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Ryan Bader may be recognizing Fedor Emelianenko as the GOAT, but he believes Cain Velasquez wins in a hypothetical fight.

A good chunk of MMA fans past and present would easily consider Fedor Emelianenko as the sport’s greatest. But for Ryan Bader, the man whom “The Last Emperor” will face in his swan song this weekend, there is another name that deserves the “best of all-time tag.”

“I would say Cain Velasquez [was the best] when he’s healthy,” Bader told MMA Fighting. “But the only problem is Cain couldn’t stay healthy for so long and didn’t have the résumé and the fights that Fedor did.

“I would say Cain could go out there and be the best heavyweight of all time.

Velasquez had two stints as the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight champion before leaving MMA competition to pursue professional wrestling. Now 40, the AKA representative likely won’t be mounting any comeback any time soon, if at all.

But if Velasquez and Fedor were ever booked for a fight, Bader is picking the former.

“If you’re going to put a label on somebody, I would say Fedor would be [the one],” he explained. “He didn’t come over to the UFC but it’s not taking anything away from him. He built a legacy. He fought those guys [in Japan], beat a lot of those guys.

“But if you were to put [on a fight] on their best night, Fedor versus Cain, I’m going to take Cain.”

Bader and Fedor will be meeting for the second time on Saturday at Bellator 290, where they will fight for the organization’s heavyweight title. The two first fought each other in 2019 with Bader winning via TKO inside 35 seconds.

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After seeing solid gains in week 2 thanks to a strong lead-in from AEW wrestling, Power Slap ratings hit a new low.

Dana White’s Power Slap League saw a big jump in viewers last week with a strong lead-in from an AEW Wrestling broadcast that featured a tribute to the late Jay Briscoe and the promotional debut of Mark Briscoe. In Week 3 of its scheduled 8-episode run, the slap fighting reality show again received a strong lead-in from AEW, but the broadcast ended up way down at No. 51 for Wednesday night on cable.

According to ShowBuzzDaily, AEW Wrestling had 901,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. slot. AEW had a .31 rating in the 18-49 demographic and a .22 rating with 18-34-year-old viewers. With those numbers, AEW finished in second for the night in original cable telecasts. ESPN’s NBA game at 7:43 p.m. led the night’s overall cable ratings on Wednesday with 1.036 million viewers and a .34 rating among 18-49 year-olds and .27 in the 18-34 demographic.

This week, Power Slap finished six slots lower than their debut at no. 45, with 284,000 viewers. The 10 p.m. broadcast on February 1 had a 0.09 rating among 18-49-year-olds. Power Slap’s numbers were 617,000 viewers less than AEW’s.

For the second episode of Power Slap: Road to the Title on TBS, AEW Wrestling had 1.003 million viewers in the 8 p.m. slot. That strong lead-in provided the pseudo-sport promotion a bump last week, landing Power Slap at no. 30 with 413,000 viewers. Episode 2 captured a .13 rating among 18-49-year-olds and .08 in the 18-34 demographic.

The debut episode of Power Slap—which TBS delayed a week after White was caught on video slapping his wife, while on a family vacation in Mexico—was No. 45 in the top 50 cable telecasts for Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The debut episode pulled a reported 295,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

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As the ‘Last Emperor’ prepares for the final fight of his storied MMA career, he gave a little insight into why he never ended up fighting for the UFC.

In every combat sport there are always those ‘fights that got away.’ Moments in time where it seemed everything should have been in place for an amazing battle of skill at the highest levels, only for promoters, managers, money, and egos to step in and foul things up. For fans of Fedor Emelianenko it almost feels like there’s a whole career that just didn’t happen. Namely the fights the ‘Last Emperor’ could have taken had he ever competed inside the UFC’s Octagon.

Bouts against Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem. All what-ifs at this point. The old story goes that, both when the UFC bought PRIDE and Strikeforce, Emelianenko’s management wanted the UFC to co-promote with M-1 Global, and Dana White refused. Whether that was ever part of the bargain or not, the 46-year-old legend gave his own insight—during a recent appearance on the MMA Hour—on why a deal never came to be with the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion.

To hear Emelianenko tell it, the one time he did meet with Dana White he was still under contract with Strikeforce, and didn’t feel he could accept any offer from White without putting himself in legal jeopardy. Also, the vibes were bad.

“I fought many UFC champions [in my career] and I was beating them all,” Emelianenko explained (transcript via MMA Fighting), noting that if fate had wanted him to be a UFC fighter, he would have been. “So it doesn’t really bother me that I didn’t fight there.”

“There was a moment when the UFC purchased Pride that it was a possibility,” he added. “But Dana White didn’t sign the contract. That’s why [it didn’t happen].”

“We met once. I didn’t know what the point of that meeting was. I had a current contract with Strikeforce while Dana White was offering me a new contract with the UFC. If I signed that contract, I would’ve been stuck, I would’ve had to go to court, and I wouldn’t have been able to fight for UFC or Strikeforce.

“I was on vacation on an island and Dana White came. There was nothing good there.”

Emelianenko is all set to take on former UFC contender and current Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the main event of Bellator 290, this coming Saturday, February 4th. The two men met in the cage for the first time back in 2019, in the final round of Bellator’s heavyweight Grand Prix, with Bader defeating the former PRIDE king via first round TKO. Emelianenko followed that loss with back-to-back KO wins over Rampage Jackson and Timothy Johnson. This final bout will mark the 48th of his MMA career, with a current record of 40-6 (1 NC).

Alongside the heavyweight main event, the card is expected to also play host to a middleweight title fight between champion Johnny Eblen and top contender Anatoly Tokov. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates on the event as fight night approaches.

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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Jorge Masvidal recently rejected a five round bout with Gilbert Burns.

Jorge Masvidal is currently riding a three-fight losing skid, with double losses to previous UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and a defeat to nemesis Colby Covington. Despite the less than impressive recent record, and the fact ‘Gamebred’’s last victory was a 2019 cut stoppage against Nate Diaz, the Miami-based fighter could be knocking on the door of yet another UFC title fight.

Recently, UFC welterweight champ Leon Edwards revealed that he’s hoping to defend his title against Masvidal, should his rival get through Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 this spring.

Edwards’ reason for granting Masvidal this pathway to the title is more personal than sporting. The pair famously exchanged words, and fists, backstage at a UFC show in London back in 2019. Their scuffle happened after Masvidal defeated Darren Till and Edwards beat Gunnar Nelson.

The backstage brouhaha lead to Masvidal coining the ‘three piece and soda’ meme.

Here’s what Edwards told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about Masvidal and what he’d like to see happen next.

“For sure [Masivdal can fight for the title]. If he goes out there and beats Gilbert, I think that’s the fight to make,” Edwards said (ht MMAFighting). “It’s been a long time, three, four years brewing. Let’s get in there and settle it once and for all and go from there.”

Edwards won the belt after an incredible late comeback headkick KO over Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 last August. The win was his tenth win in a row (not counting a no contest versus Belal Muhammad) since losing to Usman back in 2015.

Edwards is currently scheduled to defend his title versus Usman at UFC 286 in March. Based on how he’s discussing Masvidal, it seems he’s very confident that he’ll still be champion in April.

When is Jorge Masvidal’s next fight?

Jorge Masvidal is currently booked to fight Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 on April 8. That event is headlined by the rematch of Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya for the UFC light heavyweight title.

About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)

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Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn sees another high-profile opponent option for former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.

Since his official UFC departure in January, former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is getting more options outside of mixed martial arts. One of the opportunities presented to him is a special rules boxing match against Tyson Fury, which “The Predator” foresees happening around the summer.

If nothing comes to fruition with the Fury talks, the 36-year-old may have another option in Anthony Joshua. The good news is that promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s willing to get behind it.

Hearn made an appearance on this week’s MMA Hour episode where he spoke nothing but good words about Ngannou.

“I think he’s an outstanding man. I always talk too much, and I don’t want to talk too much about what was said,” Hearn told Ariel Helwani.

“I reached out to Francis just to say, ‘Look, I just want to know. I’m getting all these approaches from people. Just tell me who I need to speak to.’ And the answer was, ‘Me.’ I really like that.

“I respect him greatly for the way he’s handled his career to a point where now, he’s in a fantastic position. He has a new ocean to navigate now, which is a lot more rocky in the world of MMA and the UFC. He’s in the wild west of boxing.

“I was pretty captivated by him. I’m not a massive MMA fan, but I still respect what he’s achieved there. I just found him to be an outstanding gentleman. So, we’ll see where it goes.”

As for the potential Joshua fight, Hearn sees it as a blockbuster in the making. And not just in boxing, but across all sports.

“For me, we would love to be involved in his career. The Anthony Joshua fight is just probably one of the biggest fights that could be made across any kind of sport. Obviously, the Tyson Fury fight is there for him as well.”

Ngannou’s last fight happened a year ago at UFC 270, where he defended his title against Ciryl Gane.

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Analyst Dan Hardy believe that Jon Jones may be giving up a lot of what made him a great 205er when he moves up to heavyweight.

Many fans are excited about the long-awaited return of former light heavyweight king Jon Jones, who will fight for the first time in three years at UFC 285 – as a heavyweight. Jones’ heavyweight debut will be for the undisputed HW title, when he takes on Ciryl Gane following champion Francis Ngannou’s exit from the promotion.

There has been a lot of debate over whether Jones will be the same effective fighter with more weight on his frame. And ex-UFC fighter and current analyst Dan Hardy is among the people that are not sure this is is the best idea for Bones.

In a conversation with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, Hardy expanded on what he feels the issues might be (transcribed by Junkie):

“We don’t know how he’s going to perform with the bigger frame. Of course he’s got the height and reach for heavyweight – 84.5 inches. He could quite easily grow into heavyweight, but then would he be the same fighter he was at light heavyweight? The times that he struggled at light heavyweight is when he was taking on someone that had similar physical attributes. Remember the first Gustafsson fight, that was very problematic for him to begin with. Dominick Reyes was a pain for him at times, and I feel like Jon gives up a lot of his natural advantages that he had at light heavyweight when he moves to heavyweight.”

“Like Ciryl Gane’s 6-4, 79-inch reach or something like that, but it’s gonna be comparable to Jon Jones in ways that say a Daniel Cormier wasn’t back at light heavyweight,” Hardy said. “And the way Ciryl Gane moves is like light heavyweights did when Jon Jones was champion – the better ones. I think this is going to be a real challenge for him, and it’s difficult to kind of picture Jon Jones in a heavyweight frame. What does he move like? What techniques has he abandoned? Is he going to have anxiety associated with because now he feels like he fills up with lactate and his muscles start to burn?”

He continued on with the Gane comparisons, describing the former interim champ as a fighter that mirrors Jones’ light heavyweight game planning:

“We know how good Ciryl Gane is, and the reason why he’s so good is because he does a lot of things Jon Jones did so well at light heavyweight. I almost think it would have been easier for Jones to take on Ngannou, because at least you know what you’re getting. When he starts to move, you got to get out of the way. But Ciryl Gane never stops moving, so you can’t always stay out of the way, and we’ve seen Jon Jones kind of get outpointed a little bit at times by people that have got a good work rate and a long reach.”

UFC 285 goes down March 4th in T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.

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The former UFC flyweight champion is on the mend after undergoing surgery recently. 

Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo underwent surgery to repair the broken orbital and nose he suffered at UFC 283 this past January.

The surgery was a success, per one of his coaches, ‘Maizena,’ who revealed to Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting that his fighter could ‘slowly’ return to training in a month or so.

In the first-ever tetralogy in the UFC, Figueiredo lost to Brandon Moreno by third-round TKO after the cageside physician declared ‘Deus Da Guerra’ unfit to continue due to an eye injury. Though he originally thought he was poked in the eye by the ‘Assassin Baby,’ replays showed a left hand caused the damage that closed the eye.

After the loss, Figueiredo announced he would move up from flyweight to bantamweight, something he prepared to do over a year ago.

“Unfortunately, it’s time to leave this division,” said Figueiredo in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier. “I’ve done a lot. Congratulations to Brandon, but I’m moving up.”

There is no word on when Figueiredo expects to return to the Octagon. The Brazilian received a potential six-month medical suspension from the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission (CABMMA), so he may not fight again until the second half of the year.

What’s Deiveson Figueiredo’s record against Brandon Moreno?

Deiveson Figueiredo’s record against Brandon Moreno is 1-2-1. Their first meeting, at UFC 256 in 2020, ended in a draw. Figueiredo then lost to Moreno, by submission, at UFC 263 in 2021. At UFC 270 in 2022 he beat Moreno by unanimous decision. At last month’s UFC 283 he lost to Moreno by TKO.

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

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Michael Chandler wants a money fight.

Michael Chandler is not interested in a fight with Arman Tsarukyan.

The UFC lightweight challenged Chandler recently, telling ‘Iron’ to ‘defend’ his ranking against him. Following his win over Damir Ismagulov at UFC Vegas 66 this past December, ‘Ahalkalakets’ found himself in the top ten of the division. And with his new ranking, Tsarukyan set his sights on ‘someone in the top five,’ which led to his callout of Chandler.

During a recent appearance on the Believe You Me podcast with Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith, Chandler responded to the callout. Though he can appreciate Tsarukyan for going after him, the Kill Cliff FC representative said his focus is still on a fight with Conor McGregor.

“I didn’t respond because, I mean, I haven’t even seen him fight,” said Chandler. “Not disrespecting or whatever. I know he fought [Mateusz] Gamrot; I haven’t really seen Gamrot fight either. I appreciate the callout. That’s exactly what I would do if I was him, but no thanks, man.

“I’m over here talking about Conor and TUF,” continued Chandler. “You think I’m worried about freaking Arman Tsarukyan with a silent T at the beginning of his name? It was a good callout. Good for him, though. He was coming at me, but that’s not how you get a fight with me, dude.”

Since arriving in the UFC, Chandler has had McGregor on his list of potential opponents. The ‘Notorious’ one has not fought since suffering a broken leg in his most recent appearance against Dustin Poirier. However, his return could be imminent, as the former two-division UFC champion announced he would serve as a coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.

An opposing coach was not announced, but former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson claimed he was offered the role. Because that has yet to be confirmed, Chandler threw his name out for TUF to set up the ‘massive’ fight between him and McGregor.

As far as Tsarukyan is concerned, Chandler continuing to pursue McGregor and turning him down is enough to warrant a shake-up at the top of the division.

“Kick him out of the rankings then,” tweeted Tsarukyan.

What’s Michael Chandler’s UFC record?

Since joining the UFC from Bellator in 2020, Chandler has gone 2-3 in the Octagon. He holds wins over Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson and has taken losses to Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier.

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

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UFC is trying to monetize every inch of their Octagon.

The UFC has a new “official global sports drink,” as they’ve just announced a sponsorship deal with PRIME, a brand founded by popular YouTubers and former boxing opponents Logan Paul and KSI.

The lucrative deal will replace Bodyarmor, which sponsorship ran for five years. According to a report from the Sports Business Journal, this PRIME deal would be for three years and worth “high-seven figures annually.”

The UFC, who has aggressively tried to monetize just about every inch of their Octagon, announced that they’ll also be including the PRIME brand in the “newly launched Octagon-shaped Cornermen Stool,” and will be renaming the red and blue corners as “PRIME Hydration Recovery Zones.”

The deal is set to start at UFC 284. It’ll be curious to see how they’ll play this out in broadcasts, and whether it’ll be the commentators or Bruce Buffer awkwardly introducing athletes fighting out of the “Red PRIME Hydration Recovery Zone.”

According to the press release, PRIME will also have “key brand placement” during UFC PPV weigh-ins that “highlights the importance of proper hydration.”

The new deal will run alongside UFC’s many other bankable sponsorships. In the beverage side alone, UFC has Monster Energy as their “official energy drink” and “official water,” Modelo as their “official beer,” Jose Cuervo as their “official tequila,” Howler Head as their “official flavored whiskey,” and Wildcard as their “official ready to drink vodka.”

It’s worth noting that the initial selling point for the UFC banning outside sponsorships in 2015 was so that fighters don’t look unprofessional or plastered with ads like NASCAR vehicles. In the end, the sponsorship market moved from paying fighters to mostly paying the UFC, who is now making bank while looking… well, like plastered NASCAR vehicles.

UFC now makes over a billion dollars a year, and is expected to keep growing. On the other hand, UFC fighters are estimated to get just around 17% of the revenue, which is in line with what the promotion themselves targeted to keep for years.

UFC’s sub-20% revenue share pales in comparison to the near 50% in other major sports leagues, and the even bigger share in boxing that go from around 60% to over 80%.

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With one fight still remaining on his UFC contract, it seems middleweight top contender Paulo Costa might be eyeing a bout against the former Strikeforce champion.

Having recently missed out on an opportunity to face fellow top middleweight contender Robert Whittaker at UFC 284, Paulo Costa looks like he might be eyeing another opponent closer to the twilight side of their career. Having defeated former champion Luke Rockhold back at UFC 278, the Brazilian recently helped promote the idea of a bout against ex-Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz.

On his personal Twitter account, Paulo posted a fan-made poster of a potential UFC 289 card, featuring former double champion Conor McGregor against Michael Chandler as the headliner. Meanwhile, ‘Borrachinha’’s fight against Diaz would be the co-main event of the evening.

Is he trolling, is he for real? Costa’s propensity for buffoonery meant the former title contender had to work extra hard to even convince fans that he had in fact withdrawn from his fight with Whittaker.

UFC 289 still does not have a scheduled date or location according to the UFC’s official calendar, which only shows pay per view cards up to UFC 287, on April 8. In fact, at this point, no bouts have been announced for the potential fight card at all.

Meanwhile, Diaz (26-10-2 NC) has not won a fight since an October 2011 unanimous decision win over B.J. Penn. After a six year hiatus away from MMA competition, Diaz returned in 2021 for a bout against fellow legend and former foe Robbie Lawler, losing that fight via TKO in the 3rd round. After the loss, the onetime UFC title contender hinted at frustrations with his preparation for the bout, however coaches and teammates have been bullish on the idea that the 39-year-old still has more fights in him.

“He’s been out here training again, which was good, because he wasn’t really training for the last camp,” Jake Shields said of Diaz earlier in January. “So he’s back out here. Not training crazy hard, but the fact that he’s back in the gym, training every day, much better head space, is great.”

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