Author: mmafighting
Who is the best bantamweight in MMA? The default answer may be UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, but Merab Dvalishvili is building quite a case for himself. After outclassing Henry Cejudo in shockingly one-sided fashion this past Saturday at UFC 298, the Georgian cardio machine now rides a division-best 10-fight win streak and has ascended into a tie for the longest win streak ever accomplished by a UFC bantamweight. Not only that, but Dvalishvili’s résumé looks the part, too: His last four wins have come over a one-time UFC title challenger (Marlon Moraes), a certified MMA legend (Jose Aldo), a…
Conor McGregor’s return date to the UFC remains a mystery, with no real clue about when — or if — he’ll fight again. This past weekend at UFC 298, UFC CEO Dana White addressed the numerous delays in McGregor fighting again, which began with the broken leg he suffered in his last fight against Dustin Poirier in 2021, but has only been complicated further by the fortune the Irish superstar has amassed. White praised McGregor as an incredible business partner and said UFC will always love when he competes, but ultimately “money complicates a lot of things,” White said, and…
Islam Makhachev is still awaiting his next challenger at lightweight. The reigning champion of the consistently talent-rich weight class hasn’t fought since he established himself as the UFC’s No. 1-ranked pound-for-found fighter in October. Tasked with the then-featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski for the second straight time, Makhachev silenced all doubt from the first encounter when he head-kicked his way to a first-round stoppage. It won’t be for a few more months until the 32-year-old can get something lined up for his third defense. UFC 300 in April will feature all of the top options for Makhachev’s opponent as BMF champion…
Michael Chandler is trying a different tactic to goad Conor McGregor into a fight. The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion made a surprise appearance in Anaheim on WWE Monday Night RAW — and he used his mic time to cut a furious promo calling McGregor out for their long-discussed yet still unbooked showdown. Watch Chandler’s handiwork below. “Hey, what’s up Anaheim! You are now in the presence of the most entertaining UFC fighter on the planet. Hey, now there’s a man from Ireland that’s been making me wait for way too long, and I’ve still got one dude on my…
Gabriel Braga is getting bumped to fill a gap on the PFL vs. Bellator card, but Aaron Pico is expected to remain on the event. Braga, a Season 5 finalist, was expected to face Pico but will now face off with ex-Bellator champ Patricio Pitbull, multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting after a report from Ag. Fight. Pitbull was left without an opponent when ex-Braga foe Jesus Pinedo was forced off the card. Pitbull vs. Braga is expected to serve on the event’s main card. PFL vs. Bellator takes place Saturday at Kingdom Arena…
The fighters competing at UFC Mexico City on Saturday were given a warning from the promotion about drug testing protocols under Mexico’s Federación de Artes Marciales Mixtas, which oversees MMA in the country. The UFC’s own anti-doping policy remains in place, but the fighters will also be subjected to a separate set of rules from the Mexican MMA commission. Under those rules, fighters will be subjected to a zero-tolerance policy on some substances, which means the presence of the drugs — at any level — would be considered a failure. The reminder focused on a number of drugs that are…
Things nearly went south for Johnny Eblen. This Saturday, Eblen faces Impa Kasanganay in the co-main event of the PFL vs. Bellator event that takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But before his big champ vs. champ showdown, Eblen nearly got into a separate fight, this time with a prankster in his local Home Depot. Eblen’s manager Brian Butler posted a video Monday showing Eblen getting pranked by social media creator ImReddttv. Redd previously pranked Jamahal Hill to nearly disastrous results, and almost had the same thing happen to him this time when he approached Eblen while he and a…
Sean O’Malley had a cageside view of a future opponent at UFC 298, one way or another. O’Malley makes the first defense of his UFC bantamweight title on March 9 in a rematch against Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 299, and if victorious, he could find himself fighting one of the two stars from Saturday’s card. Ahead of UFC 298, O’Malley proposed a champion vs. champion match against Ilia Topuria if the Spaniard defeated Alexander Volkanovski, which he did with a stunning second-round knockout to capture the UFC featherweight strap. Fellow bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili also dominated Henry Cejudo at UFC…
Ian Machado Garry is known as a world traveler of MMA gyms, but for his UFC 298 fight with Geoff Neal, he took additional inspiration from another corner of sports. Watching a BBC documentary on Pep Guardiola, a former soccer star who now manages Premier League team Manchester City, Garry realized there were lessons that could keep him conscious when Neal started throwing bombs. “I was talking about how a handball influenced his way of playing football, and the fact that it’s harder to get the ball than it is to maintain possession,” Garry said Monday on The MMA Hour.…
UFC 298 is in the books and we have a new featherweight champion! That’s right, Ilia Topuria became the man to finally unseat Alexander Volkanovski and he did it in spectacular fashion — a brutal knockout that seems very likely to take home Knockout of the Year honors. On top of that, UFC 300 finally has a main event as Dana White announced that Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill will headline the biggest event of the year. So let’s talk about all that and the rest of the fallout from the first great event of 2024. The Ilia Topuria Era…