Month: Mai 2025

👀Ian Machado Garry reacts on Islam Makhachev moving up to welterweight:

"All of us welterweights have to step back and give the man respect he deserves.

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But if negotiations don’t go so well, then you’ve got a tall, blonde Irishman who’s ready to take over the UFC…

And I will… pic.twitter.com/qf9PJH1AFX

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) May 11, 2025

Ian Garry is looking to steal the next welterweight title shot if Islam Makhachev doesn’t get it. 

The UFC 315 main event on Saturday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, had major implications for multiple weight classes. While Makhachev has been eyeing a welterweight move for a while, he was unwilling to fight his friend Belal Muhammad, the former champ at 170 pounds. Dana White had made clear that if Muhammad defended his title, Makhachev would have to defend his lightweight title against former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria, who recently moved up to 155 pounds.…

Magomed Ankalaev is seemingly looking for other options after his originally targeted opponent turned down a UFC 317 matchup. 

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UFC 317, which goes down on June 28 during International Fight Week, is yet to have a main event. Speculations are that the two targeted matchups were Ankalaev’s light heavyweight title defense or Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title defense against Ilia Topuria. 

Makhachev had already said that he would move up to welterweight instead of fighting “La Leyenda” if his friend Belal Muhammad loses his belt at UFC 315. And Jack Della Maddalena was crowned the new welterweight champ with a unanimous decision upset win over Muhammad on Saturday in Canada. 

Meanwhile, Ankalaev is seemingly ready to defend his title at UFC 317 and ideally against Alex Pereira, whom he dethroned at UFC 313 in March. Regardless of the opponent, the Russian is now eager to defend his title at UFC 317.

“I was offered to fight Alex […

Conor McGregor was impressed by Jose Aldo’s performance in his retirement fight. 

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Aldo faced Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The former featherweight champ put on a spectacular performance, hurting Zahabi with his signature leg kicks and even dropping him. However, Zahabi went on to earn a controversial unanimous decision win in front of his home crowd. Aldo subsequently hung up his gloves inside the Octagon, marking the end of a legendary career. 

#UFC315 Official Scorecard: Jose Aldo vs Aiemann Zahabi (@Aiemannzahabi)

Complete Scorecards ➡️ https://t.co/tKozyRJHQT pic.twitter.com/AZ6sXykTyu

— UFC News (@UFCNews) May 11, 2025

Former foe Conor McGregor took to Instagram to react to Aldo’s retirement. McGregor re-shared a post hailing “Junior” as the greatest featherweight of all time. The Irishman wrote with a “wide eyed” emoji: “Jose Aldo last night…

Dana White confirms Belal has a broken nose & broken orbital along with his gnarly lip split. #UFC315 pic.twitter.com/B33UEa7f2d

— Bodyslam.net MMA (@BodyslamNetMMA) May 11, 2025

Belal Muhammad will have some scars to show from his war with Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.

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Muhammad put his welterweight title on the line against Maddalena in the main event at UFC 315 on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. “Remember the Name” was a sizeable favorite going into the fight against the Australian. However, Maddalena scored a huge upset via unanimous decision, leaving Muhammad battered in the process. 

However, Muhammad put up arguably the most entertaining performance of his career, engaging in slugfests with one of the hardest hitters on the UFC roster. While Muhammad managed to steal Round 4 on all scorecards, the judges were split on the first round. 

UFC CEO Dana White subsequen…

Listen closely... 👀

Jack Della Maddalena spoke to Dana White and the UFC matchmakers immediately after his victory!#UFC315 pic.twitter.com/E6HDZ8cjFk

— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) May 11, 2025

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Jack Della Maddalena’s post fight conversation with Ultimate Fighting Championship brass was recently revealed. 

Maddalena challenged Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title in the main event at UFC 315 on Saturday in Canada. Maddalena likely got the shot by a stroke of luck, as the originally expected contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov, couldn’t accept the booking due to an injury. An underdog going into the matchup, Maddalena shocked the world with a “Fight of the Night” unanimous decision win. The newly-crowned champ then got a video call with UFC CEO Dana White and exec Hunter Campbell, footage of which has been made public. 

As was expected, Maddalena asked White if his first title defense will be against lightwe…

ANDREI ARLOVSKI IS LEAVING THE GLOVES BEHIND JUNE 21 IN TEXAS!#BKFC76 | June 21 | Tix on sale NOW at https://t.co/LJX5urGkRW pic.twitter.com/MNuebkLU5f

— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) May 11, 2025

Andrei Arlovski has his next combat sports endeavor lined up.

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The former UFC heavyweight champion will square off against Geronimo dos Santos at BKFC 76 in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 21. BKFC announced the booking — which will mark Arlovski’s debut with the organization — over the weekend.

Arlovski parted ways with the UFC following a split-decision defeat to Martin Buday at UFC 303 last June. “The Pit Bull” had 42 fights and 23 victories while competing for the Las Vegas-based promotion, but his contract was not renewed on the heels of a four-bout losing streak.

The 46-year-old Belarusian was briefly linked to the Global Fight League and was drafted by the Los Angeles team before the promotion announced the cancel…

Tabatha Ricci will square off against Amanda Ribas in a strawweight bout at UFC 318.

MMA Mania was first to report the booking. UFC 318 takes place on July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and is headlined by a BMF title bout between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier.

Ricci is coming off a 2-1 campaign in 2024 that concluded with a unanimous decision loss against Xiaonan Yan at UFC Fight Night 248 on Nov. 23. “Baby Shark” is 6-3 in the Octagon with victories over the likes of Angela Hill, Tecia Pennington and Gillian Robertson.

Ribas has alternated between flyweight and strawweight bouts during her promotional tenure. She has lost three of her last four fights, including a third-round submission defeat to Mackenzie Dern in her most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 249 on Jan. 11.

After a hard-fought victory in the UFC 315 co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko wasn’t in a rush to think about her next title defense.

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“Bullet” earned her 10th victory in a championship bout on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, edging French contender Manon Fiorot via unanimous decision to maintain her place atop the flyweight division. Shortly thereafter, reigning strawweight queen Weili Zhang entered the Shevchenko sweepstakes.

“Congratulations to the champion,” Zhang wrote on Instagram. “Everything has line up perfectly, it’s destiny.”

However, Shevchenko wasn’t so interested in immediate matchmaking at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

"It’s kind of for me after the fight you get the victory, the belt is with you, and you still have adrenaline running and everything like that, to answer the exact question, I would prefer to take it with one of two days when I will rest," Shevchenko said. "I don't say about the timing because …

Jose Aldo called it a career for a second time on Saturday night, and it’s not hard to see why that decision may hold up this time around.

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In addition to struggling with a weight cut that resulted in his bout with Aiemann Zahabi being moved from bantamweight to 145 pounds, the legendary Brazilian revealed a litany of health issues that affected him heading into UFC 315.

“This fight was hard,” Aldo said in an interview with UFC Brazil (translation via MMAFighting.com). “I had a muscle tear on the arm, I had something on the belly that I forgot the name, down there, [from] kicking a lot. I had some problems. A virus infection, a bunch of things. The doctors [said], ‘Get him out of the fight,’ but I didn’t want to because in my head I knew this could be my last fight.”

Aldo did relatively well in the early going, but Zahabi came on strong down the stretch and ending the fight by battering the Nova Uniao standout with elbows from top position to ul…

Wow slow motion reveals that Bruno Silva got his skull cracked on that elbow by Marc Andre Barriault

pic.twitter.com/7SpZhXHIyv

— Erich Richter (@erichterrr) May 11, 2025

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All seems to be well with Bruno Silva after he suffered a scary knockout loss to Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC 315.

“Blindado” was down on the canvas for several minutes before being taken from the Octagon on a stretcher on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. During the broadcast, it was revealed that Silva complained of neck pain after being rendered unconscious by some brutal elbows from his Canadian opponent.

However, after being transported to a nearby hospital, the Brazilian revealed that he is in relatively good health.

“Stopping by to inform that I’m fine,” Silva wrote on Instagram (translation via MMAFightig.com). “I went to the hospital and did exams, it’s all OK with my health.” The 35-year-old Silva suffe…

Vitor Belfort was in tears after being named to the 2025 UFC Hall of Fame 👏 #UFC315 pic.twitter.com/CcGzt1MjiY

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 11, 2025

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort will be enshrined in the promotion’s Hall of Fame this summer.

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Belfort will be the 20th member of the Pioneer Wing, which includes athletes who turned pro before Nov. 17, 2000, are at least 35 years old and have been retired for one year or more. The induction ceremony will take place on June 26 at T-Mobile Arena as part of International Fight Week and will stream on UFC Fight Pass.

“Vitor Belfort was 19 years when he was signed by UFC and he quickly made an impact by becoming the youngest athlete to win a UFC fight, and UFC tournament,” said UFC CEO Dana White. “Vitor was a pioneer of the sport and is definitely a UFC legend. It will be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer.”

Bel…

You are not Volk I will show you different level. Keep my belt clean https://t.co/gTplxCAXMY

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) May 11, 2025

There was more than just the welterweight title at stake in the UFC 315 headliner.

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When Jack Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad to claim the 170-pound belt on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, it also cleared the way for Islam Makhachev to pursue his dreams of holding a title in two weight classes.

“Time to become a two-division champion,” Makhachev wrote on X shortly after Della Maddalena’s victory. “Let’s go.”

Time to become a double champion #inshaAllahLet’s go

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) May 11, 2025

Prior to UFC 315, the promotion confirmed that Makhachev would defend his lightweight title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 if Muhammad was victorious against Della Maddalena. Due to their history as frien…