Author: Dan Hiergesell

Some of the best English talent in MMA will be on display later today (Sat., Sept. 4, 2021) at UFC Vegas 36 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, as middleweight contender Darren Till takes on veteran finisher Derek Brunson in the main event.

In addition to the 185-pound headliner, surging heavyweight prospect Tom Aspinall will try to push his UFC record to 4-0 in a co-main event battle with Sergey Spivak, former Cage Warriors champion Paddy Pimblett will make his long-awaited Octagon debut, and undefeated sensation Jack Shore will be back in bantamweight action.

Take a look below at UFC Vegas 36’s complete fight card line up and start times:

Main Card (ESPN+)
4:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. PT

Derek Brunson vs. Darren Till
Tom Aspinall vs. Sergey Spivak
Alex Morono vs. David Zawada
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.
Paddy Pimblett vs. Luigi Vendramini

‘Prelims’ Undercard (ESPN+)
2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT

Molly McCann vs. Ji Yeon Kim
Jack Shore vs. Liudvik Sholinian
Julian Erosa vs. Charles Jourdain
Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcelo Rojo CANCELED

Here are all the ways to catch the action:

Online

• UFC Vegas 36: ‘Brunson vs. Till’ entire fight card can be viewed via the ESPN+ streaming app.
• Subscriptions cost $5.99 per month.

Television

• UFC Vegas 36: ‘Brunson vs. Till’ main card and “Prelims” undercard can be viewed via ESPN+ app.
• Streaming options include Xbox One, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and ChromeCast.

Tablet/Mobile

• UFC Vegas 36: ‘Brunson vs. Till’ entire fight card can be viewed via ESPN+ streaming app through Google Play and iTunes stores.

Bars

• To check out a list of sports bars and pubs near you that will most likely be showing today’s fights CLICK HERE.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 36 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” bouts at 2 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 4 p.m. ET.

Paddy Pimblett’s long-awaited Octagon debut will finally go down later today (Sat., Sept. 4, 2021) at UFC Vegas 36 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, but it almost didn’t happen.

Pimblett, a former Cage Warriors champion and native of England, needed to get his visa to travel to the United States and compete this weekend against lightweight Luigi Vendramini in Las Vegas. If the bout was taking place in England travel wouldn’t be an issue. But since this is the first time Pimblett is fighting on American soil he needed to secure his visa.

Unfortunately for Pimblett, things didn’t go exactly as planned. There is an infraction on Pimblett’s record for possession of cannibas dating back to his youth. That sort of thing may be legal in Las Vegas at this point in time, but it nearly stopped “Baddy” from making the trip to UFC Vegas 36.

“This has been more stressful than getting ready for the fight,” Pimblett told Ariel Helwani during a recent episode of the MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting). “Last Monday when I went to the embassy — I got a caution when I was 19. A caution means like it’s not on your record no more and it was for possession of cannabis, which is legal in Las Vegas. The man in the embassy told me I was ineligible for a visa so the UFC had to send off for a special waiver and luckily enough it came back in time.

“But when I got home from London on the Monday night I sat in my house and cried for an hour thinking that I wasn’t fighting. I literally sat there for an hour and cried my eyes out and thought that it was over. I’ve had the best camp of my life and a man sitting behind a desk is stopping me from fighting.”

Luckily, UFC worked its magic and got Pimblett into the States for his awaited debut this weekend in Las Vegas. It’s good that the promotion was able to do something because Pimblett is coming off one of his best camps ever and seems primed to make a huge statement when he steps inside of the Octagon.

“My training camp has been perfect,” Pimblett said. “My boxing, my kicking, my jiu-jitsu, my wrestling, my sparring, my [strength and conditioning], I’m a new specimen now. I’m a different animal even from what I was six months ago when I fought Davide Martinez. I’m a completely different animal now.

“Luigi’s not gonna be ready, man. I swear to God he’s not gonna last anymore than five minutes, so he’s not going to enjoy his five minutes of fame in the cage with me.”

While Vendramini isn’t the biggest name at 155 pounds that Pimblett could have faced in his debut he’s still a well-rounded fighter with a 100-percent finish rate. It’s not going to be easy, but “Baddy” is aiming to follow in the footsteps of some of the biggest stars in UFC history and put on a show this weekend in “Sin City.”

“There have been guys like Jai Herbert and Mason Jones they’ve had it hard to be honest, their debut fights were tough, same as Rhys McKee,” Pimblett said. “All these guys had tough, tough debuts. I don’t consider mine as a tough, but obviously any fight in the UFC is tough even though I think I’ve had tougher fights in Cage Warriors.

“But I’m here to represent and I’m gonna show everyone how good Cage Warriors is, it’s that simple. As you know, Conor comes from Cage Warriors. Dan Hardy, Michael Bisping, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a lot of people forget that and I’m gonna be the next name added to that list.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 36 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” bouts at 1:30 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 4 p.m. ET.

Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes is set to defend her 135-pound title against Julianna Pena at UFC 269 at the end of the year and the opening betting odds are staggering.

Nunes, who has won her last 12 trips to the Octagon, is set to defend her bantamweight strap for the first time since a unanimous decision win over Germaine de Randamie back in 2019. “Lioness” has been busy taking care of Megan Anderson and Felicia Spencer at 145 pounds over her past two fights.

Despite her two-year absence from the bantamweight division the greatest female fighter of all time is already a massive betting favorite for her upcoming tilt with Pena. According to Best Fight Odds, Nunes has opened as a -800 favorite. That means a $800 bet on “Lioness” will net you just $100. Nunes seems like a lock, but that’s a lot of cheddar to throw down just to win a little.

Pena, on the other hand, has opened as a +500 underdog. That means a $100 bet on “Venezuelan Vixen” will bank you $500. A little better odds, but Pena will have to pull out something special to defeat Nunes this December. After all, Pena is just 2-2 inside of the Octagon since 2017 winning bouts over Sara McMann and the recently released Nicco Montano.

What say you, Maniacs? What are the more attractive betting odds? Nunes at -800 or Pena at +500?

Let’s hear it!

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Justin Gaethje is scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 268 on Nov. 6 in New York City, but that wasn’t his first choice.

According to Gaethje, he tried lobbying for a fight with former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway before settling on a 155-pound clash with Chandler. There were originally some issues involving the booking of Gaethje vs. Chandler so “Highlight” was simply trying to stay busy and fight one of the best guys on the roster.

“Max is probably my favorite fighter to watch so I honestly don’t want to fight the guy ever,” Gaethje told ESPN. “But I need to put myself in the title picture and if he jumps weight classes, I wasn’t sure if with Brian Ortega vs. Volkanovski being tied up with The Ultimate Fighter, I thought maybe he might want to come up to lightweight and try his hand, with Khabib being gone, at the lightweight title. That was an option at the time but didn’t work out.”

Holloway, who is coming off a masterful performance against Calvin Kattar this past January, is currently trying to earn back the UFC featherweight title he lost to current champion Alexander Volkanovski in 2019 and then again in 2020. “Blessed” may not even have to win another fight before locking down another shot at the 145-pound crown, but he has long talked about a jump up in weight and a run at the lightweight strap.

Remember, Holloway temporarily moved up to 155 pounds back at UFC 236 in 2019 to meet Dustin Poirier for the interim title. Poirier ended up winning, but Holloway looked good and more than capable of being a legit contender at a higher weight class. That was the last time we saw him compete in the UFC’s lightweight division.

For now, Gaethje will fight Chandler at UFC 268 and try to lock down his second UFC lightweight title shot. As for Holloway, he may end up fighting fellow featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez later this year and try to cement his shot at the winner of Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega. Maybe “Highlight” and “Blessed” can set a different date aside for a future meeting of UFC fan favorites.

Jonathan Martinez has been removed from his bout with Marcelo Rojo tomorrow afternoon (Sat., Sept. 4, 2021) at UFC Vegas 36 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, due to complications from a botched weigh cut. This is according to a recent report by ESPN Deportes.

Martinez missed the bantamweight mark by two pounds during Friday’s official weigh ins (replay HERE), but seemed good enough to fight on Saturday’s card. Unfortunately, Martinez has since experienced physical complications stemming from his weight miss and will not be able to complete.

Martinez, 27, was last seen getting knockout out by Davey Grant back in March. “The Dragon” almost missed weight by 4.5 pounds for his matchup against Frankie Saenz in Aug. 2020. The fight still went on and Martinez ended up winning via third-round TKO.

Rojo, 33, is coming off a loss in his Octagon debut to Charles Jourdain this past March. The Argentinian finisher was hoping to make a big return to the cage this weekend, but he’ll have to wait a little longer. Rojo is expected get his show money despite Martinez’s withdrawal.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 36 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” bouts at 1:30 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 4 p.m. ET.

Ben Askren is not a fan of Jake Paul, but he gained a lot of respect for the social media influencer with his recent win over Tyron Woodley.

It wasn’t too long ago that Askren was stepping inside of the squared circle with Paul himself. “Funky” was the first real fighter that Paul faced, but not the best of striker. Paul ended up sparking Askren in the first round with a vicious knockout (see it HERE) and sent the former UFC fighter packing.

In stepped Woodley, who made his professional boxing debut against Paul last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. While the former UFC welterweight champion landed a lot of good punches and nearly had Paul out along the ropes mid-fight, Paul still managed to outpoint “Chosen One” and walk away with another win over another UFC veteran.

Entering the fight the combat community was expecting Woodley to use his fighting chops and punching power to finally put an end to the Paul circus. That’s not the way it went down and it has forced combat veterans like Askren to reflect on the boxing match and pay respect to Paul.

“I thought Tyron was pretty solid for his boxing debut,” Askren said on Instagram Live (h/t Fight Hub TV). “I know a lot of you guys are pretty frustrated he didn’t beat up Jake Paul. Listen, that’s what I wanted to happen too. I wanted him to knock Jake Paul’s head off, he didn’t get it done.

“The other thing that happened, for me, I gained a lot of respect for Jake Paul. I know he got a TKO on me but I knew I wasn’t very good at boxing. I told all of you that I’m not a very good boxer I just think I’m better than he is. So when he got a knockdown on me, yeah whatever, he didn’t earn my respect. Watching him versus Tyron, I have a lot of respect for Tyron’s striking ability and I think Tyron won the fight but either way, it was a highly competitive bout and I think it’s pretty evident – and the only way you’re not gonna think this is if you really hate the guy and I don’t hate him, I’m whatever towards him – it’s pretty evident to me that he’s worked pretty hard at this and he’s pretty tough. He took some pretty big shots from Tyron and he kept on fighting. So in that respect, he has earned my respect, for sure, in a way that he didn’t in my fight or any of his fights previously.”

Considering Paul vs. Woodley ended in a split decision there have already been talks about a possible rematch. Woodley seems to be pushing for it and it may make sense for Paul to do the same. Askren believes that Woodley remains the biggest name available to Paul and vice versa, so the writing seems to be on the wall.

“I think him and Tyron happens again and here’s why: so while I’ll definitely admit that Jake is working hard at this and he has achieved a relatively high level of boxing proficiency, I think going from the level he’s at to a world champion level is a long ways off,” Askren said. “Tyron was a world champion in mixed martial arts and I think I’ve had the conversation with him and he would recognize that him versus a world champion in boxing is a tough matchup. It’s not gonna go all that well.

“Now in boxing, I think there’s less big-name guys than in MMA, for sure, and so you’re not gonna get to the big name boxers unless you go to the very, very top of the heap. If he goes to the top of the heap, he’s not gonna be competitive with them. He needs someone else whose a big name across the bill from him to sell the fight. If it’s him versus someone we’ve never heard of, it makes it not that interesting…. The fight that makes the most sense is him fighting Tyron again. There’s now a history, there’s a backstory, Tyron also has a big name, the first fight was competitive. Who else could you make a case for?”

What do you think, Maniacs? Will we see Paul vs. Woodley 2?

Sound off!