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Paulo Costa claims to have significantly diversified his skillset since his title loss to Israel Adesanya in 2020.

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Costa was undefeated in 13 pro-outings that included 12 finishes going into his gold bid against Adesanya at UFC 253. Adesanya delivered a striking clinic to hand “Borrachinha” his first loss via second-round technical knockout.

While Costa has since gone 1-2, the Brazilian recently put on a gritty performance against Robert Whittaker, almost knocking “The Reaper” out despite suffering a unanimous decision loss. According to Costa, he has developed several new tools in his arsenal since his loss to “The Last Stylebender.”

Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ “I’ve grown a lot as a fighter, as a person; [I’m] more experienced,” Costa told ESPN MMA. “I have more skills than in the past, like [a] spinning back kick everybody saw in my fight against Whittaker. And improving my wre…

The main card for #UFCAbuDhabi is set!!!@VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/yUK7VdaOAc

— danawhite (@danawhite) May 29, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship has put together a beast of a main card for its return to Abu Dhabi this fall.

On Wednesday, the organization announced the full five-fight slate for the main card of UFC on ABC 7. The fights will be held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 3. Headlining the card will be the previously booked bantamweight showdown of Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov. Additionally, the UFC confirmed the bantamweight battle between Marlon Vera and Deiveson Figueiredo. Three other newly released matchups will round out the billing.

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In the co-headliner spot, Nick Diaz (26-10, 2 NC) will make his return to the Octagon in the welterweight division. The 40-year-old Cesar Gracie Fight Team staple will stand across the cage from Vi…

"The Eagle has landed" 🦅@MAKHACHEVMMA is excited to have @TeamKhabib back in his corner for #UFC302! pic.twitter.com/AcvpdByEnX

— UFC (@ufc) May 28, 2024

Islam Makhachev has confirmed that Khabib Nurmagomedov will be in his corner for his upcoming title fight.

Makhachev (25-1) will defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier (30-8) in the UFC 302 main event on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. While Makhachev has been seen training with Nurmagomedov ahead of UFC 302, it wasn’t confirmed up until now whether “The Eagle” would be present for the card. However, Makhachev has now clarified that Nurmagomedov will indeed be in his corner for the pay-per-view offering, which he is certainly glad about. “Eagle is landed in Jersey City. He is going to be in my corner. Honestly, I’m very happy because he is one of the best corner, coach, brother, friend. That’s it.”

Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Saturday …

Benoit St. Denis believes Islam Makhachev has more tools at his disposal than Dustin Poirier to get his hands raised at UFC 302.

Makhachev is slated to defend his lightweight strap against Poirier in the main event at UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Poirier made his case for the gold bid with a second-round knockout win over St. Denis at UFC 299in March. While St. Denis acknowledges Poirier’s elite boxing, “God of War” notes that Makhachev’s complete skillset cannot go unnoticed.

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While St. Denis is leaving room for a potential knockout from Poirier, the Frenchman believes Makhachev has a more well-rounded arsenal to get the job done, either via knockout, submission or decision.

“It’s a great fight. Dustin Poirier is a very composed and experienced fighter. I do believe he has boxing on his side, but Makhachev is very well-rounded,” St. Denis recently told MMA Fighting at the ADXC 4 grappling event in Paris. “I do belie…

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While coach Eric Nicksick agrees that Sean Strickland could benefit from some sophistication, he doesn’t want his fighter to turn soft.

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Strickland (28-6) is scheduled to take on Paulo Costa (14-3) in a five-round co-headliner at UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Strickland is notorious for his rants and controversial opinions. However, “Tarzan” was recently seen teaching his pup Harley how to swim, leading people to wonder if the former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ is really kind-hearted and compassionate on the inside.

Strickland’s longtime coach recently confirmed that his pupil is, in fact, a “softy.”

According to Nicksick, Strickland’s girlfriend, himself and other members at the gym all work on refining some of Strickland’s edges. However, they unanimously also don’t want the California native to turn soft altogether.

Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Satur…

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While Dustin Poirier (30-8) is one of Mike Brown’s best fighters at American Top Team, “The Diamond” also gives his coach a lot of stress.

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Poirier is scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev (25-1) for lightweight gold in the main event at UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. “The Diamond” earned his shot with a second-round knockout over French finishing machine Benoit St. Denis at UFC 299 in March. Prior to knocking out St. Denis, Poirier attempted multiple unsuccessful guillotine chokes, compromising position each time. When Brown told Poirier to avoid the guillotines after Round 1, “The Diamond” responded by saying he could secure one and proceeded to go for another right at the beginning of Round 2.

While things worked out well for Poirier in the end, Brown admits that the Louisiana native is his most stress-inducing fighter by far. Aside from Poirier being hard-headed at times, the pressure also com…

Islam Makhachev had to go through all kinds of trials and tribulations to become the Ultimate Fighting Championship's No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.

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Makhachev (25-1) hails from Makhachkala, Dagestan, a region where the most common dream for kids now is to become a UFC champion. The area has also been successfully churning out a plethora of highly-skilled fighters who have established themselves in every major mixed martial arts promotion in the world.

However, while combat sports have always been a part of Dagestani culture, the hype behind them only peaked with the crowning of Makhachev’s teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov as UFC champion in 2018. The Eagle’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, considered a pioneer of the sport in the Russian territory, is credited for the massive growth of MMA in the region by crafting champions like his son and Makhachev.

Abdulmanap managed to produce world-class athletes under harsh conditions in the mountain…

BREAKING NEWS! Jhonata Diniz (@jho) retorna ao octógono contra Karl Williams no UFC Vegas 95. O brasileiro busca sua segunda vitória no Ultimate seguida no dia 10 de agosto. pic.twitter.com/kkf26Xdchj

— Laerte Viana (@laertevianamma) May 27, 2024

A heavyweight meeting between two Dana White’s Contender Series competitors has been added to a UFC Fight Night event set to go down at the Ultimate Fighting Championship Apex in Las Vegas on Aug. 10.

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Karl Williams (10-1) will take on undefeated Brazilian Jhonata Diniz (7-0) in his fourth Octagon assignment. The news was first reported by Laerte Viana in a post to X (formerly known as Twitter).

The news was later confirmed by both competitors on their social media accounts.

Williams will lock horns with Diniz aiming to extend his three-fight winning streak, which includes unanimous decision victories over Lukasz Brzeski, Chase Sherman and most recently Justin Tafa. Read more

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Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+

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Sean Strickland's head coach, Eric Nicksick, is confident in his student’s ability to recognize and address the issues that cost him the middleweight strap against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.

As Nicksick prepares his charge to compete against Paulo Costa in the UFC 302 co-main event, the decorated coach recently shared his analysis of their previous assignment and how Strickland has worked on not repeating the same mistakes.

“I think there’s a lot of things we could have done better. That's honest to God truth man,” Nicsick told Submission Radio. “For example, we got away from our kicking, our teeps. I think you and I actually talked about this, the teeps are like three or four things that we needed to negate the pressure, to slow Dricus down with the bodywork but also giving another scoring criteria to the judges to see rather than ju…

Jon Jones believes that Stipe Miocic may be deceiving him with newly released training footage 🤔

"A big part of combat strategy is timing, and deception. To make a long story short, if your opponent appears weak, prepare even harder."

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🎥 IG / @stipemiocic #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/fsVsZqS8gz — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 27, 2024

Jon Jones (27-1) isn’t underestimating Stipe Miocic (20-4) judging by the latter’s latest training video.

Jones was originally scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023 before being forced out due to a pectoral injury. Tom Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight pieced together to save the card.

While Aspinall has since been rallying for a title unification bout against Jones, “Bones” is adamant on fighting Miocic when healthy. Meanwhile, Miocic has also turned down Aspinall, insisting on fightin…

Islam Makhachev is confident that he will keep the belt. He also wants to frame it together with the new gold gloves.

🎥: Sport 24 (YT) pic.twitter.com/Su3xvtaGoq

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 25, 2024

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Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Islam Makhachev (25-1) has mixed reviews about the new Ultimate Fighting Championship gloves.

The new gloves will debut at UFC 302 where Makhachev is set to defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier (30-8) on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Upon testing the new gloves, Makhachev found them stiffer than the prior generation, restricting the extension of one’s fingers. While the gloves have been re-designed to prevent lacerations, Makhachev believes they could instead lead to more cuts due to the stiffness.

“The [new gloves] are very stiff. As I told you, they will cause more cuts, as the previous UFC glo…

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Order Now! UFC 302 “Makhachev vs. Poirier” Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+

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Dustin Poirier’s (30-8) longtime coach, Mike Brown, claims “The Diamond” has made necessary adjustments to his game after his loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Poirier suffered a third-round submission loss against “The Eagle” in his first undisputed title shot at UFC 242 in 2019. Poirier is now scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov’s protégé Islam Makhachev (25-1) in the UFC 302 headliner on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. With both Nurmagomedov and Makhachev sporting very similar wrestling-heavy styles, Poirier believes he has a fair understanding of what’s coming his way.

“Islam and Khabib have similar styles,” Poirier said. “I got to have a bit of understanding of the pressure, the strength and the style of wrestling that those guys have. It’s kind of a little bit of serendipity here cause now I’m fighting his protégé. Once again fo…