Month: April 2025

👀🏆Dustin Poirier says Paddy Pimblett can be a UFC champion:

“Paddy’s legit, man."🤝

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🎥 @arielhelwani ▫️ pic.twitter.com/WBgHSvQJ6q — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 28, 2025

Dustin Poirier’s opinion of Paddy Pimblett has changed recently.

Pimblett scored the biggest win of his career so far by finishing Michael Chandler at UFC 314 earlier this month. Ahead of the fight, Poirier predicted that former foe Chandler would beat “The Baddy” and suggested bettors to go heavy.

Poirier was admittedly surprised as Pimblett completely outclassed “Iron” en route to a third round technical knockout. “The Diamond” believes Pimblett can be a UFC champ one day if he continues on his current path.

“Of course [I was surprised]. I really thought Chandler was gonna beat [Pimblett],” Chandler told Ariel Helwani. “But I was wrong. Paddy’s legit, man… Yeah, if he believes it and works hard enough and keeps doing what he’…

👀Ian Garry fires back at Joaquin Buckley:

"He can’t generate enough talk about himself… so he tries all this piggyback off other things. It’s okay. Let him be him."

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🎥 @arielhelwani ▫️ pic.twitter.com/QoYFWSViRL — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 28, 2025

Ian Garry and Joaquin Buckley seem to be developing a little bit of a beef.

Buckley was unimpressed by Garry’s unanimous decision win over Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas City last weekend. Garry maintained distance and put on a one-sided technical masterclass before surviving a last-round flurry from “The Nightmare.” Buckley accused Garry of playing it safe and running away from Prates throughout the fight. Buckley believes Garry could have produced a “Performance of the Night” kind of bout but was too scared to do it.

Garry dismissed Buckley’s comments as mere clout chasing. The Irishman claims “New Mansa” cannot generate enough hype by himself and tries t…

Dustin Poirier wants to walkout with Lil Wayne for his retirement fight in New Orleans at #UFC318 👀

🎥 @arielhelwani #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/v7Xeb6sHd4

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 28, 2025

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Dustin Poirier walking out with Lil’ Wayne for his last fight would be quite the spectacle.

Poirier will step into the Octagon for the last time in a trilogy against Max Holloway at UFC 318 on July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Poirier had welcomed Holloway to the UFC in his debut in 2019, and now “Blessed” will be his last opponent.

Poirier also has a special wish for his walkout music at UFC 318. While Poirier usually walks out to “The Boss” by James Brown, he used a mashup with Willie Spence's cover of Rihanna's “Diamonds” for his last fight against Islam Makhachev. Poirier is considering the same track for UFC 318 but would like Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., — aka Lil’ Wayne — to do h…

For the first time since June 20, 2019, Carlos Prates tasted defeat in a mixed martial arts bout.

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“The Nightmare” had an 11-fight professional winning streak snapped in the UFC Kansas City headliner on Saturday night, as he fell to Ian Garry via unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. While Prates put together a late push, it wasn’t enough to offset the work Garry had done for much of the first four rounds.

Prates, who was originally supposed to face Geoff Neal at UFC 314 before his opponent withdrew from the event, posted a statement regarding the bout on social meda.

"Guys, this is crazy. Six years without losing, I had forgotten how much it hurts, how it hurts the heart, the soul, more than any other part of the body, all day thinking 'what if I had caught the back,' 'what if I knocked him down,' what if I touched him more" … and so on,” Prates wrote on Instagram (translation via Google Translate).

“Time t…

Vinc Pichel is calling it a career.

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The 42-year-old lightweight announced his retirement from MMA on Monday in a post on social media. “From Hell” competed on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and went 7-5 over the course of a UFC stint that began in 2012. Pichel exits the sport with a 14-5 career mark.

“There is so much to say. The short version: At 42 years old, I’m officially retiring from competing in MMA,” Pichel wrote in an announcement that spanned multiple posts on X.

“The long version: I’m sad, I’m excited, I’m happy, I’m afraid. I’m grateful to everyone who was with me or part of my MMA career and there are too many to list….As I walk away I’ll leave you with this: Do what feels right, don’t apologize for being you, be yourself, learn what you can from who you can, no regret’s and most importantly, HAVE FUN.”

There is so much to say.The short version: At 42 years old, I’m officially retiring from compet…

Pudzian tu wyglada jak @MarcinNajman kilka lat temu 😉 #KSW105 pic.twitter.com/5UVp9A9Jdt

— Siemiński Tomek 🏊🚴 (@SieminskiTomek) April 26, 2025

One of the most buzzworthy fights of the past weekend took place under the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki banner, when Eddie Hall dispatched longtime promotional favorite Mariusz Pudzianowski via technical knockout in just 30 seconds.

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Hall isn’t looking to climb to the top of the sport following a successful mixed martial arts debut at KSW 105, however. Instead, the 37-year-old former World’s Strongest Man is realistic about his future prospects going forward. (The bout is classified as an exhibition, per the Sherdog database).

“Jon Jones. Just kidding. No Jon Jones,” Hall said in a post-fight scrum. “I’ve got to step back. I’ve got to evaluate. If the rematch with Mariusz is there, I’d like to do the rematch with Mariusz. Two-minute rounds, like we agreed on the first time. But I’v…

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Your Updated PFL World Tournament 4 Fight Card 👊

• Linton Vassell is out• 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗽: Oleg Popov vs. Karl Williams

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[ #PFLWorldTournament | Thursday , May 1st | 📺 10PM EST | ESPN 2 ] pic.twitter.com/eyZJAwsaNI — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 28, 2025

Professional Fighters League’s heavyweight bracket has undergone a shakeup on the week of its next event.

The promotion announced on Monday that Karl Williams will replace Linton Vassell and face Oleg Popov in a heavyweight tournament matchup. A reason for Vassell’s exit was not announced. PFL World Tournament 4 takes place on Thursday at Universal Studios in Orlando and features first-round pairings at heavyweight and light heavyweight. The main card airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims begin on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Thursday, May 1 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 …

American Top Team training partners Antonio Carlos Jr. and Bo Nickal have taken advantage of the close proximity of their upcoming fights to help each other in sparring during their respective camps.

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Carlos Jr., a jiu-jitsu world champion, will face Karl Moore in a first-round light heavyweight bout at PFL World Tournament 4 at Universal Studios in Orlando on Thursday. Nickal, meanwhile, will square off against Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines two days later. The 2021 PFL champion told Sherdog that Nickal continues to adapt well to MMA and expects the three-time NCAA national champion wrestler to perform well against de Ridder.

“Nickal has been improving a lot in terms of striking and, to be honest, his jiu-jitsu surprised me a lot,” Carlos Jr. said. “He brought a body awareness from wrestling that is very important to MMA. He gets into good positions and doesn’t lose. I think he has everything to surprise de Ridder.”

Fighters only get…

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Andy Aspinall, the father of UFC interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall, is frustrated with his son’s lack of activity.

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Jon Jones was scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023 before being forced out at the last minute with an injury. Aspinall went on to knock out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight at the same event.

Aspinall has since been rallying for a title unifier with Jones. Aspinall even defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes in July 2024. Meanwhile, Jones went on to defend his title against Miocic at UFC 309 in November 2024.

UFC CEO Dana White has promised that Jones’ next fight will be against Aspinall, although “Bones” seemingly hasn’t received a lucrative enough offer yet. Andy, who has dedicated his entire life to his son’s MMA career, is frustrated with the wait. Andy wants his son to stay active in his prime years. However, the UF…

Anthony Smith should have fought this dude in the crowd before retiring #UFCKansasCitypic.twitter.com/oyM4cyWMka

— Delinquent MMA (@DelinquentMMA) April 27, 2025

Apparently not everyone in attendance at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City was there to pay tribute to Anthony Smith as he officially called it a career on Saturday night.

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Shortly after the former light heavyweight title challenger suffered a bloody technical knockout loss to Mingyang Zhang in the UFC Kansas City co-main event, “Lionheart” walked to one side of the Octagon, where he appeared to yell and flip the bird to someone in the crowd.

As it turns out, the fan in question had been taunting Smith even before the fight began.

“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt and he was like booing me and flipping me off and kind of talking trash before the fight,” Smith said on ESPN+ post-fight show. “But I was really focused on what I had to do. Then after the …

If anything goes awry with the UFC 315 headliner, Ian Garry will be on hand to step in.

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Shortly after he defeated Carlos Prates via unanimous decision in the UFC Kansas City headliner, “The Future” announced his plans to travel to Montreal for the welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena on May 10.

“Twenty-one days’ notice against Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. 25 days’ notice against this man tonight. He’s a beast. Well, in two weeks’ time, I’m flying to Canada,” Garry said during his post-fight interview. “I’m the official backup for the world title fight, and I’m next in line for that world title.”

Shortly after that statement, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that Garry would indeed be the championship alternate for the upcoming 170-pound title clash.

“Credit to Ian, [he] takes these fights on short notice,” White said at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference. “He’ll fight anybody. He looked good tonight.…

Max Holloway recently expressed gratitude to Chan Sung Jung for being an important part of his career.

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Two of the biggest fan favorites in the sport, Holloway and “The Korean Zombie” were extremely respectful toward each other even before sharing the Octagon. And they have since developed a friendship, which was on display during Holloway’s recent visit to South Korea.

Holloway was seen sparring with a teammate of Jung at the Korean Zombie gym, where they re-enacted his iconic slugfest with Justin Gaethje. “Blessed” then shared his respect for former rival Jung, whom he idolized growing up. Holloway also urged fans to lookout for his YouTube videos featuring him and his wife Alessa proving swimming lessons to Jung.

“I looked up to this man. When I was in high school I watched him fight many times,” Holloway said. “This guy’s an inspiration, without a ‘Korean Zombie’ there wouldn’t be a Max Holloway. So at the end of the day I’m super grateful…