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@FrancisNgannou gets a hero's reception on his return to Cameroon!

The new heavyweight champion put the belt on his mother and toured the streets of Douala!

( @ckomentmagazine & @DidierLefa) pic.twitter.com/Esak79mSE6 — UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 28, 2021

Francis Ngannou recently returned to Cameroon for the first time since winning the UFC heavyweight championship, and he was greeted with a hero’s welcome.

“The Predator” arrived in his home country to a rowdy reception as he put the belt on his mother and then drove through the streets of Douala for a championship parade as thousands celebrated his victory.

Ngannou claimed heavyweight gold with a second-round knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 on March 27. The 34-year-old was in talks to face former 205-pound king Jon Jones for his first title defense, but those negotiations have stalled. Now, a rematch with Derrick Lewis appears to have been targeted for a futur…

There's the tap!

Rodolfo Vieira getting it done in ONE. #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/o2hqnTdRo6

— UFC (@ufc) March 8, 2020 Rodolfo Vieira will attempt to rebound from his first career defeat when he faces Dustin Stoltzfus at a UFC event on July 17.

was first to report the middleweight bout. The card does not have a location or venue and features a showdown between former bantamweight queen Miesha Tate and Marion Reneau.

Vieira kicked off his promotional tenure with submissions of Oskar Piechota and Saparbek Safarov but ran into trouble in his last outing, when he gassed and was tapped out by Anthony Hernandez at UFC 258. The four-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion is 7-1 as a pro, with all of his victories coming inside the distance.

Stoltzfus made his Octagon debut at UFC 255, where he dropped a unanimous decision against Kyle Daukaus. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum had a 10-bout winning streak snapped in that defeat.

Darrion Caldwell and Leandro Higo will lock horns for a second time at Bellator 259 on May 21.

Higo confirmed the bantamweight pairing on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Bellator 259 takes place at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a featherweight championship bout pitting Cristiane Justino against Leslie Smith. The card will air on Showtime.

Caldwell and Higo initially met in a bantamweight title clash at Bellator 195, where Caldwell defended his crown with a first-round submission in March 2018. More recently, Caldwell competed in the Bellator featherweight grand prix, where he bested Henry Corrales and Adam Borics before falling to A.J. McKee in the semifinals.

A former Legacy Fighting Alliance title holder, Higo is coming off back-to-back submissions of Shawn Bunch and Ricky Bandejas under the Bellator banner. He is 3-3 overall within the California-based promotion.

Originally booked against Alexey Kunchenko for his Professional Fighters League debut, Gleison Tibau will now face countryman Joao Zeferino on Thursday at the promotion’s second regular season event at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.

Zeferino was supposed to face Magomed Magomedkerivmov at PFL 2, but his opponent withdrew from the card as well.

“My opponent had visa problems, while Zeferino’s had issues with medical exams, so the organization decided to put me against João,” Tibau told Sherdog.com.

According to Tibau, he and Zeferino were using the same backstage area of the venue for their sparring when the organization announced the new matchup on Sunday.

“Of course we would rather fight Russians, but we are professionals. That´s our job,” said the 37-year-old Tibau.

Tibau will make his PFL debut at welterweight after competing for years at 155 pounds.

“I´m feeling much better in that division. God knows how hard it was for me to r…

T.J. Dillashaw’s long-awaited Octagon will have to wait, as a cut suffered in training has forced him to withdraw from a UFC on ESPN 24 headlining bout against Cory Sandhagen.

Dillashaw confirmed his exit on social media following an intial report on Twitter from C. Contreras Legaspi. Dillashaw vs. Sandhagen is expected to be booked at a later date.

“I’m sad to say that I have to be pulled from my fight on May 8 due to a cut received from a headbutt while drilling,” Dillashaw wrote. “Rescheduling the fight as soon as possible.”

According to a report from ESPN, the promotion is targeting a strawweight clash between Michelle Waterson and Marina Rodriguez for the new UFC on ESPN 24 headliner. That booking has not been finalized, however.

Dillashaw has been sidelined since January 2019 after serving a two-year USADA suspension for a positive EPO test. The former bantamweight champion last appeared at UFC Fight Night 143, where his bid to capture flyweight g…

Regardless of what the future holds for his combat sports career, Conor McGregor is doing quite well financially.

McGregor and his partners, agent Audie Attar and Ken Austin, recently sold their majority share in Proper No. Twelve whiskey to Proximo Spirits for $600 million. Proximo Spirits, which owns Jose Cuervo and other alcohol brands, previously owned a 49 percent stake in the company. Shanken News Daily first reported the sale.

All three founders — McGregor, Attar and Austin — will still have an interest in the brand and will maintain active roles within the company. The reported $600 million figure includes $250 million already earned during Proper No. Twelve’s first two years in business with Proximo. Last year, Proximo increased its stake from 20 percent to the aforementioned 49 percent. The company’s new stake in the brand was not revealed. Proper No. Twelve was founded in 2018 and has since been heavily promoted by McGregor.

“Since introducing this b…

Rachael Ostovich is the latest former UFC talent to sign with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

The promotion announced the signing on Tuesday. According to a release, Ostovich is expected to make her BKFC debut in July. MMAFighting.com is reporting that Paige VanZant has been targeted as her opponent.

"We always are looking to sign fighters that can move the needle and fight, and that is exactly what Rachael brings to the table,” BKFC president Dave Feldman said. “I am looking forward to her debut in July. I know she is training hard and working on her boxing every day and we expect very big things from Rachael.”

Ostovich, 30, went 3-2 with Invicta FC before appearing on Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” She defeated Karine Gevorgyan in her Octagon debut at the “TUF 26” finale before dropping her next three promotional appearances — including a submission loss to VanZant in January 2019. Ostovich parted ways with the UFC after a knockout loss to Gina Ma…

HE ONLY NEEDED ONE ARM @TouchNgo_

Stream #UFC261 on ESPN+ https://t.co/11j8ptNbRf pic.twitter.com/azQV4WvYwo

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 25, 2021 The preliminary card for UFC 261 attracted an average audience of 951,000 to ESPN this past Saturday, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

That ranks as the third-best figure for a pay-per-view preliminary card in 2021 behind UFC 259 (1.208 million) and UFC 257 (1.433 million). The UFC 261 prelims were also No. 1 on cable in the 18-to-49 demographic with a 0.36 share.

The four-bout card aired on ESPN from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET and served as a lead-in for the UFC 261 pay-per-view, which was highlighted by a trio of title fights at the top of the card – including a rematch between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal. The evening’s featured prelim saw Randy Brown submit Alex Oliveira with a rear-naked choke 2:50 into the opening round of their welterweight clash.

Meanwhile, the early prelims drew…

Raphael Assuncao will lock horns with Kyler Phillips in a bantamweight pairing at UFC Fight Night on July 24.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an announcement by Phillips on social media. The event takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is also expected to include a women’s bantamweight showdown pitting Aspen Ladd against Macy Chiasson.

Assuncao will look to snap a three-bout losing streak after falling to Cody Garbrandt, Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Moraes in his last three Octagon appearances. Assuncao was supposed to face Raoni Barcelos on Feb. 27 but withdrew from the card due to a positive COVID-19 test. The 38-year-old Brazilian has not competed since suffering a second-round KO loss to Garbrandt at UFC 250 in June 2020.

Phillips, meanwhile, enters the matchup on a four-bout winning streak that includes a trio of triumphs in UFC competition. Most recently, the Dana White’s Contender Series alum outpointed Yadong Song at UFC 259 …

Chris Weidman is on the road to recovery.

The former middleweight champion shared X-ray photos from the gruesome broken leg he suffered after landing a leg kick against Uriah Hall in the opening seconds of their UFC 261 bout at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday.

Weidman underwent a successful procedure to repair the injury on Sunday and will return home on Tuesday after spending a few days in the hospital.

“Before and after X-rays of this nightmare. Special thanks to Dr. Gitlin for performing a successful surgery and being so helpful during the entire process. Also, a big thank you to Dr. Davidson from the [UFC] for making sure I was taken care of properly and speaking to these doctors on my behalf,” Weidman wrote on Instagram. “It made me feel so much better having him involved because I know he had my back. The primary concern is the bone punctured through my calf and skin when I put my weight on it, making sure the laceration d…

Conor McGregor has made a sizable donation to a Louisiana-based organization, but it isn’t Dustin Poirier’s charity.

The former UFC two-division champion recently donated $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana in Lafayette, La. TMZ Sports first reported McGregor’s donation.

“Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana received an unexpected call last week and are humbled to share that Conor McGregor is donating $500,000 to impact youth in South Louisiana by supporting our upcoming 2021 Summer Camp and ongoing health and recreation activities in our 6 Club sites,” read a statement on the organization’s Facebook page. “This investment is a gamechanger! Thank you, Conor, for helping to ensure that our kids have what they need to grow and thrive this summer!”

McGregor and Poirier recently had a Twitter dispute regarding the Irish star’s failure to follow through on a promised $500,000 donation to Poirier’s Good Fight Foundation. Poirier later apologized for pub…

The lineup for the UFC 263 pay-per-view card is now official.

The promotion announced the five-bout lineup during the UFC 261 broadcast on Saturday night, formally confirming that two title bouts — Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori at middleweight and Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno at flyweight — will occupy the top of the bill. A previously reported matchup pitting Demian Maia against Belal Muhammad was also announced.

Two other bouts were also made official for the main card: Paul Craig vs Jamahal Hill at light heavyweight and Drew Dober vs. Brad Riddell at lightweight. UFC 263 takes place on June 12 but does not currently have a location or venue.

Craig vs. Hill was initially slated for the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 21, but was scrapped after Hill tested positive for COVID-19. Craig is unbeaten in his last four Octagon appearances and is coming off a second-round stoppage of Mauricio Rua at UFC 255. All six of the Scot’s UFC victories have come in…

Jon Jones is no longer under the umbrella of First Round Management, the team which has represented the former light heavyweight champion for the majority of his UFC career.

The Florida-based management group, headed by Malki Kawa and Abe Kawa, announced the news via Twitter on Monday.

“After an 11-year journey as [Jon Jones’] management team, First Round Management and Bones have amicably decided to part ways,” the statement read. “We are proud of him and the work we’ve done. We wish him the best going forward.”

After an 11 year journey as @JonnyBones management team, First Round Management and Bones have amicably decided to part ways. We are proud of him and the work we’ve done. We wish him the best going forward.

— FirstRoundMgmt (@FirstRoundMgmt) April 26, 2021

Jones later confirmed the news in a post on his Instagram account.

“It’s been an absolutely amazing journey,” Jones wrote. “Thank you so much for all the memories, a…

Asking about a potential Amanda Nunes trilogy fight has become something of a tradition following each Valentina Shevchenko title defense.

That is due in large part to Shevchenko’s dominance at 125 pounds, which continued at UFC 261 with a second-round TKO of former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko’s most difficult flyweight bout arguably came at UFC 231, when she claimed the vacant belt with a five-round verdict against Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Since then, “Bullet” has rarely been tested.

Nunes has been similarly dominant at bantamweight and featherweight, but the last time she faced Shevchenko, “Lioness” won a narrow split decision in a 135-pound title bout at UFC 215 that many had going the other way. However, Nunes is now 2-0 against Shevchenko — she took a unanimous decision in their first meeting at UFC 196 — and Dana White currently doesn’t have much interest seeing them fight for a third time.

As it stands, there’s currently only one way White…

Yogibo presents #RIZIN28 and #RIZIN29 at the Tokyo Dome and Maruzen Intec Arena Hall respectively, Bantamweight Japan GP opening round confirms fight schedule, Yachi gets current SHOOTO Champion. https://t.co/YOvVSGXwSp

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) April 25, 2021

Rizin Fighting Federation’s upcoming event scheduled for the Tokyo Dome will take place a few weeks later than originally anticipated.

Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara recently announced that the card, which was originally slated for May 23, will now take place on June 13 in hopes of allowing more fans into the venue.

“The Japanese government has declared the state of emergency in four cities starting April 25 to May 9, which will significantly affect the May 23 Tokyo Dome event. Therefore we have decided to push back the event to June 13,” Sakakibara said. “MMA will be making its return after 18 years, and we want to put in as many spectators as possible for such a historic…

pic.twitter.com/rwlIoEMucP

— ShayMyName2 (@imstillshannon) April 8, 2021

Eddie Alvarez’s disqualification loss against Iuri Lapicus at One Championship on TNT 1 has been overturned to a no contest.

According to a report from ESPN, a panel of 15 independent officials, One personnel, judges and referees unanimous determined that a “procedural misstep” occurred when referee Justin Brown issued Alvarez a red card to prompt the disqualification. While the panel confirmed that Alvarez landed multiple illegal blows to the back of Lapicus’ head, it also determined that the former UFC and Bellator champion should have initially received a yellow card, which constitutes a warning.

Due to the ruling, the red card has been rescinded and a yellow card has been issued to Alvarez retroactively. Additionally, the result of the bout has been officially changed. The identity of the members of the One Championship panel was not revealed. One Championship s…

The man who is likely next in line for a shot at welterweight gold was not impressed with Kamaru Usman’s performance at UFC 261.

Usman dispatched Jorge Masvidal via second-round knockout in Saturday’s headliner at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. “The Nigerian Nightmare” drew the rivalry with Masvidal to an emphatic close after taking a five-round verdict against the American Top Team product in their first meeting at UFC 251 this past July. Usman has now won 14 fights in row in UFC competition and looks to be one of the most dominant champions in the sport.

Still, it should come as no surprise that Colby Covington didn’t have anything positive to say about Usman’s latest triumph, which came against Covington’s former training partner.

“It took eight minutes longer than when I would finish Jorge Masvidal every time we trained,” Covington said on the ESPN post-fight show. “That guy’s a journeyman. What’s he got, 15, 20 losses on his recor…

Anthony Smith may have handed Jimmy Crute his second Ultimate Fighting Championship defeat on Saturday night at UFC 261, but he still holds the 25-year-old Australian light heavyweight prospect in high regard.

“I wish I was half as good as him at his age,” Smith said. “He’s night and day better than I am at that point, or better than I was at that age, at that point in his career. I don’t just don’t want him to get his head down, don’t hang your head, keep your head up high, he’s a warrior. Robert Whittaker is not going to be around forever, so someone is going to have to carry that torch for Australia, and I think he’s that guy.”

Smith ended Crute’s night when a perfectly-placed leg kick left “The Brute” unable to continue after the opening stanza. As Crute struggled to stand before Round 2, the bout was waved off.

Even though he was struggling to find his footing between rounds, it initially appeared as though Crute would come out for the second round. When Sm…

It took a few years to get there, but Kamaru Usman is receiving his due recognition from Dana White.

The UFC president praised Usman following the welterweight champion’s latest triumph, a second-round knockout of Jorge Masvidal in the UFC 261 main event at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday night. It was Usman’s 14th consecutive win within the Las Vegas-based promotion, a streak that puts him ahead of such stars as Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Demetrious Johnson. Only former middleweight king Anderson Silva (16) has a longer winning streak in UFC history.

“No matter how you feel, the guy is getting booed in there tonight, (but) he’s one of the best ever,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He’s on his way to probably being the greatest of all time. I mean, the guy is an absolute stud. He looks better every time he comes out.”

That praise is a far cry from White’s reaction to Usman three ye…

There has been some shuffling to this week’s PFL 2 lineup, and the end result is a welterweight showdown between Gleison Tibau and Joao Zeferino.

Tibau was originally slated to meet Alexey Kunchenko, while Zeferino was slated to face Magomed Magomedkerimov on Thursday’s card at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. However, both Kunchenko and Magomedkerimov were forced to withdraw from the event due to undisclosed reasons. Sherdog.com confirmed the changes with a source close to the situation on Sunday.

A veteran of 28 UFC bouts, Tibau enters his PFL debut on a two-fight winning streak after besting Efrain Escudero and Will Brooks in his last two outings. The 37-year-old Brazilian has not competed since submitting Brooks at Battlefield FC 2 in July 2019.

Zeferino, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of his last five bouts. Most recently, he earned a unanimous verdict over Bojan Velickovic at a regular season PFL event in July 2019.

The PFL’…

She didn’t necessarily know if it would end the fight, but Rose Namajunas had an inkling that she would connect with a head kick at some point during her matchup with Weili Zhang at UFC 261.

As it turned out, the head kick made Namajunas a two-time UFC champion, as she floored Zhang with the maneuver before ending their co-main event bout with follow-up hammerfists on the mat 1:18 into the opening stanza at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Forida, on Saturday night.

The setup for the kick was almost as nice as the execution: Namajunas feinted a low kick with her lead leg before going upstairs and connecting cleanly with her opponent’s chin.

“I felt really good. I was calm. I had to control myself and control my breathing and stay calm. She kinda touched me with the low kicks and she hit a nice little jab, but I just stayed calm. I don’t know how to explain it I guess,” Namajunas said.

“I saw her body fall over really stiff and I was like, oh…

Kamaru Usman wasn’t pleased that Jorge Masvidal had a built-in excuse following their first meeting at UFC 251.

Usman garnered a five-round verdict over “Gambred” in that July bout, but Masvidal was able to claim that he was hindered by the lack of a full camp after accepting the fight on a week’s notice. Despite Usman’s victory being relatively clear cut, that little bit of doubt left a bad taste in his mouth, so “The Nigerian Nightmare” targeted Masvidal for a rematch following a stoppage of Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 in February.

The second time around, Usman brought some closure to the rivalry by knocking out Masvidal with a massive right hand and follow-up punches 62 seconds into Round 2 of their UFC 261 headlining bout at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday night. He also found a measure of peace that he didn’t following UFC 251.

“I’m satisfied,” Usman said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “That’s what I said, I was…

One bout removed from a five-round battle that was 2020’s “Fight of the Year,” Weili Zhang saw a 21-bout winning streak end in stunning fashion at UFC 261.

Zhang relinquished her strawweight crown when she was stopped by a Rose Namajunas head kick and follow-up hammerfists just 1:18 into the opening round of Saturday’s co-main event at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. It was Zhang’s first appearance since defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk via unanimous decision in an instant classic at UFC 248 in March 2020.

Though Zhang initially protested the stoppage, she later released a statement on Instagram congratulating Namajunas and expressing belief in her own ability to bounce back from defeat.

“I want to congratulate Rose on her victory,” Weili wrote. “She bounced back from her defeat. I believe I will also come back, only beat a great champion, to become a legend, and beat a legend, I will become a new me. Before, my goal was to win the UFC cham…

At this point in her mixed martial arts career, it’s hard to believe that Valentina Shevchenko, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, would have anyone doubting her ability to succeed in the Octagon.

And yet, Shevchenko was able to find motivation in the pre-fight narrative that UFC 261 opponent Jessica Andrade would be able to overpower her in the clinch or on the canvas.

“I don’t have fear to go and fight, to go and wrestle, to go and grapple, I don’t have,” Shevchenko said. “I saw and hear a lot from Jessica that she is so secure that she can be stronger than me, than she can dominate me on the ground. I knew it, but I didn’t want to say nothing because I know my power and what I can do.

“That’s why I was like OK, let her believe in this, and then when she feels the power, real power of myself, she’s going to be double frustrated.”

When all was said and done, Shevchenko tied a flyweight record with seven takedowns before stopping Andrade…