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Belal Muhammad says an interim title fight at #UFC310 doesn’t make sense, but doesn’t mind it:

“Interim title bro? It’s 6 weeks, not 6 months that I’m off.”

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🎥 @remembertheshow #UFC #MMA

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— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 2, 2024

Belal Muhammad believes an interim title fight doesn’t make sense in his absence.

Muhammad was scheduled to defend his welterweight strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, “Remember the Name” was forced out of the event due to an infection in his foot that caused severe swelling in one of his toes.

Rakhmonov has since been looking for a replacement opponent for a potential interim title fight at UFC 310. While Ian Garry had been calling out Rakhmonov, the Irishman was recently booked against Joaquin Buckley for a headlining bout at UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. That leaves former champ Kamaru…

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It’s unlikely that Max Holloway will compete at featherweight again.

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After going 0-3 against Alexander Volkanovski in their title fight trilogy, Holloway wasn’t in featherweight title conversations until recently. However, the title picture changed with Ilia Topuria’s knockout win over Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February.

Meanwhile, Holloway went on score an iconic knockout win over Justin Gaethje for the BMF title in a lightweight matchup at UFC 300 in April, securing himself a featherweight gold bid. The former champ challenged “El Matador” at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While Holloway was seemingly getting ahead on the scorecards, Topuria handed “Blessed” his first career KO loss in the third round.

Holloway expressed interest in moving up to 155 pounds immediately afterward. The Hawaiian has now confirmed that he is moving up to lightweight for good. While Holloway had a nice weight cut for…

Jasmine Jasudavicius, Dustin Stoltzfus, Charles Jourdain and Youssef Zalal each garnered $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their work at UFC Edmonton.

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Jasudavicius secured her third straight Octagon triumph, as she submitted Ariane Lipski with a brabo choke at the 2:28 mark of Round 3 in a featured women’s flyweight bout.

Also on the main card, Stoltzfus got the better of a brief-but-violent exchange with Marc-Andre Barriault to emerge with a knockout victory 4:28 into the opening stanza at middleweight. It was the first KO victory for Stolzfus in more than five years.

Elsewhere, Jourdain dispatched Victor Henry with a guillotine choke 3:43 into the second frame of their preliminary bantamweight showdown. It was the first time Henry had been finished in his professional career.

Finally, Zalal continued his resurgence with a quick finish of Jack Shore in a featherweight pairing. The Factory X product floored his opponent wi…

Brandon Moreno still stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division.

The two-time champion kept his head moving, trusted his jab and ducked into power punches, as he outstruck Amir Albazi to a unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 246 headliner on Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. All three judges scored it for Moreno (22-8-2, 10-5-2 UFC): 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45.

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In his first fight since June 3, 2023, Albazi (17-2, 5-1 UFC) was out of his depth. Moreno brought all his weapons to bear in the 25-minute battle, hammering away at the Fight Ready rep with probing jabs, crisp combinations and repeated left hooks around the guard. He staggered Albazi with a head kick in the second round and a left hook off the break in the fifth. The moments in between saw Moreno put copious amounts of damage on “The Prince,” opening multiple cuts around his right eye. Quite simply, he could do no…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Canada Saturday at 5 p.m. ET with UFC Edmonton. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 246. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Horth (-205), Petrovic (+170)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Gibson (-198), Anheliger (+164)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING P…

Aiemann Zahabi now bears the look of a legitimate threat in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

Economical standup and bulletproof takedown defense carried the Tristar Gym representative to a unanimous decision over onetime Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Pedro Munhoz in the featured UFC Fight Night 246 prelim on Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Zahabi (12-2, 6-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judiciary.

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Munhoz (20-10, 10-10 UFC) forced the Canadian onto the back foot but walked into heavy fire while doing so. Zahabi cut loose with two and three jabs at a time, fired right hands over the top and targeted the body whenever the mood arose. Munhoz stayed aggressive from beginning to end, but by the time it was over, visible damage had accumulated around both of the American Top Team-trained Brazilian’s eyes and his counterpart had built a nice lead on the scoreca…

Jhonata Diniz’s latest fight camp won’t go to waste.

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Diniz was scheduled to meet fellow knockout artist Derrick Lewis at UFC Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Saturday. However, Lewis was forced to withdraw due to a “medical issue” not involving his weight cut.UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

While Diniz couldn’t find a replacement opponent for UFC Edmonton, he won’t have to wait much longer. It was announced during the UFC Edmonton broadcast that the Brazilian will take on Polish veteran Marcin Tybura at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Tybura is 3-2 in his last five bouts and coming off a submission win over Serghei Spivac. Meanwhile, Diniz is coming off a unanimous decision win over Karl Williams, which is the only time he has gone the distance in his eight career wins.

A heavyweight bout pitting Derrick Lewis against Jhonata Diniz has been removed from the UFC Edmonton lineup.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Saturday that a “medical issue” that wasn’t related to his weight cut forced Lewis to withdraw from the event. No further details were provided.

Lewis made weight on Friday morning, tipping the scales at 266 pounds for his matchup with Diniz. However, “The Black Beast” did not attend the ceremonial weigh-ins later that day, leading to speculation that the former heavyweight title challenger might not be able to fight.

UFC Edmonton will proceed with 13 bouts. A women’s flyweight clash between Ariane Lipski and Jasmine Jasudavicius has been elevated to the main card. The card is headlined by a flyweight showdown between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi.

One of the UFC’s most popular fighters and the promotion’s all-time knockout leader, Lewis has been victorious in two of his last three Oc…

Merab Dvalishvili claims Umar Nurmagomedov refused to accept a fight against Yadong Song.

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Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title with a dominant unanimous decision win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September. Nurmagomedov has since been calling for a title shot against Dvalishvili, who instead wants a rematch against “Suga.”

In the meantime, Nurmagomedov was reportedly close to finalizing a potential title eliminator with Chinese contender Song at UFC Tampa in December. However, Nurmagomedov recently announced that the matchup is off because “Kung Fu Kid” is injured.

Dvalishvili has now countered Nurmagomedov’s claim, accusing the undefeated Dagestani of ducking Song. The Georgian champ has always maintained that Nurmagomedov receives favored treatement from the UFC due to his relationship with cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili reiterated that even if Nurmagomedov gets the next title shot, he is undeserving of it.

“Don’t…

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Rose Namajunas isn’t looking to surpass Manon Fiorot for a flyweight title shot.

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Namajunas moved up to flyweight after losing her strawweight title to Carla Esparza via split decision in 2022. “Thug” suffered a hard-fought unanimous decision loss against Fiorot in her flyweight debut the following year. Namajunas has since racked up consecutive decision victories over Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez, earning relevance in title conversations.

Namajunas is scheduled to fight top contender Erin Blanchfield in the co-main event at UFC Edmonton at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A win would likely make Namajunas a potential contender for the next gold bid at 125 pounds against Valentina Shevchenko. While Shevchenko is a training partner of Namajunas, “Thug” wouldn’t mind getting paid for what they would do in training anyway.

“That would be my dream matchup,” Namajunas told ESPN. “Obviously I’m a huge admirer of [Shevch…

Capping off the year with a BANGER 🔥@IanGarryMMA vs @NewMansa94 is the #UFCTampa MAIN EVENT!

Get tickets 👉 https://t.co/eoKeUgRb8k pic.twitter.com/QJofp85j9y

— UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2024 It appears the Ultimate Fighting Championship already had a plan for Ian Garry.

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Per a UFC release on Friday, Garry (15-0) will be coming to blows with Joaquin Buckley (20-6) in the main event of UFC Tampa, also known as UFC on ESPN 63. The two welterweights will get after it inside of the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 14. Garry had been calling for a chance to vie for an interim 170-pound strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov due to champ Belal Muhammad’s illness, but the promotion is going in a different direction.

Garry has passed every test since joining the UFC roster in 2021, introducing himself to the brass by smashing Jordan Williams at the tail end of the first round. The unbeaten Irishman has slugged his way up the welt…

First to the scale! ⚖️

Brandon Moreno weighs in at 125.5lbs!

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[ #UFCEdmonton is LIVE tomorrow on @ESPNPlus | 8pmET/5pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/EfSPqiIBlz — UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to Alberta, Canada, is now official after the UFC Fight Night 246 weigh-ins.

Sitting atop the 14-fight card is a flyweight main event between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi. Both men weighed 125.5 pounds and are ready for a five-round scrap. The 26 other fighters on the card also successfully made weight for their bouts, so the card will continue as planned.

Moreno (21-8-2) is hoping to break a two-fight losing streak after back-to-back split decision losses to Brandon Royval and Alexandre Pantoja. The former champ has previously beat Kai Kara-France and rival Deiveson Figueiredo before the current skid. Just 30 years of age, "The Assassin Baby" will look to show that he's still an improving…