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Featherweight legend Jose Aldo currently hosts former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in his Orlando home.

Retired UFC featherweight legend Jose Aldo may have some questions to answer regarding the origin of some money he and his wife, Viviane Pereira Oliveira, have allegedly received from the government.

Per Brazilian news outlet Extra, Oliveira’s name was found on Portal da Transparencia, Brazil’s public finance tracking website. It shows her allegedly receiving emergency payouts from a fund designated for some of the country’s poorest families during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the records, Pereira received monthly deposits of 600 reais (approximately $ 120) between May and October of 2020, with three more 300-real deposits made in November and December of the same year, for a total of 4,500 reais (approximately $ 860).

Upon further investigating, Extra discovered that Pereira was not registered under Cadunico, Brazil’s platform for social programs, making Viviane ineligible to receive the emergency money.

Most recently, Aldo and Oliveira’s names were in the news for hosting former far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who fled to the United States on December 30 and is currently staying at a mansion in Orlando, Florida. The estate is the property of Famous Family, a company owned by Aldo and Oliveira.

According to Forum magazine, the mansion was bought for $ 745,000, with the transaction taking place during the months when Viviane was listed to have been receiving the emergency deposits.

Upon learning the news and being approached by the press, Pereira took to her personal Instagram page, where she sent a message to all her followers about the scandal. The short paragraph was posted on the stories section of the platform, where Viviane denied all the claims.

“Just because we put Bolsonaro in our house, the leftists are now snooping on our life. I have never received or registered for emergency help,” she posted.

Aldo has yet to address the situation.

The reports of Oliveira’s alleged illegal deposits are the same as the ones involving several members of the legendary Gracie family, which was brought to light in March of 2022.

Aldo—an loyal Bolsonaro supporter dating back to the 2018 elections—saw his name involved in another scandal recently. According to Forum’s report, the former fighter was allegedly set to receive the amount of 200 thousand reais (approximately $ 40,000) on October 5 of 2022, which took place between the first and second round of the Brazilian presidential elections.

The money was to be awarded by Brazil’s Ministry of Citizenship and destined to the JAJ Institute, which is chaired by Aldo. Officially, the amount should be destined to organizing a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, which so far has not been announced or taken place.

Due to some bank technicalities, the transaction has not yet been completed. However, the amount has already been reserved for the JAJ Institute and cannot be invested in other causes until its deadline on October 2023.

Aldo (31-8) retired from mixed martial arts following a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili, in August 2022. During his 18-year-career, the Brazilian defeated some of most notable names in the sport, such as Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber, Chan Sung Jung and Chad Mendes.

The 36-year-old successfully defended his WEC featherweight title twice, before it was converted to the UFC featherweight belt that he went on to defend seven more times. He is considered by many to be the greatest athlete in the history of the featherweight division.

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Ali Abdelaziz claims Kamaru Usman is “good to go” against Leon Edwards.

Kamaru Usman will be fighting Leon Edwards after all.

That’s according to his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who took to Twitter last week to shut down rumors that Usman had suffered a hand injury and would be unable to fight.

“Please enough with the rumors, Kamaru is fighting León next, he is good to go. We bringing this belt back to where it belongs,” Abdelaziz, who manages Usman at Dominance MMA, wrote.

Usman and Edwards are no strangers to each other, having faced off before at UFC on FOX 17 and most recently at UFC 278.

The first time they met, Usman came out on top, taking home a unanimous decision win. But their second showdown at UFC 278 ended in a shocking upset, with Edwards delivering a last-minute knockout that flipped the MMA world on its head.

Now, the two will meet again in an eagerly anticipated trilogy bout, where Usman will be looking to avenge his defeat and reclaim the welterweight title. The matchup is expected to take place at UFC 286, scheduled for March 18 at The O2 in London.

Note, however, that the bout hasn’t been made official, with Edwards teasing a grudge match with Jorge Masvidal as his first title defense.

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Conor McGregor takes aim at Jake Paul on Twitter.

Conor McGregor has taken to social media to mock YouTuber Jake Paul after the latter’s signing with the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

In a since-deleted Tweet, McGregor labeled Paul a “wally” for giving away 50 percent of his purse to the PFL in a potential future bout in the Super Fight division, where fighters are expected to receive at least half of the pay-per-view revenue.

“Numbnuts gave away 50% of a future purse if he does an MMA bout? Wow. What an idiot. Joint partnership what? For what you Wally. Wally,” McGregor wrote.

Paul’s signing with PFL marks his first foray into professional mixed martial arts, with the online influencer already having made a name for himself in boxing, boasting victories over former MMA champions Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren. He is expected to make his debut in the Super Fight division, which will feature online celebrities and influencers taking on professional fighters.

Meanwhile, McGregor is still sidelined with a broken leg but is expected to return to the UFC later this year.

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‘The Diamond’ opened up on a host of topics.

Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier remains one of the most popular figures in the sport. ‘The Diamond’ is beloved for his furious and eye-catching fight style as well as his personality outside the cage — one of a no nonsense competitor with a genuine interest in charity and supporting his community.

Poirier recently sat down with Bloody Elbow’s Eddie Mercado for an exclusive one-on-one interview. That sitdown was facilitated by Timex Watches, who recently started a sponsorship relationship with both Poirier and the UFC.

In this interview Poirier reacted to Dana White slapping his wife, discussed the recent betting controversies in MMA and talked about his most recent fight with Michael Chandler. Chandler also spoke about his nemesis Conor McGregor, a man he’s TKO’d twice since losing to him back in his young featherweight career. Poirier also touches on Nate Diaz and current UFC lightweight kingpin Islam Makhachev.

You can read those articles in the stream below.

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Washington Wizards star Kyle Kuzma took shots at sports media for their lack of coverage on Dana White.

Dana White was caught on camera slapping his wife, and while the UFC President offered “no excuses” for this behavior, several fighters and even media alike still made ones for him. A lot of mainstream media outlets have either remained silent, or been particularly soft on White when discussing the issue.

This sort of thing would never be tolerated in other mainstream sports, and it’s exactly what NBA star and combat sports fan Kyle Kuzma pointed out on social media.

Kuzma, a one-time NBA champion with the Lakers and current top scorer for the Washington Wizards, took shots at ESPN and the general sports media for how they’ve handled White’s situation.

“Question to sports media why do you guys pick and choose when you blast ppl.. Dana white???? Hmmm,” Kuzma wrote on twitter.

“ESPN’s coverage on this Dana White situation is flat out embarrassing!!!!,” he followed up.

ESPN executives, who have a lucrative multi-year partnership with the UFC, have been largely silent about White hitting his wife. ESPN previously issued a statement to Bloody Elbow directing comment to the UFC, and seemingly washing their hands of the situation by saying they simply handle “distribution” for the MMA leader.

It’s not surprising to see an NBA star speak out against the uneven coverage, as compared to how basketball stars are treated, White has been clearly handled with kid gloves.

NBA controversies typically dominate headlines for long stretches, with calls for owners, coaches and players to get cut or fired being a norm in the media cycle.

When NBA star Kyrie Irving tweeted a link to a film based on an antisemitic book, it aptly garnered nationwide attention for months, costing him sponsors and getting him suspended without pay. His team called him “unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets,” and media naturally called him worse after promoting dangerous and terrible beliefs associated with that book. Charlotte Hornets’ Miles Bridges is unsurprisingly still without a job after his domestic violence case, with teams not wanting to be associated with the player.

Team owners like Donald Sterling and Robert Sarver were both fined millions, then forced to vacate their position and sell their shares with their NBA teams after being caught saying controversial and racist comments.

Stephen A. Smith routinely trashes basketball players and makes personal attacks on their character for the most mundane things, like switching teams or taking (or not taking) bad shots. However, when dealing with the UFC’s most recent controversy, he instead just went to ESPN to say he loves and supports Dana White and only wishes him the best after this incident.

Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole somehow felt the need to list “all the good White has done in this world” when talking about how the UFC President should only briefly take time away from the spotlight. TMZ also continued their UFC friendly coverage and seemingly tried to give the UFC President an out and an excuse after White granted them the one interview about the topic.

Sports media aren’t the only ones deserving of criticism, as massive companies where White holds influence and lucrative partnerships with have all been lacking in any proper response as well.

Even if they don’t plan on any taking action against White, it seems easy enough for organizations like Endeavor, UFC, ESPN and TBS to do the absolute bare minimum by condemning domestic violence and any violence towards women. Instead, they’re content to remain silent, seemingly hoping people just forget as they’re still all continuing as scheduled as if nothing happened.

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A promising young fighter, Victoria Lee competed for ONE Championship three times in 2021, winning all three bouts by stoppage.

It’s been a rough start to 2023 from the MMA world, and it doesn’t appear that the bad news is about to let up. The latest shock arrived on Saturday, January 7th, with the terrible news that 18-year-old ONE Championship fighter Victoria Lee had passed away.

The announcement came via Instagram from Lee’s sister, fellow fighter and ONE atomweight champion Angela Lee. A cause of death was not given.

2022 our family experienced something no family should ever have to go through… It is incredibly difficult to say this… Our Victoria passed away.

She has gone too soon and our family has been completely devastated since then. We miss her. More than anything in this world. Our family will never be the same. Life will never be the same.

Victoria was the most beautiful soul who ever lived. She was the best little sister in the world. The best daughter, the best granddaughter and the best godma / aunty to Ava and Alia.

We miss you so much sis. More than you could ever realize. We’re all broken. Because a piece of you was in each of us and when you left, those pieces were ripped out of us. We will never be the same.

Each and every little thing makes me think of you. From the sun rays, to the sunset. You taught us to see the beauty in the simple things. You were our bright light. Our sunshine. And that will never change. You were perfect in every way. The best person I knew. The most beautiful girl, inside and out. We love you Victoria. I love you Sprout. Until the end of time.

Please give our family grace and respect during this most difficult time. And please, check on your loved ones. Keep checking on them. Give them hugs and tell them how much they mean to you. You just never know.

Following in the footsteps of her brother, ONE welterweight champion Christian Lee, and her sister Angela, Victoria signed a contract with the Singapore-based promotion at just 16-years-old. At the time of her passing she was the youngest athlete on the company’s roster.

She rattled off three-straight stoppage wins in 2021 to make her professional debut, but had not competed in mixed martial arts since a TKO win over 5-0 Victoria Souza fifteen months ago. Back in November, MMA Fighting reported that an undisclosed injury had put Victoria Lee’s combat sports career on hold, but that she had planned to return to competition in early 2023, against Zeba Bano at ONE on Prime Video 6 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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The UFC Hall of Famer believes Volkanovski defeating Makhachev would be historic. 

Alexander Volkanovski defeating Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 would be historic, says Daniel Cormier.

For his next fight, Volkanovski switches weight classes to challenge Makhachev, the newly crowned UFC lightweight champion. Against Makhachev, the reigning UFC featherweight champion is the underdog, a role he relishes considering he has a chance at figuring out something no one else has: the Dagestani wrestling. And if he does, Cormier says it would be the ’biggest upset’ in MMA history.

“In my opinion, [if] Volkanovski wins this fight, it’s the biggest,” said Cormier on a recent episode of ‘3 Rounds with Daniel Cormier’ on YouTube. “It’s bigger than anything we’ve seen because, I’m telling you, when you get into the details of this matchup, it seems a very hard match for Volkanovski to win because his skillset is almost catered for a guy like Makhachev because of Makhachev’s ability to stand and also his size.

“Volk is a very big guy,” continued Cormier. “Remember, we’ve spoken ad nauseam about how big he was when he played football — or rugby or whatever you guys call it over there, but that doesn’t matter. He’s still shorter. [And] because he’s shorter, it makes for Makhachev to use the leverage against Volkanovski. I believe that this would be the biggest upset in mixed martial arts history.”

Though Cormier says Volkanovski defeating Makhachev is an upset, the ‘Great’ sees it differently. For Volkanovski, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) staple is ‘stoppable’ — and he is ready to prove it when the two step into the Octagon.

UFC 284 is set for Saturday, February 11, at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. Makhachev vs. Volkanovski serves as the headliner for the upcoming pay-per-view event.

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The former world champion is interested in pursuing a bout against the ‘Last Emperor’ in the near future. 

Roy Jones Jr. is angling for a fight against one of the greatest heavyweight in mixed martial arts history.

The former four-division world champion recently revealing his interest in pursuing an exhibition bout against Fedor Emelianenko.

“Yes, such a fight is possible as an exhibition,” Jones, 53, told Tass.ru. “We have already somehow negotiated on this subject, but they have not been confirmed.”

Jones, who holds dual American and Russian citizenship, has not fought since his exhibition bout against Mike Tyson in November 2020. The fight lasted the full 8 rounds, and was declared a draw.

Meanwhile, Emelianenko, 46, is scheduled to take headline Bellator 290 next month in a retirement bout against Ryan Bader. The two previously competed at Bellator 214, where Bader defeated Emelianenko in the heavyweight Grand Prix final to become the organization’s heavyweight champion.

Exhibition bouts have become a popular way for boxers to continue to perform and earn a living following their professional retirement. Floyd Mayweather has competed in several such bouts since his final professional bout in 2017 against Conor McGregor, including a 2020 fight against internet sensation Logan Paul. Most recently, Mayweather defeated YouTuber Deji Olatunji, the younger brother of KSI, in an exhibition bout in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Though it remains unclear whether such a fight will ever come to fruition, a potential contest pitting Jones Jr. and Emelianenko would be a rare opportunity to see one of the greatest boxers of all time challenge one of the greatest MMA heavyweights of all time.

I think that such a fight is possible,” Jones said.

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Ben Askren is willing to get another crack at Jake Paul once his UFC contract issues are settled.

YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul surprised the combat sports world on Thursday when he announced the deal he signed with PFL. The 25-year-old reportedly owns an equity share with the organization and will make his debut in the ‘Super Fight’ division where “influencers and celebrities” fight “established professional fighters.”

Many in the MMA community have lauded “the Problem Child” for making the jump. Some of them – even those who are no longer actively competing – also want a piece of him.

Most recently, former UFC fighter and ONE Championship titleholder Ben Askren addressed a question about a possible rematch. “Funky,” who turns 39 this year, agreed, but will first have to sort out some lingering contract issues.

Askren fought Paul in a boxing match under Showtime in April 2021. He lost via first-round knockout in what he declared as the “biggest payday” of his career. As an MMA fighter, he holds a record of 19-2 (1 NC).

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Check out how to watch this weekend’s biggest fight.

The world of combat sports is slowing waking up from its holidays slumbers. The first big boxing match of the year is upon us this weekend with Gervonta Davis defending his WBA (regular) lightweight title against Hector Luis Garcia.

The fight is a big one only because of the inclusion of Davis, who is one of the top pound for pound talents in the world. The undefeated lightweight is expected to cruise through this fight to set up a far more compelling contest against the undefeated Ryan Garcia.

This fight is going ahead despite Davis’ ongoing legal issues. Davis is due in court next month to answer 14 charges pertaining to a suspected hit and run incident, where his SUV slammed into a car holding four people (including a pregnant woman). Earlier this month a woman accused Davis of trying to kill her. That lead to a domestic violence charge and a police report accusing Davis of slapping that woman in the face. However, the 911 caller has since claimed that Davis did not hurt her during this incident.

So there’s a lot of baggage going into this fight. Frankly, with the fight likely to be a squash match, the most interesting thing to happen here could be Davis’ post-fight interview (if he’s asked about his very recent run ins with the law).

Bout Order

Main Card (9 p.m. ET on Showtime PPV)

Lightweight: Gervonta Davis vs. Hector Luis Garcia (ringwalk expected for 12 p.m ET)

Welterweight: Jaron Ennis vs. Karen Chukhadzhian

Welterweight: Rashidi Ellis vs. Roiman Villa

Super middleweight: Demetrius Andrade vs. Demond Nicholson

Tickets

Tickets at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. are available here.

Live Stream

Davis vs. Garcia will air on television via Showtime Sports PPV and cost $ 74.99. The Showtime app can be used to stream Showtime content on TV streaming services Amazon FireTV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, XBOX One and smart TVs from LG and Samsung.

The Showtime app can also be installed on Apple, Android and Amazon mobile devices.

Live news, updates and round-by-round commentary is available here on Bloody Elbow.

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