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Mir wants Lesnar trilogy bout

by Site Admin ~ July 13th, 2022

Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir after their first fight at UFC 81.
Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir after their first fight at UFC 81. | Photo by: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Frank Mir would love to face Lesnar again, but he doesn’t think it will happen.

Frank Mir was front and center during one of the UFC’s wildest experiments. When the UFC signed WWE superstar Brock Lesnar, Mir was tapped as the man to welcome him to the Octagon.

They fought at UFC 81 in 2008. And it was Mir who got his hand raised. After being roughed up by Lesnar for a minute, Mir caught the wrestler in a kneebar. Lesnar tapped and laughed, branding Mir ‘lucky’ for the fight-winning submission hold.

Lesnar got his first UFC win a few months later; pummelling (and riding) Heath Herring to a unanimous decision. He then TKO’d Randy Couture to win the UFC heavyweight title.

His first title defence was against Mir. There would be no crafty submission win this time around, though. Lesnar ground and pounded his way to a second round TKO win. Lesnar then defended against Shane Carwin before losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem prompted him to step away from the cage.

Lesnar would return in 2016 to face Mark Hunt. That fight ended in a unanimous decision win for Lesnar on the night, but it was overturned to a no contest due to Lesnar testing positive for clomiphene.

Mir recently reminisced on his bouts with Lesnar while appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. On that show Mir was asked about the possibilities of facing Lesnar again, whether it be in an MMA fight or a staged spectacle at a pro-wrestling show.

Mir revealed that working an angle with Lesnar in the WWE was something he had shown interest in. However, he said, this idea never gained any traction.

“I wanted to put myself in a position by going out there and being successful at it, but it was one of those things where it wasn’t even in the talks,” Mir said (ht MMA Fighting).

Mir went on to say he would absolutely “be game” for a third MMA fight with Lesnar. Though, he seriously doubts Lesnar would entertain such a match-up.

“Not on his radar, I guess. Just not that he wanted to do it. When you’re the A-side, he’s a draw money-wise, he gets to make more of the calls. From what I was told, because of the way I responded after the second fight, he truly felt that I was a little off. I think in Lesnar’s mind, how could you want to fight me again? People don’t [want to see it], so there’s something wrong with [me] that I think made him uneasy.”

Mir continued to fight in the UFC for seven years after his bouts with Lesnar. During that run he scored big wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Roy Nelson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He left the promotion in 2017 and signed with Bellator MMA.

He’s 1-2 in Bellator with a win over former UFC foe Roy Nelson. His debut for the company was a KO loss to Fedor Emlianenko.

Mir has since appeared in the pro boxing ring. In 2021 he fought former IBF cruiserweight champ Steve Cunningham on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren, losing by decision. Also in 2021 he fought former unified heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev at Triad Combat. He lost that bout by first round TKO.

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Alex Pereira is likely to be the next opponent for UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya
Alex Pereira is likely to be the next opponent for UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

The UFC does what it wants. The potential booking of Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira is another example of that fact.

At this time last year, Alex Pereira was a Glory kickboxing champ. Sure, he had dabbled in MMA, going 2-1 between 2015 and 2016 and picking up a third win in November 2020 under the LFA banner and had inked a deal with the UFC, but he was the Glory titleholder at light heavyweight, having vacated his middleweight Glory belt in May 2021.

In September 2021, Pereira lost his light heavyweight title and then retired from kickboxing inside the ring, following that loss at Glory 78.

Pereira was linked to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya long before he signed his deal with the UFC because he had two wins over Adesanya under the Glory banner. A unanimous decision in 2016 and a knockout in 2017. When Pereira inked his deal with the promotion, you would have been hard pressed to find a headline about that signing that failed to mention his knockout win over Adesanya — who by that time had defended the UFC middleweight crown three times (four if you count his title unification win – and we know Adesanya counts that victory as a defense.)

It’s hard to imagine what dried faster the day Pereira signed his UFC deal, the ink from his signature or the drool pouring from the mouths of the UFC matchmakers as they dreamed of the money they could earn the promotion by booking Pereira opposite Adesanya.

With that, those matchmakers set out to pave the way for that fight to take place. In his UFC debut, the promotion booked him opposite Andreas Michailidis, who was 1-1 with the promotion and is no longer a UFC fighter. Pereira knocked him out. In his next bout, Pereira faced Bruno Silva, who was 3-0 in the UFC. Silva had a career record of 22-7 and had won 19 of those bouts via knockout. In his three UFC fights, Silva had attempted three takedowns. He had secured zero. Pereira won the fight via decision. However, Silva went two for eight in takedowns while accumulating 3:15 in control time over the course of the 15-minute scrap.

In his most recent outing, Pereira, who was unranked after his two wins, faced Sean Strickland. Strickland was ranked No. 4 in the official UFC middleweight rankings heading into that matchup.

Strickland fought to his opponent’s strengths. Everyone knew Strickland’s route to victory in this fight was via grappling. Instead, he decided it was wise to use his upright, low guard, jab-heavy striking approach against a kickboxing champ. Strickland might as well have been wearing a giant paper mache clown head with a neon “punch me” sign pointing at his chin.

I don’t mean to demean Strickland too much here. He is an excellent fighter and he was on a six-fight winning streak ahead of the Pereira matchup, but he made an awful tactical decision to engage in a kickboxing match in an MMA setting with a kickboxing champ. I’m guessing Strickland realized that about the time he staggered to his feet after getting knocked out at the 2:36 mark of the first round.

With that, and Adesanya’s much criticized win over Jared Cannonier in the main event of that fight card, it looks like Pereira will fight for the UFC title after just three UFC fights.

Is that silly? Yes. Does Pereira deserve a title fight? No. Will fans buy this fight? Yes. Will the UFC make a killing at the box office and in pay-per-view buys when the fight takes place? Hell yes. And that last one is the primary reason this fight is going to take place. The second reason is that the UFC middleweight division is — more or less — Adesanya and former champion Robert Whittaker.

If Pereira had not defeated Adesanya in another sport, this fight would not be happening at this point in his career. However, the UFC is not a meritocracy and the promotion has often put short-term gains over long-range plans. For the UFC, this fight is a slam dunk. It has an easy to market backstory, it has a villain in Adesanya for his “boring” style in his recent title defenses and it has a potential savior in the exciting knockout artist in the underdog, Pereira. This fight is all about exploiting the fans for the UFC’s financial gain.

Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman in speaking to Submission Radio, hit the nail directly on the head when he said, “They (UFC) need to get Pereira to Israel as fast as they can, because obviously Pereira has a lot of vulnerabilities, and if they wait too long, those vulnerabilities will get exposed, and then there’s no fight. So you’ve got to push him toward Israel as fast as you can before any of those vulnerabilities are exposed. So that looks like it’s a next fight. Israel would love that fight. Israel would love that fight. I think he wants the fight. So, I mean, Israel’s the champ, he’s the man that’s put himself in a position where he can choose what he wants to do. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the next fight.”

This reminds me of the fast track the UFC put Conor McGregor on when he joined the promotion, but even McGregor’s rise wasn’t this fast or the desire to get him into a title fight as soon as possible this transparent.

The UFC saw a potential matchup between Adesanya and Pereira a long time ago. And when Adesanya established himself as the king of middleweights, it honed in on that storyline with laser focus. Testing Pereira to make sure he’s ready for an MMA fight with Adesanya could possibly ruin that storyline and cost the UFC a lot of money. With that, Pereira will not face a solid MMA competitor who might mess around and test Pereira’s grappling acumen. The UFC was never interested in Pereira as a fighter, their only interest in him is in getting him inside the octagon with Adesanya in order to sell this specific matchup to the fans who might have only seen Pereira knockout Adesanya in their kickboxing matchup and not the action that preceded the stoppage. Like I said, it’s an exploitable story that can be backed up by pulling a few seconds from a video from five years ago from another sport.

In a sport where entertainment is often more important to the promotion than merit, this is the type of matchup that can get made. Does it matter that five other fighters are ranked higher than Pereira right now? Does it matter that he has not been tested against a fighter who will employ a true “mixed” martial arts approach to a fight? No and no.

The storyline is more important than the facts when it comes to Adesanya vs. Pereira fighting for the UFC, but these are the fights that happen when the only thing that holds the UFC accountable is the UFC itself.

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UFC welterweight Nate Diaz.
UFC welterweight Nate Diaz. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Diaz voiced his displeasure with the UFC in a special interview on The MMA Hour.

Nate Diaz isn’t necessarily done fighting in the UFC, but he sure seems done with being anchored exclusively to the UFC.

In a special edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Diaz made it clear that he has no interest in renewing his UFC contract, which has just one fight left on its existing deal.

“I was trying to get this sh-t on the road, but they don’t want me out of contract and they’re keeping me in there and they’re holding me hostage,” Diaz said (via MMA Fighting). “And I want out. That’s my main objective here.

“They don’t want to let me out of my contract,” he said. “They want me to fight Conor. I’m not fighting Conor McGregor right now. Our timelines aren’t matching up. … You bring yourself back to life, and I’ll be back later.”

Nate claimed that each fight offer he’s received has come with a new contract offer which he is opposed to signing.

Diaz hasn’t fought since a five-round decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263. After the second fight with Conor McGregor in August 2016, Diaz didn’t compete again until three years later at UFC 241. He defeated Anthony Pettis by decision and then had a fairly quick turnaround against Jorge Masvidal, coming up short in their ‘BMF’ title fight at UFC 243. Of course, during that lengthy layoff was a cancelled fight vs. Dustin Poirier in 2018 and the usual drama concerning whether or not a Diaz brother would return to fighting.

It is not new for Diaz to ask for his UFC release, but now we’re at exactly 15 years of Nate being under contract with the promotion, and the landscape has undoubtedly changed in more recent years. Jake Paul, who is boxing Hasim Rahman Jr next month, expressed interest in taking on Diaz in the ring if he’s let out of his contract, and it appears the interest is mutual.

“I’m interested in everything,” he said. “I’m interested in activity. If he’s going to be the first one to step up, I’ll fight him. I’ll fight everybody. Anyone who wants to fight, I’ll fight that’s actually talking some s—t like Jake Paul.”

Diaz isn’t trash his overall time in the UFC, saying he appreciates them but believes “they’re valuing me in private, but I’m devalued in the public.” He also doesn’t factor money into this current contract dispute, but rather the freedom gained to do what he wants.

“I don’t want no more money,” Diaz said. “I want to go do different stuff. I went in there and talked to them, and it’s with all due respect. … I might just re-sign afterward, but I need out.”

You can watch the full Nate Diaz interview at the top of the page.

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Jake Paul reacts during his media presser with Hasim Rahman Jr.
Jake Paul reacts during his media presser with Hasim Rahman Jr. | Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

Jake Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr. held their first press conference for their upcoming Showtime PPV bout, and got into it over a past sparring session.

Jake Paul’s quest for boxing legitimacy and PPV dollars continues this coming August when he faces off against what will unquestionably be his stiffest competition to date. Originally set to face off against Tommy Fury, Paul was left scrambling to find another scion of a boxing dynasty when Fury’s entry to the US was barred, due to his ties to notorious crime figure Daniel Kinahan.

In Fury’s place, steps 12-1 Hasim Rahman Jr., the son of former unified heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. ‘The Rock’ won his belts in a massive upset over Lennox Lewis back in 2001, picking up the vacant interim WBC title again in a win over Monte Barrett in 2005. Shortly after his father’s retirement in 2014, Rahman Jr. started his own boxing career, running out an unbeaten 12-0 record before meeting up with 19-0 Kenzie Morrison (himself the son of former heavyweight champ Tommy Morrison). Rahman Jr. lost that bout via 5th round TKO.

That seems to have made Paul a perfect bounce-back opponent for the 31-year-old—especially given their past familiarity, since Rahman Jr. was one of the men Paul brought in for a previous training camp. Paul is 5-0 in his fledgling boxing career, and fresh off a pair of 2021 victories over former UFC champion Tyron Woodley. Rahman Jr. and the ‘Problem Child’ got their first chance to face off against one another publicly ahead of their August 6th Showtime PPV, at a July 12th press conference. Their past time in the gym was an immediate topic of conversation.

“I don’t know why they’re so worried. The fact that they keep on saying that’s a telltale sign, ‘Sparring isn’t fighting.’ Because you’re probably a little bit nervous about what happened.” Paul told the assembled media about their past sparring sessions.

“Under the lights, 10oz gloves, of course it’s different. That’s why I do this sport. I don’t do this sport to spar, I do this shit to fight…”

“And you ain’t fought nobody, everybody you’ve fought, it’s been their debut,” Rahman retorted.

“Don’t turn your back and run like you did when we sparred,” Rahman continued. “Don’t do that, and I will be using both hands.

“I only used one hand when I sparred him. He can’t even spar nobody with one hand, he’s not even at that level. I boxed this man with one hand tied behind my back, and I promise you he turned his back and ran from me.”

The two got into things again a short time later, and once again their past sparring session was the focus of the disagreement.

“How!?” Rahman responded, when Paul claimed he ‘got his ass beat’ when they faced off in the gym. “You in here jumping on top of turnbuckles, ‘AHHHHH!’ There’s no winning and losing in sparring, so what are you talking about?

“I was there to work with you, to actually help you get confidence to go against a guy that was 5’ 5” with no fights. So what are you talking about? And I still was handicapped, boxing you with one hand. Go watch the tape. I didn’t even use my right hand.” Rahman added, reiterating his claims that Paul’s camp made him work one-handed in their session.

“When I backed you in a corner, why did you turn your back and run? Why’d you turn around and run? Who runs in a boxing ring? You ran like you were at track.

“He’s a runner he’s a track star!” Rahman prodded, singing to Paul.

“Why you running in a boxing ring? Do you know how to box? Have you learned that yet? Have you learned that you can’t run yet? Have you learned that much yet, that you can’t be running in the ring? Did you learn that yet? It’s only been 18 months.”

Paul vs. Rahman Jr. takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY on August 6th. Alongside the cruiserweight main event, unified women’s featherweight champion Amanda Serrano will face off against Brenda Carabajal in a 10-round contest. No other bouts have been announced for the card.

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UFC 278 Press Conference
Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight title against Leon Edwards at UFC 278. | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Kamaru Usman is coming for the light heavyweight title after he defeats Leon Edwards.

Kamaru Usman is serious about moving up not one but two weight classes in a bid to become the UFC’s next two-division champion.

Usman will be looking to move up to light heavyweight after he defends his welterweight title against top-ranked contender Leon Edwards at UFC 278.

‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ will move up to 205 to face ‘whoever’ the champ is after he defeats ‘Rocky’ next month. Whether that’s Jiri, Jan, or some other fighter is of no concern to Usman. He’ll be able to beat whoever the UFC puts in front of him.

“We’re gonna go in there and we’re completely focused on Leon Edwards,” Usman said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports (h/t MMA News). “But after Leon Edwards, we have our sights set on (light heavyweight), whether it’s Jan or whether it’s Jiří, whoever it is, that’s what we want.”

Usman’s confidence stems from the fact that he is not only one of the greatest champions in the sport but also the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter on the planet right now.

“I want to prove to the world that there’s a reason why they say pound-for-pound,” he said. “That means pound-for-pound at any given time, any given moment, any given weight, I can go in there and not only hold my own, I can be victorious. I wanna be able to prove that.”

Usman will return to the Octagon to defend his welterweight title against Edwards at the upcoming UFC 278 PPV on Aug. 20 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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UFC Fight Night Dublin - McGregor v Brandao
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Javier Mendez isn’t high Conor McGregor’s skills anymore.

Six years ago, Conor McGregor was at the top of the mixed martial arts world and one of the biggest stars in all of sports, after becoming the first simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC. He’s still probably the highest PPV draw in MMA today, but his recent record leaves more to be desired as he has been stopped in three of his next four fights.

Javier Mendez, who coached against McGregor in his 2018 title bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, doesn’t seem too high on the Irishman anymore after those recent losses.

Conor McGregor and Charles Oliveira have both repeatedly asked to fight each other in recent months, but Mendez doesn’t see the Irishman as much of a threat in that match up.

“I think the old Conor gives anybody challenges,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “But the new Conor that I’ve seen within the last three fights, no. No, I don’t.

“I don’t see him doing very much to Charles. The new guy, not the old guy. The old guy, yeah, a hundred percent.”

McGregor’s lone win in over half a decade was against the now retired Donald Cerrone, which marked his third straight TKO loss at the time. Despite Oliveira and McGregor’s desire to make it happen, the Irish star isn’t really in the title picture and has yet to fully recover from his injury.

Islam Makhachev will likely fight for the belt next, and even his coach in Mendez admits that “I see Oliveira as a huge threat” in that match up.

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Jiri Prochazka enters the Octagon for his UFC 275 title fight against Glover Teixeira.
Jiri Prochazka enters the Octagon for his UFC 275 title fight against Glover Teixeira. | Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Jiri Prochazka wants Glover Teixeira to be his first challenger, but Jan Blachowicz isn’t liking it.

Jiri Prochazka impressively got the job done against Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. The 29-year-old Czech got the win via submission in the last 28 seconds of the bout to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion.

Prochazka, however, felt he put on a “horrible” performance and because of that, he wants a part two with the Brazilian as a form of rectification.

The champ recently released this video statement via Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jiří “BJP” Procházka (@jirkaprochazka)

“I may decide for next fight, and I wanna fight Glover the next fight. Not because it will be another big fight, but just one reason: my performance was bad (in) the first fight. And I will show you why I’m the champion, clearly, decisively. And I think Glover deserves it.

“So here’s the offer. I will show you why I’m the champion.”

That declaration didn’t sit well with former champion Jan Blachowicz, whom Prochazka deemed as “the most dangerous man” at 205 pounds and initially wanted as his first challenger.

The 39-year-old Blachowicz, who lost the title to Teixeira at UFC 267 last October, has since gotten himself back on the winning track via a TKO win over Aleksander Rakić in May.

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Michael Johnson lost a decision to Jamie Mullarkey at UFC Vegas 58
Michael Johnson lost a decision to Jamie Mullarkey at UFC Vegas 58 | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Michael Johnson vs. Jamie Mullarkey came down to the last 109 seconds of Round 1

Michael Johnson’s last two-fight winning streak came in 2018 when he earned decisions over Andre Fili and Artem Lobov. Johnson went winless in his next four fights. The UFC vet ended that skid in May when he scored a knockout win over Alan Patrick. On Saturday, Johnson was on the losing end of a split-decision outcome against Jamie Mullarkey. Johnson, who has been with the UFC since 2010, took no solace in the fact the exciting bout took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

With Johnson — and numerous MMA media members — disagreeing with the official result of the fight, I did a deep dive on the first round of the fight. The only round where the three judges disagreed.

For background on the “Scouring the Scoring” series and details on the review process, GO HERE.

The first thing one needs to do in scoring a fight is mute the commentary. Biases can seep into commentary and even worse, the UFC commentary team sometimes provides incorrect information as to the scoring criteria, which can influence those who hear it. The second thing one needs to do is get familiar with the prioritized criteria in MMA scoring — especially the first criteria, which is “effective striking/grappling.”

Effective Striking/Grappling

“Legal blows that have immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute towards the end of the match with the IMMEDIATE weighing in more heavily than the cumulative impact. Successful execution of takedowns, submission attempts, reversals and the achievement of advantageous positions that produce immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute to the end of the match, with the IMMEDIATE weighing more heavily than the cumulative impact.”

It shall be noted that a successful takedown is not merely a changing of position, but the establishment of an attack from the use of the takedown.

The first three minutes of this fight were tense. Johnson’s speed was on full display and he seemed to be getting close to working out the timing of his opponent’s kicks and jabs. Meanwhile, Mullarkey was connecting with those kicks and jabs.

If I had to judge the first 191 seconds of the matchup, I would have awarded the round to Mullarkey with a score of 10-9. However, the outcome of the round came down to the final 109 seconds of the stanza.

With 1:49 left in the first, Johnson landed a right hook that he followed with a crushing left that caught Mullarkey flush and snapped his head back. The impact of that blow sent Mullarkey tumbling toward the canvas. While the Australian was on his way down to the seat of his pants, Johnson landed another left. The American then threw a flurry of ground strikes before settling into a front headlock. While in that position, Mullarkey was able to reset and recover from the blows that hurt him.

While the two combatants were in that position, UFC commentator Michael Bisping said, “Mullarkey is tough, because I could have sworn it was going to be over there. He hit the canvas hard.”

With 1:12 left in the round, Mullarkey got back to his feet. Judging from his movement, stance and willingness to engage Johnson, he had fully recovered by the time the two got back to striking.

The next big exchange occurred with 21 seconds left in the round. Mullarkey connected with a well-timed counter right that was followed with a big left hook that caught Johnson flush while he was trying to step back. That left landed while Johnson had all his weight on his back foot, but it clearly wobbled him. The blow resulted in Johnson diving in for a single leg takedown. While latched onto Mullarkey’s left leg, Johnson ate several elbows to the head before the fighters got back to their feet and exchanged some sloppy, but heavy, strikes.

On the rewatch, I scored the round for Johnson because I felt the strikes he landed were closer to ending the fight than the blows Mullarkey landed later in the round.

From the camera angle, Johnson’s knockdown blows landed cleaner and took Mullarkey off his feet, while Mullarkey’s strikes landed while Johnson was slightly off balance and did not result in a clean knockdown. With that, Johnson’s strikes had more potential to immediately end the fight than Mullarkey’s blows.

This is the point in my analysis where I have to point out that the judges are watching from cageside and the angle they are judging from is not the same angle we see on the broadcast. They also can not slow down the action frame by frame to look at things such as foot placement and balance like we do on a rewatch.

Final thoughts:

While I saw the first round — and therefore the fight — for Johnson, by no means could the scores in Mullarkey’s favor be considered robberies. Now, if one wants to talk about how the UFC is hanging onto the incorrect idea that the show and win purse structure it employs has any legitimacy, then we can talk about what is quite literally robbery.

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UFC lightweight contender Rafael Fiziev.
UFC lightweight contender Rafael Fiziev. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

If this fight were to happen it would be guaranteed excitement.

Rafael Fiziev’s fifth-round TKO of former champion Rafael dos Anjos firmly established him as a major contender in the UFC’s lightweight division. As Fiziev creeps closer into the top-five of the rankings, the heavy-handed striker has another big name in mind for his next fight.

I mean, besides tennis legend Rafael Nadal.

In the post-fight press conference, the 29-year-old had his sights set on former WSOF champion and one-time UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.

“I want a fight with Gaethje, like for real,” Fiziev said (via MMA Fighting). “Nadal is funny … but Gaethje, if he wants to fight –what camera do I need to [look at]? yeah, this one. …”

“I think he makes my face the same like this, maybe more hard,” Fiziev said while looking at the camera. “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.”

Gaethje (23-4) is coming off a title fight loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 274. Despite dropping Oliveira twice early in the contest, Oliveira responded by flooring Gaethje and submitting him with a rear-naked choke. It was Gaethje’s second attempt at becoming the undisputed lightweight champion and in both instances he lost by tapout. Outside of those fights, Gaethje has beaten the likes of Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Edson Barboza, and Michael Johnson over his UFC career.

The latest rankings have Gaethje at #3, whereas Fiziev should be somewhere at or near #7 after his win over dos Anjos when the newest update comes out. If this fight does get made, it would be appointment viewing for fans.

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Kevin Holland poses for a photo after his UFC Austin win over Tim Means.
Kevin Holland poses for a photo after his UFC Austin win over Tim Means. | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Kevin Holland prefers not to call himself a “superhero” for his recent acts of bravery.

Over the last few months, UFC fighter Kevin Holland has been involved in several situations that make him come off as a real-life superhero. From helping apprehend an alleged car thief to subduing a gunman at a Houston restaurant, and most recently, helping a man out of an overturned 18-wheeler truck, “Trailblazer” seemed to have found himself in such situations and got the job done unscathed.

Holland recently sat down with MMA Fighting and spoke in detail about his recent acts of heroism. For him, he was simply doing what should be done during those moments.

“None of them are good, all of them are horrific. The guy who stole somebody’s car — if that was your car, you wouldn’t like the story at all, especially since the car got totaled. The person who ran into the car that totaled it, that was someone’s work vehicle, so I don’t think either one is like that one,” he explained.

“If you were at a sushi bar eating with your family and someone opened fire, I don’t think you would like that either. You’d probably have PTSD from going out to eat.

“If you’ve seen an 18-wheeler flipped over on the side of the road, you’d probably just keep going. I just happened to pull over. If that was your buddy in the 18-wheeler and nobody helped them, you’d probably be like, ‘Damn, what the hell?’

“Everybody’s like, ‘Wow, you’re a superhero, sounds fun,’ until you think about the people in those situations and it’s not that fun,” Holland continued. “It’s just doing the right thing. It’d be nice if people were like, ‘I’m proud of you for doing the right thing,’ instead of, ‘He’s a superhero.’”

Heroics aside, the 29-year-old Holland has been back on the winning track since moving back down to welterweight in March. He last saw action at UFC Austin four weekends ago against Tim Means where he won via second-round submission to cap off a two-fight win streak and improve to a record of (23-7, 1 NC).

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