Author: Dan Hiergesell

Luke Rockhold is ready to hunt down Jake Paul and finally put an end to his boxing exploitations.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight king parted ways with the promotion following a decision loss to Paulo Costa at UFC 278 back in Aug. 2022. Rockhold was expected to retire from combat sports, but he left the door wide open for a potential return. Looks like it took less than six months for Rockhold to change his mind and turn his focus on a return to competition.

Following his official release from UFC earlier this month Rockhold is now hoping to land a massive matchup with Paul, who has not seen eye-to-eye with UFC president, Dana White, in the past. In fact, Paul has become one of the biggest whistleblowers when it comes to UFC’s pay scale and overall business model. Rockhold believes UFC granted his release in order to track Paul down and put an end to his combat career.

“I’d like to beat up all these little f—king punks that think they can box,” Rockhold told Helen Yee earlier this week. “Especially one in particular. Jake [Paul] would be f—king great. The UFC kinda released me just to go f—king hunt that kid down.

“I asked for the release, we were talking about after our boxing session at Churchhill [Boxing Club] with Pete Berg and he said, ‘Ah, yeah. I’ll ask Dana [White].’ And he said, yeah, Luke can go f—king fight that kid. Go beat his ass. I said, okay. I will. So, I was released to beat your f—king ass. The dog is here. The bounty man. The hitman. I’m f—king here. Answer the f—king call.”

Rockhold, 38, has zero professional boxing experience, but he has been fine-tuning his striking under mixed martial arts (MMA) for nearly 16 years. So even though it may not be the most logical matchup on paper Rockhold could do well in a potential clash with Paul.

That said, Paul is already booked to finally meet Tommy Fury inside of the boxing ring on Feb. 26. It’s a matchup long overdue, but one that Rockhold would gladly step in for if Fury happens to pull out again.

“We all know Jake. You ain’t s—t,” Rockhold told The Schmo in another interview earlier this week. “We all know Tommy Fury ain’t gonna make it to the fight so I might as well just f—king skip around the gym and just be ready to f—king tap dance on that kid’s f—king face come Feb. 25.”

What say you, fight fans? Is Jake Paul vs. Luke Rockhold something you want to see?

Let us know!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White revealed two massive upcoming fights at UFC 287 during a “special announcement” on Friday night (watch HERE).

The biggest news to come from White’s impromptu video segment is a rematch between reigning UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira and former champion Israel Adesanya. Remember, the two met back at UFC 281 this past November which saw Pereira score a late TKO finish after a dominating performance by “Last Stylebender.” Of course, the two also share a storied history dating back to their professional kickboxing days.

Most fight fans expected the rematch to be booked, but it wasn’t an absolute. Pereira is the first fighter to ever defeat Adesanya at the middleweight level in MMA so it makes sense to run it back. The reboot with serve as UFC 287’s main event.

Adding to the pay-per-view (PPV) madness will be a co-main event clash between former UFC welterweight title challengers Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal. This is a massive meeting between two of the biggest players at 170 pounds and a contest that could push the winner into a title shot sometime in 2023.

Burns is coming off an easy submission win over Neil Magny at UFC 283 while Masvidal has lost his last three trips to the Octagon dating back to 2020. This is a very important fight for “Gamebred” to say the least.

White also confirmed the following matchups for UFC 287’s PPV main card on April 8:

Kevin Holland vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio

Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Christian Rodriguez

Rob Font vs. Adrian Yanez

Stick with Mania for more UFC 287 fight card news.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White is making a “special announcement” Friday evening beginning at 5 p.m. ET. It can be seen in the above video player.

What do you think Dana will talk about?

Jamahal Hill became the first Contender Series alum to win a UFC title last night (Sat., Jan. 21, 2023) at UFC 283 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when “Sweet Dreams” outpointed former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira in a bloody main event (watch HERE).

In addition to the light heavyweight headliner, UFC 283 featured a collection of fire fights, knockouts, submissions, and one-sided beatdowns. Check them out below and let us know which ones stood out the most:

• Brandon Moreno put a close to his storied rivalry with Deiveson Figueiredo when “Assassin Baby” defeated the Brazilian by badly damaging his eye – HIGHLIGHTS
• Gilbert Burns returned to the welterweight win column with an early submission win over Neil Magny – HIGHLIGHTS
• Johnny Walker continued his light heavyweight resurgence with a first-round TKO finish over submission specialist Paul Craig – HIGHLIGHTS
• The legendary Mauricio “Shogun” Rua made his final Octagon walk in a hard-to-watch TKO loss to light heavyweight prospect Ihor Potieria – HIGHLIGHTS
• Middleweight contender Gregory Rodrigues suffered an upset knockout loss to UFC newcomer Brunno “Hulk” Ferreira – HIGHLIGHTS
• Brothers Ismael and Gabriel Bonfim made their respective UFC debuts and each scored ridiculous finishes shown HERE and HERE
• Rising light heavyweight and heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida absolutely dominated veteran Shamil Abdurakhimov to the tune of a second-round TKO

In order to sift through the action and see which fighters took home a cool $50,000, we take a closer look at the official UFC 283 post-fight bonus winners below:

Fight of the Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Glover Teixeira

Performance of the Night: Jailton Almeida

Performance of the Night: Ismael Bonfim

For complete UFC 283 results and coverage click here.

Glover Teixeira put a stop to his storied mixed martial arts (MMA) career last night (Sat., Jan. 21, 2023) at UFC 283 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, following a main event loss to Jamahal Hill for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title.

Teixeira had his moments in the five-round affair, but for the most part he was left eating knees, kicks, and punches that rendered his face a bloody mess. The Brazilian fans cheered him on in hopes of a classic Teixeira comeback, but “Sweet Dreams” had his foot on his throat. Teixeira wasn’t able to rebound and when the fight ended he looked like he had given everything he had.

After the UFC light heavyweight title was wrapped around Hill’s waist Teixeira was interviewed by UFC color commentator, Daniel Cormier. During his post-fight speech Teixeira took off his gloves and announced that he was stepping away from the sport. Teixeira claimed to be “too tough for my own good” and promised to focus his time on helping his teammate, current UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira, continue his dominance.

Check out Teixeira’s post-fight retirement speech below:

Teixeira, 43, retires on the same night as legendary Brazilian fighter Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Since making his Octagon debut back in 2012 Teixeira has been a staple at the top of the light heavyweight division. He has fought Jon Jones for the title, defeated Jan Blachowicz to win a title at age 42, and holds memorable stoppages over the likes of Rashad Evans, Ryan Bader, Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith, and the aforementioned Blachowicz.

For complete UFC 283 results and coverage click here.

With UFC 283 a wrap after an exciting night (Sat., Jan. 21, 2023) of fights on ESPN+ PPV from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fight fans can now check out the post-fight press conference video above for all the best reaction and official bonus winners.

On a night that featured a main event light heavyweight title fight between top contenders Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill, a co-headliner featuring a fourth title fight between flyweights Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno, and a welterweight clash pitting Gilbert Burns against Neil Magny, there will be a lot to discuss now that the action has concluded.

The post-fight presser is scheduled to go live at 1:30 a.m. ET (Sunday). It will feature the biggest winners and losers from the card, as well as company President, Dana White.

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For complete UFC 283 results and coverage click here.