Chad Mendes vs. Jose Aldo | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Chad Mendes was ranked as the second-best featherweight on the planet behind Jose Aldo for many years in the 2010s and gave the Brazilian one the hardest tests of his UFC reign in an epic battle in 2014. Looking back, he names Aldo as the toughest man he’s ever faced.
“Aldo’s a beast,” Mendes told MMA Fighting. “I still tell everybody to this day, that was my toughest fight. Everyone always thinks it’s Conor [McGregor], but it wasn’t. Aldo was next level. I think that took about 10 years off my life, I always say. That night I got back to the hotel, I was pissing blood. I’d never had that happen on any of my fights. I was pretty beat up after that fight.”
Mendes tested himself against three other former or future UFC champions during his final run in MMA — Conor McGregor, Alexander Volkanovski, and Frankie Edgar, plus Eddie Alvarez in bare-knuckle boxing — but says there’s still no one like Aldo.
Mendes was undefeated in MMA when he first challenged Aldo for UFC gold, venturing into enemy territory as an undefeated 11-0 prospect but ultimately losing via first-round knockout in 2012. Mendes earned another crack at Aldo’s featherweight title in 2014 after earning five wins in a row, and the two put on an epic five-round thriller again in Rio de Janeiro. Aldo won a decision, his final title defense before losing to Conor McGregor.
Mendes replaced Aldo on short notice at UFC 189 to face McGregor for the interim featherweight title the following year, but lost via second-round stoppage.
Aldo recently returned to the UFC after nearly a two-year hiatus — a period in which he went 2-0-1 in boxing — and dominated rising prospect Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301. After completing his UFC deal, Aldo re-signed and now faces Mario Bautista at UFC 307.
“He’s a beast, man,” Mendes said of Aldo’s lateet win. “I’m definitely not surprised he came back and completely dominated like that. … I didn’t even know he was coming back [for UFC 307]. He doesn’t need to. I think he just has the true love for it. And honestly, I do too, that’s why I keep coming back. But that’s awesome, man. I always like watching Aldo fight.”
Aldo could make a case for another shot at the UFC bantamweight title if he keeps beating up-and-comers and UFC contenders, and Mendes won’t count him out against the likes of Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, who headline UFC 308 for the belt on Sept. 14.
“I would imagine he’s gonna keep pouring his heart and soul into it,” Mendes said. “He doesn’t seem like a guy that half-asses anything, so I think [he can win].”
Aleksandre Topuria | Guillermo Gutierrez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Aleksandre Topuria is joining his brother Ilia Topuria in the UFC, MMA Fighting confirmed after the bantamweight talent announced on social media.
UFC has yet to work on a date and opponent for his octagon debut.
Topuria, 28, is one year older than his UFC featherweight champion brother. The elder Topuria scored all his five professional victories via first-round finishes, choking out his first two opponents and then beating his past three by knockouts.
Topuria (5-1) lost by TKO the sole time his fights stretched past the opening round in MMA, falling short against Ivo Ivanov on the Spanish circuit in 2015. He took a six-year layoff from MMA after that loss before returning with a win over Lucas Tenório in 2021.
Ilia Topuria is currently scheduled to put the UFC featherweight belt on the line in the main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, facing Max Holloway on Oct. 26. It will be his first title defense since a shocking knockout over Alexander Volkanovski in February.
Daniel Cormier is against the recent rule change to legalize 12-to-6 elbows in MMA.
But not for the reasons you’d assume.
“I don’t like that. I don’t like 12-to-6 elbows and I don’t like soccer kicks. I do not want to see soccer kicks,” Cormier said this past week on his YouTube channel.
“So here’s my thought, because there’s a little bit of a difference, right? So when I was fighting [Anthony] ‘Rumble’ Johnson, you can’t [throw a 12-to-6 elbow], but if you do a little bit of an arch, it’s OK. Angle and arch. So I was able to cut ‘Rumble’ with an arching elbow, but it really did come straight down. It was very little in terms of not being straight up and down. I just don’t want anything that makes fighting look like a street fight. That’s it.”
In July, the Association of Boxing Commissions voted to remove the 12-to-6 elbow as a foul as one of two key rule changes for the unified rules of MMA. The other rule change altered the definition of a “downed fighter” to open up more offensive opportunities in scrambling and wrestling transitions. Those changes are due to go into effect on November 1.
The most infamous incident of a 12-to-6 elbow occurred in Jon Jones’ controversial 2009 loss to Matt Hamill. Jones, a fierce rival of Cormier’s during Cormier’s UFC career, was disqualified for hitting Hamill with a downward elbow in a fight he was otherwise dominating. Fifteen years later, that fight still stands as the only loss on Jones’ pro MMA record. UFC CEO Dana White and Jones have both spoken openly over the years about wanting to get the loss reversed, and did so again after the rule change was finalized.
Considering their rivalry, which included two heated UFC championship bouts from 2015-17, it’d be only natural to assume Cormier dislikes the decision to legalize 12-to-6 elbows because of Jones’ history with the no-longer-banned technique. But Cormier says that’s not the case. Instead, he says, it has to do with the slippery slope the decision could kick off.
“John McCain, before he passed, was against fighting [MMA] because he said it’s human cockfighting,” Cormier said of the once-critical U.S. Senator who reversed course on MMA later in life. “But then they would show these videos of like gang fights, and people running around and people on the ground and they would just kick them in the face. You know how that happens. If we get to soccer kicks, it starts to look like that again, and that’s not good.
“Everything kind of looks clean [without 12-to-6 elbows]. I’m telling you, bro, these are my reasons. I don’t like the [12-to-6 elbow rule change]. I mean, 12-to-6 elbow, I don’t feel as strongly about — I don’t care as much about 12-to-6 elbows, but I think the moment we start opening those rules again, then it’s going to be more and more and more, and then ultimately we’ll get back to soccer kicks. Because you do know that now, hands down, starting in November, is not grounded anymore. … Again, that’s one move back toward that, then there will be something else moves closer to that. That’s just my biggest worry.”
The United States had an up and down day in wrestling action on Thursday with one athlete moving onto a gold medal match, but two more falling in the semifinals.
Former Iowa standout Spencer Lee continued his run at 57kg with another dominant performance as he shut down Gulomjon Abdullaev from Uzbekistan with a 14-4 win by technical superiority. While injuries stopped him from even attempting to make the 2020 Olympic team, Lee came storming back with his showing in Paris.
On Friday, Lee faces Rei Higuchi from Japan, who also won his match in lopsided fashion after he eliminated Aman Sehrawat from India with a 10-0 score by technical superiority.
While Lee has a chance at gold on Friday, two of his teammates from the U.S. weren’t as fortunate.
Four-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks, who eliminated 2020 Olympic gold medalist David Taylor to make the U.S. team, suffered a last-second loss in his match against Bulgaria’s Magomed Ramazanov.
Wow! Ramzanov emerges victorious against Aaron Brooks. We are proud of you, and we respect the great Aaron Brooks! pic.twitter.com/HPyx1ZyJz7
— DopamineO (@dopamineo_world) August 8, 2024
Brooks started strong and looked like he was in control but after giving up a two-point takedown, Ramazanov grabbed a leg and started twisting in an attempt to get another turn. While Brooks didn’t surrender the points, his foot was torqued backwards at the same time Ramazanov was pulling on his head.
A stall call from the referee saw the wrestlers stand up again but Brooks was clearly bothered with a potential injury to his back. The match continued with Brooks up 3-2 and he desperately tried to hold on for the win while grabbing onto Ramazanov’s foot during a takedown attempt.
Just before the horn sounded, Ramazanov worked his foot free and secured the takedown for two points and the win to defeat the American. A disappointing result for Brooks, who was favored to win in Paris, but he’ll still get a chance to claim a bronze medal on Friday.
The same goes for two-time Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis in what is almost certainly one of the final competitions of her career. After becoming the first woman to ever win gold for the United States in wrestling back in 2016, Maroulis followed that up with a bronze medal win in 2020.
She’ll go for bronze again on Friday after falling to Japanese phenom Tsugumi Sakurai, who took over the match after giving up points early but then shutting down the American the rest of the way. The final score was 10-4 with Sakurai moving onto the gold medal match.
Both Brooks and Maroulis will still wrestle for bronze while Lee attempts to become the first men’s team member from the United States to win gold after Amit Elor and Sarah Hildebrandt captured gold for the women’s team.
Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
UFC pay-per-view prices have increased four times since inking a broadcast deal with ESPN, and that’s led to even more piracy of events.
During a quarterly financial call on Thursday, TKO Group Holdings president Mark Shapiro acknowledged that ESPN controls the costs of the pay-per-views, which is the company’s right after signing a deal to include those premium events as part of the company’s broadcast rights deal with the UFC. Since striking that deal in 2019, ESPN has raised the prices of pay-per-views from $ 59.99 at launch to the current $ 79.99 cost, which started in 2023.
While the UFC constantly battles against piracy of those pay-per-view events, Shapiro mentioned that the increased cost almost certainly resulted in even higher numbers of pirated cards, which led to a conversation with ESPN about those rising prices.
“ESPN and Disney were very aggressive, if you will, on pricing the pay-per-views and they have full control over that, but they have control given what they’re paying us for those rights,” Shapiro said. “Over the period of our partnership, they probably went a little quicker and a little higher than we would have liked.
“We voiced that to them, especially in this era of piracy where we’re seeing our piracy numbers really jacked up and we think that’s driven by them pricing it too high. They were very receptive to that feedback.”
Shapiro revealed that executives from TKO sat down with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro to express concerns over the increased price of pay-per-views.
That led to new package deals where ESPN offered lower pricing on events where fans could purchase a card well ahead of time to save money versus purchasing a card on fight night or within a few days of an event, which is typical.
“We had a meeting in Las Vegas a few months ago with Jimmy Pitaro and Dana [White],” Shapiro said. “They took the price down, if you will, in terms of offering a new marketing promotion where if you buy by a certain date, well in advanced of the numbered fights, you are going to get a discount and then the price of course increases once you pass that date. They’re seeing good success with that.”
While live event revenue for the UFC has exploded in recent years, it doesn’t seem like pay-per-view sales have seen the same success..
That said, Shapiro believes the overall market for UFC pay-per-views is finally settling down again, which he expects to lead to increased revenue in the future.
“Like audiences in the live events where we’re selling out and breaking records and you see it all in the press release, and like the yield that we’re commanding, which in many cases specifically with WWE have been higher than we even planned for, we’re also sustaining our buys when it comes to pay-per-view,” Shapiro said. “So we feel really good about that.”
Since announcing an increase in cost for UFC pay-per-views at the end of 2022, ESPN has not changed the price for those events over the past 20 months.
ESPN maintains broadcast rights over the UFC until the end of 2025. The two sides are expected to begin negotiations on potentially reaching an agreement on a new deal early next year.
Belal Muhammad promised to be a fighting champion, and now he’s keeping a close eye on all the potential contenders in the welterweight division.
After dispatching Leon Edwards to become champion at UFC 304, Muhammad immediately recognized fighters like Shavkat Rakhmonov as likely challengers to his title, although he admits that no one has been clearly defined as the No. 1 contender in the division. For once in his career, Muhammad no longer has to call anybody out, because with the UFC title around his waist, he goes from being the hunter to the hunted.
That being said, Muhammad happily discounts one familiar name who won’t make his list as a viable opponent — failed three-time UFC title challenger Colby Covington, who began chirping almost immediately after Muhammad won the belt in Manchester.
“It’s funny. He’s literally the biggest clown in the UFC,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “It’s embarrassing to see how he’s trying to grasp for any sort of attention and say anything. ‘Let me catch him outside.’ Bro, I wish I see you outside. Let’s see what you would do. I literally called him out since 2017 when I fought in Australia. This guy’s a coward.
“But that’s what he does. He shied away from that Ian Garry fight. He said it wasn’t worth his time. If he would have won that fight, his name could have been right back in the mix. So now he looks dumb. He’s a clown. I’m wondering what he’s going to do next. There’s nobody out there that I see him saying yes to. He’s going to wait and hope that Tony Ferguson comes back and fights one more fight and then he’s going to win that and say, ‘See I deserve to be in there, look what I just did to Tony Ferguson!’”
With a 2-3 record in his past five fights — and all three losses coming in title bouts — it’s tough to imagine Covington sliding back into another title shot without first earning several relevant wins. Covington’s most recent victory over a fighter on the current UFC roster came all the way back in 2018, when he defeated Rafael dos Anjos to win the interim belt.
Covington’s latest fight ended in disappointment after he dropped a tepid five-round decision to Edwards this past December. He hasn’t booked another matchup since.
Muhammad doesn’t even want to give oxygen to inflammatory trash talk that isn’t going to get Covington another chance to compete for UFC gold.
“There’s zero percent chance,” Muhammad said of Covington getting another title shot. “I said he sucked before the Leon Edwards fight and they gifted him the title shot. There’s nobody in the top five that he could beat. There’s nobody in there where I could see him and say, ‘Well, if he beats him, there’s a chance.’
“I don’t see him accepting any top-five fights and I definitely don’t see him beating any top fighters if he gets that chance.”
With Covington eliminated, Muhammad gave his thoughts on the contenders he considers legitimate in the welterweight division, beginning with Rakhmonov, who is undefeated with an 18-0 record and a perfect finishing rate in those 18 fights.
“He’s the boogeyman,” Muhammad said of Rakhmonov. “The guy that everyone thinks will dominate everybody. When I look at stylistically what I’ll be able to do to him and what I’ve seen, there’s nothing he shows me where I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to be afraid of this or that.’ He’s not a specialist anywhere. Obviously, he’s a specialist in finishing, but I’ve only been finished once in my life.”
While he has no problem accepting a fight against Rakhmonov if that’s what UFC wants, Muhammad would love to see Rakhmonov get another quality win on his record just to cement his spot as the No. 1 contender.
As impressive as Rakhmonov has been through his first six UFC fights, he hasn’t beaten a top-five ranked opponent yet.
“Even for myself, when you look at all the names I had to go through [to get a title shot],” Muhammad said. “Even after beating ‘Wonderboy,’ I still had to win four more fights to get there and I had to take a short-notice fight against Gilbert Burns. Alright, you’re just going to give it to him after [winning] the ‘Wonderboy’ fight? If him and [Kamaru] Usman fought, the winner would for sure deserve it.
“But when Leon won the title, there was a clear No. 1 contender. I was the clear No. 1 contender and they still gave it to Colby. But when I won the title, there’s not that clear No. 1 contender. Obviously, Shavkat makes the most sense just because he’s undefeated, but when I look at the résumé, he didn’t have to go through what I had to go through to get it. But it’s all up to the UFC now.”
Ideally, Muhammad would eventually like to add Kamaru Usman to his résumé as well, because Usman was the champion Muhammad was chasing when he started his long UFC winning streak. He never got that chance because Usman eventually lost the belt to Edwards, but Muhammad acknowledges that’s still a huge win he wants on his record.
“For me, that was the guy I was chasing for so long,” Muhammad said. “He was the champion up there and people were saying that he was the GOAT. He had that moment of Dana White saying he was the best welterweight to ever do it.
“For Leon to take that away from me and then me to go out there and dominate Leon, to do what Usman couldn’t do, and then Usman to say I stole his blueprint — for me, to have him on my résumé would be huge. For legacy and just to show the world, to show Dana White, what I would have done if I got that opportunity when I should have. I think legacy-wise, Usman has the biggest name for sure, but on three losses, it’s hard to give him the title shot.”
Whether it’s Rakhmonov, Usman, or someone else, Muhammad doesn’t really care who UFC throws at him for his first title defense. Muhammad also recognized fighters like Ian Machado Garry and Jack Della Maddalena as contenders on the rise, potentially only a fight or two from a title shot as well.
“Honestly, [Garry] knows how to win,” Muhammad said. “He figures it out. I think that’s a big quality to have, for you to just understand how to win and fight a certain way for every fighter. Him and Leon would honestly be a great fight next. I feel like that makes a lot of sense. Stylistically, it would end up being a good fight.
“[Della Maddalena is] definitely a tough matchup stylistically for any of those other guys in the division. But for myself, I see a path to beating him pretty easily. But I’m hoping that injury gets cleared up soon and we get to see him fight somebody.”
Right now, Muhammad targets a late 2024 or early 2025 return to action, and then Muhammad just wants UFC to start lining up challenges so he can knock them down.
“There’s not a guy in the division where I look at like, ‘Man, that’s a tough fight,’ or, ‘This is going to be difficult fight, let me shy away from this guy.’” Muhammad said. “There’s nobody that I shy away from.”
Chris Weidman will fight again before the end of the year.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Weidman will face Eryk Anders at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 following Anders’ management team announcing the booking on Twitter.
The event is expected to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York, although UFC has yet to officially announce the site.
After missing more than two years following a brutal leg injury in his UFC 261 fight with Uriah Hall in April 2021, Weidman is 1-1 in two octagon appearances. In his last outing, the former UFC middleweight champion earned a technical decision over Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City in March. The 40-year-old is set for his 20th promotional walk.
Anders also enters the bout off a March victory, having defeated Jamie Pickett at UFC Vegas 87 via unanimous decision. Anders has flip-flopped wins and losses over his past four bouts, which includes a stoppage victory over Kyle Daukaus in December 2022.
Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber coaching TUF in 2015 | Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Will Conor McGregor ever fight again? Will he face Michael Chandler in December, as both have alluded to, after their cancelled UFC 303 bout in June?
Those questions have yet to be answered, but veteran fighter Urijah Faber is confident that “The Notorious” is far from done.
Faber, a former WEC featherweight champion who also coached a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite McGregor back in 2015, told MMA Fighting that he sees hunger in McGregor despite all the money and fame the Irishman has made throughout the years.
“For being a friend but a distant friend, someone that I feel like I’ve spent enough time on with to kind of understand, the guy wants to fight,” Faber said. “He has money, he has fame, he could easily go and just do the movie career or be a businessman or whatever, but I feel like in his heart, his identity, his passions are still to fight. I think he will fight.”
McGregor fractured his leg in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021 and later left the USADA drug-testing pool, which delayed a potential UFC return. McGregor was finally cleared in 2024 and booked the Chandler match for UFC 303, but withdrew weeks prior with an injured pinky toe.
Faber’s teammate Chad Mendes, who once fought McGregor for the UFC interim title at UFC 189, doubts he’s ever coming back, telling MMA Fighting that McGregor “just keeps backing out.”
Faber disagrees.
“He’s in no rush, he’s going to do it on his terms, which is a great place to be,” Faber said of the constant delays. “Not many people in this world, in our world, mixed martial arts, get to be in the place he’s in, where he wears the pants. But I think he will fight because he loves to fight. I mean, that’s who he is in his heart, that’s what’s given him these opportunities. He’s still young and full of piss and vinegar, so I hope to see him fight. The MMA space always benefits when a superstar comes out and puts their neck out.”
McGregor won 10 of his first 12 UFC bouts, beating the likes of Jose Aldo, Poirier, Max Holloway, Nate Diaz, and Eddie Alvarez, but was stopped twice by Poirier in 2021. If his return is booked for December, it will be almost five years after his most recent victory — a 40-second knockout against Donald Cerrone. But Faber is impressed enough, based on the footage he’s seen of McGregor training, to pick the former champ to beat Chandler.
“If he trains correctly, I think he’ll win,” Faber said. “We actually sent him a Rollbot. If you haven’t seen it, rollbotbjj.com, it’s a company that I have. I was impressed. The Rollbot is a high-tech training dummy with neck sensors and joints that dislocate. He wanted one bad, so we sent him one out, and I was watching him on that thing — and I’m like, ‘This guy is as skilled as it gets when he goes to the ground.’ He hasn’t lost a beat, so I’d like to see him back.”
Marcin Tybura and Serghei Spivac face off | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC is back to the world’s most famous APEX.
This Saturday, the UFC returns Sin City for UFC Vegas 95, headlined by a heavyweight rematch between Marcin Tybura and Serghei Spivac and the No Bets Barred boys are back with a full breakdown of the event.
Co-hosts Conner Burks and Jed Meshew kick things off with a brief UFc Abu Dhabi and their unfortunate weekends before diving into this Saturday’s event. Can “Surging” Serghei Spivac exact revenge on Marcin Tybura? Why is one of the top-15 women’s bantamweight matchups buried on the prelims? Was this card truly necessary?
All that plus some more Olympics talk on this week’s episode.
Tune in for episode 97 of No Bets Barred.
New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.
Abus Magomedov dominates Warlley Alves | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Abus Magomedov is the latest Russian addition to UFC 308 after agreeing to face Brunno Ferreira at the Oct. 26 card, multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting following a report from Laerte Viana.
UFC 308 is headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway for the featherweight championship, with former middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker taking on Khamzat Chimaev in the co-main event. The event takes place at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena.
Ferreira (12-1) was initially set to face Roman Kopylov on Aug. 24, but the Russian withdrew due to illness.
“Hulk” scored a pair of first-round knockouts in his most recent UFC appearances, winning performance bonuses for his brutal finishes of Phil Hawes and Dustin Stoltzfus.
Magomedov (26-6-1) won a decision over Warlley Alves in his most recent fight in May, rebounding from back-to-back decision losses to Caio Borralho and Sean Strickland.
The 33-year-old Dagestani has finished 14 of his 26 MMA wins by knockout, including a 19-second stoppage of Stoltzfus in his octagon debut.
File under: Mmafighting.com | Leave a comment »