Khamzat vs Pereira Talk, UFC Mexico Doozy, And Another White House Conspiracy?!

This week the fight world was served a full tasting menu of drams! A headline‑grabbing callout, a tussle between a fighter and YouTuber, an odd co‑main announcement, and a late breaking cancellation that made me cry my face off. We dig into it ALL!

If you want sharp, honest breakdowns and you’re ready for a new weekly fight‑picks segment, you’re in the right place. Hit follow, share with a friend, and drop your take: White House card genius or gimmick?

Transcript

Hamzat Calls Out Alex Pereira

Style Matchup And White House Card

Arman Sarukyan vs MMA Influencers Debate

UFC Mexico Card And Co‑Main Confusion

Looking Ahead To Fight Picks Segment

Breaking: Kayla Harrison Withdraws

SPEAKER_00 0:11

What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Clinch Podcast. If you don't already know, my name is Shay, and this week we are just going to have a chat. We're just going to have some fun. Just relax. Really just catching up on the news that came out this week. Bits and pieces of this, bits and pieces of that. So next week we will definitely be having even more fun because I'm finally coming out with my fight prediction segment. So I will actually be saying my fight predictions for the first time as like an actual official segment. So that's going to be really fun. That's like the most highly requested segment that you all are requesting from me. So I'm excited to do it. And for this week, look, we're going to go ahead and jump in. I want to start off with Hamzat Chumayev's call out of Alex Pereira, one of many with Alex Chumayev, Alex Chumaev. Wow, I'm not even gonna cut that out because that's totally what my brain does like all the time. It just mashes things together. So we're gonna leave that in because that's funny. And Hamzat, not Alex, called out Alex, and he is saying he wants to do it at the White House, and it's spicy because a lot of the Brazilian fans are very offended. They took it super personally, and you know what? As is their right, you know, I'm not the, you know, one who got called out, so I can't really speak for how they must feel. But honestly, it's just fun fight talk, in my opinion. We all know how fighters build up hype for fights, and this is just one of those ways. I don't even think it's close to the craziest call-outs we've heard. There have been, I feel, much more disrespectful call-outs. So I get it. I totally get why people are upset. I just feel like it's just another one of those social media postur things. You know, I think both men are going to put on a super fight and it's going to be so much fun. Ugh, I'll say this. Of course, I'll say more when I do my fight prediction segments, but for now, since it's a while away, I really at this time don't really think that Hamzat Chumayev beats Alex Pereira. I think that Hamzat's advantage has been, you know, his strength. And with Alex Pereira, he's pretty evenly matched, both physically and technically. I don't know, whatever. But I think it's gonna be an amazing fight. I think we should just focus on the fun of it. Also, he's wanting it done at the White House. And I have a lot of feelings, but you're not really here to listen to my feelings. So we'll skip past that and focus on the fact that I feel like the White House card is going to be insane. I hope might be cursed because it's at the White House, but we'll see. And of course, I picked the worst time to record while I'm washing dishes in the dishwasher, but you know, we're like I said, we're hanging out. You're hanging out in my living room with me, and the dishwasher's on, so deal with it. So yeah, I think it's gonna be an amazing fight. I really I'm so so about it, just because Alice Pereira has just been like mowing down everyone. So it's it's kind of to be expected, but of course it's gonna be fun to watch. I don't know why I'm so I'm just feeling so lacklused about it, but I know it's gonna be super fire when it actually gets close to time. You know, maybe once it's booked, I'll get more excited. But we shall see. This White House White House card is gonna be a dozy. And also, I saw this week that Armin, I always pronounce his name different every time I say it because I'm I'm still not quite sure. So everyone else says the same thing. So Arman Sarkurian, Sarukian, Sarukian, Sarukian versus MMA Guru apparently happened this week. And that is very interesting to think about because with Armon, I can see how he's pretty hot-headed right now because of the fact that he got passed over for that title shot. And, you know, blood's boiling in the waters or whatever the sayings are. I think I just mixed like seven sayings and three words. But with the other side of the coin, we've got like this whole debate of influencers, MMA influencers or MMA media becoming too familiar with these fighters and really kind of blurring the line between content and just blatant disrespect. So I feel like I'm not quite sure what happened with MMA Guru. I wasn't there. Let me know if you were. So you could tell me how it really went down. But I feel like it's likely that there was just some disrespect, or Armand was just not in the mood to mess around. I don't even know. I would love to find out the nitty-gritty. But based on what I have found that's like available online right now, it's really just more of a debate between whether it was wrong or right and if fighters should hold themselves to a higher standard, which, you know, I do believe they should because their sport is physical combat. So it would just make sense that boundaries be put in place for fighters. But with the other end as well, we have these influencers and YouTubers who are really just very, very cocky. You would never catch me ever, ever, ever, ever buck up to a fighter. You wouldn't, you wouldn't really catch me buck up to anybody unless I was threatened or, you know, someone I love was threatened. But I'm definitely not ever going to challenge a fighter. I've told people this since I realized that I didn't want to fight professionally. I don't want to compete. I don't want my face like that. You know, like I don't, I don't, I'm not into it. I'm not into it. I'm into watching it, I'm into loving it, I'm into eating eating it, breathing it, sleeping it, not performing it. So yeah, I just I don't understand the allure. I guess, you know, people make money off of their content the crazier it is. I guess I get that, but it just doesn't make sense to me, if that makes sense to you. Because honestly, everyone I feel like there's never any reason to do that. I feel like it's a lack of creativity to like pester an athlete for views, but then again, MMA Guru, I'm sure, is making more money than I am, which is nothing at the moment. You know, please subscribe, share, like, whatever. You know, and I'm also opening up slots for sponsors soon. So keep an eye out for that. But what when it comes to stuff like this with Arman and MMA Guru, I feel like there really it isn't, I don't see how you can make a clear line, especially as like a consequence for fighters, because you know, then that just opens up an alley for all these influencers, YouTubers, social media pesterers, you know, to continue to antagonize them, knowing that there is a consequence for their retaliation. So I think that there's not really any way to clear that muddy water, but let me know if you have a different opinion. I always love hearing everyone's opinions whenever I talk about stuff like this or anything really, but especially topics that are really 50-50 with a lot of people. So yeah, just let me know what you think. And today's episode's really honestly not that long. We've gone a while without fights. I think it's been what, like six weeks now. So we have no fights coming up this weekend. So I really just wanted to, especially after the last couple weeks that were more high energy. Now I'm finally like settled and I have a little bit more equipment. I I'm just much more comfortable sitting and talking to you guys. So it is gonna be a little bit shorter. So we'll have uh one more piece of news that we came across. And, you know, this funchinche is the UFC Mexico card. So I agree with a lot of people on being upset about this coma event. And not, I'm not necessarily upset. I there are people who are like actually upset, you know, please go touch grass. But I personally feel like this was an odd choice, like a lot of other people feel. And I just feel like there were more opportunities for other fighters to coma and event this card. But, you know, I I I don't want to say anything too crazy because I I do like Macy Kiesan uh Chiason. I do like Macy and Island Press. So I did not realize or even know that it was going to be the co-main event until I saw it Nin doing research recently. And I'm not sure if that's because it was just announced or if I don't know, because when I was doing my research on the UFC website, it was like maybe fourth or even fifth down on the list. So I was just like, okay, cool, yeah, like that that makes sense. But to hear that it's a co-main event, I had to like go back and double check a few times because I was just so confused. But that's just another way that the UFC really like kind of lacks in is the upkeep of the website and sometimes like part of the production gets on my nerves sometimes. But I think it's still gonna be a really fun card. Brandon Moreno versus I think Asu Alma Baez. So Brandon Moreno is always fun for me to watch. So I don't know, it's just weird. It was just a very odd, not necessarily matchup, but I guess just like organization. And that's just another example of UFC's matchmaking, rearranging. They're really, really changing it up in 2026. I can already tell. So I know that there has to be a reason. They're just never really gonna reveal it to us, but I think what we should do is just kind of pay attention to things like that in this first quarter of the year's fights and just kind of see what they do next quarter, one after that, and we'll kind of probably pick up on the pattern. So that'll be fun to do together. So, you guys, like I said, short episode. I am really, really, really, really excited for next week. I know I've been saying that the past three episodes, but it really is going to be so much fun to talk about fight picks because it's just a topic that I always kind of danced around. And I know you guys are probably like, what? Like, isn't your whole podcast about like who you think is gonna win? I'm like, no, like I really just babble about fighters, their techniques, how fights went. I do talk about who I think is going to win, but that has always been, I guess, like an insecurity in my life as a fan, because I feel like sometimes I have a Drake curse. But, you know, we're not gonna think like that in 2026. We are going to place our bets for fun or for money, whatever you want to do. Just know that if you lose money, it's not my fault. Okay. But I don't think you will because I really have a good grip on this year's fights. And I'm really happy that you guys are tuning in. And I hope that you tune in next week. Super short, super sweet. Thanks for hanging out with me. Okay, as I was editing this episode, the news dropped that Kayla Harrison has dropped out of her fight against Amanda Nunez. I am so upset. I'm so mad. Like, this sucks so bad. I was so excited for this fight. So if you haven't heard the news, she hurt her neck and she will not be competing against Amanda. And I am just like so, so sad. Like, I don't even know what to say. I'm just reading it. I'm crying as you're crying. You know, we're all, you know, shaking in a corner. No, I'm just kidding. But seriously, I was really looking to forward to this fight. And my cousin actually was the one who showed me the article or the news post. Look at me, sounding 75. The article. My cousin showed me the article. No, but yeah, he showed me the post of you know, the breaking news or whatever. And then he was like, what if it's just a conspiracy to push the fight back to the White House card? And you know what? I like a thousand percent believe that is possible. And I would not be surprised if that I wouldn't be surprised if this fight took place on the White House card. So who's gonna bank on it? I am. Let me know if you're in, if you think that's also what's going on. But also Kayla must have really hurt her neck or something. I don't know. I I think it it's possible that it kind of went down something like this. Hey, Dana, my neck hurts. What are we gonna do about it? Dana's like, you know what? We can put you on the White House card. And she's like, okay, let's do that. And then they just make into this big thing. You know how America works. We all know how it works. So, you know, I I would love to kind of work with the UFC one day, so I don't want to go too hard because I do think that it's an amazing company, and the fighters are just so inspiring, and they have an amazing team behind them in the UFC, so I don't want to go too hard, you know. But let's call a spade a spade or whatever that saying is. So let me know what you guys think. Are you crying with me? Or do you not care? Am I just a big old crybaby? All the above. Let me know what you think. Okay, now actually, I will see you guys next time. Or talk to you guys next time. Hang with you guys next time. Whatever. See ya.