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00:00And Mazeio in the blue trunks. Christian in the red. Chopping at that front lead leg is
00:15Mazeio. There's a lot of target on those long legs of Christian.
00:25Doubt about that. The one critique about Christian is that he doesn't necessarily utilize
00:31that frame to its fullest. Now he had a nice jab there a moment ago,
00:36but at least in the footage that I saw, he didn't always use those long tools the way that he could.
00:42It takes time at, you know, sometimes it takes time for these guys to
00:46really develop and part of the reason they struggle with that is the level of competition
00:50that they fight is so low that they get the experience of learning to use the things that
00:58are going to be what they are known for as their career. But again, you have to remember too,
01:06for Kevin Christian, he's basically had one fight in about four and a half years and that was back
01:11in January. He has been away for a while, said that the pandemic in Brazil just shut everything
01:18down. His gym was shut down for almost two years after. So he had a difficult time getting
01:25back into training, but also he had a job as a civil engineer. Yeah, he was able to
01:30make a living for his family as two kids, 13 and five and a daughter on the way.
01:36Christian was thinking about setting up a triangle a moment ago. Mazeio wise to it.
01:48He has a dangerous bottom game. Mazeio did a good job of shrugging that by
01:55he had his arm isolated. I thought he was going to make a mistake by trying to punch
01:59while in the arm bar, but instead he was able to shift him over and find safety.
02:07Three arm triangle finishes for Kevin Christian to your point, very dangerous
02:12on the ground and off his back.
02:18We can come up to Francesco. We can stand up here.
02:27Porter called for him to stand up. Sorry, Laura. No, I was just going to say,
02:30I think that's interesting that they, even in this dominant position, they understand
02:35the threat that is underneath their fighter, right? They're asking for him
02:38to potentially consider standing up, even though he's on top here.
02:44And he was the one who took the fight to the ground as well.
02:48But so far, Christian to me, really not necessarily doing a whole lot in terms of
02:54mounting an offense, although we saw earlier, he does have a very slick arm bar.
02:58It looked very close earlier on that arm bar.
03:05Francesco landed a couple of shots from that top position.
03:10He is swinging with some force behind it. Leaking a little oil too.
03:18Francesco, your head's got to go up when your hips come in.
03:20Yeah, they're very, Francesco's corner, excuse me, Mazeo's corner, very aware of
03:25the thoughts that Christian's having here, because as soon as Mazeo starts to tripod up
03:30and leave his arms, that's exactly when he's in danger of that arm bar for Christian.
03:36One and a half to go here in the first round. Francesco, Mazeo, the Italian,
03:41and Kevin Christian, the civil engineer from Brazil.
03:48Yeah, it's Mazeo, top position here, working from the guard.
03:55Landed a couple of hammer fists.
03:58It's every time Mazeo tries to get his ground and pound off,
04:01Christian starts to swerve his hips to try to lock up the submission.
04:07Christian, of course, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
04:13Coming in on a five-fight win streak.
04:15And just remember, these guys have not experienced long fights,
04:21so it'll be interesting to see how they adapt to being in a longer fight.
04:27Total fight time, to your point, for Mazeo, nine minutes, 19 seconds in four fights.
04:41This is a situation, though, I mean, I'm always reminded when I call these fights
04:44that this is a different beast, right?
04:46You can't just think about strategically, how do I win a fight?
04:50It's how do I win a UFC contract?
04:51Yes, yes. It's not about just getting the victory.
04:54It's about getting the victory and doing it in an impressive fashion.
04:58And that's why I'm going to be curious to see if the corners address that here after round one.
05:07Hey.
05:10So, hey, this is what we wanted against the 6'8 guy, right?
05:13We wanted to take him to second.
05:14Now we're going to go to stand-up, all right?
05:16Because he's tired. He's tired, all right?
05:17Now the stand-up comes in play.
05:19I want the stand-up happening here.
05:21I want you to use the straights, use the straights to set up the hook.
05:25You're just going for the big hook.
05:26Going for the big hook, the straights, the straights, the straight punches.
05:28One-two, one-two, explode, one-two.
05:30Those explosion one-twos.
05:32We beat him on our feet here.
05:33We beat him on our feet here.
05:35Hey, that was his best.
05:36That's his game plan right there.
05:37You just saw his game plan.
05:39He's looking for armbar triangle, armbar triangle, okay?
05:43Yeah, three.
05:45Hey, I need the strength.
05:59Saturday, October 5th from Salt Lake City, Utah.
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06:21Jose's corner, wanting him to keep it on the feet.
06:25Countless one-twos.
06:26Let's see if he applies the instruction here.
06:29Well, it's exactly the question you asked, Dan.
06:34Are they going to encourage him to be more aggressive, to try to find that finish?
06:38That's exactly what they're doing to me.
06:40Starting to get a little fatigued now.
06:41Now you can stand with him.
06:47Lands another low kick.
06:49Christian is very flat-footed.
06:52Yeah, he looks uncomfortably tired or just kind of stuck.
06:57Stiff.
06:58Yeah.
06:58Almost like stuck in the mud.
07:00Yeah.
07:01Oh, nice elbow to him.
07:03That was a beautiful elbow by Christian.
07:07Tries to land a knee as they're in the clinch.
07:10He's dead, Kev.
07:11Turn to grab him.
07:12Turn to grab him.
07:13Turn, turn.
07:14There, knee.
07:15Knee on the thigh.
07:16Knee.
07:17On the thigh, there.
07:18Now, knee on the thigh.
07:23Foot stomp coming in for Christian.
07:24Not as active as I thought they would be here in the first minute of the second round.
07:29Well, this is relatively unfamiliar territory for both of them, I think.
07:34And honestly, we talk to fighters about their biggest fear in a fight.
07:39It's not having any gas.
07:40It's nothing to do with pain.
07:42It's running out of gas.
07:43It's getting fatigued.
07:44There's nothing worse than being tired in that octagon.
07:47Not having anything left in the tank.
07:50And those reserves go empty.
07:52They're questioning everything about life.
07:56Mazzeo had one fight, his longest fight as a pro, that went seven minutes.
08:00He won when he ate an illegal knee in cage warrior.
08:04That means his other three fights went two minutes and 19 seconds combined.
08:10Oh, yeah.
08:10He does have a knot.
08:11A very weird little knot back there.
08:15I noticed it right after Mazzeo landed another one of those outside leg kicks.
08:21Mazzeo's got to be careful.
08:22Christian is starting to walk him back to the octagon side.
08:25You do not want to be stuck there against a guy this size.
08:30And this is where, sorry, Daniel.
08:31I was just going to say, this is where that six foot seven frame could be used, right?
08:36He let him off the hook.
08:37He did.
08:40The front kicks, the jab.
08:43All from here.
08:45This range, Mazzeo can't reach him.
08:48He can literally reach Mazzeo with a jab.
08:50With that kick, like you said.
08:51There are so many things that Christian could be using right now.
08:55There it is.
08:57But to your point, I don't think we've seen a single front kick from Christian so far.
09:04And Mazzeo's now starting to get a little tired.
09:07Mazzeo's got his mouth open.
09:09Starting to wear down.
09:12Hands are starting to drop a little bit.
09:15And he's throwing everything big.
09:16That is one sign of a person that's starting to get a little tired.
09:20They start to over, they start to load up on all their strikes.
09:23And their hope is to get you out of there without having to exert so much energy.
09:27The jab goes away.
09:30The feints go away.
09:32The setups disappear.
09:34And it's just big actions.
09:35Yep.
09:35The problem is Christian's not forcing him to fight.
09:38That was a good level change.
09:44Christian had an opportunity to get higher there and he didn't do it.
09:48He missed it.
09:49It's unbelievable when you see that.
09:50Like, he had him beat.
09:54And he almost just released his defensive pressure.
09:58And then Mazzeo was able to get his hands locked and take it down.
10:02And look at him.
10:02He's just sitting there now.
10:03He's got to get up.
10:05There's just no urgency to Christian.
10:10Really not a whole lot of urgency for Mazzeo here.
10:13Mazzeo's tired.
10:15He is just happy right now because he's on top and not having to do much.
10:20But he's in danger here.
10:22Oh yeah, he's in danger.
10:25Oh, that's deep.
10:26He might have it.
10:27He's done.
10:28He's done.
10:29The fatigue and the submission, he's done.
10:31Oh, he's got the arm as well.
10:32That's it.
10:34Kevin Christian getting it done with another submission
10:40finish in danger at all times when he can get a hold of your arm.
10:46Fifth submission win of Kevin Christian's career.
10:54Let's take a look at this.
10:55I mean, the entire time that they were on the ground,
10:58Kevin Christian was fishing for these submissions,
11:01the arm bars and just a beautiful setup at those long legs.
11:04And it makes it so much easier to get this triangle locked up,
11:07finds the angle and then starts pulling on the head.
11:10And on top of it, he gets the arm bar as well.
11:13And it's the arm bar that forces the tap from Francesco Mazzeo.
11:20Really nice submission win for Christian.
11:26All of his submissions have either been arm triangles or arm bars.
11:30That is another one here.
11:32Let's send it to Justin.
11:34Ladies and gentlemen, after four minutes, 17 seconds into round number two,
11:38referee Herb Dean calls a stop to the fight for the winner by submission via triangle arm bar.
11:52Kevin Christian getting it done again.
11:55Improving to nine and two.
11:59And the book on him is that anytime he can grab one of your limbs,
12:03he's dangerous, especially if it's an arm.
12:05We've seen this three times before.