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Georgia has its first UFC world champion, and his name is Ilia Topuria.

On Saturday night, ‘El Matador’ entered the Octagon with an entire country behind him. Less than two rounds later, he shocked the world with a sensational second-round knockout of featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkavnoski to claim the 145-pound crown. It was a history-making moment for Topuria and his transcontinental home country.

To give the rest of the world an idea of how much Topuria’s victory means to the country, MMA reporter and fellow Georgian Giorgi Kokiashvili shared a video of thousands of fight fans celebrating in the streets after their native son did exactly what he said he was going to do.

“Topuria is a great and had a tremendous performance. If he continues like this I think he will have a great future,” UFC CEO Dana White said at a post-fight press event.

Merab Dvalishvili gives Georgians another victory to celebrate

Ilia Topuria wasn’t the only Georgian fighter to deliver big at UFC 298. Earlier in the evening, bantamweight standout Merab Dvalishvili scored his 10th-straight win inside the Octagon, besting former two-division titleholder Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision.

With the victory, Dvalishvili was dubbed as the next man in line for a shot at the 135-pound title.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler can cut a solid promo.  

Chandler appeared on Monday’s WWE RAW and called out former two-division champion Conor McGregor.  The two are expected to meet in McGregor’s anticipated return to the octagon.  

McGregor and Chandler coached The Ultimate Fighter 31 opposite one another last summer but a date for the two to fight has yet to be set.  

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During the UFC 298 Post-Fight Press Conference in Anaheim, Calif. last Saturday, UFC CEO Dana White addressed why McGregor hasn’t returned.

“The first problem was that he broke that shin bone. He was recovering from that. That was one of the reasons… The other problem is he’s f**king rich,” White said.

“Conor McGregor doesn’t need money,” White continued. “Conor McGregor’s got a lot of money. Anytime we can get Conor, we’ll be happy. We’ll be thrilled when he comes and fights but money complicates a lot of things.

“He just filmed a movie. He’s got to do the press for the movie and he’s got obligations with that. He does want to fight this year, but we’ll see what happens.” 

Following Monday’s WWE event, Chandler posted to social media that he ‘signed the contract’ with a photo of him meeting with WWE executive “Triple H,” Paul Michael Levesque.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ian Machado Garry is known as a world traveler of MMA gyms, but for his UFC 298 fight with Geoff Neal, he took additional inspiration from another corner of sports.

Watching a BBC documentary on Pep Guardiola, a former soccer star who now manages Premier League team Manchester City, Garry realized there were lessons that could keep him conscious when Neal started throwing bombs.

“I was talking about how a handball influenced his way of playing football, and the fact that it’s harder to get the ball than it is to maintain possession,” Garry said Monday on The MMA Hour. “So if we can maintain the possession, we can score easier.

“It’s the same with fighting. If you’re harder to hit, then it’s harder for your opponent to have success. If you’re constantly moving and being fast and fidgety, and just lightning quick, Geoff Neal can’t have success.”

For a blueprint, Garry looked to the sport where evasiveness was a job requirement and lapses in speed led to concussive results: the NFL. Much of Neal’s power resided in his ability to get close enough to put his hands on opponents, and if Garry wanted to avoid that, he’d need to move a lot more than usual.

“It’s like, I gotta keep moving and keep on my toes, because the minute he gets planted, he has so much power,” Garry said. “So that movement has to be constant the entire fight, shifting from left to right, left to right. … I was studying a lot of NFL wide receivers, people like [Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver] Ja’marr Chase and [Minnesota Vikings wide receiver] Justin Jefferson, and the way they get off the line, and they throw off the corners, purely based on the ability of trying to trick the movement, or trick the eyes into which direction you’re going to move and you’re going to go, and I used that a lot in this fight of, just switching really quickly to make them think I’m going to go right, then go left.

“And next time I’ll change it up a little bit differently, maybe still go left, throw him a lot of feints. That was really important for me, to just keep that consistent, constant movement to unsettle Geoff and make it hard for him to have success.”

Garry wasn’t ordered to do this by his coaching staff at Chute Boxe, the gym he settled on after his departure from Kill Cliff FC in South Florida and, prior to that, Team Renegade MMA in Birmingham, England. The inspiration for that part of his camp was…himself.

“I wanted to study them,” he said. “Firstly, I respect any elite level athlete, and you watch these guys, they’re so fast off line, and they have the amazing ability to just cut on a dime and just turn in a different direction, and you see people just break ankles, and they get lost, and I feel like we see it with sports a lot, and I was watching them.”

The crowd at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., was, to put it mildly, not supportive of Garry’s strategy. The line between smart movement and old fashion running can be thin in the eyes of many fans, and the boos that rained down in later rounds revealed the audience’s perception of what the Irish star was doing.

More concerning, it may have had an effect on the judging of the fight. After 15 minutes, Garry heard the beginnings of a split decision and braced himself. In the end, two scored the fight 29-28 and 30-27 for Garry. But one gave Neal all three rounds, 30-27.

“I even went over to the commentators, like I hate giving s*** to the judges, because it’s exactly like that one judge – two could have had that view,” Garry said. “I don’t see how. Statistically, I dominated in the significant strikes. Geoff had more clinch time and control against the cage, but did absolutely nothing with it. Tried to take me down, couldn’t. I was dominant in the head fight and the hand battle. I just sat there going, ‘How the hell on earth do you score that 30-27?’

“Geoff Neal, like if you want to give him a round, I could understand that, if you wanted to say 29-28 unanimous decision. They weren’t the easiest rounds to score from a clear point of view of Ian definitely dominated that round. But when it comes to leading the dance, when it comes to output, when it comes to control of the positions we were in, I feel like I dominated them in every facet of the game.”

In the end, though, Garry’s strategy paid off, so he can only shake his head so much. Staying mobile worked. Per UFC stats, he outlanded Neal in total strikes (80 to 57) and significant strikes (67 to 46). He didn’t take many brain-rattling shots. His performance may not have dazzled the audience, but he’s become a lot more comfortable with that as a perpetual lightning rod for the hardcore audience.

One of the most important judges of the fight, in Garry’s eyes, was Neal. He believes the veteran welterweight knew the real score.

“When two fighters fight, both fighters know who won,” Garry said. “Geoff can put his hands up in that octagon or not and then try to show the world that he thinks he won. But in his heart, he knows. In his heart, I know he knows, because I outworked him, I outpaced him. When he wanted to have success, he didn’t.

“So I know he knew he lost that fight. If you wanted to give him the one round, fine, I have no issue with that. But don’t tell me that that wasn’t a unanimous decision. This is why we don’t leave it in the hands of the judges.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Michael Chandler made the most of his Monday night (Feb. 19, 2024) visit to WWE’s RAW event in Anaheim, California. “Iron” scored some mic time, and at this point, how the Lightweight contender chose to use his moment shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Almost immediately, he was calling for Conor McGregor to finally show up.

“What’s up Anaheim!” Chandler screamed to the crowd. “You are now in the presence of the most entertaining UFC fighter on the planet! Hey, now there’s a man from Ireland that’s been making me wait for way too long, and I still got one dude on my mind. Conor McGregor, get your candy ass back to the Octagon! We got some unfinished business boys! God bless, and I’ll see you at the top!”

The pair of opposing Ultimate Fighter (TUF) coaches have been linked to fight one another since at least February 2023, but the match up continues to get delayed. The latest update from Dana White is that McGregor is possibly gone forever, whereas the frustrated Irishman is demanding a fight sooner than later. Clearly, there’s a disagreement there, and until it’s settled, Chandler will remain waiting on the sidelines.

At least, however, UFC and WWE merging under a single corporate entity, TKO Group Holdings, Inc, has given him something to do. WWE may be too hard for UFC fighters, but collaborations like this in which one athlete crosses into the other’s realm to promote their match up may become more common in the future.

Insomnia

Hold up … Merab Dvalishvili fight week may be over, but Merab Mania rages on! “The Machine” is too interesting to stop just yet.

No (light) division for old men.

I don’t care for the Meta CEO, but let Mark Zuckerberg be mildly awkward in peace. If we started kicking the socially odd out of jiu-jitsu classes, the sport’s popularity would plummet!

If you’re planning to bet on UFC Mexico City, this is highly, highly pertinent information.

It’s interesting to see Dominick Cruz really sitting down on his punches and stringing together combos.

Young, aggressive, exciting — MMA could do a lot worse than Ilia Topuria as its next star.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Have you ever seen this angle of one of MMA’s most famous knockouts?

Don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone react to punches quite like this.

Every Jonathan Haggerty fight in recent memory has been a ridiculous, must-watch affair.

Random Land

An interesting thread of forgotten wonders:

Midnight Music: New wave, 1982

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Things nearly went south for Johnny Eblen.

This Saturday, Eblen faces Impa Kasanganay in the co-main event of the PFL vs. Bellator event that takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But before his big champ vs. champ showdown, Eblen nearly got into a separate fight, this time with a prankster in his local Home Depot.

Eblen’s manager Brian Butler posted a video Monday showing Eblen getting pranked by social media creator ImReddttv. Redd previously pranked Jamahal Hill to nearly disastrous results, and almost had the same thing happen to him this time when he approached Eblen while he and a female companion are shopping, and began to hit on the woman while also insulting Eblen.

“You look skinny,” Redd said. “Like a little man.”

“I am a little man,” Eblen replied.

“You look like it. I’ll try you right now,” said Redd, causing Eblen to laugh.

To Eblen’s credit, he quickly noticed that another individual is filming the incident and moves away, but ultimately gets roped back in as Redd renews his efforts.

“What’s funny, little man?” Redd continued as Eblen walked away. “Sweetheart, you need to be with a real big man like me. That’s your girl?”

“Say something disrespectful and I’ll f*** you up!” Eblen replied before walking away.

Redd tried to renew his efforts but as Eblen walked off, he recognized the game was up and revealed the entire thing was a prank set up by Eblen’s manager. Ultimately, Eblen was a good sport about it, but noted on Instagram afterward that he was close to getting violent with Redd, also prompting the head of Eblen’s gym, American Top Team, to suggest these pranks stay stateside.

Eblen is 14-0 in his MMA career and currently the No. 5 ranked middleweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Former lightweight championship challenger, Michael Chandler has unleashed another scathing promo on former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor – this time from the barricade alongside the WWE universe, urging the UFC star to finally make good on his return to the Octagon.

Chandler, the current number five ranked lightweight contender, has himself been sidelined from the Octagon since he featured on the main card of UFC 281 back in 2022, slumping to an eventual third round rear-naked choke submission loss to common-foe, Dustin Poirier in the pair’s high-stakes clash.

As for McGregor, the summer will mark three years since the Dubliner’s most recent outing, having fractured his left tibia and fibula in a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to the aforenoted, Poirier in the pair’s trilogy rubber match.

And expected to fight Kill Cliff FC staple, Chandler in his long-anticipated return to the Octagon, McGregor – who called for a June return during International Fight Week at UFC 302, has been denied as hasty a return as he wishes, with UFC CEO, Dana White claiming things are far from concrete on his comeback.

Michael Chandler calls for Conor McGregor at WWE event

Continually chasing a fight with the ex-two-weight champion, Chandler attended a professional wrestling event with the WWE – now-under the TKO Group banner alongside the UFC banner, before issuing a massive promo, calling for a fight with McGregor to much fanfare.

“Hey, what’s up, Anaheim?” Michael Chandler said. “You are now in the presence of the most entertaining UFC fighter on the planet. Now, there’s a man from Ireland that’s been making me wait for way too long.”

“And I still got one dude on my mind,” Michael Chandler. “Conor McGregor, get your candy-ass back to the Octagon, we got some unfinished business, boy. God bless. I’ll see you at the top.” 

Do you think we ever see Conor McGregor fight Michael Chandler?

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