Fighter vs Writer: Reacting to UFC 331, Gable Steveson’s Stunning Loss and What’s Next for Arman Tsarukyan

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Before this, there's this.

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I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one.

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Reassemble the team.

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Six zones, three teams, one shot.

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Relive the experience.

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We messed with time.

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Time tends to mess back.

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The story continues.

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Tony, this is the second chance.

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Damon Martin (1:18)

I am Damon Martin. He is UFC legend Matt Brown. And Matt, we are coming off a big weekend of, well, fights and championship fights, also some big announcements coming up. Obviously, over the weekend, Joshua Van defended his title for the second time against Alexandre Pantoja. Looked fantastic, man. That kid's so much fun to watch. 24 years old. Can't wait to see what he's gonna be doing in the future.

Arman Tsarukyan kind of ruined your plan there. You thought Mauricio Rufi was gonna get him. It didn't work out too well. Arman knocked him out with brutal elbows in the second round, or first round, excuse me, to kind of solidify his spot. But is he actually gonna get a title shot? We'll talk about that. And then of course, probably the biggest news, which is almost unfortunate to the biggest news, is that Tom Aspinall did officially relinquish his title. He's not gonna be fighting for the heavyweight title, and the UFC has now moved on with Cyril Gaughan taking on Josh Hogan at Madison Square Garden, along with a D-fight between Kayla Harris and Amanda Nunes finally being rescheduled. So lots to get to today, Matt.

What caused your attention? Oh, and let's not forget Gable Steveson, the greatest prospect in history got knocked out in 12 seconds in his second fight. So we got lots to talk about. Matt, where do you want to start?

Matt Brown (2:26)

Yeah, where do you start, man? Well, first off, look, it was a great show, right? Like, UFC still 30 plus years in, still banging out killer events, man, and making it fun to watch. And then when you have guys like Van coming in, keeping the excitement, I mean, we can talk about all the other fights, right? But that dude puts on fucking bangers, man, and comes out on top. He's talked about himself at the post-fight press conference. He can't keep taking shots like that, right? He can't keep getting punched like a...

I mean, he talked about it more along the lines of, you know, he wants to win more dominantly and things like that. But, you know, I think he understands that that's not gonna be a way to win for a very long time. And I mean, but what a way to inject some fucking fire into that division, man, you know, division that was kind of struggling for a little bit. They didn't even talked about cutting that division. And now Joshua Van comes in and just fucking making it exciting, man. And you got to also give some props to Pantoja too. Like, what a gladiator, you know, this guy just keeps coming forward, keeps throwing, you know, had had a great game plan. I thought, I mean, Josh Van is just a squirrely little fucker.

Damon Martin (3:46)

I mean, it was a great fight from start to finish. And obviously, I think, you know, Joshua Van deserved to win. I thought he won, but yeah, like, he's a real, you know, he's kind of what that division needs, you know what I mean? Like, as good as Pantoja was as champion, you know, people just don't get excited about submissions as much as they do about knockouts. And Joshua Van provides knockouts. Yeah, he just has that power, he has that range, he has that ability. And I mean, don't get me wrong, Pantoja versus Van was an incredible fight. Let me make sure I'm clear about that, Matt.

But Joshua Van versus Manel Cop is fucking mayhem. I mean, that is going to be, that might be my most anticipated fight of 2027 already.

Matt Brown (4:31)

I'm right there with you, man. That is cop going to be next in for the title, you think? I mean, I guess I haven't really heard anything about that.