Day: 15. Januar 2025

Renato "Money Moicano" Carneiro will take plenty of momentum into his showdown with Beneil Dariush at UFC 311.

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The Brazilian standout has won his last four Octagon appearances and is coming off a second-round stoppage of Benoit St. Denis at UFC Paris this past September. Even though he’s already enjoyed plenty of success, Dariush would be Carneiro’s most significant victory to date.

“St. Denis was also a good grappler, but I believe Dariush is even better, so I believe that fight will go to the ground,” Moicano recently told Sherdog.com while declining to predict a clear method of victory.

“I’ll knock him out, submit him or win via decision. I don’t know. I’m just sure that I´m in a great position, and I´ll leave that Octagon with another win.”

The American Top Team representative also doesn’t have a callout in mind should he get his hand raised on Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

“I don’t care about names,” he said. “…

The legal hits keep on coming for Conor McGregor.

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According to a report from Front Office Sports, the former UFC two-division champion is being sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at the Kaseya Center in Miami during an NBA Finals game in 2023. The civil lawsuit was filed in Florida federal court on Tuesday by a woman identified as “Jane Doe.” The Miami Heat, which hosted the game, and Basketball Properties LLC, which runs the venue, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit for overserving McGregor.

The Dublin native did not face criminal charges in the case when prosecutors determined there was “insufficient evidence” as well as “contradicting and/or no corroborating witnesses” to prove that McGregor raped a woman in the bathroom during an NBA Finals game between the Heat and Denver Nuggets on June 9, 2023.

The alleged victim is identified as a 49-year-old woman who lives in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and “employed as a Senio…

One of the lasting images from the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first event of 2025 was that of Victoria Dudakova slapping one of her coaches following a loss to Fatima Kline.

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As it turns out, Dudakova has a more personal relationship with the object of her wrath: He’s also her husband. On Tuesday, Dudakova released a statement apologizing for the incident.

“The emotions have calmed down a bit,” Dudakova wrote on Instagram. “First of all, I would like to apologize to my husband and coach. I was upset that at such a difficult moment, he turned away from me and did not want to go into the cage. This is not an excuse and I am not looking for an excuse for myself. I did the wrong thing, I could not control my emotions. I set a bad example for athletes and the younger generation. I also want to apologize to sports fans. Thank you to everyone who stays with me in such a difficult situation.”

😳Victoria Dudakova slapped one …

You only get 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗧.☝️

64 Fighters. Single elimination tournament 💰🏆

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One Shot to WIN. One Shot to ADVANCE. One Shot at a WORLD TITLE#PFLWorldTournament pic.twitter.com/7YlTLgKPAB — PFL (@PFLMMA) January 15, 2025

As expected, Professional Fighters League is doing away with its season format in favor of grand-prix style tournaments in each weight class.

The promotion announced on Wednesday that it will be launching what is called its 2025 World Tournament beginning this April. The single-elimination brackets will feature eight fighters from eight different weight classes — heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweight. Winners will receive a $500,000 bonus, and according to a release, the PFL World Tournament will “pay out over $20 million in prize money” overall.

The first round of the tournament will begin in April, followed by semifin…

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Arman Tsarukyan has high praise for Adriano Martins, the only man to beat Islam Makhachev.

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Tsarukyan challenges Makhachev for the lightweight title in the main event at UFC 311 on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Las Vegas. In preparation, Tsarukyan is training with Martins, who dealt Makhachev his lone career loss in 2015.

Makhachev faced Martins in his sophomore Ultimate Fighting Championship outing in 2015, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss. With Makhachev having since taken over the lightweight division, many attribute that loss to a lucky shot from Martins. However, Tsarukyan doesn’t think so after sparring with the Brazilian veteran. According to “Ahalkalakets,” Martins holds natural power in his hands, which left him bleeding for two weeks after getting hit in sparring.

“I’ll tell you straight, his punch is insane,” Tsarukyan told Ushatayka (h/t Home of Fight). “It’s not just a lucky punch, as people say. He…

Nate Diaz and Team Makhachev threw water bottles at each other backstage 😳 #UFC310 pic.twitter.com/gr3TDd5abt

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 7, 2024

Nate Diaz claims he doesn’t remember meeting Islam Makhachev in an elevator.

Makhachev’s and Diaz’s teams recently got into a near-brawl over unclear reasons. Makhachev defends his title against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311 on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The lightweight champ was in Las Vegas for a presser this past December when he came across Diaz, who was cornering teammate Kron Gracie against Bryce Mitchell at UFC 310.

Both teams hurled water bottles at each other and have later accused the other side of starting the altercation. Makhachev believes Diaz hurled the first water bottle, mistaking one of his teammates to be Khabib Nurmagomedov. Makhachev also recently said that Diaz was respectful towards him when they allegedly met in an elevator a few months ago.

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Aljamain Sterling thinks Merab Dvalishvili will retain his bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov.

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Dvalishvili will defend his strap against Nurmagomedov in the co-main event at UFC 311 on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Many expect Nurmagomedov to pose the biggest threat to Dvalishvili so far with his strong wrestling base and well-rounded skillset. However, Sterling believes fans are overestimating the level of competition from Nurmagomedov, at least in terms of the wrestling.

Nurmagomedov’s most high-caliber win so far came against Cory Sandhagen, who was able to defend the Dagestani’s takedown attempts multiple times. Based on that fight, Sterling doesn’t see Nurmagomedov posing a threat to Dvalishvili, who also comes from a grappling background.

“I mean if Cory Sandhagen could get ready, a guy who’s not coming from a grappling background at all – what do you think Merab is gonna do?” Sterling said on h…