Fresh off the heels of UFC Edmonton, the world’s leading MMA promotion heads back to the APEX for a historic event: UFC Vegas 100, headlined by a welterweight matchup between Neil Magny and Carlos Prates. And No Bets Barred is back to break it all down.

Host Jed Meshew runs solo this week to break down this legendary event with all his favorite plays. Topics discussed include Prates’s incredible run through 2024 and whether Magny can pull off the upset yet again, how much does former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt have left in the tank, the return of “Brazilian Killer” Nicolas Dalby, and the debut of Jed’s boy, former two-division ONE Champion Reiner de Ridder.

And speaking of ONE, they also have an event taking place this weekend with ONE 169 going down on Friday, headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Anatoly Malykhin and Reug Reug. Jed also breaks down the big fights from ONE, plus the latest edition of “THE CLIMB” and more on this week’s episode.

Tune in for episode 107 of No Bets Barred.

New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.

Watch Match of the Day pundits Theo Walcott, Stephen Warnock and Julien Laurens analyse Real Madrid’s poor form since the arrival of summer signing Kylian Mbappe after their 3-1 defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League.

WATCH MORE: AC Milan stun reigning champions Real Madrid

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LAS VEGAS – Reinier de Ridder is seeking a memorable introduction to the octagon Saturday against Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Fight Night 247.

Former two-division ONE Championship titleholder de Ridder (17-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his anticipated entry to promotion when he takes on all-time middleweight finishes and submissions record holder Meerschaert (37-17 MMA, 12-9 UFC) at the UFC Apex (ESPN+).

It’s been a longtime dream of de Ridder to fight in the octagon, and he thinks matchmakers giving him an opponent like Meerschaert right off the bat shows he is being set up to make some noise.

“Finally, after all these years of talking about the top guys, to finally be close to getting them is very cool,” de Ridder told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 247 media day. “The most important this is Gerald first. It’s a very cool matchup. It’s cool that it’s here. … Let’s see what I can do.”

At 34, time is of the essence for de Ridder. He said he feels fresh and healthy after lots of time off during his final years under the ONE Championship banner, and is keen to “make up for lost time” now that he’s in the UFC.

In order to get the opportunities he wants, though, de Ridder knows he can’t scrape by with a win. He needs to do something emphatic against Meerschaert, and that is exactly his intentions.

“A win is not enough – the top dogs finished Gerald and I want to prove I’m one of them,” de Ridder said. “To be honest, if I can ever get close to one of the records he holds, it would be amazing. So cool to see him fight, I’ve always watched his fights and that’s a great thing for this fight as well. There’s so much tape to study. He has so much fights. He has a really difficult style.

“The ways he finishes fights, there’s a few things he’s very dangerous at, there’s a few things he does that I think I can really capitalize as well. But it’s a great matchup. I’m very happy that they’ve given me him for my first fight because he’s a veteran, he’s a real name and I think if I can put a stamp on this one, I have some leverage to start calling out some bigger names.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 247.

LAS VEGAS – Carlos Prates is on the verge of UFC stardom, or so it seems to some.

If activity is any indicator, the UFC thinks so, too. Prates (20-6 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is booked for his fourth promotional fight in 10 months, Saturday when he headlines UFC Fight Night 247 against Neil Magny (29-12 MMA, 22-11 UFC).

The bout is Prates’ first UFC main event and he’s excited about the opportunity.

“I had a fight against Randy Brown on Nov. 16 in New York,” Prates told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. I was really happy with that opportunity to fight in Madison Square Garden on the same day as Jon Jones. But he said something that he’d fight me Dec. 7. I did not understand why. Then, the UFC gave me the fight against Neil Magny on the main event and I was really excited.”

Initially, Prates admits the prospect of fighting at Madison Square Garden far outweighed any other possibilities he could think of. But the moment his manager Lucas Lutkus told him of the offer on the table, his attitude changed in an instant.

“I was in the gym,” Prates said. “(Lutkus) said, ‘You aren’t going to fight Randy Brown, but you have a new opponent one week before.’ I was like, ‘No way. I don’t want to fight one week before.’ He said, ‘Oh, it’s the main event against Neil Magny.’ I was like, ‘Of course. Let’s go. Let’s go. It’s a really good opportunity.

“… It’s better. I think Randy Brown is an easier fight than Neil Magny. He is much easy money. But you know the main event, we get the bonus to fight the main event, more money and also the main events are the biggest shows in the world. I think it’s a better change.”

The rise up the welterweight ladder has been a quick one for Prates, who will likely enter the UFC rankings if he wins Saturday. Prates credits his finishing abilities for the fast ascent.

“I asked for the fight because I finish the fights really fast,” Prates said. “I think it’s the main reason, you know? I always finish the fight, and then I fight in two months or something like that. I ask to fight somebody when they do an interview in the octagon.”

Should he win, Prates thinks he’ll be two or three fights away from a UFC title shot. He wants to fight in February at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia, then compete twice more to round out the year – a bit slower of a pace, but a necessary one to heal up some nagging injuries.

“I have been training so hard, and to be honest, I’m going to fight Neil Magny on Saturday, and then I’m looking for a fight in Australia in February,” Prates said. “Then, I’ll take a little break to take care of my body, my health. It’s good also that I’m keeping training and fighting. It’s good also. But now it’s time to, like I say, to think with my brain, not with my heart.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 247.

Bo Nickal wants to be an undeniable UFC champion.

Nickal (6-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on Paul Craig (17-8-1 MMA, 9-8-1 UFC) in a middleweight bout Nov. 16 on the UFC 309 main card at Madison Square Garden. Despite his dominance in the octagon, Nickal has opted to take an adequate amount of time between each fight. He continues to get criticized for his lack of activity, but the standout wrestler explains how his situation is different.

“For me, the most important thing is developing, and I don’t want to skip steps on development,” Nickal said on the “MightyCast” podcast. “You mentioned Diego Lopes. … These guys have 20-plus pro fights. He feels he’s ready to go. I fought six times in a little over two years. So, is that infrequent? I wouldn’t say it’s infrequent. I think people maybe forget that I’ve only been fighting since the summer of 2022 professionally. But with that being said, I think it’s really a good thing because people want to see me fight. They want to see me compete, and personally I want to compete as much as I can, but at the end of the day, it’s like, let’s say I fight a ranked guy next, then I fight a top five guy, and then I’m fighting for the title. It’s not like this long path that I have to get to where I want to go.

“So for me, the development and the improvement, a lot of it has to happen in training. I feel like I can compete with and beat the best guys in the world right now, but I don’t want it to be competitive when it happens. So, when I go out there and I’m competing for the belt, I want it to look like a masterclass where this guy’s not even on my level. I think right now there’s a lot of improvements that I need to make to get to that point. I think that it’s not all 100 percent up to me with the timing of how things work out, but I’m going to do my best to be prepared. And I feel like I’ve been put in a position where I have to make those improvements in training, and I don’t have the luxury of being able to get 15-20 fights before I’m there. Like I’m realistically probably going to be there at 10-11 fights.”

With his experience and notable wins over former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and top contender Magomed Ankalaev, Craig presents Nickal’s toughest test to date on paper.

However, oddsmakers still have Nickal as a heavy favorite. According to DraftKings, Nickal is a -1000 favorite over Craig, who is a +600 underdog.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.