The Clinch Podcast
Welcome to The Clinch Podcast, your go-to source for all things combat sports! Im your host Chey, and this podcast dives deep into the world of mixed martial arts, boxing, and everything in between. Whether you're a seasoned fan, an aspiring fighter, or just starting to explore the sport, I've got you covered.
Each episode, I break down the biggest fights, the most exciting up-and-comers, and the stories behind the athletes who live and breathe the fight game. From interviews with fighters, coaches, and analysts to in-depth discussions about the strategies, training, and culture that shape the world of combat sports, The Clinch brings you the pulse of the fight world with a unique perspective.
No topic is off-limits – whether it's the hottest fight night previews, game-changing industry news, or tackling the personal journeys of those in the ring and beyond, The Clinch Podcast always delivers fresh, exciting, and honest conversations.
Get ready for powerful discussions, intense analysis, and the raw energy of combat sports. Join me and step into the clinch – where the action happens.
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The Clinch Podcast
TCP ep55: GFL Breakdown, UFC 311, and Sorry I’m a Flake
I MISSED YOU FRIENDS!!! This week we talk about UFC 311 and unpack the highs and lows, unexpected twists, and how I almost missed the ENTIRE card altogether! I also go over some new MMA state laws, Global Fight League (!), and more… Meet me in the clinch!
what's up guys? Welcome back to the clench podcast. I am so happy to be back, so excited. So what had happened was I recorded an episode well, actually three on the GFL League, just going through the website, breaking it down detail by detail how it's going to work and everything, detail by detail, how it's gonna work and everything, and basically the footage is not usable because I'm not able to get the green screen to work. So I just wanted to be super honest with you guys and just let you know I am still working on it, but if you're listening to this, I do have a TikTok live. So not like a live TikTok, but I have a TikTok up now that you guys can go and check out. That's just like a brief overview of GFL. So go ahead and check it out. I had so much fun doing it. I just wanted to go ahead and just take a breather and just research what I needed to research so that I can provide the content that you guys really want to hear and deliver it in a way that you guys really like. So I hope that you guys really enjoyed the TikTok and this episode, but let me know if you guys still want that video or if you want me to go ahead and film a new video going over the updated draft information, because it's so much fun. Just how they have everything set up is so exciting. So let me know what you guys want me to do. I'm okay with doing either. I know a lot of you who listen, really don't care what videos are going to look like, but I still care and I care about what you want, so just let me know.
Speaker 2:But let's go ahead and jump into UFC 311. That was so much fun and it was a crazy night both the actual card and trying to watch the card. So we initially tried to go to this place called Main Event. It's called Main Event, so we thought that they would be showing fights. We get there and it's fun. They have like arcade games and bowling and it's a very fun place. But we get there and ask someone, hey, can you turn the fights on? And they're like, oh, we don't show fights here. So we're like, okay, and so we go over to a Buffalo Wild Wings and one that I used to work out, actually, and that one's closed. And so we go over to another one and they have a two hour wait, which is very understandable. It was already pretty late at that point.
Speaker 2:The main event, or the main card, was about to start, so it was just how it was. So we called around and we eventually found this spot called seven bridges. It is amazing they had. They had actually stopped serving their full menu at that point, but they started serving their late night appetizer menu and they're huge portions for only eight dollars. It was insane. I was so thankful that we had got tossed around from place to place because we ended up at the perfect place. So shout out to Seven Bridges.
Speaker 2:It was such a fun atmosphere and the fights were, first of all, you could hear them. So that was super nice. It wasn't very full. So if you are in Jacksonville or wherever there's the seven bridges, go ahead and watch your fights there. It's the perfect atmosphere. It's much better than the other places. Main event would have been really fun, but they don't show them. So that was the personal craziness of UFC 311. But for the actual craziness of 311, that had a lot of shocking twists and not so shocking twists, but still very, very fun and it delivered.
Speaker 2:So let's go ahead and start off. We are going to begin with Bogdan Koskov versus Billy Elkana Just super quickly, just because it was a super fun fight. Bogdan's ability, ability, ability to reverse the tables with just like a minute to go was really fun. I mean, everyone likes that kind of thing. Everyone likes a little, you know, quick reversal and being able to retain that momentum is even harder to do. So creating that wow moment is one thing. When you are on the defensive end of a position, to then become dominant and then, to, like I said, retain that momentum, carry it on, to then dominate the rest of the round to the rest of the fight, it's crazy. So new fan for Kuzcov. That was a amazing fight.
Speaker 2:Let me know what you guys think. I could be just being overdramatic about it, but I think it was cool. We don't. I haven't seen like a lot of that happen lately, so it's just cool to see that it can happen. We usually just see the momentum kind of going one way and there's kind of like a gap sometimes in the octagon. Just because I'm sure it's a very difficult thing to do on, just because I'm sure it's a very difficult thing to do, I would like to hear experiences that you all have had with maybe training and trying to hit a Russell like that it. Let me know how difficult it is and, especially if you've competed and try and try to do that, let me know what the difference is, because it was just something that popped into my head while I was watching that fight. So yeah, let me know.
Speaker 2:So we'll go ahead and move on to Peyton Talbot versus Raoni Barcelos. So obviously, huge upset, huge upset. I already thought that Peyton Talbot was pretty cool. You know he was super talented and exciting. Then I saw he was friends with Frank Ocean, one of my top favorite artists, so that just made me even more excited. You know, music and MMA aside from my pets, those are in my family, of course those are, like my two most favorite things in the entire world. So whenever I see those two things unite, it makes my little heart so happy. So I really wanted Peyton Wynn, but this isn't necessarily a negative.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of people agree, from what I've seen on social media, that it's just a learning experience for him, and I think it's just. It's not this fight that is going to determine the future of his hype train. It's the next one, right Like that's, of course, where we're going to see if he has taken the lessons from that fight and improved, or if he is just bullheaded and sticks with his usual style training and game plan, and so yeah, we'll see it. You know, we see it all the time with up-and-coming fighters and that's kind of the pivotal point in their career when they are on a win streak and then, of course, they gain a loss and they are then just watched like a hawk to see if that's going to continue, and so I'm sure that's going to be a lot of pressure. So that's a whole other element to his comeback that I hope he considers. So I'm excited for his next fight. We'll see what happens. I hope that the trains gets re-railed. I don't I wouldn't necessarily say it's derailed, not's not a lot of people on social media who are like, oh yeah, that kid sucked, you know, blah, whatever, you know, just being rude like they usually are. So that's good, that is a good sign. So we will see what happens with him next and also with Rani for being able to, you know, kill that one shrieking, derail that hype train per se, per se, as they say, whatever, whatever they say. So, yeah, I look forward to seeing what they both do next.
Speaker 2:And after they fought, we had Kevin Holland versus R hope I'm saying that right, I am trying my best. And so Kevin Holland was also another fighter that I was really hoping was gonna win. He obviously did not. He tried his mightiest and it just it wasn't enough that night. That's just really sucks. But you know what, if there are any issues with his contract coming up because of his relatively inconsistent record, I hope he does sign over to GFL. He would be an incredible asset to that league. He would bring so much to the table. So I hope that happens and I hope he gets paid much better over there if that happens, if he I'm not sure exactly how many fights he has left on his contract, but we'll see what happens I will let you guys know, or if you see it before, I do let me know.
Speaker 2:But for now let's go ahead and move on to Yuri Poroska versus Jamal Hill. So that fight went pretty much how I thought it would, how you thought it would, how he thought it would, how she thought it would. So I don't really have much to say other than Yuri Poroska is a national, international treasure and he is just an incredible athlete and he really proved a point with his head movement. A lot of people thought it was just kind of showboaty did hear the negative talk about his head movement and his defense of his face, where his hands are and everything, all those critiques. He really listened to those so those people understand where that critique was coming from and he really improved so much. His hands are still pretty low, a little low, but obviously that wasn't really much of a problem. But with Jamal Hill I didn't really anticipate it being much of a problem.
Speaker 2:Not that Hill is a terrible athlete he's not. He's very talented. He's just not my cup of tea because he instigates fights and I don't really like people who instigate fights. I think it's lame and stupid and especially if he and he's the kind of person that like throws a stone and hides his hand. So that's also not my favorite. But whatever, um sucks that he lost, but super happy for Yuri and incredible that you brought out his fan, uh, who is battling cancers and you know, just kicking it, kicking his tail, you know. So prayers for her and I just hope that we continue to see this kind of behavior in the UFC and just more uplifting and encouraging media.
Speaker 2:Obviously that's not exactly like media, what people want, necessarily, but I hope that we do see more of it. There's always going to be room for the drama and I'm always going to have something to cover and I'm always going to have fun talking about it. But I always want to be able to give a cool story like, hey, this fighter did this for this fan, or this fighter was able to do this for their family because they you know that kind of thing. I am super excited to be able to do that, especially with GFL coming up. I know I keep mentioning them, but they just have such a cool setup and I I'm just so excited to see how it turns out and to just cover everything and talk about it. So, just bear with me, get excited with me. Even better. Yeah, just get excited with. We have something that I think will really be UFC level entertainment. I really believe that this is going to be so much different. I really think that this is what PFL wanted to be when they absorbed Bellator, but better and I can't wait. Yeah, I've said that like five times.
Speaker 2:So let's go ahead and move on and we'll talk about our co-main event, murab Vashili versus Umar Nurmagomedov. So this fight was another upset, but I was a little confused as to why. I did understand that Umar Nurmagomedov has Habib in his corner, so of course he's going to be a huge favorite, but I think it was a little too uneven, that's all I thought. I didn't think that it was unwarranted, I just thought that it was a little too uneven. Just across social media and Marab Devoshili I try my best, okay, we're gonna call him Marab, all right.
Speaker 2:So Marab really must have heard all the talk because he performed at an incredible athletic level that Umar just really couldn't like flow with. He was really trying to dominate the momentum, dominate the positions, but he couldn't get past the fact that Rob's defense was so flawless and it was just kind of over mentally mean. He did try of course he is a part of a team where they live, breathe, eat this, so it's just not going to be something that he mentally gives up on but it was more of like a block that kept him from being able to adjust to what he didn't expect from Rob. So amazing performance from Rob. That was so exciting. It had all of us on the edge of our seat, jumping out of our seat. It was crazy. So it was. Let me know what you guys think. I definitely am not too mad about it because it was at least insanely entertaining, but I definitely didn't think it would be that unbalanced both ways. I didn't think that the criticism beforehand was going to be so unbalanced and then I didn't think that the actual performance was going to be so dominant and one-sided. At least I thought it was more one-sided. It was one of the more competitive one-sided fights, if you know what I mean. But I don't know. Let me know what you guys think.
Speaker 2:And for our main event, we have Islam Makhachev versus Renat Mweikano. Obviously, mweikano stepped into this fight last minute. Thankfully he did. Everyone was super excited. It ended a lot faster than a lot of us wanted, but you know what? At least the fight happened. Both guys got paid. It was fun. It was fun to see such a swift choke. It was flawless, just absolutely beautiful work from Makachev. So yeah, I don't really have too much to say because I could probably talk longer than the fight actually went on. So yeah, it was a great night of fights.
Speaker 2:Actually, getting to see the fights was insanity, but once we actually got there, it was so much fun and it was so much more exciting than I anticipated it to be probably because of the buildup. But, yeah, let me know what you guys think about the fights, and we're not quite done. I did see something really fun that I didn't know prior to watching these fights. But in California, if you didn't watch the fights, you weren't able to, or you're new to the podcast, or you're new to MMA the fights took place in California.
Speaker 2:They take places all over the country, all over the world, and this particular fight was in California in Englewood, I believe and so in 2017, the California State Commission Athletic Commission put a plan in place to try to cut back on excessive weight. Cutting Within those rules was a cap on how much a fighter could gain from the official lands to the fight. If a fighter gained more than 10% back before the bout, the commission then could make a recommendation that he or she move to a higher weight class. If a fighter gained more than 15%, the commission had plans in place to potentially cancel fights. At UFC 311, which took place this Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Englewood, california, 15 of the 26 fighters on the card gained more than 10% of their weight back. Six of 15 exceeded the 15% threshold.
Speaker 2:Mma Junkie on Tuesday obtained a list of fight night weights from the CSAC, and that was a part of an article from Nolan King on MMA Junkie and I thought that was a good rule because that's just an incentive for fighters to cut weight in a healthy way. I think that this should be a standard, or something similar should be standard. I heard an argument that fighters should only participate in weight classes that are within a certain percent of their natural weight and how they define natural weight. I'm not quite sure, but I think that is a good way to kind of make sure that we are keeping fighters healthy. I wonder if GFL is doing something like that. I'll have to check on it.
Speaker 2:But we also have some more fun stuff. We also have the payouts, so we want to know how much everyone got paid right. Moikano, for his last minute switch, he received $250,000, while Makachev received only $200,000. Stuff like that happens all the time. It just is what it is. He stepped up last minute, so of course he is probably going to have a little bit of an incentive. That's my dog shaking his ears in the background. So we also have Marab 500,000. Nurmagomedov only 100,000. We got to get these guys some better negotiators.
Speaker 2:How uneven is that Yuri Poroska versus Jermaine Hill. Poroska made $250,000, which includes his $50,000 bonus absurd. And Hill to his $200,000. And let's see Kevin Holland, he walked out with $250,000, and DeRitter he had a $105,000 bonus and so he walked away with $210,000. Not a lot at all if that's including the bonus. Let's see Barcelos $96,000 win bonus to Talbot's $43,000. Absurdity. Let's see, okay, goosegoth. Let's see he has a, or he had a $43,000 win bonus and he walked away with $86,000. So it looks like the cap was pretty much like a quarter million on the big, on the main, on the fighters, on the main card, and then everyone else is kind of just getting just these absurdly low amounts, just absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2:But anyways, elkhana, $12,000. $12,000. No, there are some procedures that you can that you have to get done to your face to fix it. That is pretty much that much. What are you going to do To live, to pay your people? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Anyways, Grant Dawson 212. Okay, so he's making in the six-figure range. Let's see, oh, that includes $106,000 win bonus, okay.
Speaker 2:And then Ferreira, he did without a bonus, he did walk away with $100,000, so not bad for a prelim. And let's see Carol Rosa and and island perez. They both walked away with about 70 000. Oh, no, okay. So island perez walked away with 70 000 and rosa walked away with 75 000, so 72 to 75, and perez includes her 36 000,000 bonus and I think that's the real reason she was so mad. I don't know what she has against Tracy Cortez, but it's just weird. It kind of comes off as an odd infatuation. So I don't know, maybe she's just mad that she had to do all that to win money and then yeah, no, no, whatever. But anyways, that is all I have for you.
Speaker 2:The next time we will have a UFC event will be February 1st. That is UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia, and that is Israel, adesanya versus Nazardine Imamov. So that one's going to be really fun. I'm excited for it. I obviously think Izzy's going to win I'm such a huge fan, but we'll see. I'm excited to cover it when it happens. And don't forget to check out my TikTok. That is at SheaMyName, and my Instagram is also at SheaMyName, with two Y's in Shea, and I am on Twitter at ShaolinShea. And, just in case you don't know, shay is C-H-E-Y and thank you guys so much for listening. I had so much fun going over all of this stuff and just recording another episode with you guys. No-transcript.
