Category Archives: Mmafighting.com

Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement from fighting on Friday and it looks like he’s got two Hall of Fame inductions in his future.

Just after he revealed that he was calling it a career, ONE Championship announced that Johnson would serve as the inaugural member of the promotion’s Hall of Fame. Now UFC CEO Dana White said the same for the UFC Hall of Fame after learning that Johnson was retiring from the sport.

“Yeah, I didn’t know that [he retired],” White said about Johnson when speaking to Grind City Media.

“Good for him. Incredible career he had. I never had a problem with Demetrious Johnson. Absolutely [he’s a UFC Hall of Famer].”

While Johnson’s announcement made the rounds on Friday, White actually didn’t hear the news until Saturday but he had nothing but glowing praise for the former UFC flyweight champion.

Johnson was not only the first ever 125-pound champion in the UFC but he also holds the record for the most title defenses in promotion history with 11 straight. Johnson also holds the record for the most wins in UFC flyweight title fights with 12, the most UFC flyweight title fights with 13, the most submissions in UFC title fights with five and a laundry list of other accomplishments after spending seven years with the organization.

His UFC run ended after Johnson was traded to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren in a historic deal. Following the trade, Johnson put together an impressive run in ONE as well capturing both the flyweight title and the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix title as well as a victory over striking legend Rodtang Jitmuangon in a mixed rules fight in 2022.

While his career ended elsewhere, White believes he was actually one of Johnson’s biggest supporters, especially when he struggled to gain acceptance from fans in the UFC.

“Listen if you go back to when he was here, I was defending him from the fans,” White said. “Who’s defended Demetrious Johnson more than me?”

There’s no telling when Johnson may actually go into the UFC Hall of Fame but it appears that’s definitely going to happen one day in the future now that he’s retired.

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The ‘UFC 306 Countdown’ video features the two title fights at the top of the anticipated fight card next Saturday night at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nev.

In the main event, UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley puts his belt on the line against Merab Dvavlishvili. UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso meets Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event.

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Radley Da Silva closed the show at the latest Battlefield Fight League event in memorable fashion.

The Canadian featherweight put his title on the line in the main event of Friday’s BFL 81 event in Vancouver. Da Silva faced undefeated fighter Drake Randall, and in the second round, Da Silva delivered one of the most brutal spinning heel kick knockouts that you will ever see, leaving Randall out like a light on the mat.

Check out the crazy finish in the video below.

Da Silva has now won six fights in a row. “Snake Eyes” has picked up five victories in the Battlefield Fight League cage, and is becoming a standout up and comer at 145 pounds in Canada. Friday night’s performance also served as Da Silva’s third win of 2024.

Randall entered the fight 6-0, with six first-round finishes. He now goes back to the drawing board after losing the first fight of his career.

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The BKFC 65 main event didn’t live up to expectations after Christine Ferea successfully defended her flyweight title in a lackluster outing against Jade Masson-Wong.

The main event ended in a split decision with Ferea retaining her belt but the crowd in Salt Lake City let the fighters hear it after the five-round battle failed to produce much action. Following the event, BKFC president David Feldman erupted when he addressed the main event and how both fighters failed to deliver during the five-round headliner.

“I thought it was f*cking awful honestly,” Feldman said at the BKFC 65 post-fight press conference. “Awful. One of the worst main events we’ve ever had in history. One of the worst women’s fights we’ve ever had.”

While the bare-knuckle promotion was built around viral brawls and brutal knockouts, Ferea vs. Masson-Wong didn’t deliver either one with the flyweights not engaging all that much during the 10-minute fight.

Feldman specifically got frustrated with Masson-Wong as she attempted to dethrone Ferea and become champion but ultimately didn’t leave it all in the ring.

He wasn’t much happier with Ferea, who has been a mainstay in BKFC since the promotion’s third event back in 2018 with Friday’s card serving as her fourth straight title defense — a new record for the organization.

“If you’re fighting for the championship — I mean I think everyone will agree with me — if you’re fighting for a championship, you’ve got to go in there, you’ve got to be willing to go out on your shield,” Feldman said. “It didn’t look like either woman really wanted to get hit tonight.

“I was disappointed and the comments online are telling me that they were very disappointed, too. I’m sorry to say that but it is what it is.”

BKFC has promoted a couple of cards in Salt Lake City thus far with Feldman announcing plans for four more shows there over the next year but he promised better for the fans in attendance and those watching at home than what unfolded in Friday’s main event.

“It was a very lackluster main event,” Feldman said. “I was very disappointed as were the fans as you heard by the boos as were the comments. Unfortunate.”

During the press conference, Feldman did tease plans for a BKFC card to cap off the year with Mike Perry expected to make his return in a “megafight” that he anticipates announcing sometime next week.

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Alice Ardelean needs a new opponent for UFC Vegas 99 after Rayanne dos Santos suffered an arm break, the Brazilian strawweight announced on social media on Friday night.

UFC Vegas 99 is scheduled for Oct. 19 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas and features Michel Pereira vs. Anthony Hernandez on the main event slot. It’s still unclear if Ardelean will remain on the card to face a new opponent.

“I was going to fight on October 19 in Las Vegas, against Alice Ardelean, but unfortunately broke my arm in training,” dos Santos wrote. “I still can’t believe it. I’m heartbroken, but God knows of all things. I’ll heal, and I can’t wait to get back.”

Ardelean (9-6) won five straight in the regional scene to earn a deal with the UFC this year, but lost a split decision to Shauna Bannon in her debut match.

Dos Santos (14-8), a former Invicta FC champion, has yet to win inside the octagon after dropping split decisions to Talita Alencar and Puja Tomar under the UFC banner.

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Usman Nurmagomedov and Lorenz Larkin capped off the Bellator San Diego card on Saturday night with a pair of impressive wins so it stands to reason they are also the highest paid fighters coming out of the event.

On Sunday, the California State Athletic Commission revealed the salaries for the Bellator San Diego card with Nurmagomedov and Larkin leading the way as the only fighters who earned six-figures.

In the main event, Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight title with a one-sided victory over Alexander Shabliy but his payday was already guaranteed no matter what. Nurmagomedov took home $ 100,000 with no additional win bonus following his latest title defense.

For his part, Shabliy earned $ 50,000 in defeat as he came up short in his bid to hand Nurmagomedov the first loss of his career.

Meanwhile, Larkin delivered a highlight reel knockout over Levan Chokheli to cement himself as the No. 1 contender in the Bellator welterweight division. He also earned $ 100,000 for his paycheck with Larkin revealing prior to the event that Saturday served as the final bout on his current Bellator contract.

Considering the way he won and the the promotion touting him as the next title contender, it’s tough to imagine Bellator won’t push hard to re-sign Larkin to a new deal.

Here are the full salaries for Bellator San Diego:

Usman Nurmagomedov: $ 100,000, no win bonus

Alexander Shabliy: $ 50,000

Lorenz Larkin: $ 100,000, no win bonus

Levan Chokheli: $ 41,000

Aaron Jeffrey: $ 60,000 — $ 30,000 to show, $ 30,000 to win

Douglas Lima: $ 50,000

Sumiko Inaba: $ 82,000 — $ 41,000 to show, $ 41,000 to win

Mackzenzie Stiller: $ 13,000

Jora Ayvazyan: $ 40,000 — $ 20,000 to show, $ 20,000 to win

Yancy Medeiros: $ 25,000

Jordan Newman: $ 36,000 — $ 18,000 to show, $ 18,000 to win

Imamshafi Aliev: $ 30,000

Masayuki Kikuiri: $ 26,000 — $ 13,000 to show, $ 13,000 to win

Herman Terrado: $ 7,500

Bryce Meredith: $ 30,000, no win bonus

John MaCalolooy: $ 5,000

Josh Hokit: $ 26,000 — $ 13,000 to show, $ 13,000 to win

Sean Rose: $ 2,000

Ashley Thiner: $ 4,000 — $ 2,000 to show, $ 2,000 to win

Aysia Cortez: $ 10,000

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Merab Dvalishvili didn’t get anything handed to him as he rose up the UFC ranks before finally being granted a title shot against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306.

The Georgian fighter put together a remarkable 10-fight win streak and had to take out three former champions — Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo — in order to secure his shot at gold. Of course, Dvalishvili isn’t afraid of a little hard work, but that also makes him a little bit salty when he hears Umar Nurmagomedov being called the No. 1 contender in the division following his win over Cory Sandhagen in August.

As impressive as it was for Nurmagomedov to beat Sandhagen in his first fight against a ranked opponent, Dvalishvili believes the Russian bantamweight got preferential treatment built solely around his famous last name.

“Let’s talk about it this way — Umar is a good fighter, we all know this, but he fights nobody from the top 15, and now of course UFC gives him a gift [with] No. 2 Cory Sandhagen; if he wins, he’s right there,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting.

“Now he wins, so now he’s right there. He’s been disrespectful. He’s calling [out] Sean O’Malley, he’s calling [out] me. Like bro, give us respect and let us fight and chill out a little bit. What the f*ck? You don’t fight nobody and now you just got here because your last name is Nurmagomedov, because you’re Khabib’s cousin.”

Of course, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired undefeated as the reigning UFC lightweight champion and remains one of the most talked about fighters on the planet despite not fighting since 2020.

He also serves as one of Umar’s primary coaches after both came up under family patriarch Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov while growing up in Dagestan.

Familial ties or not, Dvalisvhili feels like Nurmagomedov slid into the fight against Sandhagen without really earning it, and now he’s trying to do the same with a potential title shot looming on the horizon.

“Good for him, but he has to grow up,” Dvalishvili said. “He has to be more of a man. He has to respect fighters here. We’ve been here a long time and he’s acting a little bit disrespectful. He’s talking too much. I’m talking about the truth.

“Yes, he’s a good fighter, but he got pushed because he’s Khabib’s cousin and he has to be humble. He has to be a little bit relaxed. He shows us disrespect, and same thing, he’s going to get it at the right time when the time comes. Now, let us fight and wait your turn.”

With the bantamweight title up for grabs at UFC 306, Dvalishvili would like to see Nurmagomedov get another quality win before he starts calling for his own shot at the championship.

“He should just fight [Deiveson] Figueiredo,” Dvalishvili said. “He should fight somebody. [Maybe] Petr Yan. He just beat one guy from the top 15. Come on, chill out a little bit. That’s all I have for him. I don’t want to talk about him. That’s it.

“Let them fight each other, Figueiredo versus Umar, that would be a good fight. Actually Figueiredo deserves it more. He’s a former champion, he’s a big name. He’s been fighting. He already beat one former champion and two guys from the top 15. Actually, [Marlon] ‘Chito’ Vera doesn’t count because ‘Chito’ Vera is not a top-15 fighter. He sucks. But Figueiredo deserves it more. He has my respect. He’s a man and he’s been respectful and he’s cool and he didn’t get here because he’s somebody’s cousin. He got here by himself. He’s a good fighter. He’s been there. He was a champion. At least he’s humble and he’s a real fighter.”

Since moving to bantamweight, former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo has been impressive with wins over Vera, Cody Garbrandt, and Rob Font, but it remains to be seen if he’ll get a title shot.

Obviously, Dvalishvili prefers that option if he beats O’Malley on Sept. 14, but he definitely doesn’t want to hear about Nurmagomedov getting that opportunity off one win over a top-five ranked opponent.

“Umar talking about [a title shot], some bullshit there,” Dvalishvili “[Before he fought Sandhagen] he defeated somebody [in their] debut and then now he wants to fight for the belt? You are out of your mind.”

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Valentina Shevchenko believes she’s heading into her historic trilogy fight with Alexa Grasso with the series tied at one win apiece.

The flyweights meet in the first ever trilogy for women in company history in the co-main event of UFC 306, which takes place Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas with Grasso’s 125-pound title up for grabs. Shevchenko looks to regain the championship she lost to Grasso at UFC 285 in March 2023.

In their rematch at Noche UFC in September 2023, Grasso and Shevchenko delivered an instant classic but the fight ended in a split draw.

Grasso has given Shevchenko advice on how to approach the third meeting in other interviews, but Shevchenko is fully confident that what she did in their second bout was enough to get her the victory.

“Reading between the strokes, it means like, ‘OK, OK, Valentina, If I stay on my side of the octagon and you play your game, I will be safe and I won’t lose my belt,’ so she’s expecting me stay on my side and she’s on her side, and we’re gonna do [a] shadowbox, or something like that,” Shevchenko told MMA Fighting. “And she’ll say, ‘OK, I’m a champion, I’m still going to have [the] belt,’ it’s so funny.

“But, speaking seriously, you know why we are speaking about third fight? It’s only because the second fight — everyone saw the fight, everyone knows, everyone was very surprised because of the mistake and error of a judge, what he did and if it [were not for him], everyone saw that I was the winner of this fight. I did enough to win the fight, like three rounds from the five. It was enough to win the fight. It’s only the reason why we are speaking about our trilogy.

“Everything [that] I did, it worked, everything, what I did in the second fight, all my strategy, it worked. So I don’t know, maybe she was too much into The Ultimate Fighter coaching and since [then], they’re trying to coach everywhere, but this is fine. This is fine. I think it’s also interesting for the people to hear and see her from other sides, as well.”

The 36-year-old Shevchenko has been competing in the combat sports world for a huge chunk of her life, including 28 pro MMA fights — 16 of which have taken place in the UFC. Shevchenko has built a legacy as one of the greatest women’s fighters in promotion history, and many believe her skill set is still good enough to beat most fighters, but question whether she can defeat the younger, surging champion.

Shevchenko thrives on people doubting her after entering many past fights with a massive chip on her shoulder. As she prepares to face Grasso for the third time, Shevchenko’s approach involves bringing pressure to her opponent, but not upon herself before it happens.

“It’s interesting, but every time, every training camp, it’s different,” Shevchenko said. “Every fight week is different, and even comparing one of the best fights that I had, every time was different, like how I felt. But I know for sure that, in terms [of], making [a] statement, make the one of the greatest fights, it’s too much pressure on your shoulders. It’s not good and sometimes it makes you freeze and you cannot do anything.

“And this time, I just prepare myself the best that I can and my coach Pavel Fedotov, he was working so good with me… mentally, physically, everything, and you know, the goal for me right now is just to show an amazing fight, one of the greatest fights. Just go there and show myself, show ‘The Bullet,’ what the speed is, what the power is and just like no stop, just go forward, forward until the end. This is what I have. This is what is my chip right now, what program I have in my head.”

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Sean Brady is moving on up in the UFC welterweight rankings.

On Saturday night at the UFC Apex, Brady picked up the biggest win of his career, taking a unanimous decision victory over former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC Vegas 97. The win is Brady’s second in a row and should move him into the top-six of the UFC’s rankings.

Check out how the MMA world reacted to Brady’s big win below.

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Natalia Silva and Jessica Andrade, unsurprisingly, are taking home some extra money after a fantastic co-main event.

The women’s flyweight bout earned Fight of the Night honors for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 97 event after three fiery rounds. Silva improved her UFC record to 6-0 after picking up the biggest win of her career, and extended her overall win streak to nine fights. Andrade, a former strawweight champion, now has 11 post-fight bonuses.

Additionally, two Performance of the Night awards were given out from the UFC’s latest APEX event. Featherweight Steve Garcia picked up his third performance bonus with his first-round TKO victory over Kyle Nelson on the main card, the fifth consecutive win inside the octagon for Garcia.

The other performance bonus went to Cody Durden, who submitted Matt Schnell in the second round with a beautfiul anaconda choke in a fight he took on super short notice after Alessandro Costa suffered an injury.

All bonus winners earned an extra $ 50,000.

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