Budocast: Malott's Knee KO Stuns Buckley as UFC Edmonton Ties Finish Record

Full transcript

Jessica: I need you to picture this. A sold-out arena in Edmonton, the hometown crowd already on its feet, and then one knee. Just one perfect knee. Joaquin Buckley's mouthpiece goes flying across the Octagon, he hits the canvas face-first, and Mike Malott has the knockout of the year. Marcus: And maybe the most important win of his life. Five straight victories now, against a top-ten guy who was supposed to be too much for him, in front of his home country. Jessica: This is Budocast. Jessica: Welcome to Budocast, MMA, UFC, and martial arts news, every single week. I'm Jessica. Marcus: And I'm Marcus. Last night was UFC Edmonton, fight night two ninety-one, and we're starting at the top, because that main event finish is going to live on highlight reels for a long, long time. Jessica: Mike Malott versus Joaquin Buckley, welterweights, five rounds. And Marcus, this was supposed to be the test Malott might fail. Buckley came in ranked number eight, all that power, all that confidence. Malott was the Canadian hope at number eleven, on a four-fight win streak, but this was the big step up. Marcus: And he didn't just pass the test, he destroyed it. Round two, two minutes and change in, Buckley steps into the pocket and Malott times him perfectly. Right knee, straight on the jaw. Buckley was out before he hit the floor. Face-plant. The follow-up shot was a formality. Jessica: The mouthpiece flying was the part that got me. When you see the mouthpiece leave the mouth like that, you know the lights are out. And the crowd in Edmonton absolutely lost it. Marcus: Fifteen, two and one now for Malott. Eight and one in the UFC. And here's the scary part for the division. That's his fifth straight win, with victories over Kevin Holland and Gilbert Burns in there. His only UFC loss is still that Neil Magny fight back in January of twenty twenty-four. Jessica: He got on the mic afterward and he didn't call out one guy, he called out a whole neighborhood. Somebody in the top ten at the very least, maybe top five next. Let's go. That's the exact quote, and honestly, why not? The welterweight division just got a new problem. Marcus: Buckley falls to twenty-one and nine. He's going to need some time after that one. But Malott? That knee just put him on the map in a way nothing else could have. Jessica: Co-main event, and we got the only decision of the entire night. Jasmine Jasudavicius beat Erin Blanchfield, unanimous, twenty-nine to twenty-eight on all three cards. Marcus: That's a real statement win. Blanchfield was the higher-regarded prospect for a long time, and Jasudavicius just outworked her for fifteen minutes in her home country. The Canadian crowd had a night. Jessica: And think about the timing. Blanchfield has been the future of that division for years, and Jasudavicius just walked straight through her. That's the kind of win that changes a career overnight. Marcus: Flyweight just got a lot more interesting. Whoever holds that belt is going to be watching this tape very carefully. Jessica: And get this, Marcus. Twelve finishes out of thirteen fights. That ties the modern record. Eleven straight stoppages to open the card before the judges finally got involved in the co-main. I've never seen anything like it. Marcus: The bonus committee must have been pulling their hair out. How do you pick four bonuses out of twelve finishes? We'll get to that. Jessica: Let's run the main card, because every fight had something. Cristian Pérez, twenty-seven years old, making his UFC debut, and he opens with an Imanari roll. An Imanari roll, in his UFC debut! Marcus: And then twenty-seven seconds later, Kyle Nelson is unconscious. That's the fastest finish of the night and one of the wildest debuts you'll ever see. Pérez is sixteen and two now, and he just announced himself in the loudest way possible. Jessica: Marc-André Barriault needed that one badly. He was on a two-fight skid, and he stopped Kyle Daukaus in the first round, four twenty-eight, with elbows along the fence. The Canadian veteran, thirty-six years old, fighting like his career depended on it. Marcus: Because it might have. And Daukaus just ran into a buzzsaw. Barriault's pressure is suffocating when he gets going. Jessica: Timmy Cuamba submitted Louis Jourdain in round two, neck crank, two forty-eight. And Mandel Nallo, they call him Mango, wrecked Nate Landwehr. Leg kicks, then punches, forty-seven seconds into round two. Landwehr's face was a mess. Marcus: That was Nallo's first UFC win, and he made sure nobody forgets it. The leg kick did the real damage, and then he just poured it on. Veteran Nate Landwehr had no answers. Jessica: Bonuses, and with twelve finishes, this was a bloodbath for the bonus committee. Four Performance of the Night bonuses, one hundred thousand dollars each. Malott got one, obviously. Barriault got one. Nallo got one. And Joel Faglier, on the prelims, got the fourth. Marcus: Faglier's story is great. Lost the first round to Javad Mahjoub, came back in the second, worked the body until Mahjoub was exhausted, and finished him at two eleven. Seven and oh as a pro now, one and oh in the UFC, and one hundred thousand dollars richer. Jessica: No Fight of the Night, which makes sense, because who do you even pick? And eight more fighters got twenty-five thousand dollar finish bonuses, including Pérez for that twenty-seven-second knockout. Everybody ate last night. Marcus: Everybody except the judges. They worked one fight all night. Jessica: The prelims had their own hero. Tanner Boser, fighting in his hometown of Edmonton, and Canadians had started the night oh and six. Six straight losses, all by stoppage. The building was getting quiet. Marcus: And then Boser said, not on my watch. He took down Jhonata Diniz in every round, threatened the finish, and finally got the TKO at four twenty-six of round three. His first UFC win since August of twenty twenty-three. You could see what it meant to him. Jessica: He told Paul Felder afterward he couldn't put it into words, finally getting his UFC Edmonton debut in front of his people. That's what this sport is about right there. Marcus: The rest of the prelims kept the finishes coming. Nick Galanti submitted Julien Leblanc in the first round. Katlyn Cerminara stopped Mackenzie Stiller in the first. Steven Koslow choked out Chad Anheliger in round three. Chelsea Chandler got the kimura on Melissa Croden in round one, and Su Young You finished Cody Chovancek with a kimura in round three. Jessica: Quick break. When we come back, Tokyo got a double title-fight knockout night of its own, and there's a retirement ceremony we need to talk about. But first, if you run a martial arts gym or a fitness studio, this one's for you. Marcus: Lotus is the all-in-one studio management platform built for gyms like yours. Memberships, billing, scheduling, all of it in one place. Forty-nine ninety-nine a month, free trial with no credit card, and a student web portal your members will actually use. Jessica: That's open black belt dot com. Lotus, run your gym like a pro. Marcus: Back with the news desk, and we're going to Tokyo, because ONE Championship gave us a monster Saturday at the Ariake Arena. ONE Samurai four, two title fights, and both ended in knockouts. Jessica: Start with the main event. Jonathan Haggerty defending the bantamweight kickboxing crown against Hiroki Akimoto, the former champ who'd won three straight to earn another shot. Marcus: And Haggerty was a surgeon for two rounds. Slick boxing, footwork, hand speed, just picking Akimoto apart. Then in round three, Akimoto steps in and Haggerty meets him with a knee right down the middle. Down he goes. Jessica: He beat the count, but Haggerty smelled blood, swarmed him, and Akimoto's corner threw in the towel. TKO at forty-two seconds of round three. One hundred thousand dollar bonus, and Haggerty is twenty-five and five now, still unbeaten in kickboxing. Marcus: The General just keeps building the case as one of the best strikers on the planet. Complete fighter, no holes. Jessica: Co-main was even prettier. Nadaka Yoshinari defending the atomweight Muay Thai title against Rifdean Masdor, the Malaysian kid on a five-fight win streak who'd been calling him out for months. Marcus: And Nadaka made him pay for the callout. Rifdean actually clipped him early, showed real danger, but Nadaka stayed ice cold. Second round, Rifdean throws a spinning backfist, Nadaka slips it, and twists his whole body into a head kick that just wrapped around the neck. Lights out at fifty-eight seconds. Jessica: Second title defense, another one hundred thousand dollar bonus, and Tokyo went absolutely insane. That kid is twenty-five years old and he's already must-see TV. Marcus: The rest of the card delivered too. Masaaki Noiri beat Mohammad Siasarani by split decision in the featherweight kickboxing tournament semifinal, so he's through to the final. Nabil Anane shut down Yuki Yoza over three rounds, and that puts him right in the title picture at bantamweight. Jessica: Sinsamut Klinmee spoiled Shintaro Matsukura's ONE debut, head kick knockout in round two. Matsukura's a former K-One champ, and Sinsamut just starched him. And Shoma Okumura outworked Toki Tamaru for a career-best win. Both guys got bonuses for that one. Marcus: And the moment of the night might not even be a fight. Takeru Segawa, one of the greatest kickboxers ever, had his retirement ceremony and went into the ONE Hall of Fame. End of an era, and Tokyo gave him the sendoff he deserved. Jessica: One more from Friday night in Bangkok. ONE Friday Fights one seventy-five at Lumpinee Stadium. Abdessamie Rhenimi, the Moroccan, against Lamsing in a flyweight Muay Thai main event. Marcus: Rhenimi came out like a man possessed. Hurt him early, kept the pressure on, and in the third round it was over. Thunderous knockout. That snaps Lamsing's three-fight win streak and ends Rhenimi's two-fight skid in one night. Jessica: Bangkok on a Friday, Tokyo on a Saturday. ONE gave us a full weekend. Jessica: Quick look ahead. Next Saturday, October twenty-fourth, UFC three thirty-three in Abu Dhabi. Petr Yan versus Merab Dvalishvili, the trilogy. Marcus: That is the fight the bantamweight division has been waiting for. And on the same card, Asaf Chopurov makes his UFC debut, eleven and oh, Yan's main training partner, against Colby Thicknesse. What a spot for a debut. Jessica: November's got Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes too. The champ against the greatest of all time, coming out of retirement. That might be the biggest women's fight ever booked. Marcus: And it's in New York, with Ciryl Gane versus Josh Hokit for the vacant heavyweight title on the same card. After everything with the heavyweight belt this year, that division finally gets its king. Jessica: Fall fight season is absolutely loaded. Marcus: Before we wrap, for the gamers listening, Dojo Tycoon. Free to play martial arts management sim. Build your gym from nothing, hire coaches, train fighters, take over the fight world. Four ninety-nine unlocks the full game. Jessica: And if you run tournaments, Fight Card ends tournament-day chaos. Automatic brackets, competitor self-registration, weigh-ins, mat scheduling, and live results your fans can follow from home. Free to start, no credit card. That's fight card dot pro. Links for everything are in the show notes. Jessica: That's the show, folks. Marcus: I'm Marcus. Jessica: And I'm Jessica. And before we go, if you're enjoying Budocast, follow the show so you don't miss a single Sunday episode. Marcus: We'll see you next week.