Day: 16. Februar 2025

Even at 40 years old, Jared Cannonier isn’t here to be a steppingstone in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.

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He proved that on Saturday night, when he rallied for a fourth-round technical knockout victory against Gregory Rodrigues in the UFC Vegas 102 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Rodrigues entered the bout having won five of his last six Octagon appearances, but “The Killa Gorilla” denied the Brazilian’s entry into the upper echelon of the division.

Cannonier balked at the notion that he was settling into a gatekeeper role at this point in his MMA career.

“I don’t think anybody’s put that tag on me. It’s just when I was doing all these interviews, the way I was answering the questions it sounded as if I was a gatekeeper,” Cannonier said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Because you guys kept saying ‘you’re fighting this up and comer, you’re fighting a second up and comer, you’re fighting another up…

Anthony Smith is expected to make his final walk to the Octagon against Mingyang Zhang at UFC Kansas City.

Multiple outlets confirmed the light heavyweight booking following an initial report from Kangzif on social media. The UFC Fight Night event takes place on April 26 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Kansas, and also includes a middleweight scrap between Michel Pereira and Abusupiyan Magomedov. A headliner has not been announced for the event.

Smith is coming off a 1-2 campaign in 2024. He began the year with a first-round submission of Vitor Petrino but then dropped back-to-back fights against Roman Dolidze and Dominick Reyes. After a second-round TKO loss to Reyes at UFC 310, the former 205-pound title challenger revealed that he would like to have one more Octagon appearance before calling it a career.

The 26-year-old Zhang will enter the matchup on an 11-bout professional winning streak. The Chinese standout has kicked off his UFC tenure with …

Alex Pereira recently had an emotional reunion with a fan.

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Pereira initially met Ashton during a visit to a cancer treatement center in Australia in June 2024. Ashton was battling cancer and expected to lose his hair due to the treatments. An avid Pereira fan, Ashton asked his idol to shave his hair, and the UFC champ obliged with tears in his eyes.

However, the story seemingly has a fairytale ending, as Pereira was much happier when he reunited with Ashton during a recent trip to Australia. While he had to once leave muay thai practice to battle cancer, Ashton confirmed that he is now three months cancer-free. While “Poatan” is a two-division UFC champ, the Brazilian hailed Ashton as a real fighter.

“I’m here with Ashton,” Pereira said in a video on Instagram. “I don’t know if you remember, about a year ago or so I came to Australia… I cut his hair at the institute of cancer here in Australia. It was something very emotional, very heavy fo…

Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t think Dagestani fighters are unbeatable, and he has the recent proof to back up that assertion.

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Dvalishvili is the only fighter to have beaten a Dagestani in a major title fight in recent times. After winning the UFC bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 last year, Dvalishvili was initially loathe to immediately defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov. “The Machine” claimed that the undefeated Dagestani was being gifted a title shot because of the legacy of his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

However, Dvalishvili eventually agreed to the matchup, which took place in the co-main event at UFC 311 in California last month. While Nurmagomedov didn’t lack in skills, Dvalishvili’s legendary cardio was enough to hand the challenger his first pro loss.

Dvalishvili has subsequently refuted the popular aura of invincibility surrounding Dagestani fighters. While he admits that the region has produced great athlet…

Yaroslav Amosov will return from a lengthy hiatus to square off against Curtis Millender at Fightality “Legacy Revival” on March 14.

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The promotion recently announced the pairing on social media. Fightality “Legacy Revival” takes place at Compass Arena in Willowbrook, Illinois. It’s expected to be a potential showcase for Amosov before moving on to the UFC.

Amosov hasn’t competed since relinquishing the Bellator MMA welterweight strap to Jason Jackson in a third-round knockout loss in November 2023 — his first setback in 28 professional appearances. “Dynamo” did not compete at all once Bellator resumed operations under Professional Fighters League ownership last year. Amosov owns notable wins over the likes of Logan Storley (twice), Douglas Lima, Ed Ruth and Erick Silva.

Millender is a well-traveled veteran who has enjoyed stints in the UFC, Bellator and PFL. He is coming off an 0-2 campaign in 2024 that saw him suffer first-round defeats at…