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Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Bellator MMA are set to go head-to-head for the first time later TODAY (Sat., Feb. 24, 2024) inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event will be spearheaded by two title fights, which will stream live on ESPN+ PPV, as well as DAZN PPV. Headlining the event will be a Heavyweight title fight between PFL champion, Renan Ferreira, and Bellator title holder, Ryan Bader. In the co-main event, PFL Light Heavyweight champion, Impa Kasanganay, will drop down to the Middleweight division to battle Bellator’s 185-pound champion, Johnny Eblen.

Many readers check in before, during, and after the fights to share their thoughts on all of the action, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with the “Prelims” on ESPN+ and DAZN for free, and then transition to ESPN+ PPV and DAZN PPV at 3 p.m. ET for main card action. Feel free to leave a comment (or several) about the bouts and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show — it’s always a lot of fun!

PFL Vs. BELLATOR QUICK RESULTS:

265 lbs.: PFL Heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira vs. Bellator Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader
185 lbs.: PFL Light Heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay vs. Bellator Middleweight champion Johnny Eblen
182 lbs.: Jason Jackson vs. Ray Cooper III
265 lbs.: Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov
205 lbs.: Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero
155 lbs.: Clay Collard vs. A.J. McKee
145 lbs.: Aaron Pico vs. Henry Corrales
155 lbs.: Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Emmanuel Palacio – Ali Walsh via unanimous decision
165 lbs.: Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis – Shields via split-decision HIGHLIGHTS!
145 lbs.: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Edukondal Rao – Al-Qahtani via third-round TKO
125 lbs.: Malik Basahel vs. Vinicius Pereira – Basahel via unanimous decision

PFL Vs. BELLATOR PLAY-BY-PLAY:

265 lbs.: PFL Heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira vs. Bellator Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Final result:

185 lbs.: PFL Light Heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay vs. Bellator Middleweight champion Johnny Eblen

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Final result:

182 lbs.: Jason Jackson vs. Ray Cooper III

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Final result:

265 lbs.: Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Final result:

205 lbs.: Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Final result:

155 lbs.: Clay Collard vs. A.J. McKee

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Final result:

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Pride never die!

While UFC Mexico and PFL vs. Bellator have taken most of the headlines this weekend, they are far from the only MMA action this Saturday as Gliwice, Poland, KSW: Epic took place featuring a number of special matchups. And one of those fights in particular delivered a throwback highlight.

The second fight of the evening was a “No Holds Barred” modified MMA bout between Muslim Tulshaev and Konrad Rusinski, which basically meant old-school Pride rules, allowing knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. And apparently that’s a ruleset that Tulshaev enjoys, because he brutalized Rusinski with stomps and soccer kicks at the start of the third round, earning one of the devastating finishes of 2024 and bringing back memories of the glory days of Pride FC.

Check out the brutal finish below.

The win moved Tulshaev to 11-3 overall, and dropped Rusinski to 6-2.

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He’s not f*ckin’ leaving!

Despite dubbing his UFC 298 meeting with Merab Dvalishvili as an “all or nothing” situation, Henry Cejudo has reversed his decision to retire for a second time. Instead, the former two-division titleholder will look to bounce back inside the Octagon and he already has a couple of big names in mind.

“There’s still that (Sean) O’Malley fight,” Cejudo said in a video on his YouTube channel. “I still don’t think O’Malley’s going to get past ‘Chito.’ We could potentially headline something like that in Phoenix.”

O’Malley is currently scheduled to defend his bantamweight title against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9. Should ‘Sugar’ retain his title against the only make to have beaten him inside the Octagon, ‘Triple C’ already has a contingency plan in place.

“There’s that fight with Brandon Moreno,” Cejudo said. “There’s that bad blood that, you know, former training partners that were somewhat best friends leading up to the breakup, to having a good, nice little Mexican showdown for all you fans” (h/t MMA Junkie).

Will Cejudo Drop Down to Flyweight for Grudge Match with Moreno?

Cejudo has called for a clash with Moreno on more than one occasion after going their separate ways, though it’s unclear if he would be willing to drop down to flyweight to meet ‘The Assassin Baby’ for a potential grudge match. The last time Cejudo competed at 125, it was for a title defense against T.J. Dillashaw in 2019.

Moreno is scheduled to headline UFC’s return to Mexico on Saturday, February 24 against familiar foe Brandon Royval in the evening’s main event while Cejudo is fresh off a unanimous decision loss to the No. 1 ranked bantamweight contender in the world.

Cejudo has now lost back-to-back bouts since returning from a three-year-long layoff. ‘Triple C’ previously stated that a loss against ‘The Machine’ would send him back into retirement, but he has since rescinded the claim.

LowKickMMA.com

The UFC Octagon is at Arena CDMX in Mexico City for UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 events.  The fight card’s live results begin at 7 p.m. ET on MMAWeekly.com.

The event is headlined by a flyweight rematch between former two-time champion Brandon Moreno (21-7-2) and third ranked Brandon Royval (15-7). In the co-main event, third-ranked featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez (19-4, 1 NC) faces fourth-ranked Brian Ortega (15-3, 1 NC).

Start Times:

• Preliminary Card begins at 7 p.m. ET

• Main Card beings at 10 p.m. ET

UFC Mexico: Moreno vs. Royval 2 Results & Analytics

UFC Mexico: Moreno vs. Royval 2 Official Results

Main card

• Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval
• Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega
• Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado
• Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios
• Yazmin Jauregui vs. Sam Hughes
• Manuel Torres vs. Chris Duncan

Preliminary card

• Cristian Quinonez vs. Raoni Barcelos
• Jesus Santos Aguilar vs. Mateus Mendonca
• Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda
• Claudio Puelles vs. Fares Ziam
• Luis Rodriguez vs. Denys Bondar
• Victor Altamirano vs. Felipe Dos Santos
• Erik Silva vs. Muhammad Naimov

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Johnny Eblen faces a PFL champion this weekend, but he’s thought about how he’d fare against the UFC’s middleweight champion.

Currently No. 5 at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, Eblen sits just a few spots behind Dricus du Plessis, who won a split decision over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 this past January to become UFC champion. Eblen brings Bellator’s middleweight title into his fight with PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay this Saturday.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour, the undefeated Eblen expressed confidence in how a bout between he and du Plessis might play out.

“I think I match up with him really, really well,” Eblen said. “I think I’m a better striker technically. I’m a better boxer than him. I’m cleaner with my defense, cleaner with my strikes, I’m technically a better wrestler. I’ve wrestled since the age of four and he’s kind of a big, athletic guy that’s learned how to grapple and learned how to wrestle. I’ve been doing it since I was a young kid. I know how to flow with guys like Bo Nickal.

“I’m a college wrestler, but I can strike and I can grapple. I have the full package. I feel like he does too, but I’m just a step above him and I’m faster for sure. He might be a big, strong dude, but I’m faster and I have better cardio and I’m better technically than him in every facet.”

One fighter who could offer Eblen some pointers if he were ever to face off with the South African star? Sean Strickland himself.

Strickland went five rounds with du Plessis in the UFC 297 headliner and fell just one round on one judges’ scorecard short of retaining his title. The veteran is a mainstay at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, and Eblen has made it a point to train with Strickland whenever he gets the opportunity.

“Awesome,” Eblen said when asked what it was like working with Strickland. “Love training with Sean. He is one of my favorite people to spar because it’s like a fight.

“It’s always good training, usually when I out to Vegas I train with him pretty much the whole time. We’ll mix it up here and there. For the most part during the week we’ll train together a lot but we’ll mix in with other guys and train with other guys. But on Saturday we’ll PI, five rounds straight, let’s go. We lock ourselves in the cage and we just get after it, and every time we get together it’s always good rounds. I always feel like I get better after training with him.”

Eblen may not have the name recognition of Strickland or du Plessis yet, but he’s climbed the ranks one win at a time to the tune of a perfect 14-0 record. That run includes two successful Bellator middleweight title defenses. Now he looks to add a special PFL vs. Bellator belt to his collection when he fights Kasanganay on Saturday.

Kasanganay made a shocking run to the PFL light heavyweight tournament championship last season and drops back down to 185 pounds for a non-title bout against Eblen. PFL doesn’t currently host a middleweight division, so Kasanganay was the logical choice to face Eblen when the league decided to create a “champion vs. champion” event.

As far as Eblen knows, Kasanganay was always the first choice, and he expects his next fight to be a title defense against the winner of the March 22 bout between Fabian Edwards and Aaron Jeffery.

“This was really the only option that was discussed,” Eblen said. “I think it was up in the air to fight Derek Brunson, but I don’t think he wanted to fight this early or something, I think it was something on his end. That was like the main guy I wanted to fight.

“Then I was thinking that I was going to fight Impa or Jeffery, but now it looks like I’m going to fight Impa, and Jeffery is going to fight Fabian Edwards. … It looks like whoever wins that fight is going to fight for a title next and I’ll be defending my title against them.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Yair Rodriguez believes a win over Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC Mexico City will punch his ticket to another crack at the UFC featherweight title. But it also gives him the opportunity to face someone he truly dislikes in new champ Ilia Topuria, who captured the title this past Saturday when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.

“I would love to f*** him up,” Rodriguez said at UFC Mexico City media day. “No, I don’t want to fight him, I want to f*** him up. There’s a f****** big difference on that, just to make that clear.

“Anywhere I f****** see him, I’ll f*** him up.”

Rodriguez and Ortega will battle it out for the second time after their first meeting ended in disaster after Ortega suffered a shoulder injury in the first round. The two will meet again in another five-round battle, and in Rodriguez’s eyes, the winner will get Topuria — possibly in Spain, which is totally fine by “El Pantera.”

“F*** this b****, I don’t f****** like him,” Rodriguez said of Topuria. “Yeah, [I think a title shot is next] for either of us. Whoever wins, the title is next.

“F*** yeah, [I’ll go to Spain,] I’ll fight him in his backyard if he wants.”

As far as Topuria’s championship winning performance goes, Rodriguez seems somewhat impressed that the 27-year-old Georgian native called his shot and backed up his words, but that’s where any complements for the undefeated featherweight ends.

“My reaction was, he did it,” Rodriguez said. “He said he was going to do it, and he did it, and I don’t have much to say about that.”

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“Very Minimal”
| BJPenn.com