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Even with money tight internationally, the Professional Fighters League has added a significant investment to its already sizeable war chest.

On Thursday, the promotion sent out a press release announcing that a new investment from Ares Capital, Elysian Park Ventures and Knighthead Capital totaling $65 has been added to the PFL’s budget. This addition to the PFL’s funding that already combined for $110 million now totals a whopping $175 million. Per broadcast partner ESPN, a significant amount of this figure will be spent on free agent acquisitions.

The tournament-centric league, which took off the whole of 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic, has bolstered its ranks in its extended offseason. In addition to retaining the services of its previous champions like Lance Palmer, Ray Cooper III and Kayla Harrison, it has al…

Anthony Hernandez soumet l’invaincu (7-0 en MMA jusque là, 100% de finish) quadruple champion du monde de JJB, champion de l’ADCC en 2015, Rodolfo Vieira #UFC258pic.twitter.com/TT7gWaJoX3

— La Sueur (@lasueur_off) February 14, 2021

The UFC 258 preliminary card attracted 794,000 viewers to ESPN on Saturday night, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

The two-hour prelims aired on ESPN from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET and saw Anthony Hernandez submit Rodolfo Vieira in the featured matchup on that portion of the card. The prelims also aired on ESPN+, but viewership figures aren’t available for the streaming platform.

UFC 258 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Kamaru Usman retain his welterweight crown with a third-round stoppage of Gilbert Burns in the evening’s headliner. Outside of the main event, the card didn’t have the usual star power of a pay-per-view offering.

As expected, the ratings for the UFC 258 prelims came in below thos…

Dana White’s recent revelation that Jon Jones would get to face the winner of the Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou bout didn’t come as a surprise to Curtis Blaydes.

Miocic and Ngannou will square off in the UFC 260 headliner on March 27, and if all goes as planned Jones will get a chance to vie for heavyweight gold against the winner sometime in the summer. That leaves a contender like Blaydes, who will be gunning for his fifth consecutive triumph in the UFC Fight Night 185 main event agianst Derrick Lewis, on the outside looking in.

“I expected it. It’s Jon Jones. He's a money fight," Blaydes told ESPN. "If he wants to fight for the belt, yeah, he gets to fight for the belt. I'm not shocked. Do I think it's the most fair thing? No, but that's not what this business is about. It’s not about fair and who’s earned what.”

Jones, who is widely regarded as the greatest light heavyweight of all-time, vacated his belt last year in anticipation of a move to heavyweight. I…

A pivotal women’s flyweight showdown between Katlyn Chookagian and Viviane Araujo is in the works for a UFC event on May 15.

ESPN was first to report the matchup, which is close to being finalized by the Las Vegas-based promotion. A location and headliner for the card have not been confirmed.

A former title challenger at 125 pounds, Chookagian has been victorious in four of six Octagon appearances since 2019. Most recently, “Blonde Fighter” outpointed Cynthia Calvillo at UFC 255 on Nov. 21. The Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu representative’s resume also features wins over the likes of Jennifer Maia, Joanne Calderwood, Irene Aldana and Lauren Murphy.

Araujo, meanwhile, has earned victories in four of five promotional outings. The 34-year-old Brazilian enters the matchup with Chookagian on the strength of back-to-back decision triumphs over Montana De La Rosa and Roxanne Modafferi. Her lone defeat in the Octagon came against Jessica Eye at UFC 245.

UFC veteran Bryan Caraway is facing multiple charges after allegedly stealing an ATV from ex-girlfriend Miesha Tate and filing fraudulent insurance claims on the vehicle.

According to a report from the Tri-Cities Herald, Caraway is expected to enter a plea on March 11 forgery, making a false statement on a vehicle application certificate of title, false claims of proof in excess of $1,500 and first-degree attempted theft.

Caraway allegedly forged the title for a 2015 Polaris RZR and reported the vehicle stolen from his home in December 2018. Per court documents, Caraway bought the insurance policy just days before filing the claim. In the claim, Caraway valued the vehicle and its contents at $18,500.

After missing a Feb. 4 court hearing, Caraway appeared on the Washington state Officer of the Insurance Commissioner’s “Most Wanted” list. Caraway was removed from the list when he contacted the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office to schedule a new arraignment date on his c…

The last time Curtis Blaydes was in the Octagon, he landed a whopping 14 takedowns en route to a five-round verdict over Alexander Volkov in the UFC on ESPN 11 headliner this past June.

Considering Volkov’s most recent performance against Alistair Overeem, the victory looks even more impressive in hindsight. However, UFC president Dana White didn't seem to appreciate the means by which Blaydes had his hand raised, especially since the heavyweight contender fatigued somewhat down the stretch.

“He won. He talked a lot of s—t coming in this week,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t think you can talk the s—t that he talked this week and come in and perform like that. Talking about ragdolling people and not getting paid. Yada yada. He should be getting a title shot. He gassed out at the end of the third round, made it to the fifth and won the fight. Yeah, he won.”

As he heads into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 185 main event against Derrick Lewis…

A light heavyweight showdown pitting Ion Cutelaba against Devin Clark is set for UFC Fight Night on May 1.

MMA DNA was first to report the booking. The card takes place at an as yet to be determined location and is headlined by a 205-pound tilt between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka.

Cutelaba is looking to bounce back from consecutive first-round KO/TKO defeats at the hands of Magomed Ankalaev in 2020. The 27-year-old Moldovan is 4-5 during his promotional tenure and 15-6 with one no contest as a professional overall. He’s finished 12 of his wins by knockout or technical knockout.

Clark, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak snapped in a first-round submission loss against Anthony Smith in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 18 this past November. “Brown Bear” is 6-5 within the Las Vegas-based promotion and 12-5 over the course of his MMA career.

Kamaru Usman could be looking at six months on the sidelines following his latest title defense at UFC 258.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” must have his right foot X-rayed and cleared by a doctor or he will be suspended until Aug. 13. At a minimum, Usman is suspended until March 16 with no contact until March 7. A full list of medical suspensions from this past Saturday’s event were released to mixedmartialarts.com.

UFC 258 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Usman retain his welterweight crown with a third-round technical knockout of Gilbert Burns in the evening’s headliner. Burns is suspended until March 31 due to lacerations on his right eyebrow and left orbital.

Seven other fighters from UFC 258 are facing possible six-month sits pending doctor clearance: Alexa Grasso (right knee), Maycee Barber (right shoulder), Anthony Hernandez (right hand), Dhiego Lima (nose), Mallory Martin (right elbow), Chris Gutierrez (nose) and Phil Rowe (left knee).

UFC 258 Me…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny2y8YmJsYw&w=560&h=315]

Khamzat Chimaev will continue his battle against the lingering health issues from COVID-19 in the United States.

According to a report from ESPN, the UFC is flying the welterweight prospect into Las Vegas to receive additional medical care. Chimaev was forced to withdraw from a March 13 headlining clash with Leon Edwards due to onging symptoms from the coronavirus. The goal is for Chimaev to fight in June, but his longterm health will be the primary concern.

Last week, in a video released on Frontkick.online's YouTube channel, manager Majdi Shammas revealed that Chimaev “thought he was going to die” after one recent training session.

“He was really bad. He didn’t even do two rounds straight. He did one round and then rested,” Shammas said. “He started coughing, started feeling ill again, and we had to cancel the training. He even went in an ambulance to the hospital.”

Chimaev was a breakout s…

A potential welterweight slugfest between Mike Perry and Daniel Rodriguez is in the works for UFC Fight Night on April 10.

The matchup was initially reported by Fighter Path. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Darren Till and Marvin Vettori.

Perry split a pair of bouts in 2020, outpointing Mickey Gall at UFC on ESPN 12 before dropping a unanimous verdict against Tim Means at UFC 256. “Platinum” is 7-7 over the course of his promotional tenure and owns other notable wins against the likes of Paul Felder, Alex Oliveira and Jake Ellenberger.

Rodriguez kicked off his UFC career with wins over Means, Gabriel Green and Dwight Grant before losing a unanimous decision to Nicolas Dalby in his fourth Octagon appearance of 2020. The 34-year-old owns a 13-2 career mark, with 11 of his victories coming inside the distance.

Kamaru Usman is a sizeable favorite to best Jorge Masvidal for a second time should the two welterweights square off again in the near future.

According to oddsmaker BetOnline, Usman opened as a -300 favorite, while Masvidal was listed at +250. As of this writing, Usman was listed at -310 and Masvidal at +260. The rematch must happen sometime in 2021 for any betting action to be valid.

Those odds are comparable to those released prior to UFC 251, when Usman opened as a -313 favorite and Masvidal was a +263 underdog. After original foe Gilbert Burns tested positive for COVID-19, Masvidal stepped in on less than one week’s notice and lost a five-round verdict to the reigning welterweight king on July 11. The card, which featured two other title bouts, drew an estimated 1.3 million pay-per-view buys.

After besting Burns at UFC 258 this past weekend, Usman turned his attention to a return date with Masvidal.

“Like I said, you’ve got this fake Jesus wannabe r…

The UFC is hoping the third time will be the charm for Jimmie Rivera and Pedro Munhoz.

The promotion has rescheduled the bantamweight clash for UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27 after two previous cancellations. Munhoz and Rivera were initially slated to meet at UFC on ESPN 20 on Jan. 20 before being relocated to UFC 258 on Feb. 13 for undisclosed reasons. However, that second booking fell through due to a positive COVID-19 test related to the bout. MMAjunkie.com confirmed the new date after it was initially mentioned by MMAFighting.com.

UFC Fight Night 186 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight duel between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane. The card is expected to stream in its entirety on ESPN+.

Rivera and Munhoz initially squared off more than five years ago at UFC Fight Night 77, with Rivera claiming a split-decision triumph. That was part of a 20-bout professional winning streak for Rivera, who is just 2-3 in the Oct…