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The MAC is BACK! Former two-division titleholder and the sport’s top pay-per-view (PPV) draw, Conor McGregor, makes his long-awaited return to cage fighting at UFC 303 when he collides with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31 nemesis Michael Chandler to close out the promotion’s annual International Fight Week in Las Vegas!

Event: UFC 303 “McGregor vs. Chandler”
Date: Sat., June 29, 2024
Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
Start times: ESPN+ PPV, ESPN, ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET Prelims | 10 p.m. ET Main Card)

UFC 303 Main Event On ESPN+ PPV:

170 lbs.: Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler

UFC 303 Main Card, Prelims On ESPN/ESPN+ PPV:

145 lbs.: Cub Swanson vs. Andre Fili
115 lbs.: Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs. Gillian Robertson
125 lbs.: Carlos Hernandez vs. Rei Tsuruya
185 lbs.: Joe Pyfer vs. Marc-André Barriault

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*

“This is a big fight,” Chandler recently told The MMA Hour. “I would argue, and this is no disrespect, we wanna break that Khabib number, the 2.4 [million PPV buys]. That was huge because of the animosity and the biggest Muslim athlete on the planet. It had all the makings of it doing that kind of number. This one, Conor’s comeback [versus] one of the most violent guys in the sport. We got 73 days to build this thing.”

For more on Conor McGregor’s return to UFC click here.

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Some lady in California came extremely close to getting beat up after picking the wrong woman to test: a UFC women’s flyweight contender.

Some lady in California came real close to getting her butt kicked after trying to instigate a fight with the UFC’s Maycee Barber.

Barber is currently ranked No. 4 in the women’s flyweight division and is on a six fight winning streak. That could have been extended to seven if she was less patient during a recent parking lot incident captured by her friend and fitness model Demi Bagby.

The video shows Bagby and Barber confronting a woman who seems to be messing with their vehicle.

“Please stop touching my truck,” Bagby says.

“Well you know what, I don’t think you really bought that,” the woman replies, leaning on the truck door.

“Move me. Touch me,” the woman says in another clip. Then “Don’t touch me because I could bust you in your f—ing face … I could beat both of your f—ing asses, but I won’t.”

That leaves Barber and Bagby laughing, which is fortunate for this random woman because things could have taken a turn for the worse.

“California wildin’, someone come get your mom,” they captioned the video.

Barber’s latest win came at UFC 299 against Katyln Chookagian and puts her within striking distance of a title shot against current 125 pound champion Alexa Grasso. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a logjam at the top of the division with Manon Fiorot and Valentina Shevchenko both in line for shots.

Barber will probably have to win one or two more (against non-Karens in the cage) before she gets a shot at UFC gold.

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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Ryan Garcia is fighting WBC Super Lightweight Champion Devin Haney in a 12-round title bout this Sat. night (April 20, 2024) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Someone should probably inform “King Ryan” of his upcoming scrap, however, because he’s acting rather unhinged.

Garcia just doesn’t have the air of a professional boxer ready to compete against the best in the world. For weeks now, he’s been saying and doing odd and concerning things. Randomly confessing to occasionally smoking marijuana is a relative non-issue, but those close to him have expressed serious concern for his mental health. People thought Garcia was dead, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission requested a mental health examination.

It’s not the first time Garcia has dealt with such issues and accusations.

Already this week, Garcia was removed from a New York Mets baseball game, where he was supposed to throw the ceremonial first pitch. If that weren’t weird enough for fight week antics, Garcia’s unusual behavior has continued online. In a tweet that I’m amazed has been deleted yet, Garcia speculated about hypothetically fighting Jon Jones while both are high on cocaine.

“Ok hypothetically, hear me out,” Garcia wrote. “Jon Jones vs Ryan Garcia. We are both coked out. WHO WINS????”

Considering “Bones” once bragged about beating up Daniel Cormier after a weekend of the white stuff, my bet is on Jon Jones, who surely doesn’t want his name further associated with street drugs. Besides, Jones is presumably too busy dealing with his own latest legal issues after allegedly assaulting a UFC drug tester.

That’s the height of the weirdness, but all of Garcia’s social media activity today was simply … off. Here’s some other bits and pieces for context:

Maybe the end goal is simply attention, but it’s an unusually way to go about it.

In the ring, Garcia bounced back last year with an eighth-round knockout victory over Oscar Duarte in Houston. As for Haney, he most recently defeated Regis Prograis via decision, retaining his undefeated record and champion status.

Insomnia

Top-ranked Flyweight contender Maycee Barber nearly added another name to the win streak.

What possible hope of victory can Thiago Alves hold when Goku is training Mike Perry? That’s an unfair advantage.

A little throwback history for Dustin Poirier vs. Islam Makhachev:

Jamahal Hill was making memes before UFC 300, and he’s part of the memes afterward …

Ex-UFC Welterweight Christian Aguilera used his performance bonus money to open up a chicken shop. Pretty cool!

Val Woodburn’s UFC run lasted about seven months.

Finally, we know what’s next for Kayla Harrison.

Alexander Volkanovski returns to his throne atop the skit game.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Getting in the face of a fit security guy in a foreign country is certainly a choice.

More reading and in the MMAmania community should get familiar with Joachim Hanson if they are not already.

OLD SCHOOL Rickson Gracie footage.

Random Land

A scenic ibex.

Midnight Music: Blues, 1967

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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Kayla Harrison is in a prime position to add more gold to her collection of lifelong accomplishments.

UFC 300 saw the former two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo make her big promotional and Bantamweight debut this past weekend (April 13, 2024). Harrison, 33, couldn’t have asked for a better stage and performance than what she got, dispatching former UFC champion, Holly Holm, via a second round rear-naked choke (watch highlights).

The dominant showing has launched the former two-time Professional Fighters League (PFL) champion to the forefront of the contender list. It’s hard to imagine Harrison will have to fight more than once to earn her shot at the current champion, Raquel Pennington, if she doesn’t simply get the shot next. However, the thought of a Harrison leap-frogging doesn’t sit well with perennial Top 5 contender, Ketlen Vieira.

“A girl who just got here wants to have some privileges,” Vieira told Ag. Fight. “It can’t be like that, you know? There are other people who deserve it. UFC is MMA, it can’t be counted. It only matters in Judo, where she’s an Olympic champion. I respect that. I think she’s an excellent athlete, but I don’t see her as deserving in MMA as I am.

“She just left an event after running away from Larissa [Pacheco] and Cris ‘Cyborg’ [Justino],” she continued. “She talks a lot and runs away. She wants the fights that are convenient for her. So, I don’t see her as deserving. Oh, she wants to fight for the title? The order of the events doesn’t matter to me. It could be Julianna Pena first. It could be her later. I don’t care. I want the fight that’s going to get me the belt.”

Harrison’s lone loss in her 18-fight career came opposite Pacheco in the pair’s trilogy clash, the second to last PFL fight for Harrison, in November 2022 (watch highlights). Before and after the loss, plenty of hype and discussion surrounded the idea of a Harrison vs. Cyborg match up. Ultimately, it never came to fruition and the promotion now looks to book Pacheco vs. Cyborg in the second half of 2024.

Vieira, 32, is no stranger to the names currently surrounding Harrison’s UFC arrival. The Brazilian also holds a win over Holm when she won a split decision over “The Preacher’s Daughter” in May 2022. Another split decision followed for Vieira against the now-champion, Pennington. Unfortunately for her, it was in “Rocky’s” favor. Vieira has since rebounded with a unanimous decision nod over Pannie Kianzad in July 2023.

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Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway captured the “BMF” crown with a sensational, fifth-round knockout victory over longtime lightweight contender Justin Gaethje as part of the UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) event last weekend in Las Vegas.

But “The Highlight” may have already been cooked by the time that happened.

“We can’t shy away from the fact that this man took the kick to the nose,” Gaethje’s friend and teammate, Kamaru Usman, said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Was it the end of the first round, just seconds left or if not zero time left, took that kick to the nose, which plays a huge, huge part in potentially moving on in the fight because now you can’t breathe the way you want to breathe in that fight. And on top of that, we have to see the two eye pokes. I mean, they were clear-cut legit eye pokes, and it wasn’t that Max was doing it maliciously or on purpose. They happened, and these are the type of things that can alter the outcome of a fight.”

Perhaps the promotion’s fancy new gloves can help prevent a repeat of that situation.

“I think the place where things kind of might have went sideways is making the necessary adjustments in the fight,” Usman continued. “I think Justin is such a freaking good guy, which is why he is your favorite fighter’s favorite fighter. He loves to entertain so much to where it’s, ‘Okay, you paid to see this type of fight; I’m going to give you that type of fight.’ He’s that type of guy and to where I thought he could have made some adjustments. He is a wrestler. This fight is completely different had Justin changed levels and took Max down once or twice, and he can do it. He can 100 percent do it.”

Holloway is expected to return to featherweight for an Ilia Topuria title shot later this year.

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In Holloway’s opinion, not even a sold out soccer stadium in Spain could match the hype that a rematch with Conor McGregor would deliver.

If Max Holloway could choose anyone to fight after his massive BMF belt win at UFC 300, it would be Conor McGregor.

Holloway and McGregor fought once before back in 2013 on the prelims of a UFC Fight Night card in Boston, Massachusetts. Conor blanked Max on the scorecards, even earning a 30-26 from one judge. So when Hawaii news reporter Rob DeMello asked him who he’d pick as a follow-up opponent to Justin Gaethje, “Blessed” suggested “The Notorious.”

“It would be hard not to say with him finally getting announced that he’s actually fighting, Conor 2,” Holloway said. “That’s the hugest fight, I think.”

“But legacy, ideal wise, trying to get back to an undisputed title?” he added. “Gotta go with [Ilia] Topuria. He beat the man that I couldn’t help but figure out. We’ll see. We’re having a little bible verse beef on top of Twitter right now, so you know, life’s good.”

Following Holloway’s UFC 300 win, Topuria called for a fight before the end of the year, adding Philippians 4:13 — “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Holloway replied with “I’ll be seeing you soon. Jeremiah 51:20” — “You are my battle-ax and sword. With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms.”

10-9 Holloway.

“It’s looking like it’s gonna be [Topuria] next,” Holloway concluded. “But first things first, Justin Gaethje kicks like a horse, man. Like a horse, and I can feel it today. Couple days later and I still feel it, so we’re gonna recover.”

As for that UFC 300 win, which saw “Blessed” knock out Gaethje with one second left on the clock, Max is still reveling in the moment.

“I wanna top it, but I can’t see it right now,” he admitted. “I can’t look in the future, but I know that I’m still here, I’m still young, we got a lot more to do. I’m sure I’ll top this moment. But right now, it’s gonna be a hard one to beat.”

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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Alex Pereira has one of the most unique careers in combat sports.

A two-division K-1 Kickboxing champion, Pereira transitioned into MMA at least in part because of his previous rivalry with Israel Adesanya, the UFC Middleweight king at the time. Before long, he had earned his way to a title shot versus “Stylebender,” and the two traded knockouts at the pinnacle of the sport.

After the Adesanya fights, Pereira opted to move to Light Heavyweight. A competitive decision win over Jan Blachowicz earned him a title shot versus Jiri Prochazka, and once again, the Brazilian’s otherworldly power proved the deciding factor. He stopped “BJP” in the second, setting up his first title defense against Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC 300.

A flawless knockout win (despite a broken toe!) brings us up to date. In just eight UFC fights and less than three years, “Poatan” went from a relative unknown in the MMA world to two-division champion with five amazing knockout wins and a title defense. It doesn’t seem possible!

There are some drawbacks to joining the MMA world in your mid-30s, however. Notably, Pereira has struggled with the grappling of his opponents on a few occasions, showing inexperience in that realm. He’s been taken down by strikers like Blachowicz, Adesanya, and Prochazka, but somehow, it hasn’t actually cost him any defeats.

Pereira’s continued success surprises UFC analyst Daniel Cormier for that reason. On “Good Guy/Bad Guy,” Cormier discussed how Pereira is able to win fights without much depth in a fundamental aspect of fighting.

“I’m sitting there at night going, ‘How’s he doing this when, with all due respect because Alex and I have a great relationship, he can’t wrestle. He does not know how to wrestle,” Cormier said (via MMA Junkie).

“When they grab his leg, he kind of just falls down. He can’t wrestle. When he can’t wrestle, I’m like, ‘How is this happening when he can’t wrestle?’ But he has got this singular skillset that is so good that it does not matter what he can’t do. He’s so good at what he does that he’s now the best in the world.”

As mentioned, Pereira has mostly been fighting strikers. His next title defense may be against Dagestan’s Magomed Ankalaev, a Combat Sambo ace and fighter who would surely look to test Pereira’s wrestling improvements.

Unless a left hook lands before he shoots.

Insomnia

Add one more to the Max Holloway knocking out Justin Gaethje reaction pile:

I still highly doubt Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov is happening, but … we’ll see!

Humility is a good look.

I have to admit, this is a doper-than-average MMA shirt.

Are secret breathing strategies the key to defeating jiu-jitsu? I’m pretty sure Rickson Gracie used to claim to have the same ability to endure locked in chokes.

I’ve now seen clips of Jamahal Hill partying after each of his career losses, which were both brutal! Respect.

What does everyone think Jiri Prochazka will use his $ 300k bonus on? That’s a lot of katanas.

Carlos Diego Ferreira is underappreciated in the pantheon of Lightweight scrappers, and Mateus Rebecki is a quality prospect. Great booking!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Double knockdown and a pretty simultaneous recovery!

Jumping switch knee can be effective takedown defense.

Amazingly slick knockout:

Random Land

New ocean creatures just dropped!

Midnight Music: Folk rock, 1976

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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Chael Sonnen was one-half of one of the all-time greatest mixed martial arts (MMA) rivalries.

“The American Gangster” emerged as the top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender at the perfect time when he challenged the dominant reigning champion, Anderson Silva, at UFC 117 in August 2010. Silva had successfully accrued six title defenses ahead of the Sonnen encounter, running so low on viable challengers that he would take non-title tilts at Light Heavyweight. It didn’t help that Silva’s previous two defenses were all-time stinker unanimous decisions over fellow Brazilians, Thales Leites and Demian Maia.

UFC 117 had all the makings of an era-changing event as Sonnen got the world highly intrigued in the match up with his confidence and dominant performances. On fight night, it was more of the same as he pitched a shutout against the divisional kingpin, breaking strike records along the way. That was until the historic comeback victory was pulled off by Silva via a triangle choke in round five. The fight will now join UFC’s Hall of Fame, as announced at UFC 300 this past weekend (April 13, 2024).

“I gotta tell you, I’ve never felt good about a loss,” Sonnen said of his Hall of Fame induction on Good Guy / Bad Guy. “Nothing’s changed in my life. Like, I didn’t wake up and all of a sudden they reversed the decision, or I wake up, and I got a rematch and I beat him. I got some praise, and I must tell you it feels very good to get a pat on the back.

“I mean, one of the worst moments,” he continued. “One that’s kept me up at night is now the one that keeps me up from excitement. I lost, and that’s a little bit weird, but here I am.”

Silva and Sonnen did end up rematching when they fought at UFC 148 two years later. Still one of the biggest events of all time, Sonnen started the fight off similarly to how the first fight majorly looked, taking down and dominating “The Spider.” Unfortunately for Sonnen, an ill-fated spinning back fist attempt spelled the end in round two when he missed and was finished by strikes directly after.

Sonnen, 47, fought for another seven years after the Silva rivalry concluded. When the first Silva fight was announced as an upcoming inductee, Sonnen was completely caught off guard.

“I’ve got to tell you, that thing was so fun,” Sonnen said. “I never really envisioned this and Glenn Jacobs helped us set up. I had no idea until that came out of Jon Anik’s mouth. Even when he said it he didn’t say my name, he said ‘The Bad Guy,’ and I sat there, and I thought, ‘Well, they used to call me the bad guy.’ I had one of those moments.

“It was just fun, man,” he concluded. “It was just exciting… It was very cool, and I was very grateful.”

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Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt suffered a second-round submission loss to ex-flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo as part of their UFC 300 “Prelims” clash last weekend in Las Vegas, snapping a two-fight winning streak while failing to reclaim a spot in the division Top 15.

Turns out “No Love” was fighting more than one battle on April 13.

“I felt great in my fight until I started to experience vertigo,” Garbrandt wrote on Twitter. “I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to Deiveson and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo, throwing up until 4 a.m. I’ll get this corrected. I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night, but I love doing what I do. I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”

Fans on social media insisted his post-fight revelation was “not a good look.”

“Not a good look to say what happened to me in a fight by what I was experiencing? It’s the truth, taking nothing from Deiveson,” Garbrandt continued. You think I would just lay on my back not getting up whole time I was spinning not trying to get my face elbowed in and fighting through it. I felt the best in there, my heart was full laid it on the line and enjoyed myself in there. Of course Figgy is a great fighter honored to fight with him.”

Garbrandt, 32, has been knocked out four times in his professional MMA career and once on the amateur circuit. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is commonly associated with concussions and head trauma, which may raise questions about his ability to get licensed in future fights.

For complete UFC 300 results and LIVE play-by play click HERE.

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Jamahal Hill isn’t getting caught up in the internet drama surrounding his UFC 300 loss to Alex Pereira. Instead, he’s already angling for a fight that would get him back into title contention.

Jamahal Hill has already picked his next opponent, just days after suffering a knockout loss to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 300.

Hill spent over a year on the sidelines after tearing the Achilles tendon in his foot, so we shouldn’t be surprises that he’s looking to make up for lost time. But we figured he’d take at least a week or two off from social media after getting memed on by Pereira following a first round KO (watch the viral moment here).

Instead, “Sweet Dreams” has shrugged the loss off and is now calling out Jiri Prochazka.

“I dared to be great against adversity and against a great challenge and came up short at the highest level in the world!!!” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I answered the call twice on short notice to fight for a championship that most will never fight for!!! On to the next. Jiri Prochazka least final make it happen!!”

“To the people that support me, I’m good,” he added. “Don’t let haters get to you, I’m winning in life so having to eat a loss like a man is what it is!! They will be quite when the next man drops.”

Jiri Prochazka also fought at UFC 300, knocking out Aleksandar Rakic on the ESPN prelims. It’s clear that the Czech fighter wants another crack at Pereira, who knocked him out at UFC 295. That’s not gonna happen unless he adds a couple more bodies to his resume, so why not book Prochazka vs. Hill?

The UFC light heavyweight division is finally back in a place where it’s got a roster of heavy hitting personalities looking to spark each other out. There’s no way Jamahal vs. Jiri goes to a decision, and that makes it a no-brainer in our opinion.

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