Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the MMA Happy Hour podcast. I am
Kyle Anthony, your host were Today we are talking UFC
Shanghai headlined by Min Yang Zang and Johnny Walker. We're
gonna be breaking down four plays here on the show today. Now,
if you want to become a client linked down description,
I do have a five percent play up for this weekend.
We'll be adding to that pack as a bit closer
to fight night. Now, with that being said, let's dive
into the main event of the evening between Min Yang
Zang and Johnny Walker. Now, you got Zang sitting at
minus three p thirty on the comeback. Here, you've got
Walker plus to eighty. Now you got Walker here, who
is an explosive athletic fighter, freak athletic fighter. You know,
this guy can come forward, he's going to crash the
pocket normally and he's gonna throw big shots. This guy,
you know, has aerial attacks, jumping knees, all these great
things that he does do he hunts for that finish
and that's what he has done primarily.
Speaker 2: Things have definitely changed over.
Speaker 1: The last couple of years, and especially the fact that
we do realize that Johnny Walker can't take a punch.
Speaker 2: Now, this may not be the longest.
Speaker 1: Breakdown uh normally what I do here, but you know,
you look at Johnny Walker. I mean he is the
definition of what a glass cannon is. You know, the
guy just simply can't take a punch. I mean he's
on the mount Rushmore of glass chins next to Luke Brockold.
Speaker 2: I mean, he just simply can't take a punch.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy has the power, he's got the tools,
there's a lot of great things again that he can do.
Speaker 2: He just really just the absorption of damage is just
very limited for him.
Speaker 1: And even shots that are half locked, you know, he
will struggle to just kind of stay.
Speaker 2: On the feet on half block shots. And then you
also got the fact that.
Speaker 1: Now he's over at at SBG and he's training there
and and you know those guys, you know, are really
looking to make him more patient, you know, make him
more patient in the pocket, be more technical, be more
at range, you know, utilize those tools.
Speaker 2: And you know all that's done we're.
Speaker 1: Being patient is now he's just patiently waiting to get
knocked out. I mean that's just simply you know kind
of what it is. And it's just it's you know,
he's the that I think really needs to have those
wild exchanges. I think he needs to have any success
against you know Zang in this spot is he needs
the kind of pressure he needs to have that first round,
come forward, guns blazing, you know, you know, have these
awkward attacks, awkward movements, and find the opening, because otherwise
I think he's in a lot of trouble. Plus the
fact that you got Walker here, he's three four to
one over his last eight fights, and he's in the
main event, and this is pretty much the UFC saying
we're shipping Johnny Walker to China to have him lose.
And I do agree with with that statement there where
you know you got Zang. You know, this guy is
an absolute killer. He's got one hundred percent finish rate,
and he's a guy that primarily was heavy grappling early
and I think he still can grapple now, but heavy
grappling early. But he's really fall in love with the power,
He's fall in love with the damage. And he has
nineteen wins, thirteen by knockout, six by submission, all coming
in the very first round.
Speaker 2: And that's where I'm going with this play here. I'm
going with the trend here. I'm sticking with it. The
trend is your friend, and that's what I'm going here
with this. I'm going Min Yang Zang by knockout in
round one. I don't think this is even going to
hit the ground. I think if it does, it's Johnny
Walker's head bouncing off the canvas. Year.
Speaker 1: So I do like Zang at minus one ten, I
feel like is an absolutely great price. He's been knocking
guys out left and right. Johnny Walker's prime for it.
I'm going Min Yang Zang by knockout in the first round.
Next one we're going to talk about here is going
to be Michelle Perera. He is a minus two ninety five.
And the comeback here, we've got Kyle Dalcas he is
plus plus two twenty. I said minus two ninety five
right for Pereira, But you got Pereira.
Speaker 2: Here who is coming off absolutely throwing a fight. Now.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds crazy, but if you saw that
fight against a boost Magametov, you probably will agree that
he threw the fight against a boose. It was a
glorified sparring match. It was pretty much him not even
attempting to really hurt a boose.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: He was not explosive early. He almost didn't seem like
he cared. It almost seemed like he just wanted to
survived the fight and that's about it.
Speaker 2: And he did and he It's tough.
Speaker 1: To trust a guy like that now who really didn't
do anything in his last fight. But overall, you know,
I too like the you know, the move for Pereira
when he went from one seventy to one eighty five.
Speaker 2: I think the move has been great for him. You know,
he's keeping his.
Speaker 1: Power, he's keeping his explosiveness and his athleticism, and I
think it's kind of worked out well for him, at
least early. You know, where the last the first three
fights that he had in that division, goes out there,
three straight first round finishes, looked great, really again kept
that power, and then he has back to back losses
which were very underwhelming. He loses to the Fluffy Hernandez,
which no harm there. Fluffy is could be fighting for
a title soon, and he's a nightmare matchup for Pereira
because of his cardio issues and because you've got Fluffy
who is just an absolute savage with his cardio.
Speaker 2: But early in that first round Perrera did hurt him.
Speaker 1: There was a spot where, hey, it looked like maybe
he could put him away a little bit here.
Speaker 2: But you know, Fluffy does what Fluffy does.
Speaker 1: He've got that DURADILVII, he's got that and able to
find that fifth round finish. And then he has that
terrible fight against the Boost which they didn't really do anything.
And you know, I do think those last two fights
are providing some value here on this particular fight on
a method of victory. But you look at Daucas. You know,
Daucas is a guy on his second stint in the UFC.
His first stint wasn't even that great. Really.
Speaker 2: He was two four and one.
Speaker 1: With back to back losses before going and being sent
to a c FFC organization.
Speaker 2: And now he's going over there. He has found some victories.
Speaker 1: He has a nice four fight winning streak, but he's
beating you know, grocery store clerks and garbage men that
also fight part time. You know, he's got who's beating
guys with records of six and three, eight and six,
seventeen and nine, eight and eleven. Not that great when
you're looking at that overall, and the biggest issue here
for Daucas for me, is his their ability. I mean,
this guy just really can't take a bunch. He has
terrible striking defense, very hittable in the pocket, and you've
got the power that Pereira does possess. I think he
lands some very big shots early here and can find
a lot of success. Also, I think that Daucas needs
to get takedowns, and if he can't get those takedowns early,
which I don't think he's gonna get, he is no
Fluffier Nandez.
Speaker 2: He's very far from fluffier Nandez, and it's just not
that easy.
Speaker 1: To get Pereira down Daucas twenty five percent takedown success rate.
You've got Perera with a seventy six percent defense rate.
I think that holds up here. I think that this
is a spot where this is a great bounce back spot,
a huge step down here for Pereira fighting Daucas here,
I think he puts a stamp on it. You can
get off the minus two ninety five number and you
could get this around Pereira inside the distance is plus
one hundred. I think he absolutely finishes this. I think
there's a possibility for in the first or second round.
But I do like Pereira in a bounced back spot
here getting the finish at plus one hundred.
Speaker 2: Next fight you're going to talk about is Loaner Kavanov.
Speaker 1: He is minus two ten on the comeback, We've got
Charles Johnsing he is plus one seventy. Now Loner is
a rising prospect in the UFC, no doubt, nine to
oh record two to zero in the UFC, and one
of his biggest advantages that he has over a lot
of fighters, he's really gonna be his his hand speed,
his overall speed, I should say, but his hand speed,
his foot you know, his footwork, his quick movement.
Speaker 2: You know, he does back it up with some power.
Speaker 1: He can mix that in there, so it's not that
he's just pitter pattering shots. He does pack some power
and also he does have some wrestling. You know, he's
been able to really utilize that when he needs to
utilize that, which you know, he got Charles Johnson the
other side here, who is a tough UFC vet, you know,
and although he has suffered some losses, you know, he's
six and five in the UFC, so that isn't that great,
but he has fought some tough guys really from the beginning,
like as soon as he came to UFC, he was
fighting some some really tough opponents overall, and now he's
on a nice four and one run and he does
have good striking, you know, good rangy striking, nice stand
switches overall. I think he can mix in the wrestling
mix into takedowns and he's just a very tough fighter
where he does have that good footwork as well. But
you look really at one of the biggest advantages here
for Charles Johnson, and I think it's gonna be his
takedown defense and his wrestling, and I think that is
going to be where this is going to be, you know,
make or break for him. He's got Loaner, who is
you know, he's undersized. You know, he's just undersized for
this division. You know, he's very small. You're gonna have
you know, multiple, you know, physical advantages here for Charles Johnson,
and I think that he's gonna struggle getting these takedowns.
I think that Charles might be the stronger, more physical guy,
but I also do think that Loaner has needed to
Now recently, he struggled, I would say struggled, but he
was he was competitive on the feed against Felipe de
Santos and then he started looking for takedowns found success.
I don't think he can lean on that here against
Charles Johnson. Johnson has very good wrestling. He can wrestle offensively,
he can wrestle defensively. He can mix it up a
little bit here, and I do think if he needs to,
he can look for those takedowns and really put that
pressure a little bit more on Loaner. And I do
think that a big advantage here also is going to
be the output for Charles Johnson if he keeps us
on a fee and this stays at range in the
bigger cage, we're not in any apex here. I think that
really works well for Charles Johnson, you know, utilizing the striking,
utilizing that range, mixing it up, working in his takedowns,
and I think this is gonna be a tough matchup
prom Obrale. He could look to win positionally or outland
him in this spot here, I'm going dog or past
spot here. I'm going Charles Johnson here plus one seven.
He feels like a very good price here. I think
it's much closer than this line indicates. So I'm going
Charles Johnson plus one seventy.
Speaker 2: And the last one here we're gonna go over is
gonna be wrong Zoo. He is minus to eighty.
Speaker 1: On the comeback here we've got Austin Hubbard, he is
plus to ten now wrong Zoo is twenty five years
old with thirty two professional fights, which is pretty wild
when you're thinking about that.
Speaker 2: Overall, this guy is definitely growing up in the cage.
Speaker 1: You know, he's definitely like, you know, on the job,
on the job training, and we've seen him we recently
goes out there winning on road to the UFC, and
you know, we're definitely seeing him put it to get
a little bit more. He's with CKB. I think he's
you know, definitely rounding out his skill set, elevating and
kind of hitting his stride.
Speaker 2: Overall, but most recently we did see.
Speaker 1: Him dominate and I mean dominate against Cody Steele, which
was a spot where Wrongs who went out there outlanded
Cody Steele one hundred and twenty five significant strikes to
fifty two with the knockdown, won the decision. And that
was a spot where Cody Steele was a plus two
eighty favorite. Well, I mean favorite plus two eighty underdog
wellout performed his number there, goes out there and gets
the victory. Now you've got Hubbard on the other side here,
another guy's second stint. In the UFC first go around,
he was three and four. Right now on his second stint,
he's one in three. He's about to be punted back
to the lower level organizations here. And he's just a
journeyman fighter, you know, the guy, very slow plotting footward,
very slow handspeed, slow developing combinations, and he's gonna look
for the wrestling, look for the grappling, look to look
to you know, cage push, look to grind, and I
don't think he much success doing any of that. Plus,
he has a thirty one percent takedown rate, not very good.
And you've got wrong Zoo here on the other side,
who I think is better everywhere. I think also obviously
the line is indicating that. But he's gonna have the
faster hands beat, he's gonna have the better footwork, he's gonna,
I think, have the solid takedown defense that is also
gonna help him here. He's gonna have an eighty four
percent takedown defense rate. I think that holds up here,
but I do think that you're gonna see some grinding
from Hubbard. You're gonna see him trying to, you know,
push up against the fence a little bit. That may
kill some clock here a little bit as well, get
this fight a little bit further if he does find
any top control. But overall I do like wrong Zoo here,
and where I'm going with display is that Austin Hubbard
is a tough guy actually to put away out of
his nine losses six or by decision, I think there's
gonna be some scrappy rounds here. I think that really overall,
wrong Zoo will outland him over the three rounds. So
getting off the minus two to eighty number, I'm going
wrong Zoo by points. It's minus one oh five. I
think that's a strong price here. I think it's a
likely outcome, and I do think Hubb makes it to
the scorecard. So I'm going wrong Zoo five points minus
one five. Sure you have it for my place for
UFC Shanghai if you want to become a client linked
on description and we are off next week, but the
following week. I absolutely love that card. It's in Paris.
There's a great uh, some great bets. I will be
placing we'll be putting those out early before next week.
Come so check out that. And with that thing said,
let's do this again and let's cash