Transcription
All right, so UFC 322 just finished, and we've got a lot of things to talk about. I don't know where to start.
We had a 16-second knockout opening up the main card. We had utter domination and annihilation in the main event. Islam Makachev just ragdolled Jack Dela Madelena from start to finish. We had a decision in Nicole Main. We had a lot of action in the welterweight division with two insane knockouts. And of course, we had a newcomer [music] uh in Ethan Euing, who, by the way, keep an eye on that name there. Made his UFC debut on two days' notice. This took out the much-hyped uh Malcolm Wellmaker, beat him by decision. And also, Kyle Dawkins choked out J Mir in just [music] 50 seconds. But oh, by the way, B Nickel knocked out Rulo Vieira cold. Knocked him out with a head kick and then gave the double birds to everyone in the audience. [music] That must have felt good.
Anyway, let's start with the main event. Islam Makachev versus Jack Demad Lena. So, as I said, it was domination. It was an annihilation. It was one-way traffic from start to finish. Okay, we knew Islam was going to go out there and try to out-wrestle him. That's what he did. He was very successful. He took him down every single round. And the longer the fight went, the easier the takedowns became.
Now, Jack, according to his coach, was stuck in the mud. He wasn't moving his feet quite as much. And at the end of every round, his coach, and I'm sure they have a great relationship, so he understands, they understand each other, should I say. But the coach was just giving him a hard time. He was like, "What are you doing, mate? Don't sit there in half guard. Don't do this. Don't do that. Come on. You've got to fight him. You're stuck in the mud." He was just giving him crap every single time. And Jack, as the fight was going on, you was just looking more and more deflated, dejected, defeated. Uh DC and Rogan were saying that he was grimacing. He was grimacing in pain. And I'm sure that some of the elbows and the punches and the calf kicks were all hurting. But I think for the most part, it was just the fact that he couldn't do anything. He was getting taken down. He was getting controlled. He did do a good job of not giving up. Okay? Because listen, Islam is a tremendous fighter, okay? He's got a record now of 28-1. He now ties Anderson Silva for a 16-fight win streak. I still think Anderson's was more impressive because 12 of those 16 fights were title fights, and that is more impressive. And of course, we saw some wild knockouts from Anderson and Silva. But still, I'm not taking away from Islam Makavee. What he's achieved is unbelievable. He's a two-weight division champion. Anderson and Silva didn't do that. And he has won 16 in a row. Okay, so take a bow. Unbelievable. And it was domination from start to finish. He caught the single leg and then he sweeps the other leg in round one. In round two, he pushes Jack up against the fence. Jack got a little bit too confident. He tried to go for a whizzy kick or a hip throw. Tried to go for a hip throw on Islam Makv. What are you doing? You don't do that. It shouldn't be trying to grapple with Islam at all. But of course, he had success against other grapplers in the past against Bal Muhammad. He was able to have some success in the grappling transitions. But of course, Islam Makachev is the next level. Okay. So, he made a big mistake there in trying to go for his own throw. Ended up back on the ground. And then in rounds three, four, and five, Islam just tying them perfectly. There was almost no resistance. But there was a lot of resistance on the face of Jack, right? He looked miserable. He looked like he couldn't wait for this fight to end. And I'm not saying that to insult Jack. Far from it. In fact, I'm saying the opposite because he could have taken the easy way out several times. Islam was trying to finish him. He was trying to get kimuras. He was trying to get straight armbars. He was trying to get the D'Arce multiple times that he's got many other great fighters within. He was trying to get rear naked chokes. Okay. And Jack was tired. Jack was deflated. He was dejected. He was beaten. And he knew it. He knew he was. And all he could have done was just extend his arm. All he could have done was not resist. Okay. But the man was still fighting. He was still trying to get back to his feet. His coaches giving him a hard time in the corner. They're all frustrated with him because of course they just want the best for him. But it wasn't meant to be. Okay. Islam dominated the fight. It was one-way traffic. It was pretty easy. I don't know if Jack even landed a clean shot. In fact, he did. At the start of the first round, he landed a nice, I think it was a right hand or a left. It doesn't matter. He landed a good clean shot and he went forward and he was putting Islam on the back foot, which is what you need to do. Or if you're not putting them on the back foot, you need to be in perpetual motion. You need to limit the kicks. You need to throw a couple of shots and then move. You need to be always moving. Otherwise, they're going to shoot. Anyway, easier said than done. Much harder when you're taking on Islam Makavee.
Now, when you look at Islam, he's now the welterweight champion. Okay? Unlucky to Jack. He'll be back. I don't know if he'll be a champion again because the welterweight division is absolutely stacked. It's the best division in all of mixed martial arts right now. It's unbelievable. And tonight, we saw three fights on the main card from the welterweight division. And next week, we've got Bil Muhammad taking on Ian Garry as well. And Ian Garry fancies himself as fighting for a belt next. I don't know if he's going to because the two knockouts that we saw tonight were spectacular. We'll get to those in a minute. What is next for Islam Makachev? Will it be Michael Morales? Will it be Carlos Prattis? Will it be Ian Garrett? It might be. It's probably going to be one of them. It ain't going to be Bal Muhammad if he wins, and it isn't going to be Leon Edwards anytime soon because he got knocked out cold in the second round. It was a beautiful straight left hand. It was... Was it a left or a right? Doesn't matter. One of them. It was a straight backhand shot. Boom. That floored Leon. Anyway, we'll get to that in a minute. Well done to Islam. And we'll talk about what's next for Islam as well.
Co-main event. Valentina Chevchenko versus Jang Lee went down just like I thought it would. Chevchenko's the bigger girl, and she wrestles these days, and she out-wrestled Jang Wayi from start to finish over five rounds. So, this was 50 minutes of grappling in the co-main event and the main event. They were both one-way traffic. They were both one-sided. Islam dominated. Chevchenko dominated. Jangi, being the shorter woman, she was always out of range with the strikes. So then, therefore, she was forced to rush in and kind of run at Valentina. And often, when she was doing that, she would walk onto knees, she would walk onto punches, and then even when she would get the clinch, she wasn't able to outmuscle Valentina or use her superior technique to take her down. Valentina Chevchenko really is that woman. She's cleared out the division. She's unbelievable. And tonight, she got a great win.
Now, before that, let's get to some of the knockouts. Let's get to the real action that happened here tonight. Michael Morales versus Shawn Brady. Now, Shawn Brady's a great grappler. Choked out Leon Edwards last time. I thought he'd have more success. I got this one wrong. Michael Morales just went out there and bludgeoned him right from start to finish, pretty much. Sean Brady only shot one takedown, if memory serves me correctly, but even still, that one takedown was shrugged off very easily. Morales is massive for the division. He's now 19 and 0, undefeated. He's got some style. He's got some flare. And the man is a knockout artist. And he was swinging big, wild, crazy shots. And when they were landing on Shawn Brady, he was all over the place. He was getting wobbled. He was getting rocked. He's a nice guy, but it doesn't matter how much of a nice guy you are. Michael Morales went out there and, as I say, I'll use that term again, and I mean it respectfully, as respectful as it can sound, he bludgeoned him. He did. He just beat him up. He swung massive, wild hooks one after the other. Brady was wobbled. He goes down. Few more shots, and that is that. So, Michael Morales is definitely in the running for the next welterweight contender.
Before that, we had Carlos Prattis versus Leon Edwards. Now, I thought Leon would wrestle him a little bit, and he did. They, he tried for a takedown in the first round, pushed him up against the fence. Nothing happening. Referee breaks them up. Leon gets a clean takedown this time. Takes him down, takes his back. Carlos Pattis is standing. He's got the body triangle. Leon, and he's trying to get the rear naked choke, and he's giving little rabbit shots, and Pratz is just pulling faces. That had the whole crowd laughing, and everyone in my house laughing as well, because it was kind of comical. And then in the second round, as Leon was moving away, both feet were off the ground, Prattest leans forward, one clean backhand knocks him not off his feet because his feet were already off the ground, drops him on the ground. A follow-up shot, and he's out cold. And it was a, it was a vicious knockout. It was. So, certainly a tough time for Leon Edwards. Rest up, get healed up, Rocky. He's still got a future in this sport. Sadly, he has lost three in a row now. But there's no shame. The man who's been fighting the best of the best now for a very, very long time. Carlos Prattis is the real deal. Of course, he has that one loss in the UFC to Ian Garry, right? But I think he learned from that one. Outside of that, Carlos Prattis has knocked everybody out, and he was doing this as well. He was motioning for the belt. He was saying to Dana, give me a shot at the belt. So, he's in the running as well.
Before that, we had another guy doing this. Everyone's doing this tonight. Uh Benil Darush versus Ben Sardini. This one was done in 16 seconds. Darush was gone in 16 seconds. The fight started. Darush comes out hot, fast, hard, aggressive. Throws a low kick, almost takes Benson underneath off his feet. Benois goes forward, tries to clinch. Darush is trying to fight him off. Benois just throws a big, massive, looping left hook, lands right on the ear, and that's that. That is all she wrote. Vicious knockout. Benil Darushi is the man. He's a tremendous fighter as well. So that was a really good solid win for Benois Sandeni. Where does that put him in the title picture? We don't know because we're still waiting to hear what Ilia is going to do and who he's going to fight. Will it be Patty Pimblett who's going on at him constantly to sign the contract? Will it be Justin Gaethje that's kind of said, listen, his title shot or nothing for me? We don't know how that's going to play out. Ben was Sanden. It's kind of in the conversation now, though. Sterling with that because this sport's all about what have you done for me lately? And I'll tell you who else got a great knockout on the prelim headliner. Bo Nickel got back to winning ways after getting stopped by Renier Derridda. If you remember earlier this year, beautiful knee to the midsection stopped Bo Nichl. Well, this time in the third round, he went out there. He looked great on the feet. He was piecing Rulo up with the jab. The striking was clean. It was sharp. He was stopping takedowns. And then in the third round, head kick, shin on chin, flush to the mush, sits him down. Rulo Vieira was out cold. And then he jumps up on top of the cage and he's giving everyone the bird. And that must have felt great because listen, you know it, I know it. A lot of people were talking a lot of crap about Bo Nickel. They just were, okay? And now he gets to knock him out, and he gets to have a little bit of revenge. And then he was saying, look, listen, like me. I forget what he said, but he basically asked him to make up their mind. Either support me or don't support me. Don't do that. You don't ask the crowd for support. You just say, "Hey, listen. If you don't like it, lump it. If you don't like it, get used to it because I'm going nowhere, idiots. I'm sticking around. I'm going to be knocking people out, and if you don't like me, it's going to be a very unfortunate time for you. Don't ask the crowd to like you. Make them like you by not giving a damn."
Also, on the uh on the prelims, Robocop Rodriguez got a decision win over Roman Cop. Eron Blanchfield beat Tracy Cortez. Choked her out in the second round with the rear naked choke. Ethaning talked about this guy at the top. He signed with the UFC two days ago. He trains with Callum, my son, who trains MMA at a gym called The Den in your Belinda. He's got a tremendous coach there. His name is Ben Jones, one of Eric Pollson's guys. Really, really good coach. Understands the sport well. Ethan Ewing found out about this fight on Thursday. [gasps] Made weight, did the medicals, flew to New York, took on Malcolm Wellmaker. That's knocking everybody out. That is all the hype around him, and beat him at his own game. Beat him on the feet, beat him by decision. A really good solid performance, and he did it at featherweight. Ethan Ewing normally fights at bantamweight. He stepped up a weight class on short notice, beat Malcolm Wmaker, so get used to that name, Ethan Euing. This man has a future in this sport. Also, Kyle Dawkins got his second win on his second run in the UFC. Choked out Jerome Mirchar in just 50 seconds. Pat Sabatini also beat Jeep Mariscal on the early prelims by way of decision as well.
So anyway, there it is. Islam Makachev defeats Jack Dea Madena. Who do you want to see him fight next? Is it going to be Morales or is it going to be Pratis or is it going to be Ian Garry? I tell you what, out of those three, I mean, it all depends what Ian Garry does, right? And the reason I say that is because even if Bal wins, he just lost, and I don't think he wants to fight Islam anyway. But even if Bal beats Ian Garry, I don't think he's gonna be the number one contender. I don't think he's gonna get a title fight that quickly. So, it comes down to Michael Morales or Carlos Prattis. They're the two guys. Carlos Prattis has got a tremendous amount of following and hype around him. The man's funny. He doesn't give a damn. He likes to party. He smokes cigarettes. He knocks everybody out, okay? And he just flatlined Leon Edwards. So, for me, I would say Islam Mak versus Carlos Pis next. And of course, that's a great fight for Islam Makachev because Carlos has been taken down by Ian Garry. He got taken down tonight by Leon Edwards, and he would get taken down once again and probably finished by Islam Makf. But hey, the man has got the equalizer. He does have the power.
Anyway, there it is. Let me know about everything what I just said in the comment section, please. Who do you want to see Islam Makv face next? Who do you want to see Jack Deadena face next? Should he face maybe someone that doesn't get the title fight? The problem is for Jack, he just lost the belt. But but behind him, there is an absolute murderer's row. Remember at welterweight, we've still got the likes of Kamaru Usman out there. Bal Muhammad, Ian Garry, Michael Morales. I mean, the list goes on. Shawn Brady, he's not a man to be sniffed at. Yes, he got beaten tonight, but again, he's a tough fight for a lot of people. The welterweight division is the new lightweight division, and Islam Makachev is sitting at the top of that tree.
Thank you for watching. And if you're still watching at this stage, subscribe and ring the bell, and I will see you soon. [music]