Day: 9. April 2024

Cesar Almeida, who is considered to be Alex Pereira’s biggest kickboxing rival in Brazil, began his Octagon tenure with a “Performance of the Night” bonus after defeating Dylan Budka via TKO this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 240.

Advertisement

“I finished my camp at Xtreme Couture. Since Dylan was a wrestler, my strategy was basically be patient defending his takedowns, hurt him in the clinch and wait for the right moment to knock him out. Thank God, everything went out as we expected,” Almeida told Sherdog.com. “I couldn't hold the emotion. My goal is not to spend anything. I will put that [bonus] in the bank to pay for college for my two daughters.”

In his post-fight interview, Almeida asked to face Chris Weidman. But he revealed to Sherdog.com that he would prefer to face a striker next.

“It was good to face a top wrestler right in my debut, but of course against a striker I could show all my abilities and provide a much more entertaining fight,” …

Aspen Ladd will shift from Professional Fighters League to Bellator MMA for a showdown against Katerina Shakalova on May 17.

Advertisement

The promotion announced the featherweight pairing on Tuesday. Ladd vs. Shakalov will be part of the Bellator Champions Series Paris card, which takes place at Accor Arena and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Usman Nurmagomeodv and Alexandr Shabliy.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Ladd took part in the PFL’s featherweight season in 2023. The 29-year-old Californian last competed at the organization’s championship event, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Kayla Harrison in a 150-pound catchweight bout. The PFL does not have a 145-pound weight class for its 2024 season, which likely prompted Ladd’s move to Bellator.

Shakalova made her promotional debut this past August, taking a split verdict over Dayana Silva at Bellator 298. The 26-year-old Ukraine native has won eight of her nine professional …

Ihor Potieria will be returning to action a little sooner than originally anticipated.

Advertisement

The 27-year-old Ukraine native will step in and face Michel Pereira at UFC 301 on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro. Potieria is a replacement for Makhmud Muradov, who recently announced his withdrawal from the event. Multiple outlets confirmed the new middleweight booking following an initial report from MMA Mania. Potieira was originally slated to face Sharabutdin Magomedov at UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22 before accepting the fight against Pereira.

UFC 301 takes place at Rio Arena and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt pitting Alexandre Pantoja against Steve Erceg.

Potieira snapped a two-bout skid in his first appearance of 2024, as he took a unanimous decision win against Robert Bryczek at UFC Fight Night 236 on Feb. 10. “The Duelist” is 2-3 during his promotional tenure and 20-5 as a professional overall.

Pereira, meanwhile, has won seven straight UFC bo…

Tom Aspinall has made it clear that he prefers Curtis Blaydes as his next opponent over Ciryl Gane.

Advertisement

Despite winning the UFC interim heavyweight title with a knockout over Sergei Pavlovich last November, Aspinall is currently in a bit of a fix regarding his next fight. While champ Jon Jones is sidelined with an injury, he is expected to return against Stipe Miocic. That leaves Aspinall with only two logical opponents, Blaydes and Gane.

Having seemingly given up all hopes of fighting Jones or Miocic next, Aspinall's next choice is Blaydes, who derailed Brazilian contender Jailton Almeida’s hype train at UFC 299 last month with a second-round knockout. The interim champion wants to correct an unfortunate injury loss he suffered against Blaydes in 2022, when he blew out his knee in 15 seconds, leading to the only blemish on his UFC record.

“Curtis Blaydes… Because we were supposed to fight, we had a fight for 15 seconds, I injured my knee and he …

All The Way to the 🔝@PaulHughesMMA unleashed relentless aggression in our #CW170 Co-main event! pic.twitter.com/VzidYjPmWi

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 8, 2024

Top prospect Paul Hughes, who is currently a free agent, has expressed his interest in a potential clash with Paddy Pimblett.

Advertisement

Hughes exhausted his contract with Cage Warriors, scoring a first-round knockout over Fabiano Silva at Cage Warriors 170 on April 6 in his final bout with the European promotion. Hughes shared much of his limelight at Cage Warriors with Pimblett, who signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2021.

While both held the Cage Warriors featherweight title, they never crossed paths, as Pimblett moved up to 155 pounds in 2018. Hughes also made the move to lightweight last year, vacating his featherweight strap.

In a recent Instagram post where Hughes invited suggestions for his future, a fan proposed a tilt against “The B…

Sean Strickland has given his reason for seemingly turning down a booking against Paulo Costa.

Advertisement

Costa recently revealed that Strickland had snubbed a proposed matchup between the two for UFC 302 on June 1 in Newark, New Jersey.

Costa is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February, where the Brazilian put on a gritty performance in his return to action after a year and a half.

“Borrachinha” was reportedly in talks about a potential clash with Jared Cannonier next before the Ultimate Fighting Championship abruptly suggested the Strickland booking. While Costa was even more excited about fighting “Tarzan,” the former champ seemingly turned down the offer.

“This is great stuff. UFC, suggest I fight [Jared] Cannonier. It’s a nice fight and I love the idea to fight Cannonier and they suggest that fight for June,” Costa said on The Coach and The Casual podcast

“But then, two days ago UFC come and say, …

A matchup of promising middleweights has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on June 15.

Andre Muniz (24-6) will take on Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) at UFC Fight Night at the promotion’s Apex in Las Vegas. The matchup was first reported by Brazilian mixed martial arts reporter Laerte Viana on X (formerly known as Twitter). Both Muniz and Aliskerov have since confirmed the pairing on social media.

Muniz is coming off a split-decision win over Jun Yong Park in his last outing this past December. “Sergipano” kicked off his Ultimate Fighting Championship career with a five-fight winning streak before suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.

Meanwhile, Aliskerov’s last pro loss came against Khamzat Chimaev under the Brave CF banner back in 2019, which “Borz” has labeled the toughest matchup of his career. The Dagestani standout earned his UFC contract with a Round 1 submission victory on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022 a…

A women’s flyweight matchup between Viviane Araujo against Jasmine Jasudavicius has been added to a UFC Fight Night event scheduled for July 13.

The booking was first reported by MMAjunkie.com and later announced by Jasudavicious on social media. The event does not have a confirmed location or headliner.

Araujo is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Natalia Silva in February and is 1-3 in her last four. Her only win in this stretch came via unanimous decision over Jennifer Maia in October 2023.

Meanwhile, Jasudavicius comes off a bonus-winning submission win over Priscila Cachoeira at UFC 297 in June and is 3-1 in her last four. The Canadian’s most recent Octagon outing saw her bounce back from a unanimous decision loss against Tracy Cortez in September 2023.Viviane Araujo vs Jasmine Jasudavicius

Andrei Arlovski will lock horns with Martin Buday in a heavyweight bout at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 15.

Buday confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A headliner has not been announced.

The matchup with Buday will mark Arlovski’s 42nd Octagon appearance — the second most in UFC history behind Jim Miller. After winning four straight contests from April 2021 to April 2022, the 45-year-old Belarusian has dropped his last three promotional outings. Most recently, “The Pit Bull” suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Fight Night 234 on Jan. 13.

A winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2021, Buday kicked off his UFC tenure with four consecutive triumphs. That ended in his last outing, when the Slovakian suffered a second-round TKO loss against Shamil Gaziev at UFC 296.