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Former UFC signee Pietro Menga on Tuesday was jailed for 15 and five months years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

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According to a statement from the Greater Manchester Police, Menga had a “lucrative job as a middleman for an organized crime group, where he was directly involved in sourcing large quantities of cocaine for customers across the region, all of which he made commission on.”

Over time, authorities were able to identify Menga through a messaging platform service called Encrochat. Through a series of anonymous messages, it was determined that Menga used the handle “wirelessshark” to have conversations with other criminals “openly discussing the sale and purchase of wholesale amounts of drugs and firearms.” Based on the messages on his phone, a drug expert estimated Menga had been involved in the the sale of drugs with a street value well over $50…

Mark Hunt won’t be able to sue the UFC, promotion CEO Dana White and Brock Lesnar, per a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

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According to courthousenews.com, the Ninth Circuit upheld a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in 2023, when she determined that Hunt failed to prove that the promotion and White booked him against Brock Lesnar at UFC while knowing that his opponent was using performance enhancing drugs. The Ninth Circuit took a slightly different stance than Dorsey in its decision.

"Unfortunately, Hunt does not point to any evidence in the record of any physical, emotional, economic, or reputational damage or harm attributable to Defendants-Appellees’ conduct," the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling. "Indeed, while maintaining that such evidence does in fact exist, Hunt acknowledged both in his reply brief and at argument that evidence of damages has not yet been 'adequately presented.'"

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Mario Bautista is eyeing a rematch against Cory Sandhagen if both of them win their next outings.

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Bautista is scheduled to fight Marlon Vera at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. While Bautista isn’t looking past Vera, he is expecting a Top 5 opponent if he wins at UFC 316. And Bautista’s first preference would be Sandhagen, who submitted him in the first round of his UFC debut in 2019.

“Don’t want to look too far forward, but if I get past ‘Chito’ my No. 1 pick would be against Sandhagen,” Bautista told Home of Fight. “I would love to get that rematch back, and it would feel a little weird if I somehow passed him in the rankings without fighting him.”

While Bautista is now 9-2 in the UFC and riding a seven-fight winning streak, Vera is on a two-fight skid. Meanwhile, Sandhagen comes off a unanimous decision loss against Umar Nurmagomedov that ended a three-fight winning streak. “The Sandman” i…