Author: mmafighting
Alexander Volkanovski has the date for his next title defense. The reigning featherweight champion faces top contender Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 (Feb. 18 in Volkanovski’s native Australia), the promotion announced Wednesday. Volkanovski vs. Topuria was previously announced to take place sometime in February by UFC CEO Dana White, with a date yet to be determined. The location for UFC 298 is still pending. It is also not yet known if Volkanovski vs. Topuria is the finalized main event. Originally rumored to be competing at UFC 297 in January in Toronto, Volkanovski instead jumped on a short-notice…
Dan Hooker is quite the showman inside the octagon. Always in thrilling bouts whether he’s winning or losing, Hooker, 33, makes his return to action to kick off December’s first UFC event when the promotion returns to Austin, Texas. Standing in his way will be a fellow lightweight fan favorite, Bobby “King” Green. Hooker vs. Green will be one of two high-profile lightweight contender bouts going down on the card. While the matchup was originally discussed as the main event, that honor ultimately went to Beneil Dariush and Arman Tsarukyan. In the grand scheme of things, Hooker thinks it makes…
Roosevelt Roberts is back in the UFC. Stepping in on just days’ notice for Nurullo Aliev, Roberts now fights Mateusz Rebecki in a lightweight bout this Saturday at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The change was first reported by Roberts’ management. Aliev was forced to withdraw from the contest due to a leg injury according to a post he shared to Instagram. This booking marks Roberts’ return to the UFC after parting ways with the promotion in 2021. He went 4-3 with one no-contest in his previous octagon run. Roberts (12-3, 1 NC) was a…
As the UFC continues to report record revenues quarter after quarter, executives for TKO Group Holdings – the merged company combining UFC and WWE – aren’t sweating potential competition coming from rival organizations like PFL. On Tuesday during the corporate parents’ first earnings call, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro addressed the recent $100 million investment from Saudi Arabia into the PFL. The deal was part of continued expansion for SRJ Sports Investments — a new wing of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund — as the group plans to bring more and more major…
Nicolas Dalby certainly pulled off a huge upset when he stopped Gabriel Bonfim at UFC Sao Paulo — at least according to the betting odds, and not the veteran fighter himself. Dalby picked up a comeback second-round TKO victory at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event, and handed the massive favorite Bonfim his first pro loss. Ahead of the matchup, Dalby could be found as high as nearly a +500 underdog, and for those who had faith in the 12-fight UFC vet to pull it off, they were rewarded for it. “I think the bookmakers undervalued me,” Dalby said on The…
While Jon Jones’ withdrawal from UFC 295 was disappointing, some believe it wasn’t extremely surprising and it has led to an intriguing interim heavyweight championship on Saturday. Jones was slated to face former champ Stipe Miocic in his first title defense at Madison Square Garden, but a torn pectoral muscle led to the postponement of the championship fight to a later date. In its place, Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall battle in the co-main event for an interim title. When asked, UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik — who will call the action on Saturday — gave his initial reaction to…
Matt Brown can’t wait to see Marlon Vera battle Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title at UFC 299, but there’s also part of him that’s devastated for Merab Dvalishvili. Despite putting together an impressive nine-fight win streak and sitting near the top of the rankings, Dvalishvili—No. 3 at 135 pounds on MMA Fighting’s list—was ultimately passed over by UFC matchmakers, with Vera getting the title shot instead. Of course, Vera remains the only person to hand O’Malley a loss in the champ’s pro MMA career, so that obviously played a major part in the rematch getting booked. But it doesn’t…
The UFC’s return to China has its main event. Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that UFC Shanghai — which is scheduled for Dec. 9 at Shanghai Indoor Arena — is set to be headlined by a bantamweight bout between Song Yadong and Chris Gutierrez. MagicM_MMABets first reported the bout on Twitter. The 25-year-old Song competes for the second time this year and looks to build upon the momentum of spectacular main event performance against Ricky Simon in April where he earned a fifth-round TKO win. The No. 12-ranked bantamweight in the MMA Fighting…
Joe Rogan and Chael Sonnen are part of the broadcast team for Saturday’s UFC 295 event. Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed that Rogan will return to the commentary desk for the first time since August’s UFC 292 event. He is joined by play-by-play voice Jon Anik and former two-division world champion Daniel Cormier. Megan Olivi serves as the roving reporter, while Din Thomas will be a cage side expert voice during the fights. Additionally, Chael Sonnen will be part of the desk for the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden. Joining Sonnen as analysts are one-time…
Chael Sonnen isn’t going to let a stray insult slide. Former UFC star Jorge Masvidal made an appearance on The MMA Hour this past Monday and he weighed in on the recent tiff between host Ariel Helwani and Sonnen, siding with Helwani and calling Sonnen “a b****” among other insults. Sonnen was quick to respond to the sound bite on social media. In a series of tweets, Sonnen took shots at Masvidal’s most recent UFC losses and his assault case involving rival Colby Covington (which was resolved on Monday), as well as alleging that Masvidal came to him in the…