Din’s Got Answers: UFC 281 madness, Bantamweight and Lightweight titles, and is Sambo or BJJ more effective with Beneil Dariush

UFC welterweight Bryan Battle and comedian Jesus Trejo join Matt Serra and Jim Norton for today's episode of UFC Unfiltered!

With just three days until he fights in the co-main event slot of Saturday night's UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura card, Bryan Battle previews his matchup against Ange Loosa and reflects on an 8-year weight cutting journey that began as a 300-pound ex-football player and now continues as a 170-pound professional fighter eyeing his third straight win in the UFC.

Right after Battle's interview ends, Jim and Matt bring comedian Jesus Trejo on. Jim and Jesus relate over their jobs as touring comics, sharing their own methods of how they keep up with UFC events that air simultaneously as their Saturday night gigs. Jesus wraps up the interview by sharing his thoughts on UFC 299.

With Jim creeping up on Matt in the fight pick standings, the guys wrap up the episode with some more predictions — this time for this Saturday's UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura card.

On today's episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra unpack the action from Saturday's exciting UFC 299 card in a show that features two guest callers in ESPN MMA journalist Brett Okamoto and rising bantamweight Kyler Phillips.

The first half of the show sees Jim and Matt work their way down the card alongside Okamoto, who shares his perspective as someone who was in Miami for the duration of Saturday's event as the host for the UFC Post Show.

Among the topics the guys discuss: "Suga" Sean O'Malley's options for his next bantamweight title defense, Dustin Poirier's place in the lightweight title picture, Michael "Venom" Page's successful UFC debut, and Jack Della Maddalena's post-fight callout of fellow welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.

After the guys dish their main takeaways from UFC 299's prelims & early prelims, Brett stays on the call as UFC bantamweight Kyler Phillips hops on the show to take a Monday morning victory lap after cruising to a unanimous decision win over 13th-ranked Pedro Munhoz on Saturday's prelims.

While Brett hops off halfway through the interview, Kyler stays for longer and goes on to explain how mountain biking became his go-to supplemental hobby alongside his MMA training regiment.

With Jim Norton traveling for the day, Matt Serra is joined by award-winning MMA writer John Morgan for today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered — which sees rising welterweight Jack Della Maddalena join for a chat ahead of his fight on the UFC 299 pay-per-view card in Miami.

Facing his toughest test yet in fourth-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns, Jack assesses Gilbert’s game while expressing confidence in his ability to hold his own both standing up and on the ground. Aware that a win could do wonders for his #11 ranking in the 170-pound division, Jack explains why he thinks a win over Burns could set up an intriguing No. 1 contender matchup against Shavkat Rakhmonov.

The rest of the show sees John and Matt go through an in-depth preview of Saturday’s stacked UFC 299 card — with John and Matt on opposite ends of several evenly-matched fights.

With UFC 299 fight week upon us, today's episode of UFC Unfiltered sees Jim Norton and Matt Serra bring along a pair of fighters from Saturday's card on to the show in welterweight Kevin Holland and lightweight Mateusz Gamrot!

But first, Matt and Jim unpack the action from over the weekend by dishing out their main takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev.

Shortly after, friend of the show Kevin Holland makes his eleventh appearance on UFC Unfiltered. Set to take on Michael "Venom" Page in the British southpaw's UFC debut, Holland explains what he's expecting out of the upcoming matchup with a fellow striker like Page and why it should make for an enticing clash on the feet.

As Holland catches up with the guys on life outside of the cage, the welterweight veteran wraps up the interview by opening up about the life lessons he's learned from getting into hunting.

Once Holland leaves, the guys waste no time by bringing Mateusz Gamrot on for the second and final interview of the episode. Fighting a former champion for the first time in his UFC career, Gamrot talks about how unique it is to have gone from being a Rafael Dos Anjos fan to now being scheduled to fight him on one of the most stacked UFC cards of the year.

To end things off, Jim and Matt put a bow on today's show by examining the UFC 299 card in entirety and picking some fights from the card that Jim hopes will be able to help him catch up to Matt in their head-to-head standings of fight picks.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Matt Serra and Jim Norton are joined by UFC bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov and comedian Ginger Billy!

Joining the show first is Umar Nurmagomedov, and the unbeaten bantamweight explains why beating Bekzat Almakhan on this Saturday’s main card is the first step to getting back on track to big fights like his previously-scheduled matchup against Cory Sandhagen that was scrapped due to Umar’s shoulder injury.

Not too long after, comedian Ginger Billy hops on the show to discuss how he went from his 13-year career as a respiratory therapist to touring around the country as a stand-up comedian — all while explaining how he fell in love with jiu-jitsu in the process.

Finally, Jim and Matt end the show by picking the main and co-main events from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev card.

On today's episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by longtime UFC middleweight contender Uriah Hall and Karate Combat president Asim Zaidi.

The guys begin the show by reflecting on the action from over the weekend in Mexico City — breaking down both their accurate and inaccurate picks made in last Wednesday's episode ahead of UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 card.

Before Uriah Hall joins the show, Jim takes a victory lap for his spot-on prediction of UFC featherweight Brian Ortega submitting Yair Rodriguez in the third round and dishes his thoughts on the three differing scorecards that ultimately gave Brandon Royval the upset victory over former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno.

Now 39 years old, Uriah Hall reflects on his UFC accomplishments and ponders his next career moves — with special consideration given to acting and fighting-related endeavors.

Fresh after hearing Uriah express his willingness to revisit a fight against Darren Till, Jim and Matt stir the pot by asking Karate Combat president Asim Zaidi about the viability of that fight — a grudge match that Zaidi acknowledges as a possibility for the exciting promotion.

A jiu-jitsu black belt under Royce Gracie, Zaidi reflects on the journey that led him from competing to his present-day roles as both the head coach of his Goat Shed gym and the new face of a promotion looking to bring more prestige to the world of karate.

Matt and Jim are joined by 4th-ranked UFC featherweight Brian Ortega and real-estate TV personality Tarek El Moussa on this episode of UFC Unfiltered.

Today’s show is one marked by a series of brief cameos — beginning with Mrs. Serra briefly joining her husband in the show’s intro and shortly thereafter with Ortega hopping on the call alongside coach Rener Gracie.

Looking to get back to his winning ways in his first fight since injuring his shoulder 19 months ago, Ortega reflects back on what went right for him in the cage against Yair Rodriguez in his last fight before the untimely injury put an unceremonious end to the contest.

A proud Mexican American set to fight in his parents’ home country for the first time in his career, Ortega gets candid about what it means to be in the co-main slot of Saturday’s card in Mexico City against a Mexican-born fighter like Yair Rodriguez — especially now that there are added title implications with Ilia Topuria as the UFC’s newly-crowned featherweight champion.

Then, Jim and Matt are joined by real-estate TV star Tarek El Moussa, who begins his interview with a stroll down memory lane of how he became a UFC superfan before explaining the details of his incredible life story captured eloquently in his newly-released book titled: “FLIP YOUR LIFE: How to Find Opportunity in Distress - in Real Estate, Business, and Life”.

When Tarek hops off the call, the guys wrap up the show with some picks for the two rematches atop Saturday’s card, Ortega’s fight against Yair Rodriguez in the co-main event and Brandon Moreno’s rematch against Brandon Royval in the main event.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Matt and Jim get a friend of the show as a special guest co-host in Ray Longo to recap the action from Saturday’s UFC 298 card.

When Longo hops on the show, the guys jump straight into Serra-Longo’s own Merab Dvalishvili’s statement win over Henry Cejudo and how his nonstop pressure poses trouble for the rest of the UFC bantamweights.

After that, the trio discuss the significance of Ilia Topuria’s 2nd-round KO win over long-reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 298 main event.

The guys wrap up the show with a recap of the other moments that stuck out to them from Saturday’s exciting card in Anaheim, California.

In just three days, UFC 298 will finally be here! So with that in mind, Matt Serra and Jim Norton bring on two exciting fighters from Saturday’s card with welterweight Geoff Neal and women’s strawweight Mackenzie Dern as guests.

Making his return to the show for the first time since 2019, Geoff Neal dishes out his thoughts on Ian Machado Garry’s trash talk as the two get closer to their high-stakes showdown on Saturday’s card.

While waiting for Mackenzie Dern, Jim and Matt begin to make their picks from the UFC 298 main card — saving the main event and co-main event until after Dern’s interview.

When Dern hops on the call, the jiu-jitsu black belt explains the circumstances that led to her accepting a short-notice fight against 3rd-ranked women’s strawweight Amanda Lemos and why she’s grateful for the opportunity to get back on the winning track against the fellow Brazilian.

To cap off the show, Jim and Matt call their shots for both the Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa middleweight co-main event and the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria featherweight title fight in the main event of the evening.

With UFC 298 fight week officially upon us, Matt Serra and Jim Norton invite UFC betting analyst Minty Bets on to UFC Unfiltered for a first-look at the betting lines for this Saturday’s pay-per-view portion of the card.

But first, the guys catch up with each other and unpack the action from over the weekend with a breakdown of the fights on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Pyfer card.

Hardly ever mistaken for an NFL fan, Matt listens in as Jim paints the picture of Sunday’s thrilling, high-stakes Super Bowl.

When Minty hops on toward the latter half of the show, she explains how she got into sports gambling and how she specifically found a lane in MMA betting analysis before dishing her thoughts on fighters and betting lines that she likes on this Saturday’s UFC 298 card in Anaheim, California.