Khamzat Chimaev may end up fighting for gold in his next fight after he demolished former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker inside the first round at UFC 308.

That’s exactly what UFC color commentator Joe Rogan wants to see after he witnessed Chimaev sink in a nasty rear-naked choke applied across the chin, which ended up shattering Whittaker’s teeth in one of the grisliest finishes in recent history. Rogan was blown away with Chimaev’s performance and he doesn’t see anything else that makes sense outside of a title shot against reigning champion Dricus du Plessis.

“That guy’s a scary ass motherf*cker,” Rogan said on his Fight Companion podcast for UFC 308. “That grappling is next level. He’s a beast. Once he gets a hold of you it’s so dangerous.

“You give him the title shot. Holy shit. He gets a title shot, I think. Not just [beating Whittaker in the first round], but ran through him. He didn’t get touched. He ran through him and strangled him in the first round. He might be the guy.”

Chimaev has remained one of the most hyped prospects on the entire UFC roster after he first arrived in the promotion and ended up winning three fights inside two months. He was initially a contender in the welterweight division but struggles getting down to the 170-pound limit necessitated his move up to middleweight.

Rogan believes that was the best move for Chimaev and the results showed on Saturday.

“Think about this at [185 pounds]. So this guy was killing himself to get to 170,” Rogan said. “At 185, he’s the f*cking man.”

It’s tough to argue against Rogan’s logic regarding Chimaev’s future, especially coming off that kind of performance against a former champion and perennial contender in Whittaker.

While Sean Strickland might have something to say about that after he was promised the next title shot, Chimaev may have just jumped the line with his performance at UFC 308.

“That was super, super impressive,” Rogan said about Chimaev’s win.

It remains to be seen what the UFC plans to do at middleweight with du Plessis still awaiting word on his next opponent with no date or location announced for his next fight.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Bryan Battle embraced fighting in enemy territory, but he wasn’t necessarily trying to make enemies after his latest win at UFC Paris.

But viciously knocking out local favorite Kevin Jousset immediately put him at odds with the crowd so the former Ultimate Fighter winner took advantage of the moment by erupting during his post-fight interview and offering the fans a two-finger salute as he celebrated his victory. Following his win, a message on Twitter went viral claiming that Battle was being fined $ 250,000 for his actions and he was being banned from competing in France again.

The only problem? The post came from a parody account on Twitter, but the truth never stopped anybody from overreacting and even Battle got caught off guard when he heard the news.

“I knew it wasn’t a real thing or it wasn’t something I had heard of,” Battle told MMA Fighting. “I’m like $ 250,000 fine, banned from Paris? That’s crazy. I was like I wonder who gave them this information?

“But as the day goes on, people are leaving comments and it’s growing, growing, growing and then one of my friends said no [that was a parody account]. I saw Chael Sonnen did a whole video [talking about the punishment] and people in the comments were like ‘Chael, you need to check your sources.’ That was funny.”

While it didn’t take him long to figure out the message came from a parody account, Battle already had an idea that he was dealing with fake news thanks to another fighter who followed him with an equally inflammatory post-fight interview.

“I knew there was no way I was getting fined, and [Renato] Moicano wasn’t getting fined,” Battle said referencing the UFC Paris headliner after he finished Benoit Saint Denis. “He actually was talking about the government.

“I said some goofy shit. I was being silly as hell. Moicano was talking about real life things so that’s the real heel of the night, in France at least. But that was funny as hell. Again, any kind of attention, any kind of energy, we’ll take it. I’m not being picky about what goes out.”

Parody or not, Battle had fun with becoming notorious for at least one night.

“It’s one of those things, I have not openly denied it one time,” Battle said with a laugh. “I’m just like letting it ride. It is funny. People think I’m at war with the country of France! People thought it was dangerous for me in France.

“Now granted, they were throwing stuff at us when we were walking back through the tunnel, but once I got through the tunnel, all the French people were cool as hell.”

Many of the responses to the supposed fine and ban from France praised Battle for the viral moment in the octagon with a lot of fans excited to see him embrace his new “heel” persona.

In professional wrestling, the term heel effectively means villain or bad guy and Battle had a feeling he would have to take on that role no matter what when he agreed to face a fighter from France on the UFC Paris card.

“People are like ‘Bryan with the crazy heel turn,’ but the reality of it is, there’s no one who’s mad at me for real,” Battle said. “If I’m the heel, I’m the cool heel that people root for. It’s a funny thing, too, in that situation you have no choice but to be the bad guy. You’re in someone else’s house.

“I wonder what it’s going to be like going back to Las Vegas. Like I’m not going to be a dickhead for the sake of being a dickhead. That would be the difference between me and a lot of guys. I’m not going to go out of my way to be a heel. I’m not going to go out of my way to be obnoxious and mean but if it’s what it calls for, I’m going to let them have it.”

Battle won’t have to wait long to find out about how the crowd is going to react to him with his next fight already booked for UFC 310 on Dec. 7 when he faces Randy Brown on the final pay-per-view show for 2024.

Don’t expect him to go out of his way to rile up the crowd just so he can keep playing the bad guy but whatever gets people excited is what he wants to give to them.

“I think it’s less me being a bad guy and more just speaking my mind,” Battle said. “People are identifying with what I’m saying.

“Good guy, bad guy, heel, face, all that stuff, I’m here for the energy. Whatever’s going to get the crowd the most invested into the fight, that’s what I want. It elevates the fight. I loved it.”

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Carla Esparza wanted the storybook ending.

Ahead of her return at UFC 307, the two-time strawweight champion announced her retirement with plans to call it a career after facing Tecia Pennington in October. Despite her best efforts, Esparza ended up on the wrong end of a controversial decision loss but despite the result, she remains steadfast in her decision to stop fighting.

“It’s just hard,” Esparza told MMA Fighting. “Even if I won in the first round via finish or lost a controversial decision, it’s hard to not want to go back no matter what the outcome was. I love fighting.

“But that’s the last one for me regardless. I’m just glad I went out on a good note. It would have been much sweeter to go out with my hand raised but I’d say I’m good with how I left things.”

In the moment, Esparza was overwhelmed with emotions, especially after she was joined in the octagon by her son, who played a huge part in her decision to hang up her gloves for good.

It was only after returning home and rewatching the fight that Esparza felt like the judges definitely took a win away from her that night.

“I think I’m kind of the same opinion of pretty much everyone else. I thought I won the fight,” Esparza said. “Right after the fight, I don’t like to say one way or the other because it’s hard. It just goes so fast when you’re in there. I wanted to make sure I gave it a watch before I gave my opinion of the loss.

“I feel kind of the same as everyone else did I guess. I thought I won it. Then when I heard that 30-27, I thought it was in the bag. I was pretty shocked at that.”

The 30-27 scorecard for Torres definitely earned more than a few confused looks at the judges handing down the decision but there’s not much Esparza can do about it now.

The crowd in Utah definitely voiced a loud opinion afterwards with Pennington receiving a loud chorus of boos as she spoke about her performance, which ended a two-fight skid following a pair of split decision losses. As much as she wanted to win, Esparza admits it was tough to see Pennington face such hostility from the fans.

“At the end of the day, both fighters are going to give it their all and put their heart out there,” Esparza said. “You can’t control what the judges do. That has nothing to do with you as a fighter. That’s always a bummer to see another fighter deal with that but you just kind of wish the judges would have made the correct call and not put people in that position to begin with.”

Following the conclusion of the fight, Esparza received a fitting tribute from the UFC with a video package put together to celebrate her entire career. The 37-year-old veteran reveals she had no idea that was actually going to happen so her emotional reaction was absolutely authentic.

“I had seen them do it for a few people in the past,” Esparza said. “I thought it would have been really cool but I didn’t necessarily expect it. It caught me off guard a little bit when I saw it.

“I’m not a big crier, I’ve had friends that I’ve known for 10 or 15 years that have never seen me cry. I feel the water coming. I’m like oh my gosh, it sunk in.”

Because of the result she received in the fight, Esparza certainly wouldn’t be the first fighter to walk back her retirement and announce plans to compete again.

As much as winning mattered, Esparza says she’s living up to her promise and the fight at UFC 306 will serve as the final appearance of her career.

“I would say in a normal circumstance if I wasn’t retiring, I’d be like I’ve got to go back to the drawing board, I’ve got so much work to do!” Esparza said. “Rematch or whatever! My mind was set no matter what happened. I still feel good about it. That would have been the one cherry on top of the sundae, the same situation but had my hand raised.

“But what can you do? I’m at peace with it. I think that’s it for me. Maybe a jiu-jitsu match, a super fight is in my future for fun. As far as MMA goes, I think that’s it.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC 308 took place this past Saturday, with both Ilia Topuria and Khamzat Chimaev delivering incredible performances. In the co-main event, Chimaev literally broke Robert Whittaker’s face en route to a first-round submission, and then in the main event Topuria did what some believed to be impossible: he knocked out Max Holloway.

So with some big, big things going down last weekend, let’s answer some of your questions about it all.

How long can Ilia Topuria reign?

“Of all the current fighters on the UFC roster, is there anybody you’re more confident will be champion on Jan. 1, 2027 than Topuria?

Guys, I don’t know if I mentioned this but

ILIA TOPURIA FREAKING KILLED MAX HOLLOWAY! THE UNBREAKABLE CHIN GOT BROKEN!! WHAT IS THE LIMIT TO WHAT HE CAN KNOCK OUT?!?! CAN TOPURIA DEMOLISH A BUILDING WITH HIS BARE HANDS?!?! SHOULD WE FIND OUT?!

Sorry, just had to get that out.

Look, I understand the arguments trying to temper expectations for Topuria right now: both Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway probably aren’t in their primes anymore. I don’t care. Felling Holloway with the relative ease Topuria had is an astonishing accomplishment in the history of this sport. And he’s only 27 years old!

The Topuria we saw on Saturday is one of the best fighters on Earth (if not the best) and that’s the worst version of him we’re going to see for the next five years. Think about that. He demolished the two men who have reigned over this division the past seven years and he did it without issue. Dude, it’s curtains for the rest of the featherweights out there right now. I’d tell you to change weight classes but lightweight and Islam Makhachev ain’t any better.

Now, there’s always the possibility that someone comes along out of relatively nowhere. When Holloway took the title he was 25 and it looked like we were in a for a long reign, and then Volkanovski ascended. Maybe something similar happens here, but I doubt it. The only way Topuria is dropping the 145-pound title in the next four years is if he moves up a weight class.

Topuria’s performance

“You’ve said before you thought Volk was the best fighter you’ve ever seen, after tonight how high is Ilia on that list? Is he the most talented featherweight ever? (Young Aldo gives him a run for that if just comparing how much better than their competition)”

Well, what I said was the Volkanovski that beat Max Holloway in their third fight might be the best fighter I’ve ever seen. And that’s not to say Volk is the GOAT or anything like that, more to point out that Volk on that night delivered a flawless performance against an all-time great fighter, which is extremely rare.

And for as great as Topuria was and is, his win on Saturday is not the same. While it was also an exceptional performance and had a more definitive ending, Topuria’s win was not flawless. Many people had Holloway winning the first two rounds (and I don’t blame them, though I didn’t score it that way). Though he lost the war, Max won many of the battles on Saturday night. Conversely, against Volkanovski in their trilogy bout, Max lost every battle and lost the war (also, I’d argue that was a better version of Max but that’s a separate issue).

To me, Volk’s third win over Holloway was an all-time great at the absolute peak of his powers. Topuria’s win at UFC 308 was an ascending talent teasing what is possible. It’s crazy to think but I’m expecting much better performances from him in the future.

So in those terms, Topuria is pretty far down the list. But that will come with time and tenure atop the sport. But for now, that performance removed all debate about Fighter of the Year for me (Topuria wins in a landslide, his two wins have a case for being the best two-win stretch of any MMA career ever) and legitimately inserted him into the pound-for-pound discussion. That should be enough for one night’s work.

Alexander Volkanovski, title challenger

“Should Volk need to pick up a win before fighting Topuria again?

“I would be usually more on board with a long-reigning champ getting a rematch, but in Volk’s case the context is a little different because of the two Islam losses that preceded him losing the belt.”

He absolutely should, but that’s not what’s happening.

I’ve made my thoughts on this point known plenty, but I hate immediate rematches. In most instances, the immediate rematch simply leads to the person who lost losing again, in worse fashion. The rest of the time, it’s basically a free mulligan for the loser and minimizes the significance of the first fight. To me, the only time there should ever be an immediate rematch in MMA is to resolve a draw or no-contest, or a trilogy fight where they split the first two encounters. Any other time, go back and get one win at least.

So of course I think Volkanovski should fight again before getting another shot at Topuria. Personally, I think the best idea is to have Volk fight Diego Lopes when the UFC goes back to Australia for UFC 312. Heck, make it for an interim belt, who cares? Then the winner gets Topuria and that gives the UFC enough time to figure the logistics for Topuria to defend his title against the winner in Spain, sometime next summer.

But that’s not how the sport works and I’ve had to make my peace with it. Volkanovski is going to get his rematch and I gotta be honest, it’s going to be a hard watch for you Volk fans. He’s going to get thumped again.

Lightweight?

“Once Ilia retires Volk what’s next? Can he really challenge the grappling prowess of Islam or Armen at 155?”

There’s already a ton of this sentiment out there with people calling to see Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev and all I have to say to that is No. No no no no no no.

Yes, I think Topuria will beat anyone he fights at featherweight. But me thinking it and it happening are two very different things. Plenty of people thought Max would beat Topuria. If we just dismissed title challengers because of public sentiment, then why would we even have fights in the first place? We could just do internet polls instead.

Being a champion means defending your title and giving others the same chance you yourself were given: their day in court to prove they’re the best in the world. We have GOT to stop booking champ vs. champ fights when both champions have more than enough work to do.

Diego Lopes deserves a title shot. The winner of Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling will deserve a title shot. And by the time Topuria defends those, maybe Arnold Allen will have a few wins and deserve a title shot. The man is 27. Let’s see him actually clean out a division before we start calling for a move up.

(Also, if Makhachev did that, three of his four/five title defenses would be against guys from the weight class beneath him. I know Jon Jones built a GOAT case doing that, but I want more from Makhachev).

Max Holloway

“Do you think a permanent move up to lightweight is the best thing for Max now? The weight cut that’s not getting easier, all the damage he took over the years plus this brutal career changing KO looks like the combination of everything you don’t want to do anymore.”

I thought Max should’ve moved up after the third Volkanovski fight. Not because he can’t compete (obviously he could) but because he’d fought most of the dudes at 145 and lightweight offered more fun matchups. I still believe that to be the case today, though now there’s a caveat.

Once a chin gets cracked, it’s never the same. Moving up to lightweight may be good for Holloway in lessening the weight cut, but it also puts him with an entirely different tier of hitter. Featherweight is a great weight class, but only Topuria and Josh Emmett are the real big punchers there. Aside from lightweights in general having more power, the division also houses Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Michael Chandler and others who all clobber fools.

I’m not saying Max can’t compete up at lightweight, he can. I’m just saying with his chin no longer invulnerable, there is more risk with the move up now than I’d have thought a couple years ago.

Khamzat Chimaev

“Am I insane, I would be confident Chimaev could be champion in WW, MW and LHW! I am torn on if I think he could challenge Tom Aspinall at heavyweight. Is that ridiculous or fair?”

A little of column A, a little of column B.

After what he just did to Robert Whittaker on Saturday, it’s obviously not insane to think Chimaev can become middleweight champion. In fact he’s already the betting favorite to beat Dricus du Plessis should they fight.

I can also see the case for Chimaev at light heavyweight. We all love Alex Pereira but it’s not a big stretch to imagine Chimaev landing a low single-leg and the dummying the champion on the ground.

It’s the other two that give me pause. Long ago I was convinced Chimaev would become the welterweight champion, but those days are gone. After his catastrophic weight fiasco at UFC 279, the UFC probably won’t ever let him try to go down to 170 again and with good reason. Did you see him on the scale for UFC 308? The unsung MVP of this entire event was the weigh-in official who blitzed through Chimaev’s time on the scale. Man ain’t making 170 again.

And yeah, I like Chimaev but Tom Aspinall rinses him. Forty pounds is a lot of pounds and that’s roughly the edge he has on Chimaev in weight. Plus Chimaev uses plenty of strong man tactics that just won’t fly against a physical presence of that size.

Title challenger?

“I think Chimaev has passed Strickland for the title shot- is the concern that he apparently can’t stay healthy the only potential obstacle to DDP-Chimaev?”

You are not the only one, Zak. In fact, the only person who doesn’t think that might be Sean Strickland himself who is out here tweeting like a man who knows deep down he lost his claim to the title shot.

Look, I know there are concerns with Chimaev staying healthy and his rumored (though never confirmed) travel ban, but this isn’t hard: he’s got next. He’s massively popular and just BROKE ROBERT WHITTAKER’S FREAKING FACE! Strickland having a deeply uninspiring win over Paulo Costa (who has zero wins over people currently employed by the UFC) just ain’t gonna cut it.

DDP vs. Chimaev is the only fight to make and I can’t wait for it.

Robert Whittaker

“Where does the imagery of Whitaker’s injury rank in your lexicon of graphic MMA injuries over the years?”

Have you seen it? This is nightmare fuel!

There are plenty of terrible injuries that happen in MMA. Legs shatter, arms get broken, skulls fracture, and noses get disfigured on a regular basis. Heck, Irene Aldana set a new standard for horrific cuts two months ago! But there’s something about teeth that just gets me. Whittaker looked like he had dentures that fell out into his mouth. It was disgusting. Credit to “Bobby Knuckles” who is handling this much better than I ever would because that image is still haunting me several days later.

So to answer your question, this is right at the top. Never in this history of my fandom have I ever thought “No, I do not want to be an Ultimate Fighter” more than on Saturday night.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

With three title defenses in just about six months’ time, Alex Pereira appeared destined to win Fighter of the Year in 2024, but now it appears Ilia Topuria may have just staked his own claim to that crown.

On Saturday night at UFC 308, Topuria became the first person to knock out Max Holloway in what served as the first defense of his featherweight title after already demolishing former champion Alexander Volkanovski back in February. UFC legend Matt Brown argues that pair of wins, coupled with the dramatic way that Topuria dispatched arguably two of the greatest featherweights of all-time, has already secured him the year-end award over Pereira or anybody else for that matter.

“Alex didn’t knock out three pound-for-pound greats. Ilia knocked out two pound-for-pound greats,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “As great as those guys were that Alex fought, they weren’t Holloway or Volkanovski.

“I don’t think anybody expected anybody on this planet to do what Ilia did. If Max and Volk had fought 170-pounder guys, I don’t think they would expected for both of them to get knocked out. As impressive as Alex was … this is one of those where it’s too bad we can’t have two Fighter of the Year awards, because they both deserve it. You don’t want to take a damn thing away from Alex.”

Pereira added three knockout wins to his resume in 2024 with title defenses against Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree. Champions rarely compete three times in any given calendar year so by that number alone, Pereira had a leg up on any possible competition.

As impressive as that was, Brown says three title defenses from Pereira just can’t measure up to what Topuria did to Volkanovski and Holloway in consecutive fights.

Topuria may have one less win overall in 2024, but his level of competition was unmatched when it came to championship victories.

“I don’t think you can compare to that,” Brown explained. “I’m all on the Ilia train for Fighter of the Year. Again, I wish we could give something to Alex. What he did was remarkable but it wasn’t Max Holloway and Volkanovski. If Alex did that to Jon Jones, we’d be like OK, you go it, buddy. That wasn’t available to him. Alex beat the guys that were available. Ilia beat two of the best legends, career winners in the history of this sport. Knocked them out. Max Holloway does not get knocked out. Nobody knocks out Max Holloway.”

“You’ve got to give it Ilia. That debate’s pretty well settled. I think most people are going to be on that train.”

While he picked Topuria to win on Saturday, Brown admits he was ultra-impressed by the way “El Matador” stuck to his strategy and found a way to dismantle Holloway on the feet. Even he didn’t necessarily expect Topuria to flatten Holloway inside three rounds, but that’s exactly what happened.

“That was what I said leading into this fight — what Ilia’s going to have to do at some point is land that fight changing shot,” Brown said. “I knew he landed the fight-changing shot when he hurt Max. I thought for sure Max was going to come back though. I thought OK, there’s that fight changing shot, it’s really going to be Ilia beating up Max now for the next at least round or two but Max is going to stick around.

“I was just so impressed with how Ilia took his time, placed his shots so well, just some of the best boxing we’ve seen in MMA. The way that he strategizes everything so well, keeps himself in such good position all the time.”

A Fighter of the Year award is certainly a great achievement, but Brown believes that might just be the tip of the iceberg for what Topuria could accomplish during his career.

Topuria has already taken out a pair of all-time greats at featherweight, and it’s tough to see him losing to anybody competing at 145 pounds right now.

“That’s what makes Ilia so special,” Brown said. “He’s such a good boxer but those other little things that funnel you into his boxing, that’s some very high level stuff right there that really gets my blood pumping to watch.

“I think he’s got a lock for Fighter of the Year this year. He’s got a long reign ahead of him. He’s still got a long way to go to be up there with the [Georges St-Pierre’s] and Anderson Silva’s, but he’s right on that path.”

Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Paddy Pimblett saw Ilia Topuria make history, and he still wants a piece of the UFC featherweight champion.

Topuria not only successfully defended his title in Saturday’s UFC 308 main event, he became the first fighter ever to defeat Max Holloway by knockout. It’s a feat that has vaulted Topuria to the front of the Fighter of the Year and Pound-for-Pound conversation as he improved to 16-0 with no end to his run in sight.

That is unless you’re Pimblett, the talkative lightweight that has had a longstanding feud with “El Matador.” Pimblett posted a reaction video to his YouTube in which he referred to Topuria by a different nickname while also expressing confidence that he could hand the 27-year-old champion his first loss.

“Hand sanitizer boy with the win,” Pimblett said. “Heavy. Well done, Ilia. Give you your due, lad, 16-0, ‘Hand Sanitizer Boy.’ Can’t wait for him to come back up to lightweight. Still think I’d beat him. I really do. I still think I’d beat him, whether he’s just beat Max Holloway or not.”

Though Topuria has fought just twice in 2024, he has now knocked out Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, two of the three best fighters to ever compete at 145 pounds. It’s unlikely he sees Topuria in the cage anytime soon with the champion welcoming a rematch with Volkanovski, a top contender bout between Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling at UFC 309 potentially producing Topuria’s next challenger, plus the outside possibility that Topuria lands a fight with Islam Makhachev or Conor McGregor.

Should Pimblett ever get his hands on Topuria, he expects to extend his own winning streak and add him to his impressive list of submission victories.

“By kicking him on the feet or taking him down and submitting him,” Pimblett said of his strategy for Topuria. “I genuinely think I’d beat him, but congrats, Ilia Topuria. Well done, son.”

TOP STORIES

Review. The MMA Fighting crew give you the full rundown on the most important stories coming out of UFC 308.

No. 1. It’s a three-horse race atop the men’s Pound-for-Pound list, plus Cris Cyborg reminded everyone of her greatness.

Sure. Conor McGregor says “goodbye” to fighting.

Memes. Israel Adesanya responds to Shara Bullet’s callout with a few choice quotes.

Next. Is UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis the man to beat Khamzat Chimaev?

VIDEO STEW

“Mighty Mouse” explains.

Behind Battle of the Giants.

Gilbert Burns plays matchmaker.

Jack Slack.

Free fights.

FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR

Severe MMA. Sean Sheehan and Graeme McDonnell recap UFC 308 and preview Cage Warriors 179 in Rome this Saturday.

MMA ON Point. Got 10 minutes? Check out this quick hit reaction to Topuria’s incredible knockout.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Almost time.

Happy anniversary.

Any suggestions?

Better luck this weekend.

Eau de Rocky.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Johnny Walker (21-9, 1 NC) vs. Bogdan Guskov (16-3); UFC 311, Jan. 18

Sergei Pavlovich (18-3) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (15-5); UFC Saudi Arabia, Feb. 1

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m going to be honest, up until I wrote this I completely forgot that the Topuria-Pimblett feud was actually a thing. Seems like something from five years ago, if ever, given Topuria’s rise to prominence.

Doubt we ever actually see it, but stranger things have happened in this crazy business.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis kept a watchful eye over his division on Saturday when he witnessed Khamzat Chimaev potentially become the new No. 1 contender at 185 pounds.

Chimaev’s ascension ran parallel to Robert Whittaker’s demise after he saw his championship window potentially close for good when his jaw and teeth were shattered following a nasty submission that ended his night at UFC 308. Both had an impact on du Plessis with Whittaker serving as the person he beat to earn his own title shot while it’s entirely possible that Chimaev now becomes the next challenger at 185 pounds.

“Feel really sorry for Rob,” du Plessis wrote on Twitter. “He looked super ready but this is the fight game. Well done on a good performance, Khamzat. That being said I can’t wait to take your ‘O.’”

Considering the results on Saturday, du Plessis may have found his next opponent, although he’s been expected to clash with Sean Strickland in a rematch sometime in early 2025.

Strickland earned his spot as the No. 1 contender with a decision win over Paulo Costa but it’s tough to deny that Chimaev may have just jumped the line with his performance.

Even UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t ready to commit to Strickland on Saturday after watching what Chimaev did to Whittaker inside the first round.

“That’s a good question,” White said when asked about who’s next for du Plessis. “Call me on Tuesday.”

Given the attention that Chimaev’s win received and the potential for a blockbuster fight that could sell a whole lot of pay-per-views, the UFC might just sit Strickland down and begin hyping up “Stillknocks” vs. “Borz” right away.

To make matters worse for Strickland, the reigning UFC middleweight champion also retweeted a message hyping up a potential fight between him at Chimaev with the caption saying “this is the fight.”

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A pair of title contenders are going to be very happy to hear Dana White’s comments after UFC 308.

Starting with undefeated bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov, who has been anxiously awaiting word on his title shot against Merab Dvalishvili amid calls from the champion for an immediate rematch with Sean O’Malley. While Dvalishvili made claims that Nurmagomedov was “scared” and didn’t deserve a title shot, the UFC CEO seems to disagree.

When asked about Dvalishvili’s comments, White cemented Nurmagomedov as the No. 1 contender while stating “absolutely” that’s the fight the UFC wants next.

As far as Dvalishvili hinting at other options, most notably his constant calls for a second fight against O’Malley, White also shut that down by answering “Umar” when addressing immediate plans for the bantamweight title.

White also dealt with the recent rumors that Nurmagomedov was actually working towards a fight against Song Yadong after learning that Dvalishvili wouldn’t be ready to compete again until March. That month represents the start of Ramadan and Nurmagomedov has stated that he doesn’t want to compete during the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn until sunset every day.

“Did we announce it?” White said about Nurmagomedov vs. Song. “Then no [it’s not official].”

A few weight classes higher, White also responded to inquiries about Magomed Ankalaev finally earning his long awaited title shot against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

On Saturday, Ankalaev extended his unbeaten streak to 13 straight with a unanimous decision win over Aleksandar Rakic. Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz previously told MMA Fighting that as long as the Russian handled his business at UFC 308, then he expected a title shot would be next.

Now White is backing up those plans after watching Ankalaev’s performance on Saturday.

“He looked good,” White said about Ankalaev. “He absolutely looked great. I would have to say yes [he gets his title shot].”

With Ankalaev and Nurmagomedov in place as challengers, Pereira and Dvalishvili can respectively start planning for the future once the UFC schedule starts coming together for 2025.

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Aljamain Sterling likes his chances against Ilia Topuria.

This past Saturday, Topuria secured the first defense of his featherweight title, stopping former champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308. Topuria is now the first person to finish Holloway with strikes and given his second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year, “El Matador” has established himself as one of the most devastating strikers in the sport currently, so much so that even his possible future opponent was impressed.

“I ain’t standing with that guy. I would never stand and trade with that guy!” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I saw comments from the reaction, ‘You should change weight classes.’ I thought that was so funny… I made a joke, ‘I want to go back to 135.’ [Laughs] …

“I’ll point to the ground but I’ll do my running man dance instead.”

All kidding aside, Sterling may soon be in a position to face Topuria.

Volkanovski appears to be next up for Topuria, with Diego Lopes waiting in the wings, but the former bantamweight champion faces Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 and the winner could also be in the mix for a shot at the champion. And should that happen, “The Funkmaster” believes he can give Topuria a run for his money.

“If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro! I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that.”

Sterling notably lost his UFC bantamweight when he was knocked out by Sean O’Malley last year at UFC 292. Following that loss, Sterling moved up to featherweight where he defeated Calvin Kattar in his debut.

After he left bantamweight, his longtime friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley to become the 135-pound champion. And for Sterling, that might be the only downside to a matchup with Topuria: making Merab choose sides.

“Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into,” Sterling said. “… Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”

UFC 310 takes place on on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Light heavyweights Johnny Walker and Bogdan Guskov are expected to meet at the upcoming UFC 311 card, which is set to take place on Jan. 18 with a location still to be determined, although Los Angeles is the rumored destination.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Monday. Red Corner MMA initially posted the news.

Walker returns to action in January with hopes of returning to the win column after going 0-2 with one no contest in his past three fights. Most recently, Walker suffered a first-round knockout loss to Volkan Oezdemir at the UFC’s first ever card in Saudi Arabia.

While the Brazilian has fallen on harder times, he remains a constant threat at 205 pounds with impressive wins over names like Anthony Smith and Paul Craig in recent years.

As for Guskov, the 32-year-old fighter from Uzbekistan looks to build on the momentum from his past two fights where he knocked out Ryan Spann and Zac Pauga. Overall, Guskov has gone 2-1 in the UFC with his loss also coming to Oezdemir when he fell to the one-time title challenger by submission back in September 2023.

Walker vs. Guskov is the latest addition to the UFC 311 card with a main event still to be determined. There are rumors that lightweight champion Islam Makhachev could potentially return in January but that hasn’t been finalized yet.

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