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At 40 years of age, Jared Cannonier is one of the best Middleweights alive.

Heading into his fourth consecutive main event slot, “The Killa Gorilla” didn’t quite have the momentum he deserved. The former title challenger has made his desire for a second shot plenty clear, and wins over Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori — the latter being a record-setting beat down — should have placed him in the immediate mix for a chance at gold.

Fight politics being what they are, however, Cannonier needed more. UFC doesn’t like giving 40 year olds title shots, even if they’re knockout artists … and especially if their first title shot was a bit of a stinker and there’s other popular names in the mix. Consequently, Cannonier was forced to look down the ladder and find Nassourdine Imavov, a very talented up-and-comer 12 years his junior.

The fight was highly competitive. Cannonier was strangely determined to wrestle, and his efforts fatigued him. Even so, Cannonier was up on two of the three judges’ scorecards heading into the fourth, and the fight was very much up for grabs. Imavov did his part of reaching for the victory, cracking Cannonier with a nice right hand over the top.

Cannonier was hurt. His legs wobbled, but he regained his footing. He took a few steps away from Imavov, but he kept his eyes on the advancing “Sniper.” Cannonier threw a counter hook and blocked a couple punches. His guard was high and his legs beneath him when referee Jason Herzog stepped in and called the fight.

Now, I love to bash judge and referee incompetence whenever possible, but Herzog is one of the best in the game. This is a case of a largely great referee doing a difficult job for a long time — mistakes are bound to happen. The real unfortunate aspect of this specific mistake is the circumstance, namely that Jared Cannonier is now royally screwed, and there’s no forcing the cat back into the bag.

A week ago, Cannonier vs. Du Plessis was a feasible match up, a fight that could happen with just a smidge of luck. Better yet, the match up was a very reasonable one for Cannonier. Du Plessis has blocked plenty of punches with his face, and Cannonier hits like a mack truck. I would favor the South African champion overall, but “Killa Gorilla” would definitely stand a reasonable at shutting off his lights if the two were to fight in the next three months.

Now? Cannonier is AT LEAST two fights away from a title shot. More likely, he’s three or four wins away. Even if UFC opts to book an immediate rematch (probably not) and pretend this didn’t happen at all, Cannonier is delayed months before having any possibility of a title shot. That’s all too long for a 40 year old contender. Instead of having a reasonable — if still long — shot at gold, Cannonier now requires an absolute miracle. That’s the outcome of a mistake from the referee, an element outside of Cannonier’s control.

Put bluntly: it sucks!

In a more abstract sense, it’s a great example of how luck and popularity can play such pivotal roles in creating a champion.

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For complete UFC Lousisville: “Cannonier vs. Imavov” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

New behind the scenes footage has UFC matchmakers pricing out how much Oliveira lost pulling out of a UFC 294 title fight in 2023.

Has anyone suffered a more expensive headbutt in the history of MMA than Charles Oliveira?

Oliveira was set to headline UFC 294 in a much-hyped lightweight title rematch against Islam Makhachev. Unfortunately for everyone excited to see that, “Do Bronx” suffered a bad cut from a headbutt in training a week out from the event. It was so bad there was no other option but to pull out.

Now new behind-the-scenes footage from the new Roku series Fight Inc. shows UFC CEO Dana White and his matchmaking team discuss the incident and how much it cost the Brazilian fighter.

“He’s going the night before, sparring with no head gear,” an angry White declared. “That cost him big money.”

“That’s a two million dollar headbutt,” matchmaker Sean Shelby said.

But it gets worse! Not only did Oliveira lose out on a $2 million purse for UFC 294 in October, the headbutt was so bad that he was still unable to fight a month later at UFC 295 when Jon Jones pulled out of his heavyweight title main event against Stipe Miocic due to an injury.

Fight Inc. showed White and Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell discussing replacement options for the main event at Madison Square Garden. Campbell said he was confident he could re-book Makhachev vs. Oliveira.

“Islam took no damage [at UFC 294], I don’t think he took a single strike,” Campbell said. “And Oliveira’s still in shape. And his cut will be ready by then too. I think I can pull that off, to be honest with you.”

Alas, the MMA Gods can be cruel, and Oliveira’s cut was not ready.

“The cut’s still not healed and he hasn’t been training,” Campbell said after a call to Oliveira’s manager. “And he’s still — according to the doctors — not cleared for contact for ten more days. The cut was so deep he has two layers of stitches. Exterior, and he has them on the interior. There’s no way. He’s like ‘I can’t even really train.’ He’s like ‘I can’t take a shot.’ It’s so tender you can feel how thin the skin is.”

So Oliveira didn’t just lose one shot at the lightweight title due to this headbutt, he lost two. And if he was positioned to make $2 million against Makhachev at UFC 294, how much would he have made to step in last-minute at UFC 295? That wasn’t a $2 million headbutt. It was a $4 million headbutt, if not $5 million.

And now that “Do Bronx” has lost to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300, his route back to the title is no longer as certain as it once was. What a terrible domino effect one moment in training can have!

UFC Louisville went down last night (Sat., June 8, 2024), featuring a Middleweight bout that saw Nassourdine Imavov score a fourth round technical knockout win over Jared Cannonier (see it again here). In the co-main event, Dominick Reyes returned to the win column, defeating Dustin Jacoby via strikes in the first round (his first win in five years), while Raul Rosas Jr. submitted Ricky Turcios in the second round (watch highlights).

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Nassourdine Imavov
Who He Should Face Next: Run it back with Cannonier

Some may disagree, but a rematch is in order following that horrible stoppage. While it may be a tall task to convince Imavov to sign on the dotted line since he is the one who had his hand raised in victory, it makes sense. Cannonier is ranked fourth, Imavov is seventh, so if he wants to make his case for the Top 5, get a more convincing win over “Killa Gorilla.”

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Dominick Reyes
Who He Should Face Next: Alonzo Menifield

For the first time in five years, Reyes had his hand raised in victory after destroying Jacoby. Still ranked No. 15 in the division, Reyes could be staring at a showdown against Menifield, who was last seen coming up short against Carlos Ulberg a few weeks ago. Prior to the defeat, Menifield was 4-0-1 and is currently ranked No. 13 in the division.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Raul Rosas Jr.
Who He Should Face Next: Brad Katona

Rosas Jr. is now 3-1 inside the Octagon, proving that he isn’t just hype. Still, slow and steady is the name of the game for the young contender, and a showdown against Katona seems fitting. Katona was also victorious last night, defeating Jesse Butler via unanimous decision. Since returning to the Octagon, the former two-time The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner is 2-1 after going 2-2 in his first run. Katona has the experience to test Rosas Jr., and it would be a great measuring stick.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Brunno Ferreira
Who He Should Face Next: Edmen Shahbazyan

Ferreira improved to 3-1 under the UFC banner following his impressive first round knockout win over Dustin Stoltzfus, his second straight inside the Octagon. Up next for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace, a showdown against Shahbazyan seems fitting. “The Golden Boy” recently got back into the win column himself with his own impressive knockout win over A.J. Dobson two months ago.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Zachary Reese
Who He Should Face Next: Abus Magomedov

It didn’t take long for Reese to make quick work of Julian Marquez, knocking him out in the first round — in 20 seconds to be exact — to earn his first win inside the Octagon after losing his UFC debut. As for Magomedov, he recently snapped his two-fight skid, defeating Warlley Alves just last month, dropping his UFC record to an even 2-2.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Punahele Soriano
Who He Should Face Next: Jake Matthews

Soriano made a successful transition to Welterweight, defeating Miguel Baeza via unanimous decision after dropping two in a row at Middleweight. In five years with the promotion, Soriano is an even 4-4, so he needs to start racking up wins in more consecutive fashion if he wants to get some shine. Up next for him should be a fight against the likes of Matthews who — like Soriano — hasn’t been so consistent with earning wins, going just 3-3 in his last six fights. He is coming off a win over Philip Rowe at UFC 302, so their turnaround times could sync up.

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For complete UFC Louisville results, coverage and highlights click HERE.

Carlos Prates was enjoying a post-fight smoke with friends when he learned his body shot KO at UFC Louisville had earned him a $50,000 bonus.

Carlos Prates smokes dudes as easily in the octagon as he smokes cigarettes in the back alley.

Prates is a 30 year old veteran of the fight game, having competed for ONE, LFA, and even Full Metal Dojo. In 2023 he entered the UFC off a slick straight left KO on Dana White’s Contender Series, and has now won his first two fights with the promotion via knockout. His latest win at UFC Louisville was a wild knee to the body that put his opponent Charles Radtke down late in the first round (watch the highlights here).

It’s a finish that earned him a $50,000 performance bonus, which he learned he won while puffing away on a cigarette on the streets of Louisville.

The 19-6 Prates made no apologies about his smoking habit in a post-fight interview with Full Send MMA.

“I’m not the guy [that says I’m] an athlete, I like to say I’m a fighter,” he said. “I’m not athlete because everybody say bad things because sometimes I go to parties, or smoke cigarettes and drink. Of course it’s not good, but I know how to find a way.”

“I’ve smoked since I was 15 years old, I have more time living smoking than without smoking,” he added. “So for me it’s normal. I smoke before the fight, on the day of the fight, and it’s normal. Now we’re here in Louisville so I’m trying to go drink some whiskey cuz here is the capitol of whiskey and I really like whiskey.”

So you heard it here first, folks: smoking and drinking is clearly the best base for mixed martial arts.