Tag: UFC 294

Justin Gaethje picked to stop Islam Makhachev in UFC title fight: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he knocked him out’

Justin Gaethje picked to knock out Islam Makhachev in future UFC title fight Tim WelchContinually staking his claim for an undisputed UFC lightweight title fight with Islam Makahchev following the Russian’s dominant victory…

Justin Gaethje picked to knock out Islam Makhachev in future UFC title fight Tim Welch

Continually staking his claim for an undisputed UFC lightweight title fight with Islam Makahchev following the Russian’s dominant victory last month in Abu Dhabi, former interim titleholder, Justin Gaethje has been backed to even knock out the defending champion by mixed martial arts head coach, Tim Welch, if he lands the fight.

Gaethje, a former interim lightweight champion under the banner of the UFC, most recently landed the symbolic BMF title back in July in the main event of UFC 291, landing a second round high-kick KO win over fellow former interim champion, Dustin Poirier in the pair’s rematch.

As for Makhachev, the incumbent lightweight champion defended his crown back in October atop UFC 294 in the Middle East, landing a first round high-kick knockout win of his own in a short-notice rematch with undisputed featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski. 

Maintaining he would likely sit out for over a year in order to secure a fresh title fight with Makhachev – whom is expected to fight former champion, Charles Oliveira in a rematch next year, Gaethje questioned who else he should fight to earn his title affair.

“Who do I fight?” Justin Gaethje asked. “There’s no one. I did what I had to do. I don’t know what else I need to do.” 

“If they [the UFC] want to put (Charles) Oliveira in there, then I fight him (Islam Makhachev) in September,” Justin Gaethje explained. “I have no issues waiting. Again, as I get older, I get to understand from now until the time I’m gonna fight him I’m gonna be building strength. I’m gonna be working on my cardio, I’m gonna be refining my skills. So, I’ll have as much time as they give me and I’ll be that much more ready.” 

Justin Gaethje picked to potentially KO Islam Makhachev in title fight

However, as per the above-mentioned, Welch, head coach to undisputed bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley – Gaethje could actually have the kryptonite to defeat Makhachev, potentially by knockout to boot.

“Everyone thinks Justin Gaethje would get ran through,” Welch said on his podcast with O’Malley. “I don’t think he would, dude – because they talk about Gaethje, when he fought Khabib (Nurmagoemdov), he got there [Abu Dhabi] 10 days before that fight and just everything was wrong.”

“Gaethje’s a different dude – Khabib said he knew that Justin got there [late], and he’s through that time travel multiple ties. He knew that was just gonna ruin him. This Gaethje now, versus Islam in Vegas or something. I wouldn’t be that surprised if Gaethje knocked him out.” (H/T MMA News)

Do you want to see Justin Gaethje challenge Islam Makhachev next year?

Coach confirms Sean Strickland turned down UFC 294 title fight with Khamzat Chimaev: ‘It didn’t make any sense’

Sean Strickland made no sense fighting Khamzat Chimaev in title fight at UFC 294Undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick has confirmed how his student and team did, in fact,…

Sean Strickland made no sense fighting Khamzat Chimaev in title fight at UFC 294

Undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick has confirmed how his student and team did, in fact, reject an offer on just over a weeks’ notice to defend the crown at UFC 294 last month against the unbeaten, Khamzat Chiamev – citing how a quick turnaround made little sense. 

Strickland, the current undisputed middleweight champion, most recently turned in a shocking upset win over former two-time divisional titleholder, Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 back in September in Sydney, Australia – landing a hugely one-sided unanimous decision win over the City Kickboxing staple over the course of five rounds.

And ahead of UFC 294 last month, following the withdrawal of Paulo Costa from a fight with Chimaev, and prior to the short-notice insertion of former welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman into the bout, reports surfacing claiming Strickland had rejected a short-notice title defense against the Chechnya native.

Sean Strickland rejected short-notice title fight with Khamzat Chimaev

Confirming those reports earlier this week, Sean Strickland’s coach, Nicksick detailed that while his student had no issue fighting on such short notice, a quickfire turnaround against Chimaev made no sense, having previously drafted in to fight Adesanya on less than six weeks notice ‘Down Under’.

“From my understanding, they [the UFC] did [offer Sean Strickland a title fight with Khamzat Chimaev],” Eric Nicksick told ESPN. “They just threw it out there to see if he would be available. When Sean had asked me, to be honest, I was the one that kind of said no. I was like, bro, I can’t be there – like we can go out there, but it didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever as a champion to take a short notice fight against a killer.”

“Sean can fight anybody on any day’s notice, we know that he has done it in the past,” Nicksick explained. “But, why is it our responsibility to go put our title on the line on short notice when we already did them [the UFC] a solid by fighting Izzy (Israel Adesanya) on five-and-a-half weeks’ notice?”

Fearing he had suffered a fractured hand in the immediate aftermath of his eventual decision win over Usman, Chimaev is set to avoid a surgical procedure, with his manager confirming how the undefeated challenger has instead suffered a ligament tear in his hand, and will wear a supportive brace for a period of time. 

Do you expect to see Sean Strickland fight Khamzat Chimaev next year for the title?

Jorge Masvidal Believes Khazmat Chimaev is in for a rude awakening at middleweight: ‘They’ll hurt him’

Khamzat ChimaevJorge Masvidal believes Khamzat Chimaev is playing with fire in the middleweight division. ‘Borz’ stormed into the UFC in…

Khamzat Chimaev

Jorge Masvidal believes Khamzat Chimaev is playing with fire in the middleweight division.

‘Borz’ stormed into the UFC in 2020 and rattled off three-straight victories in the span of eight weeks. Largely competing in the welterweight division, Chimaev has repeatedly ragdolled opponents with Gilbert Burns being the one glaring exception. Even then, ‘Borz’ came out on top via unanimous decision, keeping his undefeated record intact and establishing himself as a legit title contender inside the Octagon.

However, things went way off course ahead of his previously scheduled main event matchup with veteran fan favorite Nate Diaz when Chimaev stepped on the scale eight-pounds over the limit for their welterweight scrap. The blunder ultimately led to the UFC forcing Chimaev to make the move to middleweight.

Thus far, Chimaev has maintained his status as a legitimate title contender after securing a decision victory over former welterweight world champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 294, though the bout did come with a bit of adversity and a pinch of controversy. Not to mention the fact that the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ stepped into the bout on less than two weeks’ notice.

Sharing his take on Khazmat Chimaev’s move to middleweight, former welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal suggested that the Chechen will find a lot more dangerous men to contend with than he would at welterweight.

“You put him in there with a lot of these [middleweights] I think they’ll f*cking hurt him,” Masvidal said in an interview with MMA Mania.

‘Gamebred’ bumped into Kamaru Usman at a nightclub hours before he stepped up to fight khamzat chimaev

Despite moving up a weight class on short notice, Kamaru Usman looked undeniably impressive in his showing against Khamzat Chimaev, even winning the bout in the eyes of many.

As it turns out, Usman was out clubbing mere hours before the announcement was made that he would be stepping into the UFC 294 co-main event, leaving many to wonder how things may have played out had Usman been given a full fight camp to prepare.

“Funny story, right before he took that fight, hasn’t happened too often, but I saw Kamaru Usman out. It was the craziest stuff ever,” Masvidal said. “I was walking into this establishment, I had my shades on and somebody goes, ‘Jorge Masvidal, what’s up?’ I go, ‘Man, that voice sounds f*cking familiar.’ I turned around, this is at 4:30 in the f*cking morning, bro. It’s Usman’s ass and he’s got glasses too. What the f*ck?

“I look, I must have lost my f*cking mind,” he continues. “I lift them (my glasses) up and I go, ‘Usman?!’ and he goes, ‘What’s up, Masvidal?!’ This motherf*cker, bro. That was literally the day before he got the announcement for the fight. So I just want to say if that guy has like five-six weeks to prepare for Chimaev, he takes him out. Guaranteed. He knocks his a** dead.”

Charles Oliveira doesn’t ‘Give a damn what people say’ about his UFC 294 withdrawal: ‘All they do is talk’

Charles OliveiraCharles Oliveira isn’t wasting his time worrying about what the haters have to say regarding his last-minute withdrawal from…

Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira isn’t wasting his time worrying about what the haters have to say regarding his last-minute withdrawal from UFC 294.

Do Bronx’ was set to step into the main event spotlight in Abu Dhabi for a highly anticipated rematch with reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev when disaster struck less than two weeks away from fight night. Whilst sparring, Oliveira suffered a nasty gash above his right eye that ultimately resulted in featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski stepping up and taking his place in the evening’s headliner on just 11 days’ notice.

In the hours following the injury, UFC CEO Dana White suggested that Oliveira and his team should have contacted the promotion immediately rather than attempting to address the problem themselves. During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, ‘Do Bronx’ shared his side of the story.

“I want people to answer this quick,” Oliveira said through a translator. “Think about this, say it happens to you. You’re fighting, you’re training out there, and all of a sudden you get a gash right there, a huge cut. What do you do? Are you going to go out there 12 days before the fight and call the UFC and you’re going to say, ‘What do you recommend?’ You’re gashed right there. We have a doctor. We have a great medical team that has worked well with everybody. The first thing we do, ‘This is bleeding. This is huge. Let’s go to the doctor.’

“He did a great job, doctor did internal stitches, external stitches, everything was great. I don’t think a plastic surgeon would have actually got me ready for that fight. Just for you to understand, right now, it has been three weeks since that happened, and the external stitches still open. That cut has not been closed. You want to go for the quickest solution possible and we have a great team of doctors and they did exactly what needed to be done and we just went for it because we wanted it to be taken care of immediately” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Many within the MMA community questioned the validity of Oliveira’s injury, with some suggesting he used it as an excuse to bow out of a fight he never wanted in the first place. Welterweight contender Belal Muhammad took things one giant leap further, claiming that ‘Do Bronx’ caused the injury himself.

Asked for his thoughts on those claims, Oliveira offered little more than an eye roll and a shoulder shrug to the naysayers.

“I’ve been at this for 13 years,” Oliveira said. “I didn’t come in yesterday to the UFC. I’ve been in this for 13 years and I’m going to tell you the real talk here: They want to surf my wave. That’s what’s happening. They just want to show up and just make themselves known and seen and heard. Think about this: Who would actually make up or cause a situation in which he had such a big and deep cut the day of actually traveling. These dudes, all they do is talk sh*t, that’s what they do all the time, and at the end of the day I don’t pay attention to them.

“For the UFC, when I told the UFC what happened and actually explained the situation to them, the support that I’ve gotten from the UFC, they understand who I am. They understand who Charles Oliveira is. They understand that I’m already thinking about the training I need to do, everything that I need to do to get back, and everything that I need to do to become a champion again. They understand this. In reality, I really don’t give a damn what people say.”

Charles Oliveira Believes he’s still the next man up at lightweight

Despite some fighters being pushed to the back of the line after withdrawing from a fight, Charles Oliveira believes he is still the next man in line at lightweight. Of course, BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje doesn’t see it that way. Following his impressive second-round knockout of Dustin Poirier in July, ‘The Highlight’ is expecting another shot at the gold in early 2024.

Adding even more confusion to the situation is Islam Makhachev’s interest in moving up to welterweight for a potential clash with the winner of December’s title fight between reigning champion Leon Edwards and division gatekeeper Colby Covington.

“You know that I’m not the type of guy to be sending messages out there,” Oliveira said. “I just do my thing and make it happen. Everybody’s campaigning, everybody’s just trying to put themselves into that context there and serve themselves and to sell a fight. Even Islam said he might want to move up in weight, so why not?

“Maybe the UFC will put somebody to fight for the interim belt and maybe Gaethje could be coming up to that situation. Gaethje’s had a great history, great fighter, great guy, a lot of history with this organization, but I’m not one to be sending messages out there. I don’t need to.”

Kamaru Usman weighs up continued run at middleweight after UFC 294 return: ‘185 looked good on me’

Kamaru Usman welcomes middleweight run after UFC 294 I looked good at 185 poundsDespite falling short in his middleweight divisional debut earlier this month in the co-main event of UFC 294 against…

Kamaru Usman welcomes middleweight run after UFC 294 I looked good at 185 pounds

Despite falling short in his middleweight divisional debut earlier this month in the co-main event of UFC 294 against the unbeaten, Khamzat Chimaev, former undisputed welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman admits he may continue at the middleweight limit – amid calls for a stay at 185 pounds.

Usman, a former undisputed welterweight champion and pound-for-pound number, slumped to a close, debated majority decision loss to the undefeated finisher, Chimaev in the co-main event of UFC 294 earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, UAE – despite a rallying and valiant effort in the second and third rounds.

Suffering his third consecutive defeat, the ONX Labs trainee dropped a March majority decision loss to three-time foe, Leon Edwards at UFC 286 in London, which followed a spectacular fifth round high-kick knockout loss to the Birmingham native in August of last year, as his dominant title run came to a crashing end.

Welcoming the possibility of a featuring slot at UFC 300 planned for April of next year, Usman weighed up a potential middleweight title-eliminator against the surging, Dricus du Plessis, whilst former champion, Robert Whittaker also welcomed a fight with the Nigerian at the middleweight limit.

“That fight interests me,” Robert Whittaker said. “I like that fight. I’d fight a middleweight (Kamaru) Usman. I don’t think it’s a bad fight to have.”

“What’re you gonna do? Make Usman fight ranks 30 to 20 to get in the top tier?” Robert Whittaker asked. “Consecutive defending welterweight champion, he definitely deserves a dight at the top of the charts. How well he’ll do, we will see but seeing fresh blood at the top of the game, that’s interesting. I like it. Seeing (Khamzat) Chimaev and (Sean) Strickland fighting, that moves things around. I like it. Makes things interesting and exciting. I am here for it. I hope he [Kamaru Usman] stays. Stick around – it’s fun up here, mate.”

Kamaru Usman welcomes middleweight stay after UFC 294

Sharing an update on his immediate future, whilst remaining non-committal on a stay at 185 pounds, Usman claimed he was happy with how he felt and looked at middleweight. 

“The plans – I don’t know, it’s kind of foggy,” Kamaru Usman said on his YouTube channel. “I didn’t mind being up at 185 [pounds]. Yeah, of course, the size was a bit different in the beginning, but I’m a championship-level fighter, so from here on out, we want to make these five rounds [fights] and not three-rounders. I don’t know, 185 [pounds] looked good on me, so we might. We’ll get back to y’all on that.”

Who would you like to see Kamaru Usman fight in his return to the UFC?

Khamzat Chimaev tipped to struggle in UFC title fight with Sean Strickland: ‘He loses every day of the week’

Khamzat Chimaev tipped to struggle with Sean Strickland he loses every day of the weekExpected to challenge for undisputed middleweight gold in his return to the Octagon following a title-eliminator win at UFC…

Khamzat Chimaev tipped to struggle with Sean Strickland he loses every day of the week

Expected to challenge for undisputed middleweight gold in his return to the Octagon following a title-eliminator win at UFC 294 earlier this month, the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev has been backed to likely fall short in his challenge against champion, Sean Strickland, by the surging, Dricus du Plessis. 

Chimaev, who debuted at number nine in the official middleweight pile off the back of his return to the division earlier this month, landed a close, majority decision win over former undisputed welterweight champion and pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 back in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Khamzat Chimaev tipped to fall short in title fight with Sean Strickland

And expected to challenge for undisputed gold against Strickland in his return to the Octagon as he continues to recover from a hand ligament tear suffered in his win over Usman, Khamzat Chimaev has been tipped to struggle any time he fights Strickland, according to South African contender, du Plessis.

“When you look at this, I have one or two options,” Dricus du Plessis told Sherdog during a recent interview. “The first thing I can say is a little bit of a jab is Khamzat’s (Chimaev) hand is broken, right? So, he should be ready to fight in seven weeks or he forfeits his title shot because that’s what happened to me. I wasn’t ready to fight in seven weeks with a broken foot.”

“If you want to give Khamzat the title shot, go right ahead?” du Plessis explained. “Because the Khamzat that fought this weekend loses to Sean Strickland every day of the week.” 

Himself sidelined since he featured on the main card of UFC 290 during International Fight Week back in July, du Plessis turned in a title-eliminator win over former titleholder, Robert Whittaker in a stunning second round TKO win.

Expected to fight former champion, Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 back in September, du Plessis was forced from the championship clash due to a lingering injury. 

Who wins in a future title fight: Sean Strickland or Khamzat Chimaev?