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Natalia Silva has a lot to fight for ahead of the biggest matchup of her career.

The surging flyweight contender is set to face former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 97 card at UFC APEX. Silva, 27, enters the bout on an 11-fight win streak, including a 5-0 start to her UFC run.

While she steps into the cage with positive accolades, she also does so months after a heartbreaking loss in her family.

“First of all, I go into the octagon with a lot of will to win,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “I fight with a lot of heart and prepare myself a lot. This particular camp was really hard and I have a heavy heart because I lost a sister during this camp, and it’s something that when you fight for something that’s bigger than you, and if you actually lose something is more important than all of this, you fight with everything.

“[Andrade] understands why she’s preparing so much and why she’s training so much for this fight, because she knows how dangerous I am, she knows what [it] means to [fight] her. I’m going to go in this octagon approaching it as if it’s my first and last fight. I always take it one fight at a time and I go into the octagon with the will to win it, with the responsibility of being the fight that I need to win. So, she’s not going to be able to beat that.”

Silva’s sister tragically passed away earlier this year shortly after her 31st birthday, according to an Instagram post.

The loss of her sister was devastating and it left a hole in Silva’s heart that will never be filled. However, Silva now approaches her climb up the ladder through a different lens of thinking, and it all begins with her huge opportunity against Andrade.

“I wanted to be a champion for a very futile reason, maybe, just to be a champion of the UFC,” Silva explained. “I’ve understood that to be a champion, and carrying that belt, carries a responsibility, carries an opportunity as well. You have an opportunity for people to listen to you and to hear your story, and you have an opportunity to touch people all over the world, and it gives you the opening to say what I’ve been through. And if I would like to share my story, and what I’ve been through, hopefully people will listen.

“If just maybe, one or two or three people get impacted, whose lives gets transformed, or touched by what I’ve been through, I will be happy with that. And this win now represents something more of, not just being [closer] toward being a champion of the UFC, but also being a champion carrying that belt and having the opportunity to shine the light on people and to reach out to more people [by] being a champion. That’s what I see.”

Speaking recently with MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz, Andrade said she saw a lot of openings during Silva’s victory over Viviane Araujo at UFC Vegas 85 in February. Additionally, Andrade believes if she takes Silva down — like any other opponent in her eyes — “I know there’s no escape.”

Silva was asked to respond to Andrade’s thoughts, and the Brazilian standout welcomes the challenge.

“I think it’s really cool that she actually thinks that, because if that’s the strategy that she’s going to have, she’s about to meet a Natalia that she hasn’t had the opportunity to see in a previous fight,” Silva said.

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MMA Fighting has UFC Vegas 97 results for the Burns vs. Brady fight card, a live blog for the main event, and more from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

In the main event, one-time UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns looks to fend off fast-rising contender Sean Brady in a five-round showdown. Burns, 38, has lost back-to-back bouts at the hands of Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddellena, while Brady, 31, rebounded from his first professional loss to Muhammad with a submission victory over Kelvin Gastelum this past December.

Flyweights Jessica Andrade and Natalia Silva—both in the top 15 of the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—face off in the co-main event.

Check out the UFC Vegas 97 results below.

Main Card (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady

Jessica Andrade vs. Natalia Silva

Steve Garcia vs. Kyle Nelson

Matt Schnell vs. Cody Durden

Trevor Peek vs. Yanal Ashmouz

Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

Rongzhu vs. Chris Padilla

Isaac Dulgarian vs. Brendon Marotte

Felipe dos Santos vs. Andre Lima

Yizha vs. Gabriel Santos

Jaqueline Amorim vs. Vanessa Demopoulos

Andre Petroski vs. Dylan Budka

Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Nathan Fletcher

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MMA Fighting has Bellator San Diego results and more on Saturday night for the Nurmagomedov vs. Shabliy fight card at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.

In the main event, Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov puts his title and undefeated record on the line against top contender Alexandr Shabliy.

Welterweights veterans Lorenz Larkin and Levan Chokheli collide in a No. 1 contender’s bout in the co-main event.

Check out Bellator San Diego results below.

Fight Card (MAX, 8 p.m. ET)

Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Alexandr Shabliy

Lorenz Larkin vs. Levan Chokheli

Douglas Lima vs. Aaron Jeffery

Yancy Medeiros vs. Jora Ayvazyan

Sumiko Inaba vs. Mackenzie Stiller

Jordan Newman vs. Imamshafi Aliev

Herman Terrado vs. Masayuki Kikuiri

Bryce Meredith vs. John MaCalolooy

Josh Hokit vs. Sean Rose

Aysia Cortez vs. Ashley Thiner

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Demetrious Johnson is done.

The UFC legend and former ONE flyweight champion announced his retirement at ONE 168 at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday evening.

“Like I said last time when I came to Denver, Colo., I told you guys it was potentially my last fight, and I was not lying. I am done. I am done competing in mixed martial arts, and I want to thank you guys so much for giving me the opportunity,” an emotional Johnson told the crowd.

Johnson, who might still compete in jiu-jitsu for ONE, was inducted into the ONE Championship Hall of Fame after his speech.

Since defeating Adriano Moraes at a ONE Fight Night event in Broomfield, Colo., 16 months ago, Johnson has stayed busy with his podcasting career as well as taking part in grappling competitions.

The 38-year-old is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in the history of combat sports. Prior to his successfully ONE run, Johnson was a star in the UFC, successfully setting the record for the most consecutive title defenses by retaining the flyweight title 11 straight times from 2012-2018.

Johnson’s tenure with the UFC ended in October 2018 when he was traded to ONE for Ben Askren in a historic deal between major promotions.

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MMA Fighting has Bellator San Diego weigh-in video and results for Saturday’s event at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, Calif.

In the main event, Usman Nurmagomedov and Alewxandr Shabliy had to make the lightweight non-title limit of 156 pounds.

The Bellator San Diego ceremonial weigh-ins will begin at 9 p.m. ET.

Check out Bellator San Diego weigh-in results below.

Fight Card (MAX, 8 p.m. ET)

Usman Nurmagomedov (154.8) vs. Alexandr Shabliy (154.8)

Lorenz Larkin (170.4) vs. Levan Chokheli (170.8)

Douglas Lima (184.6) vs. Aaron Jeffery (185.4)

Yancy Medeiros (155.2) vs. Jora Ayvazyan (155.4)

Sumiko Inaba (125.2) vs. Mackenzie Stiller (125.2)

Jordan Newman (185.2) vs. Imamshafi Aliev (185)

Herman Terrado (170.4) vs. Masayuki Kikuiri (169)

Bryce Meredith (135.8) vs. John MaCalolooy (134.8)

Josh Hokit (242.2) vs. Sean Rose (264.8)

Aysia Cortez (116) vs. Ashley Thiner (115)

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The UFC returns after a rare weekend off with UFC Vegas 97, headlined by one-time welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady. Bellator San Diego also takes place on Saturday with a fantastic lightweight title fight between the undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov and Alexander Shabliy. Which card has the most sizzle?

Ahead of this weekend’s doubleheader, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and José Youngs preview the UFC’s Fight Night event, the main event between Brady and Burns, discuss who needs the victory more, as well as other notable bouts on the slate as the promotion gets ready for UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas next weekend. Additionally, they talk Bellator’s return, the Nurmagomedov vs. Shabliy fight flying way under the radar, low-key sleepers on the card, and much more.

Catch the UFC Vegas 97 and Bellator San Diego preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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Daniel Cormier isn’t sure Jorge Masvidal should come back.

The 39-year-old former ‘BMF’ champion retired from MMA in April of 2023 after losing to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, but returned to combat sports this past July when he faced Nate Diaz in a boxing match that Diaz ultimately won. But that loss seemed to motivate Masvidal, who announced earlier this week he’s in talks with the UFC to return to the promotion in the near future.

However, UFC Hall of Famer and commentator Cormier questions if Masvidal should return.

“Jorge Masvidal should be commended for doing what he did to reach the levels of stardom that he did, because when you look at his career as a whole, you really do see a guy that spent the vast majority of his prime, the vast majority of his youth, as a middling fighter,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “He just was. It is what it is. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s what it was…

“Look at the names on his résumé. At the end of the day, when you look at the career as a whole, it boils down to one year where Jorge Masvidal made you guys care, and it made him a star. But my question to you now is: Do you still care? Because that’s what he’s banking on…

“He has lost his last four MMA fights, [and] he lost a boxing match. He said he’ll come back, starch somebody and the UFC would be begging him to fight for a championship. My question to you is, do you care now? Do you care like you did in 2019? Do you care like you did when he was on that amazing run when he made himself from a guy that was middling, from a guy that was a bit of a journeyman, into a main event attraction? He and Kamaru Usman sold a boatload of pay-per-views. But do you care today, in 2024, to see Jorge Masvidal come back and fight someone?”

As Cormier noted, Masvidal came to superstardom late into his career. A veteran of over 50 professional fights, Masvidal broke out in 2019 with wins over Darren Till and Ben Askren, the latter being the fastest knockout in UFC history, before then winning the inaugural ‘BMF’ title over Diaz at UFC 244. That ended up being the final victory of his MMA career, at least thus far, as “Gamebred” then dropped four straight bouts before retiring.

Given that run of form and his age, plus the nature of his stardom, Cormier simply isn’t sure Masvidal draws a huge amount of interest from fans right now.

“In 2019 he did something I’ve never seen someone do in fighting before,” Cormier said. “…This is a guy that started the beginning of his UFC career not very good, and nobody cared. But he ultimately made himself into a main event guy. Do we care to see him today? Or do we care to see him today against someone that’s a big name? Is that the only way you’d care? Because to me, if Jorge Masvidal comes back, it has to be against someone that’s a fun fight. Because right now, he’s not fighting as competitively as he was…

“I can tell you right now, if Nate Diaz were to say, ‘I’m coming back,’ people would get excited. Are Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal held in the same regard?”

Whether fans will care remains to be seen but Masvidal certainly seems to think they will. He threw out the possibility of fighting Michael Chandler, should his theoretical fight with Conor McGregor not come to pass, but mostly he’s happy to fight anyone so long as the paycheck is correct. And for all Cormier’s uncertainty around whether Masvidal draws interest anymore, the former two-division champion admits should it happen, he will certainly be tuning in, he just sort of hopes it won’t happen.

“I’d watch him fight, absolutely… But my question is, do you care? … He’s 39 years old now,” Cormier said. “His best days seem to be behind him, lost four in a row. Can he recreate what he did before?…

“I believe with the work he was doing outside of the octagon, his promotion seems to be doing well, and I was happy to see him walk away.”

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John Lineker may be facing Asa Ten Pow in a Muay Thai contest this Friday when ONE Championship returns to Denver, but he still remains fully focused on regaining his MMA title from Fabricio Andrade.

Lineker has won twice in his weight class since losing to Andrade in February 2023, knocking out Jae Woong Kim and then beating Stephen Loman via decision, but ONE still hasn’t offered him another shot at gold. Instead, he was paired up against Liam Harrison for a Muay Thai contest that ultimately feel through, then lost to Shinya Aoki in an MMA openweight bout.

“I haven’t fought in almost a year, so this is an opportunity for me stay active,” Lineker told MMA Fighting, saying he doesn’t take the Aoki loss into consideration since it took place outside his weight class and was offered on hours’ notice as a replacement for Sage Northcutt. “MMA is my focus, but ONE gives us the opportunity to fight in other sports, so I took it to stay active and also test myself.”

Andrade hasn’t defended the ONE title since his second clash with Lineker and has competed only once since, losing to Jonathan Haggerty in a kickboxing bout.

“He has the belt for a long time and hasn’t defended it yet,” Lineker said of Andrade. “There’s no one else but me that should do this fight, this trilogy, so let’s wait for the negotiations and see what happens. God willing, I’ll get this victory and we’ll see what the future holds for us.”

“The Aoki fight pretty much never happened,” he continued. “It was an openweight match, so it definitely won’t affect my division. I’m coming off two wins in my division, and if you look at the rankings, there’s no other fight to make but this trilogy. But regardless of them giving me a title shot or not, the important [thing is] having me fight MMA next, because that’s my main goal.”

Lineker said it took him a few training sessions to get used to preparing for a Muay Thai bout instead of the sport he has done since 2008 in which he defeated the likes of Marlon Vera, John Dodson, Rob Font, Brian Kelleher, and Bibiano Fernandes.

The hard-hitting Brazilian originally agreed to face Harrison in a Muay Thai contest back in January, but the one-time ONE Muay Thai title challenger withdrew weeks prior. Lineker said Harrison is more experienced than his upcoming opponent, but beating Pow is no easy task, especially given his prior experience of seven kickboxing appearances inside the GLORY ring and a trio of Muay Thai matches at ONE.

“My plan is to go for the knockout,” Lineker said. “I don’t like to leave it to the judges, MMA or Muay Thai. It could happen, but I go in there looking for the knockout — and it won’t be different this time.”

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Dylan Budka had a rough weigh-in.

At the official morning weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 97, Budka came in at 188.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds over the middleweight limit (including the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight). Worse, he looked visibly shaky as he stepped to the scale.

Watch video of Budka’s scary weigh-in below, courtesy of FanSided MMA.

Budka’s opponent Andre Petroski successfully made weight at 185.5 pounds. The UFC later confirmed that the bout will proceed as scheduled with Budka forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty.

Canadian featherweight Kyle Nelson also missed weight by 2.5 pounds, coming in at 148.5 pounds for a bout with Steve Garcia (145.5). It is not yet known if Nelson vs. Garcia will proceed at a catchweight and, if so, what Nelson’s purse penalty will be.

It’s a poor showing for Nelson, who has made a habit of beating the odds lately, if not the scale. Nelson is riding a hot streak of consecutive wins over Bill Algeo, Fernando Padilla, and Blake Bilder. In each of those matchups, he entered the octagon as the underdog. Garcia also looks to extend a winning streak, having finished his past four opponents.

Welterweight headliners Gilbert Burns (171) and Sean Brady (171) also successfully made weight, as did co-main event flyweights Natalia Silva (124.5) and Jessica Andrade (125.5).

UFC Vegas 97 takes place at UFC APEX on Saturday.

See official weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

Gilbert Burns (171) vs. Sean Brady (171)

Jessica Andrade (124.5) vs. Natalia Silva (125.5)

Steve Garcia (145.5) vs. Kyle Nelson (148.5)*

Matt Schnell (135) vs. Cody Durden (135)

Trevor Peek (155) vs. Yanal Ashmouz (154.5)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

Rongzhu (155.5) vs. Chris Padilla (154)

Isaac Dulgarian (145.5) vs. Brendon Marotte (145)

Felipe dos Santos (124.5) vs. Andre Lima (125.5)

Yizha (144.5) vs. Gabriel Santos (146)

Jaqueline Amorim (115.5) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (116)

Andre Petroski (185.5) vs. Dylan Budka (188.5)**

Zygimantas Ramaska (145.5) vs. Nathan Fletcher (145)

*Nelson missed weight

**Budka missed weight. His bout with Andre Petroski proceeds as a catchweight with Budka forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty

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Israel Adesanya has addressed the recent report of his involvement in a road rage incident.

Earlier this week, footage surfaced of the two-time UFC middleweight champion getting into an animated argument with another driver on the streets of Auckland, New Zealand. On Thursday, the New Zealand Herald published a statement from Adesanya in which he claims that the incident stemmed from the other driver making racially-charged comments.

“I am extremely disappointed after an incident on Wednesday when a random member of the public stopped his car, racially abused me, and challenged me to a fight,” Adesanya said in the statement. “We have been in contact with police and will be pressing charges.

“On Wednesday morning, I was leaving a cafe on K Rd when a passing car slowed, and an occupant began yelling racial abuse and challenging me to fight. I smiled, waved it off, and continued to my car. The vehicle stopped, and the abuse continued. I again waved it off. The car then parked, and the passenger got out, approached me aggressively, continued his torrent of abuse, and demanded I fight him. I tried to de-escalate the situation repeatedly. As he got closer, I asked bystanders to call the police.

“He then entered my personal space, and I felt threatened. To protect myself, I became more forceful in my language and defensive. Though he paused, the abuse continued, so I left him with some choice words, cautiously moved to my car, and drove away.

“It’s ridiculous that I can’t buy a pie after training without some idiot screaming despicable things and asking for a fight while his mates film from the sidelines. Threatening violence is no joke. It’s very dangerous, and incidents like this must not be glorified online. I hope in the future people say something rather than get their phones out to film.”

See footage of the altercation below.

According to the New Zealand Herald, Adesanya has filed a formal complaint to the police.

The Herald’s report also includes comments from the person who filmed the interaction. The anonymous witness expressed disappointment in Adesanya’s behavior, though it’s unclear how much of the interaction they were privy to before and after filming.

“I immediately recognized him and from what I witnessed I was quite disappointed to see him acting in this manner in public, swearing and spitting at the other guy and grabbing his privates,” the witness said. “As a public figure, I expected more from someone who represents New Zealand internationally.”

The other driver in the footage is yet to be identified.

Adesanya, 35, most recently fought at UFC 305, where he went head to head with longtime rival Dricus du Plessis. “The Last Stylebender” failed to secure a third reign as middleweight champion end when du Plessis successfully defended his belt by submitting Adesanya via face crank in Round 4.

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