Category Archives: Mmamania.com

“I said yes, and then they still didn’t give it to me. I’m not happy at all.”

Ketlen Vieira doesn’t like the direction her division is heading in.

The UFC bantamweight landscape received a massive injection of life earlier this year when former PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison was signed to the promotion. Harrison debuted at UFC 300 and looked as impressive as ever, submitting former UFC champion Holly Holm with a second-round rear-naked choke (watch highlights) in what was also her divisional debut earlier this month (April 13, 2024).

Vieira, 32, has yet to compete this year, holding down the No. 2 spot in the official rankings after last earning a unanimous decision against Pannie Kianzad in July 2023. Ready to return after her January matchup against Macy Chiasson fell through, Vieira (14-3) claims Harrison turned her down for a clash at UFC 303 this upcoming International Fight Week in Las Vegas.

“She might be the shiny new toy, but just like any toy, she needs to be played with and tested,” Vieira told MMA Mania. “Even [Julianna] Pena. She hasn’t fought for two years. She isn’t deserving of the title shot.

“I was offered the [Harrison] fight for June 29th. I said yes, and then they still didn’t give it to me. I’m not happy at all.”

MMA Mania has reached out to Harrison for a response to Vieira and will provide an update if received. The targeted UFC 303 event date has already been on the radar of the former Olympian, mentioning a potential interim title bout if current undisputed champion Raquel Pennington is unavailable — a silly idea, believes “Rocky.”

“It seems that Kayla is just not taking the fight,” Vieira said. “If the UFC offered the fight, the UFC wants the fight. It’s just Kayla not taking it. In the UFC, there’s only great athletes and if she thinks she’s going to say no to this fight and take an easier fight, there’s no easy fights. We’re all very good athletes. She has to stop running and take the fight and sign the contract.”

Ultimately, Vieira still likes the timetable to return around UFC 303. Should she challenge for UFC gold sooner rather than later, a fight with Pennington would be a sequel to their January 2023 meeting. Pennington won the bout via a split decision.

“My name’s not Germaine [de Randamie] or Julianna Pena so I don’t pick fights,” Vieira said. “At the same time, I know that I need to go up. I’m going to take any fight that’s going to get me to the belt because I know I deserve that. I want that belt. Kayla was someone that is starting [in UFC] but would be a big fight that would bring me the attention and get me to that belt. I’m looking to [fight] ranked fighters, increase my ranking, and I have been cleared for that date. I said yes to that fight so, I’m ready to fight around that date, but I want a fight that’s going to take me to the belt, which is what I deserve.”

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UFC Louisville has its main event.

Former 185-pound title challenger Jared Cannonier returns to throw hands with No. 8-ranked middleweight contender Nassourdine Imavov on Sat., June 8, 2024 at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Broadcast plans have yet to be finalized but UFC Louisville is expected to air on both ESPN and ESPN+.

Cannonier (17-6) has not competed since knocking around Marvin Vettori atop the UFC Vegas 75 card in June 2023. That’s because the 40 year-old “Killa Gorilla” was dealing with an MCL injury that forced him to the sidelines for several months.

As for Imavov (13-4, 1 NC), who turned 29 just a few weeks back, he’s looking to win his second straight after outpointing Roman Dolidze in the UFC Vegas 85 main event earlier this year at APEX.

UFC Louisville is also expected to feature the bantamweight showdown between Raul Rosas Jr. and Ricky Turcios. Elsewhere on the card, Julian Marquez and Zach Reese collide at middleweight, while Ludovit Klein and Thiago Moises hook ‘em up at 155 pounds.

Expect more UFC Louisville fight card announcements in the coming days.

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Cain Velasquez is headed to trial on Sept. 9 in Santa Clara County court.

The former UFC heavyweight champion appeared before the judge earlier this week, alongside attorney Renee Hessling, seeking an additional continuance in the attempted murder case from Velasquez’s 2022 shooting in California.

That motion was denied.

Velasquez, who turns 42 in July, is facing charges of attempted murder after a shooting incident against an alleged child molester back in March of 2022. The part-time luchador pleaded not guilty to the charges and filed a subsequent civil suit against the accused child molester, Harry Goularte, later in the year. Velasquez was eventually released on bond and has appeared sporadically at MMA events.

A trial readiness hearing is set for June 26.

“Thank you to everybody who supported me,” Velasquez said upon his release. “I love all of you. I want to just always continue to be better as a person, always do good things, just make something positive of this terrible situation. My family and I are going to do that. We’ll do something good.”

If convicted, Velasquez could face a minimum of 20 years in prison.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The upcoming UFC St. Louis fight card just received a major boost.

Ranked Welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley hails from “Mound City,” and he’s been telling anyone who will listen that he wants a part of the UFC St. Louis card, which is scheduled for Sat. May 11, 2024. Specifically, he was requesting a main event opportunity, but instead UFC CEO Dana White announced he’ll get a co-main slot against Nursulton Ruziboev.

It’s a bit of a funny match up, one that’s only happening because Buckley crashed the UFC 300 press conference just a couple weeks ago to demand his St. Louis opportunity. The monkey paw curled!

On one hand, Buckley gets to fight in his hometown like he wanted. At the same time, Buckley is riding a solid win streak and coming off the best win of his career over Vicente Luque (watch here), and his reward is a dangerous, relatively unknown finisher who stands NINE inches taller than him! Buckley dropped down to Welterweight because the height and reach advantages of his opposition were too severe … and now he’s going to fight a 6’5” longtime Middleweight riding a 10-fight finish streak.

Is it a little bit of revenge from the UFC CEO? Really, that depends on the outcome. If Buckley is victorious, he continues his march up the ladder, adds to the highlight reel, and earns an extra paycheck in front of his fans. If he loses, his Welterweight momentum goes up in smoke.

As for Ruziboev, he’s 2-0 in the Octagon thus far, scoring two quick knockout wins. He’s earned a step up in competition, but it’s interesting that he’ll drop to Welterweight for the opportunity. He hasn’t fought at 170-pounds since January 2021 and seems big for Middleweight, so weigh-in day will be interesting as well.

Who ya’ got?!?

Insomnia

How many injuries can one take before calling it a career? Dominick Cruz is a gamer but is the juice worth the squeeze at this point?

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a proven team player if nothing else.

An MMA fight feels like a wedding or a funeral depending entirely on the outcome.

Anthony Smith, loser of three of his last four, thinks champion Alex Pereira wants to fight him for some reason.

Arman Tsarukyan deserves a full camp for his well-earned title shot.

The Max Holloway effect is going global.

My biggest takeaway from all my wrestling training: never stop moving.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

I wrongly assumed based on his crouched stance that the man in blue trunks was about to eat the knee …

Shot the choke arm deep and committed to the gator roll very quickly!

Establish the low kick then go high — as classic as classic gets.

Random Land

I laughed out loud.

Midnight Music: Rock, 1982

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

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Anthony Smith hopes to work his way back to another title shot starting at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next weekend (Sat., May 4, 2024).

It’s been five years since Smith shocked the mixed martial arts (MMA) world with his late-career resurgence through the Light Heavyweight ranks to challenge the then-champion, Jon Jones. Unfortunately for Smith, he lost the bout via a unanimous decision and has tried to make his case for another crack at gold ever since.

Smith, 35, has had some verbal exchanges with the current champion, Alex Pereira, in the past. Should a match up ever make sense, “Lionheart” is confident “Poatan” would be down for it.

“He’s fun,” Smith told Submission Radio. “Him and I have had our words back and forth. I don’t think there’s any real beef there, but there’s definitely something there with him and I where given the opportunity we both would jump on it. If I can put myself in a position where, ‘Oh, holy s—t. Here we are on a bit of a streak,’ and things are going well, timing works out, I think both of us would jump on that opportunity.

“I don’t know why that is,” he continued. “I don’t know if it’s ‘real recognizes real’ a little bit. I’m one of the few guys probably that would really — I don’t know — I would step in the fire with him and he knows that. Is [Magomed] Ankalaev gonna stand in the pocket and trade with Alex Pereira and really play that game? Probably not (laughs).”

Before any title hopes can become a reality, Smith first has to get back in the win column by taking out Vitor Petrino at UFC 301. Meanwhile, Pereira recently defended his title via a first round knockout over Jamahal Hill (watch highlights) at UFC 300 two weekends ago (April 13, 2024).

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UFC 303 is officially … official.

The promotion today released all the relevant details for the June 29 pay-per-view (PPV) card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, headlined by the welterweight showdown between former lightweight champion Conor McGregor and ex-Bellator titleholder Michael Chandler. In addition, former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jamahal Hill returns for the UFC 303 co-main event against 205-pound wrecking ball Khalil Rountree Jr.

Wanna go see it live? That will require tickets (and a lot of cash).

UFC Fight Club members can grab UFC 303 seats NOW through a special presale available here. Subscribers to the UFC newsletter (sign up at the UFC.com homepage) will also have access to early tickets starting tomorrow (April 25) at 1 p.m. ET.

Whatever’s left will be offered to the general public this Friday (April 26), also at 1 p.m. ET. If you want tickets to International Fight Week (IFW), taking place from June 24-30, that requires a separate transaction at the IFW website here.

For the current UFC 303 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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Local fans should be prepared to pull an all-nighter. UFC 304 prelims begin at 11 p.m. BST, followed by the main card start time of 3 a.m. BST to preserve the traditional UFC pay-per-view broadcast schedule in the United States.

After weeks of speculation, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today announced the upcoming UFC 304 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for Sat., July 27, 2024 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England. UFC 304 tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. BST on Friday, June 7, via Ticketmaster with special pre sales for UFC Fight Club members on Weds., June 5, at 9 a.m. BST and newsletter subscribers on Thurs., June 6, at 10 a.m. BST.

“I’m so excited to get back to Manchester and no better time than this summer,” said UFC President and CEO Dana White. “We have two champions from the UK and fans have been dying for a UFC PPV event. So here we come to the largest indoor arena in the UK. See you soon, England!”

Among those fighters expected to compete are UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards and UFC interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall, as well as local favorites Paddy Pimblett, Molly McCann, Muhammad Mokaev, Michael Page, and Arnold Allen, among others. Expect official announcements on specific matchups in the coming weeks, if not days.

“With the north of England home to so many of the world’s leading fighters, we are primed and ready for UFC and its knowledgeable, passionate fanbase,” said Co-op Live Executive Director & General Manager, Gary Roden. “Offering a state-of-the-art platform for globally broadcast events, Co-op Live is extremely proud to welcome entertainment of this scale and caliber as the future home of combat sports in the UK.”

UFC has not staged an MMA card in Manchester since UFC 204 “Bisping vs. Henderson” back in late 2016.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Last weekend (Sat. April 20, 2024), Ryan Garcia shocked the world. Not long ago, Garcia was one of the hottest up-and-comers in boxing, but a one-sided knockout loss to Gervonta Davis and unimpressive bounce-back victory cooled expectations. Then, the community grew concerned for “King” after there was a murder hoax, and Garcia’s public and online behavior raised many eyebrows.

Against the undefeated Devin Haney, Garcia would not have been favored by odds makers at the best of times, but his pre-fight antics didn’t seem to indicate a boxer that was training seriously. Missing weight and pounding a beer at weigh-ins seemed to confirm that Garcia was destined for a beating, and he grew to be an even larger underdog.

It all changed on fight night. Garcia was confident and sharp from the very first bell, hurting Haney early with his signature left hook. Haney managed to win some rounds back, but when Garcia turned it on late, he knocked Haney down multiples times and forced the judges to deliver him the victory (watch highlights).

That’s one hell of a turnaround! Oh, and to make victory sweeter, Garcia may have bet on himself too. In a recent interview, Garcia acknowledged that his outside-of-the-ring antics may have resulted in increased viewership, and he also revealed his projected purse: somewhere between $ 30 and $ 50 million.

“I don’t know [if my antics helped the fight overall] but I think it brought more eyes to it.” Ryan Garcia said the PBD Podcast (via Josh Evanoff). “[It brought] the casual fans. I don’t know about the pay-per-view or tickets but we’re going to find out real soon. I’m projected to make around thirty to fifty million from the fight.”

He continued, “No [they haven’t released the pay-per-view numbers yet]. But Oscar said that they are very good. Very good, yeah.”

In case anyone needed clarification on why UFC champion Sean O’Malley was talking about boxing Garcia — there’s your answer!

Insomnia

Donald Cerrone ripped his bicep and will not be riding Dana White’s bull.

So … this seems like a pretty good reason not to fight Cedric Doumbe. All the best to Derek Anderson in recovery!

This is about as good a non-title fight as one could make in the women’s Bantamweight division.

How long into his fight versus Dustin Poirier until Islam Makhachev shoots the first takedown?

Jiri Prochazka is harnessing the power of the universe.

In case any further evidence was necessary that Ilia Topuria hits really hard:

Is the Philly shell the perfect defense for eye pokes? I love this niche bit of MMA art.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Good thing the Dan Henderson-esque diving overhand missed.

Head kicks on the break of the clinch, forever underrated.

If you’re going to copy Fabricio Werdum’s flying side kick start, it helps to be one of the greatest jiu-jitsu artists in MMA history.

Random Land

Presented without spoilers:

Midnight Music: Punk, 1981

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

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Belal Muhammad’s wait may finally be over.

The mixed martial arts (MMA) world has been anticipating the announcement of the next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight title tilt. Despite a rematch between the champion, Leon Edwards, and Muhammad as the clear fight to make, the promotion has been patient with its booking.

The match up still isn’t official at the time of publishing. However, Edwards’ coach, Dave Lovell, is about as confident as one can be that the rematch will happen in Manchester, England at UFC 304 on July 27, 2024.

“I think it will be Belal next,” Lovell told talkSport. “It’s not written in stone, but 99.9 percent [of me] thinks it will be Belal. Leon is looking forward to the July bill. He starts his camp next week, for a 12-week camp and we are sharpening up our tools to deal with Mr. Belal.”

Edwards and Muhammad first met inside the Octagon in March 2021. Unfortunately for both, an accidental eye poke forced the end of the contest 18 seconds into round two. Muhammad was the affected fighter, rendered unable to continue.

Since then, both have maintained their winning ways and been confident about how a rematch would go.

“I don’t see him wanting to stand with Leon,” Lovell said. “He’ll be looking to grind Leon against the cage, take him down, maul him when he’s down, and probably steal a decision that way.

“If that eye poke never happened, I think Leon would’ve finished him in the second round,” he continued. “To me, analyzing the fight and looking back on it, Belal was looking for a way out and to steal a decision. That eye poke, and the noise he made, literally screaming and crying, it’s funny that he didn’t have to go to hospital, didn’t have any eye damage, so what does that tell you?

“If the medics clear him after the fight, what does that tell you?” he concluded. “He tried to steal a decision, but payback is a b—ch, we’ll see.”

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Longtime featherweight contender Edson Barboza will defend his spot in the division Top 15 when he collides with undefeated English sensation Lerone Murphy atop the upcoming UFC Vegas 92 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, recently made official for Sat., May 18, 2024 at the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Now they have an official poster, which fans are praising for its “old school boxing” style.

UFC

Barboza (24-11) is currently riding a two-fight win streak. After obliterating Billy Quarantillo with a vicious knee at UFC Kansas City, the Brazilian took home a unanimous decision victory over Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 81 last fall.

As for Murphy (13-0-1), six years younger than Barboza at 32, he debuted with a draw opposite Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 242, then rattled off five straight wins, including last summer’s decision nod over Joshua Culibao at UFC London.

UFC Vegas 92 will also feature the strawweight showdown pitting Angela Hill against Luana Pinheiro. Elsewhere on the card, Warlley Alves and Abus Magomedov collide at middleweight, while Tim Elliott and Tatsuro Taira hook ‘em up at 125 pounds.

Expect more UFC Vegas 92 fight card announcements in the coming days.

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