Ray Longo breaks down O'Malley versus Dvalishvili and likes Merab's chances of claiming the belt

[Music] what is up everybody I am Kevin ioli and I am joined by one of the familiar faces in MMA one of the top coaches in the world he has had world champions before and who knows on Saturday at noce UFC he may add another championship belt of course I'm talking about Ray Longo the coach of morab deales morab will fight in the main event noce UFC against sugar Shan Ali for the Bantam way Championship how are you Ray welcome very good man super excited starting to feel the nerves a little bit you know which is normal but uh I'm still in New York so I leave Wednesday I just want to get to Vegas and you know get my feet wet wet over there yeah stay out of the hot weather it's G to be 106 tomorrow and 105 on uh on Wednesday it I Like It Hot Kevin I Like It Hot like that so yeah if you like it hot then get out here a day early because it is it is cooking here baby I'll tell you well let you know morab opened this fight as a fairly sizable favorite and Ali is now the favorite and moving up uh yesterday Ali was a six to5 favorite today it's a$ do30 uh it's moving in Al's Direction uh number one does that surprise you that the public sentiment would be so strong in favor of sha ali uh no it definitely doesn't surprise me at all uh and look this is a this is going to be a weird fight they're both they both bring something completely different to the table than they've ever seen before right like I don't know if morab has faced good Strikers but not rangy counter Strikers that know how to move and are maybe a little hard at the corner like hose Aldo is a great Striker so was maren morray but they come forward so it makes it a little different and I don't think and obviously om Al's never faced anybody with the pressure in the gas tank of morab so I think everybody knows I mean it's one of those fights Kevin whoever controls the range controls the fight and I think that's the one at a very basic level I I've always thought that oh and I said this to John Morgan in an interview I did with him I thought that Ali's footwork was Sil lead all the time and it reminded me from an MMA standpoint of Floyd Mayweather right Floyd Mayweather separated from other guys by that footwork but does that forward pressure a lot of times negate that kind of footwork because you know you got to be so quick to get turn your hips and get your feet position 100% And if you look at it look at the guys he's fought uh with the exclusion of Al Al Al aljoe right I mean he fought uh ke Molen Vera not even thinking of a takedown you know putino not even thinking of a takedown by whoever else never really fought that type of uh pressure before even alo alo is a different cat alog together than marage uh so that's like again that's that's the unknown right that's what we're going to try to find out what happens with that you know so like again it's a range thing I don't know who's going to adopt easier to that range and I hope it's morab but uh that pressure going forward from morab if he because once he once he gets a hold in he'll wear on you he's not afraid of you know it's not like this guys like look I've trained a lot of wrestlers they go in if they can't get the taked down they're out they don't want to extend the energy this kid just doesn't care yeah you know he it's going to be over and over and over and over and over and over again so he either has to be put out completely or I think he's gonna always be in your face you know like us they push the graphic up and they say style you know wrestler BJJ or whatever think Mor's just cardio right yeah yeah that's it you don't even put a style on him yeah just he's he's Relentless man you've seen he's proven it I mean what he did to pdon was crazy he just shut down a really powerful Striker again like you know the interesting thing to me is if morab wants to stand in the middle of the Octagon does Ali engage him he wants morab chasing him like you know like he did with Alo so that could be a chess game right there you know you don't know if uh let him come forward you know let him see what that's like so we'll see what happens it's it's there's a lot of questions that'll be answered within the first couple of minutes of that fight for me you know Ray one of the things I wonder is in Vantage for you as a coach you know you prepared uh aljo uh to uh defend his title against sha Ali now you're going through another Camp having been in there with him and seeing his quickness and seeing him up close where you're sitting right there and knowing what he can do even though you said just a second ago that aljo and morab are totally different types of Fighters but having from a coaching standpoint that that firsthand experience of knowing what he brings does that help you in make your game plan and devising what will and won't work for morab you know look Mor Rob's his own guy I mean aljo would be better off handling that question look he did his camp in Vegas so John Wood would have a better understanding of that I look I think Mor Rob's gonna do what Mor Rob's gonna do and I understand that completely and he relies on aljo a lot for uh you know those guys have been training partners and you know aljo kind of raised that kid to be honest with you so he he's the guy that would be able to answer that question I think it does help and I talked to aljo about it you know uh we've had some good discussions on it but um I haven't really I I just know what the guy could do and I just hope he did the right thing out there because I'll be I'll let you know Wednesday when I'm out there but I think you know John Wood's got a great understanding he knows he can't change too much so I think he even said himself he tightened up a couple of things which definitely there things to be tightened up and uh look Kevin Mor Rob's the type of guy just point him in the direction of the fighter and just let him do his thing you're not going to you're not going to change much man you know what I mean and this is what got him to the dance so far and I don't think you're going to see any differ that's why I said that the uh the onus is on Ali to be able to hold that range and see if he could do what he thinks he could do right now you know the one thing the critics of uh of morab will point out and I want to get your take on this Henry cejudo right they're gonna point out Henry cejudo landed some clean shots on morab early in that fight before morab you know uh like you said I think the pace kind of took over Henry hadn't fought while and and you know even though he was gold medal winning wrestler that pace finally even got to him Y which says something um but you know does that does that concern you at all when you see how easily a guy like cejudo hit morab compared to somebody who's a sharpshooter like Sean yeah no of course it does you got to be concerned with that 100% but again it's different body types different range you know those guys were willing to sit in the pocket I don't think morab will do that with him I think he'll be all the way in or all the way out I hope he he's not going to sit in no man's land and I don't think he should get in those exchanges with him I think he's got to be very disciplined in his defense and I think he'll get what he wants I want to get your take you know Dana White was critical of morab for posting the video of the cut morab is funny and he's a great sense of humor and he puts a lot of funny things up on social media but posting that cut like I I actually said to Dana that night I said well you're talking about one of the most accurate punchers in the business and Sean Aly and now you give him a Target do fighters in your opinion know about cuts and know about things like that and Target them as the fight goes on you know I think it would be look first of off Kevin like we're we're we're kind of like the same gotta be around the same age I mean I'm not the social media guy so I don't get it but you have to expect this with these kids today they film they film everything they film tying their shoelaces they I mean so he's been doing this he's been a camera guy since the second I met him he's crazy with the camera right so but I look if it was a knee injury I would say that would be a problem now you're gonna Target something he's gonna get cut in the fight or it's it it is what it is he's gonna get punched in the face that's not if he had a shoulder injury or another injury I think it would be a way different thing but a Cut's a cut and if it opens up I don't think it'll have an impact on the fight and I think om Al's what's he going to do he wasn't going to hit him in the head I think that was Mor Rob's point I'm getting punched and it means nothing to I think Mor Rob's trying to get across the point is just he does he doesn't give a you know I mean he's that guy and I'll take out my own stitches I'll do this I'll do that I'll jump into a pond that's frozen and you're gonna have to stop me but this is the guy you have to stop not a guy that's worried about oh I don't want to tell him this or I don't want to tell him that I don't think he cares to be honest with you and he knows he's GNA get hit anyway and that's I think that's his mentality you know what does morab in your opinion have to do to take his game to the next level right so so you know like look at the odds right at DraftKings morab by decision is plus 130 morab by submission is plus 14400 so basically the sports book telling you they don't think much of a chance of him getting by KO plus 750 so basically you know what the books are telling you is hey we think this is going to be a long fight and Mor's only hope is to is to go 25 minutes and and have the judge has scored his way do you do you feel like at this stage of his career he needs anything else you know if he gets past Al there's Umar magedov and whoever else is out there I mean there's going to be a lot of difficult challenges ahead whether it's a rematch with Shawn or somebody else does he have to add to his game do you think and and is he at this stage of his career capable of doing that uh I think he's capable of doing it but he does have to add some stuff like you say with the submissions not that he's got bad jiujitsu but he fights the way he wants to fight and that's what he's been that's how he's been winning so I think he could always tighten up to stand up a little more I think he could tighten up uh you know the jiujitsu what he can't tighten up anymore is his cardio and his willingness to want to go in there he loves fighting Kevin like I'm not worried about like even if he loses he's got everything in perspective one thing Dana was really wrong on he called him a dummy he's far from a dummy he's very intelligent he's a humble guy he's got humble beginnings he's fighting for his country I mean he there's certain guys that that type of means a lot you know what I mean and he's one of them I mean going to have to beat he's going to have to beat this kid dead that I guarantee you yeah that's interesting last thing uh I know you're in a kind of the dark like I am you know I had a little Peak preview of what this sphere is going to be like but there's these giant LED screens right I say giant I mean wow they're gonna be you're not gonna believe how big that is and I wonder if in any way as a coach you are concerned about Fighters you know with that bright light behind and that big giant screen you know where you have a different background now right I mean look I don't know we we'll find out but the only thing I'll say Kevin is everybody's in the same boat so you know you can only control what you can control and that they can't get I mean they can control how they react to it and that might be the winner in the fight but I don't really know much because nobody's really telling me much so but it sounding crazy to me sounding crazy have you been did you go to you out here when you were in Vegas before no oh no it was good huh oh just a I went to not only did I see the YouTube but they have a movie at now right of the YouTube and the movie is so good that wow two minutes into it you think you're at the concert you think is standing right there I definitely want to see it but just bucks for the movie listen if we cut out my phone's gonna die just so you know and then I'll text you back so we well let let's do this let's uh wrap it up right here let's give me your pick on the fight how do you see how do you say it ending and we'll get you out here I see Mor Rob five round decision I'm going with with where the yards are I say he does the same thing he did to Pion uh might take him a little longer to get there but he's he's gonna get there once he gets in that Rhythm I think that's what we're gonna see but I will say I wouldn't end the estimate his punching power you know what I mean if he gets you a little hurt but I wouldn't think that's what we want to do but uh he does hit hard and he is willing to take his shot so that's out the submission thing I think they're pretty spoton can't see him unless he really rocked him or he you know he beat him dead like you know like he was doing to Moray and Moray turns over and he grabs the neck and the guy Taps that's about it but uh I don't think you'll see any sneaky submissions out of him but we'll uh I'm saying he's gonna grind it out he's gonna take what he's he's gonna take a couple to get what he wants and that that's going to be the tune of the fight can't wait to see it that is the great Ray Longo Ray appreciate you as always see you soon my friend awesome thanks Kevin and good luck with everything in the future buddy appreciate you brother be well thank you