🥊 Jon Jones Video Game, Weili Triple Champ, and YOUR Hot Takes in MMA

With no UFC last weekend to recap (thank god we made it through) we’re giving you the latest picks ahead of UFC Vegas 97 as well as filling out the roster with YOUR “hot takes” answered in MMA for Pound 4 Pound & Shadow Lion.

Check out the latest (shirtless) Pound 4 Pound if you are so inclined!

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UFC Vegas 97 Quick Picks

As this newsletter evolves I’m going to try some different things and see what sticks. These are my Pound 4 Pound picks for this weekend’s card.

Gilbert Burns (+154) vs Sean Brady (-185)

Main-event, 5 rounds at the UFC Apex, between two Belal Muhammad victims to stake their claim in the 170lbs divison. The short and sweet answer here is I don’t understand why Burns is the underdog. He’s a gamer, he’s tough as nails, and if it wasn’t for a poor fight IQ decision against Kamaru Usman, he may have been the 170lbs UFC champ at one point. I know a ton of sharp bettors on on Brady here, but I just think Gilbert is better everywhere and less likely to be finished. Prediction: Burns via Decision

Jessica Andrade (+260) vs Natalia Silva (-325)

Again, I’m a little confused at the line here because of what Jessica Andrade has done in her career. Whilst Silva is clearly on the rise, she’s 17-5-1 overall and 5-0 in the UFC with 2 KO’s since her 2022 debut, she’s only 5 years younger than the 32 year old Andrade. Jessica Andrade has certainly been on some wars, but truthfully I predicted her decline to have already happened given her propensity to run into exchanges with reckless abandon. She hasn’t, and is on a 2-fight win streak with a KO win over Mackenzie Dern and a decision win most recently against talented striker Marina Rodriguez. That Rodriguez matchup is the one to watch for me that’s similar to Silva, and I just think over 15-minutes in a 25-foot Apex cage, Andrade will be able to, for lack of a better term, manhandle Silva, and squeeze out a decision win. Prediction: Andrade via Decision

Trevor Peek (-125) vs Yanal Ashmouz (+105)

Okay this one is short and chalky. I love rooting for Trevor Peek. He’s a damn wildcard personified. I quipped on podcast this week that he looks like if Mountain Dew was a person. I just think in this matchup he’s too wacky to surgically fight. Ashmouz has shown that if he can’t get a KO, he will struggle, and Peek is too tough for his own good to be put out. I think Peek catches him with something weird and gets a finish victory. Prediction: Peek via KO/TKO

LISTENER HOT TAKES

What’s up Robert, or Como Estas ?

This hot take is an interesting one. My man Robert Garcia states:

Alexander Volkanovski will be the lightweight champion at the end of 2025.

2025…jesus, I’m still writing 2023 on all my emails, but I guess we are now closer to the end of 2024 than the beginning, so let’s scenario this one out for the folks at home.

Alexander Volkanovski is currently not booked to fight anyone, according to our good friends at Tapology. He’ll turn 36 at the end of this month (September 29th, Happy Early B-Day Volk) and has a 26-4 record in MMA since his debut in 2012.

It’s been a long road for the Volkman, losing his 4th MMA fight by head kick KO, and then rattling off 22 wins until the next loss to Islam Makhachev in 2023 with an attempt at double champ glory at UFC 284.

Volkanovski is an all-time great, with 3 victories over the man who many claimed to be the 145lbs GOAT in Max Holloway, who took the crown from the legendary Jose Aldo. Volk’s 11 wins at 145lbs ranks T5 all-time with 11, and his 6 title fight wins are second to only Jose Aldo, who has 8 from a time of infancy in the 145lbs division.

I explain all of this in order to bolster Volk’s case as a title contender in 2025, because the last year and change hasn’t been smooth sailing. Volkanovski stepped up with his giant balls on short notice to save the UFC 294 PPV with the rematch against Makhachev, where unfortunately Islam made short-work of the legend with a head kick KO in R1, contrasting the unanimous decision loss in their first bout just 8 months prior.

He’s currently 1-3 in his last four fights with a win over Yair Rodriguez in defense of his title at UFC 290 being the lone victory. He just lost to Ilia Topuria who is the current champion, booked against his familiar foe in Max Holloway at UFC 308 in October.

I think regardless of the outcome of this fight, Volkanovski needs a win to get back into contention. Possible names I could see the UFC throwing at him at 145lbs include: Arnold Allen, Josh Emmett, and a potential mix of opponents from the Sterling/Evloev and Lopes/Ortega bouts going down in the next 45 days.

Now I’ll cut a bit to the chase, because I just laid out a path that I don’t see Volkanovski emerging unscathed from. Any name of those 6 could present tough matchups for the 37 year old (38 by fall 2025) former Rugby stud, but he will need a win to even be in contention, and with an emergence of Aljamain Sterling, the former 135lbs champion and GOAT of that division, I don’t think Volkanovski is even the #1 contender heading into next year. It’s just going to be too much timeline wise to overcome with relatively inactive champions (Topuria will have fought just twice in 2024).

DISAGREE 👎👎👎 (but he’s a hell of a social media follow)

LET’S KEEP RIDING 💥 💥 💥 💥 

Yo Yo ACED…if that is your real name.

I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what this meant when I saw the tweet. I thought it was some type of classic MMA Twitter nonsense…but no!

This is a real video game…

According to SportsKeeda, in a now-deleted post, Jon Jones said: “I’ve always loved video games and now I’m starring In my own! Vice and Virtue by @raini_studios. Coming soon.”

So I did some digging and…it’s REAL!

Now there haven’t been any details revealed on this. What is it about? What consoles will it be on (if any)? What will the gameplay be like? All burning questions in my mind after seeing this trailer.

There are reddit forums galore that talk about Jon Jones being the best Grand Theft Auto side character in MMA. There are even YouTube videos online of how to make Jon Jones in GTA 5. Don’t believe me?

At one point, Jon seemed to be in his vigilante-era. Remember when Joe Rogan told the story of Jon Jones fighting crime hours before his fight against Shogun Rua in Paterson, New Jersey?

More recently, Jon was seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico handling graffiti artists his damn self on the streets of the ABQ. 

Now to address your point, do I think the video game has anything to do with Dana White’s stark defense of his legendary status in the buildup to Jones vs Miocic? Absolutely not. 

I think Dana is sticking by his guns and standing by the beliefs of many UFC fans that Jon Jones is the GOAT, he is a legend, and he deserves the “special treatment” of fighting Stipe Miocic off a 4-year layoff to defense his UFC title at MSG. Miss me with this “does he deserve it” bullshit.

Jon Jones is the GOAT, Stipe is the heavyweight GOAT, let’s figure it out.

Jon Jone isn’t afraid of Tom Aspinall, he’s just not an idiot.

Why would anyone with half a brain fight Tom Aspinall when they can instead fight Stipe Miocic?

In any case… I NEED THIS VIDEO GAME AND I NEED IT NOW!

DISAGREE (but thanks for the tip) 👎 👎 👎 

LET’S DO ONE MORE 💥 💥 💥 💥 

Okay Casual MMA Inc.,

I see your name and I raise you that this is not a casual MMA hot take.

This is based. As based as based can get.

Weili Zhang has a higher chance of becoming a triple champion than any other UFC fighter

Listen, I’m one of the biggest Zhang Weili homers there is. I love everything about her. I have a t-shirt with her wearing a Red Sox uniform sitting in my drawer that doesn’t stay there longer than two weeks.

But I can put that aside for this take. Zhang Weili, the 115lbs UFC Champion, rising up to claim a 125lbs title and AGAIN rising up for a 135lbs title… is much closer to reality than we may think.

Weili is a marauder, she is 25-3 with 2 of those losses being to Rose Namajunas, a fighter many consider to be one of, if not the best 115lbs fighter of all-time. According to my research, she’s even won 125lbs titles in other organizations, as well as fighting at 120lbs catch-weights a number of times outside the UFC.

My research tells me she’s never fought at 135lbs, however, in the WMMA divisions, the power is not really a factor, unless your name is Zhang Weili.

She’s not blisteringly fast, nor does she posses incredible footwork or distance management, she’s simply just one of the best female fighters of all-time. She’s proven she can wrestle against bigger foes like Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade, as well as people who have higher attribute levels in speed (Tecia Pennington) and wrestling (Carla Esparza).

I don’t think anyone in WMMA is better equipped to be able to jump up not just one, but two divisions, however, the only reason I will say that this will never happen, is because of a 125lbs boogey-woman who isn’t even the title holder in Tatiana Suarez.

If Tatiana can stay healthy, I don’t think there is a single woman in the world who can handle her grappling at 125lbs or 135lbs, including Weili Zhang.

Does Weili Zhang have the BEST chance to be a 3-weight world champion in the UFC? Absolutely…but only because I don’t think Suarez will want to go down to 115lbs ever again with a title win at Flyweight.

KIND OF YES AND KING OF NO 💥 💥 💥 💥 

Also send in your hot takes and we will feature our favorites in the newsletter answered by yours truly!

Early Stoppage? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!