00:00You also have a women's flyweight battle between Dakota Ditcheva and Sumiko Inaba.
00:04Ditcheva, the 26-year-old Brit, who, of course, lives and trains in Florida most times.
00:082024 PFL women's flyweight tournament winner, another undefeated fighter, 14-0, 12 of those by KOTKO.
00:15So she's going for the finish.
00:16She's not going to try to go to the judges' scorecards like Edwin has.
00:19She doesn't want to get there.
00:21She wants to give them the night off, or at least the fight off, and do her business in the first couple rounds there
00:25and finish her opponent and make them pay for even stepping into the cage with her as she had number four.
00:30As she did against Tyler Santos last November when she won that 2024 PFL tournament.
00:35She is a dangerous woman.
00:36She can beat you any which way on the feet with the striking.
00:39She can use all tools, you know, of the striking game as she has shown, even the clinch game.
00:44So body, head, doesn't matter.
00:46One way or another, she's hunting for a victory and doesn't seem too worried about her opponent going in here either.
00:51When I compare my game to hers, you know, I just see levels above, skill levels above.
00:56She's no walkover, but I don't think she's on my level, and I'm going to show that in South Africa.
01:03Still giving respect to Inaba, the 34-year-old Hawaiian, a.k.a. the Lady Samurai, who was 8-1 in her career,
01:12so she has a good record here for those by KO TKO, so, you know, well on the feet herself.
01:17But still, as Dakota says, she thinks that she's on a different level.
01:20Inaba, former Bellator, NPFL fighter, all her pro experiences with those two organizations.
01:24This isn't a fighter who, you know, fought at regional circuits and then, you know, came in there in the last two or three fights
01:29to the big leagues here. She's been around the whole time, lots of wins, coming off a second-round ground-and-pound win
01:35over Mackenzie Stiller last September.
01:38But still, I got to roll with Dakota.
01:40Ditcheva has not been beaten, and she has done it violently every time.
01:44As good as Inaba may have shown in Bellator and, you know, in a brief stint in the PFL,
01:49as Dakota says, there are levels, and I'm not sure Inaba is on that yet when you look at her record.
01:53Nobody with the, you know, the kind of record and awards and, you know, all these great things about their career
02:01that Dakota Ditcheva has faced with some of her fighters that she faced last year in that tournament.
02:05She really took a step up in her opponents last year and a step up in her fight game as well
02:09and got great victories, and I think she does again here.
02:11By the way, AJ McKee versus Ahmed Magomedov.
02:14Magomedov, the 30-year-old Russian, 10-3, eight-fight win streak for him in his MMA career.
02:18Most of his wins are by decision, including three of his last four.
02:21Never fought for a big organization before.
02:23So this is a big step up for him.
02:25Speaking of levels, this is one where he's jumping into the PFL against AJ McKee,
02:29the 30-year-old Californian, 22-2 in MMA.
02:32His last fight was against Paul Hughes.
02:34We got the split decision loss last October.
02:36Before that, he had a four-fight win streak in Bellator and the PFL.
02:39He's a former Bellator champ, well-rounded.
02:41You know, we've heard many people talk about the McKees,
02:43including when we had Sean Merriman talk about some of his fighters that train there
02:47and how great that camp is, how great those brothers are at fighting.
02:50He's looking to show it again, and I think he gets the win by decision.
02:53Michael Medov has a nice record here, 10-3.
02:56This is a different level, different type of opponent.
02:59I think this is going to be harder for him to do.
03:01I think McKee gets the balance back win here to get himself back in the picture
03:05for fighting some of the upper echelon and upper-level opponents in the PFL.
03:09Lightweight fight between Artur Zayunuk and Takayashi Izumi.
03:13Izumi, the 36-0 from Japan, 6-3 in his MMA career, all 6-0 by decision.
03:18Zayunuk, the Russians, 16-4, 9 wins by decision.
03:21One fight with the PFL was a decision win last May.
03:25I think I go Zayunukov there.
03:28I think the Russian gets the win.
03:30Either way, I think it goes by decision.
03:31You look at both these guys' records, that's just what they do.
03:33They tried out last year.
03:33They don't try to beat you down.
03:35It's going to be a grinded-out fight.
03:36It might not be the most exciting fight on the card,
03:38but I'm going to go with the Russian in that one.
03:40But one that will be exciting is a heavyweight battle
03:42between Corey Anderson and Dennis Goldstaff.
03:44Anderson, the 35-year-old American, grappler with power,
03:4718-6 in his MMA career, 8 by KO, TKO, 10 by decision,
03:50former UFC fighter, former Bellator champion at light heavyweight.
03:54He's moving up to heavyweight for the first time here.
03:56We're supposed to battle Vladimir Nemkov at heavyweight
03:59for their third matchup between the two in January.
04:02That fell through for whatever reason.
04:03Nemkov went on to beat Timothy Johnson,
04:05so now we get Anderson's first heavyweight battle
04:07with this organization against Goldstaff,
04:09the 34-year-old Russian, 36 and A for his career,
04:12four-fight win streak, 18 wins by a KO, TKO, 12 by submission,
04:16so he can beat you any which way, whether it's on the ground,
04:19he's going to choke you out, or he can pound your face
04:21if you want to stand and trade.
04:22He has 17 fights with the PFL, beat Oleg Popov
04:25in the 2024 heavyweight finals by triangle choke in round one.
04:29So this is not an easy opponent for Anderson
04:31to be stepping up and weight against.
04:33Similar age, probably have a similar size.
04:36I don't know.
04:37I love Corey Anderson.
04:37He's a tough dude, but a guy who just won the tournament,
04:40a guy who's been fighting heavyweights his whole career,
04:42who could beat you on the feet or on the ground,
04:44I think I'm going to slide with the Russian in Goldstaff
04:46and take another Russian victory here at PFL, South Africa.
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