Daniel Cormier REACTS to Khamzat Chimaev DOMINATING Dricus Du Plessis, Murphy & Prates CRAZY KOs

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode: Daniel Cormier REACTS to Khamzat Chimaev DOMINATING Dricus Du Plessis, Murphy & Prates CRAZY KOs
Date: August 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode is a post-fight breakdown and immediate reaction by UFC analyst Daniel Cormier to the explosive events of UFC 319. The main theme centers around Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant title win over Dricus Du Plessis, as well as standout performances and knockouts by Lerone Murphy and Carlos Prates. Cormier gives technical and emotional insights into each fight, touches on what these results mean for the involved fighters and the divisions, and awards his coveted “Fighting Spirit” prize.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Khamzat Chimaev Wins the Middleweight Title

(Starts: 03:50)

• Dominant Performance:
  Chimaev decisively beat Du Plessis over 25 minutes (50-44 unanimous), using relentless wrestling and control.

  “He went out there and he dominated Dricus Du Plessis for 25 minutes, won the championship 50-44 across the board. I was very surprised at how easily he was able to take Du Plessis down and control him.” (03:55)

• Du Plessis’s Shortcomings:
  Du Plessis didn't prepare properly for Chimaev’s wrestling.

  “I was a little disappointed on the side of Du Plessis because he knew the challenge. I don't know if they prepared the right way for what challenge was in front of them… He wasn't able to do either of those things tonight and now he's the former champ.” (05:23)

• Chimaev’s Growth and Cardio:
  Cormier notes Chimaev’s improved stamina at middleweight and his strategic use of top control:

  “Chimaev was just too driven. He looked like he was in tremendous shape… If there was a knock that Chimaev had no cardio, that's been proven wrong. Now as Rogan said, he didn’t really use as much energy because he was controlling him the whole time. But all of that takes a ton of energy.” (04:41)

• Stats & Team Insights:

  • 11 of 13 takedowns landed
  • Over 20 minutes of control time; 15 minutes in a crucifix
  • Off-season weight is 220 lbs—a "full blown" middleweight

• Future Middleweight Challenges:
  Other contenders (De Ridder, Hernandez, Bohalio, Imavov) need to focus on wrestling to compete with Chimaev.

  “All these guys should be running to the wrestling room right now...The controls that Chimaev uses, the wrist fighting, the hand fighting, the forward pressure, these are all things that you learn in the wrestling room as a kid and then you apply them to fighting.” (06:41)

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2. Lerone Murphy’s Breakout KO Over Aaron Pico

(Starts: 08:59)

• Shocking Knockout:
  Underdog Murphy knocked out Aaron Pico cold, solidifying himself as a serious title threat.

  “Lerone Murphy had that moment that’s going to earn him a championship opportunity… He went out in the biggest moment of his career and delivered better than he had ever delivered before in his career.” (09:30)

• Post-Fight Setup:
  Featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski texted Murphy:

  “The champ texts him, goes, ‘I’ll see you in December, Lerone.’ So we don’t know what’s happening in December for the year-end card, but it sounds like Volkanovski wants to fight against Lerone Murphy.” (09:55)

• Concerns for Pico:

  “He’s been knocked out now multiple times. And when he’s gotten knocked out, he’s gotten knocked out really bad.” (10:19)

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3. Carlos Prates Defeats Jeff Neal with a Spinning Elbow

(Starts: 11:04)

• Fight Recap:
  Prates dominated Neal and scored a brutal finish via spinning elbow.

  “Protest hits him with a couple nasty knees, some good right hands, and then hits him with the nastiest spinning elbow. There was a big old gash on the side of Jeff Neal. Blood was just pouring out of his head. It was crazy.” (11:18)

• Prates’ New Approach:

  “Carlos Protest told me on Wednesday, ‘I’m done looking for the knockout. That’s what cost me against Ian Garry. I am so aggressive trying to get the knockout, I can lose rounds. I’m going to take my time.’ And by taking his time, he got exactly what he was looking for anyway—the knockout.” (11:38)

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4. Michael ‘Venom’ Page Outclasses Jared Cannonier

(Starts: 12:14)

• Performance:
  MVP looked exceptional, hurting Cannonier several times.

  “Michael Venom Page beat Jared Cannonier. MVP looked as good as we’ve ever seen him look and he looked like the MVP we expected.” (12:14)

• Potential Future Fights:
  Both Prates and MVP called for marquee matchups (including Leon Edwards and one another).

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5. Other Noteworthy Results & Mentions

(Starts: 13:43)

• Ellie submits Kai Asakura:
  Asakura now 0-2 in UFC following two submission losses.

• SushaKaya’s Quick UFC Run:

  “Four days, two UFC fights and now asking for another fight on September 12th. I mean this kid is ready to fight and I love it.” (13:54)

• Luis Godinez beats Jessica Andrade

• Alexander Hernandez KOs Chase Hooper

• Drakkar Klose wins over Edson Barboza

• Karine Silva edges out Diani Barbosa (Cormier feels the decision should have gone the other way)

• Joseph Morales wins The Ultimate Fighter impressively

  “Hats off to Joseph Morales winning the Ultimate Fighter over Libby Idris and doing it in an impressive fashion. I’ve never seen Joseph look that good.” (14:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Chimaev’s Control:

  “Sean Barmett, the head coach at Michigan, texted me and said that Chimaev had over 20 minutes of control time and he had 15 minutes in a crucifix. It was very impressive by Chimaev.” (05:12)

• On Du Plessis’s Gameplan:

  “You gotta make every single takedown hard. You gotta get back to your feet like Kamaru Usman did. But this dude is amazing, man.” (07:59)

• On Murphy’s KO:

  “Everybody remembers Michael Jordan hitting that shot in Game 6 against the Utah Jazz. We’ll never forget it… Tonight, Lerone Murphy had that moment that’s going to earn him a championship opportunity.” (09:35)

• On Carlos Prates’ Mindset Change:

  “He was much more measured, he was much more patient and he looked amazing. Congrats to Carlos Prates.” (11:46)

• Total Wireless Fighting Spirit Award:

  “My Fighting Spirit Award… goes to Lerone Murphy. This is the biggest part of his career for him to do what he did in that moment. It doesn’t get any better.” (15:58)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------|:----------:| | Chimaev dominates Du Plessis | 03:50 – 08:59 | | Murphy KOs Pico, Title Shot Hype | 08:59 – 11:03 | | Prates vs. Neal & MVP’s Win | 11:04 – 12:43 | | Quick Results / TUF Recap | 13:43 – 15:50 | | Fighting Spirit Award (to Murphy) | 15:58 |

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Summary

Daniel Cormier recaps a dramatic UFC 319 card, headlined by Khamzat Chimaev’s smothering performance to claim the middleweight title, reinforces Chimaev’s unique athletic and technical ceiling, and urges division contenders to evolve. Lerone Murphy’s chilling KO positions him for title contention and earns Cormier’s “Fighting Spirit” award. Carlos Prates and Michael Venom Page both grab significant wins, while The Ultimate Fighter’s Joseph Morales impresses. Cormier’s breakdowns combine technical insight, authentic emotion, and a fighter’s perspective, true to his engaging and accessible post-fight style.

Transcript

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[UFC Analyst/Commentator]

All right guys, UFC 319 just wrapped from the United center as my boy Miles gets everything done and wrapped up. Tonight's Post Fight Reaction video is brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless sponsor of UFC. They're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. Tonight a new champ was crowned in Hamza Chimaya. He went out there and he dominated Dreckers dupless C for 25 minutes, won the championship 5044 across the board. I was very surprised at how easily he was able to take Du Plessis down and control him. To his credit, Drake has never gave up on himself. He continued to believe that he was going to eventually get Khamzat and win the fight. But as the rounds went on you saw that even though Drake has a championships mindset, it wasn't going to matter. Chimaev was just too driven. He looked like he was in tremendous shape. If there was a knock that Chimaev had no cardio, that's been proven wrong. Now as Rogan said, he didn't really use as much energy because he was controlling him the whole time. But all of that takes a ton of energy. Chamy was able to secure I mean maybe like 11 of 13 takedowns he had over. Sean Barmett, the head coach at Michigan texted me and said that chimaev had over 20 minutes of control time and he had 15 minutes in a crucifix. It was very impressive. Buy Chamayev if I'M being honest, I was a little disappointed on the side of Du Plessis because he knew the challenge. I don't know if they prepared the right way for what challenge was in front of them. You know, when you're fighting Jamia, you've got to be able to get up if taken down and you've got to make the takedowns hard. He wasn't able to do either of those things tonight and now he's the former champ. But ultimately the night belongs to Chimaev. Man, we saw this kid come in in 2020 fight three times, right away, fight two times on fight island and immediately people started saying this guy's gonna be a champion at 170. People thought he would be a champion. But then eventually he missed weight. One time at £9, he went up to middleweight. Now he's a full blown middleweight. I heard that in the offseason. Chimaev weighs 220 pounds, full blown middleweight. And it looks like because he's not cutting that extra 15 pounds, he can push hard for 25 minutes. Thank you. And that's a real problem for the middleweight division. We were talking about it after the fight. Rainier Deridder loves grappling, so he could present some problems there. He has good striking, so you can present some problems there. Fluffy Hernandez has wrestling cardio and boxing. He can present some problems. Obviously, Bohalio and Imavov are tremendous strikers. They present problems there. But all these guys should be running to the wrestling room right now, getting with a coach that can prepare them for the wrestling exchanges. Because the controls that Chimaev uses, the wrist fighting, the hand fighting, the forward pressure, these are all things that you learn in the wrestling room as a kid and then you apply them to fighting. I don't know if one training camp is going to be enough to help you close the gap because Chimaev is so good in those areas. You got to make every single takedown hard. You got to get back to your feet like Kamaru Usman did. But this dude is amazing, man. He showed time and time again that he's a special athlete. Now he's got the world championship belt to prove it. Massive for his his country, massive for his team, and massive for everything. Team Hamzat Chamayev. So congrats to the champ, man, that was amazing. You did a fantastic job. In the co main event, Laron Murphy knocked out Aaron Pico and it was impressive, man. Laron Murphy is now 17 0, right? Lerone Murphy was undefeated in the UFC. He had not gotten beat, had beaten everybody, put in front of him, and he still felt like he was getting overlooked. You can't overlook him after what he did tonight because he had a game opponent, an opponent that fought hard, an opponent that had an undying belief that he was going to beat him. And he knocked him out and he knocked him out cold. I mean, we talk about sports moments and memories and a lot of times when you're trying to earn something, you need that memory. Everybody remembers Michael Jordan hitting that shot in Game 6 against the Utah Jazz. We'll never forget it. Everybody knows that when an athlete is trying to win the Heisman or the mvp, you need a moment that stands out to earn you that thing tonight. Laron Murphy had that moment that's going to earn him a championship opportunity and two, his credit. He went out in the biggest moment of his career and delivered better than he had ever delivered before in his career. And then the champ texts him, goes, I'll see you in December, Laron. So we don't know what's happening in December for the year in card, but it sounds like Volkanovski wants to fight against Laron Murphy. And I tell you one thing, if anybody deserves a title fight like Magal man and Goliath did before his last fight, and like Khamzat did before his last fight, it's Laron Murphy. He deserves an opportunity to fight the champion for the belt. He earned that tonight with what was one of the greatest knockouts we've seen in a long time here. Pico bad. He used Pico's aggressiveness against him. I'm a wrestler, so I've known Aaron Pico since he was a little boy. That was a bad knockout. His teeth were clenched together. They couldn't get the mouth guard out. That's very concerning for Aaron Pico. He's been knocked out now multiple times. And when he's gotten knocked out, he's gotten knocked out really bad. So little concern on the Pico side, but hats off to Laron Murphy for coming through in his biggest spot ever. I mean, Carlos Protest after losing to Ian Garry does what he did tonight. Sick. He was starting to beat up on Jeff Neal. Let's just call it what it is. At the end of that round, you could tell that there was a difference. Neil started wrestling him. Protest said to him, oh, you're wrestling me now. I thought you said this would be a one round fight. Protest hits him with a couple nasty knees, some good right hands, and it hits him with the nastiest spinning elbow. There was a big old gash on the side of Jeff Neal. Blood was just pouring out of his head. It was crazy. The one thing that was very interesting was that Carlos Protest told me on Wednesday, I'm done looking for the knockout. That's what cost me against Ian Garry. I am so aggressive trying to get the knockout. I can lose rounds. I'm going to take my time. And by taking his time, he got exactly what he was looking for anyway, the knockout. But he was much more measured, he was much more patient and he looked amazing. Congrats to Carlos Protest. Michael Venom Page beat Jared Cannonier MVP looked as good as we've ever seen him look and he looked like the MVP we expected. He was much more aggressive today, hurt Cannonier multiple times and just looked amazing, protest said after the fight. Hey, I want to fight in Brazil. Give me Leon Edwards. If I'm being honest, I can't see Leon Edwards taking that fight in Brazil. But MVP at his post fight presser said, hey, you need an opponent. I'll go back to 1670 and I'll fight Carlos Protest. If that's the case, I'm all in on that fight.

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[UFC Analyst/Commentator]

Ellie is submitted to Kai Asakura. Ellie's been away for a long time to come back and have that as a performance. Tremendous boy Kyle Sakura has got to be asking himself some questions now. He was a two time champion horizon. He's now 02 in his UFC career. It is lost by two submissions so he's got some work to do. By Sangar yeah by singer Sushakaya four days, two UFC fights and now asking for another fight some September 12th. I mean this kid is ready to fight and I love it and the bosses love it. He's got a lot of fans at that table of executives right now. Susakaev is on his way. Gives me a lot of those Hamza Chamayev vibes that we saw when he started fighting frequently, fighting often and dominating. So hats off to Suzakaya. Like Shaq. Beautiful TKO against Gerald Mershard. Luis Godinez was the biggest win of her career over Jessica Andrade. Alexander Hernandez knocking out Chase Hooper. Dakar close with a big win over at some Barbosa Diani Barbosa losing to Karine Silva. It was a terrible decision, at least in my opinion. I thought she had done enough to win it. Hats off to Joseph Morales winning the Ultimate Fighter over Libby Idris and doing it in an impressive fashion. I've never seen Joseph look that good. I tried to pick him as pick number one but we decided to go in a different direction. That was a mistake because he proved that he is the best fighter on this season of the Ultimate Fighter. But hats off to him for becoming the Ultimate Fighter. And congrats to Alibi. He apologized to me when he left Yakuzan. I told him we're all proud of you because we are proud of Alibi in all that he's accomplished, making it all the way to the final and fighting with a lot of heart and a lot of spirit. It was a great night from Chicago and I, I, I, I. I could not ask for a better job. Guys. Now it's time for my Total Wireless Fighting Spirit award that I give every night. It comes down to Larold Murphy or Carlos Protest. My Fighting Spirit award presented by Total Wireless goes to Laro Murphy. This is the biggest part of his career for him to do what he did in that moment. It doesn't get any better. This kid was faced with a tough opponent in a tough spot with all the things on the line for him to get a title fight, and he delivered. So tonight's Total Wireless Fighting Spirit Award goes to. Laron Murphy. Hey guys, thank you for your support. Like I said, I love and appreciate you. My voice is shot. I got a couple weeks off. I'm excited about it. So until next time, like subscribe and tell your friends. I got a YouTube channel and I'm giving you backstage access to the UFC. This happens every event afterwards. People get to take pictures. It's amazing. Thank you. I appreciate you. Until next time, guys. Peace. Foreign.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It is hot out there this summer, right? But don't sweat it. We got tons of ways to save on your family's favorite personal care items to keep yourself feeling cool and smelling good. Now through September 9th, earn four times points when you shop for items from your favorite brands like Right Guard, Raw Sugar, Dove Soft Soap and Olay. Then use your points for discounts on groceries or gas on future purchases. Offer end September 9th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[UFC Announcer]

Gatorade Zero the number one proven electrolyte blend made with zero sugar, designed to hydrate better than water so you can lose more sweat and push more limits. Gatorade 0 is it in you?

[UFC Analyst/Commentator]

Ugh.

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Come on.

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Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.

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