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Eric Nicksick Slams ‘Egomaniac’ Ref Who Stopped Chris Curtis Fight: ‘That Was Some B*tch Sh*t!’ 

Eric Nicksick was not happy with a call that was made in relation to one of his fighters at the first UFC event of the year. This past weekend at the Apex, Roman Kopylov and Chris Curtis earned the first fight of the night bonus of 2025 for their middleweight clash. In the final seconds […]

Eric Nicksick was not happy with a call that was made in relation to one of his fighters at the first UFC event of the year. This past weekend at the Apex, Roman Kopylov and Chris Curtis earned the first fight of the night bonus of 2025 for their middleweight clash.

In the final seconds of the back-and-forth battle, Kopylov took Curtis off his feet with a head kick which referee Mark Smith deemed was the end of the fight. He stepped into wave the fight off with just one second left on the clock and his decision was instantly scrutinized by both Curtis and his Xtreme Couture corner.

Whilst his opponent believes that it was the right call to make, the argument in favor of Curtis is that with the final bell about to sound and his opponent backing off rather than pursuing his opponent, “The Action Man” was in no sense of danger whatsoever. On a recent episode of his Verse Us podcast, Nicksick spoke about how he was frustrated with the referee long before the stoppage for not punishing several fouls which slowed the fight down.

”That’s what I’m pissed off about. You never get three timeouts in a f—king fight. So, number one, he spit his mouthpiece out. That wasn’t too bad. All right. Groin strike… Then the eye poke, and I calmly said to Mark, ‘Hey, that is two infractions in a row in this round. Where’s the point?”

Nicksick went on to talk specifically about the stoppage and goes further than that by talking about Smith’s personality and his issues with the prominent official.

”You [Smith] decided to stop the fight with one second left… Let the motherfu*ker go out on his shield bro. That was some b*tch sh*t, you didn’t have to stop the fight on that moment… He fraternizes with other gyms, teams, fighters, coaches and everything else… I think he’s an egomaniac. I mean, I’ve never heard a ref ask people to vote for him for the ‘MMA Ref of the Year.” 

Nicksick also posted the following statement on Instagram, addressing his reaction to the stoppage and apologizing for his actions.

PFL Founder Reveals New “World Tournament” After Scrapping Season Format

The PFL season format is no more following some big changes that the promotion has made before hosting their first event of the year in 2025. For a long time, the promotion’s primary focus and unique selling point has been the World Championship tournaments that take place each year with a $1 million cheque waiting […]

The PFL season format is no more following some big changes that the promotion has made before hosting their first event of the year in 2025. For a long time, the promotion’s primary focus and unique selling point has been the World Championship tournaments that take place each year with a $1 million cheque waiting at the end for the winners of each weight class.

Whilst the points-based system was certainly different, it also had its issues and fans didn’t seem to connect with it. Along with reports that the prize money for the winner would be cut in half to $500,000, there was also talk of the tournament format changing significantly.

The announcement that divisional PFL titles will be created and defended at the PFL Champions Series events means that participating in and winning the tournaments is no longer the ultimate prize in the promotion and therefore, it appears that a revamped format will instead focus on building fighters rather than having the best of the best face off with one another.

PFL founder Donn Davis posted on X to give fans a look at the new “PFL World Tournament” that will take place in 2025 across eight weight classes. Rather than trying to bring something new to the sport like in the past, this will see the promotion revert to a more conventional Grand Prix style tournament with eight fighters competing in a single elimination bracket in order to crown winners at women’s flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.

The graphic posted by Davis also lists the dates that three stages of the tournament will take place on, as seen below:

First round: April 3, April 11, April 18, May 1

Semifinal: June 12, June 20, June 27

Finals: August 1, August 15, August 21

Along with the way that fighters progress through the tournament and the prize waiting at the end, there are a few other key changes here from the way that the PFL have things done in the past. For a start, all of the final matchups will not take place on the same night as has been the case for the season format.

Whilst that gives the promotion one big event to build towards throughout the year, it also creates a card that features six five-round title fights which can make for a long and tiring viewing experience. This new world tournament will also feature two new divisions which haven’t previously been a part of the PFL’s seasons with bantamweight and middleweight being added into the mix.

When the promotion acquired Bellator towards the end of 2023, it was unclear how they were going to cater for Bellator titleholders like Patchy Mix and Johnny Eblen when the promotion didn’t have active 135 or 185-pound divisions at the time. It remains unclear at this time what will happen to those titleholders and how the new PFL champions will be crowned.

Robert Whittaker On Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan At UFC 311: ‘There’s A Skill Gap…’

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker expects at least one title to remain in its current hands this weekend, backing Islam Makhachev to double his lead over Arman Tsarukyan. Makhachev and Tsarukyan first collided back in 2019, with the latter making his debut at the UFC Fight Night event in Moscow. While he performed well, […]

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker expects at least one title to remain in its current hands this weekend, backing Islam Makhachev to double his lead over Arman Tsarukyan.

Makhachev and Tsarukyan first collided back in 2019, with the latter making his debut at the UFC Fight Night event in Moscow. While he performed well, the Armenian was ultimately on the wrong end of a decision verdict.

Six years on, the pair have renewed hostilities in Los Angeles this week, as they gear up to headline Saturday’s UFC 311 pay-per-view with Makhachev’s lightweight gold on the line.

During a recent episode of his MMArcade Podcast, Whittaker gave his assessment of the first PPV main event of the new year.

While he acknowledged Tsarukyan’s moments of success in their first fight, he sees a clear “skill gap” that will pave the way for Makhachev’s successful defense of the 155-pound title.

”I just feel like if we look at Islam’s last fight with Dustin and we look at Arman’s last fight with Charles, I just feel like there’s a gap,” Whittaker said. “I feel like there’s a skill gap, and everyone’s saying like, how well Arman (did against Makhachev) — went in his debut short notice etc.

“But you look at the names, you look at the the level of fights, you look at the stage that Islam’s fights were set on, Islam’s in a really good place right now,” Whittaker continued. “I find it very hard to see him getting defeated.”

The Dagestani will hope to prove “The Reaper” right come fight night at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome on Jan. 18.

Should he do so, Makhachev will set a new record for most title fight wins and consecutive defenses in the UFC lightweight division, surpassing both Khabib Nurmagomedov and BJ Penn.

Tyson Drops Over Half Of Paul Purse On New Crib

Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mike Tyson just bought a stunning $13 million dollar mansion in Florida, During his time at the top in the 80s and 90s, Mike Tyson got a reputation for wild paydays and ev…


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Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mike Tyson just bought a stunning $13 million dollar mansion in Florida,

During his time at the top in the 80s and 90s, Mike Tyson got a reputation for wild paydays and even wilder spending habits. While we’re sure his wife Kiki is keeping an eye on the books these days, it doesn’t mean Tyson isn’t still enjoying the finer things in life.

Tyson recently made an impressive $20 million payday to box Jake Paul in a fight that Netflix declared was the most streamed sporting event in history. That’s a pretty solid fight purse for a 58 year old man, although it didn’t come close to the career high $100 million he made to fight Lennox Lewis in 2002.

But in today’s world full of ultra-rich, $20 million won’t last long. According to Tyson real estate representative Joseph Jonathan Schneider, Tyson just spent $13 million on a Florida home in the extremely affluent Tierra del Rey Estates neighborhood.

“Basically the appeal to him is his daughter plays tennis, and she plays in Delray,” Realtor Matthew Maschler said on his podcast (via The Palm Bay Post). “So he wants to be able to fly in, go see his daughter’s tennis match, go back to his plane and fly to wherever he came from. Amazing, amazing that you can do this in Delray, just a little north of Boca Raton.”

The 2.7 acre lot includes a lake and ‘sprawling’ 12,286 square foot, six-bedroom and nine-bathroom mansion. This is quite the upgrade for “Iron Mike,” who has been living in a paltry $2.5 million mansion just outside of Las Vegas for the past few years — but nothing compared to a 50,000 square foot mega-mansion he sold to 50 Cent in 2001.

While the $20 million purse was undoubtedly pivotal in getting Tyson into his new Delray mansion, the boxing legend has been firing on all cylinders financially over the past several years. He clearly has the right people around him now maximizing the amount of money he can make off his brand.

Hopefully that means no more fighting, but with Mike Tyson you never know.

Fighter Who Slapped Coach & Husband After UFC Vegas 101 Loss Apologizes: ‘I Couldn’t Control My Emotions’

The first UFC event of the year had its fair share of talking points and one of them came in the second bout to take place inside the Octagon in 2025. Victoria Dudakova suffered her second consecutive loss after being stopped in the second round by Fatima Kline at strawweight. Rather than Kline delivering the […]

The first UFC event of the year had its fair share of talking points and one of them came in the second bout to take place inside the Octagon in 2025. Victoria Dudakova suffered her second consecutive loss after being stopped in the second round by Fatima Kline at strawweight.

Rather than Kline delivering the first finish of the new year, it was what happened after the bout that grabbed the headlines. After Dudakova’s corner entered the Octagon to console her in defeat, she appeared to turn around and slap one of her coaches, who is also her husband, as seen below.

The 25-year old Russian has since posted a message on social media to explain the situation from her point of view. She publicly apologized for her actions, stating that her emotions got the better of her in that moment having been finished for the first time in her 10-fight pro career.

She posted the following message on Instagram to provide more context and thank her supporters.

“Emotions have subsided a bit…..First of all, I would like to apologize to my husband and coach. I was hurt that in such a difficult moment, he turned his back on me and didn’t want to come into the cage. That’s no excuse and I’m not looking for an excuse for myself. I did the wrong thing, I couldn’t control my emotions. I set a bad example for the athletes and the younger generation. I also want to apologize to the sports fans. Thank you to everyone who stays with me in such a difficult situation”