Curtis Blaydes, actor Wes Chatham, UFC 284 predictions w/ Gianni the Greek

UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra

On today’s episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim and Matt are joined by three guests — actor Wes Chatham, heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes, and gambling analyst Gianni “The Greek” Karalis.

Chatham begins the interview by discussing how his passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu led him to earning a purple belt. As the topic shifts to all things science fiction, Wes opens up about the six seasons he spent acting on Amazon Prime’s The Expanse — one of Matt's favorite Sci-Fi shows.

The guys are then joined by Curtis Blaydes, who assesses his status as a contender in a rapidly-changing heavyweight division now that Francis Ngannou is no longer with the UFC.

With Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane locked in for a vacant heavyweight title fight at UFC 285 this March and Stipe Miocic rumored to fight the winner, Blaydes dishes his thoughts on how he matches up in hypothetical eliminator fights against both Serghei Spivac and Sergei Pavlovich following both of their impressive wins.

Jim and Matt wrap up the show by inviting Gianni the Greek on for an inside look at how the gambling analyst separates emotion from his fight predictions ahead of Saturday’s UFC 284 card. As the guys reveal their picks for Saturday’s main and co-main event, Gianni reveals if lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s status as a sizable betting favorite makes betting on him to beat featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski worth betting on at all.