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Ryan Bader won’t be in action for at least a few more months after joining the cast of "The Smashing Machine.”

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The Bellator MMA heavyweight champion recently announced on social media that he has landed a role in the biopic on UFC and Pride Fighting Championships veteran Mark Kerr, who will be played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

“Putting the MMA game on pause a bit as I head to Vancouver for about three months,” Bader wrote on Instagram. “Excited to be part of an amazing project by [director] Benny Safdie. Giving ode to a couple legends of the sport, Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman. The highs and lows that come with this crazy ass sport.”

Produced by A24, “The Smashing Machine” will also star Emily Blunt and is expected to be released sometime in 2025. It is currently unknown exactly what role Bader will play in the film, which is based on a 2002 documentary of the same name. According to imdb.com, the movie will be “based on the true events su…

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The UFC Apex has been a staple of the Las Vegas-based promotion’s calendar since the COVID-19 pandemic.

While those events were born out of necessity early on, the Apex shows haven’t gone anywhere even with pandemic restrictions being lifted in recent years. The atmosphere at the UFC’s home facility is lacking compared to cards in various cities, which was once again evident during UFC on ESPN 56 in St. Louis on Saturday night.

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According to UFC CEO Dana White, the event gate of $2.47 million was a Fight Night record, surpassing the previous mark set for a card in Austin, Texas, this past December, and those in attendance at the Enterprise Center gave it a big-fight feel — particularly when hometown favorites such as Joaquin Buckley, Sean Woodson and Charles Johnson were in action.

“Even if you were watching on ESPN, I’m sure you guys were getting texts too. They’re like, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s like a pay-per-view there right now.’ And when you think a…

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗧 💰🏆

Get ready for the 2024 #PFLPlayoffs 🔜

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For more information 👇🔗https://t.co/eCMG4faqPw pic.twitter.com/fg4uduzfup — PFL (@PFLMMA) May 13, 2024

The Professional Fighters League playoffs are on the horizon.

The organization on Monday announced the dates and locations for its three postseason events. Heavyweights and women’s flyweights are set for Aug. 2 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee; light heavyweights and lightweights will be in action at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on Aug. 16 and welterweights and featherweights will take center stage at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 23.

“PFL playoff action is second to none, with the best athletes in the sport vying for a chance to continue their million-dollar championship journeys,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray in a release. “The PFL is excited to bring the 2024 PFL global season playoff…

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Bryce Mitchell and Sean Woodson are seemingly on a collision course to meet in the Octagon.

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Woodson recently put on a striking masterclass to earn a unanimous decision win over featherweight veteran Alex Caceres at UFC on ESPN 56. “The Sniper” subsequently called out Mitchell in his post-fight Octagon interview.

“I just beat a Top 15-ranked guy,” Woodson said. “He wasn’t [Top] 15 right now, but when we signed the fight he was Top 15. I feel like I should be Top 15 next. Next I want Bryce Mitchell. I want No. 10, then I want No. 5 and then I want a title shot.”

Mitchell took almost no time in accepting the challenge in a video uploaded to social media.

“When and where, dude? When and where? I’m sitting here watching this s—t,” Mitchell said. “I’m ready. I need some money. I’m ready to fight you. Tell me where.”

Woodson hasn’t lost in has last six UFC outings since falling to Julian Erosa in 2020. His current winn…

Sharabutdin Magomedov blames Michel Pereira for disrupting his upcoming fight.

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Magomedov was originally scheduled to fight Ihor Potieria at UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22. However, Potieria replaced an injured Makhmud Muradov against Michel Pereira at UFC 301 on May 4. Potieria was submitted by Pereira in under a minute, which also resulted in a medical suspension for the Ukrainian middleweight until August.

The fight was not without controversy, as Pereira came dangerously close to landing an illegal knee against his opponent after he backflipped into top position. After a review, it was determined that Pereira did not commit a foul in that moment. However, “The Duelist” has since protested the outcome.

“Hey everyone… Friends, thank you very much for your support, I appreciate it and am very grateful to you. I’m also very grateful to the haters for not forgetting and supporting me as much as possible, I appreciate that too. It’s a shame that I c…

Dustin Poirier doesn’t miss the opportunity to jump a guillotine, something coach Mike Brown knows all too well.

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Poirier is infamous for attempting the guillotine choke, even though it lands him in a compromised bottom position more often than not. Most recently, “The Diamond” repeatedly jumped the guillotine without any success against Benoit St. Denis at UFC 299 in March, even though his corner advised him against it.

Brown, Poirier’s coach at American Top Team, recently revealed what transpired in their corner in between the rounds during that bout. According to Brown, Poirier blatantly ignored his corner’s advice to avoid the guillotine and went on to attempt another immediately afterward.

“They actually didn’t play it in between the rounds, after the first round I said, ‘No more guillotines,’ and then they switched to the other corner,” Poirier told MMAFighting.com. “But right after I said that, Dustin said, ‘No, but I can hit it! I can h…

A heavyweight clash pitting Andrei Arlovski against Martin Buday will take place two weeks later than originally expected.

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The bout, which was slated for UFC Fight Night on June 15, has been moved to UFC 303 on June 29 for undisclosed reasons. Buday announced the shift on social media, and it has been confirmed by multiple outlets. The heavyweight combatants will now have a considerably larger stage for their bout, as UFC 303 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight scrap between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.

The matchup with Buday will mark Arlovski’s 42nd Octagon appearance — the second most in UFC history behind Jim Miller. After winning four straight contests from April 2021 to April 2022, the 45-year-old Belarusian has dropped his last three promotional outings. Most recently, “The Pit Bull” suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Fight Night 234 on Jan. 13.

A win…

Derrick Lewis got the job done against Rodrigo Nascimento a little earlier than he anticipated in the UFC on ESPN 56 main event.

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After engaging his Brazilian opponent in the clinch in the first two rounds, “The Black Beast” shifted gears in the third stanza, flooring Nascimento with an overhand right and pounding away with follow-up punches until the bout was halted at the 49-second mark.

“I was really waiting for the fifth round then explode on him, but the opportunity was there,” Lewis said at the post-fight press conference. “He didn’t let me catch my breath, so that’s why I had to finish him. I was trying to catch my breath, then wait it out.”

In the aftermath of his latest victory, Lewis removed his fight shorts and threw his cup at press row. He also briefly mooned the crowd at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. It’s all in a day’s work for the popular heavyweight, though there was a playful message behind the cup toss.

“You know, beca…

Joaquin Buckley gave his best effort to get a finish against Nursulton Ruziboev in the third round of the UFC on ESPN 56 co-main event, but it wasn’t meant to be.

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Despite a dominant third round where Buckley dropped his foe and outlanded him by a 64-to-16 count in significant strikes, Ruziboev was able to make it to the final horn. Still, there was no doubt about the final verdict, as “New Mansa” emerged with a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph on Saturday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis for his fourth consecutive UFC victory.

“I ain’t gonna lie. I guess (referee Keith) Peterson had his money on somebody else, because he should have stopped the fight a long time ago,” Buckley said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “But it is what it is. He’s a tough guy. He had a lot of motivation to try to win so he stayed in there. His will was strong.”

The performance was especially significant for Buckley, a St. Louis native who had campai…

According to UFC CEO Dana White, Conor McGregor’s return will set an all-time gate record for the Las Vegas-based promotion.

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McGregor will face Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29 as the culmination of International Fight Week. It will be the first fight since July 2021 for the UFC’s biggest star, and ticket sales seem to reflect a high level of interest in the former two-division champion.

“It’s already way over $20 million,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 56 post-fight press conference on Saturday.

To put that figure in perspective, the UFC has never held an event that produced a live gate of more than $20 million. However, McGregor has been attached to several of the promotion’s largest gates, including the previous record of $17.7 million set at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden in New York. At that event, McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez in the headliner to capture the lightweight crown.…

The lineup for Rizin 47 continues to grow, as the Japanese promotion announced four new bouts for the June 9 card over the weekend.

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The new bookings will include a few Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans, as Spike Carlyle meets Kyung Pyo Kim; Kazuki Tokudome faces Sho Patrick Usami and Johnny Case takes on Noah Bey — all at lightweight. Additionally, Mikio Ueda will lock horns with Przemyslaw Kowalczyk in a heavyweight affair.

Rizin 47 takes place at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo and features a bantamweight clash between Kyoji Horiguchi and Sergio Pettis. In another featured contest, Kleber Koike Erbst will meet Juan Archuleta at 145 pounds.

Carlyle, a three-time UFC veteran, has lost his last three fights. Most recently, he dropped a three-round verdict against Yoshinori Horie at Rizin 44. A former Road to UFC competitor, South Korea’s Kim is coming off back-to-back finishes of Tural Ragimov and Usami under the Rizin banner.

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