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can't believe there are a couple of

1:00

absolutely self-involved bull******* artists. Here

1:03

are your hosts, John Anick and

1:05

Kenny Florian. All

1:07

right, going to be back in your collective

1:09

lives. It is episode 460 of the Anick

1:11

and Florian podcast. Thank you all for checking

1:13

us out on the DraftKings YouTube channel. Clips

1:15

can always be accessed on the Anick and

1:17

Florian podcast YouTube channel, where if you like

1:19

our watch party from last Saturday night is

1:22

still available. Ken Flow, it's great to see you

1:24

a second time this week. Actually, the third, you're

1:26

probably sick of my voice. You'll have to hear

1:28

it again on pay-per-view this weekend. But dude, I

1:31

was buckled for that watch party like a little

1:33

too much basil hayden. So I think

1:35

I'm going to curtail that a little bit if we run that

1:37

thing back on Super Bowl weekend. Yeah, that

1:39

means we need more, whatever it is. I think

1:41

that equals ratings. I think the fans

1:43

have spoken. They want a soft

1:45

stuff, John Anick, for not only our

1:47

watch parties, but also for the live

1:50

broadcast. So let's see if we can

1:52

make that happen, dude. We'll

1:54

see what happens. It's an FCC violation, I

1:56

think, on television, but not a platform like

1:59

this. You know, one thing that

2:01

I did talk about candidly during the watch party

2:03

was the fact that a couple of years ago,

2:05

I was sort of unceremoniously demoted from doing post-fight

2:07

interviews after doing them for 10 years. And

2:10

I did tease that if anyone can

2:12

tell me who my last

2:14

post-fight interview came with in the Octagon, I would

2:16

give you two tickets to a future UFC live

2:18

event. No one was able to come up with

2:20

that answer. It was actually Ian Machado Gary. I

2:24

believe we were doing a show in

2:26

Florida and if memory serves, maybe Governor

2:28

Ron DeSantis wanted to meet Joe Rogan.

2:30

So Rogan actually went backstage after the

2:32

fight and they called on me to do

2:34

the post-fight interview, which was a very special moment because I thought

2:36

there was a chance I would never be back in there. But

2:39

it's still something that eats at me every day and I'm hoping

2:41

that it's not the end of that. But

2:43

I just wanted to pay that off before we got started here today. Aaron

2:46

Bronstedter from Sportsnet going to join us here in about

2:48

10 minutes as we count down to UFC 297. We

2:52

also have in studio today, my identical twin brother,

2:54

Boston Anakin, help us out with a little bit

2:56

of content. Nice job on the watch party, Jay.

2:58

And I just want to let everybody know this

3:00

black guy has nothing to do with our beef

3:02

last week on Anna Squares. No

3:04

beef, but I will say the identical twin thing, man, like

3:06

I wasn't going to even tell you this. I

3:08

was just about to ask you, hey, you didn't disclose who

3:11

you had that post-fight interview with and a good one,

3:13

albeit Ian Carey, a guy you know well, and certainly a

3:15

guy who's good at the microphone. So if you were

3:17

going to do one at a random spot, he was a

3:19

good guy. All right, so Kenny,

3:21

earlier this week, there was a press conference

3:23

for this boxing match between Francis Nganu and

3:25

Anthony Joshua, and I don't need anything long

3:28

form right now, but I did check out

3:30

the betting line and it appears as though

3:32

Anthony Joshua is like a minus 500

3:35

betting favorite. And that

3:38

speaks to me that people aren't necessarily leaning

3:40

too much into what Francis Nganu got accomplished

3:42

against Tyson Fury. I know this is a

3:45

different matchup stylistically. I understand Joshua's length and

3:47

reach advantage. But

3:49

let me ask you this. Are you more

3:51

encouraged, given what you saw between Nganu and

3:53

Fury, to maybe have a

3:55

wager on Nganu at plus 450 or so?

4:00

Joshua at this point in time? I think

4:02

the simple answer is that yes,

4:04

I actually like Ingana's chances here.

4:07

I think the odds are very interesting.

4:09

However, for those that are watching now,

4:11

Anthony Joshua being at the forefront of

4:14

that, I think he realizes

4:16

this isn't just an MMA

4:18

fighter here. This is a guy that is

4:20

very dangerous, who went out there and not

4:23

in my mind, but in a lot of

4:25

people's mind went out there and beat Tyson

4:27

Fury. Now, I believe Tyson Fury is a

4:30

much more technical, pure boxer

4:32

than say Anthony Joshua. Anthony Joshua

4:34

is still very, I think in

4:36

some ways more dangerous just because

4:38

of his knockout power. But

4:40

we have seen Anthony Joshua

4:42

broken before. And I think

4:44

if you're able to get through that defense

4:47

and land big shots and take away his

4:49

confidence early, which I think Francis Nogato has

4:51

a good chance of doing, I think

4:53

Nogato can go out there and absolutely win

4:55

that fight. I do think it's an easier

4:57

fight than Tyson Fury. It's

4:59

different. I think it's less complicated

5:01

in a lot of ways. Doesn't mean

5:04

it's easy, but it's less complicated from

5:06

a boxing perspective than say Tyson Fury.

5:08

I think that is pretty clear. So

5:11

for that, I like those odds, man. I like those

5:13

odds a lot. Yeah, that's a good way to

5:15

put it. I think if I'm not

5:17

contractually prevented from betting on boxing, I'll have a wager

5:19

on Francis Nogato. I got to look at my UFC

5:22

contract. But Jay, you got a couple of things planned

5:24

for us here today before we get to Aaron Bronstedter.

5:26

So why don't we get to that business if you'd

5:28

be so kind. So we know there are a lot

5:30

of heat on UFC 299 in Miami. So

5:33

UFC 300, I feel like trying to catch up. They

5:36

keep announcing different match ups. You know, for me, my

5:38

dream matchup or whatever it is, quote unquote, below, remember

5:40

the name of Muhammad competing for the belt against Leon

5:42

Edwards, but a lot of rumblings

5:44

out there. So I guess we'll go to you flow

5:46

first. By the way, great to see you as always.

5:48

So, flow, dream match up, something

5:50

that hasn't been announced yet. UFC 300, April 13th. Talk

5:54

to me. Yeah, man. So a lot

5:57

of things can happen, right? We have O'Malley taking on

5:59

Cheeto Vera. uh coming up. Um

6:01

assuming assuming O'Malley is able to

6:04

get by a very tough Cheeto

6:06

era. I think O'Malley San Hagan

6:08

is fascinating to me. You have two guys

6:10

that are tall, lanky, that know how to

6:12

use it, that are extremely uh versatile,

6:15

that are very dangerous in all areas.

6:18

That's a matchup that I would love

6:20

to see in 2024 and

6:23

um I hope we do. I think there's a strong

6:25

chance we do um just

6:27

from from a uh MMA

6:29

geeks perspective, I

6:31

think it could deliver everything there. So um

6:34

that that's my dream matchup for 2024. Yeah

6:37

at some point in 2024 I think there's a decent chance

6:39

you see that fight. Certainly you're not going to see Sean

6:41

O'Malley at UFC 300. He's fighting

6:43

at UFC 299 and so the UFC

6:45

300 card will be completed in totality.

6:47

I would think by the time that

6:49

pay-per-view happens in Miami but it is

6:51

hard to forecast as we sit 48

6:54

hours out from Sean Strickland and Drake is Duplessi

6:57

what's going to happen. Like for me, I would

6:59

love to see Kamsa Chimaev at UFC 300

7:02

against the winner of this middleweight championship fight.

7:04

Perhaps promotionally they want to give Israel a

7:06

lot of Sanya Duplessi and I understand that

7:08

makes some sense. That would be a dream

7:10

matchup for me because there's obviously

7:13

a foundation for that fight. There's friction to

7:15

that fight as well but Kamsa Chimaev at

7:17

a championship setting is really my dream for

7:19

2024. My dream matchup for UFC 300 was

7:23

Zhongwei Li against Yan Shaonan and

7:25

we're getting it. So I am

7:27

excited about that but we'll see what happens. UFC 300

7:30

coming together. I do expect it to be a championship

7:32

triple header when all is said and done. Yeah. All right

7:35

boys, a couple minutes here. A couple things off the

7:37

beaten path if you will. So Flo, I

7:39

know you were sipping on some Pellegrino

7:41

sparkling water at the watch party

7:44

a couple of few days ago but we're just going to

7:46

go quick rattle off. Yeah, Kamsa went sober watch party which

7:48

is to be commended. Are you doing like dry January Kenny

7:51

or not? I am

7:53

not. I'm not doing necessarily a dry

7:55

January but yeah. Well we weren't necessarily

7:57

intending to get buckled even though it happened.

7:59

All right. All right, slow. You

10:00

can be sure I know what the fuck this guy's

10:02

gonna say. All right, Flo, a day

10:04

out with your family or a day at

10:06

home by yourself? Ha ha! Oh,

10:09

that's interesting. I definitely,

10:11

I try to go inward

10:13

as much as I can, so I definitely

10:15

value my alone time, but as

10:18

my kids are getting older, especially

10:21

my daughter, she's five now,

10:25

there's only so many more years that I

10:27

have with her where she's still a little

10:29

kid. In my mind, I've been feeling that

10:31

so much more now where

10:34

I kinda don't wanna let go of it, so

10:36

I gotta take advantage of that. So family time,

10:38

I think, is trumping that now, yeah, for sure.

10:41

Why take one vacation with the family when you could

10:43

take all of them? With Royal Caribbean,

10:45

you don't just go to the beach. You

10:48

visit a private island and race down the

10:50

tallest water slide in North America. You

10:53

don't just go for a road trip. You

10:55

ATV and zip line through the jungle. You

10:58

don't just go somewhere new. You repel down

11:00

waterfalls and discover ancient temples.

11:02

Because this isn't just any

11:04

vacation. This is all the

11:06

vacations. Come seek the Royal Caribbean.

11:09

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So we're on episode 460 today. I

11:44

don't know that my wife has ingested any one

11:46

of these things, so if I wanted to say

11:48

home alone, I could, but

11:50

I love my children, so I would

11:53

say a day out with the family. All right, boys.

11:56

Thank you, buddy. Keeping it fun. And I know your friend, Aaron

11:58

Bronstetter, is coming up here in about 60 seconds. do want

12:00

to chime in. Feel free to do just that.

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resources. All right, now

13:09

with us for the first time

13:11

in a long time, MMA reporter

13:14

for Sportsnet in Canada, our good

13:16

friend Aaron Bronstetter, AB UFC 297

13:19

Beckins. Congratulations on the new gig.

13:22

Great to have you back on the show. It's been a while. It's

13:24

great to be back. And you know what else is

13:26

great, John? This two camera setup you've got going on.

13:28

I mean, this is some pretty professional stuff. Whoever set

13:30

this up, I got to say, I mean, Kenny, I'm

13:32

not trying to flag you. You only need one camera

13:34

for you. I mean, John's bringing another Anek into the

13:36

fold. It's like Anek square and four in, but

13:38

this camera setup is... He's not

13:40

messing around, dude. He's not messing around. Well

13:43

thank you, buddy. And you look crystal clear. And

13:45

just so you know, we

13:47

got three fucking cameras. Your biggest fan

13:49

right here. Three cameras. Look at that. I mean... I got something

13:51

right here for you. Unreal. All

13:54

right. So your career began

13:56

as an intern 18 years

13:59

ago with Sportsnet. at the fan 590 and

14:01

now you're back there in a full-time

14:03

capacity. So got to be pretty exciting

14:05

for you, not just to return

14:08

to these airwaves, of course, but to have your career

14:10

sort of, I know you're still a

14:12

young man, but come full circle now, 18 years later

14:14

to be under that Sportsnet ban. Yeah,

14:16

it's pretty awesome. And I mean, interestingly

14:19

enough, we've got UFC 297 in Toronto, like

14:22

three weeks into my job here. I

14:24

mean, they're throwing me right into the fire here, but

14:26

I love it. And I've got to say the team

14:28

at Sportsnet have just been absolutely crossing. And I'm so

14:30

happy to have such a great support system around me.

14:33

Everybody's been so welcoming. So it's really honestly been awesome.

14:36

All right. We will get to some fight related stuff

14:38

shortly, but I have always said, and you've heard me

14:40

say this per capita.

14:43

I think mixed martial arts fans in Canada

14:45

make more noise than anywhere else in the

14:47

world. Now you can argue for the Aussies,

14:50

the Brazilians, certainly anybody in the UK. But

14:52

when I was cutting my teeth, journalistically

14:55

in the MMA world at ESPN and

14:57

Kenny and I were covering like UFC

14:59

113, that was like as deafening an

15:01

environment in Montreal as I had ever

15:03

been in. And George St. Pierre wasn't

15:05

even competing. So first time

15:07

back in Toronto in a long time, how

15:09

do you sort of quantify your enthusiasm for

15:11

this live event on pay-per-view coming up in

15:13

a few days? Well, weather

15:15

aside, which I think a lot of the UFC

15:17

fighters are in for a rude awakening when they

15:20

land here in the YYZ, I think

15:22

that it's going to be awesome. I mean, I was thinking

15:24

about this earlier, John, and you can probably vouch

15:26

for this. Like that card in Vancouver was a

15:28

special card in terms of the live element of

15:30

it. Like being there in that building, it really

15:32

did feel like a special night. It was the

15:34

first time the UFC has been back in Canada.

15:36

Did it translate for you sitting case side as

15:38

something that felt bigger than other pay-per-views?

15:41

There's no doubt about it. It definitely felt

15:43

enormous. And certainly I think the Canadian success

15:45

on that night had a lot to do

15:48

with it. But yeah, no, it felt huge.

15:50

It felt long overdue. And I think this

15:52

one feels even more so because as much

15:54

as Mike Mulott enjoyed making that walk in

15:56

Vancouver, this is an entirely different initiative, essentially,

15:58

in his backyard. Yeah, for sure.

16:00

These guys have dreamt of fighting in

16:02

this building himself. Jasmine, Jasmine, this

16:04

is a serious city. Yeah, his UFC debut probably feels

16:07

that same way. And, you know, the Canadians had a

16:09

lot of success in Vancouver. There were six of them.

16:11

Now we've got nine of the first 10 fights at

16:13

UFC 297. How's the Canadian? So, you

16:16

know, it's going to be a lot of pressure for,

16:18

I think, these athletes to try to replicate that same success.

16:21

Well, before I lay out for the professional athlete, Kenny

16:23

Florian, I just want to get your thoughts on this.

16:26

There have been some complaints about the level

16:28

of this fight card, especially relative to

16:30

the depth on some of these surrounding

16:33

pay-per-views, UFC 299, UFC 300. Got

16:37

anything for us on that in terms of the

16:39

pulse in the north and these fans

16:41

about UFC 297 specifically? Well,

16:44

I think there's a hunger for people to come back and

16:46

see the live experience. So I don't think

16:48

the card is quite as stacked. I mean, you look

16:50

at 299 compared to this. It's comparing apples to oranges.

16:53

I even went back and looked at the UFC

16:55

fight night card in Calgary. That was

16:57

on Dana White's 50th birthday back in the day. And

16:59

on that card, it was Poirier Alvarez II. Yohane

17:02

and Jaiček was on the card. Jose Aldo was on

17:04

the card. A young Islam Machačev was in the card.

17:06

So Khabib was in the building. It was a really

17:08

stacked fight night card. And now we've got this card.

17:10

We've had some fights fall off, unfortunately, that never got

17:12

replaced. I think that's what the biggest complaint is right

17:15

now that I'm hearing from the Canadian fans is you

17:17

lose, you know, Rachid versus

17:19

Blahovic. You lose Alberg versus

17:21

Reyes. And they didn't, you

17:23

know, add anything new to the card. So I think that's something

17:25

of a complaint that I've been hearing from those that bought tickets

17:27

to this event. Aaron,

17:30

you know, certainly since the retirement of George

17:32

St. Pierre, we've seen less cards in

17:34

Canada. And whether that's because

17:37

of just the international expansion in general of

17:39

the UFC and how much it's grown, or

17:41

maybe it's because we don't have that huge

17:43

star like a George St. Pierre in Canada

17:45

or, you know, people, you know, some of

17:47

the fighters complain about the taxes or whatever.

17:49

What do you think the reason is for that?

17:52

And is there a guy either on the card

17:54

or off the card that

17:56

you think can break through as that next,

17:59

you know, potential? potential star on that George St. Pierre

18:01

level? Well, it's weird, Kenny, because

18:03

I don't think it's by design. I think you

18:06

look at the pandemic and it's slowing down, really

18:08

travel everywhere. Prior to the pandemic, it was a

18:10

pretty consistent one-paper-view, three-fight nights every single year in

18:12

Canada. I don't think it's going to get back

18:14

to that level. Even now, I

18:16

think we're probably still going to see one-paper-view, maybe two-fight

18:18

nights a year. And I think that's

18:20

kind of a product of the apex being used for cards more

18:23

often for fight nights. I think that

18:25

overall, there's just going to be less fight nights to go around. But

18:28

I do think that you're right in terms of the star power.

18:30

You look at Canada and we haven't really seen a

18:33

burgeoning star. I mean, Felicia Spencer fought for the

18:35

title, but I think that's because that was like

18:37

a four-person division at 145 pounds that disrespected Felicia. We

18:41

haven't really seen any Canadians fight for titles lately, but we're

18:43

starting to see a lot of them come on. We talk

18:45

about that Vancouver card, them running the table going 6-0. Lupe

18:48

Gaudenez, she was the first female to

18:50

have four UFC wins in that calendar

18:52

year back in 2023. So,

18:55

I think her moving over to Entrom Gym in Mexico is

18:57

going to give her

18:59

the chance to potentially compete for a championship at some point

19:02

in time. She can keep up this sort of tear that

19:04

she's on. But we've got Mike

19:06

Millat, and the thing about Mike Millat is he's

19:08

a welterweight. And with that comes the expectation because

19:10

you have the torchbearers, not just

19:12

in GSP, but Carlos Newton before him,

19:14

GSP, then Rory McDonald that followed him.

19:16

I mean, when you hear a Canadian

19:18

welterweight, you have those big shoes to

19:21

fill. I don't think Mike Millat

19:23

really gets weighed

19:25

down by that pressure. I think that his mentality

19:27

is strong enough to kind of allow

19:30

him to be his own man. But I think that

19:32

the Canadians are always going to look at the Canadian

19:34

welterweights that are coming up and compare them to those

19:36

guys. Those are lofty comparisons. And what

19:38

do you think an impressive win,

19:40

a dominant win over someone like Neil Magney

19:42

does for Mike Millat in Canada? Oh,

19:45

it does a ton because it'll get him into the

19:47

rankings at welterweight. That's not an easy rankings to crack

19:49

if you look at the welterweight division. It's really stacked.

19:51

But on top of that, I think when the UFC

19:53

starts coming back to Canada for fight nights, that's where

19:56

Mike Millat can start getting those big opportunities to headline

19:58

fight nights against some of the higher- ranked

20:00

welterweight out there. I mean, even if he loses

20:02

to Neil Magny, I still think you could make

20:04

a case that he could headline some Canadian fight

20:06

night cards as well. But I think that the

20:09

chance of his meteoric rise continuing with a win

20:11

over Neil Magny, that's almost a certainty.

20:13

You guys great on the mic, good looking guy, action

20:15

fighter who likes to get finishes. I think that he's

20:17

really the total package in that regard. But as you

20:19

know, in MMA, you're only as good as your last

20:21

win. And, you know, a win over Neil Magny, I

20:23

think would do wonders for him. Sportsnet

20:25

Aaron Bronsted are with us here on the

20:27

Anakin Pullman podcast on X. You can find

20:30

him at Aaron Bronstedter on Instagram. It is

20:32

at a Bronstedter. And you sort of made

20:34

the segue for me as I harken back

20:36

to the days of live events in Halifax

20:38

and Saskatoon, a UFC fight night headline by

20:41

Mike Malott in the great white north seems

20:43

to be the requisite next step. Now, my

20:45

colleague Dave Shaw is very tight lipped with

20:47

me and I'm not trying to put you

20:49

on the spot here, but given

20:52

the UFC apex reality that we

20:54

all live in, however unfortunate, how

20:57

confident are you? That there would be a

20:59

non paper view a UFC fight night in

21:01

Canada in 2024? Well,

21:04

I think we'll see two of them. I think

21:06

we'll see one if I had to guess in

21:08

Halifax. And I think the other one will be

21:10

somewhere on the west coast likely Calgary or Edmonton.

21:12

Again, these are these are educated guesses, I would

21:14

call them. But I think that's kind of where

21:16

we're going to see fight nights fall. I think

21:19

they are starting to get into the, you

21:21

know, back to the old school calendars where you

21:23

are trying to check some boxes

21:25

and say, okay, for Canada, we want three or four

21:27

events a year. You know, we want one in Ireland,

21:30

we want one in France, one

21:32

in Sweden, you know, you look at the different countries,

21:34

you try to allot the fight nights that you do

21:36

have to those countries. But hey, I mean, the apex

21:38

is so seemingly going to be used for the foreseeable

21:41

future. So I think a lot of the destinations that

21:43

are craving the UFC, that's why we're seeing such high

21:45

gates and attendance at a lot of these events is

21:47

because there's a real hunger for the UFC to come

21:49

to those cities. And

21:51

other nations are experiencing this as well, right?

21:53

I mean, Kenny and I have been in

21:55

Brazil dozens of times, I think I've done

21:58

29 live UFC events in Brazil everywhere. from

22:00

Jada Guad Dusul to Umer Lanjian everywhere else,

22:02

but it just isn't happening with the frequency

22:04

that it was several years ago. So in

22:07

terms of this main event, I mean, this is

22:09

the good news because for me, the jumping off

22:12

point for all of these paper views relative to

22:14

my own internal excitement is the main event. This

22:17

is the first UFC middleweight championship fight not

22:19

featuring Israel out of Sonya since George St.

22:21

Pierre fought Michael Bisping in 2017. I

22:24

know we're aligned here, AB, this

22:26

fight, Sean Strickland, Dreykis Duplasse is

22:29

of the highly anticipated variety, one of

22:31

my more anticipated fights championship or

22:33

otherwise in the entire first quarter, which is loaded.

22:35

So where are you as far as your excitement

22:37

for this main event coming up Saturday night? Well,

22:40

first off, that's a tremendous stat that I might borrow from

22:42

you this week when I'm doing interviews. So I'll be sure

22:44

to credit you when I do. But yeah, I'm

22:46

very excited because I think that Dreykis Duplasse is a guy

22:48

that's been incredibly slept on for the

22:50

last year or so. You know, when people were making

22:52

predictions about that Whitaker fight, I get a lot of

22:55

them wrong, but that was one of the ones that

22:57

I got right. I thought that Dreykis was going to

22:59

get the knockout against Robert Whitaker. So I'll pat myself

23:01

on the back a little very horrible style there. But

23:03

I think that when you look at the

23:05

middleweight division, I think that there's a lot of

23:07

intrigue from what happened, not just in this fight,

23:09

but the fallout from this fight. And that's why I'm very

23:11

curious to see what happens. We'll see if Sean

23:14

Strickland's win is going to be written

23:17

off as being a flash in the pan or getting Israel on

23:19

a bad night and Dreykis walks through them.

23:21

Or we're going to see if Sean Strickland is able to fight

23:24

a guy that has not yet lost in the

23:26

UFC in Dreykis Duplasse and do what he does

23:29

to all of the other opponents that he's beaten,

23:31

pressure them, suffocate them, and put on that kind

23:33

of pressure that has made a lot of his

23:35

opponents wilt. So perhaps

23:38

we as a fan base shouldn't have

23:40

been surprised that Sean Strickland had the

23:42

crowd in Sydney, Australia against Israel out

23:44

of Sonya. Of course, Izzy beating their

23:46

favorite son Robert Whitaker didn't necessarily help

23:49

his public approval rating in a country

23:52

that is not his home nation, but certainly a country in

23:54

which he has had a lot of support. So any

23:57

expectations as to who might have the crowd, it's

24:00

the Stosha Bank Arena come Saturday night. Well,

24:02

I'm eager to see what happens at the press conference on

24:04

Thursday. These are Sean Strickland comes in complaining about gun control

24:06

in the weather. I think that maybe the Canadians will turn

24:09

on them in a hurry. But it seems like Canadians usually

24:11

like to cheer for everybody when it comes to mixed martial

24:13

arts. I've noticed you don't really have a lot of disrespect

24:16

from the Canadian fans. So I think we'll have to

24:18

see how it plays out with the press conference honestly,

24:20

before I can make a really valid prediction. But I

24:23

think that they'll probably be kind to both fighters by

24:25

the guess. So at

24:27

times in the past, when you and I have

24:29

spoken privately, you have pined to be on the

24:31

road more and I'm not necessarily trying to put

24:33

you on the spot nor pull back the curtain.

24:35

But in terms of this new gig

24:38

with SportsNet, can you tell us

24:40

anything as to what it means for your coverage of

24:42

the UFC in 2024 and maybe beyond

24:44

this first year back with the company? Yeah,

24:47

I'm hoping to be at all of the major North

24:49

American paid reviews like I have been historically. And I'm

24:52

also continuing my role as

24:54

a commentator for Unified MMA. And they've got

24:56

a card the night before UFC 297 with

24:58

Dana White looking for a fight. Dana is

25:00

going to be in attendance scouting

25:02

some talent. So that's going to be a lot of fun

25:04

as well. So I'm doing double duty this week with that.

25:06

But I'm not really sure,

25:08

to be honest, like our mindset right now is almost

25:10

like the same as the fighters mindset. Like there's no

25:12

tomorrow after January 20th. For us, the

25:15

day after January 20th is when we can kind of

25:17

recalibrate. I'm still so new to SportsNet and we have

25:20

this big pay-per-view in Toronto where our studios are in

25:22

front of us. And we've really been putting all of

25:24

our eggs in that basket for now. And then we're

25:27

going to be able to make adjustments, see what works,

25:29

see what didn't from there and then decide

25:31

what direction we want to go in. So I can't really

25:33

give you a great answer right now because I don't have

25:35

it personally. All right. Well, hopefully

25:37

UFC 297 is an absolute monster. And it leads

25:39

to more of your coverage. I'm curious what it's

25:42

like for you leaving the children though, because I'm

25:44

away 100 nights a year and leaving my kids

25:46

and leaving my family at 35 years

25:48

old. You

25:50

know, I'm fucking racing out the door now at

25:53

45. I'm crying, whether crying with my dog. So

25:55

I'm curious how it is for you or do

25:57

you think it sort of helps your work-life to

26:00

get away and then come home and be

26:02

excited to be back home. See,

26:04

for me, it was kind of the opposite because early on

26:07

when I was in my mid 30s, we had young

26:09

kids at home. So it was

26:11

so painful for me to leave because my wife

26:13

was just drowning. We had two kids that were

26:16

under three years old that she had

26:18

to deal with when I was on the road. So

26:21

it made it a lot more challenging for me

26:23

to travel for

26:25

that reason. So now, with all the kids

26:27

in school, at least when I do leave,

26:29

my wife's able to take like six hours

26:32

at home without having kids running around and

26:34

going crazy. So she's able to get that

26:36

sort of reprieve that she didn't get before.

26:38

Honestly, the pandemic was something of a saving

26:41

grace for us because about

26:43

two years without traveling, when I'm at home

26:45

and we have two young kids, it actually

26:47

really helped us out a lot because I was

26:50

able to really stay at home and focus

26:52

on them during those really difficult years. Especially

26:54

as young kids, especially two young kids at

26:56

the same time, you know how

26:59

difficult that is. So it's kind

27:01

of the opposite for me. I'm excited to get on

27:03

the plane now because I'm not as worried about my

27:05

wife having to really pick

27:08

up that much slack. She still has to do a lot.

27:10

Don't get me wrong when I'm gone. I

27:13

still appreciate the heck out of her for it. I

27:15

couldn't do this without her. She's like a godsend

27:17

for me because she's able to make sure that

27:19

the kids have everything that they need. But

27:22

now that they're able to go to school, she at least gets

27:24

a little bit of a shock and a little bit of me

27:26

time which she desperately needed when I was on the road back

27:28

when I was in my mid-30s. That's

27:31

very nice of you to say. Hopefully she listens to

27:33

the Anakin Plourey podcast. She does. She doesn't watch the sport.

27:35

She doesn't watch the sport. She doesn't watch any of the

27:37

podcast. So, you know, she might hear me from upstairs.

27:40

That's about as close as we'll get. All

27:42

right, before I let you go, and I

27:44

can't wait to see in Toronto, in terms

27:47

of the Canadian talent either on this

27:49

card or beyond, most people ubiquitously believe right

27:51

now that Mike Malott is Canada's best hope

27:53

for UFC gold and glory. Brad

27:56

Katona is going to be a toughout at 135 pounds,

27:58

one of the best cardiovascular... basis and

28:01

motors and all of MMA, Charles,

28:03

Jordan, Mark Andre Barrio. I'm

28:05

glad you mentioned Loopy Godinez because I think

28:07

a lot of us forget about the Canadian

28:09

association. Jasmine Jaz the busiest is coming off a

28:11

loss to Tracy Cortez, but of

28:14

all the Canadian names, other than Mike Milan,

28:16

if you had to plant your flag on

28:18

one of those athletes to

28:20

either get to the rankings or make a concerted

28:22

run, is it one of the names I mentioned

28:25

or someone else? Yeah, I think

28:27

it's Loopy. I think that with the improvement that

28:29

we've seen from her and her training with Alexa

28:31

Grasso every single day, not to mention you're also

28:33

going to look at the division and the depth

28:35

of each division and where she can move up

28:37

the fastest. And I think that that would be

28:39

a strawweight. You know, I think that you

28:42

look at the other divisions, 145, Charles, Jordan

28:44

is still in his 20s. He's a beast.

28:46

But you look up that division

28:48

and it's just a division. It's murderer's row. It's really difficult

28:50

for me to predict that he's going to be a champion.

28:52

Brad Catona, 135 pounds. Again, very hard for you to predict

28:55

that he's going to be a champion when you look at

28:57

all of the guys, including Rob Duolos-Pili, who has a win

28:59

over him. I think that there's just

29:01

a, you have to look at the divisions

29:03

where they can move up the fastest. And I think

29:05

that Loopy at 115 pounds with her wrestling

29:08

pedigree, with her pace, I think that

29:10

she is somebody that if I had

29:12

to pick one, I think

29:14

she's somebody that we could really get behind. I

29:16

mean, Mexico can get behind her as well. I

29:18

know that we're seeing a lot of very successful

29:21

Mexicans. And, you know, to have a

29:23

Mexican and Canadian champion simultaneously in her,

29:25

I think that that would be really

29:27

cool for both of those countries. A

29:29

real NAFTA type association. I

29:32

think that she probably is the one that would be

29:34

the most likely to have an opportunity. Yeah,

29:37

it's a great fucking answer from one of

29:39

the best MMA journalists in the business, Aaron

29:41

Bronstedter on X at Aaron Bronstedter on Instagram

29:43

at a Bronstedter. Yeah, I might be higher

29:45

on Catona than most, but he still got

29:47

to get through Garrett Armfield this weekend. And

29:49

divisionally, it's hard to expedite a run at

29:51

135 pounds. Aaron Bronstedter, great

29:53

to have you back on the airwaves, buddy. We will

29:55

see you in about 48 hours or so in Toronto,

29:57

man. Not as great as it is for me to

29:59

be back. with you guys. I'm really thrilled and I'm looking forward to

30:01

seeing you later this week. John and Kenny, all

30:03

the best, man. Nice to see you as well. And you

30:05

know, good on you for staying sober during those watch parties.

30:07

I mean, if anybody can get canceled, it's going to be

30:10

John and Jason now. So your plan is safe and I

30:12

can appreciate that. Hey, thank you,

30:14

buddy. We'll see you soon. I take care guys. See you.

30:17

There he is. The great Aaron Braum said

30:19

are with us here on the Anakin Florian

30:21

podcast. Yeah, I do think I

30:23

might get canceled at some point, Kenny. And

30:25

you know, fearful of that reality. I'll

30:27

figure out a way to support my

30:29

family. But I do

30:32

think at some point it stands to reason Jay

30:34

that I potentially could get canceled. I've been trying

30:36

to protect you from doing that for 20 years.

30:39

I got your back, bro. I know

30:41

you do, Kev. Thanks for joining us today for

30:44

the UFC 297 preview. And now ladies and

30:48

gentlemen, we will get to the meat of

30:50

the program. Some call it the main event

30:52

challenge. It's the main event challenge. And

30:56

the time is most definitely. I

30:59

see a

31:01

spot. I do

31:03

everything possible to win the main event

31:05

challenge. John Anakin,

31:07

Kenny Florian podcast. Let's

31:10

go to the main event challenge. Brian Petrie

31:13

on X. You can find him at Brian

31:15

Petrie MMA. Green is your color, buddy. Nice

31:17

to see your face. Yeah,

31:19

I'm a green boy. I'm a green boy. Nice to

31:21

see you boys as well. Watch party was fun. Big

31:24

Ron on the thing. Hold it down.

31:26

Knocking the parlay down. I love

31:29

when people win money, baby. That's awesome. So

31:31

we can't wait to have you on a future watch

31:33

party. What's going on at your house while these fights are

31:35

going on? Like, do you have a set up there

31:37

in studio where you can watch the fights? So

31:40

I have a pretty nice set up here. I could

31:42

definitely watch the fights here. I got a sick TV.

31:45

I got the works, but

31:47

I just bought a new couch probably like a month ago.

31:50

And that's how it is. So

31:52

I was on the couch watching the

31:54

fights and just gambling away,

31:56

keeping tracks because I'm a hard paper

31:58

guy. an old man. So

32:01

yeah, keep track of everything. My daughters are

32:03

all, you know, they need

32:05

the same things I have. I have like folders, they want

32:07

folders, I have a little notebook, I had to get them

32:09

a notebook. So it's really cute. But yeah, that's what it

32:11

looks like on Saturday night for me. Dude,

32:13

it's a pro. Yeah. All right, we're

32:16

gonna get into the main event challenge here

32:18

shortly, but quickly a couple of pronunciation files

32:20

for you folks. So you've heard

32:22

us talk about do Plessy for much

32:25

of the telecast today and earlier this

32:27

week, but on his audio file, I

32:29

feel like he kind of says his first name two

32:31

different ways. So first, I'm going to go to BP,

32:34

the middleweight title challenger taken on

32:36

Sean Strickland this weekend. What

32:38

do you think his name is? So I've

32:40

heard his name being pronounced a million times this week,

32:42

and I've remembered it. I've kept it in the chamber.

32:45

The eye throws you off, but I believe it's Dr.

32:47

Gist Du Plessy. So you

32:49

nailed it. And you sound really good

32:51

saying that South African name. And tonight,

32:53

I love the way you say do

32:55

Plessy. But yeah, I go with Drake

32:57

is on broadcast. And that's how we

32:59

have gone throughout his UFC career. But

33:01

some of my colleagues do say Dreykus

33:03

because when you listen to this file,

33:05

it's open to interpretation. The maestro Cody Merrill

33:07

has the file Cody take away. Tricky

33:10

still knocks to Plessy. Drake

33:13

is still knocks. Do Plessy.

33:17

Can flow formerly employed as a linguist of sorts.

33:19

What do you have for us? Yeah,

33:21

it does. It sounds like he's saying Drake is

33:24

Drake is to Plessy. All right. And

33:27

then the other all we have, Jay, what do

33:29

you have? I got nothing, bro. No, I just

33:31

think they got to get the last name, right?

33:34

That's the real key. Yeah. Do Plessy is more

33:36

important. I have broke. Does he speak? Does he?

33:38

Does he? Isn't there is English on his first

33:40

language? So I can

33:43

go into my fighter card library here.

33:45

So Cameron, right? No, no, no. Okay.

33:47

Yeah. Cameron Simon, the

33:49

other South African athlete from that Mornay

33:52

viscer lead team, he speaks the shit

33:54

out of that native tongue. But I

33:56

never heard what is it Kenny? Afrikaans

33:59

or African. Yeah, I looked

34:01

it up because I could have swore I heard

34:03

his cornerman speak that to him in one of

34:05

his fights, Drakus that is. And I was like,

34:07

well, I'm so ignorant. I just thought all South

34:09

Africans spoke English. I didn't know there was a

34:12

different language. All right. So

34:15

yes, for sure. But I've heard Cameron Simon

34:18

invoke that native tongue a lot more than Drakus

34:20

do Plessy. And then the other file we have,

34:22

Bri, and I don't know if you want

34:24

to give this one a go, but Molasar

34:26

is fighting Arnold Allen in the pay-per-view main

34:29

card opener. Care to take a gander at

34:31

Mobsar's last name? Yeah. So

34:33

I know he's going to sound scary in Russian when he

34:35

says it. So I'm going to try to do the same

34:37

thing. So it's Evlov. Not, not, not bad.

34:43

Cody, can you rap that pig for me, please?

34:46

That's Canada. Good old bitch.

34:48

Molasar Evlov. I'll do it one more time.

34:50

Molasar Evlov. Yeah, easy. He's

34:52

got it. All

34:59

right. So

35:02

you can either go Evlov, but what I

35:04

go with is Evlov. So I go four

35:06

syllables because that's what I hear every time

35:08

I listen to that file. I bring it

35:10

to the audience today because that is actually

35:12

the audio file that I

35:15

have listened to more than any other fighter

35:17

name in my 12 years. So

35:19

we go Molasar Evlov. Some of

35:21

my colleagues say Evlov. As long

35:23

as you're punctuating that second syllable

35:25

or third syllable, you're okay. All

35:28

right. Main event challenge presented by DraftKings Fantasy Sports.

35:31

Check out what DraftKings has to offer this season

35:33

with code AFPOD because life's more fun when you're

35:35

in on the action. DraftKings,

35:37

the crown is yours. Gambling problem?

35:39

Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Age and eligibility

35:42

restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See

35:44

draftkings.com for details. Bri, I don't know if people

35:46

ask you if you have a gambling problem. People

35:48

ask me all the time. I'm like, dude, well,

35:51

they tell me I have a gambling problem. They

35:53

don't ask me. I say it's a fucking solution.

35:55

It's actually not a problem. It's a gambling solution.

35:57

But you got people who are like, dude, like

35:59

easy on the... You got to deal with that in your life. My

36:02

mother's always worried about it. But no, I mean, I

36:04

only bet MMA. There was a time where I dab

36:07

on the NFL because I love the NFL. But

36:09

I strictly, my all focus is on MMA now.

36:11

So I don't touch, you know, all my buddies

36:13

at work like, Hey, throw five bucks on this

36:16

NBA parlay. I'm like, Oh no, no. Because I

36:18

feel like that's not educated for me. I'm not

36:20

just going to waste my money. So I think

36:22

it's under control, but there's some addiction to the

36:24

MMA. I will be chasing some

36:27

crazy stuff on Saturday nights for sure. But

36:29

I have that focus on one sport, at least

36:32

winter stuff for me. I hit on the NHL

36:34

pretty consistently and I give it all back on

36:36

the NBA. So all right. So

36:39

the new rules, if you don't know, for our

36:41

2024 main event challenge, the fellas will still give

36:43

you predictions on most, if not all main card

36:46

fights, but now they get a weekly $1,000 budget

36:48

to spend. Now

36:51

in terms of the knockout and submission propositions, Brian,

36:53

I do understand that depending on when we tape,

36:55

some of those numbers are not available. So I

36:58

am going to open it up to that. Okay.

37:01

Not necessarily for this week, because I didn't get any

37:03

notice, but if you do want to go knockout submission

37:05

props and you don't have the number available, you can

37:08

still throw those out there. And I will get

37:10

the number later in the week, but let us show you,

37:13

or at least tell you how these guys fared for the first

37:15

live event of 2024. So

37:17

Brian Petri undefeated on the night, a hundred dollars

37:19

on Bruno Fajeta at minus one Roger

37:22

paid 84 75 200 on Mario Bautista at plus one 45.

37:28

So that paid you $290. Then

37:30

of course you had 700 the bulk of your meat

37:32

on Manel top, no action on that fight, but a

37:34

good week for you to an O plus $374 and

37:36

75 cents after week one. And

37:41

then Ken flow a hundred dollar bet on

37:43

Jim Miller at minus one 20 that

37:45

pays out $83 and 33 cents.

37:47

Then you had $700 on Magomed on Kalya.

37:50

He was minus four 55 though. So that

37:52

wager pays you $153 and 85 cents. And

37:56

then you had a way drama and elk cop as well. No

37:58

action there with your remaining 200. So Kenny

38:00

also in the black plus $237 and 18 cents. You

38:02

both go a combined four and oh, we

38:08

also acknowledge Ronnie Pellegrino, Big Ron Betts,

38:10

handling the Anakin Florian podcast parlay on

38:13

Draft King Sportsbook through 2024. He hit

38:15

his first three leggers this weekend. So

38:17

congrats to Big Ron and all who

38:19

tailed him in the book. All

38:22

UFC 297 Strickland versus Duplessis,

38:24

Scotiabank Arena this Saturday. First fight for

38:26

us to break down, Bri. Featherweight

38:29

tilt, Charles Jordain, who is minus 190.

38:32

And Sean the Sniper Woodson, who is plus 145. 13th UFC appearance

38:34

with a 28 year old Quebec native,

38:38

Charles Jordain, but he has not fought in his

38:40

native Canada since 2019. And that was outside

38:43

the UFC. So big spot for

38:45

him here against the ever evolving Sean Woodson. Bri, what

38:47

do you make of this one? I

38:50

love this fight. This is going to be a

38:52

scrap, boys. I mean, listen, Sean Woodson's listed at

38:54

6'2". I don't believe it. I think he's 7'8".

38:56

You see his legs and those arms. That guy's

38:58

way taller than he's listed. I saw

39:00

him fight live against Dennis Wazook in Nashville.

39:02

He kept his range and distance really well.

39:05

Wazook had moments in when he got in

39:07

the range, but he just kept going for

39:09

takedowns. I know Wazook took that on like

39:11

24 hours in this or whatever, but Woodson

39:13

looked pretty good. Before that, he looked very

39:16

hittable. He had been dropped multiple times. He

39:18

landed four takedowns himself against Wazook. He

39:20

entered Charles Jordain though. I think this kid

39:22

especially, he's in his 20 still. Good striker,

39:24

powerful. He does give up a lot of

39:26

takedowns at times and that's been his Achilles

39:28

heel. He gives up takedowns. However, Jugeti's pretty

39:31

good. I don't worry about Woodson's Jugeti as

39:33

much as I would worry about maybe Woodson

39:35

getting his neck taken by Jordain. But I

39:37

think this is going to play on the

39:39

feet. I think Jordain is going to take

39:41

a little bit to find the range, find

39:43

the distance against his seven footer. And I

39:45

like Jordain here. I like Jordain. The number

39:48

doesn't scare me. Give me Charles Jordain

39:50

in Canadian. Starting off

39:52

right here. Let's go Charles. privilege.

40:00

This guy rises to it, right? The crone

40:02

Gracie challenge. I thought he handled exceedingly well.

40:04

So I don't expect the Canadian noise to

40:06

be too much for him. Woodson though, is

40:08

a different prick than he was earlier in

40:10

his UFC career, showed off some new wrinkles

40:12

to his game. Of course, in the win

40:14

over Dennis Pazucchic, campfire loves that word prick.

40:16

He usually proceeds to be a nasty prick.

40:18

But what are your thoughts on Jordain here

40:20

about two to one against Shameless? Dude,

40:22

this is a very interesting fight. I think Jordain

40:25

more than anything else also is a very different

40:27

fighter than we saw early on. I think he

40:29

was really about trying to entertain and

40:31

bring a fight and all that stuff.

40:33

Then he realized, Oh wait, I'm a

40:35

professional athlete. I actually need to win

40:37

here, consistently make money and move my

40:39

way up the ladder. And now that

40:41

he's on that track, I have a

40:44

lot more confidence in him. He spots

40:46

so much smarter the last few fights.

40:48

And I think he'll continue on that

40:50

trend. He's going to need that against

40:53

someone like Sean Woodson, who is very

40:55

tall and lanky and knows how to

40:57

use it. I think there are times

40:59

where I look at Woodson and I go, man,

41:01

this guy is a devastating striker. Very potent.

41:03

But then there's certain times where I feel

41:06

like he drops off and neither loses focus

41:08

or isn't able to kind of recalibrate. That

41:11

can be a concern. I think Jordain will

41:13

have the advantage on the ground. I think

41:16

if Jordain is able to get on the

41:18

inside, I think he'll have the advantage there.

41:20

So I just think there's a little

41:22

bit more ways to win for Jordain. Am I going

41:24

to touch this? Am I going to put some of

41:26

my thousand dollars this week on either of those guys?

41:29

Negative. I'm going to stay away from that one as

41:32

of right now, because I do think Woodson's capable of

41:34

winning that one as well. But

41:36

I am leaning towards Jordain like Petrie. So

41:38

I'm not going to bet it, but great

41:40

fight. All right, Jordain

41:42

on the cusp of the top 15, perhaps he'll

41:45

be ranked if he can get by the 10

41:47

and one Sean Woodson. Why featured

41:49

pre-limit UFC two ninety seven comes your way

41:51

in the men's bantamweight division. Two time ultimate

41:53

fighter winner Brad Katona minus one ninety eight

41:56

Garrett Armfield is plus one sixty four

41:58

Armfield refs marathon MMA. He's 27 years

42:00

of age and Brian coming off his first

42:02

UFC win last August. Now he

42:05

draws Winnipeg's Brad Katona on the road. Your thoughts

42:07

here, BP on the 35ers. I

42:10

think this is a slam dunk, mortal lock.

42:12

You got to throw a bag

42:15

on Brad Katona. This guy, I don't think should

42:17

have been cut from UFC. He's won

42:19

the ultimate fighter twice. He gets a little

42:21

shit. He's kind of got a weird accident.

42:23

This Canadian is iris. It's something is whatever

42:25

he needs to finish UFC. The Cody Gibson

42:27

fight was an amazing fight. He showed chin

42:29

his cardio suit roof is grappling is great.

42:31

Garronfield, a lot of his losses have come

42:33

by submission. Brad Katona in this, in

42:35

front of this Canadian crowd with the fact that

42:37

he is getting labeled boring or decision fighter. He's

42:39

going to go out there. He's going to hunt

42:42

for submission. I like Katona by submission. You can

42:44

put a thousand bucks just on Brad Katona. I'm

42:46

not going to do that right now. I'm going

42:48

to spread my money out. What you know, we're

42:50

doing at the end of the segment, right, John?

42:52

We're just spread the money. So I'm

42:54

going to wait. But I think it's, you know,

42:56

I think this number is way too low. I would

42:58

play Brackett total up to minus 300 in this spot.

43:01

I like them that much. I

43:04

don't know a lot about Garrett arm field. I'll

43:06

know a shit ton about him when I crack

43:08

a mic on Saturday night on the other side,

43:10

though, Kenny Brad Katona wins season 27 of the

43:13

ultimate fighter than recently season 31

43:15

of the way he did it last August in Boston

43:17

at UFC two 92. Brian referenced

43:19

it against Cody Gibson has

43:21

fans like me, pretty intrigued about his future. He's

43:23

about two to one here against Garrett arm field

43:25

at home. Your thoughts? Yeah, absolutely.

43:27

Certainly gained a lot more fans from his

43:30

last flight. I think he's a very good

43:32

fighter. Couldn't agree more with

43:34

Brian Petrie. I think he should have stayed

43:36

in the UFC all along in

43:38

the end. It kind of helped to kind of build

43:40

up a new fan base in some ways. So I

43:43

think he benefited it from that.

43:45

I think he's a fantastic fighter in

43:47

all areas. I think he's dangerous. I

43:49

think he has arm fields numbers here.

43:53

And you know, our field, I think while he

43:55

has had some submission wins, I

43:57

think he's susceptible to the submission as

43:59

well. well. And I think Katona

44:01

is just going to be a

44:03

little bit sharper there. So I like Katona

44:05

here. Yeah, Armfield can crack.

44:07

There's no doubt about it, but he is the

44:10

betting underdog this weekend. All right. Pay-per-view

44:12

main card opener featuring two of the top featherweights

44:14

in the world. The 17 and

44:16

0 mob star, Yevloiev is minus 180. Arnold

44:19

Allen plus 150. So these guys were born

44:21

20 days apart back

44:23

in the winter of 1994. Yevloiev trains

44:25

out of America. Top team certainly was

44:27

tested last May. Brian went over Diego

44:30

Lopez. He's now had nearly eight months

44:32

since to further work on his

44:34

skills. Arnold Allen making his UFC debut all

44:36

the way back in 2015. But in his

44:38

first nine years on the roster, Allen competed

44:40

just once a year in seven

44:42

of those nine years. So he hasn't always had

44:45

the traction of the other contenders. He's coming off

44:47

a main event loss to Max Holloway. That was

44:49

all the way back in April of 2023. Huge

44:52

fight to kick off the pay-per-view, Brian. You

44:54

go on Yevloiev the favorite or Arnold Allen

44:56

the dog. I love this. I

44:58

think this is gonna be a scrap. This could be

45:00

interesting. There's a lot of questions that need to be

45:03

answered on Arnold Allen. We haven't really seen him fight

45:05

a dominant grappler since Matt Burrell back in the day

45:07

where he was losing until he pulled out that submission.

45:10

And Yevloiev is just an absolute

45:12

fucking stud. I mean, this guy

45:14

lands nine takedowns on average to

45:16

fight the Diego Lopez side. We all

45:19

see how great Diego Lopez is and the way he

45:21

handled them, short notice or not, that's impressive. Not a

45:23

lot of people want to fight this guy. This guy

45:25

is making some traction. He's

45:27

a little bit more finished, I think, before people

45:29

really start talking about him. But he's that good.

45:31

He's on the radar. And I feel like some

45:34

people think I'm a little predictable, right? They're like,

45:36

oh, this is the underdog shot BP is going

45:38

to take. He's going to go on an

45:40

Allen. This is in his wheelhouse. And

45:42

you're right. Earlier this week, I was all

45:44

over on an Allen, but I'm

45:47

uncomfortable with Yevolev.

45:49

But in gambling, you have to

45:51

be uncomfortable. Be comfortable. I mean,

45:53

most are. I think

45:56

he's going to out grapple me or they're going to

45:58

be a strap. Our Allen's looking. juicy

46:00

at the plus number, but I'm going to take

46:02

the Russian in this one. Can't flow

46:04

mob. Sorry. You have Loy of minus one 80

46:06

Arnold Allen is plus one 50

46:08

Allen returning for the first time since that

46:10

main event against max Holloway nearly nine months

46:12

ago. So a lot of preparation time on

46:14

both sides and real quick in terms of

46:17

Diego Lopez, right? Josh Emmett last December. Hey,

46:19

you want to fight Diego Lopez or Bryce

46:21

Mitchell? Probably made the right call in

46:23

avoiding the local as so to speak, can flow

46:25

huge fight here at featherweight, which way you going?

46:28

Yeah. Listen, and I think, you

46:31

know, for me, I was pretty high on it. You've Loy

46:33

is after I saw him

46:35

fight Diego Lopez. Now, of course we

46:37

know that Diego Lopez is absolutely a,

46:39

a, an excellent fighter, but he

46:41

was in, he was in some really tough

46:43

spots, man. He was in a few

46:46

submissions that looked like Lopez was going to

46:48

finish. I also thought that

46:50

he showed a certain vulnerability on the

46:52

feet that I'm

46:54

not sure it was as apparent prior

46:56

to that flight as

46:59

it was. So he's an excellent grappler. He could

47:01

go out there and take

47:03

a lot of guys down in that division,

47:05

control them, land ground and pound and what

47:08

every single round against a lot of guys

47:10

in that very dangerous division.

47:13

However, I think Arnold Allen has faced

47:15

tougher competition at this stand at this

47:18

standpoint. I think that he is certainly

47:20

going to be a threat when it

47:22

comes to exchanging on the feet. I

47:25

think that Allen may have some trouble in the

47:27

wrestling department a little bit, but I think if

47:29

he's able to capitalize when he is on his

47:31

feet, if he's able to tire out, if Loya,

47:33

not an easy thing to do, I kind

47:36

of like his chances here. No doubt. If

47:38

Loya is the favorite for good reason. Um,

47:41

I think that's the easy choice, but

47:44

I think, I think there's juicy enough odds

47:46

here for Arnold Allen to go that route.

47:48

So I'm actually going to go the other

47:50

way. I'm going with the underdog here. Um,

47:54

and I'm not playing it safe. I

47:56

got some extra cash from last week. Not as much as

47:58

Petri, not as much as Petri. But I'm

48:00

gonna put some I'll put some on

48:02

Alan. I think I will save that for the show

48:05

I will just say this is the biggest fight

48:07

of Arnold Allen's career in large part because it's

48:10

the next one certainly a main event Against max

48:12

Holly doesn't get any bigger nap and now Can't

48:15

lose two in a row if you're gonna become a world champion,

48:17

especially at 145 pounds So gotta

48:20

be this weekend if you're Arnold Almighty

48:22

Alan. All right, admit away the king

48:24

of combat, right? Chris Curtis

48:26

your longtime friend minus 175 Against

48:29

mark Andre Barrio who's plus 145 just gonna be

48:31

a huge huge Night

48:35

for this division and year for this

48:37

middleweight division now was a winless 2023

48:40

for your guy Chris Curtis your thoughts around him here against

48:43

power bar mark Andre Barrio, Brian

48:46

So I get labeled as biased towards Chris in the

48:48

course I am listen Kenny knows this if you punch someone

48:50

in the face and you get punched by someone in

48:52

the face over a hundred times It creates

48:54

a bond. Okay. I love Chris. I've

48:57

spoken to him a little bit, you know, congratulations having a

48:59

kid He's a father for the second time

49:01

now and he's also from media

49:03

You know people are getting under skin a

49:05

little bit people were calling her names or

49:08

getting off Twitter, but he's dialed in He's

49:10

leaner than I've ever seen him. He's in

49:12

the champ camp with Strickland side by side

49:15

And he's getting good rounds and he finally

49:17

took the much-needed time off this

49:20

guy the minute he would win lose whatever

49:22

He's back in the gym working knits He

49:24

finally forced himself to remove himself from the

49:26

gym for at least a couple weeks get

49:28

refreshed get in there He's been doing this

49:30

since he's 20 years old and

49:32

I feel like that's gonna be good And that's

49:34

what he needs because I love mark Andrew Barrio.

49:36

I know this is John's guy He trains with

49:38

John squad down there and since his move to

49:41

Florida. It has been a

49:43

different fighter. He was averaging landing

49:46

43 strikes a fight before Florida now.

49:48

He's over 100 landing his cardio through

49:51

the roof He's never gonna be a

49:53

big takedown machine, but his powers there

49:55

is boxing there He has more weapons

49:57

on the feet than Chris Curtis does

50:00

that are kicks, he's better than the clinch.

50:02

Chris has that boxing and he

50:04

used to make really he's have really good footwork. He

50:06

didn't have a ton of knockouts coming into UFC prior

50:08

to that. He would wear guys down to get him

50:10

in the third, fourth, fifth round, body

50:12

shots, take him over. That's not going to happen if they're

50:14

around fighting against Mario. Cardio too good. So Chris

50:17

needs to get on his bicycle game, quit being flat

50:19

footed, trying to find those power shots like he's been

50:21

doing. Start moving your feet again. I love to see

50:23

him throw some kicks. Don't know if that's in his

50:25

DNA. This is going to be

50:27

an absolute scrap. I was wondering why Chris was so

50:29

high at minus one 75. But if you

50:32

look at the resumes, Chris has fought a lot

50:34

of people. He's got some impressive skulls on his

50:36

resume right now. And we're keen Buckley. But

50:39

Chris needs to be active. He needs to throw his hands.

50:41

This is going to be a firefight. I think this will

50:43

be five the night. I wish I could bet on that.

50:46

I think this will be five. Obviously, I'm going Chris Curtis.

50:48

That's a long winded say I'm going to go Chris, but

50:50

I'm very nervous about it. So I'm going to stop talking.

50:53

I do like the champ camp angle though.

50:55

Him and Sean Strickland being side by side

50:57

in preparation for these fights. I think that

50:59

is something that could it stands to reason

51:02

for both individuals. Ken flow on the Marc

51:04

Andre Barrio side UFC career began in 2019

51:06

starts winless in his first

51:08

four fights and could have been cut

51:10

right. He loses his first three then he had a

51:13

win over turn to a no contest because

51:15

of failed post-fight drug test. He's

51:17

won five UFC fights since that time.

51:19

Now he gets a high profile pay-per-view

51:22

opportunity. Biggest discrepancy when I break these

51:24

guys down to Brian's point is strength

51:26

of schedule. But your thoughts on Barrio

51:28

here plus 145 the dog against

51:31

the soon to be 37 year old Chris Curtis. Yeah,

51:33

no question about it that Marc Andre

51:36

Barrio is extremely dangerous as is Chris

51:38

Curtis, especially when you talk about a

51:40

boxing range. I think both

51:42

of them are dangerous in that range. So I'm

51:44

curious to see who has better defense in this

51:46

fight. I think it may very well come down

51:48

to that and who's able to execute when they

51:50

need to as far as their strategy and their

51:52

approach to this one. And Brian

51:55

is spot on. I think that

51:57

Chris Curtis has to throw more

51:59

volume in. in this fight and has

52:01

to do it by having better

52:03

positioning. Sometimes he stays in that pocket, stays

52:05

in that lane of strikes where he opens

52:07

himself up a little bit, not sure you

52:10

want to be in there against someone like

52:12

Marc Andre Barrio. So, um,

52:14

I, but you're right, Johnny, if I'm going to

52:16

lead a certain way, I'm going to go with

52:18

the guy who has faced the tougher competition.

52:21

And as of right now, it's pretty clear

52:23

that that guy has been Chris Curtis. So

52:25

I'm leaning towards Curtis and, uh, yeah,

52:27

I think either way, it's going to be an

52:29

exciting fight. Yeah. All

52:32

right. Three to go featured about a welterweight

52:34

prop of Mike Malat minus three 40 taken

52:36

on Neil Magny, who is plus two 70. So

52:39

Malat was with us on the Anakin Thorpe podcast

52:41

last week. He can check that out right here

52:43

on the Jaffkins YouTube channel. He couldn't have possibly

52:45

sounded better. He's three and only UFC. Many

52:48

expect bride that he'll be heard from in a big way in

52:51

2024, beginning on this night, Saturday, but a

52:53

big number next to his name against the

52:56

guy with more UFC welterweight wins than George

52:58

St. Michael. And everyone else Malat

53:00

or Magny for you, BP. So

53:02

I love Michael a lot. I do think he's the face

53:04

of Canada. I think he is. He's a good looking kid.

53:07

He's exciting. You know, I just wish he would fight

53:09

a little more. Like this kid's a fucking Adonis, by

53:11

the way, you and Aaron Bronson are both that acknowledge

53:13

his looks. I mean, Tyler Woodley is a

53:15

better looking man than Michael. He said, I mean,

53:17

Tyler Woodley is a good look guy, but

53:20

you know, he's not like on my top 10 most

53:22

handsome men. And he cracked. He cracked

53:24

my top 10 all day. All

53:27

right. All right. Can

53:29

I do it with respect? Hopefully Malat doesn't come up to

53:31

me this weekend. He's saying I'm fucking homely or then I'm

53:34

not. I have

53:36

two heterosexual men come on here.

53:39

How handsome Mike Malat is. And

53:41

I mean, I think there are even other welterweights

53:44

that are more handsome with. Let me tell you

53:46

a quick story real quick. So I was in

53:48

New York years ago with my wife and we're

53:50

in Washington Park and his little dogs are smelling

53:52

my wife's feet. And I turned. I look like,

53:54

what is this little dog doing? Mike

53:56

Baldwin is dogs smelling my wife's feet and

53:59

him and I lock eyes. He goes hey, how are

54:01

you? I heard you. He looked like a hobo, right?

54:03

Cuz he's trying to be he was the most handsome

54:05

man I've ever seen my life Looking

54:08

like a hobo and you know, I was balling the 80s

54:10

was a stud This is this is a couple years ago.

54:12

I was ball when I couldn't believe it

54:14

He knocked my socks off, but I do think Mike

54:17

Milan is in the top 10 Tyler Willie's a very

54:19

good fighter or she's a very good-looking guy He obviously

54:21

gets chicks and we all seen the video right pretty

54:23

well for himself. Yeah Um, but I do think my

54:25

loss of your looking guy Am

54:28

I still breaking down I go anyway Yeah,

54:34

so I like mulatto think he's the face of

54:36

Canada I think he's exciting And

54:39

thank you for coming on the show

54:41

Mike mulatto in the innocent for in

54:43

your great guy that always boost fighters

54:45

They always win, but oh

54:47

Canada. I'm going against you

54:50

Neil Magni just has a way

54:52

to make fights ugly. We've seen

54:54

the Ian Gary fight He

54:56

just knows how to slow people down and

54:58

I don't know if I trust Mike

55:00

Malak's three-round cardio He hasn't been to

55:02

the third round a while Neil Magni's a

55:05

dog in there He could get overwhelmed in

55:07

the first round and Mike Malak to be

55:09

waving the Canadian flag all over my dead

55:11

body and that is acceptable

55:13

but Neil Magni's just one

55:15

of these guys you're hanging a number like that

55:17

on me against his vet. I'm gonna

55:20

go Neil Magni here Sorry, Mike Malak. You're a great

55:22

guy and If you win

55:24

you can stop all over my corpse, but I gotta

55:26

go I gotta go new Maggie Nicely

55:28

done Brian Ken flow the

55:31

word gatekeeper and mixed martial arts has

55:33

a lot of negative connotations But Neil

55:36

Magni has become this division's gatekeeper you

55:38

don't hear me say that a lot

55:40

because it's somewhat insulting but In

55:43

order to get to that requisite next-level top

55:45

10 You usually have to beat Magni

55:47

and everyone fucking calls him out which

55:49

suggests that they think he's beatable He went

55:51

one and two in 2023 lone win

55:53

came by split over Phil Rowe He's

55:55

making his 30-second UFC appearance here and he

55:58

does so against the heavily favored a

56:00

lot can flow. Any thoughts on this one? Yeah,

56:02

I think for better or worse, you know,

56:05

Neil Magny has established himself as kind of

56:07

that measuring stick in the welterweight division. You

56:09

get by him, it means

56:11

I think for the most part that you're elite

56:14

or can be elite in that division. So I

56:17

think that's also, you know, in

56:19

some ways, a respectable position to

56:22

be in, right? Because you

56:24

are that gatekeeper and I think I don't think

56:26

there's anything wrong with that. And I think Neil

56:28

Magny can pose a lot of problems for people.

56:31

I also for the record, I want to say that

56:33

if this podcast goes under and we lose

56:35

90% of our

56:37

audience, which is no doubt male, it's

56:39

going to be John Anick, Brian Petrie

56:41

and Aaron Bronsetter's fault. Okay, so I'm

56:43

going to go forward with it. Jason,

56:46

you're here, Cody, you're here, you're witnessing

56:48

this conversation. It's going to be their

56:50

fault. Okay, so listen, I think this

56:52

is a really fascinating fight.

56:54

And I think what has me nervous

56:56

is the length and the jab of

56:59

Magny. And like Brian said, he does

57:01

have a knack for making some people

57:03

look bad. And if you take Neil

57:05

Magny, easy, right,

57:07

if you underestimate this dude, you're going to

57:09

be in for a long night, he can

57:11

make you look bad. However, just

57:14

hearing Mike Mulott talk about the fight,

57:16

talk about his preparation, how we see

57:18

things from a mental perspective, physical perspective,

57:20

what he's been working on, I think

57:23

that was really helpful for me because

57:25

this is a very serious professional who

57:27

understands the opportunity that's in front of

57:29

him here. I don't see him taking

57:31

Magny lightly. And but

57:33

if he's not if he doesn't have an answer to that

57:36

job, I this is going to be Magny's

57:38

night. However, I think Mulott has enough experience

57:40

at this standpoint to get around it to get

57:42

on the inside land shots, maybe hit some take

57:45

downs and take advantage of some positions on the

57:47

ground. I think he's a better grappler. I think

57:49

overall, he's a better striker just needs an answer

57:51

to that jab. I think we'll find out early

57:54

if he does have an answer. So I'm leaning

57:56

towards more here, guys. All right,

57:58

well done, kid. That segues up. to

58:00

the co-main event for the undisputed UFC women's

58:02

Bantamweight title, which is vacant at

58:05

present. Maeda Bueno Silva, minus 170. Raquel

58:07

Pennington, plus 142. Little

58:10

backdrop for you. Bueno Silva had a main

58:12

event win against Holly Holm. Overturn

58:14

back in July. She tested positive for Adderall, I

58:17

believe it was after the fight. If you got

58:19

any extra, let me know. But the UFC stuck

58:22

by the now title contender.

58:24

That would have been her fourth straight

58:26

win. And now the meanest Jedi's native

58:28

gets her first championship opportunity in the

58:31

UFC. Brian Petrie, booty

58:33

alone. We all want

58:35

to join the opinion in this spot, join

58:37

the opinion in Silva or talking that good

58:39

shit with each other. We all want it.

58:41

Pennington is coming in. OG. Been around for

58:43

a while, right? I can't get

58:46

over the fact that she kind of quit in the

58:48

Newness fight. We all saw the corner work. She lost

58:50

her second fight after that. We thought she was done,

58:52

but she's came back. She's had a second life now.

58:54

She looks fantastic. She's looked great. Hasn't been submitted in

58:56

UFC, which is what Silva wants to do. She wants

58:59

to submit you. She wants to take you down. She

59:01

wants to submit you. She's got to go standing guillotine.

59:03

Ask Holly Holm. You know, I know that got overturned,

59:05

but, um, and I like Silva. We need, Newness was

59:07

like the really sweet badass who

59:09

could turn it on. Silva is talking that

59:11

shit, standing up in the crowd. Like I

59:13

love that. She's mean. She's mean. She's a

59:16

bad bitch in there. And I love that

59:18

about her and her striking is coming along

59:20

way. The volume's coming along way. She's getting

59:22

better. And you know, people,

59:24

when, when, when there's a female fight, they,

59:26

they looked all BP because BP knows chicks.

59:29

I got a little sign by him. Like

59:31

you know chicks and I am the one

59:33

who knows shit. Clearly I know chicks guys.

59:36

So I'm going to go Silva,

59:38

uh, as the champion and I can't wait for her

59:40

and painted a fight. Cause that's going to be a fucking scrap. Um,

59:43

I like silver in the spot probably by submission as

59:45

well. Uh, when the props come out, we'll, we'll look

59:47

at the submissions for sure. Two

59:50

of the meanest women at MMA on the women's

59:52

side, Maita Bueno Silva and Juliana Pena. But Raquel

59:54

Pennington could have something to say about all of

59:56

that. She's won five in a row Kenny. And

59:58

now it's 30. 5 and

1:00:01

a half years removed from her first crack

1:00:03

at UFC goal, which came against Amanda Nunez

1:00:05

at UFC 224. We'll

1:00:07

see if the second time will be

1:00:09

the charm for Raquel Pennington. Great person,

1:00:12

not as elite an athlete, I would say, as

1:00:14

Maeda Bueno Silva, but she's got a lot of

1:00:16

tools, a lot of experience. Your thoughts on Pennington

1:00:18

here, Ken Flo, versus the favored Brazilian Maeda Bueno

1:00:21

Silva. These women come to fight.

1:00:23

I like this matchup a lot. I think it's

1:00:25

going to be very exciting while it lasts. Both

1:00:27

these women are nasty, whether

1:00:29

it's with strikes or submissions, they're there

1:00:31

to do damage. I like that

1:00:33

a lot. Maeda

1:00:35

Bueno Silva has surprised me.

1:00:40

She comes from an area, Ubralandia, where

1:00:42

there hasn't been a ton of them

1:00:44

that have come out of there, but

1:00:47

there's been some very, very

1:00:49

special martial artists that have come

1:00:51

from Ubralandia. I know

1:00:53

in Jiu-Jitsu anyways, you have guys like Marcelo

1:00:55

Garcia, one of the greatest, arguably one of

1:00:57

the greatest of all time in the Jiu-Jitsu

1:00:59

world. You also have Lucas Leppri, my buddy,

1:01:02

who I train with from time to time. One

1:01:05

of the best all-time, certainly one of the best lightweights

1:01:07

in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu history. Natan

1:01:10

Schult, the guy who was a champion a few

1:01:12

times over in the PFL, who trains over in

1:01:14

American top teams. So they have produced some really

1:01:17

elite martial artists over the years. I

1:01:19

think she's special, man. She's very aggressive.

1:01:22

She knows how to bring

1:01:24

the fight over her way. I think

1:01:26

she's facing another girl who is really

1:01:28

nasty, loves to do damage in Pennington.

1:01:30

I think if Pennington is able to

1:01:32

get into boxing range consistently and stop

1:01:35

those takedowns, that's how she

1:01:37

wins this fight. I just don't think it's going to

1:01:39

be that easy. Silva has a

1:01:41

knack for bringing the fight into her

1:01:43

realm. Even if she's

1:01:45

on her back, she's very dangerous. She also knows

1:01:47

how to mix in strikes at the right time.

1:01:49

So I think this is

1:01:51

a Brazilian fighter that is poised to get the win here.

1:01:54

I don't think it's going to be easy, but I think she gets

1:01:57

the win. $1,000

1:02:01

expenditure. We will break down the main

1:02:03

event for the undisputed UFC middleweight title,

1:02:05

the American incumbent, Sean Strickland minus one

1:02:09

35. The South African challenger, Drake is two plus he is plus

1:02:11

one 14. So Strickland now,

1:02:13

Brian with confidence, seemingly accrued from that domination

1:02:15

of Israel out of Sonya trying to make

1:02:17

good on the first title defense against

1:02:20

the hard nose do Plessy. How

1:02:22

we feeling about the main event, Brian? I

1:02:25

love this man. I loved it before

1:02:27

they scrapped in the paper in the

1:02:29

audience before the press conference. I was

1:02:31

new blood new what's gonna happen? Sean

1:02:34

Strickland blew me away against Israel. He

1:02:36

shut him down with that weird shell

1:02:38

that he's got. It's not for everyone.

1:02:40

It doesn't work for everyone. I know

1:02:42

people went to the gym on Monday

1:02:44

and try to duplicate it. It's very

1:02:47

hard to do. It's not something that

1:02:50

you know that everyone can do. But he

1:02:52

does it very well. He's confident now. He

1:02:54

looks to me in phenomenal shape as well. So

1:02:56

all picture with him and Johnny Eblin. He's diced

1:02:59

up, you know, his abs are diced. His cardio

1:03:01

has never been in question. He

1:03:03

will take fights on short notice. He still can go five

1:03:05

rounds. Doesn't matter. Do Plessy man.

1:03:07

This guy shout out

1:03:09

hardcore and a conflorian listener

1:03:11

Tom T Clark IV on

1:03:13

on Twitter. I

1:03:16

think he's a New England boy and he loves

1:03:18

the South African the whole camp. Like he's obsessed

1:03:20

with do Plessy. He's been riding do plus he's

1:03:22

wave and I remember seeing him on

1:03:24

Twitter talking about you plus he's gone man.

1:03:26

Well, I don't see it. I'm what am

1:03:28

I missing? I lost almost my house on

1:03:30

the Robert Winniker fight because I thought that

1:03:33

was such a layup. But do Plessy just

1:03:35

has something about him. He's awkward enough. He's

1:03:37

powerful enough. He's strong enough just to do

1:03:39

things that are there. His nose is fixing

1:03:41

and that was a big problem. I saw

1:03:43

him fight live in Darren till against their

1:03:45

until in Vegas again didn't blow me away.

1:03:48

And I think Sean trickling to me just

1:03:50

walks through him right. John Strickland

1:03:52

take down offenses is goaded at 185. His cardio is

1:03:57

elite his striking in boxing there.

1:04:00

Defense a little questionable when he brings

1:04:02

his chin up and do plus he's could step

1:04:04

into a right hand. We obviously could be seeing

1:04:06

a new champion, but I don't know, man. I'm

1:04:08

missing the boat on do plus ease. I don't

1:04:10

understand it. I'm blind to him. I guess I

1:04:12

don't know. I'm all over Sean Strickland

1:04:14

here. I think this is a Sean Strickland fight.

1:04:16

I think it TKO late, maybe even the decision

1:04:19

win most likely, but I see Strickland all day

1:04:21

in this fight. I just, I don't see it

1:04:23

any other way. Kenny, Drake

1:04:25

is do plus ease upset of Robert Whitaker.

1:04:27

It was UFC two 90 last July. That

1:04:29

made him the number one contender. His foot

1:04:31

was injured. So the Izzy fight didn't happen.

1:04:34

Do plus he largely bet on himself and indeed it

1:04:36

was the right wager. His next fight will be

1:04:38

for the championship, albeit

1:04:40

against Sean Strickland. First

1:04:42

men's UFC title fight of 2024. Kenny

1:04:46

do plus he has burned you in the past. What do you think

1:04:49

about him here against trickling? Yeah, he sure has. Um,

1:04:51

you know, thankfully he's burned a lot more fighters than

1:04:53

me. I should say as

1:04:56

far as picking, right? I feel bad for those fighters.

1:04:58

They go, I'm going to take care of this guy. He

1:05:00

doesn't, he's not a great striker. He's not a

1:05:02

great grappler. It seems like he

1:05:04

gets tired during fights. I got this. No,

1:05:06

you don't got this against trick is too

1:05:09

policy. I'm sorry to say guys. Um,

1:05:11

he's, he's a juggernaut. He, he continues

1:05:13

to come forward. You hit him clean.

1:05:16

He shakes it off, continues moving forward,

1:05:18

lands shots at awkward times. He can

1:05:20

drop you with the jab. He could,

1:05:22

you know, head and arm throws, whatever

1:05:25

it is. And he does damage

1:05:27

in a very short amount of time.

1:05:29

It's like he was losing that whole

1:05:31

first round against Whitaker. It was like,

1:05:33

ah, this is going to be another,

1:05:36

you know, uh, performance from Whitaker

1:05:38

just cruising to victory here. Uh,

1:05:40

at the end of that round, not

1:05:42

only did you place see steal that

1:05:45

round, he stole the fight because of

1:05:47

it. Whitaker thought he was smooth

1:05:49

sailing and he forgot about that guy that

1:05:51

was in front of him to place see,

1:05:54

Um, who was landing some

1:05:56

really hard shots from some

1:05:58

weird spots. Are

1:06:00

you know he uses a a more

1:06:02

of a of clamshell tied to the

1:06:05

feds both elbows up so have very

1:06:07

similar to Stricklin. when you're throwing shots

1:06:09

you're punching elbows you're you're putting the

1:06:12

top of the head just awkward stuff.

1:06:14

You think you have position on a

1:06:16

duplicity. Then he gets out. He goes

1:06:18

for submissions that you don't think are

1:06:21

there. that might be a little risky

1:06:23

and those long arm start to wrap

1:06:25

up deities the door says and it's

1:06:28

just I. It's a nightmare of a

1:06:30

backdrop for any what. One hundred eighty

1:06:32

five pounds despite you thinking you were

1:06:34

the better fighter and guess what you

1:06:37

might be right you might be the

1:06:39

more skillful fighter. Are you be better

1:06:41

fighter on? Not so sure Now so

1:06:44

strict with also brings with him a

1:06:46

certain level of on orthodoxy were obscene.

1:06:48

you throw people off but I think

1:06:51

shot stricken with his most effective when

1:06:53

he's walking you down, when he's backing

1:06:55

you up, put you up against the

1:06:57

cage and that kind of picking your

1:07:00

part bit by bit. Too

1:07:02

I see him backing up some would

1:07:04

like to placebo. I. Told ya

1:07:06

other thing you would. He fought.

1:07:08

Saw. His last fight against Kid and ear

1:07:11

I thought that was a pretty good indicator

1:07:13

if you go back and watch that point

1:07:15

because Kennedy was caught a putting stricken with

1:07:17

a little bit on his heels more but

1:07:19

wasn't throwing a lot of volume. Certainly wasn't

1:07:21

landing a are certainly was going for lot

1:07:23

of take downs in my penis and I

1:07:25

don't think strict on his face. The lot

1:07:27

of guys that had been tried to take

1:07:29

of the others just got a lot of

1:07:31

great wrestlers at one hundred eighty five pounds.

1:07:34

Not a lot of them right? You have

1:07:36

to my of you have both decal. they

1:07:38

ever faced some electric why they're they're still

1:07:41

kind of waiting at a whisper that waiting

1:07:43

in the wings for that opportunity so i'm

1:07:45

not sure we've had a great gauge of

1:07:47

how strict with does that gets a dude

1:07:50

who was committed to take him down i

1:07:52

think that's probably where dd pcs his best

1:07:54

opportunity for success and as we saw gets

1:07:56

whitaker he may be only needs twenty to

1:07:59

thirty seconds of ground and pound to

1:08:01

make you not the same when you started

1:08:03

inside that octagon. It's uncanny.

1:08:05

I haven't seen many guys who can put

1:08:07

it on you like that in a short

1:08:09

amount of time and on the feed for

1:08:11

that matter. The problem with that filly shell

1:08:14

as well is that I do

1:08:16

see a vulnerability in DDP

1:08:18

potentially landing a right hand to

1:08:20

the ear of Strickland. And

1:08:24

that's going to be a problem again

1:08:26

if Strickland isn't able to establish his

1:08:28

pace and use that forward pressure. I

1:08:30

think Strickland's best bet is to dominate

1:08:32

the center of that octagon, back up

1:08:34

DDP, establish that jab, use those front

1:08:37

kicks and keep DDP on his back

1:08:39

foot. If he's able to do this,

1:08:41

this is Strickland's fight. DDP

1:08:44

is going out there to kill or

1:08:46

be killed in my opinion. He's going

1:08:48

to walk forward until you make him

1:08:50

not walk forward. While

1:08:52

Strickland is good at diffusing pressure with circular

1:08:55

movement and things like that, I still think

1:08:57

DDP's awkwardness, his wrestling, his strength, his power

1:08:59

is going to be the difference here. Strickland

1:09:01

isn't that one punch knockout guy. He's a

1:09:04

volume guy. If he's able to find success

1:09:06

at a certain point and then run away

1:09:08

with it, I could see him accumulating blows

1:09:11

in rounds four and five and winning the

1:09:13

fight early though. We're

1:09:16

going to find out just how tough Strickland

1:09:18

is. I think he is extremely tough, but

1:09:21

when I'm looking at this fight, I'm going

1:09:23

to lean towards the underdog here for value.

1:09:27

I like DDP. Trick is too pussy as a

1:09:29

guy I have not picked very often. You

1:09:32

saw all the awards I gave to Strickland.

1:09:34

This has been a tough course for me.

1:09:36

I've done a lot of tape study here.

1:09:38

I'm still very confused what I'm leaning towards

1:09:40

DDP. That's

1:09:43

what happened to Ken Wood with this film

1:09:45

study right before the show. That

1:09:47

was amazing. He gets one shot outstanding

1:09:49

from one of the best mixed

1:09:51

martial arts analysts in the space. All right,

1:09:53

Brian Petrie. You are plus $374.75 after week

1:09:55

one. number

1:10:00

of the week's all year, by the way. So we hit

1:10:02

week two, it's a pay-per-view, UFC 297. Bry,

1:10:05

how are you spending your $1,000? Bryson

1:10:08

Lopate So we're going to go Katona

1:10:10

for $500. Tanner Iskrajic Right

1:10:12

off the bat, I'm almost with $1,000. We're

1:10:15

going to go Ivolev, $200, right?

1:10:17

We'll go opposite Kenny because Kenny likes our

1:10:20

round, that'd be interesting. We're going to go

1:10:22

Neil Magni for $100 just because the number,

1:10:24

let's go. And then now I

1:10:26

feel like a complete asshole betting this because Kenny

1:10:28

just did a masterclass on it, but I'm going

1:10:30

to go Sean Strickland, $200. Bryson Lopate $500 on

1:10:33

Katona, $200 on Ivolev, $100 on Magni

1:10:35

and $200 on Sean Strickland. That's

1:10:41

it. Best of luck in the book, Brian Petrie.

1:10:43

Ken Flow, that brings us to you. You are

1:10:45

up $237 and 18 cents

1:10:48

after week one, you get 1K for Toronto. Ken Flow, what

1:10:50

are we doing? Ken Flow Yeah, I'm

1:10:52

always looking to pick kind of pick brains

1:10:54

and learn what I can from people who

1:10:56

are more experienced in other domains and

1:10:59

having the opportunity to hang out with Big

1:11:01

Ron over in Vegas a little bit. When

1:11:03

I was kind of looking into his process,

1:11:05

how does he do things? For him, he's

1:11:07

like, listen, I'm trying to win. I'm trying

1:11:09

to win bets. It doesn't matter. Even

1:11:11

if they're little ones, I want to win

1:11:13

more than I'm trying to lose. So I have

1:11:15

to be careful how aggressive I get with

1:11:17

certain things. So I've been trying to adopt that

1:11:20

a little bit. I'm behind Petrie already yet again

1:11:22

here in 2024. But this is

1:11:25

how I'm approaching this. I'm going with Katona

1:11:27

for 200. I'm

1:11:29

putting Allen in for 100. I'm

1:11:33

going much bigger on Mida

1:11:35

Bueno Silva here for

1:11:37

400. And I

1:11:39

believe that leaves 100 for me to put on

1:11:42

DDP. That leaves you 300 for

1:11:44

DDP. So you got 200 on Al and so you want

1:11:46

300 on DDP. I'm

1:11:50

sorry, let's put more. I

1:11:54

had more on Allen originally. Yeah, let's put that 300

1:11:56

on DDP too. on

1:12:00

Drakis Du Plessis. All right, Brian Petrie,

1:12:03

outstanding job as usual, my man. No

1:12:05

UFC live event on January 27th, but

1:12:07

perhaps you give us a few minutes on our pay-per-view

1:12:10

recap. If you want more from BP, check out

1:12:12

the MMA Takes podcast, and he is at Brian

1:12:14

Petrie MMA on X. My man, wish you all

1:12:16

the best. Thanks for the time, we'll talk to

1:12:19

you next week. I'll see you boys. There

1:12:21

he is, Brian Petrie with us for the main

1:12:23

event challenge, and we gotta get on out of

1:12:25

here. Wheel's up to me for Toronto.

1:12:28

Appreciate everybody's support in the program. Don't forget,

1:12:31

you can still access our watch party from

1:12:33

last weekend, just a bunch of fucking shenanigans

1:12:35

over on the Anakin Floryn podcast YouTube channel,

1:12:37

and we are right back with you this

1:12:39

coming Monday. We will recap UFC 297. If

1:12:43

you wanna support the show, best way to do that,

1:12:45

check out johnannik.com. All of our

1:12:47

merchandise designs are there. One more sleep right

1:12:49

now can still be accessed at millions.co, but

1:12:51

eventually all that stuff will migrate with new

1:12:53

designs as well. Kenny Floryn, martialarts.com is now

1:12:55

live. Eventually the store will be up there

1:12:57

as well. Also check out Argus Integrated

1:12:59

Defense, and check out Big Ron Pellegrino's

1:13:01

Anakin Floryn podcast parlay in the DraftKings

1:13:04

Sportsbook app for UFC 297. It

1:13:07

may not be there when you're ingesting this

1:13:09

program. It will be there before fight night,

1:13:11

and the only way to play the Anakin

1:13:13

Floryn podcast parlay is on DraftKings

1:13:15

Sportsbook, and can't wait to recap the first pay-per-view

1:13:17

of the year with all of you on the

1:13:19

other side. Thank you to our guests, Aaron Bronstetter

1:13:21

and Brian Petrie. Our executive producer is Cody Bone

1:13:24

Marrow. Thank you also to my brother, Jason Anick,

1:13:26

helping us out on the top of the show.

1:13:28

Ken Flo, see you next week, my

1:13:30

man. Enjoy the pay-per-view. Safe travels,

1:13:32

homie. Have another great show, man. See

1:13:35

you on the other side. Appreciate it, buddy. All right, for Ken

1:13:37

Flo, I'm John Anick. Thank you all for watching. We'll talk to

1:13:39

you on Monday, maybe live Monday morning

1:13:41

at 11 a.m. Eastern. Until then, yo, fuckin'

1:13:43

later. Money, money,

1:13:45

money! Money,

1:13:50

money, money! Money,

1:13:57

money, money! Hey,

1:14:01

ask that! Let him out!

1:14:03

Do not believe me! He's gone red!

1:14:06

He's gone red! He's

1:14:08

gone red! He's been mixing the

1:14:11

mold like the yeast hit a roll. He's alive,

1:14:13

he's dead, he's a soft topper breath. He's gone

1:14:15

red! He's gone

1:14:17

red! He's gone red!

1:14:21

He's gone red! He's gone red! He's

1:14:24

gone red! He's

1:14:26

gone red! He's

1:14:29

gone red! He's gone red!