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Jan Blachowicz took issue with Alex Pereira issuing a callout to Israel Adesanya after his title win at UFC 295 over the weekend.

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Pereira took on Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York with the vacant light heavyweight title on the line. The Brazilian scored a second-round TKO win over Prochazka to become the fastest double champ in UFC history, taking just seven fights to win titles in two weight classes.

Pereira then went on to call out Adesanya, inviting his longtime rival to the light heavyweight division. In addition to two kickboxing victories over his rival, “Poatan” also dethroned Adesanya at UFC 281 last November before getting knocked out by “The Last Stylebender” earlier this year.

Regardless of the history, Blachowicz wasn’t happy with Pereira’s callout and voiced his thoughts on social media.

“[Alex Pereira] I know you're a slimy one,” Blachowicz wrote. “Calling out Izzy. Great performanc…

Two-time light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes will return to action against the surging Carlos Ulberg at UFC 297.

The promotion announced the booking during the UFC 295 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 297 takes place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Jan. 20 and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash pitting Sean Strickland against Dricus Du Plessis.

Reyes is in the midst of a four-bout skid that dates back to a competitive championship loss to Jon Jones at UFC 247 in February 2020. More recently, “The Devastator” suffered a first-round KO defeat to Ryan Spann at UFC 281.

Ulberg, meanwhile, has quietly been building momentum at 205 pounds. The City Kickboxing representative has won his last five Octagon appearances, including a third-round submission of Da Woon Jung in his last outing at UFC 293.

Alex Pereira believes he has what it takes to motivate Israel Adesanya.

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After claiming the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round stoppage of Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 295 headliner, “Poatan” called for his longtime rival to meet him at 205 pounds.

“I know that I’m not going to do what he did to me and make me fight three times to fight him at middleweight,” Pereira said in the Octagon. “I know it’s a guy we have a lot of history. I want to make this fight happen. Adesanya, come to daddy.”

Adesanya last appeared at UFC 293, where he relinquished the middleweight crown in a surprising unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland. Not long after, “The Last Stylebender” hinted that he might take an extended break from MMA. Pereira’s callout didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the City Kickboxing stalwart, as he simply responded by trolling his rival on social media.

Let it gooooo 🎶 pic.twitter.com/gv9ZYliKwH Read more

Tom Aspinall didn’t leave much for Jon Jones to dissect at UFC 295.

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The Englishman claimed interim gold in emphatic fashion, as he knocked out Sergei Pavlovich 69 seconds into Round 1 of their co-main event bout at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Jones took to social media to praise Aspinall following the victory. ‘

“Tom congratulations on the interim heavyweight championship belt! That was an awesome performance!” Jones wrote.

Tom congratulations on the interim heavyweight championship belt! That was an awesome performance!

— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 12, 2023

It’s not the first time Jones, the regining heavyweight king ,has praised Aspinall, and the the Team Kaobon product appreciates the accolades. But he’d like one more thing from the man known as “Bones.”

“I’ve seen Jon talking nice stuff about me on a podcast, as well. It’s really nice,” Aspinall said at Saturday’s post-fight press conferen…

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Benoit St. Denis is eyeing a who’s who of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division after a spectacular knockout win over Matt Frevola.

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Saint-Denis (13-1) took on Frevola (11-4) on the UFC 295 main card at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday. “God of War” floored the New York native 1:31 in the opening frame into with a shin-to-chin left head kick before following up with some ground-and-pound that was hardly necessary before referee Mike Beltran stepped in.

St. Denis claims he was on the lookout for striking opportunities while on the break from scrambles.

“I knew he was not going to exchange too much in the scrambles with me,” the Frenchman said in his post-fight Octagon interview. “… I knew that he doesn’t win the scrambles, there’s going to be opportunities after the scramble.”

St. Denis also put elite lightweight contenders on notice, which included cageside guests Dustin Poirier and Just…

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John Castaneda showed nothing but respect for Adrian Yanez while calling him out in his UFC 295 post-fight interview.

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“Sexi Mexi” defeated South Korean veteran Kyung Ho Kang (19-10) via unanimous decision in a 138-pound catchweight bout on the UFC 295 preliminary card at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night. Castaneda, 31, was almost too polite to call anyone out after his victory but ultimately issued a respectful challenge to Yanez (16-5). The Minnesota native believes a potential booking against Yanez is an intriguing stylistic matchup.

“I’m not gonna call people out but if I were to call somebody out, I really really would love a fight with Adrian Yanez,” Castaneda said during a post-fight media session. “Not because it’s like a disrespect thing, but stylistically I think we can put on a banger. Absolutely… A little hopeful callout.”

Castaneda improved his Ultimate Fighting Championship record to 4-2 with …

Julianna Pena claims the winner of the upcoming title fight between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will only be “belt warming” until she returns to action.

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Pennington (15-8) and Silva (10-2) will clash in the co-main event at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto with the vacant women’s bantamweight title on the line. For many, the booking came as a slight surprise due to the absence of Pena (11-5), who has been the only other woman besides Amanda Nunes to sit on the 135-pound throne in recent years.

Pena famously submitted Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021 in one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport before losing the strap via a lopsided decision in a rematch the following year. “The Venezuelan Vixen” was then scheduled to face Nunes in a trilogy clash at UFC 289 this past June but had to pull out due to an undisclosed injury. “The Lioness” recorded yet another dominant decision win over short-notice replacement Irene…

Khabib Nurmagomedov claims he has never fought with money as his primary motivation.

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Nurmagomedov, 35, hung up his gloves at his peak in 2020, retiring as a champ with a perfect 29-0 record. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king recently hinted that he has received multiple million-dollar payday offers to bring him out of retirement.

While Nurmagomedov admits it isn’t easy to turn down that kind of big money, “The Eagle” refuses to budge from his decision, one he claims he will never regret.

“When you’re the best fighter in the world, when you’re strong enough, when you have money, when you’re famous, it’s very hard to say no to all these things,” he told Daniel Cormier on UFC Fight Pass’ "Ultimate 30” countdown (transcription via MMAFighting.com). “It’s very hard. It’s not easy. It’s not easy [to] just say no to $20, $30, $40 million dollars. But for myself, it’s not everything. This is not most important. It was not an e…

UFC 295 was one of the most memorable events of the year, and its top performers were compensated accordingly.

The Las Vegas-based promotion handed out seven $50,000 bonuses following Saturday’s card at Madison Square Garden in New York. Of those, five main-card fighters received “Performance of the Night” honors: Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall, Jessica Andrade, Benoit St. Denis and Diego Lopes.

Pereira became the ninth two-division champion in promotion history by virtue of his second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka in the evening’s light heavyweight headliner, while Aspinall captured interim heavyweight gold with a 69-second shellacking of Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event.

Earlier, Andrade set a UFC women’s record with four knockdowns in a second-round stoppage of Mackenzie Dern in a featured strawweight affair; St. Denis secured his fifth straight finish with a head-kick KO of Matt Frevola and Lopes knocked out Pat Sabatini 90 seconds into their main-card op…

Alex Pereira made certain history will remember him.

The surgical Brazilian kickboxer struck gold in a second Ultimate Fighting Championship weight class when he vanquished Jiri Prochazka with a volley of second-round elbows and walked away with the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 headliner on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Prochazka (29-4-1, 3-1 UFC) checked out 4:08 into Round 2.

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Now the first man to have won UFC championships at 185 and 205 pounds, Pereira weaved in and out of danger. Prochazka secured a takedown and enjoyed some significant control time in the second half of the first round, having chosen to move the action to the floor after the Brazilian tore into his lead leg with a series of punishing kicks. Pereira (9-2, 6-1 UFC) stayed calm under duress, eventually returned to an upright position and extended the fight. Prochazka appeared to have him reeling with a few overhand rights in Round 2, but his aggre…

Sherdog's live UFC 295 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Emmers (-258), Buzukja (+210)Round 1 There’s not much like a live sporting event at Madison Square Garden. The UFC makes its annual pilgrimage to the world-famous arena with a show that took several huge hits but came back with a vengeance. The main card alone promises plenty of action, but before then, eight prelims play out on the various ESPN and streaming networks out there. The fights commence with a match scheduled at featherweight only to get a slight tweak on weigh-in day. Coming in one pound heavy, Emmers (19-7, 2-3 UFC) will hope that surrendering a percentage of purse is the only thing he loses today against New York’s own Buzukja (11-3, 0-1 UFC). Buzukja offers his hand outstretched, and the heavy fighter choose not to accept it under the nonsense-free gaze of referee Keith Peterson. It’s on with the show. Buzukja sticks out a few jabs early, and Emmers is …

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Steve Erceg passed his first serious test in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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The 28-year-old Australian operated behind efficient standup and a tactical clinch game, as he was awarded a unanimous verdict over Alessandro Costa in their featured UFC 295 flyweight prelim on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Erceg (11-1, 2-0 UFC), who has now strung together 10 straight victories.

Costa (13-4, 1-2 UFC) made his presence known in the middle stanza, where he mucked up the proceedings, turned it into a brawl and rocked the onetime Eternal MMA champion with a series of sweeping right hooks. Erceg withstood those efforts, lured him into the clinch in the third round, chewed up valuable time and piled up points while staying out of danger in tight spaces.

Meanwhile, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Lupita Godinez became t…