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There was never a thought in Robert Whittaker’s mind that he’d withdraw from next weekend’s UFC Saudi Arabia card on ABC. The event is just too important for Whittaker to miss.

While most of the combat community has been worried about Conor McGregor’s injury and how it changes UFC 303’s landscape later this month, Whittaker casually accepted a short-notice fight on Thursday following the recent hospitalization of Khamzat Chimaev. Whittaker was scheduled to meet Chimaev atop UFC Saudi Arabia’s main card, but he will now meet Ikram Aliskerov instead.

Whittaker, who arrived to Saudi Arabia early in order to prepare for his main event fight, was as surprised as all of us to learn of Khamzat’s withdrawal. Chimaev doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to staying healthy, but it was so close to the fight that most thought everything was in the clear.

“Mate, when I knew it wasn’t happening (is when I found out). There weren’t any rumors or anything,” Whittaker told BJPENN.com. “It was just that Khamzat is out, and then what’s going on now?”

“It was a little frustrating, I spent like three months working a very specific gameplan for a very specific opponent, obviously Chimaev doesn’t fight like a lot of people, I really tailored the fight camp to that fighting style. I’m still fit, I’m still razor sharp,” added Whittaker.

“I flew out here and I understand I’m the main event of the card that comes with a level of responsibility, it’s how I earn my living. I wanted to fight, I wanted the show to go on, and I wanted to do my job, so hats off to Ikram for taking the fight, and to the UFC for setting it up, and I look forward to putting on a show.”

Luckily, Aliskerov was waiting in the wings ready to fill in for Chimaev. There weren’t many options to look at considering the short notice turnaround, but Aliskerov was already booked to fight this weekend at UFC Vegas 93. Pulling him from his co-main event duties to fill in against Whittaker atop UFC Saudi Arabia’s card seemed like a no-brainer.

“Mate, there was no thought to not fight.” said Whittaker. “That is my job, that is what I flew across the world to do, and that is how I put bread on the table for my family. I understand I am the main event, a lot of eyes. It’s the first card in Saudi Arabia, so I want to be a part of that,”

“There weren’t a lot of names thrown around, nobody would take it, it was too short notice,” he added. “I understand the level of danger Ikram brings in. He is a guy coming in last minute, he was fighting this weekend, so he’s ready, he has nothing to lose, everything to gain, and he has a dangerous skillset.”

Hopefully UFC is still able to deliver the goods for their debut in Saudi Arabia, opening up bigger and better cards in the future.

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UFC’s June Gloom continues.

On Friday (June 14, 2024), MMA reporter Marcel Dorff announced that the upcoming Bantamweight showdown between Farid Basharat and Montel Jackson has been scrapped from next week’s UFC Saudi Arabia card, which is set to take place in Kingdom Arena.

Jackson (13-2) has had horrible luck for several months. He was supposed to finally get a Top 15 Bantamweight matchup last October against Chris Guiterrez; however, he had to withdraw from the fight due to an injury. “Quik” would next be matched against Said Nurmagomedov at the inaugural Saudi Arabia event, but Nurmagomedov pulled out last month. Basharat agreed to step in, and now he’s out.

Jackson is riding a four-fight win streak and is coming off a first-round finish against Rani Yahya.

Basharat (12-0) has been perfect thus far in the UFC, going 3-0 with wins over Taylor Lapilus, Kleydson Rodrigues, and Da’Mon Blackshear.

The full UFC Saudi Arabia fight card can be seen below

• 185 lbs.: Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov
• 265 lbs.: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov
• 170 lbs.: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez
• 205 lbs.: Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir
• 205 lbs.: Shara Magomedov vs. Joilton Lutterbach
• 155 lbs.: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon
• 135 lbs.: Kyung Ho Kang vs. Muin Gafurov
• 170 lbs.: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby
• 205 lbs.: Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Brendson Ribeiro
• 145 lbs.: Muhammad Naimov vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
• 185 lbs.: Abu Azaitar vs. Denis Tiuliulin
• 135 lbs.: Xiao Long vs. Chang Ho Lee

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See what Prochazka had to say after being announced as the replacement headliner for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler at UFC 303.

Jiri Prochazka sounds dialed in and ready for his short-notice title fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 303.

Prochazka was expecting to face Pereira again sometime later in 2024. But when Conor McGregor withdrew from his big fight on June 29th and the UFC came calling, “The Czech Samurai” didn’t hesitate to jump on the opportunity. Now he’ll face “Poatan” in two weeks, and you can tell he’s pretty excited about it.

Jiri Prochazka shared a hype-inspiring message for his fans on Instagram following the UFC’s announcement of his fight.

“I am going to be #THEPERFECTSTORM,” he wrote alongside a trippy drawing of himself. “No space for mistakes, Just WIN/NOW/HERE”

Pereira and Prochazka faced off at UFC 295 in a violent affair that ended four minutes into the second round. Prochazka shot in for a takedown, ate several brutal elbows to the side of the head, and fell back to the canvas with “Poatan” on top ready to go for the kill.

Some fans are still upset that the referee interrupted that kill, calling the stoppage early. Now Jiri will have a chance to prove he has more to give against Alex in the rematch.

The Czech fighter certainly believes he can beat Pereira. Since losing in November 2023, “Poatan” has been all Prochazka has talked about. We suspect that’s the fight that was on his mind even as he prepared for Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300. Despite winning a $ 300,000 bonus, Prochazka went right back into training. And now his dream fight has come together out of nowhere.

You could almost say it’s the perfect storm.

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“The Diamond” can be petty if need be.

Dustin Poirier is coming off a fifth-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 earlier this month (June 1, 2024). While the pay-per-view numbers for UFC 302 have not been released, Poirier’s arch-nemesis Conor McGregor let everyone know (in a now-deleted tweet) that it did a whopping 500,000 buys.

“500k PPV buys done. A nothing burger,” McGregor wrote.

MMAMania.com can confirm that UFC 303 was well on its way past 500k in pre-orders.

However, UFC 303 took a huge hit yesterday as McGregor pulled out of his fight with Michael Chandler.

Poirier had a tweet locked and loaded when the news broke and exacted revenge on McGregor yet again by simply tweeting “#nothingburger.”

It was a perfect response and probably deflated McGregor even more than he already is.

The tension between “The Diamond” and “Notorious” is always present as they have a storied history. McGregor knocked Poirier out at UFC 178 in his first fight in Las Vegas, and then Poirier knocked McGregor out in 2021 at UFC 257. In their highly anticipated trilogy at UFC 264, McGregor broke his leg, which has left him out of action since July 2021.

Professional Fighters League (PFL) will be back in action later tonight (Thurs., June 13, 2024) to host PFL 4 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, featuring a stacked card full of heavyweight and women’s flyweight hopefuls. Each fighter will be looking to secure their own playoff spot with a chance to win $ 1 million at the end of the year.

Headlining Thursday’s event is a heavyweight trilogy fight between Russian finisher Valentin Moldavsky and Bellator veteran Linton Vassell. Their first fight back in 2019 saw Moldavsky capture a unanimous decision win, but Vassell ended up winning the rematch in Mar. 2023 with a memorable first-round knockout (punches and elbows). The two heavyweights will settle the score atop PFL 4’s main card.

The event — which will air LIVE on ESPN+ — is set to begin with “Prelims” at 5:30 p.m. ET and then the main card at 9 p.m. ET. Don’t miss a second of action!

PFL 4 QUICK RESULTS

Heavyweight: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell
Women’s Flyweight: Dakota Ditcheva vs. Chelsea Hackett
Heavyweight: Denis Goltsov vs. Thiago Santos — Goltsov def. Santos via first-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe — Carmouche def. Watanabe via third-round submission (armbar)
Women’s Flyweight: Taila Santos vs. Jena Bishop — Santos def. Bishop via Split Decision
Heavyweight: Oleg Popov vs. Davion Franklin — Popov def. Franklin via Unanimous Decision
Heavyweight: Marcelo Golm vs. Tyrell Fortune — Fortune def. Golm via Unanimous Decision
Women’s Flyweight: Ilara Joanne vs. Shanna Young — Joanne def. Young via Unanimous Decision
Heavyweight: Timothy Johnson vs. Danilo Marques — Johnson def. Marques via first-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Juliana Velasquez vs. Lisa Mauldin — Velasquez def. Mauldin via second-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Saray Orozco vs. Sumiko Inaba — Inaba def. Orozco via Split Decision

PFL 4 HIGHLIGHTS

Denis Goltsov vs. Thiago Santos

Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe

Timothy Johnson vs. Danilo Marques

Juliana Velasquez vs. Lisa Mauldin

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

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Kentucky has released UFC pay amounts for the promotion’s Louisville event and Reyes walked away from the YUM! center with a pretty big bag.

How much UFC fighters are making is becoming more and more opaque as time goes on, but there’s still a few athletic commissions sharing combat sports payouts. Kentucky is one of them, which means we have accurate information on how much UFC fighters made at UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Imavov in Louisville, Kentucky.

Topping the list of highest paid fighters is one-time light heavyweight challenger Dominick Reyes, who made $ 125,000 to show and $ 125,000 to win for his first round knockout of Dustin Jacoby (who pocketed his $ 100,000 show money).

While Reyes was overlooked when it came to official performance bonuses, the scrappy “Devastator” spoke to Dana White after the event and says he got a bonus too. So add whatever that was to his $ 250,000 … not too shabby!

Other six-figure hitters include Jared Cannonier, who made $ 165,000 in show money for his controversial TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in the main event. Imavov made $ 63,000 to show and $ 63,000 to win, adding up to $ 126,000. Punahele Soriano ($ 50,000 show, $ 50,000 win) and Montana De La Rosa ($ 60,000 show, $ 50,000 win) also cleared the $ 100,000 mark.

Check out the full list of payments, care of the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission:

Nassourdine Imavov $ 126K ($ 63K Show/563K Win)
Jared Cannonier $ 165K

Dominick Reyes $ 250K ($ 125K Show/$ 125K Win)
Dustin Jacoby $ 100K

Raul Rosas Jr. $ 80K ($ 40K Show/$ 40K Win)
Ricky Turcios $ 28K

Brunno Ferreira $ 60K ($ 30K Show/$ 30K Win)
Dustin Stoltzfus $ 28K

Zachary Reese $ 20K ($ 10K Show/$ 10K in)
Julian Marquez $ 50K

Punahele Soriano $ 100K ($ 50K Show/$ 50K Win)
Miguel Baeza $ 32K

Ludovit Klein $ 86K ($ 43K Show/$ 43K Win)
Thiago Moises $ 58K

Carlos Prates $ 24K ($ 12K Show/$ 12K Win)
Charles Radtke $ 15K

Brad Katona $ 84K ($ 42K Show/$ 42K Win)
Jesse Butler $ 12K

Montana De La Rosa $ 120K ($ 60K Show/$ 60K Win)
Andrea Lee $ 70K

Daniel Marcos Moreno $ 48K ($ 24K Show/$ 24K Win)
John Castaneda $ 30K

Denise Gomes $ 50K ($ 25K Show/$ 25K Win)
Eduard De Moura* $ 12K (missed weight and will forfeit 20% of her purse)

Taylor Lapilus $ 28K ($ 14K Show/$ 14K Win)
Cody Stamann $ 78K

Puja Tomar $ 20K ($ 10K Show/$ 10K Win)
Rayanne Do Santos $ 12K

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After a night out that ended in a drunken fall on the sidewalk, Fury is back in the gym preparing for a December 21st rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.

Tyson Fury may have let loose over the past weekend, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his focus on an upcoming rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury was caught on camera enjoying a few too many drinks down at the pub on Friday (June 7th, 2024) — to the point where bouncers had to oh-so-gently escort him out. He then promptly fell over and faceplanted on the sidewalk.

Nothing to be concerned about, according to his team! Fury was just having a well-deserved night off after two long back-to-back training camps. And now he’s back in the gym recording a new Instagram video for fans.

“Hey, guys, Tyson Fury here,” the former boxing champion said after throwing a few combos at a heavy bag. “Back into it as you can see. Counting down the days until I can get my redemption on Usyk. December 21st is gonna be my time.”

“I’ve done everything in boxing, but I haven’t come back from a loss,” he added. “I’m relishing the chance to come back and redeem myself. December 21st, it’s on me. Undisputed, here we come!”

Fury lost a split decision to Usyk in their first clash on May 18th, but many saw the beating Oleksandr put on Tyson in the 9th as the defining moment of the bout. He’s now an underdog in their rematch set to go down in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the end of the year.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

A week ago, Conor McGregor was all smiles online despite the controversy and questions surrounding his alleged “minor injury.” There was a lot of optimism from McGregor and the general fighting community regarding his upcoming UFC 303 main event versus Michael Chandler, which is supposed to go down on June 29, 2024.

Supposed to.

That booking is looking less and less likely by the minute. The latest report is overwhelmingly negative, strongly hinting that UFC was in need of a new main event option. McGregor himself posted an update (sort of) to his social media, reposting an older video of himself talking about avoiding injury. He explains, “I think the more resistance you train with, the less movement and the more injury. But the less resistance you train with, the more movement and the less injury. So, a band balances itself.”

Accompanying those philosophical training thoughts? A sad emoji and some prayer hands.

Fan fans are viewing this post — which has since been deleted — as an absolutely terrible sign for the UFC 303 main event. Check out some of the reactions to McGregor’s post below:

“Seems pretty clear at this point that Conor McGregor is out and he knows it and would like to inform the fans, except the UFC is preventing him from doing so until they find a way to save the card.”

“So much for the return”

“lol he’s trolling and everyone is eating it up for clicks”

“Can he at least take a Power Slap fight”

“Conor is cooked”

“It’s so over”

“I do not want to hear Conor say the word “injury” before this fight.”

Stay tuned for updates to UFC 303, which seem imminent … one way or another.

Insomnia

Chael Sonnen is 47 years old, but he hasn’t even begun to peak!

I would love to see Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, and I hope it works out that way.

Can Jake Paul and Sean O’Malley save UFC 303? More importantly — WHO YA GOT?!?

I like that the commentator’s first reaction to the chaos in the ring is a chuckle.

Odd how all the Russian/Muslim fighters I can think of who came through the Jackson-Wink doors were at least one weight class below Kennedy …

The beef between Oscar De La Hoya and Canelo Alvarez continues.

Move aside boxing, Craig Jones vs. ADCC is shaping up to be my favorite beef of the year.

25-4 ACA Lightweight champion Eduard Vartanyan rides an eight-fight win streak, but he will NOT be signing with UFC.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Ripping body shots on an opponent trapped on the ropes:

Homie definitely has tight hips …

Major airtime on this wild slam!

Random Land

Stand your ground!

Midnight Music: Psych rock, 1967

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

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Merab Dvalishvili is as good as it gets at Bantamweight.

The Georgian sensation has become more of a fan favorite after recent victories over Petr Yan, and more so Henry Cejudo, but that hasn’t come from his finishing ability. However, Dvalishvili claims there’s a reason for nine of the 10 wins in his current stretch of success to have gone to the judges’ scorecards.

Dvalishvili, 33, holds the record for longest winning streak in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight history but got off to a rough start in the promotion. “The Machine” lost his UFC debut via split decision against Frankie Saenz before a unique third round guillotine submission loss to Ricky Simon in his sophomore appearance. Dvalishvili appeared to have the fight won until the final minute, which led to his downfall.

“My second fight, I was [fighting a] very tough guy, Ricky Simon,” Dvalishvili said on Bradley Martyn’s Raw Talk (h/t MMA Junkie) “He was good everywhere, and I was trying to finish him and then I was going, and going, and punching him, and then I even dropped him, [tried to] knock him out. I tried some submission. Nothing was working, but I was winning the fight. It was one minute left and I take him down, I make the decision that I’m going to take him down and finish on top. And when I lift and when I jump, I hit my head to the floor.

“I knocked myself out, and at that time, he grabbed my neck and tried to choke me out on top,” he continued. “I don’t tap. I don’t sleep. I was still fighting, but referee say, ‘Oh, he was in and out [of consciousness].’ They give him technical TKO or something. After that, I make decision, like, you know what? I’m going to take people down and I’m going to have fun with it. I’m not going to chase the finish, and I’m not going to risk. After that, I became more smart fighter. Before, I used to be wild. But now, I play with my opponents.”

As the No. 1 contender in the division, Dvalishvili now expects to challenge for gold in his next outing against the champion, Sean O’Malley. It’s just a matter of when.

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Good luck finding a “Plan B” on two weeks’ notice.

The buildup for UFC 303 is like riding Space Mountain at Disneyworld: You’ll go up, down, and all around but remain in the dark until the very end.

Conor McGregor is supposed to be fighting fellow TUF coach Michael Chandler in the welterweight main event on June 29 in Las Vegas. But the fight is currently “in limbo,” according to MMA insider Ariel Helwani, and matchmakers are scrambling “to figure out a Plan B.”

“The positivity that I talked about exactly one week ago today is nowhere to be found,” Helwani said on The MMA Hour. “I would say this fight is very much in limbo. I would say that it’s hanging on, and I would say the UFC is working very, very hard right now to figure out a Plan B. The Plan B could be someone stepping in to fight Chandler. The Plan C could be a whole new fight. If you look at the roster, if you look at who’s available, if you look at the champions who have just fought or who are scheduled to fight, there aren’t a ton of options. There really aren’t.”

Or McGregor could be trying his very best Ryan Garcia impression.

“The press conference was supposed to be like two weeks ago, and the press conference got crazy,” UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns said on YouTube. “I think, in my opinion, Conor McGregor is pulling up the Ryan Garcia card. You know, trying to act a little bit crazy. We saw a picture of this guy in the hospital. I do think if he had any type of injury and he was in the hospital, for sure the guy is not going to do any post that he’s in the hospital hanging out. I think he’s bluffing. I think he’s good, the fight’s going to happen and just making people overthinking, maybe play with the odds like Ryan Garcia did.”

McGregor and Chandler are deadlocked on the moneyline.

No question UFC CEO Dana White will be hard at work to keep this fight intact, considering there’s a $ 20 million gate on the line. I’m sure that comes as little comfort to McGregor fans who already paid for flights and hotels ahead of UFC 303 but you know what they say about feelings and rich asses.

Expect more UFC 303 fight card updates in the coming days.

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