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00:00And let's start off with the welterweights.
00:01April 3rd is when these guys will kick off
00:04first fight card of the tournament season for the PFL.
00:07Of course, all these first round ones
00:08are going to be down in Orlando.
00:11There's a bunch of great matchups there.
00:13Let's start off with the one that caught my eye right away.
00:15You know, when we talked about these brackets,
00:17we talked about who might be guys
00:19that could be ones to win these divisions,
00:21who are some of the favorites in it.
00:23And when you see that,
00:24when you get these bracket formats a lot of times,
00:26whether it be, you know, the NCAA tournament,
00:28whether it be, you know, a fight tournament like this,
00:31they're going to try to keep maybe the top ones away
00:33from each other a little bit.
00:34Maybe save those for the end,
00:35get the big shots for the, you know,
00:37the card that we finale with all this.
00:40Not here with the BK, with the PFL, a lot of these fights,
00:43you know, it seemed like we're actually put together
00:45with some of the favorites are fading,
00:47where some of the favorites are fighting
00:49right out of the gates.
00:50Let's start off with Jason Jackson versus Andre Koroshkov.
00:54Jackson, the ass kicking machine,
00:55one of the best nicknames in all the PFL.
00:5834 year old Jamaican, 18 and five,
01:00nine by decision, six by KO, likes to mix it up.
01:02At eight and two record in Bellator,
01:04coming off a title loss last June.
01:06Now he is going to be fighting Koroshkov,
01:0934 year old Russian, 28 and five.
01:11A lot of experience for this guy.
01:1314 by KO, TKO, 10 by decision.
01:15He likes to stand and trade as well.
01:1616 and four in Bellator.
01:19So these guys have been fighting for a long time in Bellator.
01:22Almost been on a crash course, you know,
01:24for it seems like forever.
01:27Koroshkov's coming off the loss at Umalatov last season.
01:30He's got wins over Lima, Douglas Lima,
01:32the former champion, as does Jackson.
01:34He's got some great fights against Lyman Good,
01:36Benson Henderson.
01:37Jackson has some great fights over Lima,
01:39Daly, Neiman Gracie, Ben Henderson.
01:41So these guys have a wealth of experience
01:43against some of the best to ever come through Bellator,
01:45and now they're going to be facing each other
01:47in the first matchup of this tournament,
01:48the first round.
01:49It's crazy that they threw these guys together right away.
01:52Another one that's like that,
01:53the other guys that I would have put in that top four,
01:55who would be the favorites in this division?
01:57And that's why we made sure we kind of
01:59asterisked everything we said.
02:00These are the guys that I think could win it,
02:02depending on the matchups,
02:03because obviously two of these four
02:05are going to be right out of the tournament right away.
02:07And that is Logan Storlie versus Magomed Umalatov.
02:12Storlie, 32-year-old from the US, 16 and three,
02:14nine by KO, TKO, seven by decision, wants to trade.
02:17He wants to stand on the feet, 10 and two in Bellator.
02:19Umalatov, the 32-year-old Russian,
02:21eight and one in the PFL, 17 and one overall,
02:2511 by KO, TKO.
02:27So again, two guys that are going to be trading fists
02:30and kicks and just mixing it up as much.
02:32You know, there shouldn't be too much laying
02:33and praying in this fight.
02:35It's going to be a lot of action.
02:36Umalatov was unbeaten.
02:38He was 17 and oh, I'm sorry,
02:39before losing to Musaev by the third round TKO
02:43in November for the title.
02:44So both these guys would have been the top favorites
02:47for this division as well.
02:47I think whoever comes out of those two fights,
02:50eventually he's going to be meeting
02:51for the championship of that division,
02:54but there are other fights as well.
02:56So we have to give them their due as well.
02:57You have Burkhamov versus Zendel in that one,
03:01the 31-year-old Russian versus the Macedonian,
03:0417 and two for Burkhamov, 10, one and one for Zendel.
03:10A lot of submission wins for the Russian,
03:11a lot of, you know, kind of mix up on the feet
03:14or the ground for the Macedonian.
03:16So this one will be very interesting to see who controls
03:18how this one goes as far as the style of fight we get.
03:22You also have Ikuri versus Makar,
03:25the 29-year-old from Japan is 10, two and one
03:28in his fight career, seven by KO, TKO, three by decision.
03:32The Tunisian fighter is fighting at,
03:34now fighting out of Greece, nine and two overall,
03:36eight by KO, TKO.
03:38So this should be one where these two guys
03:40are going to throw fists.
03:41They're going to try to knock each other out.
03:42They're going to try to finish each other off,
03:44but both of them don't have a ton of experience in the,
03:46you know, the bigger realms of MMA.
03:49Two fights for Ikuri in Bellator, none for Bashar.
03:55All his fights have been in smaller promotions
03:57besides one fight on The Ultimate Fighter 32
04:00back in 2024, which he lost.
04:02So, you know, two lower level guys, less experience,
04:05but could be dark horses,
04:07the way things are matching up in this one.