Tag: UFC

Alexander Gustafsson Leaves UFC for New Deals with GFL and BKFC

Alexander Gustafsson Leaves UFC for New Deals with GFL and BKFCAlexander Gustafsson is set to leave the UFC after his manager, Majdi Shammas, confirmed that the promotion agreed to…

Alexander Gustafsson Leaves UFC for New Deals with GFL and BKFC

Alexander Gustafsson is set to leave the UFC after his manager, Majdi Shammas, confirmed that the promotion agreed to release him from his contract. Gustafsson has signed with the Global Fighting League (GFL) on an appealing deal, which provides flexibility for the Swedish fighter to take on other bouts outside of the organization.

Alexander Gustafsson with the GFL

“We asked the UFC to release Alex from his contract. They agreed, and we’re grateful for that,” Shammas told Maximum Sports. The manager added that Gustafsson’s new contract with GFL is an exciting opportunity, with potential for future matches and non-exclusive opportunities. “It’s a very attractive contract, and Alex is free to pick and choose from other bouts as well, which is great for us,” Shammas said.

Shammas also spoke highly of the GFL, calling it an organization with an ambitious team ready to launch in 2025. He described the setup as a hybrid between past leagues like the IFL and today’s PFL tournaments, offering better conditions for athletes.

Alexander Gustafsson with BKFC

As for Gustafsson’s next steps, Shammas confirmed that the fighter has received an enticing offer from BKFC. While a deal has not yet been signed, it’s likely that Gustafsson will join BKFC and face a UFC or Bellator veteran in the near future.

“Alex is in very good shape. He has looked good in training and has gotten his fire back. He is excited and eager for what is to come,” Shammas added.

“The Mauler” Gustafsson is a renowned UFC Light Heavyweight fighter with an 18-8 record, including 11 knockouts. Despite never winning a UFC title, he has earned respect for his performances, including memorable battles against Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

Anthony Smith On Dominick Reyes During UFC 310 Fight: ‘Goddamn, You’re Not That Good’ 

UFC 310 was an incredibly difficult night for Anthony Smith who in the featured prelim, suffered a loss to Dominick Reyes. It was clear from the first few seconds of his walk out that this fight would be unlike any other for the former title challenger following the recent loss of his longtime friend and […]

UFC 310 was an incredibly difficult night for Anthony Smith who in the featured prelim, suffered a loss to Dominick Reyes. It was clear from the first few seconds of his walk out that this fight would be unlike any other for the former title challenger following the recent loss of his longtime friend and coach, Scott Morton.

Smith was visibly struggling to keep it together on his walk to the cage which is completely understandable when you consider what he was going through. After being stopped in the second round, he told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview that in the moment, he thought this would “probably” be the last fight of his career.

In a recent interview with SiriusXM, Smith spoke openly about his mental state going into that fight and how he wasn’t able to control his emotions despite believing that he would be able to “power through it”. He also gave more context to one of the most alarming moments in the fight where it looked like he was allowing Reyes to repeatedly punch him without defending or throwing anything back.

Reyes later came out and said that his opponent was asking to be hit and given what was on the line for him, he obliged. “Lionheart” explained why he did this and how he had a huge realization during the fight which could impact whether he decides to return to the Octagon or not.

“I got impatient,” Smith said. “I just wanted something to f*cking happen. I just forced it. I just got impatient. Nothing was happening. He wasn’t engaging. I’d seen everything. That was the worst part, too. I was in there, and I was like, ‘Goddamn, you’re not that good.’ And then it hit me like, ‘F*ck, maybe I’m not either.’

“Maybe I’m not either anymore. The left hand wasn’t nearly as fast as I expected it to be. I think I over-predicted how good he was going to be on his feet. He landed a shot here or there, and then at some point where I was like, ‘F*cking hit me or something. I need to f*cking feel something. Give me something here.’”

UFC Fight Night: Colby Covington vs. Joaquin Buckley Weigh-In Results

UFC Fight Night: Colby Covington vs. Joaquin Buckley takes place on Saturday, and MMA News is here to bring you the official weigh-in results! After staging its final numbered event of the year in Las Vegas last weekend, the mixed martial arts leader will close out its 2024 schedule with Octagon action inside Tampa’s Amalie […]

UFC Fight Night: Colby Covington vs. Joaquin Buckley takes place on Saturday, and MMA News is here to bring you the official weigh-in results!

After staging its final numbered event of the year in Las Vegas last weekend, the mixed martial arts leader will close out its 2024 schedule with Octagon action inside Tampa’s Amalie Arena.

The main event will see Colby Covington make the walk for the first time since his third failed bid to achieve undisputed champion status last December. “Chaos” will meet the charging Joaquin Buckley in a short-notice clash, with “New Mansa” look to continue his unbeaten run at 170 pounds all the way to a place in title contention.

Before that, the likes of fan-favorite featherweight Cub Swanson, former Rizin champion Manel Kape, light heavyweight powerhouse Vitor Petrino and the always entertaining Adrian Yañez will all be in action.

UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Buckley Weigh-In Results

UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Buckley takes place on Saturday, December 14, at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The main card begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, with the preliminary card starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

See above for a replay of the weigh-ins via MMA Fighting, and check out the full results below!

Main Card:

  • Welterweight Main Event: Colby Covington (171lbs) vs. Joaquin Buckley (171lbs)
  • Featherweight Co-Main Event: Cub Swanson (146lbs) vs. Billy Quarantillo (146lbs)
  • Flyweight: Manel Kape (125lbs) vs. Bruno Silva (126lbs)
  • Light Heavyweight: Vitor Petrino (204.5lbs) vs. Dustin Jacoby (205.5lbs)
  • Bantamweight: Adrian Yañez (136lbs) vs. Daniel Marcos (136lbs)
  • Light Heavyweight: Navajo Stirling (206lbs) vs. Tuco Tokkos (206lbs)

Preliminary Card:

  • Lightweight: Michael Johnson (156lbs) vs. Ottman Azaitar (156lbs)
  • Lightweight: Joel Álvarez (156lbs) vs. Drakkar Klose (156lbs)
  • Featherweight: Sean Woodson (145.5lbs) vs. Fernando Padilla (145.5lbs)
  • Featherweight: Miles Johns (146lbs) vs. Felipe Lima (146lbs)
  • Women’s Flyweight: Miranda Maverick (126lbs) vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth (126lbs)
  • Bantamweight: Davey Grant (136lbs) vs. Ramon Taveras
  • Women’s Strawweight: Josefine Knutsson (116lbs) vs. Piera Rodriguez (116lbs)

Arman Tsarukyan Trains With The Only Man To Beat Islam Makhachev Ahead Of UFC 311

Islam Makhachev is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world today for a reason. The UFC lightweight champion was already a dominant grappler but with the improvements that he has shown in his all-round skillset in recent years, he’s the total package. However, unlike his long-time training partner and the former 155-pound king, Khabib […]

Islam Makhachev is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world today for a reason. The UFC lightweight champion was already a dominant grappler but with the improvements that he has shown in his all-round skillset in recent years, he’s the total package.

However, unlike his long-time training partner and the former 155-pound king, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev has had several tough fights and moments of serious adversity inside the Octagon. One of those difficult tests was against late notice replacement Arman Tsarukyan in 2019 where the Armenian was able to really push the man that many considered to be on his way to being a top contender.

At UFC 311 in January, they will run it back for the lightweight gold in Los Angeles and in order to help him prepare, the challenger has brought in another man that caused Makhachev some serious problems. Through 27 pro fights, the current champion has only ever tasted defeat once.

In his second fight with the promotion at UFC 192 in 2015, he was knocked out in the first round by Brazil’s Adriano Martins who at the time, had 22 more pro fights on his record. After Makhachev missed a big overhand left, Martins countered with his own and dropped the Russian with the referee immediately stepping in.

Following back-to-back losses to Leonardo Santos and Kajan Johnson after this win, Martins was cut from the UFC, ending his run in the promotion with an overall record of 4-3. In March this year, he defeated Donovan Desmae to snap a run of six fights without a win that dated back to his final UFC fights.

He’s now set to return to the cage later this month but before then, Tsarukyan looked to engage in a bit of mental warfare with his next opponent by sharing a gym photo of him and the only man to defeat Makhachev.

Ilia Topuria Issues Statement After Lightweight Talk Causes Debate: ‘I Will Not Leave The Title Vacant’

UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria recently sparked a lot of conversation by revealing that he plans to move up to lightweight much sooner than expected. “El Matador” told Spanish radio show El Partidazo de COPE that he would like to face Charles Oliveira next time out at 155-pounds, claiming that we’ve already likely seen his […]

UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria recently sparked a lot of conversation by revealing that he plans to move up to lightweight much sooner than expected. “El Matador” told Spanish radio show El Partidazo de COPE that he would like to face Charles Oliveira next time out at 155-pounds, claiming that we’ve already likely seen his last fight at featherweight.

Topuria’s coach, Jorge Climent, backed up this statement by providing more details about the difficult weight cut that the champion has to undergo in order to fight at featherweight. He claimed that the undefeated superstar is often 85 kilos which would make him over 40 pounds heavier than he needs to be on weigh-in day.

Topuria has received some criticism in the past for comments that he made about not wanting to stay in this division for too long so that he can pursue a second belt. In a response to some of the feedback he has received off the back of his latest lightweight plan, the 145-pound titleholder attempted to provide more context on X.

Following their respectful encounter inside the Octagon at UFC 308, it seemed clear that Topuria’s next title defense would be a rematch against the former champion Alexander Volkanovski. However, following the champion’s interview on Spanish radio, there was already talk about whether there should be a vacant title fight if he does leave the division.

He posted a message on social media to make it clear that though he does see a move up coming in the very near future, he doesn’t intend on giving up his belt in order to make that happen. He also clarified that there aren’t any concrete plans in place for his next steps as of yet.

“I will not leave the title vacant. The decision to move up to the next category is entirely mine. I haven’t had any conversations with the UFC yet, so everything is still to be decided. Stop celebrating because I’m not going anywhere. I have conquered my division and I will do the same in the next one.”

Ex-UFC Champions Break Down Kourtney and Kim Kardashian’s Altercation

Ex-UFC Champions Break Down Kourtney and Kim Kardashian’s AltercationCould we see Kourtney and Kim Kardashian bring their feud from the mean streets of Calabasas to the UFC?…

Ex-UFC Champions Break Down Kourtney and Kim Kardashian’s Altercation

Could we see Kourtney and Kim Kardashian bring their feud from the mean streets of Calabasas to the UFC?

Hopefully not, but considering how hard Dana White wanted to put on a fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, clearly nothing is out of the question.

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Even if you’re not overly familiar with the Kardashian family, chances are you’re familiar enough to know that they’re wildly popular and immensely wealthy. Why, who knows? But the fact remains that Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie, and Kendall are all stars to a varying extent and when you have a group of successful women making millions of dollars and showing off their lavish lives on TV, a catfight is bound to break out once in a while.

the kardashians christmas 2022

That’s exactly what happened during a 2020 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians when Kim and Kourtney got into a physical altercation following an argument about… something.

UFC star Kamaru Usman breaks down Kourtney vs. kim

Hilariously, former UFC champions Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman offered a play-by-play analysis of the scrap during a recent episode of their Pound 4 Pound podcast.

“Roll the tape!” Cejudo exclaims as Usman proceeds breaks down the action.

“There’s so many skills on display,” Usman analyzed. “Immediately you see Kourtney approach and Kim pulls guard. You see Kim pulls guard right away. Feet up, upkicks, creates separation. Gets back to her feet. Kim sizes up the opponent, she sees what’s going on, delivers the right hand to the shoulder.

“She didn’t even throw the right hand to kill, she just threw it to the shoulder to gauge the distance and go into the clinch to deliver the right knee. It’s incredible what Kim Kardashian has been able to do in such a short space of time.”