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Donald Cerrone says he’s returning to the octagon to get to 50 fights under the UFC promotional umbrella.

“Cowboy” said in an Instagram post that he wants two more UFC fights to hit that nice round number after retiring following his sixth straight loss at UFC 276. In the bout, Cerrone was submitted by Jim Miller on the July 2022 International Fight Week card.

Cerrone is winless in the octagon since a May 2019 win over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 9, which at the time, extended a winning streak to three fights. Since then, he was stopped by the likes of Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje, Conor McGregor, Alex Morono, and dropped a decision to Anthony Pettis.

The 41-year-old fought for the UFC lightweight title in December 2015 where he was stopped in 66 seconds by Rafael dos Anjos.

Here’s how pro fighters reacted to the Cerrone news.

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It was another night of great fights and performances for the final episode of Contender Series.

On Tuesday night, the tenth and final episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX, and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White handed out four more contracts, plus one special accommodation for a fighter to keep developing and join the UFC later on.

The biggest performance of the evening was in the main event as Nick Klein ran roughshod over Heraldo Souza to score a 37-second stoppage and a UFC contract, but a number of other great performances were also rewarded.

With these new additions, that’s 42 total contracts handed out this season on Contender Series, with potentially a few other additions as well.

Klein runs over Souza

In the main event of the evening, Nick Klein ran over Heraldo Souza, scoring a quick rear-naked choke to earn his way into the UFC.

Klein was a slight underdog heading into the bout but didn’t at all look like it as he almost immediately scored a takedown and locked in a rear-naked choke without hooks. As Souza scrambled to defend, Klein was able to work his hooks in, and fully commit to the choke with Souza flattened out beneath him. After that, it didn’t take long for Souza to tap, just 37 seconds into the bout, and earn Klein his third straight submission finish.

Gurule outlasts Piccininni

In the co-main event of the evening, Luis Gurule took home a hard-fought split decision over Nick Piccininni, plus a UFC contract.

This was Piccininni’s second stint on Contender Series, having won a split decision over Jack Duffy on Week 3 that left Dana White wanting. And early on it looked like he might impress as the former three time D-1 All-American wrestler scored an early takedown and backmount. Gurule survived though and scrambled to his feet where he began to put an impressive pace on Piccininni with combination striking, while defending most of Piccininni’s attempts to wrestle.

It was a back-and-forth battle but in the end Gurule landed the more effective strikes over the course of the bout and left Piccininni on the wrong side of a split decision. Gurule is also one of Brandon Royval’s cornermen and was only in the fight as a short-notice replacement, which earned him White’s respect and a UFC contract.

DelValle dominates Monteiro

In the third fight of the evening, Yadier DelValle put a thrilling beating on Antonio Monteiro, winning a big unanimous decision in one of the best fights of this season.

Monteiro was game throughout the contest, but from the opening bell DelValle attacked him with pressure and pace. The most impactful round was the second where DelValle clubbed Monteiro around the cage and looked close to a finish but the Brazilian fighter survived the onslaught and event came back to have his own success late in the round. The third was more of the same though as these two went back-and-forth with DelValle consistently getting the better of it.

In the end, DelValle won the bout 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 and his dominant performance earned him a UFC contract.

Martinez outworks Hernandez

In the second fight of the evening, Julieta Martinez outworked Leslie Hernandez to claim a split decision.

Martinez showed a well-rounded game for all five rounds, landing big strikes on the feet, including a terrific flying knee and head kick, while also scoring takedowns and good work on the ground. In the end, one judge surprisingly scored it for Hernandez but Martinez took the other two and a split decision win.

Despite the win, Dana White did not offer Martinez a contract, telling her she has a bright future in the sport but that the 20-year-old is too young right now, instead offering to keep her training with the UFC Performance Institute in Mexico City until they bring her along later.

Micallef sleeps Ado

In the opening bout of the evening, Jonathan Micallef pulled off a quick submission of Mohamed Ado to earn his spot in the UFC.

Ado started off strong, even threatening Micallef with a power guillotine early in the round. However, Micallef was able to reverse position and quickly move to mount. From there Ado tried to scramble but fell right into Micallef’s triangle. Micallef rolled to his back and locked the choke in and when Ado refused to tap, the Canadian fighter ultimately went to sleep.

Check out the full results below.

Nick Klein def. Heraldo Souza via submission (rear-naked choke) — R1, 0:37

Luis Gurule def. Nick Piccininni via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Yadier DelValle def. Antonio Monteiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Julieta Martinez def. Leslie Hernandez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Jonathan Micallef def. Mohamed Ado via submission (triangle choke) — R1, 3:01

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Dana White does not like the idea of Donald Cerrone coming out of retirement.

On Tuesday, “Cowboy” Cerrone announced that he intends to end his retirement and return to the UFC for two more fights. The 41-year-old’s announcement was mostly met with enthusiasm from fans and fellow fighters, but the UFC CEO was not among them. In fact, White was unequivocal in his dislike for Cerrone coming back to MMA.

“I hate it. I hate it,” White said at his post-Contender Series media scrum on Tuesday. “Love him, hate that.

“He retired. For what? What’s left to prove? If you want to make money, let’s figure something else out. I hate it. When guys retire, they retire for a reason. They don’t just retire because — they retire because they know it’s over. They know it is.

“Not just this sport but any professional sport, is hard to walk away from. Not just the money — that’s obviously a very hard part of it — but the feeling of walking out of that tunnel, the feeling of getting in the cage and the place is packed. Look at every time we’re at a show and we show Cowboy Cerrone on the screen, the place goes nuts. He’s beloved. He’s beloved because the guy goes to war, and he’s been in wars for years, and it’s time to not go to war anymore. There’s nothing left to prove for him.”

Cerrone is one of the most decorated fighters in UFC history, with a number of promotional records to his name. After retiring from the sport in 2022, he was inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame in 2023 in the Modern wing. However, the end of Cerrone’s career left much to be desired as he lost six of his final seven fights, with only a No-Contest in between the losses.

White isn’t sure exactly why Cerrone wants to return but if it’s a matter of money, White says they can always figure something else out.

“I’d rather work something else out with him, figure out another way,” White said. “If it’s about money, then he can do something else. Because he ain’t going to fight for the rest of his life and he’s always going to need to make money. So let’s figure that out now instead of three years from now.”

Based on Cerrone’s statements though, it doesn’t seem like money is the primary motivator. “Cowboy” currently has 48 fights in his career in either the UFC or WEC, and explicitly noted he’d like to make it to 50.

But White appears to be more concerned with Cerrone’s longterm health than anything else, and it doesn’t seem like “Cowboy” will get his wish unless he can change White’s mind.

“Cerrone shouldn’t think about fighting again,” White said. “Cerrone needs to think about what’s next. He should have been thinking about it two years ago but apparently he didn’t, and he needs to. But we’re here for him. We love Cerrone. We’ll help in any way we can. I don’t want to see him get punched in the face anymore.”

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Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen was less than two weeks away from a title defense against Fabian Edwards when he got word that his fight was being moved.

Just 11 days before the Bellator London card took place, Eblen’s fight with Edwards was suddenly removed from the event and eventually rescheduled for the PFL pay-per-view show on Oct. 19 in Saudi Arabia. No explanation was given and even Eblen admits he was never told why the change was made.

“They just moved the fight,” Eblen told MMA Fighting. “Not sure exactly what happened. I was prepared to fight in London and I was actually pretty excited for it. But you know they moved it, I’m a company man so I did what they wanted me to do. They took care of me though, so there’s no issue and now I’m ready to go fight in Saudi Arabia.”

When it comes to PFL taking care of him, Eblen didn’t disclose if that meant a payout for the disruption to his training camp but whatever happened, he was satisfied enough to roll with the punches.

While he was focused on peaking for the event on Sept. 14, Eblen ultimately shut down his training to rest his body and then pick back up again to prepare for Oct. 19 instead.

“It changed a lot,” Eblen said about his training camp. “Like I said, they took care of me. I’m not having any issues with it. I took a couple of weeks off, did some light training and then I’m going to peak again [Oct. 19] and I leave in two and a half [weeks].

“I’m in shape. Just took some time off sparring, got back into sparring this week. Just going to do a small little camp before I go back out.”

The change also affected plans that Eblen had with friends and family traveling to see him fight.

He revealed that a large group of supporters were set to attend the Bellator London card but that’s no longer the case with his title defense now taking place in Saudi Arabia.

That inconvenience may have actually served as a bigger annoyance than the interruption to his training camp but Eblen knows the crowd, his friends and family in attendance or the amount of travel involved going to the event don’t matter as much as going out and winning when it actually comes time to fight.

“I’ve already been to Saudi Arabia,” Eblen explained. “There’s just not as much to do afterwards. Less people are likely to go just because it’s so much further. London, I had a big group going. It would have been fun to hang out with them after. Saudi’s a little bit different story. Less people are going to show up to that one but it is what it is. No big deal.

“I’ve been to Saudi before, I really enjoy it. They have great hospitality. I liked fighting there last time. I don’t care [if I’m not the main event]. I get paid the same. No big deal to me.”

When it comes to his opposition, Eblen is actually facing Edwards in a rematch after they just fought back in September 2023. On that night, Eblen scored a third round knockout with both fighters picking up a single win since that encounter.

A second fight coming together so quickly probably seems odd but Eblen wasn’t totally shocked when Edwards was presented as his next opponent.

“I mean there’s nobody else really,” Eblen said. “It’s kind of the problem of Bellator at the moment and even PFL, they don’t really recruit middleweights because they don’t have a middleweight division. It is what it is.”

As far as running it back with someone he just knocked out a year ago, Eblen doesn’t look at the rematch as a potential stumbling block just because he already has a win over Edwards.

Instead, Eblen prefers to keep the focus on himself and the person standing across from him when the fight starts doesn’t really matter much in the end.

“I already beat him,” Eblen said. “I don’t really think about that. I just think about getting better. I’m not really worried about the people I fight.

“They’re just going to put somebody in front of me and that’s the person that I’ve got to fight, regardless of who it is, whether it’s a person I’ve already fought or somebody I’ve never fought. I just do my job. As long as the check clears, I’m good.”

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Guilherme “Bomba” Vasconcelos, a longtime MMA veteran with appearances under the UFC and Bellator banners across 16 MMA fights, has passed away at the age of 38.

Reports about his passing were first posted by friends on social media, including longtime jiu-jitsu coaches Cristiano Lazzarini and Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes. Additional sources confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday.

The cause of death has not been revealed at this time.

“Bomba” started his MMA career in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a second-round rear-naked choke win over veteran Wendell Oliveira, and joined the TUF Brazil 3 cast in 2014 following a win over Elizeu Zaleski, both fighters that eventually made it to the UFC as well.

The Minas Gerais-native went 1-1 on the reality TV show and lost his sole UFC bout via decision to Luke Zachrich in July 2014, going on to win four of his next five bouts to sign a deal with Bellator.

Vasconcelos, also known outside the MMA bubble for dating Demi Lovato in 2017, ended his MMA career in 2019, winning three of six bouts inside the Bellator cage.

“Of all the students I had, you were the bravest,” Lazzarini posted on social media. “Fearless, unbeatable. In moments of chaos, a machine. In trivial moments, a sweet boy. We had a machine that had a bit of everything. Your MMA debut, with a win against a man that had won 10 in a row and had 19 fights, was of the happiest moments of my life in the sport. Unbreakable. So many trips together, so many battles. From blue to black belt, from first to last MMA fights. Man, how much I love you. Unbelievable. Rest in peace, brother.”

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Jake Paul is fighting back.

The social influencer turned boxer has answered a lawsuit filed against him by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing with a countersuit seeking punitive and compensatory damages along with legal fees. Paul filed the lawsuit through his attorneys in paperwork filed in the southern district of New York on Tuesday.

The original lawsuit filed by Hearn and his promotional company alleged that Paul made defamatory statements that Matchroom Boxing “bribed” Glenn Feldman — a boxing judge — “to influence the outcome of two boxing matches that he refereed.”

The boxing matches in question were the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano fight and a matchup between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua. Paul’s company Most Valuable Promotion represents Serrano while Hearn represents Taylor.

In his countersuit, Paul denied many of the allegations in the complaint filed against him while laying out his defense to those claims.

He then detailed his cause for the countersuit against Hearn and Matchroom Boxing while claiming that the original lawsuit filed was an “intimidation tactic to chill Jake Paul’s freedom of speech and to silence other critics of the boxing industry.”

Paul is seeking “reimbursement of his attorneys’ fees, compensatory damages, and punitive damages designed to prevent Matchroom from further using expensive and time-consuming litigation to stifle the free speech of journalists, media organizations, and anyone else speaking on issues of public interest.”

In the original interview, Paul called foul on Feldman for scorecards he delivered in the Serrano vs. Taylor fight as well as Usyk vs. Joshua.

“Clearly [Glenn Feldman] is getting paid money by Matchroom Boxing,” Paul said referencing Hearn’s promotion that reps both Taylor and Joshua. “It’s just so blatantly obvious and they’re not even trying to hide it.”

Hearn and Matchroom filed the lawsuit against Paul with Feldman actually joining as a co-plaintiff.

Paul had previously filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was denied, and a pre-trial conference was set for Oct. 16.

Now Paul is actually countersuing along with a request to have the original lawsuit dismissed without prejudice.

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Netflix has released a new trailer for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson event.

Paul and Tyson will meet in a heavyweight main event Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The card will stream on the popular platform, which will be at no additional cost to Netflix subscribers.

Check out the trailer, narrated by rapper and actor Ludacris, in the video below.

The matchup was initially slated for July before a medical emergency forced Tyson out of the bout. “Iron” elected to compete despite constant worry from the boxing community for the 58-year-old boxer who hasn’t competed in a pro boxing match in almost 20 years.

Paul did compete on the July 20 date, and faced BKFC star Mike Perry, picking up a sixth-round knockout win. The 27-year-old bounced back from his lone pro loss to Tommy Fury with four straight wins, including a decision win against former UFC star Nate Diaz in August 2023.

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Alex Pereira defended his UFC light heavyweight belt with a hard-fought TKO victory over Khalil Rountree earlier this month in Salt Lake City, and making weight for the title bout required hours of sweat and hard work.

“Poatan”, a former UFC middleweight champion, posted a video on his YouTube channel showing behind the scenes footage of the final days of cutting weight for the bout, and then going all the way up to 228.2 pounds upon arrival at the Delta Center.

The video shows Pereira doing the face paint before the final face-off and relaxing on fight day, watching his teammate Cesar Almeida secure his second UFC win on the same card, defeating Ihor Potieria via decision, and his post-fight celebration.

Check the video below.

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Francis Ngannou was ready to walk away from fighting after the tragic loss of his 15-month-old son Kobe, but then the former UFC heavyweight champion realized that the tragedy could lead to a deeper meaning.

Ngannou makes his promotional debut this Saturday in the main event of the PFL’s Battle of the Giants pay-per-view card against dangerous knockout artist Renan Ferreira. “The Predator” suffered the heartbreaking loss in April following a two-fight run in the boxing ring. After admitting he thought about hanging up the gloves — which would be completely understandable — Ngannou wants the loss to serve a higher purpose.

“[My purpose is] to make this fight meaningful,” Ngannou told MMA Fighting. “This fight was most likely not to happen. I was most likely not to fight this year, or never. But I want to make a purpose of things that happen. Give it a purpose.

“Instead of using it as an excuse of giving up, maybe use it as a purpose to continue, give it more sense, give it more reason, make things more meaningful, more impactful. I’m saying that about the loss of my son. After that, I really considered dropping everything, and one of the only reasons why I didn’t do that was because thinking about it, he would’ve been like he was the one taking me out, making me quit, which is not a responsibility that, I think, of his to carry. That is my responsibility.”

Ngannou competes in the MMA cage for the first time in nearly three years. In his most recent mixed martial arts appearance, Ngannou successfully defended the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. The 38-year-old went on and made the decision to leave the UFC and sign with PFL, before getting two massive opportunities in the boxing ring against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. After losing both, Ngannou is now set for his first walk to the PFL Smart Cage to battle for the PFL Superfight heavyweight title.

With a heavy heart, and a newfound motivation, Ngannou plans to make Kobe proud no matter how the chips fall on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

“The only thing I can do is make a purpose of his existence, or of this loss,” Ngannou said. “You know, make it make some sense, trying to write his name in a better way for him to be remembered.”

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Dana White, once again, is not happy with his own UFC rankings panel.

The UFC CEO has had an issue with the rankings panel for several months in regards to Jon Jones not being ranked the top pound-for-pound fighter despite not competing in well over 18 months. Additionally, White slammed his panel for having Max Holloway ranked seven spots behind Justin Gaethje in the lightweight rankings after Holloway knocked out the former interim champ to win the BMF title at UFC 300, and has been pushing for A.I. to take things over.

In the latest ripping of the panel, White used Khalil Rountree being ranked No. 8 after giving Alex Pereira a run for his money at UFC 307 earlier this month before getting knocked out in the fourth round.

“The morons strike again,” White said in an Instagram story. “Khalil Rountree fights that bad ass fight against Pereira, and the morons rank him No. 8 — keep him at No. 8.

“Literally this week, I have a meeting to try to fix the rankings, and get all these no-nothing motherf*ckers out of it. So hopefully this week I get this fixed.”

White will hopefully provide more details on his plans following Tuesday’s DWCS Season 8, Week 10 card.

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