UFC star will battle the pros for a bracelet at epic WSOP final table

The final hour of Day 2 was punctuated by regular cries of “Chop it up!” from Agustin Mendez, who will now be very glad his offer wasn’t snapped off. But more of that later. 

"Chop it up guys, come on, what are we doing?"

Omar Sader

Fighting out of the blue corner...

Day 3 stacks were huge. Carlos Caldas started the day with the most, but the Colossus is a brutal tournament, and he finished 36th. 

And that’s when Antonio Trocoli started making his move. He got lucky to build a massive stack when he rivered a flush with AQ to bust the AK of Jacob Fishbein, but with 20 players left, he was a monster. The UFC fighter (with an MMA record of 12-5-0) was the first to make a stack of over 100 million, and at the dinner break, with 16 left, he had 114 million. A stack way bigger than most poker players will ever see in their lives. 

And he had the rail as well. His partner, Mackenzie Dern, was close by, sweating and taking photos. She might look unassuming, but she could put you to sleep in seconds. She also fights in the UFC and has an even better record than Trocoli of 15-5-0. She’s currently ranked number five in the world. And she plays poker as well. 

“I started because of him,” Dern told us from the rail. 

Antonio Trocoli had Felipe Ramos and Mackenzie Dern sweating him on the rail.

Omar Sader

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The pros, the recs and the celebrity rail

Play was slowing up.  

“Chop it up! Last time, guys, I promise,” Mendez said. “Or I’ll beat all of you.” At poker. With Trocoli to his left, it’s important to make that clear.

The chop amount at this time – if such a thing were possible – was actually quite tempting. $122,000 for every player left in, equivalent to sixth-place prize money. That's a 244x spin-up from the $500 buy-in. You’d struggle to find a crypto bro who wouldn’t be impressed by that. Mendez didn’t get any takers, though. 

It's time for a quick roll call. Just how good could this final table be?

You’ve got the pro in Matt Glantz with $8,747,956 in career earnings but no WSOP bracelet, despite cashing for the first time here 25 years ago. One of the best in that time without winning a bracelet? Undoubtedly.  

If you want the gold, David ‘The Dragon’ Pham and Ryan Leng brought that. Both players have won three WSOP bracelets already. Pham has close to $11.5 million in winnings. Leng was down to less than one big blind earlier on Day 3. Both want their fourth. 

You’ve got Sigrid Dencker, the last woman standing, with total live earnings of $13,327 and a best single cash of $8,828.

You’ve got Trocoli and his celebrity rail. And, of course, Mr. Chop It Up.

16 turned to 15. How many of this colorful cast of characters would make the final nine and get to play for it all on the livestream on Tuesday?

Matt Glantz with his Team Lucky t-shirt, which came in handy once or twice on Monday,

Omar Sader

Glantz lucky, David Pham eliminated

We got lucky to keep hold of Glantz. He was shoved on by the small blind, and he peeked at one card and called for his tournament life. 

He flipped and found out he’d run into the absolute top end of Jason Blodgett, who had . The board ran out for Glantz, and that saw him double up to 68.4 million. 

“I only saw the three, and I called,” Glantz joked afterwards. “If I saw a deuce, I was folding.”

Glantz wasn’t the only one keeping things lively. Trocoli had Felipe Ramos on his rail, and the UFC man was getting into the spirit of the table as Mendez moved all-in. “Chop it up!" Trocoli exclaimed. Mendez didn’t seem too happy that his catchphrase was being borrowed, but he got the shove through. 

Then we lost Pham. 

He couldn’t win a flip with threes against the AK of Ramaswamy Pyloore, with the board running out . This was the start of a big heater at the right time for Pyloore. 

That took us down to 12, and Marcus Shepard’s subsequent elimination took us to 11. 

Sigrid Dencker was the last woman standing in the Colossus.

Double knockout blow landed on the bell

The final table was close, but there was still poker to be played.

Trocoli raised UTG to 11M and picked up a call from Justin Gutierrez in the big blind. They both checked through the flop, and Trocoli took the lead on the turn, betting another 11M. 

That prompted an all-in from Gutierrez, and Trocoli went the equivalent of five championship rounds. He tanked. He took his cap off. He shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair, and asked for a count. 36.4M. That was too much, and he folded. 

It seemed fitting there was a double knockout to end the day — no judge’s decision needed here. And it was a hand you might only find at the Colossus.

The three-way all-in was AQ vs. eights vs. . The was the last to call, naturally. Pyloore made it, saying, “Ah, why not? Let’s go,” and the board ran out . 

That took out Bobby Poe in 11th and Mendez in 10th for $45,770 — what he would have given for a chop here. The livestream was robbed of a catchphrase, but you can’t win them all, and maybe the joke had run its course. 

As it is, it’s still an incredibly enthralling final nine, with a rich cast of characters that’s worthy of a livestream.

The final nine will play to a winner tomorrow (no chops!) and the player left at the end will get the bracelet and an incredible $542,540. For a $500 buy-in. Cards will be in the air at 12pm, and the PokerGO livestream will kick in an hour later. We can’t wait. 

2025 Colossus final table stacks