UFC 250 Recap: Chess, Big Mess, and More

I break down UFC 250 fight by fight, from an electric opener to a main event upset that raises real questions about preparation, toughness, and stopping fights at the right moment. We also talk through the controversy that follows certain finishes and what it means for matchmaking when wins feel clouded. 

• Diego Lopez’s adjustments against Steve Garcia’s movement 
• Bo Nickal's  broad skill set
• Mauricio Ruffy vs Michael Chandler and why mindset matters 
• Josh Hokit's gimmick, fan backlash, and why it fell flat for me 
• Sean O’Malley’s focused camp and high-level fight IQ 
• Cyril Gane vs Alex Pereira and the impact of illegal shots 
• Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje upset and bizarre doctor

Transcript

Welcome And Card Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Clinch Podcast. If you don't already know, my name is Shay, and we are finally diving into UFC 250. What an insane seven fights. Honestly, that was everything plus more, plus a little less in some areas, but definitely overall plus more. But I do want to just go ahead and jump into the fights because that's what I like to do. If you've listened before, you know this. And if this is your first time, welcome. We save all the other juicy, relevant or sometimes irrelevant stuff till the

Lopez Vs Garcia Fireworks

SPEAKER_00 1:00

end. So first we had Diego Lopez versus Steve Garcia. Like I thought, Steve had some really great movement. He has been consistent with his footwork all throughout his UFC career, from what I saw doing research for last week's episode. And there were, you know, some moments in the fight because of that that he was able to control it against Diego a bit. But Diego did show up as Mr. Diego Lopez that we all know and fell in love with. So he adjusted just like he needed to, and he capitalized on that moment that really started that fight-ending sequence. So, like I said, fireworks, amazing way to open the night. And after that, we

Bo Nickal’s Hands Surprise Me

SPEAKER_00 1:45

had Bo Nickel versus Kyle Dawkins. So obviously, Bo is a strong wrestler. Even just using the adjective strong seems like an understatement for the level that he operates at. But, you know, obviously last week I just wasn't sold, and I really thought that Kyle would take it. But I really do enjoy seeing someone whose uh original discipline is something very different than what they display in the octagon because that just shows natural, well-rounded ability. And when he expands upon that, he really exemplifies what kind of threat he actually can be. And he's not just someone who's gonna go in there and land prey. You have to watch out for his hands, too. And so this was a perfect display of that example, and he had a very smart game plan and it really showed how he intends to perform within this organization. He does not just want to do the same thing that he's been doing outside of the UFC. Now, obviously, he has the freedom to introduce all these different aspects to his game that he doesn't have the freedom to in wrestling. So now, of course, his game plan is always likely going to be to open with what he knows best. But it's also exciting to see that he has that knockout power and he has that excitability factor. Maybe not excitability, that sounds the tumulty, but he has the it factor about him. So I really enjoyed that fight. I never hate being wrong when I'm wrong in an exciting way. When I'm wrong and it was a good fight and it was a good knockout or submission, hey, I will be wrong because you might be betting money, but I'm not, okay? So I'm not gonna be angry and stomping around just because the fight doesn't go the way that I have called it. So I had a lot of fun watching that fight. But I will say that just compared to the level that everyone was fighting at, his fight and the Josh Hokett fight for me were on the lower energy, lower entertaining side. But that doesn't really say much just because the fights were so crazy. Like those two fights would have still been bangers on a regular card. So I'm not saying that to say that these fights were boring. If anything, I'm just praising how crazy the card was that these two fights, the level that they were at and how entertaining they were, were on the like lower end. If that makes sense. Don't come for me if it doesn't make sense to you, because then you'll just be mad that I'm not making sense to you. So all you little lame Instagram trolls that love to bother me, just chalk it up to a misunderstanding and leave me alone, and we're gonna move on to Mauricio Woofy.

Chandler’s Slide And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_00 4:59

I have heard it at least five different ways. Okay, so Megan O'Levy said or something like that, and you know, she's the queen, so we're gonna go with that. But we're also just gonna call him Mauricio, to be honest, versus Michael Chandler. So obviously, I mean, like, if I had to pick one that I was absolutely without a shadow of a doubt certain on, it is this fight. This one I knew. And of course, it is really sad to watch. I don't know about for you, but for me it is, especially with the comments that he made after, you know, him pretty much viewing himself as the champion still instead of someone who needs to work their ass off to go up the rankings at all again. If he even has that possibility, I would hope so. That's just like, I guess, the optimist in me. But I really feel like his mental is his own worst enemy because if he's thinking that he handles himself like a champ, which I think is just an incredibly tacky thing to say, especially given his journey in the UFC. And I spoke a little bit about it last week as well, how he was huge in Bellator, but when he came over to the UFC, his only wins were Dan and Tony. So he doesn't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to calling himself a champ because he hasn't shown that. And it at this point just feels disrespectful to his opponents because it seems like he's going into it thinking he's the same fighter that he was when he was in Bellator. And that's what's costing him these fights, is he's not elevating himself technically, mentally, or any way, shape, or form. And I mean, he is just naturally athletic, and I'll give him that, but he really does need to take a step back and evaluate himself thoroughly and have a good team around him that advises him well and isn't just telling him that, you know, he just needs to keep doing what he's good at and he'll win the fights. That's not how it's gonna happen in the UFC. These fighters are just coming in younger, faster, sharper, and he's getting older and not evolving. So he really needs to get it together if he's even gonna continue, which it sounds like he's going to, you know, more power to him. I personally think that the biggest issue with him is his physique. Maybe it's not his biggest issue, but I still think it's one that a lot of people don't really take into consideration. I will say that he's in the wrong weight class. And when people hear me say that, they often respond with, Well, you know, it's his natural weight class, he can't really cut down. Exactly. Like, that's my exact point. That's why it's a problem because he is too small for these guys. He really has a disadvantage in his height and his reach. And when he does rehydrate after cutting weight, he still looks really cut and lean. So he really doesn't look like he has it in him to drop down. So that's a huge issue. I'm not saying that to say that he needs to drop down. I'm just saying that all his opponents are bigger than him, Lankier, have a much better reach, and he's running into issues because of that, on top of not elevating himself within his camps. So I'm not sure what the future looks like for Michael Chandler. I think he just needs to kind of reevaluate his career. But I know a lot of people like him, and I sound like a hater probably, but that's I promise that's not the case. I think he's great. Like I said in last week's episode, you know, he adopted a son, and adoption is something that I, you know, feel super passionately about, and I respect that. So I'm not attacking him as a person, it's just his fighting style. It's just not giving him any problems for anyone but himself. So interesting to see what he will do next.

Josh Hockett Discourse And Gimmicks

SPEAKER_00 9:16

But moving on to the next fight, I know last week I went really hard on Josh Hokett, but at this point, I really just don't want to give him that amount of energy anymore because it's not enjoyable. I posted just a little funny reel and TikTok, and the Josh Hokett fans are ridiculous. They are the biggest incel population I have ever encountered. Like my video was not derogatory. It was literally just me shaking my head at the clip of him making that little stupid comment about Ilya's ex-wife. And I wasn't saying anything. I didn't, not even in the caption. And they were all like, oh, well, you know, that's what the heavyweight division needs. And, you know, you're a casual because Jail Sonan did the same thing. Well, well, guess what? I didn't start liking Chail Sonan until like two years ago. So it's not that I think that he's a bad fighter or that he's not good for the division. I think that he does add excitement. It's just that he's gimmicky and it's not my style. He's annoying. That is kind of a fact. Like, I'm sure even if you would ask him if he was annoying, he would say yes. And so it's his gimmick and that I just don't like it. And I think that his comments are tacky. And also, I think that his little arm bar attempt was legit. At first, I thought he was joking. Like I thought he was just putting on act, like, oh, like, you know, I know that I can just hold him here, but let me just, you know, pretend like I can't crank the arm bar to, you know, go to the next round. Like, I thought it was a joke. I don't know what I was thinking, but it just didn't occur to me at the moment that he was that bad at an arm bar. Like that was embarrassing. Like, how do you not know to just pop your hips up? It was just it was just so lame to me to see him act like a fool and then go in there and then actually suck at a basic submission. It was just embarrassing because I really liked Derek Lewis, and he was making Derek Lewis look like an idiot in there. I'm sorry to say, you know, I don't know what Derek was doing, I don't know if he was tired, I don't know what. That whole fight was just weird. It was, I could have done without it. I could have done without it, even if it was a good fight, because I'm not a fan, but it just it didn't really add much value to the card, in my opinion. But we'll just move on because the next fight was definitely exciting and made up for that fight.

O’Malley’s Fight IQ On Display

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And this one I was the most excited about because I love Sean O'Malley's very chess-like movement in the octagon. When he's focused, he is so good at playing chess with his opponents. I had a strong feeling that he would be able to really display this against Zahabi because I don't I know a lot of people chose Zahabi, and I can see why. I just I had a feeling that Sean wasn't really gonna let another fight pass him by, especially someone like Zahabi. Like he's he's talented, but he's not the level of pressure and intensity that Sean's previous opponents have been. So it was kind of a reprieve for Sean, and I know that sounds terrible, sounds like I'm hating on Iman, but I'm not. It's just that there's just a difference. So I saw that Sean looked super concentrated in this camp, as opposed to his previous camps, where he kind of displayed more of like a flippant persona. It seemed like he spent more time playing a character as opposed to leaving the character in front of the camera and actually delivering. So in this camp, I definitely noticed the difference in his demeanor, especially at the final press conference. And I understand why people love him because of his character and him just bringing bringing that entertainment factor. But what I actually think is the coolest thing about him is his fight IQ and the way he sets up his game plans. He just moves, I think, very intelligently. So I'm excited that I got to see that in action again. And he didn't just lose that, so it was a great fight. Definitely added some value to the night.

Gane Pereira Controversy And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 14:03

And this next fight, of course, has a lot of controversy around it, but I don't know. I I do know that there were illegal shots, and Cyril Gon just has a consistent issue with minding his weapons. But when I'm watching the fight back, it looked like Alex went out, got knocked back awake, knocked out again, knocked back awake before that illegal shot to the back of the head even made contact. So it's hard to even say, and I think that's kind of just where we all have to leave it because we need a fight where Cyril Gone is without a shadow of a doubt, no fouls, nothing, and is able to still pull off the wins that he's pulling off. As of right now, his last couple of fights have just been sullied by those fouls, and so it's just really disappointing to see that we haven't gotten that definitive win yet with no dark clouds over it. And I was also confused about what Alex Pereira's plan is going to be, because first I saw that he was going to appeal, and then I saw that he's not going to appeal and that he wants the rematch. But like, Gone and Tom are gonna fight in September in Paris, so I'm just not quite sure what exactly is gonna happen because it's more likely that Tom and Cyril are gonna fight, and I really don't think that Alex is gonna fight anyone else at heavyweight, but he's not gonna appeal. So, what else do we really have here for Alex? I'm not quite sure. I think his best bet is to appeal if he even wants to do anything about it, or if he just wants to charge it to the game and drop back down to light heavyweight. I think that's what he should do if he's not gonna appeal, because he's not really gonna have a shot at heavyweight, because that's just realistically not the fight that's gonna happen right now, unless, you know, Tom cries some more about his eyeballs. Then we really don't have any other options. So we'll see how that goes. I really don't think that it's gonna go anywhere. I think that Alex is just gonna take it to the chin, to be honest.

Topuria Gaethje Upset And Stoppage

SPEAKER_00 16:21

So we'll see what happens, but let's go ahead and move on to our final fight of the night, and that was Ilya Taporia versus Justin Gagey. Insane upset. I think it was one of the more incredible fights that I've seen, and there were definitely some things that stuck out to me aside from the violence that appeared on Ilya's face. One of those interesting things was that John Jones in an interview was asked about Ilya Taporia, and he was saying that Ilya had more of a celebrity outlook or something, as opposed to or lifestyle, as opposed to a champs lifestyle. And I thought that was a very interesting thing to say, and I would put some value behind it coming from John Jones because he had both legitimate talent and strong public persona, huge star power. And so he has a long history of experience, you know, some not so great history. You've heard me really like lay into him on episodes. I'm not very nice. Uh, but you know, he's had experience regardless of how to gauge that kind of balance between the two lifestyles so that it works in your favor. So I'm sure that Ilya could benefit from taking that into consideration. But sometimes that muscle can only really be built through facing real adversity. So I'm sure that Ilya could benefit from taking that into consideration. But aside from that, I feel that in the fight, Ilya really must have underestimated Justin's precision and strength, at least to some degree, for him to have allowed so much damage to happen. Justin said he needed to have a perfect game plan and a perfect fight, and that's exactly what he had. The only reason I think that the fight even went into the fourth round is because, of course, Ilya is chough, but also because the doctor let the ref do his job, even though we all saw the doctor was like, nah, like he cannot continue. And then the ref or whoever was like, no, yeah, he can, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, right in front of our faces, the doctor is persuaded by a non-medical professional, which is completely insane to me. But it ended when it needed to end. I thought I heard Ilya say that he couldn't fight anymore, but apparently that's not what was said. So let me know if you heard that too, or I don't know. Let's if I'm not crazy, someone out here will tell me. And if I am crazy, I'm sure someone out there would tell me. And I do know that a lot of people wish to see Justin retire after this fight, which I totally get, but I would personally like to see him defend his belt at least one time. Honestly, just because I think he can. The obvious choice, and I guess most fair choice is Armin Sarukian. But, you know, I'm not sure what will happen. He might retire before that. So that's kind of up in the air. He said that he's just not fighting this year. So I'm it's kind of confusing. I would love to see someone hold on to the belt, but I know that realistically that person is not going to be Justin Gagey, whether it be because he is unable to beat Armand or if he just retires before he's able to defend. So I can't wait to see what happens. I think as far as Ilya goes, I hope that he stops talking about a rematch. I know he said that at least one time. I would love to I would say that would be kind of a dumb thing to focus on, unrealistic fight to focus on when he has so many options, and I still think that his career is very much alive. I do hope that his face heals. But once that's all settled and squared away, I think that he'll definitely have his

Grade The Card And New Matchups

SPEAKER_00 20:37

pick. So yeah, that wraps up UFC Freedom. I give it, I'm not even gonna read it. I don't want to do that. I enjoyed it. I think that there were some really tacky moments, but overall the fights were incredible. People made bank, you know. I'm sure fans, but I was talking about the fighters. If you made bank, congrats to you. Like I've said a million times, I'm not betting it won't. So have fun with that. This is just for fun, alright. So that wraps up this week's episode. We did have a couple really cool fight announcements being Islam Makachev versus Ian Gary and Mackenzie Dern versus Gillian Robertson. I'm so excited for both of those. Those are exciting. I'm, of course, because I love Mackenzie Dern, more so excited for that fight because I think it's gonna be a really fun grappling match. Mackenzie's striking has gotten really, really good. So I'm sure she'll continue showing that off because it does continue to improve. Sorry, my cat just jumped off the chair that I'm sitting in. But Islam versus Ian is also gonna be an interesting fight to watch. I think that Islam's going to, you know, wear him down, you know, use that upper body advantage to just really pin him down to what Islam does. And with Ian, I just feel like he's too tall and lanky. He's just gonna be, you know, a slippery noodle, just kind of getting tossed around. But it could not go that way. He could knock Islam out, unlikely. I don't know. I don't know about that one, but definitely excited for Dern versus Robertson. I think that both these ladies are very talented with their grappling, and I think that McKenzie has the edge with striking as well, and obviously grappling, because she is one of the very best at what she does in her jujitsu. So I always enjoy a McKenzie Dern fight. She's so talented, and she just makes you feel good about being a girl. If you're a girl, and I'm sure if you're a guy, you have a crush on her. So, you know, we all love Mackenzie Dern over here just for different reasons. But with that, I will wrap up this week's

Follow Along And Merch Tease

SPEAKER_00 23:00

episode. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Don't forget to follow me at Shay MyName M M A. That's C-H-E-Y-M-Y-N-A-M-E-M-M-A. In case you missed it in last week's episode, I am launching a merch store soon. I'm very, very excited about that. And I will have my mission statement on the website. But if you want to hear a little snippet of it, it's at the end of last week's episode, just letting everyone know my intentions with this podcast and what I want to do in my community. So go ahead and check out last week's episode for more information on that. But for now, I'm gonna wrap it up and catch you guys next time.