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The women in UFC 295’s feature bout share an unfortunate similarity—one they might be able to bond over once they settle their business in the Octagon.

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Jessica Andrade (24-12) and Mackenzie Dern (13-3) are slated for a strawweight clash on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Both fighters have gone through turmoil in their personal lives with recent divorces and opened up on the subject at the UFC 295 media day on Wednesday. According to Dern, this fight is an opportunity for both of them to channel those negative feelings into an entertaining scrap for the fans. Andrade agreed, adding that the fight will also help with the financial impact of the divorces.

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” Andrade said. “I know she’s going through that. I’m going through it as well. It basically going to be a session where we go out and let the demons out…First of all, I actually have gone through what she’s gone through, for even longer cause my d…

For the second time, a proposed booking between Kayla Harrison and Julia Budd has fallen through.

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As a result, Aspen Ladd will step in a face Harrison at the 2023 PFL Championships on Nov. 24. According to a release from the PFL, the bout was changed because “Budd refused to fulfill her contractual obligation.” Further specifics were not given. While Harrison vs. Budd was to slated to take place at featherweight, the new pairing will be contested at a 150-pound catchweight. Harrison was previously scheduled to face Budd during the 2022 PFL season before the ex-Bellator champ withdrew from the bout.

Ladd has been in training as an alternate, according to the release. The 28-year-old Folsom, California, native signed with the PFL following a 4-3 stint in the UFC that included numerous issues making weight. Ladd competed in the 2023 PFL season at featherweight, where she dropped a majority decision to Olena Kolesnyk in April before scoring a first-ro…

Cristiane Justino’s next combat sports appearance will be in the Sweet Science.

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“Cyborg” will face Kelsey Wickstrum in a six-round boxing match at 154 pounds on Jan. 19 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. ESPN was first to report the booking.

Justino has two boxing matches — one professional and one exhibition — under her belt already. In her official pro debut, the Brazilian defeated Gabrielle Holloway via unanimous decision this past December. The 36-year-old Wickstrum, meanwhile, is 2-0 as a pro boxer with one knockout.

Justino, who is currently Bellator’s reigning featherweight champion, returned to MMA on Oct. 7, when she defeated Cat Zingano via first-round technical knockout at Bellator 300. “Cyborg” has held belts in Bellator, the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta FC over the course of an MMA career that began in 2005.

Her next move in MMA is unclear with Bellator facing an uncertain future. The California-based…

From the TKO Group Holdings Earnings Call:

Competition is good. Not only do we have over 600 fighters, we have the premier fighters.

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I mean, ultimately, you're trying to get to the UFC, which is akin to the XFL trying to ultimately get their players into the NFL.

Those are… pic.twitter.com/0M47DYFYCo

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 7, 2023 Executives of TKO Group Holdings — the result of the merger between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment – claim to have no issues with competitors of the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization.

During the merger’s first earnings call, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro recently addressed Saudi Arabia’s investment into the Professional Fighters League, a direct competitor to the UFC. Saudi Arabia, which is emerging as a global player in sports and entertainment, recently invested $100 million in the Prof…

YouTube personality-turned-fighter Jake Paul will square off against Andre August in his next professional boxing match on Dec. 15.

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The bout will be contested over eight rounds at cruiserweight (200 pounds) and takes place at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando. While most of Paul’s fights have been available via pay-per-view, this one will be part of the DAZN subscription package.

August, who owns a 10-1-1 mark in boxing with five knockouts, is the most experienced opponent Paul has faced to date. “The Problem Child” has made his name primarily by facing mixed martial artists thus far in his career.

“I’m a professional boxer and I want to be world champion, so I need to pursue the path towards greatness against people who have been boxing their whole life,” Paul said in a release. “So far, my entire boxing career has been on pay-per-view, but now it’s about more than business. Now I want to build my experience in the ring against seasoned fighte…

Dan Hooker isn’t looking forward to five rounds against Bobby Green for a co-main event.

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Hooker initially expected that his bout against Green, which is slated for UFC on ESPN 52 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 2, whould be the event’s headliner. Instead, the fight will be the co-main event but is still scheduled for five rounds. The Kiwi is not happy with losing out on all the benefits that come with being in the evening’s featured bout.

“That pissed me right off,” Hooker told the NZ Herald. “It’s a funny one. You call up anyone and ask, ‘You want to do twice as much work for the same money?’ No, brother. After three I’m going home. The main event is five rounds. You can’t chuck it to co-main and still keep the five rounds. It’s just not a thing. It’s a sport of risk versus reward. You give me the main event and everything that comes with that. With winning a main event comes bigger opportunities and you get a lot more exposure — I l…

Two of MMA’s most quotable trash talkers have recently taken aim at one another.

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship contenders Chael Sonnen and Jorge Masvidal are in a war of words following their recent appearances on “The MMA Hour.” The roots of the conflict trace back to last week, when Sonnen got into a shouting match with host Ariel Helwani, with Helwani lauding Francis Ngannou’s success outside the UFC and Sonnen accusing the journalist of having a bias against the promotion. On a subsequent episode, Masvidal sided with Helwani while ridiculing Sonnen.

One of the most renowned trash talkers and heel in the history of the sport, Sonnen didn’t let Masvidal’s dig go unanswered. The 46-year-old went on a relentless online tirade, bringing up Masvidal’s history with Colby Covington, whom Masvidal assaulted in the street last March, two weeks after losing to him in lopsided fashion at UFC 272. Sonnen wrote:

“Jorge if you wanna scrap. You ha…

While Alexander Volkanovski was lauded for stepping up on short notice to face Islam Makhachev for the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title at UFC 294, it seems he was not the only contender who accepted the offer.

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The promotion was left scrambling after Makhachev’s scheduled opponent, Charles Oliveira, pulled out due to a severe cut suffered in sparring on Oct. 10, just 11 days before the fight. The next day, it was announced that Oliveira had been replaced by featherweight champ Volkanovski, but in the meantime, the UFC had apparently been weighing its options, as former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier (29-8) claims he received a call from UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell around the same time asking if he could make weight on short notice. According to “The Diamond,” he agreed and was very excited at the possibility, though Campbell didn’t give him any assurances. Poirier never received the call back as he believes t…

While Alexander Volkanovski was lauded for stepping up on short notice to face Islam Makhachev for the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title at UFC 294, it seems he was not the only contender who accepted the offer.

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The promotion was left scrambling after Makhachev’s scheduled opponent, Charles Oliveira, pulled out due to a severe cut suffered in sparring on Oct. 10, just 11 days before the fight. The next day, it was announced that Oliveira had been replaced by featherweight champ Volkanovski, but in the meantime, the UFC had apparently been weighing its options, as former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier (29-8) claims he received a call from UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell around the same time asking if he could make weight on short notice. According to “The Diamond,” he agreed and was very excited at the possibility, though Campbell didn’t give him any assurances. Poirier never received the call back as he believes t…

A bantamweight clash pitting Yadong Song against Chris Gutierrez will serve as the main event for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming card in Shanghai, China.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing following an initial report from MagicM_MMABets on social media. UFC Fight Night 233 takes place at Shanghai Indoor Stadium on Dec. 9 and also includes a middleweight showdown between Andre Muniz and Jun Yong Park as well as a flyweight matchup between Tatsuro Taira and Carlos Hernandez.

A native of Tianjin, China, the 25-year-old Song has won four of his last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, the “Kung Fu Kid” defeated Ricky Simon via fifth-round technical knockout in the UFC on ESPN 45 headliner on April 29.

Gutierrez, meanwhile, is 8-1-1 in his last 10 UFC outings. The Factory X standout has split his first two fights of 2023, dropping a unanimous verdict to Pedro Munhoz at UFC on ESPN 44 before outpointing Heili Alateng at UFC Fight Night 230.

One of the top female flyweights in the world is no longer on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster.

Ex-title challenger Taila Santos has been released by the Las Vegas-based promotion on the heels of back-to-back losses. Multiple outlets confirmed the news following after it was initially shared by UFC Roster Tracker on social media. According to MMAjunkie.com, Santo had “a couple of fights” left on her contract when she was cut.

A competitor on the Brazilian edition of Dana White’s in 2018, Santos compiled a 4-3 mark in UFC competition. The Astra Fight Team product won four straight bouts from 2020 to 2021 to earn a title shot, and she was extremely competitive in dropping a split verdict against then champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275. Most recently, the 30-year-old Brazilian suffered a unanimous decision defeat against Erin Blanchfield at UFC Fight Night 225 this past August.

Santos owns a 19-3 career mark that includes wins over the likes o…

Sean O'Malley has doubled down on his stance of not accepting his lone professional loss.

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The UFC bantamweight champion suffered his only pro defeat against Marlon Vera back in 2020, a loss he refuses to accept to this day. Vera hurt O’Malley’s lead leg with a low kick in the opening frame and followed it up with vicious ground-and-pound to earn a TKO victory. According to O’Malley, the kick damaged his peroneal nerve by fluke.

O’Malley is now scheduled to defend his title against Vera in a rematch in the main event of UFC 299 in March. “Sugar” refuses to believe that Vera will be able to damage his nerve again, but he is willing to accept even the first loss if history is repeated.

O’Malley, who sounds extremely confident going into the rematch, believes Vera is scared becaue the Ecuadorian knows the first win was a “fluke.”

“Like, it doesn’t happen that much. And if it happens again, then I’ll never — I’ll say, ‘Alright, I lost twice.…