The Level Change Podcast

For the last few days, “pundits” from all over the MMA and boxing communities have been weighing in on the lawsuit against Dillon Danis, launched by Logan Paul’s fiancee. Every one of them seems to think it’s Logan himself that’s initiated the suit, but it is indeed Miss Agdal responsible for the litigation.

Sonnen, Schaub and McCarthy all seem to think …

This week’s UFC card is quite possibly the most APEX card we’ve ever seen and that’s saying something. It started with just three ranked fighters (not fights) out of 12 fights. Then the unfortunate news came that one of those three was having their fight scrapped thanks to his opponent’s sudden illness. So here we are, with the biggest promotion in the …

That’s right, folks, Showtime Boxing is rumored to be shutting down after their 2024 schedule. Reports of everything from dwindling viewership and rising costs to online streaming have surfaced as contributors to their reasoning for the closure. Here are some of the other headlines we discussed:

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California’s athletic commission is experiencing what appears to be a slow death. Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold wrote extensively about it on Bloody Elbow and the word he used was “atrophy”. That seems like a perfect word to describe what happens when higher taxes, mergers, attempts to force sanctioning for promotions like Power Slap and a spate of other factors create the perfect storm for collapse. Aside from a few Bellator shows and a Top Rank boxing card here and there, there’s not much action happening on California’s sunny grounds. We discuss it.

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We also dive into the WWE-UFC merger that left over 100 people without jobs thanks to a gutting of WWE’s office personnel roster. We looked back on the highs and lows of Noche UFC and we looked forward to a few fights on the UFC Vegas 79 card—weak as it may be. Here’s a look at the three fights we chose:

UFC Vegas 79

* Rafael Fiziev  vs.  Mateusz Gamrot 155 lbs

* Bryce Mitchell  vs.  Dan Ige 145 lbs

* Marina Rodriguez  vs.  M. Waterson-Gomez 115 lbs

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Follow us as @BloodyElbow on twitter, facebook, instagram, and at BloodyElbow.Substack.com & BloodyElbowPodcast.Substack.com.

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Now that the UFC-WWE merger is complete, the new company, TKO Holdings has been creating a stir since the move was first announced. With a joint valuation of more than $21B, far exceeding that of any other sports property, the venture has the potential to see even more dominance across the sports entertainment spectrum. During the official festivities M…

UFC 293 is just around the corner and despite a lot of criticism, we like the card. It’s not heavy on fights that will make a sizable impact on the rankings, but where it lack importance in that regard, it makes up for it with entertainment value. What’s not to love about Carlos Ulberg vs. Dan Un Jung? Manel Kape may be fighting a late replacement but F…

Conor McGregor sure has a lot of blame to issue when it comes to why he won’t be fighting in December, but unsurprisingly, none of it rests upon his own shoulders. In a series of nearly incoherent audio rants he posted to social media Saturday night, McGregor lamented that “they” were affecting his livelihood and then made a plea to Ari Emanuel to help …

This past week provided a treasure trove of news, so we tried to hit all the critical stories. There’s plenty on the three new changes to the sanctioned rules for MMA, the UFC’s totally obvious attempt at erasing Francis Ngannou AND Thierry Sokoudjou from the history books, Teddy Atlas feeling jilted by Ngannou, and last and maybe least, Conor McGregor’…

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In the latest “WTF” moment our fair sport has breathed life into, we bore witness to Utah’s athletic commission entering into a non-disclosure agreement with most of the fighters from UFC 291. What is it that isn’t being exposed? Purse amounts. For those paying attention, transparency is the necessary component to determine fair market value. If they don’t know what fellow fighters are making, how can they negotiate fair purses?

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We also look into the grimy matchmaking that put Robert Helenius on a path of destruction versus Anthony Joshua this coming Saturday, as well as ESPN’s new sports book that will be unveiled this fall. And finally, we talked about Dana White leaving the arena early last Saturday night during the Sandhagen-Font fight which was a snoozer.

We did break down some fights from this weekend’s upcoming UFC Vegas 78 and Bellator 298. Here’s a look at the fights we chose:

* Vicente Luque  vs.  Rafael dos Anjos 170 lbs

* Cub Swanson  vs.  Hakeem Dawodu 145 lbs

* Khalil Rountree  vs.  Chris Daukaus 205 lbs

* Polyana Viana  vs.  Iasmin Lucindo 115 lbs

* Logan Storley  vs.  Brennan Ward 170 lbs

Thank you for reading this article and listening to the podcast. Please consider subscribing to the Bloody Elbow Substack to enjoy our daily premium content. Your paid subscriptions are helping build our new site and keeping hope alive that our staff will remain intact. If you haven’t already, please pledge with a paid subscription today. If you have, please share this post far and wide.

Thank you for listening to the Level Change Podcast. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Follow us as @BloodyElbow on twitter, facebook, instagram, and at BloodyElbow.Substack.com & BloodyElbowPodcast.Substack.com.

Mike Swick may not have won a UFC title but he won a much more important battle, the one he had with lymphoblastic lymphoma, a deadly blood cancer. Swick was diagnosed a couple years ago with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but has since beaten it into remission. He talks about the extremely unconventional approach he took to his treatment and what life’…