Daniel Cormier TV - DC REACTS to Alex Pereira TKO win vs. Ankalaev, Jiri CRAZY knockout, Merab beats Cory

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Episode: Daniel Cormier TV – DC REACTS to Alex Pereira TKO win vs. Ankalaev, Jiri CRAZY knockout, Merab beats Cory
Date: October 6, 2025
Host: Daniel Cormier (DC)
Producer: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Episode Overview

This episode features Daniel Cormier's instant reactions to the key fights at UFC 320 at the T-Mobile Arena. DC offers passionate, expert analysis on Alex Pereira’s statement TKO win over Magomed Ankalaev, Merab Dvalishvili’s relentless bantamweight title defense, and Jiri Prochazka’s electrifying comeback KO against Khalil Rountree Jr. The episode is filled with DC’s trademark energy, veteran insight, praise for breakout performers, and reflections on the trajectory of UFC’s top divisions.

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Main Discussion Points & Fight Breakdowns

1. Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev

Timestamps: [02:08]–[06:30]

• Pereira's Dominant Performance:

  • Pereira reclaimed the title with a “not competitive” TKO, immediately seizing the center and attacking Ankalaev.
  • “He came to the middle like he was shot out of a cannon and immediately attacked Uncalayev. Leg kick, leg kick, leg kick. Got unclea against the Octagon side, hits him with a nasty overhand right, puts him down.” — Daniel Cormier [03:00]
  • DC marvels at Pereira’s 12-to-6 elbows as “some of the nastiest...I have ever seen in ground and pound by anyone.” [03:20]

• Pereira’s Legacy and Mentality:

  • DC calls Pereira “a surefire hall of Famer. He has won belts three times. Nine of [12] UFC fights have been for championships.” [04:30]
  • DC dismisses fight clichés, emphasizing Pereira’s uniqueness: “He doesn’t pay any attention to that type of stuff. He’s just a special type of talent, a special type of guy.” [04:50]

• Future Challenger Dynamics:

  • DC mentions possible next opponents, including Carlos Ulberg and Jiri Prochazka, highlighting the daunting nature of facing Pereira.

• Physical and Mental Renewal:

  • Notes that Pereira’s “seven months off” was likely rejuvenating—he returned “crazy, dangerous, refreshed.” [05:20]

2. Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight Title)

Timestamps: [06:30]–[08:00]

• Merab’s Relentless Dominance:

  • Merab successfully defended the bantamweight title, outpacing a prepared and resilient Sandhagen.
  • “His standup’s gotten better. And when you’re that dangerous in wrestling, you have that level of cardio…you become a real problem for everyone in your division.” — Daniel Cormier [07:00]
  • “Corey fought what possibly was a perfect fight…but even though he did that, he got beat four rounds to one.” [07:20]

• Record-Setting Streaks:

  • DC notes Merab is closing in on Anderson Silva’s record of 16 UFC win streaks.
  • Praises Merab’s willingness to fight again in December: “Let him. We’ve never seen a person defend the championship four times in a calendar year.” [07:45]

• Future Threats:

  • Umar Nurmagomedov is back in focus as the most credible threat after a near 48–47 decision.

• Key Trainer:

  • Shout-out to coach John Wood and the work of Ray Longo.

3. Jiri Prochazka vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

Timestamps: [08:00]–[09:30]

• Wild, Violent, Memorable:

  • The bout delivered “everything we expected…violent, fun, technique, skills, heart.” — Daniel Cormier [08:10]
  • Rountree took the first two rounds; Prochazka staged a third-round comeback with a “nasty right hand that puts him flat.”
  • “When you fight Yuri Prochazka in a brawl, you don’t do well…sometimes even when you do respond, you get run over.” [08:40]

• Prochazka’s Character and Resilience:

  • DC admires Jiri’s “winner” mentality, odd style, and ability to rally from behind.
  • Highlights that if not for Pereira, Prochazka may have held the belt.

4. Other Notable Performances

Timestamps: [09:30]–[14:50]

• Yusuf Zalal vs. Josh Emmett:

  • Yusuf dominated and made Emmett “tap verbally. It's crazy.”
  • DC stresses, “Yousef Zalal is real…and all featherweights should be paying attention.” [10:20]

• Joe Pyfer’s win:

  • Praised for balancing brashness and maturity—“He has amazing striking and heart and big power…tonight he showed his grappler. Unbelievable.” [11:00]

• Trey Sean Vines KO:

  • “One of the weirdest knockouts I’ve ever seen in my life…this kid’s power is next level.” [11:40]

• Dan Santos, Patchy Mix, Edmund Shabazyan, Yana Santos, Farid Basharat and others:

  • DC touches on each performance, giving quick praise or noting controversial judging, missed weights, or division relevance.
  • Special mention: “Yana Santos...6 of 7 people in a row have missed weight against her and she’s fought them all and she’s beaten them all. Now she’s in the top five. Congrats to Yana.” [12:50]

5. Performance of the Night

Timestamps: [14:50]–[15:40]

• DC’s “Total Wireless Performance of the Night”:
  • Initially considered giving it to Prochazka, but ultimately awards it to Alex Pereira:
    • “There is no denying that we watch absolute greatness tonight with the new champion again. So my total wireless performance of the night goes to none other than the new champion once again, Alex Pereda for a beautiful performance.” — Daniel Cormier [15:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Pereira’s Transformation:

  • “He came to the middle like he was shot out of a cannon and immediately attacked Uncalayev...hits him with a nasty overhand right, puts him down.” [03:00]

• On Dominance in the Division:

  • “His pace, pressure, cardio. He just won’t be deterred.” — On Merab Dvalishvili [07:10]

• On Underdog Spirit:

  • “You don’t do well when you fight Yiri Prochazka in a brawl...sometimes even when you do respond, you get run over.” [08:40]

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Key Moments by Timestamp

• [02:08] – DC opens his reactions, hails Pereira’s aggression
• [03:20] – Describes Pereira’s finishing sequence
• [04:50] – Puts Pereira’s rapid championship rise in historical context
• [07:00] – Analyzes Merab’s improvements and core strengths
• [08:40] – Breaks down Prochazka’s comeback KO
• [11:40] – Explains oddness of Trey Sean Vines knockout
• [15:00] – Awards Pereira Performance of the Night

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Tone and Language

Daniel Cormier brings his usual mix of expert insight, fighter respect, and energy, often using enthusiastic phrases (“He’s special, man. He really, really is special.”) and speaking directly to the audience in a colloquial, welcoming manner.

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Conclusion

This episode encapsulates the excitement and narrative drama of UFC 320 with Daniel Cormier’s authoritative, engaging commentary. DC highlights the tactical evolutions, fighter legacies, division implications, and standout performances with clarity and passion—making this a must-listen for MMA followers and casual fans alike.

Transcript

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I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about how to be a better you when you think about emotion regulation, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denial is easier. Complex problem solving takes effort. Listen to the Psychology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[UFC Commentator]

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You must be 21 or older and physically present in in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-888-A-D M I T I T in Indiana. If you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it and if you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-G GAMBLER what's up guys? Welcome to my post Fight reaction video brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of the UFC. They're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. What's up guys? UFC 320 just wrapped and what a night from the T Mobile arena as look at Miles, my boy Miles in the back. Hey, living good as he can when Liverpool is just crap in the bed right now. Go Arsenal. But guys, what a night from T Mobile. Alex Pereira is once again the UFC champion and guys, it was not competitive. There was no drama. There was nothing of certain like nothing of consequence happened outside of Alex Perdeira making a decision all week, even going to the check in this week he said he was not himself in fight number one and most fighters say stuff like that. Tonight he proved that he was telling the truth and he wasn't himself in fight number one. The fight starts and a lot was made of how Magomen and Goliath was able to back Pereira up in fight number one, make him focus so much on defending takedowns that he wasn't able to get his offense going. Well tonight you could tell Pereira made a choice that he was not going to back up. He came to the middle like he was shot out of a cannon and immediately attacked Uncalayev. Leg kick, leg kick, leg kick. Got unclea against the Octagon side, hits him with a nasty overhand right, puts him down. Uncle a goes down. 12 to 6 elbows. He landed some of the nastiest 12 to 6 elbows I have Ever seen in grounded pound by anyone that allowed for him to get the finish. Uncle I wasn't going anywhere. You could tell that with the aggressiveness that Pereda was, was showing, with the. The emphasis and the impact he was landing those shots with, it was only a matter of time to do what he did against Magomon on Goliath is so impressive because of how good Ankalaev is. There are so many cliches. The younger guy wins the rematch. As you get older, you're not as good, especially whenever you're fighting a guy that became the champion who's supposed to be better in the rematch, especially if he's younger. Pereira takes. He doesn't pay any attention to that type of stuff. Stuff. He's just a special type of talent, a special type of guy. I mean, this guy's had 12 UFC fights now. Nine of them have been for UFC championships. He's still less than four years on the UFC roster. He's a surefire hall of Famer. He has won belts three times. And I think the most important factor about how dominant he is and how daunting a task it is to fight him is listening to his potential next challengers, Carlos Allbird and Yuri Prochazka. Yuri Prochazka told Megan Olivi, maybe you don't believe me, but I'll find a way to fight him. I'll find a way to beat him. Carlos Alberg almost tried to tell him he needed to go up the heavyweight. Carlos that I'll fight anybody. Make no mistake about it, these guys aren't afraid of Alex Pereira. But it is a very hard battle that they are facing when they fight him, because this dude is the real deal. And he seems to be this break right this seven months that he's been off, which he's never had in his career before. It refreshed him. He must have got healthy. He had time to improve. But he looked like that crazy, dangerous guy that we saw on a couple of occasions whenever he was. Whenever he was defending his championships on multiple occasions. He's special, man. He really, really is special. And what, what a guy and what a person. What a performance. Mega Man. Uncle IV is going to have to go home and add some questions about himself. What does he have to do if he gets himself back to this opportunity? Because he will, right? Most guys can't deal with Uncle Ayo, so he's going to have to figure out what he needs to do to try to change that. Because after what happened tonight, I think Pereira would try to Fight him in the same way. In the co main event, Merab D. Wallace Reveali once again defended his bantamweight championship, and he did it. And it was so impressive because Cory Sandhagen fought a wonderful fight. Corey Sandhagen and his team should be proud because the preparation that they did for him, the. The shape they got in the wrestling defense, everything was on point. But the job that John Wood has done with Murad Duellas really is I tip my hat off to him every time I see him because his standup's gotten better. And when you're that dangerous in wrestling, you have that level of cardio. When you start adding all those other things, you become a real problem for everyone in your division. And Merab right now is just the biggest problem that any division in a long time has ever seen. His pace, pressure, cardio. He just won't be deterred. You know, I'm not blowing smoke when I say Corey Sandhagen fought what possibly was a perfect fight. I mean, Rogan hit the nail on the head when he said that. He goes, corey fought the best fight he could have possibly fought. And even though he did that, he got beat Four rounds to one across the board. Four rounds to one across the board. Merab almost finished it in the second round with his hands. And he wants to fight again in December. I say let him fight again because we've never seen a person defend the championship four times in a calendar year. Let him. Let him. He's closing in on Anderson Silva's record of 16 straight fights win in the UFC. Nobody's done that. His win streak could get the 16 fights. He's up there with Islam Makhacha for a win streak. Murab Dual is. Really. Is very, very special, I gotta tell you. I think Umar Nurmagomedov is probably the one guy that can challenge it. We saw them fight. It was 48, 47 across the board. Everyone else cannot stay with him. It's gonna be very difficult for guys to figure out how to beat him because he's gonna just keep hitting them with takedowns. Just keeps hitting you at the hips, man. It's. He's a very hard challenge to prepare for. But as we were saying on the broadcast, somebody always shows, no matter how dominant you are, no matter how good you are, every champion eventually runs into someone that can compete. With Yuri Prosky, Khalil Rountree was everything we expected it to be. So hats off to the champ Marov and his team and everybody else. Ray Longo, what a guy, man. He's amazing. Khalil Rountry Jr. And Europe Pro Hoskin was everything we expected it to be. It was violent. It was fun. Fun. We saw technique. We saw skills, heart. Khalil Romtree won two rounds, the first two rounds, and he won him pretty handily. But in that third round, Yuri Prochazka did what Yuri Prochazka does. He attacked him, pressured him. He made Yuri fight him in a dirty brawl. And when you fight Yuri Prochazka in a brawl, you don't do well. Not many people can handle Prohaska. The only person that beats him, honestly, is Alex Per. If not for Alex Per, your Prohaska may have had this belt the whole time. He, another guy, was the UFC champion, like, three fights. Yuri is special. While he may be different, and he moves to the beat of his own drum, and he may be odd in his striking. This dude is an absolute winner, and he proves it time and time again. And tonight he was up against it because he was down two rounds to nothing on every judge's scorecard. In the third round, he flatlines Khalil Rountree with a nasty right hand that puts him flat. Rountree understood that he couldn't be in a brawl, but when youri forces that on you, you have nothing to do but respond or he's gonna run you over. And sometimes even when you do respond, you get run over. Yusuf Zalal submitted Josh EMT in no time. Guys, Josh EMT has been around for a really long time. We have never seen him get done like Yusuf Zalal did him tonight. Yusuf Zalal took him down and made it look easy. Yousef Zaa is real, and he's one of those guys that all featherweights should be paying attention to because so many guys have victories over Josh emt. None of them did it that way. He made him tap verbally. It's crazy. Joe Piper caught a wonderful fight. Congrats to Dean Thomas and all those guys over there in Philly. Those guys are doing a great job with this kid. This kid does talk crazy at times. He's brash, he's unapologetic. And maybe that rubs people the wrong way when he's putting performances like that tonight like he did against Abus Megamerov, you better pay attention because he's now learn how to control his emotions in the octagon. He knows how to follow a game plan. He has amazing striking and heart and big power. And then tonight, he showed his grappler. Unbelievable. Joe Piper's the real deal. Beat Trey Sean Vines, guys, it was one of the weirdest knockouts I've ever seen in my life. The way Trey Sean Vines fell down when Gaultier was elbowing him and the way he hit him was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen nothing like that. This kid's power is next level. The way you build him is you continue to give him fights with people that he can compete with early. Let him continue to build because he's still so new, but he's exciting and he's fun and he can knock people out. Ju Sang Yu and Daniel Santos fought a great fight. Daniel Santos missed weight by a lot, moving the fight up to a catch weight. But even in that fought wonderfully, got a beautiful knockout. Hats off to Daniel Santos. Patchy Mix got screwed, but I will say that Jakob Wickloff, I think his name was, he fought a good fight for a debut. I thought he lost the last two rounds or yeah, I thought he lost the last two rounds, but bad decisions happen, man. You can't leave it hands of the judges. Edmund Shabazzi got another victory now. He's won three in a row. Punahele Soriano was disappointed when he got a decision win. Yana Santos. Yo. 6 of 7 people in a row have missed weight against Giannis Santos and she's fought them all and she's beaten them all. Now she's in the top five. Congrats to Yana. Farid Basharat, biggest fight of his career. Got a dub against Chris Gutierrez. Ramiz Brahimad is moving to Chicago. He's the real deal. Beat Austin Vandenford by submission and Veronica Hardy got another victory. Guys, it's now time for my total wireless performance of the night and that and my promise. Fighter of the night is none other than the champion, Alex Perdeira. I was almost certain this will go to Yuri after that fight against Khalil Roundtree. But there is no denying that we watch absolute greatness tonight with the new champion again. So my total wireless performance of the night goes to none other than the new champion once again, Alex Pereda for a beautiful performance. Hey, they told them it was going to be no chama. It was absolutely chama tonight for the new champion, Alex Pareto. So, guys, again, thank you for your support. I appreciate each and every one of you. I love you guys. Make sure you stick around. I have some backstage interview with the winning coaches right after the break. Until next time. Peace.

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[Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman]

I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about how to be a better you when you think about emotion regulation, you're not gonna choose an adaptive strategy which is more effort use unless you think there's a good outcome. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denial is easier. Complex problem solving takes effort. Listen to the Psychology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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