UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies

Bellator Paris is set to go down later TODAY (Fri., May 17, 2023) from inside Accor Arena in Paris, France, headlined by a Bantamweight title fight as division champion, Patchy Mix, puts his belt on the line against Magomed Magomedov. In the Welterweight co-main event Cedric Doumbe and Jaleel Willis will do battle, while Gregory Babene faces Costello van Steenis in Middleweight action.

Many readers check in before, during and after the fights to share their thoughts on all of the action, which will begin at 12 p.m. ET with the early “Prelims,” and then transition to the main card at 2 p.m. ET. Feel free to leave a comment (or several) about the bouts and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show — it’s always a lot of fun!

BELLATOR PARIS QUICK RESULTS:

135 lbs.: Patchy Mix vs. Magomed Magomedov
170 lbs.: Cedric Doumbe vs Jaleel Willis
185 lbs.: Gregory Babene vs. Costello van Steenis
145 lbs.: Yves Landu vs. Jonas Bilharinho
265 lbs.: Slim Trabelsi vs. Louie Sutherland
155 lbs.: Thibault Gouti vs. Archie Colgan
155 lbs.: Mansour Barnaoui vs. Yusuke Yachi
185 lbs.: Steven Hill vs. Mike Shipman
145 lbs.: Aspen Ladd vs. Kateryna Shakalova
145 lbs.: Asaël Adjoudj vs. Bruno Fontes

BELLATOR PARIS HIGHLIGHTS!

---

For all the latest Bellator MMA news and notes click here.

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The Heavyweight division took a big step forward earlier on Thursday (May 16, 2024) when interim champion Tom Aspinall booked the first defense of his title opposite wrestling ace Curtis Blaydes. The two are booked as the co-main event of UFC 304, scheduled for July 27 from Manchester, England.

Official kingpin Jon Jones isn’t worried.

Despite resistance from the fan base, Jones and UFC CEO Dana White have made it abundantly clear that the next match up for the undisputed belt — which, again, is currently disputed by Aspinall — will be Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, despite Miocic’s extremely long layoff since his knockout loss to Francis Ngannou.

In a series of Tweets, Jones reacted to the interim title booking and labeled it the “official number one contender spot,” dismissing any bit of the bout’s credibility as a championship fight.

In addition, Jones revealed November 9th as his planned return date, which hasn’t yet been announced by UFC. Jones rebuked the online critics and laughed off the Blaydes vs. Aspinall match up again, pointing out that the duo are the co-main event to a Welterweight title fight, which would never happen with an undisputed Heavyweight title fight.

Jones’ tweets actually offer a lot of clarity as to how the Heavyweight division will move forward. If both bouts go through as planned, the victor of Jones vs. Miocic and Aspinall vs. Blaydes could seek to unify the titles in the first half of 2025. It’s not ideal to have both champions fighting other contenders just a couple months apart, but at least there’s a game plan moving forward.

… Unless Jones retires with a victory.

Insomnia

Joaquin Buckley wasn’t interested in a quick turnaround opposite Ian Garry.

Boxing payouts are so far beyond UFC salaries.

I hope to be alive for UFC 1000 but I pray I’m not covering it!

Terrance McKinney reacts to his knockout loss last weekend:

Belal Muhammad has more than earned his shot, but also … why are UFC fighters the last to hear that they’re fighting?!?

Sean Strickland’s reply in the comments: “Man its out of respect!! You’re crushing it bkb lol! I just wanna see how good you are!!!!!”

The build up to Sean O’Malley vs. Ryan Garcia is getting weird!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This is quite the dramatic fall at the end.

Getting booted like a heavy bag is a worst-case scenario.

Incredible spinning elbow set up by falling forward after throwing the teep kick:

Random Land

What could possibly be in those plastic bags that is worth getting gored by a bull?

Midnight Music: Rock, 1971

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

Bellator Paris is set to go down tomorrow (Fri., May 17, 2024) inside Accor Arena in Paris, France, which will be headlined by a Bantamweight title fight as division champion, Patchy Mix, attempts to defend his title for the first time against Magomed Magomedov. In the co-main event of the evening, Cedric Doumbe returns to face off against Jaleel Willis.

Bellator MMA

Bantamweight champion Patchy Mix vs. Magomed Magomedov

Patchy Mix is adamant he is a much better fighter than current UFC 135-pound champion, Sean O’Malley, and that he should be getting the respect “Suga” gets. While a lot of that can be attributed to fighting for UFC as opposed to Bellator, Mix is without a doubt one of the absolute best fighters in the Bantamweight division today. Winner of six straight, Mix will defend his title for the first time against Magomed Magomedov, a man he’s already defeated once before. Indeed, Mix took Magomedov out of the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix with a guillotine choke in Dec. 2022, so his confidence is sky high. Since then, Magomedov has only competed once, defeating Danny Sabatello in July 2023. Mix, meanwhile, won the interim strap and then unified it with a win over Sergio Pettis, and is looking for his second win over the Dagestani.

Final prediction: Mix via unanimous decision

---

Bellator MMA

Cedric Doumbe vs Jaleel Willis

Doumbe’s momentum was halted at PFL Europe 1 earlier this year in a bizarre finish in his fight against Baissangour Chamsoudinov. Indeed, Doumbe had a piece of glass lodged into his foot that prevented him from putting pressure on it, resulting in his first-ever defeat. Now, The rising sensation will look to get back into the win column in his Bellator debut. Initially slated to face Derek Anderson, the bout was axed after Anderson suffered a mangled foot in an auto accident (see it here if you dare). As a result, Doumbe will now face Jaleel Willis. who is coming off a loss to Ramazan Kuramagomedov and is just 1-3 in his last four fights. While it’s not an ideal opponent for Doumbe, it’s the best we can ask for ion short notice. Expect Doumbe to get back on track.

Final prediction: Doumbe via first-round TKO

---

Bellator MMA

Gregory Babene vs. Costello van Steenis

Winner of eight straight, Babene will attempt to lock down a career-high nine straight wins when he battles Costello van Steenis. Babene is on his second stint with Bellator, and has won two straight since re-joining the promotion in May 2022. Van Steenis, meanwhile, is coming off a loss at the hands of Douglas Lima a year ago, so he could use a win in a bad way. It may seem like an odd pairing given their respective body of work over the last few years, and the favorite is Bebene. That said, van Steenis does have a punchers chance, like any man/woman who steps inside the cage. But Babene is just more polished and has momentum on his side.

Final prediction: Babene via second-round submission

---

Bellator

Yves Landu vs. Jonas Bilharinho

Yves Landu has had a hot and cold MMA career. One minute he’s on a nice run, the next he’s on a bad losing streak. Currently, however. “You Know” is riding high with four straight wins inside the Bellator cage, winning his last three via decision. As for Bilharinho, he will be making his Bellator debut after jumping around from promotion to promotion the majority of his career, including a spinning wheel knockout win on the Contender Series. Despite thre great finish, it wasn’t good enough to earn him a spot on the UFC roster. Landu is firing on all cylinders and I expect him to keep the winning streak going.

Final prediction: Landu via unanimous decision

---

Bellator MMA

Slim Trabelsi vs. Louie Sutherland

Undefeated big man, Slim Trabelsi, will look to improve his record to 7-0 when he goes blow-for-blow against Louie Sutherland. Trabelsi has won four of those fights via knockout, so his heavy hands are an ever-present danger to his foes, but Sutherland’s knockout ratio is a bit better, earning all six of his wins via strikes, five in the very first-round. “The Vanilla Gorilla” is coming off a first-round knockout win over Luis Carlos Brito, while Trabelsi was last seen defeating Davion Franklin at Bellator 300 as a result of a leg injury suffered by “All Day.” This is easily a pick-em fight that can go either way in the blink of an eye, so I am going with Sutherland to land the big shot early.

Final prediction: Sutherland via first-round knockout

---

For all the latest Bellator MMA news and notes click here.

This weekend (Sat., May 18, 2024), undefeated Heavyweight great, Tyson Fury, returns to action opposite multiple-belt champion, Oleksandr Usyk, inside the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is boxing, so a grand total of four belts are up for grabs between the duo, but that might just be the least intriguing angle of this match up.

How about the immense pressure to perform that’s surely weighing on “The Gypsy King?”

Fury has never lost in the ring, but he’s given away belts in the past over contract disputes or mental health battles. Losing gold is hardly the real risk. At 35 years of age, however, Fury is really putting his entire boxing legacy on the line here. What separates this bout from any other title fight — always a high-pressure affair — are the circumstances that Fury has built up leading into the match.

In some regard, Fury cannot be blamed. Being forced to withdraw from the February booking versus Usyk because of a sudden cut could happen to anyone, but it does add pressure to show up and perform this weekend. Then, in something of a gray area, there’s the simple fact that Fury’s madman father is head butting people and acting like a menace (per usual).

That adds a bit to the potential embarrassment factor.

Of course, Fury definitely deserves a large heap of the blame for putting himself in a must-win position. He likes to take tuneup fights, a habit which is tolerated by the boxing community but doesn’t endear him to anybody. Sure, we occasionally get quality highlight reel stoppages, but Fury’s love of tuneup bouts has nearly cost him his undefeated status against non-elite competition.

Fury could’ve lost via cut stoppage against Otto Wallin. More pressingly, Fury didn’t show up in shape to his tune up versus Francis Ngannou. Instead of an easy paycheck and showcase performance, Fury was floored by “The Predator.” In fact, he nearly lost the fight. A lot of people scored the bout against him, Fury walked away with his tail between his legs, thankful to have escaped with a victory. A few months later, Anthony Joshua demonstrated what should happen when a great MMA fighter boxes an elite champion.

And that certainly had to sting.

Finally, there’s the simple fact that Usyk is a Cruiserweight first and foremost. I’m not knocking his Heavyweight talents and abilities, but Fury is going to enter the ring as the significantly larger man, and the visuals of a defeat wouldn’t help his case.

All of this adds up to be an immense pressure to win. Because of his choices and troubles alike, Fury’s resume is built almost entirely on the Wladimir Klitschko victory nearly a decade ago — a legendary, if boring, win — and his trilogy with Deontay Wilder … which doesn’t appear to be aging that well.

A defeat at the hands of Usyk doesn’t erase Fury’s unbeaten run or his best wins, but it does likely remove him from the all-time Heavyweight talks he so clearly wants to be part of. While Fury will still have plenty of high-profile options moving forward, defeat would vindicate a lot of the criticism and hate Fury receives.

On the flip side, returning from the various controversies and poor performances to hand Usyk his first career loss would be a huge deal. Defeating Usyk would be a much-needed and undeniably great victory for “The Gypsy King” resume. Fury retains his place as the top dog in Heavyweight boxing, and he remains able to do whatever he’d like moving forward.

It’s all on the line in Saudi Arabia.

---

For the completed “Fury vs. Usyk” fight card and DAZN PPV lineup click here. For more boxing news and notes click here.

Islam Makhachev has no issues stepping into the Octagon with Conor McGregor.

Well, it sounds like Makhachev’s best buddy, former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, Daniel Cormier, might finally be getting through to the Lightweight kingpin. “D.C.” has been stating in recent months that Makhachev needs to beat big stars to become a big star, and his next match up against Dustin Poirier can help contribute to that at UFC 302 next month (Sat., June 1, 2024).

What comes after Poirier? Arman Tsarukyan is the obvious choice as the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds. However, at the end of the same month that Makhachev next competes, “The Notorious” McGregor returns from his lengthy layoff when he’ll try to get back in the win column against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29, 2024. Should McGregor ever get offered to Makhachev, he wouldn’t decline it no matter how meritocratically illogical it may be.

“People have to be stupid to say no,” Makhachev said on Pound 4 Pound (h/t MMA Junkie). “Of course, I will fight with him.

“This guy not same,” he continued. “I don’t want to, like, make him look bad, but everybody know this guy not same. Before, yeah, for sure. When he was fighting with Khabib [Nurmagomedov], he was in a good shape. He [was] a high-level fighter. But right now, too much alcohol, too much whiskey.”

Makhachev, 32, has expressed his interest in fighting at Madison Square Garden in New York City. If that dream became a reality, Makhachev would fight in November when the promotion visits the iconic arena annually. The champion admits an October Abu Dhabi return is also possible for his second fight of 2024. He added one last note, saying he’d fight sooner than that if UFC happened to offer him McGregor in August or September.