Chris Duncan & Mansur Abdul-Malik talk 1st-RD wins, UFC 323 takeaways w/ Din Thomas

With Matt Serra out for the day, Jim is joined by Mr. Reliable himself — Din Thomas — for an episode that opens with lightweight Chris Duncan checking in just days after his impressive first-round anaconda choke of Terrance McKinney at UFC 323. Duncan talks about surviving the early storm, leveling up since moving full-time to American Top Team, and why he believes 2026 is the year he finally breaks into the Top 15.

From there, Jim and Din dive into one of the wildest stats of the year: 10 of the UFC’s 11 active champions have been crowned in just the past eight months. The guys give their thoughts on a chaotic UFC 323 card — including two new champions, major shakeups across multiple divisions, and whether the next wave of contenders is arriving faster than anyone expected.

The show wraps with unbeaten middleweight prospect Mansur Abdul-Malik, who joins fresh off his standing guillotine finish on Saturday. Mansur discusses the obsessive tape study that fuels him, the positive energy he carries inside and outside the cage, daily training sessions with Sean Strickland at Xtreme Couture, and why he’s pushing for a quick turnaround to keep his momentum rolling.

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