Can Topuria be the first ever to knockout Holloway, or will Holloway reclaim his title? Should the winner of Whittaker vs. Chimaev get the next title shot at 185 pounds?
MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, Mike Bohn, Danny Segura, and host “Gorgeous” George preview the upcoming UFC pay-per-view this Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
Advertisement
Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel at noon ET. You can also find each episode on your favorite podcast platforms – including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more – on Tuesday mornings.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
Younger brother of UFC bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov and cousin to lightweight GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov, the undefeated Usman is currently the Bellator 155-pound champion. Recently, Usman Nurmagomedov successfully defended his title against Alexander Shabliy at in September, cementing himself as one of the best lightweights on Earth. But his ambition doesn’t stop there.
Speaking recently about his future plans, Nurmagomedov revealed he hopes to follow in his cousin’s footsteps by making the move to the octagon once training partner and UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is done.
“I’m waiting for Islam to finish his career and then I will [go after the UFC title],” Nurmagomedov said on Gorilla Fighting’s YouTube. “I think if we get it right, we’ll be fighting in the UFC at 28. I’m 26 years old right now. Two years, I’ll get stronger and that’s it. Go into the UFC at 28 and compete until I’m 32.”
Advertisement
Undefeated for nearly a decade, Makhachev is currently the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, with three successful lightweight title defenses to his name. Before winning the belt, Makhachev found himself in a similar situation to Usman, serving as “the next man up” to Khabib Nurmagomedov. That played out exactly to the plan of the legendary coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who developed all of these fighters, and according to Khabib, that plan also extended to Usman.
“This is what Abdulmanap envisioned,” Khabib said. “He strongly believed in Usman and always said that he would be the future champion. I didn’t see the potential when he was 16 years old. I saw the prospects and I believed, and from the very beginning, my father believed in it all, believed in Usman’s future.”
Of course, Nurmagomedov’s intention to go to the UFC is not exactly great news for the Bellator or its owner, the PFL. However, speaking with MMA Fighting on Wednesday, PFL co-founder Donn Davis dismissed this as a concern for the promotion.
“How many of you have said you’re going to move to Florida and retire in four years, and how many of you do it?” Davis said. “One in 10? One in five? … People say things all the time, and then they don’t do it.
Advertisement
“So might he go? Might not he go? Might he go in two years? Might he go in five years? Might he be the champion? Might not he be the champion? My goal is to make my man Usman happy. My goal is to make my man Usman successful, financially rich, and a champion, so that in two years he forgets he said this today.”
Whatever happens in two years, for the time being, Nurmagomedov remains signed with Bellator, where his next fight is likely a title defense against Paul Hughes, following the Irishman’s win over A.J. McKee at PFL Battle of the Giants this past Saturday.
Four people have been arrested in Spain over allegedly conducting an online campaign of hate and racism against Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr.
The campaign is said to have encouraged supporters to racially abuse the 24-year-old, asking them to wear black face masks to avoid being identified, police confirmed.
The Brazil forward broke down in a press conference earlier this year when talking about the racist abuse he has encountered, saying he felt “less and less” like playing football following multiple incidents.
Advertisement
The men were detained on 14 and 15 October and then released as investigations continue.
Spain’s national police did not name the four men who were arrested and questioned, with no immediate statement from any lawyers representing them.
They added the investigation remains open and could lead to more arrests after the online campaign raised “significant social alarm” by going viral.
The first detentions by police linked to the campaign happened on 29 September in the build-up to the La Liga derby at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium, with the hashtag translated in English to ‘Metropolitano with a mask’ reportedly used.
Advertisement
Though no racist incidents were reported at the match, officials did temporarily suspend the game after objects were thrown on to the pitch.
UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad never backs down from a challenge but he’s not going to seriously entertain a potential fight against somebody competing two weight classes below him.
Just recently, Muhammad got drawn into a war of words with Ilia Topuria after he warned the UFC featherweight champion to watch what he says when addressing Islam Makhachev after declaring plans to eventually challenge for the 155-pound title. The comment led to a back-and-forth exchange over social media with Topuria taking one additional step when he said he wants to eventually become the UFC’s first ever three-division champion, which would then require him to go for Muhammad’s belt.
While Muhammad admits he had some fun trading verbal jabs with Topuria, he’s not even remotely concerned that this challenge actually deserves his attention.
“I think that dude’s got Napoleon syndrome or something,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “Short guys always act like they’re tough. Literally I think he started coming at me because somebody asked me about why is he coming at Islam [Makhachev]. I said bro, he needs to focus on [Max] Holloway, who’s in front of him and you don’t want to disrespect the guys from Dagestan because they see you in person, they’re going to slap you. They don’t take that stuff. They don’t play the trash talk game. It’s real life to them.
Advertisement
“I think he took offense to it. He’s at that mode where I think he’s trying to find himself and he’s trying to show fans that he’s trash talker and he’s this bad guy. He’s not really good at trash talking. When he comes at me, it’s laughable because he’s basically copying words off memes.”
As far as his aspirations about winning titles across multiple divisions, Topuria first has to get through his upcoming fight against Max Holloway at UFC 308 as he defends his featherweight belt for the first time.
Regardless if he wins, Muhammad says it’s still a far cry from actually jumping up one division and challenging a dominant champion like Islam Makhachev before packing on at least 25 pounds to attempt the move to welterweight.
In other words, Muhammad isn’t taking that challenge seriously.
Advertisement
“At the end of the day, we’re not going to fight in the cage so why are you even giving me those words, you’re trying to talk tough because you know nothing’s really going to come of it,” Muhammad said. “He can say ‘I want to go up to 170 and be a triple champ after this’ but you know you’re not.
“I don’t even think he’s going to get past Holloway. I think he’s going to lose this fight and then we don’t even have to hear his freaking mouse voice.”
When it comes to Topuria’s fight on Saturday, Muhammad absolutely plans on rooting for Holloway to win but that’s not even a situation where he’s just hoping to see the featherweight title change hands.
Muhammad absolutely expects it to happen.
Advertisement
“I’m rooting for Max but I think skill wise, Max will beat him,” Muhammad said. “I think [Topuria] goes out there and pushes these guys forward and a lot of the guys he fought were shorter. Max is a taller boxer. He hasn’t fought somebody like him. We know how good Max’s chin is. I think that he’s going to realize when it gets to the third, fourth and fifth round that Max is still there, still in front of him.
“We saw him get a little bit tired in the [Josh] Emmett fight. I think it’s going to get worse in this fight because Max is high volume. He showed last fight, he’s working on his power. I think Max will put his lights out.”
ABU DHABI – The star of UFC 308 main card athletes came face to face for the first time during fight week following Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.
With fight week festivities rolling on, the athletes for the card took the stage to answers questions from the media, then engaged in staredowns ahead of Saturday’s event, which takes place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN+).
Before the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees get set to meet in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1981, we spoke about the matchup with John Smoltz, who pitched in five different World Series during his Hall of Fame tenure with the Atlanta Braves.
Smoltz talked about how he’d try to approach facing the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton, how Juan Soto has changed the Yankees’ lineup, which relievers he’d use against Aaron Judge late in games, whether the Yankees’ right-handed pitchers can learn anything from Yu Darvish’s success against Shohei Ohtani and which Dodgers starter might be best equipped to take on the patient Yankees lineup.
Advertisement
The MLB on FOX analyst also gave his thoughts on the Dodgers’ bullpen games — which are likely to continue this series — if Yoshinobu Yamamoto should keep the same approach that brought him success earlier this year in the Bronx, and possible World Series MVPs.
Kavner: Giancarlo Stanton is having another big postseason. Why do you think he seems to find another gear in October? How would you go about pitching to him?
Smoltz: When he’s healthy and he’s on time, he’s one of those unique hitters — so strong. He looks like he never uses anything but his upper body. But obviously, his legs are very important to him, and when he’s out of balance, it looks like he’s on roller skates, and his legs and feet are all over the place. When he’s in balance and on time, he can hit a 100 mph fastball at the top of the zone. He can hit 100 mph at the bottom of the zone. But you’ve really got to be able to get your secondary pitches out of the zone. If he doesn’t chase, you’re in trouble.
Right now, I don’t know what this time off is going to do for everybody, especially the Yankees. They’ve had longer time off, but he has been a tough out, and that’s what the Yankees have to have, because behind Aaron Judge is the key. If those hitters are able to be, let’s just say, normally good, then the Yankees are a tough lineup. But if the guys behind Judge don’t do the things that allow you to capitalize with men on, then you’re going to see Judge not pitched to a lot.
Advertisement
So, it’s a good thing for the Yankees that they got a couple guys behind him hot — I know they had to move Austin Wells down because he was not hot behind Judge — but that’s the secret. I mean, they’ve got the top-heavy, probably the two and three best hitters in the game, back to back. You can make an argument that when Freddie Freeman is healthy, the Dodgers’ top three are just as equal, if not better.
Kavner: Who would you be more careful with right now on the mound, Juan Soto or Aaron Judge?
Smoltz: The key any time that you’re facing them is don’t have traffic on base. So, early in the game, you’re navigating possible solo home runs. You want to stay away from the three-run homer, the two-run homer. And so, when Soto’s on his game, he’s much tougher to pitch to. Judge has the absolute monster ability of power and average. But again, if you’re going to pitch around anybody, after you’ve gone through Soto, you’ve got to pitch around Judge.
But it’s not an easy answer either way, because they bat back-to-back, and it doesn’t matter right or left. That’s the thing. Soto is so complete at a young age, and he’s so intense to the strike zone. He’s the reason they traded for a game-changing lineup. He literally changed the entire lineup for the New York Yankees single-handedly.
Advertisement
Kavner: The Dodgers have done a pretty good job of lining up their high-leverage relievers late in games to attack specific matchups. Who would you plan to use against Judge?
Smoltz: I think what they’re going to do is they’re not going to let any one guy face him three times. This is going to be a bullpen series again for the Dodgers. I like Evan Phillips’ breaking ball against Judge, the way that he angles and throws it, and Judge is so big that the bottom part of the strike zone gives him issues. And that’s really the key, depending on what umpire gives him the bottom of the zone. That could change how Dave Roberts utilizes him.
Blake Treinen, he’s got the equalizer going both ways. The interesting thing about Michael Kopech is he throws a lot of fastballs, even though he has the slider, and you can maybe get them at the top of the zone against Judge. But again, I think the breaking ball is the key on being able to get the angle that you want to get, to get Judge to swing outside of the plate.
Advertisement
Kavner: We saw the Padres have Tanner Scott face Shohei Ohtani late in games in the NLDS, while the Mets didn’t exactly have the kind of left-handed weapon in their bullpen. Do you expect the Yankees to use Tim Hill as a possible Ohtani neutralizer? For their right-handed starters, is there anything they can learn from Yu Darvish’s success against him?
Smoltz: Yes on Hill. As far as the Yankees starters go, they don’t really have those kinds of pitches that Darvish has. Obviously, Garrett Cole is a stud. When he’s on his game, he can handle anybody. But it’s going to be a challenge, no doubt, because there’s no lefties in that rotation. If Nestor Cortes is going to be on the roster, he possibly comes into play, he’s funky enough that I don’t know if they’ll ID him as someone who could face Ohtani, but Hill for sure is going to be on Ohtani.
It’s going to be the same narrative for the Dodgers in this World Series — can the bottom of the lineup for the Dodgers create chaos so that it makes it much more difficult for Aaron Boone to navigate when that lineup turns over? At the start of the game, it is what it is. Ohtani didn’t get on base a ton when nobody was on until late in the series. He’s on a historic run with runners on. I would look for the Yankees to look at video and really dial in on what was happening with runners on with Ohtani versus what was happening with nobody on. There’s freedom to pitch to him with nobody on, and it gets a lot more stressful when there’s runners on.
Kavner: Which of the Dodgers’ three starting pitchers do you think is best equipped to have success against this very patient Yankees lineup? Is there any matchup you’d give the Dodgers the starting pitching edge in this series?
That’s going to be tough, because those guys have been up and down. I think Jack Flaherty has the opportunity to go to the deepest if he’s on. He just has more pitchability, he’s a starter that is closer to a throwback. I don’t think they’re going to let anybody go six innings at any point. That just doesn’t happen. I think the way the Dodgers are going to navigate this, in the games they have a chance to win, they’re going to push the throttle way down. They’re going to exit the starter and go right to the pen. And then the games that don’t look like they have a high chance of winning, they’re going to go a different route.
Advertisement
It’s not throwing away games, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just navigating what you have and the best way to use your resources. I think they did it unbelievably well in the Mets series, but the games allowed them to do that. I don’t know that the games are going to allow them to do that in this series. That’s why it’s going to be much tougher for Dave Roberts — he did a fantastic job last series — but this will be his toughest challenge, because I don’t think the games are going to be lopsided like we saw in the last series.
Kavner: We know bullpen games can work in a vacuum, but the concern over time is that it’s just not a sustainable method. While Dave Roberts did a good job of making sure the high-leverage guys were well-rested during the NLCS, do you expect the Dodgers’ success with bullpen games to continue in the World Series?
When this started eight years ago, everybody got excited that this was a new age and a way to get it done. There’s certain markets that made this very popular. But you know what started happening? All those relievers started going down with Tommy John and getting hurt. It’s an unsustainable long-term philosophy — but the Dodgers don’t have any choice right now. Let’s not forget, they put together a superstar rotation that just happened to get hurt. They had a lot of guys in the mix. They had eight or nine starters. Now they’re down to three, and so this was not their desire. This was not in the plans, but it’s the only way they can go now. It’s the only way for them to be successful.
But it is not a blueprint. With this playoff system, it is not a blueprint to get through the whole postseason like this. These guys are gassed, and they’re doing an incredible job. But I promise you, the Dodgers would do backflips if a starter were to go six or seven innings. They would be the biggest cheerleaders in the world. I’ve been in both of those worlds, and there has never been a more exhausting time for me personally than when I was the closer. I got up and down and used, and people forget all that. So, to answer that question, there is no other choice for them. But this is not the blueprint they were looking for. Give them credit, though, for backlogging their bullpen as well with as many arms, just in case this were to happen.
Advertisement
Kavner: Yoshinobu Yamamoto had the best start of his young MLB career against the Yankees earlier this year in the Bronx. When you’ve had success against the team that you’re facing in the postseason, how much did that lift your confidence? Also, were you tempted to attack them the same way, or do you have to find a different way because they’ve already seen it?
If you’re simply healthy and you’re able to do the things you did last time, then you don’t make a change. But if you’re not as healthy, or things are different, or it’s a long time ago, you’re seeing a totally different pitcher, maybe. I only changed when I saw teams a lot. I remember seeing the Cincinnati Reds a lot during the year, and then I got them in the postseason, and I completely flipped the script. I know my pitching coach was having a heart attack because I didn’t throw one slider. I threw 35 straight fastballs or something to start the game when it was a heavy right-handed lineup, and he goes, “Are we going to throw a slider anytime soon?” And I said, “Absolutely, but I got a plan. I’m going to pitch them backwards.”
So, that’s the time you make ultimate changes. But I think the bottom line is you don’t really do it often. If you’ve had success, your mindset is an absolute: make the other team change before you necessarily change. Especially when — Yamamoto is starting Game 2 — it’s not in New York. It’s a little bit different in L.A., and the World Series is so much different than a regular-season game — and he was electric in New York.
Kavner: I just covered the NLCS where, amid all the Dodgers’ superstars, Tommy Edman ended up being the NLCS MVP. Any predictions right now for MVP of the World Series?
Advertisement
It’s going to be heavy, heavy on the superstars. But this is what happens that you get guys that shine, they do things because the other team makes them be the guy. For the Yankees, I could see somebody like maybe Anthony Volpe doing something similar to what Edman did if he were to be in enough RBI situations. But you’re always looking for that player that nobody’s paying attention to.
For the Dodgers, I would be interested to see if Will Smith, with the way this rest lined up and his home run in his last game, I know the Dodgers are hoping he can get unlocked. Because if he can get unlocked, wow, does that lineup really go to another place. So, it’s all going to be heavy on the stars, and the MVP is probably going to be a star. But just like you said, Edman, great trade, great player that fits the mold for what the Dodgers needed.
John Smoltz, a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award winner, is FOX MLB’s lead game analyst. In addition to calling the network’s marquee regular-season games, Smoltz is in the booth for the All-Star Game and a full slate of postseason matchups which include Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series assignments.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login