UFC 312 Preview
The UFC is invading the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on Saturday, February 8th for UFC 312. The main event will be a rematch for the middleweight title between champion Dricus du Plessis and former champion Sean Strickland.
The two fighters first met at UFC 297 last January where du Plessis won by a razor thin split decision. The fight was Strickland’s first defense of the title after defeating legend Israel Adesanya for one of the biggest upsets of 2023. The current champion made his first defense of the title at UFC 305 in August where he defeated Adesanya by fourth round submission.
Du Plessis talked about facing Sean Strickland again. “The key for me is that it’s not a rematch; it’s a match,” said Du Plessis. I’m not looking at it as a rematch. I’m looking at it where I’ve beaten Sean Strickland and now I have to beat Sean Strickland again. Even more so, I’ve beaten this guy and now I’m beating another guy.”
The 31-year-old continued, “We are not the same fighters we were a year ago,” the champion said. “The Dricus that stepped in there a year ago is not the same guy that is stepping in there now, the same with him, and that’s why I don’t see it as a rematch — I see it as a fight.
“If this was somebody else stepping in there, I would approach it exactly the same because I don’t see it as a rematch: I see it as I need to beat whoever steps into that Octagon on Saturday night, and that is the only thing I see.”
While many pundits believe Strickland won the last fight, du Plessis does not see it that way. “When we fought, I was moving forward 23 minutes out of a 25-minute fight. I was advancing, throwing — landing less, but throwing more, for sure. Power punches? 100-percent, trying to catch him, trying to get him out of there, trying to finish the fight from the get-go; getting takedowns, getting back up, and pushing that pace.
“I was the one dictating that pace. I was the one going forward and advancing, and this time around, it will be the same.”
The South African fighter concluded, “He’s gonna change it up because they know I have the answer for (what he typically does,” Du Plessis stated, projecting how he believes things will play out in Saturday night’s main event. “He’s gonna lose a decision again if he tries to be that defensive and just move backwards, because that is how fighting works.
“This time ‘round, he’s forced to come forward and fight me, and I know that he can. He’s a guy that can take a punch, but it’s much better taking a punch hiding, shelling up, and riding than coming forward and eating a punch while you’re throwing a punch, especially one of mine.
“That’s where it’s gonna be different. He’s gonna initiate the wrestling, and I think he’s gonna look at those avenues and change it up to try to throw me off, because he has to do that now that he knows that in terms of the scoring system, he won’t beat me the way that he tried to the first time.
After the split decision loss to du Plessis, Strickland went on to win a split decision over former title challenger Paulo Costa at UFC 302 in June. How does he feel about fighting du Plessis this time around?
“I’m going to be out there on Sunday and I’m going to come out f*cking hard and strong,” Strickland said. “The hardest and strongest you’ve ever f*cking seen. To the f*cking death, Dutchman!”
The two had heated exchanges in the media before their first fight and this time around Strickland responded to du Plessis’ claim that he is injured. The champion tweeted that Strickland has a staph infection and the challenger responded at the final UFC 312 press conference on Thursday.
“Listen you motherf*ckers, I’m immune to staph,” Strickland shouted. “You see this f*cking mustache? I give staph, I don’t f*cking get staph.
“Calm the f*ck down. I don’t get sick. I don’t get f*cking injured and I don’t get f*cking staph. So relax.”
Strickland has become a fan-favorite with his brash ideologies and his lack of fear when it comes to speaking his mind. He has been his normal self heading into this fight but you can tell there is a mutual respect between the two, which could lead to another five round war on Saturday.
The rest of the main card:
Women’s Strawweight Title Fight - Champion Zhang Weili vs. #1 Tatiana Suarez
Heavyweight bout - Justin Tafa vs. Tallison Teixeira
Light Heavyweight bout - Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato
Welterweight bout - Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado
ESPN + Prelims:
Featherweight bout - Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos
Lightweight bout - Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borshcev
Women’s Flyweight bout - Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil
Bantamweight bout - Colby Thicknesse vs. Aleksandre Topuria
Early Prelims on UFC Fight Pass:
Lightweight bout - Rongzhu vs. Kody Steele
Welterweight bout - Jonathan Micallef vs. Kevin Jousset
Lightweight bout - Quillan Salkilld vs. Anshul Jubli
UFC 311 Preview
The UFC is invading the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Saturday, January 18th for UFC 311. The card will feature two title fights and the main event will be for the lightweight title as champion Islam Makhachev will defend his belt against late replacement #10 Renato Moicano. Makhachev was originally scheduled to defend against #1 Arman Tsarukyan, but Tsarukyan withdrew from the fight due to injury.
The champion did not hesitate to accept the last minute opponent change. “What does this title represent?,” Makhachev said. “It means you are the best in the world and if you are the best in the world, it doesn’t matter who’s going to be standing across from you. What do I say? No? NEVER. Let’s do this!”
Makhachev has won 14 straight fights and is widely considered to be the best pound for pound fighter in the UFC. He has defended the belt three times and with a win on Saturday, he could become the first lightweight champion in UFC history to defend the belt four times.
The champion has key victories in his career over Dustin Poirier, Alexander Volkanovksi (twice), Charles Oliveira, Bobby Green, Dan Hooker, Thiago Moises and Drew Dober. The fight with Tsarukyan was set to be a rematch after Makhachev won the first fight by unanimous decision in 2019.
Moicano has won four straight fights and most recently defeated Benoit Saint Denis by second round TKO in September. The 35-year-old immediately took to social media after getting the opportunity of a lifetime.
“’Money’ Moicano is coming for the belt,” he said.
“Be ready, Islam Makhachev. Tomorrow is ‘Money’ time.
“Man, I’m so happy I got this opportunity. I have been working for this for a long time.
“I knew that could happen, that’s why I was training for five rounds. That’s why I was training with a southpaw.
The new challenger concluded by making a promise. “I’m ready, and tomorrow I’m going to shock the world. Be ready because I am.
“This is ‘Money’ Moicano and tomorrow I will be the champion of the world.
“Let’s f***ing go! Let’s f***ing go! Time to go.”
The co-main event of the evening will be for the bantamweight championship as title holder Merab Dvalishvili will battle #2 Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishili won the belt in his last fight via unanimous decision victory over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in September. The win was his 11th straight and he continued his streak of looking like the most dominant bantamweight in the UFC.
The champion addressed the rumored bad blood with Nurmagomedov. "That's another thing, it's not true. I don't need to hate nobody you guys know. I was kissing Sean O'Malley. I had so much fun inside the octagon. I was smiling there. I don't need to hate nobody. I don't hate nobody but it was things that Umar disrespect me,” Dvalishili said.
"He call me fake champion which is; I'm not a fake champion... He mentioned my country and then he still continue [to] disrespect me and this is not right... I want to shake hands. I want to give him respect. I want to be good with him again. We have to settle this one now
Dvalishili has been dealing with injuries but addressed it as a non-factor leading into his first title fight. "Once I hear the UFC needs me, I stepped up and Dana [White] said, 'Yes'. I go to the office and I said 'Ok, I will step up. I'm a company man. Let's do it’
Aside from his title win over O’Malley, Dvalishili has key victories over Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, Jose Aldo, Marlon Moraes and John Dodson. With a win Dvalishili will cement his position as the top bantamweight in the UFC, but fans will be clamoring for a rematch with O’Malley.
Nurmagomedov is undefeated and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over former interim title challenger Corey Sandhagen in August. The 29-year-old addressed the rumored bad blood with the champion which he believes Dvalishili manufactured. “Of course, I remember that moment,” Nurmagomedov said. “When he asked to me, I saw him, I smiled at him and go to do an interview. He come to ask me ‘why you disrespect me?’ OK, he has a question why you disrespect me? I want to tell him what are you talking about? Exactly what did I say? You’re too sensitive. Explain to me. He’s talking about ‘why are you disrespecting me? Why are you disrespecting me?’ I’m not his son. He can’t ask me like father and son ‘why do you do this?’ He’s not my father. Of course, I want to tell him because what can you do?
“If you guys can find anything where I said with his name Merab — Merab is a coward, Merab is a bullshit guy or anything else — show me.”
While many pundits believe a win over Sandhagen earned Nurmagomedov a title, he does not believe Dvalishil wanted to fight him. “He’s nervous – of course he’s nervous,” Nurmagomedov said at Wednesday’s UFC 311 media day. “He’s maybe upset with UFC – they pushed him to fight with me. Even before he was champion, he don’t take this fight. He doesn’t want to fight with me and when he became champion I think he tried to fight with others because others would be easier fights for him.
“He can’t tell anything to UFC or Dana (White) to show them. He’s always talking he’s company guy, company guy – but they pushed him to fight with me.”
The Dagestani believes he earned the title shot. “It’s not true that it came too early,” Nurmagomedov said. “I’m fighting for the title like most of the fighters. Some of them fight for the title after one fight, some fight on his debut fight. It’s not make sense to tell this that I fought for the title because of my cousin name Khabib or UFC pushed me. Aljamain Sterling fought for the title after five-fight win streak. Why can’t I fight for the title after six?”
The rest of the main card:
Light heavyweight - #2 Jiri Prochazka vs. #3 Jamahal Hill
Heavyweight - #6 Jailton Almeida vs. #7 Serghei Spivac
Middleweight - Kevin Holland vs. Reiner de Ridder
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
Middleweight - Zach Reese vs. Azamat Bekeov
Light heavyweight - #13 Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elena
Lightweight - Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims:
Women’s bantamweight - #9 Karol Rosa vs. #13 Ailin Perez
Bantamweight - Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
Bantamweight - Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj
Flyweight - #11 Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
UFC Tampa Preview
The last card in 2024 for the UFC is going down Saturday, December 14th at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida. The main event will be in the welterweight division between former interim champion #6 Colby Covington and #9 Joaquin Buckley.
Covington has not fought in a year since he unsuccessfully challenged for the welterweight title at UFC 296. It marked his third time fighting for the belt but coming up short. The 36-year-old is 2-3 in his last five fights and when you add his inactivity to his inconsistency, he has drifted out of the conversation as a top contender in the division.
While he has shown signs of greatness in the octagon, Convington is known by the fans more as an outlandish trash-talker who goes on incoherent rants that at times have nothing to do with the fight he is in or his opponent. However, he has commented on Buckley and has made a typical Covington style prediction. “I’m going to break this kid in half, I’m going to break every bone in his body, he’s never going to be the same after December 14. He has no idea, he’s never fought or faced anyone like me. It’s going to be a tough night for him,” Covington said.
Covington wants to remind everyone that he is not a steppingstone, and he is still as good as he ever was despite his last loss. “After Masvidal, I got another shot for the undisputed title,” Covington said. “The first kick I threw, I broke it on his elbow, I was compromised from the very first round, the very first 30 seconds of the fight and I knew it was going to be a tough night for me. With a broken foot in a big fight against a guy who wanted to take my head off, who’s probably the hardest fight I’ve ever had to endure. I know I’m so much better than that. Now, it’s about coming back and giving the fans a real treat of who Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington. People have tried to write me off, and now it’s about re-writing all those wrongs.”
The former interim champion believes he has learned from his losses. "After I lost three shots at the undisputed title, it felt like the lowest of low," Covington said. "I lost and forgot who I was. It was a good reminder that woke me up again. I just had to cancel out the bad energy and couldn't let the hype and ego get to my head.
“I had to train harder to become the No. 1 contender again because all I ever wanted was to be the undisputed champion,” he added. “That's all I cared about.”
He concluded by saying, "It's been a year since my last fight and I've used that time to really grow myself as a martial artist and as a person,” Covington concluded. “Mentally speaking, I'm in a better place than I've ever been."
Covington has key wins over Demian Maia, Rafael Dos Anjos, Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masvidal. A win over Buckley who is favored in the fight will keep him hovering around the top 5 of the division and perhaps set him up for a high-profile fight with another younger contender on the rise.
Since returning to welterweight, Buckley has won five straight fights. His most recent win was a third round KO over former two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson. He saw some success at middleweight in the UFC but appeared to be at a size disadvantage for the division in key fights. This run at welterweight has set him up nicely to prove on Saturday that he is a title contender.
The 30-year-old believes a convincing win against Covington puts him in the title conversation. “The performance that I’m going to put on Colby Covington, I can probably take the opportunity to fight for the belt one day,” Buckley said.
Buckley understands the skills Covington brings into the fight. “The pace that he’s able to put on guys is tremendous. He might not have much punching power and the ability to finish guys, but he has a good ability of breaking guys and wearing them out mentally.”
While he respects Covington, Buckley is confident that he is better. “To be honest with you, he has no other choice but to wrestle. My man gotta wrestle for his life, but with that being said, I like that challenge. I like the idea that he is going out there to shoot and try to grapple and use his best weapon. And yet again, it’s still not going to be enough.”
The St. Louis native believes that growth is his biggest asset right now. “I feel like change is necessary; you can’t keep doing the same things.” Buckley said. “Even though a lot of people are like, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, nah, I don’t believe in that. I believe that you always gotta grow and you always gotta put yourself in the position where you’re getting better. I feel like with this move and with this change, I have been able to adapt my game just a little bit better, and that’s why you keep seeing me grow.”
Buckley feels the work paid off in his last fight against Thompson. “We knew we was gonna get the knockout up against the cage so that’s why we kept pushing him up against the cage. And as he’s thinking. ‘Oh, he’s gonna wrestle me,’ we change our level, we come back upstairs and we got the knockout. Yet again, it’s just being versatile and being dynamic in the cage, I think that’s one thing I can do.”
With a win Buckley would move into the top six of the welterweight division. The winning streak would speak for itself but Buckley’s personality along with his finishing capabilities make him prime for a big fight in 2025 if he can defeat Covington in Tampa.
The rest of the main card:
Featherweight - Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo
Flyweight - #9 Manel Kape vs. #12 Bruno Gustavo da Silva
Light Heavyweight - Vitor Petrino vs. Dustin Jacoby
Bantamweight - Adrian Yañez vs. Daniel Marcos
Light Heavyweight - Navajo Stirling vs. Tuco Tokkos
ESPN + Prelims:
Lightweight - Michael Johnson vs. Ottman Azaitar
Lightweight - Joel Álvarez vs. Drakkar Klose
Featherweight - Sean Woodson vs. Fernando Padilla
Featherweight - Miles Johns vs. Felipe Lima
Women's Flyweight - Miranda Maverick vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth
Bantamweight - Davey Grant vs. Ramon Taveras
Women's Strawweight - Josefine Lindgren Knutsson vs. Piera Rodriguez
Navarrete vs. Valdez 2 Preview
The Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona will host two dynamic title fights on Saturday, December 7. In the main event WBO junior lightweight champion Emanual Navarrete will defend his belt in a rematch against former two-weight world champion Oscar Valdez.
Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KO) has been a champion in three divisions which includes WBO junior featherweight from 2018 to 2022, WBO featherweight from 2020 to 2023 and he has been the WBO junior lightweight champion since 2023. He challenged for a fourth division championship in his last fight but came up short losing to Denys Berinchyk by split decision for the WBO lightweight title.
The Mexican fighter won the WBO junior lightweight belt in 2023 with a devastating ninth round TKO of Liam Wilson. He has since retained the belt in two fights with the first being a unanimous decision win over Valdez.
While Valdez may be looking for revenge, Navarrete is taking a calmer approach into the rematch. “There’s little time left before the fight, and you start to feel the nerves,” said Navarrete. “I don’t like to go back and forth with my opponents. I respect my opponents a lot. My principal instilled in me. I know I don’t gain anything by offending them. “I always show a lot of respect. But in the ring, it’s different. I do what I have to do to walk away victorious. Outside of that, there’s nothing,” said Navarrete.
Navarrete has been criticized for the shape he was in during his last fight. Analysts believed he looked slower and did not have the same snap in his punches. The champion commented, “Everything was fine except for a few personal things,” said Navarrete. “I was fine throughout the fight other than being a little fatigued, but those are things that can be worked on. After watching the fight over, it was just a bad night for me.”
The pundits believe the best move for Navarrete is to stay at lightweight, but he know he has a responsibility as junior lightweight champion. “I never said I was staying at 135 pounds”, said Navarrete. “I wanted to see how I performed at 135 and make my decision based on that. At 130, I’m the champion, and there was an opportunity to have another great fight with Oscar Valdez. After speaking to my team, we decided to come back down and defend my title at 130. Valdez is coming into this fight motivated, and we think it’s going to be a great fight. If all goes well, we will look at moving up to 135 after doing everything we need to do at 130.”
How does Navarrete feel about fighting Valdez for the second time? “This one will be much harder especially with our styles and us knowing each other already from the first fight. I think this fight will be better than the first one. I’ll be looking for the knockout, which will force me to work harder.”
He concluded, “I try my best to give it my all during every fight,” said Navarrete confidently. “At times, there are circumstances or things that can affect my performance, but those are things that can happen to anyone. This fight has motivated me to work hard during training camp and work on my body in ways I wasn’t able to in the past. This could potentially be the second prime of my career.”
Valdez won the interim version of the WBO belt in his last fight in March with a seventh round TKO over Liam Wilson. The fight was a much needed rebound from the loss to Navarrete as he has gone 2-2 in his last four fights.
The 33-year-old is former two division world champion having held the WBC junior lightweight title from 2021 to 2022 and the WBO featherweight title from 2016 to 2019. How does he feel about facing Navarrete a second time? “This time, it’s going to be a good fight. I already fought him. I know what he’s got. Awkward shots, he comes forward and doesn’t give off,” said Valdez. “I got to win this fight, come back, and it’s going to be a dream come true.”
“We know what to do. We’ve put in the work, and now it’s time to show it on December 7th. I don’t need more motivation than I already have. I have a chance to redeem my loss. Getting a rematch is just as motivating as it can get.
“We know what to do. We’ve put in the work, and now it’s time to show it on December 7th. I don’t need more motivation than I already have. I have a chance to redeem my loss. Getting a rematch is just as motivating as it can get.
“Now, it’s time to step it up and to win. I’m locked and loaded. There’s nothing here that will make me lose focus. Outside of the ring, you can be gentlemen. Inside the ring, there’s no respect,” said Valdez.
The co-main event of the evening will also be for a title as WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza will defend his belt in a rematch against Robeisy Ramirez.
Espinoza (25-0, 21 KO) won the belt in the first fight with Ramirez last December by majority decision. He followed that up with an impressive fourth round TKO over Sergio Chirino Sanchez in June.
The champion talked about his approach to fighting. “When I’m in the fight, I like to decide what I’m going to do and adjust to that. I do things so they don’t hurt me as much. I try to box and not get hit and leave everything in the ring,” said Espinoza.
“Sometimes I like to go ahead to get the results that I want to push on the gas. I’m going to try and do everything intelligently in the ring. I don’t know what happened to him, but I do expect the best version of Robeisy. I want the best version, and I don’t want any excuses. I’m also going to try and give the best version of myself as well.”
While his critics did not consider his last win to be over the best competition, they are questioning whether Espinoza has improved and can handle the power of Ramirez in a second fight.
Ramirez (14-2, 9 KO) followed the loss to Espinoza with a seventh round KO of Brandon Leon Benitez in June. The former champion claims he was not himself in the first fight and vows to get his belt back.
“That Wasn’t Me” “There were a lot of physical things that happened in the fight. A lot of things were happening in my life, but the good thing is everything is fine now. I’m going to be focused for this fight,” Ramirez said.
He proclaimed again, “That wasn’t me. I was looking for a way out of exchanges, and I wasn’t feeling good at that point. I was trying to do something different, and the things that I wanted to do weren’t happening, said Ramirez.
Ramirez continued, “Even though I was like that, it was still Fight of the Year for Top Rank and ESPN. You saw 12 strong rounds. This time, it’s going to be different. In the first fight, I dropped him, and when he got up, it looked ugly. I think that the bell saved him.”
He concluded by saying, “In the camp, my father got sick and almost passed away. That affected me a lot because my father is in Cuba. I can’t go back. I can’t even see him in the hospital. So, that affected me really hard. I didn’t have the desire to train or anything,”
Ramirez won the belt in 2023 and had one title defense before fighting Espinoza. If both fighters do what they promise to do, boxing fans are in for another fight of the year type battle.
The main card is set for 10:30 ET on ESPN and ESPN+.
Paro vs. Hitchins Preview
The IBF junior welterweight title will be on the line Saturday, December 7th in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Champion Liam Paro will defend his belt against Richardson Hitchins in a 12-round fight.
Paro (25-0, 15 KO) won the title in his last fight with a unanimous decision victory over Subriel Matias. The champion talked about how important it is to have a great fight against Hitchins. “You know, we got a lot of good current champions [in Australia],” Paro said. “To keep my reign as current champion, it’s huge. It means a lot, especially if you wanna have those massive homecoming fights in Australia next year. They’re definitely gonna have more pulling power with this belt. So, it’s very important, not only to me, but to all of Australian boxing, to keep winning these big fights and getting those big fights over to Australia next year.”
The Australian knows what he is up against in Hitchins. “It would mean the world to me,” Paro said. “I’ve always wanted the target on my back, and I’ve got that now. We’re taking on a mandatory [challenger]. You know, there’s no easy fights. My résumé speaks for itself. We’re taking on another undefeated guy. He’s a good boxer, a well-credited boxer, I would say. And I’m keen to show the world that I’m gonna be here for a long time to come. It’s really exciting.”
Paro was linked to a fight with Devin Haney before signing the contract to fight Hitchins. With a win he will set himself up for big fights especially in his home country of Australia.
Hitchins (17-0, 7 KO) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Jose Zepeda in September. The 27-year-old is fighting for his first title on Saturday. He talked about his approach to fighting Paro and what he learned from his last fight.
“Richardson Hitchins wins this fight by showing he’s a world-level fighter, like I’ve done every other fight,” Hitchins said. “My last fight, a lotta criticism came from the fight. People seen the fight close. I don’t believe that I lost the fight. … But I think that my last fight was definitely an experience to show me you do everything right as a professional, especially with nutrition and listening to the right people, making weight the right way. And I said that’s why I gotta respect Liam, because Liam one of them guys, he’s not gonna f*** off.”
The Brooklyn native continued, “Like with me in my last fight, ‘I’mma eat whatever I want and I’m not doing the IBF [second-day weigh-in].’ And my manager, Keith [Connolly], was like, ‘No, we gotta be professional. You gotta lose the weight the day before the fight.’ So, this fight I came in more experienced, more seasoned. I’m doing everything right. So, like I said, for me to win the fight it’s not by any means necessary. It’s by showing I’m at a world-class level. Liam never been in the ring with an opponent like me. I’mma say it now, and he will be saying it after the fight.”
Both fighters are confident heading into the fight but the champion believes he is more composed than Hitchins. “If you watch any of his videos, he contradicts himself over and over again,” Paro said. “It just shows the emotions take over. He’s not even realizing what he’s saying. He’s back and forth, like a tennis match. It is what it is. If it boosts him up enough to step through them ropes, and stand across from me in the ring, that’s all that matters. He can say all he wants. Talk is cheap. Everyone knows Liam Paro goes in there and gets it done with action.”
The main card will start at 9:00pm EST on DAZN.
UFC 310 Preview
The UFC is invading the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, December 7 for UFC 310. The main event will be for the UFC flyweight title as champion Alexandre Pantoja will defend his belt against UFC newcomer Kai Asakura.
Pantoja won the belt with a split decision victory over Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in 2023 and has defended the belt twice. He most recently defeated Steve Erceg at UFC 301 in May with a unanimous decision victory giving him his sixth straight win.
The champion has been aware of Asakura for many years now but feels he knows all he needs to know about his challenger leading up to this fight. “I’ve started to study him more, and I see he fought Manel Kape,” Pantoja said. “He won one time and lost one time. He fought Ulka Sasaki. I fought with the same guy before. Good coincidence, and I’m so happy for that fight. It makes that like a crossover. It’s opened doors for a lot of good fighters all across the world. You have so many good promotions, but of course, everyone wants the belt in the UFC. I think it’s going to be a good test not just for me but for everyone to see a UFC champ vs. another guy who is a former champion for another promotion.”
Pantoja was curious as to who he would defend against next having already fought and defeated top challengers Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval twice. “After my fight with Erceg, I looked at the rankings and tried to figure out who is going to be my next opponent,” Pantoja said. “Kai Asakura, I think that’s a very good movement. That’s the power of the UFC, bringing a champion from another promotion. The guy just left his belt to fight for the UFC, try to fight for the belt. That’s what I think if you want to be the best fighter in the world, that’s what he thinks, you need to win the UFC belt.
“I respect all the promotions, but everybody knows about how big is UFC and if you want to show all the world that you are the best, you need the UFC belt. When they bring the name Asakura, for me, I think it’s a perfect challenge. I’m super excited for that fight. It’s a very exciting fight. It’s someone I never figured out I had the chance to fight. That’s what I want. I want to fight with the best fighters in the world. The UFC just gave me that opportunity.”
The pundits have labeled Asakura as the biggest threat to dethroning Pantoja as a champion, the Brazilian fighter responded confidently. “Everybody can see the same thing I watch,” Pantoja said. “He’s a very good striker. He’s got nasty knees and comes forward. He’s like an old time in PRIDE. That fight style is what he has. But in the UFC is different. There are so many good grapplers here. I proved maybe I’m the best one in my division, maybe in the top 10 of UFC grapplers, you know? I think I can take advantage about that. Of course, I’m fighting MMA. I can use my striking. But I’ve also got my grappling, too.
“I win much more fights when I start to fight MMA, not just go there and make it a street fighter, you know. I learned how to win the fights. I learned a lot with my coach and that’s what I’m going to do on Saturday, I’m going to win the fight.”
Asakura will be making his UFC debut and is the former two-time Rizin bantamweight champion. The Japanese fighter is confident he will quickly make an impact in the UFC. “The UFC fans have never seen anybody like me fight ever before,” Asakura said. “I always aim to go for a KO finish. I’m an exciting fighter and I’m here to bring excitement back to the flyweight division.”
The challenger has not fought at flyweight since 2017 but feels it is the necessary move for his UFC debut. “When I signed my contract with the UFC, I told them I’m willing to fight either at flyweight or bantamweight and then as discussions progressed, I said to them, ‘Look, I think I can bring some excitement into this division so it would be better for me to fight at flyweight for you,’” Asakura said, “So that’s why I’m fighting at flyweight.”
Does Asakura have plans beyond becoming a UFC champion? “At present, I haven’t made an imprint yet on the UFC because I haven’t had a fight,” Asakura said. “So it’s difficult for us to ask them to put forward an event. Of course, I explained to them we’d like the UFC to go back to Tokyo, but when I win this championship, things will change and we’re hoping to have the UFC come back to Japan to showcase and highlight what great MMA talent exists in Japan.”
“The last time the UFC came to Japan was [seven] years ago,” Asakura continued. “There was a lull in the MMA scene at that time, there wasn’t a lot of local activity going on. It took a few years for RIZIN to make an imprint and recover and then I was, of course, at the leading forefront of RIZIN and one of the main stars. Eventually, when the UFC comes back to Japan, hopefully they’ll come on my back and I’ll show them what it looks like to have a sold-out event in Japan.”
The co-main event of the evening will be a title eliminator fight in the welterweight division between #3 Shavkat Rakhmonov and #7 Ian Garry. Rakhmonov was originally scheduled to fight champion Belal Muhammad for the title, but Muhammad withdrew from the fight due to injury.
Rakhmonov is 18-0 and most recently defeated former two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson by submission at UFC 296 last December. How does he feel about facing Garry?
“Even though it’s not a championship fight, it’s a big fight for me,” said Rakhmonov. “I’m really motivated to get that win against undefeated fighter Ian Garry.”
This fight will be a five round fight and the Uzbeki fighter commented on potentially fighting in championship rounds.
“I feel great in the later rounds too,” says Rakhmonov. “I cannot say this is too difficult. This is not an easy sport, but it’s part of it. You have to get through hard moments and still get the win.”
The two have previously trained together and Rakhmonov commented on that experience. “We didn’t really meet outside of training. We just met during sessions,” said Rakhmonov,. “I knew at the time that he’s also on a path to be in the top of the division as a guy I’m gonna meet one day. I can’t say he’s my friend. It’s just sport interest, to find out who’s the better fighter.”
Does he have a prediction? “I believe the fight will show whose grappling is better,” Rakhmonov says, “and there’s no meaning to say much now.”
Garry is 15-0 and most recently defeated Michael Page by unanimous decision at UFC 303 in June. The Irish fighter was more than willing to step in and give Rhakmonov an opponent on Saturday.
“The entire world knows I’m a gamer,” Machado Garry said. “They have given me nothing, but respect because I didn’t have to take this fight. I had a fight lined up next week. I’ve seen this opportunity as the baddest man of the division, and I was like, ‘You know what? Let me do that.’ The risk vs. reward is better than anything. … In this case, I get a shot at the title, I set myself as the No. 1 contender, and I remain undefeated, I take out who many consider the boogie man, I do it in beautiful fashion, and then I wipe the floor with Belal next year. It’s perfect.”
Rhakmonov has made comments that he tapped Garry when they trained together. Garry confirmed. “If he wants to latch onto a moment of success in training from two years ago and think I’m the same fighter I was then, then he would be sadly mistaken,” Machado Garry told reporters. “I don’t believe that he’s going to be latching to anything like that.
“I believe that he’s being honest, and he’s saying this happened – which it did. I’m not turning around and saying it didn’t, but if I sit here and tell you the names I’ve beaten in sparring, it’s just not relevant, and it would be a very different conversation. So, he has to do it on Saturday night. I’m going to go out there and show him I’m far better than he can imagine.”
How does Garry plan on approaching this fight as an underdog? “By just having fun, he said. I am just different, the more I smile and the more I enjoy myself, the worse of a night it’s going to be for Shavkat Rakhmonov.”
The rest of the main card:
Heavyweight - #2 Ciryl Gane vs. #3 Alexander Volkov
Featherweight - #13 Bryce Mitchell vs. Kron Gracie
Featherweight - Nate Landwehr vs. Choi Doo-ho
ESPN + Prelims:
ight Heavyweight - #12 Dominick Reyes vs. #13 Anthony Smith
Welterweight - #14 Vicente Luque vs. Themba Gorimbo
Featherweight - #5 Movsar Evloev vs. #9 Aljamain Sterling
Welterweight - Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
ESPN+/ UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims:
Catchweight - (195 lb)- Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders
Flyweight - Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
Welterweight - Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
Lightweight - Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
Heavyweight - Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Łukasz Brzeski
UFC Macau Preview
The UFC is invading the Galaxy Arena in Macau, SAR, China on Saturday, November 23 for UFC Fight Night 248. The main event will be in the bantamweight division between former champion #3 Petr Yan and former two-time flyweight champion #5 Deiveson Figueiredo. The event will be the fourth time the UFC has landed in Macau but the first since 2014.
Yan is 1-3 in his last four fights but is coming off an impressive win over Song Yadong at UFC 299 in March. He won the vacant bantamweight title with a fifth round TKO over MMA legend Jose Aldo at UFC 251. He would lose the belt in his next fight with a disqualification loss to Aljamain Sterling and would lose a split decision in their rematch at UFC 273 in 2022.
The 31-year-old is still just one win away from being right back in the title conversation. Does Yan feel this way? “To be honest, I feel like I only have one real loss on my record, I believe that I’ll be able to compete with all of the top guys and challenge for a belt. Merab has been saying that he’s [Deiveson Figueiredo] the only real deserving challenger for his belt, so this is a good opportunity for me to get this position; beat him and challenge for the belt instead of him,” Yan said.
“Merab is currently champ but I believe that he’s not ready to defend his title just yet, especially against Umar; it seems like he is avoiding him. Also Umar, I believe he needs a couple of good wins too so with a win over Deiveson, I believe that I can get back into the title picture and challenge for the belt again.”
Yan thinks he will go on another title run because of his new fighting mentality. “I believe I matured,” Yan said. “Mentally, I’m on a different level now. It’s going to be a more serious approach now.”
How does Yan feel about fighting Figueiredo? “I don’t see a big difference since he switched divisions,” he said. “He has an unorthodox style. He has really strong sides that he used to get the wins, but I don’t see anything too special.”
While Yan wants to get the belt back, he wants to take a relaxed approach into this fight. “I’m just going to enjoy the moment,” Yan said. “I’m going to look at the crowd, look at the arena. There is a lot of fans from around the world who came here to support me, so I will be just focused and excited and in the moment.”
Yan has losses to the last three bantamweight champions, but collecting a win over a fighter who is generating hype in the bantamweight division such as Figueiredo is exactly what he needs to remind everyone why he was a champion.
Figueiredo has won three straight fights since moving up to the bantamweight division with victories over long-time contender Rob Font, former champion Cody Garbrandt and former title challenger Marlon vera. Just like Yan, a win for Figueiredo puts him at the top of the title conversation.
The Brazilian wants to prove he is worthy of that title shot. “I’m very hungry,” he said. “I’ll get into the Octagon, and I’ll prove I’m the better fighter. I want to go for the [bantamweight] belt. I feel a great sense of accomplishment from all I’ve done in both weight classes. I have nothing else to prove. Now I’m putting on shows for the fans in the weight class above [flyweight]. I’m here to fight, and I’m here to win.”
Figueiredo feels well prepared to defeat Yan. “We’ve studied him extensively,” Figueiredo said. “His game is full of holes. He doesn’t come from wrestling or jiu-jitsu. He likes to strike. I am a striker. We’re confident the fight will play out on the feet. I have many more weapons. I’ll be using them all against him.”
He continued, “I’m someone who undergoes a transformation when stepping into the Octagon,” he said. “I go in there looking to knock people out. I work hard, and I train with no limits.”
The former champion concluded by saying, “The UFC changed my life, and it’s from the UFC that I wish to retire,” Figueiredo said. “My plans are to keep having high-quality training sessions, to become a UFC champion again and, God willing, retire well.”
The 36-year-old won the vacant flyweight title in 2020 and would defend the belt one time before fighting to a draw with Brandon Moreno at UFC 256. This draw led to a fan-pleasing tetralogy with Moreno in which Figueiredo would lose the belt, win it back and then lose it for the last time in their fourth fight. Since then, he has been an alarming presence in the bantamweight division, and he has the chance to prove on Saturday that he has what it takes to become a two-weight champion.
The rest of the main card:
Women's Strawweight - #2 Yan Xiaonan vs. #10 Tabatha Ricci
Welterweight - Song Kenan vs. Muslim Salikhov
Women's Flyweight - Wang Cong vs. Gabriella Fernandes
Light Heavyweight - #8 Volkan Oezdemir vs. #10 Carlos Ulberg
Light Heavyweight- Zhang Mingyan vs. Ozzy Diaz
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - Baergeng Jieleyisi vs. You Su-young
Flyweight - Kiru Singh Sahota vs. Choi Dong-hun
Women's Strawweight - Shi Ming vs. Feng Xiaocan
Flyweight - Nyamjargal Tumendemberel vs. Carlos Hernandez
Flyweight - Lone'er Kavanagh vs. Jose Ochoa
Bantamweight - Xiao Long vs. Quang Le
Lightweight - Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Nikolas Motta
UFC 309 Preview
The UFC is invading Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday, November 16th for UFC 309. The main event will be for the heavyweight championship as two future Hall of Famers will collide. Champion Jon Jones will face former champion #8 Stipe Miocic. The two were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 295 but Jones had to withdraw from the fight due to injury,
This is a battle that UFC fans once dreamed of back in 2017 when Miocic was the heavyweight champion and Jon Jones was the light heavyweight champion. However, Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight title that same year after testing positive for a banned substance. Jones would not fight again for over 12 months and by the time he was back Miocic had begun an epic trilogy with Daniel Cormier and fighting Jones was seemingly forgotten.
After Jones won the vacant heavyweight title in 2023, he was once again linked to a fight with Miocic even though the former champion at the time had not fought in two years. On Saturday it will have been three years and six months since Miocic last stepped foot in the octagon. It has been four years since he last won a fight. While there are numerous opinions as to why this fight is happening, the one certainty is that Jones and Miocic are fighting each other to solidify their own legacies.
The pundits may think interim champion Tom Aspinall is more deserving of a title shot, but Miocic does not think it is his problem. “It wasn’t my choice,” Miocic said. “It’s a fight I wanted, and the UFC gave it to me. They didn’t have to. They gave it to me. I believe so [there’s a reason why it’s happening]. I believe people want to see that. I think a lot more people want to see the fight than him fight Aspinall. [Aspinall is] tough. He hits hard. Big boy. It’s what people want, he knocks people out.”
Miocic has chosen to ignore the criticism heading into the fight with Jones. “I don’t listen to anything on the outside. I used to when I was younger, when I started I was like why would you say that? How dare you? I was real sensitive. I literally stopped caring anymore. I don’t care what anyone says. I really don’t care.”
Jones won the belt in 2023 with a first-round submission of former interim champion Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, but he has not fought since. Jones has questioned whether a long term run as heavyweight champion is his top priority. “I could see myself after this entertaining super fights only,” Jones said. “If we get a dominant performance, I’m prepared to vacate the heavyweight championship and fight for fun. I want to fight for fun. … I don’t necessarily want it to be over, but I just want to fight for fun.”
He continued, “I think about one of my teammates, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, he just fights. Win, lose, or draw, he just fights. I would love to kind of experience that for the first time in my career, just not having this belt to protect. Just fighting guys that I’d stylistically want to fight against,” Jones continued. “Random fights like Jamahal Hill. … I’m at an interesting weight where I can fight light heavyweights or heavyweights. Derrick Lewis, Biggest knockout puncher in history.”
Jones has his reasons for not wanting to fight Aspinall. “If I’m being completely honest, I feel like Tom’s been such an a*****e that I don’t wanna do business with him,” he said. “His fans have been so annoying. And obviously you don’t get this far into a career being affected by fans and whatnot, but he’s just an a*****e. With his – he’s 30, so he’s from this influencer generation where you hop online, and the t-shirt sales and all that. I’m past that type of stuff. I’m like ‘Bro, if you had a little bit more respect, then maybe we could have worked something out.’ I just don’t even wanna do business with him.”
The champion continued, “Fighting me gives [Aspinall] an opportunity to change his life forever. And I don’t even wanna give him the opportunity. He just played his cards wrong with me, personally. And I’m three years from being a 40-year-old grown man, you know what I’m saying? It’s just like – the press conference, going through the whole shebang with him, I’d rather not do. Pereira on the other side – respectful, cool, barely says much. It’s like – I’ll do business with you. I would risk it all with a human being like you. And you actually have the accolades to back up your s***. This other guy is just a big mouth who’s hot today.”
If Jones wins on Saturday and does vacate the belt, it will cause a shuffle at the top of the heavyweight ranks. If Miocic becomes a three-time champion at the age of 42 by beating Jones who is widely considered the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, what does he have left to prove?
Miocic is the most accomplished heavyweight champion in UFC history. He is the only heavyweight champ to defend the belt three times and he added a fourth title defense after becoming a two-time champion. He has key victories in his career over Daniel Cormier (twice), Francis Ngannou, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovksi and Mark Hunt. A win over Jones, will cement his legacy as the best heavyweight in UFC history.
Jones had eight title defenses of the light heavyweight belt which is the most in the division’s history and then three during his second reign. The 37-year-old only has one loss on his record, and it was due to disqualification. He was the youngest fighter to win a belt in the UFC at the age of 23 where he defeated Shogun Rua at UFC 128 in 2011.
After winning his first title, Jones collected key victories over Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson (twice), Glover Texeira and Daniel Cormier. With his victory over Dominick Reyes in 2020, he tied the record for most overall title defenses in UFC history. Jones has been suspended three times and has had his fair share of troubles outside of the octagon, but as a fighter he will go down as one of the best if not the best to ever do it.
The co-main event of the evening will be a lightweight rematch between former champion Charles Oliveira and former title challenger #7 Michael Chandler. The two first met at UFC 262 in 2021 for the vacant lightweight title. Oliveira had an amazing come from behind win when he shocked Chandler stopping him by TKO in the second round.
Oliveira defended the belt twice before losing to current champion Islam Machachev at UFC 280. He most recently lost a razor thin split decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in April. Both Oliveira and Chandler have strong feelings about the rematch and feel that a win would result in a title shot.
How does Oliviera feel heading into this rematch? “He wants to be a champion for the first time. I want to be the champion again,” Oliveira said. “The champion of the lightweight division has a name – we know this. I beat Michael Chandler once. I’m going to beat Michael Chandler again.
“I think a lot of people come and talk. Everybody comes here and says the same things. They talk the talk. They say they have plans about things, or they’re going to do something. But you have to come here and do things. This is a magical stage – a great place to be with the energy of the crowd. I’m going to be in this fight pushing forward, charging forward.”
Oliveira has been fighting in the UFC since 2010. He has key victories in his storied career over Jeremy Stephens, Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaetjhe and Beniel Dariush. A second convincing win over Chandler could be what the 35-year-old Brazilian needs to once again fight for the lightweight title.
Chandler has not fought in two years after waiting for a fight with Conor McGregor, but the showdown could never materialize. The 38-year-old is 2-3 in the UFC and most recently lost to Dustin Poirier in a fight of the night at UFC 281. He talked about the layoff heading into UFC 309.
“The last two years for me have been all about growth and patience,” Chandler said. “Obviously with the way the Conor McGregor thing happened, I like to say it happened for me and not to me. There were definitely moments where it was tough, but overall, as I sit here today, I look back on it and realize it was such a huge blessing for me. I needed a little bit of time off physically, mentally, spiritually. I spent a ton of time with my family, a ton of time working on passions outside of the Octagon. Now I sit here happy, healthy and hard to kill, and I think it's because I was able to take those two years off.”
Why a rematch with Charles Oliveira? “As we pivoted, the UFC brought up Charles Oliveira,” Chandler said. “He needed a fight. He wants that title back. He is hungry for that title back. He wants to get the title shot back and they said, you’ve got to go through Michael Chandler first. Our first fight was an absolute banger. I won 10-8 in the first round and then slipped up in the second and lost, so I got some making up to do. I’ve got to right a wrong, and what better place to do it than Madison Square Garden? What better time than November 16th at UFC 309, co-main event on the biggest card of the year?”
Chandler is looking for redemption. “I had two-and-a-half minutes of UFC experience at the time that I stepped inside the Octagon against Charles Oliveira,” Chandler said. “I was a 34-year-old salty veteran. I wasn't new in the sport, but I was new to the UFC and whether people know what that feels like or not, it was something different, it was something bigger and I cracked under the pressure. I didn't fight how I should have fought, I fought recklessly, and I paid for it and that's why we love this sport. Anybody can win on any given night. You make one mistake, and you wake up staring at the lights and your dreams are shattered. Charles Oliveira shattered my dreams of becoming the number one lightweight in the world at UFC 262 and now at UFC 309 I get to right that wrong and I'm excited to go do it.”
What will Chandler do differently this time around against Oliverira? “I do believe that I will be a different guy on Saturday night, but still the same old Michael Chandler, who is going to put you on the edge of your seat from bell to bell. I will steal the show at Madison Square Garden November 16th.”
The rest of the main card:
Middleweight - Bo Nickal vs. Paul Craig
Women’s Flyweight - #9 Viviane Araújo vs. #11Karine Silva
Catchweight (165 lb) - Mauricio Ruffy vs. James Llontop
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee
Middleweight- Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders
Lightweight - Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson
Lightweight - David Onama vs. Roberto Romero
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Heavyweight - Marcin Tybura vs. Jhonata Diniz
Welterweight - Mickey Gall vs. Ramiz Brahimaj
Welterweight - Bassil Hafez vs. Oban Elliot
Women's Flyweight - Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura
Barrios vs. Ramos Preview
The WBC welterweight title will be on the line at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Friday, November 15. Champion Mario Barrios will be making his first title defense against former WBA welterweight title challenger Abel Ramos.
Barrios (29-2, 18 KO) won the vacant WBC interim title in 2023 with a unanimous decision victory over Yordenis Ugas. He defended the interim belt in his last fight in May where he won a unanimous decision over Fabian Maldana. He has since been elevated to full champion and is looking to prove he belongs among the elite of welterweight champions.
The San Antonio native is ready for a war with Ramos. “I know both of us have been in there with world-class fighters, but I trust my abilities and power to carry over the whole 12 rounds,” Barrios said. “I’m preparing for a hard 12 rounds, but at any point I get him hurt or I see him fading, I’m going to do whatever I can to get him out of there.”
Barrios will be fighting on the undercard of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight which will be streamed live on Netflix. How does he feel about the opportunity? “Boxing isn’t on Showtime no more (sic). It’s not on HBO. It’s going to these streaming platforms,” said Barrios. “If you bring them Netflix, it’s worldwide. Everybody knows what that is. Being a kid from San Antonio, to battle like that on Netflix, I’m very proud to go out there and represent our city, to defend the title, do whatever it takes to make sure it stays in San Antonio. Ultimately, it’s a great opportunity, which is why we took it. I’m pumped to go out there, just be myself, show the world what I bring every time I step in those ropes.”
Amid the chaos in the welterweight division, Barrios was elevated to full champion after then WBC champion Terence Crawford moved up to 154 pounds. He commented on being promoted. “No fighter wants to come across a world title in that manner. It’s just kind of where things are with boxing right now,” Barrios said. “Regardless, I became an elevated champion for a reason. I got myself into that position, all the work I put in, all the fights at welterweight, so I’m still very proud. Now it’s just my job to move forward, defend the belt as a champion and prove to everybody why I was the elevated champion for a reason.”
Earlier in the year Barrios was linked to a fight welcoming back boxing legend Manny Pacquiao but the deal could never get made. The champion knows what that fight would have meant for him. “The opportunity to step in there with a legend like that is huge,” Barrios said. “I’ve been watching him since I was a kid. The fact that Pacquiao and Barrios was even being mentioned: I couldn’t really even put it into words. The possibility (of) seeing this man across the ring from me, this other legend. Things fell through with negotiations, figuring the details out, but it’s still definitely a fight I would welcome.”
Barrios is also a former WBA super lightweight title holder and had one successful defense. He lost the title by TKO in a hard-fought battle with Gervonta Davis in 2021. Since then, he has refocused his career at welterweight and is looking to put on a show under the bright lights of AT&T stadium and Netflix.
With a win, the champion wants to fight Jaron Ennis who just successfully defended his IBF title on November. “He's been successful in his fights, but the boxing community can be relentless and hard to please sometimes,” said Barrios. “I think he might have been rushing it too much against Chukhadzhian. It doesn't change what Boots brings to the table as a fighter. He's still very dangerous and the biggest threat in the division. Sometimes we go in there and don't get the performance we're expecting. Boots can box and he can bang. We can fight 50 times and it can end differently every time. I'm going to do whatever it takes to be victorious against him.
Ramos (28-6-2, 22 KO) is 2-3 in his last five fights but is coming off a fifth round TKO victory in his last fight against Juan Ramon Guzman. While Ramos recent record might not show it, he has proven he is a tough out for any opponent having never been finished in 36 pro fights.
The 33-year-old fought for the vacant WBA regular welterweight belt in 2020 against Yordenis Ugas, where he lost by a razor thin split decision. Since then, he has proven to still have the championship hunger needed to grant him another shot at a title. The boxing world wanted to see Barrios welcome Pacquiao back to boxing, but now Ramos can spoil the future of that fight and have one of the biggest surprise victories of the evening in Texas.
Ramos talked about what this title shot means to him. "It's a dream that I had since I was a kid to become a world champion," Ramos said. "I'm taking this fight serious. I know Barrios is a great champion, but we're here to make that little kid's dream a reality."
He continued, "(Winning) would change my life forever,” Ramos said.
Ennis vs. Chukhadzian 2 Preview
The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will host two dynamic title fights on Saturday, November 9th. IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis will defend his belt against Karen Chukhadzian. The two previously fought for the vacant interim IBF title in 2023 where Ennis won via unanimous decision.
Ennis (32-0-1, 29 KO) defended the interim belt once and then was promoted to regular champion and successfully defended the title in his last fight with a fifth round TKO of David Avanesyan in July. While he did win convincingly in the first fight with Chukhadzian, the pundits were questioning Ennis for not being able to finish the fight, the first time he had gone the distance in six years.
Chukhadzian won three straight fights against lesser competition after losing to Ennis and was named a mandatory challenger to the IBF belt. If Ennis would have declined he would have been stripped of the title. The champion commented.
“Vacating the belt wasn't a thought in my mind. I was just staying in the gym, staying focused and doing what I needed to do to get better. I wasn't worried about what was going on in the outside. I let my team handle all of that. I want to stay busy and collect the rest of these belts. If they are playing around, maybe we'll be at 154 pounds, maybe not. We'll see,” Ennis said.
It has been known that Ennis has been wanting a unification fight for years now, and he confirmed that notion. “I've been chasing everybody. I've been chasing Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jnr, Keith Thurman – I've been chasing all of these guys. Ask Crawford. Ask them.”
“That weight is poppin' right now. Everybody up there. Hopefully you might see me up there. You never know. They are all great fighters, but I really can't pick who's the best.”
“Hopefully these guys will step up and sign on the dotted line. These are the fights everybody wants to see,” he said.
The champion is excited to be defending the belt on his home turf of Philadelphia. “It’s phenomenal and a blessing to be fighting at the Wells Fargo Center. The whole card is crazy from top to bottom, with one of the pound-for-pound greats in Rodriguez, contenders and prospects. It's going to be a great show and filled with fireworks. It's great for boxing when you have two of the top guys on the same card. Bam and I together will make it a powerful night, bringing both of our fan bases together. We're going to have a good time,” said Ennis.
Ennis has key wins over Thomas Dulorme, Sergey Lipinets and Chris van Heerden. A convincing win in this fight will silence his critics and solidify his position to fight for a unified title. The 27-year-old will need to find a way to utilize his power early in the fight and push Chukhadzian to the brink, something he did not do in the first fight.
The co-main event of the evening will be for the WBC junior bantamweight title as champion Jesse Rodriguez will defend the belt against interim champion Pedro Guevara.
Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KO) is a two-time WBC super flyweight champion and is defending the belt for the first time under his second reign. He is also a former unified WBO and IBF flyweight champion. He talked about his opponent on Saturday.
"Really, I have to watch out for everything," Rodriguez said. "He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. This is an opportunity for him to change his life and his career so I know he is going to come 100%. He is going to take what I have but I am at the top of my game right now and I really don't see anyone beating me anytime soon."
Rodriguez scored the biggest win of his career in his last fight where shocked legend Juan Francisco Estrada by seventh round KO. The 24-year-old has plans on fighting more legends such Roman Gonzalez and Naoya Inoue but he cannot look past a fighter who like he stated, has nothing to lose.
Guevara (42-4-1, 20 KO) has won two straight fights and most recently defeated Andrew Moloney to become interim champion. The 35-year-old has only lost two fights since 2017 and he is a former WBC junior bantamweight champion winning the belt in 2014. The Mexican fighter defended the belt twice before losing it by split decision to You Kimura.
Of his four losses, all have come by decision and three of those by split decision. Guevara has proven he still has plenty of fight left in him and he has the chance to reign on a young champions parade by shocking the world on Saturday.
UFC Vegas 100 Preview
The UFC is returning to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, November 9th for UFC Vegas 100. The main event will be in the welterweight division between veteran contender #15 Neil Magny and rising prospect Carlos Prates.
Magny is trying to rebound from a first round TKO loss to Michael Morales in August. The 37-year-old is 4-4 in his last eight fights and has followed each loss with a win to remind everyone why he has been in the top 15 of the welterweight division for so many years.
After he made his debut in 2013, Magny quickly became one of the most active fighters in the UFC. Between February 2014 and November 2015, he fought 10 times going 9-1 during the stretch and is one of only three fighters in history to have five wins in a calendar year. He currently holds the record for the most wins in welterweight history with 22 as well as the most significant and total strikes landed in welterweight history.
With a win on Saturday, Magny can move into a tie with Andrei Arlovksi and Donald Cerrone for second with the most all-time wins in UFC history. Jim Miller holds the record for most wins with 26 career victories.
Prates will be the third fight in a row for Magny where he is battling a prospect on the rise in the welterweight division. Why does he do it? “Notoriety. At this point, it’s all about letting it be known that you still stand to be a force in the division, so to speak,” Magny said. “I don’t do that by fighting guys I know I can beat. I get it by going out there and challenging myself against whomever the UFC throws at me. This is yet again another example of that.
“I can easily be like, ‘Hey, do you guys have any 30-year-olds or 40-year-olds I can fight? I don’t want to fight another up-and-coming killer.’ But I know that’s not what’s going to make me happy at the end of the day. I want to challenge myself. Right now, being at the place I’m at physically, mentally, emotionally, I know I can still compete with the best guys in the world. I would honestly feel bad for myself if I were to sandbag and sell myself short by taking an opponent I know I’d beat easily.”
The 37-year-old has done the research on his younger opponent and has nothing but respect going into this fight. “I’ve been impressed thus far,” Magny said. “He has some pretty good kickboxing matches that I’ve been able to see. He did pretty well in his MMA career. Though he’s a young guy in the UFC, the guy has 26 professional MMA fights under his belt. So he’s definitely a veteran in this sport in particular, as far as the skill sets he brings to the table. Knowing the camp that he trains at and his background, I know he’s know slouch. Though I know he’s predominantly a striker, I know he’s going to have pretty good wrestling defense, ground game, and things like that, as well. I know I have a tough test ahead of me and I can’t wait to go out there and deliver.”
What is Magny’s key to victory against Prates? “The biggest thing is being present,” Magny said. “I know these guys are very dangerous everywhere else. I can’t afford to be complacent at any moment in this fight. I know I’m going to be able to out there, out-strike, out-wrestle, out-grapple. I can do whatever it takes to get the job done. For me, it’s all about being present and executing at this point.”
Prates is 3-0 in the UFC with three KO’s and most recently defeated Jingliang Li at UFC 305 in August. The Brazilian has collected a KO victory in his last nine fights dating back to 2021.
The 31-year-old knows he has been on quick rise in his short time in the UFC, but he believes he has earned it. “I asked for the fight because I finish the fights really fast,” Prates said. “I think it’s the main reason, you know? I always finish the fight, and then I fight in two months or something like that. I ask to fight somebody when they do an interview in the octagon.”
What is next for Prates with a win on Saturday? “I have been training so hard, and to be honest, I’m going to fight Neil Magny on Saturday, and then I’m looking for a fight in Australia in February,” Prates said. “Then, I’ll take a little break to take care of my body, my health. It’s good also that I’m keeping training and fighting. It’s good also. But now it’s time to, like I say, to think with my brain, not with my heart.”
Prates respects Neil Magny and knows what a win means for him in the welterweight division. “It’s a huge honor to fight him,” said Prates. “Before I signed with the UFC, before I moved to Thailand, I was watching his fights; he’s a really good fighter. He has really good skills, good cardio, good grappling, and it’s an honor to fight against him.
“He looks like a really nice guy, but when we step in the cage, nothing is gonna matter — we’re just gonna work. I’m excited to step in the cage and test myself against him.”
Does Prates predict another KO victory? “I’m excited to step there, in the cage, finish the best year of my career. I’m probably gonna knock him out, but we’ll see.”
The Rest of the Main Card:
Bantamweight - Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj
Middleweight - Gerald Meerschaert vs. Reinier de Ridder
Women's Strawweight - Luana Pinheiro vs. Gillian Robertson
Middleweight - Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Duško Todorović
ESPN+ Prelims:
Women's Strawweight - Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Denise Gomes
Bantamweight - Gaston Bolaños vs. Cortavious Romious
Welterweight - Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Zach Scroggin
Welterweight - Matthew Semelsberger vs. Charles Radtke
Bantamweight - Cody Stamann vs. Da'Mon Blackshear
Middleweight - Tresean Gore vs. Antonio Trócoli
Women's Bantamweight - Melissa Mullins vs. Klaudia Syguła
Conceicao vs. Foster 2 Preview
The Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York will host a dynamic title fight on Saturday, November 2nd. Robson Conceicao will battle O’Shaquie Foster in a rematch for the WBC junior lightweight title. Conceicao took the belt from Foster in July in a controversial split decision win.
Foster out-landed Conceicao in the last fight 109 to 76 and when the judges scorecards were read in favor of Conceicao, nearly everyone in attendance was as shocked as Foster. While Foster was not as active having been out thrown in the contest, there was not a moment where it looked like Conceicao had control of the fight.
The former champion talked about the split decision loss. "I don't know if it was grief but I was so mad that I wanted to [immediately] get it back," Foster said. "I wanted to know why. I ain't going to lie, I was so mad, bro. I was so mad. I think after a couple days to a week, I started getting so much love from it that it actually made me way more popular after than before. It started to turn around and I started to look at it more in a positive way."
Forster has used the loss to correct the holes in his game. "I know it pushed me to another level," Foster said. "It pushed me to a new level of wanting to just show everything I can do. I could fight one style in these fights and I will win these fights. So it's a, 'if it ain't broke then don't fix it' type thing. Now, it turned me to another level where I can show the world everything. I am trying to maximize my talents.
"We are going to be more active. I'm looking to come in and put on a show."
Despite thinking he won the fight, Foster does believe Conceicao will be a tougher fight this time around. "I think [Conceicao] is a durable, tough fighter that you have to take his will," Foster said. "He's not just going to give it up. He's that kind of guy. But I also think you can take it, you just have to bring it to him. I respect him as a fighter. He is going to come to fight and probably will try to do something different but, either way, I'll be prepared for it.”
He concluded, "I'm just looking to prove everybody wrong and get my revenge. The way I feel about it is that I got the short end of the stick a lot and I like to prove people wrong. It's just my mindset, I'm free and I want to get busy. I've been visualizing it everyday and every night, when I wake up and all day, everyday. I just can't wait."
Foster won the vacant title with a dominant performance against Rey Vargas in 2023. He then defended the belt twice in two hard-fought battles against Eduardo Hernandez and Abraham Nova. The victories put the rest of the division on notice that Foster was a problem champion. He can return to that status with a convincing win over Conceicao on Saturday.
Conceicao is 3-2-2 in his last seven fights but the biggest highlight of his career came in his last fight where he stole the title from Foster. The newly crowned champion had plenty to say about taking the title from Foster despite what his critics may think of it.
“This fight is personal for me because I feel that a champion is a fighter who goes out there and doesn’t run around, who looks for the fight, who tries to win, and doesn’t just throw one or two punches and then moves away,” said Conceicao.
The Brazilian continued, “This time around, I have no doubt in my mind that I will do a better job and represent Brazil better,” said Conceicao. “I didn’t feel much power. He has good defense and a good jab; he’s very technical but not very powerful.”
“Foster’s defense is complicated and challenging. If he’s saying he’s going to come and strike more, that’s what I’m expecting. If that’s the case, it’s going to be way more interesting. That was the fight that I had prepared myself for the first time around.”
The 36-year-old concluded by saying, “If he does that the second time around, great,” said Conceicao. “That’s what I would like to see as well because it would be a way more interesting fight and better for the public. I’m ready. Let’s see if he does it this time around. I’m ready. “I feel this fight will be harder and way more competitive, and that’s what I feel.”
The former Olympic gold medalist believes he is fully prepared to defend his title. “I had a really good camp [this time] but for the first fight I didn’t,” Conceicao said. “I had a lot of pain, I had a sickness but this time I’ve been healthy, it’s been clean. I’m going to win in better fashion next time.”
Foster responded, “I’m glad he had the best camp, we did too. Everyone goes in with injuries and sickness, so I don’t want to hear that excuse.”
Both fighters have something to prove. Foster wants to remind the division why he should still be champion and Conceicao needs to prove that he wasn’t given a gift by the judges in the last fight. Foster has the pressure of needing a dominant performance whereas Conceicao for the time being can rest on the fact that Foster will need to do more than he did in the last fight to win.
UFC Edmonton Preview
The UFC is returning to Rogers Arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Saturday November 2nd for a UFC Fight Night. The main event will be in the flyweight division as former two-time champion Brandon Moreno will battle rising contender Amir Albazi.
Moreno is trying to rebound from two straight losses starting with losing the title to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 by split decision. His most recent fight was a split decision loss in a rematch with Brandon Royval in February. While Moreno is a two-time champion, he was never able to defend the belt. He had three tough fights with Deiveson Figueiredo in two years going 1-1-1 in those battles. He would win the fourth fight by third round TKO to reclaim the belt only to lose it in his next fight to Pantoja.
The Mexican fighter is still only 30, but does see retirement sooner than later in his future. "So I have my goal very clear. I'm not putting extra pressure on myself, but I wanna retire young. I'm thinking maybe like 33, 34," Moreno said.
He continued, "A lot of people [say] like, 'man, you're very young...' Like, yes, I'm very young. My spirit is amazing. I feel like 20 right now. But my body, I start this sport very young with bad habits, like, don't use a headgear and don't do this and don't take care of your injuries. [Not] doing physical therapy, all these bad habits, I start to feel it right now. So, I want to be out of the sport healthy."
The former champion concluded, "I want to try to enjoy my family a little bit more. I want to be very present in the life of my daughters, my wife, and that's it," Moreno said. "I have a very long career. I've been in this sport for so many years and I think it's smart to be out of the sport at that age."
Moreno has not fought in eight months, and he explained why. “I am the first Mexican world champion. The guy from a huge country with a lot of support on a person,” Moreno said. “That person is me. It’s not just the training camp. It’s not just the fight. Now it’s about the media, about the responsibilities, the travels, the media tours. I don’t know. Maybe I’m a p***y, maybe I’m a weak person.
“Maybe other fighters can say, ‘Hey, that’s nothing. Shut the f**k up and keep going.’ Maybe that’s true, but talking about myself. That’s something huge. I’ve been on the grind like two, three years in a row,” Moreno added. “Fighting in an amazing spot, being around the world, doing a lot of work, a lot of media days. I’m a human being, man. And at some point, it exploded my mind. And that’s why I decided to take a break.”
Moreno explained how he feels heading into a fight with a contender on the rise such as Albazi. “I feel very frustrated because even when I lost my last two fights, I feel in my prime,” Moreno said. “I feel very strong, I feel stronger, I feel with better technique, I feel with more knowledge about the fight game. Just the result isn’t what I’ve been having in my last couple of fights. Now my goal is to show that to the world. To show all my hard work at the gym, and that’s it.”
Despite his losing streak, Moreno is currently ranked second in the flyweight division and with a win on Saturday he could put himself back in the title picture. While he did lose to Pantoja on the judges scorecards, like most Moreno fights it was a great back and forth war. Royval moved into the top spot with his second straight win including his victory over Moreno and is looking like he will get a rematch with Pantoja for the title. If Moreno wins on Saturday, he can sit back and wait on a third fight with either Royval or Pantoja to once again fight for the flyweight championship.
Albazi only has one pro loss and is 5-0 in the UFC. He most recently won a split decision over Kai Kara France back in June of 2023. A win on Saturday represents the biggest of his career and could set him up for his first title shot. The Iraqi fighter explained why he suffered such a long layoff before the biggest fight of his career.
“I couldn’t lift my arm up, I couldn’t jab, I couldn’t do anything, but I still kept training,” Albazi said.
“After I got my first MRI, the first doctor said, ‘You shouldn’t be fighting anymore. Find a 9-to-5.’ I kept going to different doctors, and when the UFC doctors found out, they literally pulled me out of the fight, and I had to go straight into surgery.
“They told me I was one punch away from getting paralyzed. So, after that surgery, here I am.”
The 31-year-old is savoring the moment of making his return to fight in a main event. “Man, it feels really good to be back,” he said.
“Just sitting in the car on the way to the hotel, thinking, ‘It’s finally fight week! It’s been a long wait.’ It feels so good to be back after so many obstacles.”
Albazi is confident he is the best fighter in the flyweight division and is ready to move to the top of the rankings. “That was probably the hardest part of being away (was) when I see these guys fighting each other, the rankings change, people go up, people go down; that guy gets a title shot, that guy gets a title shot, and I feel I can’t do nothing about it,” he admitted. “I’m not even back to training yet, and these guys are fighting for a title.
“Especially seeing Steve Erceg. Nothing but respect to him, but he was ranked No. 9 when he got the title shot, so I’m thinking, ‘They must really miss me in the weight class. I’ve really got to get back to show what I can do.’ He put up a good fight against the champion, and I feel there were many other guys in line, but Pantoja beat them all; same thing with Brandon Royval.
“But these guys haven’t fought me yet,” he added with a smile. “Brandon hasn’t fought me yet. I’m just happy to be back here on fight week, to show what I’ve got, to put my stamp on this division.”
The rest of the main card:
Women's Flyweight - #3 Erin Blanchfield vs. #5 Rose Namajunas
Heavyweight - #11 Derrick Lewis vs. Jhonata Diniz
Light Heavyweight - Caio Machado vs. Brendson Ribeiro
Middleweight - Marc-André Barriault vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
Welterweight - Mike Malott vs. Trevin Giles
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - Aiemann Zahabi vs. Pedro Munhoz
Women's Flyweight - #13 Ariane da Silva vs. #14 Jasmine Jasudavicius
Bantamweight - Charles Jourdain vs. Victor Henry
Featherweight - Jack Shore vs. Youssef Zalal
Heavyweight - Alexander Romanov vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
Bantamweight - Serhiy Sidey vs. Garrett Armfield
Bantamweight - Chad Anheliger vs. Cody Gibson
Women's Flyweight - Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Ivana Petrović
UFC 308 Preview
The UFC will be invading the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday, October 26 for UFC 308. The main event will be for the featherweight title as champion Ilia Topuria will battle former champion Max Holloway.
Topuria will be making his first defense of the title as he won the belt in his last fight with a second round KO of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February. The champion is 15-0 overall and is has finished five of his seven fights in the UFC.
Topuria has fought in the lightweight division in the UFC so the rumor mill has been reporting that with a win on Saturday he may move up to 155 pounds to fight for the title. The champion responded.
“Before, I used to make more predictions about that — ‘I want to fight this one or that,’” Topuria said. “But at the end of the day, I want to do my job, which is to show up and fight and we’ll see what the UFC wants me to do.
“If they call me and they want me to move up to the lightweight division, I will be OK with that moving up and be the first one to submit Islam. If they want me to keep on defending that belt in the featherweight division, I will be OK with that, too. Let’s leave that decision to the UFC.”
While Topuria has been seen making predictions about how he will finish Holloway, he does respect the former champion. “I have all the respect for him,” Topuria said about Holloway. “He’s a great fighter. He has achieved many great things in the sport. You can’t take credit from him. I have learned many, many things from him.”
Topuria continued, “He called me a fan. Yeah, I followed his career, I’ve been a fan. How can you not be a fan of Max Holloway? He’s been a great example for me but now it’s my time to be that example for the next generation.”
Holloway has proven his ability as a striker and has more importantly proven his durability throughout his extensive career, having never been finished by strikes. Topuria believes he is better.
“In reality, he’s a good striker,” Topuria said. “It’s not only boxer because calling himself the best boxer in the UFC is kind of a shame, I think, because he’s not the best boxer in the UFC. But he’s a good striker.
“He has a lot of experience, he’s very patient inside the octagon. But everyone is good when they can develop a style in the octagon, and someone is not putting the pressure on him. On Saturday night, he’s going to feel something he never felt with any other opponents that he had in the past. The pressure he’s going to feel with me, it’s going to be completely different.”
Holloway is the current BMF champion, but Topuria believes even though that belt is not on the line in this fight, the value of the title will change after Saturday. ‘If you are at the point in your career where you are the BMF and you have that belt, why do you want to go down to fight for the featherweight title where you have a very low possibility to win?" Topuria said. "The only thing that makes you relevant is the BMF belt.
"You will lose a lot of value if someone comes and defeats you, even if you don't put the BMF belt at stake. Imagine what's going to happen after Oct. 26 when I knock him out. His belt won't have any value anymore. You can call yourself the BMF but I'm not sure.”
Holloway won the BMF belt in his last fight with a last second walk off knockout of former lightweight title challenger Justin Gaethje. The win was his third straight and second straight KO finish.
The Hawaiian became the unified featherweight champion in 2017 and would go on to defend the belt three times. He was a part of a hard-fought trilogy with Alexander Volkanovski but came up short in all three fights. Some pundits argue that Holloway won two of the three fights against Volkanovski and believe he is still the featherweight G.O.A.T. Holloway has moved on from those fights and knows he has more work to do, starting with a victory over Topuria to become a champion once again.
“I want the accolades; I want records,” Holloway said. “Everybody keeps (asking), ‘Who's the best featherweight champion of all time?’ It has to be Jose Aldo. He has all the stats… How do you go against stats? He has what, (seven) title defenses? I have three. I would love to get more.”
“If you want to be the G.O.A.T., you got to beat the G.O.A.T. and beat his records. You got to beat him (and) you got to beat the records. I'm coming for them.”
Topuria has not been shy in front of the cameras to bring up the flaws he sees in Holloway, but the former champion is ignoring the noise. “If that's what he needs for himself, then feel indestructible because I go into every fight 0-0,” Holloway said. “He was bringing up I lost seven times. Wow. Cool story, bro. It is what it is. You lose in this game, and in this sport, losing is very, very huge. I understand that, but some of the greatest guys in every other sport have a bunch of losses. I mean, what is LeBron James’ finals record? I think he lost more than he won. It is what it is.”
Holloway is certainly respected as one of the all-time greats, but he knows he has plenty of fight left in him. “That (first) run was amazing, but I’m not here to smell of flowers just yet,” he said. “We got a lot (left). You guys asked me about that last run. Ask me about the second run because it's going to be a fun one.”
What would becoming a two-time champion mean to Holloway? “It would mean a lot, especially with the way my career went,” Holloway said. “After that third fight with [Alexander] Volkanovski, a lot of people were saying I should change weight classes or all together, I should just retire because it’s never, ever going to happen.
“I guess a couple of years later we’re here and we’re days away and we get to find out who has the last laugh Oct. 26. I can’t wait for the opportunity.”
Holloway made his UFC debut in 2012 and is still only 32 years old. The key wins he has on his resume include Cub Swanosn, Charles Oliveria, Jeremy Stephens, Ricardo Lamas, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo (twice), Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar, Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen and Chan Sung Jung.
The co-main event of the evening will be a title eliminator fight in the middleweight division. Former champion #3 Robert Whittaker will battle undefeated contender #13 Khamzat Chimaev.
Whittaker has won two straight fights since losing to current champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 in 2023. He most recently defeated Ikram Aliskerov by first round KO in June. Whittaker won the interim middleweight championship in 2017 and was later promoted to undisputed champion, but would never actually defend the belt. He fought a non-title bout in a rematch with Yoel Romero in what was suppose to be his first title defense, but Romero missed weight. Whittaker would then lose the title in his next fight to Israel Adesanya in 2019. Since then, Whittaker has gone 6-2 with key wins over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum, Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa.
Whittaker expects a war with Chimaev. “I am expecting him to come out hard and aggressive from the first second to the last, and I have prepared accordingly for that,” Whittaker said. “I’ve prepared for the hardest fight of my life, to start extremely hard, like sprinting for the first five to 10 minutes, but also drag it out to five minutes. I’m ready to sprint for 25 minutes if so. I’m coming in for war.”
He continued, “He’s had such success with his really hard starting fighting approach,” he added. “Regardless whether he gassed or not, he still won those fights pretty handily, and then it was due to the amount of dominance he had in those first rounds. I’m expecting the best version of himself. I’m expecting a guy that comes out hard and a guy that will last. I’m prepared for it. I’ve trained for it. I’m not going to train thinking that if I get out of the first round it’s game over. I’m preparing for the best version he can offer me, a super soldier. I’ve done that.”
Whittaker explained what type of approach he is going to take in the fight. “I look to go into this fight hunting, much like I planned to last fight,” Whittaker said. “I look to do again this fight. I’m the hunter in this fight. I’m the predator and I’m gonna be looking for him.”
The former champion believes he has made the necessary adjustments since his last loss. “Since the Dricus loss I had a bit of a wake up call,” Whittaker said. “I made some changes. Inside, outside the gym. We just sat down and we ripped in. We worked hard, we worked harder than ever, and you can see the results of that work show itself in every fight this year. Every fight I’ve gotten better. I’ve started to back myself more, the confidence I take in the victories that I’ve had. I’m coming into this fight, all cylinders firing.”
Whittaker could make a huge statement on Saturday by defeating a fighter that many pundits believe is the next middleweight champion. Chimaev’s rise was quick due to winning fights in dominant fashion in a short amount of time, but if there is any fighter who knows how to find the holes in a fighter’s game, it is Whittaker.
Chimaev is 7-0 in the UFC and most recently defeated former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on short notice at UFC 294 a year ago. The Chechnyan fighters collected three wins in three months in 2020, but since then he has only fought four times, but the wins were impressive nonetheless.
Stylistically Whittaker is a good match for Chimaev given his ability to wrestle. But does Chimaev want to take the fight there? He commented, “Who did stop my takedowns?” Chimaev said. “Nobody. So, I don’t think this guy will be different. Kamaru Usman has been a great champ, and he took down everyone. But I took him down. I dominate him in the rounds easy. What’s going to be different with taekwondo or karate guy compared to Usman, who’s been a wrestler? He was a professional wrestler before.”
Chimaev and Whittaker agreed for the fight to be five rounds even though it is a non-title fight. Chimaev believes he has prepared for going all five rounds should the fight make it there. “I’ve been pushing from first second to last second in my sparring, but I don’t think it will be different in the cage, as well,” Chimaev said. “I didn’t say anything about my health before the Usman fight, so everyone thinks Khamzat went into the cage healthy, but it wasn’t that. I was sick in the morning before the fight. I didn’t find an excuse. I didn’t cry.”
The 30-year-old has suffered several injuries and health issues leading up to this fight. He discussed how he has mentally rebounded from all the setbacks. “Well, you could say that my depression has disappeared. There were a lot of problems before, I solved a lot of things. Thank God, everything is fine now. I’m human too, I also have my own problems. They needed to be solved,” Chimaev said.
He continued, “I got caught in depression and there was a lot going on. Well now, I’ve decided everything, thank God. I’ve moved to another team, everything is great. Doctors, pharmacologists, nutritionists, everyone. I’ve never had such a team.
“I even usually took vitamins incorrectly before. I was just training in the gym and fighting. Everyone thought I woke up and fought,” Chimaev said.
Chimaev has fought at both 185 and 170 pounds and when asked he commented on moving back down to 170 pounds. “If they give (me a 170lb title shot) why not? I’ve beat everyone (at welterweight) so just give me the title, and I’ll go down there,” he said.
Aside from Usman, Chimaev has key wins over Kevin Holland, Gilbert Burns and Li Jingliang. Whittaker represents the biggest victory of his career and a shot at the middleweight title. He may have to play the waiting game as former champion Sean Strickland has been slated for a rematch with Dricus du Plessis, but Chimaev will challenge the winner of that fight.
The rest of the main card:
Light Heavyweight - #1 Magomed Ankalaev vs. #5 Aleksandar Rakić
Featherweight - #12 Lerone Murphy vs. #15 Dan Ige
Middleweight - Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan
ESPN + Prelims:
Light Heavyweight - Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
Welterweight - #10 Geoff Neal vs. #15 Rafael dos Anjos
Lightweight - Mateusz Rębecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai
Middleweight - Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight - Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett
Bantamweight - Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
Middleweight - Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva
Welterweight - Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
UFC Vegas 99 Preview
The UFC is invading The Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 19 for UFC Vegas 99. The main event will be in the middleweight division as surging contenders #13 Anthony Hernandez and #14 Michel Pereira will battle to climb the rankings at 185 pounds.
Hernandez has won five straight fights and most recently defeated Roman Kopylov by second round submission at UFC 298 in February. His last loss was to Kevin Holland in 2020, since then he has been locked in having finished four of his last five fights.
The 30-year-old is soaking in the moment of his first headlining fight. “A fight’s a fight. I’m happy as hell my face is finally on a poster,” Hernandez said.
“I’ve been waiting for that for a long time, and everything is finally starting to happen. My life’s getting a lot better, my kids have a roof over their head, I’m healthy, they’re healthy. Now I get to go have fun and be violent.”
Hernandez talked about his opponent and what kind of fight to expect. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say because Pereira in the third round, respectfully, he looks like sh*t. He’s wild as f*ck, he can catch you and knock you the f*ck out, so it’s like oh sh*t,” he said.”
He concluded, “I think that, if everything goes right and my hands are up, I think I finish him. Just because the way he gases and the way I don’t gas. It’s perfect for me, but now it’s just go do it.”
Pereira has won eight straight fights and is 3-0 since returning to the middleweight division. In his last fight he defeated Ihor Potieria by first round submission at UFC 301 in May. The 31-year-old has won performance of the night honors in his last three fights and has looked as dangerous as ever.
The Brazilian fighter same as Hernandez is fighting in his first main event. He commented by saying, “It took longer. I think I should have already had a main event, but everything has the right time,” Pereira said.
“Everything comes with the right timing.”
Pereira continued, “I wanted to fight in The Sphere. I don’t know why they actually put it here, but it turns out it worked out. I end up with my first main event. Very happy about that, but I wanted to fight in The Sphere,” he said.
While he respects Hernandez, Pereira is ready to finish the fight. “A tough opponent. A guy that’s got a lot of stamina, a guy that likes to push forward, but I’m very prepared for his game,” he said.
“I do not think that this fight’s going to go five rounds.”
Pereira comes into the fight as the underdog, but he will not let that phase him. “I don’t pay attention to that because I do think he’s coming off four or five straight wins in the division, so I understand why people would say that,” Pereira said. “It’s the merit to his credit, much respect to him. I’m accomplishing that, and I’m making my own accomplishments right now. That’s what I’m going to get to in this division as well.”
The rest of the main card:
Bantamweight #10 Rob Font vs. #12 Kyler Phillips
Flyweight - Charles Johnson vs. Su Mudaerji
Featherweight - Darren Elkins vs. Daniel Pineda
Flyweight - #7 Matheus Nicolau vs. #14 Asu Almabayev
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - Brad Katona vs. Jean Matsumoto
Women's Bantamweight - Joselyne Edwards vs. Tamires Vidal
Women's Strawweight - Jessica Penne vs. Elise Reed
Women's Strawweight - Melissa Martinez vs. Alice Ardelean
Heavyweight - Austen Lane vs. Robelis Despaigne
Beterbiev vs. Bivol Preview
The undisputed light heavyweight championship will be on the line for the first time in the four-belt era on Saturday, October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WBC, WBO, and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev will battle WBA champion Dmitry Bivol to crown the best light heavyweight in the world.
Beterbiev (20- 0, 20 KO) retained the titles in his last two fights with TKO’s over Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith. He has held at least one light heavyweight belt since 2017 and since then has successfully defended a title eight times.
The Russian fighter does not talk about his game plan before fights. "You know, in all my past fights, I have never revealed these things" he said. "Why do I need to tell you these things now?
"Everyone asks this. It is a little secret in our team.”
Beterbiev continued, "We have some different scenarios to do and to prepare for.
"We are thinking about how it is going to go in the beginning, the middle and the end of the fight.
"We always try to discuss different scenarios, prepare for different scenarios, but we never tell journalists.
"We will keep quiet too.I want to win the fight, yes, but do not tell anyone. When someone does trash talk, I just smile."
Even though he is on the verge of such a historic fight, Beterbiev prefers to only let his hands do the talking. "I have never done trash talk in my boxing career and I don't want to start now, you know," he said.
Beterbiev concluded, "It is not my style. Maybe it comes from when I was an amateur, because I remember when I was an amateur there was a period where the head coach of the national team would not let us do interviews after a fight.
"They did not want us to talk with the journalists during the tournament.
"After the tournament, yes, but not during the tournament.
"Maybe it comes from there. I don't know, I understand it is good for promo and everything."
Bivol (23-0, 12 KO) has been the WBA titleholder since 2017 since being promoted to regular champion from interim champion. He has defended the belt 12 times and most recently defeated Malik Zinad by sixth round TKO in June.
The Russian fighter talked about getting to such a pivotal moment in his career. “It’s like I did everything right in my life. Because this is my goal. This is my dream and the dream could come true. Of course it will show me that I was doing right,” Bivol said.
He continued, “The main thing is that I realise my potential. I have a plan, I want to reach this goal and all of it - that people will recognise me, people will remember me, I will get some belts, it’s just a bonus.”
Bivol knows he is in for a battle against Beterbiev. “I feel amazing before the most important fight of my life,” Bivol said. “Just look at his record to see why he's a really dangerous fighter. It's proven that he's one of the most dangerous opponents. He has the skills. He's not only just a good puncher. He's a really good and smart fighter. He has experience and a boxing IQ. He has three belts for a reason. For his age, he has really good conditioning. I just need to be myself and improve on my skills. You can't prepare to get punched, you have to prepare not to get punched.”
The 33-year-old is focused on doing what he feels he does best. “I will try to do all of my best,” said Bivol. “If I can try to finish the fight, of course I will use the opportunity. In my head, I am always thinking about how to win this fight and how to make everything perfect. I am not thinking about the knockout, to be honest.”
The biggest win of Bivol’s career came in 2022 and was a surprise to many where he dominated pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez. With a win on Saturday, he will have options and many people would like Canelo to be one of those potential fights. How does Bivol feel? “To be honest, I don't have any plans as to who I will fight next,” said Bivol. “I don't know if the rematch would be worse for Canelo. I'm not thinking about Canelo. I waited a year and a half and it was only talk and no action or negotiations. It's a closed subject. I'm busy with Beterbiev. We'll see what happens after.”
Also on the card is a battle for the IBF cruiserweight title as champion Jai Opetaia will defend his belt against former IBO cruiserweight champion Jack Massey.
Opetaia (25-0, 19 KO) won the belt in surprising fashion with a dominant victory over Maris Breidis. He has defended the belt three times and most recently defeated Breidis again by unanimous decision in May.
The Australian fighter talked about his opponent on Saturday. “He’s good, man. We’re not taking him lightly at all; he’s a good, tough opponent. At the press conference he was saying he has a big amateur pedigree, so he’s been around the sport for a long time. He’s good. He’s a tough opponent. But styles make fights,” said Opetaia.
“There’s pressure in every fight. I’ve had pressure in every single fight of my pro career; it’s been a stepping stone to get where we want to go, and we’re still very far from our final destination. We’re always under pressure.”
The champion continued, “These underdog boys remind me of myself. I was in their shoes; no one knew who I was. I went from fighting at the Music Hall in Brisbane [in Australia] to fighting for a world title. They’re dangerous, so I take every fight very serious.
“Everything we have is earned every day. It can easily be taken away from us in one bad day. We don’t fucking prepare properly for a fight, and we fall short, everything will be taken away from us. We’ve gotta win it before we go in there, so we’re doing all the hard work that needs to be done.”
The pundits have criticized Opetaia for not having been pushed to the brink yet. He responded, “I’m comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re always chasing pain in the gym.”
Opetaia commented when asked about potentially fighting someone with a name such a Beterbiev or Bivol, considering other cruiserweight champions are not eager to fight him. “You’re always looking at that carrot at the end of the tunnel, and now he’s in the way of it. So, we must remove him from there and keep heading towards that carrot. Until then, he’s stopping us from getting there,” said Opetaia.
Massey (22-2, 12 KO) has won two straight since losing via unanimous decision to former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in 2023. He won the vacant IBO belt in 2021 but would never go on to defend the title.
The British fighter talked about facing Opetaia. “Watching him, you can't take it away from him that he's a very good fighter,” Massey said. “He looks good. But if you look at who he's fought, it's only really been Breidis twice, hasn't it? Coming to the back end of his career.
“But you can't take away the fact that when you watch him fighting, you can see that he's a very, very good fighter. You can't go in there underestimating him thinking he's only fought over-the-hill fighters. You can tell he's a good fighter and he's very good at what he does.”
Massey continued to talk about the champion. “That’s why he gets a lot of critics,” he said. “Because obviously a lot of people buy into him. They like him. They like his style and how he is outside the ring. Obviously, that also brings critics on board to come to the table and say, ‘Well, who's he actually fought?’ so he's got to prove himself a little bit more.
“But people get excited, don't they? They hear the sparring stories and they watch him fight and stuff and start putting labels on him to be the next this and that. So, time will tell when Jack Massey gets in with him.”
Massey has the chance to pull off one of the biggest upsets of 2024 if he can find a way to defeat Opetaia. So far, no other fighter has been able to outbox Opetaia, so if Massey wants to win he will need to take the fight to the champion.
The rest of the undercard:
Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke
Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman — for Nicolson’s WBC featherweight title
Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
Mohammaed Alakel vs. Jesus Gonzalez
Marco Maric vs. Christian Lopez Flores
UFC Vegas 98 Preview
The UFC is returning to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 12 for UFC Vegas 98. The main event will be in the flyweight division between former title challenger #1 Brandon Royval and rising phenom #5 Tatsuro Taira.
Royval rebounded from his title loss in 2023 with a split decision victory over two-time champion Brandon Moreno in February. The fight was a rematch in which Royval was able to avenge his loss to Moreno back in 2020. Royval is 4-1 in his last five fights and his only losses in the UFC have come to Moreno and current champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Oddsmakers have Royval as the underdog in this fight. How does he feel about that? “When I saw that I’m like, am I seeing something wrong or whatever. I’m one of the most underrated dudes in the flyweight division, I’ve been thinking that for years and I also think Taira might be one of the most overrated guys in this division right now, and no disrespect on him. I’ve trained with him, he seems like a very nice kid and I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I do believe he’ll be a champion one day but I think he’s overrated and I think I’m underrated,” Royval said.
Royval explained why he feels he is on a different level than Taira. “I’ve trained with him a lot of times and, like I said, the kid’s good I just think there’s levels to this sport and right now I’m at a different level than he is,” Royval said. “It’s unfortunate that we have to meet up (at this time) because I would love to help that kid win a belt but as of right now it’s my time and afterwards I wanna help him win a belt.”
Aside from Moreno, Royval has key wins over Matheus Nicolau, Matt Schnell, Rogerio Bontorin, Kai Kara-France and Tim Elliott. While he does sit as the #1 contender at Flyweight, he will need a convincing win on Saturday for his next fight to be a second title shot. He has already lost emphatically to champion Pantoja twice and right now a third fight between the two is not a draw. Royval can change all of that with a dynamic win over an undefeated contender in Taira.
Taira is coming off a TKO victory over former title challenger Alex Perez in which the fight was ruled a TKO after Perez injured his knee. He is 16-0 and is 6-0 in the UFC but he will the face the toughest challenge of his career on Saturday.
The 24-year-old spoke about the fight on Saturday. “Brandon Royval is very aggressive and a very good fighter, but I really want to show the fans and everyone in MMA that there is a new challenger in this flyweight champion contention. I want to get a big win and show it to all the fans,” Taira said.
Taira talked about becoming a champion. “I have to become a champion to see (what it takes), but by champion, I mean the world’s best. My dream is to definitely become the UFC champion and keep defending it to a point where everyone thinks that I am the world’s best fighter. Once I get there, I should have the pride of being the best fighter in the world.”
The Japanese fighter sits at number five in the rankings and many pundits believe his rise up the rankings has come too quickly. How does he feel? “I wouldn’t say (my rise up the division is happening) fast, but I would say it’s a good pace,” Taira said. “It’s been working well so far. I’m ranked No. 5 now and I definitely want to show the fans that I belong here and also I belong as a champion soon and become a very strong champion.”
Taira is trying to take a low-key approach into the biggest fight in his short UFC career. “If I start thinking of losing and stuff, I do get kind of scared,” Taira said. “But once the fight is coming and I start focusing, I don’t really even think about my record. I just really focus on the fight. That’s how much I love MMA. I just want to keep winning.”
The rest of the main card:
Middleweightv- Brad Tavares vs. Park Jun-yong
Welterweight - Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden
Lightweight - Grant Dawson vs. Rafa García
Welterweight - Daniel Rodriguez vs. Alex Morono
Middleweight - Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd
ESPN+ Prelims:
Flyweight - C.J. Vergara vs. Ramazan Temirov
Featherweight - Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini
Welterweight - Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price
Heavyweight - Junior Tafa vs. Sean Sharaf
Women's Strawweight - Julia Polastri vs. Cory McKenna
Bantamweight - Daniel Argueta vs. Cody Haddon
Flyweight - Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha
UFC 307 Preview
The UFC is invading the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday October 5th for UFC 307. The main event will be for the light heavyweight title as champion Alex Pereira defends his belt against #8 Khlail Rountree Jr.
Pereira is a two-time champion, and he is coming off a second round TKO in a rematch over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303 in June. He is looking to defend the title for the third time in 2024 and will be fighting in his fourth title fight in less than a year. He won the vacant belt in the first fight against Prochazka at UFC 295 in November 2023.
The Brazilian responded to the critics saying Rountree was undeserving of a title shot. “He does deserve it,” Pereira said. “The same happened with me. He kind of jumped on the rankings, but is due to the work that he puts in. I put the work like that too, keep beating some guys and then the opportunity presents.”
After Pereira’s last win, rumors started of him either moving back down to middleweight where he once held the title, or moving up to heavyweight to become a three-weight champion. He made it clear which weight he is most comfortable at. “I would choose to defend my belt,” Pereira said. “Because it takes a planned work to cut down in weight, and it takes planned work to move up as well, but it’s perfect for this division.”
MMA fans are clamoring for Pereira to fight current heavyweight champion Jon Jones as he is widely considered the greatest MMA fighter of all-time. Pereira responded, “He’s made it pretty clear that he’s only doing one more fight and retiring,” Pereira said. “And I’m not even part of this division, so I would be far from doing that fight. And I have an open mind, so training and learning from him is something I would absolutely do.”
Pereira has respect for Rountree but is confident he can do what it takes to remain a champion. “Khalil is a strong, dangerous guy. Someone who is hungry, who has a dream,” Pereira said. “But, I will use my fight IQ and my experience. I always put pressure on my opponents and if they’re not ready for it, they break. It doesn’t matter if its by decision, knockout, or submission. My goal is to remain champion.”
No other fighter has achieved what Pereira has in such a short amount of time. He will be fighting just his 10th fight in the UFC and it will be his sixth fight for a title. He made his debut less than three years ago and has already achieved hall of fame status. If he can defeat Rountree, there will be plenty of light heavyweights waiting for their shot at him. Despite what Pereira says about fighting at heavyweight, it is too early to rule out that move just yet.
Rountree has won five straight fights with four coming by TKO. He most recently defeated former title challenger Anthony Smith by third round TKO in December. After an inconsistent start to his UFC career, he now finds himself in the biggest fight of his life under the brightest lights. How does he feel?
“It’s definitely just a testament to hard work, dedication, staying focused and keeping the vision alive,” Rountree said. “Now I’m here and it just feels good. I’m glad I’m here. I see the work it took to get here, and I’m prepared.”
The 34-year-old feels confident that he is a challenge that Pereira has yet to see. “I’m a unique challenge because I’m a unique fighter and I bring a different skillset to the challenge,” Rountree said. “I think my style matches up perfectly, I think my style gives me a high chance of winning, and not to really compare to the other guys, but it’s my time.”
Rountree believes UFC fans will be pleased on Saturday night. “This is a super exciting fight for the fans,” Rountree said. “You couldn’t ask for a better matchup in this division. Two guys, predominantly strikers, heavy hitters, we’re at the top of the mountain. This is like a Mortal Kombat level… I don’t think any fan will be disappointed.”
While the pundits have convinced UFC fans and Pereira that Rountree will change his game plan and wrestle, Rountree has made the promise he will not change who he is as a fighter. “From my end, I’ve said it before, I want to go out there and give the fans what they expect to see from me. And I don’t think that fans really expect to see me wrestle. So, I want to do this in the most exciting way possible. I want to give the fans the most exciting fight.
“And who knows where it goes. But what I can say with confidence is that whatever happens and whatever fight this turns out to be, it’s going to be highly entertaining,” Rountree said.
Rountree is 9-5-1 in the UFC with his biggest win to date coming over Smith. He has proven when he is focused is he is one of the most dangerous light heavyweights in the world, but in the fights he has lost he has been criticized of not showing up. He will need to channel the most extreme versions of when he has been great to shock the world on Saturday.
The co-main event of UFC 307 will be for the women’s bantamweight title between champion Raquel Pennington and former champion Julianna Pena.
Pennington will be making her first defense of the title since winning the belt in her last fight with unanimous decision victory over Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297. She has been fighting in the UFC since 2014 and challenged for the title in 2018 unsuccessfully against all-time great Amanda Nunes. The champion now will fight the fight she has coveted the most.
“This is a fight that wasn’t just an eight-week camp for me — this is a fight that has been on my mind for 11 years,” Pennington said.
She continued, “It’s a fight I’ve wanted for a long time and I don’t understand how it hasn’t happened,” said Pennington. “I always asked, and she was either injured or didn’t want to fight me.
"It just never made sense to me,” she added. “I was always like, ‘Make her sign on the damn line! I want this fight!”
Pennington has talked about staying focused before facing the outspoken Pena. “It’s just exciting for it to actually happen, but I’m also the type of person where this is just competition,” said Pennington, who has never been one to get drawn into social media squabbles or engage in trash talking. “At the end of the day, she can run her mouth — we all know she’s gonna run her mouth; I don’t think she ever gets sick of hearing herself talk — but I’m gonna get my hand raised, defend my title successfully, and then shake her hand…or at least try.”
The 36-year-old continued speaking about her long journey to becoming a champion. “Listen, to make it simple: I am genuinely, genuinely proud of myself,” she said, beaming. “I was never handed a single thing. I have always worked from the bottom up and always been the underdog, and to be where I’m at, achieving things for myself as an athlete, as a person, changing my family’s life, building a legacy that I have for myself that I get to pass on to my daughter; I am just so proud of myself.
“When you get into fighting, the ultimate goal is to get into the UFC and stay in the UFC. I’ve been in the UFC now for 11 years; that’s not something easy to do. On top of that, I’ve fought the best of the best. The next goal is that we all want to be world champion, so we’re already the top one percent of people that do this stuff, and to break down who actually fights for a world title, most athletes don’t ever get that opportunity.
“Some athletes — hell, I was one of them: I fought for the world title the first time and I failed,” she added, referencing her UFC 224 loss at the hands of Nunes in Rio de Janeiro. “It’s not an easy journey.
Pena has not fought since losing the title in a rematch against Amanda Nunes at UFC 277 in 2022. She talked about taking the time off.
“I would say the biggest thing that I hate about taking this amount of time off is that the fans have forgotten you and they don't remember you anymore,” said Pena. “So I feel like I have to climb back up and claw my way back up just to remind everybody, hello, I'm still here and I am who I say I am. And you're going to have to be reminded. And that's my job to remind them. But sometimes I just wish I wouldn't have to remind them.”
Pena continued, “There's always those people that talk about ring rust and all that stuff, and there's got to be some truth to that, but I have constantly had these breaks, whether it be injuries or pregnancy or things that have kept me out of the sport for years on end,” she said. “And then, when I come back, all is well again. So I don't ever look at it like, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven't competed in two years. What am I going to do?’ I'm like, this is just the way that it is. And when I get there, I'll do what I know how to do instinctually, and everything will be fine, and the chips are going to fall how they fall. But, I don't look at it like, ‘Ah, panic, ring rust.’ I just look at it as, yeah, I had to take the time off and that's just the way that it is. And I'm not going to think too much about it or broadcast it or highlight it because, at the end of the day, I know I can fight and when that cage door closes, I'm going to give them hell or die trying and everybody knows that.”
The former champion is willing to do what it takes to once again be at the top. “I've always been the underdog,” she said. “I'll take that slot. You go ahead and label me whatever you want. When that cage door closes, I am willing to die to get my hand raised. And I don't think that Raquel has as much of that desire that I have, as much of that hunger and that want, and that competitiveness that I do.”
The previous championship experience has made Pena confident. “I might not have that official title, but, for me, in my head, walking around and going everywhere, I am the champion, and I feel that way.”
The rest of the main card:
Bantamweight - #10 José Aldo vs. #11 Mario Bautista
Women's Bantamweight - #2 Ketlen Vieira vs. #3 Kayla Harrison
Middleweight - #10 Roman Dolidze vs. #15 Kevin Holland
ESPN+ Prelims:
Welterweight - #9 Stephen Thompson vs. #11 Joaquin Buckley
Women's Strawweight - #6 Marina Rodriguez vs. #14 Iasmin Lucindo
Lightweight - Austin Hubbard vs. Alexander Hernandez
Middleweight - César Almeida vs. Ihor Potieria
Early Prelims ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass:
Light Heavyweight - Ryan Spann vs. Ovince Saint Preux
Women's Strawweight - Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington
Welterweight - Court McGee vs. Tim Means
Joshua vs. Dubois Preview
Wembley Stadium in London, England will host a powerful heavyweight title fight on Saturday, September 21. English fighters Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua will do battle for Dubios’ IBF heavyweight belt.
Dubois (21-2, 20 KO) has looked impressive since coming up short in a title fight with Oleksandr Usyk a little over a year ago. He has won two straight by TKO over Jarrell Miller and most recently he defeated Filip Hrgovic in June for the interim IBF title. Dubois was later promoted to IBF champion after Usyk vacated the belt.
The 27-year-old knows he has something to prove against a worthy challenger such as Joshua. “I was down and now I’m coming back up. There’s a deeper meaning to it than just me and AJ in the ring. Everything’s on the line. Who’s got the stronger will, who’s really conquered their demons and who’s really ready to move forward and I believe that’s me and I’m ready to go out there and show it,” Dubois said.
Dubois is looking for a big result on Saturday. “I aim to knock him out. That’s the programme. That’s the mindset, that’s the intention coming into this fight. I’m going to focus my whole life into destroying it and just being a good destroyer, a good conqueror,” Dubois said.
Despite the criticism of Dubios’ durability, he vows to prove his critics wrong. "Don't wait. Go out there. Smash him.
"Go through them. Go through whatever I have to go through… No retreat, no surrender. And go out there and perform like a warrior,” said Dubois.
As it stands today, Hrgovic is Dubois’ biggest win. When he has faced top level competition, he has come up short. A win over a former champion such as Joshua will be the start he needs to entering him into the conversation of elite heavyweight boxers.
Joshua is a former two-time unified world champion having held the WBA (super), IBF, and WBO titles while holding the IBO title during his reign as well. He is currently on a four-fight winning streak since losing the titles to Usyk in 2021 and then falling short in a rematch in 2022. He most recently defeated former MMA champion Francis Ngannou by a devastating second round KO in March.
The 34-year-old has faced questions on where he is at in his career as he will turn 35 years old less than a month from Saturday. How much time does he feel he has left? “Loads,” he said. “It’s not the physical side; I’m strong as an Ox; I’m good. I’m fit, very fit. I’m pushing myself further. It’s just if I’m mentally hungry enough to do it, how long am I mentally ready to go into battle.”
The boxing community is talking about Joshua facing the winner of a rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury which is set to take place in December. Joshua commented, “Daniel Dubois is a big enough challenge as it is. Not thinking about Usyk, I am 100 per cent focused on the job at hand. I haven't had many distractions this time around and I am able to focus solely on Daniel Dubois. It's been a blessing,” said Joshua.
Joshua hopes to take the momentum of his last win into the fight on Saturday. “When you win, you’re on a high and you want to experience that. When you lose, you get low and it takes time to get balanced again. After the Ngannou fight, everything was good, you’re riding that wave. Hopefully we do that on Saturday as well. I’ve given Daniel respect in order to get the victory, Joshua said.
The former champion is one of the most popular British boxers of all-time and remains amongst the most popular today. As he faces a fellow Brit who will perform under the bright lights of Wembley stadium, Joshua talked about his popularity and whether Dubois owes him anything. “The only thing he owes me is a punch and that’s it,” he said. “I don’t want anything else from him. I don’t want his respect or anything else. I have to earn it if I want it. Everything I’ve done in the past, we have to draw a line under because I can’t take that with me on Saturday night. In that moment, [what happens in the ring] is all that matters.”
Joshua has key wins over Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph parker, Alexander Povetkin, Andy Ruiz Jr, Kubrat Pulev and Otto Wallin. For years he was linked to a unification fight with Deontay Wilder and a fight with fellow countryman Tyson Fury. Wilder has stated recently that he still wants a fight with Joshua despite the opinion that he should retire after going 1-4 in his last five fights while being KO’d badly in three of them. A Joshua win on Saturday and a Fury win in December could result in the fans finally seeing the two generational British heavyweights squaring off.
While fans may still be clamoring for a Joshua vs. Fury showdown, Dubois is also expected to face the winner of Usyk and Fury should he defeat Joshua. Dubois challenged Usyk for the titles in 2023 and while he was stopped by Usyk in the ninth round, it did not come without controversy. Dubois dropped Usyk in the fifth round with what initially looked to be a clean body shot but was ruled a low-blow by the referee. Usyk was given over eight minutes to recover, and the rest is history. With that said, both Dubois and Joshua are worthy of a fight wit either Usyk or Fury.
The undercard:
Hamzah Sheeraz -1000 vs. Tyler Denny +600, middleweights
Anthony Cacace -235 vs. Josh Warrington +185, junior lightweights
Joshua Buatsi -270 vs. Willy Hutchinson +215, light heavyweights
Josh Kelly -200 vs. Ishmael Davis +160, middleweights
Mark Chamberlain -1400 vs. Josh Padley +800, lightweights
UFC 306 Preview
The UFC is invading the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 14th for UFC 306. The card will be the promotion’s second “Noche UFC” celebrating Mexican Independence Day. The main event will be for the bantamweight title between champion Sean O’Malley and #1 Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley was able to avenge his only loss in his last fight at UFC 299, where he defeated rival Marlon Vera by unanimous decision. The fight was one-sided, and O’Malley proved that he will not be an easy champion to dethrone. The 29-year-old has become one of the biggest stars of the UFC and with a win, he would catapult to the next level of popularity in MMA.
"I think you have to want to be a star, and when I was in middle school, I did," O'Malley said. "There are other guys who could be superstars, I just don't think they want to be. Conor McGregor wanted to be a superstar. [UFC featherweight champion] Ilia Topuria wants to be a superstar. You have to have the skills and the highlights, all that -- but you've got to want it, too."
The champion is confident he will produce a highlight reel result on Saturday. "I truly believe I'm gonna put his lights out very early," O'Malley says. "I find people's chin. That's what I'm saying. I do. I'm going to find Merab's chin. He has a huge head. I could try not to hit him and probably still accidentally hit him."
While O’Malley is riding high with confidence, he is aware how dangerous Dvalishvili can be. "He's ranked No. 1. He's on a 10-fight win streak," O’Malley said. "The only reason he's never fought for a title or was never the champion is because Aljamain Sterling was there. He’s as dangerous as it gets. Cardio machine. He doesn't get tired. He's been rocked a few times, but he's got a good chin.
“He got rocked hard from Marlon Moraes and ended up finishing him. So he's very durable. He's got good cardio. He's obviously skilled. He's on a 10-fight win streak. He's very, very dangerous.”
There have been talks of O’Malley moving up to 145 pounds to challenge for the title with a win on Saturday. He will have plenty of options and he has even entertained the idea of a boxing super-fight. "There's only one way to find out: Give me that check," O'Malley said. "I don't know. The only thing that stays the same is change itself. I'm constantly changing, my mindset is constantly changing. Right now, my mindset is to be the greatest fighter of all time. I go out there, win a fight, box, make $100 million? My mindset might not be that anymore. Right now, I'm focused on fighting."
Dvalishvili has won 10 straight fights and defeated two former champions in his last two contests. He earned unanimous decision victories over Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan to earn his spot in a title fight. The Georgian fighter is being driven by bad blood with O’Malley.
"O'Malley, he tried to be bully," Dvalishvili said. "He tried to talk s*** but he don't know that - that doesn't work [on] me. I'm gonna beat him more because of that. He's been bullying, disrespectful to me. I won't be sad when I will beat him.
"He's good, but he's lucky... I wish fight was tomorrow."
He continued, "O'Malley, you better show up. If you don't show up, I'm gonna fight your coach Tim," Dvalishvili warned team O'Malley.”
The 33-year-old may want to win convincingly but he understands it will not come easy. “This is a tough challenge for me. Sean O’Malley is a good fighter and that’s why I always wanted to fight him. I want to win this fight and I want to be organic. I don’t want to overthink. I don’t want to be cocky. First I have to win this fight and after we can talk. One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry,” said Dvalishvili.
While the challenger is known for his grappling-heavy style, he wants to prove his critics wrong. “I want to knock Sean O’Malley out,” Dvalishvili said. “I will knock him out. You guys will be surprised. Watch this fight and you guys will see. I know people think I’m a grappler. You guys will see. I’m going to show different skills. I’m going to knock him out. I’m going to outstrike him. You guys will see. I’m going to f*ck the shit out of him, too. You will see.”
He concluded, “One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m going to surprise a lot of people. I’m telling you I’m looking for the knockout and don’t be surprised if I knock him out.”
The co-main event of the evening will also be for a title. Mexican champion Alexa Grasso will defend the women’s flyweight title in a trilogy match against former champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Grasso shocked the world by defeating Shevchenko at UFC 285 with a fourth round submission after Shevchenko had defended the belt seven times. The two fought to a split draw in the second fight a year ago, leaving the winner of the rubber match to be crowned as the best flyweight in the world.
This will be the first women’s trilogy fight in the UFC. Grasso commented on making history. “It means a lot,” Grasso said. “It’s showing how hard I’m working. I love to put everything I have in every single fight, and this is the result of all these years of hard work.”
The 31-year-old has her mind on a big fight if she defeats Shevchenko on Saturday. ''Weili Zhang is my dream fight," Grasso said. "It will be one of my biggest fights to date. She is strong, powerful, and well-rounded. She is a great fighter and I even heard she would love to test herself at 125, so I would love to welcome her.''
While she does have a dream fight, she commented on her current rival. “It’s like a love-hate relationship between me and Valentina. I have been watching her career since I was very young. She has been a role model for all the women and has done so much for the sport – not just for the women but for the men also. It’s pretty cool to be able to be on the same level as her,” said Grasso.
“We did The Ultimate Fighter and had two really cool fights together. The second fight was a hell of a fight, just imagine what the third fight would be like! We are both very professional and have been working so hard every day. To be the first female Mexican champion is huge for me. I’m proud of all the work I have done. The day of the fight will be different in there because we are going to kill each other. But, it is cool to have such a competitor in Valentina,” Grasso continued.
There have been talks of Grasso moving up to become a two-weight champion, but she had to put those conversations on pause. “I would love to be a two weight-world champion, it is such a big question and goal for me,” Grasso said. “However, I have friends in the upper weight classes such as Loopy Godinez in the strawweight division and Irene Aldana in the bantamweight division, and our team's goal is to all be champions in each of our weight classes, so I would have to pause that dream for now.''
Grasso knows what this fight at the Sphere means to her country. “It’s going to be very cool and beautiful,” Grasso said. “I went and saw the Sphere with all the Mexican graphics and everything. It’s a great promotion with everything they’re doing. Like you said, no other country has had this opportunity. This speaks on all the great work all the Mexican fighters are doing.”
Shevchenko won the flyweight title in 2018 and held the belt until losing to Grasso in 2023. She was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and could return to that status with a win over Grasso on Saturday. Although, the former champion believes she won the last fight.
“Our previous fight, I won that fight and only because of an interesting decision of one judge, it went to the draw decision,” Shevchenko said. “If you ask the world of martial arts, everyone who understands fighting, all the judges and everything, they definitely saw me win in the fight. I think it's good for everyone and you see me winning on the second fight, so it's kind of like stick to the same game plan, do the same thing, be myself and win the fight.”
Despite her thoughts on her last fight, Shevchenko knows she is on the path back to the title. “True supporters, they understand the truth and they’re with you, no matter what,” Shevchenko said. “A champion's mindset is to follow your way, follow your path in this world and if you know your path and what you have to do, it's easy because no matter what's happening around you, every time you are going to stick to one plan.”
She continued, “I've been in martial arts all my life already, 31 years in training,” Shevchenko said. “For me, martial arts is more than just a fight, it's more than just a show; it's my life, it's my lifestyle and I respect my opponents. I respect everyone.”
The former champion is not thinking about who she will fight next. “A huge mistake of many fighters, they start to plan like five years, ten years ahead, but if you think about five years, it's a long time. Five years ago is 2019, which is when I first had my belt. If I were to look back and see what is going to happen in five years, I never would have imagined what is going to happen. Let's focus on what is waiting for us in the near future,” Shevchenko said.
Aside from Grasso, the only other fighter to defeat Shevchenko in the UFC is all-time great Amanda Nunes. Shevchenko fought Nunes twice at bantamweight and lost the second fight for the title by a razor thin split decision. There were always rumors of a third fight with Nunes, who has since retired. A large portion of UFC fans still have hopes that a fight with Nunes could happen because it is the only fight that could intrigue Nunes enough to come out of retirement.
Shevchenko has already achieved hall of fame status with key wins in her career over Holly Holm, Julianna Pena, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche and Jessica Andrade. Completing the trilogy against Grasso with a win will return her back to the top of the women’s pound for pound list.
The rest of the main card:
Featherweight - #3 Brian Ortega vs. #13 Diego Lopes
Lightweight - Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics
Flyweight - Ronaldo Rodríguez vs. Ode' Osbourne
ESPN+ Prelims:
Women's Bantamweight - #5 Irene Aldana vs. #8 Norma Dumont
Lightweight - Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres
Women's Strawweight - Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza
Flyweight - Édgar Cháirez vs. Joshua Van
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Bantamweight - Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aori Qileng