“I want Justin to beat Paddy, because Justin, he is going to fight with me, but if Paddy wins, he is going to try to avoid me, because he is not [a] man like Justin”

– via Helen Yee (January 9, 2026), explaining why he is rooting for Justin Gaethje in the upcoming UFC 324 interim title fight.

“More skilled, more experienced, I think the better fighter all around is Justin Gaethje, but I've also been on record saying Paddy Pimblett is a lot better than people think he is... If I had to lean one direction, I’d go Justin Gaethje, and he beats Ilia Topuria later on this year”

– via ESPN MMA giving his final verdict on the UFC 324 interim lightweight title fight.

“More skilled, more experienced, I think the better fighter all around is Justin Gaethje, but I've also been on record saying Paddy Pimblett is a lot better than people think he is... If I had to lean one direction, I’d go Justin Gaethje, and he beats Ilia Topuria later on this year”

– via ESPN MMA giving his final verdict on the UFC 324 interim lightweight title fight.

“I think Islam [wins]. Ilia's good. I just reckon the size will be a lot.”

– via the N3ON podcast, weighing in on a potential superfight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria

“Luke's going to get beat, bro... He's going to get beat bad, bro. Get beat 10—0. I love Luke to death, but he's going to get beat. He can't wrestle Colby Covington. A lot of the things that made Luke have good wrestling in MMA scores points in wrestling. Every time he tries to chest wrap, if he doesn't get him through right away, they'll be scoring four points for Colby.”

– via The Daniel Cormier Show offering a grim prediction for his teammate Luke Rockhold ahead of his wrestling match against Colby Covington.

“Luke's going to get beat, bro... He's going to get beat bad, bro. Get beat 10—0. I love Luke to death, but he's going to get beat. He can't wrestle Colby Covington. A lot of the things that made Luke have good wrestling in MMA scores points in wrestling. Every time he tries to chest wrap, if he doesn't get him through right away, they'll be scoring four points for Colby.”

– via The Daniel Cormier Show offering a grim prediction for his teammate Luke Rockhold ahead of his wrestling match against Colby Covington.

“I've never had a war in all my years of fighting, so I'm looking forward to one... People are laughing at me when I say I'm gonna stand with him, but I am. People think I'm just gonna shoot in the first 10 seconds, I'm not. I'm gonna stand with him, and I'm gonna put it on him... He's more of a boxer with leg kicks, and I'm an MMA striker.via Sky Sports, outlining his bold strategy for his interim lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje.”

“Khamzat is a beast, an amazing fighter, but i put my chance in Alex”

– The Schmo, weighing in on a potential superfight between the middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

“Khamzat is a beast, an amazing fighter, but i put my chance in Alex”

– The Schmo, weighing in on a potential superfight between the middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

“Imavov is getting the title shot. I think that's the only thing that really makes sense now... I think it's going to be an interesting fight, I think Khamzat wins that fight, for sure. The whole division has been mixed up... Right now, you don’t have anybody who’s consistently winning. That’s the problem. How do you pick a contender if you have guys that fight two great fights and one terrible one? The consistency isn’t there”

– via Fight Forecast predicting that Khamzat Chimaev will surely defeat Nassourdine Imavov.

“I'm looking at pimblett.”

– via his Instagram, expressing his interest in fighting Paddy Pimblett next.

“PADDY WINS... I would go with the new kid that's going in there for the new opportunity, rather than the old kid that fought for the belt, disrespected it, threw it on the ground.”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, picking Paddy Pimblett to defeat Justin Gaethje, citing Gaethje's past disrespect toward the BMF title.

“PADDY WINS... I would go with the new kid that's going in there for the new opportunity, rather than the old kid that fought for the belt, disrespected it, threw it on the ground.”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, picking Paddy Pimblett to defeat Justin Gaethje, citing Gaethje's past disrespect toward the BMF title.

“I know Makhachev is good on the feet and he’s good on the ground, and Jack Della Maddalena is a boxer. He might be stronger than Makhachev. I’m anxious to see, but the champion isn’t champion by accident. From what I’ve followed, the fight slightly favors Jack Della Maddalena, right?”

– via MMA Fighting, leaning toward Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC 322 main event

“I was going Islam Makhachev, because he is my brother, but I don't think it's as simple as I thought it was, and I'll definitely backtrack on that. There is something that does scare me about this fight Kamaru. There is something that Islam Makhachev said that made me think. 'If wrestling doesn't work,' this is what he said, this is not a good thing. 'If wrestling doesn't work, we're going to strike”

– Henry Cejudo's Doubts About Islam Makhachev's Strategy via Pound 4 Pound YT Channel

“Call me crazy, but I'm running with Jack on this one. I think the first two rounds are going to be super competitive, and we're gonna see how the fight is going to play out. I think Jack's takedown defense is going to be huge here. I think he's going to defend a bunch of takedowns, and he's going to get Islam tired. A lot of people keep saying that Islam doesn’t get tired, but in fights, you can see it. He just doesn't get as tired as the other guy.Maybe a third round TKO, leaning toward Jack. I think Jack is gonna find Islam’s chin... When [Makhachev] gets hit sometimes, it looks like it gets to him”

– via his Youtube Channel, predicts the outcome of UFC 322 main event

“Call me crazy, but I'm running with Jack on this one. I think the first two rounds are going to be super competitive, and we're gonna see how the fight is going to play out. I think Jack's takedown defense is going to be huge here. I think he's going to defend a bunch of takedowns, and he's going to get Islam tired. A lot of people keep saying that Islam doesn’t get tired, but in fights, you can see it. He just doesn't get as tired as the other guy.Maybe a third round TKO, leaning toward Jack. I think Jack is gonna find Islam’s chin... When [Makhachev] gets hit sometimes, it looks like it gets to him”

– via his Youtube Channel, predicts the outcome of UFC 322 main event

“I think if Leon's smart, he'll go out here and do mixed martial arts, mix it up. Obviously, Leon's a striker, but I think he has really good takedowns, too. He took down [Kamaru] Usman, he took down Colby [Covington]. He's taken down a good amount of people, so I think if he's smart, he'll mix it up, not just go out there and try to strike the entire time with Prates, because if you do that, you're giving Prates the opportunity to finish you, and we've seen how good he is on the feet.Obviously, in the Ian Garry fight, Ian was able to take him down, and I think Leon can have the same path. I'm going to pick Leon, I do think he's going to win”

– via SteadyPicks Youtube Channel

“I do think in a stand up battle — Poirier hits hard, I've witnessed that but there's no way he hits harder than JDM. I think Islam's gonna get tagged a couple times... I give JDM a slight favor on that one”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, comparing the power of Dustin Poirier and Jack Della Maddalena (JDM)

“I do think in a stand up battle — Poirier hits hard, I've witnessed that but there's no way he hits harder than JDM. I think Islam's gonna get tagged a couple times... I give JDM a slight favor on that one”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, comparing the power of Dustin Poirier and Jack Della Maddalena (JDM)