Bruno Silva is still mad at Chris Weidman for what happened in their fight, and hopes to get a chance to meet him inside the cage again.

Weidman was awarded the TKO victory over “Blindado” at UFC Atlantic City this past March, a result that was later overturned to a technical decision when replay showed that Silva went down due to eye pokes, not punches. Silva filed an appeal to overturn it to a no-contest instead, but the commission denied his request.

Silva said he temporarily “lost 30 percent of my vision in one of the eyes” due to the foul, and tried to convince UFC matchmakers to book an immediate rematch. Instead, the Brazilian returns against Ismail Naurdiev at Saturday’s UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, while Weidman meets Eryk Anders on Nov. 16 at UFC 309.

“We were asking for this fight,” Silva said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “When I go to bed at night, he’s the opponent I hate the most. I’ve fought many people, I have more than 30 MMA fights, but every time I think of him and Cormier, I feel anger.”

Weidman was part of the UFC 300 weigh-in show alongside Daniel Cormier, Laura Sanko and Dan Hellie, who made fun of the recent eye poke situation.

“[Weidman] is fighting a month after me, and my focus is on knocking this guy [Naurdiev], and then then I’m calling him out on the mic,” Silva said. “I could ask for other opponents, but I like to deal with things my way. He’s fighting next month, and I have a score to settle with him. It’s personal. I’ll ask the UFC, and I hope they send him my way. He’s not on a great run, but he has a big name. He’s a former champion, and it brings good media. If we both win, maybe that’s interesting for the UFC. I want that fight back. But if that’s something that’s gonna slow me down, f*ck that dude.”

Days after the controversial bout, Weidman said Silva overreacted to the eye pokes and celebrated getting back to the win column following a two-fight skid. Silva, on the other hand, has now lost three straight in the UFC with previous defeats to Brendan Allen and Shara Magomedov.

“My biggest mistake was that I respected Chris Weidman too much, and I’ll live with that for the rest of my life,” Silva said. “He deserved no respect. Even [coach Andre] Dida said I respected him way too much. The fight was over, we spoke in the locker room because I didn’t want any bad vibe. And then he grabs the mic and starts talking crap, him and Cormier. My God. Cormier, talk about an insufferable person.”

Months later, Combat Sports Anti-Doping announced that Silva received a six-month suspension but what was a “likely unintentional” anti-doping violation for a metabolite of drostanolone. Silva had already been suspended before, a two-year ban imposed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2020.

“And when the doping [news] came, brother, what am I going to say?” Silva continued. “Let’s suppose you don’t know me and hear I tested positive. How am I going to defend myself? The full story is out there, but people only read the headline. The crap he said, that pisses me off, but how am I going to say anything? He already doesn’t respect anybody, and now I’m [testing] positive. I stayed quiet.

“Life will get back at him, like it did when he made fun of Anderson Silva and then broke his leg. He reaps what he sows. Unfortunately, I didn’t beat him. If I knock him out, then there’s no more argument. But he defeated me that way and I can’t say anything. It bothers me a lot, man. Sometimes I can’t believe people can be so disrespectful, but there’s always bad people out there.”

“Blindado” admitted that a longer suspension would have led to his retirement from the sport, and thanked the UFC and the in-house doping agency for “being on my side and believing me.” Silva remained active during the suspension, competing in three grappling matches and an amateur boxing bout in his gym in Curitiba, Brazil, and now turns his focus back to the UFC.

“I feel light going into this fight,” Silva said. “I’ve left wins and losses in the past and nothing will interfere. I’m surrounded by good people, and I’m ready to be back. If someone asks me how motivated I am, I say motivation is bullsh*t. What I feel right now is freedom to go there and fight. I have nothing to prove to anyone. My only goal is to go there and submit him, beat the crap out of him, knock him out, or win by points. I’m not coming back from Abu Dhabi without the win, and my team happy on the plane.”

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Khamzat Chimaev has game on the wrestleball court.

On the first episode of UFC 308 Embedded, the undefeated Chimaev plays the wrestling-basketball hybrid with teammates ahead of his co-main event with Robert Whittaker. Additionally, Ilia Topuria watches his son train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rafael dos Anjos hits the shooting range, Max Holloway gets a training session in after doing interviews, Whittaker trains with his father, and more.

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Conor McGregor sees some similarities between himself and Ilia Topuria and he’s not impressed.

Ahead of Topuria’s featherweight title defense against Max Holloway this Saturday at UFC 308, he and McGregor have been engaged in a social media spat, with Topuria suggesting Holloway should be embarrassed for once losing to McGregor, and McGregor warning Topuria that his reign could end soon if he’s not careful.

McGregor, a former UFC champion at 155 and 145 pounds, also shared a video from a UFC meme account to his Instagram Stories, in which his promotional tactics were compared to Topuria’s. See the clip below.

Back in 2015, McGregor was embroiled in a feud with then-featherweight champion Jose Aldo. The build-up to their UFC 196 bout featured several tense moments, with McGregor stealing the show at a press conference in Dublin when he snatched Aldo’s belt and held it triumphantly in the air.

McGregor went on to score a one-punch, 13-second knockout when the two fought in December of that year.

Topuria pulled a similar stunt ahead of his fight with Alexander Volkanovski this past February. Volkanovski targeted a sixth straight featherweight title defense heading into UFC 298, and like McGregor, Topuria took his opportunity to prematurely snatch the belt in a press conference for the event.

Also like McGregor, Topuria was victorious via knockout, putting Volkanovski away in the second round.

The video shared by McGregor makes its stance on the two clear with a caption that reads, “Spot the difference” and describes Topuria’s effort as “Level: Medium.”

Topuria’s first title defense is just around the corner as he takes on Holloway in Abu Dhabi this Saturday. As for McGregor, he has not fought since July 2021 and still awaits his next booking.

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Ilia Topuria has started so many beefs, you could be forgiven for forgetting what actually lies ahead of him.

In recent weeks, the UFC featherweight champion has traded public shots with Conor McGregor, Islam Makhachev, and Belal Muhammad, seemingly uninterested in focusing his attention on the man he defends his title against at UFC 308 this Saturday: Max Holloway.

“Blessed” brings his recently won “BMF” belt into the main event matchup, but famously held the 145-pound title from 2017-2019 before a series of losses to Alexander Volkanovski seemingly put his championship days behind him. However, Holloway continued to fend off featherweight contenders, and with a stunning last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje this past April, he was able to call his shot and what he wanted was a crack at Topuria and a chance to reign over his division again.

MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew dig deeper into the headlining narrative, plus the other drama that could unfold at Saturday’s event Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

1. Where would Max Holloway regaining the featherweight title rank among MMA’s best feel-good stories?

Lee: Holloway stepping right back into the title conversation with that virtuoso performance against Gaethje was already inspirational and the positive vibes have only intensified with the way Topuria has portrayed himself.

I get that we live in an era where every fighter feels like they need to be Conor McGregor—like, I don’t actually get it, but I get it—but seeing Topuria set his sights every which way before even authoring a single title defense just isn’t sitting right with me. To what end are some of these callouts? Is he really going to fight Belal Muhammad anytime soon? Just defend the belt, man!

Putting aside whatever animosity one might have for Topuria, it would be incredible to see Holloway claim the featherweight throne again. Sure, maybe Alexander Volkanovski has his number, but outside of that there’s no one better at 145 pounds—or at least there isn’t if Holloway wins on Saturday. All Holloway does is put on fan-friendly fights, take on anyone the UFC sends his way, and he does it all while showing nothing but respect to his opponents.

Holloway is already a champion for life in most fans’ eyes, and seeing him with a divisional title around his waist one more time, would surely bring a tear to those same eyes.

Martin: Every fighter has haters, but Holloway arguably has less than just about anybody else out there. I mean how can you not love this guy? He doesn’t say stupid stuff to get attention. He literally fights anyone the UFC throws at him. And he produced quite possibly the greatest finish in UFC history with his stunning last-second knockout over Gaethje at UFC 300.

That’s why Holloway reclaiming the belt at this stage of his career over an undefeated wrecking machine like Topuria would absolutely rank near the top of the list.

After dropping three fights to Volkanovski—I still hold on to Holloway deserving the win in the rematch—it looked like “Blessed” was stuck in limbo in his chosen division. Sure, he’s taken out just about every other contender who’s even sniffed a title shot but the losses to Volkanovski banished him to the sidelines when it came to the championship. Fortunately for him, the sheer unpredictability of this sport brought things around again with Holloway scoring that dramatic knockout over Gaethje, and Topuria sending Volkanovski to the shadow realm.

Holloway has already cemented himself as one of the greatest UFC fighters of all-time and he’s a guaranteed Hall of Famer. But watching him ascend to take the throne again at UFC 308? That might be the one time in 2024 when almost every fan finds a way to cheer for the winner.

Meshew: I would argue that Holloway reclaiming the title actually isn’t a massive feel-good story because Max already was champion. This is not like Miesha Tate unexpectedly winning the title from Holly Holm, or Glover Teixeira winning the title late in his career. Honestly, it’s not even Robbie Lawler retiring off an incredible KO win.

Which isn’t to say it’s not impressive. To the contrary, I think Holloway reclaiming the featherweight title five years after he lost it is one of the most impressive feats in UFC history.

Twenty fighters have won multiple titles in the same weight class in UFC history. Almost all of those title reclamations came within a year or two of losing the belt. The most obvious exception to this is Carla Esparza, who had almost eight years between her title reigns. That was an amazing achievement, but also the manner in which it occurred was a bit curious as Rose Namajunas fought one of the worst fights in modern MMA history. That won’t be the case with Holloway.

If Max reclaims the belt after twice failing to do so, and does it by beating a fighter everyone agrees is one of the best in the world, well, that’s incredible. It’s a nearly peerless accomplishment and one that I don’t think enough people will respect on those terms. But it would be another incredible achievement in an already Hall of Fame career.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

2. Is the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev guaranteed a title shot?

Meshew: No. And while I think they’d be the odds-on favorite to get the next one, middleweight is real wonky right now.

All signs point to Sean Strickland getting a rematch with Dricus du Plessis next. We can debate the merits of that (I think it’s silly but whatever), but that appears to be what’s happening. And while the winner of this weekend’s co-main event makes logical sense to fight the winner and would “deserve” it, deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

First, what if Strickland wins? Then he and DDP are 1-1, and a trilogy bout could make sense. Which would mean either Whittaker or Chimaev has to now sit out for nearly a year. Do they want to do that? Does the UFC? What about the rising crop of middleweight contenders behind them? No guarantee.

And if DDP wins, and so does Whittaker, are we in a rush to run that one back? Maybe it happens, but there’s also the possibility of DDP vs. Alex Pereira out there so I wouldn’t go counting my chickens.

And of course there’s the issue of Chimaev himself. Knock on wood, it looks like Chimaev is going to make it to the fight this week, but the man is simply not reliable. On top of that, it sure seems like he’s only fighting in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi, which isn’t prohibitive, but it does limit options.

All things considered, I’d say it’s likely but none of this screams “guarantee” to me.

Lee: The word “guarantee,” and Chimaev should probably never be near each other.

I’m hesitant to even write about this given Chimaev’s track record of missing out on big fights, and while I don’t believe in jinxes, it feels wrong to poke this bear. But here we are. Assuming (gulp) Chimaev actually makes it to the cage, and scores a win over Whittaker, he’s next in line.

The timing seems to be perfect, too, as he can take his sweet time preparing for his title shot while du Plessis presumably rematches Strickland at some point in the first quarter of 2025. Then the UFC can nudge Chimaev out of hibernation for an opportunity that once seemed like a guarantee (whoops, did it again) and is now the shakiest of propositions.

So no, I can’t imagine Chimaev beating Whittaker and not being sent a contract to fight for a UFC championship. What happens after he signs that contract is anybody’s guess.

Martin: In the lexicon of MMA, the word “guaranteed” falls just behind “deserves” as a term you should absolutely strike from your vocabulary if you want to stay sane watching this sport. This particular situation gets even more tenuous when you look at the two fighters involved in this matchup.

There’s no denying Whittaker is a legend at middleweight, but with a pair of losses to former champion Israel Adesanya and a one-sided drubbing from du Plessis barely 15 months ago, it’s tough to see him jump right back into title contention.

Truthfully, Chimaev actually has a better chance at a title shot with a win, but even that seems a bit unclear. His long history of injuries and illness have prevented him from building any sort of momentum over the past couple of years. Add to that, Chimaev has reportedly struggled to get a visa to travel to the United States and that’s almost like a nail in his coffin when it comes to a title fight. As much as the UFC travels internationally, Chimaev not being able to fight in the U.S. dramatically changes the ability to promote him as champion.

So basically that means nothing is guaranteed for the winner in this fight except hearing Dana White say, “we don’t make fights on the night of an event.”

3. What is the fight to watch outside of the top-2 matchups?

Martin: The only correct answer here is the light heavyweight showdown between Magomed Ankalaev and Aleksandar Rakic.

By all accounts, Ankalaev should have faced Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title at UFC 307, but Khalil Rountree Jr. was granted that opportunity instead. Did it make sense? Not really, but we’ve all moved on largely thanks to Rountree’s gutsy performance before falling to the Brazilian hammer just a few weeks ago.

So now it’s up to Ankalaev to cement himself as the No. 1 contender. He must have shattered a mirror or crossed paths with a black cat because he sure seems to have the worst luck possible. He fought to a split draw with Jan Blachowicz in a title fight back in 2022 and then had a no-contest with Johnny Walker thanks to an illegal knee strike delivered in that fight that further delayed his championship aspirations.

Ankalaev can’t leave anything to chance this time. He needs to demolish or otherwise dismantle Rakic to state his case for a title shot and hope that Pereira sticks around at light heavyweight to face him.

Meshew: Low key, this card is trash but for the top fights. But when you have big fights like this event, you can get away with an undercard that underwhelms. And given that, Damon is correct: there’s only one answer and it’s Magomed Ankalaev.

I don’t know why the UFC hates Ankalaev, but they clearly do. Even Alex Pereira is talking about rejecting him. This man may well be the best light heavyweight in the world, has a rock solid case to fight for the title next, SHOULD be the consensus pick to do so, and everyone is collectively working to screw him out of it. It must be maddening for him.

So given all that, I expect Ankalaev is going to come out looking to make a statement, because he needs to. The UFC hates you? Become undeniable. Fans incorrectly think you’re boring? Become undeniable. Pereira wants to big league you? Become undeniable.

Ankalaev is going to go out on Saturday and put on the best performance he is physically capable of because he has to. And so for that, I’m tuning in.

Lee: Maybe I just have middleweight fever, but I feel like Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan will be one to watch if only because it seems ripe for weirdness.

We still don’t know what’s up with “Shara Bullet” never fighting in the U.S. That’s weird. We still don’t know if he’s actually that good, but he has that shiny undefeated record still. That’s weird. And then there’s Petrosyan, a striking specialist who seems incapable of actually knocking anyone out at the UFC level? Weird, weird, weird.

That’s been a recent trend for UFC events, the bizarre and inexplicable weighing in alongside the great and spectacular. I’m not saying Magomedov vs. Petrosyan will be the best fight of the night; in fact, there’s a strong chance it turns out to be the worst fight of the night, objectively speaking.

But I’m willing to bet at the end of the night, for better or worse, we’ll be talking about it.

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Israel Adesanya has seen enough to assure him that Francis Ngannou is still the true king of the heavyweight division.

Ngannou made a spectacular PFL debut at Saturday’s Battle of the Giants event, needing less than a round to ground Renan Ferreira and knock him out with a series of devastating punches. It was the first MMA fight for Ngannou since he defeated Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022.

Though UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is scheduled to take on former titleholder Stipe Miocic in a long-awaited fight at UFC 309 on Nov. 16, Adesanya doesn’t agree that the winner of that bout should automatically be granted GOAT status.

“Hell no [the debate isn’t done],” Adesanya said in a Battle of the Giants reaction video. “Stipe is the last one I can remember people saying. Well, it was Cain [Velasquez] first and then Stipe, and then right now people still hold Stipe as the greatest of all time in the heavyweight division. But I think he’s one of the greatest and he has beaten Francis, but Francis beat him in the worst way. Again, it’s all subjective, it’s all art, it’s all who you like.

“I think Francis is the greatest heavyweight of all time, but again, now Jon is in there, he’s the heavyweight champion. He’s only fought once at heavyweight, but he’s also one of, if not the greatest fighter of all time. Tom Aspinall’s even in the f*cking mix and he’s only just kind of getting his ball rolling. It’s exciting as a fan, but right now in this moment I am just so happy for [Ngannou] and what he has accomplished and to see him go through it with the adversity he had to go through with the death of Kobe.”

Ngannou entered Saturday’s main event with the heaviest of hearts, having lost his infant son Kobe this past April. He dedicated the fight to Kobe in a tearful post-fight interview, stating that he was only fighting again to honor him.

Following his departure from the UFC in 2023—having never lost the heavyweight title in the octagon—Ngannou signed with PFL and then booked a pair of high-profile boxing bouts. He narrowly lost a thrilling split decision against Tyson Fury and then suffered a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in his next fight.

When it came time to compete under MMA rules, however, Ngannou went right back to his winning ways.

“Flawless,” Adesanya said of Ngannou’s win. “That was a beautiful performance. He took one leg and dodged a flurry and eventually timed his right hand, shot for a double, kept him there and knocked him out. Proud, inspired, and just happy to watch him do his thing because he’s gone through so much in his career even still. After the whole boxing thing, people were doubting him and then he lost to A.J., people went, ‘Oh, we knew it.’ It’s like people are prisoners of the moment.

“They forget. They forget who this man is or who people are, they’re just prisoners of the moment right now. So I’m glad he reminded everybody why he’s the best, why he’s the one, why he’s Francis Ngannou.”

TOP STORIES

Prayers. Bellator fighter Daiane Silva remains hospitalized after a weight cut gone wrong.

For Kobe. Francis Ngannou had a lot to prove not just to the world, but to himself.

DMF. Max Holloway questions whether Ilia Topuria understands what it means to be a “BMF.”

Troll. Conor McGregor wasn’t impressed with what he saw at PFL Battle of the Giants.

Props. Jon Jones only had praise for Ngannou’s MMA comeback.

Statement. Anthony Hernandez proved he was on another level with a drubbing of Michel Pereira in the UFC Vegas 99 main event.

VIDEO STEW

Battle of the Giants post-show.

Relive Saturday’s PFL event with MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew.

Max Holloway.

PFL fighters break down one of the biggest events in league history.

Big Tom breaks down the UFC 308 main event.

Countdown.

UFC marathon.

FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR

On to the Next One. The Best Friends Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee guess what’s next for PFL star Francis Ngannou and the big winners from UFC Vegas 99.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Love.

Respect, always.

Roasted.

Didn’t have Nicksick rubbing shoulders with Ronaldo on my 2024 bingo card.

Wild.

Yes, this is still happening.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Rinat Fakhretdinov (22-1-1) vs. Carlos Leal (21-5); UFC 308, Oct. 26

FINAL THOUGHTS

Francis Ngannou back in MMA? Just feels right, man.

No one would have blamed Ngannou for taking 2024 off given the awful tragedy he and his family are going through, so seeing him come back and look like his old self, even if for just one night, it was emotional. As excited as we all are to see what’s next for him, let’s not forget to appreciate the moment for what it is.

Take care of yourselves and each other out there.

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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Rinat Fakhretdinov will fight at UFC 308 after all.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Fakhretdinov now faces UFC newcomer Carlos Leal at the Oct. 26 pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi. Eurosport was first to report the booking.

Leal steps in for Nursulton Ruziboev, who was forced to withdraw from the bout for undisclosed reasons, making his octagon debut on a week’s notice. A seven-fight PFL veteran, with a 3-0 record competing for LFA, “The Lion” made it to the playoffs for PFL’s 2023 season, but was defeated by Sadibou Sy. Since then, Leal has finished his past two opponents in the first round.

Fakhretdinov is unbeaten inside the octagon and in his past 11 fights. The 33-year-old recently picked up a hard fought split decision win over Nicolas Dalby at June’s UFC Saudi Arabia event.

UFC 308 is headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title.

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Conor McGregor’s tweet-and-delete game was strong on Saturday, when he spent the night mocking the PFL during the Battle of the Giants pay-per-view broadcast.

The former two-division UFC champion made several posts throughout the card that highlighted a lack of action with four out of the five fights ending in decision. The only finish came in the main event when Francis Ngannou demolished Renan Ferreira with a vicious ground-and-pound attack in the first round.

McGregor provided commentary for the Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards fight in a now deleted video as he reacted to the grappling attack from the Bellator middleweight champion. Again and again, McGregor proclaimed his excitement in a sarcastic tone as he watched Eblen chip away at Edwards on the ground.

“Wow!” McGregor shouted “Oh my god! No! What the hell? Wow. Oh my god! No way! F*ck off. This can’t be happening right now. He’s holding him! How’s he doing this? Oh my god! F*ck off.”

He delivered more of the same during the fight between Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco.

“Wow! This is f*cking excitement,” McGregor said. “This is excitement.”

Earlier in the night, McGregor touted his latest business venture with BKFC as a much more exciting product than just about anything else available right now. While he didn’t mention PFL by name, it was rather evident what McGregor was targeting with his message.

“Bare knuckle is where it’s at,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “The future! And the future is now. There is zero feeling of an event dragging on that is ever so prevalent in today’s MMA. More intense. More deadly. More blood. No room for stalling or escaping collision/impact.

“It’s sink or swim in bare knuckle. Nowhere to hide. The nastiest, craziest, wildest sport in today’s market.

As much as he loves bare-knuckle fighting, McGregor still paid homage to the promotion where he fights with a final message that was also deleted at the end of the PFL pay-per-view.

“UFC has zero competition in MMA,” McGregor wrote.

By the time Ngannou was delivering his final punches to dust off Ferreira, McGregor had deleted most of his messages aimed at mocking the PFL in his latest round of social media commentary.

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Daiane Silva remains hospitalized five weeks after falling ill following a botched weight cut for her Bellator London clash with Eman Almudhaf on Sept. 14, MMA Fighting has confirmed.

Cris Cyborg’s Curitiba-based MMA promotion Nação Cyborg posted on social media Saturday that Silva is currently hospitalized in England. The post has since been deleted, but Silva’s manager Alex Davis confirmed Silva’s status to MMA Fighting.

Bellator officials and have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

The promotion flew one of Silva’s friends from Brazil to be with her at the hospital, MMA Fighting has learned, and that person has updated Bellator officials daily on her recovery. MMA Fighting was told Silva fell ill while dehydrating and had to be hospitalized put in induced coma after suffering kidney failure. She’s currently sedated, and it’s unclear what after-effects may occur once she’s cleared from the hospital.

“As Daiane made weight for her debut in Bellator, she suffered an accident due to dehydration,” Davis stated in a release. “She was promptly seen by the doctor, was rushed to the hospital in delicate condition, was admitted to intensive care. Her condition was serious, but since, she has been improving steadily and our hope is that she recovers fully. Myself, her team, her doctor, the hospital doctors and Bellator have been working closely together in support with whatever is needed to help her recovery. We ask all to join us in our wishes and prayers that she recovers fully.”

Cris Cyborg commented briefly the situation on her post-fight media scrum in Saudi Arabia.

“Really sad,” Cyborg said. “‘Leidy Dai’ had a tough cut. I know when you have a tough cut the responsible for you is your trainers, is your coach around you. I think you have to be cut safe and make an agreement with the event and I know they did, but the corner didn’t follow the rules. It’s really sad. I hope she recovers fast. I know she’s in bad situation but we pray for her and support her so she can come back home soon.”

Silva started her MMA career under the Nação Cyborg banner back in October of 2021, earning a split decision over Carolina Kerr at 155 pounds, and followed it up with a pair of first-round finishes of Mirela Vargas in 2023. Silva agreed to face Almudhaf on short notice at featherweight, a weight she had never made before professionally.

Speaking with MMA Fighting days before the event, Silva acknowledged she expected a rough cut to featherweight, joking she would “jinx it” if she revealed how much she weighed when offered the bout.

“It will hurt. That’s all I can say,” Silva laughed when asked about the weight cut. “I took this fight on 14 days’ notice, but I’m ready because I train four times a day here at CM [System] and we train hard every day. But as for the weight, I’m big and tall, and I have a high muscle mass percentage so it’s complicated for me, but this is the war. We’ll get there fine.”

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UFC 308 Countdown has arrived with a deeper look at the biggest fights taking place on Saturday from Abu Dhabi including the main event where Ilia Topuria puts his featherweight title on the line for the first time against former champion Max Holloway.

Undefeated in his career and coming off a devastating finish over Alexander Volkanovski in February, Topuria looks to add to his resume when he faces one of the best featherweights of all time. Since joining the UFC roster, Topuria has looked almost unstoppable but can he keep his momentum going against somebody like Holloway, who has never been finished with strikes and seemingly has a gas tank days.

Of course, Holloway seeks his second title reign at featherweight after coming up short in three past fights against Volkanovski. He earned this opportunity with a jaw-dropping finish over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 but afterwards his only desire was going back to 145 pounds to reclaim the title he lost.

In the co-main event, former champion Robert Whittaker looks to get back into title contention when he takes on undefeated mauler Khamzat Chimaev. Whittaker has scored back-to-back wins to put himself in this position but he faces a tall task from Chimaev, who might be one of the most hyped prospects in the history of the sport.

Check out the UFC 308 Countdown to get an inside look at these two crucial fights and more.

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Daniel Pineda came up short against Darren Elkins at UFC Vegas 99, but hung up his gloves in style Saturday night.

A veteran of 43 professional bouts, Pineda entered the cage looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Alex Caceres and Nathaniel Wood, and put on an absolute war against Darren Elkins in the main card opener at the UFC APEX.

Elkins left victorious with an unanimous 29-28 score to put his first winning streak together in over three years, 12 months after his second-round finish over TJ Brown, while Pineda drops his final three inside the octagon.

“That was my last one, man,” Pineda said after the featherweight clash. “You know, we’re some dogs in here and this is my third [loss] straight. F*ck it, dude, I’m done. I’m done guys. Thank you Elkins for this badass fight.”

Pineda retires with a record of 28-17 and three no-contests, and wins over the likes of Leonard Garcia, Johnny Bedford and Herbert Burns.

Watch his retirement speech below.

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