Does this look broken to you?!

Title fights, freak endings, and a broadcast pivot—this one had everything. We open with the Paramount deal and why it matters: smarter promotion, earlier main-card start times, and a bigger on-ramp for new fans. Then the octagon delivers. Petr Yan puts on a clinic against Merab Dvalishvili, denying 27 of 29 shots, ripping the body, and flipping bantamweight from a pace problem to a game-planning puzzle. We walk through what he did, why it worked, and how it reshapes contenders and the immediate rematch debate.

Flyweight gets even wilder. Tatsuro Taira becomes the first to finish Brandon Moreno, then a freak injury ends Alexandre Pantoja’s reign in 26 seconds and hands Joshua Van the belt making him the second youngest champ in UFC history. We talk classification, fairness, and what should be next—Van vs Taira is the cleanest pairing with the highest ceiling while Pantoja heals. Along the way, we spotlight some emphatic finishes, Macy Barber’s smart pressure, Chris Duncan’s comeback grit, and Jan Blachowicz’s surreal run of draws that keeps him stuck between elite and uncertain.

We close by looking ahead. The first Paramount card stacks styles and stories: Justin Gaethje vs Paddy Pimblett, Amanda Nunes returning to meet Kayla Harrison, Sean O’Malley chasing a statement to set up Yan, and heavyweight chaos with Waldo Cortez Acosta vs Derrick Lewis. January teases more with Volkanovski vs Lopez 2 and violent chess at lightweight. The throughline is simple: better distribution plus clearer stakes equal a bigger, sharper UFC. If you love technical adjustments, real consequences, and cards that move divisions, you’ll feel right at home here.

Enjoyed the breakdown? Follow the show, share this episode with a fight friend, and drop your pick: run back Yan–Merab now or book Van–Taira first?

Chapters

• 0:16 Setting The Stage And Paramount Deal
• 1:30 UFC Marketing Push And Big-League Moment
• 2:10 November 22 Fight Night Highlights
• 6:06 Welterweight Stakes: Garry Vs Muhammad
• 7:49 Sarukyan’s Statement And Respect Issue
• 9:23 UFC 323 Early Prelims Go Nuclear
• 13:16 Prelims Momentum And McKinney–Duncan Chaos
• 16:29 Blachowicz’s Run Of Draws And Bad Luck
• 20:22 Talbott Rises As Cejudo Bows Out
• 24:08 Tyra’s Surge And Moreno’s First Finish
• 25:16 Pantoja’s Freak Injury And Van’s Crown
• 30:23 Yan Dethrones Merab With Perfect Plan
• 36:04 Bantamweight Reboot And Trilogy Talk
• 41:56 End Of ESPN Era And Fan Impact
• 45:47 December Fight Night Preview
• 49:29 First Paramount Card: Titles And Fireworks
• 56:08 January Matchups And Style Clashes
• 1:00:06 New Start Times And Why It Matters
• 1:01:45 Closing Thoughts And Holiday Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

Welcome everyone to another episode of Peak Points. We really have a historic episode for you guys today, especially with all the history that was made in this card. UFC 323, Marab Di Valashvili versus Piotr Yan. We're gonna talk about some past and upcoming fight nights, and also what's coming up down the pike in the next year with that Paramount, the end of an era. And the beginning of a new one. Of a new one. It's already looking good. I mean, just seeing the glimpses from that Paramount deal already being fruitful.

SPEAKER_01: 0:55

I mean Paramount seems to be taking it serious.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Seems to be taking it serious. Uh they're all they've they've been at every fight from what I understand. The bigwigs have been excited. Dana White seems excited for I mean, it's been a while since I've seen them excited, to be honest. Like this excited about a deal, besides the Zoofa boxing, obviously. And what's exciting to me is the money getting pumped into the UFC as far as advertising goes, as far as commercials. I've seen better commercials. They recently did that announcement for the new year fights during the Thanksgiving game of the uh Chiefs versus the Cowboys. And uh that was that was amazing seeing it at halftime, seeing Dana White. You know, this is like a big time because you got 50 million people watching this football, this football game alone on Thanksgiving, traditional game, and uh this one was a great game by the way, too. Uh but uh seeing that is very exciting to me. And uh it's kind of like what's to come for the next year.

SPEAKER_01: 2:05

Seems like they're stepping up into the big leagues.

SPEAKER_00: 2:08

It definitely does, amazing deal. And uh Harley, let's get into the octagon, and I'll start off with that UFC fight night on November 22nd. Um amazing card with amazing consequences for what's to come. Mm-hmm. Uh I'll just gloss over some of the main ones that I want to talk about. Uh I watched the entire card, and uh one one of the ones that I was really looking forward to was that uh uh Alexandre Toporea versus um uh Almakon. And I wanted to see this Toporia because uh a lot of people have some comparisons to uh Ilya Toporia. You know, they see they see glimpses of him. I did see some glimpses of him in this uh him getting the unanimous win. Some of his boxing was crisp, his takedowns were very crisp. And I think that uh with a little bit more time, you'll see what's to come for him in the Bantamweight division. Someone to look out for then? Yeah, someone to look out for, not just by name, I guess you could say. Uh Alma Bayev versus Perez. Uh Alma Bayev looked amazing in this one. He looked really great, and I think that uh he's dangerous in that flyweight. Getting that win uh uh by submission.

SPEAKER_01: 3:33

In round three, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:37

Uh Baghdang versus Luke Riley. Luke Riley getting that second round uh knockout nasty, and he looks good as well, earning him the performance of the night on that one. Uh another performance of the night was very interesting to me. I looked at this one because seeing Horigucchi back in the UFC after I don't know like how long he took a long hiatus from the UFC. Oh yeah. Uh, and he looked like a contender even back then, and I remember him, and he looked like a contender in this one as well, earning him the performance of the night win against uh Ulembekov. He looked amazing against Ulambekoff fast, he looked determined and he looked ready for uh more higher profile fights in the flyweight division with an amazing promo. Um he already called out Pantoja on that one, which uh apparently was his teammate or is his teammate. Uh but he said he doesn't care that they're teammates, he's just uh back and determined to fight.

SPEAKER_01: 4:39

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00: 4:40

And then we had one that uh was very stunning to me was that Waldo Cortez Acosta, which we'll talk more about him a little later. Right, right. Uh versus Shamil Gazeve, earning him a nasty knockout against against Gazeev, and I was actually going for Gazeev on this one, so it was very shocking to me. That was a fast one, too. It was fast, man.

SPEAKER_01: 5:02

Minute 22 in round one.

SPEAKER_00: 5:04

Yeah, so I mean c Acosta's on a knockout streak right now. I mean, his last one was kind of nasty too, but this one was very impressive, earning him performance of the night. And then we had Orl by versus Jack Hermanson uh really pulling out that Neanderthal power because he banked Jack Hermanson, knocking him out in a very impressive fashion.

SPEAKER_01: 5:30

Again, not quite as fast, but still fast at 246 in the first round. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 5:37

I mean, we'd be getting some great fight nights. I I just have to throw that out there. Uh Vulcan Ozdemir versus Alonzo Menifield, another quick knockout, a minute and twenty-seven on that one. Oldemir looking good. He's looking good right now. And then we had a fight for the most hated belt. Bilal Mohammed versus Ian Machado Gary. Ramic ramifications for the welterweight division. I know that these guys are polarizing to say the least. Defending takedowns and implementing his will in that fight, earning him the unanimous decision, and I think he did earn that unanimous decision. And Bilal didn't really seem to have many answers in that one. Like you were saying off-air, Bilal has been having a tough time of it. And uh obviously uh Ian Machado Gary getting his name back out there for championship contention.

SPEAKER_01: 6:50

I mean I ha I have to say it, and again, kind of, I basically touched on this early uh in the year which is that Muhammad he if he can't lay and prey on you, he doesn't really have that much going for him in a fight.

SPEAKER_00: 7:08

Yeah, this isn't making a machine.

SPEAKER_01: 7:10

If you can keep him on the feet and keep him from putting you on the ground, he doesn't really have a lot going for him.

SPEAKER_00: 7:21

Uh in my opinion. However, he'd like to differ. I wouldn't fight him either, but uh saying that he has hands like Canelo Alvarez, the legendary boxer, uh and obviously that was tested and otherwise, clearly. But uh I I can't say enough about Ian Machado Gary and his performance, putting a great one and and keeping his name on there, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 7:44

Yeah, I mean you did you did a really good job, clearly.

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

And uh after that was that lightweight bout that I was very excited about, supposed contender fight, and I'll explain my supposed uh after that uh Armin Sarukian uh getting performance of the night against Dan Hooker needed to get that finish, and he did delivered an amazing finish. I I I want to talk about the finish, but I also want to talk about the reversals that he did. Armin Sarukian looked great in that one, man. However, I don't think he's getting his flowers, I don't think that he's getting the props from the UFC, and I think he's being a little disrespected.

SPEAKER_01: 8:27

There's a number of fighters that have been getting disrespected over the last nine months.

SPEAKER_00: 8:32

Yeah, I I I will admit it's evident. Um I mean, there's a couple things he did get his chance to fight in Los Angeles against Islam Makachev. Remember, he pulled out uh, you know, very last minute due to injury. And uh, you know, earning the ire of Dana White and you know, really not happy. He hates that stuff, and uh, you know, it's just crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 9:01

I mean, no one wants to pull out of a fight, right?

SPEAKER_00: 9:04

But I don't know, we've been seeing number one next to Armin's name for a long time now, and uh it's getting kind of strange. And uh that that was an amazing card. That was an amazing fight night, and I have nothing but good things to say about that card and the outcomes. Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff this year. Just if you think about the transition of all the belts this year alone, yeah, it's insane.

SPEAKER_01: 9:36

Abdication of belts and and just a change of hands on belts. It's been pretty intense.

SPEAKER_00: 9:43

It's intense this year. Going into the new year is just crazy vibes going on. Speaking of crazy vibes and belts, that Murab versus uh Piotr Jan card.

SPEAKER_01: 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:00

And uh that that card from early prelims to main card was absolutely amazing. Uh I watched every single fight and every single one was exciting to me. It was insane. And uh I'll I'll just start off with those early prelims, you know, kicking off the early prelims.

SPEAKER_01: 10:18

Those early prelims were bangers. They were better than a lot of cards of being like main cards.

SPEAKER_00: 10:25

It's like they told them, like, this is the last pay-per-view of the year, uh, let's go out with a bang. And every fight pretty much went out with a bang. Um Mohammed Naimov versus Mario Santos kicking off the main the early card with a KO in round three twenty-one seconds. Santo's looking great in that one, man. Yeah. Fighting nerds.

SPEAKER_01: 10:46

He he did look really good.

SPEAKER_00: 10:48

Adding another KO, which seems to be their favorite.

SPEAKER_01: 10:51

Especially after Naimov was being so cocky and like refusing the glove tap and everything. Right. It was Personally, I always feel more I shouldn't say vindicated, but uh I appreciate a fight where someone who acts like that gets knocked out.

SPEAKER_00: 11:09

And in this case, that is the truth. Uh great fight at featherweight. Uh Abdul Malik after that versus Antonio Trocoli. Another finish, round one, submission, very impressive, dude. And then we had Iwo Baroneski, aka the thing, versus Ibo Aslan, aka the Hulk. And I only say that because these guys were fighting like the thing and the Hulk in the comics, man.

SPEAKER_01: 11:36

They were beating the stuffing out of each other for a minute.

SPEAKER_00: 11:41

Earning them performance of the night.

SPEAKER_01: 11:43

You know, you don't usually see that kind of volume and uh chaos, if you will, in a light heavyweight bout. It's it was like middleweight, not middleweight, uh flyweight almost. Or at least Bantam.

SPEAKER_00: 11:59

Yeah, they were going crazy. Uh Ewo earning that knockout versus Ibo.

SPEAKER_01: 12:04

He earned it for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 12:05

And he earned it for sure. Both guys getting rocked, both guys getting knocked, and at the end of the day, one of them was gonna stay down.

SPEAKER_01: 12:14

And even though he did lose, I did not lose any respect at all for Aslan. No, I did not. He he looks like he's gonna be a serious contender for anyone fighting him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:25

Uh and uh I mean, fast fight, a minute in 29, nasty K.

SPEAKER_01: 12:30

Performance of the night is vindicated.

SPEAKER_00: 12:33

Yeah, performance of the night in the early prelims is wild. Just goes to show you, and then after that, these early prelims were mind-blowing to me. Fast. Edson Barbosa versus the returning Jalen Turner from his uh I want to say premature retirement because he obviously proved that he wasn't ready to retire and still had a lot to give. And Edson Barbosa got body bagged in this one. He did. He got body bagged in this one, and I'm an Edson Barbosa fan, long time fan. Uh but Jalen Turner earning this one in beautiful fashion uh brought the tears at the end, I'm sure, because he thought it was over for him, and obviously proving he still has it.

SPEAKER_01: 13:19

Oh, I didn't realize his nickname was the tarantula.

SPEAKER_00: 13:22

Yeah, the tarantula. After that, we had that Marvin Vittori, the crimson chin, as people like to call him, the unchinnable against Bruno Ferrero.

SPEAKER_01: 13:36

The Hulk, the guy who actually goes by the Hulk.

SPEAKER_00: 13:39

Yeah, the guy who actually goes by the Hulk. Uh but uh Marvin Vittori did not look too impressive in this one, earning his fourth loss in a row.

SPEAKER_01: 13:48

Yeah, it was Man. It nothing looked truly wrong that he was doing. It just seemed like he needs more confidence slash aggression. Like if I don't know. Or more power, I'm not sure. I don't know. Develop more more because he has the accuracy from what I was seeing. I don't know. But he just wasn't putting it to good use from what I was seeing.

SPEAKER_00: 14:15

I mean, as I was saying, this makes four losses in a row. Something needs to change.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

Maybe he needs to go talk to the fighting nerds for a month or two.

SPEAKER_00: 14:25

I don't know. Um you know, you can't keep de pet defending with your face, even though that's a very good defense for him. Uh Brunifer earning that unanimous decision, and I and I agree with that one. You know, um the underdog wins in that one, so very impressive to me. And then we go on to just the prelim card, which was very impressive as well, and it continues with uh Sadikoff versus Ferez Zeeam, and uh Ferez Zim putting the expected performance because I've seen him just dominate people and win in incredible fashion, and this was no different. Round two KO at 459, uh finish it. It was impressive. Very impressive performance. Speaking of impressive performance, I really wanna shine a light on Macy Barber putting a great game plan against Corinne Selva, who really didn't have many answers against Barber in this one.

SPEAKER_01: 15:25

Yeah. Barber put in the work and it paid off. She did she was a good scrapper. She really put in she really put in the work and effort. She was hungry for it.

SPEAKER_00: 15:38

Very impressive. Uh, and a lot of people looking at her as a contender again, which is um very exciting. Speaking of exciting guys, another great fight in the lightweight division, Terrence McKinney versus Chris never done Duncan, and dude, this guy, this Chris Duncan guy, I've seen him in five fights where it's insane, dude. It's like he gets dropped, he dropped somebody, he gets dropped, he gets you know, it's just his determination is insane. Uh and honestly, in this one, I really thought he was done for. Terrence McKinney was piecing him up nasty.

SPEAKER_01: 16:19

And then Chris lived up to his nickname.

SPEAKER_00: 16:22

And Chris, I mean obviously he became a big problem with a nasty elbow dropping Terrence McKinney, and Terrence McKinney not recovering. It seemed like he was trying to get up, couldn't, trying to get up, couldn't. And obviously Chris Duncan finishing him by submission in round one. It's just these prelims were amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 16:44

Uh Terrence McKinney He has the aggression down pat. Uh he needs a little more accuracy for sure. A little more controlled chaos, not just wildly swinging. But uh Chris I mean if if Chris hadn't been so tough, that would have worked. Any other person would have been done for, I think. Terrence's uh game plan would have worked.

SPEAKER_00: 17:12

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 17:13

And so hopefully hopefully McKinney doesn't take this uh too badly and learns from his mistakes, and we see more of him. Uh did not I don't really uh I don't really see him losing much stock in this loss, personally.

SPEAKER_00: 17:31

Yeah, yeah, right. Me either.

SPEAKER_01: 17:33

Not that he gained any stock in my opinion, but I don't think he really lost any.

SPEAKER_00: 17:38

He's exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 17:40

I I I hope he learn takes this as a learning opportunity and figures out how to flesh out his game plan a little better. And and and then we will see some very even more exciting fights from him.

SPEAKER_00: 17:53

I think we'll see Terrence McKinney again, and I hope we see Chris Duncan again. Oh, nothing but bangers from him. Uh and uh something that was very shocking in this one, and actually I agreed with the odds in this next fight, was the Grant Dawson versus Manuel Torres. And uh look at that, minus two oh five plus one seventy Manuel Torres, and the underdog wins it in amazing fashion with a nasty knockout, uh a punch through the guard right to Grant Dawson's chin, yeah, just binking him. Another round one finish in the prelims, guys. It's it was crazy. And then uh speaking of crazy, this is uh I just want to talk real quick about Jan Blahovitz that poor man and and I don't know if it's the luck that he has, bad luck, uh, but he just cannot seem to get a break uh earning a draw against Bogdan Guskov, and it just The judges hate him. It just it's just crazy. You know, uh it's crazy to see the trajectory of how it's going for Jan Blahovitz. I mean, just just look at this. He won against Rokage in 2022, after that, earning a draw against previous champion, Magamet Ankalayev. A draw, dude. It was it was a it was a dirty draw. I think he won that one. Yep. Another one that I think he got robbed in was the blue uh Blahovitz vs. Bededa, and that's coming from me. Uh as a Bededa fan, I think Jan Blahovitz definitely won that one. And then losing by decision to Olberg, uh, and then another draw. It's just crazy the trajectory that he's in right now.

SPEAKER_01: 19:47

Yeah, given that he's already figured out how to do some finishes and or uh something knockouts because that's the only way he's gonna get a win.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

I think even if he knocks somebody out, they're still gonna either. Give it to decision or or give him a draw. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_01: 20:04

The look of draws is pretty pretty crazy. Draws are pretty uncommon, and for him to have that many is kind of sad.

SPEAKER_00: 20:19

Uh nevertheless, this was a great fight at lightweight, at light uh heavyweight, I'm sorry. Bogdan Guskov putting it on Jam Blahovitz early with his speed, you know, using that as an advantage. And I I I appreciated a lot of striking, a lot of uh uh technique in this one, and uh both guys getting rocked, both guys getting knocked in this one. Yeah. Very exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 20:44

Yeah, despite it being a draw, it was it was an engaging fight. Yeah, absolutely. At no point was somebody really just being overwhelming or underwhelming. It was it was solid performance from both of them.

SPEAKER_00: 20:56

Solid from both of them. Uh and we had a bantamweight fight after that. The retiring triple C Henry Sehuto versus Peyton Talbot, and Peyton Talbot putting an amazing performance. He sure did. Amazing performance against Olympic gold medalist Henry Sehuto, taking him down with a leg sweep and sticking his tongue out like I did it. I took down Henry Sehudo. Yeah, and from what I understand, I think he he may have even told him like I learned that from you. Great to see from Peyton Talbot.

SPEAKER_01: 21:35

Good timing for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 21:37

However, I will not uh not the most exciting performance by Henry Sehudo. However, it really showed his determination, grit, and toughness, eating some nasty shots, eating a knee that would have knocked down knocked out any mortal man.

SPEAKER_01: 21:55

But uh he he the damage he took and the fact that it went to decision despite is it shows that he was one tough customer.

SPEAKER_00: 22:05

Yeah, tough and uh determined not to get knocked out, not to get finished, because that's what it looked like. It looked like every time he looked like damn, he was getting rocked, he's getting beaned, it looked like he was like, I'm not going out this way. Just just by the looks of how he looked, taking those shots. And uh Henry Sehudo, a dog, a warrior, a champ, a double champ, uh two two division champ, and Olympic gold medalist, hit made history in the UFC. I want to take the time to talk about Henry Sehuto and the fights I've seen, great performances, great knockouts, retiring early, retiring on top. I remember that clearly, and thinking, what are you doing retiring right now as champion? Yeah, right now as champions the time to defend and get that money.

SPEAKER_01: 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:03

Nevertheless, comes back, and I was excited for his comeback. And unfortunately, four fight losing streak coming back from that on top retirement.

SPEAKER_01: 23:17

Yeah, he couldn't quite find his legs back again.

SPEAKER_00: 23:20

Back again. I I and that's all I had to say about Henry Sehudo, still a dog, earning himself uh fifty G's, I think. He had a conversation with Dana on the side and they were talking, and he was like, I tried and this and that.

SPEAKER_01: 23:36

Yeah, I thought uh yeah, I saw uh a caption talking about that, and I think I think it was basically saying that Dana said to hell with uh a bonus, I'll just give you fifty.

SPEAKER_00: 23:48

Yeah, I think he gave him a win and show money too. Um so great on Henry Sehudo going out on his shield, uh as as they say. Yeah, you know. Uh and Peyton Talbot. I just want to say he looked absolutely amazing in this fight. His takedown defense, his striking on point, and taking him down.

SPEAKER_01: 24:14

And it was nice to take a break from all the quick knockouts and submissions.

SPEAKER_00: 24:20

Yeah, absolutely. And uh but I mean uh regardless of knockouts and all that, this was just a great all-round performance in mixed martial arts by Peyton Talbot. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 24:31

Very, very I'm definitely looking forward to seeing him progress through the rankings.

SPEAKER_00: 24:36

And speaking of progress, I feel like he progressed in his martial arts. Yeah. You know, because it seemed like wrestling was his kryptonite. His only L's that uh I should say L that he's taken was from wrestling and getting taken down and getting wor uh controlled. In this case, that that it seemed like he really worked on that and has progressed uh exponentially. So I'm very excited to see him. And uh then um we had a flyaway bout Brandon Moreno versus uh Tatsuro Tyra, but um we'll we'll go ahead and skip over that one. No Tatsuro Tyra becoming the first to finish Brandon Moreno, even though I didn't like the finish and I didn't like the stoppage, yeah. However, uh kudos to uh Tatsuro Tyra, and uh it seems like he's a contender for that belt. I hear them talking about him versus Joshua Van already. Uh yeah, it's just crazy. I mean he's he's had some crazy performances, though. I've every Tatsuro Tyra fight I've seen has been impressive. This one included the first round was kind of weird. I mean, uh Brandon Moreno had him in some sort of body triangle for like the whole round. It was kind of strange. And uh, you know, really putting his striking, you know, at the forefront and uh all around doing an impressive performance, I do think earning him that number one contender spot. And uh then we had something very, very shocking, making it only the third time in UFC history that we've seen a freak accident like this uh in a championship fight versus flyweight, Alexandre Pantoja, and Joshua Van. Joshua Van only needing one strike and twenty-six seconds to technically knock out Alexandre Pantoja. Oh shit, and um uh Alexandre Pantoja's arm seemingly s snapping at the elbow or something like that, or dislocating. And uh it was just very shocking watching it live. And uh I was actually watching this at Buffalo Wild Wings and and uh people were like, damn, you know, like right, yeah. It was shocking, very shocking. And I wish nothing but the best and speedy recovery for Pantoja, one of my favorite fighters of all time in the UFC, and seeing him lose his title reign, losing his streak, and like this is just insane.

SPEAKER_01: 27:35

Like I was saying earlier, that a number of people have been done dirty by the UFC, this is one of them, because that that doesn't make sense to me. That should have been like a no-contest situation, personally, I think. The fact that he he got that got labeled as a TKO is absolutely insane. Or asinine. Yes. Or both. It just doesn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_00: 28:04

Insane. However, Joshua Van, uh I know that he's receiving a lot of flack right now for how he celebrated that win. How he uh jumped up on the cage and was, you know, showing super excitement and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 28:23

Yeah, that one it w it's odd, in my opinion. Like he didn't directly cause that injury. He didn't really do anything, frankly.

SPEAKER_00: 28:34

One strike.

SPEAKER_01: 28:35

I mean to to be acting like that, I understand your adrenaline is pouring through you. And yes, he's young. He's very young. And but still it it I understand it, but I don't appreciate it. Let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_00: 28:57

And I do understand the adrenaline dump, the excitement of being in such a long camp preparing for this and and all that, and I see the other side too, which is like that may have been a little disrespectful. Um, however, Joshua Van does deserve his flowers becoming the second youngest UFC champion in UFC history. A couple months behind John Jones, your favorite, who is the youngest uh to ever earn the UFC championship. And uh cementing his name in in the UFC history books, you know, regardless of how this went down, you know, and ultimately he is the champion, undisputed champion. Uh however, he didn't take any damage, so I'm hoping that they maybe, you know, get a fight going fast, maybe against Taturo Tyra, which is some uh rumors that I'm hearing that they're maybe trying to work that out, and who knows where. But uh maybe that's something that they could they they should look into because I don't think Pantoja's coming back soon.

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

It's gonna take a while for his elbow to heal well enough to actually fight again.

SPEAKER_00: 30:12

Pantoja releasing a video afterwards saying, um, you know, this is a crazy loss and stuff like that. But uh giving his flowers to Van.

SPEAKER_01: 30:23

Yeah, he was he specif he basically specifically said that it's not about him right now, it's about Joshua Van, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:29

Uh uh very humble.

SPEAKER_01: 30:31

It was his destiny, I think is how he put it.

SPEAKER_00: 30:33

Yeah, and and very gr very great gracious of him in defeat, uh, even though this is kind of seems like a weird defeat, right? But uh saying that he'll be back promptly to get his belt back, and uh I'm hoping he does make a speedy recovery and comes back to try to get his belt back.

SPEAKER_01: 30:51

Oh, for sure, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 30:53

Um I do think Tachiro Tayora is deserving of a contender fight or just a a chance at the belt right now. You know, given that uh he he did beat Brandon Moreno and has become the first to finish Brandon Moreno, so that that alone uh gives him some some you know some cred, I think. And I think him versus Joshua Van is a very exciting fight. Very exciting fight.

SPEAKER_01: 31:19

It could be, yeah. I would like to see Asakura against him, personally.

SPEAKER_00: 31:24

If uh Asakura can get a win. If Kay Asakura can get a win, yeah, but right now he can't seem to buy a win. Uh so unfortunately, um nasty accident, unforeseen. Uh hope to not see anything like that again, at least for the foreseeable future.

SPEAKER_01: 31:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:47

Um, however, I'm very excited for the return of uh the cannibal Alexandria Pantoja. And uh hopefully he comes back better than ever.

SPEAKER_01: 31:57

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 32:01

And uh speaking of shocking, another fight that was absolutely shocking was that Mirab D. Voleshvili defending his belt for the fur fourth time in a calendar year against Piotr Jan, previous champion.

SPEAKER_01: 32:16

Yeah. That was that was surprisingly really good and also an upset.

SPEAKER_00: 32:28

Absolutely. Minus 485 Marab, plus 370 Piotr Jan, the under really won on this one, and uh Pyrrh looked amazing doing it, nullified Marab's takedowns, and providing his own takedowns. I mean, just look at the statistics. You got uh Marab 2 for 29, 29 takedown attempts, and uh that's wild for Marab. And it was crazy to see the technique of Piotr. Um, like I like I've said, off air and on air, Piotor is one of my favorite fighters in the UFC. Uh the one of the most complete, well-rounded fighters.

SPEAKER_01: 33:14

Yeah, he's very well-rounded.

SPEAKER_00: 33:15

And uh previous champion, and uh I want to take the time to talk about Piotr and the trajectory that he's had in his career. I've been watching Piotr since uh 2019, I believe he debuted in 2018, but I knew that he had greatness given how complete package he was and how crisp his striking always was. And uh, you know, I watched the Jan vs. Uriah Faber, which is if if you're an Uriah Faber fan, don't watch that one because he got knocked the F out in incredible fashion. Jan vs. uh I mean versus Aldo, another impressive victory for Jan. And then this is where everything changed and his whole life and trajectory of championship changed was in 2021, going on five years ago. Jan versus Aljamin Sterling, uh the first one, where Jan made an incredible mistake kneeing Sterling in the head when he was down, earning him a disqualification, losing the belt in another shocking fashion.

SPEAKER_02: 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 34:39

And since then I've I've watched, like I said, I've watched all of Jan's fights, uh, g you know getting a nasty victory on San Hagen, and then ultimately losing to Algernon Sterling in their their rematch. And then Jan versus O'Malley. Another split decision. This one was crazy because I really thought Jan won in that one. And uh I feel like they gave O'Malley a layup in that one.

SPEAKER_02: 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:12

After that, he got 50-45 by Marab. Uh and he looked not good in that one. I remember like, dude, like, throw some strikes. I mean, he was trying to take, you know, do defense against the takedown, but uh he got outworked by Marab in that one by impressive fashion. And then uh Jan versus uh Yadong, where he won an uh unanimous decision, another impressive fight. Yeah. Uh Jan vs. Fijuero, I stayed up I actually woke up at four in the morning to watch this one. I think it was in China.

SPEAKER_01: 35:47

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00: 35:48

And uh earning an impressive win, Jan vs. McGee, another impressive win. And finally, after after years of clawing his way back, putting a master class against the machine Marab Divashvili, who an episode ago we thought was completely unbeatable. Pretty much, yeah. And not only did we think, but the odds makers thought, obviously.

SPEAKER_01: 36:20

And and man, it was a beautiful fight.

SPEAKER_00: 36:22

Beautiful fight by Piotr Jan.

SPEAKER_01: 36:25

I mean if you're if you were strictly a Mirab fan, then it was a very disappointing fight. But objectively, without uh putting on rose-colored glasses, it was a really good fight. Jan did amazing. Amazing. For with with the knowledge that we have of previous fights between them between these two themselves, and then also just the record that Marab has built.

SPEAKER_00: 36:57

The history he's made.

SPEAKER_01: 36:59

Then the history he's made to see Jan pull this and to I I g you can't even say he like he he it's not like he dog walked him, it's not like he just completely m uh outshone him or anything like that, but he he put in the work and he fought the exact kind of fight needed to win against Marab.

SPEAKER_00: 37:25

Perfect game plan and you know implementing the perfect game plan against Marab. The striking was crisp, the takedown defense was obviously impeccable. The body shots that he was hitting Marab with were devastating. Oh clear oh yeah. Devastating making Marab like audio audibly wince at the pain.

SPEAKER_01: 37:56

Yeah, he was yelling out.

SPEAKER_00: 37:57

He was yelling out. It was crazy. And also impressive in its own taking down Marab, which we haven't seen in uh how long?

SPEAKER_01: 38:09

It's been a good long while. I I actually since I started really watching the UFC, I don't think I've seen it.

SPEAKER_00: 38:16

He well, he's just been on a crazy streak. Yeah. But uh Piotr looked absolutely phenomenal on this one. I cannot say enough, cannot say enough, and uh he's just always been great, even from when I started watching him in 2019, always been amazing, always been complete. A lot of people on social media calling him the Avatar Master of the Four Elements, because dude, how well rounded he is. He's he's got it all complete package. Uh I love this in particular, not just as a Piotr Yan fan, but even if you're a Mirab fan, you even if you are a Mirab fan, um I have to assume you're a fan of fighting or the byproduct of fighting, which is the person. However, but if you are a fan of fighting, then you have to think that Piotr Yan's performance is one of the greatest and that's ever been fought in the UFC and in that division alone. So v this opens up a lot of doors for the division, I have to say. You know, this kind of clears a shakes it up a little bit that bottleneck that we had. However, it is seeming like they're gonna give an immediate rematch to Marab.

SPEAKER_01: 39:40

Really?

SPEAKER_00: 39:41

Uh it's kind of you know, gearing towards that, and I do think Marab does deserve a trilogy fight, given what he's done, like you were saying, given the history he's made and given the run that he's had as champion, because four fights in a calendar year defending your

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

And to be fair, who the hell is gonna be an actual challenge to Mirab other than Jan?

SPEAKER_00: 40:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 40:07

He's already beaten pretty much everyone else in the division.

SPEAKER_00: 40:12

And um you know, this like a saying shakes it up a little bit. Even if they do do that trilogy fight, we still got uh Sean O'Mah uh we got uh O'Malley, Sugarshan O'Malley uh versus uh Son Ye Dong, which should be a banger coming up. Um and we got a couple other people in the Banton weight that are looking good right now. So I think yeah, we he does deserve his trilogy fight. I do want to see a healthy recovered Mrob versus a healthy, recovered Piotr Yan. I want to see that uh in their full camp because this was a short notice fight basically, because Murab just fought. And um maybe it got the best of him. It could have, yeah. You know, maybe that was a factor, who knows? And uh I hear that he does a lot of sparring in his camps. Maybe all that sparring didn't help either.

SPEAKER_01: 41:15

I mean it certainly could be that case. I c honestly have to say that I'm not seeing that. The performance Marab was giving was typical Marab. I didn't see him being slow, I didn't see him making mistakes. It was just that his normal game plan was being perfectly countered.

SPEAKER_00: 41:41

It was nullified.

SPEAKER_01: 41:43

Pyotrian was doing exactly what he needed to do to nullify his typical game plan. Is it possible that given the relatively short uh lead up to this fight that Marab just assumed he could reuse his normal game plan and didn't put much effort into it or didn't have time to put effort into it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 42:13

Underestimated him maybe, who knows?

SPEAKER_01: 42:14

It it's entirely possible. But I don't think it's because he recently fought that he lost personally. Yeah. Because even Peak Marab rested several months doing that game plan isn't going to beat Peter Jan, Peter Jan doing his game plan, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00: 42:35

And I think the third one has the potential to be another amazing fight. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 42:38

If that happens to see Marab come back with a slightly different game plan, yeah, would be awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 42:44

And I know that Piotr is saying that uh maybe Marab doesn't get the immediate rematch, maybe he should fight Umar again. Um so Piotr is um being very interesting right now, and um uh it's it's great to see him as champion again. It's been a long time for me seeing that as a Piotr fan, and I think well deserved this time because this is the best that we've seen Pyotr uh and honestly the most complete that we've seen him, so it's very impressive. Yes. The cont the the champion that I always thought he was gonna be. You know, prior to that whole to see him live up to your expectations very vindicated. Yeah, it's it's it's and it's just great to see for that division the shake up was I think needed.

SPEAKER_01: 43:33

Yeah, and definitely needed for the division.

SPEAKER_00: 43:36

And uh this just adds very interesting ramifications for the division, very interesting fights coming up in the next year, end of the ESPN era. Yeah. And this was a great bow on the Paramount deal coming up because those guys, those Paramount guys, I bet they watched this card and they were just over the moon. Yeah. I mean, I know that they seem excited already, but damn, dude, what a way to end the the year with the Paramount.

SPEAKER_01: 44:20

Of the ESPN era leading into the Paramount and it being so awesome and generating interest and um uh hype, if you will, to have that lead into that first fight card on Paramount, which also is looking to be just as exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 44:47

Beautiful fight card.

SPEAKER_01: 44:49

They've gotta be so excited.

SPEAKER_00: 44:51

Yeah, they they definitely gotta be super excited. I'm excited. Um not only excited for the UFC, I'm excited for what that means for the fans, and I'm excited for what that means for new fans that were just made going into the Paramount Deal, and the new fans that will be earned in the Paramount deal making UFC more accessible to your casual, you're more casual. Um it's just very exciting, very exciting times in the UFC, and it seems like uh it's gonna get only bigger from here. Um, or at least that's what the trajectory is looking like, and the money that's being put into it by Paramount.

SPEAKER_01: 45:29

Yeah, and s and if the dividends uh come in from like the ad campaign that Paramount's putting out and all that, then it's on track to being incredibly popular.

SPEAKER_00: 45:44

Yeah, absolutely. Uh we'll see what the year holds. However, we do have one more fight night in December. That's gonna be December 13. Uh Roy Val versus Cop. And uh that should be very exciting. I like that fight. Very exciting fight. Uh, I think that's another contender fight for that flyaway, too. Uh Brandon Roy Val coming off his loss against Joshua Van. Uh uh very impressive fight, though. Watch that one, guys. Very impressive fight, Roy Val versus Joshua Van. And he's gonna be facing Manel Cop, a very exciting fighter, and I think that should be fireworks. You got Giga Chikadze on that card, Kevin Vallejos. Uh very exciting. Also, you got Caesar Ameda versus uh Oleg Seych, uh, another fighting nerd.

SPEAKER_02: 46:31

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 46:33

Uh I'm very excited to see that card. It's a fight night. Uh by the next episode, we'll be more than likely reacting to this one. So uh I'm gonna be watching that one intently. However, it is your guys' favorite, a UFC Apex card. I'm hearing all the woo. But me, I love these apex cards so far this year. I think we've had amazing Apex cards, and I've talked about that several times on this show. How exciting these apex cards have been, and the bad rap, I think I think it just has that bad rap, and people are just you know, not excited to see these cards, but they've been great, and uh, I'm really pushing to see more excitement for these cards, these apex cards. Because uh it doesn't seem like they're gonna be ending anytime soon.

SPEAKER_01: 47:24

It seems like uh the UFC may have uh caught on to the fact that people were boo-hooing the apex and they decided they needed to step up their game.

SPEAKER_00: 47:35

Yeah, it does seem that way. Uh absolutely. And uh we'll get into the first card announced for that Paramount deal, the beginning of the Paramount era, the beginning of the more accessible era, and uh the beginning of what seems to be one of the best cards of the year, maybe. Because potential. Look at this card, guys, in the main card, Justin Gagey versus Patty Pimlet for that interim belt. Ilya Levy dropping that belt, personal matters. I won't get into that in this episode. Uh and we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01: 48:17

Justin Gacy not retiring, uh fighting for a belt like he wanted, even though it might not be the belt he wanted, but Yeah, that he's he's one of the people I was specifically had in mind when I was mentioning UFC doing kinda dirty. But given the weird situation that the lightweight uh division is in right now, it's about as good as he's gonna get.

SPEAKER_00: 48:47

It's in a weird place, um but like I said, very exciting, very exciting times f for every division.

SPEAKER_01: 48:56

Honestly, that that fight, I'm really looking forward to it because those two, the way they fight, yeah, it's so different that it's gonna be really interesting to see how it pans out between them.

SPEAKER_00: 49:07

Very interesting demeanor from Patty Pimlet showing mad respect for Justin Gachy, almost seeming like he's like a Justin Gagey fan or something.

SPEAKER_01: 49:17

I mean he it would be perfectly reasonable for him to be. Gachy's been around since well before he started in the UFC.

SPEAKER_00: 49:24

Yes, he's been he's been nothing but great uh Justin Gachy in uh that, like you said, should be an absolute banger. That that is definitely gonna be fireworks between these two guys. And then um before that is that women's bantamweight title fight between Kayla Harrison, the only American champion in the UFC right now versus the greatest female fighter of all time, Amanda Nunez, coming out of retirement specifically to fight Kayla Harrison. Which is only her it's it's crazy. She saw I mean, it's like I these are the kind of fights that you know the person uh fighting wants to be the best in the world. Yeah, Kayla wanting to prove that she's the greatest champion, and Emmanuel Nunia's wanting to establish her GOAT status. And and you know, so it's crazy. Crazy to see. Um, I know that some flack, you know, some people are upset that the interim belt is over an undisputed belt that's neither neither here nor there. Uh, I think that's just very exciting for the year. And then we have the Sugishon O'Malley that I was talking about previously fighting Song Yedong. Sean O'Malley saying in an interview, he needs a knockout, he needs to finish this, and uh He really does he wants to fight Piotr Yan because at the end of the day he has a win over Piotr. Split decision, but still a win over Piotr. And then Waldo Cortez Acosta fighting again. Uh so he seems to be just going fight after fight after fight in a couple months. So it's very exciting versus Derek Lewis.

SPEAKER_01: 51:22

To be fair. His he it's not like he took a lot of damage from his last fight. So I think I think he's well within reason to be taking this fight personally.

SPEAKER_00: 51:33

And he's on a knockout streak. Uh I like the one that he did against Delia and uh where he got eye-poked. Where he got eye-poked, and he still ended up knocking him out, so that was very impressive. Uh, but Cortez Acosta going against the knockout king of the UFC, Derek Lewis. Uh aka My Balls is hot. Yeah. So I'm assuming that he already has his little victory dance ready or whatever. And then we had a very unexpected banger added to the card, Arnold Allen versus the fighting nerd Gene Silva. Let's see what Gene Silva looks like coming off his first loss in the UFC.

SPEAKER_01: 52:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 52:16

Against uh Diego Lopez, where he got spinning elbow knocked out. Yeah. Gene Silva, very exciting though. Very exciting. Arnold Allen, very exciting. We haven't seen him in a while. So interesting comeback fight for Arnold Allen.

SPEAKER_01: 52:34

Should be exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 52:35

Interesting, you know, choice of opponent for him to come back.

SPEAKER_01: 52:39

Yeah, there I mean it's it's an interesting matchup, and each fighter is interesting in their own way, but for various reasons, good and bad. But either way, the fight itself between these two should be quite entertaining.

SPEAKER_00: 52:54

Oh yeah, absolutely. And uh another I mean, every card, I mean every fight on this card seems exciting. Michael Johnson vs. Alexander Hernandez, exciting. Nikita Krylov versus Modestas Buskaskis, exciting. Umar Numarga Metoff versus another one of my favorites, Divisin Fijuerto.

SPEAKER_01: 53:17

Honestly, I can't say that I the the odds aren't posted, but I it I think Umar has this one in the bag.

SPEAKER_00: 53:28

It's possible. It's very possible. Uh Fijuerto needs to get in that win column if he wants to still be a contender in that Bantamweight division. And then we have our personal uh upcoming fighter that's one of our favorites, is Ateba Gautier versus Andre Puliev. And I'm excited to see any Gautier fight, the mini in Ganyu, and uh it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 53:55

I'm definitely gonna be following his career for quite some time now. Absolutely. He very promising.

SPEAKER_00: 54:04

Alex Perez versus Charles Johnson on that card, and Natalia Silva, one of my favorite fighters right now in the flyweight division against the previous champion, Rosenama Yunus. Yeah. Or Nama Junis, as Dana White would call her. Even though she's been in the UFC for how freaking long and you can't get her name right, sir. Nama Yunis.

SPEAKER_01: 54:27

Said it wrong too many times and now it's burned in.

SPEAKER_00: 54:29

And uh one of the fights I'll never forget about Rosanama Yunus, you guys can look it up, is Rose Nama Yunus versus Zhang Weili. Where Rose literally almost knocked her freaking head off with a kick, head kick, knocking Waley Zhang out. And uh that was one of the scariest knockouts I've seen, and it was very scary for me. You got Josh Hokett, uh our our WWE guy uh versus Denzel Freeman. Let's see what kind of promo Josh Hokett does in this one. That'll be interesting for sure. Maybe another little WWE one.

SPEAKER_01: 55:12

So uh Denzel Freeman, that how new is he? I haven't he doesn't remember well.

SPEAKER_00: 55:20

Yeah, Den Denzel Freeman uh is is fairly new.

SPEAKER_01: 55:22

He's only fought once before.

SPEAKER_00: 55:25

That was relatively recently, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 55:27

Was it like an early prelim, probably?

SPEAKER_00: 55:29

Yeah, he like made his debut getting that win. And uh interesting choice of fight, but I I think this one should be exciting too. These guys trying to prove themselves, you know, obviously getting into the UFC. And uh obviously we know what kind of personality Josh Hokett is, you know, given his promos, and um, you know, very Cho Sun and like pronoun uh promos trying to give glimpses of the bad guy. And so very exciting times going into the Paramount era, and uh uh these cars haven't been completed yet, uh, but um there's another car that was announced uh also in January, is the 325 Volkanovsky versus Lopez 2. I won't talk down on this fight, even though I did want to see uh Volkanovsky versus another contender, you know, maybe Leron Murphy, um Evolov. Um it's just interesting that Diego Lopez got the fight, you know. Um I don't believe this one's come uh you know actually completed, completed, but on that card, Dan Hooker versus Benoit Saint Denis. What a banger that's gonna be. This one being announced during the 323 card, and I remember watching that one live and seeing like whoa, that's a crazy announcement.

SPEAKER_01: 56:57

I mean I just don't understand Dan Hooker's fighting style.

SPEAKER_00: 57:09

He's a dog, that's his style. Dog.

SPEAKER_01: 57:13

CTE isn't a fighting style.

SPEAKER_00: 57:15

I mean asked Justin Gagey that but Gachy can hit. Yeah, he can scrap.

SPEAKER_01: 57:23

Gagey can hit hard.

SPEAKER_00: 57:25

I have seen Dan Hooker's in some scraps though, that's for sure. Uh on that same card, Sergei Speedback versus uh Tom Aspinall's best friend, Auntie Delia. And so let's see if uh Delia gets back after getting knocked out by Costa, you know what he's like after that. Um and then we have another one of your favorites, Rafael Fazeev, getting his chance on 325 versus the ever exciting Mauricio Roofy. That one's gonna be interesting. Should be very interesting. Fazive with those nasty kicks, and Mauricio Roofy also capable of some nasty kicks, have we seen?

SPEAKER_01: 58:10

Roofy's with the fighting nerds, too.

SPEAKER_00: 58:13

Yeah, absolutely. So the fighting nerds are are trying to make their comeback from a couple losses, i.e. Carlos Prates with that previous nasty knockout. So the fighting nerds are in a good place, I think, still.

SPEAKER_01: 58:25

Oh yeah. They may have lost a few and lost their uh shine of invulnerability, but they're still clearly very effective.

SPEAKER_00: 58:35

Yeah, so this this card getting made, um very exciting fights. One more that I'll highlight in that one is Ty to Ivasa finally making his comeback after I don't know how long of of being off. And uh versus I mean, very unfortunate opponent, Talis and Tejera is very scary.

SPEAKER_01: 58:57

He's a serious up and comer, for sure. Scary. It's it's hard to say for sure what kind what sort of situation. Like it's hard to predict between these two. Let's put it that way. Absolutely. Because Sexier is still we're still learning what he's all about. Yeah. So it that one's gonna be on I'm gonna I won't say I'm on won't be on my toes, but uh I'm gonna be leaning forward in my seat watching that one.

SPEAKER_00: 59:27

Yeah, and uh I mean at the end of the day, not only is it hard to guess who wins, but uh, this is the heavyweight division where it just takes one and you're done.

SPEAKER_02: 59:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 59:40

And uh we'll go ahead and end the episode with some very exciting UFC news. Besides all these exciting cards, besides the Paramount Era, another announcement is a change of time for these main cards, these uh numbered events, moving them up, they're going uh down and Hour, so the East Coast fans will be able to watch it an hour earlier, and all of us will be able to watch the fights an hour earlier. Very exciting times for the UFC, lots of changes, changes of division, changes of belts, changes of story. It's unbelievably exciting times for the UFC, and I I can't get enough of the sport, and it seems like almost everything has meaning, which is why I love the sport so much. What do you mean? And uh every fight has consequences, and it's just very big for these fighters that sacrifice everything for let's face it for our entertainment and for their glory and their place in history. And their place in history on the or food on the table, but what this means for these fighters i is more than we can comprehend, I think, and uh I just wanna leave it on that note that I'm very excited for these times coming up. Uh especially as a longtime UFC fan, and uh that's why I appreciate our dynamic so well on this uh podcast, because uh me as a longtime fan, I've seen so much, and you you get to see things from a new perspective, right? Which I I sincerely appreciate, and um so it's like exciting for both of us to see, you know. Yeah, um so I'll leave it at that. And um, you know, don't forget to like and subscribe for us, leave a comment. Uh we do pre appreciate every viewer, and we hope you have a great rest of your year in December and uh Merry Christmas, uh you know.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:49

Very exciting, and all the other religious holidays that are coming up every any any and all holidays, merry and happy of them to you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:00

And catch you on the next one, and keep your gloves up, y'all.