Daniel Cormier REACTS to Sean Strickland BEATING Khamzat Chimaev, Joshua Van TKO vs. Taira | UFC 328

0:00 All right, guys.

0:01 UFC 328 just wrapped from Newark and Sean

0:05 Strickland is the new UFC middleweight champion.

0:09 In this postfight reaction video live from Octagon Side,

0:13 the only one that you get, when I say Octagon Side,

0:16 it's like literally right here is brought to you by Total Wireless,

0:20 the official wireless provider of UFC.

0:23 They're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down.

0:27 Now, that is a total power move.

0:30 Guys, you know what else is a power move?

0:33 That main event and co-main event and UFC 328 as a whole,

0:37 honestly, cuz this fight card was amazing.

0:40 But obviously, the night belongs to the new champion, Sean Strickland.

0:44 Goes in there against the unbeatable Hamza Chamay and he gets the job done.

0:48 Hamza was a minus465 favorite going into this fight.

0:53 And the only reason he was a 5 to1 favorite was because of what people had

0:58 seen him do inside of the octagon

1:00 and also what people had seen from Shawn Strickland.

1:03 We had seen Shawn struggle at times which I will get to.

1:07 But tonight you didn't get that.

1:08 You got a Shawn Strickland that got taken down in round one.

1:12 Round two scored his own takedowns.

1:15 Round three control the fight with a jab.

1:17 Honestly, I thought Strickland made a mistake

1:18 in round three by not really pressing

1:21 on the gas because I felt like Hamzad had a bit of a adrenaline dump.

1:25 And if he really pressed him,

1:27 he really could have made Hamza struggle down the stretch, but he didn't.

1:30 But he wins round three.

1:32 Round four, Hamzad comes back and he fights like Hamzad.

1:35 You know, I thought Strickland's jab was probably

1:40 the most effective punch of the entire fight.

1:44 The way he was able to control the fight

1:46 with that jab showed you that how good Sean Strickland is.

1:52 Um the right hand seemed to be available, but he never threw it.

1:56 Round three, four, and five,

1:59 Hamza Chamay really got on the gas and started backing up Shawn Strickland.

2:03 But if you know scoring,

2:05 octagon control is no longer a scoring criteria when judging fights.

2:11 It's damage, duration, and domination.

2:16 You know, dominance.

2:18 Sorry.

2:20 Hamzad showed control when he got him down,

2:24 but even with the six minutes of top time,

2:26 Shawn still outlanded him by 50 strikes

2:29 and a whole bunch of significant strikes.

2:31 So, Sean Strickland fought a very,

2:33 very good fight tonight in order to beat Hamzach Shamay.

2:36 And honestly, it is a blueprint for if you're going to fight Hamzad.

2:40 The deal is this though.

2:42 Hamza Shamay didn't fight bad.

2:44 He did not fight bad.

2:46 Sean Strickland just fought better.

2:48 You know, that's why you can't pick MMA.

2:52 It's crazy.

2:53 And to think a few fights ago,

2:57 you thought that the Sean Strickland deal was done, right?

3:01 watching him look dejected against Dreas Duplesi, not listening to the coaches,

3:06 wondering aloud if him and his longtime coach Eric Nixik

3:10 were going to split and separate because they seem so unaligned.

3:15 Eric was telling him what to do.

3:17 He wouldn't listen.

3:17 You thought Sean Strickland was done, but he was far from done.

3:22 He goes back and gets a couple victories now beating Mav.

3:26 He's beating Fluffy Hernandez.

3:28 And tonight he beat the great Hamza

3:30 Chamay to become the UFC middleweight world champion.

3:33 It is truly uh truly unexpected for me,

3:40 but it is a special thing for Shawn Strickland, his family, and his entire team.

3:45 Chamay will be back.

3:46 Chamay will be back.

3:48 I don't think for one second that it's over for Chamay.

3:50 Honestly, Chamay may be back right next for another

3:53 championship opportunity against Sean Strickland

3:57 for the UFC middleweight championship.

3:59 I know Natalina MBA fans won't like that, but I think that may be true.

4:05 In the co-main event,

4:06 Joshua Van solidified himself as the UFC flyweight champion.

4:11 You know, he won that belt in a weird way.

4:15 I will tell you this though, he caught the kick,

4:18 threw him to the mat, and that's how Pantosia hurt himself.

4:22 You can't fault him for the way he became champion.

4:26 But you can't credit him for the way

4:29 that he defended that title for the very first time.

4:31 He fought with a lot of heart.

4:33 He fought with tremendous skill as he always does.

4:37 And he showed that he can operate in the good fight where he's clean.

4:42 And he can also operate in a dirty fight.

4:44 We've seen it in the Roy Val fight and tonight we saw it with Tatsuro Tyra.

4:48 We have had a lot of great fights in the flyweight

4:50 division that will go into the Hall of Fame at some point.

4:53 The fight tonight is going to be another one of those that does

4:58 and you don't get an all-time great fight unless you have a great dance partner.

5:04 And that was Tatsuro Tyra.

5:06 That first round Tyra fought the perfect round.

5:08 Second round is fighting pretty good again.

5:10 Van hurts him at the end of the round.

5:12 Third round, Van almost kills him.

5:14 He hurts him so many times that you think it's

5:17 only a matter of time before Tyra's out of there.

5:19 But not only is Tyra not out of there, Tyra wins the next round somehow.

5:25 Wins the next round.

5:26 You go into round five and it's two to two.

5:29 At least on my scorecards, it's two to two going into round number five.

5:35 I get to thinking to myself, Ted Zero Tower wins this round.

5:39 we could have a draw because round three felt like a 10A round.

5:43 Ultimately, it didn't matter.

5:45 Joshua Van gets the finish.

5:46 Tyro was mad about the finish.

5:48 I don't think he should be upset about it.

5:51 I I know he would have fought more, but I don't think it was necessary.

5:55 I think he had taken enough damage and and the fight was over.

5:59 And honestly, he doesn't lose anything in that performance.

6:03 I thought he fought really really well.

6:05 Uh, and he should be proud of himself.

6:07 But hats off to Josh Van, man.

6:10 That dude is a beast and he's got big power for 125 pounds.

6:16 He's the real deal.

6:17 Alexander Volkov beat Waldo Cortez Acasta.

6:20 I thought he won the fight.

6:21 He won the first two rounds.

6:23 I know they were close, but he won the first two rounds.

6:26 Uh, I still don't think that that fight

6:28 though earns him a championship opportunity.

6:30 You got to do more.

6:31 And a lot of Volkov's fights look just like that.

6:36 Sean Brady beat Wae Buckley by decision,

6:38 but it was one of the most dominant decisions I have seen in a really long time.

6:43 Guys, we have seen Wee Buckley lose before.

6:46 We have never seen Wee Buckley dominated in the way

6:49 that he was dominated tonight by Shawn Brady.

6:52 I mean, he got nothing done.

6:55 Every time he kicked, Shawn Brady took him down over and over and over again.

7:01 It was uh it was an amazing performance from Brady.

7:05 And to think many people thought that there would be some

7:09 residuals from losing the last fight in the way that he did,

7:14 but I think when you win like he won tonight,

7:18 Shawn Brady is as dangerous and as real

7:19 a contender as we have in the welterweight division,

7:23 he puts himself right back amongst the elite.

7:25 Bobby Green with a beautiful submission over Jeremy Stevens.

7:30 Aiba Goautier knocked out Azie Diaz once again.

7:33 Aiba Goautier doing what Atiba Goautier does.

7:37 Hey yo, Amosavv is the real deal.

7:40 It's time to put some respect on this young man's name.

7:43 He needs a tougher opponent.

7:45 He's fought Neil Magny.

7:46 He's fought Joel Alvarez.

7:48 But for a guy that's now 30 and one,

7:49 he should be fighting guys in the inside of the top

7:52 10 and work his way towards a championship opportunity.

7:56 Greg Dawson with a big victory tonight over Mattz Rambbecki.

7:59 Jim Miller gets another finish tonight.

8:01 That was awesome.

8:02 I was happy for Jim to go out there

8:04 and do what he's done on so many different occasions.

8:07 Add to another record that Jim Miller has.

8:11 Roman Copalov beat Marco Tulio.

8:14 Pat Sabatini beat William Gomez.

8:19 Susakaya beat Jorgens Santos.

8:22 And Jose Choa beat Clayton Carpenter.

8:26 UFC 328 was amazing, guys.

8:28 I give New Jersey a hard time, but I'm just around.

8:32 It's a beautiful state, the Garden State.

8:34 It's beautiful.

8:35 Great golf.

8:36 I really enjoy my time here,

8:38 but uh I will continue to give New Jersey a hard time.

8:41 Now, my total wireless performance of the night, guys, that goes to Joshua Van.

8:49 You know, there's no question now whether or not

8:54 Joshua Van has the skill set to defend takedowns,

8:57 stay upright, and defend the hard-nosed grappler.

8:59 We saw that tonight.

9:01 It makes the Pantoia fight even bigger.

9:04 And that was a big fight already.

9:06 So, hats off to Joshua Van for being my total wireless fighter of the night.

9:12 Big night though, guys.

9:13 Strickland's a champ.

9:15 Van retains.

9:16 Unbelievable.

9:17 From New Jersey, Brick City.

9:20 What a great night.

9:21 Till next time, guys.

9:22 Like, subscribe, tell your friend to tell their friends.

9:23 I got a YouTube channel and I'm doing stuff like this.

9:27 Peace.

9:28 Coach, your boy got it done, man.

9:30 What a night.

9:30 I mean, not many people believed, but he did and he did it.

9:34 How closely did he follow the game plan?

9:36 How sure were you guys that you had got

9:37 it done going to the center in the fifth round?

9:39 I I I like we had two, three, and five.

9:42 Um, round four, I had a little bit of a flashback in the first

9:46 DDP fight where I think it was around round three or four,

9:49 we let one of those rounds kind of slip

9:50 away because we took our foot off the gas pedal.

9:53 I thought Arms made some really good adjustments.

9:55 Um, as you can see, he started wrestling with the 1 minute mark.

9:58 Y So, we're like, all right, he's trying to seal up these rounds.

10:01 So, we knew kind of going into round five,

10:03 he's going to rest up and then he's might shoot.

10:05 And then he he reversed it and he told Sean,

10:07 "Hey, let's meet in the middle." And he shot on him.

10:09 So, um, no, man.

10:11 I couldn't be happier for Sean.

10:12 You know, he did all the work, man.

10:13 He did everything he was supposed to do.

10:15 Got bust his ass camp.

10:17 Um, thankfully we had a very similar style matchup with Fluffy

10:20 Hernandez that was going to be a lot of grappling.

10:23 So, we almost got two backto-back camps that were um, grappling inside of.

10:27 So, um, man, just hats off to the team

10:30 and the rest of the boys and couldn't be happier for them.

10:32 How crazy is it that it wasn't long ago where we It was almost like are

10:37 these two going to break up after the DDP fight because things had gone so bad.

10:42 How does a guy turn it around that quickly?

10:45 You guys together, make the adjustments,

10:47 stay together in the face of the adversity and become world champion again.

10:51 Well, as you know, DC, this this is this is a a job of servitude, right?

10:56 like um for me personally, you know, under those circumstances,

11:00 I I made a mistake in the way that I called him out.

11:03 I should have called him out in a in from a different perspective,

11:06 but um a lot of what I was going through with my family,

11:09 with me being on the road, with with my time away and knowing that he

11:13 was injured and knowing that he had a lot

11:15 of things going on, I just didn't think it was fair to the rest of the team.

11:18 But, um once we got that out,

11:21 like we talked about it like men, we was water under the bridge.

11:23 I told him I was like, "Listen, dude.

11:24 I love you." And the reasons why I say those things is because I care, you know?

11:28 Um, if I didn't care about you,

11:30 I would just be collecting a paycheck and going about my business,

11:32 but I can't I can't I can't coach like that, I can't live like that.

11:36 I I have to be honest.

11:37 And, um, thankfully Sean and I were we're quick over that time, man.

11:42 I I it was a year until, you know, that that happened until we fought Fluffy.

11:45 So, it was water in the bridge right away.

11:47 And, um, you know, I couldn't be happier that we're in this position once again.

11:51 You could tell that his family have been able

11:52 to go through those moments and rebuild to where you are.

11:54 That's why you're one of the best coaches in the game.

11:56 Congratulations, coach.

11:57 Thank you, DC.

11:58 Appreciate you, brother.

11:59 Coach, your boy got it done.

12:00 How excited are you for Josh?

12:02 I mean, first title defense, all the questions about Wahai.

12:06 He won the title tonight.

12:08 There were a lot of questions answered.

12:09 Not only is he a champion fully, but how does he handle that grappler wrestler?

12:14 He showed it all tonight, man.

12:16 How proud of you guys?

12:17 Super proud, man.

12:17 That's what we do, man.

12:18 He grinds in there, you know, at 4 oouncez fight club in Houston, Texas.

12:21 Uh like he's like he told you before, you know,

12:24 leave him six six months in 4 oz and and forget.

12:27 Uh you know, he started he started that wrestling.

12:30 You remember that that interview he did uh when he first came into the UFC?

12:33 He probably had 6 months of wrestling in.

12:35 But uh super proud, man.

12:36 Uh he I'm glad he got to obviously glad for that finish,

12:40 but that fifth round finish is even better to show that he can get to that fifth

12:43 round and get a finish in that round

12:44 after the grappling exchanges and all that was great.

12:47 Did you feel like you were 22 going into round five?

12:50 Were you guys like, "Man, we got to get this one." Yes.

12:53 I looked back after the fourth round,

12:54 I looked at back at one of our other coaches and I said, "Hey, we're 22.

12:58 We need this.

12:58 We need this fifth round." So, uh,

13:00 we we showed a little urgency in there, you know,

13:03 got on got on his ass a little bit and and he got it done, man.

13:06 He pushed.

13:07 That boy Josh Van is an absolute stud, man.

13:09 Congratulations, coach.

13:10 You're the man.

13:11 Appreciate you doing this.

13:13 Awesome.

13:13 Next pan.

13:14 Told you that's going to be a good one.

13:15 We're waiting for it.

13:16 That's what we've been calling for.

13:17 We wanted it next.

13:18 All right, cool, baby.

13:19 Thank you.