Can We Get That Fight?

What is going on guys, it is a special edition on GET THE KO tonight and I am excited to write this. I want to talk about some of the future fights that need to happen, at least on my side. If you guys listen to the podcast on anchor for GET THE KO, Anthony and I did an episode covering our dream fights for UFC 217 and I think nine of the fighters are on the card to include three title fights (one which was called out by Anthony). It is fun to see some of the match-ups. Now this is not one of those I want to see a past versus present fight, the fights I would like to see are fights between current fighters in the UFC and Bellator. Big name fighters with larger than life personas!

Sergio Pettis vs T.J. Dillashaw

This could be a fun fight to watch, Sergio has had one lose in the UFC and has been pretty solid. Dana White would like T.J. to fight Demetrious Johnson for the title. DJ has come out and said he would like Dillashaw to fight one fight before he fights for the title. I think Sergio would be a great test for T.J. It is also not a fight I think T.J. wins easily if at all. T.J. is on another level with his wrestling, but we have seen his striking game not be on the same level as Sergio. I am excited to see what Sergio could do against a big named opponent and a fighter like T.J. would be perfect.

Conor McGregor vs Edson Barboza

Let's be honest this is a fight that could happen, and could happen by the next year. Edson Barboza has some nasty kicking power (ask Terry Etim and Anthony Pettis). Many fighters have fought and got beat by Edson. On that note Conor is a student of the game and can show up in any atmosphere, we have seen him strike with Floyd and Jose (only one of those he came out the victor). Conor loves to throw leg kicks and it would be interesting to see him battle a man who's feet are faster than Conors.

Cain Velasquez vs Stipe Miocic

Be real with yourself on this one, the last time we saw Cain in...he was throwing wheel kicks at Travis and landing them regularly. Cain has shown an ability to adapt and modify his game, something has to be said about it. With multiple surgeries and extended time away from the octagon does he still have enough in he tank to battle a man, who only wants to throw hands. Stipe is a dangerous fighter from his feet (Dos Anos can at test to that), with only one fighter who beat him in the UFC (Stephan Struve) it will be interesting to see how the measuring stick of Cain will do with Stipe.

Michelle Waterson vs Cynthia Calvillo

This is a heart breaking fight for me, I love both of these fighters. They want to battle they pick their shots and are pretty open about taking them when they are there. I think this match-up presents problems on both sides. Both girls will strike, both will look for takedowns, and both love to get their ground game going. This should be a fight we see in the next year especially after the Esparza vs Calvillo fight coming up.

Other Fights:

Max Holloway vs Chan Sung Jung
Carlos Condit vs Michael "Venom" Page
Volkan Oezdemir vs Alexander Gustafsson
Robert Whitaker vs Luke Rockhold
Germaine De Randamie vs Raquel Pennington
Rafael Dos Anos vs Paul Daly

Let me know in the comments either on Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat @cm_miller85 who would you like to see battle it out. Maybe if enough of us demand the fight, we will see it happen!!!

What could be: Paul "Semtex" Daly vs Michael "Venom" Page a.k.a MVP

This week is going to be a little different, sure there was the UFC in Japan on Friday. However another story happen last night and I would like to cover that. It was more than apparent that two men from England do not like each other and decided they needed to call each other out.

If you did not watch the Bellator event last night, you missed a few good fights. These fights included former UFC talents Benson Henderson (lost by Split Decision), Roy Nelson (won by TKO), and Paul "Semtex" Daly (won by KO).

For most MMA fans, the question becomes...who is Paul Daly? Paul started his professional MMA career in 2003. It really took off when he was in the UFC, with a huge KO of Martin Kampmann, then the destruction of Dustin Hazelett. However the UFC wanted to see more from Paul and put him in a fight with Josh Koscheck, Josh refused to throw hands with Paul and chose to wrestle and grind him for three rounds. As the third and final round ended this happen:

Daly would get kicked out of the UFC and would have a lot of bad blood with Dana White. The organization thought he was too immature and decided to let him go. Paul then went back to Impact FC and StrikeForce (prior to being bought by Zuffa) and would be on a four fight winning streak going into a fight with Nick Diaz. Though he would ultimately be beat by Nick Diaz, people do remember this punch:

Paul has some devastating hands and loves to throw punches with anyone, and everyone. He is not afraid to back down and will continue to push the fight further and harder. Though he does not have the best stamina for a fighter, he has been known to go into deep waters a few times.

He has had some fantastic finishes of other opponents. The one flaw in Paul's game is his defense, he often finds himself in trouble. But because he has fast hands he can usually slip a punch and land a massive punch to end someone's night:

He's 34 years old and stands at 5/9 and fights at 170. Though other fighters do have the height advantage most fighters can not handle the devastating power he has. Rory MacDonald was able to eat a lot of the punches Daly landed, MacDonald scored a takedown which lead to the submission. Most guys just end up like this:

Last night Daly called out the undefeated Michael "Venom" Page otherwise known as MVP.

If you strictly watch the UFC, most have no idea who I am talking about. If you casually watch other MMA events, then you may have heard the name. However, everyone who follows MMA probably remembers this:

Welcome the undefeated, 6/3, 170lb fighter known as MVP. Ruthless, unforgiving, and arrogant fighter from the United Kingdom. Page caught my attention a few years ago with this massive shot:

When you are afraid to engage with someone in a fight, bad things happen and that is exactly what happened with this poor dude. He never saw this coming and even when he was trying to engage Page was able to move in and out of the pocket landing shot after shot. Ben Dishman was the first victim of knockouts and submissions that would soon follow. Page is currently 12-0 and shows no sign of slowing down. Which is why I found it so interesting Paul Daly called him out, when I saw it I was like: 

Daly has trouble with taller fighters, and Page loves to lure people in with his height:

Page can hurt you with small punches like this, and even huge punches like this:

So the Pokemon hat and ball, what lead to that victory you may ask? Well let me answer that question for you. Page was fighting Evangelista Santos (most of the MMA knows him as the guy married to Cyborg Santos); Santos was in a battle with Page going back and forth, in the fourth round though Santos went in for an attack and this happened:

Santos would have the front of his skull shattered, Page did not know it happened and threw the pokeball at Santos. Once it was revealed what happened, Page donated money towards the doctor bill for Santos. In the ring Page will dominate you, but at least now you know he has some heart.

If this fight happens we should expect the fight to have some serious effects in the MMA world, and a lot of people watching. This could be the fight that brings the UFC to come and talk to MVP about joining the promotion and fighting under the banner.

I want to see this fight, how about you? Leave me a comment and let me know what you hope to see.

Catch me and Lou tonight on the Podcast for GET THE KO, we will be covering the UFC in Japan as well as the Bellator event from last night. 

Also catch me on Snapchat, Twitter, and IG @cm_miller85. Be sure to follow Anthony as well, and check out all the love he shows for Lincoln, Nebraska and his new favorite band Trexler

UFC 215 and the Return of the Heels

What's going on fight fans? It is good to be back writing, there are some things I want to cover today so let's do it.

UFC 215

Last night UFC 215 hit us and overall it was a pretty decent fight card. My overall issue with the fight card is the fight outside the octagon. JDS was pulled from the card and the heavyweight match-up scrapped, why you ask? Junior Dos Santos was in pulled because of a PED controversy, he was a person who claimed he would not be using and got busted.

The other part of this which was interesting, Dana White claimed Amanda Nunes would never headline another fight in the UFC. She was slated to be the co-main event on this fight card. However after the main event fight was cancelled due to Ray Borg getting a virus, Amanda was back as the main event.

I am going to say I was not a fan of the fight, Amanda Nunes and Valentina was 5 rounds of the first fight. Now I am not going to say it was a bad fight, but I think the decision on the fight shocked everyone. Depending on who you were going for, you may have thought Amanda won the fight. Others though like myself felt that Valentina had won rounds 1-3, it seems like judges just want to root for the champion when they do not know who is winning the fight.

On the other side, this was a great display between two fighters who were experts in their field. Valentina is a talented Muay Thai artist, and was able to keep Amanda away from. When Valentina over committed with her punches though, Amanda was able to get her boxing in. These two are destined to bang again in the Octagon, hopefully sometime next year. They are both exceptional at what they do and if not for an ill-advised takedown, I am sure Valentina wins this fight.

We also have to talk about the re-emergence of RDA (Rafel Dos Anos), there were a lot of rumors about RDA having trouble making the weight cut at 155. Going up to 170 has been amazing for him, he scored a huge submission over Neil Magny. Despite the height and reach advantage RDA was able to close the gap and score a few take downs for the eventual win. This was a great job by RDA to be able to adjust to the new weight class.

Also, it is insane that guys make weight the night before the fight, and are overweight prior to showing up to the fight. Joe Rogan made a comment about fighters almost killing themselves the night before the fight, and I think there needs to be something done about it. If a fighter has to cut 15+ pounds the night before weigh-ins then they may need to reconsider the weight class. I know for me, in wrestling cutting 35-40 pounds was a terrible decision, I could have just stayed and worked on gaining muscle to stay competitive in the 160 or even 171 weight class. But dropping down so much weight especially in less then two months was insane. Then again recently I dropped from 230 to 180 in six months, just by working out so I guess who am I to judge.

There were some other great fights on the fight card and myself and Anthony will be covering it on the Podcast later tonight, so I hope you guys get the chance to listen in. Anchor.fm/gettheko or find it on Google Play or iTunes today!

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Return of the Heels

I want to be honest and say this. Where are my heels at? Yes you can say they are on my feet, I get it. But in terms of WWE and Professional Wrestling, Heels - are the guys who cause a lot of people to dislike them a.k.a The Bad Guy, can UFC promote a couple of guys to the those guys. I mean back in the day Josh Koscheck had no issues causing people to hate him, and I loved it. Jon "Bones" Jones did the same thing, he had no problem with people hating him...until people really hated him because of drugs, being arrested, and then getting people to like him again only to get busted for using steroids.

Can we get those guys to come back, I do not care if it starts with a tweet and eventually goes from there. Seriously I just want a few fighters to talk so much trash about other fighters, and blast them.

Ronda Rousey was a perfect example of it to, she was a bad guy she called out fighters and beat them, then she got KO'd and that was kind of it. But remember Joe Rogan asked her who she wanted to fight and she said she wanted to go to Brazil and take the zero from Beth Correia, then she did it!

Let me get one or two fighters who do not care about the media, or what people think of them and make themselves the bad guy, take the heat, then after the fight show your appreciation for the fans (even if they still boo you). The problem I have with UFC fighters is, not every fighter likes other fighters. McGregor does not like anyone, he talks so much trash when the camera is on him, and gives his respect behind the scene. He loves to sell fights and tells others what he is thinking.

I think it is time to bring those guys back and have them talk as much trash as they can, it is not about being cocky. It is about selling fights and getting more people interested, Conor understands that and continues to push the envelope on how to sell fights.

What are your thoughts on anything I wrote about today? Just let me know in the comments! Also follow me on twitter, snapchat, or IG @cm_miller85. Also tonight will be the next episode of GET THE KO on anchor.fm so check that out as well.

Mayweather VS McGregor Wrap-up

WHAT A FIGHT!!! Let's be honest, McGregor did more than what people thought he would, it was surprising to see everything being landed the way it did. I was excited to watch, and I think a lot of people have turned and looked at McGregor like:

But let's be honest there is a reason why Floyd is considered to be "The Best Ever", Floyd played the game just like you need to. The one thing that always sticks out to me about McGregor is he fights at a pace his body could not handle. In the first round we saw some great strikes, where Floyd did not know what to do at first:

Conor was standing awkwardly, and throwing punches at angles Floyd was not ready for. Sure Floyd is the man and has seen a lot different fighters, but Conor is not a normal boxer/fighter. Floyd and his corner had continually pushed the tempo for Conor, and once Conor started to gas out...that was all she wrote:

Floyd showed McGregor how boxers do in a boxing ring, he took the young shark in McGregor to deep waters and watched him drown. He peppered him with lots of shots and eventually a tired McGregor could not keep up with Floyd. Floyd landed so many shots in bunches and it was amazing to see Conor eat a couple of those shots.

I have to say the turning point for me in this fight was when Conor threw a punch, and Floyd walked through the punch and landed his own. The stage was set from that point on, and the crowd could feel the momentum change in the fight world.

The rest of the fight card was good as well. Team Mayweather definitely showed up and made their money, there is no doubt that Floyd easily clears $300 million with the promotions, sponsorship, and PPV buys.

If there is one thing to be said about Boxing vs MMA, fans in the MMA world want to show up for the prelim fights just as much as the main card fight. It was pretty obvious when Cunningham and Tabiti fought, the arena was empty. There were four great fights in that arena and fans only showed up to watch the Floyd fight (yes I know that was the biggest reason to be there). Sure boxing has been on the decline, but I really think this fight may have been the fight to put boxing back on the map. Hopefully it inspires more generation of combat athletes whether in MMA or Boxing to show up.

What did you think of the fight? Leave a comment and let me know. Also Listen to the podcast later tonight and let me know what you thought about everything. Follow me on Snapchat, Twitter, and IG @cm_miller85. 

Cocked, Locked, and Blocked

I have to admit, when I thought of this title I knew I could get some reactions. Let's be honest for a little bit, there is a huge epidemic going on in the UFC and a lot of people do not realize it. More and more fighters are getting in trouble for using PEDs. One who recently popped up was Junior Dos Santos, it was unusual because Dos Santos has been a huge advocate for stricter blood testing in the MMA world. Now as I am writing this he is asking to have his "B sample" tested, but he is pulled from UFC 215 until further notice. 

There has been many fighters who have been in trouble with United States Anti-Doping Associates (USADA). Just recently we saw Jon Jones come back from his one year ban after being flagged by USADA:

In the same year we watched Brock Lesnar also be flagged for using PEDs at the same event last year as Jon Jones:

Cris Cyborg has also been in trouble with USADA using PEDs to keep the advantage (let's be honest, she did not need PEDs she is a bad enough fighter without them):

So what is the big deal with using PEDs?

Well for starters, you can kill another fighter! You are unnaturally strong because you are introducing a drug to make you stronger and faster. You are literally hitting another person and potentially ending their life or leaving them permanently damaging them, now we add a drug to you and make you more lethal. Does anyone remember what happened to Apollo Creed? Rocky?

If a fighter is able to continue introducing PEDs in their body, we will eventually see the first fighter die in the UFC. The list is crazy to see which fighers have been banned for a year because they are using, so far every fighters I have shown here has been in trouble in using PEDs. Former champions, title contenders, and fan favorites have all fallen victim. One person I was surprised about was Anderson Silva, who was using Cialis and he did not think it would be tested before his fight.

A lot of fighters have made the mistake and taken things they could buy over the counter. Nate Marquardt was a prime example, he was buying over the counter protein at Max Muscle and was banned for a second time.

Gilbert has fallen victim as well, still trying to gain an advantage in the sport of MMA. I'm sure there will be harsher punishment for those who continue to use and eventually being banned from the sport needs to be in place for second time offenders. That way people will take the punishments seriously, and yes I think a year ban is light. Stopping a fighter from making a living through fighting is tough, but the first fighter to hold a two year ban will rock the sport.

Also fighters are eventually going to hurt their own bodies by continuing to force it to do something it naturally can not do. Introducing more synthetic chemicals will eventually cause your body to stop producing it.

Someone like Alistair Overeem, who was the K-1 Heavyweight Champion, StrikeForce Heavyweight Champion, and Dream Heavyweight Champion started his career at 185 pounds. If you did not think Overeem was using PEDs to get his advantage in the heavyweight competition you are sadly mistaken. Here is a before and after photo of what he looked like after being suspended for a year:

I am not saying every fighter here has used PEDs but every fighter pictured has been associated and rumored to have been using in the sport. To read more about it here is an article with athletes who have been in trouble during their time in the UFC:

http://www.cagepotato.com/mma-steroid-busts-definitive-timeline/

Tell me what you think about it and leave a comment, I would love to hear what you all think. Next week I will be wrapping up coverage of the Mayweather Vs McGregor coverage. You can all hear today 8/20/17 on the podcast our predictions for the fights coming up this weekend. Also follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat @ cm_miller85. See you soon fight fans!

UFC Favorite Knock-Outs Part I

What's going on fight fans, and welcome to GET THE KO! There are no fights to cover this week, nor are there any coming up next week. We do however have the biggest fight coming up when Conor McGregor will be fighting Floyd Mayweather, but today we are going to be talking about my favorite Knocks-Outs in UFC history. This is part one eventually I will add part 2 but I wanted to talk about my five favorites in no particular order.

So let's begin:

Edson Barboza is posed to have an amazing career in the UFC. It goes without saying he has the fastest feet in the UFC. He has picked apart his opponents and dominated the match-ups. We could be looking at a future champion in the making. No one else found this out more than Terry Etmin (oh Terry never saw this coming). Edson was able to land some big shots in this match up but none bigger than the KO that ended Terry's night early, and put Edson on the map:

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture said he had figured out the puzzle called Lyoto Machida. He asked Dana for the fight and was nearing the best shape of his life. He got in the ring with Machida and looked to pressure the young fighter for the win. Lyoto being fast on his feet was able to strike and get out before Randy could make his move. Looking a little puzzled in the fight Randy decided it was time to play the distance game. Lyoto would see his mark and take advantage turning Randy Couture into Johnny from the Karate Kid:

Stefan Struve is the tallest fighter in the UFC. It shows in the Octagon when he fights everyone, standing at almost seven feet tall you would think he would have the advantage in every fight using his jab. For some reason the UFC likes to keep in the in program, sure he has beaten the current UFC Heavyweight Stipe in a previous fight. But for the most part he winds up on the receiving end of a KO. No better way to show off that fight then when he fought Travis Browne. Travis was getting in and out able to land shots. Finally in the first round Travis went for a Superman punch which connected and ended Stefan's night. It was the first time I had seen a Superman punch end the night and I thought it was awesome:

Rashad Evans (who I spoke about last week) was not known for throwing kicks in his fight. He was known as a boxer who had a solid wrestling game. He could take down opponents at will and was landing some nasty shots on people to win his fights. Sean Salmon was 9-1 heading into his first fight in the UFC. He was known for having a good wrestling and solid BJJ behind him. However one thing that was lacking in Sean's game, was the ability to block high kicks:

It would not be complete without having another big fighter with a huge Knockout. Rampage Jackson was fighting for Pride FC at the time (prior to UFC buying it). While in his fight, Ricardo would attempt a triangle choke on Rampage. This would be a huge mistake for the young man as Rampage is the type of individual to not care about another person's well being. Ultimately it would end that man's night and Rampage would go on to another huge win in his MMA career:

These are a few of my favorite KOs and only Part 1. Part 2 will probably come along in the next few weeks, as there will be a lot of to cover for the future MMA events, as well as boxing. Write your comments in or send me a message on your favorite social media sites: Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram: cm_miller85. I hope to hear from you and turn in next week.

Maybe It's Time

On August 5, 2017 we were treated to a UFC Event that overall was a great card. It will be a topic covered on tonight's podcast. But I want to talk about something I noticed and maybe it needs to be said.

At one time "Sugar" Rashad Evans could do no wrong. He was undefeated had just won the Ultimate Fighter Season 2 at Heavyweight, and was rocketing towards stardom. He was a great competitor and loved fighting. But as Father Time has shown us, he will always win and eventually you have to think about hanging up the gloves.

Sure, he fought some of the greats and won: Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Tito Ortiz, Phil Davis, Stephan Bonner, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and Dan Henderson, and Chuck Liddell:

and Chael Sonnen:

Evans also has one of my favorite knockouts of all time, say goodnight to Sean Salmon:

However, one fight changed all the noise for Evans. He was defending his championship at Light Heavyweight against Lyoto Machida in Las Vegas. It was the second round in a five round fight and suddenly Evans could not solve the Machida puzzle and this happened:

He went on a four fight win streak after this lose, in which Lyoto lost his title to Shogun Rua. Who then lost the title to Jon "Bones" Jones. Evans came back to fight Jones, only to lose in a decision. I had the opportunity to meet Evans, a couple months after he beat "Rampage" Jackson:

Watching him fight and move in and out of the pocket this man was destined to be a beast for a long time:

But let's get back to reality, Evans does like to fight in a complacent state. What I mean, is Evans tends to think he is winning the fight and eases off the gas pedal. He thinks he is constantly in the lead of the fight and has yet to actually end a fight early. He is 2-6 in his last eight fights and is currently on a 4 fight losing streak. This also coming from him dropping from 205 to 186 (which I agree with Joe Rogan, he probably should have been there the whole time).

He has trouble fighting people who and box Southpaw, he left Greg Jackson after Jon Jones arrived, and loves to take rounds off. It was the same thing I said to him after his win against "Rampage", now Evans has to find it within himself to pull himself out of the dark.

However I think it maybe too late and needs to consider hanging up the gloves, yes guys are not landing a lot of strikes on Evans. Yes, he can still move in and out of the pocket fairly well, but Evans does not do enough anymore to say he can fully win the fight. Nor do I think there is another shot for him at a title, Bisping is holding on strong and Evans is having trouble with Mid-card guys let alone fighting a Yoel Romero type.

Evans no doubt will be in the UFC Hall of Fame, but I think it is time for him to honestly consider retiring and moving on to trainer type role.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments of your favorite social media sites or even right here. Also do not forget to catch the latest podcast of "GET THE KO" later tonight on Google Play or iTunes. Thank you guys again for all the support and have a great day.