Author: Dan Hiergesell

The wait is over as UFC 268 is set to go down later tonight (Sat., Nov. 6, 2021) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, with a welterweight rematch between current UFC champion Kamaru Usman and rival Colby Covington serving as the main event.

Heading into one of the biggest PPV cards of the year UFC has released the final episode of UFC 268 “Embedded,” which can be seen in the above video player. This time around the “Embedded” team follows all of the marquee fighters as they make their final weight cuts and prepare for the last face-to-face staredown.

From the official YouTube description:

After making weight in the morning, the stars of UFC 268 face off one final time at MSG before fight night’s title rematches — Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington and Rose Namajunas vs Zhang Weili – plus Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler.

To see episodes one, two, three, four, and five click here, here, here, here, and here.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 268: “Usman vs. Covington 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

One of the greatest rematches in UFC welterweight history will unfold later tonight (Sat., Nov. 6, 2021) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, as reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman meets top contender Colby Covington for a second time.

Usman, who will be making his fifth-straight title defense, defeated Covington in their initial meeting at UFC 245 back in 2019. It was by far Usman’s toughest test to date, but a fight that helped him reach another level as champion. Since then, Usman has defeated Gilbert Burns via TKO and Jorge Masvidal twice. The current pound-for-pound king has never looked better and is on the cusp of going down as one of the best UFC fighters of all time.

Covington, on the other hand, has only fought once since his TKO loss to Usman. It was a dominant win over Tyron Woodley just over one year ago, but we still don’t know what “Chaos” has done to improve his chances against Usman. That said, Covington seems to be more focused and believes his new team at MMA Masters has prepared him to become world champion on Saturday night.

Check out their fight video preview embedded above.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 268: “Usman vs. Covington 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Former UFC champion Frankie Edgar is hoping to prove his doubters wrong yet again when he meets bantamweight contender Marlon Vera this weekend at UFC 268 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Edgar, who turned 40 just three weeks ago, is currently in a difficult spot in his storied career. The former lightweight king has posted a less than desirable 2-4 record in his last six trips to the Octagon spanning between both the featherweight and bantamweight divisions. His last appearance came against top bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen this past February and that resulted in a massive flying knee knockout for “Sandman.” In fact, that knockout was the second suffered by Edgar in his last three fights.

While Edgar is the type of fighter to go out on his shield some have wondered if the legendary veteran is officially over the hill. Edgar doesn’t really care about those assumptions heading into UFC 268 this weekend because all he wants to do is fight. It’s that simple.

“I’m gonna be fighting on my death bed,” Edgar told reporters earlier this week.

“When I say I’mma fight on my death bed, it’s (me saying) I’m a fighter. That’s what I am. I’m always gonna fight in some way, shape or form.”

Despite his recent Octagon record and multiple knockout defeats Edgar doesn’t believe he’s close to retiring. We usually see fighters in the same situation as Edgar with one foot out the door, but “The Answer” isn’t looking to follow anyone’s mold at this point in his career.

“It’s natural to be a 40-year-old guy and people say, ‘Hey, when are you gonna hang it up?’ Or, it’s natural for your opponent to say they’re gonna retire you. Come on. It’s f—ng old stuff.”

Unsurprisingly, Edgar is still aiming to become UFC champion. The former lightweight king has fought in a plethora of title fights throughout his career and would love nothing more than a victory over Vera to spark another journey to UFC gold.

“I think all fights are fun, but achieving the gold is always the goal. That’s probably the most fun, so if I could… I think you need to have that pinnacle at the top of your list. That’s kind of what I’ve gotten into this sport for, it’s to be the best. It’s always been my mindset.

“I’m enjoying the process as I go.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Justin Gaethje is speaking out about Daniel Cormier’s cageside commentary last weekend at UFC 267 and “Highlight” is not happy with the way things were handled.

Gaethje, who meets Michael Chandler in a pivotal lightweight matchup this weekend at UFC 268 in New York City, took offense to Cormier’s commentary towards former teammate Islam Makhachev during his clash with Dan Hooker. Makhachev ended up winning the fight via first-round submission to earn his ninth-straight win inside of the Octagon.

Cormier, who is usually really good with keeping his commentary unbiased, praised Makhachev after the fight and called for his former teammate to get the next shot at the UFC lightweight title. The notion wasn’t completely out of left field considering Makhachev has won nine fights in a row, but “DC” pretty much dismissed Gaethje’s upcoming matchup with Chandler this weekend with those same comments. That prompted Gaethje to take to social media and show his frustration.

Gaethje, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the lightweight division, believes a win over Chandler this weekend nets him the next title shot. “Highlight” further explained his distaste for Cormier’s commentary earlier this week during UFC 268’s pre-fight press conference (replay HERE).

“Yeah (Makhachev’s win) was impressive. Sucks for Dan, late replacement. He wasn’t the guy coming off a full camp for Islam. That’s what that was,” said Gaethje.

“(Cormier) was incredibly biased. At the end of the day, I love Cormier. I felt it was my job that night to tweet and call it out because that’s what I saw. Outside that, it doesn’t matter. I think he knows that he should be in an unbiased mindset when he’s doing this, and I would hope that’s important to him.”

Cormier, who has been doing his UFC commentary gig for a few years now, recently spoke about the accusations and remains adamant that he did nothing out of the ordinary during Makhachev’s fight at UFC 267.

“How could I be biased to Islam?” Cormier said on Debate DC on Vover (via MMA Fighting). “What could I have possibly said positive about Dan Hooker in that fight? There is no bias whenever a fight is clearly on one side. That’s where it becomes a bit much for me and that’s when you start to understand and realize why the people from the outside, their opinions don’t matter as much because they make those types of claims.”

“I don’t mind addressing this whole bias thing,” Cormier added. “I think it’s absurd. I don’t agree at all. I think it’s absurd and if you ask me if I am biased towards Islam Makhachev or Khabib Nurmagomedov – guys, I have called Khabib’s fights, Luke Rockhold, Deron Winn, Islam Makhachev, I’ve called all of their fights and I feel like I have done their opponents justice. I go out of my way to make sure that we do their opponents justice. I’m a professional and for as much as I love my teammates, I understand the difference to separate myself from that….

“Look man, if you’re not getting critiqued then you’re not doing a great job.”

Gaethje and Cormier are true professionals and do seem to like one another so this is likely water on the bridge. However, it will be interesting to see if either Gaethje or Cormier mention anything about this during the broadcast for UFC 268 this weekend.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Colby Covington will say just about anything to save face and that includes throwing his old coaches under the bus for a previous loss to rival Kamaru Usman.

Leading into his rematch with Usman tomorrow night (Sat., Nov. 6, 2021) at UFC 268 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, “Chaos” has been asked about his first meeting with the UFC welterweight champion back at UFC 245. The matchup is widely regarded as one of the best 170-pound title fights of all time, but it is one that Covington ended up losing via fifth-round TKO.

Covington, who is one of the most controversial fighters in MMA today, has discussed the loss on multiple occasions over the past few years and seems reluctant to acknowledge that Usman was the better man on that night. “Chaos” has denied getting his jaw broken during the fight, he’s called out Usman for “faking” low blows and eye pokes, and now he’s taking aim at his old coaching staff.

“If you go back and look at the first fight, the instructions that I was getting. They were telling me something that I do every single day. They were saying, ‘Colby, breathe.’ Dude, we breathe every single day, why are you telling me to breathe. I mean, everybody in this room knows how to breathe. Not everybody knows how to fight and how to instruct fighters with the right instructions,” Covington told media members earlier this week.

Since his first meeting with Usman the welterweight contender has switched up gyms and is now training at MMA Masters. Covington’s first fight under his new coaching staff came against Tyron Woodley in Sept. 2020. “Chaos” ended up smashing the former UFC champion via fifth-round TKO and believes his game has been taken to an entirely new level since changing teams.

“First thing that I changed, the biggest thing, is the people around me, the team that I have around me now; Daniel Valverde, my Judo and jiu-jitsu coach, my striking coach Cesar Carneiro, and my strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Lopez… I just have a new-found energy around me; people that actually, genuinely care about me, and they wanna see me win. They’re not just showing up to get paychecks and just work to throw me out there into the fire. They’ve actually been developing my skills and we’ve been growing as a fighter every single day. You’re gonna see new wrinkles in my game. We’ve updated the software. I’m gonna control, alt, delete Marty on Saturday night.”

Like him or not, Covington is one of the very best fighters in the sport today. If he has truly increased his fight IQ then there’s a chance he pulls off the upset and hands Usman his first Octagon loss this weekend at UFC 268. But if “Chaos” happens to fall to the undisputed champion again who will he blame then?

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Pound-for-pound great Canelo Alvarez will be back in action tomorrow night (Sat., Nov, 6, 2021) live on Showtime PPV and FITE TV from inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he defends his WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles against undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant.

Ahead of their main event clash this Saturday night on PPV both boxers stepped on the scale earlier today for official weigh ins. Fortunately, both fighters successfully made weight. They also came together for their final faceoff before tomorrow’s title fight.

Considering Canelo and Plant nearly brawled during a pre-fight press conference staredown back in September (watch it HERE) boxing officials weren’t messing around for the weigh ins. Extra security was on stage and even former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson was brought into the mix in case something popped off.

Check it about above courtesy of ESPN.

MMAmania will deliver LIVE coverage of ‘Canelo vs. Plant’ tomorrow night. The Showtime PPV broadcast kicks off at 9:00 p.m. ET, with Alvarez and Plant likely to make the walk closer to midnight.