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The time for Dana White’s long-awaited meeting with Khabib Nurmagomedov is fast approaching, and the UFC president remains resolute that the lightweight champion will step into the Octagon one last time.

"I'm obviously meeting with him because I think that he should fight again," White told ESPN. "Look at what he did to Justin Gaethje [in October]. Look at what he's done to every opponent he has faced. ... I think he should fight again and I'm going to press him as hard as I can for one more."

Nurmagomedov announced his retirement in the cage following his victory over Gaethje at UFC 254, citing a promise he made to his mother before the bout. The Dagestani star endured a difficult 2020 that saw him lose his father and coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, to complications related to COVID-19. The UFC has not vacated Nurmagomedov’s lightweight title, but “The Eagle” recently said that he expects the winner of the Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier headliner at UFC 257 to be cr…

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.@UFC will host three events in just seven days, which will welcome a limited number of fans at Etihad Arena.

More information :https://t.co/KmrSbXmjF1

— UFC News (@UFCNews) January 8, 2021 For the first time since early 2020, fans will be allowed to attend Ultimate Fighting Championship events in a limited capacity.

The UFC will return to Abu Dhabi for three fight cards on Jan. 16, Jan. 20 and Jan. 23, and Etihad Arena, which has a normal capacity of 18,000 people, is expected to host approximately 2,000 spectators per event. With that in mind, the venue has revealed a list of enhanced protocols to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

All those attending must adhere to the guidelines or they will not be granted entry to the events. Those safety measures, which can be viewed on the venue’s website, are as follows:

1. Upon arriving to the venue entrance, all spectators will undergo a check of their valid 48-hour PCR test, ther…

Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

If all goes as planned, Tatiana Suarez will resume her pursuit of a UFC title sometime this summer.

The strawweight contender recently confirmed the targeted timeframe to MMAjunkie.com. Suarez hasn’t competed since defeating Nina Ansaroff via unanimous decision at UFC 238 on June 8, 2019. A neck injury has sidelined “The Ultimate Fighter 23” winner since then.

“Yes, my team and I are thinking summer,” Suarez said. “At first I thought spring, but I want to make sure my neck will make it through a camp before committing to a fight. I tried to spar and my neck hurt after a few rounds so I cut the session. But, slowly but surely I’m introducing live training back in.”

The 30-year-old Milennia MMA representative has kicked off her professional with eight triumphs, including notable triumphs over Ansaroff, Carla Esparza and Alexa Grasso in U…

Petr Yan’s camp will look a little different ahead of his bantamweight title defense at UFC 259.

Yan recently posted a photo of himself on Instagram at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, which indicates that “No Mercy” will training at the renowned gym before facing Aljamain Sterling on March 6.

“In general, everything is fine so far,” Yan wrote. “Acclimatization is taking place — sometimes we speed it up. Thanks to everyone who supports. There is a lot of work to do.”

MMAjunkie.com later confirmed that Yan chose to train at ATT because his customary camp at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, would require a two-week quarantine period, which would mean a shorter camp.

Yan claimed the vacant 135-pound belt with a fifth-round TKO of Jose Aldo at UFC 251 on July 11. The 27-year-old Russian has won 10 consecutive fights — including seven in the Octagon.

UFC 259 is headlined by a light heavyweight championship clash between Jan Blachowicz a…

me and kelz are fine n well so we just wanna clear the air n let it be known that this is not about us! We love our...

Posted by Lezlye Rivera on Friday, January 8, 2021

The family of Irwin Rivera has come to his defense after the UFC bantamweight was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder in Florida.

Rivera was booked after allegedly stabbing his sisters and was charged with two counts of homicide. According to a police report, one sister was hospitalized with two collapsed lungs among other injuries, while the other suffered multiple stab wounds to her back, face, arms and hands. Rivera “said that he did so because it was his purpose, which he was told to by a higher power,” per the report.

On Friday, Rivera’s sister, Lezlye, issued a statement via Facebook in support of her brother while admitting that he wasn’t mentally stable at the time of the alleged attacks. Her full, unedited message is as follows:

me and kelz are fine …

Two previously scheduled bouts have been moved to UFC 258.

A bantamweight bout pitting Jimmie Rivera against Pedro Munhoz and a welterweight scrap between Dhiego Lima and Belal Muhammad will now take place on Feb. 13. MMAFighting.com first brought word of the Munhoz-Rivera rebooking, while Muhammed revealed the rescheduling of his fight against Rivera on his podcast. UFC 258 is expected to feature a welterweight championship bout between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns.

Munhoz-Rivera was initially targeted for a now-canceled UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 30 before being relocated to UFC on ESPN 20 on Jan. 20. It is currently unclear why the bantamweight fight has been removed from the Jan. 20 event. Muhammad and Lima were supposed to meet at UFC Fight Night 183 on Dec. 19 before Muhammed tested positive for COVID-19.

Rivera and Munhoz initially squared off more than five years ago at UFC Fight Night 77, with Rivera claiming a split-decision triumph. That was par…

UFC 257 has lost an intriguing featherweight bout, as Hakeem Dawodu has withdrawn from a proposed Jan. 23 matchup with Shane Burgos due to a shoulder injury.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report Dawodu’s exit, and MMAFighting.com reported that Burgos will not remain on the card against a replacement opponent. UFC 257 takes place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight tilt pitting Conor McGregor against Dustin Poirier.

Dawodu is currently on a five-bout winning streak within the Las Vegas-based promotion. Most recently, the 29-year-old muay Thai specialist earned a split-decision victory against Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 253 on Sept. 26.

Burgos, meanwhile, had a three-fight winning streak snapped in a unanimous decision defeat to Josh Emmett at UFC on ESPN 11 on June 20.

The massive UFC 259 card just picked up two more intriguing matchups.

A bantamweight matchup between Yadong Song (16-4-1, 1 NC) and Kyler Phillips (8-1) has been added to the year’s first Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view on American soil, as first reported by Bloody Canvas on Friday. Song fought most recently at UFC on ESPN 8 last May, winning a unanimous decision over fellow bantamweight Marlon Vera in a short-notice featherweight booking, and bringing his record in the UFC to 5-0-1. The 25-year-old Phillips is 2-0 in the UFC since making his Octagon debut last year, having defeated Gabriel Silva by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 169 on Feb. 29, and ground-and-pounded Cameron Else for a second-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 16 on Oct. 3.

Strawweight up-and-comers Livinha Souza (14-2) and Amanda Lemos (8-1-1) are also set to square off at UFC 259, with both women looking to keep their positive momentum going in the new year. Combate was the first to …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFObtDZum_w&w=560&h=315]

Last month, Brandon Moreno came agonizingly close to winning a UFC title, and fans of his former promotion took notice of his work.

“The Assassin Baby,” who fought to a five-round draw with Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 256, was named the “Alum of the Year” in the 2020 Legacy Fighting Alliance Fans’ Choice Awards. Moreno, who initially joined the UFC through Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” was released by the promotion in 2018 after back-to-back losses. He bounced back by knocking out Maikel Perez at LFA 69 to win the promotion’s flyweight title, prompting the UFC to re-sign him and leading to a stellar 2020 for the 27-year-old Mexican.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for one of the sport’s premier developmental organizations, Moreno was not the only honoree to end 2020 as a member of the UFC. Crystal Vanessa Demopoulos, who appeared in both Dana White's Con…

@DCTAbuDhabi is to host the third instalment of UFC Fight Island on @yasisland from 16 to 24 January, welcoming a limited number of spectators to the new Etihad Arena. pic.twitter.com/ALyCyaCRrx

— (@admediaoffice) January 7, 2021

For its trio of events at “Fight Island” to open 2021, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will bring back something not seen since last March, namely: spectators.

On Thursday, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism announced that the three UFC cards scheduled for Jan. 16-24 on Yas Island—branded “Fight Island” by the promotion—will feature “a limited number of spectators.” The press release did not specify how many tickets would be sold for each show at Etihad Arena, whose normal capacity is approximately 18,000, but by Friday afternoon, individual seats for all three events were showing as sold out, with tickets available only as packages.

The UFC temporarily suspended its event schedule after UFC Figh…

Receiving information that #UFC fighter Irwin Rivera has been detained by police after allegedly stabbing sisters. More to come.

— Eric Kowal - MyMMANews.com (@MyMMANews) January 7, 2021 Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Irwin Rivera has been booked and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Florida.

The news first broke from MyMMANews on Thursday, with the outlet reporting Rivera was brought in after allegedly stabbing his sisters. Per the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Rivera was booked on Thursday morning and has been charged with two counts of Homicide – Murder, First Degree Premeditated. He is being held without bond. According to the 2020 Florida Statutes, “the unlawful killing of a human being…when perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or any human being” is punishable by either death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

In a statement from the…

Receiving information that #UFC fighter Irwin Rivera has been detained by police after allegedly stabbing sisters. More to come.

— Eric Kowal - MyMMANews.com (@MyMMANews) January 7, 2021 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 1:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 8 to reflect additional information regarding Rivera's charges. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office listed Rivera's charges as first-degree murder, and not attempted murder.

Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Irwin Rivera has been booked and charged with two counts of attempted murder in Florida.

The news first broke from MyMMANews on Thursday, with the outlet reporting Rivera was brought in after allegedly stabbing his sisters. Per the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Rivera was booked on Thursday morning and has been charged with two counts of Homicide – Murder, First Degree Premeditated. He is being held without bond for these charges of attempted murder. According to the…

Breaking: Four champions now compete at #UFC259 on March 6 as Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling joins Blachowicz vs. Adesanya and Nunes vs. Anderson.

Myself and @mma_kings have the news. https://t.co/qdNScXHYXM

— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) January 7, 2021 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is stacking its March pay-per-view card about as much as it possibly can.

MMA Junkie first reported the news of this booking on Thursday, as Petr Yan (15-1) will look to defend his bantamweight strap for the first time against Aljamain Sterling (19-3). The two will compete at UFC 259, which takes place on March 6 at an undetermined venue. The matchup, which was once booked for UFC 256 only to get scuttled when Yan withdrew, has since been confirmed by ESPN. Should all three championship affairs stay intact, t…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is extending its arrangement with the Cleveland Clinic to study brain health for the next several years. The promotion announced via press release on Thursday that it has signed a five-year extension to work with the Cleveland Clinic. The goal of this collaborative effort is to study “the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma and factors that put certain individuals at high risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).” In addition to its support, the company is donating $1 million to the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. This study has been going on for 10 years, and the UFC will make sure it is a part of at least the next five.

“UFC is proud to continue its support of both Cleveland Clinic and the Professional Athletes Brain Health Study,” UFC Chief Operating Of…

In 2021, Italian MMA hopes to see some much-desired light after several dark months.

The first Italian promotion to break the ice in the new year will be The Golden Cage, which will hold its third event on Feb. 6. The event will go down behind closed doors at the Heaven Fight Arena, the home of the Aurora MMA team, and it will be headlined by a welterweight championship clash between Leonardo Damiani and Marco Saccaro.

Sherdog spoke with the two minds behind the upcoming Golden Cage event. The first was Luigi Perillo, the founder of Icon Holding. He recollected that his adventure with MMA started after watching UFC 1 on videotape, instantly falling in love with the sport. Over the years, his passion for MMA grew into a business opportunity called The Golden Cage.

"The Golden Cage is a concept that I developed with two of my former business partners,” Perillo said. “We took the idea of a traditional MMA card and added some musical interludes. The final result was a sor…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Count teammate Warlley Alves among those that believe the sky is the limit for Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Raoni Barcelos. Alves (13-4) is preparing to fight Mounir Lazzez (10-1) on short notice at UFC on ESPN 20 on Jan. 20 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Champion of Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Alves is expecting a violent encounter with the Tunisian striker nicknamed “Sniper.”

“Undoubtedly, he made a great UFC debut against Abdul Razak Alhassan last July,” Alves told Sherdog. “Very aggressive, sharp attacking with knees and elbows and great cardio. That’s the type of fighter I like to face; I’m expecting three rounds of violence.”

Coming off of a submission defeat by triangle choke to Randy Brown 14 months ago, Alves guaranteed that he is bringing back his best for h…

In one sense, it doesn’t matter if Calvin Kattar was fighting Max Holloway on national television or in a half-empty nightclub.

Either way, Kattar will be squaring off against one of the sport’s greatest featherweights in a headlining battle where a victory could do wonders for his career. However, “The Boston Finisher” acknowledges that it is significant to be part of the promotion’s first ever event on ABC on Jan. 16.

“Honestly, it’s always the same risk, [so] it’s nice to have a backside reward,” Kattar recently said on the ”UFC Unfiltered” podcast. “There’s a lot more eyes on it, so cool. I’m all for it. I know it’s gonna be a big opportunity. It’s the same fight. It’s the same Octagon. It’s the same 25 minutes. It’s just more eyes on it. Like I said, it’s the same risk – just more reward.”

Kattar then jokingly points out that his upcoming fight might be more accessible for a certain demographic.

“You know what it’s easier for? Telling people over the…

Last month, UFC president Dana White indicated that Rose Namajunas did not want the next strawweight title shot.

It was a strange statement considering that Namajunas had avenged a previous loss to Jessica Andrade at UFC 251 in July to potentially solidify herself as the No. 1 contender for Weili Zhang’s belt.

“I don’t think she did [like the pressure of being champion],” White told BT Sport. “We’ll see how that all plays out. If you look at the rankings and how it plays out, it would play out Weili vs. Carla Esparza.”

At the time, Pat Barry, who is Namajunas’ coach and fiancée, denied White’s claim, and he further addressed the situation during a recent appearance on the ”UFC Unfiltered” podcast.

“That was just a misunderstanding of some sort,” Barry said. “I’m sure the UFC knows what they’re doing. Dana White knows what they’re doing. We know the call is coming. There must have been some miscommunication somewhere, but she absolutely—Yeah, of course, t…

It’s Finally Official

Welcome to KSW Uros Jurisic (11-0) pic.twitter.com/eqxbqrqrjq

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) January 6, 2021 Former Titan Fighting Championship wetlerweight title holder Uros Jurisic has signed a contract to compete for Polish promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki.

KSW confirmed the deal via social media on Wednesday. A date for Jurisic’s debut is currently unknown.

A 28-year-old native of Slovenia, Jurisic is 11-0 since beginning his professional career in 2012. He competed on Season 21 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he lost a decision to Luiz Firmino as part of the show’s American Top Team vs. Blackzilians theme.

Jurisic went on to capture Titan FC 170-pound gold in 2018 but was stripped of the belt due to inactivity. Most recently, he submitted Walter Gahadza in the opening round at Bellator 247 on Oct. 1. Jurisic has finished all but one of his opponents inside the distance.

Bethe Correia’s swan song in the Ultimate Fighting Championship will have to come at a later date.

The former bantamweight title challenger revealed via Instagram that she recently required emergency surgery for appendicitis and has been forced to withdraw from a proposed clash against Yanan Wu at UFC on ABC 1 on Jan. 16. Correia had previously indicated that the matchup with Wu would be her reitrement fight.

“God always knows what is best for us ...I was training so hard for this fight. However, in the middle of the night I started to feel an unbearable pain. I was admitted to the hospital and I was diagnosed with appendicitis,” Correia wrote. “The doctors advised me and my family that it was a severe case and that I would require an emergency surgery.

“I want to thank the UFC and Dana White for all the support over the years. My last dance and my retirement fight will have to be postponed for a little while. I cannot wait to put on amazing performance for you…

Julia Avila will face Julija Stoliarenko in a bantamweight contest at a UFC card on March 20.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the pairing. The event is headlined by a middleweight clash pitting Kevin Holland against Derek Brunson and does not yet have an official location.

Avila had a four-bout winning streak snapped in her most recent outing when she dropped a unanimous decision to Sijara Eubanks at UFC Fight Night 177 on Sept. 12. “Raging Panda” began her promotional tenure with victories over Gina Mazany and Pannie Kianzad. The 32-year-old also owns notable triumphs agianst Nicco Montano and Marion Reneau on the regional scene.

A native of Kaunas, Lithuania, Stoliarenko fell to Yana Kunitskaya via unanimous decision in her second Octagon appearance at UFC Fight Night 174 on Aug. 8. Her debut, a split-decision setback against Leah Letson at “The Ultimate Fighter 28” finale, came nearly two years earlier. The 27-year-old had won five straight bouts in vari…

Dana White is not among those who is in favor of open scoring in mixed martial arts.

The concept, which allows fighters and their teams to be made aware of the judges’ scorecards in between rounds, has gained momentum recently in the sport. Invicting Fighting Championships has been utilizing open scoring on its cards held in Kansas City, Kansas, since March 6. While the Kansas Athletic Commission was in favor of the idea, commissions in Nevada and California have not been receptive as of yet.

White discussed his aversion to open scoring during a Q&A with Laura Sanko on ESPN+ Tuesday.

“If a guy knows that he’s up two rounds and you’re a professional fighter, you can absolutely stay away from a guy for an entire round and make the fight completely horrible,” the UFC president said (transcription via MMAjunkie.com). “If you already know you’ve got two rounds in the bag, guarantee if you saw your score up there, all [you] have to do is stay away from this guy for th…

Former heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski will square off against rising prospect Tom Aspinall at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 20.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the matchup on Tuesday. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a heavyweight clash between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis, but an official location has yet to be revealed for the event.

A veteran of 32 UFC bouts, Arlovski has been victorious in three of his last four promotional appearances. The 41-year-old Belarusian went 2-0 in 2020, posting unanimous decision triumphs against Philipe Lins and Tanner Boser. Prior to that, Arlovski was winless in four fights from June 2018 to November 2019.

Aspinall, a former Cage Warriors standout, enters the matchup with Arlovski on a five-bout winning streak that includes first-round stoppages of Jake Collier and Alan Baudot in his first two UFC appearances. The 28-year-old Englishman is 9-2 as a professional and has finished all of his victories inside the distance.