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Khamzat Chimaev can take another step closer to a title shot with a victory over Nate Diaz in the UFC 279 headliner on Saturday, but he’s willing to weigh his options if the promotion goes in a different direction.

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After Leon Edwards upset of Kamaru Usman in the UFC 278 headliner, a decent possibility exists that an immediate trilogy — potentially in England — could be in store given Usman’s run of dominance prior to that defeat. If that turns out to be the case, Chimaev told ESPN that he could turn his attention to the middleweight division and the winner of the title fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira slated for UFC 281.

“If they want to do [the trilogy], for me no problem,” Chimaev said. “I’m gonna take some other fight, and we will see what’s happening. Maybe Israel Adesanya or the other guy, Pereira. Who wins that, maybe fight with them. I don’t know.”

Prior to UFC 278, Usman had a 15-bout winning streak in the Octagon and ha…

It was smooth sailing at weigh-ins for Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as all 10 athletes scheduled to compete hit their contracted marks.

The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured contest is a light heavyweight affair pitting Rodolfo Bellato (205) against Vitor Petrino Salvo (203.5). The bout is a rematch of a Max Fight 22 encounter in May 2019 won by Salvo via first-round knockout.

A product of the Team Nogueira camp, Bellato brings an 8-1 career mark into the Contender Series. He has finished all of his victories inside the distance, including a pair of first-round submissions under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner.

Salvo is undefeated in six professional appearances, including the aforementioned triumph against Bellato. Most recently, the 25-year-old CM System product scored a second-round KO of six-time UFC veteran Gadzhimurad Antigulov at UAE W…

Nate Diaz is about to make a foray into the business of promoting combat sports.

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According to a release from Team Diaz, the Stockton, Calif., native will be applying for his license to promote events for an organization called Real Fight, Inc. The promotion will feature boxing, mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Diaz himself announced the news on Sunday via instagram with the following caption: “Real Ninjas. Real Fighters. Real Shit.. Real Fight, Inc.”

According to the statement, Diaz’s new endeavor will not affect his status as a fighter, as he plans to remain active in that realm.

“Real Fight, Inc. is his expansion into the business side of the sport where he has been a fixture for close to 20 years,” a statement reads. “The promotion will look attract fighters from around the world, whether it be up and coming prospects or household names who fit the brand of ‘Real Ninjas. Real Fighters. Real S—…’”

Diaz is scheduled …

In his previous 11 professional mixed martial arts appearances, Ciryl Gane had never been hit the way Tai Tuivasa hit him on Saturday in Paris.

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“Yeah, 100 percent [the hardest puncher I’ve faced],” Gane said at the UFC Fight Night 209 post-fight press conference. “Ngannou never touched me during the fight, so it’s impossible to compare. But today, Tai Tuivasa touched me. Francis Ngannou can touch very well. That’s not a question. But today, [Tuivasa] was the first guy to put me on my ass.”

“Bon Gamin” appeared to be on cruise control before Tuivasa dropped him with a massive right hand in the second round of their headlining bout at the Accor Arena in Paris. That set off a thrilling sequence in which the heavyweights went back and forth before Gane put his opponent away with a series of heavy punches 4:23 into Round 3. For a few moments, however, Gane was going on pure instinct after hitting the canvas.

“I don’t have time to put question in my…

In the UFC Fight Night 209 co-main event, Robert Whittaker proved once again that he’s a cut above most of the middleweight division.

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The former champion picked apart fomer title challenger Marvin Vettori for three rounds, ultimately winning a clear-cut unanimous decision at Accor Arena in Paris on Saturday. Whittaker has won 13 of his last 15 promotional appearances, with his only two setbacks coming at the hands of reigning 185-pound king Israel Adesanya.

“I’m the most dangerous man in the division,” Whittaker said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Israel’s the champ. He beat me twice, hats off to him for that. He’s a great fighter, he really is. And I think stylistically he’s a great fighter, but I still think I’m the most dangerous man in the division, because I win. I win a lot and I make people hate fighting. I take the fight out of them, because that’s what I do. I get in there and I get to work.”

Adesanya knocked Whittaker ou…

Francis Ngannou still owns bragging rights over Ciryl Gane thanks to his victory over the Frenchman at UFC 270 in January.

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With that in mind, the reigning heavyweight champion isn’t going over the top with his praise of Gane following his third-round knockout victory over Tai Tuivasa in the UFC Fight Night 209 headliner in Paris on Saturday. “Bon Gamin” has been victorious in eight of nine promotional appearances, with his lone defeat coming via unanimous decision against Ngannou.

“I know he’s a great fighter,” Ngannou said on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “It’s hard to respond to that question for the guy that I beat – if I’m impressed with him. He’s here for a reason. I fought him for a reason because he was probably the No. 1 contender. Yes, he’s good, but I’m the champ. Yeah, so it’s really hard to be impressed.”

Gane had to survive some adversity to emerge victorious against Tuivasa. The heavy-handed Aussie became the first person to land …

本日、ハワイ州庁舎にグレン・ワカイ上院議員を表敬訪問し、来年に開催を目指すハワイ大会への協力をお願いして来ました！全面的にサポートをして頂ける確約を頂きましたよ！ pic.twitter.com/xfa3QiNypV

— NOBUYUKI SAKAKIBARA (@nobu_sakakibara) September 1, 2022

Rizin Fighting Federation plans on expanding its reach next year.

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The Japanese promotion announced during a press conference in Hawaii that it plans on holding an event in the Aloha State sometime in 2023. An exact date and venue were not specified. The event was attended by Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara along with a trio of notable fighters with Hawaiian roots: Enson Inoue, Egan Inoue and B.J. Penn.

"Starting today, we will attempt to host RIZIN’s first international event here in Hawaii, next year,” Sakakibara said. “Of course, we understand that RIZIN is still not a common name, but we will do our best to become the most dynamic and dramatic combat sports event in Hawaii.…

Tai Tuivasa made sure Ciryl Gane knew he had been in a fight, and that paid dividends for both men.

Gane and Tuivasa received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their heavyweight clash in the UFC Fight Night 209 headliner on Saturday at Accor Arena in Paris. Gane appeared to be cruising to victory when Tuivasa floored the Frenchman with a massive right hand in the second stanza. “Bon Gamin” would recover, however, and he rallied to put his Australian foe away with a salvo of powerful punches 4:23 into Round 3.

Elsewhere, promotional newcomer Abusupiyan Magomedov earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for making short work of Dustin Stoltzfus in a preliminary middleweight bout. The PFL veteran rocked his foe with a front kick at the outset of the fight and swarmed with follow-up punches for a technical knockout victory just 19 seconds into Round 1 — the fourth-fastest finish for a debuting fighter in UFC history.

Finally, Benoit St. Den…

The brutality was beautiful.

Ciryl Gane strengthened his position as the top contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, as he took out Tai Tuivasa with punches in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 209 headliner on Saturday at Accor Arena in Paris. Tuivasa (14-4, 8-4 UFC) succumbed to blows 4:23 into Round 3, suffering his first defeat in nearly three years.

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Gane (11-1, 8-1 UFC) did not escape unscathed. Tuivasa floored him with a clubbing right hand to touch off a remarkable sequence in the second round that saw both men badly hurt on multiple occasions. Gane worked over the Aussie’s midsection and forced him to double over more than once with savage kicks, knees and hooks to the cut. From there, the Frenchman found another gear in what turned into a potentially star-making performance. He once again zeroed in on the body with a series of front kicks, slipped a counterpunch and connected with a crushing right hand t…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 209 coverage will begin Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Egger (-285), Perez (+240)Round 1 Vive la France! The UFC has now officially placed the Octagon in L’Hexagone, with Paris its first staging ground. A dozen fights will play out with levels of varying intrigue, and a large number of Frenchmen (five!) will be appearing throughout the night and hoping they can win one for the motherland. Up first, instead of a French man or woman, is a Swiss fighter in Egger (7-3, 2-2 UFC) who hopes to get the European-proud crowd pumped up early as she tries to shake the stigma of a recent confusing armbar loss. She will be facing late replacement and twerking enthusiast Perez (7-1, 0-0 UFC) out of Argentina, in which “Fiona” has not lost a fight other than by her own recklessness in a disqualification. Fight…

WHAT A DEBUT FOR ABUS MAGOMEDOV 👏 #UFCParis pic.twitter.com/5rV1V8Ds3W

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 3, 2022

Abusupiyan Magomedov took the scorched-earth approach.

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The 32-year-old Russian wowed the crowd in his long-awaited Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, as he obliterated Dustin Stoltzfus with a front kick to the face and follow-up punches in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 209 prelim on Saturday at Accor Arena in France. A short-notice replacement for Makhmud Muradov, Stoltzfus (14-5, 1-4 UFC) bowed out 19 seconds into Round 1.

Magomedov (25-4-1, 1-0 UFC) forced the Dana White’s Contender Series alum to retreat after eating the front kick, backed it up with a right uppercut and leveled him with hooks from both hands before he pounded away with punches for a spectacular stoppage. It was the sixth sub-minute finish of the former two-division Superior Fighting Championship titleholder’s car…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship's debut card in France is set, as all fighters made weight for UFC Fight Night 209.

The historic card is headlined by a heavyweight bout between top contenders Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa. Tuivasa, who weighed in at the division's max of 266 pounds, will be 19 pounds heavier than Gane, who stepped on the scale at 247 pounds.

A former interim champion, Gane (10-1) is looking to bounce back from his first career defeat after being outwrestled by Francis Ngannou. The French striker will look to outstrike Tuivasa (14-3), who is riding an impressive five-fight win streak. "Bam Bam" is hoping to earn his first title fight inside the Octagon and is coming off five straight knockouts.

UFC Fight Night 209 will stream live on ESPN+ on Saturday. Prelims begin at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT, while the main card kicks off at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.

UFC Fight Night 209 Weigh-in Results: Ciryl Gane (247) vs. Tai Tuivasa (266)Marv…

Ivana Siric is the @ARES_Fighting flyweight champion!

[ #ARES8 | 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 | on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/bz0d5VQw9Q

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 2, 2022

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The Parisian fans attending the Dome de Paris for Ares Fighting Championship’s latest event were hoping for a different result in the headliner.

In the Ares FC 8 main event, Ivana Siric Petrovic forced Alexandra Tekenah to tap to conquer the promotion’s flyweight championship. Little could hometown hero Tekenah (2-1, 2-1 Ares) do to contain the impetuousness of Petrovic (5-0, 3-0 Ares), who attacked with a varied arsenal and showcased flawless defense. When the occasion arose, Petrovic took down Tekenah and imparted some grappling knowledge. The Norwegian ended the contest in the third frame after taking her opponent’s back and forcing her to tap due to a rear-naked choke. The official time was 4:43 mark of Round 3.

Read more about Ares FC 8: Undefeated Prospect Ivana Siric Petrovic Submits Alexandra Tekenah

Estou pronto para dia 15 de outubro, @ufc mande o contrato MUNIZ x CANNONIER . I’m ready! Send me the contract 🙋‍♂️🖊📝 @danawhite @Mickmaynard2 🔥🔥🔥🔥👊🏻

— Andre Muniz (@andremunizufc) August 31, 2022 Top-10 Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Andre Muniz is looking for a fight.

On Wednesday, Sean Strickland withdrew his headlining match against Jared Cannonier (15-6) on UFC Fight Night 212 due to a finger infection. As a result, Cannonier was left without an opponent and he was reportedly pulled from the card altogether. If ranked middleweight Muniz (23-4) has anything to say about it, the Oct. 15 main event should be back on with him in the marquee position.

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The Brazilian took to social media to campaign for the vacant spot not long after the news broke. He then spoke to Sherdog, where he gave his thoughts about Cannonier as a prospective opponent and where it would place him in the title picture.

“I’m ready, I…

Those close to all-time great Anderson Silva believe that Jake Paul is making a grave error by taking a fight with him.

Right after the boxing match of Silva and Paul was announced for October 29 at a currently undetermined location rumored to be in Arizona, Sherdog spoke to Silva’s boxing coach, Luiz Dorea, in Las Vegas. Dorea is quite a hot commodity in the boxing world, as he will not even get to start training Silva until after his pupil and 2016 Olympic champ Robson Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) faces American Shakur Stevenson, in Newark, N.J., at the end of September. The Conceicao-Stevenson match will be for the WBC, WBO and “The Ring” super featherweight titles, and Dorea has his hands full preparing his fighter for that contest.

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“We came to Vegas to have two weeks of sparring here,” Dorea explained. “We know it will be a war [between Stevenson and Conceicao], we are going to face the champion on his homeland, but Robson is very well prepared.”

Th…

[embedded content] Two powerful Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweights angling for a successful rebound will battle it out on the final card of the year.

On Thursday, MMA Fighting reported that Bruno Silva (22-8) will come to blows with Albert Duraev (15-4) in the middleweight division. The two will fight at a currently unnumbered UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 17, which will serve as the last UFC offering in 2022. The fight card will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and shortly after the bout’s announcement, Duraev confirmed it on his Instagram page.

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Silva will come into this 185-pound pairing on just the second multi-fight skid of his career, as he has dropped both of his outings in 2022 to Alex Pereira and Gerald Meerschaert. Prior to the decision setback to upcoming title challenger Pereira, “Blindado” had rattled off seven straight wins, with all seven coming by knockout. This includes his first three appearances in the Octagon, as he …

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Vitor Belfort has a bone to pick with Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

On Wednesday, right after his boxing match with Hasim Rahman Jr. (12-1, 6 KOs) was announced, Vitor Belfort (1-0, 1 KO) spoke to Sherdog about his preparation to face the far younger Rahman Jr. In his interview, he was not afraid to mince words about Paul (5-0, 4 KOs), accusing the 25-year-old of “running” from him.

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“My agent was talking Jake’s agent, but the fact is that they were choosing good fights for him,” Belfort admitted. “He didn’t want to fight Hasim Jr. because of his weight; he canceled the fight with Tommy Fury, which we don’t know exactly the reason for. Later, we started to talk, but he put a lot of problems and demands. And I just saw yesterday that he chose Anderson Silva.”

Belfort believed that his knockout power was probably the reason for Paul to select Silva instead of Belfort as his next adversary. Although the ma…

SCHEDULE ADCC SUBMISSION FIGHTING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2022https://t.co/S7Xo3qGQdx pic.twitter.com/syruwgQwCw

— ADCC (@ADCC_Federation) July 18, 2022 The Abu Dhabi Combat Club is making sure history will not be forgotten at its upcoming Worlds event in September.

The 14th edition of the ADCC Worlds, which will be held on September 14 to 18, promises to make up for lost time. In 2021, the grappling organization decided it would postpone its World Championships event to 2022 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, ADCC is staging its bi-yearly championship card in a new venue of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, and it will also feature a Hall of Fame induction ceremony as well as a new book release.

The main attraction for some is the superfight between Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao, but fans who attend the event will have the opportunity to participate in a joint seminar run by multiple past ADCC champions. Those names inclu…

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

Alexander Hernandez will move to 145 pounds for a matchup with Billy Quarantillo at UFC 282.

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Iridium Sports Agency, which represents both fighters, announced the booking on Wednesday. UFC 282 takes place on Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is expected to feature a light heavyweight championship rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira.

The 29-year-old Hernandez compiled a 5-4 record at lightweight, with notable wins over the likes of Beneil Dariush, Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Francisco Trinaldo. Most recently, he suffered a second-round submission loss to Renato Carneiro at UFC 271.

Quarantillo is 4-2 in the Octagon since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. He’s lost two of his last three fights and is coming off a decision defeat to Shane Burgos at UFC 268.

UFC and Venum announce multi-year renewal of outfitting and apparel partnership :

— UFC News (@UFCNews) August 31, 2022

Venum will continue to be the outfitting partner for the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the foreseeable future.

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The UFC announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to a multi-year renewal of its agreement with the France-based combat sports apparel company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to a release, the contract was “facilitated by IMG’s licensing business, which exclusively represents UFC and brokered the original agreement with Venum in 2020.” The UFC officially unveiled its partnership with Venum in April 2021 in what was supposed to be a three-year agreement, but it appears that both sides have extended the deal before its expiration.

The announcement coincides with the Las Vegas-based promotion’s first-ever trip to France for UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena in Paris on…

Two fighters who competed on the pay-per-view-portion of the UFC 278 card were among the latest batch of releases from the Las Vegas-based promotion.

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Harry Hunsucker, Yanan Wu and Claudio Silva are all no longer part of the UFC roster. The cuts were confirmed by MMAFighting.com after Twitter account UFC Roster Watch initially brought word of their removal. Each of the aforementioned fighters could have either been cut by the UFC or simply did not have their contract renewed.

Hunsucker opened the UFC 278 pay-per-view draw, suffering a first-round technical loss to Tyson Pedro on Aug. 20 in Salt Lake City. The former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor went 0-3 in the Octagon, with all of his defeats coming inside a round.

Wu, meanwhile, followed Hunsucker on the UFC 278 card, as she fell to Lucie Pudilova via second-round TKO. The 28-year-old Chinese fighter lost four straight in UFC competition and was 1-5 in the promotion overall.

<…

Former Bellator bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will return to action at Rizin 38 against Yuto Hokamura on Sept. 25.

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The Japanese promotion recently confirmed that pairing along with four other bouts: Hiromasa Ougikubo vs. Soo Chul Kim at bantamweight; Kyohei Hagiwara vs. Chihiro Suzuki at featherweight; Juri Ohara vs. Luiz Gustavo Felix dos Santos Felix dos Santos at lightweight and Shoma Shibisai vs. Callyugibrainn Marinho Borges de Oliveira at heavyweight.

Rizin 38 takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Japan and also includes a Super Rizin portion of the card, which will feature a previously reported exhibition boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Mikuru Asakura.

The 31-year-old Horiguchi has lost three of his last four professional fights. He last appeared as part of Bellator’s 135-pound grand prix, where he dropped a five-round verdict to Patrick Mix in the quarterfinals of the bracket on April 23. Horiguchi’s lone …

A finger infection has forced Sean Strickland to withdraw from the UFC Fight Night 212 main event against Jared Cannonier on Oct. 15.

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UFC president Dana White confirmed Strickland’s exit from the card following the Contender Series on Tuesday night while adding that the promoiton will not seek a replacement opponent for Cannonier. UFC Fight Night 212 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a women’s flyweight clash between Viviane Araujo and Alexa Grasso as well as a men’s 125-pound tilt pitting Askar Askarov against Brandon Royval.

Strickland had a bid for title contention shot down at UFC 276, as he suffered a first-round KO defeat to former Glory Kickboxing champ Alex Pereira in his most recent Octagon appearance. That defeat snapped a six-bout winning streak for the 31-year-old Team Quest representative.

Cannonier is coming off a failed attempt at middleweight gold at UFC 276, where he dropped a five-round verdict to I…

DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC DWCS 2022, Week 6Credit: Getty/UFC Yusaku Kinoshita did his part to connect the talent pipeline from his native Japan to Dana White’s Contender Series.

The onetime Pancrase headliner was one of five competitors to nail down an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract on Week 6 of DWCS, as he buried Jose Henrique Souza with punches in the third round of their welterweight showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Souza (5-1) checked out 43 seconds into Round 3.

Adv…