UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has almost cleared out his division. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Kamaru Usman is excited about the prospect of facing Khamzat Chimaev.
Is Khamzat Chimaev the man to beat and finally dethrone undisputed UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who is scheduled for his sixth title defense in four weeks’ time against Leon Edwards?
That’s the question on everyone’s lips as Khamzat continues to vault up the UFC rankings while Usman further cements his legacy as one of the greatest welterweight champions of all time.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ can’t be sure what the future holds, but he is certainly excited about the prospect of facing ‘Borz’ down the line, comparing the hypothetical matchup to the 2015 boxing epic between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
“Of course. It’s great,” Usman told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter during a recent interview (h/t MMA News). “I mean, when you’ve beaten guys once, twice over and now you’re looking at potentially fighting them for a third time, yes, it’s always great to have someone sneak in there and kinda shake things up a little bit that gives you that extra name value, namesake, the one that people really think that, ‘Yeah, that’s the guy! That’s the one that’s gonna go in there and do it.’ That means a lot, and that’s great.”
“And I mean, we’re talking Floyd [Mayweather] and [Manny] Pacquiao here,” he continued. “Floyd’s destroying everybody and everyone’s like, ‘Pacquiao! That’s the guy. That’s the guy that’s gonna do it.’ And the same situation here. I love the fact that people are thinking, ‘Yeah, that’s the guy that could potentially do it. But it’s my job as the champion, so each and every time I step in there, go out there and prove them all wrong, and hold that belt for as long as I can. And when I’m ready to walk away, I walk away.”
Usman has also teased a move to light heavyweight should he defeat Edwards next month, claiming that he matches up well with either Jiri Prochazka or Jan Blachowicz, both of whom possess a considerable size advantage over the pound-for-pound king.
But first, Edwards. Usman will meet the No. 2-ranked welterweight in the UFC 278 headliner on Aug. 20 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah in what promises to be one of the best PPVs of the summer.
Conor McGregor at Bellator 275. | Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images
The former interim UFC lightweight champion expects a finish in a fight between McGregor and Gaethje.
Conor McGregor is nearing his return to the Octagon and needs an opponent. Though the former two-division champion has requested several names at lightweight and welterweight, Dustin Poirier wants to see him against the one name that is sure to deliver the goods: Justin Gaethje.
“Justin Gaethje vs. the return of Conor McGregor,” said Poirier on the DC & RC Show. “The hype, the build-up — somebody’s going to sleep. I mean, you’re tuning in for a car wreck. A head-on collision, and I want to see it.”
McGregor has not fought since suffering a broken leg in his first-round technical knockout loss to Poirier at UFC 264 a year ago. He has spent his time recovering and preparing for his return, which could come either late 2022 or early 2023. UFC president Dana White hinted at McGregor vs. Michael Chandler being scheduled in the future. However, Gaethje could also be an option.
McGregor and Gaethje have had their share of dust-ups on social media over the years, but a fight has not happened yet. The ‘Highlight’ previously expressed interest in fighting the ‘Notorious one so that he could ‘retire’ him from the sport.
“At the end of the day, after I win this fight [against Charles Oliveira] there’s two people that are next in line,” said Gaethje on the FULL SEND PODCASTin May. “There’s Beneil Dariush and [Islam] Makhachev and they need to fight each other. If Conor McGregor’s there, then I think he’s just as rightfully available as those two because they need to fight. So I say either everybody deserves it, or nobody deserves it right now. Someone needs to stand out and yeah, whoever. I want that opportunity to take him away from this sport forever.”
Gaethje went on to lose to Oliveira at UFC 274 this past May. The 33-year-old recently underwent nose surgery and should be good to go again by the ‘end of the year, most likely early next year,’ a timeline that coincides with when McGregor expects to return.
Poirier also shared the other two fights he wants to happen in the lightweight division: Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot. Oliveira vs. Makhachev is all but confirmed for the vacant lightweight championship, and Dariush vs. Gamrot may be a potential No. 1 contender. Interestingly enough, the former interim UFC lightweight champion did not include himself in his fantasy matchmaking. That said, Poirier hopes to get a fight soon.
The ‘Diamond’ was in action at UFC 269, where he was submitted by Oliveira via third-round rear-naked choke in December.
Episode 181 discussion: Sean Sheehan stops by to talk judging in classic fights and some recent ones, UFC On ABC preview
Welcome to ‘The Level Change Podcast’, our combat sports themed variety show hosted by Stephie Haynes, Mookie Alexander and Victor Rodriguez. Featuring the news of the week, fight card breakdowns and analysis, a roundup of regional promotions’ cards and fights; and whatever else we decide is important enough or entertaining enough to bring to your ears. Here is a summary of the topics discussed, complete with the time stamps for when each interview or special segment begins. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as we enjoyed recording it.
June M. Williams
*We decided to make optimal use of Sean’s time without doing the same segments with him over and over, so we came up with this: Four fights were discussed, two classics and two recents. We discussed the stats and whether they matter, as well as the actual criteria and how it might have applied in the selected fights.
Follow our Twitter accounts: Stephie Haynes, Mookie Alexander, Victor Rodriguez and our show account The Level Change Podcast. If you enjoy our variety of shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice:SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music– For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.
Former double-champion Amanda Nunes during her UFC 269 title fight with Julianna Peña. | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
“It’s natural you slow down a little bit.”
For a good six years, Amanda Nunes reigned over the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division as its immovable, unstoppable champion. “The Lioness” pretty much cleaned out the division and even won the women’s featherweight title before running into Julianna Peña and losing the 135-pound title at UFC 269 in December.
In those years of dominance, it looked like Nunes was comfortable being at the top, with how she handily disposed of her opponents. But in her recent interview with UFC correspondent/analyst Laura Sanko for her YouTube channel One on One, she admitted being relieved of all that pressure as champion.
“Everything about that fight was very good for me,” Nunes said (quotes via MMA Mania). “Of course, I lost my belt, I don’t want to lose my belt, but it kind of takes the pressure away from me, too.
“For so long I had the belt with me and prepared for big fights and all those things. It’s a lot. For years and years, everything was happening in my life so fast. I become this, I become that, it’s a lot to carry yourself as.
“I was cleaning the division as well. Nobody was there anymore. It’s natural you slow down a little bit.”
Nunes will get the chance to reclaim the bantamweight title when she faces Peña in a rematch at UFC 277 on July 30th in Dallas.
Amanda Lemos lost to Jessica Andrade in April 2022. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Amanda Lemos is expected to take on Michelle Waterson on July 16.
UFC strawweight contender Amanda Lemos will share the Octagon with a familiar face in her next outing. Paired up against former training partner Michelle Waterson, the Brazilian intends to show the ‘Karate Hottie’ how much she has evolved since the times they sparred together.
In an interview with Combate, Lemos praised Waterson’s skills, while also pointing out that the last time the pair trained together was five years ago. Since then, Amanda says her skills have become much sharper and she intends to show it in the Octagon next Saturday.
“I remember the times we trained together very well, but it’s been five years now,” Lemos said. “I’m only speaking for myself now, but I’ve evolved a lot since then. I’m sure she has, too. We’re going to deliver a great fight. I want to show my evolution, not only on the feet, but on the floor, too. I haven’t been able to show it yet, but it might happen next Saturday. Michelle is seasoned. She has fought lots of tough fighters, it’s no wonder she’s in the top 10. She’s a karate fighter, but I think she’s well-rounded. She works well on top and on the bottom. I’m really ready for her though. Both for her karate and her grappling.”
In her last outing, Lemos got quickly submitted by former champion Jessica Andrade, in a loss that snapped a five-fight streak for Amanda. Frustrating as the defeat was, the Brazilian guarantees the result only made her more motivated to bounce back and score an important win against Waterson.
“I was on a five-fight win streak, it was nice,” Lemos said. “ I had trained really hard for Jessica, I was really focused, but a fight is a fight. There’s nothing you can do, that was her night. She caught me. I didn’t expect her to do it so quickly, but that’s what happened. It only made me more motivated, it made me want to train more, focus more.”
Before the loss to Andrade, Lemos (11-2-1) had wins over Angela Hill, Montserrat Ruiz, Livia Renata Souza, Mizuki Inoue and Miranda Granger. Three of those wins came by way of knockout or submission.
Now, Lemos is expected to take on Waterson at UFC Long Island, in Elmont, New York, on July 16. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a featherweight bout between contenders Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez.
Jack Shore faces Ricky Simon at UFC Long Island | Photo by Kieran Cleeves/PA Images via Getty Images
Jack Shore and Ricky Simon face off in a battle of rising bantamweights at UFC Long Island.
Jack Shore was 11-0 when he made his UFC debut in 2019. The former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion opened the UFC Copenhagen card with a “Performance of the Night” bonus-winning submission of Nohelin Hernandez. Shore hasn’t stopped winning. Today, the 27-year-old is 16-0, ranked No. 14 in the official UFC bantamweight rankings and heading into the biggest fight of his UFC career on the UFC Long Island fight card.
Shore didn’t crack the UFC rankings after the promotion updated them the week following his March win over Timur Valiev. The snub did not bother Shore.
“It is what it is,” he told Mirror Fighting when his name failed to appear in the UFC 135-pound top-15 the week after the UFC London card. “I would have liked to have been in the rankings and you don’t cry over spilt milk. With a performance like that Saturday, I think I’m in a spot where I’m going to be ending up fighting one of those guys next anyway.”
Shore cracked the bantamweight rankings in mid-April when Raphael Assuncao lost his No. 15 spot. Shore climbed to No, 14 in mid-May when Marlon Moraes was removed from the rankings following his retirement from MMA.
Not long after that, Shore got his wish to face a ranked opponent when the UFC booked him opposite Ricky Simon for the Long Island card.
Simon, who is the No. 13 ranked UFC 135-pounder, is on a four-fight winning streak. The 29-year-old is coming off a December win over knockout win over Assuncao.
Shore took a big step in his development in the Valiev fight. In his previous outing, the Welsh scrapper fought down to his level of competition, late replacement, Liudvik Sholinian. That was not the case against the more experienced and wily Valiev. He was aggressive in his offense in that contest and came close to getting a finish. Shore also showed some veteran composure during that scrap when Valiev worked a submission attempt in the third stanza.
UFC Long Island marks the first big test of Shore’s UFC career. He seems aware of that fact and prepared for the test Simon, who has been working his way up the rankings since he joined the UFC in 2018 after winning and defending the LFA bantamweight crown, will provide him.
“It’s all coming together slowly,” Shore told UFC.com ahead of UFC Long Island. “The opposition is getting better. My last fight, I think I showed a lot of people what I can do normally on the feet, but when I got deep a little bit and things weren’t always going my way, I showed I can make decisions and turn the fight around and sway the fight in my favor. I put myself in a spot where I’m ranked, and in position to fight a tough, ranked guy. The wheels are all turning, and hopefully we can keep the momentum going and keep the hype train going.”
The Shore vs. Simon matchup should launch the winner into a fight against a top-10 opponent before the end of 2022.
UFC middleweight Alex Pereira. | Photo by Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Alex Pereira’s road to a likely UFC title shot is a bit unusual but extremely justified.
Barring something completely unexpected, it looks like UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will get to rematch former GLORY kickboxing champion and rival Alex Pereira, this time under MMA rules. Adesanya won a pretty uneventful decision over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276, preceded earlier that evening by Pereira thumping Sean Strickland with his vaunted left hook to notch his third win in as many UFC appearances.
It is not too common to see someone of Pereira’s MMA inexperience climb up the UFC ladder this quickly. He went 2-1 in his first three fights from 2015-2016, then didn’t return to the sport until 2020, when a knockout of Thomas Powell on an LFA card earned him a UFC contract. There’s no doubt that the UFC had in mind that if Pereira could recreate his kickboxing magic inside the Octagon, they would fast-track him towards a title shot and trilogy against Adesanya, whom he defeated twice in the kickboxing world.
Mission accomplished, I’d say.
Andreas Michailidis had some wrestling success early in Pereira’s debut before getting smoked by a flying knee. Former M-1 champion Bruno ‘Blindado’ Silva, who boasts a KO over former Bellator champion Alexander Shlemenko and stopped his first three UFC opponents, gave Pereira a tough fight but Alex took a clear decision. It is more likely than not that Silva will end up in the top-15 in the near future, which will only enhance the quality of Pereira’s victory.
Then you get to Sean Strickland, ranked number four and riding a six-fight win streak. Strickland’s outrageous fight strategy of standing directly in front of Alex and striking with him predictably flopped, as did he. That’s all it will presumably take for Pereira to compete for UFC gold.
Pereira has indeed cut the proverbial line by not fighting multiple ranked fighters along the way (as is common for many eventual title challengers), but that’s hardly a case of sinful matchmaking. He’s already 35 years old and when you factor in his decorated kickboxing career, he’s been in some form of combat sports for over a decade. This was no ordinary signing and Pereira can’t be treated like any other standard prospect — in other words, thrust him high up the ladder as quickly as possible to find out whether or not the investment was worthwhile.
While Pereira may be ranked at No. 6, there’s no title shot snub to be had here. Of the five ranked fighters above Pereira, Adesanya has twice beaten Robert Whittaker, just defeated Jared Cannonier, twice beaten Marvin Vettori, dominated Derek Brunson, and thrashed Paulo Costa. Other than perhaps a trilogy with Whittaker, rematches with those other four opponents range anywhere from unappealing to unnecessary. Of the five fighters ranked immediately below Pereira, only No. 10 ranked Andre Muniz has any current upward mobility towards a title shot, whereas everyone else is coming off a loss if not multiple losses. Former champion Luke Rockhold is a wild card depending on his result against Paulo Costa, but just the idea of awarding him a title shot off a single win in five years is absurd.
I respectfully disagree with my Bloody Elbow colleague Trent Reinsmith’s belief that Pereira doesn’t deserve a title shot. A tad opportunistic? Perhaps. But this is not meritless, rather a perfect storm of a dominant champion, a division lacking great depth, and an intriguing backstory. Adesanya simply does not have any other viable title challengers at the moment outside of Pereira. This is not just the best title fight to make for Izzy, it’s really the only one. From the fans’ perspective, Pereira is the right stylistic opponent to draw out a much more entertaining fight than the majority of Adesanya’s title defenses have been. From the UFC’s perspective, they have the best possible narrative to sell at a time when Adesanya needs fresh, interesting opponents and his recent fights have largely lacked the sort of action we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.
Who cares if Pereira’s wrestling and grappling defense haven’t been tested by a ranked middleweight yet? He’s shown at least some baseline competence in his previous two UFC fights and within the context of an Adesanya fight, Israel has zero takedowns to his name and hasn’t attempted a submission since the Kelvin Gastelum fight. Consider me skeptical that the mythical figure of NCAA Adesanya will emerge any time soon. Those question marks about Pereira’s overall MMA abilities can be answered later whether he’s the new champion or a vanquished challenger. What we do know is that his elite kickboxing has successfully transferred over to MMA, and usually having even one elite skillset in this sport is enough to at least be considered a viable threat.
If anything, Pereira’s UFC success has been one of the best things to happen to the middleweight division in recent years. It took him only seven pro fights to conquer an established top-five foe, which speaks to Pereira’s exceptional talent as a fighter. His rapid rise should at least provide hope that he will not be a flash in the pan in MMA.
There will perhaps come a time when the likes of Andre Muniz, Dricus Du Plessis, and Nassourdine Imavov are all at the forefront of title contention, but they aren’t right now and Pereira indisputably is. And I can’t wait to see him against Adesanya one more time.
The heavyweight champion was urged to “fight for the country.”
Oleksandr Usyk plans to return to the squared circle next month with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders.
According to the world heavyweight champion, it was injured Ukrainian soldiers who gave him their blessing to take on Anthony Joshua amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“I went to the hospital where soldiers were wounded and getting rehabilitation from the war,” Usyk told a group of reporters, according to Reuters. “They were asking me to go, to fight, to fight for the country, fight for your pride and if you’re going to go there, you’re even going to help more for our country.”
Usyk is widely regarded as one of the best Ukrainian boxers of all time, having defeated Joshua in 2021 to capture the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles.
However, when Russia launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Usyk returned to Ukraine and joined the country’s territorial defense battalion. He was later allowed to leave the country to prepare for his rematch against Anthony Joshua, which is expected to take place on August 20 in Saudi Arabia.
While Usyk would prefer to stay and fight alongside his countrymen, he understands that a victory against Joshua would go a long way to raise Ukrainian morale.
“I really didn’t want to leave our country, I didn’t want to leave our city,” Usyk said. “I know a lot of my close people, friends, close friends, are right now in the front line and fighting. What I’m doing right now, I’m just supporting them, and with this fight, I wanted to bring them some kind of joy in between what they do.”
Rafael Fiziev after UFC Vegas 58. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The lightweight contender is going to be out for the next couple of months.
Rafael Fiziev is undergoing surgery.
Ariel Helwani reported on Tuesday that Fiziev needs surgery on his nose after his fifth-round knockout of Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Vegas 58 this past Saturday. The lightweight contender revealed during his post-fight press conference his nose was broken either in the first or second round of the fight.
“Almost 20 years career, [this] is the first time somebody broke my nose,” said Fiziev (video provided by MMA Junkie). “He broke my nose I think in the first or second round. I feel it like ‘Tak!’ when he punched me and I think, ‘Oh, he broke my nose.’ But it’s okay.
“I can’t breathe now,” continued Fiziev. “I think when I come back to Phuket, I need to go to the hospital and make surgery. My nose now is like — I can go to the movie Avatar now.”
The hope is for Fiziev to return to the Octagon by the end of the year. ‘Ataman’ has set his sights on a fight with Justin Gaethje, who is also undergoing surgery on his nose. The ‘Highlight’ said he should be ready to fight again by ‘end of the year, most likely early next year,’ so Gaethje vs. Fiziev could potentially happen soon.
Should Fiziev get Gaethje next, the 29-year-old sees it as the perfect challenge.
“I think he makes my face the same like this, maybe more hard,” said Fiziev. “He’s dangerous. He’s a big challenge for me. He has a lot of chance to knock me out, and I have a lot of chance to knock him out. But yeah, that’s a good fight, for fans also.
“He have s—t kicks, but he has good power in his hands.”
Fiziev is now on a six-fight win streak that includes finishes of Renato Moicano, Brad Riddell and the aforementioned Dos Anjos.
Deiveson Figueiredo and Wallid Ismail pose for the camera at UFC Norfolk. | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The split between UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and his former manager Wallid Ismail appears to have taken a nasty turn.
It’s often said that the only constant is change. That often feels especially true in combat sports, where elite talents rise and fall, promotions come and go, and even the most tightly bonded of business relationships can be dashed in an instant. The latest such fracture comes from none other than the UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
The Brazilian fighter recently dropped his longtime manager, Wallid Ismail, to work with Urijah Faber under the MMA arm of American sports & esports management firm VaynerSports. While Figureiredo initially pinned the decision on supposed communication issues between Ismail and the UFC, in an interview back in June he revealed that the real reason was all down to money.
“Our disagreement was based on numbers,” Figueiredo said, speaking to Sherdog.com. “When I was champion and fought [Brandon] Moreno at UFC 263, my purse was $ 200,000 to show plus $ 100,000 to win plus pay-per-view points. In the third fight [at UFC 270], when I regained my belt, it was $ 100,000 (to show) plus $ 100,000 (to win) — that’s not a champion´s purse. I called Wallid and apologized to him for some bad stuff I said to the press when I was angry, but we parted ways.”
For Ismail, however, it seems the Jungle Fight president and former UFC & Pride fighter still has a bone to pick with ‘Deus da Guerra’ over allegations that he failed to tell the UFC about Figueiredo’s hand injury and that he failed to tell Figueiredo about the UFC’s interim title plans. Both things Ismail claims simply aren’t true.
“From the beginning I didn’t want to speak out so as not to expose Deiveson,” Ismail said in a post on social media (h/t Sherdog.com). “I had informed Deiveson that the UFC would [create] the interim belt if he couldn’t fight until July. The UFC was aware that he was injured. I have conversations with matchmakers informing [them] about the injury. He made a statement in the press saying that he would only like to fight Kai Kara France in October, although I asked him to fight Brandon Moreno again, as this would be the best fight for his career.
“He wants to look for someone to blame for his wrong decisions, I’m just speaking out because, although he apologized to me for lying that he didn’t know about the interim belt, now he’s back to lying, that I hadn’t warned the UFC about his injury. That’s a lack of character.”
“This vagabond has become a shameless bastard,” he added. “First he lied saying that I hadn’t warned him about the interim belt (the bastard told me he didn’t care). The bastard apologized to me for lying, now he’s telling another lie. You’re very naughty, Deiveson. I told the UFC that he was injured and could only fight in October. This bastard asked me to say that.”
More recently, Ismail took to Twitter to respond to Figueiredo’s monetary claims as well. Notably that while Figueiredo’s base salary may not have been that high relative to other UFC champions, he’s the first flyweight title holder to get a PPV cut.
when Deiveson lost the belt, he received almost 1 million dollars, with the gain in the PPV, never a flyweight had received .% in the PPV, don’t repeat the shit of those who don’t tell the whole truth, show me a flyweight fighter who made more money than this ungrateful Figgy? https://t.co/IB1EhHen4c
— Wallid Ismail (@WallidJfc) July 8, 2022
Figueiredo is currently awaiting the winner of the upcoming bout between Kai Kara France and Brandon Moreno later this month at UFC 277. He’s also teased a move to the bantamweight division, noting that he doesn’t believe it will be possible for him to continue cutting weight down to 125lbs within the next year of his MMA career.
June M. Williams 
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