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RIZIN Bantamweight Champion Kai Asakura is vacating his title and going to the UFC.

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Watch on #RIZIN TV!🔗https://t.co/CXiPKkswl0

[ #RIZIN47 ] pic.twitter.com/WSAZMDU7i1

— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) June 9, 2024

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight division is about to receive an upgrade.

Rizin Fighting Federation champion Kai Asakura announced during Rizin 47 on Sunday that he is vacating his belt to sign with the UFC. The Las Vegas-based promotion has not formally announced the acquisition. As part of his farewell, Asakura paid tribute to the organization and Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara.

“I am giving up my belt and going to the UFC,” Asakura said. “I think there will be an announcement from the UFC soon, but it’s official that I’m going. This should be exciting news, but right now I feel very lonely. I believe that thanks to RIZIN, I, who was originally no one, was r…

Dominick Reyes was responsible for perhaps the biggest feel-good moment at UFC on ESPN 57.

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By knocking out Dustin Jacoby in the first round of their co-main event clash on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Reyes ended a victory drought that spanned nearly five years.

“It’s a relief, absolutely,” Reyes said at the post-fight press conference. “When he hit me, that was a relief. I was like, ‘I’m still here.’ I had so many questions — just questioning myself. Then I saw my performance. I felt it out there. I was like, ‘I really do love this, and I’m not going anywhere.’”

It was Reyes’ first appearance since November 2022 and his first victory since a first-round KO of Chris Weidman on Oct. 18, 2019. After the Victorille, California, native took Jon Jones to the brink of defeat in their fight at UFC 247, it would have been hard to imagine that Reyes would have endured a slump that lasted this long. As his triumphant moment unfolded, it…

According to Nassourdine Imavov, it was only going to get worse for Jared Cannonier. The French middleweight earned the most significant victory of his career to date in the UFC on ESPN 57 main event, as he defeated Cannonier via fourth-round technical knockout on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Imavov put his opponent on skates with a clean right hand, but Cannonier appeared to be regaining his bearings when referee Jason Herzog stepped in to wave off the fight at the 1:34 mark of Round 4.

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While Herzog was heavily criticized in the aftermath, Imavov believes the veteran official made the right call.

“It’s the job of the referee to decide if the fighter is able to keep going or not,” Imavov said at the post-fight press conference. “He took a lot of damage, and he would’ve taken even more if the fight would’ve continued, so I think it was the right decision to stop it.”

It was a slow burn for Imavov leading up to the fin…

Behind the scenes footage shows Hunter Campbell convincing Aljamain Sterling not to pull out of the Sean O’Malley fight

Dana White was not happy with Aljamain’s hesitance to take the fight 😬#UFC #MMA

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pic.twitter.com/NC9DjJpnXX — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 8, 2024

Relations were a little strained between the UFC and Aljamain Sterling leading up to UFC 292.

When Dana White first announced the UFC 292 title fight between Sterling and Sean O’Malley, coach Ray Longo said that Sterlling hadn’t yet agreed to the fight. Recently revealed behind-the-scenes footage from “Fight Inc: Inside the UFC” shows White venting his frustration at Sterling for putting the fight in doubt.

“So, we make the fight, Aljo vs. O’Malley. But when [Sterling] goes out in the public, he says all the wrong things,” White said. “I announce the fight and the first thing Aljo says is, ‘If my body holds up.’ So, now you have fans going, ‘Sho…

Ricky Turcios apparently told Raul Rosas Jr. that he had staph infection after their UFC on ESPN 57 clash on Saturday.

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Rosas Jr. settled his rivalry with Turcios with a second-round submission win at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The 19-year-old survived a rear naked choke attempt in the first round and locked in one of his own in the next round to force the tap.

Rosas Jr. later revealed the words he exchanged with Turcios in the Octagon following the win. The rivalry between the two started with their original booking at UFC Mexcio City this past February. Rosas Jr. pulled out of the fight moments before walking out, as he couldn’t recover from a bout of sickness despite his best efforts. Turcios was unhappy with Rosas Jr. for pulling out and slammed his opponent for disrespecting the “Bushido code.”

Rosas Jr. and Turcios once again brought up the subject after their UFC Louisville clash on Saturday. That eventually led to Tur…

The UFC tried to book Charles Oliveira vs Islam Makhachev for #UFC295 at MSG after Jon Jones pulled out.

Charles Oliveira turned it down since the cut still hadn’t fully healed.#UFC #MMA

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pic.twitter.com/3BcMYKIZJu — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 8, 2024

The cut that forced Charles Oliveira out of UFC 294 proved to be quite costly.

Oliveira was scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 294 in October 2023. However, the night before Oliveira was supposed to leave for Abu Dhabi from Brazil, “do Bronx” suffered a nasty cut in sparring that forced him out of the matchup. Oliveira was replaced on 12 days’ notice by Alexander Volkanovski, who went on to suffer a vicious first-round knockout loss. The latest season of “Fight Inc: Inside the UFC” shows behind the scenes footage of what went on after Oliveira pulled out.

UFC president Dana White came down hard on Oliveira for jeopardiz…

⚔️HORIGUCHI GETS REVENGE!

He defeats Sergio Pettis by UD!

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Watch on #RIZIN TV!🔗https://t.co/CXiPKkswl0

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— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) June 9, 2024 Rizin Fighting Federation flyweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi avenged his 2021 Bellator MMA loss to Sergio Pettis with a clear-cut unanimous decision victory on Sunday at Rizin 47 in Tokyo, Japan. Horiguchi controlled the first two rounds of the bantamweight main event and overcame a knockdown in the final round to take the well-deserved win in an entertaining fight. Horiguchi (33-5, 1 NC, 14-1 Rizin), who suffered a fourth-round knockout loss to Pettis (23-7, 0-1 Rizin) in their first meeting at Bellator 272, fought wisely in the rematch and frustrated Pettis with jabs and leg kicks before taking him down in the opening round. The middle stanza began with a takedown from Horiguchi and he kept Pettis down against a corner post for more than…

Behind-the-scenes footage of UFC matchmaking:

The UFC wanted to book Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Kamaru Usman in Abu Dhabi but Ali Abdelaziz told Dana White that Kamaru wanted to fight Wonderboy.

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Khabib also said Shavkat vs Usman was the fight to make.

🎥 Fight Inc: Inside the UFC,… pic.twitter.com/9MMJb0Eu12

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 8, 2024 While the UFC wants Kamaru Usman to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov, the former welterweight champ seemingly would prefer to face Stephen Thompson instead.

The latest season of Fight Inc: Inside the UFC revealed behind the scenes footage of the promotion’s matchmaking. UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was seen explaining the welterweight picture to company CEO Dana White. While Shelby was considering a matchup between Kevin Holland and Rakhmonov, “Trailblazer” allegedly didn’t want to fight the Kazakh phenom.

Meanwhile, streaking Australian contender Jack Della Maddalena has been…

Brunno Ferreira authored perhaps the most memorable finish on the UFC on ESPN 57 card.

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The Brazilian was rewarded for his efforts, as he received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his spinning back elbow knockout of Dustin Stoltzfus 4:51 into the opening round of their featured middleweight bout. Ferreira had to survive some early adversity, but he maintained his composure to secure the eighth finish via spinning back elbow in UFC history.

Elsewhere, Raul Rosas Jr. garnered a $50,000 check for a second-round submission victory over Ricky Turcios in a bantamweight clash. After a spirited opening round, the 19-year-old prospect put his opponent away with a rear-naked choke at the 2:22 mark of the period.

Meanwhile, Zachary Reese made the most of a short night at the office, securing a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for a first-round stoppage of Julian Marquez at middleweight. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum needed …

In a fight that should have brought some clarity to the middleweight title picture, the main event of “UFC Louisville” instead brought more confusion—though Nassourdine Imavov was not to blame.

In the main event of UFC on ESPN 57 on Saturday at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Imavov and Jared Cannonier met in a high-level matchup of 185-pound contenders. The first two rounds saw both men struggle with the other’s weapons: Cannonier had his head snapped back repeatedly by Imavov’s lightning-quick jab, especially his double jab, while Imavov had difficulty with Cannonier’s calf kicks and his enormous strength and leverage when wrestling against the cage. Cannonier appeared to have the slight edge going into the middle round, landing the slightly heavier blows, including some vicious leg kicks, and it was Imavov who initiated the ground game in Round 3, quickly dragging the “Killa Gorilla” to the canvas, then taking his back standing. Cannonier managed to escape withou…

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 57 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Dos Santos (-245), Tomar (+200)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Lapilus (-270), Stamann (+220)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPO…

Ludovit Klein showed once again that he has one of the most accurate nicknames in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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In the top prelim of UFC on ESPN 57 on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, “Mr. Highlight” (22-4-1) knocked down Thiago Moises (18-8) multiple times en route to a dominant unanimous decision win. Their fight was characterized by each fighter’s willingness to engage in his opponent’s preferred territory. Moises, one of the lightweight division’s most dangerous submission artists, traded blows with Klein, especially in the first round, when he attempted head kicks and narrowly missed with a looping bomb to the head that left Klein visibly relieved. Klein, for his part, showed little fear of Moises’ jiu-jitsu, taking the black belt down several times including a resounding slam in Round 3. Their gameness made for exciting viewing, but as a strategic choice it favored Klein, who hurt Moises repeatedly and appeared to be rolling towards a f…