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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ben Askren is impressed with Alex Pereira’s run to two UFC titles, but there’s still questions that would need to be answered if Pereira moved up to heavyweight to fight Jon Jones.

A longtime MMA veteran, Askren weighed in on Jones’ pitch for a potential champ vs. champ fight with Pereira on his podcast with Daniel Cormier, and he believes the current heavyweight champ’s wrestling prowess would be too much for the hard-hitting Pereira.

“People want to see him have the ability to stop takedowns, because of you can’t stop takedowns [from] Jon Jones, he’s going to take you down and submit you,” Askren said on Funky & Champ.

“We saw Pereira get taken down by [Israel] Adesanya and he was kept down for, actually, a significant portion of time. And it is kind of wild that we have this guy Pereira, and there’s no doubt he’s making his mark as, possibly, one of the best ever if he keeps winning, yet [there] are questions about his wrestling. Like, how would he do against good wrestling? And we don’t know because somehow Jamahal Hill didn’t try a takedown, [Jiri] Prochazka didn’t try a takedown, [Jan] Blachowicz actually did take him down and keep him down for a round, Strickland didn’t try a takedown. … Like, these guys, they don’t try takedowns.

“He’s won all of these fights … and as he’s fought Sean Strickland and on, besides one round with Jan — and Jan’s not really a wrestler, he possesses some skills but he’s not really a wrestler. [Pereira] has still not fought a wrestler. So we still have all of these questions. So if he fights Jon Jones, I think there’s a chance it’s over in like two and a half minutes. I mean, look what Jon did to Ciryl Gane. He’s a large man, he’s a high-level wrestler, he’s got great grappling skills. Yeah, I think there’s a possibility of that for sure.”

Jones defeated Gane with a quick submission to capture the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 285 in March 2023. That result was Jones’ most recent appearance following a several-year layoff. Injuries have kept “Bones” on the sidelines since then, and has his sights set on a re-booking with former champ Stipe Miocic.

Most fans would like to see Jones fight the established next man in line, which is interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall, who captured that belt after knocking out Sergei Pavlovich at November’s UFC 295 event. Askren is with that majority.

“We want to see Jon Jones fight Tom Aspinall,” Askren said. “Aspinall’s got the interim belt, Jon’s got the [other] belt. It just doesn’t make any sense. Just freaking make them fight, and then if Jon beats him, then Pereira vs. Jon.

“You can’t leave Tom Aspinall sitting here with the interim belt.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kevin Holland is heading back to the middleweight division for his next fight.

During Saturday’s UFC St. Louis broadcast, the promotion announced that Holland will face Michal Oleksiejczuk in a main card matchup at UFC 302, which takes place June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

After a long run at 185 pounds, Holland made the drop to welterweight for the first time in his UFC career in March 2022, and competed in that weight class for eight fights, going 4-4. In his most recent outing, Holland dropped a unanimous decision to former Bellator star Michael Page at UFC 299 in March.

Oleksiejczuk has proven to be a tough out in the middleweight division and looks to bounce back from 61-second submission loss to Michel Pereira at UFC 299.

UFC 302 features a lightweight title fight between reigning champion Islam Makhachev and former interim champion Dustin Poirier in the main event.

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Eleventh-ranked welterweight Joaquin Buckley extended his winning streak to four consecutive fights on Saturday in the UFC St. Louis co-main event.  Buckley picked up a one-sided unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev and cut quite a promo in his post-fight interview.  

Buckley called out former two-division champion Conor McGregor following his win on Saturday, but the two will never stand across the octagon from each other.   

“Who do I want next, huh?  He’s got a fight already booked up, but it’s a massive name.  There’s only one name you should call out if you’re on this mic, a powerful name.  That name is Conor McGregor,” Buckley said in his post-fight interview.  

“You’re fighting at 170, but you ain’t fighting a welterweight.  You’re fighting a lightweight.  You’re fighting a lightweight midget.  Come at me, bro.  Come at me,” Buckley continued.  “You said you built your weight up but you’re bullying Sean O’Malley and Ryan Garcia.  Come and bully me, dog.  Come and bully me and let’s see what you’re really about.”  

McGregor is set to make his octagon return on June 29 in the UFC 303 main event against lightweight contender Michael Chandler.  It will be the first time McGregor has fought since suffering a broken leg in his UFC 264 loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.

Buckley’s call out may have been entertaining, but UFC CEO Dana White isn’t entertaining the idea of it ever happening.  When asked during the post-fight press conference if there was any chance of the two fighting, White replied, ‘No.’  

Joaquin Buckley UFC St. Louis Octagon Interview 

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UFC

Here’s what you may have missed?

Did you fall victim to the Robelis Despaigne hype train?

Perhaps your parlay went up in flames the moment the fight escaped the opening minute, which made it longer than Despaigne’s previous four bouts. Or maybe you held out hope for the knockout until the final Waldo Cortes-Acosta takedown late in the third round, which clearly signified the end of his chances.

If so, you’re not alone. Let’s face it: it’s fun to ride the hype train! Despaigne had an Olympic bronze medal on his resume, an undefeated record filled with knockouts, and an 87 inch reach. Say no more! The Heavyweight division needs exciting new talent, so why not a 35-year-old Cuban that stands sideways like “Wonderboy” Thompson?

Unfortunately, Cortes-Acosta demonstrated why not in efficient fashion, revealing all the holes that pessimists feared existed in Despaigne’s game. None of it was particularly shocking. Did we expect Despaigne to have any kind of bottom game? Not really, though it was still disappointing to see him fail to even pursue underhooks from his back — the most day one of wrestling instruction.

Generally, Despaigne’s wrestling and grappling defense appeared to be that of a man who has never been held down on the floor or trained properly. He didn’t pursue underhooks or fight grips. He turned his back often and reached backwards. Rather than push off on his opponent’s head to deny a takedown, he wrapped up guillotine choke that was really more of a non-threatening head squeeze.

It was a lot of extremely rookie mistakes.

On the feet, Despaigne’s decision-making left a lot to be desired as well. He repeatedly crashed forward behind lunging right hands and shifting punches, the exact techniques a fighter trying not to get taken down should be avoiding. He doesn’t yet have a process in the cage, which is why the far more experienced Cortes-Acosta was able to implement his own game plan and grind him out.

Fans worldwide are yelling, “FRAUD CHECK!” and it’s justified. Despaigne is clearly not ready for Heavyweights in the top half of the division.

The bright side, however, is that Despaigne can rebound from this. He still has ridiculous physical tools and great weapons on the feet. Midway through the third, he started to realize he could just hang back and kick the crap out of Cortes-Acosta, and the Brazilian hated it. That’s a conclusion he came to only because he tripled his total professional fight time in this bout alone.

Hopefully, Despaigne learns other lessons here. He managed to survive on the floor with absolutely zero technique, so a half-decent MMA coach should be able to impart some much needed grappling form upon him quickly. Wall-walking and underhook getups don’t have to be complicated to be effective! Now that he’s been manhandled, perhaps Despaigne will be more eager to focus on that missing aspect of his game.

This defeat could be a turning point for Despaigne, the result that convinces his MMA requires full attention and dedication and that his raw athleticism alone will no longer be enough. If he can use it as a learning lesson, it may not be long before he strings together another couple wins, and the hype train is rolling once again.

For complete UFC St. Louis: “Lewis vs. Nascimento” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dustin Poirier lives by a code that you miss 100 percent of the guillotines you don’t jump.

That infamous philosophy entered the world after Poirier repeatedly tried guillotine chokes against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 against the advice of his coaches, who could be heard in his corner telling him “no more guillotines” after the first round. Poirier has a nasty guillotine choke and he never hesitates to use it, even if the move almost always ends with him in a bad position after his opponent slips free from the submission.

It turns out cameras actually missed the rest of the interaction between Poirier and his head coach Mike Brown at UFC 299, which is where he told the Louisiana native to stop looking for that same submission.

“They actually didn’t play it in between the rounds, after the first round I said, ‘No more guillotines,’ and then they switched to the other corner,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “But right after I said that, Dustin said, ‘No, but I can hit it! I can hit it!’ I just replied, ‘You crazy bastard.’

“I literally said that and then he went and jumped another one. They didn’t play that part, but there was more words said after I said don’t jump the guillotine.”

Poirier ultimately beat Saint Denis by knockout, but he’s been rather adamant that a failed guillotine attempt won’t stop him from going for the choke again in the future.

Despite never finishing a fight with a guillotine, Brown knows Poirier is effective with the technique because he’s witnessed it in the gym hundreds of times over the years.

“He puts a lot of guys to sleep in the gym, to be honest,” Brown said. “He does have a very good one. He just hasn’t hit them in the fight.”

While his instructions to stop going for guillotine chokes got a lot of attention around the Saint Denis fight, Brown admits that Poirier’s love of the submission actually got a bigger reaction out of him during a different matchup a couple of years ago.

“The fight where I was losing my mind is the fight with [Dan] Hooker,” Brown said. “Because he had lost the first two rounds and then he was battling back and then he was jumping guillotine in those later rounds, and had he got stuck on bottom in any one of those rounds, he would have lost the third round and wouldn’t have won the decision.

“But somehow he wouldn’t hit the guillotine, but he would somehow scramble to get back to his feet and start dropping bombs on him and doing damage, and then somehow stealing the round anyway. He would somehow find a way to make it work. He made us sweat and bite our nails in that one, that’s for sure.”

Poirier’s next chance to land a guillotine choke comes at UFC 302 on June 1 when he faces reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in the main event.

Back in 2019, when he faced then-champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242, Poirier famously went for his guillotine choke — and for a moment looked as if he might become the first person to hand the undefeated Russian a loss. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Nurmagomedov escaped and used his top position to rain down punishment on Poirier before eventually securing a rear-naked choke submission of his own to finish the fight.

Now, five years later, Poirier faces Nurmagomedov’s protege Makhachev, and Brown admits it would be rather poetic if a guillotine ends up winning him the UFC lightweight title.

“It absolutely could happen,” Brown said. “He’s done so much in the sport. I almost feel like he doesn’t have anything more to prove, but this is the one box he has to check. I feel like he’s a champion even though he hasn’t won a title, a true UFC title. He’s won the interim. I feel like he’s a champion in my eyes.”

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