UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad never backs down from a challenge but he’s not going to seriously entertain a potential fight against somebody competing two weight classes below him.

Just recently, Muhammad got drawn into a war of words with Ilia Topuria after he warned the UFC featherweight champion to watch what he says when addressing Islam Makhachev after declaring plans to eventually challenge for the 155-pound title. The comment led to a back-and-forth exchange over social media with Topuria taking one additional step when he said he wants to eventually become the UFC’s first ever three-division champion, which would then require him to go for Muhammad’s belt.

While Muhammad admits he had some fun trading verbal jabs with Topuria, he’s not even remotely concerned that this challenge actually deserves his attention.

“I think that dude’s got Napoleon syndrome or something,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “Short guys always act like they’re tough. Literally I think he started coming at me because somebody asked me about why is he coming at Islam [Makhachev]. I said bro, he needs to focus on [Max] Holloway, who’s in front of him and you don’t want to disrespect the guys from Dagestan because they see you in person, they’re going to slap you. They don’t take that stuff. They don’t play the trash talk game. It’s real life to them.

“I think he took offense to it. He’s at that mode where I think he’s trying to find himself and he’s trying to show fans that he’s trash talker and he’s this bad guy. He’s not really good at trash talking. When he comes at me, it’s laughable because he’s basically copying words off memes.”

As far as his aspirations about winning titles across multiple divisions, Topuria first has to get through his upcoming fight against Max Holloway at UFC 308 as he defends his featherweight belt for the first time.

Regardless if he wins, Muhammad says it’s still a far cry from actually jumping up one division and challenging a dominant champion like Islam Makhachev before packing on at least 25 pounds to attempt the move to welterweight.

In other words, Muhammad isn’t taking that challenge seriously.

“At the end of the day, we’re not going to fight in the cage so why are you even giving me those words, you’re trying to talk tough because you know nothing’s really going to come of it,” Muhammad said. “He can say ‘I want to go up to 170 and be a triple champ after this’ but you know you’re not.

“I don’t even think he’s going to get past Holloway. I think he’s going to lose this fight and then we don’t even have to hear his freaking mouse voice.”

When it comes to Topuria’s fight on Saturday, Muhammad absolutely plans on rooting for Holloway to win but that’s not even a situation where he’s just hoping to see the featherweight title change hands.

Muhammad absolutely expects it to happen.

“I’m rooting for Max but I think skill wise, Max will beat him,” Muhammad said. “I think [Topuria] goes out there and pushes these guys forward and a lot of the guys he fought were shorter. Max is a taller boxer. He hasn’t fought somebody like him. We know how good Max’s chin is. I think that he’s going to realize when it gets to the third, fourth and fifth round that Max is still there, still in front of him.

“We saw him get a little bit tired in the [Josh] Emmett fight. I think it’s going to get worse in this fight because Max is high volume. He showed last fight, he’s working on his power. I think Max will put his lights out.”

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Francis Ngannou, as has been the case since he left the UFC, has options.

“The Predator” made a successful return to MMA and a successful PFL debut with a first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira this past Saturday at the Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia. That performance came in the wake of two massive boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, making Ngannou one of the most intriguing names in all of combat sports.

What’s next for Ngannou is anyone’s guess, but one name throwing his hat into the ring is Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven.

“I’ve been thinking about a crossover for quite some time now, so I love the idea,” Verhoeven said when Ngannou was suggested to him on The Ariel Helwani Show. “It’s a new challenge. Not that I’m done with challenges within Glory, but I’ve got an amazing win streak and title defense streak and earlier this year we won an amazing tournament but I’m open to new challenges. When we’re talking about the baddest on the planet, let’s find out who it is.”

Verhoeven has been one of the most dominant kickboxers of the past decade, having won 20 straight fights dating back to 2015, including 11 defenses of his Glory title. The 35-year-old Dutchman is currently scheduled for a championship rematch against Levi Rigters on Dec. 7.

Should Verhoeven be successful, he’ll be on the hunt for another marquee matchup and Ngannou more than fits the bill. They could meet under kickboxing or MMA rules, but Verhoeven has another suggestion in mind.

“There’s so many different flavors,” Verhoeven said. “It could be a home and away fight, a kickboxing and an MMA fight, which most likely ends up maybe 1-1. But a boxing match, that’s interesting, because that’s a way for both of us even though he’s been doing two boxing fights in the last year, but still it’s different and I’ve been boxing for quite some years as well. Not on a professional level, not in a ring, but been training with [Tyson Fury’s uncle] Peter Fury for years and years and he says, ‘You’re ready for it. Let any top-level boxer challenge you and let’s show what we got.’”

Verhoeven and Ngannou are familiar with each other, having spent time training together in the U.S., but both appear to be open to the potential matchup. In a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ngannou smiled when the fight was suggested and said, “Send me the deal.”

A crossover fight built around mutual respect might not seem like box office gold at first glance, but Verhoeven thinks it’s a fight fans need to see.

“What I would like to say to [PFL] is just, hey, when we’re talking about baddest on the planet and we’re talking about crossover fights: This thing must happen,” Verhoeven said. “This must happen. It has to happen because we’ve been seeing throughout the last few years the most crazy fights and I think this is one of them that needs to be added to the list. So let’s make it happen.”

TOP STORIES

Challenge. Max Holloway wants Ilia Topuria to earn his “BMF” point-down moment.

Undefeated. Does Khamzat Chimaev’s invincible mindset give him the edge over Robert Whittaker?

Boast. Ilia Topuria doesn’t just think he can beat Islam Makhachev: He wants to make him submit.

Poetry. Conor McGregor didn’t mince words with his description of PFL champion Johnny Eblen’s latest title defense.

Apology. BKFC star Mike Perry comments on his recent DUI arrest and confrontation with police.

Rematch. Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury brought the antics to the faceoff ahead of their December rematch.

VIDEO STEW

UFC 308 Timeline.

UFC 308 media day brought to you by MMA Fighting’s José Youngs.

PFL boss Donn Davis addresses the people.

All love.

Catch up on the latest and greatest Invicta FC prospects.

Usyk vs. Fury 2 press conference.

FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR

No Bets Barred. Jed Meshew brings you the best bets for UFC 308.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Francis Ngannou.

BMF at work.

Fingers crossed.

Why, indeed.

BKFC video game?

Patchy Mix in grappling action this Saturday!

Tom Lawlor looking out for fighters.

Jake Hadley.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ngannou vs. Verhoeven? That’s not bad, right?

While I think we’d all agree that seeing Ngannou stick with MMA would be great, especially if Donn Davis is able to work out deals with other promoters to set up something like, Ngannou vs. Malykhin or Ngannou vs. Reug Reug or (let me dream) Ngannou vs. Pudzianowski, we can also get a little more creative. Ngannou adding a kickboxing champion to his résumé. I’m down for it.

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.

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The UFC 308 press conference features the entire main card from Saturday’s pay-per-view.

UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, former UFC champions Max Holloway and Robert Whittaker, Khamzat Chimaev are some of the stars that will answer questions from the media Thursday morning.

The UFC 308 press conference is expected to begin at 8:30 a.m. ET.

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That “Shara Bullet” has competed with an eye injury for years is no secret, and he’s found himself drawing inspiration from a former UFC champion to work through it.

Bullet—a.k.a. Shara Magomedov—opens this Saturday’s UFC 308 main card in Abu Dhabi with a middleweight duel against Armen Petrosyan. At Wednesday’s media day for the event, Magomedov was asked about what he’s learned from studying the career of former UFC champion and Hall of Fame inductee Michael Bisping, in regards to dealing with the injury he’s had since 2016.

Bisping suffered an eye injury after taking a head kick from Vitor Belfort in 2013 and competed with a handicap until his retirement four years later. The condition didn’t stop him from winning the UFC middleweight title, even though it eventually progressed to the point that Bisping now lives with a prosthetic right eye.

So is Magomedov concerned about opponents knowing about this potential limitation?

“I think it’s a little different because I have 19 fights in my career and every opponent has tried to take advantage of that and it didn’t go their way,” Magomedov said via a Russian translator.

“When it comes to Bisping, yes, he is a motivation because he’s somebody who has went down this path already. He’s laid down the path and he set an example for me, so it’s much easier to follow somebody’s path as opposed to wander around in the dark. I think the way he is a motivator for me and for other people is he said that everything is possible. The most important thing is not to let your hands down and keep on going forward and keep on chasing your dream and then it’s possible.”

Magomedov joined the UFC in 2023 with plenty of buzz, having competed in both MMA and kickboxing, and entered the octagon with an 11-0 record before defeating his first three opponents for the promotion. Following a decision win over Michal Oleksiejczuk this past August, Magomedov made a curious callout of Nick Diaz, a 41-year-old fan favorite currently scheduled to fight Vicente Luque at UFC 310.

He explained his reasoning behind the matchup suggestion and also addressed the possibility of fighting two-division fighter Kevin Holland.

“When it comes to Nick Diaz, that was kind of a shot in the air,” Magomedov said. “He’s not on a level, he’s not ready to compete for title fights and things like that, so he’s not where it needs to be.

“When it comes to Kevin Holland, I think I’ll get to him one day. I think that I will do whatever I have to do to get to his level and to fight him, and I think we’ll see who’s tougher. I think we’ll do a lot of damage for each other and whoever’s bones are stronger, he’s going to be the one standing last.”

If Magomedov is to continue his climb up the middleweight charts, he has to get past Petrosyan, a clever kickboxer that has proven to be a tough out in the division. Magomedov has trained with Petrosyan in the past so he knows him well, but that doesn’t mean he knows what to expect on fight night.

“To be honest, it’s not like I’m preparing some things inside my head that I’m going to come out with and I’m going to show and I’m going to do,” Magomedov said. “I don’t even know what’s going to happen. I think any spark that happens, any kind of flash that happens inside the octagon is very exciting. I don’t even know really what to expect from myself, so I think that’s the interesting part is that anything can happen on the night of.”

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While Dana White may not be in support of Donald Cerrone returning to the UFC octagon Paige VanZant is the complete opposite.

Cerrone recently announced he’s ending his MMA retirement and hopes to get two more bouts in the UFC — to get his UFC/WEC total to 50 promotional appearances. VanZant has known Cerrone for well over a decade, and looking at the landscape, and options for potential opponents, VanZant says she’ll be tuning in for any fight “Cowboy” is involved in.”

“Oh, absolutely, he’s ‘Cowboy,’” VanZant told MMA Fighting. “One, he will forever be a draw, be a trailblazer, one of the greatest of all-time. I think there’s some incredible matchups for him in the UFC. As a fan of his, and knowing him as a person, it’s extremely exciting.”

VanZant is preparing to make her second appearance for Power Slap Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi during UFC 308 fight week. “12 Gauge” faces Chelsea Dodson at the event as she looks to improve her Slap record to 2-0 following a unanimous decision win in her debut in June.

If the last name Dodson seems familiar, that’s because it is, as she is the wife of multi-time UFC title challenger, and current BKFC flyweight champion John Dodson. Coincidentally enough, VanZant was always a fan of Dodson in the cage and ring, and their paths have crossed in a friendly way many times — including when they first met visiting Cerrone.

While VanZant has had many great interactions with Dodson, she isn’t sure if she’s met his wife prior to their Power Slap bout.

“No, I don’t think so,” VanZant said. “I was such a fan of John’s in the UFC. I went and trained at Donald Cerrone’s house, on his ranch, when I was 18 years old, and I was fortunate enough to train at [Jackson-Wink], and [John] was there. He couldn’t have been more friendly and nice. I think I just talked to him in passing.

“Of course, being in the UFC world, and now the BKFC world, it’s just a cool experience to see these worlds colliding.”

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Robert Whittaker won’t walk into the cage Saturday expecting Khamzat Chimaev to gas out early in their five-round middleweight clash in the co-main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

Chimaev was victorious in all seven of his octagon appearances so far with five dominant finishes, but has clearly slowed down in both fights that went the distance, against Gilbert Burns and a last-minute replacement Kamaru Usman. Whittaker, however, is 9-1 in fights that have gone the distance since moving up to middleweight in 2014.

“I am expecting him to come out hard and aggressive from the first second to the last, and I have prepared accordingly for that,” Whittaker said during the UFC 308 media day. “I’ve prepared for the hardest fight of my life, to start extremely hard, like sprinting for the first five to 10 minutes, but also drag it out to five minutes. I’m ready to sprint for 25 minutes if so. I’m coming in for war.”

“He’s had such success with his really hard starting fighting approach,” he added. “Regardless whether he gassed or not, he still won those fights pretty handily, and then it was due to the amount of dominance he had in those first rounds. I’m expecting the best version of himself. I’m expecting a guy that comes out hard and a guy that will last. I’m prepared for it. I’ve trained for it. I’m not going to train thinking that if I get out of the first round it’s game over. I’m preparing for the best version he can offer me, a super soldier. I’ve done that.”

The UFC opted to book Whittaker vs. Chimaev as a five-rounder even with no belt attached, and the former 185-pound champion said he was not the one making the request.

“Why would I do that? Five rounds is so much harder than three rounds,” Whittaker said with a laugh. “I know I’ve had a lot of them, but they’re not fun. It kind of just worked out this way. But I don’t know. I’m in the fight game. If you want me to fight for three rounds, five rounds, 10 rounds, I’m going to train for it, prepare for it, and I’ll turn up.”

Whittaker doesn’t not rule out finishing Chimaev early, though, like he’s done to Ikram Aliskerov, who stepped in as a replacement for the Chechen fighter back in June.

“I look to go into this fight hunting, much like I planned to last fight,” Whittaker said. “I look to do again this fight. I’m the hunter in this fight. I’m the predator and I’m gonna be looking for him.”

Whittaker hopes to re-insert himself in the title conversation with a victory Saturday, his third since losing to future champion Dricus Du Plessis. The UFC is set to return to Australia on February 8, and the New Zealander could be part of the card.

“Since the Dricus loss I had a bit of a wake up call,” Whittaker said. “I made some changes. Inside, outside the gym. We just sat down and we ripped in. We worked hard, we worked harder than ever, and you can see the results of that work show itself in every fight this year. Every fight I’ve gotten better. I’ve started to back myself more, the confidence I take in the victories that I’ve had. I’m coming into this fight, all cylinders firing.”

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Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones might not be likely, but it is possible, at least so says PFL Chairman Donn Davis.

This past weekend, Ngannou made his long-awaited return to MMA, stopping Renan Ferreira in the main event of PFL Superfights: Battle of the Giants. The bout was Ngannou’s first fight for the PFL and vaulted “The Predator” back into the MMA Fighting Global Rankings to the No. 2 spot at heavyweight. It also re-ignited talk of the now-lost Ngannou vs. Jon Jones superfight that captivated fan imaginations for years. But for the PFL Chairman, that matchup may not be as lost as many believe.

“I’m a pretty optimistic guy,” Davis told MMA Fighting during a Town Hall on Wednesday. “I’m a realist from a business standpoint, but I’m always optimistic. Even Jon Jones’s Tweets struck me as very interesting. … That’s a lot different than the last three years. That’s a lot different than the last three years between those two guys.

“So for me, I’m an optimistic, can-do guy. To me, it hasn’t happened in the past but the future is the future.”

Ngannou and Jones teased a possible fight with each other for over a year when both men were in the UFC, but the bout never came to fruition. After Ngannou left the promotion in 2023 to sign with the PFL, Jones then finally made his move up to heavyweight, claiming the vacant UFC title by beating Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

But despite now fighting for different promotions, the heat between Ngannou and Jones never fully dissipated, with the two even having an impromptu face off at a PFL event last year. And though UFC CEO Dana White is staunchly opposed to co-promotion and has repeatedly dismissed the idea of working with the PFL for this, Davis thinks the odds are better than you might think.

“If I was a betting person, if you gave me even odds, no,” Davis said. “Even odds are is it likely? Is that a good bet? No. But if you gave me four to one? I would take those odds. I would take that bet. So do I think it’s possible? Yes. Likely? No.

“And do I think, since it’s the biggest fight that could ever be made in MMA in perhaps the last or next decade, that’s why I think it’s possible. Because it’s so big and it’s so thrilling. And sometimes people say, ‘What the eff. We’re going to find a way to do it. Let’s find a way to do it.’ So that’s why I think it’s possible.”

And while a co-promotion between the UFC and PFL does seem extremely unlikely, there is one thing that can always change the equation: money. Dana White is notoriously opposed to MMA fighters crossing over into boxing, but famously allowed Conor McGregor to do so against Floyd Mayweather for one of the biggest sporting events of the year.

Something similar could happen here, Davis suggests, especially with the the involvment of Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia. Alalshikh has invested heavily in combat sports over the past few years, and already has relationships with both promotions, and has shown a desire to make the biggest fights possible. Given that, Davis believes that anything is possible.

“I have a ton of respect for Dana,” Davis said. “He built the entire industry. Does he want to be part of the biggest fight in 10 years, that he made happen? Turki is the biggest man in combat sports. Could he make the biggest fight happen? Sure. I just think there’s a lot of cool stuff that could happen here. I’m the least important guy here. Turki and Dana are the most important guys here. I’m just the guy that said yes.”

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Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway is finally here.

This Saturday, UFC 308 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, headlined by the featherweight title fight that has captured the interest of the entire MMA world. On top of that, a five-round middleweight showdown between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev will finally take place. With all that going down, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew is back to break down all the fights.

This week, Jed runs solo, breaking down all the key aspects of this Saturday’s card. Topics discussed include whether Topuria can back up all his trash talk, whether Chimaev can finally earn a title shot, whether Magomed Ankalaev can convince the UFC he deserves a shot at Alex Pereira, and much more.

Tune in for episode 105 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.

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PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis joins a special town hall with the MMA Fighting community.

Following Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants event in Saudi Arabia — which saw Francis Ngannou close the show with a ferocious first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira — joins MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck as he answers question live from the viewers.

Join the show live Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT. You can begin submitting your questions in the video link above.

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In the third episode of UFC 308 Embedded, Ilia Topuria celebrates his custom fight shorts and runs into Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway gets emotional recounting some past moments of his career, Magomed Ankalaev and Shara Magomedov hit pads, Merab Dvalishvili, Yair Rodriguez and other UFC athletes are welcomed to Abu Dhabi with a display of traditional music and art, Robert Whittaker discusses LARPing, Dan Ige gets dialed in, Khamzat Chimaev trains, and more.

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