Damon and Kaz talk about UFC 231 and the Tito Ortiz/Chuck Liddell fight.

MAIN CARD

Featherweight Championship

Max Holloway (c) vs. Brian Ortega

Curious to see how Holloway’s health holds up in this fight. I like Ortega in this fight either way.

Women’s Flyweight

Valentina Shevchenko vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk

This is the 4th combat sports meeting between these two women. Valentina is 3-0 in their previous meetings, which were contested in Muay Thai. Joanna’s coach, Mike Thomas Brown, believes that Valentina will be too passive and look to counter, but I think that’s where Valentina will have her greatest success and take a clear cut decision.

Welterweight

Alex Oliveira vs. Gunnar Nelson

Oliveira has a lot of power in his hands and a good ground game, but it’s not as good as Gunnar’s. Gunnar also has crisp striking and deceptive power in his hands. The further the fight goes, the more it favors Gunnar. Looking for Gunnar to get a submission in the 2nd or 3rd round

Featherweight

Hakeem Dawodu vs. Kyle Bochniak

Bochniak has built a bit of a following after his last fight with Zabit Magomedsharipov. He’s got an iron chin, a huge heart and some good boxing. He’s going to need that chin and heart to lean on against the heavy hands and blackletcism of Hakeem Dawodu. I see Hakeem taking an exciting decision.

Light Heavyweight

Jimi Manuwa vs. Thiago Santos

DO YOU LIKE VIOLENCE? THIS FIGHT IS EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED. SOMEONE’S GONNA END UP TWITCHING ON THE MAT. BET THE HOUSE ON THE UNDER (and also Jimi Manuwa). Poster Boy by round 1 KO.

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Women’s Strawweight

Cláudia Gadelha vs. Nina Ansaroff

Lightweight

Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Gilbert Burns

Women’s Flyweight

Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jessica Eye

Middleweight

Elias Theodorou vs. Eryk Anders

Theodorou being a favorite in this fight is solely because they’re in Canada. Bet the house on Anders.

Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Bantamweight

Brad Katona vs. Matthew Lopez

Welterweight

Chad Laprise vs. Dhiego Lima

Lightweight

Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Kyle Nelson

Light Heavyweight

Devin Clark vs. Aleksandar Rakić

Bellator GP and the Importance of Getting Paid

This episode of Downriver Top Team was an impromptu episode. It was prompted by John (Podbros Network owner) asking me about the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. That Chael Sonnen and Fedor fight was really something. Fedor dropped Chael mere seconds into the fight and beat him pillar to post before stopping him at the end of the first. Ryan Bader mauled Matt Mitrione for three straight rounds. If the Heavyweight GP was under Welterweight GP rules, Bader may have very well got a 50-40 scorecard.

Bader has a chance to become a two-division champion when he faces Fedor in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight GP in January. Also, I went on another tangent on the purpose of prizefighting. Spoiler alert. The point is to win as much money (prizes) as possible. That’s why you’re about to see Eddie Alvarez clobbering people in Asia for eight-figure paydays.

Disregard this Paragraph, UFC 230 still has a Great Undercard

UFC 230 has been an absolute cluster(foxtrot). Several main events were discussed, including a Yoel Romero and Alexander Gustafsson fight for the Light Heavyweight title, a Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier non-title fight, and an absolutely nonsensical fight for the vacant Flyweight title between Sijara Eubanks and Valentina Shevchenko.

A Derrick Lewis/Daniel Cormier heavyweight title fight was made, despite both men having serious injuries heading into the fight. Dustin Poirier pulled out of the Diaz fight with an injury. Diaz, left without a dance partner, has seemingly disappeared again. What the hell do you do with Nate Diaz?  Oh, by the way, we recorded this before we found out that Luke Rockhold got hurt and Chris Weidman will now fight the Spooky Alligator Man.

Long Layoff

After a long layoff, I return with a new episode of Downriver Top Team. I was joined by John, the site owner, and Kaz, The Accidental Wrestling Fan Worst Millennials, to discuss some of the latest developments in combat sports.

UFC 229

The biggest fight in UFC history is scheduled to take place (as of this writing) tomorrow on October 6th. Khabib Nurmagomedov looks to defend his UFC Lightweight title for the first time against former Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor. This is McGregor’s first MMA fight in two years. Will “cage” rust play a factor in his return?

HBO Boxing

HBO has decided to get out of the boxing business after 45 years of presenting some of the greatest fights of all-time. We discussed if this is a smart move for HBO and if an HBO Boxing app or channel is a viable platform.

CM Punk will return on June 9th against Mike “The Truth” Jackson. Both men are 0-1 in their MMA careers with both men suffering submission losses to Mickey Gall. For Punk, this fight will come days after having a jury rule in his favor in a lawsuit stemming from his departure from WWE.

Will that take an emotional toll on Punk leading into this fight? Also, what happens if either man loses this fight? They’ll be 0-2. Punk would have to deal with the potential embarrassment of failing yet again. Jackson will forever be known as the guy that lost to CM Punk. High stakes for essentially an amateur MMA fight.

This minicast is actually an outtake from TAWF Clean 39. We discuss Ronda Rousey’s best fights, Chael Sonnen’s opinion on Rousey’s fighting ability, and the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Downriver Top Team is back after a six month hiatus to talk about the cursed card known as UFC 223. Seriously, this card is cursed. We recorded this episode not even 24 hours before finding out that Max Holloway was deemed “medically unfit” to face Khabib Nurmagomedov. Damn this sport, damn Conor McGregor, and most of all, DAMN THE NEW YORK STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION!

Downriver Top Team is back with the first installment of the Bar Fight Chronicles.  John sat down with Damon to discuss an altercation he had at a local drinking establishment, how alcohol can get the best of you when you’re trying to keep your cool, and people pushing your buttons for no reason.

How Much Can You Know About Yourself If You’ve Never Been in a Fight?

I’ve recently become fascinated with how people handle physical altercations.  Obviously, there are two general options:  fight or flight.  I have so many friends from so many walks of life, from MMA fighters to lawyers, that it’s intriguing to see how they’ve handled situations where they’ve been in a physical altercation or avoided one.  I’ll be talking to some of these friends on this show over the next few, weeks, months, or however long it takes.  I’ll also be sharing my experiences with getting into fights in bars or on the street.  A few of them definitely don’t go my way.

UFC 216

UFC 216 takes place Saturday, October 7th (which is tomorrow if I get this uploaded on time).  The card has several intriguing fights on it, but of course, I think they’re intriguing.  I’m a die-hard MMA fan.  A lot of MMA outlets like MiddleEasy think this card isn’t going to do well.  There’s a number of factors why this card may suffer.  The first of those factors is yet another interim title fight between #2 lightweight Tony Ferguson and #7 ranked Kevin Lee.  People are sick of interim title fights, flat out.  It also doesn’t help that casual fans aren’t really into the two people fighting for the championship.  Their trash talking and hype of the fight has been, well, not very good.

Another thing that may hurt UFC 216 is Demetrious Johnson’s shot at breaking Anderson Silva’s title defense record (11 straight, DJ ties GSP for most title fight victories with a win).  In any other weight class, this would be presented as a historic moment and be promoted as such.  It’s barely even mentioned in promotional material for the card, other than a Jon Anik sound byte.  Hell, DJ’s potential record-setting title defense isn’t even the main event.  Yes, that’s right.  One of the greatest MMA fighters of all-time is playing second fiddle to an interim title fight.  Absolutely baffling.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done an episode of DTT.  What better time to drop an episode than on the eve of UFC 215?  I kept it topical, as always, by recording it two weeks after the Mayweather McGregor fight and Jon Jones’ failed drug test.  What makes it even more topical is that I recorded it on Labor Day, days before I found out that Ray Borg would not be fighting Demetrious Johnson due to illness.  That UFC 215 card took some serious hits with the loss of its main event and Junior Dos Santos’ suspension.  Shevchenko and Nunes is still a tremendous fight and the best fight in the history of the UFC Women’s Bantamweight division.  Here is the card following the implosion of the main event.

Women’s Bantamweight Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Valentina Shevchenko

Welterweight Neil Magny vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Flyweight Henry Cejudo vs. Wilson Reis

Light Heavyweight Ilir Latifi vs. Tyson Pedro

Featherweight Jeremy Stephens vs. Gilbert Melendez

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) Women’s Bantamweight Sara McMann vs. Ketlen Vieira

Women’s Bantamweight Sarah Moras vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith

Featherweight Gavin Tucker vs. Rick Glenn

Lightweight Mitch Clarke vs. Alex White

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) Heavyweight Luis Henrique vs. Arjan Bhullar

Lightweight Kajan Johnson vs. Adriano Martins

“All Day” Drew Morais came by the Hole-in-The Wall Studio to talk about King of the Cage in Wyandotte, Michigan, Jon Jones’ shocking KO of Daniel Cormier, and how much we love Mike Beltran.  Seriously, Mike Beltran is awesome.  I hope he chokes people with  his facial hair at jiu-jitsu.