"Holy sh*t! He's got the power"– Josh Thomson and John McCarthy react to Deontay Wilder's knockout win over Robert Helenius

Josh Thomson and John McCarthy are in awe of Deontay Wilder’s power after his knockout win against Robert Helenius.

After suffering consecutive knockout defeats at the hands of Tyson Fury in February 2020 and October 2021, Wilder returned to the boxing ring on Saturday. ‘The Bronze Bomber’ obliterated Helenius in the first round with a sneaky straight right.

Combat sports fans were fascinated with his power, including Thomson, who stated on the Weighing In podcast:

“He possesses that power. That power never goes away. He still has it in the later rounds, but for sure he has it in the first couple rounds. He showed it. It was on display. Holy s**t, he’s got the power. It was a nasty knockout, John.”

McCarthy then backed up his co-host:

“Somehow Deontay Wilder, as he was growing up, started praying to the pagan gods, and they gave him Thor’s hammer in his right hand…It wasn’t like he [Wilder] hurt him [Helenius], he f***ing put him out. Helenius was out. Power like that is rare.”

Watch Josh Thomson and John McCarthy discuss Deontay Wilder's power below:

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Josh Thomson breaks down potential option for the UFC 280 main event backup situation

The highly-anticipated UFC 280 main event between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev is approaching. Alexander Volkanovski announced that he will be the backup fighter for the main event on October 22. Interestingly, Beneil Dariush has also claimed to be the backup for the UFC 280 headliner.

During an episode of the Weighing In podcast, Josh Thomson detailed a potential solution in case the UFC 280 main event falls through:

"If Islam falls off, you slide Volkanovski in there because Oliveira used to be the former champ. You wanna make sure that you're having Volkanovski fight who used to be the champ."

'The Punk' added:

"If Oliveira falls out, you slide Dariush in there because Dariush is ranked high, and why risk Volk right now for that until you have yourself a real champion? I would rather see Volk fight the real champion. Right now, everyone says the champ has a name, Charles Oliveira."

There has been plenty of talk about the UFC 280 backup fighters, despite no indication of Oliveira or Makhachev not being able to compete. With less than a week remaining before the star-studded card goes down, Volkanovski and Dariush will likely have to wait for their shot at the title.

Check out the podcast below: