Spinning Back Clique: Fedor Emelianenko’s return, PFL season grades, Usman and Diaz beef, and more

Spinning Back Clique: Fedor Emelianenko’s return, PFL season grades, Usman and Diaz beef, and more

Check out the latest edition of “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly show that takes a quick spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week, our panel weighs in on Cyril Gane’s place in the heavyweight division, Kamaru Usman and Nate Diaz’s Twitter exchange, PFL’s regular season grade, who Fedor Emelianenko should face in his return, and more. Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of “Gorgeous” George Garcia, Nolan King, and Matthew Wells weighed in with host John Morgan.

• This past Saturday, UFC heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane defeated Alexander Volkov in the main event at UFC Fight Night 190. Only nine fights into his professional career, is it time to put him in a title fight now?
• UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Nate Diaz ended up in an unexpected Twitter beef. It appeared the champ would be open to a matchup with Stockton’s scrapper. Diaz’s star power is strong, but how would it look if this fight actually came together?
• The PFL wrapped up its 2021 regular season this past week, and a few big names and former champions failed to make the playoffs this season. Although there were some exciting moments during the season, a lot of expected names are out of the mix. The panel gives their grade for the regular season.
• Bellator made a huge announcement last weekend, revealing that Fedor Emelianenko will return to action in October for a fight to take place in Russia. We know when and where, but who is the right person to take on the heavyweight legend in his return to the cage?
• With the biggest promotions in the sport idle this coming weekend, we take a look back over the first six months of 2021 to determine the biggest story of the year so far.

Hope you enjoy this week’s show. Watch the full episode of “Spinning Back Clique” above.