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‘Remember the Name’ was a little miffed by Covington weighing in as the backup fighter for UFC 286. 

Belal Muhammad was surprised to see Colby Covington at the official weigh-ins for UFC 286 on Friday—but not for the same reason as fans, fighters and pundits alike.

For several months, Muhammad has tried to get a fight booked against the former two-time title contender. In an interview with Helen Yee, ‘Remember the Name’ revealed the UFC offered him ‘Chaos’, but the fight fell through (twice)—with Muhammad claiming that the promotion could not ‘find’ Covington when it was time to sign on the dotted line.

However, it looks like the UFC finally managed to get a hold of the man. The former UFC interim welterweight champion arrived in London as the backup fighter for Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman III on Saturday. Seeing his potential opponent on weight for another fight at UFC 286 irked Muhammad, who revealed that Covington turned him down for the exact same event.

“Lol I asked to fight Colby on this card, he didn’t want to,” tweeted Muhammad. “He’s not fighting contenders.

“He turns down a fight on the same card so he can weigh in and not have to fight.”

In his most recent appearance, Covington earned a unanimous decision over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 a year ago. Though he originally challenged then-champion Usman to a third fight, the 35-year-old would not return for the rest of 2022 after sustaining several injuries stemming from an alleged assault by ‘Gamebred’ outside of a restaurant in Miami Beach.

Since then, Usman was dethroned by Edwards, who stunned the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ with a head kick in their fight at UFC 278 this past August. And Muhammad entered the top five of the division with a first-round TKO of Sean Brady at UFC 280 in October.

Whether Covington vs. Muhammad happens remains to be seen. UFC president Dana White says the former is ‘right there’ as far as contention is concerned, so he is either due for an eliminator or championship opportunity soon.

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

Reserve your user name for the new Bloody Elbow before April 1, 2023. Go here for more details (link).

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Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and former interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje will be prominently featured at UFC 286 despite potentially violating sanctions. 

Several months ago, a trio of former UFC champions visited Chechnya at the behest of the republic’s strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, former flyweight champion Henry Cejudo, and former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje were pictured at the Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya, which is used to train Russia’s special forces units preparing to take part in the country’s war on Ukraine.

Footage later posted on the dictator’s social media accounts showed the former champions testing out assault rifles and other weapons of war at the facility. In one shot, Gaethje fired an RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher at a distant target before turning to the camera to flex his muscles with a smile etched across his face.

“The [fighters] really got a lot of positive emotions from visiting Russia,” Kadyrov said in a caption accompanying the video. “Now they want to invite other UFC fighters to join us so that athletes can watch how real men and defenders of the Fatherland learn to fight.”

Usman, Gaethje and Cejudo later attended a birthday party for Kadyrov’s teenage son Adam, whom weeks earlier had been sent to Mariupol, the occupied Ukrainian port city destroyed by Russian forces, to take part in propaganda photo-ops with his brothers while dressed as soldiers. He later returned to Chechnya with Ukrainian prisoners of war that they handed to Kadyrov as a “gift.”

While the controversial footage drew the attention of mainstream outlets and the U.S State Department and raised questions about whether the fighters violated international sanctions, two of the three champions are scheduled to headline Saturday’s UFC 286 event in London, England.

Usman is set to face welterweight champion Leon Edwards in the UFC 286 main event while Gaethje will meet fellow knockout specialist Rafael Fiziev in the co-main event slot. Their involvement in the event cements the notion that neither competitor will face any repercussions for their actions. Instead, they’ve been rewarded with marquee match-ups.

And while the strange trip marked the first time that Cejudo and Gaethje visited Chechnya, it was Usman’s third trip to the semi-autonomous republic in Russia, and his second since the U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions targeting Kadyrov’s mixed martial arts empire.

In November 2020, Usman—then welterweight champion—visited Chechnya for the first time to attend Adam Kadyrov’s birthday party and to spar with him and his brothers in a private training session. Footage showed Usman joking around with Kadyrov’s sons in the dictator’s private gym and chanting the phrase “Akhmat Sila”—a battlecry which translates to “Akhmat Power” and which is popular among Kadyrov loyalists.

The welterweight champion returned to Chechnya in November 2021—nearly a year after the Treasury Department cracked down on Kadyrov’s fight club— to once again attend Adam’s birthday party. Despite his repeated visits, Usman has refused to answer questions about his apparent ties to Kadyrov and his family.

Gaethje, on the other hand, admitted to attending Adam’s birthday party in November 2022. He also acknowledged that he visited the Russian Special Forces University, adding that he likes to “shoot guns.”

Read the rest of this post on the Bloody Elbow Substack.

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Episode 233 discussion: Merab Dvalishvili says he’s already experienced big fights being withheld, TBS cancels Power Slap, Joe Rogan opens safe space comedy club, UFC 286 preview

Welcome to The Level Change Podcast, our combat sports themed variety show hosted by Stephie Haynes and Victor Rodriguez. The show features the news of the week, fight card breakdowns and analysis, a roundup of regional promotions’ cards and fights; and whatever else we decide is important enough or entertaining enough to bring to your ears.

June M. Williams

EPISODE 233

Overeem is hot again

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2023/3/16/23642518/alistair-overeem-team-reacts-ped-suspension-anti-inflammatory-drug-test-failure-kickboxing-news

Merab details fights being withheld after announcing he won’t fight Aljo

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2023/3/14/23638945/merab-dvalishvili-denied-top-opponents-for-refusing-to-fight-brother-aljamain-sterling-ufc-mma-news

Joe Rogan opens safe space comedy club

https://www.mmamania.com/2023/3/9/23632256/drunk-joe-rogan-opens-comedy-club-austin-gets-high-onstage-you-cant-fire-me

UFC 286

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2023/3/13/23636193/ufc-286-fight-card

If you enjoy our variety of shows, please give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, OverCast, PocketCasts, Castro, Castbox, Player FM, imdb, ThisMMALife, Podcast Addict, Podvine, Podchaser, Podbay, Podtail, Owltail, Listennotes, Podcast Republic, MuckRack, Chartable, Podtoppen.se & Patreon.

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See what happens on the scales ahead of UFC 286.

The UFC is in the UK this weekend with UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards hoping to make a successful first title defence, while standing on home soil. His challenger will be the man he took the belt from, Kamaru Usman.

This is a trilogy fight for Edwards and Usman. They met each other at the outset of their Octagon careers, with Usman getting the best of ‘Rocky’ on that occasion. Edwards hasn’t lost since then.

The co-main event for this one is guaranteed to entertain with Justin Gaethje facing Rafael Fiziev in the lightweight division. The PPV also has an important middleweight clash between Marvin Vettori and Roman Dolidze. Popular Icelander Gunnar Nelson is also on the main card, taking on ultimate spoiler Bryan Barbarena. Rounding out the main card is Scotland’s Case O’Neill versus former title challenger Jennifer Maia.

The prelims are headlined by Jack Shore vs. Makwan Amirkhani. This and the early prelims are mostly showcase fights for British up and coming talent. The most highly regarded of those British prospects is the undefeated Mohammad Mokaev, who meets Jafel Filho.

Before these fights happen, though, everyone’s got to weigh in. And Edwards and Usman will need to be careful to make sure they don’t weigh a single pound over 170 (lest their hopes for the title be dashed).

The official weigh-ins are due to happen at 4:45 a.m ET. You can watch those right here:

The ceremonial weigh-ins happen at 2 p.m. ET.

FULL RESULTS

Main card (5 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV)

• Welterweight championship: Leon Edwards (c) vs. Kamaru Usman
• Lightweight: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
• Welterweight: Gunnar Nelson vs. Bryan Barberena
• Flyweight: Jennifer Maia vs. Casey O’Neill
• Middleweight: Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze

Prelim card (3 p.m. ET on ESPNN/ESPN+)

• Featherweight: Jack Shore vs. Makwan Amirkhani
• Lightweight: Chris Duncan vs. Omar Morales
• Lightweight: Sam Patterson vs. Yanal Ashmoz
• Flyweight: Mohammad Mokaev vs. Jafel Filho
• Featherweight: Lerone Murphy vs. Gabriel Santos

Early prelims (1 p.m. ET on ESPN+)

• Middleweight: Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Dusko Todorovic
• Flyweight: Jake Hadley vs. Malcolm Gordon
• Flyweight: Joanne Wood vs. Luana Carolina
• Lightweight: Jai Herbert vs. L’udovit Klein
• Flyweight: Veronica Macedo vs. Juliana Miller

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)

Reserve your user name for the new Bloody Elbow before April 1, 2023. Go here for more details (link).

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Jon Jones fired the first salvo in the rhetoric leading up to a monster heavyweight title fight with Stipe Miocic.

Even with three years out of the cage, any big fight fan knows that Jon Jones likes to play head games with his opponents leading up to fights. The newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion “may” be wiser as he has gotten older, but the tactics haven’t changed. And he showed that today, getting some trash talk in regarding his probable UFC 290 opponent, Stipe Miocic.

Jones took to social media to imply that Miocic has ducked him the past, and might not be actually willing to throw down in July:

“Yo @stipemiocic only you the UFC and I know the truth, you dodged me all of 2022 – July, September & December,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “Now I’m hearing rumors that we may not be fighting this July.”

“Bro it’s simple, either you believe in yourself or you don’t,” he wrote. “Either you want this challenge or you don’t. Stop wasting everyone’s time.”

It’s kind of funny that a guy that stayed out of the cage forever and was rumored to be ducking Francis Ngannou would put out this kind of statement, but here we are. It’s Jon Jones, after all.

MMA Fighting was given a response from a member of Stipe’s camp who requested anonymity, saying that the heavyweight GOAT is “100% in” for July.

Unless someone gets hurt, this fight is almost surely going down on July 8th. Stay tuned.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission told Bloody Elbow it has no records of the UFC or Dana White reaching out to overturn Jones’ 2009 DQ loss.

UFC president Dana White has been voicing his frustrations with the only loss on Jon Jones’ record since at least 2012. So much so that over the last few years, he’s even started talking about having the disqualification overturned. After White reiterated his claim that he’s actively tried to overturn the loss heading into Jon Jones’ title fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, Bloody Elbow decided to take a look at exactly what kind of lobbying efforts have been made.

As far as we can see, there haven’t been any. At least not through officially recorded channels.

On December 5, 2009, a 9-0 Jones entered the Octagon to face the 7-2 Matt Hamill in the co-main event of the Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Finale fight card. Jones was just 22 at the time, and 3-0 in the UFC and riding as a comfortable -265 favorite over the 33-year-old Hamill, who entered the bout as the +225 underdog. The referee for the contest was Steve Mazzagatti, who, according to Tapology, first refereed for the UFC in 2003.

Jones took the fight to the ground with 2:26 left in the opening round and quickly moved to full mount, where he began teeing off with a relentless array of strikes. After a minute of ground and pound from mount, Jones threw the elbow strikes that cost him the fight.

On the broadcast, Mazzagatti can be here to say, “That’s an illegal elbow, Jon,” before he moved in to pause the action. UFC commentator Joe Rogan immediately said, “No, you can’t do 12-to-6. The up to down elbow from 12 o’clock to six o’clock is illegal.”

While Rogan was commenting on the strikes, Mazzagatti took a point from Jones. The referee then waved off the fight as Hamill, with blood pooling in both his eye sockets, reached for his left shoulder.”

Jones didn’t realize he had lost the bout until Bruce Buffer announced, “Due to intentional elbows, there’s been a disqualification of Jonny ‘Bones’ Jones.”

At the time, Nevada State executive director Keith Kizer said the commission used instant replay for the first time in its history. According to Kizer, the replay showed the elbows landed directly to Hamill’s eye and because the illegal blow was part of the sequence that ended the fight, the DQ ruling was handed down.

In 2010, following Jones’ TKO win over Brandon Vera, White said of the Jones vs. Hamill fight call, “It shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have happened that way. He shouldn’t have a loss, so it’s unfortunate.”

“It was a downward elbow, you take a point,” White added. “Hamill couldn’t continue because his shoulder was messed up. It had nothing to do with the elbow.”

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A 21-year-old remains hospitalized after collapsing during a March 4 MMA event in Evansville, IN.

Isaiah Abels, a 21-year-old amateur MMA fighter collapsed in the cage during a recent Southern Indiana Combat Production fight card at The Coliseum in downtown Evansville, IN, on March 4.

According to 44 News, Abels collapsed to his knees during the second round of the fight. On-site medical staff administered CPR to the unconscious fighter for several minutes before he was transported to a local hospital in Evansville via ambulance.

A few days after Abels collapsed in the cage, a fundraiser was established for his medical care. According to that page, the young fighter went into cardiac arrest during what was his third amateur MMA bout.

A March 8 update to that page reported that an MRI showed brain damage due to a lack of oxygen for three to five minutes. On March 10, doctors inserted a tracheotomy tube into Abels’ throat and a feeding tube into his stomach to prepare him for transfer to a long-term care facility. As of March 14, Abels was showing some signs of recovery, while waiting for a bed to open up for long-term care.

2023 being what it is, the family also issued a statement addressing the fighter’s COVID-19 vaccination status, and potential conspiracy theories surrounding it in a post on Facebook.

People assuming Isaiah is vaccinated are wrong. He didn’t receive the shot. He is a healthy fighter doing 2 a day practices. Traveling and training with the best fighters and coaches in Indiana. Not to mention his balls are bigger than the people for simply stepping into the cage. Most of you will never experience the intensity of a fight. Let alone experience being punched in the face.

Some people were asking honestly and some people just wanted to be “right”. I’m sorry for people who genuinely asked, but for the others who are focused on arguing about a vaccine can argue their points somewhere else. Isaiah is not vaccinated.

You can put your minds to rest as the people who actually love and support Isaiah will continue to motivate him.

The Southern Indiana Combat Production fight promotion issued a statement of their own as well.

We thank everyone for showing your support through this whole situation.

First, we want to wish a speedy recovery to Isaiah Abels in hopes that he can regain all strength and abilities as quick as possible. To him and his family, we will be keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers.

Next, we want to thank the cage side doctors and first responders who worked briskly to provide care to Isaiah. You are greatly appreciated.

To our fans, we thank you for attending the event last night, in person or by ppv. Please hold all ticket stubs and receipts, and stay tuned for more information. We want to thank all who were in attendance last night for the overwhelming support shown to our fighters and your understanding and patience in the matter. Please continue to keep Isaiah and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you

SICP Family

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UFC 286’s O’Neill says there are endless possibilities at flyweight now that long-reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko has been dethroned by Alexa Grasso.

Casey O’Neill says there are plenty of new opportunities for her and her fellow contenders now that there is a new UFC flyweight champion.

Earlier this month, Alexa Grasso dethroned Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285 with a ‘Performance of the Night’ winning fourth-round submission. In her post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, the ex-champion said the flyweight division would have movement and other fighters could ‘be more alive’ after her loss.

As one of those other fighters, O’Neill confirmed she feels much more invigorated ahead of her return against Jennifer Maia at UFC 286 on Saturday.

“I thought it was very exciting,” said O’Neill at UFC 286 media day (video provided by MMA Junkie). “I’m happy for Alexa. She’s a super nice person and that was a super awesome win, the way that she finished her, and it just makes the division more exciting. More eyes on the division, and the rematch is going to be awesome.

“I think that it’s at that stage now after the growth and development where everyone’s catching up to the champion, and everyone just has to be better, and I think that we all are,” continued O’Neill. “I think that the best prospects in women’s fighting right now are in 125.”

After she improved to 4-0 in the UFC with a split decision win against Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 271, O’Neill received her next assignment – Jessica Eye at UFC 276.

However, a torn ACL forced O’Neill out of her fight with Eye and into surgery, which saw O’Neill sidelined for the remainder of the year. Now recovered, the ‘King’ revealed that she wanted a top-10 name in her return. And after seeing her performance against Maryna Moroz at UFC Vegas 65, the undefeated fighter settled on Maia.

“I asked for this fight. I thought it would be a great fight for me,” said O’Neill. “Before I got injured, I was going to fight Jessica Eye, who was a former title challenger who’d fought for the belt. I thought that was a good next step for me. So Jennifer Maia was a good opponent.”

Maia vs. O’Neill is featured on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 286, which is scheduled for Sat., March 18, at the O2 Arena in London.

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

Reserve your user name for the new Bloody Elbow before April 1, 2023. Go here for more details (link).

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A pair of top-ranked flyweights have been added to an upcoming UFC event in June. 

Amir Albazi wanted a top-five flyweight for his next UFC fight, and he got one.

The ‘Prince’ announced on Monday that he would share the Octagon against Kai Kara-France at an upcoming Fight Night event scheduled for June 3, at a soon-to-be-announced location and venue.

Albazi is perfect in the UFC, going 4-0 since joining the promotion nearly three years ago. The 29-year-old is coming off a third-round KO of Alessandro Costa at UFC Vegas 66 in December. After his most recent win, Albazi said he hoped his performance showed he was ‘ready for the top five,’ which he now has a chance to prove against Kara-France.

The City Kickboxing product has not fought since suffering a third-round TKO loss to Brandon Moreno for the interim flyweight championship at UFC 277 this past July. ‘Don’t Blink’ was expected to return against Alex Perez at UFC 284, but he was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a knee injury.

Prior to his loss, Kara-France was on a three-fight win streak that included finishes of Rogério Bontorin and Cody Garbrandt.

With the addition of Kara-France vs. Albazi, the UFC Fight Night has two confirmed fights. Also on the line-up is a bantamweight bout between former champion Miesha Tate and Mayra Bueno Silva.

Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to the event as they become available in the coming months.

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

Reserve your user name for the new Bloody Elbow before April 1, 2023. Go here for more details (link).

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Kamaru Usman expects a third ‘soul-taking’ against Leon Edwards in their third fight this weekend at UFC 286.

For a good amount of time, Kamaru Usman held the UFC welterweight title and the UFC’s top pound-for-pound spot. That all changed at UFC 278 last August with a single head kick from Leon Edwards in the final minute of the fight.

In one fell swoop, Usman’s aura of invincibility was gone. Now, he’s preparing to reclaim his title as he faces “Rocky” for a third time when they headline UFC 286 in London this weekend. Usman says he’s planning on reminding Edwards of his dominating moments, right before that kick landed.

“It’s going to be a little more difficult this time,” Usman said on the Pivot Podcast. “In his head, he forgot what happened four rounds before that. He’s like, ‘I landed the kick, I’m the champ! I’m good.’ But he forgot what happened.

“You forgot that I was taking your soul. So I have to remind him who he is: a guy that’s let somebody take your soul, twice. And I’m gonna take it in London.”

Usman and Edwards are 1-1, with Usman winning a decision in 2015, and Edwards winning by KO in 2022.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” did give props to Edwards’ finishing weapon while acknowledging what he may have done wrong which led to a career-changing outcome for both men.

“Of course, he has a head kick. I know a head kick is coming, blocked the head kick. I drill that, of course, drill it, repetition, repetition so I can see it in my sleep. So, of course, I trained for that.

“But it was just a good kick. It was something that I know that I did wrong… not necessarily wrong. Didn’t do as well. And it was just a beautiful kick. Hats off to him.”

Co-headlining UFC 286 is the return of former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, who is coming off nearly a yearlong layoff. He will face number six-ranked Rafael Fiziev, who is coming off a knockout win over former champion Rafael dos Anjos.

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About the author: Milan Ordoñez has been covering combat sports since 2012 and has been part of the Bloody Elbow staff since 2016. He’s also competed in amateur mixed martial arts and submission grappling tournaments. (full bio)

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