Author: Dan Hiergesell

Jake Paul will not give Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White a break, especially when it comes to fighter pay.

Paul, who recently signed to box former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley later this year, may not seem like the most likely person to speak out about UFC fighters being underpaid. But with growing popularity and an increased following, the YouTube star is beginning to speak out about the world of combat sports as he continues to infiltrate the landscape.

It’s no secret that White has had trouble in past keeping fighters happy who feel they are underpaid. Some of UFC’s biggest stars have sat on the sidelines over the past few years or decided to go somewhere else to compete all in effort to increase profitability and get what they are worth. White has ultimately been able to navigate these issues when they pop up, but it doesn’t seem like they are going away anytime soon.

Paul, who has put himself in a position to make millions each and every time he steps inside of the boxing ring, already spoke out about White back in April following his knockout win over former UFC fighter Ben Askren (see it HERE). Paul targeted White back then for not paying UFC athletes what they deserve and he’s doing the same thing now.

During a recent interview with Showtime Sports, Paul slammed White yet again for the type of contracts he puts in place for his stable of UFC fighters. Check it out below:

“There’s a movement moving forwards that is going to show that fighters should be getting paid more. It’s unfair. The UFC fighter’s don’t have fair pay. Out of all the sports, the percentage that the owners get versus the athlete, they’re the lowest. Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones, that fight should happen. Dana White, pay them the $10 million. He’s taking their money. They’re the ones making the content. They’re the ones who get in the ring risking their life. Chris Weidman goes in, snaps his leg in half, what’s that look like? He may never be able to fight again and provide for his family. These fighters are risking their lives. You can quite literally die in the ring and they need to be compensated more. I’m a big proponent of that movement and being in control. It’s just like music labels, same thing, these artists are getting owned and get locked up into these sh—-y contracts and they don’t know what to do. So f—k that shit. F—k Dana White.”

While Paul may be the most obnoxious persona in combat sports today the aspiring boxer continues to speak out on behalf of UFC fighters everywhere. Paul may be saying all of the things that he is in effort to bring some talent over from UFC into the boxing ring, but his points are valid.

We’ll have to wait and see if Paul can continue his magic inside of the boxing ring when he takes on “Chosen One” later this year.

The first ever Gamebred Fighting Championship (GFC) bareknuckle MMA event has an official date and headlining act.

Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) superstar, Jorge Masvidal, unveiled the newly-minted bareknuckle MMA promotion prior to his rematch opposite Kamaru Usman back at UFC 261. Masvidal ended up losing to Usman in vicious fashion, but his proposed bareknuckle MMA promotion is still moving forward as planned.

According to a recent Instagram post by Masvidal (shown above), the first ever GFC event will take place on June 18 live on BKTVApp.com from Biloxi, Miss., with Jason Knight vs. Charles Bennett serving as the main event.

No additional details are known at this time, but the inaugural GFC card should have a collection of bareknuckle MMA fights involving notable fighters from around the sport.

Knight, 28, is a former UFC veteran will loads of professional MMA experience. The former UFC featherweight once won four-straight inside of the Octagon including victories over Dan Hooker, Alex Caceres, and Chas Skelly. Following his UFC departure in 2018 Knight signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) and had a pair of high-profile contests with Artem Lobov. Knight made his return to professional MMA this past March with a second-round submission win over Cliff Wright at iKon Fighting Federation 5.

Bennett, 41, is a well-known name around the sport of MMA and a fighter who has competed in some of the biggest organizations in the world. Unfortunately, “Krazy Horse” has lost his last 11 professional MMA bouts dating back to 2017. Bennett ended up crossing over to BKFC from 2018-2020 but lost all three of his appearances there. He will be the betting underdog for his main event clash with Knight, but with 21 career knockouts in MMA competition Bennett certainly has a chance to earn the win.

Stick with Mania for more GFC 1 fight card news.

Despite fighting out of Fortis MMA in Dallas, Tex., UFC featherweight Steven Peterson will do everything in his power to avoid fighting in the Lone Star state moving forward.

Peterson, who is currently scheduled to meet Chase Hooper at UFC 263 on June 12 in Glendale, Ari., hasn’t competed since a knockout win over Martin Bravo back in 2019 (highlights HERE). The 30-year-old has been booked a few times since then but unforeseen injuries have kept him out of action.

Luckily for Peterson, his comeback fight is not booked in the state of Texas. In a recent interview with MMA Island, Peterson explained why he will no longer be competing in the state that he trains in. UFC 262 was just held in Houston, Tex., but if the promotion heads back to the Lone Star state in the future it will not involve Peterson.

“I’ll gladly attend and hopefully corner some of our guys, but I will not be fighting in Texas any time soon,” said Peterson. “I am boycotting the Texas commission.”

“The Texas commission is f*cked, man,” he later stated.

Peterson, who is just 2-3 in UFC competition, believes that many of the decision losses on his record would have went the other way if they were contested outside of Texas. Most recently, Peterson lost decisions to Alex Caceres in San Antonio and Brandon Davis in Austin.

“I have nine losses in my career, five of which I would highly contest, sit with you, watch the tape and argue with you how I won the fight,” explained Peterson. “Those decisions were all lost in Texas.”

It’s rare that a fighter speaks out so bluntly about a commission and promises to never fight in a state again. The losses that Peterson is describing, at least the ones to happen under the UFC banner, weren’t too egregious. Caceres outlanded Peterson 94-67 in significant strikes and Davis outlanded him 114-73, while stuffing nine out of 10 total takedown attempts.

Still, Peterson has no desire to ever fight in Texas again unless something changes within the commission moving forward.

“I’m not going to put myself in the line of fire if I don’t have to, so I’ll be sitting out any Texas shows, and hopefully something changes with the commission and we get things worked out over here,” he said.

Marvin Vettori is just two weeks away from the biggest fight of his professional career, as the surging contender meets current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 263 on June 12 live on ESPN+ PPV from Glendale, Arizona.

Vettori, 27, first fought Adesanya at UFC on FOX 29 back in 2018. The Italian contender ended up losing via split decision, but Vettori has won all five of his UFC fights since then, including recent decision wins over ranked opponents Kevin Holland and Jack Hermansson.

While Vettori has worked on the standup that plagued him in his first meeting with “Last Stylebender” the best chance for him to upset the champion this time around is to utilize his wrestling. Remember, Vettori scored a middleweight record 11 takedowns in his recent decision win over Holland.

Luckily for Vettori, we’ve already seen Adesanya lose on the heels of bad wrestling defense. “Last Stylebender” moved up to 205 pounds this past March and collided with Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight title. Blachowicz was able to go punch-for-punch with Adesanya on the feet before utilizing his wrestling and scoring multiple takedowns for valuable top time. It was a perfect gameplan and one that resulted in Adesanya’s first professional loss.

Blachowicz is a larger fighter than Vettori but that doesn’t mean the Italian middleweight can’t take some notes and implement a similar gameplan for his rematch with Adesanya. Just ask former UFC champion and current commentator, Michael Bisping, who believes Blachowicz laid out the script to defeat “Last Stylebender.”

“For Adesanya, he should go into this fight very confident,” Bisping recently explained in an interview with The Schmo. “Of course, he’s already beaten Marvin Vettori. Both of them have got better, I think Vettori has got way better. I think for Marvin Vettori, seeing the way Blachowicz beat him has set the tone for how to beat him.

“I think the way to beat Adesanya is obviously take him down, but most people take him down against the fence. It’s easier [to defend] because you can lean against the wall or the fence and if you get taken down, you can use that to stand back up. What we saw against Blachowicz was Blachowicz took him down in the middle of the Octagon. The reason that’s more beneficial is you got to be a better wrestler to penetrate and drive through and put them down. To take someone down in the middle is harder but you’ll have more success against Israel is because they haven’t got the fence to lean on — they’re just going to fall over. And then when you get him down, it’s actually way harder to get back to your feet if you’re in the middle of the Octagon because you’ve got nothing to lean on.”

All of that said, Bisping is still siding with Adesanya in the rematch. After all, “Last Stylebender” is undefeated at 185 pounds, already holds a win over Vettori, and will likely make his own adjustments to stay off his back at UFC 263.

“I think Vettori saw that and I think he’ll come with a heavy wrestling-oriented game plan like he did against Kevin Holland, but you still got to side with the champ. I’m still leaning with the champ. He’s the champ for a reason,” said Bisping.

For more UFC 263 fight card news click here.

We are just a few weeks away from one of the biggest rematches in UFC flyweight history as current champion Deiveson Figueiredo defends his 125-pound strap once again against top contender Brandon Moreno at UFC 263 on June 12 live on ESPN+ PPV from Glendale, Arizona.

This will be a rematch of Figueiredo’s first clash with Moreno back at UFC 256 in Dec. 2020. The two flyweights went toe-to-toe in an epic five-round war that saw both flyweights land monstrous shots on the feet. Figueiredo was deducted one point in the third round for an illegal groin strike and it ended up costing him, as the flyweight title fight ended in a majority draw.

Luckily, UFC is rolling out the footage in advance to the rematch and featuring the first fight between Figueiredo and Moreno in its entirety. The full fight video can be seen in the above player.

UFC 263 will be headlined by a middleweight rematch between current champion Israel Adesanya and rising contender Marvin Vettori. The PPV main card will also feature a five-round welterweight bout between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz.

For more UFC 263 fight card news click here.

Chris Weidman’s return from a brutal leg injury suffered at UFC 261 is going to be a very long process, but at least the former UFC middleweight champion is finally smiling as his recovery picks back up.

Weidman injured his leg in a main card matchup with Uriah Hall at UFC 261 this past April. The two fighters barely exchanged any strikes before Weidman launched a leg kick that landed perfectly on Hall’s leg and snapped Weidman’s shin in two. The injury is one of the worst you can suffer inside of the Octagon and Weidman is finding that out the hard way.

Luckily, the UFC veteran is a fighter at heart. While Weidman’s career already seemed to be on the down swing the 36-year-old is going to battle tooth-and-nail to heal his leg and make a memorable return to action. It’s easier said than done, but Weidman seems to be making incredible progress with his recovery.

Earlier this month, a video surfaced that saw Weidman walking using an anti-gravity treadmill. It was incredible to see just a few weeks removed from the injury. Now, a few weeks later, Weidman’s recovery has picked up even more. The former UFC champion has progressed so well that he’s already walking on his own. Check it out above.

“I’m walking on my own! Big day baby!! Thanks for all the love and support. Inspired by you all,” wrote Weidman via Instagram.

There have been a few fighters to return from an injury like this, including Weidman’s former rival, Anderson Silva, so the odds of Weidman making a full recovery and fighting gain are pretty solid. This is assuming he can continue to safely ramp up his recovery efforts without suffering any setbacks.

Mania will continue to provide updates on Weidman’s status moving forward.