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It should come as little shock that every Brazilian prognosticator expects Alex Pereira will prevail on Saturday.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be staging its blockbuster show of UFC 300 on Saturday, and two ultra-popular Brazilian competitors will be competing on the main card. Light heavyweight kingpin Pereira (9-2) will be defending his throne against Jamahal Hill (12-1, 1 NC), while ex-lightweight champ Charles Oliveira (34-9, 1 NC) competes in a no. 1 contender bout against Arman Tsarukyan (21-3). Sherdog spoke to numerous fighters and coaches about the main attraction, with the field unanimous in support of their fellow countryman.

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Charles Oliveira: “Jamahal Hill is bluffing when he says he will keep the fight standing with ‘Poatan.’ His strategy is to take him down. If he exchanges punches with ‘Poatan,’ he will be knocked out. ‘Poatan’ is hungry and wants to avenge Glover [Teixeira’s] loss to him.”

Patricky Freire, former Bellator…

Hawaiian-born sumo wrestling star Akebono Taro has died at the age of 54 due to heart failure.

On Wednesday night, news broke that Akebono had died in a hospital in Tokyo. Born Chadwick Haheo Rowan, Akebono was raised in his home state of Hawaii and competed in various sports including dabbling in sumo wrestling when he was young. While checking in as one of the largest sumo practitioners in the sport’s history, measuring 6-foot-8 and well over 500 pounds, this proved to his advantage as he won multiple championships over the years. His sumo career culminated in his earning the rank of yokozuna in 1993, where he became the first non-Japanese wrestler to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

As he competed at the top echelon of the sport, he moved to Japan in 1996, where he became a Japanese citizen and changed his name to Akebono Taro. He retired from sumo wrestling in 2001 due to injury, and he began to transition to other sports. Akebono joined the kickboxing world in 20…

Boxing has lost a very dear person today. Gary Shaw has passed away. Our condolences go to Judy and the kids . I will always remember Gary with his unique smile, fun character and passion for boxingRest in peace my dear Gary

— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) April 11, 2024 Boxing-turned-MMA promoter Gary Shaw, co-founder of EliteXC, has died at the age of 79.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman announced the news on Thursday, and an outpouring of support and memorials has come forth from former fighters and colleagues. Shaw ran the boxing organization Gary Shaw Productions for over a decade, setting up boxing events starting in 2002 involving several big names including Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley and Shane Mosely.

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Sulaiman mourned his friend on his post on social media, stating, “I will always remember Gary with his unique smile, fun character and passion for boxing. Rest in peace my dear Gary.”

While involved in boxing, S…

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While many found Bobby Green’s walkout music against Grant Dawson cool, Jamahal Hill wasn’t one of them.

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Green (31-15) knocked out Dawson in hardly over half a minute in the main event at UFC Fight Night 229 in October 2023. “King” walked out to the song “SkeeYee” by rapper Janae Nierah Wherry aka “Sexyy Red.” Hill (12-1), who is seemingly close to Green, made no secret of his dislike for the latter’s choice of the walkout music. Green further revealed that “Sweet Dreams” continues to troll him every time they meet.

“Hell no, hell no. Jamahal Hill yelled at me and won’t stop yelling at me about that to this day,” Green said at UFC 300 media day. “That’s my big dawg and everytime we run into each other [he’s] like, ‘Bro, you came out to Sexyy Red. What the f*ck are you doing bro, what the f*ck are you doing?’ When everyone else is like, ‘Oh it was cool, it was cool,’ Jamahal is going to be the guy that tells me like, ‘Nah bro, na…

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Clay Collard believes Bellator MMA fighters might have some difficulty adjusting to the frequency of the Professional Fighters League season format.

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Collard (24-12) is ready to start his fourth Professional Fighters League season in the lightweight category against former Bellator lightweight champ Patricky Freire (25-12) at PFL 2 on April 12. Having fought in various promotions around the world, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Collard notes that it is the frequency of PFL fights that Bellator talent might find difficult to keep up with.

The PFL regular season, followed by playoffs and championships and additional pay-per-view cards has fighters competing more frequently on an average than other promotions. According to Collard, fighters who cut a lot of weight will find it difficult to fight three or four times a year.

“I feel like a lot of these guys aren't going to be used to the amount of fights,” Coll…

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2022 PFL Welterweight World Champion Sadibou Sy makes his Light Heavyweight Debut this Friday 👀

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[ #PFLRegularSeason | Friday , April 12th | 9PM ET | 🎟️ https://t.co/9E74ugtbNE ] pic.twitter.com/TKx5t01uIW — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 7, 2024

Sadibou Sy expects to do well at his natural body weight as he moves up two weight classes for the Professional Fighters League 2024 season.

Sy (16-7) will take on Joshua Silveira (12-2) in the light heavyweight regular season at PFL 2 on April 12 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The Swedish veteran started his Professional Fighters League journey at middleweight in 2018 before dropping to welterweight the next season. Sy won the $1 million PFL welterweight championship in 2022.

“To be honest, I have a lot of people around me that I trust completely,” said Sy. “And after each fight, after each season, we sit down and we discuss things and we just …

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Xiaonan Yan admits that her upcoming opponent and compatriot, Weili Zhang, continues to garner more support in their home country of China.

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Yan (18-3) will challenge Zhang (24-3|) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight championship in the co-main event at UFC 300 on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Zhang made her UFC debut almost a year after Yan in 2018, “Magnum” went on to win the title within a year. Zhang also delivered some of the most memorable title fights of all time, sealing her place in women’s mixed martial arts history.

While China has seen its fair share of UFC stars over the years, including the likes of Jingliang Li and Yadong Song, Zhang likely remains the torchbearer in the country. Earlier, Yan had stated that she expects more haters than fans in her homeland as Zhang continues to dominate the Chinese fanbase.

“Nothing has really changed; still more people support Weili,” Yan…

Mexican standout Josue Cruz will look to earn his first ONE Championship win against Sean Climaco in a three-round muay thai contest contracted for 135 pounds at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3. Sherdog confirmed the bout, which will go down at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, with sources close to the negotiations Thursday morning.

Cruz will be returning to action for the first time since May 2022, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Walter Goncalves in his ONE Championship debut. “Tuzo,” the first fighter born in Mexico to compete for ONE, was undefeated in 17 pro outings leading up to his first and only career loss.

Meanwhile, Climaco, a Filipino American based in San Jose, California, is set to make his promotional debut after winning Road to ONE 2023 with a technical knockout over Malcolm Hill in the series finale last September.

ONE Fight Night 22 will air live on Amazon Prime in the United States and Canada on Friday, May 3, and will be headli…

⚖️Light Heavyweight Bout is official!Impa Kasanganay: 204.8 lbsAlex Polizzi: 204 lbs

[ Friday, April 12th | 6:30pm ET on ESPN+ | 9pm ET on ESPN 2 ] pic.twitter.com/OO4P11cNHz

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 11, 2024 The Professional Fighters League continues its 2024 season with PFL 2, which features light heavyweight and lightweight fights.

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After the official weigh-ins took place on Thursday, the 11-fight card was made official. It is headlined by a light heavyweight fight between 2023 champion Impa Kasanganay and Alex Polizzi. All fighters on the event made weight.

Despite winning last year's season, Kasanganay (15-4) is coming into this fight off a loss. "Tshilobo" lost to Bellator MMA champion Johnny Eblen just two months ago in a non-title fight. However, the fight was extremely close, with the Bellator fighter taking a split decision after three rounds. Kasanganay will look to get back to his winning ways and weighed 204…

After enjoying a breakout campaign in 2022, Rob Wilkinson was removed from the following Professional Fighters League season due to a failed drug test after the organization’s first event of last year.

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As he prepares to make his return, the 32-year-old Australian has chosen to focus on the positive support he’s received rather than any negativity.

“I've got a lot of support and people around me that love and support me, and I've had a lot of people back home, people I know and people I don't know, reach out and still tell me they're behind me and that's what kind of motivates me,” Wilkinson said during a recent PFL media day. “I don't really give a s—t about people on Instagram and trolls and whatnot, but the people around me love me and support me, and I want to go out there and have a good fight for them.”

Wilkinson went 4-0 in PFL competition in 2022 to become the league’s light heavyweight champion. He began the following campaign with a d…

Charles Oliveira has responded to Arman Tsarukyan’s claim that he only has one way to finish a fight.

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Tsarukyan recently indicated that Oliveira is overly reliant on the rear-naked choke in his fights. In an interview with Diego Ribas from Ag.Fight, Oliveira answered his UFC 300 opponent.

“People have to be concerned with the way they sell fights. I'm 14 years in the UFC, having 21 submissions and 10 knockouts and 44 MMA fights. If he really believes all I can do is take my opponent’s back and [get the choke], he better be careful not to get his back taken and submitted. Actually, I don’t care what my opponents say,” a smiling Oliveira said.

Oliveira is expecting a difficult fight against his American Top Team-trained opponent. The lightweight bout will be contested over five rounds and is considered to be a title eliminator.

"Of course I had [my team] studying my opponent´s game, but my focus has always been what I can take to him not w…

Arman Tsarukyan admits he was slightly taken aback by the massive fan base for his upcoming opponent, Charles Oliveira.

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Tsarukyan is ready for the biggest matchup of his career against the former champ at UFC 300 on Saturday in what is essentially a lightweight title eliminator. Leading up to the matchup, the Armenian-Russian’s comments sections on social media have been flooded with the iconic phrase coined by Oliveira, "The champ has a name."

“I didn’t know that [he has a lot of fans]… And he has a lot of fans so like everybody text me on the comments, ‘The champion has name: Charles Oliveira.’ And send a lot of messages with the Brazilian flag but it’s funny … ,” Tsarukyan told ESPN

Oliveira fans took it to a different level during a UFC 300 Q&A in Miami last month by issuing death threats to Tsarukyan’s face while booing him. “Ahalkalakets” admits being surprised by the incident but expects a different atmosphere at the T-Mobile Arena…

Alex Pereira believes Jamahal Hill’s heart could make him a more dangerous opponent than fighters with more experience or better technique.

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Pereira is scheduled to defend his strap against Hill in the main event of UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturay. The clash with mark the Brazilian’s fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight within a year and a half and just his 12th professional mixed martial arts bout.

However, while Pereira might be relatively new to MMA, he has amassed plenty of experience in combat sports over a career spanning more than a decade. According to Glory Kickboxing records, Pereira had a 25-3 amateur kickboxing career with all of his wins coming via knockout. “Poatan,” which translates to “Stone Hands,” made his professional kickboxing debut in 2012 and went on to finish 21 of his 33 wins via knockout in a 40-fight career. Pereira also became the first fighter in Glory history to hold two titles at the…

Justin Gaethje would ideally like to replicate his performance against Tony Ferguson in his upcoming clash against Max Holloway, ideally minus the ruthless beatdown.

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Gaethje is slated to put his BMF title on the line against Holloway at UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. Gaethje looks to be technical instead of letting his emotions steer the wheel, a vital lesson he learned in his failed title bid against Charles Oliveira in 2022. Ideally, “The Highlight” would like to put on a dominant performance like he did against Ferguson but hopes Holloway goes down before “El Cucuy” did.

“The only time it gets dirty is when I get caught up emotional. I think Oliveira, that was the last fight that I really needed to learn that lesson, and I learned that lesson and I’m not gonna go back to being that fighter. You know, if I dream of a perfect scenario, it’s very Tony Ferguson-esque, I think with the intentions of not hitting him as much. I…

🚨 La boutique de l’UFC a publié des shorts exclusifs pour l’#UFC300 ! 🤩🩳

Lequel est votre préféré ? 👀 pic.twitter.com/esqXsU6rhw

— La Sueur (@LaSueur_off) April 9, 2024

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Several fighters will be wearing custom-designed shorts for the upcoming UFC 300 card.

Light heavyweght champ Alex Pereira, strawweight queen Weili Zhang, BMF title holder Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway will all be wearing custom designs on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The kits were revealed by the UFC’s official apparel partner Venum on their official website as the “UFC Adrenaline Unrivaled” collection but have since been removed. However, the images of the collection were captured by French outlet LaSueur on social media. Meanwhile, Gaethje and Holloway also revealed their stars and stripes and floral shorts on social media.

You guys asked and @ufc delivered. Get your floral shorts @ufcstore #UFC300 p…

Breaking News 🚨 ONE returns to the U.S. on September 6 with ONE 168: Denver, headlined by two epic World Title showdowns and more massive fights to be announced 🤩 Hurry and register NOW for exclusive ticket pre-sale access at https://t.co/fqhJifFJCP and stay tuned for more… pic.twitter.com/gCQntkWxxJ

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 27, 2024

As excitement builds for ONE Championship’s return to the U.S., ticket sale information has been unveiled.

The Singapore-based promotion recently announced that pre-sale tickets for the Sept. 6 event can be purchased here. Meanwhile, tickets for ONE Championship 168 will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, April 24 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT. Stage Front VIP will partner with ONE to provide fans with immersive VIP experiences including premier seating, premium hospitality offerings, athlete meet-and-greets, event collectibles, and more. VIP packages and additional information are av…

Jailton Almeida will square off against Alexander Romanov in a heavyweight bout at UFC 302.

Ag.Fight was first to report the booking. UFC 302 takes place on June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and will also include a middleweight clash pitting Anthony Hernandez against Roman Dolidze.

Almeida was originally scheduled to face Alexander Volkov at the event, but Volkov was moved to UFC on ABC 6 in Saudi Arabia against Sergei Pavlovich on June 22. The Brazilian had won 15 straight professional outings — including six in the Octagon — before suffering a second-round KO defeat to Curtis Blaydes in his most recent appearance at UFC 299. “Maladinho” owns notable wins over the likes of Derrick Lewis, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Abdurakhimov, to name a few.

Romanov, meanwhile, kicked off his MMA tenure with 16 consecutive victories. The run included five finishes in UFC competition before Romanov dropped back-to-back fights against Marcin Tybura an…

Cesar Almeida, who is considered to be Alex Pereira’s biggest kickboxing rival in Brazil, began his Octagon tenure with a “Performance of the Night” bonus after defeating Dylan Budka via TKO this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 240.

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“I finished my camp at Xtreme Couture. Since Dylan was a wrestler, my strategy was basically be patient defending his takedowns, hurt him in the clinch and wait for the right moment to knock him out. Thank God, everything went out as we expected,” Almeida told Sherdog.com. “I couldn't hold the emotion. My goal is not to spend anything. I will put that [bonus] in the bank to pay for college for my two daughters.”

In his post-fight interview, Almeida asked to face Chris Weidman. But he revealed to Sherdog.com that he would prefer to face a striker next.

“It was good to face a top wrestler right in my debut, but of course against a striker I could show all my abilities and provide a much more entertaining fight,” …

Aspen Ladd will shift from Professional Fighters League to Bellator MMA for a showdown against Katerina Shakalova on May 17.

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The promotion announced the featherweight pairing on Tuesday. Ladd vs. Shakalov will be part of the Bellator Champions Series Paris card, which takes place at Accor Arena and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Usman Nurmagomeodv and Alexandr Shabliy.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Ladd took part in the PFL’s featherweight season in 2023. The 29-year-old Californian last competed at the organization’s championship event, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Kayla Harrison in a 150-pound catchweight bout. The PFL does not have a 145-pound weight class for its 2024 season, which likely prompted Ladd’s move to Bellator.

Shakalova made her promotional debut this past August, taking a split verdict over Dayana Silva at Bellator 298. The 26-year-old Ukraine native has won eight of her nine professional …

Ihor Potieria will be returning to action a little sooner than originally anticipated.

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The 27-year-old Ukraine native will step in and face Michel Pereira at UFC 301 on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro. Potieria is a replacement for Makhmud Muradov, who recently announced his withdrawal from the event. Multiple outlets confirmed the new middleweight booking following an initial report from MMA Mania. Potieira was originally slated to face Sharabutdin Magomedov at UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22 before accepting the fight against Pereira.

UFC 301 takes place at Rio Arena and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt pitting Alexandre Pantoja against Steve Erceg.

Potieira snapped a two-bout skid in his first appearance of 2024, as he took a unanimous decision win against Robert Bryczek at UFC Fight Night 236 on Feb. 10. “The Duelist” is 2-3 during his promotional tenure and 20-5 as a professional overall.

Pereira, meanwhile, has won seven straight UFC bo…

Tom Aspinall has made it clear that he prefers Curtis Blaydes as his next opponent over Ciryl Gane.

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Despite winning the UFC interim heavyweight title with a knockout over Sergei Pavlovich last November, Aspinall is currently in a bit of a fix regarding his next fight. While champ Jon Jones is sidelined with an injury, he is expected to return against Stipe Miocic. That leaves Aspinall with only two logical opponents, Blaydes and Gane.

Having seemingly given up all hopes of fighting Jones or Miocic next, Aspinall's next choice is Blaydes, who derailed Brazilian contender Jailton Almeida’s hype train at UFC 299 last month with a second-round knockout. The interim champion wants to correct an unfortunate injury loss he suffered against Blaydes in 2022, when he blew out his knee in 15 seconds, leading to the only blemish on his UFC record.

“Curtis Blaydes… Because we were supposed to fight, we had a fight for 15 seconds, I injured my knee and he …

All The Way to the 🔝@PaulHughesMMA unleashed relentless aggression in our #CW170 Co-main event! pic.twitter.com/VzidYjPmWi

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 8, 2024

Top prospect Paul Hughes, who is currently a free agent, has expressed his interest in a potential clash with Paddy Pimblett.

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Hughes exhausted his contract with Cage Warriors, scoring a first-round knockout over Fabiano Silva at Cage Warriors 170 on April 6 in his final bout with the European promotion. Hughes shared much of his limelight at Cage Warriors with Pimblett, who signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2021.

While both held the Cage Warriors featherweight title, they never crossed paths, as Pimblett moved up to 155 pounds in 2018. Hughes also made the move to lightweight last year, vacating his featherweight strap.

In a recent Instagram post where Hughes invited suggestions for his future, a fan proposed a tilt against “The B…

Sean Strickland has given his reason for seemingly turning down a booking against Paulo Costa.

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Costa recently revealed that Strickland had snubbed a proposed matchup between the two for UFC 302 on June 1 in Newark, New Jersey.

Costa is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February, where the Brazilian put on a gritty performance in his return to action after a year and a half.

“Borrachinha” was reportedly in talks about a potential clash with Jared Cannonier next before the Ultimate Fighting Championship abruptly suggested the Strickland booking. While Costa was even more excited about fighting “Tarzan,” the former champ seemingly turned down the offer.

“This is great stuff. UFC, suggest I fight [Jared] Cannonier. It’s a nice fight and I love the idea to fight Cannonier and they suggest that fight for June,” Costa said on The Coach and The Casual podcast

“But then, two days ago UFC come and say, …

A matchup of promising middleweights has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on June 15.

Andre Muniz (24-6) will take on Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) at UFC Fight Night at the promotion’s Apex in Las Vegas. The matchup was first reported by Brazilian mixed martial arts reporter Laerte Viana on X (formerly known as Twitter). Both Muniz and Aliskerov have since confirmed the pairing on social media.

Muniz is coming off a split-decision win over Jun Yong Park in his last outing this past December. “Sergipano” kicked off his Ultimate Fighting Championship career with a five-fight winning streak before suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.

Meanwhile, Aliskerov’s last pro loss came against Khamzat Chimaev under the Brave CF banner back in 2019, which “Borz” has labeled the toughest matchup of his career. The Dagestani standout earned his UFC contract with a Round 1 submission victory on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022 a…