00:00UFC 307 goes down this weekend from Salt Lake City, Utah.
00:12In the main event, it's Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight championship against
00:17number seven contender, some crazy how, Khalil Roundtree.
00:21And while Pereira is obviously a big spotlight fighter, and then in the co-main with Raquel
00:26Paddington against Juliana Pena, a couple fighters from the Ultimate Fighter, there's
00:30a rivalry, a lot of talk, so a lot of spotlight on them.
00:33But there are some other fighters on this undercard that we should be paying attention
00:36to.
00:37So we're gonna give you one, two, three, four, five today that we should be watching
00:40for.
00:41The first one is a legend.
00:43It's José Aldo.
00:44Coming off of a win in his last fight, he is still genuinely one of the best fighters
00:49this sport has ever seen.
00:52And no, it is not the same as when he was kicking Uriah Faber's leg off in WEC on their
00:57only pay-per-view.
00:58And no, it is not the same when he was running through everyone en route to a giant clash
01:03with Conor McGregor when he probably definitely should have got a rematch against Conor McGregor
01:06after that fight, but is what it is.
01:09But it is still a legend, and it is still someone who I think has kind of matured in
01:13this fight game to understand what his strengths and weaknesses are in 2024.
01:18And so, another opportunity to see one of the all-time greats.
01:22You have to take that chance.
01:24The next fight, or this one is the full fight that I think we should really be paying attention
01:28to.
01:29It is Ketlin Vera against Kayla Harrison.
01:31I think the UFC is hoping that Harrison gets a win here, setting up a title opportunity
01:35against either Peña or Pennington, depending on how that fight goes.
01:40Harrison obviously coming with a lot of fanfare from the PFL, although not undefeated after
01:45losing her second last bout in the Professional Fight League.
01:49But she comes in, dominates Holly Holm, and they are trying to, I think, fast-track her.
01:55For Vera, she's…
01:57I think she's won two of her last three, so I don't think she gets rocketed into
02:01a title opportunity if she picks up a win, although this would be a gigantic win over
02:05Kayla Harrison.
02:06But Harrison is legitimately… she was probably the best fighter not in the Ultimate Fighting
02:11Championship until that changed, and she signed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
02:15and now she's one of the best fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
02:18And resume-wise, would be very deserving of a title shot coming off of this one.
02:22Joaquin Buckley is the next one.
02:24Has won four in a row.
02:25He gets an interesting test against Steven Wonderboy Thompson.
02:28This would be the biggest name that Buckley has beaten so far.
02:32He does have a couple of good fights on a four-fight winning streak here, but this would
02:36be a gigantic name for him, and put him… this isn't one where, oh, and he would rocket
02:43his way into a championship opportunity, or anything like that.
02:48But I do think that this would put him in line for a very big fight, probably to start
02:532025, and put him in a, okay, this is maybe a guy we need to watch going into next year.
03:00And the last one, Karla Esparza.
03:02Retirement fight against Tisha Pennington.
03:04These two, I don't know how their paths haven't crossed, aside from a quarterfinal
03:08fight on The Ultimate Fighter, but this is the retirement fight for Karla Esparza against
03:14Tisha Pennington, formerly Tisha Torres.
03:16This is… it's an amazing career that Karla Esparza is going to be leaving behind, and
03:22an amazing legacy that she kind of, again, leaves here in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
03:28It's great that she was able to get this spotlight with The Ultimate Fighter when that
03:33was still a thing, and then moving into the world of the UFC as a champion.
03:40And then this last little act here, where she was able to maybe get a couple beneficial
03:46matches along the way, and that helped her out.
03:49But still, put her in a position to go back and win another championship, it's really
03:53really cool to see her getting this spotlight one more time.
03:56And a fight with Tisha Pennington, a couple of…
03:59Esparza, a couple of, I don't want to say legends, but a couple of fighters who have
04:04really paved the way for this kind of next generation of fighters to come.
04:07So a very interesting fight here, to round out UFC 307.
04:11So those are some of the fighters you should be watching for, coming up here on Saturday
04:15in Salt Lake City.
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