Spinning Back Clique: James Krause betting scandal, UFC Orlando, Nate Diaz-Jake Paul, more

Join us for this week’s live stream of “Spinning Back Clique” looking at the biggest news and topics in MMA.

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Nolan King and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

  • UFC on ESPN 42 in Orlando, Fla., featured nine stoppages in 14 fights and a main event that had people talking about a potential Fight of the Year. With a couple days to reflect, was [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag]’s TKO win over [autotag]Kevin Holland[/autotag] in the main event really that level of greatness? And what are our other takeaways from a memorable event?
  • The you-know-what continues to hit the proverbial fan in the MMA betting scandal involving former UFC standout [autotag]James Krause[/autotag]. The UFC now has said anyone who continues to train with Krause or at his gym can consider themselves gone from the UFC while government investigations are going on. What could the potential fallout be from all this down the road?
  • [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] officially is out from his UFC contract and a free agent. We used to get excited thinking about potential Diaz fights outside the UFC. Now that we’re here, are we amped up about, say, a Diaz boxing match against [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag]?
  • UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] said on his podcast that former two-division champ and Olympic gold medalist [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] will be his next title defense, likely in March. Cejudo is coming out of retirement and straight into a title shot, if that’s the case. Is that right? And what do we think about [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]’s status in the division now?
  • Bellator continues its bantamweight grand prix this week with the semifinals: interim champ [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag] takes on [autotag]Danny Sabatello[/autotag] and [autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] meets [autotag]Magomed Magomedov[/autotag]. The Stots-Sabatello fight comes with a particular amount of hype and beef between the two. Who are we picking to reach the final, and what are our thoughts in general about Bellator’s regular grand prix tournaments?

“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.