Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura and “Gorgeous” George Garcia will join host Mike Bohn live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
- Sergei Pavlovich is on a tear, and setting UFC records. In the main event of UFC Fight Night 222, the hard-hitting Russian made quick work of Curtis Blaydes, recording his sixth-straight first-round knockout. Pavlovich wants to wait for the winner of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, as he feels he has done enough work to warrant a title shot. Is he right? How do we like his chances against Jones or Miocic?
- At Bellator 295 in Honolulu, Patchy Mix created the highlight of the weekend in a Knockout of the Year candidate victory over Raufeon Stots to win the bantamweight grand prix. He’s now $1 million richer and is interim champ, setting up a unifier with the winner of Sergio Pettis vs. Patricio Freire, who fight on June 16 at Bellator 297. Is Mix the best bantamweight in the world? If not, where does he stack up?
- The UFC dropped a title wave of fight announcements on us over the past week, including Belal Muhammad vs. Gilbert Burns at UFC 288 next week in Newark, N.J. The promotion pulled off booking this fight on 16 days’ notice for a PPV that needed it, and it’ll be 5 rounds, with both men claiming the UFC has promised them the next title shot after Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington. Are you surprised Burns accepted it given he just fought and/or surprised Muhammad took it because he just finished Ramadan?
- Among the numerous fight announcements for UFC 290, which takes place July 8 in Las Vegas and marks the 11th annual International Fight Week, was a “middleweight title eliminator” between Robert Whittakerand Dricus Du Plessis. It’s increasingly rare that UFC outright labels fights as No. 1 contender bouts, but Dana White said in his announcement that the winner of this will face Israel Adesanya later this year, likely in Sydney, Australia. Was this the right booking for the division?
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Nate Diaz found himself in the headlines on Friday night, and it wasn’t for the best of reasons. First, he attended a Misfits Boxing event in New Orleans where his teammate Chris Avila was competing, and was caught on camera ringside throwing a water bottle at reality star Chase DeMoor that started a scuffle.
A few hours later, footage surfaced of Diaz on the streets of New Orleans in what appeared to be a multi-person altercation. Diaz choked one man out cold, with his head slamming against the concrete. There are still many unknowns about what happened, but we do know what we saw on video, and that’s Diaz – a superstar professional fighter – choking out a non-pro in a very dangerous situation. Will Diaz face serious repercussions for his actions?
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
