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A pair of title fights will headline Bellator’s next event in Paris with the card taking place at the Accor Arena on May 17.

In the main event, Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov will return to action to clash with Alexander Shabliy. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Patchy Mix makes his first official title defense in a rematch against Magomed Magomedov.

A new No. 1 contender will be determined in the middleweight division when Gregory Babene takes on Costello Van Steenis and Slim Trabelsi returns to his old stomping grounds in France when he faces Louie Sutherland in a heavyweight fight.

The preliminary card will include a lightweight matchup pitting Mansour Barnaoui against Yusuke Yachi.

As of now, the card is set to air on DAZN in Europe with a broadcast partner in the United States still to be determined.

Nurmagomedov will be making his first appearance since he faced a six-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance following his fight with Brent Primus this past October. Nurmagomedov’s unanimous decision win was overturned to a no contest but Bellator didn’t strip him of the title after it was revealed that his positive drug test came from a prescribed medication that contained the banned substance.

As for Shabliy, he will get his first shot at Bellator gold following an undefeated 5-0 run with the promotion, which includes a win over ex-champion Patricky Pitbull.

Meanwhile, Mix competes in the co-main event after he solidified his place as bantamweight champion with a submission win over Sergio Pettis this past November. Mix actually holds a submission win over Magomedov from their previous encounter during the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix but now the’ll meet a second time with the title on the line.

In addition to the Bellator card in Paris, the promotion also laid out the rest of the lineup for the remainder of 2024 including dates and locations for most of the events.

Friday, June 22 – Bellator Champions Series Dublin – 3Arena

Saturday, September 7 – Bellator Champions Series San Diego – Pechanga Arena

Saturday, September 14 – Bellator Champions Series London – OVO Wembley

Saturday, October 12 – Bellator Champions Series Chicago – Wintrust Arena

Saturday, November 16 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – ADIDAS Arena

Tuesday, December 31 – Bellator Champions Series – To be determined.

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On Monday, a pre-trial conference for the UFC’s upcoming antitrust trial was held in Las Vegas Federal Court.

Per a report from Forbes, Judge Richard Boulware worked his way through a slew of motions addressing situations that could arise at trial where one side doesn’t want the jury exposed to certain materials. The biggest question of the day would be whether the Las Vegas-based promotion would be allowed to call 13 handpicked witnesses, including five fighters, five managers, and three of its own employees, to testify in front of the jury.

Among them was a mix of current and former fighters, including Michael Bisping, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, Michael Chandler, Chael Sonnen, and Miesha Tate who were to share their experiences and promotional interactions with the jury. However, the plaintiff’s attorney, Eric Cramer, successfully argued that it would be “trial by ambush,” claiming the UFC never properly disclosed the 13 witnesses. “For most of these 13, we have no depositions and no documents,” he noted.

The UFC argued that plaintiffs made the fighters “known” by asking about or requesting documents related to them during the discovery process.

Boulware sided with the plaintiff, announcing that the 13 UFC witnesses are officially excluded from the upcoming trial. He also excluded any evidence past the end of the class period in June 2017 but will allow evidence before the start of the class period in December 2010.

The UFC could be on the hook for $ 1.6 billion

In August, the longstanding antitrust suit was granted class certification with over 1,200 fighters effectively suing the world’s largest MMA promoter. Among the named plaintiffs are former UFC fighters Cung Le, Jon Fitch, Brandon Vera, Kyle Kingsbury, and Javier Vazquez. All are expected to testify when the trial begins in April.

The suit alleges that the UFC is an illegal monopoly or monopsony and has snuffed out competition from other MMA promotions to drive down fighters’ wages. If found guilty, the UFC could be on the hook for anywhere from $ 800 million to $ 1.6 billion.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

With the UFC’s antitrust trial date quickly approaching on April 15, Judge Richard F. Boulware ruled on several motions in the case in a Nevada courtroom on Monday including 13 witnesses that were potentially being called to testify on behalf of the promotion.

The fighters on the list included UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Chael Sonnen, Miesha Tate and Michael Chandler as well as prominent managers such as Ali Abdelaziz, Dan Lambert from American Top Team and Iridium Sports Agency CEO Jason House.

It turns out none of them will be allowed to testify at the trial after Judge Boulware granted the plaintiff’s motion to exclude the 13 named witnesses, which included the fighters, managers and even current UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard. Paul Gift initially reported the news on Twitter.

The plaintiff’s attorneys had argued that the witness list was not disclosed ahead of time to allow for depositions to be taken long before trial began.

Despite objections from the UFC’s legal team, Judge Boulware ultimately ruled that the 13 witnesses would not be allowed to testify at trial because they were not properly disclosed in time.

During the hearing, Judge Boulware also acknowledged that the UFC and the plaintiffs remain in discussions about a possible resolution before going to trial. No agreements have been made yet, but both sides are still in mediation.

After numerous delays in setting a trial date, Judge Boulware ordered that there would be no further extensions unless the two sides reached a resolution ahead of the April 15 date. Otherwise, the trial would start as ordered on April 15.

At the heart of the antitrust lawsuit, the fighters involved claimed that the UFC engaged “in a scheme to acquire and maintain monopsony power in the market for elite professional MMA fighter services.” They claim UFC used three components to achieve this goal, including acquisitions, exclusive contracts, and coercion.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages between $ 894 million and $ 1.6 billion.

Meanwhile, the current UFC owners at TKO Group Holdings addressed the upcoming trial in the antitrust lawsuit during a quarterly financial meeting with investors.

“As we’ve always said, and this is our consistent message since we started talking about this case publicly, we believe strongly that the facts and the law are on our side, and we look forward, in terms of timing, to making our arguments to a jury at trial,” TKO chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said during the call.

“But as is typical in a case like this, we’ve been engaged in private mediation simultaneously with our trial preparation. That’s what we’re prepared to comment on at this time.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC 299 media day will feature the fight card’s top stars answering questions from the media Wednesday morning in Miami.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

10:45 a.m. ET: Curtis Blaydes

10:55 a.m.: Maycee Barber

11:05 a.m.: Song Yadong

11:15 a.m.: Benoit Saint Denis

11:25 a.m.: Michael Page

11:35 a.m.: Jack Della Maddalena

11:45 a.m.: Sean O’Malley

11:55 a.m.: Kyler Phillips

12:05 p.m.: Rafael dos Anjos

12:15 p.m.: Lunch Break

1:20 p.m.: Marlon Vera

1:30 p.m.: Jailton Almeida

1:40 p.m.: Mateusz Gamrot

1:50 p.m.: Pedro Munhoz

2 p.m.: Kevin Holland

2:10 p.m.: Dustin Poirier

2:20 p.m.: Gilbert Burns

2:40 p.m.: Katlyn Cerminara

2:50 p.m.: Petr Yan

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Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has had an eventful past six months.  He won the 185-pound championship at UFC 293 last September by defeating former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya.  

The depth of the trauma Strickland suffered growing up was exposed during an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von in early January.  Strickland broke down in tears discussing his childhood.  

Strickland is a bit of a controversial figure known for his off-the-cuff responses to questions.  His answers range from political rants to ridiculing and insulting other fighters and the media.  He had a well publicized feud with rising welterweight star Ian Machado Garry after insulting Garry’s wife and making some pretty hefty allegations against her.  

Strickland lost the title in his first title defense at UFC 297 on Jan. 20., losing by split decision to Dricus Du Plessis.  Three weeks later he mercilessly beat up influencer Sneako during a sparring session at the UFC PI in Las Vegas.  A few days later, “Tarzan” was involved in a verbal confrontation with musician Machine Gun Kelly during a Power Slap event.  His behavior cost him a chance to take part in Nitrocross events earlier this month.      

In response to Strickland’s altercation with Machine Gun Kelly, UFC CEO Dana White said, “You can’t bring Sean Strickland around any other human beings.”

On Tuesday, Strickland made a social media post admitting to being ‘a little bit mentally unstable.’  In a follow-up post, Strickland spoke about mental health.  

I'm a little mentally unstable, Its important to be surrounded with people who understand you and help

I'll wake up some days wanting to strangle a puppy

"Sean are you doing ok?"

"Yes I'm good, I'm so happy!"

If im happy it's harder for me to see how understable I am.

— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 6, 2024

“I’m a little mentally unstable, Its important to be surrounded with people who understand you and help,” Strickland wrote.  “I’ll wake up some days wanting to strangle a puppy.”

Mental illness is like someone else living in your body that takes control randomly and you have no idea you're not in control.

Some people will get this some people won't.

Garcia needs to rethink who he hangs around with.

TAKE CARE OF THE BRAIN. Work out. Have good friends. pic.twitter.com/BQtKB4qhvn

— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 6, 2024

“Mental illness is like someone else living in your body that takes control randomly and you have no idea you’re not in control,” he wrote in a second tweet.  “Some people will get this some people won’t.  Garcia needs to rethink who he hangs around with.  TAKE CARE OF THE BRAIN. Work out. Have good friends,” he wrote.  

A video accompanied Strickland’s second tweet.  In the video he spoke about the importance of having people around you that can recognize mental health issues.  

“When you’ve got mental instability, you’ve really got to f**king take care of your mind and surround yourself with people that can bring you down, recognize it, and f**king help you,” he said.     

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The Great’s troubles
| BJPenn.com

Coach Jorge Climent is willing to give Alexander Volkanovski an immediate rematch, but he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for the Australian fighter.

Ilia Topuria is the new UFC featherweight champion after taking the belt off long-standing champion Alexander Volkanovski in February. It was a decisive win: “El Matador” hit “The Great” with a blistering right hand against the cage, knocking him out cold in the second round (watch the highlights here).

But considering Volkanovski’s resume, there’s little doubt Topuria will face him again. The only question is whether it’s an immediate rematch or not. In a new interview with Hablemos MMA, Topuria’s coach Jorge Climent suggests an immediate rematch is a bad idea.

“I do believe that Volkanovski deserves a rematch for everything he’s done in this sport, plus the short-notice fight he took,” Climent said (translated from Spanish by MMA Junkie). “However, if I were his team or his friend, I’d tell him, ‘Look, relax. Go get another fight to get back on your feet, go feel good again, win, and then we go after him.’”

“That would be the smartest thing he could do. And again, if I were his friend, that’s what I’d recommend him.”

“He’s coming off two defeats, and I don’t see him recovered enough to go for the immediate rematch,” Climent added. “That’s why, if I were his friend, I’d tell him, ‘Take it easy, go do another fight, get your confidence back up, and we’ll do it again.’”

Many have blamed Volkanovski’s loss on his decision to fight Topuria four months after suffering a bad head kick knockout against Islam Makhachev. Even Volk agrees the quick turnaround after such a devastating loss may have been bad for him mentally, if not physically as well.

It’s still unclear whether “The Great” will actually hit the bench and spend the majority of 2024 recovering. If he does, Climent had another top name he’d like his student Topuria to face: Max Holloway.

“I think Volkanovski and Holloway deserve it most,” he said. “After that, it’s pretty even among everyone else. I think those two are the ones that most deserve to fight for the title – Holloway and Volkanovski.”

Holloway will have to get past Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 on April 13th first. No small task, considering he’s moving up to lightweight for the bout. But can anyone deny him if he wins? Team Topuria certainly wouldn’t.

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