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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Vinicius Oliveira and fellow octagon newcomer Bernardo Sopai have agreed to face off at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 87 card at the UFC APEX, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting. Both fighters have to sign bout agreements.

Oliveira was originally scheduled to meet Yanis Ghemmouri at the March 2 event, but Ghemmouri withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.

Sopai (11-2) was scheduled to defend his Allstars Fight Night bantamweight title versus Ricardo Monteiro on March 9 in Sweden before agreeing to facing Oliveira. The 23-year-old talent makes his first walk to the octagon on a three-fight finishing streak, stopping his opponents in 10 of 11 professional victories.

Oliveira, a former UAE Warriors bantamweight champion, scored all but two of his 19 MMA wins via stoppage, with 15 knockouts to his credit for an overall record of 19-3. “Lokdog” flattened Victor Madrigal in three rounds to sign with the organization through Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2023.

UFC Vegas 87 will feature Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev in a five-round heavyweight main event. Check the updated lineup below.

Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev
Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro
Alex Perez vs. Muhammad Mokaev
Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bekzat Almakhan
Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
Aiemann Zahabi vs. Javid Basharat
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov
Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
Vinicius Oliveira vs. Bernardo Sopai

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Ryan Garcia is ready to trade in his eight-ounce gloves for a pair of four-ouncers.

The former interim WBC lightweight titleholder has struck up a rivalry with one of the UFC’s top stars and current bantamweight world champion, Sean O’Malley. Garcia recently declared that he would be more than willing to fight ‘Sugar’ inside the Octagon, so long as Dana White writes him a big fat check for doing so.

‘The Flash’ doubled down on his post during an appearance on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

“I’ll beat his ass in MMA, guaranteed,” Garcia said. “You don’t understand, I’m a natural wrestler. I just beat my security who’s a wrestler. I beat him. I’m strong and I got crazy conditioning. I know I’m gonna knock him out in boxing. That’s not even fair. What’s fair is to test myself in MMA because I know if I put my mind to it and train every day and I had Nate [Diaz] helping me, even Alex Pereira… All of them and I really locked in, he will not beat me.

“I will come with everything I have and I will destroy Sean O’Malley in the UFC. I’ve already sent text messages to Dana [White]. I’ve already got people connected to Dana to ask him. Let’s do this. I’ll come to the UFC. Pay me a bag and I’m there. I’m down to do it.”

Historically, mixed martial artists have done pretty well moving from MMA to boxing, but the other way around has often produced disastrous results. The most notorious example was at UFC 118 in August 2010 when multi-time boxing world champion James Toney stepped inside the Octagon for a crossover clash with Randy Couture. As expected, Couture quickly took down Toney and submitted him in the opening round.

Not to suggest that Ryan Garcia would suffer the same fate. In all likelihood, Sean O’Malley would opt to stand and trade in an attempt to beat the boxing star at his own game. That would give Garcia a fair chance to score what would undoubtedly be a massive upset — not just for O’Malley, but for the sport of MMA.

On Saturday, April 20, ‘King Ryan’ will challenge reigning and defending WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney. The bout is expected to emanate from the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, NY.

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Matchmaking
| BJPenn.com

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Jake Paul is just a few days away from his next boxing match. This Saturday (March 2, 2024), Paul will return to action opposite 17-2 professional boxer and former golden gloves champion Ryan Bourland in San Juan, Puerto Rico as the co-headliner to Amanda Serrano vs. Nina Meinke.

Having a fight booked this weekend hasn’t stopped Paul from fielding other callouts, however. Per usual, “The Problem Child” is the center of much attention, and he took some time away from his busy fight week to answer some of his recent critics and would-be opponents.

All these guys yap yap yap.
Tyreek – you would get mauled in the ring by me. Lion kills a cheetah every time in a small space. No where to run. Come on brother.
Neeraj – brave for coming to PR all the way from India. But you too small brother. 1 hand is all I need.
Tommy – you been running for a year now. I’m ready anytime. Offered you 8 figures. You and daddy think it’s worth more…ok bring me the money.

Firstly, Paul addressed NFL star Tyreek Hill, who earlier this week questioned Paul’s toughness and revealed that he wanted to box him or fight in the cage. Paul dismissed the callout, claim Hill “would get mauled in the ring” if they were to face off. It also wouldn’t make a ton of sense for Paul given his career trajectory — it’s been a long time since he fought a non-combat sports athlete in Nate Robinson.

Next up on the list is a more accomplished professional boxer in Neeraj Goyat (18-4-2), whom Paul was linked to potentially box last month. Unfortunately for Goyat, the size discrepancy was too much, as Paul outweighs this would-be opponent by roughly 50 pounds.

Finally, Paul remains open to a rematch with Tommy Fury, the only man to defeat him in the ring as a pro. The rematch has been a money fight since Fury claimed the split-decision victory over Paul in February 2023. According to Paul, however, Fury has been avoiding the rematch in hopes of earning more than the $ 15-20 million that’s already on the table.

Insomnia

I read some theories that Ryan Garcia trying to cash out of the boxing world sooner than later, but is MMA the way to do so?

… Who is filming this?!?

Bryce Mitchell might be the most talented MMA fighter in existence. Who else is making the Featherweight Top 10 while training with no one of note in the middle of nowhere?

Michael Johnson gets a chance to fight back up the ladder against recently ranked Matt Frevola. Can “The Menace” get it done?

Trying to punk Dan Henderson feels like a bad idea …

Two of the best to ever do it.

Both of Brandon Royval’s legs took some damage in the UFC Mexico City main event.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

One of the legendary collisions between boxing’s four kings!

Throwing kicks while wearing armor sounds wildly exhausting.

You CANNOT wait this long to address the ninja choke. It’s not a problem to worry about later!

Random Land

RIP Alex Trebek.

Midnight Music: Rock, 1999

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Undisputed featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria has heaped praise on recent foe, ex-champion, Alexander Volkanovski following his surprising win at UFC 298 earlier this month, however, in the same breathe, warned the Australian away from a title rematch in the future – for his own sake.

Topuria, who headlined UFC 298 earlier this month, managed to turn in a spectacular second round win over featherweight-perfect gold holder, Volkanovski in the pair’s title fight in Anaheim, stopping the New South Wales favorite with a blistering knockout win.

And welcoming the possibility of a return at a proposed UFC Spain event – potentially at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium – home to La Liga giants, Real Madrid, Topuira has been linked with an immediate rematch against Volkanovski, who himself has voiced his interest in fighting the Spaniard again. 

“Next time it’ll be different, but I’m going to just have a little bit of a rest,” Alexander Volkanovski said on after UFC 298. “I definitely want that rematch [with Ilia Topuria]. Spain, what I’m hearing, is gonna happen. Dana (White) wants Spain. Obviously, Ilia wants Spain.”

“That probably won’t be until later this year, so the timing would be perfect for me to spend time with the fa, rest up a little bit, look after myself and then we’ll get back in there,” Alexander Volkanovski explained. “We’ll make it right.” 

Ilia Topuria issues warning to Alexander Volkanovski

And warning the Joe Lopez trainee away from pursuing an immediate title re-run in the future, Topuria appeared to shut down a rematch with Volkanovksi next – for the sake of the Australian.

“It has been an honor to share the Octagon with [Alexander Volkanovski],” Ilia Topuria told El Hormiguero during a recent interview. “He has been pound-for-pound number one. For his sake, he shouldn’t take revenge.” 

Who wins in a future title rematch: Ilia Topuria or Alexander Volkanovski?

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts