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Chase Hooper sounds like he’s trying to tune out the overly positive and excessively negative messages in MMA, and instead live somewhere in the middle.

On August 30, 2019 was just two weeks away from his 20th birthday. He had also just inked a deal to fight in the UFC that coming December, against an opponent yet to be named. Hooper fought on the prelims of that PPV event, UFC 245, scoring a first-round TKO win over Daniel Teymur. The victory moved Hooper’s record to 9-0-1, and cemented him as one of the promotion’s brightest—and youngest—prospects. A lot has changed for the ‘Dream’ since his UFC debut.

Most notably, his unbeaten record is a thing of the past. The 22-year-old version of Hooper is now 11-2-1. He’s also coming off the biggest win of his career, however, a May 21, 2022 TKO win over Felipe Colares. Hooper earned his first UFC ‘of the night’ bonus for that win, his first TKO victory since stopping Teymur two-and-a-half years earlier.

While growth will no doubt be the main topic of conversation at this point in Hooper’s career—as it should be for any talent that makes it to a stage as big as the UFC as young as he did—it’s the changes he’s made outside the cage that might be the most significant adjustments during his brief, and still developing UFC career.

Not content to be a curiosity as the gawky kid with wacky hair and a penchant for M&M’s, Hooper has shown maturity beyond his years in how he views the sport and his place in the UFC.

“For so many fighters, they don’t get the opportunity to adjust to that level,” Hooper said in a recent interview on The MMA Hour. “You’re jumping in to the deeper pool each time, and the UFC, the depth of that is infinite. I’m now in the same weight class as Max Holloway; I could potentially fight Alexander Volkanovski one day. That’s crazy to think about when you’re debuting. And rubbing elbows with Demian Maia, Israel Adesanya, Colby [Covington], [Kamaru] Usman, all these crazy high-level guys I’ve been on cards with, it’s so hard to jump in there at 20 when I debuted, and you’re like, ‘These are my co-workers now?’ It’s so hard to adjust to.

“But now, this is my fifth fight. So many things went perfect in the lead-up [to Colares], and I know exactly what to expect with the UFC fight week now, and I feel like I adjusted to it well. I’ve pressurized to the level of the depth of the UFC, and I’m ready to start working my way forward.”

One way Hooper plans to advance is to tune out the noise from his overly active supporters as well as his inordinately vocal detractors and try to live somewhere in the middle.

“I appreciate the positivity, but those people, their comments are just as out of place as the people that tell you that you suck,” said Hooper. “The truth is somewhere in the middle.”

Hooper said that listening to sports psychologists has helped him on his journey. Also assisting him has been the realization that his career and achievements inside the sport are a personal pursuit.

“I’m not doing this for other people’s opinions. I’m not doing this to satisfy what you people think of me. I’m doing this for myself and for my family.”

No word yet on when Hooper might be returning to action, but don’t expect any major leaps up in competition. Hooper recently expressed his admiration for the Sean O’Malley style of fight booking or, in his own words, “fight the lowest ranked guy, for the most amount of money, on the highest spot on the card.”

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Deiveson Figueiredo sees no point in the interim title fight between Brando Moreno and Kai Kara-France

The UFC flyweight champion never hid his disapproval of a potential interim title in his division, but the promotion went ahead and did it anyway.

Having defeated Brandon Moreno just last January, Deiveson Figueiredo went on record saying a temporary belt would be uncalled for in the next months. Needless to say, the champion was upset to see that the UFC announced an interim title match between the aforementioned Moreno and rising contender Kai Kara-France for July.

In an interview with Combate, a disgruntled Figueiredo did not acknowledge the interim belt’s legitimacy, calling it a joke and fake. However, Deiveson says he will not miss the chance to see Moreno and Kara-France fighting for it at UFC 277.

“To me, it’s a plastic belt, it’s worthless. I’m the real title-holder. Like Charles Oliveira says, ‘The champion has a name’. It’s me, Deiveson Figueiredo. God of War. I’ll be attending that fight just to see that joke they’re making. This has got me a little upset with the UFC. I’ve always given them a show in my fights. I’ve always given them good things.”

Although Figueiredo cannot fight until he properly heals from injuries in both of his hands, the champion believes he deserves a fitting purse for his return, and hopes Kara-France emerges victorious from the interim title fight.

“I’ll keep saying this, be it against him (Moreno) or anyone else. I want to get paid well. I want a purse that makes me feel good. It doesn’t have to be a million dollars, but the UFC can pay me 600 thousand. There are many fights for me to choose from. I’m the champion. They’re going to try and to force me (to face Moreno), but there are other guys. It’s like I’ve been saying. If they pay me well enough, I’ll fight that racist jerk. It’s not a problem. He poses no threat. I know how to beat him. You saw it last time, I almost knocked him out. I almost finished him.”

“I think Kara-France is going to knock out Moreno.” Figueiredo continued. “Surely Moreno is going to want to use his jiu-jitsu and take him down. If it stays on the feet, though, Kara-France is going to knock out Moreno.”

In his last outing, Figueiredo (21-2-1) defeated Moreno via unanimous decision in their trilogy bout, back in January. Before that, the Mexican finished Deiveson by submission in June 2021. In their first fight, the pair fought to a majority draw, back in December 2020.

Now, Moreno is expected to take on Kara-France for the interim flyweight belt at UFC 277’s co-main event, on July 30, in Dallas, Texas. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between champion Julianna Pena and former title-holder Amanda Nunes.

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Gervonta Davis took on Rolando Romero on Saturday night.

Three-division boxing champ Gervonta Davis headlined a PPV event on Saturday night, having a WBA lightweight title clash against Rolando Romero. Both fighters came in undefeated, with the massive favorite in Davis at 26-0 and Romero at 14-0. After the contest, it was “Tank” that keeps his unbeaten record intact.

As Romero came in, Davis landed a perfectly timed counter left hook that dropped him and ended the fight in the sixth round. Gervonta seemed to have relished the KO win a little extra, especially after all the talk during the build up.

“I didn’t even throw it that hard. He ran right to it,” Davis said about the perfect counter punch, comparing it to the time Manny Pacquiao got knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez.

Stats also showed that Davis only landed 25 punches throughout the contest, but he only needed that one big punch to win it.

Official result: Gervonta Davis TKOs Rolando Romero, 2:30 of Round 6

Watch highlights from the boxing main event below:

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The former ‘world’s strongest man’ picked up another surprising victory in the cage on Saturday.

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki finds itself alone at the top of the heap for MMA events this weekend, with their KSW 70 fight card, featuring former ‘world’s strongest man’ and current MMA star Mariusz Pudzianowski taking on former KSW middleweight champ Michal Materla. The card aired live internationally on KSWTV and European streaming service ViaPlay on Saturday, May 28th.

Alongside the freak-fight main event, the card featured the KSW return of former heavyweight UFC talent Daniel Omielanczuk. Omielanczuk first fought for Poland’s premiere MMA promotion back in 2009, losing back-to-back fights before going on a 14-1-1 run that saw him signed to the UFC. Omielanczuk went 3-5 with the UFC before being released in 2018. He was 6-4 in the 4 years following, before returning to KSW agaainst Ricardo Prasel.

Check out the full results and highlights below.

MAIN EVENT: Marius Pudzianowski (17-7) def. Michal Materla (31-9) via KO (uppercut) at 1:47 of Round 1

Not a lot to say for this one. Two big beefy dudes swangin’ and Pudzian came away the victor. That marks 5-striaght victories for the 45-year-old former strongman. For Materla, it’s his first defeat since getting iced by Roberto Soldic back in 2020.

CO-MAIN EVENT: Ricardo Prasel (13-3) def. Daniel Omielanczuk (25-13) via Sub (Achilles Lock) at 1:38 of Round 1

Omielanczuk started this bout firing on all the right cylinders, landing a couple good shots, before catching a kick and using it to chase his opponent to the mats. Unfortunately for him, that’s exactly the opportunity Prasel needed. Once on his back, he wrapped up an ankle and it was just a matter of time before Omielanczuk had to tap. The loss marks 3-straight defeats for the UFC vet, and makes two straight wins for the Brazilian, who seems likely to fight Phil De Fries for the KSW heavyweight belt in the near future.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT: Ivan Erslan (12-1) def. Rafal Kijanczuk (11-5) via KO (punches) at 3:31 of Round 1

Streaking Croatian talent Ivan Ersan continued his rise. The 12-1 fighter out of American Top Team Zagreb needed just one big exchange with Kijanczuk to get the stoppage, putting an end to the Polish light heavyweight’s 3-fight win streak in the process. After the win Erslan called out current champ Ibragim Chuzhigaev, and former champ Tomasz Narkun. Narkun is the lone loss on Erslan’s record to date.

HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT: Marek Samociuk (4-2) def. Izuagbe Ugonoh (1-2) via TKO (GnP) at 3:38 of Round 1

Former Wotore moat-fighting standout Marek Samociuk continues his foray into MMA with a rematch of his 2021 bout against Izuagbe Ugonoh. Last time around, Samociuk rode out a terrible first round before getting a quick takedown for a dominant finish early in the second frame. This time, there was no second round needed.

OTHER RESULTS:

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Bartosz Lesko (12-2) def. Damian Piwowarczyk (5-1) via UD

MIDDLEWEIGHT: Radoslaw Paczuski (4-0) def. Jason Wilnis (2-1) via TKO (injury) at 1:46 of Round 3.

Before turning to MMA, Wilnis was a longtime Glory kickboxing star with victories over Alex Pereira, Joe Schilling , Simon Marcus, and Israel Adesanya.

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT: Anita Bekus (6-2) def. Roberta Zocco (3-4) via UD

188 LB. CATCHWEIGHT: Albert Odzimkowski (12-6) def. Tommy Quinn (9-6) via TKO (arm injury) at 2:56 of Round 1

163 LB. CATCHWEIGHT: Francisco Barrio (10-2) def. Lukasz Rajewski (11-8) via Sub (RNC) at 2:52 of Round 2

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Check out the boxing odds for tonight’s WBA lightweight title fight between the champion, Gervonta Davis, and his challenger Rolando Romero.

The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York will be tonight’s setting where WBA lightweight champion, Gervonta Davis, will defend his belt against his challenger, Rolando Romero. Bloody Elbow is here to provide the betting odds and a few prop best for this championship affair.

The oddsmakers are projecting “Tank” Davis (26-0, 24 KO’s) to get the job done here, and have him listed as a -900 betting favorite. Betting 100 dollars at that line only stands to profit a mere $ 11.11. As for his challenger Romero (14-0, 12 KO’s), he is being offered up as a +550 underdog. A $ 100 gamble on Rolando’s moneyline stands to see a much more lucrative return of $ 550.

With power residing on both sides, the bookies are banking on this lightweight title fight ending early. The proposition bet ‘Fight doesn’t go to decision’ is positioned with a heavily favored line of -550, with a +350 comeback on the ‘Fight goes to decision’ option.

Packing quite the punch, Gervonta has been forecasted to find a finish to retain his title. The exotic bet ‘Davis wins by TKO/KO or DQ’ holds a strongly favored tick of -300. As for his less accomplished, yet still heavy handed, opposition, the wager ‘Romero wins by TKO/KO or DQ’ is on deck with a hefty underdog tag of +750.

Check out the betting odds for Gervonta Davis vs. Rolando Romero, courtesy of DraftKings:

Be sure to subscribe to our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube channel to stay up to date with all of our podcast content. Stay glued to Bloody Elbow for all of your event coverage including play-by-play, results, highlights, and more! Happy hunting!

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“I see Luke Rockhold losing the few brain cells that he has left in his brain, and just going to sleep badly for a few minutes.”

Marvin Vettori thinks Luke Rockhold’s best days are behind him and that the former UFC middleweight champion is making a huge mistake in coming out of retirement to face Paulo Costa at UFC 278.

Rockhold hasn’t fought since July 2019 when he was viciously knocked out by Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. Prior to that, he was knocked out by Yoel Romero at UFC 221.

The 37-year-old is looking to make a statement in his UFC comeback but Vettori thinks Costa is going to knock him senseless.

‘The Italian Dream’ knows firsthand how dangerous of an opponent ‘Borrachinha’ is and thinks the Brazilian will be able to tee off on Rockhold’s chin at will.

Vettori sees Rockhold losing whatever brain cells he has left at UFC 278 and retiring from MMA for good.

“I see Luke Rockhold [LAUGHS] losing the few brain cells that he has left in his brain, and just going to sleep badly for a few minutes,” Vettori, who beat Costa via unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 41, told Helen Yee in a recent interview (h/t MMA News). “But yeah, I mean, they’re two guys whose stock is not high right now. So, it makes sense that they fight each other.”

UFC 278, which is expected to feature Costa vs. Rockhold on the main card, takes place on Aug. 20 at a TBA location.

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UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett will take on Jordan Leavitt on July 23.

UFC newcomer Paddy Pimblett will take on lightweight prospect Jordan Leavitt at UFC Fight Night 211 in London, England on July 23, BBC Sport confirmed on Friday.

The Liverpool fighter has taken the UFC by storm since signing with the promotion in 2021 and has quickly become one of the organization’s biggest British stars.

‘Paddy The Baddy’ stole the show earlier this year at UFC London where he defeated Mexican fighter Rodrigo Vargas via submission. Pimblett finished Vargas in the first round with a rear-naked choke.

Should he win his next fight, Pimblett will look to sign a new six-figure deal with the UFC. The 27-year-old currently makes more money outside the cage where he serves as a brand ambassador for Barstool Sports.

His UFC London opponent, Jordan Leavitt, is 3-1 in the UFC since making his promotional debut in 2020. The Syndicate MMA fighter holds victories over Matt Wiman, Matt Sayles, and Trey Ogden.

UFC Fight Night 211: Aspinall vs. Blaydes, which will feature Pimblett vs. Leavitt on the main card, takes place at London’s O2 Arena on July 23.

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Michael Chandler’s views on pay apparently don’t represent the reality of most UFC fighters.

Michael Chandler recently offered his opinion about UFC fighter pay. Chandler’s view on how the promotion pays — and his attitude about those who come from what he called “the lower rungs of society” — was misguided, at best.

The former Bellator champion, who joined the UFC in 2020 with a record of 21-5, a great deal of experience, and a high-level of name recognition in MMA circles, took an approach to the discussion of pay and opportunities that failed to consider that his experiences in life and in sports might not be the same as others.

Current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling recently offered a poignant and much more representative counterpoint to Chandler’s view of fighter pay — and perhaps Chandler’s life experiences.

“Once he looks at it from a different perspective, I think he would change what he was saying,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel via MMA Fighting). “But him saying Dana White had 10,000 sleepless nights, Michael Chandler, you’ve been competing since you were out of the womb pretty much. What about all your sleepless nights of training, cutting weight? What about all the other fighters training, cutting weight? You can’t say all we do is go to the gym, train, sleep and repeat. Some of us have second jobs. I had a second job all the way through my career until after I beat ‘Tanquino’ [Augusto Mendes], after two split decision losses, where I thought I was potentially going to lose my job. I have a college degree. I would have been potentially making more money doing that in the beginning of my career if I had just stuck to that and I’d have been making more money than what I was making if I had just stuck to fighting.

“I came into the UFC at eight and eight, $ 8,000 to win, $ 8,000 to show. So if step on the scale, I show up, and I step into the octagon, I make $ 8,000. Before taxes, before expenses, just to get to the fight, travel expenses, all that, food, equipment, we’re not talking about any of that included. Then I make another $ 8,000 if I win. Now, minus pay for coaches… five percent to [coach] Ray [Longo], five percent to [coach] Matt [Serra], 10 percent to management, then I pay taxes on whatever’s left, what I keep. … My second fight is 10 and 10, my third fight is 12 and 12, the last fight on my contract is 14 and 14.

“Now, you guys do the math. I’d have been making $ 56,000 starting, in Long Island [New York], as a physical education teacher, plus benefits, plus a retirement. So when you weigh that out, for Michael Chandler to say fighters just wake up, train, go to sleep, that’s kind of like, do you not value what you bring to the table for your bosses?

“This is not to disrespect Dana. I’m not trying to get into a fighter pay thing, but bro, you can’t say there’s no issue with the fighter pay because you’re sitting at the cream of the crop. Like, right now, I’m good. I’m the top. I’m getting paid pretty damn well at this point. It’s still underpaid from what it could be, based on the numbers that have shown what the revenue split is between the fighters and the bosses.”

Sterling said he made $ 400,000 (before taxes and before he paid his coaches and expenses for fight camp) for his most recent fight, which he went into as the defending UFC champion.

Sterling, the current UFC bantamweight champ, has been with the UFC since 2014. His record with the promotion is 13-3. He has wins in seven straight fights, including his two most recent bouts – both title fights.

“My whole point is, Michael Chandler, you can’t say that,” Sterling added. “You’re in a different position. If you came in making what these guys are making and had to grind your way up, I could respect you saying that, but you kind of came in with a silver spoon, and the Dana White privilege . … I’m not saying you didn’t earn your stripes, I’m just saying in terms of fighter pay, you’re not in a position to talk about it because you came in one of the most highest paid guys when you came over from Bellator. That is not the same as what the guys who come in, like a Paddy Pimblett, super popular, probably just as popular as Michael Chandler, and getting paid peanuts.”

The question that begs to be answered now is if Chandler will — or can — as Sterling said, look at things from a different perspective.

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International talent will be on display on June 25.

The UFC have settled on who will be fighting in the main event at UFC Vegas 57 on June 25. And they have selected two overseas fighters who are currently towards the bottom end of the lightweight rankings.

EuroSport Nederland reports that Armenia’s Arman Tsarukyan will face Mateusz Gamrot in that slot.

Tsarukyan is currently ranked 11th at 155 lbs. He’s on a five fight winning streak with wins over Joel Alvarez, Christos Giagos and Matt Frevola. His only loss in the UFC came in his promotional debut; to current top contender Islam Makhachev.

Tsarukyan earned Performance of the Night honours for his last two fights, both of which he ended via TKO.

Gamrot is a former KSW lightweight and featherweight champion. He switched over to the Octagon in 2020 and lost in his promotional debut. He came unstuck versus Guram Kutateladze, losing by split decision. That was his first loss in his 18 fight career.

Since that disappointment Gamrot has won three straight, with a KO over Scott Holtzman, a submission of Jeremy Stephens and a TKO of Carlos Diego Ferreira.

UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Gamrot is expected to also feature Tim Elliott vs. Amir Albazi, Neil Magny vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov and Jinh Yu Frey vs. Vanessa Demopoulos.

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Marvin Vettori talks about his “weird relationship” with training partner and fellow UFC middleweight Sean Strickland.

They say there is no such thing as bad press, and it’s something UFC middleweight Sean Strickland seems to live by. Six-fight win streak aside, “Tarzan” has drawn negative attention for himself, both for antics inside and outside the gym and through some of his statements.

Regardless of the aforementioned, some of Strickland’s training partners have some positive words about him. Fellow middleweight and sparring partner Marvin Vettori, for one, had this to say:

“It’s a very weird relationship me and Sean have. We respect each other and he says a lot of crazy shit. It’s hard to stay by his side a lot of times, but I know deep inside he’s not a bad guy,” Vettori told Helen Yee.

“He brings it, we help each other. We’ve been helping each other for over five or more years, almost. Even when they asked us to fight each other, we were kind of like (weirded out).

“He’s one of the guys that give me more work than a lot of other guys, and it’s the same for him.

“Even though he’s a little bit crazy, I still respect him, and I consider him a friend.”

Unfortunately, Strickland’s reputed nice guy persona doesn’t translate well outside the gym. Recently, he was banned from Twitter for making numerous transphobic remarks.

As for his MMA career, Strickland is slated to face former GLORY kickboxing double-champion Alex Pereira at UFC 276 on July 2. Vettori, meanwhile, was supposed to fight ex-champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 275 in Singapore, but the latter pulled out due to injury. The matchup is being planned to be rescheduled for the company’s first event in Paris on September 3.

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