Category Archives: Mmafighting.com

UFC CEO Dana White just won’t quit Jon Jones when it comes to the debate on the greatest fighter of all-time, as well as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world currently. Despite constant push back from the rest of the MMA community, White is keeping his feet planted on Jones topping both lists without question. In the end, is he actually right?

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses White’s recent post-fight press conference following DWCS on Tuesday, being adamant that Jones is in a league of his own, and what he could be planning for the future in order to prove his theory right. Additionally, topics include Caio Borralho’s big win over Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 96, his callout of Dricus du Plessis, what is likely next for the surging middleweight, how much the PFL press conference featuring Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira generated anticipation for their October matchup, Max Holloway’s underdog promo, and more.

Host Mike Heck is joined by MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

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Khalil Rountree can officially put his recent drug-test suspension behind him.

At a Thursday meeting of the Nevada Athletic Commission, it was ruled that Rountree’s suspension has been settled at 4 ¹⁄₂ months, retroactive to the failed drug test that forced him to withdraw from a bout with Jamahal Hill at UFC 303 this past June. That means Rountree is clear for his scheduled title fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, which takes place at UFC 307 on Oct. 5.

Rountree self-reported his failed test, which was for Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a steroid hormone. At the time, Rountree stated that he “was using a personalized, tailored supplement service” and that said service accidentally supplied him with “a blended supplement” that contained the banned substance.

In addition to the suspension, which officially ends on Sept. 18, Rountree is required to pay prosecution fees of $ 157. The commission noted that Rountree’s self-report played a significant part in the fighter not receiving a stiffer penalty.

Rountree was on the call for Thursday’s NAC meeting and he expressed gratitude to the commission for how his case was handled.

Pereira vs. Rountree serves as the main event of UFC 307 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. “Poatan” seeks his third defense of the light heavyweight title, while Rountree enters the contest on a career-best five-fight winning streak.

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Anthony Taylor has never been afraid to mix it up at a press conference.

The Bellator veteran and current Misfits Boxing light heavyweight champion had to be held back by three security people after he was slapped by Gabriel Silva during their staredown following the Misfits Boxing 17 pre-fight press conference Thursday afternoon.

Watch the altercation below.

See another angle of the incident below. It appears Silva was angered by Taylor grabbing his finger during the usual trash talk segment of their staredown in Dublin, Ireland.

Even KSI had to add in his two cents on X.

Taylor might have also ignited the bad blood during the press conference when he boasted he was going to go after the entire Silva family.

Taylor and Silva square off one more time Friday at the Misfits Boxing 17 weigh-ins before stepping into the ring at Saturday’s event at 3Arena in Dublin.

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The Misfits Boxing 17 fight card has seven fights for the Simpson vs. Aarons event, which takes place at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday.

In the main event, Danny Simpson, a key member of the legendary Leicester City squad that won the Premier League in 2016, faces popular social media star Danny Aarons. Simpson steps in for TikTok star Beavo, who was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Deen the Great returns to the squared circle as he faces Dave Fogarty for the Misfits lightweight title in the co-main event. Anthony Taylor also competes in a championship bout as he faces Gabriel Silva — the son of former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva — for the promotion’s light heavyweight title.

Other bouts include British fitness TikTok star HSTikkyTokky making his promotional debut as he faces Love Island cast member George Fensom.

Check out the Misfits Boxing 17 fight card below.

Main Card, 3 p.m. ET, DAZN PPV

Danny Simpson vs. Danny Aarons

Deen the Great vs. Dave Fogarty – lightweight title fight

Anthony Taylor vs. Gabriel Silva – light heavyweight title fight

HSTikkyTokky vs. George Fensom

Sami Hamed vs. Jesse Clarke

Ben Williams vs. Warren Spencer

Mike Edwards vs. Jake Cornish

DTG vs. Minikon

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Gordon Ryan is open to rematches with Nick Rodriguez and Craig Jones… under his terms.

If the Brazilian jiu-jitsu star is ever to share the mats with “Nicky Rod” or Jones again, it will apparently be under Ryan rules as he outlined the circumstances under which he’d face his rivals again in a lengthy Instagram post on Wednesday.

Following an impressive showing at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational earlier this month, Rodriguez called for a fight with Ryan with $ 2 million on the line, and Ryan has issued a response via Instagram.

I will say this once and only once. To nicky fraud and can’t win a comp craig- since you both have my [eggplant emoji] in your mouth 24/7, I have a few proposals for you. We either do 2 matches on 1 night, both of you either put up 500k or 1 million each, and I’ll put up 1-2 million, depending. We both compete in the same night,and winners take all. If one of you is too [cat emoji] to accept, I’ll face one of you for 1m vs 1m, which I think is comical seeing as the fact that NF is gonna have to pay roughly 350k I taxes. I know pea brain has never made 7 figures in his life, but after taxes, you have around 650k left, maybe 700 if you’re lucky. After putting at least 20% down on your million dollar house, I would absolutely be willing to bet you don’t have 300-350k cash on hand laying around to put into escrow, which means you’ll have to secure a sponsor to front you that money, and seeing as I’ve beaten you both a total of 5x, including 4 Submissions, good luck on that.

Matches will not be left up to judges, will have minimal ref interference, and thus will be no time limit, submission only. Athletes will also be required to wear long sleeve rash guards and spats (with a no roll up rule) since 4 people have already accused you of grease (mason, pena, me, yuri).

Competition will take place when I’m healthy, if I’m healthy and on a date and platform I decide. Until then, keep dreaming you’ll ever be anywhere near my level after beating guys who can’t make it out of the 1st day at ADCC. If you don’t respond here or publicly, I take this as a no, and I will not respond after this unless I get a clear yes or no to this response. I’m not negotiating.

I am the king, you follow my rules, or you shut up. And before you bet your new found “wealth”, make sure you’re not gonna default on an irs payment and end up in jail or homeless, because only one of us has a million to blow, and we all know who that is ;). This is mostly a message to NF, bec we all know Craig’s the ultimate can crusher and wants absolutely nothing to do with any kind of physical confrontation with me. Well, at least craig will be at the academy helping you prepare for the camp just like he did for cgi and adcc… oh wait…

To summarize Ryan’s demands, he suggested that Rodriguez and Jones face him on the same night, with both men possibly putting up $ 1 million each. The bouts would then be submission only (no judges and no time limit), with the competitors required to wear long-sleeve rash guards and spats.

He added that the bouts will only take place when he is fully healthy and on a date of his choosing. Should his rivals not respond to him in the post or elsewhere publicly, he will consider that a rejection of his proposal.

“I’m not negotiating,” Ryan wrote. “I am the king, you follow my rules, or you shut up.”

Ryan has previously defeated Rodriguez by submission and holds multiple submission wins over Jones. Highlights of those performances were included in Ryan’s post alongside his caption.

Jones replied in the post’s comments section, though not in a way that Ryan is likely to appreciate.

“I literally insult you and your PDF file wife everyday,” Jones wrote. “It should be on sight not when you’re healthy. I’ll wager the video I possess to your one million. If I win it goes to charity.”

Rodriguez is yet to respond to Ryan’s comments.

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Mayra Bueno Silva avoided a harsh penalty following the emotional aftermath of her most recent fight.

At UFC 303 in Las Vegas this past June, Silva lost to Macy Chiasson when it was determined in Round 2 that she could no longer continue after suffering a gruesome cut over her right eye. Silva angrily jumped up and climbed the cage wall, exiting the octagon, which led to a formal complaint from Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullen.

Initially, $ 2,500 of Silva’s $ 100,000 fight purse was withheld, pending further review. At a NAC meeting on Thursday, it was determined that the withheld money would serve as Silva’s fine and that the matter was considered resolved without further punishment other than Silva having to pay an additional $ 157 in prosecution fees.

Silva has had an eventful run of headlines since February 2023, when she defeated former bantamweight champion Holly Holm only to see that win overturned when she later tested positive for Ritalinic acid, a banned substance. The fighter claimed that the failed test was due to medication she had been taking to address her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Silva also received a four-and-a-half month suspension for the infraction.

She went on to lose a unanimous decision to Raquel Pennington in the main event of UFC 297 with a vacant bantamweight title on the line, and is now officially winless in her past three contests after losing to Chiasson.

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A controversial scorecard in the heavyweight fight between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Tai Tuivasa led to judge Howie Booth being removed from UFC 305 where he was actually scheduled to also work the co-main event.

While it’s not an unprecedented change, the removal of an official in the middle of an event is still unusual. Booth scored Tuivasa winning with a scorecard of 30-27, while the other two judges gave the fight to Rozenstruik with scores of 30-27 and 29-28 for the split-decision win.

Judges often score rounds differently during a close fight, which is how many split decisions happen, but there was no question that Rozenstruik deserved the nod over Tuivasa after three rounds. As a result, Booth was removed from the event and judge Ben Cartlidge was inserted as the third official scoring the co-main event between Steve Erceg and Kai Kara-France.

In the aftermath of that decision, Honorable Bob Kucera, the chairman of the Combat Sports Commission of Western Australia issued a statement to MMA Fighting regarding Booth being removed from UFC 305.

“To ensure the best outcome for the event and the sport, the Combat Sports Commission of Western Australia (CSC) supported a change to the judging assignments during the UFC 305 event,” Kucera said.

“Due process was followed in reaching this decision which included consultation with the Head Official. Mr Booth remains a registered official with the CSC.”

Based on that statement, Booth is still cleared to work future events in Western Australia, although it remains to be seen if he’ll be back at a future UFC card when the promotion eventually returns there.

UFC executive David Shaw addressed the decision to remove Booth from the event and he praised the move after there were more than a few complaints about Booth’s scoring in the heavyweight fight.

“It’s good checks and balances,” Shaw said at the UFC 305 post-fight press conference. “I think everyone needs to be held to a high standard. It doesn’t matter if, like, if I don’t do my job, or you don’t do your job, maybe it’s good to sit on the bench for a while, and reconsider the work, and try to figure out how to get back on track and do a better job next time.

“I think just, generally, in life, it’s a decent principle. But it’s not for me to say whether it was right or wrong for the commission.”

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Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will have a familiar set of eyes on them in their title clash.

Referee Herb Dean serves as the third man in the cage for the UFC 306 headlining bout between the bantamweight champion O’Malley and Dvalishvili, which takes place at Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14. Dean’s assignment was made official at a meeting of the Nevada Athletic Commission on Thursday.

The judges for the UFC 306 main event are Mike Bell, Sal D’Amato, and Chris Lee.

Overseeing the co-main event trilogy bout between flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko is referee Mark Smith. The judges for this contest are Ben Cartlidge, Eric Colon, and Ron McCarthy.

A high-profile boxing bout between Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga also takes place on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas, and Thursday’s NAC meeting saw officials determined for that headlining bout at T-Mobile Arena. Harvey Dock serves as the referee, with Max DeLuca, David Sutherland, and Steve Weisfeld assigned as judges for the 12-round title fight.

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Jon Jones had some choice words in response to a Tom Aspinall interview, to say the least.

Aspinall recorded a cheeky interview with SPORTbible, in which he couldn’t help but take a jab at Jones when the question of who is “the champion of fight dodging?” was lobbed up for him. The two have been involved in a heated public rivalry for the better part of the last year, with Aspinall (the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion) accusing Jones of avoiding a fight with him and instead choosing to defend his heavyweight title against the comparatively inactive Stipe Miocic.

“Fight dodging?” Aspinall said. “That would have to be Jon Jones, wouldn’t it? We know he’s trying to fight ‘Old Man Stipe.’ Well, he’s going to fight Stipe. He’s the fight dodger around here.”

The slight did not go unnoticed by Jones, who left a vulgar comment in the replies that was later deleted.

“This dude literally has my large black c*ck in his mouth every week,” Jones wrote. “I’m flattered. I absolutely guarantee he will not win more world championships than me. That’s truly all that matters at the end of the day.

“There’s been many champions, no one like me. I sleep good at night.”

Jones won a vacant UFC heavyweight title with a dominant submission win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. Prior to his move to heavyweight, Jones reigned over the 205-pound division for over a decade, going undefeated with the exception of a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill. He won light heavyweight gold three times, having lost an undisputed belt for his involvement in a hit-and-run and an interim belt after failing a drug test. His final run as light heavyweight champion ended in 2020 amid a pay dispute with the UFC and a subsequent change of divisions.

It is not yet known when Jones’ bout with Miocic will be rescheduled (the two were previously booked to fight at UFC 295), but all signs point to the fighters finally crossing paths in November.

In the time since Jones’ win over Gane, Aspinall has won an interim heavyweight title and successfully defended it. He defeated Sergei Pavlovich to win the vacant belt at UFC 295 and then defeated Curtis Blaydes via 60-second knockout at UFC 304 this past July.

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Conor McGregor’s future could become clearer soon, according to Dana White.

The UFC CEO hosted an Instagram Live chat on Wednesday evening, in which he teased an update on the status of “The Notorious.” McGregor has been out of action since breaking his leg in a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, and after a tumultuous summer that saw a scheduled bout with Michael Chandler fall through, there has been no news on when McGregor’s long-awaited comeback will be rescheduled.

White has had to repeatedly shoot down the possibility of McGregor fighting before the end of 2024, so it remains to be seen what White plans to announce for the former two-division champion.

“Conor news coming up, we’ve got Oliveira news coming up,” White said. “We’ve got Chandler news coming up. We’ve got Max Holloway news coming up. All that good shit. Coming soon.”

Shortly after White completed his IG chat, McGregor appeared to respond to the comment with a sly emoji.

Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira has been awaiting his next booking since a loss to Arman Tsarukyan this past April at UFC 300. “Do Bronx” was expected to earn a UFC title shot and a rematch with Islam Makhachev with a win over Tsarukyan, but now seeks to knock off another top name at 155 pounds to remain in the championship discussion.

Chandler’s pursuit of the McGregor fight has sidelined him for close to two years now, but the lightweight contender continues to insist that his matchup with the Irish superstar will take place at some point.

As for Holloway, White’s mention of the “BMF” champion was odd given that Holloway is already booked to fight undefeated featherweight titleholder Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. However, given that Holloway is currently a contender at both 145 and 155 pounds, perhaps there are already plans for Holloway at lightweight regardless of the UFC 308 main event result.

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