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The UFC heavyweight contender is uninterested in changing his approach to getting fights. 

Chael Sonnen is a fan of Tom Aspinall but wants the No. 6 ranked UFC heavyweight contender to stop underselling and start promoting himself.

Sonnen spoke about Aspinall on his Beyond the Fight podcast, saying he considers the 29-year-old to be a ‘special talent’ and the future of the heavyweight division. However, the analyst took issue with his approach to getting fights because it lacks the element of self-promotion. Given his own experience with self-promotion throughout his professional career, Sonnen explained why it is detrimental for Aspinall to remain measured in his pursuit of a potential championship opportunity.

“He comes out and does an interview — I can’t remember what was said, I was disgusted, I ended up shutting the page — talking about, ‘Who wouldn’t want to see Francis Ngannou box? Ngannou’s just a great boxer,” said Sonnen. “It went on from there, put some other people over. He’s a legitimate fan. I do understand that in all fairness and he does come off as a very sweet guy. That is true. Tom actually is coming off like a really nice guy, I must tell the other side of the coin.

“I can’t put him back in a main event,” continued Sonnen. “I can’t put him in a title shot. I can’t put him in anything that he says he doesn’t belong in. Nobody can.”

Aspinall has addressed his approach before, telling Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he prefers to fight — not talk — his way into contention.

“I never thought that I was going to be talking about a title after five UFC fights, six UFC fights,” said Aspinall. “I feel like I’ve got more work to do. I’ve got a lot more work to do, more proving. I don’t want to be one of these people who gets here by talking. That is not me.”

Judging by his response to Sonnen, it appears as though he is not changing that.

“I’m more than happy being myself thanks and not selling myself out and acting like a [clown] for views and money,” wrote Aspinall on Instagram Stories. “I am not a WWE entertainer I’m one of the greatest heavyweights to walk on this [Earth] and it will be shown in my body of work from my UFC debut until I retire in 10 years. I don’t need to talk s—t. Happy to be myself.”

Aspinall emerged as a contender after five consecutive wins in the UFC. He recently submitted Alexander Volkov via first-round armbar at UFC London this past March.

The Englishman returns to London for his second headliner this year. Aspinall shares the Octagon with Curtis Blaydes in his next appearance.

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City Kickboxing co-founder and Alex Volkanovski’s coach Eugene Bareman answers the ongoing discussion involving Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira.

There’s been an ongoing discussion about former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, and potential title challenger Islam Makhachev. And depending on which fighter you ask, there is a biased answer on who would give the other more trouble when they do fight.

But Submission Radio recently got an answer from an outside perspective. City Kickboxing founder and Alexander Volkanovski’s head coach Eugene Bareman says “Do Bronx” would be a tougher match-up for one of his star pupils in a potential fight, and he explained why.

“Definitely Oliveira’s the more difficult match-up in my opinion. Again, it just depends,” he said. “Oliveira has a more well-rounded skillset, so there’s more to deal with. I mean, Islam’s got good stand-up, but that just depends on who you are looking in, I guess. But yeah, I just think Oliveira would be a more well-rounded skill set for Volk to deal with.

“Whereas Islam, perhaps we could narrow a couple of things down and concentrate on those few things. Which is easier said than done, because just like in much the fashion of Khabib, Islam excels. He may only do one or two aspects of the sport really, really well, but he does them at the highest level. So, that’s the difficulty.”

Volkanovski recently brought up the idea of potentially moving up to 155 pounds, and Bareman is liking the champ’s chances.

“Every single person, doesn’t matter who you are, what experience you have, he grabs you and you feel something different,” Bareman said of Volkanovski. “It’s a different feeling from anything that I’ve ever felt from someone of that stature. And I think the lightweight guys still feel that.

“Look, I got middleweights and light heavyweights that feel it. They’re like, ‘f–ken hell’. They’re really surprised when Alex grabs them. And you’re talking about guys like two or three divisions up from him. Lightweight’s only one division above him.

“So, I think you’d see the same Alex, just that strength and that raw physicalness that he brings.”

Volkanovski (24-1) has so far defended the UFC 145-pound title thrice, most recently against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 in April via fourth-round TKO. His fourth title defense will be a third fight against former champion Max Holloway at UFC 276 on July 2nd.

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At 23, the 8-1 Erin ‘Cold Blooded’ Blanchfield is getting the attention of fans—and fighters on the UFC’s roster.

Erin Blanchfield joined the UFC on the strength of two ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus-winning victories under the Invicta banner in 2020. And although she’s yet to earn a bonus inside the Octagon, the 23-year-old is 2-0 fighting with the world’s largest MMA promotion. ‘Cold Blooded’ looks to extend her UFC winning streak to three in a row when she faces the more experienced J.J. Aldrich in the curtain-jerker on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 56 fight card.

Originally signing with the UFC when she was 21, Blanchfield was asked to step in on less than two weeks notice to face featherweight fighter Norma Dumont in a bantamweight battle on April 10th, 2021. Blanchfield agreed, but the fight was eventually cancelled by the Nevada Athletic Commission, after Dumont checked in at 139.5 pounds on weigh-in day.

With a full fight camp behind her, Blanchfield made her UFC debut at the weight she normally competes at—125 pounds—opposite Sarah Alpar. The fight took place at UFC Vegas 35. Blanchfield was a -380 favorite over her +300 opponent in that scrap.

Blanchfield was impressive in a winning effort (30-25, 30-25, 30-26). After the contest, I wrote of her performance, “Blanchfield looked very good against Alpar and that should earn her a big step up in competition in her next outing. I’m not sure this fight was the best to judge the upside of Blanchfield, but it was an effort that warrants keeping an eye out for her next UFC booking.”

The reason for my reluctance was that Blanchfield simply overwhelmed Alpar, making it clear along the way that ‘Too Sweet’ simply wasn’t ready for this level of competition. The fight wasn’t even halfway through the first stanza before UFC commentator Michael Bisping observed that it was already “a tough night at the office” for Alpar and things didn’t get better for her from there.

By the time the mauling ended, Blanchfield had landed 198 of 318 attempted strikes and racked up nearly 10 minutes of control time.

Blanchfield’s second UFC engagement was a strange one. She originally agreed to face Maycee Barber at UFC 269 after Barber’s initially booked opponent, Montana De La Rosa dropped out. However, Barber herself withdrew from that event a month before the pay-per-view card took place. Blanchfield stayed on the card when Miranda Maverick, who was coming off a split-decision loss to Barber, agreed to the matchup.

When Bruce Buffer announced the competitors for their preliminary card bout, it was Maverick who was favored (-145) over Blanchfield (+125).

Despite the odds being against her, “Cold Blooded” Blanchfield controlled the 15-minute contest. Blanchfield tied the record for most takedowns in a UFC women’s flyweight bout (seven on eight attempts) on her way to a clean-sweep on the scorecards (30-27 x3). Much like her UFC debut. Blanchfield dominated in control time (12:00) and total strikes landed (96 vs. 42).

UFC commentator Daniel Cormier said as the fight came to its conclusion, “(From) the moment she got the first takedown, she was in the driver’s seat the whole time” That takedown came 50 seconds into the first round.

When Cormier’s fellow commentator, Joe Rogan, began his in-cage interview with the winning fighter, he opened with “Wow, what a performance. Miranda Maverick is a tough customer and you completely dominated her. I am beyond impressed.”

I shared Rogan’s exuberant thoughts on Blanchfield’s win. And with that, my initial reluctance to look at the young fighter as a potential threat in the 135-pound division faded significantly.

Blanchfield thanked Rogan for his words before adding, “When I was in here, I felt those takedowns were easy, the striking was easy and everything just came together.”

Despite her age and relative inexperience, Blanchfield has been impressive. She has outstanding wrestling, a heavy top game, nasty ground strikes and a black belt in BJJ. She looks like someone who could break into the flyweight rankings soon.

Blanchfield is getting noticed by her fellow fighters as well. Following her win over Gillian Robertson at UFC Vegas 50, Aldrich called for a fight opposite Blanchfield. The UFC must have liked the idea because that fight takes place on Saturday.

As for Blanchfield, she thinks it might be a little early for other fighters to call for her as an opponent, but she also sees the upside of the requests.

“I’ve only had two fights in the UFC, so it’s kind of quick for a callout,” Blanchfield told MMA Junkie. “It’s good, though. It means people are paying attention and people want to fight me and they want to see me fight. I’m excited about it. I love being called out. It kind of keeps your name out there. … I think it’s funny because they think they’re going to beat me. It never really works out for them.”

As of this writing, Blanchfield is one of the biggest favorites on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 56 fight card. She is listed as high as a -620 favorite over Aldrich, who checks in at +400.

UFC Vegas 56 takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire fight card streams on ESPN+.

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BJJ champ Alex Silva discusses his upcoming rematch against Adrian Mattheis and his future plans with ONE.

Alex Silva feels he was wronged. After a dominant opening to his last fight against Indonesian martial artist Adrian Mattheis, a controversial second round stoppage ended his hopes of victory. While the BJJ expert isn’t contesting the loss, it’s certainly motivated his training ahead of his rematch. “It’s gonna happen to you in this sport,” Silva said of the defeat in a recent interview with Bloody Elbow. “But that was the first time it happened to me.”

Silva, 39, and Mattheis are set to face off again this Friday at ONE Championship: 158 in Kallang, Singapore. First meeting Mattheis back at ONE Championship: Lights Out just three months ago, Silva entered the fight hoping to extend his two-fight winning streak. A former strawweight champion in the promotion, he utilized his world-class grappling experience to control Mattheis and threaten multiple submissions in round one. “I should have been more aggressive,” Silva said, “I was trying to control him because he was very explosive in the scramble, and wait for my opportunity to apply the submission.”

ONE Championship

Mattheis was forced to defend a deep north south choke and a brief heel hook attempt from the Brazilian, but Silva was unable to get the tap before Mattheis escaped. “The north south choke was tight, but after the first few minutes he became very slippery with sweat,” Silva said. Seconds into round two, Mattheis rocked Silva with a right cross and sent him tumbling to the mat. Silva ate a hammer fist off his back, but quickly rolled to his knees looking for a takedown. Unfortunately for him, the referee stepped in to end the fight at the five second mark.

ONE Championship

A visibly disappointed Silva shared words with the official, even banging out some push ups to showcase his lack of injury. “If you watch the fight, you can see what happened,” Silva said. “It was a bad stoppage by the ref.”

Often taking as much as a year off between bouts, Silva jumped at the chance to quickly rectify what he and many in the MMA community see as an erroneous result. “I was happy to get the chance to fight again quickly,” Silva said. Sticking with the same training blueprint, Silvia aims to utilize more aggressive grappling for the rematch. “I’m confident that if I get him on the ground again, I can finish him,” he said.

Looking beyond Friday, Silva may decide to partake in a grappling match on a ONE card. A black belt for over a decade, Silva’s first exposure to the gentle art came the same as many others in the 90’s.

“I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but my friend who I surf with came to me and said, ‘I have to show you some fight,’ and he had a VHS tape with him. I loved Bruce Lee and Van Damme movies, so I expected something like that. But he said this was a real fight, and I saw the first UFC with Royce Gracie. I thought, ‘Oh, that small Brazilian guy is gonna get smashed really bad!’ But then he dominated all the larger guys,” Silva said. Taken with the display, Silva threw on a gi and began training and competing under the nearby school, Liga Jiu-Jitsu. He went on to win a Copa de Mundo World Championship, and feeling it was time to try a new sport, relocated with his family to Singapore in 2011 to train at Evolve MMA.

ONE Championship

Both as a teammate and grappling coach, Silva now has the luxury of training with some of the best fighters in the world at Evolve. “It’s a blessing. All my idols become like my friends, we can talk and go out to dinner. They give so much to me during training, they want to see me shine. But the name doesn’t matter; whether you have someone like Buchecha or [Mikey] Musumeci or whatever, it doesn’t matter. They all want to help you improve,” Silva said. Surrounded by BJJ royalty on a daily basis, Silva expressed a hesitant desire to take off the gloves and compete in a ONE grappling match.

“I still feel like I can compete with those guys,” Silva said. “But we’re so focused on MMA with two to three sessions per day. It’s hard to mix grappling and MMA. I think it would take three months of just BJJ training to compete with these ninja kids. The kids competing now are unbelievable!”

Silva will face Mattheis on the lead card of ONE Championship: 158 this Friday, June 3. The card is set to be headlined by a 155 lb lightweight muay thai bout between top-ranked Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai and former Glory kickboxing talent Niclas Larsen.

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The former Invicta FC strawweight champion will debut on July 16.

The UFC has signed Invicta FC strawweight champion Emily Ducote and placed her in a fight with former UFC title challenger Jessica Penne (per MMA Junkie). That fight is scheduled for July 16 in Long Island, NY. Ducote is coming in on short notice, replacing fellow former Invicta FC strawweight champion Brianna Fortino (née Van Buren).

Ducote has a career record of 11-6. She fought in Bellator between 2016 and 2019. During that run she earned a spot opposite Ilima-Lei MacFarlane for the vacant Bellator flyweight title. Ducote lost that fight due to an armbar in the fifth round.

She debuted with Invicta in 2019 and won her debut, over Janaisa Morandin, by first round TKO. That earned her a shot at the vacant Invicta strawweight title (vacated by Fortino). She lost that fight, to Kanako Murata, by split decision.

In her next bout, in the main event of Invicta FC 40, she defeated UFC veteran Julianna Lima by unanimous decision. That set her up for her second shot at a vacant Invicta strawweight title (this time vacated after Murata signed for the UFC).

At Invicta FC 44 Ducote defeated Danielle Taylor by first round TKO to win the belt. Last month she defended her title against former Invicta FC atomweight champion Alesha Zappitella.

The fight with Zappitella was called off after two rounds after Ducote inflicted a nasty cut on Zappitella’s left eye-lid.

Including Ducote, seven of Invicta’s eight former strawweight champions have signed for the UFC. Joining Ducote, Murata and Fortino on that list are Virna Jandiroba, Angela Hill, Livia Renata Souza and current UFC champion Carla Esparza (who was Invicta’s inaugural 115 lb champ).

Ducote’s next opponent Penne unsuccessfully challenged Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the UFC strawweight belt in 2015. In 2012 Penne became Invicta’s first ever atomweight champion.

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Paulo Costa’s legal team responds to recent reports about the fighter allegedly assaulting a nurse over a vaccination card.

UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa is in a bit of hot water, as of late, at least according to reports. Several media outlets have reported that “Borrachinha” allegedly assaulted a nurse with an elbow strike during a supposed altercation at a vaccination site in Brazil.

As the story goes, Costa arrived at the site to get a jab, then supposedly changed his mind. However, it was claimed that he wanted to leave with a validated vaccine card, which one of the nurses refused to allow. It was then when the fighter allegedly responded with an elbow shot before leaving the building.

Not long after, Costa’s legal team issued a response. In a nutshell, they dismissed the said reports as mere “sensationalism.”

“The recent articles published by the media involving athlete Paulo Costa – “Borrachinha” referring to what happened in a shopping mall in the city of Contagem/MG generated questions, so we must present some clarifications,” the statement reads.

“First, trending to sensationalism, these are reckless and inconsistent.

“The athlete Paulo Costa – “Borrachinha” and his entire team reject any type of violence.

“‘Borrachinha’ is a high-performance professional athlete, full time dedicated to training, to following the rules, guidelines, and disciplines. According to his philosophy and human conduct, this kind of allegations are (sic) completely incompatible with his history and way of life.

“The accusations and facts narrated do not reflect the reality of what happened.

“The fact (sic) will be carefully investigated and the appropriate legal measures for their perfect clarification will be taken.

“The technical and legal team of athlete Paulo Costa – Borrachinha also inform (sic) that they will be available for further clarifications.”

According to reports, the unnamed nurse – who supposedly suffered swelling in the lips likely because of the incident – is planning to press charges. Both parties have also reportedly agreed to go on a public hearing at a still undetermined date.

The number four-ranked Costa (13-2) last fought in October 2021 against Marvin Vettori in a light heavyweight bout and lost via decision. He is currently slated to face former champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 on August 20.

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Valentina Shevchenko gives her thoughts on the outcome of the rematch between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes.

Amanda Nunes was an enormous favorite over Julianna Pena entering their bout at UFC 269. Nunes, who had successfully defended her UFC bantamweight title five times since winning that belt in 2016, entered the bout at -1000 against Pena, who was a +650 underdog. Many were stunned when Pena finished the fight via a rear-naked choke submission in the second round. One viewer who was not shocked when Pena wrested the title from Nunes was UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.

Shevchenko, who has successfully defended her crown six times since she earned the UFC women’s 125-pound belt in 2018, admitted she was surprised — but not shocked — by the outcome of the first Nunes vs. Pena fight.

Shevchenko, who is scheduled to put her title on the line for the seventh time when she faces Taila Santos at UFC 275, said she saw a different fighter in Nunes at UFC 269.

“(I) Didn’t see Amanda in the same fight shape as she used to be,” Shevchenko said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour, “For example, when we fought together, she was completely different. For Julianna’s fight, she was a little bit more relaxed. I don’t know how she prepared for this fight, but she looked differently.”

One thing Shevchenko, who is 0-2 against Nunes in her career, said is that the mental part of the sport could have been a factor in the outcome of the Pena fight. Noting that a long stretch of wins — Nunes was on a 12-0 run and also held the UFC featherweight belt at the time she faced Pena — can lead a fighter to have a sense of invincibility.

“I know exactly for being dominant, you have to be very careful and respectful and prepared to fight in this hunger mode,” said Shevchenko before turning her thoughts toward her own dominant run at the top of the 125-pound weight class. “This is something I’m trying to avoid in my career, in my preparation in everything. That’s why what happened with them because they had very big mind games and it’s nothing that I have to worry about. I have to worry about exactly what I have in my mind in this moment. This is the most important for me and what happened with them? It’s like, whatever.“

As for the second meeting between Pena and Nunes, which is scheduled for the UFC 277 fight card on July 30 in Dallas, Shevchenko thinks the headspace of the fighters will once again come into play in that contest.

“It depends on what mental shape they’re going to be in. I would say from Julianna Pena, from one side, she’s now champion, a lot more attention, she’s receiving all this attention and she wants to be showed up and that can affect your mental preparation, but in the same time, Amanda, we don’t know what is going on, like maybe family, maybe whatever, so it can also be a point of preparation,” Shevchenko said.

When pressed on her pick, the flyweight queen expects both fighters to be prepared, but she sees things working out in one way.

“I would say, if they are both going to be very ready for the fight, want to fight, want to be in the fight, I would say Amanda would take very much,” Shevchenko said.

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Check out the fight card for UFC on ABC 3 on Long Island, NY.

The UFC hasn’t had too many shows on ABC since its ESPN deal began in 2019, but this card on July 16th is an excellent use of an ABC slot.

At the new UBS Arena on Long Island, NY, featherweight contenders Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez will face off in a five-round main event that has potential to be Fight of the Year. It’s Ortega’s first fight since losing his title shot against Alexander Volkanovski, whereas Yair hasn’t competed since his loss in a thriller to Max Holloway.

No co-main event has been announced yet but flyweights Askar Askarov and Alex Perez are lined up for the card, and there’s an outstanding bantamweight fight between Ricky Simon and Jack Shore worth keeping an eye one. You can also expect fireworks when Li Jingliang and Muslim Salikhov square off in the cage.

Here’s what is in store for UFC on ABC 3, with no bout order set below the main event but this is an event with a 12 PM ET prelim start time and a 3 PM ET main card, so it’s dayime MMA!

Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez

Askar Askarov vs. Alex Perez

Ricky Simon vs. Jack Shore

Michelle Waterson vs. Amanda Lemos

Bill Algeo vs. Billy Quarantillo

Li Jingliang vs. Muslim Salikhov

Matt Schnell vs. Sumudaerji

Dwight Grant vs. Dustin Stoltzfus

Herbert Burns vs. Khusein Askhabov

Punahele Soriano vs. Daicha Lungiambula

Dustin Jacoby vs. Da-un Jung

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The former UFC middleweight champion is hoping for another shot at Adesanya with a win over Vettori.

Robert Whittaker is 0-2 against Israel Adesanya, but the ‘Reaper’ believes a trilogy with ‘The Last Stylebender’ could still happen.

Whittaker returns to the Octagon against Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris in his first fight since losing to Adesanya at UFC 271 this past February. Despite now losing twice to the reigning UFC middleweight champion, Whittaker is confident that a win over Vettori would not only solidify his status as No. 1 contender, but also earn him another championship opportunity opposite of Adesanya should he defeat Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 in July.

It is a similar situation to that of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, who are fighting for the third time despite ‘Blessed’ being 0-2 against ‘The Great’ in their featherweight championship fights. Seeing Volkanovski vs. Holloway 3 scheduled lent credence to Whittaker and his belief that a third fight with Adesanya is not outside the realm of possibility.

“I definitely think a trilogy is possible primarily because of the Holloway-Volkanovski trilogy fight going ahead,” said Whittaker to Ronny Lerner of Fox Sports Australia. “Especially considering how close my fight was with Izzy last time, I definitely think that is a very real possibility.”

The rematch was indeed close, but Whittaker ultimately fell to Adesanya via unanimous decision. Though sure he did enough to win, the 31-year-old explained during his post-fight press conference that he had no issue with fighting his way into contention again.

“A third fight between me and Izzy is inevitable because I’m going to stomp anyone that comes in front of me again,” said Whittaker. “He knows that too that’s why he said he’ll be seeing me in the future. I don’t see him losing the belt any time soon. He is good. He is good. I think I’m the person to beat him. And my mission stays the same, beat the next guy in front of me.”

Next in front of him is Vettori, one of the toughest fighters in the division. Whittaker knows what the ‘Italian Dream’ is capable of but expects to leave the cage with a win.

“I think I’m going to be too much for him, honestly,” said Whittaker. “I feel a lot better than he is across the board. Granted, he’s very tough, but I’ve fought tough people before and dismantled them.

“The best Rob Whittaker beats anybody,” continued Whittaker. “I’m going to just hit him a lot and just hurt him…he won’t be able to keep the tempo up, he’s not going to be able to handle it.”

UFC Paris is set for Saturday, Sept. 3, at the Accor Arena.

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Albert Duraev, Said Nurmagomedov and Magomed Ankalaev have all been booked in upcoming UFC bouts.

The UFC continues to play with fire.

The Las Vegas based mixed martial arts organization is still booking fighters affiliated to Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov’s Akhmat MMA fight club despite the gym and its affiliates being sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Over the past few weeks, Albert Duraev vs. Joaquin Buckley was added to the June 18 UFC Fight Night in Austin, Texas. Said Nurmagomedov will face Douglas Silva de Andrade at a UFC Fight Night on July 9 while Magomed Ankalaev vs. Anthony Smith was scheduled for the UFC 277 pay-per-view on July 30.

Duraev, Nurmagomedov and Ankalaev are official Akhmat MMA representatives.

The Akhmat MMA fight club, which was founded in 2015, consists of an MMA promotion and several training facilities throughout Chechnya and various other post-Soviet states. The fight club is sponsored by Kadyrov himself through his government’s budget and bears the name of Kadyrov’s father, Akhmad Kadyrov. Fighters who are signed to the fight club’s official roster are paid monthly stipends that cover medical expenses, training costs, and travel fees. Depending on the level of success achieved, fighters are also gifted with expensive cars and other ostentatious goods.

While a handful of Kadyrov’s fighters have managed to join the UFC and other fight leagues, many of those who do not become professional fighters are funneled into Kadyrov’s private army instead.

Kadyrov’s fight club is operated by AbuZayed Vismuradov, one of the most powerful men in Chechnya who is also sanctioned by the U.S Treasury for “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Vismuradov is responsible for thousands of Chechen athletes who train at the Akhmat MMA facility and played a significant role in expanding relations between the fight club and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was even pictured alongside UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby during the UFC’s debut event in Moscow several years ago.

Kadyrov’s exploitation of his citizens, including MMA fighters, has become more prominent amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. According to recent reports, Kadyrov has been abducting and extorting Chechen citizens to fight in the war, which has led to Chechens fleeing their homes in order to avoid being drafted.

However, sources close to Kadyrov’s fight club confirmed to BloodyElbow that the dictator continues to select fighters from among the thousands who train at Akhmat MMA facilities to take part in the war, further underscoring the horrific nature of the fight club currently being platformed on UFC programming.

Though Duraev and Ankalaev are both Russian citizens, the U.S. sanctioned levied against the Akhmat MMA fight club applies to all “U.S. persons,” including visa holders and non-citizens working on U.S. soil.

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