UFC 331 Van versus Pantosia 2 takes
place this weekend and I'm going to go
through the entire card starting with
the early prelims ending with the main
events giving my prediction and
breakdown for every single fight on the
card. And this card compared to UFC 330
is really good. It's got some real
hidden gems up and down the card and it
finishes with some big matchups that
we've been waiting for. But before I get
into the early prelim opener, this video
is sponsored by mmaagguru.co.uk.
Get yourself the guru beanie. That's
mmaagguru.co.uk.
And also, I have another announcement
because this seems to be a weekly thing
now. Some new faces have joined the wall
of Jerusalem.
Alejandro Pantoia has joined Jerusalem.
There's him with his MMA Giri beanie.
I'm not I wish I was joking. I wish it
was AI, but we're getting new
submissions
every week. It feels like with some big
names. And he's not the only one. And
this is a guy fighting in the main event
this weekend, by the way, looking to get
his title back against Joshua Van. Um
he's posing with the MMA Guru Beani.
It's Alejandre Pantoia approved, folks.
Okay. He joins Jerusalem. And also
Pitbull did, but I'll share that in
another video, maybe on Twitter soon.
Rebellis to Spain on this card is also
posing with the MMA Guru Beini. I wish
these were AI, but they're not. Every
now and then, I check the website and my
friend sends me a message saying, "Uh,
do you know these guys? It seems like
this is like some kind of UFC fighter or
something." I'm like, "Oh my god, it's
Rebellis to Spain and Alejandro Pantosia
joining Jerusalem and posing with the
MMA Guru Beanie." Big shout out to them.
Get your MMA Guru beanie at MMA
Guru.co.uk.
Best of luck to both of them. We'll see
who I'm going to pick in a second. I
might betray them soon, but get your
beanie, guys. We move on
to the card and the early prelim opener
of Giga Trazzi versus Joe Anderson
Britta.
I'm going to go with Giga Chiczi to kick
off the card. And I don't like that.
But I can't help it. I just can't help
it, guys. I really can't help it. I
don't like it. Don't like it. But I have
to go with what my brain is telling me
to do. And maybe there's a problem with
this beanie cutting off circulation to
my head. Even though a lot of user
reviews have said that the beanie fits
just fine and it's just that I have a
giant head that is the issue because
everyone else's head it seems to fit
absolutely okay. Either way, I think I'm
going to go with Giga Chici here. He was
looking pretty good against Kevin
Vallejo
before the finish in round two where
Vallejo hit him with like a spinning
back fist out of nowhere and then
started landing good shots on him on the
ground. I had Vallejo winning the first
round, but it was very close, very
close, very competitive. Then I look at
the Arnold Allen fight for Giga Chic.
Extremely close.
In fact, if you watch back that fight on
another night, a judge could see that
second round goedzi's way. Very
competitive, but Allan did finish strong
at the end of the second round, and we
did see Chici start to slow down. What
I'm saying is this guy is not an easy
night out for anyone. Okay, the Onarmama
fight extremely close.
I don't like the fact that he lost to
Onama, but I think he could give Jo
Anderson Brrito some problems the the
same way a William Gomez gave Jo
Anderson Brrito some problems. Joerson
Britto's grappling got a little bit
exposed out of recently. He fought a guy
called, I think, Isaac Thompson, who was
like this Australian newcomer that
stepped in on a few days notice, who
actually gave him some competition and
wasn't the best fighter in all honesty
at the time. Other than that, he beat
Jordan Levit in his last fight. And if
you know anything about the explosivity
difference between the two of them, that
was kind of always going to happen.
But Breto's had some stumbles recently.
So I don't believe that he should be a
minus 390 favorite over Giga Chicia and
I think if this stays standing which is
good odds I think Jaci could teach him a
couple lessons on the feet in terms of
distance management and uh striking
Britto could go out there and destroy
him don't get me wrong but I'm going to
lean towards Chiczi here he's a lot
bigger he's not that far out of his
prime don't get me wrong he's had some
damage he is coming off a KO loss but
I'm going to side Jaci here. It's not
like Britto's unbeatable and just you
can't get rid of him. Like we've seen
him like Jonathan Pierce was like well
on his way to initially fraud checking
Joe Anderson Britto. I know Britto got
back up and got the choke, but
there's some weakness there. Okay. And
then you look at the other fight that he
had. Sabatini is of course a handful for
anyone in the grappling, but I'm not
sure if his grappling is all that to
just destroy Chicadzia.
And I don't think he's really got all
that on the feet. And so I think he's a
bit of an aggression merchant and Jaci
can deal quite well off the back foot.
So I'm gonna go with Jaci getting this
one done in a very close decision win as
an upset to kick off the card. We move
on. Casey O'Neal versus Eduardo Mora.
You don't know how hard it is to be a
fighter. Casey O'Neal. One of the
weirdest accents in the history of the
world. Is actually a true story. I'm
going to go with Casey O'Neal. Eduardo
Mora four fights ago did have a pretty
competitive split decision. Lost to
Denise Gomez, but this is up at women's
flyweight, a lot larger of a division.
That goes without saying. Eduardo Mora
was a huge straw weight that was able to
get away with a bit of a physicality
advantage where
she didn't really have the standup
skills to make things work. Um, she's
done okay at women's flyweight, but I
just don't see her beating anyone on the
level of Casey O'Neal, who looked really
good in her last one. Um, Eduardo Mora
last lost to Wang Kong, who's now
fighting for the UFC world title at UFC
330 in only two weeks time, no less, as
well, by the way. I believe it's pretty
soon.
But Casey O'Neal coming off a
coming off of a first round TKO win.
Very impressive. And before that, she
got a good decision. She lost a couple
fights to like uh
what was her name? The Queen of
Violence, Ariani Lipsky, I think got her
at one point, and she did take some
stumbles, but she's still young. She's
still coming up and she's got grit over
three rounds and I don't see her getting
held down by Mora. So, I think this is
going to be like a three round scrap.
And I rate the output and the volume,
which is the same thing
of Casey O'Neal over Edoard Morris. So,
if the going gets tough, I think Casey
O'Neal is going to dig deep and win that
competitive classic women's MMA 2928
decision. So, I'm going to go with Casey
O'Neal. Plus, I think she has a much
higher finishing potential on the feet.
So, I'm going to go with her. We move
on. Edmund Shabbazian versus Bruno Fea.
I'm gonna go with Edmond Shabbazian. Uh
Brendan Allen's all right. I'm probably
gonna pick Christian Leroy Duncan to
beat him, but uh Brendan Allen's all
right, man. And Edmund did make it close
with him.
Brendan is [ __ ] Like listen, Brendan
Allen is bad. Don't get me wrong. He's
trash. And I think the top guys in a
division would give him a ton of
problems. And it would be bad for
Brendan Allen if he did come up against
a real elite person in the middle
division. But Shbazian did make it
incredibly competitive with him. Whereas
Bruno Fea,
Bruno Fea, uh, coming off the loss, no,
he's not coming off the loss, but he got
KO'ed a fight two fights ago to Gregory
Rodriguez, who he did chin in the first
fight. Um, but he got flatline KO'ed in
that fight. And then when he returned
against Ikramiskarov, who don't get me
wrong is pretty good. But I think is
kind of about Shabbazian level. I don't
know if Iram's going to be this next big
thing in the middleweight division for
everyone to look out for. He's pretty
good, but you know, we saw in his fight
with Parkinong, it's he's not that good.
You know, he's not crazy great and
everyone's got to watch out for him.
There's a lot of weaknesses in his game.
Um, and Bruno Fea just looked terrible
against Iraqis. Got out controlled the
entire time. Um, Edmund Shabbazian's not
really a guy that gets held down. you
kind of have to take advantage of him as
the brawl unfolds and take over later in
the fight. He's very sharp earlier and I
don't know if Bruno Fea's style can
sustain that high output in your face
non-stop threat to take out a guy like
Edund Shabbazian. Edmund's not really a
guy that gets chinned. You know, he
makes mistakes as fights goes on. He
gets drowned by Anthony Hernandez. He
fumbles in the third round against
Gerald Meshot, legendary GM3 when he was
on his run. Derek Brunson takes him down
as time goes on
and he's had a couple fights where he
doesn't pull the trigger, but Bruno Fea
is going to be giving him a lot of
opportunities to just fire off like a
really quick fast twitch counter and
Shabbazian can be sharp in those types
of matchups. So, I'm going to go with
Edmond Shabbazian here. And also Bruno
Fer in hindsight, he had some good
performances. Abbas drowned him. not a
good look. Took him down, eventually
subbed him in the later rounds of their
fight. Felt like Bruno Fea kind of
fumbled that matchup. Um, and then you
look at some of the other fights of
Bruno Fer again. The last two recently
weren't all the best. He beat Dustin
Staltzfus
caught Gregory Rodriguez with a perfect
punch. Vtori somewhat competitive. I
think Shabbazian could school a Vtori at
this point. So, I'm going to go with
Edund Shbazian getting this one done.
how
I'm going to say that Edmond gets this
one done by TKO in the first two rounds.
I could see him actually hurting Bruno
to the body,
putting him away with some combinations.
I just think Bruno has to do such big
movements that opens himself up to
certain shots if he wants to be
aggressive. And he's going to have to be
aggressive and get in Edmond's face. And
Edmund moves well. You know, he does
things correct. So I don't think he's
just going to be there to get clobbering
timed by Bruno Fea. So I'm going to go
with Edund Shabbazian getting this one
done by TKO. We move on.
Ryan Gandra versus Aussie Diaz.
Ryan Gandra coming off a big first round
TKO win against
Zachary Ree.
Not too impressive.
Um, Ryan Gandra also got a first round
finish over Joseé Medina, I believe it
was. So, real bottom of the barrel
stuff. Um, but Aussie Diaz is bottom of
the barrel. And I know that, you know,
he got one over on Jorgan Santos in a
competitive decision. So, he's not
terrible. And in some moments against
the Tea Gutierre, you kind of noticed,
hang on now, you know, like he's
actually maybe he could withstand this
and land some good shots as it goes on.
And there was sort of like a glimmer of
hope in Aussie Diaz's game. And he's a
big dude for the division, but he is
open to get chinned and he just got
chinned and he's making this turnaround
before Gutierre makes his turnaround if
I'm not mistaken. Yes.
So he's back before Gutierrez
and Ryan Gandra is a big powerful
puncher in the first round.
And I just I I just feel like he gets
past this one with that big powerful
punching style. really good KO over
Zachary Ree, nasty KO over Jose Medina
before that. They are bottom of the
barrel guys, but in all fairness, Aussie
Diaz isn't much above bottom of the
barrel. I think he's a little bit better
than those other guys, but
it's Aussie Diaz, you know, like he's
just one of them guys that's around for
whatever reason in caseier
needs a match up with him again. It's
just like if you are a prospect, they
will keep middleweights around to try
and build you up. You know, I wouldn't
be surprised if Jose Medina gets
resigned to fight that guy that just won
on the contender series that look like
[ __ ] So, I don't know. There's certain
middleweights that are just kind of
there to lose. And in my opinion, Oussie
Diaz is one of those middleweights,
especially against a prospect like Ryan
Gandra who has a ton of power. I'm going
to go with him to win this one by TKO in
the early rounds. We move on.
Michael Aswwell Jr. lad versus Juang Yu.
Michael Aswwell Jr. um coming off a loss
to Gaston Balanos.
Not the best look, but he's a thick
chunky featherweight. I thought it was a
very close fight that could have gone
either way, but Balanos did land some of
the better shots on him. Uh before that,
he got picked apart by Luke Riley, but
showed some competitiveness. The fight
with Balanos was very close though, by
the I know Balanos got a takedown in a
crucial round in that fight, but Aswell
did outwork him in two of those rounds
pretty clearly. And uh Aswell just
doesn't seem to have that pop. I know he
knocked out Lucas Almeida if I'm not
mistaken, but that was when Lucas
Almeida showed up with a broken hand and
he put Almeida out pretty badly. Um but
that's not crazy impressive. Juan Yu
coming off being broken by Daniel Santos
and finished by TKO. And for an
undefeated swaggerbased
fighter,
I'm interested to see how he'll rebound
after coming off that KO loss.
You know, Jaca isn't all that. And I
don't think he chins or finishes Michael
Aswell Jr. You know, Luke Riley is a
hard puncher. You know, you saw him put
down Bogdan Guskov by KO. you saw him
put away in his last fight, Kaikamaka
the third, who's a tough guy to put away
and as well took shots pretty well in
those fights.
So, I can see this being a gritty
decision
and that's the way I think this is going
to go.
And as well has a really good pressure
style and he mixes in takedowns well in
his game. He's quite a big dude for the
division. I think he's going to look
pretty big next to Juan Yu. So, I'm
actually going to go against Juang Yu
here and side with Michael Aswell Jr. In
hindsight, Juan Yu, although having some
highlights,
what isn't really this big, he doesn't
really have any credible wins to be
honest with you. And he fought Santos
and he looked pretty sharp in round one
and then Santos eventually just tracked
him down and put him away.
I'm going to go with Michael Aswell Jr.
Juang Yu could pull this off. He's a big
favorite. I'm going to go with the
underdog of Michael Aswwell Jr. I think
his grinding tough man in your face
non-stop pressure style
could work for him in this matchup. We
move on.
Titu Iasa versus Rebellis to Spain
from the area.
Um
I'm going with Titu Iasa. No, I'm
joking. I'm not going with Titas. I'm
going with the minus700 favorite of
Rebellis Spain. And that's not just
because he posed with my bean. Um, but
I'm going to have to go with the minus
700 favorite, 6'7. Um, 84 in reach
compared to Titas's 6'2 75 uh in reach.
Sorry, not feet.
I'm going to go over Rebellis to Spain
here, folks. And it may have something
to do with the fact that Titu Ivasa is
on a sevenfight losing streak. I
couldn't even can I name the losing
streak of Titu Ivasa?
I want to say Sirillan.
Sergey Spivac was one of them, right?
Surely Sergey Spivac was one of them.
Not Ty did he lose to Tyura? He might
have [ __ ] lost to Tyura in amongst
all of that as well. by finish no less.
Then he fought that big worm Talis and
Terara. I don't think this is in order.
Luis Southerntherland I mean Luis
Southerntherland got by him. I'm just
saying there's there was a time where
Tuasa could drop Sirill Gan. He had the
chance to save us from the worst
timeline possible. And we were in the
two Ivasiverse, you know, and he took us
to another universe of of two of us
verse. And it's the worst one for him,
the worst one for the heavyweight
division. And I just don't think he's
going to blob his way out of this one
against Rebellis to Spain. Now, Rebellis
has had a bunch of karate combat fights.
It's against [ __ ] Sam Alvi, though,
you know, middleweight 50-year-old man.
He scores a nightmarish KO. Cool. JDS
back on the source by the looks of
things. Um, you know, kind of looks like
he's got it. Lands a couple low kicks on
Rebelis. JDS gets slept brutally by
Rebelis to Spain. Um, Rebellis's first
run in the UFC. I believe he lost to
Austin Lane, which was one of the names,
which isn't a good look. And I think
that's a guy to Iasa could KO because
Austin Lane has a habit of being
flatline KO'ed.
But another one was Waldo Cortez, A
Costa. Not too embarrassing for for
Rebellis to Spain. In hindsight, I just
don't see Tuvasa working a grappling
game
to take down and deal with Rebellis to
Spain here. I really don't see that
happening. I think Rebellis is going to
be too big, too sharp, coming into his
prime. Um, he's only five and two at the
end of the day, but he's had a lot of
experience in karate combat and more
competition experience. more manet.
That's something to be mentioned as
well.
Been training with Alex Pereira.
I can just so see him floating around
before nightmaring nightmarishly KOing
Titu Ivasa badly and we get a really
horrific first round KO loss for Tuasa
and that's the end of his career.
Sucks. Um, but I think they're well and
truly done with Tuvasa losing in the UFC
and this is their farewell present. See
you later, bud. Take half your paycheck
home with you and get KO'ed by Rebellis
and spawn him in to the new heavyweight
division that we're looking forward to
building. So, I'm going to go against
Tivasa. There's even moments in fights
now, even against Luis Aland and
even against Talison Deser where I'm
thinking, man, Tai could have had that.
old Tai would have had that and it's
just not there anymore. The durability
and he has taken a bit of a whooping.
He's had his losses. He's been through
his wars and a heavyweight those walls
you can't have too many of them. Um so
I'm going to go against Tai to Ivasa
here in a shock twist. I'm going to go
with the minus 700 favorite of Rebellis
to Spain by KO to is just going to be
there to get hit. And there's so many
times in fights where Tivasa puts his
hands down and gets hit by a three-piece
and eats it against someone who's not
that powerful. But in this case, there's
too much leverage behind the punches of
Rebellis. It's going to be bad. It's
going to be bad. We move on.
Marlon Vera versus Charles Jordan.
In all honesty, I think Jordan is very
good. I think he's very, very good. And
I do think he's going to beat Marlon
Vera. But the reason the odds are closer
is because Vera does have the kind of
style that could beat Charles Jordan.
You know, the the wear on you, the drag
you into the deep deep waters. Jordan's
very explosive, very dangerous, very uh
dynamic in everything that he does. And
there was a time in the past where if
you could drag him into those later
rounds, you could maybe have a better
time dealing with a Charles Jordan. Um
but he's worked on that. you know, he's
got better at going the distance,
potentially losing a third round
or arguably, I'm not sure. I think he
actually might have lost a third round
to Kyler Phillips. I'm not sure on quite
the order of that fight and what round
went to who, but I seem to remember
Phillips doing pretty well in the third
round of that fight. That's not a good
look because Phillips is normally the
guy that gets drowned. You know,
Phillips is normally the guy that's
puffing for air in the third round. Um,
but I'm gonna go with Jordan to beat
Vera simply on the case that I think
Jordan's very talented. He's always
improving. Um, this is his time. You
know what I'm saying? It's he's had
some, you know, he beat Doohoo Choy, I
remember, a while ago, burst onto the
scene. I think he lost his debut to a
guy Desmond something. I can't remember.
I think the guy actually ended up
getting [ __ ] arrested for like a car
accident or something. I don't even
remember the story of it.
Um,
Jordan had some ups and downs where he'd
build himself back up and then a Shawn
Woodson split decision happens or he
gets a win back and then Jean Silva
comes along and we didn't even know Jean
Silva really was back then but he ends
up chinning Charles Jordan and then he
gets into a fight with Wood and very
competitive but he doesn't do enough and
he gets wobbled here and there. But in
this division I think he's got the
physicality advantage. Um, his reach
fits the division a lot better. He's got
nasty submission skills with
guillotines. I don't think he's going to
finish Vera with a submission. Um, I
could see him shooting takedowns on
Vera, though. That's a big part of this
fight. And I could see him dropping Vera
as well. I think Jordan might have the
power and the and the speed to do that
to Vera, to catch him with a jump near
or to catch him with something that
doesn't knock him out, but like stumbles
him off balance. And then he gets the
rest of the round because of that
moment. And beyond everything else,
beyond anything technical about this or
stylistically,
I can't pick Vera to win a fight. It's
just one of those things. Certain
fighters show you something where you
can't pick him anymore, you know? You
just can't. And that's what Vera's been
doing over his past four or five fights.
I think he beat a Pedro Munoz in the
middle of a few of those, but then he
lost to Ali. And that was something a
lot of people don't take into
consideration is he got a a crazy amount
of damage given to him against Shaun Ali
in that rematch. If you go back and
watch that fight I know there is chin is
tough. He should not have been eating
all of those shots over five rounds.
That's too many shots to eat and they
were big sharp shots getting caught with
things right on the chin and he's still
in there and trudging forward and trying
to make things happen. And now he's
losing to the Emmy and Zahab. Now he's
just And normally a Vera fight when he
puts his hands up at the end, you're
like, "All right, maybe he could get
this [ __ ] [ __ ] split decision
robbery."
But when he puts his hands up after the
David Martinez fight and I'm thinking,
there's no way you've won that.
You're just coping at this point. You
You can't change your style. You're
stuck in your ways. And I I think it's
just going to repeat itself. I think
Jordan is going to win a 29-28 decision.
maybe a 30-27 and Verl will have his
hands up afterwards and go judges took
my career from me something along these
lines and he just won't do enough. He's
very hitable and Jordan loves target
practice. Very sharp, very powerful and
I think he'll have a very very
hitable opponent in front of him
plotting forward and an early Jerusalem
affiliate in Charles Jordan as well. By
the way, I've seen the Adisagna dog
jokes on Instagram, but uh I remember he
commented on my video ages ago.
I made a video in like 2019 or something
saying, "Look out for Charles Jordan."
And he said, "Thanks, bud." I don't know
if he's a grusive affiliate, but you
know, we're cheering for Charles Jordan.
I've always been a fan. And I think he's
going to get rid of Vera here. And I
think Vera is going to be done.
There you go. That's how it is for Vera.
I think it's just stuck in his ways.
Can't make a change of it. And
unfortunately, he has to keep fighting
killers. So, I think he'll lose this
one. We move on to the main card
already. Wow. Alonzo Manfield versus Io
Batani. I'm gonna go with Io Bannon.
It's dangerous though. He did get
dropped twice by Ibo [ __ ] Alan. So,
it is dangerous. However,
despite the look of Alonzo Maniffield
being this big ball of muscle for the
light heavyweight division, 6 foot
stocking, same as he Baronki, but he's
going to look about 10 times or 10
pounds larger than Baronuki out there
because
he's definitely got an extra 10 pounds
on him.
Manyfield couldn't make middleweight
without readjusting his body
composition. I think Baroni could trim a
few things and make the the middleweight
cut. I doubt he's cutting too much for
the division is what I'm saying.
But Manyfield
doesn't really knock people out in the
first round. He's coming off one against
Mingyang Jang um who kind of got fraud
checked when Johnny Walker beat him and
he couldn't get past Johnny Walker. And
maybe we bought into the hype after he
defeated the great Anthony Smith, making
him curl up into a ball in his
retirement fight. Um and he ended up
beating Minyang Jang in a scrap. Both
guys landing. Manyfield puts puts him
down. Nasty finish by Alonzo Manfield.
He's got momentum right now, but he's
been chinned a lot and slammed out a
lot. Odeir, I remember him teeing off on
Maniffield up against the cage. Even
looked like he accidentally KO'ed Alonzo
Manfield at one point in their fight.
And he's had some KO losses. He's been
chinned. Um, and there's also fights
where he's in there against someone very
vulnerable that he should be chinning
that he doesn't end up making quick work
of like a Jimmy Crew on the feet. I
remember watching that fight and
thinking, "Oh my [ __ ] god, Jimmy Crew
looks like he's stepping over Legos to
get to Alonzo Manfield." Literally like
a giant dwarf fighting with cerebral
pausy is in there with Alonzo Manfield
right now. And Manfield was still kind
of struggling to put him away, you know.
Um whereas Baronki is sharp and he did
have that stumble against Dbo Alan but
he's so sharp and there's a thing about
his finishes where he must be hitting
different. He must be hitting different.
It's the first punch he lands. It's the
first exchange that happens. It's the
second low kick against Junior Tuffer.
You know, Tough has been hit by big
dudes, heavyweights, chopping his legs,
and he's tanked it and shown weakness in
that area, don't get me wrong, but he's
tanked it. And Balani chops it twice and
tough as done.
He must have that legendary Polish bone
density that Yan Blovic had and some of
the other fighters in the heavier weight
classes from that region had. And uh I
think I'm going to go with Bannoni here.
I think he's going to get into the
pocket, take his time, be a bit patient.
But I also think with Manyfield,
when he's fighting a guy that's trying
to kind of avoid him and pick at him
like a Jacobe, maybe he can win those
types of fights, he can make it a lot
more competitive and he can do well.
Mingyang Jang kind of crashed in against
him a bit. But with this one, knowing
how powerful Baroni is, I can so see
Manyfield fumbling it, you know. I can
so see Manfield fumbling the the the
exchange, just being so open, whiffing a
big punch and getting caught on the
counter and just going down immediately.
I'm going to go with a first minute KO
win for Alon uh for Ew Badini here over
Alonzo Manfield. I just think the moment
might get to Alonzo. He's a bit derpy to
bring back a saying from a while ago um
that's gone out of fashion. Maybe should
be brought back. He's a bit of a a herp
derp. You know what I'm saying? I'm
going to go with Baroni Bao.
Brutal
Gable the loophole Stevenson versus Sha
Sharaf.
I want Shan Sharff to win, guys. I
really do.
The loophole must be destroyed. And
they're now on the press conference. So,
don't be surprised if these odds close
up because if Shawn Sharff says some
things that he could say,
Gable Stevenson might take this a little
personally. Okay. Um, so we'll see what
Shan Sharff gets up to on that UFC
microphone. If he doesn't say anything,
they've got him under constraints to
protect their little golden child at
heavyweight. But this is a gap in
talent. Shan Sharff is, and I hate when
they do this in the UFCs here. There's
appropriate jumps in competition you can
make where you're still giving someone
fights to build them, but there it's a
step up. You know, McMillan's kind of
doing the opposite where he's just a
prospect that is like, "Fuck it. Give me
the toughest guy I can get right now."
Like, who's the most dangerous guy right
now? I'll fight them. And that's their
way of building McMillan. I don't know.
It's a new way of doing it, right?
Because normally you see this with
Pimllet, with Ali, with many other
names, even a teaagutier. They're
egregiously doing it with a Tea
Gutierre. They started it the same way
with Bo Nickel with his opponents as
well. But can we get someone not on a
two-ight losing streak for Gable? I'm
going to go with Gable Stevenson. I
think he'll probably get a takedown this
fight. Um Sean Traf's got a decent chin.
I could see Gable showing off a bit of
his ground game.
Maybe looking for the KO though. I could
see him getting that as well.
I'm rooting for Shiraff. I think he's
the better dude. I hope I hope he wins.
Um, but he ain't got it. Lost to Steven
Asplund brutally as well, dude. The
amount of damage ASP did to him in that
fight.
If there's a chin changer for your nest
matchup, it's a fight like that with
Steven Asplund and Shar goes through
that. And then the fight before that,
I'm pretty sure he lost to Junior
Tougher
by TKO where he got taken down and
beaten up as well. I'm gonna go with
Gable Stevenson.
I don't think he's going to be a
heavyweight champion. I think like Waldo
could beat him if if I'm being honest
based on the last fight that I saw.
Maybe Gable will make these leaps and
bounds in his game and this time next
year he'll be a completely different
guy. Who knows? But as of right now, I'm
seeing like Vultar Walker probably
leglock submits him. You know, I know
that he can wrestle, but I could see
Vultar Walker beating him at this point.
That's not egregious to say in my
opinion. And then I could also see, you
know, Waldo just chining him, coming in
with a stiff shot or two, even though
Waldo looked pretty [ __ ] in his last
fight. Um, so I don't think he's ready
yet, but he'll beat Shawn Sharff,
unfortunately. Um, Shawn Sharf's just a
bit of a heavyweight blob. 6'2, 76
inches of reach.
Tough guy, but not too much KO power.
I'm going to go with Gable Stevenson
destroying him in the first round. But
I'm going to be looking forward to the
press conference later tonight. Um,
where Sharf says what needs to be
[ __ ] said. Okay, we move on
up the card. Patriceio Pitbull versus
Doohoo Choy. Now, Pit Bull's also a
Gerusalem affiliate has come out this
week. I don't know what's going on. I'll
post it on Twitter later, maybe, but
there was a video of him with his boys
wearing the Jerusalem beanie. I don't
know. [ __ ] wild. Um, I can't show it
on this video because it's on my phone.
Got sent on my phone. Um, but either
way, uh, Patriceio Pitbull, Doohoo Choy,
I love this matchup. I'm going to go do
Hoo Choy. Respect Patricio Pitbull. In
the clip, it's actually his coach
saying, "Uh, we love the MMA guru." You
know, Guru knows what he's [ __ ]
talking about. And I don't know if that
was like a move to get me to pick
Pitbull,
but I I just I think Ank's time has
come. And Doo Chroy is a big
featherweight for him to be standing off
against in this one. Um, and he took
some damage against Pico. He got cracked
with some big shots. I can see Duchoy
putting him away by TKO. I like Pitball.
I think he's a legend of the game. I
think he's criminally underrated and um
has been throughout his career and you
know I think he's had a really good
career like I think he's really did put
on for the outside of the UFC MMA scene
in terms of Bellator and all of the
stuff that he did there and then when
Chandler came to the UFC there was still
that Pitbull KO loss looming over his
head a little bit.
So I've always rated Pitbull but I'm
leaning towards Doohoo Choy here. Du
Choy looked really good in his last
fight. And I know he took some damage,
but that's the good that I I need to see
from Choy. I need to see him be able to
grit down and show that durability and
show that in pocket fighting and ripping
the body. And Daniel Santos is a beast.
You know, he's not he's got wins over
other guys on this card. Um he's a
crafty fighter is Daniel Santos. and Doo
Choy just kind of like withstanded him,
took his shots, landed back, and
eventually found his range and [ __ ]
broke the guy nastily. I think
Pit Bull's very sharp, but he's a pick
and move type of fighter. And I think
the way to beat Choy is to pressure him.
But I think if it's too much of just you
go now I go and then I go and then you
go and then you go and I go and now it's
my turn your turn and we're both kind of
just at range doing the kicks and the
the punches. I think eventually Choy
will start to land the bigger shots. I
think he has a power advantage. I think
he has a chin advantage at this point.
Um I don't see him getting held down by
Patricio Pitbull. He's been in the game
so long. He's going to have been working
that takedown defense for a long time.
Um, I can see Choy kind of picking up
where Pico left off and I'm going to
lean towards the minus 270 favorite in
Doohoo Choy here. Shout out to Pitball.
Um, but I'm going to have to lean
towards Choy, the young upandcomer. And
it will just make it even more
impressive if Pitball wins. You know, I
saw an interview of him saying that he
wasn't impressed with his UFC
performance so far and the the version
of himself that he showed in the UFC.
Um, so I'm looking forward to seeing if
he makes some adjustments and it would
be very impressive as a win, but I think
Choy is going to be able to pick at him
and land on him and he's got a reach
advantage over him and Pitbull can be
crafty, but I just don't think it's
crafty enough to result in a KO win, to
result in a submission win at this
point. And I think Choy, if he starts
thinking, this guy can't chin me. I'm I
can walk through these shots. I can
throw with Pit Ball in combination and
start tracking him down. I think we
could see a Choy finish. So, I'm going
to go with Doo Hu Choy by TKO.
Could be a big coming out party for him
into the rankings of the featherweight
division. Um,
yeah, it's a tough matchup for a
39year-old
Patriceio Pitbull as well. by the way.
That doesn't go without saying, you
know, featherweight as well to be that
old. And even once he left Bellator, I
think he lost in the uh Rising, didn't
he? Got KO'ed at Ryzen by an Asian
fighter as well. So maybe this brings
back some kind of like Asian opponent
PTSD. And maybe that plays an effect.
Who knows? But shout out to Pitull for
being gruesome affiliated. I'm leaning
Doohucho. Um we move on up the card.
Armon Serukian versus Mauricio Hafir.
I really want to pick half here. I've
got a feeling.
I don't know what I'm going to go with
yet. Okay, guys. Listen.
Logic tells me and it's telling everyone
this, right? Everyone's thinking this.
Benois Sandini took down Mauricio Huffy
finished him on the ground. We found out
that Benoisen is actually not all that
and Armond Tukian is all that and he's
better than Benois Sander
and he's been working on nothing but his
grappling over the past year or so that
he's been out and he's been taking all
of these grappling events and working on
his wrestling.
Surely he's going to be able to take
down Mauricio Huffy and do the same
thing. And I'm gonna side I'm actually
on an initial vibe. I'm siding still
towards Armond Serukian. I really think
Huffy's got a serious chance though. And
I would odds make this fight slight
favorite Arman Serukian. I wouldn't have
him over 3 to one. I'd have him at about
2 to one tops over Mauricio Huffy. And
the reason being is
Armon's offensive grappling.
It worked on Dan Hooker. Okay. And he
looked good against Dan Hooker with his
offensive grappling. And I think it's
his takedown defense. And listen, I'm
someone who shared the ring with him and
tried to take him down. And actually, I
believe need him in a p pair of broken
ribs. I didn't break them, but I found
out after, you know, when I was saying
that he went and then he threw me down
after I need him in the body during when
I won on damage.
I found out later that in that position,
he actually has two broken ribs. So, I'm
not saying I think I might have clipped
the broken ribs. This guy might be
chinny to the ribs, okay? And Huffy can
target the body pretty well. Um, and
that might have triggered Armon to just
humiliate me in the ring and, you know,
show why I've never [ __ ] wrestled a
day in my life. Um, but Armon's takedown
defense is good. His scrambles are good.
is Dan Hooker the benchmark to and I
know Benoir took down Dan Hooker and
beat the [ __ ] out of him but struggled
early on because of those guillotine
attempts and even Armanat to gate a roll
out of a couple of those and then he
ended up on top but it took him a while
to get that position in round one.
Eventually, he finished from that
position in round two, and it was after
he landed a kned a face on Dan Hooker in
the pocket
that swole up Dan Hooker's face. But I
think Dan Hooker's been done for a long
time, you know, secretly.
And I just don't know much else about
Armon's dominant grappling game. He beat
Joel Alvarez
with his grappling. The Wim Silva fight
was relatively competitive from from
what I remember.
Um,
I do think he beats Mauricio Huffy with
his grappling though. I'm going to pick
him to win it, but I think Huffy is so
dangerous on the feet. And sometimes
with Armon, he does things
that can really get him in trouble.
He'll throw a double jab moving in
sometimes and just be stood there in
front of his opponent.
His head gets popped back by Dan Hooker.
His head gets popped back by someone
else. Wim Silva cracks him with a left
hook. Um, Olive, but he This is the
thing though about Armond and this is
something that really did sway me
towards Armond Serukian.
Despite me thinking that Olivivera's
submission attempts being at the end of
the rounds should make them valued more
because I truly believe if the only
reason you escape a submission attempt
is because the bell sounded, then it
should almost double in value. when it
comes to the scorecards. Armon did take
down and control Olivea which as we know
is incredibly [ __ ] difficult to do.
So I am going with Arman Sukian and it
was that Olivea fight and rewatching it
and you know he really did do some good
work to Olivea and he was in guard and
he was somewhat comfortable there. You
know, Olivera had his submission
attempts at the end of round two with a
triangle and he had a hold of the arm
and found himself in the dar when he
made a bit of a reversal in the third
and but in between those moments there
were like multiple minute long sequences
where Armon was just in full guard on
top and landing some really good shots.
It reminded me a lot of like Diego Lopez
versus Mavsar Evlov in a way that
matchup. Um
I'm going to go with Armon but Mauricio
so dangerous dude. the the punching, the
angles on a shorter opponent as well.
He's so wide. He's so long. Armond's
going to have to shoot singles, but I
think he can chain things together and
shoot round to the back. I don't think
Huffy's going to have made up the
difference in his game that he needs to.
I do think that the Benois fight was a
mentalitybased
grappling loss more than it was a
technicality thing. Of course, if he had
better technique, he would have stuffed
to the takedowns of Benois regardless.
But I do think that he was under that
impression that he didn't have to punish
a guy for failing a takedown and he just
sort of stayed and separated from
Benois. No, someone fails a takedown on
you, you [ __ ] punish him for it. Um,
but he's so dangerous on the feet, man.
So dangerous on the feet. But there are
a lot of Huffy fights where he does have
to wear himself into the later rounds.
you know, if he gets full control and he
knows it's going to be a striking match,
he can put on that first round TKO. If
he gets the corpse of Michael Chandler,
he can put on that spectacle
performance. But then round two and
three is normally where we start seeing
him get into that bit of a flow against
that next step in competition that he
takes on. You know, when he fights
Physizv, it takes him a while to figure
out that code. And I could see him
clipping Huffy, though. I could see him
clipping Armon. I think there will be a
moment where Armen might get wobbled or
cracked and come out of this fight with
a a shiner under his eye. You know what
I'm saying? Something along those lines.
Um, but I do think the grappling is
going to be the difference. And Armon is
good at being in and out. He is good at
being in and out. And I think he knows
that this is a dangerous counter striker
and that's going to change the way that
he approaches it. So, I'm going to lean
Armon. But God knows I wanted to pick
Mauricio Huffy so bad. I've had a vibe
about it for a long time. But it was
re-watching that Olivea fight and
knowing that Makashev got down Olivera
in round one and Olivera straight up got
back up and Makashev only took him down
because in every lightweight fight
Makashev cheated by hooking the gloves
to get takedowns. He did the same thing
to Armen Serukian. He did the same thing
twice against Alexander Vulcanowski. He
did the same thing against Bored. But
nobody cares.
We're moving on about it. I'm not not
still coping about that. It's the truth
though. Um, but Armond straight up took
down Olive and we know how much Olive
has improved his grappling particularly,
you know, with his entries and his
defense and his scrambles.
I'm going to go Armon. I'm going to go
Armon. But I so couldn't you just see
Armon doing some silly baby double jab
and Huffy lean back, look away, left
hook,
shovel hook right on the tip of Armond's
chin or his temple.
I almost have a vision of that, but I'm
going to go against it because of just
the amount of gap that there is in the
grappling in here. I'm going to go Armon
Serukian. And I'm going to take Armon to
Serukian by
third or fourth round finish,
maybe even a decision, but third or
fourth round finish for Armen. I don't
think it'll be early and quick. I think
Huffy will have at least made the
improvements to survive positions.
I'm going to go third or fourth round
for Armen TKO. We move on to the main
event. Joshua Van versus Alejandre
Pantoia. I know Pantosia is now
Jerusalem affiliated. Dude, I'm very
aware Alejandre Panto is now an official
honorary member. He's repping Jerusalem
proud. I'm about to do him dirty though
because I can't pick based on Jerusalem
affiliation unless it's Sha Maui. or
Patty Pimlet as we all know because
they've served time. They've done the
time, you know. Uh
but I'm going to have to go with Joshua
Van over Alejandro Pantoia here. And it
hurts me to say because you know what? I
like Van, but I'm starting to think
like, all right, buddy. All right, BIG
FOR YOUR BOOTS. IT KIND OF WOULD be nice
for a bit of a humbling to be honest
with you. Like the good the feelgood
story here. What I mean by that is Van
is definitely being the sort of villain
role here, right? Like the feel-good
story would be Pantosia coming back and
getting his belt back and the guy that
was kind of underrated the whole time
before the van fight happened finally
gets his moment in the sun and the glory
and stuff like that and everyone
recognizes Pantosia for the potential
goat that he is. And that would be the
feelood story of it all
with the time off at his age with the
injury
and also when you watch back some of
Pantosia's fights
there's a lot of really competitive ones
in amongst a lot of very clear-cut wins.
He did very well against Kai Karaf
France. He did very well against Kai
Asakura. He did very well against you
know Alex Perez. But then in between
that is the Moreno fight, you know,
where someone with good scrambles, good
takedown defense, good survivability and
jiu-jitsu positions, and wicked striking
and durability,
um, is able to really make a tough fight
for him. Steve Urs is another one of
those matchups that ended up being the
same way. I'll tell you this as well,
Roy Val fights, I know on paper it will
show you that Pantosia just controlled
Roy Val for five, you know, and then in
this in the first fight he choked out
Roy Val.
It looked like Roy Val was about to take
away the victory in the first Pantosia
fight and he's a great scrambler and
scrambled with Tara very well and was
able to escape his bad positions and
make him work on the feet and he didn't
finish Pan uh Tra like Van did. If I
said Pantora, I meant Tara. He didn't
finish Tayra like Van did, but he was
able to show the blueprint to where Van
picked up on it and, you know, scored a
great performance.
Um,
and even in a second Roy Val fight, you
know, Pantosia does have these moments
in fights where if the scrambling does
get tough, he does take his foot off the
gas and he starts covering up a bit and
he does take a bit of a beating and
there's those momentum shifts in a
Pantosia fight where you start thinking,
are they going to finish him with body
shots up against the cage any second
now? The body shots up against the cage
a calling for me to make the prediction
again. I do it all the time. It's been a
while since I've called a body shots up
against the cage finish. Used to be a
crafty one in my repertoire, but I kind
of left it on the burner because nobody
goes to the body in MMA. But I might
bring back the crafty body shot up
against the cage TKO in combination for
Joshua Van in like round three or four
against Alejandro Pantoia. I'm going to
go with Joshua Van.
Pantosia is good. He's going to be
aggressive early. I think his big chance
is to put Van in that danger early and
to get on his back straight away. But I
don't think he finishes Van. Van has got
this next level composure in those
positions that I didn't think he'd have
when these guys first faced off because
I was thinking, man, Van's only really
just fought Roy Val. Other than that,
he's not really been in front of any big
crowds. you know, he's lost to Charles
Johnson, got chinned, and he has been in
trouble in fights, and he does get
wobbled a bit more than people would
like to admit. Um, but his composure in
the grappling positions, and his ability
to like just get back up against Tara,
who's a master of positional control, we
saw it against Moreno, a guy who Panto
struggled to control, even against Roy
Val. Like, Tara did have moments where
he just straight dominated the control
time of the round. Um, but then they
were mixed in with moments of him not
moving his [ __ ] head and Roy Val
eventually building momentum and making
him shoot bad shots and the rest is
history in that matchup. But Van is so
good at scrambling. He's and I think
it's because of how small and baby he is
for the division. He's a little gnome,
you know, short stocky legs. Kind of got
a bit of a Crash Bandicoot build going
on. Short stocky legs. I mean, he's
smaller than Panto. They're the same
height, but I'd say he's a little
smaller than Pantoia. uh short stocky
arms as well. There's like not a lot of
limbs to hold him down with and to pin
him with. And he can very easily like
post on his arm and get his legs under
him and cradle a little bit on the
ground,
cradle a little bit on the ground like a
baby rocking back and forth and then
he's up, you know, and his feet are
under him again or he's in a good
position to scramble and scoot his hips
out. And it's a lot of that with Van.
And I think if that keeps happening to
Pantoia here and then they're back on
the feet and Van starting to dig and
land and open up some scar tissue on
Ankh,
you know, and maybe talk a bit of [ __ ]
and get his mojo on, I think it could be
a problem for Pantosia. So because I
believe that Pantosia needs to win this
in the first two rounds and because I
know that nine out of 10 flyweight
fights end in an absolute barn burner
back and forth and going to a decision.
I think that's Van's type of fight and
it was that composure against Tara and
that little bit of extra time that he
got. If this if you take me back, I
would pick Pantosia again in the first
fight based on the information we had
about Van.
But you know, I think that experience,
that moment he became champ, he gets
that extra, he's such a new guy to the
sport. He gets that extra bit of time,
all that money into his rehabilitation
and now it's legit and I'm the champ and
I got to keep this [ __ ] thing and I'm
young and I could go down as a goat. All
of these things are going on in his head
now, you know? Um, and now he's got the
money in and he he takes the terra fight
and then this was supposed to be booked
and Pantosia ended up pulling out,
remember, because he wasn't or he wasn't
ready to come back just yet if I'm not
mistaken. So, it's not like he's just
quickly healed up and been training this
whole time, you know, and then Van gets
this on this card and now they're doing
it here and he's had that extra bit of
time and it's just a lot against
Pantoia. I'm leaning towards Joshua Van.
I think Joshua Van's going to win this
one by third or fourth round TKO.
Pantosia does a good job with like body
kicks. He does a good job with like head
kicks and like big dynamic shots for a
flyweight which you think we would see
more of, but they really do somewhat
stick to fundamentals a lot of the time,
especially Joshua Van.
But there are a lot of moments in his
fights if you watch him back where there
are like 30 second periods where he is
just moving and covering. And if Van is
in front of him in those moments and no
longer fearing the takedown, jab low,
jab high, uppercut as Pantosia tries to
crowd him, steps out the way, right hand
and he's walking him down composed
Panonesesque.
Folds him. I think he could fold him up
against the cage in round four. I'm
rooting for Pantoia, though. I would
love to see the feelood story
of the guy nobody gave the credit to
coming back and putting himself back on
top in the flyweight division. And I
think Pantoia is a cool dude. I've
always liked Pantoia other than the Ursk
fight where I was really pulling for old
Ursk, but uh Joshua Van I think gets
this one done.
It's tough skin. Old Van is going to
pull it off, I reckon. Even just like if
Pantosia body kicks him. I can see Van
just answering it straight away with
like a straight right right on his chin.
Pantoia stumbling backwards on one leg.
Momentum. Momentum. He's got him up
against the cage. He's taking shots that
he don't really want to take to get Van
off of him.
Yeah, Van's going to be a problem. I
know he said that he'd love to fight if
he could fight anyone alive or dead,
he'd love to fight Pio Yan. I'm I'm so
down to see super fights between
flyweight to featherweight and whether
that be bantamweight moving up to
featherweight, whether that be flyweight
moving up to bantamweight.
I'm so down to see those matchups right
now. And I think we have the champions
that could give us those with Van Yan
and Vog. Um so we'll see. Like and
subscribe. Thank you for watching. Get
your MMA guru beanie. As you can see,
it's on my head right now at MMA
guru.co.uk UK
and uh if you want to submit your
picture to the wall of Jerusalem like
Alejandre Pantoia and even Rebellis to
Spain. They now join Paulo Costa on the
wall of Jerusalem. Crazy dude. I don't
know who's doing this. What fan is out
there going to all of these events with
his MMA Guribini and saying, "Can I get
a picture of you?" Cuz I know that's
what this is. Um, but dude, keep doing
it cuz it makes me laugh every time to
check the wall and just see what the
[ __ ] is Pantoia doing there? Or my
friend sends me a message and says, "Do
you know this guy?" And it's Pantosia or
it's Paulo Costa. Apparent isn't he a
UFC fighter? How big of a deal is this?
I might have to make I might have to
make a fighter only section. See how
many of them we can get. Like and
subscribe. Thank you for watching. Todd
Pip, I'll see you later. and goodbye.
See you.
