Day: 21. April 2024

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Aljamain Sterling recently picked Brian Ortega over Movsar Evloev as his next preferred opponent, a decision that incited a callout from the Russian.

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Sterling earned a lopsided unanimous decision win against Calvin Kattar in his featherweight debut at UFC 300. The former bantamweight champ subsequently called out Ortega.

Sterling weighed out the technicalities of the potential fights, both of which are a “grappler’s delight,” according to him. Sterling lauded Ortega’s aggressive guard, which always makes for wild grappling exchanges. While Sterling also lauded Evloev’s wrestling, he believes he can “easily” match the Russian’s ground game. “Funkmaster” also claims to have fared well in grappling against some of the guys that Evloev trained with even while out of shape.

“Both of these fights are a grappler’s delight,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “If I were to fight Ortega, if you take him down, he ain’t gonna hang out…

Justin Gaethje doesn’t regret fighting Max Holloway instead of waiting for a title shot that will now go to Dustin Poirier.

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Gaethje defeated Poirier via a vicious head-kick KO last year to earn the BMF title and bolster his relevance in the lightweight title picture. Poirier bounced back from the loss with a highlight-reel knockout win over surging contender Benoit St. Denis at UFC 299 last month, making a case for the next title shot.

While Gaethje would also have a legitimate claim to the next lightweight gold bid, “The Highlight” put his BMF strap in the line against Max Holloway at UFC 300 earlier this month. With champ Islam Makhachev adamant on defending his title this summer, the turnaround would be unlikely for the winner of that fight.

Gaethje admits that he ruled himself out of the next title shot by accepting the UFC 300 booking against Holloway. Makhachev will now defend his title against Poirier in the main event at UFC 302 on Ju…

Welcome to the League in 2025, @paulhughesmma 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/P4vAyHHpaC

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 20, 2024

The Professional Fighters League has signed top prospect Paul Hughes (11-1).

PFL president Ray Sefo was recently asked if there was any truth to reports of the promotion courting free agents Hughes and Salahdine Parnasse. Sefo replied in the affirmative while revealing that they had already secured the Hughes signing. The report was also officially confirmed by the PFL via social media.

Hughes exhausted his Cage Warriors contract with a first-round knockout win over Fabiano Silva earlier this month, extending his winning streak to five — a run which includes a win over UFC prospect Morgan Charriere. The former CW featherweight champ had teased a UFC clash against Paddy Pimblett while a free agent. However, “Big News” had also clarified that he would chose the promotion which valued him the most instead of limiting himself to …

[embedded content] Brendan Loughnane had to adapt and overcome some mental hurdles after suffering the first stoppage loss of his career.

In the 2023 regular season, the Brit was lumped up in 94 seconds by Jesus Pinedo, with a defeat that left Loughnane with five playoff points—and not enough for the featherweight top four in the playoffs. This put the 34-year-old on ice until April, when he returned for the 2024 Professional Fighters League 145-pound tourney. On Friday, Loughnane (27-5) bounced back in style at PFL Chicago, drumming out Pedro Carvalho in 86 seconds to get back in the win column.

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While his first fight of 2024 went his way, Loughnane explained in the post-fight press conference that the loss to Pinedo haunted him. Loughnane mentioned that he even considered leaving the sport behind after the crushing defeat.

“That was the best Brendan Loughnane,” he said during the post-fight press conference. “I don’t make excuses for fights, but t…