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“For the right price I’ll do anything. Absolutely anything. I had a blood pressure reading last week that was through the roof. You never know when this f—king show is gonna end. Again, if the money is good, for sure I’ll take that [Gordon Ryan] match.” —Craig Jones

There’s a rumor floating around that grappling sensation Craig Jones is retiring from competition.

“I’m hearing Craig might not even compete again,” Mason Fowler said after the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6 last weekend in Las Vegas. “I don’t know how much Craig wants to compete. If [UFC] wants the match with Nicky Rod, even though he’s much bigger than me, then I would be okay with doing that next.”

Jones is not ruling out a return “for the right price.”

The 32 year-old Aussie was also in action last weekend in “Sin City” where he submitted Brazilian bruiser Rafael Lovato Jr. via inside heel hook. After the match, Jones elaborated on his decision to skip Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) 2024, which takes place later this year on the UFC Fight Pass digital network.

“I don’t think so,” Jones said about competing at ADCC 2024. “UFC Fight Pass pays very, very well; obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. ADCC is four matches for the chance of winning $ 10,000. I’ve gone through a list of things … I could sell my underwear and make more money than that. I’m selling dick pills on Instagram, I make more money than that. They make a lot of money from ticket sales, because they post about how many tickets they sell. They’re gonna sell 18,000 tickets, they have streaming right deals, it’s like … can I have a little bit of money? I’ll blow $ 10k at the afterparty if I win that thing.”

Thank Gordon Ryan for the millions of dollars generated in ADCC 2024 ticket sales.

The only matchup that interests most jiu-jitsu fans at this point is Jones vs. Ryan, but it doesn’t appear the no-gi “King” will be healthy enough to compete outside of this prior commitment. Until then, expect to see Jones on the grappling mats less frequently.

Or not at all.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Francis Ngannou’s transition to boxing may have started as a side hustle, but as he readies to face Anthony Joshua on Friday, that mission statement has shifted to something more.

“I will definitely still do some MMA fights, but I’m not leaving boxing,” Ngannou said Monday at the event’s grand arrivals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Remember, at the beginning, it was boxing. I wasn’t aware of MMA. And for more than a decade, it was all about boxing, dreaming about boxing. And then even when the opportunity came around [in MMA], it was, for me, an opportunity to shine, to be a world champion, and then potentially switch to do the crossover and go back to boxing, because I feel like it was something that I needed, I had to fulfill in order to be at peace with myself. In order to retire peacefully, I needed to do that boxing because I just love it. I can’t tell you why, but I love it and I enjoy it.”

Ngannou, 37, faces two-time former heavyweight champion Joshua, 34, in a 10-round bout this weekend at Kingdom Arena. The fight is the second of Ngannou’s burgeoning professional boxing career — the former UFC heavyweight champion stunned the combat sports world in October when he knocked down Tyson Fury in his pro debut and nearly came away with one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sweet science. Ngannou ultimately lost a split decision, however his performance blew away the expectations of many and left boxing lifers such as Eddie Hearn and Carl Frampton singing his praises.

Ngannou is also signed with PFL and has pledged repeatedly that he will compete for the MMA organization before his career is over. Renan Ferreira, the 2023 PFL season heavyweight champion, recently demolished Bellator champ Ryan Bader with a 21-second knockout at the PFL vs. Bellator event to ostensibly earn the right to welcome Ngannou to the PFL whenever “The Predator” makes his promotional debut. Ferreira told MMA Fighting that he will not enter the 2024 PFL season and will instead opt to wait for Ngannou.

It remains unclear when or if that PFL debut will come, and that question may only be further complicated if Ngannou stuns the combat sports world again by defeating Joshua.

After previously working with boxing legend Mike Tyson for his Fury camp, Ngannou said Monday that he and Tyson were unable to work together for this fight, however the lessons he gleaned from Tyson have stayed at the forefront of his mind ahead of his big night.

“I was and I’m still working on the basics. I think from the moment that you forget about the basics, the fundamentals, you [lose what works],” Ngannou said. “Because what made me really be inspired and be [in] love [with] the Mike Tyson style so much was the fundamentals. Mike Tyson, he could’ve beaten the world champion and he was just [using] the fundamentals. You could’ve put a video of Mike Tyson [on] and take a 5-year-old kid and say, ‘OK, look, this how to box. This is the footwork. This is a jab. This is this.’ Everything was just the fundamentals, and fundamentals get the job done.”

“I’m not a fool. I know that I’m not at the same technique level as those guys,” Ngannou continued. “I’m not saying you’re calling me a fool, I’m just pointing it out — I know the situation. All of them, they’ve been doing this sport for over 20 years at a high-level, full-time, and I’m just getting in, although I was passionate about it my entire life. But I know that I’m not going out there to show something extravagant that I know, that I’ve been practicing. Stick on the fundamentals.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani is tired of seeing MMA community crybabies go into meltdown every time Jake Paul wins a fight.

On Saturday, March 2, ‘The Problem Child’ scored his ninth career win with a first-round finish of Ryan Bourland in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Though he made quick work of his opponent, fight fans were unimpressed with the victory and quickly lambasted Paul for fighting another no-name journeyman.

Offering his take on the unsurprising backlash, Helwani suggested that Paul is fighting the appropriate opponents based on his experience level and that the only ones who seem to have something negative to say about it are bitter MMA fans.

“Jake Paul is stealing all the headlines. He starches Ryan Bourland. Everyone knew he was going to win. [Bourland] was not an impressive-looking guy even though he has a 17-2 record,” Helwani said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour. “He just didn’t quite look the part and you see all these people in the world of MMA that get so triggered by Jake and it’s interesting to compare the reaction by the MMA community as opposed to the boxing community which is just like, ‘Yeah, okay. Cool. He won. Let’s move on.’ It hardly has a ripple effect.

“I think part of that is because the boxing community recognizes that this is how boxing is, for better or worse. Ninth pro fight, tenth pro fight, you are fighting people like this. Go look at who Ryan Garcia fought in his tenth pro fight. Go look at Canelo, Usyk, Fury, and Joshua. It’s all these types of guys. That’s how boxing is. You can’t apply MMA logic to boxing logic. It’s a completely different format, but you see people so triggered by this. ‘He’s part of the problem’ and ‘He’s getting away with this.’ These are the same people who said, ‘Don’t fight MMA fighters’ and ‘Go fight someone your age and skill set.’ And then he lost that fight.”

The fight Helwani is referring to is Paul’s clash with the undefeated Tommy Fury, younger brother to WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury. ‘TNT’ earned a split decision victory over Paul in their February 2023 meeting. It was also the first time that Paul had fought someone who was described as a “legitimate boxer” rather than ex-MMA stars.

It was Paul’s first attempt to hush some of his haters and establish himself as a serious star in the sport. Since then, he has earned back-to-back first-round knockouts against professionally trained boxers. Despite that, ‘The Problem Child’ is still facing constant attacks from the MMA community.

“That could have been the indictment, but now they’re saying, ‘Don’t fight these guys anymore. Go back to fighting the other guys.’ He can’t do anything right in their eyes,” Helwani added.

Ariel Helwani Dares MMA Media to Comment on Tyson Pedro’s Retirement instead of jake paul’s win

Another story that earned some attention, though not nearly as much as Jake Paul did, was the retirement of UFC veteran Tyson Pedro. The Aussie had won three of his last five but, following a loss to Vitor Petrino inside The APEX on Saturday, Pedro revealed that he would be laying down his gloves as it was no longer financially feasible for him to continue competing.

Fans were outraged to learn that an eight-year veteran of the UFC wasn’t making enough money to support himself or his family… Until Jake Paul won his fight a few hours later. Then nobody seemed to care about Pedro’s story anymore.

“If you are more fired up about Jake Paul beating Ryan Bourland in a boxing match,” Helwani said. “If you are making videos, sending tweets, and puffing your chest out… If you’re more fired up about that than what Tyson Pedro had to say in his post-fight interview after he retired and said that he essentially has nothing to his name after all the fights in the UFC. If you’re more upset about [Paul] and saying that he’s ruining the sanctity of boxing when you couldn’t give two sh*ts about boxing, you are part of the problem. You are the problem.

“If you want to be an MMA person commenting on this, comment on that. Comment on the Tyson Pedro clip. I dare you. I dare you to talk about that. I dare you to talk about the class action lawsuit. I dare you. So, save me the takes. Save me the tweets. Save me your things on how this is ruining combat sports. Comment on how the sausage is made on the other side of the fence.”

LowKickMMA.com

Muhammad Mokaev successfully continued his unbeaten run in the sport when he edged out a hard-fought victory over UFC veteran Alex Perez. Grinding out a win on the judges’ scorecards will be a valuable experience for the 23-year-old, but not everybody was impressed by his performance.

Despite dominating the first round, it seemed as if Mokaev’s cardio wasn’t holding up, but the UK native out-worked his opponent to get his hands raised by unanimous decision. This was his sixth win inside the octagon and he now believes he’s ready for a shot at gold.

Following his win over Perez, Mokaev revealed he had been struggling with several staph infections weeks before stepping into the cage last time out. Even with the injuries heading into the bout, Brandon Royval was unimpressed by his division rival’s display.

This is y’all’s boy 😂😂

— Brandon (@brandonroyval) March 2, 2024

UFC 301 is set to take place on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and rumors are suggesting Alexandre Pantoja will put his flyweight title on the line at the event.

Attempting to get his second crack at the 125lbs throne, Brandon Royval again took to social media, throwing his name into the hat for a fight with Pantoja, whilst also firing shots at Mokaev.

Related: Brandon Royval out-works Brandon Moreno for razor-close decision win

“Anyways, I’ll be ready for UFC 301,” Royval said in hopes of booking a third fight against Pantoja. “Perez 29-28.”

Muhammad Mokaev took no time in reminding Royval that he has already had his chance against the current champion, losing on both occasions.

Mokaev continued, calling out Royval for a fight later on in the year at the rumored UFC Manchester card.

“You got choked out by Pantoja then 45-50 in [the] second fight,” Mokaev stated. “UFC coming to Manchester in July, come [and] fight me. I’m undefeated, you’re 16-8 in your career. Taking [the] same route as Artem Lobov.”

You got choked out by Pantoja then 45-50 in second fight

UFC coming to Manchester in July , come fight me, I’m undefeated , you’re 16-8 in you career , taking same route as artem lobov https://t.co/lVLT9agNa9

— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) March 3, 2024

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at a special early start time of 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT / 5 p.m. UK time.

12 p.m. ET: We recap the busy combat sports weekend.

12:20 p.m.: Curtis Blaydes previews his UFC 299 bout against Jailton Almeida.

12:40 p.m.: Jairzinho Rozenstruik looks back on his main event win over Shamil Gaziev.

1 p.m.: Brandon Royval returns after upsetting Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico City.

1:30 p.m.: Francis Ngannou’s longtime coach Dewey Cooper previews Friday’s big matchup against Anthony Joshua.

1:55 p.m.: Song Yadong previews his UFC 299 bout against Petr Yan.

2:15 p.m.: The Parlay Boys look back at their best bets for the busy weekend.

For the latest episodes of The MMA Hour, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jake Paul is staying busy in 2024.

Coming off of an uneventful knockout win of Ryan Bourland this past Saturday in Puerto Rico, Paul (9-1, 6 KOs) has already announced the next Most Valuable Promotions event date and potentially his next walk to the ring.

“We’re baaaaaaaacck… Friday April 26th,” Paul wrote on social media. It is not yet known if Paul will box on that card himself.

The tweet may also be a new date for Amanda Serrano’s next fight. Saturday’s card was to be headlined by Serrano defending her featherweight titles in her home country against Nina Meinke, but the champion was forced to withdraw due to an eye injury. Manager Nakisa Bidarian said the injury occurred when a chemical entered Serrano’s eye while getting her hair done before the fight.

Paul instead headlined the card and went on to finish an over-matched Bourland in the opening round.

At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, Bidarian said that fans who attended the event are entitled to a full refund. He added that he is unsure if Serrano will be re-booked against Meinke whenever the champion is ready to fight again and that her dream is for her last fight to be in Puerto Rico, whether it is her next fight or sometime in the future.

Paul was asked about whether he still plans to compete in MMA. He is currently signed to the PFL and said he is open to fighting an opponent from the UFC if they can free themselves up to negotiate.

“Anyone who can get out of their contract, I’ll fight,” Paul said. “That’s easy work as far as I’m concerned, but I do want to do a PFL MMA match. It just has to be the right opponent, but Nate [Diaz] did duck my $ 15 million offer, so we’ll see who else is on the chopping block.”

One name that was offered up to Paul was that of struggling lightweight veteran Tony Ferguson. “El Cucuy,” currently on a seven-fight losing streak, recently said on the JAXXON podcast that he would “love” to fight Paul.

Given the 40-year-old’s poor run of form recently, Paul is passing on that offer.

“Tony Ferguson, he said he wanted to fight?” Paul said. “I don’t want to see him go out like that. That would be sad. He’s a great guy, we don’t want that for Tony.”

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True Threat?
| BJPenn.com