ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto and Din Thomas answer some questions about what went down at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro, …
what’s up guys Brett okamoto and Dean Thomas here to wrap up UFC 283 we’re here in the ESPN Studios so we figured I got I got a few questions for you Dean on UFC 283 my first question is about Gilbert Burns and uh his victory tonight I think the two most likely fights for him are Jorge mass and Colby Covington which is the better fight which is the fight you would prefer to see Gilbert Burns versus Jorge or Colby I would prefer to see him in Jorge I think that is more likely to happen however I think he beats both guys but I think the fight with Jorge is more likely to happen and I think there would be a little bit more drama in terms of you know these guys are both South Florida guys right now so like I would love to see that fight happen yeah you really can’t go wrong with them but I’m with you I hope it’s the Jorge Mazda fight what should have happened in the Lauren Murphy fight you saw Jessica and rajland 231 significant strikes on Lauren Murphy she really wasn’t too competitive in that a lot of people saying that the fight should have been stopped whose responsibility does that fall to what should have happened in that fight well listen you know everybody always blames the corner but the referee’s job is to really say Save The Fighter if the fighter is not responding if the Fighter’s not responding in a referee feels they’re not fit to fight it’s the referee’s job to stop the fight so if Laura Murphy’s Corner who knows her best thought that she still had an opportunity in that fight I I signed with the corner I side with I will always side with the corner because they know their fighter best it’s easy from the outside and say hey they should have stopped the fight but you don’t know that fighter like they do yeah I respect you for saying that because I think the majority of people are out there calling that that was a travesty and that they should have stopped it but you saying and I know that your opinion carries a lot of weight that you you uh you trust the corner yeah I mean what is the ref for yeah the ref what’s the refer to tell him to stop grabbing the fence no the ref is there if they’re not defending themselves properly the ref is there to stop the fight leave the job to the ref yeah next question Davidson figuerado says he’s going to 135 what’s the most fun fight you can make with Davis and figurado at 135. I mean I mean 135 that’s going to is already stacked and there are so many fights that you can make for him but I think you know you bring him in like Mara Peter Yan I would love to see him and Peter Young honestly like Peter him and Peter Young would be an absolute barn burner so to me I will put that fight together I don’t think it’s going to happen first but I would love to see this guy fight Marlon Barrow at some point Cheeto Vera versus Davis and figure it out I think that would be a very very funny I mean there’s so many fights there really are though 135 yeah I’m excited I mean obviously I think he’s disappointed of course he didn’t win the belt back but 135 with figaredo there’s a lot of fun stuff to talk about there Jamal Hill what is his ceiling here I mean we’re all in we’re all impressed by his performance but we’ve been talking about this tonight will there be still doubts kind of going around this guy because of the manner in which his UFC title shot came he didn’t have to beat two three four five now he’s gonna have to fight those guys is he going to be doubted moving forward and how does he match up with those guys well I doubted him right before the Jimmy crew fight and then after he knocked him out he came back he sought me out and was like listen don’t ever doubt me again and since then I’ve never doubted him again I picked him to win this fight he did it he did not go over out but he wanted to fight not it won it convincingly I don’t know what his ceiling is I think there are some tough challenges for him but he’s getting better and he has a confidence about him that it seems to be unshakable unbreakable I’m really looking forward to seeing what the ceiling is who knows I mean he said he’s done everything that he said he would do yeah not everybody does that everybody says one thing and then they come out and do something different he’s done everything he said he would do and more he’s won a title before anyone else he’s the first uh Contender sir he’s got to win the title I mean that’s incredible yeah yeah he’s shown that he’s a winner man I mean and this sport there’s so many pitfalls there’s so many different challenges this fight came up on short notice he had to accelerate his camp and he still looked great against Glover to share okay the final one is about UFC 284 actually and that is Alexander volskanovsky’s moving up to fight Islam makachev the size is going to be an issue I think what how much how much will size play into this fight and is Alexander volkanovsky actually his toughest title defense or do you think it’s one of the lightweights of the other lightweights that are actually there it’s very difficult to say I’m not sure he’s the more toughest but maybe the more challenging because of how smart Alexander volkanovsky is I mean he’s the guy everybody put so much stock into size because we can visually see that and it just kind of makes sense sometimes when we see a bigger guy beating a smaller guy we go oh it’s because he’s bigger but it’s not not necessarily always the case sometimes are just better and I think Alexander volkanovsky is good enough strategically to be able to hang with a guy like Alexander volkadovski to be able to offset any deficiency he has in size so I don’t think size is going to be a big factor I think maybe the grappling how good of a Grappler Islam is may be the biggest difference if he can get him down and hold him down I think that’s going to be the biggest difference and people are going to say else because he’s bigger no he still has to make 155 the same way Alexander has to make 155 for sure so I don’t put I don’t put any into any stock into that I think it’s skill and that’s what it is I’m gonna have to remember you said that because I feel like that fight week when we see those two standing next to each other we’re going to say man Islam is just so much bigger but Dean Thomas is telling us don’t trust that the size is not going to be what dictates this don’t trust that some sometimes speed is what counts speed and decision making is what counts even more than size it’s been fun man it’s been a fun week been a fun night UFC 283 and we got a whole year to look forward to keep coming back to ESPN MMA YouTube channel for now people say goodbye thanks for watching thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus