derrick Lewis’s versus Francis G and there was good reason you you can’t look
back on your analysis for those fights and go like oh we shouldn’t have we shouldn’t have uh biged up those fights now that now that they happened yeah of
course of course now that you know they happen you can say so no there’s no reason if it’s bad we’ll have a laugh
about it tomorrow we’ll we’ll we’ll look at ourselves like man why did we not consider but we have considered it you have to consider everything in MMA you
just don’t know what was the one a Danny gay and uh landw I remember earlier this year I was like oh that’s GNA be a freaking Banger it was fine it’s an okay
fight and guess what on paper it looked like a banger that’s that’s how this thing is so I mean you know prepare yourself if you need to to to not be
disappointed but uh on paper this has all the making of a of a light heavyweight classic so we’ll see any
fight any fight you never know what can happen so wait were we really super excited
about adisan Romero I was I was pretty excited I thought we were the
fact that was Izzy right after that was Izzy on like a crazy hot streak too he was
just like riding a heater like we were we were pretty into it I was pretty into it yeah I was just like why is this
fight happening y all probably should be right now also that whole week yoel was
just incredible he was A+ in interviews right like that was his go go interview
with with uh forget who it was that was so good the ESPN guy yeah go where is y that’s an that’s an
all-timer man let get Y in Phil Mur it was yeah
uh oh I like this kind of it’s more of a comment but Y is right there with the Highlight
for the dudes I would pay the most to watch fight all action all creative chance taking musty TV yep sure is he’s
awesome I at light heavyweight I think second
for second the most exciting uh light heavyweight in the world Yuri oh yeah I
think pound forp pound he might be the most exciting fighter in the world period just because there’s an inherent
level of danger that comes with a 220b Man compared to like 170 lb man right
him and gatei are one and one and two yeah just yeah like the Dominic
Rey’s knockout is like is one of the most brutal things in the history I
thought Dominic Reyes was not getting up I really did that was one of the moments I was like oh boy like this is one of
the this is a bad knockout like a really bad one he was like motionless on the ground it was brutal like an elbow at
that angle from that giant of a man is such Terri Reyes had taken a good beating right before that elbow too
right re Reyes is winning like Reyes had a mounted Reyes had hurt him and then like ended up getting the fight to the
ground and mounted Yuri and we’re like oh man Dominic Rees is back and then Yuri hulks up and
elbows him into another universe that was my knockout of the year that year too didn’t win it but that was my pick
do what were the other top ones that year because I’m pretty sure that was my knockout of the Year too what was that
2021 I don’t I don’t even remember we’re talking about this on heck of a morning oh no we talked about this on our show
AK on to the next one because someone had asked um like which fight I hate
that everybody loves and I picked that one only because of like how petrified I
was when Reyes hit the floor I was like oh God we might we something really bad
just happened I so that wasman that was Usman mazal y oh thatman okay yeah I
guess EI either one being winner yeah in Casey your number one that year was
Pettis horiguchi oh yeah same with me Casey I also Yuri didn’t even make your
list Yuri didn’t even make your top five you did oh my bad my bad how dare
you what’s my okay well okay I okay I had a reason Puchi Usman mazal
San Haagen Edgar uh enanu mioi 2 and then duod Taylor that knockout is so
good yeah you know why know I think I know I I gota remember the fight um I think and
I talk about this a lot imagery matters and that photo of uh Dominic Rees
getting elbowed by Yuri is such a great iconic photo I think I think that photo really is just stuck
in her head so number six was Yuri Dominic Reyes but those other but but those top
five incredible Knockouts also oh I put San Haagen Ed guy voted for that I thought I tried to pretend that never
happened oh man but sanen Edgar that’s like I feel like Mike that’s one of those Knockouts like I actually hate
because I love Frankie edger and of course hen is freaking amazing and it that was I screamed when that happened
cuz I thought Frankie Edgar died Mike that should have been my answer for what’s a fight that you that
you hate that everyone else loves every time Frankie Edgar got knocked the f out probably put them all
together I gotta say looking back on my list I feel pretty proud I was one of the only people to put Chris Barnett’s
ridiculous against Jan Volante on his list and I I a great I stand by that
that was a fun knockout for sure and the celebration I think the problem is I think I was giving I couldn’t separate
it from the celebration yeah yeah so I’m like is this really long I had to leave it off the celebration number one like by a mile so good uh we talked about
snoozefest in the main event how about the co-main could the heavyweight championship be who’ we get
now made Lewis no but we pay good money for it now I painted the picture if it’s
like mooic well again and I would not call mioi versus ganu Wan a snoozefest by the way that was like a super tense
proba maybe by the time you got to the fourth or fifth round and you’re kind of like whoa like Francis just cannot deal with the wrestling at that point you
probably were maybe rolling your eyes a little but for at least the first three rounds of the fight it was like whoa was like can St big really can he he really
going to hold this guy like be able to hold this guy down for three rounds and then you realized he could um so that is how this fight I do think again making
that comparison it could turn into asol just being as smart and safe as possible doing just enough to keep uh as paic
grounded and neutralized and held against the fence and just fighting you know grinding it out so it could be it could be boring in that regard but again
just given how dangerous pavich is for me it’s like that’ll be interesting its own way but but I also didn’t hate Almeida Lewis so think about who’s who
you’re think about who you’re listening to here yeah this guy yeah b b plus performance from Almeida yeah that’s
Casey’s number six fight of the year right there I’ll he quite smart quite smart but that
Tom is just not that guy though he’s not he’s not like J alme that guy almea wasn’t that guy yeah no jilton was
jayton we said it even in the leadup like he has a very limited thing that he does right like he gets you he has
certain he’s like a package of of takedowns and trips that will get you down and then he’s going to work for submissions he doesn’t really go for
damage Tom goes for damage D is as is as smart fighter aspan is a very smart
fighter he’s coming to this not prepared not fully prepared he’s fighting a bit
of an unknown of pavich we don’t know how good pavlovich is on his back we don’t know how truly how good with his
takedown defense is I think Aspen I think I think this could be a snoozefest in a in a snoozefest in the
sense it’s not GNA be that violent but I think this could be a very smart way for aspan to win and I think that’s
what aspan I think that’s what matters because you don’t get entertainment check you get a win bonus you get a championship belt you know so that’s why
I think this that’s why you said that betting line wasn’t uh Plus for the decision for Aspen oh oh okay the
decision Al what did you say AK was like plus over a thousand right 1400 dude
that’s a that’s a crazy smart bet at that at that line cuz if if going decision it’s an aspen decision do you
see a pavich decision th% I see a pavich decision over as decision
decision is coming in prepared for a five round fight Tom Aspen he is a smart
guy I agree with you and he is smart enough to know that his best case to win this fight is not to stretch out the
gigantic man over long over 25 minutes and probably exhaust himself with the cardio that he probably doesn’t have
right now like I Tom as’s trying to get in get out and go home everyone want to do that but that’s that might not be the
smartest way to win that’s all but this isn’t a 12we camp Tom aspal like this is
a Tom Aspen who’s just trying to get enough cardio in to like be good right now right and we have zero clue how what
pavlovich is like how much he was truly preparing for this fight zero clue pavlovich by decision plus 1600 so if
you want to get a little more ju out of there there you go either way maybe maybe maybe you Splash a couple of bucks
on both if we’re being hon if you really think it’s going to go the honestly yeah I I money fight goes to decision
probably plus 800 right now uh I’ll have to check but yeah I think you’re I think you’re probably in the right range uh my
best friend I do think it’s around plus 800 I can’t find it right now but either
way this fight is ending in seven minutes yeah one and a over under is one and a
halfus 210 that it goes under one and a half seven minutes is what
I’m you Shane you do is an excellent point about the cardio I do forget it is Aspen pavich Was preparing as the backup
Aspen probably cardio is not quite where it could be I I don’t think it’ll be a problem for him he’s a great athlete but
he right he is a heavyweight so and it’s going to be whatever if it does extend beyond two rounds I mean who knows how
much energy that’s gonna take for both guys uh but I will say remember miic was miic going into the Francis fight was
not like someone who they thought could Gran out a win in that scenario either he he was coming off like a run of
Knockouts like St was knocking out people left and right so it’s hard to imagine espanol like grinding out a
decision but again it was also with with miic the first time fought because that was a smart way to
win of course you want to get Francis out as quickly as possible but the smartest way to win was what Stipe did
it’s just like I mean just oh I surprised that first round grind him out grind him out grind him out that’s so
much easier said than done and I don’t think that trying to keep a man 280 down
for 25 minutes is is something that’s GNA that Tom’s like up for right now
now all right whoa whoa that’s possible that that does make me think twice about it the short the shorter notice does
make me think twice about it okay let let me ask you this so I assume I know where AK and Casey are you both believe
the main event will be a shorter fight than the co-main event yes yes that’s where I’m at yeah
oh yeah yeah yeah I’m looking my I’m looking at my picture right now yeah the main event is gonna be much sh I think I’m with Shaheen and I think
we’re on the same page here my my brother co-main event is going to be shorter than the main event absolutely
I’m with you I’m with you on that I think the main event’s going to be very back and forth for 12ish
minutes yeah we’ll see are you did you guys you guys both pick pavich
right I picked I picked Aspen yep okay so you’re picking a quick Victory by
Aspen you’re picking a very quick Victory by palovich submission round two Tommy
Aspen all right all right but again no freaking idea no idea I
have so many questions about both guys maybe Tom aspadol has the most Granite chin in the history of the sport we
haven’t seen him really get clocked maybe maybe pavage hits him with his best shot and aspal just does the
D bring it and they we’re like whoa all right that’s a whole different that’s
the thing about why this fight is so weird right because like obviously the heavyweight the heavyweight picture all
of it the Jon stuff makes this weird inherently but also the other aspect of side of this is just like we expected to
get this but by the time we thought we’d get this we would have more answers or questions answered for both these guys
and instead we have no questions answered for both these guys and they’re both Total Mysteries going into this so
it’s fun in a way I think we just sold like nine pay-per-views with this conversation I think we did it I think
we put them over the top this is great now the UFC will be a profitable business due to us wow oh thank goodness
changeing lives take St back up guys kids in college now I
know oh but that’s why that’s why this co-main event like I love both these fights
because Main and co-main especially the co-main just because there’s so much mystery we just don’t know we’re kind of
we’re all kind of talking out of our buts a little bit because we just don’t know anything about these guys oh oh in
terms of after seven minutes rather I guess yeah hey man it’s a year of chaos
it is the year of chaos it’s the ultimate year of chaos so like if you’re going to have chaos matchups like this
this is the year to have it right like come on my go let’s let’s get real weird guys let’s get real weird with it tomorrow pablovich by
submission oh God pavic by Split Decision wow we got um we did have two
weight misses AK right oh yeah and Roosevelt Roberts with
Roosevelt Roberts on like four days notice I saw one question Casey I’ll answer it quick from there you go Joseph
Boza just shot it up again yeah uh it takes on Tuesday 158 pounds should the
UFC have made it 160 pounds cing Robert took it on such short notice firstly uh
it’s not really the UFC’s call I’m sure they could talk to managers they want to and say but it’s not really their call
they kind of leave that to the manager so the first question you would ask is did Robert’s team propose it propose a
catch weight which I would hope they should have we don’t know if they did I would hope they did secondly rebeck’s team has to accept it rebecky but even
though someone’s coming in saving his spot on the card rebecky could have been like no I still want to have an advantage and make this guy cut as much
as he can on short notice so first there two managers that have to agree on it and then you know then maybe the UFC
comes into play so uh this is one thing where I won’t like point the finger at the UFC and go like oh how stupid of them for not making this a catch way
it’s not necessarily their call there’s there’s I’m gonna I’m gonna go stupid I’m gonna go stupid and
dangerous but to thefc like I don’t know if I blame the UFC yeah I am I am you
bring in bring in a you bring in a 45 you bring in a 45 to fight at 55 that’s what you do you don’t I’m assuming
Roosevelt Roberts made a very dangerous cut I’d be really interested what his hydration is and things like that I
think it’s just this is how we get just really extremely dangerous cuts and he clearly he didn’t make weight so the
whole point of bringing this 55 in didn’t even matter because like he didn’t even make weight he didn’t come
didn’t come close to making weight so I your issue with is with them offering with picking Roberts that like they
should Roberts okay okay not as much as I want Roosevelt Roberts in the UFC because he belongs in UFC this is a
crappy dangerous way to get back into the UFC and he didn’t make weight you
know so I I I I don’t like this yeah but like to the other point if I’m retki and
you find out Roosevelt Roberts is your opponent who had a has had a history of missing weight even on full camps this
is true why would you do 160 of course you would you get an extra you know you’re that the chance of getting an
extra 20 to 30% of his purse is high there’s are any of us gonna be surprised
at all if Roosevelt Roberts can’t make the fight tomorrow no would not surprise me in this that’s so that’s why I think
this is a is still a bad proposition a bad decision by his opponent and the
UFC but that’s one I say just sign a 45 who needs a fight or new 40 or someone
who who’s guaranteed to make make weight or come much closer so um that’s why
that’s why I do blame the UFC on this one by the way uh Garrett Clemens asking why is Roberts back in the UFC is the real question uh one Ultimate Fighter 31
never die uh Superstar secondly he probably never should have been cut he’s a UFC level fighter he’s a UFC level
fighter he was four and three in his first run with promotion he beat some good names I mean he’s a UFC level fighter they just didn’t resign him
probably because he was asking for a certain amount of money um the first time around goes back R scene wins a couple of fights does tough and now he’s
back but never should have been gone really he’s as good if not better than than I don’t even dozens of the
contender series Fighters that they have brought in since he’s been away yeah I I don’t think I don’t think he parted
waves with the I mean obviously you got to win fights and missing weight UFC doesn’t like that but I think honestly
him leaving came in a really good time because he was going through a lot personally probably mentally wasn’t
prepared to be a UFC fighter and him kind of leaving the sport and determining whether or not he wants to
continue to do this and then finding his way back into kind of built his hunger back up again
things seem to be going better he’s got a good relationship with Michael Chandler now after the tough season talked about possibly moving to Florida
I don’t know if he actually did that or not to to train with Chandler and all those guys so I think the timing of him
leaving was probably good for him and who knows maybe he goes in there and it just beats matucha bat
got dude’s got a lot of UFC experience get seven UFC fights he knows what it’s like to be in these spots he’s a huge
Underdog too retki is the biggest favorite on on the card minus 625 so and that was I think that was before he
missed weight too that that that betting line oh yeah yeah yeah and yeah and this
like there there there are sometimes when you miss weight where I think it’s an advantage I think this is a disadvantage for robbers When Miss by
missing weight like this coming to the last second you know what I’m trying to say like this is he he we are getting a
compromised version not a heavier version of him yeah in my opinion we good anything anything else
gentlemen we good I think tune in to the MMA hour a little
bit oh yeah yeah 6:30 everybody MMA hour live in New York uh if you want to get
tickets you should have got them earlier because they gone so you’re gonna have to watch them what a tease what a tease
damn you can’t even wear a fake mustache get in you you just ain’t getting it City wi is off liit to you if you do not
have a ticket so uh I Me by all means go down there with a fake mustache though we can’t stop you yeah take pictures #
fake mustache uh and we’ll talk about it Casey and I’ll will be back tomorrow uh around 5:15 Eastern Time to get you
ready we be the people’s pre- fight show your questions the entire time we got the watch party 9:45 p.m. Eastern it’s
going to be a good time Jose’s in New York you’ll get all the interviews all the footage all the good stuff from the
winners The Taste makers from UFC 295 press conference postf fight show AK and
I going live on Sunday for on to the next one it’s going to be a busy busy weekend my friends thank you all for joining us and you have tonight too can
watch game bre bear knuckle on YouTube nson Alan Bel yeah got Randy Costa and
Jason night and bare knuckle MMA that’s fraking insane so for AK Casey for Shaheen I am Mike kek thank you for
watching we’ll see you tomorrow everybody love you
guys Happy Birthday AK hey happy birthday okay it was your
birthday wasn’t it don’t worry about it
