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Anthony Smith should have fought this dude in the crowd before retiring #UFCKansasCitypic.twitter.com/oyM4cyWMka

— Delinquent MMA (@DelinquentMMA) April 27, 2025

Apparently not everyone in attendance at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City was there to pay tribute to Anthony Smith as he officially called it a career on Saturday night.

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Shortly after the former light heavyweight title challenger suffered a bloody technical knockout loss to Mingyang Zhang in the UFC Kansas City co-main event, “Lionheart” walked to one side of the Octagon, where he appeared to yell and flip the bird to someone in the crowd.

As it turns out, the fan in question had been taunting Smith even before the fight began.

“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt and he was like booing me and flipping me off and kind of talking trash before the fight,” Smith said on ESPN+ post-fight show. “But I was really focused on what I had to do. Then after the …

If anything goes awry with the UFC 315 headliner, Ian Garry will be on hand to step in.

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Shortly after he defeated Carlos Prates via unanimous decision in the UFC Kansas City headliner, “The Future” announced his plans to travel to Montreal for the welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena on May 10.

“Twenty-one days’ notice against Shavkat [Rakhmonov]. 25 days’ notice against this man tonight. He’s a beast. Well, in two weeks’ time, I’m flying to Canada,” Garry said during his post-fight interview. “I’m the official backup for the world title fight, and I’m next in line for that world title.”

Shortly after that statement, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that Garry would indeed be the championship alternate for the upcoming 170-pound title clash.

“Credit to Ian, [he] takes these fights on short notice,” White said at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference. “He’ll fight anybody. He looked good tonight.…

Max Holloway recently expressed gratitude to Chan Sung Jung for being an important part of his career.

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Two of the biggest fan favorites in the sport, Holloway and “The Korean Zombie” were extremely respectful toward each other even before sharing the Octagon. And they have since developed a friendship, which was on display during Holloway’s recent visit to South Korea.

Holloway was seen sparring with a teammate of Jung at the Korean Zombie gym, where they re-enacted his iconic slugfest with Justin Gaethje. “Blessed” then shared his respect for former rival Jung, whom he idolized growing up. Holloway also urged fans to lookout for his YouTube videos featuring him and his wife Alessa proving swimming lessons to Jung.

“I looked up to this man. When I was in high school I watched him fight many times,” Holloway said. “This guy’s an inspiration, without a ‘Korean Zombie’ there wouldn’t be a Max Holloway. So at the end of the day I’m super grateful…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Malcolm Wellmaker followed his spectacular Dana White's Contender Series win with a similar effort in his Octagon debut.

Wellmaker earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his knockout of Cameron Saaiman in a preliminary bantamweight clash at UFC Kansas City on Saturday night. The Augusta, Georgia, native sent his foe crashing to the floor with a counter right hook, abruptly ending their bout at the 1:59 mark of Round 1. Wellmaker earned a UFC deal with a first-round KO of Adam Bramhald on the Contender Series this past August.

Elsewhere, Mingyang Zhang received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for spoiling Anthony Smith’s retirement bout in the evening’s light heavyweight co-main event. Zhang busted his opponent open with an elbow early and went to work from there, ultimately finishing “Lionheart” with a barrage of elbows on the canvas 4:03 into the opening stanza.

Finally, Rand…

Ian Garry had just enough in the tank to avoid disaster in the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division.

The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder quelled a late rally and held on for a unanimous decision over Carlos Prates in the UFC on ESPN 66 main event on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Garry (16-1, 9-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 marks from the judges.

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Prates (21-7, 4-1 UFC), who entered the cage on an 11-fight winning streak, was slow out of the gate. Garry called upon kicks to the legs, body and head, leaned heavily on his jab and kept the Brazilian off-balance with level changes and deft footwork. Later, he fired off accurate punches in combination and secured multiple takedowns. The Irishman entered back half of the fight in front by a significant margin. Prates, however, turned up the heat, forced him onto his back foot and started to connect with increasing i…

Sherdog's live UFC Kansas City coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC on ESPN 66. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Edwards (-298), Chandler (+240)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Romero (-115), Cuamba (-105)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:The Official Result BET…

Matt Schnell willed his way to the winner’s circle and reasserted himself in the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division.

Sound submission defense, unshakable resolve and damaging ground-and-pound carried the Fortis MMA rep to a unanimous decision over former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Jimmy Flick in the featured UFC on ESPN 66 prelim on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. All three judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Schnell (17-9, 7-7 UFC), who closed the book on a three-fight losing streak.

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Flick (17-9, 2-4 UFC) completed multiple takedowns and moved to advantageous positions on more than one occasion but always seemed to leave his opponent an escape route. Schnell slowly but surely seized the reins—he opened a cut on Flick’s hairline with an elbow strike in the second round—and forced his counterpart to play defense as they drifted into deeper water. He threatened with a guillotine late in the third, rolle…

🚨Dricus Du Plessis’s coach confirms he’ll fight Khamzat Chimaev next — just NOT at International Fight Week on June 29th:

"[UFC] plans something else for [International Fight Week]. But we’re fighting Khamzat… It’s a done deal… We are waiting for the contract."

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🎥… pic.twitter.com/lBWYstsj3W — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 24, 2025

Dricus Du Plessis coach Morne Visser says they’re waiting on a contract for a title defense against Khamzat Chimaev.

While Chimaev getting the next middleweight title shot has long been expected, the matchup hasn’t been finalized yet. There were rumors of a Du Plessis injury causing a delay in the booking, which were recently dismissed by Visser.

The matchup was originally being considered for UFC 317, which goes down on June 28 during the International Fight Week. However, Visser confirmed that while Chimaev is undoubtedly getting the next gold bid, it won’t be at UFC 317.

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Homecoming at #UFCBaku 🇦🇿@RafaelFiziev takes on @JaulaBahamondes in the co-main event! pic.twitter.com/GYtzB96FkA

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025

A matchup of lightweight strikers has been added to UFC Baku.

Rafael Fiziev (12-4) and Ignacio Bahamondes (17-5) are set to trade leather at UFC on ABC 8 on June 21 at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. The promotion announced the pairing on Friday.

After suffering his first career loss in his UFC debut in 2019, Fiziev went on a six-fight winning streak with victories over the likes of Bobby Green, Renato Carneiro and Rafael dos Anjos. However, “Ataman” is now on a three-fight skid, which includes two decision losses against Justin Gaethje.

Meanwhile, Bahamondes earned his UFC contract with a spectacular finish over Edson Gomez on Dana White's Contender Series in 2020. “La Jaula” has since gone 6-2 in the UFC with five finishes and is currently riding a three-fight winning str…

🚨𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🚨

From the Pitch to the SmartCage ⚽️👊

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Former Manchester United and Les Bleus star @Evra makes his PFL MMA DEBUT at PFL Paris on Friday 23rd May#PFLParis | Friday 23rd May🎟️ On Sale NOW | LIVE on DAZN pic.twitter.com/2iCufpIFVy — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 25, 2025 With a full football career behind him, Patrice Evra is going to test the waters of combat sports with the Professional Fighters League.

Per a release by the tournament-based league on Friday, Evra, 43, will be making his professional MMA debut at PFL Europe 2 in Paris on May 23. His match will not be part of any tourney, and his opponent and weight category have not yet been determined. The soccer star suggested on social media that he would like to take on Luis Suarez in his first outing, a Uruguayan soccer talent infamous for flopping, biting and stomping on opponents.

Senegal-born Frenchman Evra bounced around a number of teams over the ye…

Our main event is OFFICIAL! 👊@IanGarryMMA weighs in at 171lbs!

[ #UFCKansasCity LIVE on @ESPNPlus | SAT | 9pmET ] pic.twitter.com/hBaTGALUA3

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Kansas City, Missouri, after two years for a 14-fight card that is now official after the UFC Kansas City weigh-ins took place.

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Sitting atop the event is a headlining fight between Ian Garry and Carlos Prates. Both welterweight contenders successfully made weight for their five-round main event. Only one fighter missed weight as Giga Chikadze came in at 147 pounds, a full pound over the featherweight limit, for his fight against David Onama. As a result, he'll be fined 20% of his purse.

Garry (15-1) enters his first UFC main event coming off his first-ever career defeat to Shavkat Rakhmonov. "The Future" will be looking to show that he's still a top contender despite the loss and was previously undefeated…

#UFCAtlanta has its headliners 🚨@Usman84kg vs @NewMansa94@RoseNamajunas vs @FearTheMaverick

Tickets on sale May 2 | Info: https://t.co/8HQfIg4b0R pic.twitter.com/lav45WCWaz

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Hotlanta will have a solid one-two punch in the marquee.

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The promotion released information about its upcoming trip to Atlanta on Friday, announcing the headliner the June 14 card. In the main attraction will be Kamaru Usman (20-4) against Joaquin Buckley (21-6) in a high-stakes welterweight showdown. It will be Usman’s return to 170 pounds after a one-off outing at middleweight, and overall, his first appearance since October 2023—he will be searching for his first victory since his rematch with Colby Covington in 2021.

Former beltholder Usman is looking to put a three-fight skid in the rear-view, with two of those three coming to Leon Edwards with the third defeat against…

WHO WILL BE THE BADDEST OF THEM ALL???

The hometown kid @DustinPoirier challenges @BlessedMMA for the BMF belt in his final trip to the Octagon!#UFC318 | @GNOSports | Learn More: https://t.co/GUdzvfNyaj pic.twitter.com/fDnILvrVwW

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 Two of the most beloved Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters will run it back one more time.

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The trilogy bout for Max Holloway (26-8) and Dustin Poirier (30-9, 1 NC) is on the books for UFC 318 on July 19. The two lightweights will collide for Holloway’s symbolic “BMF” belt, a title not currently connected to actual championship accolades. This event will also serve as the promotion’s return to “The Big Easy” for the first time in over a decade, with Tim Boetsch and Dan Henderson duking it out in New Orleans' Smoothie King Center back in June 2015. Of note, Poirier won by knockout on that fight card.

Over the last several years, Holloway has excelled against co…

Top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship Mateusz Gamrot is taking a bit of a stroll outside of the top 15 for a time.

Per the promotion on Thursday, Gamrot (24-3, 1 NC) will be taking on Ludovit Klein (23-4-1) in a major lightweight tilt at UFC on ESPN 68, also known as UFC Vegas 107. They will serve on the main card but not as the main attraction, with that spot going to the flyweight title eliminator between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. The fighters will all throw down inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on May 31.

In the Octagon thus far, former two-division KSW king Gamrot has yet to amass a win streak greater than four. He debuted in 2020, lost a decision to Guram Kutateladze and went on to rattle off fought straight wins. A top contender match against Beneil Dariush did not go his way in 2022, so he settled for winning three more to climb the leaderboard again. Once more, the Polish combatant came up short when it mattered most, dropping a split verdict…

Two more bouts have been added to the UFC Vegas 106 lineup, as Sodiq Yusuff wil meet Mairon Santos at lightweight, while Julian Erosa will take on Melquizael Costa at featherweight.

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MMAFighting.com was first to confirm Yusuff vs. Santos, while Ag.Fight initially brought word of Erosa vs. Costa. UFC Vegas 106 — also known as UFC Fight Night — takes place on May 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight tilt pitting Gilbert Burns against Michael Morales.

Yusuff will be making the move to 155 pounds on the heels of back-to-back losses against Edson Barboza and Diego Lopes at featherweight. Prior to that, Yusuff had been victorious in six of his first seven Octagon appearances.

Santos, meanwhile, has won 15 of his first 16 professional outings — including two victories in UFC competition. The 24-year-old Brazilian debuted in the Octagon with a second-round KO of Kaan Ofli at UFC on ESPN 62 before taking a split verdict ov…

زمزم الحمادي تنظم لرابطة "PFL MENA"! 🤩

البطلة الإماراتية البالغة من العمر 17 عامًا، لاعبة متألقة في رياضتي الجوجيتسو والفنون القتالية المختلطة، حيث فازت ببطولة العالم للفنون القتالية المختلطة فئة الشباب "IMMAF"، وبطولة العالم للجوجيتسو للناشئين والشباب "JJIF" في عام 2023. pic.twitter.com/caZ5cPMyFc

— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) April 23, 2025

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Professional Fighters League MENA has signed 17-year-old Zamzam Al Hammadi with designs on showcasing the decorated grappler in amateur MMA bouts during the upcoming season.

Al Hammadi, who hails from United Arab Emirates, earned championship victories at IMMAF Youth World Championships and the JJIF World Youth Championships in 2023. Her mother is a judo practitioner and her sister also competes in grappling and MMA. According to Sherdog.com records, Al Hammad boasts a 9-0 amateur MMA record.

“We’re thrilled to bring in one of the fastest rising young stars, not just in the Middle E…

  After 11 years of retirement, Alexandre Franca Nogueira is making a comeback.

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The 47-year-old “King of the Guillotine” has accepted a special invitation from Japanese promotion Roman Combat to face another previously retired veteran, 41-year-old Hatsu Hioki, who last competed against Mikur Azakura at Rizin 12 in 2018. The 155-pound bout will take place on Saturday at Gen Sports Palace in Tokyo.

“The best moments of my career were in Japan. When the Japanese promoter invited me to fight there against another veteran, I immediately accepted,” said Nogueira, who is known in Brazil by the nickname “Pequeno,” which means small.

A Shooto champion between 1999 and 2005, Nogueira likes the special rules of the event.

“One round of 15 minutes, with gi in Pride rules and the weigh-ins 20 minutes before each fight. I loved that,” said Nogueira.

Known for his amazing guillotine technique that finished the likes of Rumina Sato, Stephen Pallin…

😅Carlos Prates’ mother asks him to KO Ian Machado Garry quickly:

"Don't give the opponent a chance to play too much. Finish the war quickly. The way mommy likes it."

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🎥 @espnmma ▫️ pic.twitter.com/kd6TqBa3fv — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

Carlos Prates’ mother wants her son to finish Ian Garry in style.

Prates headlines UFC Kansas City opposite Garry on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansa City, Missouri. One of the quirkiest fighters on the roster, Prates is also known for his heavy smoking habits along with his finishing skills.

After losing his father at the age of 1, Prates was primarily brought up by his mother, Regina Prates. Prates admittedly starting getting into fights as a kid while simultaneously developing drinking and smoking habits. That’s when his mother decided to put him into sports, and he initially became a muay thai fighter. Regina revealed that fighting, which comes natural…

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Movsar Evloev believes the UFC doesn’t want him to fight for the featherweight title.

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Evloev is unbeaten in nine UFC outings with wins over Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling. However, the undefeated Russian is yet to receive a title shot.

Even Lopes surpassed him for the gold bid, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314 earlier this month. With Evloev being essentially undeniable, both Volkanovski and Lopes had agreed to fight him if they won the title.

But Evloev believes his title shot might still be out of reach. The 31-year-old was in attendance at UFC 314 and tried to congratulate Volkanovski personally. However, he was allegedly stopped by UFC security and taken to a different side of the room, away from the cameras. While Evloev believes he is already deserving of a title shot, he is undeterred and willing to prove himself as many times as needed.

"As …

👀😱 Israel Adesanya wants to rematch Sean Strickland because after losing the fight he felt bullied, the same way as in his childhood:

"This time I am gonna come at him correct. I used to get bullied a lot as a kid. He's an embodiment of that, in the sense that he attacked… pic.twitter.com/s240fZlqck

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

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Israel Adesanya is linking up with David Goggins to try and avenge his loss against Sean Strickland.

Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Strickland via a lopsided unanimous decision at UFC 293 in 2023. While Adesanya was fighting twice a year on an average during his title reign, the Strickland loss admittedly made him realize that he needed to slow down. “The Last Stylebender” has since fought only twice, suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Dricus Du Plessis in 2024 and Nassourdine Imavov this past February.

Adesanya now wants to return to action with a rem…

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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…

Carlos Prates is well prepared for his next headlining opportunity.

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The Brazilian, who arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday, spoke to Sherdog.com about his upcoming fight with Ian Garry in the UFC on ESPN 66 main event on Saturday night. Prates was originally supposed to face Geoff Neal at UFC 314 in a three-round bout on April 12 before his opponent withdrew from the event.

"I didn’t do anything different in that camp. Actually I always train for five rounds, even when I fight three rounds, so it was basically the same,” Prates said. “The only difference is that I brought BJJ master Vagner Motta to help me with takedown defense and ground skills.”

According to The Fighting Nerds representative, the scale will not be a problem for him, either.

"Since my last fight I started to work with my nutritionist to gain weight and get stronger in the division. I started this camp weighing 90 kilograms (198 pounds), but I'm already weighing 82 k…