Rafael Fiziev, Malcolm Gordon, UFC 286 preview & picks w/ guest co-host Phoenix Carnevale

Friend of the show Phoenix Carnevale fills in for Matt Serra as a guest co-host alongside Jim Norton for today’s UFC 286 heavy episode of UFC Unfiltered!

Jim and Phoenix begin the show debating whether Jon Jones’ three-year hiatus should’ve been more thoroughly considered when making the decision to place him atop the male pound-for-pound list over more active fighters in lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

Canadian flyweight Malcolm Gordon then joins the show to talk about how his days of playing goaltender on the ice rink as a youth hockey player created transferrable skills that allowed him to develop nicely into a mixed martial artist. Gordon makes a strong case for why he prefers to let his coaches watch film of all of his opponents as he discusses the stakes of his upcoming matchup against Jake Hadley on Saturday’s UFC 286 early prelims.

Jim and Phoenix then discuss whether they think there is more pressure on Leon Edwards or Kamaru Usman going into their highly-anticipated trilogy fight for the welterweight title in London.

As Rafael Fiziev joins the show, the Azerbaijani lightweight contender reflects on how his upbringing led him to Thailand to develop a strong Muay Thai skillset that ultimately became the base for his foray into his career as a mixed martial artist. Fiziev discusses how riding a six-fight winning streak shapes his mindset going into a high-stakes co-main event against Justin Gaethje.

Finally, Jim and Phoenix go up and down the UFC 286 card for fight predictions before Jim wraps up the show with special news about a recurring segment set to return to UFC Unfiltered episodes starting next week!

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