Month: Mai 2025

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Merab Dvalishvili’s coach isn’t worried about his fighter’s latest injury. 

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Dvalishvili is scheduled to defend his bantamweight title in a rematch against Sean O'Malley in the main event at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. “The Machine” revealed a nasty injury to his right pinky toe just two weeks away from his title defense against O’Malley. Dvalishvili appeared to have broken his toe, allegedly from landing a head kick on his training partner. 

While Syndicate MMA leader John Wood also believes Dvalishvili’s toe is broken, he not bothered. According to Wood, breaking a toe is nothing compared to some of the extremes Dvalishvili pushes himself to during his fights. Wood is confident that his fighter will show up on fight night.

"I'm sure he broke his toe... That's nothing compared to some of the things we've had going into a lot of the fights... He's going to show up and do his jo…

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Jungle Fight celebrated its 22nd anniversary in a big way over the weekend.

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Jungle Fight 136, which took place on Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, marked the beginning of a national television broadcast partnership with Rede Globo. At the conclusion of the event, Jungle Fight founder Wallid Ismail announced that the organization will hold a $1 million reais (approximately $180,000) tournament in the men’s lightweight and women’s strawweight divisions.

Ismael revealed that “Fight of the Million” will debut at Jungle Fight 137 on June 14 at Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil.

The men’s lightweight bouts are already set: Carlos Alexandre da Costa vs. Lucas Campos; Marcelo Medeiros vs. Bruno Guimaraes Santos; Eliwelton Travassos vs. Arcangelo Oliveira and Jorge Silva vs. Cleiton Morais.

Held at the Pelezinho gym in Sao Pa…

Tom Aspinall isn’t the only one frustrated by the proceedings — or lack thereof — at the top of the heavyweight division.

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Russian heavyweight Alexander Volkov is also feeling the effects of the delay in the booking of the heavyweight title unification bout between Jon Jones and Aspinall. This past week, Jones cast doubt that the fight will ever happen in a series of posts on social media. First, “Bones” claimed that he informed the UFC of his plans “a long time ago,” and later, he gave a less than encouraging assessment of his career status.

Volkov, a 36-year-old former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global champion, is well aware that his time as a top contender has a shelf life. “Drago” had a four-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, a contentious split-decision loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC 310.

"As a fighter, of course, I have a negative opinion of the delay in the Jones-Aspinall fight, since my chances to fight for the championship title a…

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Jack Della Maddalena doesn’t have a date for his expected title defense against Islam Makhachev, but it’s never to early to start getting ready for the pound-for-pound king.

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Della Maddalena claimed welterweight gold with a unanimous decision triumph against Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 on May 10 in Montreal. With his friend and training partner no longer at the top of the division, that cleared the way for Makhachev to vacate the lightweight strap to pursue championship dreams in a new weight class.

“I think Islam is a better version of Belal,” Della Maddalena recently told The West Sport. “The striking on the feet, I think it’s easier than Belal because he’s more just he’ll stay in one stance. He’s more [of a] traditional style, but yeah, he’s the pound-for-pound No. 1 so it’s a tough fight.

“But I guess we will just watch all these fights again, make a solid game plan, then just start working at it. From pretty much now, I’m …

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Khalil Rountree learned some valuable lessons from his championship opportunity last October.

The Tiger Muay Thai representative received a surprise title shot at UFC 307, where he enjoyed some moments of success before falling to then champion Alex Pereira via fourth-round technical knockout in Salt Lake City. That snapped a five-bout winning streak for Rountree, but he believes the experience helped him understand where he needed to grow in his fighting career.

"I think one of the most important things after the Alex fight, for me, was to continue to progress," Rountree said in a video on his YouTube channel. "So, after even talking to my wife and breaking down the video, thinking what could I have done better? Even though I put in a really good camp and I did my best in that camp, but I always try to think there's always room for improvement, no matter what.

"And so, a few of the things, I felt like I could have improved in my strength. I th…

Adding more action to #UFCAtlanta 💥

Get tickets 👉https://t.co/E7Y6C0qOHR pic.twitter.com/LVmmDzpFit

— UFC (@ufc) May 25, 2025

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A light heavyweight clash between Paul Craig and Rodolfo Bellato has been rescheduled for UFC Atlanta on June 14.

The Las Vegas-based promotion recently confirmed the pairing on social media. The bout was initially supposed to take place at UFC Vegas 106 on May 17, but it was scrapped on the day of the event. Bellato later revealed that herpes was the cause of the cancellation.

UFC Atlanta — also known as UFC on ESPN 69 — takes place at State Farm Arena and is headlined by a welterweight tilt pitting Kamaru Usman against Joaquin Buckley.

Craig is returning to 205 pounds after a brief stint at middleweight. He enters the matchup with Bellato on a three-bout skid that has seen him fall to Bo Nickal, Caio Borralho and Brendan Allen in successive outings.

Bellato is unbeaten in his…

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When Cain Velasquez was released from a holding facility in Santa Clara, California, in November 2022 on $1 million bail, it unclear how the cost was covered.

As it turns out, UFC CEO Dana White was more than ready to lend a helping hand to his former heavyweight champion. During an appearance on the “Basement Talk” podcast, Velasquez revealed that White took on that financial burden. The UFC leader himself has never publicly confirmed that he paid for Velasquez’s bail.

“I don’t know if he gave out a statement or something beforehand when I was locked up and also he did pay my bail as well,” Velasquez said before sentencing (h/t MMAFighting.com). “So they’re helping.”

Velasquez spent approximately eight months in jail before being released on bail. He remained under GPS surveillance and was not allowed to leave his home without the court’s permission, which was granted on multiple occasions to attend professional wrestling and MMA events.…

A middleweight clash pitting Anthony Hernandez against Roman Dolidze is expected to serve as the main event for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Aug. 9.

Hernandez confirmed the pairing after RealKevinK initially brought word of the bout on social media. The UFC Fight Night event will likely be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Hernandez has won seven consecutive Octagon appearances. Most recently, “Fluffy” outpointed Brendan Allen at UFC Seattle on Feb. 22. Hernandez has finished five of his seven opponents during his current winning streak, which also includes victories over the likes of Michel Pereira, Roman Kopylov and Edmen Shahbazyan.

Dolidze, meanwhile, has been victorious in his last three promotional outings. The 36-year-old Georgian is coming off a five-round verdict against Marvin Vettori in the UFC Fight Night 254 headliner on March 15. He’s also bested Kevin Holland and Anthony Smith during his current winning streak.

Merab Dvalishvili injures his toe just 2 weeks out from the Sean O'Malley rematch 😅

"It's okay, I'm gonna cut it off."

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🎥 IG / vato.gv #UFC316 pic.twitter.com/91YVmKSWAh — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 23, 2025

Merab Dvalishvili is not one for discretion when it comes to pre-fight injuries.

With his rematch against Sean O’Malley in the UFC 316 headliner just a couple weeks away, the reigning bantamweight champion recently posted a video of an injured pinky toe on his Instagram Stories. The video was originally shared by social media user vato.gv.

Dvalishvili didn’t seem to be overly concerned about the ailment, which apparently came as a result of a training session with Legacy Fighting Alliance talent Cameron Sandoval.

“Why you break my toe, friend?” Dvalishvili asked.

“That was you, you kicked me in the head and broke your toe, that was your fault,” Sandoval replied.

“I’m going to cut it…

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If it seemed like Belal Muhammad didn’t go to his wrestling as much as he should have early on at UFC 315, it’s because the former welterweight champion was trying to prove a point.

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“Remember the Name” didn’t land his first takedown until the fourth round, as he relinquished the 170-pound strap to Jack Della Maddalena in a unanimous decision loss on May 10 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While Maddalena deserves some credit for shoring up his defensive wrestling, Muhammad admits that he didn’t follow the game plan as closely as he should have.

“I think I have the best team in the world, some of the best coaches in the world, and we go into every fight with a strategy and idea of what we want to do,” Muhammad said on the “Remember the Show” podcast. “Obviously, for us, what our strategy was was to take down Jack. It wasn’t to go blow-for-blow with him, brawl-for-brawl with him.

“But, man, it’s a weird moment w…

Former Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator MMA talent Tofiq Musayev will make his Octagon debut against Myktybek Orolbai at UFC Baku.

Both fighters confirmed the booking via social media following an initial report from VestnikMMA. UFC Baku — also known as UFC on ABC 8 — takes place on June 21 at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan and is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Khalil Rountree and Jamahal Hill.

A native of Baku, Musaev hasn’t fought since November 2023, when he scored a second-round knockout of Koji Takeda at Rizin “Landmark Vol. 7.” In addition to being a lightweight grand prix winner with the Japanese promotion, Musayev went 1-1 during a brief stint in Bellator. Musayev was one of many prominent fighters slated to compete for the Global Fight League before the ill-fated promotion canceled its first two announced events earlier this year.

Orolbai, meanwhile, is coming off a memorable brawl at UFC 308, where he dropped a s…

Trevin Giles will replace Jeremiah Wells and face Andreas Gustafsson at UFC Fight Night on ESPN 68.

Both Giles and Gustafsson confirmed the booking on social media after the bout was listed on the UFC.com event page. Giles vs. Gustafsson will be contested at an 180-pound catchweight. UFC on ESPN 68 takes place on May 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a women’s flyweight scrap pitting Erin Blanchfield against Maycee Barber.

Giles will enter the short-notice bout on a three-fight skid. The 32-year-old Texan last appeared at UFC Edmonton, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Mike Malott on Nov. 2. Giles is 7-7 during his Octagon tenure.

Gustafsson will make his promotional debut after earning a UFC deal with a second-round stoppage of Pat Pytlik on Dana White's Contender Series last August. The 32-year-old Swede owns an 11-2 professional mark with 10 of those victories coming inside the distance.