Dana White Vs Eddie Hearn, Cage Conflict Review & Virtus FC Preview | The Energized Show

สรุป

What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode we discuss Dana White Vs Eddie Hearn, Cage Conflict Review & Virtus FC Preview. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for more Energized Shows! Youtube : Energized Show Instagram: @Energized_Show…

ถอดเสียง (youtube_captions)

I want to see them go head-to-head, but in a way I want to see them go to head-to-head where you know, both men are trying to excel the sport. I want to see Eddie Hearn make his boxing events better. I don't want to see Dana White make UFC events better. That's the way I I want to see it. I think maybe Dana White got bored because he had no rival for such a long period of time and now he does, so maybe we'll see him lift his game and see see what we can do from there. >> [music] >> The MMA Joy Show up the orders. Okay. Here we go. >> [screaming] >> Okay, what's going on guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of MMA Joy's brought to you by Our King's Competitions. Right. >> intoxicated or something? How are you doing man? Welcome back to the show board. >> Man, I'm doing absolutely fantastic. Great to have another episode of the MMA Joy Show on the cards for everyone listening at home or wherever you listen to your podcast. Bas Rutten, how are you doing? I'm doing great man. Thank you very much for asking. Man, it's finally here. I want to actually get straight into it. It's finally here. The White House card was announced by the UFC Bas Rutten. Tell me this from off off the cuff, what are your thoughts on it? Great question man, great question. The thing is look It was a talk the weekend, wasn't it? Yeah, well the thing is I I thought they were going to do Jon Jones against Alex Pereira for the heavyweight title, especially the way Tom Aspinall is after joining Matchroom. So to see that the main event was Ilia Topuria against Justin Gaethje, that was like it didn't feel like a let down, but like I felt like Topuria versus Gaethje was should have been on the card anyway. Like if you wanted me obviously we'll get into more detail, but overall as a rating I give it like a 7.5 oh solely based on the fact that I Dana was saying we were going to get like eight title fights and we've only gotten two and one of them is an interim. What are your thoughts? Nah, I think this is a very generous rating. I'm going to give this a five out of 10. This is one [laughter] of the most underwhelming promises I think we've been delivered in a very long time. I was expecting Jones versus Pereira. I was expecting, you know, Gaethje versus Topuria. I felt like that was a given if like that one's been talked about for a while. I was expecting return of Conor McGregor. I was expecting names like Colby Covington on the card, maybe like an Aljamain Sterling sort of Sean O'Malley rematch. I was expecting big names like, you know, Sean O'Malley versus Amosov as a hobby as much as like Amosov as a hobby is a good up-and-comer. That doesn't really do anything for me. You know what? Sean O'Malley versus Cory Sandhagen would have been an absolute brilliant fight, two strikers going toe-to-toe. Bruno Silva, I feel like that experiment is done and washed. Tim versus Chris Daukaus just like that that Who in the apex for anyone else care who cares? And then Diego Lopes, like what is the UFC's obsession with putting Diego Lopes on cards? I don't really get it. I don't see the fanfare of having him fight on this card as well. I just think that they could have really really made this whimper. I feel like they were afraid to give the fighters what they want. I feel like it should have been Jones-Pereira top of the card, Gaethje-Topuria co-main event. Get Conor McGregor in there against Michael Chandler. Movsar Movsar versus Michael Chandler. Again, like doesn't really make sense the the match-up. Like obviously Chandler for the white house makes sense. Movsar Movsar for the white house doesn't really make sense. They were like you've got to do they were like right, Movsar fights like Conor McGregor so we're putting him against Chandler. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, like just just terrible overall. Reality, I know she's injured at the moment but I think like another fight that could have been great for the card would have been Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes. I think that would have also been a great fight to have for the White White House card. But now I feel like it's just like this fear again. It's It's more let's see what the event looks like as opposed to let's see the fights on the cards. Um so, yeah, we were promised loads and I know just the longer it goes on, the less it looks like Dana White cares or is showing any interest in the sport anymore. Doesn't really answer questions the press conference says I don't know or effectively we're not telling anymore. Just not not what we're looking for as fans. He's not bringing the excitement to people. All the announcements Um he's probably sitting in his house saying this out of his war room on a on a random Wednesday Instagram live. But uh yeah, it's just not the card we were looking for as fans, was it? No, but like I mean look, Topuria against Gaethje, like that like it's great to see Topuria's back. Yeah. Um then also it will be interesting to see Alex Pereira taking on Ciryl Gane. Like will that be a stand-up fight? Like hopefully like that will be interesting. Uh Ciryl Gane also is just like constantly in title fights and not winning any of them. Yeah. He's uh So, he also feel like he didn't do a good job selling the fight either. I feel I feel like Jon Jones would sell itself. Um Well, could you could you really have like Jon Jones in the White House with Conor McGregor with like uh Chimaev with Sean Strickland? Imagine that press conference tomorrow. Yeah, that would be another fight. Sean Strickland versus I'll be careful. Yeah. Duke Covington versus Masvidal, another rematch. Like you just You know, a legendary night needs legendary fighters. So, I mean I think that's what the that's what they should have done. Like even when you look at that Ronda Rousey versus uh Gina Carano fight. Like that Like would that not have been perfect to put on the White House if they if they were going to go down that route. The return of Ronda Rousey. I just think it doesn't feel like it's going to be a legendary night. All right. And even if Alex Pereira wins, he doesn't really become a triple champ because it's an interim heavyweight title. So, yeah, it's a bit of a funny one. But, I suppose speaking of the heavyweight title, Bas, well, Tom Aspinall signed with Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Agency. Tell us this. Obviously, this seems to be the first athlete to sign with Matchroom Sport Agency. Do you feel like Tom Aspinall is a ploy or pawn in the war between Dana and Eddie, or do you feel like this is a good move for Tom Aspinall, or do you think it sort of takes a few boxes along the way that he is a bit of a pawn, but it it will also benefit him long-term? Well, I think I think he's both. But, the thing is, the way Tom's been treated ever since he got his eyes gouged out by Dan, like it's it definitely affects him. And like, obviously, we met Tom a couple of times. We did a live show with him in in London as well. Like, he's very down-to-earth kind of a guy. Yeah. To be catching strays was is just bizarre, especially the way Dana never wanted to say anything bad about Jon Jones, who says uh let's just say his record's not too clean. Whereas, like, what Tom's done for the scene in England and the UK is massive. Like, I mean, anytime they come here I'm sorry, anytime they come over to like this part of the world where they want to sell their arenas, like, Tom is the person they want to put on the card. Um Eddie Hearn, look, Eddie Hearn is could sell sand to the Arabs, man. He's He knows exactly what he's doing. Like, this was all created. He's like, right, they're after taking Conor Benn off me. So, what am I going to do to react? Tom, you deserve more respect. Do you Do you want me to help you make more money? And the thing is I think commercially though, I think commercially like Tom Aspinall could have like I know he he's got like Jim King's sponsorship and he's got a few other sponsorships, but I'm sure Eddie Hearn will be getting a lot more money in Tom's bank account with sponsors. Oh, 100% man. 100% >> He's already got the connects because he has some of his sponsors for his events. So therefore like those sponsors are going Either he'll get larger deals with the companies he has or he'll get fresh deals with someone new. Oh no, this is this is great. This is like Tom is going to do really well off this. Um it's going to be interesting to see more now like like Eddie was saying that he's going to represent other types of athletes as well and like people on social media. Um he said that he was him and Anthony Joshua are going to start representing footballers as well. So it's going to be really interesting to see who else he's going to represent. Like will he try and represent Paddy the Baddy or like who else? Like he's You see, he can't really represent Molly cuz Molly's now a boxer and Eddie's not able to represent boxers and be their manager as well. So um who else could he represent? Maybe Leon Edwards? Yeah, potentially, yeah. Well, I wouldn't even I wouldn't even just look at the UK guys. I'd look at some of the US guys like obviously Eddie Hearn's done deals with Deontay Wilder. He's done deals with Usyk. He's done deals with you know, whoever. You know what I mean? Like I I think Eddie Hearn could represent any of the top guys. Yeah, well, who What other like what MMA fighters do you think would like fit the Matchroom brand? I don't know if you think it's necessarily fit the Matchroom brand, but it could be guys who maybe aren't good at marketing themselves, but are very marketable. So like who knows? Like maybe I don't know if Ilia Topuria has a manager. Maybe you could get Ilia Topuria on board. Uh Tom looked like he flew off in a nice private jet over to Monaco. I'm sure Ilia Topuria looks like someone who would enjoy to fly off to Monaco. Um and >> You wouldn't. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, and I I think he's someone that you you definitely have to look at. Who knows? May- maybe I know Ian Garry has his wife as manager, but like why wouldn't he want Eddie Hearn on his side as well? These are all people who at the top of the sport that Eddie Hearn's probably looking at. Also, do you know what? Speaking of the White House card as well, Ian against like Usman would have been a great fight as well. Yeah, 100%. I think they were trying to do Islam Makhachev at one stage, but it looked like it was going to be Islam versus Usman. It was going to be the White House. But that one sort of fell through, I think. Usman has like a tummy injury or something like that. So. [snorts] Yeah. Look, it is what it is, but I suppose speaking of other heavyweight news as well, Francis Ngannou has been released by the PFL. Do you think Francis Ngannou will fight in MMA again, or do you think he'll solely fight in boxing? I I I think it's just going to be boxing. I I can't see him going back to But like is Dana going to be like, "Oh, here, we need to start getting more many of like more athletes in?" Mhm. Because the heavyweight division in the UFC is not as good as it as it previously was. Yeah, bar obviously Tom being the champion, it's quite quite bleak. You know what I mean? There's a massive drop in in skill levels. And names. Yeah, and names. If you go outside like the top three or four guys. So. Yeah, it's something interesting to see. What do you think? And also, what do you make of the Francis Ngannou experiment on PFL? I think we can all say, in terms of PFL, it was pretty big failure. Uh Uh, obviously he fought in Battle of the Giants. Um, uh, against Ferreira. Beat him in what, like less than 3 minutes. So, over the space of 3 years he competed 3 minutes for the PFL. Obviously he had that tragedy with his son, so that obviously hampered him competing. And well, he boxed twice. So, he actually boxed more than he did fighting in MMA while he was under contract with the PFL. Um, he was on the board for PFL Africa and he didn't actually attend any of the PFL Africa events. So, basically 90% of what he signed up to do with the PFL, he didn't actually fulfill himself. Whether that was his fault or not, um, I don't have the the intimate details of it, but look, it looks like PFL would have lost a lot of money on Francis Ngannou, uh, to be honest. And unless they maybe compensated from the boxing side of things, I don't know. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But, yeah, PFL, um, took a big L on Francis Ngannou. And I think also with that, it's going to be very hard for Francis Ngannou to go anywhere else but boxing. When you look at it realistically, now look, I suppose, maybe he fights Rico Verhoeven on some sort of Netflix Netflix fight. I think that's a possibility option. Maybe he fights Alexander Usyk in a boxing match. Maybe that's a that's a possibility. But also you have to state that you like your opponent Ngannou win here. Maybe fights Deontay Wilder, maybe that's a a more winnable match-up. Yeah, but don't forget he's 0 and 2. That's what I mean. Yeah, I was just about to say that. You're putting a guy in here and he's at 0 and 2. You're going to have to put brackets in his MMA record inside it just to make it look eligible. But, who knows? I feel like people might not want to do business with Francis Ngannou. He seems it seems like he is hard to do business with. Well, the thing is, right, I know you mentioned Rico Verhoeven, who is fighting for the title against Alexander Usyk in Egypt. If Rico loses, he goes home one. I don't think Rico may have had a pro fight. I'm not I'm not too sure about that. >> probably has a few, to be honest. He's absolute combat sport degenerate. Yeah, but like if he >> [laughter] >> if he's a negative record and Francis is a negative record, are they really going to get massive money fighting on Netflix? It just does like it does very hard to sell. Oh, I think I I I think it's more the the name value. Yeah, the name value, I think. Yeah, but even Jake Paul had a like one in a record. So, it's easy to sell. >> Who knows? Maybe Ngannou fights Jake Paul. Yeah. But, I I think that's a a decent >> That's the fight they were trying to make before the Anthony Joshua one against Jake Paul. >> Yeah. Rico Verhoeven's one and oh in boxing, though. Okay. Okay, so look And he's fighting for a world title. Yeah. Okay. >> One and oh, and that was in 2014. So, it was only it was only it was only 12 years ago. The thing is I I I feel like Rico against Francis would be a fair match-up. Yo, I'd be here for it. I'd I'd favor Rico Verhoeven to win, to be honest. Yeah. Just cuz he's active. Yeah, you you never know. Like >> [clears throat] >> Where does this situation just bring it back to Dana versus Eddie? Where does this situation go next? Like does like Dana as saying he he would fight Eddie Hearn? Yeah, and Eddie Hearn said he'd fight Dana White. I don't as much as that would be entertaining, I don't really think that's where the the battle is won. And I don't think that's where fans would see the battle being won. These guys have gotten in their heads now that as if they were influencers. When two influencers influencers have a beef, they they box it out on misfits or whatever. I was like, this isn't two influencers. These are two people with a very large stable of fighters and who are who are looking to get paid on either side of the the battle line. So, I want to see them go head-to-head, but in a way I want to see them go to head-to-head where it you know, both men are trying to excel the sport. I want to see Eddie Hearn make his boxing events better. I don't want to see Dana White make UFC events better. That's the way I I want to see it. And I think maybe Dana White got bored because he had no rival for such a long period of time and now he does, so maybe we'll see him lift his game and see see what we can do from there because at the end of the day the biggest issue with Dana White going into boxing was fighter pay and we saw that straight away with Conor Benn. He picks up a 15 million quid payday and a lot of these guys in the UFC are of a high level much higher level martial artists than Conor Benn is a boxer. And at the end of the day, they're probably a lot of them are probably look to make 10% of what he's getting paid. If even. Maybe maybe even 1% some would look to get paid. Exactly. Even Conor McGregor was back in an interview with Chael Sonnen and he was saying, "If Conor Benn's worth that and due to the price of inflation and the price of inflation and the way the eggs and the milk are getting more expensive, like what is he worth these days? What what do you actually think Conor's worth?" It's hard to know because Conor hasn't actually fought in so long. It's hard to tell what the appetite is for him to fight and I feel like you'll only get a feel for what the appetite is from the fan base to see Conor fight when something gets announced. So, it's it's one of those ones where obviously Conor is pumped like, you know, 100 million easy for for a fight in relation to Conor Benn. If Conor Benn was worth 15, Conor Conor would have been easy worth 100. But at the end of the day, we don't really know what the appetite is to see Conor McGregor fight anymore. And obviously there is a large fan base who would love to see Conor fight. Like I always think Conor is his best version of himself when he has something to look forward to in terms of combat sports. But at the end of the day, we need to know, you know, are the fan base still as invested in Conor McGregor as they were previously once before? I'm sure a large audience will be. Like there was talk about obviously over the weekend, you had the UFC was on and the BMF title was up uh for grabs as Charles Oliveira defeated Max Holloway. And the talk was Conor was meant to fight the winner of that, but that result, do you think Conor could come back now and fight against Charles Oliveira? Cuz obviously he was matched against Michael Chandler who's going to be fighting in the White House. So that's seems off the cards. I wouldn't be shocked by it. Conor McGregor versus Charles Oliveira, 170 lbs, BMF title. Like I I actually think one thing Conor McGregor said that I do believe should be should be true is I think the BMF belt should be an open weight belt as in you get signed to fight someone, but the weigh-in is is open weight. I think, you know, having people cut weight isn't really what determines for me who the BMF is. The BMF is supposed to be, you know, let the athletes be the baddest MFer in the business. So let's not make them cut weight and let's let's see who can scrap it out at a at 100% of their health and see see how we how we get on that way. But uh look, could I see Charles Oliveira fight Conor McGregor next? Yeah, I think that's an absolute possibility. Do I think Charles Oliveira win the BMF title by grappling for like 22 minutes out of 25 minutes is uh the style that we like to see the BMF belt won in? Absolutely not. Do I think Charles Oliveira put on an absolute master class performance against Max Holloway? Absolutely. So it is one of those ones where the BMF title was built for the likes of Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal who who like to throw down and weren't going to get on top and grapple people till till the cows come home. And at the end of the day, I think that's what hence why Kamaru Usman didn't fight for the BMF belt when he was fighting Jorge Masvidal. So, I think yeah, wasn't the wasn't the best BMF fight we've ever seen. Probably the worst BMF fight we've ever seen in terms of an actual fight, but look, Charles Oliveira master class, unbelievable stuff. But, yeah, could I see McGregor vs. Oliveira next? Why not? Then, just to go back and finish off on Dana vs. Eddie. What do you think is the next move? Cuz obviously Dana Dana got Conor Benn. Eddie's after getting Tom Aspinall. So, it's I feel like it's Dana's turn to take a shot next. Like, what do you think will happen? And then what do you think Eddie's next shot will be as well, actually? It's it's hard to really know. I feel like Dana's probably going to go and try and get another one of Tom's or sorry, get another one of Eddie's fighters. Or he's going to try and get some sort of network deal or he's going to try and convince like Turki Alalshikh to like pull the pull the rug out from underneath Eddie Hearn at some stage. And I'm sure Eddie Hearn is going to try and sign another one of the top UFC fighters to his sports agency. And to be honest, I could see Eddie striking first striking again next, to be honest, cuz I feel like it's probably easier for him to sign some of that some of those UFC fighters. We will keep you up to date on all the latest with Dana vs. Eddie. Um Ross, but like this is it's very interesting. It It like in the last week just a there's a lot more people just invested in this cuz they're like, "Oh, what's going to happen next?" It is very, very interesting. Absolutely. Yeah, so as we said, the UFC was on over the weekend and Charles Oliveira is the new BMF champion. It's going to be very People are calling for the BMF title to be like gotten rid of after that fight. Um Conor McGregor supposedly wants to fight for the BMF title. Um it's going to be very, very interesting. Um If he wins the BMF title, is he going to say he was triple champ before Alex Pereira? Potentially so, man. Potentially so. And the And the thing is also like if Max Holloway had have won that, like you could see Max versus Conor but two. Like that would have been very interesting. So, and like in fairness like I know Charles won, but like the way he won may have like made him lose that. >> Oh, yeah, but you could also see Max versus Islam um for the undisputed lightweight title as well. I wouldn't say So, that's impossible either. True. So, there is options there. So, this weekend also the UFC is back into UFC Fight Night. Uh Josh Emmett is taking on Kevin Holland in the main event, Ross. Yeah, I'll see Josh Emmett is one of the hardest hitters the UFC's ever seen. Kevin Holland is on the on the up and coming. Uh I think he's Argentinian, isn't he? And I I'm going to pick Holland for this one. I think Josh Emmett's been a lot longer around around a long time and I think Holland is is the young young buck coming up to to take that spot. Yeah, Josh Emmett is 41. Kevin Holland is 24. So, look that's the main event this weekend. There's plenty of combat sports action going on this weekend. Plenty? Anyone else? Like I obviously need to say this card isn't stacked either. Um Ross, also I wanted to just mention as well people are saying that they they feel they're feeling actually a bit let down by UFC these days. Yeah, well, I'm not surprised. I feel the fighters aren't getting the promotion they deserve. I feel like there's less media being done on behalf of fighters. I feel like the there's not press conferences aren't as big. I feel like weigh-ins aren't as big. I feel like the Q&A's at the press conference when they do do them, I feel like the questions are quite bleak and I just don't feel I don't feel the buzz about it. I feel like UFC are throwing matches that could be on an undercard and main events at times that like oh to me like Valeas versus Josh Emmett is like not a main event for me. It could be easily the opener of a full night main card and people would be like that's fine as well. They wouldn't be like wow, that wants to be the main event. That should have been on the prelims card, man. Yeah, exactly. And that's not a knock on either fighter. It's just in terms of promotional wise, that's that's not where we are. Um I feel like if that one opened the the main card at UFC 326, people people would probably be like oh that's not a great fight. Yeah. Come in like that on that I'm saying in terms of like name recognition. It's becoming more and more like the boxing cards that you're getting the one or two on top and then the rest aren't that massively relevant to be honest. So, I think that's like put it this way. Raul Rosas Jr. fought Rob Font. Like they're trying to build Raul Rosas Jr. as a star. So, like he would actually probably be served better to be the main event on a different show than to be a random undercard fight on UFC 326. And I also feel like the number cards feel less relevant nowadays. Uh >> [snorts] >> Yeah, well then 40 enough, the week after next on the Saturday the 21st of March, the UFC returns to London as Modestas Evloev takes on Leon Murphy. And it says here right now, Luke Riley is in the co-main event against Michael Asuel. Yeah, look, obviously great that they come back to London. I saw a lot of people sort of give out about this card saying that you know they weren't getting the big big UK superstars on the card. I suppose Tom Aspinall is out injured at the moment. You know, Paddy the Baddy's just fresh off a total loss of realistic you know, he's going to be back at some stage, but they're going to put him on Paramount at some stage. And look, Lerone Murphy you know, the same fans who are giving out that he's not a big enough name will also be the same UK fans who are giving out that Lerone Murphy's not getting the credit and the recognition he deserves. He's now been put in the main event spot. Luke Rohde is an absolute sensational fighter. His fights are are more CMTV. So, he's getting the recognition on the card. MVP is fighting fighting Sam Patterson, an all-British affair. So, for me, yes, there's some really strange matches on the card and some people are unfortunate to miss out. Like I think Harry Hardwick is fighting the week before. Lerone Murphy was supposed to be fighting the week before. I actually think it'd be cool if Lerone Murphy was fit to turn him around for that card or you know, even parade him around at that card to build his rep. Um look, it's it's a it's a decent card for for the area. I know people are saying it's like a Cage Warriors card on steroids, but at the end of the day like I'm going to say 90% of the UK fighters who are in the UFC have fought in Cage Warriors at some stage. So, they're always going to have Cage Warriors to us. Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> We'll obviously get into that in more detail next week. And as Russ said, shout out to Harry Hardwick competing on this Josh Emmett versus Kevin Velejo's card. So, Russ >> [clears throat] >> before we get into the world of Irish mixed martial arts we want to give everyone a shout out that has interacted with all the content we put out over the weekend and over the last few weeks as well. So, if you haven't liked and subscribed, make sure to like and subscribe cuz we are here every week, aren't we, Russ? Yeah, absolutely. And shout out for yesterday was International Women's Day. So shout out to all the female fighters past and present who have put on a pair of gloves and competed competed in Ireland and across the world. Really really killed to see. Yeah. Also just breaking news Ross, Francis Ngannou returns to MMA for a five-round fight versus Philip Lins in MVP's card headlined by Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano. Wow, there we have a buzz on. We were wrong. Well, I was more so wrong. I put it in your head that he wouldn't fight in MMA again. So there we have it. Ngannou is back on Netflix against Philip Lins. Very interesting. That's on May 16th. So Ross, as we said, Cage Conflict was on over the weekend and in the main event Oma Mas Oliver got the first round TKO finish Ross. And what did you what did you make of this pro debut from Oma Mas Oliver? I think it was probably about as perfect as it could get. Obviously you got the the head kick finish. It was it was a beautifully timed head kick. The finish looked a bit funny because the fighter so almost went down as if he was getting like a boxing standing 10 count. And he he sort of went to get back up and then sort of held his head a bit like Ow, my head hurts. >> [laughter] >> And then he sort of stopped the fight. Yeah. Yeah. So look and I I think Aaron Wallace did a good job stopping the fight. He he didn't look like he wanted to continue. Look, Oma Mas Oliver I think is going to be an absolute superstar on the Irish scene. For me I look at this I feel like there's going to be one or two things going to happen next from either Oma Mas Oliver is going to get a massive step up and we'll see him April 16th in the SSE in Belfast fighting on a PFL card or I know Cage Warriors have have note of his performance and we'll see him sign into the yellow gloves soon. I think they're the two options with O'Malley Oliver going forward. I like both both options for him. I especially like the PFL if the one fight deal. I think him fighting on that Belfast card would be absolutely incredible. Probably a dream come true for him as well. Again, Cormac Loughlin stepped up after one pro fight to fight in the SSC and he got his hand raised there as well. So, why not do the same for O'Malley Oliver? Also, I was very impressed that the amount of people in the comments like your Paul Hughes, Rhys McKee, Paddy McCorry all like shown him support and giving him his kudos. He seems to be a very very well-liked man in the Fight Academy Ireland as well. No, I 100% agree. Like that's the thing. There there are two options. Like to go on that PFL Belfast card or else go into the Cage Warriors. Like it like Like as we know this week this Friday Dean McGregor is making his debut in the in the yellow gloves. Like he obviously went like won his pro debut at Cage Conflict and now he's going in the yellow gloves. So, it'll be very interesting to see I'm I'm I'm 100% certain O'Malley Oliver has options right now. Yeah, definitely. And and to right you should have them and he has to earn them. So, let's see what happens next with with O'Malley Oliver. I suppose touching on to the the co-main event, Caolan Loughran also made successful pro debut. He threw everything and the kitchen sink at Wamsley in this fight. The amount of knees and elbows that he threw in this fight was incredible and he rode his way to a unanimous decision victory. Shout out to Wamsley who just would not go away. Look, um Caolan Loughran is now one and 0 as a pro and it'll be interesting to see where he goes next. Maybe his next time out he headlines the Cage Conflict card. Who knows? I wouldn't be I It be shocked to see him him signed to one of the bigger promotions sooner rather than later, but I think at the end of the day, I think we'll um we'll we'll see him sooner rather than later. Hopefully uh he didn't hurt his knees or elbows on that poor fellow's unit at that young fellow's poor head. Now the thing I'd say it was actually tough to stop being able to use the elbows. Yeah, I'd say that's a mas- massive big deal for him. Yeah, like the amount of times he's he's in practicing them in DCA. But like also the like just looking at him in there like first of all great shoutout that he could headline the next Cage Conflict. So but also For Academy Ireland have like a lot of they have a ins with the likes of LFL as well. So like that people these organizations are going to be sniffing around. I actually think he's got a thousand more shows for him as well. Yeah, well Look there who was there like Cam Cam Lockran competed there, Tiernan Lockran competed there. So and like there's Owen McDonald competed there. Owen Marek Yeah. Yeah, and plenty more. Um Absolutely. Yeah, then I have to give a shoutout as well to Owen Garry from Youghal Martial Arts who won by split decision as well. Owen Garry, I know he was nominated for one of the energy shows. Amateur bantamweight of the year. Yeah, amateur bantamweight of the year, but like this guy has a lot of talent and he's a very exciting fighter. Yeah, he really really is. He's he's one one to watch definitely on the Irish scene. Obviously coming out of Youghal Martial Arts on the Roy and Roddy he's going to have very very good jiu-jitsu, but I I was also impressed with the striking as well. I think he he is definitely someone who's going to hold multiple belts across the Irish um promotions and I think he's someone definitely to watch out for in the future. And I suppose speaking of people who are very good at jiu-jitsu and speaking of people who come from that lineage, also shoutout to Shaun Corrigan of MMA Cork who got an unbelievable submission win to capture the flyweight belt. The Carmodys are on fire at the moment, Bas. Yeah, but the thing is like this was actually such a great flyweight title fight. Like the way that um like even So it was it was Shields that he was fighting against. Like the way the way he was like defending and like going for his own submissions as well. This was just such back-and-forth fight and like also Shields took this on the short notice as well. But uh as you said, like the Carmodys the Carmodys have become fast becoming like one of my favorite fighting families in Ireland, man. Yeah, absolutely. They're they seem to have Well, I think there's seven brothers in total. So they seem to have one like every week. I think so. There's definitely a lot of them anyway. Now also if you haven't seen if you haven't seen on Instagram as well that Shay Carmody clapping his feet at Kai Isaac has gone viral on our on our Instagram page. It's nearly on a million views. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> You can only imagine the Carmodys at home high-fiving each other with their feet, man. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, awesome. Crazy crazy carry on. But uh I I suppose just to wrap cap off the the title victories there uh Louis Polley from uh ZKJ also got the win. He became super lightweight champion. Hopefully we see him on Gladiator next. And Nick Redmond new won via round two submission to become the interim uh welterweight champion. But uh one person who wasn't fighting for the title who made a few headlines, Bas, Blaine McGill. Tell us about that fight. Yeah, well this was actually a very interesting fight. Height-wise uh like the the guy he was fighting against was like well over I think it was about 6'3 that the commentary were saying. Um and then Blaine I think he's probably around 5'8 5'9. Um so it was a massive height difference. Uh and then eventually uh in the second round Blaine got the second round TKO finish. And it has been announced that he is turning pro at Chaos Fighting Championships for us. Yeah, Blaine McGill will take on Tartan Blood in a pro bout at Chaos Fighting Championships in April. This is going to be an absolutely massive fight for Blaine McGill. He'll be fighting in his hometown and I expect him to bring big audience. We know Tartan Blood was supposed to fight at the last Chaos. He showed up. He said he had food poisoning and he didn't compete on the night. So, there's going to be a bit of drama in the build-up to this one. The two guys have had a bit of back and forth. It's going to be very, very exciting to see. Blaine McGill is no Uh he doesn't shy away from a bit of drama and I can't wait to see him make his pro debut at Chaos in the future. I think it's going to be a night to remember for himself. I think we'll also see Daniel Thompson as well make his pro debut on that card as well. So, Chaos Fighting Championships coming to a cage near you. Yeah, that's going to be on March Sorry, May 2nd, Ross. Sorry, I thought it was the end of April. My bad. Ah man, look, we can't be perfect in the show. We're not perfect. Nobody in this >> know. I don't have the dates to plaster on the wall. >> man. I know, man. I know, man. It's hard what people think we were supposed to remember after everything and everyone. We're only two people. Yeah. Now, there is also a couple of other fighters I have to give a shout-out to who were very impressive. Um For the Academy Ireland's Jamie Ferguson got the round one TKO win as well. Uh this guy is definitely someone to watch out for. Uh his striking was like just unbelievable and uh I think he could be one of the next people that you definitely have to watch out for. Uh just piggybacking off that as well. Nathan Mulligan as well got the round one submission and he was very impressive as well, Ross. And then there's another fighter from ZKJ. Joshua Hogsett was like a bull in that in that cage, man. He is definitely one person to watch out for from ZKJ. I think it's the second time in a row I've been really impressed by Joshua. So, shout-out to him. Yeah. No, like ZKJ are doing great things. Probably one of the most underrated gyms in the country, but like there will be a lot of their fighters competing at the next Gladiateur show that was just announced as well. That will will be on the 7th of June. Ross. Absolutely. Bazmo, Cage Conflict 17 was a carnival of chaos. Oma Oliver victorious in his pro debut. Head kick finish. He will be off to bigger and better things. I think we'll see them either in PFL or Cage Warriors next. Who knows? Senan Coakley also victorious in his pro debut. Unbelievable knees and elbows and from him in that fight. Really excited to see what is next from Coco. Also, we have unbelievable title winners now Omgala Banterway champion, Louie Polley, Sean Carmody, Nick Rebney, and a hell of a lot more and some future stars in the making. Cage Conflict, the carnival definitely delivered and the circus was in town. >> [laughter] >> That was brilliant, man. That was brilliant. >> [laughter] >> Ross, that was great, man. That was great. >> [gasps] >> All the finishes are right now on our Instagram page. If you want to check them out, make sure you do. Ross, whose finish was the most impressive? Oh, I'm going to have to go for Mr. Oma Oliver to finish off with a head kick finish in your pro debut when the pressure is on, main eventing your hometown. That man, it looks like he's going to be a future star. Yeah, then no, that was great. Also, I have to like the Blaine McGill's finish was just so vicious, man. I was like, "Jesus." So, uh um May May as I said earlier as well, the shout out to ZKJ, the next event is actually on May 3rd. So, uh excuse me for getting that wrong cuz you know, um Danny Corcoran be "What?" So, as Mate heard Gladiator at three will be going down. Ross, before we get into this week's Irish MMA action, we also have to give a massive shout out to Manchester Top Teams Dennis De Menace Frampton getting the victory at Octagon 85. Yeah, absolutely. He got the unanimous decision win over Thomas Cignach over at Octagon, the number nine ranked Octagon fighter will be looking for a bump in the rankings. I think that could be enough to secure him maybe a top five spot. He went in there and he landed some vicious elbows and some lovely strikes the whole way throughout the fight. No question he was getting their hand raised come the final bell. Dennis De Menace Frampton is a problem in Octagon for the lightweight division and I can't wait to see him chase that gold all the way to the top. Yeah, he said he broke his hand during the fight as well. So, hopefully he gets back soon. And then also SBG Ireland's Lee Hammond won by round one submission at Way Way FC. Ross, great victory for Lee and also that's a that's a very good promotion to be a part of. Yeah, Way Way FC are doing absolutely incredible things. Obviously two of the biggest superstars in their respective sports are part owners of it. Ilia Topuria, UFC lightweight champion, one of the baddest men on the planet headlining the White House one might say. And then obviously CR7, Cristiano Ronaldo, um massive owners in Way Way FC. So, really really good to see and great to have Lee Hammond back competing inside the Octagon. Big win for him, took his opponent down, got him in the rear naked choke. I would love to see a really really active Lee Hammond in 2026. Um I can't wait to see what comes next from The Fella Was a Prodigy as a Child, The Fella Was a Phenom on the rise. We've seen him all the way up to tough. Now he's in Way Way FC. Let's see him get a few wins there and let's see where that will take him. Yeah, and he doesn't want to fight in Spain, man? Yeah, exactly. Fight in Madrid. I'm sure I'm sure there's a lot worse places to fight. >> [laughter] >> The number one place to fight is the devilish man. That is that place that goes on wheels. Um Ross, this weekend we will be heading to Omagh as Virtuous 5 goes down. And Ross, we are absolutely buzzing for this fight. There's three This event there's three pro fights on the card. Um What And then also there's like a host of other matchups as well. Like there's jiu jitsu as well. Um there's also there's an the there um is it Alpha Project? Yeah. Yeah, that will be on as well. So it will be a long night of fights. Um Gerard Polrick is runs a great show there and I'm really looking forward to going to it. So like Ross, what are you expecting now this weekend? Yeah, look, it's very rare to go to an Irish domestic show and get three professional fights on top of on top of the bill. You know, one is great, two is brilliant, three three is very very hard to do for for a local promotion. And Gerard Polrick has pulled the pulled it out of the bag here for Virtuous FC 5. Callum Peace in front of the hometown crowd takes on Perry in a pro welterweight fight. Really looking forward to that. Callum Peace has looked fantastic as an amateur. We haven't seen him for a little bit so it's going to be interesting to see how he performs. He went over and collect the Bad Mofo title on one stage there. Arnie Brogan, a perennial pro fighter over on the Irish scene. He's taking on Jared Roy who makes a leap to the pro ranks. Jared Roy has since moved MMA Cork has really come on leaps and bounds so really looking forward to seeing that. And then Ronan Deegan versus James McDonagh. The guys up in Omagh I think James McDonagh is a real character with with fire power in his hands. He went to a split decision with Kieran O'Malley and everyone knows how high people rate him. And then Ronan Deegan from Aura Grapple, one of the top prospects in the country. He was a as an amateur career. He's one and oh now and it'll be interesting to see who gets their hand raised there. We also have some unbelievable total fight on the card. We have Robbie Whitehead versus Shane Carmody. Another Carmody back in the mix and it'll be interesting to see who wins that. A black belt in karate against a jiu-jitsu phenom. We have the return of Dale Sheridan. It's been a hot minute since we've seen him take on Ethan Sharkey who's fresh off a win at Your Fighting Championships against Ricky De Harojo. I'm really looking forward to this fight night Bosman. It is going to be an absolute whopper fight and then we also have the one and only Mr. Armstrong versus Luke O'Kelly from MMA Cork for the welterweight title. Uh Dave Armstrong is an Omagh local lad as well. So the place should be on wheels for him. It's going to be a great card Bosman. It really really is. No, I'm very excited for it. So like we'll be there on Saturday covering the whole event. So make sure you check out the Instagram page for all the updates on it. We'll be doing post fight interviews as well and we'll keeping you up to date on all the Irish MMA action as per usual Ross. Yeah, and and look Bosman, we'll also get our jiu-jitsu um fixed there as well. You know what I mean? We're get We're getting Carrigan versus Booth. I think that's going to be an absolute whopper jiu-jitsu match. We're also I think it is a Zion Ribeiro is also back in action as well. Yeah, against Pierce Cooney. Yeah, against Pierce Cooney. We're getting absolutely spoiled for fights at Virtus. I can't wait for it. It's going to be an absolute fantastic night. And also anytime we go up and see or anytime we see the Virtus fights, the place always looks like it's on wheels. I think it's got the biggest venue they have and let's see who gets the biggest reception on the night. Hopefully it'll be us Bosman. It could be someone else. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Well, like will Brian Manning be there with MMA Cork? Will Dean McCanney be there? Yeah, the stars the stars will be out. Like I'm sure we'll probably see I don't know, Jordan O'Neill might be there. He's not too far away. Blaine McGill might be there. I'm sure there'll be plenty of people people there out in force to be watching this card. I'm really looking forward to Yeah, no, it's going to be a great night. It's It's As As always, it's always going to be a good night. Um The place will be very energized. The place will be very energized. Like in fairness, I love going to the events and then doing like creating content, getting it all like like doing it all like promoting the Irish MMA scene as as best and as well as we can. Cuz that's why we do this. Like over the weekend, we also went over 21.1 thousand followers on Instagram, which is absolutely crazy cuz when we started out doing the show, we had zero followers, Ross, didn't we? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, absolutely. So, look Look, to be honest, all we're trying to do is promote Irish MMA to the best of our ability and promote the local scene and promote the athletes. You know, there's there's not there's no one piece of malice in any content that we ever put out. All we do is try and help others promote promote people from the start of their journey all the way up to pro ranks and even after they retire. Yeah, especially when it's International Women's Day, Ross. I agree with that, Neil. So, also then that's obviously on Saturday. We also have to give a shout out to the four Irish competitors competing at Cage Warriors 201 on Friday night, Ross. Yeah, absolutely. Cage Warriors 201 will have the one and only Rhys Skeletor McKee in the comms booth. So, I'm looking forward to hearing a familiar voice and he will be commentating on some of his teammates. Matthew Elliott returns to Cage Cage Warriors. I can't wait to see that against Jake McHugh. So, we'll have fight of Kam Ireland versus Next Gen in Liverpool. We'll see Damien McGrogan make his debut for the promotion. I can't wait to see do He's one of the best flyweights this country has ever seen. We have Darragh Ward returning to the cage. He's facing Roan Crocker, a Welsh phenom, so that's going to be a really, really good match up. And Arman the Crane Herczeg will make his promotional debut under the Cage Warriors banner. Four Irish men will go out in Manchester at Cage Warriors 21 and I cannot wait to see it. That's Friday night, man. That's Friday night. Live on UFC Fight Pass and Absolutely. Yeah, man. That's And Cage Cage Warriors 22 was a great card as well. Return of Nathan Fletcher. Adam Cullen fighting on the card. We love a Cage Warriors double header, in fairness. >> [laughter] >> Anything for us absolute degenerates. And then Ross, before we wrap things up as well, Irish boxing returns to the 3Arena as Queensberry brings the show straight to Dublin city. Yeah, absolutely. Queensberry is coming back. We have Anthony Cacace versus Jazza Dickens in the main event. Uh Obviously, look, two really high-level guys going toe-to-toe in a bit of a domestic bust-up, Northern Ireland versus England. I can't wait to see it. Jazza Dickens has a massive following. Obviously, Pierce O'Leary for ourselves, massive, massive fight for him in the co-main event slot. We also have some other massive fighters fighting on the card. Thomas Carty's on the card. Gary Cully's on the card. Steven Cairns on the card. It's going to be a really, really big night for Irish boxing. John O'Carroll's on the card as well. This is going to be a massive night in the 3Arena on St. Patrick's weekend, March 14th. Be there, be square. It is going to be an absolutely massive fight night on the cards. Yeah, man. Very, very energized show this week. Um so, as you said, this weekend, Vertigo's goes down Saturday night. Cage Warriors, make sure you check out the four Irish lads on Friday night. And also, Irish boxing will be going down in the 3Arena on Saturday as well. Uh so, and we will be back, as always, next week. Ross, anything else you want to say to the people who are very energized after that show, would? Yeah, just want to say, um, thanks for everyone for all the noise messages over the last couple of weeks. Really, really drives us on further. Uh, thanks for everyone who's shown support on the Instagram page. I think over the last month, we've created over like 3 and 1/2 million views on our content, which is great, cuz if that means 3 and 1/2 million people have seen it, that means 3 and 1/2 million people have seen the fighters uh of this country and the grapplers of this country do their thing. So, that's what we're here to try and support. And then, also, thanks for everyone who has come up to us at the events and uh said they love what we do for the sport. Uh, really does mean a lot to us and we are trying to constantly improve our content. Uh, also, if you are listening here and haven't been on our socials, get over there and give us a follow there. Um, if you see the clips on our socials, uh, make sure to subscribe on Spotify and on YouTube. It really does help our videos and our audio go to a greater audience. So, we really do appreciate that. Um, look, get out there, support your Irish fighters any way you can. Interact with our posts. Make sure to be going to the shows if you can and try and support us, support them as well, if if that's not too big of a deal. So, thanks a million. Look after yourselves and as always, stay energized. The Energized Show, up the Irish. The Energized 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. Up the Chaos Cartel.