The Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili UFC 306 main event began as most fights do, and then seconds in, Dvalishvili began screaming at O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch which caused a brief stop to the action.

“That really caught me off guard,” Welch said on O’Malley’s YouTube channel. “Literally, we sat down, I was really calm, I said, ‘You got to be patient, Merab. You got to be patient, Merab.’ Then he starts bucking around, almost having a seizure.”

Dvalishvili would go on to defeat O’Malley via unanimous decision to capture the UFC bantamweight title at Sphere this past Saturday.

Welch was certainly thrown off by Dvalishvili’s early reaction. Referee Herb Dean, who has taken flack from the MMA community for his performance in the fight, apparently told Welch that the opposing coach is not allowed to yell out the opponent’s name during the fights.

“So I didn’t realize there was a rule that if you have a callout, it can’t be the other guy’s name,” Welch explained. “I told Herb that some of our callouts have Merab’s name in it, and he’s like, ‘Nope, nope, nope.’ Didn’t know that. Would love to see that f*cking rule.”

That wasn’t the only weird moment in the fight. At the end of Round 2, Dvalishvili grabbed a front face lock, and began kissing the upper back of O’Malley. Dean began yelling at Dvalishvili, which led the then-challenger to break the hold, stand up, and head back to his corner.

Wisely, O’Malley stood up and punched Dvalishvili before the horn sounded, which confused the commentary team, and even Aljamain Sterling — who was in the corner of Dvalishvili.

O’Malley, who plans to take an extended break after the loss, reacted to the two very strange moments in the first 10 minutes of the fight.

“I don’t know why the ref stopped the fight,” O’Malley said. “Then he was kissing me. I don’t know, there was like two to three seconds left on the time, looking back on it I’m surprised that I even knew that, and then the ref was like, ‘Hey, quit kissing him on the back,’ so he got up thinking the time was up, and then I juiced him once. I was hoping I’d put him out.

“But Aljo got up like he was about to f*cking storm the cage, like I f*cking hit him illegally. I don’t think he even realized there was time on the clock. The ref didn’t stand you up, he said to quit f*cking doing that.”

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PFL heavyweight Daniel James has been handed a 10-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after a failed drug test.

James was suspended under the rules of the PFL’s anti-doping policy, which is governed by USADA.

“James, 42, tested positive for bis-(4-cyanophenyl) methanol, a metabolite of letrozole, as the result of an out-of-competition sample collected on May 8, 2024,” USADA officials said in a statement. “Letrozole is a Specified Substance in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators, subject to a maximum 12-month period of ineligibility, and is prohibited at all times under the PFL Anti-Doping Policy and PFL Prohibited List.

“James received a reduction to the default period of ineligibility for his full and complete cooperation. James’ 10-month period of ineligibility began on May 8, 2024, the date his positive sample was collected.”

Letrozole is an estrogen blocker primarily used to treat breast cancer in women but the drug can also be used to prevent side effects from anabolic steroid abuse.

This is not the first time James has dealt with a suspension after a positive drug test. He was pulled from his Bellator debut back in 2022 following a failure from an out-of-competition drug test administered prior to his fight. James then had his win over Tyrell Fortune overturned to a no-contest after another failed drug test for an anabolic agent.

The latest incident now counts as a third failed drug test for James in the past two years.

James last appeared in the PFL back in April when he scored a first-round stoppage over Marcelo Golm. The result in that fight still stands because James’ failed drug test came from an out-of-competition sample collected just over a month after that bout.

With the 10-month suspension, James won’t be able to return to action until after March 8, 2025.

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This past Saturday UFC 306 took place at Sphere in Las Vegas, in a fight card that was promised to be “the greatest live action sporting event of all-time.” While “Noche UFC” might not have delivered on those lofty expectations, it still was packed with great fights and meaningful results, most notably the two new UFC champions. In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko avenged her previous loss to Alexa Grasso, winning a dominant decision to reclaim the flyweight title. Then in the main event, Merab Dvalishvili backed up his words and dominated Sean O’Malley to win the bantamweight title.

A lot of important and exciting stuff happened so let’s talk about it all by answering questions from our readers.

Sphere

“Was it REALLY the greatest live sporting event of all time? From what I saw on TV & read on Twitter, it seemed like a funky venue for fights.”

Funnily enough, we did a reaction piece that addresses this very question, plus all our other takeaways from UFC 306. You should go read that right now.

Done?

Terrific!

Heading into UFC 306, Sphere was billed as the true star of the show and that played out on Saturday. Yes, two new champions were crowned, but the biggest talking point from the event was all the bells and whistles the UFC brought for this “once-in-a-lifetime” show. Vignettes before every fight, drones, an army of octagon girls with different themed outfits, the whole nine yards. And by every account I’ve heard from people who attended UFC 306, it was indeed quite spectacular. That experience didn’t entirely translate to those watching from home though.

Don’t get me wrong, UFC 306 was very cool. The crowd shots looked insane, and the broad idea of telling a cohesive story through the night was fun and well executed. But ultimately, fights aren’t a concert and so there was an almost jarring dichotomy between the production and then the fights. The production was ambitious and new and exciting, but the fights were ultimately the same fights you get anywhere else in the UFC, and at home, there’s not much you can do to spice that up. Viewers are ostensibly there to watch the fights, so you’ve got to show that, and that negates any of the cool stuff Sphere can do.

That being said, this was still a very fun event from the UFC. We constantly decry them for not taking any risks and delivering the same production week over week, year over year, and this shows why: because the UFC can do a lot of cool stuff when they feel compelled to try, and it makes the experience unique and interesting. I hope they take the success of this show and run with it and we see a little more personality in future fight cards. The product will be all the better for it.

Best chapter

“What was your favorite chapter of the show tonight? Mine personally was the Día de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead chapter.”

So if you missed the show, the biggest thing the UFC did for the main card was tell the story of Mexico between fights, in the form of little video package chapters (the UFC has all of them up on its YouTube channel). It began with the creation of the universe, came right up through the modern day, and culminated in an imagining of the future of Mexico. It was a big, ambitious idea, and one that I thought they pulled off fairly well.

I agree that aesthetically speaking, the Día de Los Muertos section (Chapter Three) was the best, especially if you’re factoring in the octagon girl outfits. They were easily the best ones of the evening. But I also enjoyed Chapter Two, covering early civilizations, and Chapter Five, the modern day fighters and heroes of Mexico.

The weakest of the chapters was easily the final one, looking ahead to the future of Mexico, and that makes sense I guess as it’s easier to tell stories about the past than predict the future. Even still, I thought the graphics on Chapter Six were the worst and not that far off from mobile game advertisements you see. Still, very cool to seem the UFC try new things.

Merab Dvalishvili

“I know its early, but Merab has 11 straight wins (bantamweight record), all one sided dominations, 4 against ex-champions, 2 against pound-for-pound all-time greats. Even if he loses to Umar, how much more until he’s in the conversation for top 3/5 bantamweight ever?”

Dvalishvili is already in the conversation for top-5 greatest ever at bantamweight. Certainly not saying he’s got that locked up, but we’re talking about a division that’s still pretty young and hasn’t had a lot of clear-cut dominance at the top. Basically, anyone who has ever won a title at 135 pounds is in the conversation for top-5 all-time of the weight class.

Now, how long until he becomes the bantamweight GOAT? That’s a different question, but frankly, he’s not that far off it, because again, the weight class hasn’t had a dominant champion.

As of right now, Dominick Cruz is the bantamweight GOAT. He’s got five title defenses (across two different reigns) and that’s the trump card in any argument. It’s entirely possible that if he weren’t made out of a particularly brittle form of glass, that Cruz would have cemented himself as a true all-time great in the sport, regardless of weight class. But if I had wheels I’d be a wagon. So instead Cruz is left as the clear greatest ever at 135.

But that won’t last forever. Of Cruz’s five title defenses, two came against Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. Yes, they are all-time great fighters, but the only reason they fought Cruz was because flyweight did not exist at the time. So in some sense we’re talking about a title reign that was Urijah Faber twice and Scott Jorgensen. Quality wins, but not insurmountable by any means.

Sterling was well on his way to establishing himself as bantamweight GOAT when he ran into O’Malley. Well, Merab just mushed O’Malley same as he has everyone on this current streak. It’s impressive, and now that he has the belt, subsequent wins mean more. If Dvalishvili can string together three title defenses, I’m very open to him taking the GOAT mantle, especially as bantamweight has only continued to improve in quality over the years.

Umar Nurmagomedov

“How boring will Merab vs. Umar be?”

Of course, getting three title defenses is a lot easier said than done for Dvalishvili as it appears his first defense is going to come against Umar Nurmagomedov.

I’ve been loudly banging the drum about Umar for a long time at this point and confidently proclaimed him to be the best bantamweight on Earth about two years ago. His only issue was getting in the cage and proving it against the best in the world. Well, now he’s gotten to do it some, and I haven’t changed my mind one iota.

Dvalishvili is an exceptional fighter, but I can hardly think of a worse matchup for him than Nurmagomedov. Umar is his equal in wrestling (and possibly his superior), extremely crafty, and a FAR better striker. As I see it, the only clear advantage Dvalishvili has is his insane cardio, but that’s tough to bring to bear on a guy who has your number everywhere else.

And as a result, I don’t think that fight will be boring at all. For one, I enjoy Merab’s fights. This past weekend wasn’t exactly thrilling, but to me that came down to O’Malley seeming to be broken early and not trying to make a fight of it. But I have no issue watching Merab show off the peak of the current MMA wrestling metagame against the best fighters in the world. And against Umar, I doubt he’ll be able to. Umar will stuff takedowns, maybe take Merab down himself, and tune Dvalishvili up on the feet. It should be a good time.

Dvalishvili is a great fighter from a very good camp so we should never rule out his chances to surprise us, but Umar is coming.

Sean O’Malley vs. Cory Sandhagen

“Sean vs. Cory. When?”

Heading into UFC 306 the question was whether Sean O’Malley could become the biggest star in the sport with an impressive win. Now it’s where does the former champion go from here? And there are a lot of options.

O’Malley vs. Sandhagen is a popular choice, one that Sandhagen himself is angling for and one that I would love to see. But there’s also possible matchups with Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo, or Deiveson Figueiredo.

But if I’m putting on my Sean Shelby hat and matchmaking, my guess is we get O’Malley vs. Figueiredo next. Figgy Smalls wants a title shot but he’s the odd man out right not and he’ll need to fight again. If he beats O’Malley (which he must feel confident he can given the grappling advantage Dvalishvili just showed off) then he’s easily getting the first crack at the winner of Merab vs. Umar. And if Umar wins and O’Malley beats Figgy, he’s right there for another shot at the belt.

Meanwhile, Cejudo can fight Jose Aldo (after Aldo beats Mario Bautista) in a legend fight and Sandhagen and Petr Yan can rematch.

Valentina Shevchenko

“Do you see Valentina going on to defend the belt multiple times again in her second reign?”

I do not.

Shevchenko is, at worst, the third greatest female fighter of all-time. Losing to Alexa Grasso could have ended her chance to chase down Amanda Nunes as the WMMA GOAT, but reclaiming the title brings it back as a possibility. If Shevchenko never got the belt back and instead started dropping fights, then the conversation is entirely over. Now that she is once again champion, both Shevchenko and Nunes dropped titles and recovered them, which brings her back to the table.

The women’s GOAT conversation is basically Nunes, Shevchenko, or Cris Cyborg. You can make other cases for Megumi Fujii and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, but they’re weaker than those two women. And for me, Cyborg isn’t really in the conversation either. Yes, she had an incredible run of dominance, but it was in a weight class that barely exists. Her opponents were all massively undersized or not very good. Her best win is Holly Holm, a bantamweight. Its not Cyborg’s fault that the opposition wasn’t there, but it is what it is. Fujii has the same issue and people don’t freak out about leaving her out of the conversation (also, getting iced by Nunes instantaneously really nukes Cyborg’s case).

So if the argument is Nunes vs. Shevchenko, and at this point, Nunes has the advantage. Both women have seven straight title defenses (Nunes’s come across two weight classes, even though women’s featherweight isn’t a real thing) but Nunes was generally more dominant in her performances and has two wins over Shevchenko, which serves as a trump card. If Shevchenko sticks around at 125 for awhile, and defends her title, I’ll be impressed but I’m not sure that gets her past the two-losses hump.

What does? Moving back up to bantamweight and becoming a two-division champion. Shevchenko is 36 years old and the bantamweight division is in dreadful shape. If she defends her belt against Manon Fiorot, I strongly suspect “Bullet” will make the case to challenge Kayla Harrison (who will have the belt by then). And if she does that and becomes a two-division champion over two real weight classes? Then you’re talking about the WMMA GOAT.

Diego Lopes

“Do you see Diego Lopes facing the winner of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway or facing Alexander Volkanovski in 2025?”

I know Volkanovski threw out the idea of fighting Lopes for an interim belt but frankly, I just don’t see that happening. Rightly or wrongly, Volk is next in line to fight the winner of Topuria vs. Holloway, and with that fight right around the corner, accepting another fight would be lunacy for him. He’ll wait it out.

Which means Lopes will have to find another opponent to earn his title shot against and there is one that’s so obvious I’ll be shocked if anything else happens: the winner of Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling.

Evloev already deserves a title shot, and if he beats Sterling, he will super deserve it, but the UFC does not appear interested in doing him any favors. So given the beef between Movsar and Lopes, that rematch sells itself. And if Sterling wins, same thing, just without the beef. Sterling will need another win because of the logjam and so that fight as a true No. 1 contender matchup makes perfect sense.

Fight of the Year

Esteban Ribovics v. Daniel Zellhuber, Hall of Fame worthy?”

Heading into UFC 306 I said that Ribovics vs. Zellhuber was going to steal the show and boy was I right. Those two put on one heck of a display earning Fight of the Night honors and potentially Fight of the Year honors for 2024. There’s still plenty of time left in the year obviously, but that matchup is on the short list right now.

And ultimately, that’s probably what will determine if it becomes a Hall of Fame fight. The action in it is undoubtedly worthy, but it’s really difficult for non-title fights to get inducted unless there is a damn good reason. There are simply so many great fights throughout history and title fights tend to be both the best and the most meaningful.

Of the nine fights currently enshrined, only three of them are modern-era non-title bouts: Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson 1, Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida, and Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi. Shogun-Hendo and Cub vs. Choi were both Fights of the Year. That’s pretty much the bar for the Hall of Fame, so unless it wins that award this year, I’d say it’s unlikely.

Even if it doesn’t though, that was an all-timer of a third round and a sensational fight. Go back and watch it if you haven’t already.

Jose Aldo

“Merab 0/16 takedowns against Aldo just keeps getting more and more incredible.”

And at altitude no less.

Jose Aldo is the GOAT. Real ones know.

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

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jon Jones will “more than likely” retire after his UFC 309 clash with Stipe Miocic on Nov. 16, and the UFC was close to signing another “Jon Jones” through Dana White’s Contender Series.

Arthur Lopes battles fellow Brazilian heavyweight Tallison Teixeira on Tuesday’s DWCS card at the UFC APEX looking for a contract with the organization, and he was nicknamed “Jon Jones” when called for the opportunity. Lopes, however, decided to change his nickname to “Demolidor” before flying to Las Vegas.

“That was my nickname because our fighting style was kind of similar, and I looked like him at the time, so people started calling me Jon Jones,” Lopes said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I hated it at first [laughs], I won’t lie to you, but people liked it, so there was no escape.”

Lopes is 6-1 as a professional with all wins coming by stoppage, with five knockouts and one DQ, and chose to get rid of the nickname to make a name for himself inside the octagon.

“There’s already a Jon Jones, and we don’t need to continue someone else’s story,” Lopes said. “Let’s write a new story, something different, so here comes ‘Demolidor.’ We’ll make history, and you’ll all hear about this name for a long time. God willing, I want to build a career better than his. I want to be the best, always. I don’t want to be like him. I want to be fun, athletic, and do new things.”

Lopes started his career back in 2015, and won four of five fights in just over a year, and then returned in 2018 to collect another pair of finishes before leaving the sport for good. Lopes only returned in March 2024, knocking out Daniel Bucher in just 20 seconds to earn a shot at DWCS.

“I stayed out for a long time but decided on Jan. 1st that I would become an athlete again,” said Lopes, who worked as a car mechanic while fighting in MMA. “I worked hard for six months and came out victorious to get this opportunity on the Contender. It’s great to see that I still have wood to burn and live my dream.”

“It’s hard to live as an athlete in Brazil,” he continued. “Sometimes you even have to pay to fight because the purse is so low it doesn’t cover your costs. I’m a father of four and it was hard to pay the bills with no sponsors or support. I wasn’t paid for my last fight [in 2018] so I just quit fighting. But I guess God heard one of my prayers of wanting something better, so I decided to come back.”

Lopes quit his job as car mechanic to focus on his fighting career ahead of DWCS and moved from Uberlandia to Tres Rios to train at ATS, and sees heavier, bigger and undefeated Teixeira as a tough but beatable foe.

“[His size] makes no difference to me,” Lopes said. “I wanna see if he’s all that. I think he talks to much. Too cocky. Let’s end that [tonight]. I’d rather not fight a Brazilian, but it’s the opportunity I have, so I will walk through anyone to earn my spot in the UFC. … I want to win by knockout, but I’m a black belt in luta livre, and we’ll fight wherever we need to win this. I’m ready for everything.”

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Tom Aspinall is ready to step in at UFC 309.

This past weekend, the UFC finally made official the worst-kept secret in MMA: Jon Jones is set to defend his heavyweight title against former champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309, which takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Aspinall is excited the promotion finally made things official, and plans to be in attendance either as a backup or as an interested observer.

“What else happened there was big Jon Jones, big Stipe Miocic matched up with one another,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “Finally, it’s official. Nov. 16, MSG, New York City. The heavyweight title is on the line at long last. Finally. We are confirmed for it.

“I, of course, will be there to watch these two gentlemen go at it. I, of course, have told the UFC if anybody gets injured or for any other reason why nobody can make it to that fight, why one of them might pull out, I’m ready to go. If I need to, I’ll fight both of them in the same night, no problem.”

Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to face each other at UFC 295. However, Jones withdrew from the bout due to injury, and instead of rebooking Miocic, the promotion simply postponed the fight. Instead, Aspinall stepped in on short notice against planned backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich for an interim title fight, and won the belt with a 69-second knockout. In lieu of booking a title unification bout though, the UFC has forged ahead with the Jones vs. Miocic matchup, and so in July, Aspinall defended his interim title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304, scoring a 60-second knockout.

It’s not often that an interim champion even defends his title and much rarer still that an interim champion is passed over for a fight with the undisputed champion. As a result, Aspinall has become increasingly frustrated the past few months with Jones and the UFC insisting on the Miocic fight.

But at least with that fight finally official now, Aspinall sees light at the end of the tunnel for his title journey.

“Give me my undisputed title, because in my opinion it should not be two champions in one weight division,” Aspinall said. “I think that is silly. This is not what the UFC is about, this is not what MMA is about. There’s one guy in each weight division, and I believe it’s me. So I’ll be fighting the winner.

“As I said, I’ll be there if they need me. I’ll be fit and ready. I’m training right now. I’m ready to go, I’ll be to go on the 16th of November if I need to. MSG, the place where I won the title. I’ll go back there and I’ll unify the title there as well if I need to.”

Unfortunately for Aspinall, he may not get his wish to fight the winner of the UFC 309 main event as over the weekend, Jones declared that his fight with Miocic is “more than likely” the final fight of his career.

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Merab Dvalishvili put on a clinic at UFC 306 as he dethroned Sean O’Malley to become the new bantamweight champion, but the fight started with an unusual moment that forced referee Herb Dean to get involved.

Just seconds into the opening round, Dvalishvili motioned towards his opponent’s corner and got the referee’s attention as he started exchanging words with O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch. In the weeks leading up to UFC 306, Dvalishvili got rather heated when addressing some comments he took as insults from Welch, not to mention the coach apparently shouting instructions to Aljamain Sterling during his own fight against O’Malley back in August 2023.

It turns out the same thing was happening this past Saturday night with Dvalishvili revealing his side of the story after Dean was forced to admonish O’Malley’s coaches for shouting at him in the opening moments of the fight.

“Everyone is asking what happened at start of fight — I was trying to stay professional and focus on the fight only, not wanting to change the energy of the fight,” Dvalishvili explained on Twitter. “I made no eye contact with O’Malley’s team. But when the fight started I hear his team calling out to me ‘Merab!’ Trying to coach, provoke and distract me. I yelled back at them cut it out and coach your own guy.

“I remembered they pulled the same crap with Aljo. Not professional. This is the way they want their fighter to win. It’s a shame how disrespectful they are and that they have zero sportsmanship!”

The incident ultimately didn’t affect Dvalishvili’s performance, but his own head coach admittedly got fired up in the corner after the exchange.

“That’s not our job,” Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood told MMA Fighting following UFC 306. “I’m not trashing Tim for anything he does. I respect Tim, but it is a bullshit move. I was yelling at Tim across the cage several times when Sean would mess up ,and I was making sure Sean heard me calling out everything that he wanted to throw.

“When he would do something stupid, I caught myself a couple of times in the fight going ‘Tim, did you teach him that? That was terrible!’ [shouting] across the cage.”

Wood says he really didn’t want to get involved at all, but it was tough not to respond after hearing Welch talk trash to Dvalishvili in past podcasts, interviews, and social media posts leading up to UFC 306.

It sounds like the same thing started happening at the beginning of the fight but Dvalishvili got the last laugh after he largely shut down O’Malley’s striking and dominated the majority of the fight to win a unanimous decision.

“Fighters are there to trash talk, to build the fight, do their thing, whether they like each other, don’t like each other, I don’t think it’s a place for coaches to get in,” Wood said. “Tim was doing some stuff beforehand like at the weigh-ins, he was talking shit to Merab on camera, saying things and that’s fine. If you really feel like you need that mental edge and especially you could see how fragile Sean was and how quick he broke, maybe they do.

“But like I said, I have nothing against Tim. The tactics, I wouldn’t do it, I don’t need the shine. I don’t need to be the guy in front of my fighter looking to get attention. I’m not saying that’s what Tim does but yeah I think it’s pretty ridiculous. I had to reel Merab back into it and say ‘listen, it doesn’t matter what he says. Obviously he’s not coaching his fighter very well anyway, you don’t want to listen to what he has to say.’ It’s one of those things where I try to stay out of it. I don’t want to be involved in it.”

While Wood had every confidence that Dvalishvili would go out and vanquish O’Malley in the fight, he knows all too well that MMA is an unpredictable sport where anything can happen.

It’s one of the reasons why he prefers to just put full focus on his fighter rather than spending much time trying to tear down an opponent because he knows that can come back to bite you hard — a lesson Welch may be learning right now.

“Tim had posted a couple of things or what not — this is why I don’t talk shit before fights,” Wood explained. “Because you don’t know what’s going to happen and then you look kind of like a jackass after you’ve said all these things, you’ve talked shit to a fighter and your fighters talked all this crap and then all of a sudden, you get your ass beat and then it’s kind of like how does it feel now and it doesn’t feel all that good.

“I’ve learned over the years make sure I keep my mouth closed and let the fighters do what they want to do.”

As far as Welch actually trying to shout instructions at an opposing fighter, Wood definitely doesn’t abide by that strategy even if it didn’t work.

In that same situation this past year, Sterling claimed he didn’t even hear Welch yelling at him during the fight so whatever tactics were being employed didn’t work. Still, Wood just doesn’t see the need for the coaches to get involved at that level, especially when it could come at the detriment of your own fighter.

“The tactics of coaching another fighter, yelling at a fighter, I don’t respect that or think that’s a good thing but more power to whoever does,” Wood said. “Tim is a good coach. He’s still coming up, learning doing his thing, and I wish the best of luck to him and I have no personal beef with him, but I will after the fact after my fighter whoops your fighter’s ass and tactically it’s this and it’s that. But there were thing said before, I don’t mind going back and saying ‘hey, how’d that turn out?’

“We are the guys behind the guys. We are there to support that guy and what they need. It’s not about us. I don’t need my name mentioned, brought up in any way shape or form. For the fight, if I get some kind of praise or whatever because of a performance, that’s great, I’ll take it but I’m not looking to put myself in those situations.”

Now that the job is done, Wood doesn’t see any need to carry on some kind of rivalry with Welch or O’Malley but don’t expect to hear him shouting instructions to any opposing fighter. Instead, Wood vows to let his fighters handle that themselves.

“It’s not something I’m going to get into a beef with him about,” Wood said. “But I’m confident enough in the fighter that we’re putting out into the fight that I don’t have to do any talking. They’re going to do the talking for me.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Welcome to the latest update to the MMA Fighting pound-for-pound rankings, where every month our esteemed panel sort through the noise to answer one question: Who are the best overall male and female MMA fighters in the world?

Let’s take a look at how things stand following a memorable UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas, plus two notable exits from the rankings.

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

ONE Championship

Jon Jones and Demetrious Johnson not ranked among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world? Feels wrong.

But that’s the reality we’re living in, at least in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound rankings, as both fighters fighters are ineligible to make the list as of September. Johnson’s exclusion should be no surprise given that the flyweight GOAT just announced his retirement, but Jones being out probably has a few of you scratching your heads, especially with his Stipe Miocic clash finally rescheduled for UFC 309 in November.

Like Michael Chandler—also finally set to return to action at UFC 309—a few months ago, Jones has crossed our 18-month threshold for inactivity and that means he can no longer be ranked. Yes, his next bout is supposedly just two months away, but as was the case with Chandler, until you actually step in the cage again, you’re not an active fighter.

Besides, we’re talking about Jon Jones here. If you think his next fight is guaranteed to happen, I’ll just say, “Hello, welcome to following MMA. Please enjoy learning about this wonderful world of ours.” So until Nov. 16 comes and goes, no Jones.

Jones and Johnson, two of the most decorated champions in UFC history, were No. 8 and No. 13, respectively in our previous Pound-for-Pound Rankings, and both rank even higher if we’re talking about the all-time list. Just don’t tell Dana White about any of this, OK?

In terms of actual movement, our biggest riser is unsurprisingly new bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Dvalishvili was dominant on Saturday night, outworking Sean O’Malley for five rounds to capture UFC gold, win his 11th straight fight, and jump from No. 20 all the way to No. 8 on our charts. If he books a fight with the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov next, and passes that test, an even higher spot is waiting for him.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 20 Merab Dvalishvili def. No. 12 Sean O’Malley

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 4 Ilia Topuria vs. No. 9 (tied) Max Holloway (UFC 308, Nov. 16), No. 12 Patchy Mix vs. Leandro Higo (Bellator Paris, Nov. 16), No. 16 Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler (UFC, 309, Nov. 16), No. 18 Aljamain Sterling vs. Movsar Evloev (UFC 307, Oct. 5)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Anatoly Malykhin (4), Khamzat Chimaev (1), Johnny Eblen (1), Movsar Evloev (1), Justin Gaethje (1), Kyoji Horiguchi (1), A.J. McKee (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1), Robert Whittaker (1), Kamaru Usman (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 8 Jon Jones (inactivity), No. 13 Demetrious Johnson (retirement)

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

You can’t keep a good legend down.

Defying the notion that her championship days are behind her, Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the flyweight title she held for almost five years with a one-sided wrestling clinic against rival Alexa Grasso. This was the third meeting between the two fighters and the series now stands at 1-1-1, but given that Shevchenko arguably did enough to win their second meeting, the trilogy bout appears to have brought an end to their story for now.

Shevchenko has a lively line of title challengers to go through, with the next expected to be Manon Fiorot (7-0 in the UFC), so there’s plenty of obstacles ahead if Shevchenko plans to close the gap between her and women’s MMA GOAT Amanda Nunes. Keep in mind, Nunes is retired, so unless she comes back, Shevchenko has all the time in the world to catch up.

For now, she’ll have to settle for being No. 1 with a “Bullet” again on our Pound-for-Pound list.

Speaking of potential title challengers, the other big mover this month was flyweight contender Natalia Silva. The 27-year-old won her sixth straight UFC fight by defeating former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade and goes from the “also receiving votes” section into the top 15.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Valentina Shevchenko def. No. 2 Alexa Grasso, Natalia Silva def. No. 14 Jessica Andrade

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 6 Larissa Pacheco vs. No. 7 Cris Cyborg (PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants, Oct. 19), No. 8 Erin Blanchfield vs. No. 10 Rose Namajunas (UFC Edmonton, Nov. 2), No. 9 Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Peña (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 12 Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (UFC 307, Oct. 5), No. 13 Seika Izawa vs. Kanna Asakura (RIZIN 48, Sept. 29)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Maycee Barber (4), Amanda Lemos (4), Irene Aldana (1), Dakota Ditcheva (1), Norma Dumont (1), Marina Rodriguez (1), Mayra Bueno Silva (1), Ketlen Vieira (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 20 Amanda Lemos

Lastly, a refresher on some ground rules:

• The six-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will be completed following every UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout.
• Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice (let’s put it this way: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is always going to inherently be subjective. When you’re debating whether someone like Sean Strickland should be ranked above someone like Charles Oliveira, there is no true right answer. In other words: It’s not serious business, folks.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.

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Alex Pereira wants that Dricus du Plessis fight, he’s just not sure if the UFC middleweight champion feels the same way.

“Poatan,” who is set to defend his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree in the main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, has recently teased the possibility that he would drop back down to middleweight, the division in which he won his first UFC title in 2022. Specifically, he put out the possibility of a fight with du Plessis following du Plessis’ win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.

Any substantial matchup negotiations between the two are unlikely to come to fruition for months, but Pereira insists that they can start talking about it now if du Plessis is open to it.

“Dricus definitely is an easier fight than fighting Jon Jones,” Pereira told FULL SEND MMA via a Portuguese translator. “I think making weight will be harder than the fight, but I did stop making that weight class because I said my body needed a break two or three fights without having to make that cut.

“Now I think I’ve rested long enough, I think I can definitely do that and make the fight happen, but it depends on him. I showed interest many times, but he never replies.”

It’s not just du Plessis’ alleged reluctance to fight that has Pereira miffed. The Brazilian knockout artist questions whether du Plessis is serious about booking a fight against a top contender next, whether it’s himself or a rematch with Sean Strickland.

“The way that he presents himself is always jokes when he responds,” Pereira said. “Like, he said the stuff to Strickland, for example. He’s never serious. He’s always trolling somehow when the subject is presented to him.

“He never takes it serious, so it shows that he’s scared, you know what I mean? Instead of him just saying, ‘Look, UFC. Let’s make me and Pereira fight.’ Clown.”

Once du Plessis caught wind of Pereira’s comments, he was quick to respond on social media.

“A scared clown, how dare you,” du Plessis wrote. “Now that’s taking it too far. I’ve already said I’m in to fight either you or [Strickland]. What more do you want or should I tag your translator?”

Pereira won the UFC middleweight title in just his eighth MMA fight following a decorated pro kickboxing career that included two wins over Adesanya. He knocked out Adesanya at UFC 281 to claim the title before dropping it to his longtime rival in a rematch five months later. He later became light heavyweight champion with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka and his reputation as a multi-division threat has him set up to potentially fight du Plessis or heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

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

In the main event, undefeated prospect Aaron Tau takes on the 6-1 Elijah Smith in a bantamweight contest.

Contender Series starts at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday on ESPN+. You can find the results for season eight, week six below.

Fight Card

Aaron Tau vs. Elijah Smith

Tallison Teixeira vs. Arthur Lopes

Benjamin Bennett vs. Joey Hart

Yura Naito vs. Ateba Gautier

Dylan Mantello vs. Ahmad Hassanzada

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UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is nearing a return date after suffering a torn ligament in his hand that delayed his next fight after dispatching Dustin Poirier in June.

Most believed Makhachev would fight top ranked contender Arman Tsarukyan in October at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi but the hand injury prevented that from happening. Now the 33-year-old champion has a better idea in mind when he should be able to fight again.

“Most likely Tsarukyan [is next],” Makhachev told Russian reporter Igor Lazorin. “[He’s] the No. 1 contender now. I have a small injury now but I’m finishing up my treatment and I’ll be ready around the end of the year, beginning of [next] year, January.”

Right now, the UFC has scheduled out major fights and pay-per-views through November with UFC 309 set for Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 16. That card is headlined by Jon Jones making his long-awaited return to face Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight title fight.

The only major event without a headliner for the rest of 2024 is UFC 310 on Dec. 7, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s possible Makhachev could end up on that card, although that’s relatively early in the month so perhaps a return in early 2025 is more likely.

The UFC has plans to eventually go back to Saudi Arabia next year after striking a deal with Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority, following a successful partnership launching with a Fight Night event in June and another card set for 2025.

Makhachev remains a massive star in the Middle East so it’s possible the UFC waits until a show in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi to book his next fight.

Either way it appears Tsarukyan is stuck waiting until at least the end of 2024 before he gets his shot at becoming UFC lightweight champion.

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