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The NSAC has named the officials for the heavyweight title fight main event of UFC 285

The vacant UFC heavyweight title is up for grabs on March 4 when former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones faces ex-interim UFC heavyweight titleholder Ciryl Gane in the main event of the UFC 285 pay-per-view card.

During its monthly meeting on Wednesday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission selected Marc Goddard as the referee for the five-round fight. The NSAC also named Mike Bell, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy as the judges for the heavyweight title scrap. Goddard will be paid $ 2,600 and the judges will earn $ 2,300 each.

The UFC heavyweight title was left vacant in mid-January when the promotion—unable to come to an agreement that would have kept then-champion Francis Ngannou with the UFC—walked away from the negotiation table and gave up its right to match any offer Ngannou might receive from competitors.

Jones has not fought since February 8, 2020, when he defended the UFC light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes. Jones won that fight via unanimous decision. In August 2020. Jones vacated the promotion’s 205-pound title. At the time, Jones said he was walking way from the belt because “the last I spoke with the UFC about my salary there was no negotiating.” According to Jones’ advisor Richard Schaefer, the ex-light heavyweight champion is now the “highest-paid heavyweight athlete” in the UFC and that Jones is receiving, “probably the second highest number next to Conor McGregor.”

Gane won the interim UFC heavyweight title in August 2021 with a TKO win over Derrick Lewis. Ngannou defeated Gane via decision in the January 2022 title unification bout. The MMA Factory athlete enters UFC 285 coming off a September 2022 knockout win over Tai Tuivasa.

UFC 285 takes place on March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

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BJJ star Robert Drysdale discusses his views and political experiences within the fighting community.

Jiu-jitsu star Robert Drysdale is in the minority. Born in the United States to an American father and a Brazilian mother, the retired fighter holds strong political views and has never been afraid to share them. In a community mostly populated by athletes with far-right opinions, who openly support former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the 41-year-old grappler is an exception to the rule.

For his political stances, Robert is the fifth and final (?) guest of the ‘Not All Brazilians’ series, where I interview Brazilian athletes who go against the grain and do not support far-right politics.

Though he does not consider himself a left-wing athlete, like previous guests of the series, Drysdale never supported Bolsonaro and has always been a fierce critic of Jair’s military tendencies, his shallow speech and the fake news tactics implemented throughout his government and presidential campaigns.

Born in Utah, Drysdale spent his childhood in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, while splitting his teenage years between both countries until finally settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has been his home for the past 15 years.

Although he has lived most of his adult life in the United States, Drysdale still speaks fluent Portuguese and never lost touch with his Brazilian roots. For those reasons, Robert tells me he was fully aware of the dangers Bolsonaro’s politics brought even back in his first Presidential campaign in 2018.

In our talk, Drysdale explained why he thought Bolsonaro’s rhetoric aligned so well with Brazilian middle and upper classes. And he touched on a subject no other guest in the series had brought up yet: “Antipetismo” (Being anti-PT, the Worker’s Party). This phenomenon started to gain strength around 2014, when then president Dilma Rousseff (from PT) won the elections against Aecio Neves, from the Social Democratic Party.

While the far-right did not have as much strength at the time and Bolsonaro was just a minor member of the Congress, it all started when middle and upper class Brazilians got tired of PT running the country (they had been in power since 2003) and the corruption scandals that surrounded the party, most famously Mensalao.

Though Rousseff was never found guilty of corruption, the turmoil from her re-election was enough to lead to her impeachment in 2016 and to strengthen the anti-PT mentality, which ultimately led to Bolsonaro’s election in 2018. This manoeuvre was deemed by many as an inside coup to take PT down from power.

At the time of Rousseff’s impeachment, Bolsonaro took the opportunity to pay tribute to Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, an infamous torturer from Brazil’s military dictatorship, who had tortured Dilma when she was a young woman during the fascist regime. Jair has gone on record calling Ustra a national hero.

For those reasons and numerous others, Drysdale found it easy to see why the population decided to give Bolsonaro a chance in 2018, in spite of his populist speech and shallow proposals.

“I don’t think he’s a viable candidate. I don’t think he’s a man of ideas or a man of ideals. He’s got a pre-historic rhetoric. He’s a fossil of the Cold War. I think it’s odd that anyone is listening to him. He’s not well-spoken, he’s not a man of plans. He doesn’t understand the world, he doesn’t understand economics. He’s a military guy with a loud mouth.”

“I get why Brazilians like him. It’s not out of the blue. The Worker’s Party had a historical opportunity to change the country from the bottom up and they threw it down the drain. The Brazilian middle class never liked Lula. They didn’t like him because he was from the Northeast, because he was a union leader, because he didn’t go to college. They had a million reasons why they didn’t like him. All they needed was a real excuse not to like him. That’s corruption and PT gave them that reason. It all went downhill from there. These guys are like ‘We hate Lula so much that the opposite of Lula must be the good guy’. That’s how these people see the world. If this guy is bad, then clearly his opponent is good. We all know it doesn’t work that way. It’s not that simple, but we know that’s how Brazilian middle and upper class think.

“Bolsonaro comes along and he’s a loudmouth. You can’t compare policies, but he’s a loudmouth like Trump. He just says whatever comes to mind and people think that’s good. They go ‘Hey, he’s speaking his mind’. Sure, I mean, Hitler did too. Stalin spoke his mind, too. It doesn’t mean it’s good.”

Linked below is an example of the extremes that the anti-PT mentality reached during Rousseff’s administration. Car stickers such as the one depicted became popular among Dilma’s most adamant detractors.

Being against PT was not the sole reason why Bolsonaro won the elections and Drysdale is aware of that. Violence has always been a massive problem in most Latin American countries and Brazil is not exception. Though Drysdale did not agree with Bolsonaro’s plan of arming the population to fight the issue, he understands how this strategy convinced many Brazilians to vote for him.

Drysdale recognizes that the United States and Brazil are different countries with different policies and culture, but he said it is possible to draw parallels between the two on gun issues. He pointed out that enabling more guns to the population in the U.S. has certainly not curbed gun violence there. Though he carries a gun, Robert wants deeper, more robust gun laws and he sees no reason to make it easier for Brazilians to acquire firearms.

“Brazilians are fed up with crime. So am I. That’s one of the reasons why I left Brazil. They’re fed up with corruption. They’re fed up with a number of problems the country has and Bolsonaro comes along with this simple discourse, saying ‘I’m going hand a gun to everyone and we’re going to solve crime that way’. Anyone who knows anything about crime knows you’re not going to solve crime with more guns on the streets. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”

“It’s hard to compare with the U.S because they’re such different countries. Crime here is so different from crime in Brazil. The laws are different, the police are different. I own a gun, but I don’t think everyone should have a gun. It’s not going to solve crime. If that were the case, the U.S. would be a country free of crime. We have more guns than citizens. Firstly, I don’t think we should take it easy on criminals. I was actually on board with Bolsonaro on that, but you have to have a gameplan. You can’t just come with a hammer and try to solve a problem that’s 500 years old.”

For Drysdale, solving the violence and crime issue requires a clear solution: investing in education. However, Jair’s administration was infamous for cutting funding for public universities and education programs, leading to difficult times for students and faculty around the country.

Fake news about public universities and schools being places where students become indoctrinated by left-wing views, use drugs and have promiscuous sex instead of studying led thousands of Bolsonaro supporters to turn on public universities, schools and even teachers.

Much like the other guests, Drysdale believes that investing in education is the key to preventing far-right leaders from becoming elected again in the future, both in Brazil and the United States.

“The reason why he was popular was because he had this simplistic view of the world. I’m a gym owner. I know how many things people who don’t own a gym don’t see. You have to be in those shoes. The level of responsibilities and overlapping of things that are happening at the same time. You can’t make these radical decisions without running the gym into the ground. Now imagine a country. Once you get there, there are lots of things you wish you could, but you can’t do. You’re not going to solve the problem by giving the police a green light. You have to solve it from the bottom up and that involves education. It involves employment. Opportunity. A number of things that the country has failed in. The U.S. too, for that matter. What they both have in common is they have awful education systems. You can’t expect a competent, educated population if they grow up around poverty, violence and lack of opportunity. I’m not saying there aren’t ways out, I’ve seen plenty of people leave poverty in Brazil. But you can’t expect that herculean effort from every single person. You need an education system that prepares them for the globalized world. Bolsonaro already misses that because it’s too much thinking. You’ve already lost him. He’s a military guy. How else do you solve a problem? You bring in the guns.”

A history major, Drysdale says that reading up on history and social politics ever since he was a teenager helped him become prepared for the dangers of a candidate such as Bolsonaro when he came along in 2018.

Since he did not vote for the candidate in both elections, Drysdale reveals that he is the only non-Bolsonaro supporter in most of his social circles, which led to multiple arguments over the last four years. Nonetheless, Robert cannot be convinced once he sees the stream of fake news, mostly stemming from social media, from where most of his family members and friends get their information.

“I read a lot of history books, I always have. I have a major in history. That’s always been my passion. History and political science. Once you have some background, you can look at these guys and see what they really represent. It’s ironic that you would know more about what’s happening at the moment from reading history than the newspapers or social media. I think it’s more honest. I think history is less politically loaded in the sense that if someone writes about something that happened 50 years ago, they have less to gain.”

“Whereas if people are reporting or using social media to actively propagate fake news, they’re emotionally invested in that cause,” Robert said. “I lost family members over this. I lost friends. I never voted for the Worker’s Party in my life, but I refuse to support Bolsonaro. I have family members who stopped talking to me. They would ask me to go public and make a video with all these other jiu-jitsu guys who supported Bolsonaro. They were like ‘Why can’t you do the same?’. I’ll live under a bridge before I support a guy like Bolsonaro. There’s no way. These people have no plans for Brazil. Their plan was to sell the country to foreign investors. I never thought he was a serious candidate. Brazilians were so fed up with the Worker’s Party that they voted for him out of anger. It was a hate vote.”

“All my friends are Bolsonaro supporters. I have three or four friends in the jiu-jitsu community who don’t like Bolsonaro. I’m surrounded by family members and friends who are fiercely Bolsonaro. My sisters, my mother, my best friend, my gym manager, all my Brazilian students. If the jiu-jitsu people were the only ones voting, Bolsonaro would’ve won with a landslide. It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to people not agreeing with me.”

To drive his point home about how infested with far-right supporters the jiu-jitsu community is, Drysdale shared a personal anecdote from the early years of his career, of which consequences became relevant again during the Bolsonaro presidential campaigns.

“When I was 16 or 17 and I would go to these jiu-jitsu tournaments, we would travel a lot. I always had a habit of reading. I love it, it’s not an effort for me. It’s like meditation. I was reading my books on history, political science, anthropology, philosophy, whatever. My jiu-jitsu friends always made fun of me for reading. They teased me. They’d say ‘How’s that going to help your jiu-jitsu career? You’re just wasting your time. Why would you read a book? You can just Google stuff’. I wasn’t bothered, I’d tell them ‘You should be ashamed of saying what you’re saying’, but I just kept to myself.”

“The funny thing is that when the first Bolsonaro vs. Lula campaign came about, the same people who made fun of me for reading books had the nerve to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about,” He said. “The same people were now telling me I didn’t understand Brazilian politics or history. I’m not saying I’m the most knowledgeable person in this regard, but I think it’s funny. I’m not going to mention names, but these are people who are well-known in those circles. They were posting nonstop about Bolsonaro. I’ve known those guys for years. It’s laughable. They’d send me YouTube videos as proof that I don’t know what I’m talking about. You can’t take these people seriously,”

Social media has become a massive tool for political manipulation over the past years. During the 2022 campaign, it was reported that Bolsonaro spent over 4,5 million reais (approximately 800 thousand dollars) in YouTube advertisements three days prior to the elections. In the United States, Facebook was paramount to help Donald Trump get elected in 2016, according to a source from inside the company.

On that matter, Drysdale shared his views on the dangers of using social media without enough political awareness to not be manipulated by propaganda. Once again, Robert shared a personal anecdote regarding one of the most popular social media apps these days: TikTok.

“I try to argue, but it always ends in ‘Why do you think your opinion is better than mine?’. They don’t understand what evidence is. I deal with this all the time. They use YouTube videos as evidence. One of my favorite ones was a bunch of cars honking. Honk if you vote for Lula. Nobody honked. Then they flipped the sign and it said. Honk if you vote for Bolsonaro and everyone honked. That’s proof that the election was a fraud. You have to laugh. You can’t argue with crazy. These conspiracy theories have gone off the charts. They refuse to question their own narrative. The problem with the internet is that there’s a flood of information, but people don’t have the tools to filter that information. If you don’t have that, you’re better off without it. Otherwise you’re just easily manipulated. People are getting their entire education from TikTok.”

“I had a guy, a 40-something year old man, argue with me about the Ukrainian war. I said, ‘I know nothing about the history of Russia or the Ukraine’. I probably know more than this guy, but I never got into the history of Russia and Ukraine, but I know it goes far back. But he goes ‘I don’t have to read all those books. I follow this guy on TikTok. He lives in the Ukraine and he knows more than all the historians and these scholars you’re talking about’. He was dead serious. He believed TikTok was a better source of information. It’s all emotion. They already have a position before they even get to the information. You can’t have reasonable conclusions when you have conclusions before you have the evidence. And they feed off one another, so they think ‘clearly we must be right, look at all how many of us there are. Look at all of us. We’re saying the same thing’. It’s a bubble and that’s what the algorithm does. The point of democracy was to have a dialogue. You have two opposing positions. You’re supposed to find a balance where the country operates in a healthy manner, so there’s no tyranny.”

For Drysdale, who does not sympathize entirely with left-wing or right-wing views, the answer lies in not having any kind of bias before dealing with the issues. In order to make a decision, Robert thinks equal parts should be considered until a viable solution is more clear rather than just taking things from a single perspective.

“I define myself as nothing. Give me the issue and I have my own moral compass. There are things I’m on the fence about. Death penalty, for instance. I’m not convinced. The Jeffrey Dahmers of the world. I don’t think that guy should be alive. I’m on the fence. Even some gun laws, to some extent. I listen to people on the right sometimes and I go ‘that makes sense’. I listen to people on the left sometimes and it makes sense to me. You should interpret information case by case. An extremist to me is a person who absorbs all the information from one stance and doesn’t listen to what the other party has to say. There’s a reason why so many people disagree with you. They might have a point. You should listen and make an effort to see if this person makes sense. You may agree to disagree, but you should at least give it some honest thought.”

Robert Drysdale is a fourth-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt. He holds multiple world championships including ADCC, IBJJF and CBJJ titles, among others. The 41-year-old retired from MMA with an undefeated 7-0 (1 NC) record, with all wins coming by way of submission.

About the author: Lucas Rezende is a Brazilian journalist who has been covering MMA since 2012 and contributing with Bloody Elbow since March 2015. (full bio)

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Tyson Pedro was apparently dealing with stomach flu ahead of UFC 284, as he revealed on social media.

UFC 284 didn’t go as planned for light heavyweight Tyson Pedro. The 31-year-old City Kickboxing fighter lost to Modestas Bukauskas via unanimous decision at the prelims, snapping a two-fight win streak.

Pedro went on social media early this week to give a bit of insight into his performance. While he did give credit to Bukauskas, he revealed battling gastroenteritis (stomach flu) before the fight.

“First and foremost, I wanted to thank Modestas,” Pedro said in an Instagram video (H/T MMA Mania). “Game opponent, he took the fight on short notice and came out on top.

“I’m not taking anything away from him and I think some people may have thought that’s what I was doing by saying I had health concerns, but that’s not the case at all. He came, he beat me, and that’s the fight game.

“The night before my fight, I contracted gastro. It was extreme diarrhea and vomiting for the whole night.

“When the UFC bus came, I was still on the toilet ground vomiting and if you want to confirm it, you can ask the USADA guy who had to sit there watching me shit nonstop while he was trying to take my piss test.”

After UFC 284, Pedro’s record dropped to 9-4.

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Matt Brown has announced that his next matchup will be against Court McGee at a UFC event on May 13th.

After sitting on the sidelines for over a year, longtime welterweight action fighter Matt Brown will be returning to competition against fellow veteran Court McGee at a UFC event scheduled for May 13th.

It was on a recent episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer that the 23-19 Brown announced this matchup. As first transcribed by MMAFighting, ‘The Immortal’ had this to say, “Coming back, I’m going to smash some faces. Court, he’s a great guy, I’ve hung out with him before. Great competitor. We both have similar backgrounds in some respects. We both overdosed. He’s really embraced that. So I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy but I’m ready to go in there and smash his f—king face in with my elbow.”

It seems like just yesterday that is was 2008 and we were watching Brown endure season seven of The Ultimate FIghter reality show. Now here we are 15 years later, Matt has a promotional record of 16-13, and the 42-year-old scrapper is still plugging away. Brown was last spotted inside of the Octagon back in March of 2023, where he lost a close split decision to the ever-game Bryan Barberena.

Ready to get back in there, Matt mentioned that he could have returned to action against a younger lion, but instead opted for what he perceives to be a more difficult challenge — a fellow old salt in the 21-11 Court McGee.

“With this specific one they offered me two guys,” Brown revealed. “They offered me a younger guy and then they offered Court and they said basically you can pick whichever one and I went for Court. I kind of played that card this time and to be honest, I think the younger guy may have been an easier fight. But that was the card I played this time so we’ll see what happens.”

McGee has won two of his last three fights, but is coming off of a nasty knockout loss to Jeremiah Wells last June. Court got his foot in the door with the UFC by winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 in 2010. He went on to post up a promotional record of 10-10, with his most notable win being a split decision over a welterweight version of Robert Whittaker.

The May 13th UFC Fight Night card will be headlined by ranked light heavyweights as the #5 rated Anthony Smith tangles with the #7 rated Johnny Walker. The only other bout revealed on the docket thus far is a women’s bantamweight tilt between Jessica-Rose Clark and Tainara Lisboa. Stay tuned as more details become available!

About the author: Eddie Mercado has covered combat sports since 2015. He covers everything from betting odds to live events and fighter interviews. He holds a 1-0 record in pro MMA and holds a purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu. (full bio)

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It looks like Jalin Turner is getting a high profile replacement after Dan Hooker was forced from their UFC 285 PPV bout due to injury.

The UFC looks to have a top quality PPV brewing for next month in Las Vegas. Headlined by the heavyweight debut of former LHW champ Jon Jones, taking on Ciryl Gane for Francis Ngannou’s vacated strap, the card is also set to feature Valentina Shevchenko defending her flyweight title against Alexa Grasso and a quality welterweight bout between Geoff Neal & Shavkat Rakhmonov.

One surefire action fight, however, will be missing. A lightweight battle between top ranked fighters Dan Hooker and Jalin Turner. The two lanky 155ers were poised for a high-octane striking showdown—unfortunately derailed after Hooker suffered a broken hand in training. Fortunately, it looks like fight fans won’t be seeing a major downgrade in card quality for the cancellation. FanSided reports that #7 ranked Mateusz Gamrot is stepping in for Hooker to take on the #10 ranked Turner. Feels like something of a rare day in the UFC, when a top 10 ranked fighter is willing to look down the rankings for an opportunity.

In part that’s likely because Gamrot still needs to really cement his claim to a spot among the division’s best. Following a shocking upset loss to Guram Kutateladze in his UFC debut, the former KSW champ put together four straight victories to climb into the top 10, the biggest of which was a widely contested unanimous decision over hot prospect Arman Tsarukyan. Following that victory, Gamrot took a swing at the contender’s circle with a bout against Beneil Dariush at UFC 280—losing clearly and decisively on all three judges scorecards. A victory over Turner for the 32-year-old might just be exactly what he needs to prime himself for another chance at an opponent in the top 5.

Much like Gamrot (although with much lower expectations, coming off the American regional scene), Turner’s introduction to the UFC was a rough one. Fighting up at welterweight for a short notice booking against Vicente Luque in his debut, Turner found himself on the wrong end of a first round knockout to the power-punching Brazilian. A victory over Callan Potter the following year was quickly followed by a hard loss to Matt Frevola, putting turner at just 1-2 in the UFC and 8-5 for his career. That’s the last time Turner tasted defeat.

The ‘Tarantula’ is 5-0 since his loss to Frevola in 2019, highlighted by a recent first round submission win over fan-favorite action fighter Brad Riddell. His success has put him among the cream of the crop according to the UFC rankings panel, and this bout with Gamrot looks like an excellent opportunity to test his quality.

UFC 285 takes place on March 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, NV. Alongside the title fights at the top of the card, the event is also set to play host to the debut of middleweight super prospect Bo Nickal, taking on Jamie Pickett. Derek Brunson will defend his spot in the middleweight top 5 further down the undercard.

About the author: Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. Host of the MMA Vivisection and 6th Round, he has covered MMA and the UFC since 2013. (full bio)

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With an immediate rematch against Islam Makhachev on his mind, the UFC featherweight champion says Rodríguez may have to defend the interim title in his absence. 

After losing to Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 this past Saturday, Alexander Volkanovski set his sights on his next opponent: Yair Rodríguez.

Earlier that night, Rodríguez became the interim UFC featherweight champion after subbing Josh Emmett with a triangle choke. For ‘El Pantera’ and the ‘Great,’ their next fight should be a title unification, which Volkanovski said would happen in his post-fight interview.

“Let’s just get it f—king over and done with, said Volkanovski. “I want to get back in. I said I was going to stay active. Just cause I pulled up short tonight, that doesn’t change a thing. I’m a man of my word. I’ll be back in the lightweight division, but for now, let me go and settle this featherweight division. Congrats to Yair, and now we build up a big featherweight fight. Let’s go.”

However, after rewatching his fight with Makhachev, the UFC featherweight champion has requested an immediate rematch. Of course, that would delay a return to his original division, but the 34-year-old said on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that if he extends his stay at lightweight, Rodríguez should keep featherweight active.

“What’s the point of the interim anyway then? You know what I mean? Isn’t the interim — let’s talk about this because I don’t know,” said Volkanovski. “Obviously, if I was the champ and I did do this lightweight thing, that’s why we’re doing the interim as well, right? Because we don’t want to hold divisions up so then he’s [Rodriguez] gonna be the guy looking after that while I’m going up and all this type of stuff.

“I don’t feel like — he can hold that flag until I’m there,” continued Volkanovski. “If I need to settle this beef [with Makhachev] and all that type of stuff. I need to talk to the team and see what’s next. Whatever decision we make is gonna be more than okay. There’s no reason why this has to happen right now, especially when that’s just not how interim works. Otherwise, I would have just made him fight for the No. 1 contender or whatever. They wouldn’t have to put an interim up for grabs and things like that.”

Though he could delay his unification, Volkanovski looks forward to the new challenge Rodríguez brings when they face each other.

“Yair, he’s very crafty,” said Volkanovski. “Obviously, on the feet and very crafty everywhere. It’s exciting because he’s an exciting fighter. He’s built that up, too, so I like that.”

About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)

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The ADCC Silver Medalist kicked off a social media war with his former teammate after an appearance on Mark Bell’s Power Project Podcast.

ADCC champ Gordon Ryan accused Nicky Rodriguez of greasing following their match at Fight Pass Invitational 3 last December.

“The moment he started sweating, he definitely was lotioned and the lotion came out. I couldn’t get a hold of him. He was so slippery,” Ryan said.

Now, the ADCC silver medalist and B-Team BJJ coach has responded to Ryan’s accusations in the latest episode of Mark Bell’s Power Project podcast. Rodriguez outlined his tumultuous relationship with his former teammate, and unpacked his claims that he lathered up with grease before their match to make himself harder to grab.

“If you ever watch Gordon, he’s got a ton of excuses,” Rodriguez said.

Describing his loss to Ryan at the past ADCC, Rodriguez focused heavily on leg lock defense and leg entanglements ahead of the Fight Pass Invitational tournament. After Ryan’s supperfight opponent Vinny Malgalhaes dropped out, Rodriguez was picked to replace him and rematch his old teammate. Rodriguez looked much more confident in the leg game this time around, and managed to allegedly break Ryan’s foot in regulation before losing a close overtime battle.

“We’re in 50/50, his home ground, this is where he hits home runs. And I’m able to win this leg entanglement where he’s best and I’m worse and break his foot,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also brought up Ryan’s admitted steroid use while claiming to be a natural athlete himself.

“His biggest thing is steroids,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t gain 50 lbs of muscle and be like, ‘Ah, it’s irrelevant.’ No, it’s super fucking relevant… I definitely wouldn’t have even called him out on it, but it just kinda irked me a little bit that he’s like, ‘Oh, this guy’s fucking greasing.’”

In response, Ryan took to his instagram page to post a series of takedowns regarding Rodriguez’s natural status, the greasing allegations and his competitive record.

“He is on camera admitting to greasing multiple times, I’ve seen him before competition grease up multiple times, and I purposely wore a long sleeve rash guard at ADCC for ONLY ONE MATCH because I knew he would be greased,” Ryan claimed. No footage of Rodriguez admitting to cheating was provided.

Ryan compared Rodriguez’s physique from a 2021 interview with FloGrappling to his look supposedly on cycle. “Can you explain to the fans please how in one photo you look like a fat dad who used to play hs football, yet now has a left titty, and in the other photo look like Arnold getting ready for Olympia?” Ryan asked.

Further salting the earth, Ryan posted screenshots of Whatsapp chat groups between Rodrigues, FloSports matchmakers and himself to highlight Rodriguez’s apparent disinterest in a match between the two from as early as April, 2022. The posting of these screenshots apparently violates a promise of privacy made by Ryan himself in the screenshots. Ryan has also posted upwards of 30 stories on the matter, reposting memes made by fans as well as adding more insults of his own to the pile.

Since the dissolution of the Danaher Death Squad team in 2021, this represents the most openly hostile interaction between former members post-breakup. Wayward members like Rodriguez, Craig Jones and Ryan’s brother Nicky have gone on to form B-Team BJJ in Austin, TX while The Danaher faithful reformed into New Wave BJJ also in Austin.

Rodriguez has yet to respond to Ryan’s latest comments.

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Full line-up, start-time and channel guide for UFC Vegas 69.

The UFC’s next event is UFC Vegas 69 on February 18, live from the APEX facility in Las Vegas, NV. The fight card is headlined by Jessica Andrade vs. Erin Blanchield in the flyweight division.

Full fight card

Main card (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+)

• Flyweight: Jessica Andrade vs. Erin Blanchfield
• Light heavyweight: Zac Pauga vs. Jordan Wright
• Heavyweight: Josh Parisian vs. Jamal Pogues
• Light heavyweight: William Knight vs. Marcin Prachnio
• Lightweight: Alex Hernandez vs. Jim Miller

Prelim card (4 p.m. ET on ESPN+)

• Bantamweight: Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Lina Lansberg
• Bantamweight: Jamall Emmers vs. Khusein Askhabov
• Light heavyweight: Philipe Lins vs. Ovince Saint Preux
• Lightweight: Evan Elder vs. Nazim Sadykhov
• Welterweight: A.J. Fletcher vs. Themba Takura Gorimbo
• Flyweight: Clayton Carpenter vs. Juancamilo Ronderos

What is the next UFC card?

The next UFC card is UFC Vegas 70 on February 25. The headliner for that one is Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann in the light heavyweight division.

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The former middleweight champ wants it known that he’s in full support of the recently stripped heavyweight, and rebuffs any idea that Ngannou was being a “diva” with his demands of the UFC.

For the moment, at least, it seems far too late to see the UFC come to any kind of agreement with former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. The 36-year-old Xtreme Couture talent has yet to ink any new deals for the next stage of his combat sports career, but it feels like the Endeavor owned MMA promotion is firmly in the rear view mirror after a year of potential contract negotiations yielded little in the way of negotiable compromise.

While money and a hoped for move to pro-boxing were likely the primary reasons for the split, the ‘Predator’ apparently also brought a few more nebulous demands to the table. Ngannou approached the UFC looking to bring back individual fighter sponsors to the Octagon, get a UFC health insurance policy in place, and get a representative for the athletes that could sit in on the UFC’s board of directors.

“They say, ‘No, we don’t do business like that,’ Ngannou explained of his negotiations with the UFC. “They say, ‘Yes, [you] can pay your health insurance?’ and all that. I’m like, ‘Yes, I can pay my health insurance. At this point health insurance for me is not a problem. But, how about those guys that are at the bottom? Make $ 10k + $ 10k or, lost the fight, made $ 10k? They can’t really afford that health insurance.’ And I have been there. So, it’s something that I still carry in my heart.”

Recently deposed middleweight champion Israel Adesanya doesn’t sound surprised by the way things shook out, or by the UFC’s stance on negotiating demands that could have massive ripple effects through the organization. He does, however, sound like he’s in full support of the moves Ngannou was looking to make, and that he feels the UFC will have to change how they do business sooner or later to meet them.

“Francis made the right call,” Adesanya said in a media scrum, backstage at UFC 284 (transcript via MMA Fighting).

“I’ve been saying the same thing. I’m not gonna harp on about it, but he’s right, it’s little things—he’s asking for things that should be mandatory. He wasn’t asking for, you know, crazy, ridiculous diva-ish demands. There’s something as little as for the guys fighting on the opening [bout], having the fourth or third corner man being paid for and the hotel is being paid for. That sets them up nicely, and they don’t have to fork it out of their 10 and 10, to pay for their fourth or third corner. Little things like that.”

“He’s not being a diva,” the ‘Last Stylebender’ added. “He’s asking for reasonable demands, and I felt like he should have got them. But again, yeah, what [the UFC] said, ‘That’s not how we do business.’ But, the way we do business has to change, and it will change. He’s just the guy to kick in the door, and you never know what the future holds. Maybe he comes back or something.”

For the moment, a potential move to the PFL sounds a lot more likely than a Ngannou return to the UFC. Promotion CEO Peter Murray recently gave an interview to insider.com where he sounded highly enthusiastic about negotiations between the season-based organization and the heavyweight star.

“We’re excited about Francis and the conversations that are taking place,” Murray said of Ngannou’s free agency. “His next chapter is going to be bright, as will the PFLs. We believe we’re the perfect fit.”

Recently Jake Paul revealed that he had signed a two-fight deal with the PFL for the potential of a boxing match against Nate Diaz, followed by an MMA fight. It sounds a lot like the kind of idea that heavyweight boxing star Deontay Wilder recently proposed to Ngannou: Two fights, one boxing, one MMA. It could be just the thing to scratch the pugilistic itch that Ngannou has been hinting at for years.

Whether any of that comes together, or what happens afterward if it does, is all impossible to predict. Maybe there’s a future, somewhere down the line, where Ngannou and the UFC meet to negotiate again. Until then, however, if Adesanya wants to see the changes that his cohort argued for, he may just have to lead that fight himself.

About the author: Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. Host of the MMA Vivisection and 6th Round, he has covered MMA and the UFC since 2013. (full bio)

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Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

The UFC had a hit with UFC 284 this past Saturday. Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski exceeded expectations in their champ vs. champ fight. Yair Rodríguez shined against Josh Emmett to claim the interim UFC featherweight championship. And Jack Della Maddalena earned another first-round finish over who was arguably his toughest test thus far in Randy Brown. Plus, we have some stellar performances from Joshua Culibao, Kleydson Rodrigues and Loma Lookboonmee that were worth mentioning. All in all, UFC 284 delivered. With that event now over, let’s take a look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.

The UFC either announced or finalized 17 fights this week, and a light heavyweight scrap is set for a Fight Night headliner.

Anthony Smith is gearing up for his return to the Octagon. After losing out on a fight with newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill, ‘Lionheart’ now faces Johnny Walker in a UFC Fight Night scheduled for May 13. Meni Mayer of MMA Ideas was first to report the pairing.

Smith has not fought since losing to Magomed Ankalaev by second-round TKO at UFC 277 this past July. The one-time title challenger suffered a broken ankle, which required surgery and sidelined him for the rest of 2022. Meanwhile, Walker has earned back-to-back finishes of Ion Cutelaba and Paul Craig at UFC 279 and UFC 283, respectively.

UFC Vegas 69 — February 18

• Jim Miller vs. Alexander Hernandez — lightweight (First rep. by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania)
• Jéssica Andrade vs. Erin Blanchfield — women’s flyweight

UFC Vegas 71 — March 11

• Carlston Harris vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov — welterweight (First rep. by MMA Fight Universe and Alex Behunin of MMA Mania)
• Raphael Assunçâo vs. Davey Grant — bantamweight (First rep. by Ag Fight)

UFC 286 — March 18

• Chris Duncan vs. Omar Morales — lightweight (First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)

UFC San Antonio — March 25

• Na Liang vs. Brogan Walker — women’s flyweight
• Vinicius Salvador vs. Victor Altamirano — flyweight (First rep. by Zeca Azevedo of Globo)

UFC 287 — April 8

• Sam Hughes vs. Jacqueline Amorim — women’s strawweight (First rep. by Meni Mayer of MMA Ideas)

UFC Kansas City — April 15

• Brandon Royval vs. Matheus Nicolau — flyweight (First rep. by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated)
• Clay Guida vs. Rafa García — lightweight (First rep. by Bloodline Combat Sports Agency)

UFC Fight Night — April 22

• Brad Tavares vs. Bruno Silva — middleweight (First rep. by Laerte Viana)
• Batgerel Danaa vs. Brady Hiestand — bantamweight (Danaa vs. Hiestand was already confirmed, but shifted from UFC Kansas City to UFC on ESPN+ 18, per Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
• Ricky Glenn vs. Christos Giagos — lightweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)

UFC Fight Night — April 29

• Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Marcos Rogério de Lima — heavyweight (First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)

UFC 288 — May 6

• Bryce Mitchell vs. Jonathan Pearce — featherweight (First rep. by BRKRZ)

UFC Fight Night — May 13

• Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Tainara Lisboa — women’s flyweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
• Anthony Smith vs. Johnny Walker — light heavyweight (First rep. by Meni Mayer of MMA Ideas)

Announced Bellator fights

Bellator 292 — March 10

• Michael Page vs. Goiti Yamauchi — welterweight
• Islam Mamedov vs. Shamil Nikaev — lightweight
• Khalid Murtazaliev vs. Tony Johnson — middleweight
• Julius Anglickas vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov — light heavyweight
• Bobby Seronio III vs. Alberto Garcia — bantamweight

Bellator Paris — May 12

• Yves Landu vs. Estabili Amato — featherweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights

Cage Warriors 150 — March 17

• Awa Sow vs. Kate Bacik — women’s bantamweight

Cage Warriors 151 — March 24

• Stipe Brčić vs. Jhonata Silva — flyweight
• Pav Sahota vs. Sam Kelly — bantamweight
• Shawn Da Silva vs. Kiru Singh Sahota — flyweight

Cage Warriors 152 — April 15

• Antonio Sheldon vs. Orlando Wilson Prins — featherweight
• Bailey Gilbert vs. Jordy Bakkes — featherweight

Cage Warriors 153 — April 29

• Paddy McCorry vs. Angus Hewett — middleweight
• Adam Darby vs. Jack Tucker — welterweight

Announced Invicta FC fights

Invicta FC 52 — March 15

• Valesca Machado vs. Danni McCormack — women’s strawweight
• Karolina Wójcik vs. Ediana Silva — women’s strawweight
• Montserrat Rendon vs. Alexa Conners — women’s bantamweight
• Amber Leibrock vs. Ramona Pascual — women’s featherweight
• Sayury Cañon vs. Amanda Macioce — women’s strawweight

Announced KSW fights

KSW 79 — February 25

• Dominik Humburger vs. Nemanja Nikolić — welterweight
• Ramzan Jembiev vs. Murilo Delfino — lightweight

KSW 80 — March 17

• Robert Ruchała vs. Dawid Śmiełowski — featherweight

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