UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra

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Alex Morono & Dan Argueta w/ guest co-host John Morgan Apr 04, 2024

Show notes

With Matt Serra out for the day, Jim Norton is joined by MMA writer John Morgan for an episode of UFC Unfiltered that sees the guys talk to welterweight Alex Morono and bantamweight Dan Argueta ahead of their fights on Saturday's UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Curtis 2.

Looking to maintain his trend of never losing back-to-back fights, Morono opens his interview by reflecting on some stories from his early MMA career — including what it was like to get bit during a fight by his opponent.

Then, Alex discusses his mindset going into his 20th UFC fight and breaks down what he thinks about Saturday’s fight against a fellow veteran like Court McGee before wrapping things up by talking about what it's like to drive back-and-forth across Texas between the gym he owns in Houston and Dallas’ Fortis MMA where he gets coached up by Sayif Saud.

When Alex leaves, Jim and John then take a look at this Saturday's card, with some thoughts on the middleweight rematch between Brendan Allen and Chris Curtis in the main event.

Finally, Dan Argueta joins the show — Jim and John open the interview by getting the 30-year-old bantamweight to open up on what it's felt like having his two most recent fights end in a no contest.

Argueta then shares what Cub Swanson’s guidance has meant for him in his career before wrapping up his interview by unpacking the stakes of Saturday’s matchup against a hungry fighter in Jean Matsumoto making his UFC debut.

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Michael “Venom” Page, takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra welcome Michael “Venom” Page into the UFC for the exciting welterweight’s first-ever appearance on the podcast!

Finally back home in London after spending nearly a month in Miami after his big win at UFC 299 over Kevin Holland, “MVP” reflects on the family nature of his martial arts background — which stems from having two parents as Lau Gar Kung Fu practitioners and FOUR siblings with kickboxing championships to their names.

Set to turn 37 years old in less than a week, Page assesses the state of the UFC’s welterweight division while pondering what his own path up the UFC rankings may end up looking like.

As Jim and Matt wrap up the show by looking back at the action from over this past weekend in Atlantic City, the guys work their way down the card of UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot to discuss their main takeaways from the fight card.

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Joaquin Buckley, comedian Preacher Lawson, predicting UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot Mar 28, 2024

Show notes

With just a few days until the UFC makes its return to Atlantic City for an exciting night of action, Jim Norton and Matt Serra use today’s show to predict some fights from the card and speak to welterweight Joaquin Buckley and comedian Preacher Lawson.

With plenty of time until the first interview of the episode, Jim gives an update on the status of his white belt — and Matt hilariously accuses his co-host of “sandbagging” after hearing about Norton’s hesitance to a replacement piece of tape for the stripe on his belt that got ruined by the washing machine.

The guys then take a peak at Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot card, with Jim seeking to make up ground in the standings of their head-to-head prediction battle.

Fresh off the release of his new special, “My Name Is Preacher”, Preacher Lawson subsequently hops on the show for a chat with Jim and Matt. While talking about his mixed martial arts background, he reflects on his amateur MMA debut and how that experience compares to going up on stage and performing in front of people as a comedian.

Busy during a hectic fight week, Joaquin Buckley finally manages to hop on the show at the tail-end of the episode to discuss the reasoning behind his successful move from middleweight to welterweight.

After revealing that he has plans to make a special callout after beating Vicente Luque in this Saturday night’s co-main event, Buckley puts Matt on the spot in the hopes of hearing what Matt’s prediction for the fight looks like.

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Payton Talbott, Youssef Zalal, guest co-host Phoenix Carnevale Mar 26, 2024

Show notes

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim Norton and Matt Serra invite Phoenix Carnevale on as a guest co-host for a show that features a pair of winners from over the weekend in bantamweight Payton Talbott and featherweight Youssef Zalal.

The show begins with the three co-hosts issuing their takeaways from Rose Namajunas’ unanimous decision victory over Amanda Ribas in Saturday’s women’s flyweight main event at the UFC APEX.

Shortly thereafter, the guys are joined by Payton Talbott for a chat that sees the unbeaten bantamweight prospect discuss how he gets into a calm “flow” state that allows him to both perform as a martial artist and excel in various action sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing. After explaining how DJing has become a newfound passion, Talbott circles back to his MMA future while sharing his thoughts on calling out bantamweight opponents after victory.

After Payton leaves, the trio use the time between interviews to share their thoughts on Andre Lima’s decision to follow up his DQ win with a trip to a tattoo parlor to get Igor Severino’s bite mark tattooed on his bicep.

Then, Youssef Zalal hops on the show fresh off a statement 2nd-round stoppage win that saw him become the first person to submit Billy Quarantillo in the Octagon.

Phoenix looks back on Zalal’s MMA beginnings with LFA as her, Matt and Jim get Youssef to reflect on the lessons he’s learned about himself now that he’s found his way back into the UFC for a second stint.

The show wraps up as Matt gets Jim and Phoenix to share their other takeaways from up and down the UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas card.

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Amanda Ribas, country musician Michael Ray, UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas picks Mar 21, 2024

Show notes

Matt Serra and Jim Norton reunite for a Wednesday episode of UFC Unfiltered that sees the two chop it up with 8th-ranked UFC women’s flyweight Amanda Ribas and country musician Michael Ray ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas card at the APEX in Las Vegas.

Matt begins the show with his best attempt at humbly bragging about dominating Jim in the head-to-head fight predictions battle between the two co-hosts. Shortly after, the guys invite Amanda Ribas onto the show to hear the Brazilian veteran’s thoughts on what it means to finally be headlining a UFC card. Ahead of her first-ever UFC main event, Amanda discusses her thoughts on bouncing back and forth between flyweight and strawweight and why she’s expecting the very best version of Rose Namajunas as the two prepare for an all-action fight at 125 pounds.

Not too long after Amanda’s interview ends, country music star and UFC superfan Michael Ray joins the show to reflect on his MMA fandom while talking about his friendship with various UFC fighters. As the conversation shifts to Michael’s music career, the guys talk in depth about the state of the music industry and how Michael has adjusted his strategy of releasing hit records like the one he just dropped two weeks ago called “Nothin’ Else”.

Finally, Jim and Matt wrap up the show with three fight picks from atop Saturday night’s card.

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Mike Davis, comedian Mike Glazer, recapping UFC Fight Night w/ guest co-host Ray Longo Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

With Jim Norton out for the day, it’s a Serra-Longo type of day on UFC Unfiltered as the great Ray Longo saves the day as guest co-host for an episode featuring lightweight Mike Davis and comedian Mike Glazer.

Longo shares his perspective of this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura as someone who was in Las Vegas for the duration of the card. While recapping the card, Matt explains what he thinks he could see being the next course of action for Tai Tuivasa now that the Australian heavyweight has been stopped four straight times.

Shortly thereafter, Mike Davis hops on the show to recap his 2nd-round submission win on Saturday’s card over Natan Levy, using the backend of his interview to call out a popular lightweight similarly jockeying for a spot in the UFC’s 155-pound rankings.

When Davis leaves the show, Matt and Ray invite Mike Glazer on to talk to the comedian about the recent release of his special, “Life Rules!”, on YouTube. While Glazer’s comedy keeps him from being a full-on MMA practitioner, Matt still manages to identify an interesting martial arts discipline that Longo and Glazer have in common.

Matt and Ray end the show by sharing their thoughts on the news that Rio de Janeiro’s UFC 301 co-main event will see Jose Aldo take on Jonathan Martinez in the Brazilian legend’s first MMA fight since retiring after a loss to Merab Dvalishvili in 2022.

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Bryan Battle, comedian Jesus Trejo, UFC Fight Night: Tuivasa vs. Tybura picks Mar 14, 2024

Show notes

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.

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Kyler Phillips, recapping UFC 299 w/ Brett Okamoto Mar 12, 2024

Show notes

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.

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Jack Della Maddalena, in-depth preview of UFC 299 w/ guest co-host John Morgan Mar 07, 2024

Show notes

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.

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Kevin Holland, Mateusz Gamrot, UFC 299 picks Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

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.

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