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🤯 BUSINESS JUST PICKED UP 🤯

Lazar Todev 🇧🇬 and Will Fleury 🇮🇪 get their hands on each other tomorrow night at OKTAGON 68.

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Who will leave Stuttgart as the baddest man in OKTAGON MMA?

📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & RTL+ pic.twitter.com/wMdXzwfnYh

— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) March 7, 2025 After stints in Bellator MMA and Professional Fighters League, it took Will Fleury only three fights to cement himself as a force in Oktagon MMA.

Since wrestling the light heavyweight title from Karlos Vemola last December, the new champ has set his eyes on another prize. On Saturday, he’ll look to add the heavyweight strap around his waist when he challenges No. 1-ranked challenger Lazar Todev for the vacant belt at Oktagon 68 at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Hall in Stuttgart, Germany.

Fleury (14-3, 1 NC) will ride a seven-fight win streak into Saturday’s main event. A year ago, he was looking for a home promotion after…

Caio Borralho has the utmost of confidence in his teammates at the Fighting Nerds.

Borralho will be in the corner of Mauricio Ruffy on Saturday, who will be squaring off with Bobby Green on the UFC 313 main card. Their burgeoning fight camp has been exploding with talent, with a number of impressive names on its roster including Carlos Prates, Jean Silva, Bruna Brasil and the aforementioned Borralho and Ruffy. The middleweight contender discussed his teammate Ruffy with Sherdog on Thursday, where he believes that no matter how it turns out, Ruffy vs. Green will end before the final bell.

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“TKO by Ruffy in the second round,” Borralho prognosticated. “Key point for him is not to get frustrated if he misses some punches, but I truly believe he is better than Green everywhere.”

The belief in one another in the Fighting Nerds stable is high as can be given the recent success by its members currently competing in the UFC. Borralho had high praise for Ruff…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight championship will be on the line as the main event of UFC 313 is now official after the weigh-ins took place.

Headlining the pay-per-view is a five-round championship bout between defending titleholder Alex Pereira and challenger Magomed Ankalaev. Both men had no trouble making weight, so the fight will go forward as planned. All of the rest of the card also made weight, so all 11 fights will move forward.

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Undefeated since moving up to light heavyweight, Pereira (14-2) has defended the 205-pound belt three time since winning it in a fight against Jiri Prochazka. All four of Pereira's light heavyweight title fights have ended in a knockout win for the Brazilian. "Poatan" rides a five-fight win streak into his latest test and stepped on the scale weighing 205 pounds on the dot.

Meanwhile, Ankalaev (19-1-1, 1 NC) arrives on a 13-fight unbeaten streak. While his previous title opp…

UFC heavyweight Marcos Rogerio de Lima can’t get out of his own way.

On Thursday, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced through the UFC that Rogerio de Lima had failed a drug test out of competition on Jan. 13. The Brazilian tested positive for anastrozole, a hormone modulator, that is prohibited at all times by the drug testing agency. It is the second time he has tested positive for this substance, first getting flagged in 2017 for the same thing. As this is his second doping violation on the roster, he has been suspended for one year, and will be allowed to compete again starting Jan. 24, 2026.

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Rogerio de Lima reportedly cooperated fully with the investigation, providing samples, putting the agency in contact with his physician and other things. He stated that the substance is used to treat a medical condition, but he never sought out a therapeutic use exemption to be permitted to take it. Because of this reasoning, CSAD handed down a lighter…

[embedded content] The art of bracketology is officially coming to the Professional Fighters League this year.

The organization, which ran a points-based playoff system for a tournament since its inception as PFL, has changed up how it will operate its eight grand prix divisions. In its stead will be a single-elimination tourney, with the eight classes each sporting eight participants plus a couple alternates for each weight category. The eight division are the following: heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweight—of note, the league is re-adding 185 pounds while bringing the 135-pounders to the table for the first time.

On Thursday, the PFL sent out a press release announcing that it will be airing its bracket reveal show on ESPN+ this coming Tuesday, March 11. On that, the company will unveil the seeding of every competitor in the tournament, showing the path they will have to traverse in…

There appears to be a tentative timeline in place for Jon Jones’ next fight.

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During an appearance on "The Jim Rome Show” on Wednesday, UFC CEO Dana White hinted that Jones’ return to the Octagon might be sooner than most expected.

“The plan is to fight Jon this summer,” White said. “Obviously, when, where and all that stuff is being determined. My goal this year is to make that fight [with] Aspinall.”

Shortly after Jones defended his title at UFC 309 in November, White guaranteed that he would eventually put together a championship unification bout between “Bones” and Aspinall. However, Aspinall recently claimed that while both he and the UFC are on board for the fight, Jones is the one holding up negotiations. With that being said, Jones has made it clear that it would take a lucrative offer for him to accept a fight against the British heavyweight.

White also hinted that Saturday’s UFC 313 headliner could have an effect on the heavy…

With a title fight on the horizon, Magomed Ankalaev hasn’t been able to strictly adhere to his normal religious practices.

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This year, Muslims are observing Ramadan from Feb. 28 through March 29. Part of that observance involves abstaining from food or drink during that 30-day period from sunrise to sunset. Ankalaev, who faces Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight championship in the UFC 313 main event on Saturday, admitted that he had to break his fast during fight week — but only slightly.

“I have been following the fast strictly except for this week, where I will have to break it a few times because I need to make sure I drink water to have a successful weight cut,” Ankalaev told Ag.Fight. “But apart from that, I started with Ramadan. I have been fasting. And after the fight, I will obviously also follow the rules of religion as it has to be.”

The 32-year-old Ankalaev is unbeaten in his last 13 Octagon appearances and is coming off a 2024 …

French standout Manon Fiorot will take a seven-fight promotional winning streak into her title bout against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 315.

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Fiorot’s grappling coach, Flávio “Peroba” Santiago, revealed to Sherdog.com that the No. 1 flyweight contender has evolved a lot on the ground in recent years.

“Manon's work ethic is really impressive,” said the Luta Livre black belt, who has been living in France since 2001. “Since I started training her on the ground in December 2022, she only stopped to have surgery on her knee. Seven months later, she started the camp to fight Rose [Namajunas]. Ten months after the surgery she fought. After the fight with Rose, she stopped for a month and then started training for [Erin] Blanchfield.”

According to the Brazilian coach, the five rounds against Blanchfield were important preparation for this long-awaited fight against the champion.

"I believe Valentina will come to exchange punches but with the go…

One Shot to WIN. One Shot to ADVANCE. One Shot at a WORLD TITLE 🏆

Get to know the Heavyweights set to compete in the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ #PFLWorldTournament

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[ #PFLWorldTournament | Thursday , May 1st | 📺 10PM EST | ESPN 2 | B2YB @Valrenergy ] pic.twitter.com/uAHVEMqpV9 — PFL (@PFLMMA) March 5, 2025

The entire lineup for the 2025 Professional Fighters League World Tournament is now in place.

On Wednesday, the promotion announced the rosters for the eight-man brackets at heavyweight and light heavyweight. Two alternates were also set for the 205-pound field. Alternates at heavyweight were not provided.

The heavyweight lineup includes the Oleg Popov, who fell to Denis Goltsov in the 2024 PFL finals and Alexander Romanov, who went 7-3 in the UFC before being released from the Las Vegas-based organization. Former Bellator MMA interim heavyweight king Valentin Moldavsky will also be a participant.

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BOOOOOOM!!!!! Boxing here we come pic.twitter.com/XBRBT5mr3P

— danawhite (@danawhite) March 5, 2025

It isn’t exactly Zuffa Boxing, but after years of speculation, UFC CEO Dana White is finally getting directly involved with the Sweet Science.

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The new boxing promotion comes from a partnership between TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of the UFC and WWE — Turki Alalshikh and entertainment congomerate Sela.

“We have just done a deal to start a new boxing league with Turki, who absolutely loves the sport of boxing,” White said in a video on social media.

“The model is proven to deliver the fights that the fans want to see. The best will fight the best and the fighters will continue to move up the rankings and become world champions. We will continue to make announcements on where you can watch and all the rest of the details on the business as we get closer to the launch.”

“I am very happy today,” Alalshikh said…

Not everyone from Brazil will be on Alex Pereira’s side this Saturday.

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After a meteoric rise that saw him capture UFC belts in two divisions, “Poatan” has become perhaps the biggest idol of MMA in Brazil today. When he steps into the Octagon to make his fourth title defense against Dagestan’s Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313, Pereira will certainly have the gigantic Brazilian audience behind him.

Two Brazilians, however, are exceptions and will certainly be on Ankalaev’s side: UFC veteran and Porrada Training Center leader Ronny Markes, and former Professional Fighters League heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza. Both Markes and Cappelozza recently signed with the Global Fight League. 

Markes recently explained how the partnership with Ankalaev began.

“The first time Ankalaev trained with us here at Porrada TC was in 2021,” Markes told Sherdog.com. “But he also trained at Xtreme [Couture]. For this fight, however, he trained the last three…

Alex Pereira reacts to Magomed Ankalaev claiming he goes to UFC events for “free alcohol”

“I know the pain of the people. He is playing with the feelings of the fans, feelings of the people who go through that.”

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🎥 @AlexPereiraUFC #UFC313pic.twitter.com/G1yDUWOrNi — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 4, 2025

Alex Pereira overcame a significant obstacle in his life to become a Ultimate Fighting Championship title holder.

A former Glory kickboxing champ, Pereira’s career might have ended if not for a taunt from Israel Adesanya. While Adesanya had gone on to become a UFC champ, he once said that the only man to beat him twice in kickboxing must be drinking in a bar in Brazil. That motivated Pereira to start training and transition to MMA. The rest is history.

Pereira is scheduled to defend his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev in the main event at UFC 313 on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Ve…