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Leon Edwards believes the highly-anticipated clash between Ian Garry and Michael Page could turn out to be lackluster affair.

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Garry and Page are slated to clash at UFC 303 on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Garry is known for his clean and precise striking, “MVP” has built a career off of highlight-reel knockouts in Bellator MMA.

However, Edwards wonders if Garry vs. Page might play out to be a lukewarm contest due to a clash of similar styles. Having sparred both Garry and Page, “Rocky” believes the lengthy strikers might just be hesitant to commit first and end up spending most of their time in finding the range.

“It’s interesting all right bcause I feel like it might be like a little fencing fight where they’re both like trying to find range… So don’t know whether or not to run a boring fight, so they’re both trying to find range and nobody wants to commit first,” Edwards told Red Corner MMA. “Or a nice…

Sean Strickland believes he has earned his stripes for the next title fight at middleweight.

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Dricus Du Plessis will put his middleweight title on the line against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. The winner of that match is expected to face either Strickland or Robert Whittaker, who are both coming off massive victories.

Strickland made his case for a title shot with a split decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on June 1. Meanwhile, Whittaker scored a first-round knockout win over unranked prospect Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Khamzat Chimaev on short notice at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend. Many believe a fight between Strickland and Whittaker is the best way to decide the next rightful title contender.

However, Strickland believes he has already done enough to deserve the next middleweight title shot over Whittaker. Strickland argued that he already beat Adesanya and was robbed of a win against du Plessis. Meanwhil…

Jiri Prochazka has hurled a rather fascinating accusation at Alex Pereira.

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Prochazka and Pereira agreed to a short notice title rematch in the main event at UFC 303 on Saturday after Conor McGregor pulled out of his scheduled matchup against Michael Chandler due to a toe injury.

The two initially traded leather at UFC 295 in November 2023, when Pereira scored a second-round knockout over Prochazka, which could have been considered an early stoppage. Pereira has since defended strap with a brutal-first round KO win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 this past April. However, this stoppage was also marred with controversy due a unique sequence leading up to the finish. Pereira brushed off an accidental low blow from Hill and stopped referee Herb Dean from pausing the action moments before putting “Sweet Dreams” to sleep. Hill accused Pereira of capitalizing on the awkward sequence to set up his victory.

Judging by what Prochazka has seen of Pereira a…

UFC on ESPN 59 has a new main event.

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Maycee Barber has been forced out of a proposed flyweight clash against Rose Namajunas for undisclosed reasons. As a result, Tracy Cortez will face Namajunas in the card’s new main event. MMA Mania was first to report Barber’s withdrawal, and MMAFighting.com brought word of the new booking. UFC on ESPN 59 takes place on July 13 at Ball Arena in Denver.

Cortez was scheduled to face Miranda Maverick at on UFC on ESPN 60 on July 20, but will now fight one week earlier than expected. Maverick will reportedly remain on the July 20 card against a replacement opponent.

Cortez has won 11 consecutive professional outings — including her first five UFC bouts. Most recently, the Fight Ready product defeated Jasmine Jasudavicius via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 227 this past September.

A former strawweight champion, Namajunas will be making her third 125-pound appearance. After dropping a three-round ve…

Veteran official Herb Dean will be in charge when Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka square off in the UFC 303 main event.

Referee and judging assignments for the light heavyweight championship rematch were revealed during a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday. Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will score the contest from their cageside positions.

Dean was also the third man in the cage for Pereira’s most recent title defense, a first-round KO of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 on April 13. On that same card, Dean officiated Prochazka’s second-round stoppage of Aleksandar Rakic.

Pereira and Prochazka initially squared off at UFC 295 this past November, when “Poatan” captured 205-pound gold with a second-round technical knockout of his opponent. Marc Goddard was the referee for that bout. The rematch is a short-notice replacement for the original UFC 303 main event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.

Igor da Silva has been suspended nine months for biting Andre Lima during the bout at UFC on ESPN 53 on March 23.

The 21-year-old Brazilian was also fined $2,000. The sanctions were announced during a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday. Da Silva’s suspension is retroactive to the date of his fight, which means he would be eligible to return on Dec. 23.

During a previous commission meeting, Nevada deputy attorney general Matthew Feeley proposed a six-month term for da Silva, who is commonly known as Igor Severino. However, the commision rejected that proposal out of concern that a relatively short term might set a bad precedent for future incidents. While it was initially recommended that da Silva’s suspension be extended to one year, the NSAC ultimately settled on nine months.

Da Silva was released from the UFC for the bite, which occurred at the 2:52 mark of Round 2 and left a visible mark on Lima’s arm. Silva began his professional car…

A highly-anticipated rematch will take place in the main event at UFC 303.

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Eight months after headlining UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira return to the Octagon, this time at T- Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The first time Prochazka arrived as the favorite, and after dominating the action in the first round, was knocked out in Round 2 by the Brazilian. This time, the Czech fighter will arrive as an underdog. Several noteworthy figures from the Brazilian MMA community weighed in on the UFC 303 main event with Sherdog.com.

Pedro Rizzo (former UFC heavyweight contender): If ‘Poatan’ were asked to take on a fighter with a style opposite to his, for example a wrestler like Daniel Cormier with a full camp, and he had less than a week of camp, it wouldn't be a smart decision for him to put his belt on the line, but this is not the case. Jiri is a kickboxer and despite having dangerous ground-and-p…

Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 14, 2024

Arman Tsarukyan is facing sanctions for his altercation with a fan during his walkout at UFC 300.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced during its monthly meeting on Tuesday that Tsarukyan has been fined $25,000 and suspended nine months for throwing a punch at a fan on his way to the Octagon at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13. The suspension can be reduced to six months if Tsarukyan releases an anti-bullying message that is approved by the NSAC.

Tsarukyan defeated Charles Oliveira via split decision at UFC 300 to earn his fourth consecutive victory in what was deemed to be a title eliminator bout. Tsarukyan later claimed that he threw the punch because a fan flipped him the bird during his walkout.

“He showed me f—k you [flipped the bird] and wante…

In addition to being paired with a short-notice opponent, Robert Whittaker faced more adversity heading into his showdown with Ikram Aliskerov in the UFC on ABC 6 main event.

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Whittaker’s manager, Titus Day, told Fox Sports Australia that the former middleweight champion underwent emergency root canal surgery just 24 hours prior to the bout.

“Rob has a really bad abscess that flared up a week before flying out,” Day said. “He had headaches, tooth pain — it was like he’d been kicked in the side of the head. He couldn’t train, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It was f—-ing painful.

“The whole side of his head was in pain so we had to rush him in for emergency surgery.”

“The Reaper” appeared to be no worse for wear, as he vanquished Aliskerov via first-round knockout on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for his second consecutive triumph.

“Rob had already stopped training a few days prior to the surgery in Sydney,” Day s…

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Alexander Volkanovski seemingly can’t pass on an opportunity to save an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on short notice.

Volkanovski revealed that he recently offered to step up to save the upcoming UFC 303 card. Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler were originally scheduled to headline UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before “Notorious” pulled out due to a broken toe. Rumors of the fight potentially falling off were afloat a week before it became official. Volkanovski was prompt to raise his hand for a short-notice UFC 303 matchup as soon as he heard those rumors.

“A lot happened with this card, obviously Conor McGregor was meant to be on it. I did put my hand up,”Volkanovski recently said on his YouTube channel. “I said, ‘You need a guy?’ I got told, obviously we all heard the whispers as you did… Whispers that they were looking for someone to maybe replace him. So, I was like, ‘Hey, you need someone? You know a guy.’…

Ian Garry continues to be disinterested in his upcoming fight with former Bellator MMA standout Michael Page.

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Garry and Page will meet in a welterweight clash at UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It was Page who rallied hard for the booking against Garry, who was reluctant to accept it initially.

While the matchup has been made, Garry is still not interested in it with less than a week to go before fight night.

In his seven-fight undefeated UFC run, Garry has already been tested against perennially ranked veterans like Neil Magny and Geoff Neal. Going forward, Garry wants fights which would help him inch closer to his ultimate goal of winning UFC gold. However, fighting a lower-ranked Page doesn’t add to that in any manner, in Garry’s opinion. Garry would have preferred an opponent ranked higher than him such as Colby Covington. Garry explained his point of view during a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

“I’m st…

Sergei Pavlovich has opened up for the first time on his loss against Alexander Volkov at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend.

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Pavlovich was a sizeable favorite going into the co-main event against Volkov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many were expecting an early finish from Pavlovich, Volkov picked his opponent apart throughout the course of three rounds to earn a dominant unanimous decision win.

The otherwise soft-spoken Pavlovich was seen shoving his opponent, also his former sparring partner, after the fight. Pavlovich recently admitted that the loss was an emotional one for him. Having scored 15 of his 18 career wins via knockout so far, Pavlovich believes he made a mistake in desperately hunting for another highlight-reel KO.

“It wasn’t my day; nothing went according to plan,” Pavlovich wrote on social media. “I was ready for anything, but I was too focused on getting a knockout and took too many unnecessary hits. The result was a loss by point…

Kickboxer Asa Ten Pow will return to mixed martial arts for the first time in nearly three years at One on Prime Video 24.

Ten Pow will lock horns with Carlo Bumina-ang in a bantamweight (145-pound) bout at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug. 2, Sherdog has learned. ONE on Prime Video 24 features an interim 125-pound title clash pitting Jarred Brooks against Gustavo Balart and airs live on Prime Video in the United States.

Known as “The American Ninja,” Ten Pow hasn’t competed in MMA since a two-fight stint under the Titan FC banner in 2021. He defeated Earnest Walls via first-round TKO in his pro debut at Titan FC 72, but his second appearance was ruled a no contest due to an illegal knee. Ten Pow has experience in kickboxing, boxing and muay thai and is the founder of the Florida Kickboxing Academy. He boasts a 2-1 mark in muay thai under the ONE banner, most recently defeating Rambolek Tor Yotha via third-round knockout this past September…

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Your Updated PFL Sioux Falls Fight Card!

•Laureano Staropoli is out•New Matchup: Logan Storley vs Luca Poclit•New Matchup: Tyler Diamond vs Brett Johns•New Start Time: 6:30pm ET on ESPN+ / 10pm ET pic.twitter.com/b9qDwyjusH

— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 24, 2024

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Logan Storley will be facing an opponent change with less than a week to go before his second Professional Fighters League appearance.

The promotion announced on Monday that Laureano Staropoli, Storley’s original opponent, has withdrawn from the event and will be replaced by Luca Poclit in a new welterweight season bout at PFL 6 on Friday. Poclit was originally booked against Zach Juusola on the evening’s undercard.

PFL 6 takes place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is headlined by a featherweight tilt between Brendan Loughnane and Justin Gonzales. Storley vs. Poclit is currently listed as the co-main event. The main card airs o…

"I'm walking in there 100% Conor McGregor" 🇮🇪

Conor McGregor joins Dan Hardy in the Cage to speak on Sinead Kavanagh and his fight with Michael Chandler in the future!#BellatorDublin | LIVE NOW on MAX🌍 https://t.co/Dpuq4Xv6Jh pic.twitter.com/TZPc29fz62

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) June 22, 2024

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Conor McGregor was in the public eye over the weekend, attending Bellator Champions Series Dublin in support of SBG Ireland teammate Sinead Kavanagh.

That also meant that the Irish star had the opportunity to address the severity of the broken toe that forced him to withdraw from his proposed matchup with Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event. The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.

“The injury is a nuisance. It’s painful,” McGregor told SevereMMA in a backstage interview at Bellator Dublin. “I’m not going to lie, it’s very, very …

Rinat Fakhretdinov wants a ranked opponent after his win over Nicolas Dalby at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday.

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A heavy favorite going into the fight, Fakhretdinov was in for a rather unpleasant surprise against the underdog Dalby. Notorious for upsetting the odds, Dalby came close to doing so once again as he gave Fakhretdinov a run for his money. Fakhretdinov eventually earned a split-decision victory that many believe could have easily gone the other way.

Fakhretdinov wasn’t satisfied with the nature of the win, as he was looking to secure a finish. However, the Russian realized why his opponent, whom he now considers the most underrated fighter at welterweight, came in riding a four-fight winning streak.

“I’m satisfied with the fight. I’m not satisfied with the result, though,” Fakhretdinov told Red Corner MMA. “I wanted to win convincingly and get the finish. But now I know why Dalby was on a four-fight winning streak. He’s a very solid opponent…

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Brian Ortega had a larger goal in mind while accepting his upcoming fight against Diego Lopes.

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A high caliber featherweight matchup between Ortega and Lopes is set to co-headline UFC 303 on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While one might expect Ortega to have been lured by a huge paycheck, “T-City” claims his fight purse for UFC 303 is not much higher than his average UFC salary. Ortega revealed that he had another reason for accepting the Lopes fight.

Ortega, who has spoken up about mental health on several past occasions, attended a camp at his church directed towards improving men’s mental health. After Ortega enjoyed the camp with his kids, the pastor told him they needed to raise $100,000 to keep things running. And the Lopes fight offer came at the right time for the former UFC featherweight title contender.

“Obviously, they changed up the pay a little bit but it’s not more than you think,” Ortega told Sha…

Ikram Aliskerov is all class in the aftermath of his loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6.

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Aliskerov stepped up on short notice to replace Khamzat Chimaev against Whittaker in the Saturday’s main event at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many expected a close contest, Whittaker took less than two minutes to knock Aliskerov out.

Weighing in on his loss, Aliskerov said that he was well aware of what he was getting into while accepting the fight. Aliskerov is also a fan of Whittaker and considers it a privilege to have fought “Bobby Knuckles.”

“I have failed but it’s all good,” Aliskerov told Ushatayka (translation via Red Corner MMA). “It’s just a sport, no excuses. I was fully aware of the risks I was taking. To be honest with you, Rob has always been one of my favorite fighters. I’ve been following his career. I’m not sure how to put it the right way, it was an honor for me to fight him as he’s one of those fighters that …

Johnny Walker is looking to go back to the drawing board following his loss against Volkan Oezdemir.

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The light heavyweight clash between Walker and Oezdemir began the main card action at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Swiss veteran brutally knocked out Walker, rendering him unconscious with one last follow-up shot at the 2:28 mark of Round 1.

Walker has now opened up on his loss while also confirming that he didn’t sustain any lasting injuries. The Brazilian felt that his head was just not in the right place despite having done everything perfectly leading up to the fight. Walker now plans on rewatching the fight to figure out what went wrong.

“I’m good. Just a little scratch on my lips… I just arrived at home with my little champ. It wasn’t really good night for me,” Walker said in a video on Instagram. “I don’t know what happened. I’m gonna have to figure out, watch the fight again and see what I did. I don’t think I…

Daniel Rodriguez may have paid the price for agreeing to face Kelvin Gastelum at 185 pounds, but it wasn’t all bad news for the 37-year-old Californian.

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Rodriguez and Gastelum were initially supposed to square off at welterweight at UFC on ABC 6, but terms of the bout were altered when Gastelum arrived in Saudi Arabia for fight week overweight and requested the fight take place at middleweight. Rodriguez elected to go forward with the matchup and lost a unanimous decision on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, “D-Rod” did reap some rewards as a result of competing at a heavier weight class than initially expected.

“All right, y’all. I’m done complaining about the fight. F—k it. It happened,” Rodriguez said in a video on his Instagram stories. “I knew the risk. With the risk, came great rewards. I lost the fight but I gained so much more in return: a ton a respect from the fight community, a nice raise, six-fight contract, 3…

Ramazan Kuramagomedov would like for anyone who competes in mixed martial arts to have the opportunity to experience what he did on Saturday.

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The 27-year-old Dagestani took a unanimous decision triumph over Jason Jackson in the Bellator Champions Series Dublin headliner, capturing the promotion’s welterweight title in the process. Kuramagomedov banked the first three rounds on the scorecards, then held off a late surge from Jackson to end his opponent’s eight-fight winning streak. Kuramagomedov is now 13-0 as a professional.

“This is crazy emotional for me. I can’t explain this. I wish for every [fighter] who comes to this sport, I want them to feel this moment, what I feel today,” Kuramgomedov said in a backstage interview with Bellator.

“Every night when I go to sleep, I was thinking about this belt. And every morning when I wake up I was thinking about this belt,” he added. “I was prepared for five hard rounds. Today I did five rounds and I…

Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba will now have five rounds with which to work.

The strawweight bout has been elevated to the main event for the UFC on ESPN 60 on July 20. The news was announced during the UFC on ABC 6 broadcast on Saturday and has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. UFC on ESPN 60 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a women’s flyweight showdown between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick.

A former Invicta FC champion, Jandiroba has been victorious in her last three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 35-year-old Brazilian outpointed Lupita Godinez at UFC on ESPN 54 on March 30. She has also earned decision wins over Marina Rodriguez and Angela Hill during her current winning streak.

After coming up short in a 115-pound title bid against Weili Zhang at UFC 292 last August, Lemos returned to the win column in her last outing, as she took a unanimous verdict against Mackenzie Dern at UFC 298. The 36-year-old Br…

Robert Whittaker appreciates the respect Sharabutdin Magomedov has shown for him.

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Both Whittaker and Magomedov won “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their respective stoppage wins at UFC on ABC 6 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday. Whittaker took less than two minutes to knock out Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Khamzat Chimaev on nine days’ notice in the main event of the night. Meanwhile, Magomedov put on a striking masterclass to secure a late stoppage over Brazilian debutant Antonio Trocoli, who took the fight on three days’ notice.

Whittaker, who watched Magomedov’s fight against Trocoli, was impressed by the Dagestani’s performance. However, “Bobby Knuckles” noted that Trocoli started to fatigue after a hectic flurry early in the first round.

“I did [watch his fight]. The guy he fought was tired man, very tired,” Whittaker said at the post-fight press conference. “Not taking anything away from Shara. I like the …

Tensions flared between Alexander Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich following their heavyweight bout on Saturday.

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Volkov picked Pavlovich apart from the outside to score a unanimous decision win in the co-main event at UFC on ABC 6 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When Volkov walked up to his opponent to shake hands after the fight, Pavlovich shoved his fellow countryman and former sparring partner. Volkov subsequently revealed that Pavlovich cursed at him, which was out of character for the heavyweight. Volkov believes it is Pavlovich who has a problem with him and should be the one to initiate a resolution.

“To be honest this is the first time really that I ever heard Sergei curse because he kind of told me to, well I’m not sure what he said. But basically, I once in a while allow myself to curse, but this is the first time I heard him maliciously use curse words in my direction,” Volkov said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “So, I mean if he’s got …