Day: 16. April 2025

Can we fast forward to Friday Night 👀🔜

2024 PFL Lightweight World Champion Gadzhi Rabadanov and Marc Diakiese wasted no time in letting each other know how they feel in their first faceoff ahead of Friday 🍿

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[ #PFLWorldTournament | Friday, April 18th | 📺 7PM EST | ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/8f1ivtHE7W — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 16, 2025

There will be no shortage of fireworks heading into the Professional Fighters League lightweight and middleweight tournaments this weekend, two of the most anticipated divisions in this year’s tournament. In one of the premier lightweight tournament matchups, 2024 PFL lightweight champion Gadzhi Rabadanov will face Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Marc Diakiese, who signed with the promotion last year and made his debut with a victory over Tim Wilde at Bellator Champions Series.

Ahead of their first-round matchup this Friday in Orlando, Florida, the two met face-to-face for the firs…

While the Cain Velasquez murder trial may have reached its conclusion, there are still other matters to resolve regarding the case.

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On Wednesday, judge Elizabeth C. Peterson granted a continuance of a restitution setting hearing, which will now take place on June 3. Velasquez was sentence to five years in prison in March after pleading no contest to attempted murder, felony assault and additional gun charges stemming from a February 2022 incident in which the former fighter fired a gun at a truck containing multiple people. During a high-speed chase, Velasquez shot at the vehicle containing Harry Goularte, who was accused of molesting Velasquez’s son. One of the shots hit and injured Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender.

Though Velasquez is currently in the midst of his sentence — which includes 1,283 days of credit for time served — the ex-UFC heavyweight champion will still be required to pay restitution, which is when “a convicted offender may be…

今日、5/31(土)に韓国・仁川にあるカジノリゾートホテルPARADISE CITYにて開催するRIZIN WORLD SERIES in KOREAの対戦カード発表記者会見を実施しました！いきなり11試合を発表しましたが、ビビって、たじろいでませんか？… pic.twitter.com/5zf4lEMe41

— 榊󠄀原信行 Nobuyuki Sakakibara (@nobu_sakakibara) April 16, 2025

Rizin Fighting Federation will hold what is shaping up to be a primarily Japan vs. Korea-themed card in South Korea next month.

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The Japanese promotion recently announced the event, entitled “World Series in Korea,” at a press conference. The event will take place at Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea on May 31. Not every bout on the card follows the country vs. country theme, as the evening’s featured pairing will see Rizin lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi de Souza lock horns with Gladiator lightweight king Won Bin Ki. However, the majority of the lineup does follow the aforementioned format.

Other MMA bouts confirme…

Movsar Evloev isn’t letting anyone jump the featherweight title queue ahead of him.

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Evloev is riding a nine-fight winning streak in the UFC with wins over the likes of Dan Ige, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes and Aljamain Sterling. However, Evloev is still not the most obvious contender at 145 pounds, which he thinks is due to lack of finishes on his resume.

Meanwhile, the featherweight title picture changed drastically at UFC 314 last weekend when Alexander Volkanovski won the vacant title against Diego Lopes in the main event. Evloev has no doubt that Volkanovski will agree to fight him, which the champ has already admitted. However, the undefeated Russian isn’t sure if the UFC wants the matchup.

Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez is calling for a title shot after foiling Patricio Freire’s promotional debut at UFC 314. Previously unranked Jean Silva is also rallying for a gold bid after five straight finishes in the UFC. While Evloev is unsure of his tit…

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Khabib Nurmagomedov prefers that Islam Makhachev fights Arman Tsarukyan instead of Ilia Topuria.

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While Tsarukyan is the No. 1 lightweight contender, former featherweight champ Topuria recently vacated his belt to move up to lightweight. Topuria is calling for an immediate title shot at 155 pounds, but Makhachev doesn’t think he deserves the opportunity yet. Nurmagomedov believes Tsarukyan is a more competitive matchup than Topuria for his prodigy.

“In my opinion, not necessarily dangerous, let’s say more competitive, I think it’s Tsarukyan,” Nurmagomedov told Adam Zubayrav. “I think Arman is a more serious fighter than Topuria. Topuria is a good fighter at 145, but we haven’t seen him at 155. I believe Arman is more competitive for Islam.”

Nurmagomedov further explained why a matchup against Topuria isn’t very tempting for Makhachev. Makhachev has already defended his lightweight title twice against Alexander Volkanovski whi…