Paul Felder and Michael Chiesa preview Saturday’s much anticipated UFC 294: Makhachev vs Volkanovski 2 fight card.
[Music] oh what’s up everybody welcome back to UFC Roundup feels like it’s been a while Michael feel like it’s been forever you’re back in your log cabin looking good you’re you’re you’re out of Europe you had your beautiful honeymoon yeah I guess we haven’t talked since how did everything go man it was great I had a good time I mean hanging out with you in Paris was a blast of course uh you know uh yeah but it was a lot of fun dude got to visit some family ate a lot of good food drink a lot of good beer um looking forward to doing it again Paul how’s uh how’s the how’s the return coming along how is the return of I don’t want to say the Irish Dragon because we’ve are we transitioning to the iron lung is that what I for right now we’ll say iron L for fun today uh and it’s going you know it’s going I’m just training right I told you at the end of this there could be no fight the UFC may not even want to match me up but uh hey I’m back in the usada testing pool um for a couple months I did finally get tested they showed up at my house the other day the guy’s like well still got to do this I was like oh great it’s 7:30 in the morning on like a Saturday so all the stuff that you hear about UFC fighters complaining about these guys showing up at wrong times they did like maybe I don’t maybe I don’t want to do this anymore maybe I don’t want to get woken up in the morning yeah no thanks um but things are good the uh Eagles lost to the Jets that always that always sus painful um the Phillies are are playing to get in the World Series they’re up one game so that that’s fun I wish these games were not at 8 o’clock at night on the East Coast that’s tough sleep is wrecked just move over here I know that’s that’s a good reason to right I can watch sports much earlier there you go but Michael 294s this weekend and it was an awesome card it’s still an awesome card but everything has changed at the top of the bill the co-main event including the main event has shifted Volcan nowski jumps in there again on 12 days notice I believe the man was about 181 pounds by the way when he took this match up what are your thoughts does he have a chance does he have a chance to go out there and upset him on short notice did he gain enough confidence in the first meeting to make adjustments in the rematch 1,00% yes and Dean Thomas said something really good this weekend where he said he believes vul’s gonna win because now that vul got a feel for him he knows that he knows what adjustments to make and there’s nobody in the UFC you know it’s him and Jon Jones not just on the pound-for-pound goat list but in terms of highest fight IQ we have to respect volkanovski’s fight IQ and we know I mean we know people amongst the circle of MMA the people that really in that really know how good volkanovski is that get the people that get to see him in the training room the people that are a little bit closer to him than the than the general public we all believe that he’s going to make the adjustments to win this fight and and I do believe that he has been preparing for this match he said after he fought yayer Rodriguez once he heals up he’s training for October to fight Charles Ola or Islam mevan he’s going to Ro both of those fights eerily similar maybe more sub defense on the Charles ala side and with with with Islam obviously wrestling defense but I do believe he’s in shape while he may weigh 181 pounds I do believe he’s been preparing for this moment and five rounds will never be a problem for Alexander vulcanos yeah I think it’s interesting right I was watching his little documentary and I was obviously watching countdown and embed it and all that stuff today before we did the show and it’s interesting right because he’s a guy that is always fit even if he’s a little heavy he knows how to to lose the weight but he’s always fit so what do you do with 12 days and I was trying to think about how he would break down that short of a camp right I’ll bet the first two or three days he just hammered those kind of uh Shark Tank type rounds where you saw him sparring grappling just getting the body abusing it for as quick a time as you can then like a taper period and then it’s just like all right we we revved the engine now let’s go we’ve done these five rounds so many times I I’m so curious to see how I can’t make a prediction but dude think he’s going to do well on that short short of notice I just think he’s that kind of guy that rises to these occasions but Islam you know I was watching some of the highlights too and his standup he hurt vul in that fight a couple times too so I’m interested to see how it plays out um in the Striking exchanges between these two as well we know there’s going to be plenty of grappling and scrambling between them but I’m curious see who can hurt who first on the feet yeah and you know I uh I think that vul is such an advantage because I’m going to sound like I’m just on vul’s nuts right now because I’m just praising the guy but just I mean for him they’re this big I’m sure that they probably drag behind him but uh but for for for Islam you know he’s preparing for Charles Ola and I’m sure that he works with the same guys he’s the type of he seems like he doesn’t really bring in any new teammates I think Islam works with just the same guys but when you’re preparing for Charles olera it’s a start contrast from training for volkanovski I mean let’s just look at size difference you’re going against a guy that’s around six foot you know Grappler not a lot of takedown defense super dangerous on the feet makes the takedowns much more available because of the way Charles comes in where volkanovski smaller power pellet good movement super fast like so to make that change I feel like that puts Islam at a slight disadvantage but Islam is you know that he he he’s going to make adjustments as well but the difference is like he hasn’t had his sight set on Islam on on Alex the way that Alex has had his sight set on him like yeah I’m sure he’s moving on to the next fight where volkanovski is probably training for this fight in the back of his mind thinking about the adjustments he’s going to make when he earns his next shot against the lightweight champ so and Paul like you you fought a you fought a main event on five days notice I mean are you saying that the way that you believe banovski approached this main event is the same way that you did like rev the motor for a day or two and then focus on the yeah that’s all we that’s all we did I mean I got I got the call I guess on like Sunday and it was decided I think on Monday of fight week and by the time I actually had the thing booked it was like Tuesday and I was leaving for for the the week but I just got to I got the call I went and immediately hit like five or six hard rounds with my buddy Ryan kafar and just smash Tai Pats to see if I had the energy in me to even take the fight we hadn’t taken the fight quite yet and I was like all right I think I can do this even on short notice because I was training for the triathlon then when I got out to Vegas I got with Duke and Eric nixi and we just smash pads again I I did a ton of grappling and like um escapes from from Bad situations with Dan eay and then that was it we rested up and we cut weight it was like two days of work that’s it and I went five rounds and you’ve did a strong five rounds not just like this is different obviously pay-per-view Main Event Abu Dhabi um but luckily it’s not I don’t think it’s as far for vul how far of a travel is that from I don’t know it’s it’s still far but it’s a lot to take on against a guy like Islam who’s just uh crazy and I think what I like about Islam before we move on to talking about the co-main event switch up the thing about Islam is how he’s handling it right saying him and Habib are like listen doesn’t matter who we’re facing we’re we’re supposed to be the baddest man on the planet we’re supposed to be the baddest lightweight we take on all comers so I love the attitude that there wasn’t even a second thought about it he’s he’s better than him and he’ll be better than him again so I love that approach but Kain dude oh dude another one my God out and talks about this surgery stuff what’s going through his head I know he says he’s preparing and we see footage of him trying to fight through it but you know that if you say that and you show documentation and proof that you just had elbow surgery then it’s going to get infected you’re going to get pulled regardless what what was the thought process here between behind I hate to say it but like look Kasa is as tough as they come that you watch the guy fight he’s an absolute Savage like look at his fights with yel Romero like I’m not discrediting his toughness but what I am GNA discredit is you’ve been in the UFC long enough to know if you tell them you you’re having a really bad weight cut they’re G to pull you from the fight if you tell them you had surgery two weeks before the fight they’re gonna pull you from the fight like you’ve been around the block long enough to know how this works so if you really wanted to fight why the hell would you post pictures of you out of surgery like you should be trying to mask this like and for Costa it’s like I don’t know like are you are you trying to find a way to give you like a crutch like or like a built-in excuse like oh yeah he beat me but everybody saw that I had surgery before the fight like was that why he was putting it out there was he finding a way out of his fight did he want sympathy I don’t know Paul but alls I know is the times that I’ve been injured before fights like when I broke my foot 10 days before the Anthony Pettis fight I didn’t post a picture of my x-ray to show the world like I’m going to fight this fight even though I have a broken foot like you don’t do that that’s just not what you do you’re a fighter we go into these fights compromised and we don’t I mean usually like you re if you want to reveal it you do it after the fact whether you win or lose that’s on you but like either way I don’t want to spend much time bitching about the fact that Polo Costa pulled himself from this fight because now we have Kamar Usman the former lightweight champ or the former Welterweight Champion the former pound-for-pound goat stepping in up a weight class against the boogeyman a guy that nobody wants to fight in hamzat chamv and if you would have told me Paul two years ago that Hamza chamaya and kamaro Usman are gonna be fighting for a number one Contender match against Sean Strickland I would say I want what you’re smoking like I never would have guessed this in a million years like it’s crazy that this dude I saw him I saw him in in Milan walking around we were walking by the Rolex store and I saw him in Milan we were on our honeymoon and I’m like this guy’s jumping in there at UFC 294 like that’s just crazy who did you see you broke up there for a second oh sorry I saw I saw kamaro in Milan when we were on our honeymoon like that was what that was like few weeks ago few weeks ago yeah like a month ago and you’re jumping I mean look kamaro’s a guy that stays in shape he’s not a guy that lets himself go if you see him he’s absolutely jacked year round but that’s just crazy to me he’s another one of those guys like that’s kamaro has confidence he has skills he’s got like a 96.7 takedown defense rate which that’s really gonna come into play this fight and what intrigues me yeah what intrigues me Paul is does does Hamza chamay have come at kamaro Usman the same way he does all of his opponents right out the gates blazing he does is it a problem or a mistake for him because you know kamaro is ready for that he’s going to be sitting back he he’s confident in his takedown defense if he lands a big right hand and can stun we saw Gilbert Burns hurt him You Gotta Be You Know kamaro Usman is teammates with gilber they fought each other he knows all about him ins and outs to see him go and battle him that way I I feel like he knows there he’s he knows some things I feel like he really trusts in how he matches up in that fight otherwise you don’t take that that that fight and also now with middleweight shifting with Strickland in there and I he taking a break it’s the perfect time for Kamar to jump up to middleweight and try his hand there because those guys were buddies you could tell he didn’t really want to do that so now what an opportunity for kamaro to shake up the middleweight division like crazy he knows it it’s huge opportunity and hey let’s be honest I’m sure he’s getting paid well to go and do it oh dude he’s getting paid very well to go and do it and and there’s a great storyline if he wins there’s a great storyline if he wins is is Sean Strickland gets another rematch he gets to rematch kamaro like kamaro kind of kind of piss pounded him a little bit when they fought years ago but Shan Strickland is a way different fighter than he was then same with kamaro but on the other side of that hamach chamv could find himself in a title fight the only thing that I find concerning is he gets a number one Contender fight let’s say he wins the title over Shan Strickland do we is are do we only get to see him fight once a year like that’s that’s my biggest concern because you know kamaru you call him he’ll fight he’ll fight anybody like he was one of the most active Champions we’ve had in a long time and I could give these guys their praise all day long but pretty sure we got five rounds to get we got five rounds man we gotta do five rounds Cody we got five rounds got five rounds baby all right Michael I haven’t even looked at any of these yet I haven’t either going in blind you go ahead first all right future based question if Alex vulcanos takes makev to another competitive five rounds and loses will vul’s Legacy be overshadowed by these two losses at lightweight does Islam go double champ at welterweight next or is he back at Charles good questions good questions um I’ll start as far as vul’s Legacy I I still think having the the coones to step in on notice like this to battle somebody like Islam even if he does another competitive job I don’t think it tarnishes his uh pound-for-pound status I think he still yet again proves proves that these two are top three pound-for-pound crates or top five at least and I think if he continues to dominate the featherweight division the way he has um I think it just shows you how how damn good he is that he was that heavy 12 days notice he comes in and he’s still competitive even if he doesn’t lose uh even if he doesn’t um win I still think it doesn’t tarnish and as far as the other fight man I think it all depends on how shakes out on Saturday on where Islam goes next if he dominates goes out there and just absolutely dominates uh volkanovski this time around then you know if he calls out the welterweight maybe he waits around but I hope not I I don’t want to muddy it up yet I I think he should stay beat some guys beat Charles again or see who else emerges as a potential uh Contender what do you think uh you know yeah I’m I’m with you on the vulcanos question I don’t think that it tarnishes his legacy because look he’s still absolutely running through guys at 145 pounds like really he’s improving every fight I I just don’t think that if if if it to anybody if this tarnishes their legacy I would really question their education and their credentials in terms of having an opinion in mixed martial arts because going up on 10 days notice to rematch a guy that you arguably beat and even if he even if he got finished let’s just say he gets finished I don’t think it tarnishes his legacy at all he stepped in on 10 days notice against a guy that’s in in route to follow the great khabib n Mega manov and potentially be the top of the pound for pound list someday and for the question with with Islam going up lightweights too competitive I think there’s too many fights here for him Justin Gate’s waiting in the wings on the heels of the BMF win uh you know Charles Olivera’s right there you know you got yeah maybe Charles gets skipped huh if he goes out and wins and gai’s in line and yeah I just think that it’s it’s co I mean I know the Islams talked about it but to me I think Colby Covington is angling to fight Islam next if he beats Leon Edwards because he doesn’t want to fight guys like shavat Rock manov like look Kobe’s good but you look at the way he fights you look at the way he picks his matches like he’s smart he would rather fight an Islam Mev than a shaat rock manov yeah that’s just a fact I mean that’s that’s the way I look at it but I don’t want to too much about Colby or else I’m gonna get the the Maga gang beaten down my door round two you’ll get somebody knocking who do you think has a better shot at a upset Alex or Usman I feel crazy saying this like I can make picks right now so I’ll I’ll I’ll tell you one of my picks I do think that I feel this feels so weird saying this I I don’t think Kamar Usman wins and I never in the last I don’t know how many years I’ve never said that I have always thought Kamar was gonna win his fights yeah um but I think that volkanovski just because he’s got a feel for Islam that he’s been in there with him that he’s had this match upot on his mind a lot longer I know kamaro really clamored to be the guy to fight Hamot at 294 before Hamot was booked to fight he was really throwing his hat in the ring to fight him I just think the vul’s got a better chance just because he’s been in there with him yeah yeah that’s damn isn’t that weird that like I just picked against Kamar Usman I just never like that just is weird crazy but I I agree I think uh I just think since vul’s been in there before yeah he’s got the better chance of getting the upset even though you’re right that that is crazy to think about uh stepping in against Islam and you’ve got a better shot but uh I I I know that shmay has looked I’ve been watching some of his videos and his training stuff I think that dude’s hungry to get in there and hurt somebody I just think he’s gotta be careful and be a little bit more dialed than he is I think he’s got to understand you’ve got a dominant former champ on your hands a guy with tons of experience who’s very strong very good a wrestler and he’s got power in his hands so yeah but I agree folk folk all right you know round three but and before yeah I’ll touch on this later you go ahead uh if the Usman verse shemaya winner gets to fight Strickland for the middleweight title next who should durus dupy fight next or should he wait until he gets his title shot good question as well these are good questions these are great questions do you have thoughts on this one I think for dricus I mean with is he saying that he’s going to take a break obviously that would be the no-brainer like I would say Izzy and dricus but man he’s just kind of in a tough spot given that see the ranks yeah I mean he just beat Whitaker who’s just been the guy at the top of the Heap um and you don’t want to roll the dice fighting a guy like Costa it’s like you can’t trust that he’s gonna show up I like the idea of a Jared caner fight I don’t know if Jared caner has a fight right now I’m pretty I thought he did I heard he might I figh right he’s fighting Roman Del okay you heard that too yeah I thought he was fighting Del yeah so I think for Dickus unfortunately he’s in a position where he’s just gonna have to sit and wait he’s gonna have to sit he might yeah you know and that’s unfortunate because he could have been the guy fighting Izzy in September and he could have been the guy middleweight title right now wants a fight he could also see what happens with brandan Brendan Allen and Paul Craig and fight the winner of that to see if he if he really wants to stay busy yeah and not get overlooked again because now he’s got to be careful too that he doesn’t want to get overlooked like he did here if he sits and waits he still may not get that fight and then now it’s it’s a long time later and now you gotta fight anyway so I would start eyeballing some guys that he’s interested in now and maybe put some feelers out if he starts to think like you know what I feel like it’s too long of a wait because it’s definitely a it’s a poker game you know what I mean you got so much luck involved it’s there’s a I don’t think people realize how much luck is involved with getting a title fight it’s like even look at Tony look at Tony Ferguson like even I know he got into a few title fights and things had happened where you know he got injured khabib got injured but I mean yeah dude you got to look at guys careers and what fights fall off like I mean not that I was anywhere near title shop but I mean I lost uh James Vic as an opponent a couple times I had to move up to welterweight then you break your arm there then you’re out a year and you’re wait the fight then you got to climb you know how it is you you lose one fighter you switch weight CL we get Fighters get derailed so easily by stuff yeah and other thing too the other thing too is a big part of drus getting a title fight was I mean yeah he’s winning but also the F with with Izzy like Izzy was kind of the guy that was really kind of roping him in there like now with Izzy not holding the title you’re just another Contender yeah just Contender yeah damn good fighter at that but we know what we like we like to see Bad Blood that’s just we all like to see Grudge matches so good question these are these are uh getting me thinking about the landscape here but all right let’s get the next one so yeah we’re not sure he he might have to wait he might be screwed do you have access to some production companies to film gatei and case vins knowing he would have to wait that much longer for another title shot and what do you think he’d break first in his house should that happen I think he’d break his bong first yeah I honestly I don’t know I think Justin yes he would be upset and I understandably so because he to get it’s it’s hard enough to get one title fight and he gotta fight with fight with Charles like he’s like you just fight porier again say all right we’ll run it back again it’s like and for him who who do you put him in there with like that’s another guy that’s kind of been around the block and fought everybody like there’s really not a lot of options out there for Justin gatei so does he wait you know do they you know make him and Charles fight each other again I don’t know man I don’t know what I would do if I was Justin gatei I think I would I would almost bet that he would wait I honestly kind of have a feeling he would wait because it’s like he’s smart he knows like he knows the luck involved in getting not one not two but three and it’s luck and success like he he earned his third shot for sure turned around Rafael pH and he’s done so well um yeah you know what I mean he bonuses double bonuses all the time he’s probably got a great contract for him it would just make sense yeah and the way he fights and the style that he fights at and where he’s at in his career he’s like he’s he’s my age he’s 35 like you know he’s you know he’s not some young spry guy anymore you know still tough as though but taking that rest for his style is never a bad thing either to go and all right next one that’s a tough situation to be in there’s lots of these man house cat house cat our unofficial third host yeah I know we should uh we should talk should bring him on dude part of the part of the show I say he because I I know who this real person is behind house cat who watches him well if he comes on he’s got to bring the cat yes well that that’s a no-brainer what’s one movie SL album play or TV show that someone recommended to you that was so bad that the only proper way to process the awfulness of the art was to do this cheers and uh I’m not sure what uh I think it’s a angry picture of the cat oh yeah yeah yeah um what’s a bad movie recommendation um hey babe where are you I think there was like a scary movie called Rondevu or something that somebody recommended like this is so scary and I was like sweet like I haven’t seen a good scary movie in a long time and we watched it we’re like this was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen like it was literally it was crap it was crap I’m pretty sure it was called Rondevu something of that sort something where they like this guy had like a rental house and there was like some like tomb inside of it downstairs and there’s some weird like I don’t know it was crap it was total total sorry for swearing watch I just recommend it um on something by Netflix or something the other day with Ashling we watched this movie about the mummy and it was like a remake from like a 1990s movie and I wanted to punch the screen we watch the whole absolutely awful awful um Michael it’s time for final thoughts we got to get out here our man Cody’s got to get on a dang flight to Abu Dhabi as well as me I’m out of here I’m bummed I’m not going with you guys I love some Abu Dhabi dude miss that place fight Island baby I’m I’m I’m off again 14 hours ahead of me still gotta pack my bag so yeah4 this weekend my final thought is guys remember this pay-per-view is at an earlier start time this is not regular time for the pay-per-view so make make sure you tune in to your go on ESPN plus.com make sure you check the times because it’s not the regular start time for the main card at 700 p.m. it’s going to be a lot earlier so make sure you check the time so you don’t miss the action question check in next time we’ll break everything down all right we’re off to Abu dby Michael is gonna go and enjoy his Log Cabin peace out peace out [Music] guys [Music] w