Author: Dan Hiergesell

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.

T.J. Dillashaw is keeping a close eye on Cory Sandhagen leading into their clash this July and that includes spying on “Sandman’s” camp.

Dillashaw, who has been serving out a two year suspension after popping for banned substances back in 2019, is expected to make his awaited Octagon return on July 24 against Sandhagen. The two are expected to meet in a Fight Night main event but that hasn’t been made official at this time.

Leading into their crucial matchup in the bantamweight division Dillashaw has reportedly sent spies into Sandhagen’s camp to check in on the streaking contender. Sandhagen’s teammate, current LFA featherweight fighter Justin Wetzell, recently told James Lynch (via BJPenn.com) that a few new faces have popped up in the gym over the past few weeks.

“Yeah, he had some Ludwig students come into our Friday sparring,” claimed Wetzell. “I wasn’t there that day, but I heard about this from other people. They were like, ‘Yeah, there’s these Ludwig affiliates and when Cory started sparring in the cage, they whipped out their phones and started recording.’ And then later on Instagram, they posted some s—t on their story bragging, ‘Hey TJ, we got these rounds for you, we’ve got it all recorded.’”

It’s unknown at this time if Dillashaw really did send “spies” into Sandhagen’s camp, but it would just be another way of gaining an upper hand on “Sandman” when the cage doors shuts on July 24. If Dillashaw is able to defeat Sandhagen, who many believe to be the most well-rounded fighter at 135 pounds, he’ll immediately put himself back in line to fight for the title

Dillashaw, the former UFC bantamweight championship, lost his bid for a flyweight title in his last trip to the Octagon when he was put out by Henry Cejudo with a 32-second TKO. Dillashaw has had two years to lick his wounds and plot his return to the cage and it all starts with Sandhagen this July.

After claiming the undisputed UFC lightweight title with a TKO win over Michael Chandler at UFC 262 earlier this month Charles Oliveira is already looking to win another belt.

Oliveira, who was nearly finished by Chandler in the first round, fought back to find the finish in the second and lock down his ninth-straight win at 155 pounds (highlights HERE). While he just captured the title and has a long line of contenders who are itching for a shot at UFC gold, “Do Bronx” is open to dropping back down to featherweight in search of a second UFC title.

If you remember Oliveira fought at 145 pounds under the UFC banner from 2012-2017, but after four failed weight cuts during that span the promotion forced the Brazilian to move up to lightweight. Oliveira didn’t necessarily like the decision, but it ultimately paid off in the form of a UFC championship.

It’s been nearly five years since Oliveira competed at featherweight but he’d be willing to make the cut again if given the proper amount of time. Oliveira would also need to fight for the title in his return to the division so he has a chance of becoming double champ.

“If I have the opportunity to fight directly for the title, giving me time to do that, I would do well,” Oliveira told Combate. “Today I have a good nutritionist, a good team that will help me with this and make it happen. But only if it was straight for the title.”

Oliveira hasn’t lost at lightweight since 2017 and if he’s able to get through the next set of lightweight contenders, which includes Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, and Justin Gaethje, then maybe the promotion lets him take another shot at 145 pounds. The current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is scheduled to fight top contender Brian Ortega later this year. Either fighter would be a great opponent for Oliveira if he decided to drop back down one final time.

What do you think, fight fans? Would Oliveira win another UFC title if he dropped back down to featherweight?

Sound off!