Author: Dan Hiergesell

Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KO) stunned the world of boxing last night (Sat., April 20, 2024) live on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, handing WBC super lightweight champion and former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney (31-1, 15 KO) his first professional loss.

There was a lot of bad blood between these two fighters coming into Saturday’s grudge match. Haney and Garcia have known each other since earlier in their careers and shared the ring on more than a few occasions (six times during amateurs). Garcia did his best to play the maniac role and help create interest in this main event, but this was Haney’s fight to lose. The WBC super lightweight champion was a sizeable betting favorite and Garcia wasn’t even eligible to win the title after missing weight by three pounds.

Garcia may have not finished his weight cut, but he did finish his beer.

Luckily for fight fans, especially since Haney vs. Garcia was the only worthwhile combat event this weekend, the bad blood match didn’t disappoint. Garcia opened up the fight with a barrage of punches that had Haney on wobbly feet. The champion recovered, though, and relied on a stiff jab to become the more active puncher. Garcia kept trying to land his powerful left hook and it started to cost him.

Garcia eventually found his home for a huge combination and scored a massive knockdown in the seventh round. Haney would get back to his feet, but he kept holding onto Garcia. That’s when Garcia decided to throw a punch during the referee’s break and was deducted a point. Garcia looked to have scored another knockdown when the action continued, but the referee deemed it a trip. The same exact thing happened again as Garcia landed a collection of punches and Haney fell to the canvas.

Haney regrouped and increased his output over the next two rounds, but Garcia returned with another blistering knockdown to stun Haney in Round 10. Haney somehow got back to his feet only to have Garcia find a home for another brutal left hook. This time Haney stayed on his feet. It didn’t last long, though, as Garcia scored yet another knockdown in the 11th round. The crowd was going crazy, but Garcia simply couldn’t get the finish.

In the end, it was Garcia who did enough over the course of 12 rounds and multiple knockdowns to walk away with the majority decision. Unfortunately, he didn’t get Haney’s belt due to the weight miss.

Check out the complete video highlights below:

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For complete Haney vs. Garcia results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

A bloody undercard war between Bektemir Melikuziev and Pierre Dibombe ended early last night (Sat., April 20, 2024) live on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, after both fighters suffered equally-gruesome cuts.

Melikuziev was a heavy favorite for this 160-pound clash, but Dibombe came into this fight with a 20-0-1 professional record. The French fighter is not familiar with losing and put up a good fight early. That was until a clash of heads created a cut about his right eye. It was checked on by the ringside doctor, but Dibombe was cleared to continue.

Melikuziev continued to score well heading into the middle rounds, but another accidental clash of heads in the fourth round left him with a nasty gash above his left eye. That was also checked on by the ringside doctor, but again the action resumed. Both men would have their moments over the next few rounds as their faces bloodied even more.

Eventually, Melikuziev’s cut became too much of an issue. The doctor checked it again in the beginning of the eighth round and ultimately deemed Melikuziev unable to continue. Luckily, enough rounds were fought to go to the judges’ scorecards. It was a pretty lopsided decision for Melikuziev as he walked away with scores of 79-73 x2, 78-74.

As for the two cuts that caused so many issues, check them out below:

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For complete Haney vs. Garcia results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

Justin Gaethje was on the wrong end of the greatest knockout in UFC history last weekend at UFC 300, but “Highlight” doesn’t have any regrets taking his “BMF” title fight opposite Max Holloway.

To much surprise, Gaethje put his lightweight title hopes on hold in order to accept a high-profile bout with Holloway at the historic UFC 300 card in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC 300 was completely stacked from top to bottom, but fight fans pinpointed Gaethje’s “BMF” fight with Holloway for good reason. Both Gaethje and Holloway are two of the most dangerous, respected, and beloved fighters in all of mixed martial arts (MMA). Their matchup was always going to produce fireworks.

Despite Holloway being a betting underdog and moving up to 155 pounds for the first time since a loss to Dustin Poirier back in 2019, “Blessed” looked incredible from the opening bell. Gaethje did some good damage to Holloway’s leg and even mixed in a knockdown late into the fight, but Holloway shined from start to finish. His efforts culminated with a blistering, buzzer-beating knockout that left Gaethje unconscious and fight fans in complete amazement.

While some fighters might regret putting themselves in a firefight against Holloway and not coming out on top, Gaethje has no remorse about his decision to defend his “BMF” title at UFC 300.

“[It’s a] Crazy game, you know?” Gaethje told MMA Knockout. “I think a lot of people in my position would have set out not taking [the Holloway fight]. I have no regrets. I think it was — I had so much fun I think it was such a huge historic card for the UFC. And to be a part of that, to be the best fight on that card, you know, is gonna live on forever.

“And again, it was a huge risk, I failed, and if I would have won that fight, if I’d got a quick knockout, I would have been taking that fight [against Makhachev], but it’s just the name of the game.”

At least Gaethje woke up for Sunday.

Gaethje, who snapped a two-fight win streak with his loss to Holloway, will now regroup and fight his way back to title contention at 155 pounds. He may have put himself in a position to fight current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev with a win at UFC 300, but now that right is going to Poirier, who will meet the champion at UFC 302 this coming June.

“I’m happy for Dustin,” Gaethje said. “Good for him. Somebody had to fight. I think no matter what, win or lose, it was gonna be pretty much impossible turn around and fight in 5 or 6 weeks.

“So this is the way that UFC wanted to go. And so I guess, you know, I can’t complain about it because I don’t want to sound like — I really have no complaints because it is what it is. I’m not gonna let it eat me up.”

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For complete UFC 300 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

Dana White is extremely pleased with the success of the monumental UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) card from last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the UFC CEO is officially rubbing it in all of our faces.

On paper, UFC 300 was the most stacked fight card in the history of the promotion. It featured two real title fights, a “BMF” title fight, and 12 total current or former UFC champions. There were no injuries or canceled fights and every single fighter on the card successfully made weight. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

That said, mixed martial arts (MMA) enthusiasts and fight fans as a whole were skeptical about UFC 300’s firepower before the event actually went down. Without the likes of Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, or Israel Adesanya helping to headline the massive PPV show it was hard for fight fans to feel completely sold in advance to UFC 300.

Fortunately, the action delivered as advertised. Outside of a one-sided beatdown by Aljamain Sterling over Calvin Kattar, most of the fights were back-and-forth wars. There were five total knockouts, three submissions, and one of the craziest finishes in the history of the sport, courtesy of Max Holloway. Not to mention the fact that UFC’s 300 attendance, gate, and social metrics were off the charts. It was a smashing success for the promotion to say the least.

On Saturday, White took to social media to post a video bragging about the success of the event (watch in the above video player). In addition, the UFC CEO decided to bash every media outlet he could get his hands on that trashed UFC 300 in some way, shape, or form. This includes podcasters, prominent MMA reporters, and YouTube creators. White took shots at anyone he could while racking off the records that UFC 300 broke.

Does this mean UFC 300 will actually do over one million PPV buys?

Let’s discuss!

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For complete UFC 300 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

One of the biggest grudge matches in all of boxing will play out later tonight (Sat., April 20, 2024) live on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, as Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO) meets fellow boxing superstar Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO) in the main event.

Luckily for fight fans, this headliner has all the ingredients and back story they could ever ask for. Not only does Haney and Garcia’s bad blood go all the way back to their early years in the sport, but they’ve held nothing back in the lead up to this fight. Things may have gotten more personal than expected, but the two fighters are ready to finally settle their beef on Saturday night.

Luckily, a collection of early undercard fights will play out on the “Prelims” portion of the DAZN event. They are scheduled to air LIVE and FREE on YouTube beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET, with the DAZN PPV main card following at 8 p.m. ET. You can catch the “Prelims” action in the above video player.

The Haney vs. Garcia “Prelims” undercard is as follows:

Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs. Vaughn Alexander
Darius Fulghum vs. Cristian Olivas
Jonathan Canas vs. Marcus Bowes
Amari Jones vs. Armel Mbumba-Yassa
Kevin Newman II vs. Eric Robles
Shamir Canal vs. Pedro Borgaro

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For complete Haney vs. Garcia results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

Craig Jones continued his dominating ways earlier today (Sat., April 20, 2024) at Karate Combat 45 from Dubai, U.A.E., as the grappling ace stopped rising Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) welterweight fighter, Rinat Fakhretdinov, with a nasty triangle choke.

For those who are not familiar with Jones, the 32-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt is a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) silver medalist and currently trains some of the best MMA fighters in the world. This includes former UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. In other words, Jones is one of the most recognizable grappling experts in the sport today.

On Saturday, the talented submission specialist was trying to follow up his flying off-the-wall triangle from earlier in the year with something even better. He may not have accomplished a better stoppage on paper, but Jones’ performance at Karate Combat 45 was still super impressive.

Jones was matched up against Fakhretdinov, who is currently 3-0-1 as a member of UFC’s jam-packed welterweight division. Fakhretdinov has done most of his damage inside of the Octagon by taking opponents down and suffocation them with a strong top game. Unfortunately for the promising UFC contender, he was the one playing defense against Jones on Saturday.

The final moments of the fight came when Jones caught Fakhretdinov in a nasty triangle choke. Fakhretdinov appeared to go unconscious as Jones grabbed the referee’s attention. The referee briefly checked on Fakhretdinov as Jones loosened his hold. The UFC fighter came to only to have Jones put him to sleep again once the action continued. It was bizarre to say the least, but another dominant outing by Jones.

Check it out in the above video player.

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For the latest Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling related news click here.