Robert Whittaker REACTS To UFC 306! | MMArcade Podcast (Episode 51)

[@GrimRomanXIII]

The sphere was special man, and the Zellhuber v Ribovics fight was an all time great imo

[@jacobwagner1611]

I kinda thought the sphere was underwhelming, im sure in person it was awesome but on stream Dana made it sound like it would be equally cool and it felt rather normal other then great early fights which is because of the fighters not venue, just my opinion

[@Mr-E.]

​@@jacobwagner1611 Dana made it sound like the event was going to really surprise people with the unexpected... but, it seemed like they just played videos and graphics on the Sphere displays like any other concert or event would do. Of course I thought it looked great and definitely more visually appealing than a regular UFC event, but I was wondering what the "surprise" or "unexpected" part of it was. To be honest... I thought the costumes and decorations on the ring girls were great and a surprise, and the drone style footage of the fighters from above also was surprising too.

[@jacobwagner1611]

@@Mr-E. That’s exactly what I thought about it, they literally just played their normal hype videos like they always do, just on a more grandiose scene. It was actually worse for streamers imo because they do full screen for a lot of these videos when it’s a pay per view, where this event you were zoomed out watching the sphere live scenes

[@MrBrockHeinz]

Crazy to think that Georgia has champions in two different weight classes with only a 3.6 million population.

[@michaelherrera116]

It really is

[@pantelemoni1]

Levan Saginashvili- Winner of the World Armwrestling Championship seven times, the European arm-wrestling championship six times, the Vendetta Top 8 four times, and the current holder of the East vs West Super Heavyweight Championship, He is widely regarded as the strongest arm-wrestler in history. Lasha Talakhadze-Weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch (225 kg, 496 lb), the clean and jerk (267 kg, 589 lb), and the total (492 kg, 1,085 lb) since 2021, regarded as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, he is a three-time Olympic champion, seven-time world champion, and seven-time European champion competing in the super-heavyweight category. Geno Petriashvili- is a Georgian heavyweight freestyle wrestler. He is European and World champion, Gold medal 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.....I CAN CONTINUE MORE, IF YOU FEEL LIKE, THERE ARE MORE INTERESTING THINGS 😉

[@tamie341]

Everyone knows Atlanta bois built different! We coming fo yo head bruh

[@Im-just-Stardust]

Hell yeah so glad for Merab and Georgia.

[@MrGeonicolas]

Georgia is also glad for you brother

[@HughMungz]

Georgia will not be buying his ppvs to watch that thigh-kneeing garbage 🤣 right after Shevchenko laid in half guard for 25 mins… two stinkers to end the night.

[@11onejay]

Cant wait for all the title defense snooze fests from merab and belal. Hope they are all fight night fights 😂

[@coleheketoa]

Merab put on a master class. His take downs were clean, precise and ferocious. Great game plan that totally nullified O'Malleys striking potential. Awesome performance by Merab💪💪💪

[@keion_arknights]

What's crazy is that Diego Lopes can run through the division, brutalizing his opponents, yet he's in such a crazy, top heavy division, where he'd be an underdog against any of the dudes above him in Volk, Holloway, and Topuria. Absurd.

[@ThaTruth223]

you’re acting as if him being an underdog to former champs and the champ shouldn’t be. when all three of those guys can and will test his cardio (which he looked to be a bit gassed by the midway part of round 2). he’s running through the division but he ain’t running through those caliber of fighters

[@mourinho966]

Little liddel with all hooks

[@keion_arknights]

@@ThaTruth223 I'm saying the division is stacked.

[@seegee9]

Can't see him beating topuria

[@CharliePond]

He doesn't stand a chance against topuria

[@jamesclough-r4s]

Sean looked too scared of the takedown to do any good striking

[@RobotReg]

Merab got a perfect takedown in the 2nd round after dodging Sean's punch. After that, Sean was afraid to really go for it, because he thought he was going to get taken down again.

[@MMArcadePodcast]

Yeah he was so timid

[@homework9102]

he was cheating grabbing the glove and fence grab too still couldn’t win. Merab back was turned against him and O malley hit him twice once to the back of the head and again to the face and still couldn’t knock him out. He was never going to win this fight on this night. It was Merabs moment. I love it. ❤🙏

[@Les_Grossman80]

He wasn't "scared". He couldn't time it. Merab was exceptional with his movement. And that stopped him shooting a laser beam on entry. Merab didn't have to finish him. We all knew his cardio was off the charts. All he had to do was keep taking Suga down. And he did it perfectly.

[@Mr-E.]

@@homework9102 Yea he is a known cheater, especially the shameful actions he did in the Carlos Lozoya fight to steal that win (it is on KZbin). I'm glad Herb Dean called him out on his cheating ways.

[@Brigette-pb3di]

I was so happy to see a new episode - I’ve missed you guys ❤ Loved the episode and Rob, pls focus on your camp. Don’t worry about the pod - winning your fight with Chimaev is so much more important. Take care, the both of you ❤

[@rollin60z]

It's one hour a week shutup he did this the last fight and got the 1st round KO stop being soft

[@chantellschmahl]

​@rollin60z such a blatantly rude remark to a kind and appreciative message from someone... your life must be real messed up!

[@Brigette-pb3di]

@@rollin60z what the hell is your problem? Stfu

[@Brigette-pb3di]

@@rollin60z says an under achieving couch potato - shut your pie hole!

[@kryterz]

Herb Dean saying you need to work to Merab all fight was wild, like what are you watching mate lol

[@powerlung2631]

I don't understand to be honest considering Shevchenko sat in top position without advancing position or ground and pound for over 10 minutes but merab needs to "work" even though he East constantly working

[@kryterz]

@@powerlung2631 I don't think herb was assigned to that fight, but yeah needs to be more consistent.

[@tjxc1477]

He was coaching Sean, tired so hard to rig that one again

[@gjfk]

Ya, he had money on Sean for sure. Terrible reffing

[@SPACEGAME-tf7dr]

It’s parallel to the Mcgregor vs Khabib fight

[@jesseallen9900]

Rob is coming out #1 Contender!! Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi 🇦🇺

[@eduy17]

Im rooting for him man, he truly is the champ we all deserve. A class act and an amazing sponsor of the sport

[@imakimmy2]

You mean Rob didn't travel 17 hours just to SEE The Sphere??!!!! Rob is such a nice guy, he always says "In saying that"...when he explains something good or bad. People aren't giving Merab credit, He fought a very smart fight. Some are saying O'Malley was off...LOPES has become my SECOND favorite fighter. He's Grasso's coach, too.

[@huzi990]

Super casuals kept saying Merab was "laying and praying" and proving that they need to have their eyes checked. Man was working overtime with punches, knees, sub attempts, and position advancements the entire time he was on top of O'Malley.

[@kylechapman6115]

It's been great seeing Rob seemingly becoming more in depth and involved in his analysis. He's made it clear that this part of the show is his least favorite but he seems to respect that his fans want to know his viewpoint. Thanks Rob!

[@ChrisDyn1]

Was he more in depth though? 'Yea, it was... gud...' is basically all that he gives us. For a guy that has a gig on Fox talking about MMA, he should be better than this. And the other guy doesn't even know names (to be fair, Whittaker doesn't either, which is pretty embarrassing for a fucking MMA podcast), like at 15:45 where he calls Manon Fiorot, the next title challenger, "Fiore". What are we getting out of listening to this? No insight and they don't even know fighters' names. Disgraceful.

[@NotLiftedOG]

@@ChrisDyn1Have you heard how Manon pronounces her own name?

[@ChrisDyn1]

@@NotLiftedOG Fi-yor-row, so with a silent 't'. Man's heard her name a 100 times during the commentating (if he's seen her fight), does an MMA podcast and can't get her name right?! And that's not to single him out either; this is a common problem. Aspinall just said that he won't even try to say Merab's surname, so he'll just call him Merab. Aspinall also has an MMA podcast. John McCarthy and Josh Thomson are the same, frequently. Other sports don't have this problem.

[@mfscarce6740]

@@ChrisDyn1don’t watch then?

[@ChrisDyn1]

@@mfscarce6740 Obviously I won't continue to, but don't you think they should do a better job instead? Learn fucking names and the like?

[@TonyNichols-uk7do]

Rob telling people who like disc drives to grow up, sent me🤣🤣🤣

[@berniesookie]

Subscribed. Great insights from Rob, thanks mate

[@Ar1AnX1x]

Robert "m8..." Whittaker

[@FoggyTheHippo]

Was just looking to see if I missed an episode yesterday cause I hadn’t seen one for a while and thought my notifications got screwed up or something. I was pleasantly surprised to find one this morning, great shit to listen to while on that Space Marine 2 grind. Cheers boys thanks for another great bit of banter to make the day better.

[@RealtalkwithRyanT]

Game news is where I always tune out, I like to hear Rob talk mma

[@magicmike97m]

Bobby in some great spirits and vibrant energy. Love to see it. We are blessed to have a champion like Robert making these podcasts. Dont get us too spoiled. Much love and support from Greece brother!! We just want you to be etimos (that was funny😂) for Chimaev and no doubt the Reaper gets the win!!

[@Barndarnz]

Question for Rob, I saw somewhere that you said in an interview that your favorite place to travel is Japan. Do you got often? What do you like to do there and where do you like to go? I go every winter and there are almost more Australians than Japanese at the ski slopes😂. Love the podcast boys keep up the good work

[@thatindiandude4602]

O.K. that makes sense. So many aussies I know want to travel to Japan.

[@TheDXJC56]

The Refs were 100% specifically told not to stop the fight unless a Mexican fighter was dead

[@huzi990]

Sacrifices to Mictlantecuhtli

[@dirkdakowski9453]

The reaction I was waiting for! One of the best podcasts out

[@InspectahReese]

Certain fight fans will always complain about grappling which sometimes they’re justified because we’ve seen boring wrestlers before in MMA but if you just wanna watch striking then go watch Kickboxing or Muay Thai

[@melancholymartialarts7095]

It doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be able to just hold an opponent down without trying to finish them.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

The problem is that you're not watching wrestling either. This has to be a huge exercise in gaslighting because there's no way wrestling fans prefer to watch MMA over actual wrestling matches.

[@peterk2735]

@@melancholymartialarts7095 If another man or woman puts you down and holds you there, it's on you to get up. If holding someone down is so easy, why are you not getting up?

[@auginater4200]

The other cut in a women's fight recently was Maira Bueno Silva's cut when she faced Macy Chiasson

[@thurstonbell1692]

Another Hella entertaining hour gents! Much appreciated 👏🏾

[@Rapper1046]

I relate so much to Rob when he talks about Witcher 3. I went through a straight up depression after finishing that game. I had to go back and read all the books and play all the previous games because it had left such a huge gaping hole inside of me. I can't play any other story games now because they pale in comparison to the storytelling and the world of the Witcher

[@littledittymusic727]

Stop the fight! Stop the fight! Herb: Work.

[@frankscola1163]

The Sphere seats more people than T-Mobile arena. Almost 20k. What are they talking about?

[@mozambiq00]

Those ref did wonderful fr bbusted all my +6000 finish parlays. And that same worm Herzog finish Imamov vs Jared

[@FoggyTheHippo]

Ribovics vs Zellhuber was such a good fight, like fight of the night easily potential fight of the year. Such a treat for those of us who like striking and such an entertaining fight. Kudos to both those boys hell of a fight.

[@Feeds_]

Yan vs Figgy would be a sick fight

[@zd9910]

30:22 youre thinking of the macy chiasson fight where she cut her opponent (i think buena silva?) and it was massive. think it was on the july namajunas fight night in denver.

[@nelsoncarmona1981]

I really like esteban ribovics, his boxing is really good and hes got a great gas tank and chin. One of my favorite fighters now

[@DJO_Kosick]

Great recap dudes, love your work. I thought the Sphere was cool but think it would be better on something like an international fight week PPV, the diversity between different fighters stories from around the world would be really cool.

[@joshthompson8506]

Rob, question for you mate. You mentioned Ribovicz's walkout song, and I immediately recognized it as yours. However, when they cut to Roy Jones singing along in the crowd, I suddenly realized "Oh yeah, it was his too!" The song was always familiar but I never made that connection before, since I'm your age (and so Roy Jones's best fights are a little foggy in my memory). Just curious if there was any connection or inspiration there on your part?

[@caryjane9786]

@31:35 his nickname is Taco.

[@lucastrino1969]

The fight you mentioned about the cut was between Mayra Sheetara and Macy Chiasson. The fight was stopped after the injury. Hello from Brazil, mates!

[@MMArcadePodcast]

Thank YOU!

[@Johenn1251]

Bro I just got to work, let’s fucking go !

[@Frankiemantis999]

Herb was saying let’s work literally the second Merab took him down. All the while Merab is throwing punches and knees. It was an absolute joke 😂

[@Mr-E.]

There was another fight where a referee did the same thing. If you are interested in checking it out, watch the Usman vs. Tyron Woodley fight. Usman is holding Woodley and punching him extremely hard in the side where his ribs are. Marc Goddard keeps warning him to "work" when he was being super aggressive. It was the weirdest thing.

[@lexlibovych4584]

Maybe Herb was just motivating Merab to fucking kill Sean haha

[@MMArcadePodcast]

Lmaooo

[@lexlibovych4584]

@@MMArcadePodcast great pod by the way, love hearing you two, great chemistry

[@TheDXJC56]

LMFAO I knew Ribovics had a mad familar walkout song, couldn't remember from where, thanks for reminding me 😂

[@MasterMirage]

Great episode again lads, question for Rob and Jonny, have either of you guys played the Civ games and if so, what are your thoughts on Civ 7 and the upcoming changes (eg: No more builder units, how you are forced to change Civs during the different eras etc.)

[@Malomalosi]

Hearing Rob say “ETIMOS” is nuts bro 🤣 Age of Mythology was part my childhood bro

[@adipyramidadmal]

Disk drive is important for movies, buying cheap games, or even renting a game before deciding to buy.

[@huzi990]

For pure entertainment, the top 3 fights from this event had to be: Zellhuber vs Ribovics (Zellhuber's helicopter head movement when he was rocked was hilarious) Rodriguez vs Osbourne (almost KO'd, pulls a Volkanovski-esque escape from a triangle, and just punishes with a sick body triangle) Van vs Chairez (two week sub in from Van and these two were swinging the entire time)

[@TerryBailey3]

Great Show Like Always, Recon The UFC Game Will Ever Come To PC?

[@petergoossen1130]

If there isn't some previous beef between Souza and Jauregui then Ketlen has a mean streak cuz that choke was held a little.....

[@mfscarce6740]

Rob, did you enjoy the Star casino (cheers for the glove autograph) and would you ever think they will do a ufc event on the east coast of Aus?

[@_Beans_]

in awe that bobby knuckles of all people consistently has the best gaming takes

[@Bfr3shBrian]

24:16 Roy Jones actually went to congratulate Ribovics in the locker room, all the comments were saying "Rob must be pissed" 😂

[@josephawc]

dana justifying stipe getting a title fight by saying thats how you treat legends but also forcing figgy to fight font garabrandt and chito and aldo to fight jonathan martinez and mario bautista while giving umar a #1 contenders fight while having beat 0 ranked opponents

[@stephengeorge7994]

Love the age of mythology shoutout

[@Floridaman2015]

You’re thinking of bueno Silva, who also wanted to fight through the cut, but got stopped by the Doctor.

[@MasterSpencer2483]

Question for Rob! If you fought in the sphere and were allowed to choose your own background, “where” would you fight? I thought the digital arenas looked incredible

[@Suppp34]

To be fair zellhuber did doge a lot of those. He got hit a lot too, but he has crazy head movement

[@jooshmma]

So many pros picked Sean and Alexa 😂

[@Barndarnz]

Day two of saying that we are ready for guests my guys GIVE US MIGHTY MOUSEEE!!!!

[@huzi990]

Get a taste of it on DJ's podcast. He interviewed Rob!

[@NoGo-nl5ll]

Herb and Rogan were both so annoying last night but the visuals and the fights were fire. If I had to listen to Joe talk about Lopes making mistakes and how good Ortega looked for one more minute I was gonna jump off the Sphere; And Herb warning Merab constantly was one of the dumbest things I've seen a ref do.

[@Faizaud]

Me and my sister were wondering why Rogan was that high on Ortega the entire fight, when it was clear Lopes was in control nearly 100% of the time.

[@cKxTaLenTs]

Lmfao agree with Rob on the chiwiwis thing 😂 knew I could count on Rob

[@armandoabundes9408]

Rob, I’m a huge fan and have been rooting for you for years now, I’m from California but have always wanted to visit Australia, specifically because you live there… if I visit after you whoop chimaev, would you give me the honor to train with you and after grab a meal (on me of course) Thank you and God Bless ✝️

[@BarryMaccockener]

Damn been forever since last upload what up Jonny

[@MMArcadePodcast]

🫡

[@joser7589]

Last night was insane hopefully they can do it again sometime

[@TheAllthegoodstuff]

Anyone else just hit the like button immediately? Ya know it's gna be quality 👌

[@mister_brownie6416]

it was Mayra Bueno Silva that recently had that gash over her eyebrow that led to the stoppage.

[@saneone32]

Hey Robbie would you ever compete in something like CJI as a superfight? Would love to see you in a grappling match!

[@imjustdru8339]

Esteban ribovic came out to Robs song 😉

[@StinkyMick99]

How does a merab vs volk fight go??

[@kevinduperret1910]

More gaming talk if you want my vote. There's a million fight analysis channels out there (I suppose you can say the same about gaming discussion but you guys are cooler than they are)

[@titicou]

Volk against Lopes would be fire!

[@nkatekongobeni8540]

Volk is going to be fighting for the title

[@titicou]

@@nkatekongobeni8540 Topuria and Max are fighting next month and doubt that they'll fight again before the end of the year. I don't know if Volk is willing to wait until next year before fighting one of those guys for the title.

[@kane_howe138]

@@titicouhe said he’s next fight was for the title, I don’t think he minds waiting

[@cryptowatch-ed7cm]

Ya should cover some NRL results too boys! Go The mighty Melbourne Storm!!😎

[@carlossmart823]

"Gaping chasm" - Rob's so dramatic. 😅🤣😂

[@caryjane9786]

@30:35 you're thinking of Mayra Bueno Silva

[@prestonwinters9656]

Rob’s getting that belt, have you boys beat the cyberpunk dlc yet and also what is your favorite weapons?

[@johnperez7487]

Just bought my first Souls Game because Rob raves about them. Holy shit! Such a great game. I'm hooked! Ahhahhaha

[@ReNeDesCartes782]

Bobby seeing a glimpse of his future 😂 I love ❤ Bobby , but he is just inadequately skilled against Hamza.

[@kingdynamite301]

I feel like the complaints about Herb are from newer MMA fans. The lay and pray era has done irreversible damage to Herb, he doesn’t want to go back! I do think the ‘maul’ vernacular is overused now. Khabib used to do massive damage that was why it was a mauling. 5 rounds of tippity taps is impressive but not a mauling imo.

[@tristhekid]

Sean was rushed up the division. Gifted a decision win against Yan and didn’t have to go through certain challenges against a certain level of opponents. He was fighting unranked for the most part (aside from Vera) but then they give him Yan and he lost but got fortunate.

[@agkizzy5405]

Wrong wrong and wrong again. He beat aljo who lots of ppl were saying had potential to be the BW goat and then chito. And either guy could have been “gifted” the fight between Sean and yan it was that close. Ur trying to rewrite history cuz he lost🤣

[@gordonschiff3621]

Merab is just really good.

[@davidanders2107]

Sean wasn’t off, Merab exposed his sorry ass. Just like Strickland exposed style bender. If anyone was off his game it was Merab fighting while coming off a nasty infection and a cut over the eye in training. Healthy 100% Merab woulda broke Sugar’s pencil neck

[@tristhekid]

He got to fight Yan after fighting who? The large majority of people thought Yan won and then they made Aljo make a quick turn around after a gifted decision. Don’t talk like he wasn’t rushed up the division and he was fighting within the top 10/top 5 to earn a shot at the title.

[@tristhekid]

Who ever said Aljo had potential to be BW goat are the voices in your head because I’ve never heard a soul say that 😂

[@lukegodoubled5666]

Question for Rob and Johnny, what do you think of starfield and do you have any plans to play the new DLC?

[@runbho710]

The other women’s fight with the crazy cut was Mayra buena Silva vs Macy chassion. That was an insane cut too 😂

[@jooshmma]

Sean did snap merabs head back a few times and landed and knee and the body kicks

[@Timzdametal]

Haha. Yep. I bought a flash OLED tv for my son to always have his shows on it. Barely ever get to game on it so i mostly go on the PC. Commandament (age of mythology reference) or was it age of empires?i can't remember.

[@Fuego720]

Herb Dean been doung this to wrestling heavy guys

[@bigginbox0002]

Good hugs and kisses from Marab, and some ass knees

[@TheSinsOfAvarice97]

They need to make punts and grounded knees legal wrestlers have such insane safety precautions just so they can do what they do its frustrating to watch

[@TheRuggedDookie]

herb was dealing with Sean's corner as well as the side ref. Thats why so many weird issues

[@bryanfrombuffalo7685]

4:54 do you think he was clean either one of them

[@justinchooweenam3334]

Yeah sean did do more damage overall than merab which is hilarious. Gotta watch round 1 again. Sean was tagging him at first.

[@timholt78]

I agree with Robert. The only PS5 game I still play is Demons' Souls. If it were released for P.C., then that would change (considering my 2 year old P.C. is more powerful than the PS5 and probably the Pro).

[@wmyeager7391]

Go win that fight. We’ll see you after you get that w.

[@jeroengie]

Hi Robert and Jonny, If you could own any of the costumes, along with the powers of a Mortal Kombat character, who would it be? I'd pick Mokap.

[@TonyNichols-uk7do]

It was macey chassaunt vs Buenos Silva that was the other fight with a bad cut. Macey was on robs coaching season of tuf.

[@hcastro35]

It's obvious Dana was involved in the Mera fight. Herb had Tomato head in his ear earlier

[@RABBIT-EDC]

Imagine gaming at the sphere that would be insane

[@jerichoalmana2489]

You could tell Lazy boy didn’t know where he was after round 1 on the stool 😂 props to Ronaldo what a comeback!!

[@PittiesAndMore]

Herb was thinking he was refereeing a ONE Championship fight. Herb and the other referees say "fight" when there is lull in the fight in One's fights.

[@unkiejaymma]

The average ticket price for the Sphere event was 1372.94. 22 million dollars divided by 16024 Mexicans?

[@UberWolf712]

Rob please play AND STREAM "Fear & Hunger" I think you'll love it!

[@lashakhela]

Merab was bit tired in fifth round cause he sparred 5 rounds in Gym that day and 5 more rounds with Aljo at locker room before the fight)))))))

[@joshuakerstein9573]

Good fortune to your training camp,

[@michaelsparks6719]

I want to see volk vs ortega at 155

[@_seventyk]

30:30 that was Mayra Bueno-Silva vs Macy Chaisson.

[@MrkraZzz]

In hindsight Valentina was miles ahead of Grasso in all 3 fights. She was winning in all 3 fights until she made a stupid mistake.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

She made that mistake her whole carrer though.