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Alex Pereira To Make UFC Return Against Bruno Silva On March 12

A potential barnburner between UFC middleweights Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva is in the works for an upcoming March 12 Fight Night event.

MMA Junkie was among the first to report news of the booking.

Pereira, a former Glory kickboxing world cham…

A potential barnburner between UFC middleweights Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva is in the works for an upcoming March 12 Fight Night event.

MMA Junkie was among the first to report news of the booking.

Pereira, a former Glory kickboxing world champion who signed with the UFC this year, is coming off of his promotional debut win over Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. He landed a vicious flying knee followed up by a barrage of punches to secure the second-round finish.

Pereira will face a step up in competition against Silva, who has been on a tear with seven-straight wins in M-1 and the UFC. He has won all seven bouts by knockout, including most recently against Jordan Wright at UFC 269.

The two sides have verbally agreed to the bout ahead of an anticipated formal announcement by the promotion.

Alex Pereira Looks To Continue His Rise In MMA

Pereira is well known for being the only man to ever knock out Israel Adesanya in either kickboxing or MMA. During his time in Glory, he earned the light heavyweight and middleweight world titles before making the move to the UFC and MMA.

Along with his kickboxing accolades, Pereira had put on impressive performances in smaller MMA promotions such as Legacy and Jungle Fight. He registered quick knockouts over the likes of Marcelo Cruz and Thomas Powell.

The card will be headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between top contenders Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev. The venue and location have yet to be determined for the event.

What are your thoughts on this UFC middleweight matchup?

Continue Reading Alex Pereira To Make UFC Return Against Bruno Silva On March 12 at MMA News.

John Kavanagh Responds To Firing Calls After McGregor’s Losses

SBG Ireland headman John Kavanagh isn’t losing sleep over calls for him to be terminated following UFC star Conor McGregor’s recent struggles.

Kavanagh has most recently been the target of UFC commentator and former fighter Michael Bisping, who cal…

SBG Ireland headman John Kavanagh isn’t losing sleep over calls for him to be terminated following UFC star Conor McGregor’s recent struggles.

Kavanagh has most recently been the target of UFC commentator and former fighter Michael Bisping, who called for Kavanagh to be let go by McGregor’s inner circle.

It all started when Kavanagh seemed more jovial than many believed he should’ve been after McGregor suffered a TKO loss via doctor’s stoppage to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Bisping went as far as to say that Kavanagh should be “fired immediately” after his reaction.

During a recent interview with The Mirror, Kavanagh responded to Bisping’s comments along with overall calls for him to step aside as McGregor’s coach.

“I wouldn’t say I was hurt, I wasn’t going, ‘Oh, no, Bisping said something’, that’s his opinion and everybody is welcome to their opinion,” Kavanagh said. “I’m always self-critical but if I’m being 100 percent honest, it’ll be the people closest to me saying something – I have a lot of very honest people around me – that’ll be what makes me really stand up and think.

“So look, things are looking up and to Bisping I’d say ‘thanks very much for the constructive criticism’, keep it coming and we’ll keep trying to improve.”

Kavanagh also feels that Bisping’s remarks are an example of a larger pattern of SBG Ireland being held to a different standard because of McGregor’s fame.

“So we’re judged under a different set of rules to everybody else, and that’s fine because we also get a lot of benefits from the 2,000lb gorilla that is Conor,” Kavanagh said.

“We get a lot of attention here, lots of great opportunities, my fight team gets to be involved with big shows.

Conor McGregor, John Kavanagh Have Worked Together For Years

McGregor has been at SBG Ireland with Kavanagh since before he became one of the UFC’s biggest superstars. His time with the gym stems from his title wins in Cage Warriors before ultimately making the move to the UFC.

McGregor hasn’t won in the Octagon since his first-round finish over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. He has lost three of his last four fights overall, with defeats to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Poirier(2).

As of now, it seems like McGregor doesn’t have any plans to move away from his roots with Kavanagh and SBG Ireland. As he gets ready to make his UFC return in 2022, he’ll look to get back in the win column with Kavanagh in his corner.

What are your thoughts on John Kavanagh’s response to Michael Bisping?

Continue Reading John Kavanagh Responds To Firing Calls After McGregor’s Losses at MMA News.

REPORT | Junior dos Santos vs. Kubrat Pulev Targeted For Triller Triad Combat Event In 2022

A heavyweight boxing match pitting former undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos, and recent feature, former IFB and WBA heavyweight champion, Kubrat Pulev is currently in the works to land on a Triller Triad Combat card in 2022, with MMA Junkie reporters, Danny Segura and Nolan King noting a potential February event – following […]

Junior dos Santos set to make his combat return for the first time since last December

Expected to make his first outing since his release from the UFC back in March of this year, dos Santos, a former undisputed heavyweight champion under the promotion’s banner, had been linked to a potential move to Eagle FC, led by Khabib Nurmagomedov, especially after reports emerged detailing how dos Santos was now managed by Dominance MMA leader, Ali Abdelaziz.

In his last professional outing, the Santa Catarina native suffered his fourth consecutive knockout loss – dropping a second round defeat to current interim division titleholder, Ciryl Gane at UFC 256 in December.

For Pulev, the Bulgarian-born veteran headlined the most recent Triller Triad Combat showcase in November, taking on common-foe, another former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir, in an MMA vs. boxing matchup.

Scoring a dominant first round knockout win. Pulev managed to land his fifteenth professional knockout win in combat sports.

The 40-year-old last featured professionally as a boxer in December of last year, dropping just his second professional loss from a 30-fight career in the form of a ninth round knockout defeat to Anthony Joshua in a WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO heavyweight title fight.

dos Santos, 37, is without a victory since March 2019 where he earned Fight of the Night in an eventual third round knockout win over recent UFC Vegas 45 headliner, Derrick Lewis. The stoppage came as dos Santos’ fifteenth professionally via strikes.

Pulev’s sole other professional boxing loss came against former champion, the heralded, Wladimir Klitschko back in 2014, with the European Championship gold medalist scoring wins over the likes of Tony Thompson, Derek Chisora, Kevin Johnson, Hughie Fury, and Rydell Brooker.

Conor McGregor’s Coach Responds To Calls For Him To Be Fired

Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh has responded to former UFC champion, Michael Bisping calling for him to be fired after ‘Notorious’ suffered back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier. Following McGregor’s second loss to Poirier this year, Kavanagh came under intense criticism for his evaluation of McGregor’s performance. Kavanagh stated that he had no concern over the […]

Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh has responded to former UFC champion, Michael Bisping calling for him to be fired after ‘Notorious’ suffered back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier.

Following McGregor’s second loss to Poirier this year, Kavanagh came under intense criticism for his evaluation of McGregor’s performance. Kavanagh stated that he had no concern over the first round which saw two of the three judges score a 10-8 round for Poirier.

“It was going fantastic. I thought he looked really, really good in there,” Kavanagh said. “I wasn’t concerned at all. I was actually really, really happy. At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark, everything is gravy. I thought the energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds and I thought in round two we were well on track to possibly getting a finish or at least to keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight.”

In an interview with BT Sport, Bisping would slam Kavanagh over his comments, “just like his coach John Kavanagh has, he said, ‘oh, I saw nothing that concerned me. I knew that in the second round we would get the knockout. Nothing I was seeing there concerned me at all.’ If that’s true, John Kavanagh, Conor should fire you immediately because that was very concerning. You were on your back and you were getting dominated. It was a 10-8 round. That’s concerning! You don’t want to get your ass kicked, simple as that, and that’s what was happening.”

Conor McGregor’s Coach Listens To The Critics

In a response to the call for him to be fired, Kavanagh told The Mirror, “I would take criticism from anybody, that’s very important. I wouldn’t say I was hurt, I wasn’t going, ‘Oh no Bisping said something’, that’s his opinion and everybody is welcome to their opinion.

“I‘m always self-critical but if I’m being 100 percent honest, it’ll be the people closest to me saying something,” Kavanagh continued. “I have a lot of very honest people around me – that’ll be what makes me really stand up and think.”

Kavanagh also explained that although his star pupil in McGregor, didn’t have the best 2021 his gym, SBG Ireland continues to be successful. “For this quarter that’s just ending we had a 70 percent win rate” Kavanagh explained, “20 fighters and 14 wins and that’s going to be right up there with some of the best gyms in the world. Our biggest star [McGregor] obviously overshadows everything we do and if he slips then people say the whole gym is terrible.”

What do you think? Should Conor McGregor part ways with John Kavanagh?

Poirier Reveals Why Oliveira Loss Hurt More Than Title Defeat To Khabib

Despite the heartbreak of his 2019 defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier has revealed why his loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 hurt more.

Ahead of this year’s final pay-per-view, many branded Poirier the “uncrowned champi…

Despite the heartbreak of his 2019 defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier has revealed why his loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 hurt more.

Ahead of this year’s final pay-per-view, many branded Poirier the “uncrowned champion” and expected “The Diamond” to leave Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena with the 155-pound gold wrapped around his waist. His form had suggested that was a big possibility.

Since his submission setback against “The Eagle,” Poirier had won three straight. Following a decision triumph over Dan Hooker in a 2020 Fight of the Year contender, the Louisianan re-visited his rivalry with 2014 opponent Conor McGregor. After becoming the first man to knock the Irishman out in January this year, Poirier secured the trilogy win when the pair met again at UFC 264 in July.

But when he set his sights back on the belt, it was a familiar story for “The Diamond.” Despite early success, the 32-year-old found himself tapping out in the third round yet again. This time it was a Brazilian underdog on his back, rather than a Dagestani brute.

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Poirier: “I Could’ve Done More”

Both of Poirier’s title losses felt like heartbreaking ends to an inspirational journey to the top. But for the former interim champion, one hurt a lot more than the other.

During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour in the week after his crushing defeat, Poirier detailed the difference between the two championship failings. Against Khabib, the Louisiana native felt he did everything possible to have his hand raised and was simply beaten by the better man. But he was left with a feeling of what could have been against “Do Bronx.”

“In the Khabib fight, I felt like I was bested. I did everything that I could and I lost. This one, I feel like I could’ve done more. And that hurts. That’s something I have to deal with. I could’ve been smarter. I could’ve been more in the moment. I could’ve been more locked in. And I could’ve been the world champion.”

The next step is unclear for Poirier. “The Diamond” has understandably had his motivation dented, and revealed he may never even fight at lightweight again. However, one name that got him excited about the idea of competing again was former foe Nate Diaz.

But despite going back-and-forth on social media and both seeming to agree on a clash for early next year, negotiation issues appear to have derailed the booking for now.

For the time being, at least, it appears Poirier’s mind is set on fun fights, rather than another push for gold.

Do you think UFC 269 was Dustin Poirier’s last chance to become an undisputed champion?

Continue Reading Poirier Reveals Why Oliveira Loss Hurt More Than Title Defeat To Khabib at MMA News.

REPORT | Alex Pereira Returns, Meets Bruno Silva At UFC Event On March 12.

An all-Brazilian middleweight showdown between kickboxing ace, Alex Pereira, and the surging knockout artist, Bruno Silva has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on March 12. – with a location or venue for the event yet to be disclosed by the promotion. Pereira, a former GLORY Kickboxing middleweight and light heavyweight champion, made […]

Pereira, a former GLORY Kickboxing middleweight and light heavyweight champion, made his long-awaited UFC bow back in November at Madison Square Garden – stopping Andreas Michailidis with a stunning, highlight-reel second round flying-knee knockout win.

3-0 in his first three Octagon walks, Silva, a former M-1 Global middleweight champion, scored an impressive first round knockout win over Jordan Wright at UFC 269 earlier this month. The win came as Silva’s seventh straight. News of the all-Brazilian clash was first reported by Combate reporter, Raphael Marinho, and Marcelo Barone.

An all-Brazilian clash between Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva has been added to a March 12. event

Improving to 4-1 as a professional with his New York knockout win over Michailidis, Sao Paulo striking phenom, Pereira boasts a notable kickboxing record as well, which has seen him scoop a pair of titles under the GLORY Kickboxing banner.

The Brazilian also notably holds a pair of victories over current undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya during the pair’s respective kickboxing careers. Pereira is also the first and last to stop Adesanya with strikes in combat sports, following a rallying 2017 knockout.

Paraiba finisher, Silva began his tenure under the UFC’s scrutiny back in June of last year – stopping another compatriot, Wellington Turman with a first round knockout. Before his aforenoted win over Wright – Silva stopped The Ultimate Fighter 23 victor, Andrew Sanchez with an eventual third round knockout win at UFC Vegas 40 in October. The win earned Silva a Performance of the Night bonus.

The UFC Fight Night event is slated to take place on March 12. – with a high-stakes light heavyweight clash between one-time title challenger, Thiago Santos, and the surging Dagestan striker, Magomed Ankalaev expected to headline.