Denis Frimpong | Oktagon 85 Return, UFC White House Update & Irish MMA | The Energized Show

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What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode Manchester Top Top athlete Denis Frimpong joins us to discuss his Oktagon 85 Return, UFC White House Update & Irish MMA along with all the latest combat craic. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for…

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At the end of the day, we're prizefighters. So, we want to get paid. That's what we're here to do, you know what I mean? And um Octagon have got the money. They Like you say, they sell out arenas. >> [music] >> The Energized Show up the Irish. Okay, here we go. >> [screaming] >> Okay, what's going on, guys? And welcome to a brand new episode of Energized, brought to you by Our King's Competitions. Ross. >> Are you intoxicated or something? Introduce the guest, man. Today, we're bringing you Octagon lightweight superstar. It is the one and only, it's Dennis "The Menace" Frimpong. Dennis, you return to Octagon action this weekend against Thomas Signac in a catchweight 73 kg bout. How are you feeling, and how much are you looking forward to getting back in there? Yeah, looking forward to righting the wrongs from the last fight, obviously. Thomas Signac is someone [clears throat] that's always sort of been around the uh the same stratosphere, I suppose. You know, even amateur and stuff, he was like fought on Clan Wars and stuff, so Yeah, it's I don't know. We we've had two of the same opponents. We both fought George Staines. We both fought Peter Gabal. Um So, yeah, I think it's a fight that's been sort of gearing up probably to happen for a while. Um Yeah, it's a fight I wanted anyway after his last fight. I sort of called him out cuz I was looking for a fight. Not called him out, but I asked him respectfully for a fight, and then he I don't know what whatever reason it didn't happen. And now it's been made on short notice. You know, I I I give Thomas his props. He's a gangster for taking it cuz mate, it was it hard finding me a fight on a full camp, let alone on short notice, you know. I think he took it on like 10 days or 12 days notice or something like that. So, he's a gangster for that. But, uh yeah, you know, there's going to be no respect in that cage like at the end of the day. He's trying to take food out of my pocket. Uh he's trying to take food off my table, money out my pocket, whatever the [ __ ] phrases are, but yeah, but like we can have all the respect we want after the fight, but in the cage I'm not going to have any respect for him. But, like always, Dennis, you know what I mean? You you you go in there and you mean business anytime you're in there. And I think that's I think as much as you're an outrageously entertaining person outside the cage and you know how to build and promote a fight, I think inside the cage your your skills have been absolutely fantastic and on show. And I think, you know, even even your last time out, you know what I mean? Like you you showed some absolute moments of brilliance in there. And how much are you looking forward to climb these lightweight ranks? And do you love that Octagon has has these rankings? You're in them now and, you know, you you have you have people with uh numbers next to names that you can go and scalp. Yeah, 100%. Obviously, you know, I'm ranked number nine now. I'm just coming off the back of a loss. So, I'm not fighting a ranked opponent right now, but I believe my next fight should be a ranked opponent after I smash Saganic. Um but, you know, he's he's he's had riding a bit of momentum. I think he just had like I want to say a split decision loss against Konrad Irschik before he fought Maurice Adorf and he got a first round finish. And then before that loss to Konrad Irschik, who was like quite highly touted as well, 16 and two. Uh and like I say, split decision loss. Uh he was on like a five-fight win streak as well. So, yeah, good opponent, you know. I think, like I said, a better fight than I had in the first place for in terms of both name value, excitingness for the fans, um in terms of a puzzle to solve, I think it's a much much um more complex fight, you know. Uh I don't think he's as dangerous as Elias Theodorou was because I think Elias Theodorou does have like that one punch knockout power. Um like, you know, quite explosive. Where obviously Thomas Gifford has not got any knockout at Pro. He's mostly submissions that he's going for. And I don't think he has the grappling capacity to submit me, so. Yeah, Dennis, I know I know you're you're on a five-fight winning streak and you're just coming off a loss there. Like um when you sit back and just reflect on that that like like your last time out, like what what sort of comes to mind and have you changed anything? Um just like obviously the guy I fought is now fighting for the belt. You know, he's not a joke. He's undefeated in Octagon. He's three and 0 now in Octagon, three first-round finishes. Uh I think his 14 wins have all come by by stoppage, you know, a lot of knockouts. He's got good power power and stuff. He's dangerous, you know, so. I just believe it wasn't a skill gap. It was that I made a mistake and I paid for it and he has in all three of his fights in Octagon, the guys he's beaten including myself has made have made a mistake and he's capitalized. So, he's obviously very good at capitalizing on mistakes. If we were to fight again, which I I do want that fight back, I would not make the same mistakes and I would uh soundly beat him, I believe. Yeah, but another thing I wanted to touch on as well, the the entrance with the ping pong balls. Like like how much thought do you put into these entrances these days? And like also, what did you make of Brian Manning's entrance on his Octagon debut? Uh Bri- Brian Manning [ __ ] blew my my entrances out the water, but I don't know how I stand about getting dressed up and all that like and then having to take it all off when I get to the cage, you know what I mean? It's It's It's all long that. [ __ ] bringing a bike with me on the [ __ ] plane and all. Um but, you know, I just I just got off the [ __ ] plane, bought some ping pong paddles in a Sports Direct in Germany or whatever the [ __ ] their equivalent is, and a few balls, and then Peter Queally launched a few balls at me during the press conference, so I had even more balls. Um but, yeah. Um I just thought, "Okay, now I just sort of go with the flow." I've got a bit of a walkout planned there for the next one. But, again, it's going to be not spectacular, but it will it will capture people's eyes. I think it will capture the the home fans' attention more so than anything, which is the main thing. Yeah, well, anytime Dennis the Menace Srimpong fights, everyone makes sure to tune in, don't they, Ross? Yeah, absolutely. Dennis Srimpong is more CCTV. And tell us this, in terms of like preparation for for for this fight, and I know obviously you were training for different opponents, you had to change opponents, but did you move around about? We always see you, you know, going for the different gyms from time to time for different looks. Did you Did you get around a bit, or were you more time in HQ this time? Yeah, it was more so in HQ this time. I did a little bit in Next Gen, but um again, I was fighting a taekwondo guy, a striker. Obviously, if I'd been fighting a grappler, maybe I'd have gone to Next Gen a little bit more. So, it just depends on like what my camp is and like what sort of, you know, I was doing I'm doing bits in Combat MMA in Birmingham as well, so. Yeah, it just sort of depends who I'm fighting and what what not, um as I structure my camp. But, uh yeah, most of the time this camp I was in HQ. I have some good bodies there that can mimic that style, but obviously, the style has changed now a little bit. Not that much, but it's not going to make much of a difference. Like, I've had a full camp. I'm I'm coming in there strong, fast, sharp, fit, ease after being on holidays in Egypt in February and all, so um not that he's, you know, not to say he's not coming in fit. He's probably always training like most of us are. But, um at the end of the day, I'm going to be ready for him. And yeah, I'm going to drag him into deep waters like I always do. So, tell us this just just just on training in Next Gen. Have Have the comments lessened now every time you put up a picture there that someone mentions mentions the knock or do they still get it now and then? Yeah, you still got the overhand again. I think I think I'm probably going to get that for forever now. That's just like the common thing. There's always going to be some [ __ ] saddle that doesn't have a clue, so I I was just wondering like as obviously Paddy's probably I'd say easily top 10 most famous fighters MMA fighters in the world right now. I'd say even across any any combat discipline, bro. Yeah. >> Forget MMA like, you know what I mean? He's He's huge like He is huge. Yeah, he's so recognizable as well. I like he's been so integrated into other sports like even even like on the Liverpool stuff they have him on there, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Look, it is what it is, but great great that you you can go up there and do your do your bit of training and and and all that's cool cuz I know obviously you and Sham are close and he's got a big fight coming up in in London that's going to be a big one. Yeah. going to be a lot lot lot of eyes on on that as well, so great to see you have to always shout out to Sham, so Just like when we have Sham on we have to shout out to Free Pong fella. Yeah. [laughter] Has to be done, but speaking of people you are close with aligning with Shamrock, we saw the DCA, the Dublin Combat Academy guys. I know you've done a lot of work there in your time. They're fighting in Hitman League over the weekend. Yeah. We saw Toy Gun and Craig Coakley get their arm raised and we saw very rare but wonderful return to the to the ring by Colly Mann. What did you make of seeing these guys fight each weekend and also with Karl Mann getting like 17 year old You know, we were we nearly had Karl Mann on the show today, but he's in school. Yeah, I was just saying like it's mad that Karl Mann is still in school. Like he's [ __ ] having knocks on a Saturday and then back in school Monday. Yeah, he's a extreme talent. Um obviously I've been training I've trained with him when he was like a proper kid. Do you know what I mean? So just seeing him like evolve into a teenager like a young man and doing what he's doing. I've known for years that he was going to be coming up. He He works hard. You know, he He's always loved the sport of Muay Thai. Obviously he used to do MMA didn't he and went down the Muay Thai path which is weird cuz it's usually the other way around. Um but yeah, he's going to do some special things, you know, classy classy guy. Just [ __ ] throws mad [ __ ] in Muay Thai and like plays with people. So yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of raw talent in Muay Thai. Like where does he rank amongst people you've ever seen? Ever seen? It's weird cuz like obviously Brendan Loughnane would have been the same. I would have known him since he was a kid as well. But obviously he went down the MMA route. So it's like it's a different thing in it. But I think I think he can he can sort of like do it all. He could go One FC, become the champion there with whatever the biggest accolades in Muay Thai are now. I'm I'm not I'm not really on the Muay Thai scene anymore. But yeah. You know, I believe Yeah, he seems to be every time he goes out and performs, he seems to knock it out of the park and it's rare to see so much hype around the young kid, but every time he's out there he delivers. So it's just one of those ones like again, we're not as familiar with the Muay Thai scene either. So from what I see, he looks like he's going to be an absolute world beater. I just don't know if there's other world beaters at his level his age around the world. >> there There definitely is. There definitely is. I mean, there's kids in Thailand that are like [ __ ] 17 and they've got 400 fights or >> [clears throat] >> 300 fights, whatever it is. So, Yeah. you know, there's definitely like there's definitely kids out there that are world beaters as well. But, I in Thai, I've I've yet to come across myself anyone of that like skill level at that age, you know. And what about what about Craig getting that that like like viral win over the weekend as well? But, how happy were they? I was so happy for him for that because I felt like he needed it, you know, like his momentum had kind of halted a little bit. Obviously, it was a bit of a It was a tough fight. Um and yeah, you could see what it meant to him as well afterwards, you know what I mean? So, I was so happy for him just to see him get that momentum back cuz momentum's a a [ __ ] you know, like you get a bit of momentum and suddenly like you're riding high, you know, it takes a lot to stop momentum. Um so, yeah, hopefully he can build off the back of that now and continue to go on to do his thing as well. Yeah. And also, Collie Collie Man back in there as well. Like You never know. Do you Do you think he has a run in him to get into One FC? May I I don't [ __ ] know. I don't I Like I was asking him, are you getting back in fighting now or what? Yeah. He's not He's not old. Like he's not like He's been around for years, but he's not actually old. Yeah. Um but yeah, like I don't know, mate. He's mad. He's a He's the maddest [ __ ] I never would have expected that to have happened where he took a fight on like 3 days or something like that. Like what? Yeah. Like he he's mad. He's mad as a bag of spiders, mate. Yeah. No, but since since we're talking about Muay Thai, I'd like to also mention that like Tom Kearney got a massive win in One FC as well. First round finish. He fights on Warrior's team. And King Cavalry's hosting a Muay Thai event this Friday as well. So, it's called the Takeover. So, that's like very interesting. Yeah, the combat sports in Ireland is just exploding. Like you're obviously living in Manchester at the moment. But, like obviously you're seeing the likes of Cage Warriors 200 doing their thing. Like more people signing with the likes of Oktagon. And like PFL's come back to Belfast. Like the Irish MMA scene is actually booming. And the jiu-jitsu scene as well, Dennis. Yeah, the the combat scene is, as you say, booming there. Which is why me Will and the lads are trying our best to drag Oktagon and their show over to Ireland because yeah, I think it would smash it, you know. I think it'd be it'd be sick. Um for Oktagon and for the Irish fans as well, so they can get to see what Oktagon brings as well, you know. Yeah, we're on to Andre and Brian and and the guys over there all the time. Uh send them on telling them like it'd be great if you signed this person, great if you signed that person. Um so like we're we're we're trying to direct them towards more Irish fighters as well cuz the one it it's an absolute phenomenal platform to fight on. Number two, like if people want to fight fight in massive sold-out stadium shows across Europe, it's such a good place to fight in. And look, it seems to be a very good place money-wise, especially at the start of your career anyway. So I I I think it's it's it's a massive jump from going on the regional scene here in Ireland fighting on the local scene. And fighting on a show like that like people should definitely make sure that is a viable option for them at least enter the contract conversations with Oktagon, you know. Yeah, 100%. [snorts] Like at the end of the day, we're prize fighters, so we want to get paid. That's what we're here to do, you know what I mean? And um Oktagon have got the money. They Like you say, they sell out arenas. Um you're getting to fight abroad, you're getting to fight against these German guys. You're not end up Like I wouldn't have to fight an Irish guy, do you know what I mean? Like Richie Smullen's the only guy sort of in lightweight slash featherweight. And it's like we've kind of decided between us we're probably not going to fight each other on unless it's for a belt. Do you know what I mean? Unless it's like we're both like >> really don't see you guys fight each other either unless it is Yeah, why, why, >> why? I I rather just keep smashing these German steroid heads, you know what I mean? And and and Czech guys and Slovaks and that. Um, but yeah, like we don't need to fight each other. We're like I feel like if you're on the regional scene in Ireland like it's easy. You end up fighting [ __ ] boys from down the road that you should be training with, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, big [snorts] big Well, another another thing as well that Samurai on the 28th of March as well they're having an event that's in Wales and uh your teammate Aaron Harris is taking on Shane Boland as well. Like Yeah. What do you think What do you make of the way that like organizations from like in different countries are taking Irish people on to be the main event? Two Irish lads fighting each other in Wales. Like what a random tournament of events. It's all It's all a bit wild, isn't it? The the Valley fight, but um yeah, I uh I think it's I I think it's healthy, but also like, you know, I don't like seeing Irish guys fight each other personally. But um yeah, it is what it is like at the end of the day. Aaron's my teammate. I'm always going to have his back on it, you know? So, yeah. No, that's good to hear. But uh look, I do want to bring it back to Octagon 85, yourself versus Thomas. What way do you see this fight going now that you have a new opponent on short notice? And is there anything that you've changed since the opponent has changed? Not really. Obviously just like the what weapons I I'm I'm more aware of because obviously he throws different weapons um than my original opponent. I I think it's a different body type, but at the end of the day I think that the vast majority of especially European MMA fighters make the same sort of mistakes. So, I'm focused on what I'm going to do and what I'm going to make him do. Um he makes a lot of the same mistakes that Elias does. So, I believe I'm going to capitalize make make him make those mistakes, capitalize on those mistakes. Um yeah, force him to probably grapple and then I believe we could see uh my first submission in Octagon. Um just based off the fact that I think he'll he'll look to grapple once he realizes he can't understand my timing and my range. Well, look, he's he's never been finished as a pro, Dennis, so do you do you do you >> very aware of that. And then also with that as as well, like he's he's short and you're very tall and rangy. Do you feel like he's going to be very >> To be honest, he's not short. I know it says whatever on top topology bothers me. 5'9 it says on topology. He's not 5'9. He's like 6'2, mate. He's tall. He's rangy. Okay, well, fair fair enough. Who claimed that for I think he I think he might have put that on himself just so that >> [laughter] >> people people people [ __ ] get in there and they're like, "Fuck this off." Um Yeah, uh What was the question, sorry? Uh I was I was saying well, you would start off with he's never been finished, so do you think do you think Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean Yeah, I mean I I finished Aryan who had never been finished. I finished uh well, I didn't finish, but I beat Robin who had never been beat. Mhm. You know? It was first time for everything and um he has been beaten. I just believe he's fought guys who uh came with a very grapple-heavy, grab-hold-of-him style. It's not going to be my style. I'm going to drown him. I'm going to you know, I I think he has a good gas tank. He's a slow starter, has a good gas tank. Same as me, but I think mine's better and I think I'm going to I'm going to Maybe it might take a bit longer than people expect to break him, but I will break him. Well, that's why you have to make sure to check in and see Dennis Frempong this Saturday, the 7th of March, live in Hamburg at Octagon 85. Dennis And Tom Thomas uh Signac is 6'4" too, so apologies to Thomas Signac. He's not a little short arse. Uh yeah, fair play to Dennis sticking up for him as well. Yeah, Dennis is sticking up for poor Thomas, and he's not a short king. Uh look, yeah, I think as you saw against Peter Gabal, you know, that that third round he had nothing left, and he was he was praying to get out of there. And Dennis did the favor and and took him out early in the third round, and I can see it see it happening. But uh Tell us this, who's going over with you and for the corner, and is there many uh Dennis the Menace fans making their way over? There is actually for this fight. There's loads more than usual. There's a few boys coming over from Ireland. Uh I have a few mates that actually live in Hamburg that are from Ireland. Um so yeah, there's a good good good crowd of us going. There's a lot of German fans. I have a lot of German fans there as well that are coming to watch. So uh yeah, that'll be good. And then I've got Malakai Edwards in the corner, and I've got Princy coming over as well. And Max, one of the other boys from the gym, uh that are going to be in the corner. So You know you know it's serious when the prince coming over. Uh you know how it is, mate. You know yourself. Uh Dennis, just before we wrap things up, is there anything you want to say to the people tuning in now that are coming to see you compete on the 7th of the 3rd in Hamburg? >> Yeah. Yeah, like uh like I say, it's a even better fight than it was originally. Do check in. Um pay-per-views are on Octagon TV. Uh I think it's like 12 quid or something like that. Like it's it's it's not it's not mad expensive, you know what I mean? Um yeah, a few other good fights on >> against the Temple Bar these days. Do you get me? Like [ __ ] half point against the Temple Bar basically. But um yeah, uh uh >> be sure to catch uh be sure to catch me on there, and I'll put on another another clinical performance. There we have it, ladies and gentlemen. Dennis Frimpong finishes Thomas Signac in front of 15,000 screaming fans in the Barclays Arena in Hamburg this weekend. Make sure to tune in and see the menace go to work. Let's go. The MMA Irish show up the ratings. So Ross, that was Dennis Siver Frampton, your favorite Frampton man. Yeah, look, Dennis is always entertained to have on the show. And we try and promote the guys who are fighting the following weekend if we can or the weekend after. And Dennis is always good to have on, always entertaining. And look, I don't think he ever he doesn't deliver anyway, so look late opponent change, interesting story, ranked number nine in Octagon. Big opportunity for him to boost himself up the rankings. And who wouldn't love to see Dennis Siver Frampton in the near future fighting for the Octagon lightweight title? Exactly. Octagon definitely would. It's just like I'm really enjoying the Octagon shows and the Irish on it, so long may that continue. So if you are new Quick question for you. Who do you think is going to be the bigger villain in Octagon, Brian Manning or Dennis Siver Frampton? The bigger villain? Or the bigger heel one might say. Man, they're both in the same like sitting at the same table like. Yeah, but I think Dennis Siver Frampton has the ability to get under people's skin better, I think. But I think I think Brian Manning will turn the fans and like he'll make them love him, I think, eventually. Those walkouts. I know, but Dennis is like the turn of the fans as well, like you know what I mean? They're the it's the guy they love to Yeah, you know what? I feel I feel like they both have the ability to be like almost a a Stone Cold Steve Austin type character, you know what I mean? Coming in and raising hell and leaving. Man, like even though I Dennis was doing it with Sham, like it's just it's mostly like it's just pure entertainment. Wonder >> [laughter] >> The the Dudley Boyz, man, straight through the table. Um so if you want to hear me on the podcast coming next week >> [laughter] >> If If you're If you're new to the Andrew show, make sure to like and subscribe cuz we are here every week, aren't we, lads? Yeah, we do not miss and we are not going anywhere anytime soon. Thank you so much for everyone. The amount of messages we've gotten the last week have been like, "Oh, thanks so much for everything you do for the scene. Thanks so much for the coverage. Thanks so much for highlighting my jiu-jitsu match or my fight over the last week." It is absolutely insane. Blown away by the amount of messages. I actually had to keep up for once. Yeah. Well, look, we were working overtime over the weekend and we will get into all that action very, very shortly. So, we're but we're going to start in the world of the UFC cuz obviously Lonnie Canavale defeated Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico over the weekend. And also, UFC 326 is going down, Ross. Yeah, look, he's after coming in on short notice, beating Brandon Moreno, uh, got the decision, uh, across all the judges' scorecards. Went in there, won the sole duty. And he's effectively inserted himself into the title picture, Bas Rutten, at this stage. You know, beating Brandon Moreno, former multiple time flyweight champion. And I also feel like Brandon Moreno is only ranked number six. I feel like he'd be ranked higher because he took a hiatus. He left for a while. I feel like if Brandon Moreno stayed in the mix, he'd easily be two, three, four ranked flyweight in the UFC and potentially even maybe he would have had another title opportunity. He could even be the champ right now. I feel like that's how close it is in the difference make the difference between the top of the flyweight rankings. I think when you look at it there, you obviously have Joshua Van who's champion. He won the belt in like sort of strange circumstances against Pantoja. And then you sort of have the rest the best of the rest. Uh, I think Taiera's fighting Van next. You have Manel Kape there. And then Brandon Moreno is also in that mix, but now obviously Lonnie Canavale's beaten him. He's in that mix as well. Obviously, you have Brandon Royval, perennial contender. Who knows? Like that flyweight division at the top end is very, very stacked. It looks like Lonnie Kevna for me, I think he should fight Manel Kape or Brandon Royval next. If he wins that one, he could be fighting for the belt next. I think that's how much of a leap he's after taken. It's It's reminiscent to, you know, when McGregor beat Poirier. He He inserted himself into the operational onto right in the mix. A win or two away from the belt. Yeah, well, this is something we were touching on at Cage Warriors last week about like taking a taking a chance and then you get >> Risk and reward. There we go. Like a lot of people like, "Why is Why is Lonnie taking this fight?" Like obviously, Lonnie fights out of GB Top Team. He has a great story. Like his dad's Irish, his mom's Chinese, and he was born in in the UK. So, look. Be a dedicated >> Ireland's own. Ireland's own, Lonnie Kevna. Didn't he get the 100 He gets the 100 grand bonus as well. Like that that like look, big risk, big reward. That's what we're saying on this show. You know yourself. And you have to You have to be honest about it though. Sometimes it's it's not really as big of a risk. If he went in there and lost a decision or lost Brandon Moreno, I don't think that damages his stock too badly cuz number one, he's fighting former world champion he's own rank. He's fighting the number six rank. And number two, he's after both boosting his profile massively. He's fighting fighting in a main event, you know, against one of the biggest stars flyweight division has ever had in Brandon Moreno. And there he is, you know what I mean? He went in there and he won. But if even if he lost, I think his stock would have rose. Yeah, I know. I agree. He beat like there's only a few >> you have to All you have to do is put your hand up. There's only a few Mexican There's only a handful of Mexican UFC champions. Brandon Moreno was one of them, and then he beat him in his own backyard. Unbelievable carry on. But Ross, this weekend, UFC 326 goes down in Las Vegas as Max Holloway takes on Charles Oliveira for the BMF title. This is a rematch against This is a rematch. Last time Max Holloway won. Ross, what are you expecting from this weekend's event and who will walk out the BMF champ? Yeah, it's obviously two massive fan favorites. People love Charles Oliveira. People love Max Blessed Holloway. I think their last fight was at featherweight. This one This one will be at lightweight. So, look, for me, I think the Blessed I think Max Holloway will be able to overwhelm and eventually put him away with strikes. But, obviously Charles Oliveira has got more submission finishes than anyone in UFC history. So, that is always going to be there. One thing that I found very strange is I feel like UFC are only promoting the next event once the previous event is over. I feel like this fight is a massive fight, real fan favorite fight, but I feel like you're only starting to hear about it this week. I feel like they're not doing the you know, big builds to I know they're not really pay-per-view cards anymore because the paramount deal, but before their their numbered events, you know, I'd love to see more press conferences. I'd like to see like almost three press conferences in the lead-up to the fight. I'd like to see a press conference when the fight is announced. I'd like to see, you know, a press conference at the event before. So, at UFC 325 the UFC 326 people come and do the press conference and then obviously the week of. That's what I think would help build the fight and that's what I think would make these fights feel bigger. Like this fight should feel bigger. But, it's almost coming around to feeling like a fight night in regards to how it's been promoted. No, I agree. I think I think like Dana's just announcing fights in his um his bedroom. >> Yeah, like he could Like this should have a real coming out properly being like get ready for this, you know? So, >> Yeah, these are two absolute legends and icons of the sport. You know what I mean? This is the fighting pride of Brazil versus the fighting pride of Waianae, Hawaii. This is Max Blessed Holloway versus Charles Oliveira. This is the man who's got more submissions in UFC history against the man who's landed more strikes than anyone else in UFC history. These are two of the baddest [ __ ] in the game and they should be promoted that way. Yeah, there's almost like 30 years of UFC action. >> like oh, you should have promoted the fight. Yeah, you should have promoted the fight, Ross. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Dana's too busy to get Conor Benn on the team. Yeah, exactly. So, look, I think it's an absolute phenomenal fight. I'm going to pick Max blessed Holloway Holloway to get the win. Uh, that's that's my that's my decision or that's my thoughts on the fight. And look, not a bad co-main event as well. Uh, Cheick Kongo versus uh, Reinier de Ridder. Uh, de Ridder was obviously on a massive run until he lost his last one. Cheick Kongo uh, likewise, he lost to Imavov over in France, I think it was. And look, the winner here is probably another win away from Loik Radzhabov. Middleweight's quite stacked at the moment. Obviously, we have Hernandez and Strickland there. 2 weeks ago, so look, these guys are all trying to get back in the mix and then um, obviously, we have Raul Rosas Jr. UFC's uh, favorite uh, I was going to say prospect, but project might be a better word for it. He's also fighting on the card against Rob Font. So, look, not a bad card, not the best card, but that main event is one hell of a fight, Bas Rutten. Not a Definitely a fight that everyone's going to be looking forward to that. Like it's like certain times we post pictures with fighters or put content and polls and a lot of people always interact with Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, so Maybe we Maybe we'll picture the two of them us with a Charles Oliveira and me Max Holloway and and ask them who do you think is the bigger energy guy? >> [laughter] >> I think they're going to say Charles Oliveira cuz he was wearing the energy glasses. Yeah, exactly. >> Shout out to the energy glasses, man. Uh, no, but that that is the UFC action this weekend, man. Uh, Ross, UFC White House conversations are happening a lot more these days. Like, if you're going to have to like it was obviously announced that Carlos Ulberg is going to take on Jiří Procházka for the world light heavyweight title. Therefore, Alex Pereira has to give it like he's vacated his title. So, the talks are now he's potentially going to fight for the heavyweight title at the White House. So, the question is right now, what do you feel is going to be the main event for UFC White House, Ross? Well, I think the main event for UFC White House is in the works and in my opinion, the main event for the UFC White House is set. We will see the return of Johnny Bones Jones at heavyweight against Alex Pereira. This is the fight that Jon Jones always said he wanted more than the Aspinall fight. This is the fight that Alex Pereira has always wanted to wanted to have. And it's perfect timing for Jon Jones to come out of retirement while Tom when Tom Aspinall is on the sidelines. Come in, have a fight, become the undisputed heavyweight champion against the former light heavyweight champion. Alex Pereira has a chance to create history, become the first ever UFC triple champ. Jon Jones has a chance to beat another legend and solidify that legacy. And I think that will be the main event and the co-main event will be the human highlight reel, Justin Gaethje trying to unify the lightweight title versus Islam Makhachev Poirier. Islam Makhachev Poirier is back doing all the streams with some of the hottest streamers on the planet. I think he's with Aiden Ross there recently. He's probably doing the rounds. He's copying the Arman Tsarukyan platform. And And if all else fails, if Justin Gaethje is not available, I think Tsarukyan is doing making enough noise at the moment to get himself into a lightweight title shot as well. The White House is a special card. I think all the rules go out the window. Throw who you want on it, but I think that that's definitely a possibility. And I also think Sean Strickland might have played himself into the White House. And him versus Hamzat Chimaev could also be on the card. But as What do you think of those three as headliner fights for the UFC White House? Look, they're all very, very, very interesting fights. Very energizing fights, but uh Do you think the UFC would just strip Tom Aspinall be like, "All right, mate, we're your your title's getting taken away." And they're so and you're like, "Okay, thanks." What's up? They might They might reinstate him as the interim. Now, I know that I know the main Aspinall there on the speedo, but they I just don't see this one being for the interim heavyweight title or whatever way. They'll call it the linear UFC heavyweight title. They'll call it something. Um but that's that fight is massive. That fight is massive, Ross. Very that They'll have to pay off Tom. Tom might be Well, look, they don't like Tom. So, that's why I feel like they'll just disrespect him and do whatever they want. Yeah. You can't You can't have the main event being for an interim title in the White House. It just won't happen. Like they they're better off creating their own White House title than they would be like They'll tell They'll tell Tom he has to vacate it. They will. Well, he won't be out for ages and everything. Yeah. So. All these conversations, Ross, the the the world of mixed martial arts is very, very, very interesting. Like we also mentioned like PFL's coming back to Belfast. Very, very interesting times ahead. So. As I said earlier when we were talking to Dennis Demenis Frimpong, that this weekend take take over Muay Thai is going down on the Friday. Uh on the Saturday, Dennis is competing at Octagon. SBG Ireland's Lee Hammond is fighting on W FC. And also Cage Conflict will be going down. We'll get into that now shortly. And also Ar Artemis Artemis. Artemis is is going down as well. That's them for me. Muay Thai fanatics as well. So, Ross for the people that were tuning in especially on our Instagram page and now TikTok page, Ross They saw that I'm running up the numbers on the TikTok. Thousands of followers. Ross is now on the People are [laughter] stopping in the street being like, "Is that the TikTok guy?" Ever since you deleted TikTok for Adam Darby, you've now gone viral on TikTok. So, my point being now, Ross, over over the weekend we were covering Chaos and Grappling Series or grappling championships and also Your Fighting Championships. So, what we're going to do is we're going to start with the Irish MMA scene first and then we're going to go and finish with the grappling at the end cuz it was a very action-packed weekend. So, Ross over the weekend Your Fighting Championships went down and in the main event Shay Leeland defeated Paul Nolan. Yeah, he did. He finished him in the first round, TKO finish, all against the cage. Shay Leeland has arrived on the pro scene. He is a flyweight definitely to look out for. Uh I will say physically he looked like he was the best we've ever seen him and I felt when once he got in there and once that bell rang, he was he was like a bat out of hell and he got in there and he got the job done fast. I think um that is someone who Cage Warriors should be looking at and I think that's someone who Octagon should be looking at. I think Shay Leeland is here to stay. I think he's one of the hottest prospects out of Team Torres in a while. I think himself Kieran Brady are flying that pro mantle for for new prospects and look Shay Leeland, remember the name cuz he ain't going nowhere. Exactly. Then also in the co-main event Nathan Chambers defeated Reardon Lovett. Yeah, it was very impressed that Nathan Chambers was able to get a first round submission over Reardon Lovett. For anyone who knows Reardon Lovett, he is an absolute scrapper, but also his grappling is really, really high level. Um he's fighting out of Shaolin Martial Arts, but he also does a bit down in Raparee as well. He is a really, really top grappler. So, that's a massive scalp for Nathan Chambers to take. And Nathan Chambers fast making himself one of the most muscly bantamweights in this country. We've been talking about him for a while now, but he has picked up yet another title. So, Nathan Chambers definitely one to look out for. The SBG nice man is on fire. And SBG nice as a whole are doing really, really well at the moment. Yeah. And then also Michael Carmody defeated Michael Shields and is the new featherweight champion. Yeah, Michael Carmody, he was up for Energize featherweight amateur of the year. This is a big scalp. So was Michael Shields. These are two of the very best in the country. So, unbelievable matchmaking from Decky McAleenan. Michael Carmody getting his hand raised. He looks really, really big as featherweight. He looks like a massive physical specimen. He looks like he's going to be very, very hard to beat at a featherweight, I think. Him versus maybe the likes of Tom Buckley or something like that from Samson might be a a good match up for some people to make that down the line this year. And maybe it's the last year we see or maybe not even the last year. Maybe it's the last fight or next fight might be the last fight for Michael Carmody before he turns onto the pro ranks as well. And Team Torres look to have a massive upward trajectory at the moment. Yeah. Now, like the Your Fighting Championship card overall, I think it was a great success. Like there's certain winners, >> [clears throat] >> excuse me, on the night. Got to give a shout out as well. I want to give a shout out to Paulie Fitz from SBG nice. He defeated Shane's Shane Smith. That was probably, in my opinion, one of the best fights of the night. There was also one finish that definitely has to be given a shout out as well. Team Ryano Waterford's Owen Hennessy got the rare mount submission. Then also there was the finish from SBG Charlestown's Chris Jones got the round one TKO victory as well. Um Ross, Vadim from SBG Naas scored as well, wasn't it? That was a That was a good first round finish, I think. Yeah, Vadim as well, first round submission. Uh is there anyone else on the card, Ross, that like really stood out to you? Um they were They were the ones that I will say uh shout out to Ethan Sharkey getting getting the decision win over Ricky De Rua and that's that's obviously a really big win for him. Ricky De Rua uh is definitely someone who is very well regarded in our eyes. So, shout out to Ethan Sharkey for that. That That was a great finish. But, shout out to Decky McAleenan and the whole Euro team and everyone who worked on the show. Uh another great production and just great to have Irish fights on every weekend. This This one was a bummer. Yeah, exactly cuz if If you didn't know, obviously your fighting championships happened just over the weekend. Then this weekend Cage Conflict goes down. Then the following week Virtus Fighting Championship goes down. Myself and Ross will be at that event. Jerry Podrac has uh kindly invited us to the show and we'll be covering it um and everything in the build-up to the event cuz uh there's some massive fights already announced for us. Yeah, we've expanded our our uh horizon as working with promotions. Uh we work with Akuma, we work with AD CC and now we work with Virtus Fighting Championship. So, always happy for our promotions to have us on board. Really really looking forward to Virtus 5. Standout card, three pro fights at the top of it. Callum Peace making his pro debut against Parry in a welterweight bout. Uh Jared Ryan fighting Arnie Brogan in a featherweight bout and we have James McDonagh fighting Ronan Deegan in a catchweight bout. All three top pro bouts, loads of professional debuts on deck and Virtus 5 is not to to missed. Be there or be square, cuz we'll be there. We're unbelievable. Jerry O'Driscoll doing yourself as well as a host of other amateur title fights on the night. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to Cage Conflict this weekend. Big fights, big big big pro debuts here as well. Cage Conflict not to be missed. Live in the Devenish, where else would it be possible? Your favorite venue in in Ireland, especially with the pleasure boys. But, look, two massive main main events on this card. Omar Oliver Pablo makes his pro debut, and he fights in Thailand coming over from I think it's a roar or that's where I say all the Thailand fighters are from. And then, Sean Coghlan is making his pro debut against James Walsh. These are two highly anticipated debuts. This is probably one of the best amateur middleweights in the country against the or sorry, making his debut. And then, also the best bantamweight amateur in the country in Omar Oliver making their pro debut. Massive massive fight. You also have the likes of Jason Cullen on the card. Nick versus Brady Royce. We all saw one of Brady Royce get probably one of the KO's of the year last year. Glad he's here from him. Nick from Siam that team is on fire at the moment. Can't wait to see that one. Going to be an absolute electric fight. Loads of other top people on the card. Sean McDermott's on the card. Really really big fan of his. Absolutely star studded from start to finish. Top to finish. Colin Hearns on the card. Best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We saw him ADCC. Phenomenal Jiu Jitsu player. Owen Gauren, he was nominated for Energize amateur bantamweight of the year. He's on the card as well. Cage Conflict not to be missed. Live in the Devenish. Be there. You want to be there and say, "I saw Omar Oliver and Sean Coghlan make their pro debut." It's going to be a phenomenal night. Yeah, I know. Yeah. There was like Blaine McGill. He's on the card as well. But, they jumped tournament together. >> him on purpose, however, he messed just to go lads. You forgot about Moey French. >> [laughter] >> Oh, Moey French. No, blame me. I love every time the Cage Conflict happens. Like you mentioned it definitely, she always mentioned being in association with the pleasure boys, man. Look. But uh >> Man, you love the pleasure boys, man. Man, that's the running They're running team of the show forever. No, it really really really really really is a great card. Uh go The guys always put on a great card. You know what? Most of the other two shows do, not going to lie, they're all really really good fights, you know what I mean? I'm definitely looking forward to it. Exactly, same here, man. So, then Russ, back over is your fighting championships that happened over the weekend and Cage Conflict happening this weekend. Um are you thinking it could be the potentially the last time you see Oliver Moey and potentially Sean Coakley fighting in on the Cage Conflict cuz like shout out to Dean and McGregor made his pro debut there. Now he's fighting Cage Warriors, same event as Matthew Elliott as well. So, like People are Big big announcements there. Yeah, the organizations are are sniffing around these these shows. Like the bigger the shows are the bigger the wins, the bigger the everything. So, it's very very exciting times. Absolutely. We'll keep you up to date with that event as well this weekend. Uh then Russ, before we wrap things up, obviously last week we were at ADCC Ireland covering it. And then this weekend Cages and Grappling Championships went down. Um we were covering that as well. Um can you tell me this, which match up was the match up that you enjoyed the most? I'm not going to lie you, I was super invested in the Lally's versus the Carmody's. I thought it was a great storyline going into it. Uh first off, we had Christian Lally versus Shay Carmody. Uh Shay Carmody got his hand hand raised in this one. He got a rear naked choke. And look, it was a really really good back and forth fight. So, I really good athleticism from Christian La La. We saw really good guard game put in from Shay Harmon and that that jiu-jitsu at that age was so high level. Really, really impressive to see. And then we saw Max La La avenge his his brother with a rear naked choke to get the get the job done. One on one with the La La La Las and the Harmons, I think that was absolutely phenomenal to see. Um in the main event we saw Marcus Fielding get his hand raised. East Coast black belt win in the main event. That That That was really, really cool to see. Nicholas Donnelly from Gorey Grappling Academy. He took home 300 euro prize for performance of the night. So, that was really, really cool to see. But look, we saw some great competitors all throughout the night. Charlie Freegrove got his hand raised. We saw special shoutout to Rose Rose Walls. She was on commentary and got on and competed on the mats as well. That was really, really cool to see. Just great to see jiu-jitsu be given such a good platform on a stage. Um some of the best matchups in the country all going toe-to-toe. I loved it from start to finish. Um look, I thought it was incredible to see. Also like shoutout to people like Charlie Freegrove and like Fionn O'Neill who competed in London on Saturday and then competed in Carlow on Sunday. Like that's how much these people love the jiu-jitsu scene in Ireland and it's absolutely booming and we are just delighted to be part of it. Exactly. It was a great show. Like some even the matchups in the build up to it you're like This is like This is pay-per-view and it was pay-per-view. Yeah, absolutely. It was incredibly good to see. Like again, like just you know, seeing Bruno Henrique versus Steve Purcell was incredible to see. See Seeing all these matchups time time again, I was like this is great. I saw I saw Arthur Go Rebec was against Barry Doonan. Two plus 100 kilo guys trying trying to take each other out. It was just really, really high level and it was just really, really good to watch and shout out to Wayne and the entire BJJ Kaizen team who put it all together cuz look, it it really, really was a fantastically run well or well-run event and I can't wait to see Kaizen Fighting Championships 2. And the Lark was a great venue for that. Yeah, look great. But like if they have the stars of tomorrow there today, like even the likes of Amy Scully, like and the list goes on and on. So >> Yeah, you know what? Like sorry for anyone who I didn't mention by name, but you couldn't really mention nearly all of them. But look, the jiu-jitsu scene is flowing. Sure, you even uh James Kavanagh and Adam Mills were fighting on another UK show uh on Sunday as well. Like the scene is really, really hopping at the moment. So if you do have fights coming up in the jiu-jitsu scene, uh do let us know cuz uh we try our best to cover everything, but like sometimes it can be hard. Yeah, just looking at future jiu-jitsu tournaments that are happening. I have one here. We have a Crank Invitational going down on the 25th and 26th of April. And then let's see. ADCC Ireland returns on the 16th of May. So uh and uh Irish BJJ goes down on the 23rd and the 24th of May as well. So there's plenty more events coming up and we will keep you updated on them as long as possible. Yeah, absolutely. We'll try We'll try to cover as much as we can. Yeah. Like the funny thing was just there like I was covering your Fighting Championships and Russell's covering Kaizen. It makes >> [laughter] >> We're constantly just like posting online. So uh look, things you do when you love the game, baby. Yeah, hours of work goes into that. Hours of work goes into that. >> yourself. You know yourself. And that will happen this week as well. So Russ, anything else you want to say to the people tuning in? Just want to say thanks a million for everyone who does uh First of all, thanks for everyone who competes cuz that gives us the opportunity to highlight their performances. Shout out to anyone who does interact with our our content. It really really does help us push out with the athlete even further time after time. Shout out to Our King's Competitions who sponsor the show. Really appreciate them. Wouldn't be able to do what we do without them. And then also for anyone who is new to the jiu-jitsu scene or not maybe share this with other people as I don't think there is as many jiu-jitsu podcasts. So, not saying we're we are one, but we are covering the sport now, so it will be cool if you could let people in the jiu-jitsu world know that we're covering jiu-jitsu now as well. Yeah, just just before you you make them go to sleep, just whisper in the ear, stay energized. Thanks a million. And as always, stay energized. The Energize Show up the Irish. It's the face that runs the place, Chaos Cartel. I want to thank the Irish MMA community so much for getting behind me. You up the Chaos Cartel.