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MMA Mania brings you Sound & Pound. An original podcast that features previews, recaps, lists, prospects, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club.

MMA Mania brings you Sound & Pound, an original podcast featuring previews, recaps, lists, prospects, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club. All brought to you by yours truly, Alex Behunin and Drake Riggs.

This week, we’ll recap UFC 301, preview UFC St. Louis, and discuss everything in between. Watch it live at 3:00 P.M. EST every Tuesday or on replay in the player above on our YouTube channel.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexandre Pantoja became the first UFC flyweight champion since Demetrious Johnson to successfully defend his belt twice when he defeated Steve Erceg at UFC 301, a feat he accomplished just 10 months into his title reign.

Now Pantoja dreams of being the man to finally welcome Johnson back into the UFC.

“He’s the GOAT. How can I not say that?” Pantoja said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I think right now, I think [with] two title defenses, I can speak a little bit about that [fight], because I have huge respect for Demetrious Johnson. I can’t try to compare myself with him. And I think right now I can say something, I have more [credentials] to put on the table [than before], and I think that’s a dream for me. I don’t like to say I have dreams, because I want to live everything I have in my life. I think to live is better [than] to dream, you know? But if I’m dreaming of something, it’s a fight with Demetrious Johnson.

“If he doesn’t [want the] fight, maybe I go to the gym and train with him or [have] a hard sparring [session with him]? I don’t know. But I have so much respect for him.”

Pantoja, 34, has won six straight UFC bouts, including a trio of championship victories to propel himself into elite company within the division’s history. Pantoja captured the belt by besting Brandon Moreno, then defended it against Brandon Royval and Erceg. His résumé also includes wins over ranked foes Manel Kape, Alex Perez, and Matt Schnell.

Johnson, 37, is the current ONE Championship flyweight titleholder and is widely considered to be the greatest 125-pound fighter to ever compete. From 2012-17, “Mighty Mouse” defended his UFC title 11 consecutive times, breaking the record previously held by UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva. Johnson exited the UFC in 2018 following a controversial loss to Henry Cejudo, but still competes for ONE Championship. He scored back-to-back wins over Pantoja’s teammate at American Top Team, Adriano Moraes, in 2022 and 2023.

With Johnson inching close to retirement and still under contract with ONE Championship, the fight with Pantoja will likely never happen. But the Brazilian is confident in his chances.

“Demetrious Johnson, I think he can’t do it, what he did before, you know?” Pantoja said. “Because the new names in the division, and MMA is so different year after year, so different, the game has changed, everything — I don’t know if he can do the same thing.

“It’s like if you question if Anderson Silva wants to fight Vitor Belfort again — he’s doesn’t want to fight because he can’t get that kick again. Or Conor McGregor with Jose Aldo, he can’t repeat that [result]. I think Demetrious Johnson can’t do that again, and that’s why I think he [wouldn’t] come back. But it [would be] a pleasure, a dream for me, a fight with him. I don’t know about contracts, that’s not [for] me [to say]. But of course [I’d want it].”

Johnson was actually somewhat critical of Pantoja in the aftermath of UFC 301. He said he didn’t leave the bout thinking Pantoja was a “better fighter” than Erceg, and said of the UFC champ, “if you take him away from his grappling, you can take advantage of him.”

The two share a bit of history as well, as Pantoja entered the UFC on The Ultimate Fighter 24, a season designed around finding a challenger for Johnson’s title. Pantoja was the season’s No. 1 seed but was ultimately upset in the semifinals by Hiromasa Ogikubo.

Regardless of whether Pantoja’s dream fight ever comes true, though, life is good for the current UFC flyweight champ. With his third fight in the past 10 months behind him, Pantoja looks forward to taking a well-deserved break while rest of the division sorts itself out.

“I have a very exciting division right now,” Pantoja said. “I think Erceg’s a big name right now, everybody respects him now. And you have [Muhammad] Mokaev, you have Amir Albazi, Moreno, Royval, Manel Kape. Alex Perez just knocked out Matheus Nicolau. That’s so nice. I feel like the flyweights [are having] a better moment right now.

“It’s time [for me] to watch everyone in the division. Everybody [has been] watching the champion defend his belt twice in less than a year. Now’s my time to watch everyone fight. Let’s put, I don’t know, Royval and Erceg [together], Amir Albazi to Mokaev. You have very good matchups to watch. And I deserve that time.”

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Former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier claims if fierce rival, Conor McGregor returns in similar fettle as prior to his leg fracture at UFC 303 this summer, the Dubliner will finish Michael Chandler inside just two rounds.

Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion, is slated to headline UFC 302 himself next month, taking on undisputed titleholder, Islam Makhachev – in his third attempt to land undisputed gold inside the organization.

And holding multiple triumphs over both Conor McGregor and the previously mentioned, Michael Chandler, Lafayette striker, Poirier fought the former when he suffered a fractured tibia and fibula back in 2021 in their rubber match trilogy bout. 

Conor McGregor backed to finish Michael Chandler at UFC 303

And sharing his thoughts on the ex-two-weight champion’s welterweight return at UFC 303 during International Fight Week, Poirier claims McGregor has the ability to finish Chandler within two rounds, if he returns in decent form later this summer.

“I think that if Conor (McGregor) comes back anything [the way] he was with his timing and rhythm – but with the injury that he had and this long of a layoff – and we are not getting any younger, either,” Dustin Poirier told MMA Fighting. “If he (McGregor) comes back similar to who he was before he left, I think he stops Michael Chandler. If Conor is who he was before the injury and stuff, I think two rounds. I think the fight is over in two rounds.”

Poirier’s prediction come off the back of claims overnight from McGregor that former three-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion, Chandler is nowhere near his “level”. 

Without a victory since 2020, McGregor’s most recent win came at the welterweight limit, in the form of a first round high-kick and strikes knockout win over Hall of Fame inductee, Donald Cerrone in just 40-seconds.

Who do you think wins at UFC 303: Conor McGregor or Dustin Poirier?

LowKickMMA.com

Former interim lightweight titleholder Dustin Poirier believes that him getting a UFC 302 title shot against champion Islam Makhachev was ‘serendipity,’ and he may be right.

When UFC 300 took place on April 13, Poirier was sitting fourth in the rankings and several lightweight contenders were competing on the historic fight card.  Former champion Charles Oliveira could have secured a rematch with Makhachev but was defeated by current top contender Arman Tsarukyan.  Justin Gaethje also could have locked in a title shot but he was knocked out by Max Holloway in the UFC 300 ‘BMF’ bout.  

Two contenders ranked ahead of Poirier lost at UFC 300, but he wasn’t the first fighter offered the title bout.  UFC matchmakers offered Tsarukyan the UFC 302 main event slot against Makhachev but Tsarukyan turned down the proposal.  That’s when Poirier received the call from the fight promotion.  

“For me, waking up everyday, I just feel grateful.  It’s serendipity.  Things just worked out the way they worked out for me to go out there and fight for the world title again in New Jersey on Lafayette Street,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour.

Poirier is from Lafayette, Louisiana.  He believes the stars are aligning for him to capture the title on June 1.  “I’m going to be the world champion,” he said.

In Interviews promoting the event, Makhachev has made statements that have some in Poirier’s camp wondering if the champion is underestimating him. Makhachev called Poirier ‘an easy fight,’ and that didn’t sit well with “The Diamond.” 

Related: Ian Garry promises to ‘slap the mouth off’ Colby Covington within one round

“I haven’t really been keeping up a whole lot, but when I was at the gym Mike Brown told me, he said, ‘man, I think this guy might be underestimating your jiu-jitsu and underestimating how dangerous you are.’  I think what he’s referring to is the interview of Islam saying, ‘This is an easy fight for me.’  I was tagged on a bunch of stuff on Instagram and Twitter,” explained Poirier.

“I don’t know.  Maybe he goes about all fights like that, but I can finish and beat anybody at 155 pounds in the world.  I really believe that, and he doesn’t have to believe it.  I’m the one that has to believe it and I’m the one that has to go out there and beat his ass.  I can do that,” Poirier said.  “I’m going to put my hands on this guy.  I’m coming in there to hurt him.  This is my last shot.  Mom’s spaghetti.  Let’s go.”  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis is a man of many talents, it appears.

Earlier this week, as part of the second season of The Masked Singer South Africa, du Plessis was revealed as one of the contestants after he was eliminated from the competition — competing as Wildebeest.

Check out the final performance from “DDP” on the program, as he sang Counting Stars by the band OneRepublic.

Du Plessis was revealed after a bit of a struggle to get his oversized mask off of his head, but the judges seemed quite surprised, and happy to see the world champion fighter.

The 30-year-old du Plessis’ career as a singer may not have reached the top of the mountain, however, his fighting career has carried him quite far to this point. Du Plessis captured the middleweight title with a decision win over Sean Strickland in the main event of January’s UFC 297 event, his ninth straight win overall.

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