Ian Parker's PFL Championships Showcase: Dominating Finishes

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00:00A lot of finishes in these, you know, these top six, only the

00:05last one went the distance, which was, you know, you and I

00:08were talking before we started the interview.

00:10I talked to coach last week and he was saying that, you know,

00:12once you get this million dollars, sometimes these guys,

00:14you know, kind of play it cautious because you don't want

00:16to lose that money, but there are a lot of guys going for

00:19broken and girls going for broken.

00:20This one five of the six fights ending before you get even to

00:23the fourth round.

00:26Yeah, you know, it was, it was a really great card in the PFL

00:29needed this needed their finals to show up.

00:33I, I certainly didn't want to have to sit through, you know,

00:37five or six decisions, but even the decision was competitive.

00:41So it wasn't a, you know, Brendan lock name is as tough as

00:44they come, you know, the loss was clear.

00:47I mean, you know, receive just absolutely, you know, did his

00:49thing, but all these other guys, they came to fight.

00:52The openings were there for the finish.

00:54And I think we have some really solid fighters that came out

00:57of this season.

00:58Guys like Shamil Messiah.

00:59A lot of people didn't know who he was.

01:01He was the underdog against Logan Storley.

01:03He was the underdog in the first fight where he had the rematch

01:06where he won.

01:07And, you know, this is somebody who excellent takedown defense,

01:11good striking.

01:12He put out a lot of things ever been finished.

01:14So this was a really successful card from a fighter standpoint.

01:19My opinion.

01:20I think someone doubled Yorkshire Murdoch.

01:21We talked about him being a live dog.

01:23This guy just flew under the radar as a dark horse, the entire

01:27season beating Wilkinson and flattening Impa.

01:30I don't know if you could have asked for better results for the

01:32PFL from a performance standpoint from the fighters.

01:36Yeah, it was a great card.

01:37Lots of action.

01:38Let's go through, you know, these top six ones for sure.

01:40And see what else we could hit before we get out of here with

01:43you.

01:44Now, it was, like you said, beating Loughnane.

01:46It was a, I don't want to say domination.

01:48I mean, it was obviously in the scorecards.

01:50You know, Loughnane had his moments, but it seemed like the

01:52big thing to me was, you know, at times it almost seemed like

01:54he was trying to fight his opponent's fight.

01:56I saw him every time he tried that spinning back kick, it bit

01:59him in the butt because he got taken down, put on the mat.

02:01His rehab looked, you know, really good on the feet, you

02:03know, for as good as he was on the ground, you know, keeping

02:06Loughnane down there.

02:07He looked even better on the feet quicker as the fight went

02:09on and just picked him apart.

02:11You know, I was trying to find that.

02:12And then I get the third round there where, like, Loughnane

02:15really started bleeding.

02:16I was trying to find the shot that really opened him up.

02:18And it wasn't necessarily some huge shot that did it.

02:20It just seemed like, you know, the compounding of shot after

02:22shot, jab after jab, you know, made him open up and bleed and

02:26look like a horror movie for half that fight.

02:30When it comes to a guy like Raziv, what makes his striking

02:32that much better is the threat of the takedowns.

02:35And this is not the first time that Loughnane has fought a

02:37Dagestani wrestler when he fought Habulayev and he went and

02:40trained with Habulayev.

02:41So when a guy like Raziv has that opportunity for takedowns

02:45and your focus is defending it, I don't know if Loughnane was

02:49really fighting Raziv's fight.

02:51I think it was just a matter of trying to find his spots.

02:54And maybe he underestimated the striking.

02:56Or this is someone Raziv who's just really that good.

03:00Timur is that good.

03:01And I think if he went to any organization, he'd be very

03:04competitive in a top 15, a top 10 spot.

03:07He's very well-rounded.

03:08His pace was tough to deal with, you know, a lot of pressure.

03:11And we saw throughout the season his striking.

03:13He kept working and wanted to show everyone he wasn't just a

03:15wrestler.

03:16And for Loughnane, I think Brendan will look back on this fight

03:19and will say, you know what?

03:20We all know my kryptonite is against these Dagestani pressure

03:23wrestlers.

03:24But he didn't do bad with the wrestling.

03:25It was only a few times we got taken down, kept there.

03:27He eventually got back up.

03:29But to your point, the volume of punches, what cut him open, I

03:32don't know if the blood made a whole lot of difference.

03:34It just made for a cool-looking war paint type of thing.

03:36But, you know, I give a lot of credit to Brendan Loughnane.

03:39He's been in a lot of wars, never says no to a fight.

03:42And we will see him back in again.

03:44I don't know if he'll be in a season format ever again.

03:46I don't think he really needs to do that.

03:48But, you know, this was a fight where I think Loughnane learned a

03:51lot about himself.

03:52He still has it.

03:53Can still compete at the top.

03:54Just a tough fight.

03:57Speaking of competing at the top and underestimating your opponent

04:00maybe, Palos Santos, you know, has been to the top.

04:03She's fought for titles.

04:04Fought for it again in this one.

04:06But definitely seemed to underestimate her opponent Decheva.

04:08You know, you saw Dakota talk about that.

04:10She immediately put the lipstick on after the fight.

04:12Talking about, you know, she talked about, I'm just a Barbie.

04:14Well, you just got beat by a Barbie.

04:16The second round finished for her with the body shots.

04:18Just brutal.

04:19And, you know, she seemed to pick her apart.

04:21And every time it seemed like she was covering up, you know,

04:23she got those front kicks to the face.

04:25Every time she blocked the face, all of a sudden she took a knee to the

04:27body.

04:28And then eventually, you know, those uppercuts as we see there just,

04:30you know, doing the damage that finished her off.

04:33Those two brutal uppercuts that Santos just could not continue.

04:35And Decheva just proves once again now she was a, you know,

04:38PFL Europe champ.

04:39Now a PFL champ overall.

04:41That she is still on the rise.

04:43And it doesn't matter who you put in front of her.

04:45She is a bad woman.

04:47Yeah.

04:48I don't really understand the whole Barbie thing.

04:51If you watch any of her fights, she's a very talented striker.

04:54She's a great MMA fighter.

04:56She's got a killer instinct.

04:57So, because she's got the looks, that, I mean,

05:00that to me was the only thing that Tyler really had to build a fight.

05:03I didn't really understand Tyler Santos' game plan.

05:07You would have thought it would have been trying to throw like an

05:09overhand right, lean into a double leg.

05:11Instead, she was trying to clinch and take her down that way,

05:14which just because Dakota doesn't really have jiu-jitsu as far as we know,

05:18we've seen Dakota has learned that if she gets taken down and get back up,

05:21use the cage properly.

05:22She was using the hips really well.

05:24But Tyler wasn't even doing any type of disguising her wrestling.

05:29She kept going into the clinch to try to body lock her and take her down.

05:32I really didn't understand that being that Dakota is so good in the clinch.

05:36And it's not like Tyler is this sambo or judo fighter.

05:40She's got good jiu-jitsu and good striking herself.

05:43But there's very few women in the world that if you're going to be on the feet,

05:46you're going to beat Dakota DiGiva.

05:47I think what Dakota DiGiva showed us was exactly what she's been showing us,

05:51that it doesn't matter who you put in front of her.

05:53She's going to keep getting better.

05:55That's the scary part, man,

05:56is that I don't even think she is anywhere close to her potential.

06:00And that's what makes her so special.

06:02I think what could be very interesting now is how the PFL utilizes her, right?

06:06Because after the fight, everyone's like, oh, I want to see her in the UFC.

06:10It's like, guys, she's under contract.

06:12So let's see what the PFL does now with Dakota.

06:16I wouldn't mind if she goes back into the season,

06:18if they had enough people or they went out and recruited and got some free agents.

06:22If not, I'm very curious to see who they put her against next,

06:25because right now it looks like she's going to run through everybody that they have.

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