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Shavkat Rakhmonov has his doubts about the timing of Belal Muhammad’s exit from UFC 310.

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Rakhmonov was scheduled to challenge Muhammad for the welterweight title in the main event at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, Muhammad pulled out of the matchup, citing a bone infection that led to severe swelling in his foot.

Rakhmonov has now questioned the recency of Muhammad’s injury. The undefeated Kazakh believes Muhammad’s injury is older than he advertised, as he claims to have heard of the champ training recently. According to “Nomad,” Muhammad could have fought at UFC 310 if he wanted to but chose to exercise more caution.

“From what I heard and what I know, he got injuries even earlier before it went public,” Rakhmonov recently told Ariel Helwani. “Because I [heard about] him train recently. Maybe he just posted his picture recently, but the problem occurred even earlier. So I think he [would be] able to fight in De…

Stipe Miocic (20-4) recently responded to critics of his UFC 309 title shot booking against Jon Jones (27-1).

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Miocic was originally scheduled to challenge Jones for the heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November 2023 before “Bones” was forced out with an injury. Tom Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight on the same card.

While Aspinall initially called for Jones to be stripped of the title, he later started rallying for a title unification bout against Jones. “Honey Badger” even defended his interim strap with a KO win over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 this past July. However, Jones remained adamant on fighting Miocic upon his return, leading to their main-event booking at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Miocic last fought at UFC 260 in 2021, when he lost his strap to Francis Ngannou via brutal KO. While many consider Aspinall the rightful title contender, the UFC has defended the book…

While it might appear that Michael Chandler wasted valuable years of his MMA career waiting on a Conor McGregor fight that has yet to materialize, the former Bellator MMA champion has a different perspective on that time away.

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“Having that much time off, I needed it. I really needed it,” Chandler told the New York Post. “Six training camps in a 26-month period, every single fight was do or die — Top 3, Top 5 guy, world title fights, fights of the night, fights of the year. And I love the sport; I am so blessed to do the sport of mixed martial arts as a professional and get paid for it and feed my family with it, but it was taking a toll on me. I needed some time off.”

Chandler hasn’t competed since November 2022, when he suffered a third-round submission loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 281. He was then booked to coach opposite McGregor on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” seemingly setting the stage for a big-ticket fight after the show. However, the b…

A featherweight showdown pittng Doo Ho Choi against Nate Landwehr has been added to the UFC 310 lineup.

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MMA Mania was first to report the booking. UFC 310 takes place on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and features a flyweight championship bout between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura.

Choi earned his first victory since 2016 at UFC on ESPN 60, where he defeated Bill Algeo via second-round technical knockout on July 20. “The Korean Superboy” began his promotional tenure with three consecutive first-round finishes but went 0-3-1 in his next four Octagon appearances, though his loss against Cub Swanson was eventually inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing.” The 33-year-old Busan Team Mad representative owns a 15-4-1 career mark, with 12 of those triumphs coming via KO or TKO.

Landwehr, meanwhile, been victorious in four of his last five UFC bouts. In his first appearance of 2024, “The Train” scored a first-round knockout of…

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Joe Lopez can’t wait to see Alexander Volkanovski back in action.

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Volkanovski suffered a brutal knockout loss in a short-notice failed double-champ bid against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October 2023. “The Great” put his featherweight title on the line soon after against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past February, where he suffered another brutal knockout. Many believe Volkanovski knockout loss to Topuria had to do with the quick turnaround from his loss against Makhachev.

Volkanovski has since taken some time off and will seemingly not fight at least before early next year. While Lopez also felt Volkanovski needed some time off, he thinks it’s been too long now.

“I would have said six to eight months was plenty, you know,” the Freestyle MMA Coach told Submission Radio. “Now we’re coming up to nearly 12 months. And it’s a bit too long.”

Meanwhile, Topuria defended his strap by knocking out Max Holl…

A fan told Daniel Cormier that he’s “the son of Jon Jones”, and DC replies “F*** you” 😭

He also explains why he’ll never be cool with Jon Jones:

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“People need to stop longing for the perfect happy ending.”

🎥 @SevereMMA #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/TKkwVFBBTW

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 3, 2024 Daniel Cormier thinks it’s fine that he and Jon Jones have never settled their feud.

Cormier and Jones share one of the most iconic rivalries in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, which started with “Bones” saying he could take the former All-American wrestler down. They were supposed to share the Octagon for the first time at UFC 178 but the matchup was postponed when Jones suffered an injury in training. Jones and Cormier finally clashed at UFC 182 in 2015, where “Bones” successfully defended his light heavyweight title via unanimous decision. Jones also tested positive for a cocaine metabolite but wasn’t p…

It’s humbling having some of the world’s best athletes supporting me throughout this camp. “Be comfortable being uncomfortable”. pic.twitter.com/q0vqcfiNIF

— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 8, 2024

Jon Jones’ longtime coach Brandon Gibson believes wrestling superstar Gable Steveson could be a future mixed martial arts champion.

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Jones (27-1) will defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic (20-4) in the main event at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Many, including Gibson believe that this could be the last walk to the Octagon for “Bones,” who has hinted at retirement on multiple occasions leading up to the bout.

In preparation for UFC 309, Jones has assembled a cadre of talented training partners from various discipines of combat sports. Included in that group are multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion Gordon Ryan and wrestling Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson. Gibson sees championship poten…

Considered to be one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts today — despite not speaking English — Alex Pereira put his popularity to the test during an autograph session at Shopping Eldorado in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this past Saturday.

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Up arriving at the mall, “Poatan” was gretting by a crowd that had already gathered in the shopping center’s corridors. With shouts of “Chama! Chama! Chama!”, the crowd waited patiently to take a photo or receive an autograph from their idol. In a video published on Instagram, Poatan spoke of the emotion of receiving affection from his hometown fans.

“It was beyond what I expected, to see all these people leaving their home on a holiday to stay in such a long line waiting to take a picture with me. See a small child crying when taking a photo with me. I´m really speechless,” Pereira said.

The UFC light heavyweight champion also recently participated in one of the most popular podcasts in the country, "Podpah…

After taking some time off, Brandon Moreno came back looking rejuvenated at UFC Edmonton.

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The former flyweight king outstruck Amir Albazi for the better part of five rounds in a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph in Saturday’s headliner at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Albazi, who lost for the first time in six Octagon appearances, was unable to match his Mexican opponent during exchanges on the feet, and he was also unable to ground “Assassin Baby.”

For Moreno, it was a much-needed return to the win column after back-to-back losses. Those struggles prompted him to announce in March that he would be taking a break from MMA to allow his body and mind to rest.

“What can I say? I feel just amazing, All the vibes, all the environment around my training camp was on point. It was just perfect. I wanted to show that in my performance tonight, and I feel I did it,” Moreno said at the post-fight press conference.

“I felt so connected,…

Nothing is set in stone at this point in time, but Brandon Gibson is treating the UFC 309 fight camp like it’s going to be Jon Jones’ last dance.

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Jones will defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 headliner on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. “Bones” has indicated on more than one occasion that this could be his final mixed martial arts bout. Gibson, who is one of Jones’ longtime coaches in Albuquerque, New Mexico, isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I think physically, mentally, he could go in there and have five or six more great performances,” Gibson told MMAFighting.com. “There’s nothing left for Jon to prove. I think he really wants this fight with Stipe. I think this fight will help solidify Jon’s status as that great heavyweight champion but it’s not something we talk about every night at the gym. We’re definitely all eyes on Nov. 16. But each time I go to a practice, I’m approaching it as this is my las…

Those planning on watching the final four preliminary bouts for UFC 309 will have multiple viewing options.

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In addition to ESPN+ and ESPNEWS, the featured preliminary card at UFC 309 will also air on FX and Hulu. The promotion announced the options during the UFC Edmonton broadcast on Saturday night. Typically, the main preliminary card for a pay-per-view is only broadcast on ESPN+ and one of the ESPN channels. Like ESPN, both FX and Hulu are owned by The Walt Disney Company.UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

The featured UFC 309 preliminary card is topped by a light heavyweight clash between Nikita Krylov and Azamat Murzakanov. The other three bouts are as follows: Mauricio Ruffy vs. James Llontop at lightweight; Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee at bantamweight and Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson at lightweight. Meanwhile, the five-bout early preliminary draw will air exclusively on ESPN+.

UFC 309 takes place …

Belal Muhammad says an interim title fight at #UFC310 doesn’t make sense, but doesn’t mind it:

“Interim title bro? It’s 6 weeks, not 6 months that I’m off.”

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🎥 @remembertheshow #UFC #MMA

pic.twitter.com/NKIbl1onkK

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 2, 2024

Belal Muhammad believes an interim title fight doesn’t make sense in his absence.

Muhammad was scheduled to defend his welterweight strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, “Remember the Name” was forced out of the event due to an infection in his foot that caused severe swelling in one of his toes.

Rakhmonov has since been looking for a replacement opponent for a potential interim title fight at UFC 310. While Ian Garry had been calling out Rakhmonov, the Irishman was recently booked against Joaquin Buckley for a headlining bout at UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. That leaves former champ Kamaru…

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It’s unlikely that Max Holloway will compete at featherweight again.

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After going 0-3 against Alexander Volkanovski in their title fight trilogy, Holloway wasn’t in featherweight title conversations until recently. However, the title picture changed with Ilia Topuria’s knockout win over Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February.

Meanwhile, Holloway went on score an iconic knockout win over Justin Gaethje for the BMF title in a lightweight matchup at UFC 300 in April, securing himself a featherweight gold bid. The former champ challenged “El Matador” at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While Holloway was seemingly getting ahead on the scorecards, Topuria handed “Blessed” his first career KO loss in the third round.

Holloway expressed interest in moving up to 155 pounds immediately afterward. The Hawaiian has now confirmed that he is moving up to lightweight for good. While Holloway had a nice weight cut for…

Jasmine Jasudavicius, Dustin Stoltzfus, Charles Jourdain and Youssef Zalal each garnered $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their work at UFC Edmonton.

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Jasudavicius secured her third straight Octagon triumph, as she submitted Ariane Lipski with a brabo choke at the 2:28 mark of Round 3 in a featured women’s flyweight bout.

Also on the main card, Stoltzfus got the better of a brief-but-violent exchange with Marc-Andre Barriault to emerge with a knockout victory 4:28 into the opening stanza at middleweight. It was the first KO victory for Stolzfus in more than five years.

Elsewhere, Jourdain dispatched Victor Henry with a guillotine choke 3:43 into the second frame of their preliminary bantamweight showdown. It was the first time Henry had been finished in his professional career.

Finally, Zalal continued his resurgence with a quick finish of Jack Shore in a featherweight pairing. The Factory X product floored his opponent wi…

Brandon Moreno still stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division.

The two-time champion kept his head moving, trusted his jab and ducked into power punches, as he outstruck Amir Albazi to a unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 246 headliner on Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. All three judges scored it for Moreno (22-8-2, 10-5-2 UFC): 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45.

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In his first fight since June 3, 2023, Albazi (17-2, 5-1 UFC) was out of his depth. Moreno brought all his weapons to bear in the 25-minute battle, hammering away at the Fight Ready rep with probing jabs, crisp combinations and repeated left hooks around the guard. He staggered Albazi with a head kick in the second round and a left hook off the break in the fifth. The moments in between saw Moreno put copious amounts of damage on “The Prince,” opening multiple cuts around his right eye. Quite simply, he could do no…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Canada Saturday at 5 p.m. ET with UFC Edmonton. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 246. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Horth (-205), Petrovic (+170)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Gibson (-198), Anheliger (+164)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Offici…

Aiemann Zahabi now bears the look of a legitimate threat in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

Economical standup and bulletproof takedown defense carried the Tristar Gym representative to a unanimous decision over onetime Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Pedro Munhoz in the featured UFC Fight Night 246 prelim on Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Zahabi (12-2, 6-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judiciary.

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Munhoz (20-10, 10-10 UFC) forced the Canadian onto the back foot but walked into heavy fire while doing so. Zahabi cut loose with two and three jabs at a time, fired right hands over the top and targeted the body whenever the mood arose. Munhoz stayed aggressive from beginning to end, but by the time it was over, visible damage had accumulated around both of the American Top Team-trained Brazilian’s eyes and his counterpart had built a nice lead on the scoreca…

Jhonata Diniz’s latest fight camp won’t go to waste.

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Diniz was scheduled to meet fellow knockout artist Derrick Lewis at UFC Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Saturday. However, Lewis was forced to withdraw due to a “medical issue” not involving his weight cut.UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

While Diniz couldn’t find a replacement opponent for UFC Edmonton, he won’t have to wait much longer. It was announced during the UFC Edmonton broadcast that the Brazilian will take on Polish veteran Marcin Tybura at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Tybura is 3-2 in his last five bouts and coming off a submission win over Serghei Spivac. Meanwhile, Diniz is coming off a unanimous decision win over Karl Williams, which is the only time he has gone the distance in his eight career wins.

A heavyweight bout pitting Derrick Lewis against Jhonata Diniz has been removed from the UFC Edmonton lineup.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Saturday that a “medical issue” that wasn’t related to his weight cut forced Lewis to withdraw from the event. No further details were provided.

Lewis made weight on Friday morning, tipping the scales at 266 pounds for his matchup with Diniz. However, “The Black Beast” did not attend the ceremonial weigh-ins later that day, leading to speculation that the former heavyweight title challenger might not be able to fight.

UFC Edmonton will proceed with 13 bouts. A women’s flyweight clash between Ariane Lipski and Jasmine Jasudavicius has been elevated to the main card. The card is headlined by a flyweight showdown between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi.

One of the UFC’s most popular fighters and the promotion’s all-time knockout leader, Lewis has been victorious in two of his last three Oc…

Merab Dvalishvili claims Umar Nurmagomedov refused to accept a fight against Yadong Song.

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Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title with a dominant unanimous decision win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September. Nurmagomedov has since been calling for a title shot against Dvalishvili, who instead wants a rematch against “Suga.”

In the meantime, Nurmagomedov was reportedly close to finalizing a potential title eliminator with Chinese contender Song at UFC Tampa in December. However, Nurmagomedov recently announced that the matchup is off because “Kung Fu Kid” is injured.

Dvalishvili has now countered Nurmagomedov’s claim, accusing the undefeated Dagestani of ducking Song. The Georgian champ has always maintained that Nurmagomedov receives favored treatement from the UFC due to his relationship with cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov. Dvalishvili reiterated that even if Nurmagomedov gets the next title shot, he is undeserving of it.

“Don’t…

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Rose Namajunas isn’t looking to surpass Manon Fiorot for a flyweight title shot.

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Namajunas moved up to flyweight after losing her strawweight title to Carla Esparza via split decision in 2022. “Thug” suffered a hard-fought unanimous decision loss against Fiorot in her flyweight debut the following year. Namajunas has since racked up consecutive decision victories over Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez, earning relevance in title conversations.

Namajunas is scheduled to fight top contender Erin Blanchfield in the co-main event at UFC Edmonton at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A win would likely make Namajunas a potential contender for the next gold bid at 125 pounds against Valentina Shevchenko. While Shevchenko is a training partner of Namajunas, “Thug” wouldn’t mind getting paid for what they would do in training anyway.

“That would be my dream matchup,” Namajunas told ESPN. “Obviously I’m a huge admirer of [Shevch…

Capping off the year with a BANGER 🔥@IanGarryMMA vs @NewMansa94 is the #UFCTampa MAIN EVENT!

Get tickets 👉 https://t.co/eoKeUgRb8k pic.twitter.com/QJofp85j9y

— UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2024 It appears the Ultimate Fighting Championship already had a plan for Ian Garry.

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Per a UFC release on Friday, Garry (15-0) will be coming to blows with Joaquin Buckley (20-6) in the main event of UFC Tampa, also known as UFC on ESPN 63. The two welterweights will get after it inside of the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 14. Garry had been calling for a chance to vie for an interim 170-pound strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov due to champ Belal Muhammad’s illness, but the promotion is going in a different direction.

Garry has passed every test since joining the UFC roster in 2021, introducing himself to the brass by smashing Jordan Williams at the tail end of the first round. The unbeaten Irishman has slugged his way up the welt…

First to the scale! ⚖️

Brandon Moreno weighs in at 125.5lbs!

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[ #UFCEdmonton is LIVE tomorrow on @ESPNPlus | 8pmET/5pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/EfSPqiIBlz — UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to Alberta, Canada, is now official after the UFC Fight Night 246 weigh-ins.

Sitting atop the 14-fight card is a flyweight main event between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi. Both men weighed 125.5 pounds and are ready for a five-round scrap. The 26 other fighters on the card also successfully made weight for their bouts, so the card will continue as planned.

Moreno (21-8-2) is hoping to break a two-fight losing streak after back-to-back split decision losses to Brandon Royval and Alexandre Pantoja. The former champ has previously beat Kai Kara-France and rival Deiveson Figueiredo before the current skid. Just 30 years of age, "The Assassin Baby" will look to show that he's still an improving…

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Germaine de Randamie is hanging up her gloves.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Thursday, de Randamie (10-5) signaled her retirement from MMA. The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight queen stated that she hoped to take one more fight before calling it quits, but the schedule did not work out this year and she has decided to move on. The 40-year-old has competed once since 2020—including a lengthy layoff to give birth to a son—where she came up short to likely future title challenger Norma Dumont.

“Hey guys,” de Randamie wrote in a caption to her video statement. “With so many mixed feelings I’m sharing this message with you guys. I definitely didn’t plan or envisioned/dreamed it this way, but hey it is what it is sometimes. I begged the UFC for one more fight. But it had to be this year. I promised myself that I would retire from fighting December 31, 2024.”

She continued, “Unfortunately the UFC told me all cards a…