Category Archives: Mmafighting.com

Alex Pereira’s nemesis is now in the UFC, with a little help from the champ himself.

On Tuesday night, the eighth 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 contracts to four of the five winners.

But the biggest story of the night was the main event bout between Artem Vakhitov and Islem Masraf — and the audience it garnered.

Vakhitov is a former two-time Glory Kickboxing champion and best known for a pair of bouts with current UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. In fact, Vakhitov is the last man to beat Pereira in kickboxing, so with a potential UFC contract on the line, Pereira flew out to Las Vegas to sit cageside for his fight.

That turned out to be a good decision for both men as Vakhitov overcame a slow start to knock out Masraf in the first round. Despite the finish, it was still and up-and-down performance from Vakhitov that left Dana White on the fence. Ultimately, White said he brought Pereira back to speak with him and it was “Poatan” who vouched for his former Glory foe, leading White to offer him a UFC contract.

Steele breaks Blair

In the penultimate fight of the evening, Kody Steele finally got his shot on Contender Series and he made the most of it with a brutal body shot knockout of Chasen Blair.

Steele was supposed to compete earlier this season on Contender Series until his opponent withdrew from the fight moments before their bout. No such thing happened tonight though as Blair not only made the walk, but made Steele work for it, stuffing takedowns and landing good combinations on the feet. In the second round though, Steele landed a short hook to the body that leveled Blair and earned him a shot in the UFC.

Pinto demolishes Camacho

In the third bout of the evening, undefeated prospect Mario Pinto obliterated Luis Camacho in under two minutes to punch his ticket to the UFC.

Just 26 years old and 8-0 in his career, Pinto was a heavy favorite over Camacho and he showed the composure of a fighter with many more years of experience, taking his time to find the range before flooring Camacho with a short left hook. Some follow-up punches finished the job and Pinto moved to 9-0 and into the UFC.

Dulatov ices Antunes

In the second bout of the evening, Islam Dulatov destroyed Vanilto Antunes with a brutal first-round knockout.

Dulatov entered Contender Series as a big-time prospect and the part-time male model delivered, putting it on Antunes right from the opening bell. Antunes did his best to hand tough but ultimately Dulatov found a home for a nasty right elbow behind the ear that floored Antunes instantly and earned Dulatov a UFC contract.

Gauci outworks Drilich

In the opening bout of the evening, Sean Gauci defeated fellow Australian Anthony Drilich with a workmanlike performance.

Both Gauci and Drilich showed advanced skills in a nip-and-tuck battle that lasted the full 15 minutes. Gauci was unable to score takedowns early and Drilich made him pay with combinations, but as the HEX Fight Series champion began to settle in, he started landing good strikes of his own and mixing in enough takedowns to outlast his fellow Australian fighter.

At the end of the evening, White praised both Gauci and Drilich for their skills saying they have a bright future but that he will not offer either of them a contract right now.

Check out the DWCS week 9 results below.

Artem Vakhitov def. Islem Masraf via TKO (punches) — R1, 4:23

Kody Steele def. Chasen Blair via TKO (punches) — R2, 4:07

Mario Pinto def. Luis Camacho via TKO (punches) — R1, 1:43

Islam Dulatov def. Vanilto Antunes via knockout (elbow) — R1, 2:44

Sean Gauci def. Anthony Drilich via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Dana White is all for Amanda Nunes returning to the UFC.

This past weekend, Julianna Peña reclaimed the women’s bantamweight title with a split decision victory over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307. Following her win, instead of calling out her most likely next opponent, two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison, Peña instead called for Nunes to return from retirement for a trilogy fight.

Peña and Nunes have a longstanding rivalry, with Peña scoring one of the biggest upsets in MMA history by beating Nunes at UFC 269, before promptly losing the title to her in their rematch seven months later. And given their history, on Monday, Nunes appeared to respond to Peña’s callout with a social media post telling Dana White to call her.

And for White, that’s good news.

“She looks good,” White told reporters following Tuesday’s episode of Contender Series. “She looks great. Looks like she’s still in shape. So you know where her head is at, and I love that about here. There’s a lot of things I love about her, I love that about her. She’s keeping an eye on who wins the title next and I think she’s teasing that she might be interested in coming back.”

Whether or not Nunes is actually interested in returning remains to be seen. “The Lioness” retired from MMA last year after avenging her loss to Peña and then defeating Irene Aldana at UFC 289.

Of course, Nunes may not be teasing a return for Peña. Prior to her shocking upset defeat to Peña at UFC 269, there were rumors that Peña and Harrison — teammates at American Top Team — were circling a fight with each other. This was back when Harrison was negotiating with PFL, and Harrison was actually in attendance for the bout.

But whoever she might be coming back for, if she actually is at all, Dana White is here for it.

“I love Amanda Nunes,” White said. “I have an incredible relationship with her. I would absolutely love to see her come back.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Kayla Harrison entered the UFC cage for the second time this past Saturday to defeat Ketlen Vieira in Salt Lake City and move one step closer to the bantamweight title, and Larissa Pacheco disapproved the PFL social media game that day.

Harrison started her MMA career under the PFL banner in 2018 and won 15 of her 16 bouts. The lone defeat came against Pacheco, whom she beat twice before, and PFL used Harrison’s big UFC 307 clash to promote Pacheco’s upcoming fight with MMA legend Cris Cyborg on Oct. 19. PFL also posted a clip promoting Harrison later that day.

“I thought that was uncalled for, honestly,” Pacheco said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I think [PFL] have the champion they deserve, they have a respectful champion, who has defeated Kayla, so why do that? Promote me right. Let’s promote the champion. ‘Oh, but Larissa beat Kayla.’ You don’t need that. I’ve shown [my work] with other results, I’ve proven myself, so you don’t need that.

“But anyway, that’s not on me. I have nothing to do with that. I respect Kayla. Our rivalry is over right now because she’s in another organization. Had she stayed here it would be the two of us and Cris clashing heads here, but there’s no reason to talk [about her now]. I wish her good luck. The more she wins, the bigger my win over her gets, so I’ll always cheer for her.”

UFC CEO Dana White also bashed PFL for the tweet, joking that “when you’re losing as much money as they are, f*cking go for it.”

Cyborg is a legend of the sport with titles won in the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and Invicta FC. Pacheco looks to make history by adding the Brazilian to her list of victims after winning belts in two weight classes in the PFL.

Pacheco is riding a 10-fight winning streak and has only lost to Harrison, Germaine de Randamie and Jessica Andrade in 27 professional fights, but feels “it’s clear to everybody” that PFL has promoted Harrison differently.

“I don’t know if it’s because I’m Brazilian, if it’s because I don’t speak English and don’t sell that much, but I feel the difference,” Pacheco said. “She’s not even here anymore and they still [post] a lot about her, you know? She’s gone, she’s already in another organization. I think they can look at people that are in the organization.”

Pacheco hopes the public perception — and actual PFL marketing machine — changes with a win over Cyborg in Saudi Arabia.

“I think it takes me to another level, makes me one of the greats in women’s MMA,” Pacheco said. “To beat two great athletes — one two-time Olympic champion with all the hype now in the UFC, and a legend [in Cyborg]… What else do I need to say? It will take me to another level and give me the credibility promotions still don’t give me. I miss that, I won’t deny. Even from the PFL, to treat me and give credit as their actual champion.”

“People give too much weight to the fact that I’ve lost to Kayla, but I’ve l lost in 2019, when I was broken, and people don’t take that in consideration. And I won when we were both in our primes, the peak of our performances. I’m not saying one win deserves more credit than two, but there’s a huge difference. And beating Cris now would give me the hype and credibility that I need at this stage of my career.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

MMA Fighting has DWCS Season 8, Week 9 results for all the action from season eight, week nine of UFC’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

In the main event, Artem Vakhitov (2-1) faces Islem Masraf in a heavyweight contest. Vakhitov, a former GLORY kickboxer, has competed in the kickboxing ring with current UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, going 1-1 including a decision victory over “Poatan” in September 2021. Vakhitov enters the bout with back-to-back first-round finishes under his belt.

Masraf has finished all three of his opponents, including a 10-second head-kick knockout in his most recent outing at PFL Europe 1 in March. Masraf has yet to go past the seven-minute mark in any of his pro bouts.

In the co-main event, Kody Steele gets his chance to compete in front of Dana White and crew as he faces Chasen Blair. The undefeated Steele was slated to face Quemuel Ottoni on the Sept. 10 DWCS fight card, but Ottoni withdrew from the bout moments before.

Check out DWCS Season 8, Week 9 results below.

Main card (ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Artem Vakhitov vs. Islem Masraf

Kody Steele vs. Chasen Blair

Mario Pinto vs. Luis Camacho

Islam Dulatov vs. Vanilto Antunes

Sean Gauci vs. Anthony Drilich

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Dustin Poirier is used to being a closing act in the UFC octagon, but on Monday night, he did so during the wildly popular Kill Tony comedy program.

During comedian William Montgomery’s set on the popular comedy show, hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe, he mentioned the former interim lightweight champion. He accused Poirier of talking trash about him and added that he could not stand the popular fighter.

As Montgomery’s voice got higher and higher, “The Diamond” showed up from the backstage area behind Montgomery on stage. After going nose-to-nose, the two hugged it out before simultaneously yelling, “We ain’t ever going to stop” to wide fanfare.

Watch the video of Poirier’s appearance above.

Poirier did his absolute best to put on a mean face, but you could tell he couldn’t hold his laughter back at moments before the friendly payoff.

Following a submission loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 in June, Poirier hinted at retirement. Since then, Poirier has teased one more fight, which has yet to be announced.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Khalil Rountree says he’s undergone nose surgery following his knockout loss to Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 307.

The challenger gave it his all in his first UFC title shot, but Pereira finished Rountree in Round 4 to pick up his third title defense of 2024 this past Saturday in Salt Lake City. Rountree was bloodied, battered, and bruised in the loss. On Tuesday, Rountree showed the remnants of the loss after having septoplasty surgery — which according to the Mayo Clinic, is a procedure to straighten the nasal septum through “trimming, moving and replacing cartilage, bone or both.”

Check out the painful aftermath photo of Rountree below.

“Septoplasty is the worst surgery on the planet,” Rountree said. “Pure pain.”

The 34-year-old Rountree received a standing ovation from the Salt Lake City crowd for his efforts against Pereira, despite having his four-fight win streak snapped. “The War Horse” earned his title shot with a stoppage win over Anthony Smith at UFC Vegas 83 this past December.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Michael “Venom” Page is back, but this time it’s not in the cage.

On Monday, Polaris announced that Page will face former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit in a grappling match at its upcoming Polaris 30 event, which takes place on November 2.

A former Bellator standout, Page signed with the UFC in 2023 and made his promotional debut earlier this year, with a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland at UFC 299. Page then lost a decision to Ian Machado Garry in his sophomore outing at UFC 303 in June. Page was an accomplished kickboxer before making the move to MMA, and also has experience in boxing and bare-knuckle boxing, but this will be his first foray into professional grappling.

A former WEC welterweight champion and UFC interim welterweight champion, Condit is one of the most beloved fighters of the 2010s, and best known for his 2016 Fight of the Year battle with Robbie Lawler that is widely regarded as one of the greatest fights in MMA history. This will be Condit’s return to professional competition since retiring from MMA in 2021.

Polaris 30 takes place on Nov. 2 at Fairfield Halls in London and will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jon Jones is prepping for UFC 309 with a lot of different looks.

Jones defends his UFC heavyweight title for the first time in the main event of the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16 against former champ Stipe Miocic.

A little over a month away from the fight, Jones revealed he has been training with Olympic gold medalist, and former ex-WWE wrestler Gable Steveson, along with former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.

Jones is set to compete for the first time since winning his second divisional UFC world title, submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. “Bones” was slated to face Miocic this past November before he withdrew due to injury. The former light heavyweight champ has teased that his upcoming bout could be his last, despite hope from the vast majority of the MMA community that Jones will face interim champ Tom Aspinall in a unification bout,

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Kayla Harrison never contemplated dropping out of UFC 307 even if she was forced to visit a hospital just days before her fight against Ketlen Vieira.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist dealt with an infection that forced her to take antibiotics prior to her fight. That said, Harrison always planned to fight no matter what and she refuses to place blame on her illness for going to a decision on Saturday after promising another vicious finish.

“I don’t really like to make excuses,” Harrison told MMA Fighting. “I had to go to the hospital last week. There was blood in my urine. I had a really bad infection that started spreading. I was on antibiotics. I had blood in my urine. It was a bunch of stuff going on but it’s not an excuse. I have to be the best in the world on my worst day.”

Despite not feeling her best, Harrison still largely dominated the fight, earning a unanimous decision victory to move to 2-0 in the UFC.

As much as she wanted to make an emphatic statement with her performance, Harrison still learned a lot about herself and the way she needs to prepare for fights going forward after a tough few days leading up to the event.

“After 12 weeks of eating like air and prayers, no, we were going to find a way [to fight] come hell or high water,” Harrison said. “Also, just everything that was on the line. Listen, I’m grateful that I got the win and I was able to go out there and still get the ‘W,’ but other than that, I’m eager to get back to the gym. I have a lot of things that I want to improve on. I know this fight is really going to help me grow.

“Even outside of the cage. Some of the decisions I made, it’s going to be good for me. I ate too much I think after I weighed in. I was just so hungry, I think I overdid it. I felt kind of sick on Saturday, because I ate too much. I need to do a better job of staying disciplined even after I weigh in. I need to follow the game plan. There’s a lot of stuff I can improve on.”

Harrison has mauled so much of her competition over the years — including former champion Holly Holm in her UFC debut — that the expectations are always high when she competes. She holds herself to similar high standards, but going through everything she did leading up to the fight against Vieira and still getting the win was ultimately what mattered most.

“It was good for me,” Harrison said. “I think if every fight is easy, then when you get to the hard fights, you don’t trust yourself. Not that I would never trust myself. I know how tough I am. I know I have the ability to dig deep and always find a way. I think that it’s not a bad thing that I had to overcome some adversity on Saturday.”

Following her victory, Harrison headed backstage for her post-fight interviews and then sat down to watch the women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Peña. She’s expected to fight for the title next so Harrison had a vested interest in seeing how the title bout played out. In the end, Peña eked out a controversial decision win to become a two-time UFC champion.

“I think I missed the first round but I also had it going Raquel’s way and then I looked on MMA Decisions or whatever it is, every single journalist had it for Raquel and I’ve never seen that where all of you guys agree,” Harrison said about the decision. “I was surprised. I think it’s kind of unspoken rule in our sport, you don’t steal the title. You’ve got to take the title. I feel bad for ‘Rocky.’ She’s quiet. She’s a humble champion, but she’s the champ. To have it taken like that has got to be tough.

“No [I wasn’t impressed by Julianna], and not to talk shit — I know we’re going to get into plenty of that soon enough — I just don’t see any growth. Since the fight with Amanda [Nunes], I don’t see a ton of progress. That’s just my personal opinion. She’s tough as hell though, I’ll give her that. She’s tough as nails.”

With the belt back around her waist, Peña was then asked by Joe Rogan to address her next fight with the UFC putting a camera on Harrison backstage to get her reaction.

Much to her disappointment, Harrison didn’t even hear her name mentioned as Peña launched into a diatribe calling out former opponent Amanda Nunes, who has been retired for over a year. Harrison could only shrug her shoulders and shake her head as Peña continued to call for a fight that is unlikely to happen right now.

“I mean I think that kind of speaks volumes,” Harrison said about Peña dismissing her in that moment. “Then she says I’m not calling out Amanda, I’m scared. No, honey, I just have a plan. I want to beat you up and then I want to beat Amanda up.

“I think that she’s intimidated. When the truth don’t work, she’s got to say I’m on steroids. She’s got to say that she wasn’t impressed. She’s got to say that Amanda’s the bigger fight. She’s just going to keep making excuses. I can just control me. I’m ready to fight. I want to fight. I want to fight for the title. I hopes that that happens.”

Harrison stated numerous times that she really didn’t care who won in the UFC 307 co-main event so long as she got the winner, but she’s definitely excited for the chance to silence Peña once and for all.

“I just think stylistically, I’m a nightmare for her. That’s rough,” Harrison said. “I think everyone’s a tough fight. I think that now we’re in the highest levels of the sport. We’re talking about the best of the best and they’ve been around for a long time. They’re seasoned. They’ve been through wars. We’re talking about the best of the best. So everyone is a tough fight.

“Stylistically, I think that probably Julianna’s an easier fight for me than Ketlen. Julianna’s probably an easier fight for me than Raquel, but again, I think I’m the best in the world. I believe I’m the best in the world. So I’m the tough fight.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.

We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.

Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Monday’s UFC in-5 game

Sunday’s UFC in-5 game

Saturday’s UFC in-5 game

The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

MMA Fighting – All Posts