UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra

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.

The one and only Phoenix Carnevale fills in for Jim Norton on today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered; a show that features two guests in UFC middleweight Gregory “RoboCop” Rodrigues and comedian Sam Tripoli.

Bonding over their love for jiu-jitsu, Rodrigues begins the show by explaining to Matt Serra why an 8-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu national champion has seen most of his recent MMA fights end by knockout.

Rodrigues ends the interview by previewing his fight on Saturday’s main card against well-rounded middleweight veteran Brad Tavares.

Then, Sam Tripoli hops on for his second-ever appearance on UFC Unfiltered. Already an experienced Krav Maga practitioner himself, the Los Angeles-based comedian goes on to explain that he has rediscovered his passion for jiu-jitsu at his good friend Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu.

Matt ends the interview by getting Tripoli to share his favorite conspiracy theories.

Finally, Matt and Phoenix wrap up the show by breaking down and predicting some of the matchups atop Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Pyfer card.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by a friend of the show in Aljamain Sterling and a fast-rising welterweight in Themba Gorimbo.

Keeping himself busy with a pair of grappling matches in the time since losing his bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley, Sterling explains why there’s an added sense of relief in jumping up in weight from 135 pounds to 145 pounds ahead of his featherweight debut against 8th-ranked Calvin Kattar at UFC 300.

The guys get Sterling to assess his upcoming matchup against Kattar while also getting the former bantamweight champion’s opinion on what his friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili has to do to secure a title shot of his own.

Once Sterling hops off the show, Matt recaps his wife’s successful MMA fight from over the weekend.

Finally, Themba Gorimbo joins the show fresh off his 32-second 1st-round knockout to reflect on how mixed martial arts has guided him on an incredible journey — one that Matt thinks could be made into its own movie.

Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by women’s strawweight Molly McCann and former two-time World Series champion Johnny Damon for today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered!

Set to fight 27-year-old women’s strawweight Diana Belbita in a rematch from 2019, Molly hops on the show to explain how extra focus on improving her jiu-jitsu along with a drop down to 115 pounds has her feeling confident with her ability to put an end to her current two-fight losing streak.

The British fighter known as “Meatball” ends the interview by sharing how her love for Italian food resulted in her opening up her own Italian restaurant called ‘Polpetta’ back home in Liverpool.

Between interviews, Matt hilariously admits to knowing just one thing and one thing only about the upcoming Super Bowl matchup.

Then, Johnny Damon calls in to reflect on how awesome it was that Boston’s electrifying UFC 292 card last Summer was able to be the former Red Sox outfielder’s first experience at a UFC event.

Finally, the guys wrap up the show with their picks for some fights atop Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs. Imavov card.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by newly-crowned UFC women’s bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington and 15th-ranked lightweight Drew Dober.

Nine days removed from a career-defining win over Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant women’s bantamweight title, Pennington reflects on how much she has improved in the five years since her first title shot against Amanda Nunes.

The latter part of the interview sees the champion assess the rest of the division — including her thoughts on Julianna Peña’s trash-talking ways and whether it’s reasonable to expect UFC newcomer Kayla Harrison to be able to cut down to bantamweight after competing well above the weight limit at both 145 and 155 pounds in the past.

Shortly after Pennington’s interview, Drew Dober hops on the show for his fifth time as a guest on UFC Unfiltered.

Dober previews his upcoming fight against Renato Moicano and discusses how the two match up going into Saturday night’s co-main event at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by 12th-ranked UFC welterweight Neil Magny and comedian Paul Smith!

Four days removed from submitting his early bid for comeback of the year, Neil Magny discusses his big win over surging Canadian welterweight Mike Malott in Toronto at UFC 297 and what it means for the 36-year-old contender moving forward on his goal to crack the top ten.

Shortly thereafter, the guys are joined by England’s own Paul Smith — who discusses his entry into stand-up comedy before ultimately sharing how his story of training martial arts resulted in him making his professional debut for charity.

With no fight card this weekend, Jim and Matt wrap up the show by sharing their thoughts on UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall revealing the fact that Stipe Miocic turned down an offer by the UFC to stage a fight between Aspinall and Miocic at UFC 300.

Back home after filming with Dana White and Din Thomas in Toronto, Matt Serra returns to UFC Unfiltered for an episode that sees him and Jim Norton dish their UFC 297 takeaways; with middleweight Chris Curtis hopping on at the tail-end of the show!

Jim and Matt work from the top of Saturday’s card on down for a full-fledged recap of the card in Toronto — including Neil Magny’s epic comeback, Raquel Pennington’s women’s bantamweight title victory, and Sean Strickland’s close, split-decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis in the main event for the middleweight belt.

Fresh off a win over Marc-Andre Barriault on Saturday’s main card, Chris Curtis calls in to discuss what it was like fighting on the same card as his friend and teammate, Sean Strickland.

A veteran of the fight game at 36 years old, Curtis sheds light on his recovery process and how soon he feels he can turn around and accept another fight.

With Matt Serra out and about in Toronto during UFC 297 fight week, John Morgan tags along as a guest co-host for an episode of UFC Unfiltered that sees women’s bantamweight Mayra Bueno Silva and featherweight Arnold Allen call in ahead of their fights on Saturday.

Jim and John kick off the show by previewing this Saturday’s highly-anticipated middleweight title fight main event between champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus Du Plessis.

Then, Mayra Bueno Silva hops on the show ahead of her fight against 2nd-ranked women’s bantamweight Raquel Pennington to iterate why she feels prepared to seize the vacant title on the line in Saturday’s co-main event.

When Mayra leaves, the guys discuss some other storylines on Saturday’s card before ultimately bringing on Arnold Allen as the final guest caller of the show.

Nine months removed from his loss to Max Holloway, Allen previews his fight against unbeaten Movsar Evloev in the pay-per-view opener, while also dishing out his thoughts on whether Alexander Volkanovski made a wise decision to quickly turn around for a fight at UFC 298 against Ilia Topuria.

Finally, Jim and John end the show with a few predictions from the very top of Saturday’s UFC 297 pay-per-view card.

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by UFC bantamweight Farid Basharat and featherweight Andre Fili for a show that sees the guys also recap some of the action from Saturday’s action at the APEX.

Matt starts off the show by catching up with Jim about the comedian’s recently released episode on The Joe Rogan Experience before Farid Basharat hops on the show.

Having improved to 12-0 and 3-0 in the UFC with Saturday’s unanimous decision win over Taylor Lapilus, Basharat talks about his journey from London to the United States, where he says Jake Shields and the Xtreme Couture team have helped him take his skills to a new level.

Between guests, Matt and Jim recap the action from Saturday’s card, including what could be in store for light heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev following a win in the main event rematch against Johnny Walker.

Finally, Andre Fili joins the show a month removed from his 1st-round knockout win against Lucas Almeida at UFC 296. An engaging and personal conversation ensues in which the featherweight also discusses his entrepreneurial hustles, passion for music, and love for dogs in addition to the state of his MMA career.

With Jim Norton out for the day, Din Thomas makes his first UFC Unfiltered appearance of 2024 on a show that sees lightweight Jim Miller and bantamweight Ricky Simon call in ahead of their fights on Saturday.

The guys waste no time by bringing Jim Miller on the show almost instantly for a chat that sees the 40-year-old veteran reiterate his plans to fight a big name at UFC 300 after Saturday’s fight against Gabriel Benitez.

As Jim talks about his passion for hunting, Din and Matt go down the rabbit hole of a hilarious hypothetical scenario in which Matt had to hunt for food instead of scouring for pizza.

Almost immediately after Jim Miller leaves the show, Ricky Simon hops on the call to discuss his mindset following a loss to Song Yadong that snapped his five-fight winning streak.

Finally, Matt and Din wrap up the show by taking a look at Saturday’s card at the UFC APEX headlined by the Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker rematch at light heavyweight.

On today’s show, Jim and Matt are joined by Serra-Longo trained UFC bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili and veteran flyweight Tim Elliott!

Moments before Merab Dvalishvili hops on the show, Matt shows Jim another side of Merab’s sense of humor by pulling up a hilarious video montage from the bantamweight’s Instagram account.

With just over a month until the UFC 298 co-main event sees Merab Dvalishvili take on Henry Cejudo, Merab fills the guys in on his preparation and whether he finds a difference in fighting Cejudo over three or five rounds.

Shortly after Merab leaves, flyweight Tim Elliott joins the show to discuss his mindset coming off a short-notice submission win over Sumudaerji in the first round at the beginning of December.

Jim and Matt wrap up the episode with their thoughts on a pair of exciting lightweight fight announcements from Dana White — Dustin Poirier vs. Benoît Saint Denis at UFC 299 and Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300.