UFC 317 looked great on paper and delivered in practice, as well. Ilia Topuria became the tenth man in UFC history to claim a title in a second division, and he did it in devastating fashion, knocking Charles Oliveira out cold. And he did it inside the first round, as he predicted. The brass has a rare opportunity here with Topuria and they should get behind him with every ounce of their marketing heft. This guy will be selling out arenas and making PPVs soar. And the way he torched Paddy Pimble...
Jun 29, 2025•1 hr 37 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Atlanta started with one helluva bang but went out on a whimper. With three spectacular knockouts on the prelims, it looked like the show was going to be a great one. There was even an illegal upkick stoppage controversy in the featured prelim, but the main card was a bit of a snoozer. Let me explain. Of our three former champions, two would emerge v…...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr 8 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 316 was a solid card on paper that managed to deliver some big moments in its application. We got a terrific performance out of Merab Dvalishvili, who had his way with Sean O’Malley and ended up ultimately submitting him. O’Malley’s lifestyle changes did nothing—in fact, Sean seemed even less competitive than their first fight. Kayla Harrison blessed…...
Jun 08, 2025•1 hr 21 min
UFC Vegas 107 looked absolutely awful on paper, but in practice, we did have some exciting moments. The ladies’ fights were somewhat underwhelming, though. Alice Ardelean defeated Rayanne dos Santos, which wasn’t a terrible watch and even won FOTN. However, Macy Chiasson vs. Ketlen Vieira was a complete slog of a contest that saw Vieira victorious. Side note: Chris Leben turned in an awful score card for that fight. Dusko Todorovic was bested by Zachary Reese in another ho-hum bout of no consequ...
Jun 01, 2025•41 min
UFC 315 delivered some terrific finishes and good fights on the undercard. We saw Bruno Silva felled for the first time in a terrifying finish that left him with a dented skull (think Cyborg Santos vs. MVP). Silva left the arena on a stretcher. We also bore witness to Jessica Andrade being swarmed and finished in under three minutes, and without ever landing a shot on Jasmine Jasudavicius. And Mike Malott destroyed Charles Radtke destroyed in the second round, bouncing his head off the canvas. T...
May 11, 2025•1 hr 10 min
UFC Des Moines looked like a glue factory convention on paper and it delivered that same energy in practice. Were there a few good fights? Sure, and we got a few finishes, but by and large, this was an Apex level event that the poor folks in Iowa paid prime rates for. Shameful promoting by UFC. There was a moment that brought almost all MMA fans together, though. That was when Reinier de Ridder stopped Bo Nickal with a vicious knee after softening him up for the entirety of the fight to that poi...
May 04, 2025•1 hr 6 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Kansas City looked like a mixed bag on paper, but in practice, it ended up being a pretty good event. The card started off strong with several finishes right from Jump Street, but it would level out with some decisions, albeit good ones with the exception of Pereira-Magomedov. Carlos Prates found out the hard way why you don’t play the counterstriki…...
Apr 27, 2025•1 hr 30 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 314 looked incredible on paper and in practice, it was pretty good. It didn’t reach greatness, but it was pretty good. That said, there were some factors that kept it from that greatness that must be acknowledged. Let’s look at the good: Michael Chandler got dominated and choked out, making Paddy Pimblett look like a world-beater. Jean Silva choked …...
Apr 13, 2025•1 hr 27 min
UFC Vegas 105 was miserable on paper and didn’t provide much more in practice. From weird judging to lackluster performances, the big moments we DID have just didn’t seem as impactful. There were a few surprises, though. Rhys McKee finally got a win, and a big one. Brad Tavares didn’t let Gerald Meerschaert have his way. Then there were the expected outcomes: Dione Barbosa finished Diana Belbita super fast and Loma Lookboonmee added another win to her resume, handing Istela Nunes her 5th straigh...
Apr 06, 2025•41 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Mexico turned out to be a pretty eventful card, filled with wild escapes, questionable reffing (I’m looking at you, Mike Beltran), and a fighter’s post-fight speech that reminded everyone why UFC is the bad guy when it comes to fighter pay. Loopy Godinez and Julia Polastri put on one helluva fight but received no reward for it, despit the FOTN bonus…...
Mar 30, 2025•1 hr 12 min
UFC Vegas 104 turned out to be a typical card. When you look at it on paper, it inspires you to want to load it into a cannon and fire it directly into the sun. But in practice, it delivered a lot of action and plenty of finishes. When it came to the main event, Roman Dolidze was able to scrape together the victory, avenging his previous loss to Marvin Vettori—who somehow managed to forget his cup before the fight. Dolidze wasted no time in calling out Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. Let’s...
Mar 16, 2025•53 min
UFC 313 looked decent on paper but in practice, it wasn’t much to write home about. We did get four great finishes and a banger from Gaethje-Fiziev, but the main event was anti-entertainment. It was a dud of a fight that saw Ankalaev hug his way to a title. Jalin Turner declared he was retiring, but King Green said he wasn’t—both were finished in the first round of their respective fights. It was an odd fight night that somehow didn’t have that big PPV vibe to it. Let’s check out the results and...
Mar 09, 2025•1 hr 31 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 103 looked absolutely dismal on paper and in practice…well, it wasn’t too bad. Hyder Amil managed to get a good fight out of William Gomis and Nasrat Haqparast defied the odds to eke out a split over Esteban Ribovics. Andrea Lee may have set a UFC record with most losses in a row, as she just logged her sixth, consecutive L. Julian Marquez was…...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 9 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 102 was awful on paper but delivered some high action moments. The problem still remains, though, just how valuable are those moments considering the level of talent. Youngish Gregory Rodrigues learned the hard way that old man strenf is a real phenomenon when Jared Cannonier introduced him to the power in his fists in R4. Calvin Kattar was on…...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 22 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 312 was not a good card and only saw a couple good fights amid a sea of nothingburgers. Rongzhu’s battle with Kody Steele was definitely worth going back to see if you missed the event, and Weili’s absolute domination of Tatiana was just a wonder to behold. Sean Strickland made zero adjustments to his game from the last fight with Dricus to this one…...
Feb 09, 2025•1 hr 26 min
UFC Saudi Arabia was a solid card that came with a few surprises. First, we got to watch a daylight robbery when Hamdy Abdelwahab ‘defeated’ Jamal Pogues. Then, Michael Page managed to avoid Shara’s hot hand and won a decision. Said Nurmagomedov fell to the insanely good Vinicius Oliveira. And finally, we saw Izzy lose for a third, straight time via TKO, this time to Nassourdine Imavov. Let’s take a look at the results and bonuses: MMA Vivisection & 6th Round is a reader-supported publicatio...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 311 looked phenomenal on paper, and despite having to get to the sixth fight before a finish was recorded, it did indeed deliver some really exciting moments. We saw some hype trains derailed, fantastic finishes and loud mouths closed—at least for now. We got to see new wrinkles from Jiri Prochazka, a sense that Reinier De Ridder certainly belongs i…...
Jan 19, 2025•1 hr 31 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 101 was absolutely awful on paper but delivered some great action in practice. Not that cards like this are luring in new viewers but for the sake of just watching some fights, they delivered reasonably well. Mackenzie Dern avenged her loss to Amanda Ribas with a third-round submission and The Ponz showed he’s still got some gas left in the ta…...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 19 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Tampa saw a night of action with several knockouts dotting the card, but the satisfaction of watching Colby Covington get worked over like Christmas dinner was undeniable. Having the last four fights all end by knockout was pretty gnarly too. And Cub Swanson, you’re never gonna go out on a higher note than that. Considering how bad the alternative f…...
Dec 15, 2024•1 hr 16 min
UFC 310 has played out in reality and just as we thought, Kai Asakura couldn’t stand up to the Cannibal test, opting instead to take a nap on the job. Shavkat Rakhmonov got a lot more resistance from Ian Machado Garry than he bargained for, and we got to see some of the most egregious judging in recent memory with Volkov-Gane. The undercard also bore witness to more questionable judging in the Sterling-Evloev fight, but alas, what can we do? Let’s take a look at the results and bonuses: MMA Vivi...
Dec 08, 2024•1 hr 25 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 309 is officially history, and likely Mickey Gall is too. Jon Jones still reigns supreme and Michael Chandler got the absolute brakes beat off him for 22 minutes, then did what he always does: rally as hard as he can for naught. Karine Silva F’d around and found out and Bo Nickal bored us all to tears. Did I mention Donald Trump and several of his ca…...
Nov 17, 2024•1 hr 30 min
*Note: Eddie is out again this week with his high seas adventures. The card that should’ve been left an unfulfilled dream on Sean Shelby’s pillow is over and with it, Neil Magny’s hopes of hanging on to that Number 15 ranking. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but watching it in practice was kind of sad. Reinier de Ridder showed out in his debut, defeating Gerald Meerschaert in a wild brawl that saw the UFC vet arm-triangled in the third round. Did the card have its moments? It sure did,...
Nov 10, 2024•52 min
*Note: Eddie out this week, so Zane winged it solo UFC 308 is in the books and with it, the hopes and dreams of many. What hopes and dreams, you ask? The ones that would’ve seen Max Holloway and Robert Whittaker leave the octagon victorious. Instead, they were finished, and they were violent finishes, to boot. Topuria never opened his mouth the entire fight. Cardio through the roof and I’d imagine his pulse rate hovered in the triathlete range. Holloway’s lauded cardio never failed him, but he w...
Oct 26, 2024•1 hr 12 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 99 is thankfully in the history books and not a moment too soon because that was an insanely long card. Just two finishes in eleven fights, and the fights that went the distance were mostly nothing to write home about. Michel Pereira got absolutely dominated by Fluffy Hernandez, then finished in the fifth round. It was an embarrassing performa…...
Oct 20, 2024•1 hr 18 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC 307 is finally in the books and good riddance. The judging stunk the place up. There were several decisions that made us give the side-eye and there were also several fights that made us want to stab our own eyeballs with a dull knife. But Kayla won, and we’re very interested in seeing her compete for the belt (you know she’s next). Poatan won his f…...
Oct 06, 2024•1 hr 17 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Paris is now history, but within the timeframe that it was an active event, it brought some show-stopping moments and another KO of the year candidate. The action was in high gear from the very first bout and was maintained all the way to the main event. Brian Battle declared he wouldn’t lose to a Frenchman after finishing Jousset and Renato Moicano…...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr 15 min
A pretty underwhelming Noche UFC card didn’t deliver the action where the two title fights were concerned, but up to that point, we had a great run of fights, even if there was a dearth of finishes. There were only two finishes on the entire card. We did get a contender for round of the year (the decade even) with the third stanza of Zellhuber vs. Ribovics, which was an outstanding contest. The production pizzazz didn’t really kick in much until the main card, aside from some color changing disp...
Sep 15, 2024•1 hr 8 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 97 is over and done. The fat lady has sung her song. The man with one name (Yizha) was soundly trounced. Jacqueline Amorim answered everything Vanessa Demopoulos threw at her for 3+ minutes, then decided she’d had enough and submitted her. Jessica Andrade was bested by Natalia Silva and Sean Brady beat Gilbert Burns by a considerable margin. L…...
Sep 08, 2024•1 hr 15 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com UFC Vegas 96 is in the books along with the latest TUF finale. Jared Cannonier fell to Caio Borralho, as did Angela Hill to Tabatha Ricci. Neil Magny got smoked, as well. It was not a good night for aging veterans. Victoria Leonardo can count herself among the defeated too, although ‘aging veteran’ might not actually apply here, being that she’s only be…...
Aug 25, 2024•1 hr 4 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit themmadrawpodcast.substack.com Thank the heavens that card is over! There were only 3 finishes and one would be hard pressed to locate a contest worthy of FOTN. Unfortunately, that was reflected in the bonuses. The event seemed like an afterthought—just thrown together while the matchmaking brass were on the golf course, or while they were engaged in some other trivial activity. It’s…...
Aug 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min
