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Bruno Silva is still mad at Chris Weidman for what happened in their fight, and hopes to get a chance to meet him inside the cage again.

Weidman was awarded the TKO victory over “Blindado” at UFC Atlantic City this past March, a result that was later overturned to a technical decision when replay showed that Silva went down due to eye pokes, not punches. Silva filed an appeal to overturn it to a no-contest instead, but the commission denied his request.

Silva said he temporarily “lost 30 percent of my vision in one of the eyes” due to the foul, and tried to convince UFC matchmakers to book an immediate rematch. Instead, the Brazilian returns against Ismail Naurdiev at Saturday’s UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, while Weidman meets Eryk Anders on Nov. 16 at UFC 309.

“We were asking for this fight,” Silva said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “When I go to bed at night, he’s the opponent I hate the most. I’ve fought many people, I have more than 30 MMA fights, but every time I think of him and Cormier, I feel anger.”

Weidman was part of the UFC 300 weigh-in show alongside Daniel Cormier, Laura Sanko and Dan Hellie, who made fun of the recent eye poke situation.

“[Weidman] is fighting a month after me, and my focus is on knocking this guy [Naurdiev], and then then I’m calling him out on the mic,” Silva said. “I could ask for other opponents, but I like to deal with things my way. He’s fighting next month, and I have a score to settle with him. It’s personal. I’ll ask the UFC, and I hope they send him my way. He’s not on a great run, but he has a big name. He’s a former champion, and it brings good media. If we both win, maybe that’s interesting for the UFC. I want that fight back. But if that’s something that’s gonna slow me down, f*ck that dude.”

Days after the controversial bout, Weidman said Silva overreacted to the eye pokes and celebrated getting back to the win column following a two-fight skid. Silva, on the other hand, has now lost three straight in the UFC with previous defeats to Brendan Allen and Shara Magomedov.

“My biggest mistake was that I respected Chris Weidman too much, and I’ll live with that for the rest of my life,” Silva said. “He deserved no respect. Even [coach Andre] Dida said I respected him way too much. The fight was over, we spoke in the locker room because I didn’t want any bad vibe. And then he grabs the mic and starts talking crap, him and Cormier. My God. Cormier, talk about an insufferable person.”

Months later, Combat Sports Anti-Doping announced that Silva received a six-month suspension but what was a “likely unintentional” anti-doping violation for a metabolite of drostanolone. Silva had already been suspended before, a two-year ban imposed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2020.

“And when the doping [news] came, brother, what am I going to say?” Silva continued. “Let’s suppose you don’t know me and hear I tested positive. How am I going to defend myself? The full story is out there, but people only read the headline. The crap he said, that pisses me off, but how am I going to say anything? He already doesn’t respect anybody, and now I’m [testing] positive. I stayed quiet.

“Life will get back at him, like it did when he made fun of Anderson Silva and then broke his leg. He reaps what he sows. Unfortunately, I didn’t beat him. If I knock him out, then there’s no more argument. But he defeated me that way and I can’t say anything. It bothers me a lot, man. Sometimes I can’t believe people can be so disrespectful, but there’s always bad people out there.”

“Blindado” admitted that a longer suspension would have led to his retirement from the sport, and thanked the UFC and the in-house doping agency for “being on my side and believing me.” Silva remained active during the suspension, competing in three grappling matches and an amateur boxing bout in his gym in Curitiba, Brazil, and now turns his focus back to the UFC.

“I feel light going into this fight,” Silva said. “I’ve left wins and losses in the past and nothing will interfere. I’m surrounded by good people, and I’m ready to be back. If someone asks me how motivated I am, I say motivation is bullsh*t. What I feel right now is freedom to go there and fight. I have nothing to prove to anyone. My only goal is to go there and submit him, beat the crap out of him, knock him out, or win by points. I’m not coming back from Abu Dhabi without the win, and my team happy on the plane.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Khamzat Chimaev has game on the wrestleball court.

On the first episode of UFC 308 Embedded, the undefeated Chimaev plays the wrestling-basketball hybrid with teammates ahead of his co-main event with Robert Whittaker. Additionally, Ilia Topuria watches his son train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rafael dos Anjos hits the shooting range, Max Holloway gets a training session in after doing interviews, Whittaker trains with his father, and more.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor sees some similarities between himself and Ilia Topuria and he’s not impressed.

Ahead of Topuria’s featherweight title defense against Max Holloway this Saturday at UFC 308, he and McGregor have been engaged in a social media spat, with Topuria suggesting Holloway should be embarrassed for once losing to McGregor, and McGregor warning Topuria that his reign could end soon if he’s not careful.

McGregor, a former UFC champion at 155 and 145 pounds, also shared a video from a UFC meme account to his Instagram Stories, in which his promotional tactics were compared to Topuria’s. See the clip below.

Back in 2015, McGregor was embroiled in a feud with then-featherweight champion Jose Aldo. The build-up to their UFC 196 bout featured several tense moments, with McGregor stealing the show at a press conference in Dublin when he snatched Aldo’s belt and held it triumphantly in the air.

McGregor went on to score a one-punch, 13-second knockout when the two fought in December of that year.

Topuria pulled a similar stunt ahead of his fight with Alexander Volkanovski this past February. Volkanovski targeted a sixth straight featherweight title defense heading into UFC 298, and like McGregor, Topuria took his opportunity to prematurely snatch the belt in a press conference for the event.

Also like McGregor, Topuria was victorious via knockout, putting Volkanovski away in the second round.

The video shared by McGregor makes its stance on the two clear with a caption that reads, “Spot the difference” and describes Topuria’s effort as “Level: Medium.”

Topuria’s first title defense is just around the corner as he takes on Holloway in Abu Dhabi this Saturday. As for McGregor, he has not fought since July 2021 and still awaits his next booking.

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Will it happen?
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Cris Cyborg cemented her mixed martial arts (MMA) legacy as the best female fighter in sport, winning her fifth title in as many promotions this past weekend (Oct. 19, 2024), defeating Larissa Pacheco after five grueling rounds at Professional Fighters Leagues (PFL) “Battle of the Giants” pay-per-view (PPV) event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (highlights here).

It was a fight the Brazilian striker had been longing for since she hadn’t competed in a whole year following PFL’s acquisition of Bellator MMA in late 2023.

“It took a long time to fight,” Cyborg said during the post-fight press conference (via MMA Junkie). “My last time, I fought one year ago. I wanted to fight more times, for me to defend my title, because I want to complete 20 years in my career.”

While Cyborg hasn’t had the chance to earn her sixth defense of Bellator’s women’s Featherweight title, adding another championship to her resume is a nice consolation prize. Still, she does have plans to defend that belt before she walks away from the fight game to focus on motherhood.

“This year is 19 and I want to go to my next chapter of my life and have a kid,” she added. “Next plan, I’d like to defend my title as soon as possible.”

After making her professional debut in May 2005 with a loss, Cyborg went on to amass a highly-impressive 28-2-1 record, winning multiple titles along the way during the near two-decade span. And while she admits she’s been in tough battles throughout her storied combat career, her latest blood-soaked brawl was special given her age and significance of the bout.

“Every one is really hard for me, but this one was nice because I’m 39 years old – 39 and fighting for the title,” Cyborg concluded. “For me, it means a lot. I think this is special for me to be PFL champion with a PFL belt.”

Cyborg is currently riding an eight-fight win streak and since she’s won a belt in every major professional organization, there really isn’t much else for her to prove to herself … or anyone else for that matter.

As far as what could realistically be next for the feared striker now that she’s taken out PFL’s 145-pound queenpin, a showdown against Sara Collins could be in order, though it’s safe to say that fight won’t go down until sometime 2025 if at all.

For PFL: “Battle of the Giants” results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ilia Topuria has started so many beefs, you could be forgiven for forgetting what actually lies ahead of him.

In recent weeks, the UFC featherweight champion has traded public shots with Conor McGregor, Islam Makhachev, and Belal Muhammad, seemingly uninterested in focusing his attention on the man he defends his title against at UFC 308 this Saturday: Max Holloway.

“Blessed” brings his recently won “BMF” belt into the main event matchup, but famously held the 145-pound title from 2017-2019 before a series of losses to Alexander Volkanovski seemingly put his championship days behind him. However, Holloway continued to fend off featherweight contenders, and with a stunning last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje this past April, he was able to call his shot and what he wanted was a crack at Topuria and a chance to reign over his division again.

MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew dig deeper into the headlining narrative, plus the other drama that could unfold at Saturday’s event Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

1. Where would Max Holloway regaining the featherweight title rank among MMA’s best feel-good stories?

Lee: Holloway stepping right back into the title conversation with that virtuoso performance against Gaethje was already inspirational and the positive vibes have only intensified with the way Topuria has portrayed himself.

I get that we live in an era where every fighter feels like they need to be Conor McGregor—like, I don’t actually get it, but I get it—but seeing Topuria set his sights every which way before even authoring a single title defense just isn’t sitting right with me. To what end are some of these callouts? Is he really going to fight Belal Muhammad anytime soon? Just defend the belt, man!

Putting aside whatever animosity one might have for Topuria, it would be incredible to see Holloway claim the featherweight throne again. Sure, maybe Alexander Volkanovski has his number, but outside of that there’s no one better at 145 pounds—or at least there isn’t if Holloway wins on Saturday. All Holloway does is put on fan-friendly fights, take on anyone the UFC sends his way, and he does it all while showing nothing but respect to his opponents.

Holloway is already a champion for life in most fans’ eyes, and seeing him with a divisional title around his waist one more time, would surely bring a tear to those same eyes.

Martin: Every fighter has haters, but Holloway arguably has less than just about anybody else out there. I mean how can you not love this guy? He doesn’t say stupid stuff to get attention. He literally fights anyone the UFC throws at him. And he produced quite possibly the greatest finish in UFC history with his stunning last-second knockout over Gaethje at UFC 300.

That’s why Holloway reclaiming the belt at this stage of his career over an undefeated wrecking machine like Topuria would absolutely rank near the top of the list.

After dropping three fights to Volkanovski—I still hold on to Holloway deserving the win in the rematch—it looked like “Blessed” was stuck in limbo in his chosen division. Sure, he’s taken out just about every other contender who’s even sniffed a title shot but the losses to Volkanovski banished him to the sidelines when it came to the championship. Fortunately for him, the sheer unpredictability of this sport brought things around again with Holloway scoring that dramatic knockout over Gaethje, and Topuria sending Volkanovski to the shadow realm.

Holloway has already cemented himself as one of the greatest UFC fighters of all-time and he’s a guaranteed Hall of Famer. But watching him ascend to take the throne again at UFC 308? That might be the one time in 2024 when almost every fan finds a way to cheer for the winner.

Meshew: I would argue that Holloway reclaiming the title actually isn’t a massive feel-good story because Max already was champion. This is not like Miesha Tate unexpectedly winning the title from Holly Holm, or Glover Teixeira winning the title late in his career. Honestly, it’s not even Robbie Lawler retiring off an incredible KO win.

Which isn’t to say it’s not impressive. To the contrary, I think Holloway reclaiming the featherweight title five years after he lost it is one of the most impressive feats in UFC history.

Twenty fighters have won multiple titles in the same weight class in UFC history. Almost all of those title reclamations came within a year or two of losing the belt. The most obvious exception to this is Carla Esparza, who had almost eight years between her title reigns. That was an amazing achievement, but also the manner in which it occurred was a bit curious as Rose Namajunas fought one of the worst fights in modern MMA history. That won’t be the case with Holloway.

If Max reclaims the belt after twice failing to do so, and does it by beating a fighter everyone agrees is one of the best in the world, well, that’s incredible. It’s a nearly peerless accomplishment and one that I don’t think enough people will respect on those terms. But it would be another incredible achievement in an already Hall of Fame career.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

2. Is the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev guaranteed a title shot?

Meshew: No. And while I think they’d be the odds-on favorite to get the next one, middleweight is real wonky right now.

All signs point to Sean Strickland getting a rematch with Dricus du Plessis next. We can debate the merits of that (I think it’s silly but whatever), but that appears to be what’s happening. And while the winner of this weekend’s co-main event makes logical sense to fight the winner and would “deserve” it, deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

First, what if Strickland wins? Then he and DDP are 1-1, and a trilogy bout could make sense. Which would mean either Whittaker or Chimaev has to now sit out for nearly a year. Do they want to do that? Does the UFC? What about the rising crop of middleweight contenders behind them? No guarantee.

And if DDP wins, and so does Whittaker, are we in a rush to run that one back? Maybe it happens, but there’s also the possibility of DDP vs. Alex Pereira out there so I wouldn’t go counting my chickens.

And of course there’s the issue of Chimaev himself. Knock on wood, it looks like Chimaev is going to make it to the fight this week, but the man is simply not reliable. On top of that, it sure seems like he’s only fighting in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi, which isn’t prohibitive, but it does limit options.

All things considered, I’d say it’s likely but none of this screams “guarantee” to me.

Lee: The word “guarantee,” and Chimaev should probably never be near each other.

I’m hesitant to even write about this given Chimaev’s track record of missing out on big fights, and while I don’t believe in jinxes, it feels wrong to poke this bear. But here we are. Assuming (gulp) Chimaev actually makes it to the cage, and scores a win over Whittaker, he’s next in line.

The timing seems to be perfect, too, as he can take his sweet time preparing for his title shot while du Plessis presumably rematches Strickland at some point in the first quarter of 2025. Then the UFC can nudge Chimaev out of hibernation for an opportunity that once seemed like a guarantee (whoops, did it again) and is now the shakiest of propositions.

So no, I can’t imagine Chimaev beating Whittaker and not being sent a contract to fight for a UFC championship. What happens after he signs that contract is anybody’s guess.

Martin: In the lexicon of MMA, the word “guaranteed” falls just behind “deserves” as a term you should absolutely strike from your vocabulary if you want to stay sane watching this sport. This particular situation gets even more tenuous when you look at the two fighters involved in this matchup.

There’s no denying Whittaker is a legend at middleweight, but with a pair of losses to former champion Israel Adesanya and a one-sided drubbing from du Plessis barely 15 months ago, it’s tough to see him jump right back into title contention.

Truthfully, Chimaev actually has a better chance at a title shot with a win, but even that seems a bit unclear. His long history of injuries and illness have prevented him from building any sort of momentum over the past couple of years. Add to that, Chimaev has reportedly struggled to get a visa to travel to the United States and that’s almost like a nail in his coffin when it comes to a title fight. As much as the UFC travels internationally, Chimaev not being able to fight in the U.S. dramatically changes the ability to promote him as champion.

So basically that means nothing is guaranteed for the winner in this fight except hearing Dana White say, “we don’t make fights on the night of an event.”

3. What is the fight to watch outside of the top-2 matchups?

Martin: The only correct answer here is the light heavyweight showdown between Magomed Ankalaev and Aleksandar Rakic.

By all accounts, Ankalaev should have faced Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title at UFC 307, but Khalil Rountree Jr. was granted that opportunity instead. Did it make sense? Not really, but we’ve all moved on largely thanks to Rountree’s gutsy performance before falling to the Brazilian hammer just a few weeks ago.

So now it’s up to Ankalaev to cement himself as the No. 1 contender. He must have shattered a mirror or crossed paths with a black cat because he sure seems to have the worst luck possible. He fought to a split draw with Jan Blachowicz in a title fight back in 2022 and then had a no-contest with Johnny Walker thanks to an illegal knee strike delivered in that fight that further delayed his championship aspirations.

Ankalaev can’t leave anything to chance this time. He needs to demolish or otherwise dismantle Rakic to state his case for a title shot and hope that Pereira sticks around at light heavyweight to face him.

Meshew: Low key, this card is trash but for the top fights. But when you have big fights like this event, you can get away with an undercard that underwhelms. And given that, Damon is correct: there’s only one answer and it’s Magomed Ankalaev.

I don’t know why the UFC hates Ankalaev, but they clearly do. Even Alex Pereira is talking about rejecting him. This man may well be the best light heavyweight in the world, has a rock solid case to fight for the title next, SHOULD be the consensus pick to do so, and everyone is collectively working to screw him out of it. It must be maddening for him.

So given all that, I expect Ankalaev is going to come out looking to make a statement, because he needs to. The UFC hates you? Become undeniable. Fans incorrectly think you’re boring? Become undeniable. Pereira wants to big league you? Become undeniable.

Ankalaev is going to go out on Saturday and put on the best performance he is physically capable of because he has to. And so for that, I’m tuning in.

Lee: Maybe I just have middleweight fever, but I feel like Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan will be one to watch if only because it seems ripe for weirdness.

We still don’t know what’s up with “Shara Bullet” never fighting in the U.S. That’s weird. We still don’t know if he’s actually that good, but he has that shiny undefeated record still. That’s weird. And then there’s Petrosyan, a striking specialist who seems incapable of actually knocking anyone out at the UFC level? Weird, weird, weird.

That’s been a recent trend for UFC events, the bizarre and inexplicable weighing in alongside the great and spectacular. I’m not saying Magomedov vs. Petrosyan will be the best fight of the night; in fact, there’s a strong chance it turns out to be the worst fight of the night, objectively speaking.

But I’m willing to bet at the end of the night, for better or worse, we’ll be talking about it.

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