Jack Hermansson believes he’s become far too familiar with Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) APEX Facility since it started hosting UFC Fight Night events in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The APEX will hit 90 events in 2024 and has slowly faded with its event count, but remains a fixture in the promotion’s calendar. This past weekend (Feb. 10, 2024), UFC Vegas 86 saw the perennial Middleweight contender, Hermansson, compete at the APEX for the fourth time in his last six Octagon appearances.
Hermansson, 35, upset his up-and-coming opponent, Joe Pyfer, by unanimous decision but wants that to be his last time in the venue for a fight.
“I’ve had enough of it,” Hermansson said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know how many fights I’ve had there now, and on top of that I had the fights during COVID without the audience, so I’m just sick of it.
“I want big arenas, big crowds. Something else,” he continued. “It’s cool to watch fights in the APEX, and it’s kind of cool on TV as well with the sound and everything, you can hear so much. But the experience is nowhere near to be fighting in front of a huge crowd.”
Success hasn’t been too difficult to find for Hermansson in the APEX as his latest victory brought his record to an even 2-2 (24-8 overall). While “The Joker” has his preference, the fight is the most important part, and next, he hopes to land a duel with his fellow recent APEX Middleweight victor, Nassourdine Imavov.
“I’m so turned on, in a way, when I’m in there,” Hermansson said. “So I don’t think it affects my performance, but I do know it affects how enjoyable it is. Especially after you win a fight, to soak in that experience from the crowd. So the total experience is not that great without the crowd.
“The most important thing is the opponent,” he concluded. “So if it’s a good opponent, I’m not going to turn it down. But I really would prefer to fight somewhere else.”
For complete UFC Vegas 86 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.
Alexander Volkanovski | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
After a lackluster UFC Vegas 86 card, MMA’s leading promotion returns with arguably the first good fight card of the year. UFC 298 is headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria and a host of other marquee matchups, and the No Bets Barred boys are back with a full breakdown of all the fights.
Conner Burks and Jed Meshew kick things off with a brief recap of last weekend’s card and lamentations about the tough start to 2024 both men had had. Then it’s on to UFC 298, with a deep dive into all the fights on the main card, and breakdowns of the rest of the action as well.
Has age finally caught up to Alexander Volkanovski? Is Ilia Topuria the next big superstar? What’s at stake between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa? Is Ian Machado Garry actually “The Future”? And what about Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo? All this and more are discussed on this week’s episode.
Tune in for episode 78 of No Bets Barred.
New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.
The former UFC heavyweight title contender squared off with some of the biggest names in MMA history, including former world champions Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski, Daniel Cormier, Frank Mir, and Fedor Emelianenko. However, ‘Bigfoot’ has struggled to find the win column in recent years, losing 11 straight fights — nine by way of knockout — before finally deciding to hang up his gloves for good.
Eight days later, Silva canceled his retirement, declaring that he was once again looking for a fight.
As announced on his Instagram, ‘Bigfoot’ is scheduled to return against TUF 28 heavyweight winner Juan Espino on March 23 at Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain. No further details regarding the bout have been released.
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Silva’s lone UFC heavyweight title opportunity came against Cain Velasquez at UFC 160 in May 2013. He suffered a first-round KO 81 seconds into the bout. He went on to lose five of his next six inside the Octagon before receiving his release from the promotion. ‘Bigfoot’ has primarily fought in Russia since then, but his last outing came under the Kingdom Fighting banner in Grenoble, France.
Silva, 44, went 3-7 during his UFC tenure and currently sits with an overall record of 19-15.
Espino has fared better in his MMA career, amassing a solid 10-2 record since making his pro debut in 2009. His scheduled scrap with Silva will be his first fight since a controversial technical split decision loss to Alexandr Romanov in 2021. ‘El Guapo’ went 2-1 in the Octagon after winning The Ultimate Fighter, but ultimately walked away from the sport due to injuries.
“I couldn’t allow injuries to keep me from saying goodbye to mine the way I like best,” Espino wrote in Spanish on Instagram.
Henry Cejudo really is approaching his fight against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 as a do-or-die situation.
After hinting retirement could loom on the horizon with a loss on Saturday, Cejudo confirmed he’s putting everything on the line with this upcoming fight. He believes a win should put him in position to battle either Sean O’Malley or Marlon “Chito” Vera for the UFC bantamweight title, but a loss will mean the end of his career.
“This is all or nothing,” Cejudo said during UFC 298 media day. “I sat with the team, and I was like, ‘It’s either gold or bust.’ I either win it all, or I’m not going to have it at all and I’m out. I’m done.
“I am putting that timeline, that pressure on me, because I do take this sport serious. People [will say], ‘Oh you retired [before]’ – it’s like I’ve done everything there is to do. What the f***? What do I got to prove? Now, it’s a motivation more motivated by a little bit of anger. I’m kind of pissed at myself a little bit, but it’s still motivated.”
Cejudo left nothing to interpretation about his future when asked point blank if a loss to Dvalishvili would immediately lead to his retirement. Of course, he understands just how much that ratchets up the pressure ahead of the fight, but Cejudo said that’s exactly what he wanted.
“Yeah, 100 percent, [I will retire],” Cejudo said. “It’s big time pressure. Because I know I’ve got to fight. You’ve got to put these clauses on you. I’m not going to continue to fight just to fight. I’m too competitive. I want to be the best in the world. I want that belt, and I really want that other one [at featherweight]. That’s kind of where I’m at.
“If I can’t have that, then I don’t want anything. Keep it all. Why did I retire? It wasn’t even a money thing. It was like what else is motivating me? I mean that was part of it, too. I would have loved for Uncle Dana [White] to maybe give me a bump up on my raise after defending both of my belts, but it is what it is. I respect the s*** out of him.”
While his fight at UFC 298 hasn’t officially been dubbed as a No. 1 contender’s bout, Cejudo expects a shot at the title is absolutely on the line. In fact, he believes his fight with Dvalishvili pits the two best bantamweights in the world against each other.
“Between me and Merab, this is the best fight at 135 pounds,” Cejudo said. “This is the real world title. Sean’s going to pick a No. 6 [ranked opponent], pick a guy that freaking lost 50-45 to [Cory] Sandhagen. That’s what gets a title shot? It makes no sense but I also get it.
“I get the theatrics and the entertainment side of it. Sean was able to create that, and when you’re a champion, you have that leverage. To me, this fight here decides who the best in the world is.”
Cejudo made it clear that he’s going out there to beat Dvalishvili and then seek the bantamweight championship. If all goes well, he plans to add a third title to his resume.
“My goal, and I’m probably going to get a lot of s*** for this, but the goal is still 145 pounds,” Cejudo said. “I’ve already conquered and I’ve already defended my 135-pound weight. Yeah, I lost my last fight through split decision, but I’m not wavering from the goal of going up.
“I just feel like a win over Merab, and then getting the winner out of ‘Chito’ versus Sean, and then I want [Alexander Volkanovski] or whoever has that belt at 145 pounds, and I feel like I’ve earned it. I feel like with my accolades and the merit that I’ve been able to do in combat sports, I don’t think you can deny me.”
Despite other opportunities that could be made available to him, Cejudo was adamant that at this stage in his career, he’s only interested in monumental achievements that will help define his legacy as the greatest combat sports athlete in history.
If that’s not an option, he just isn’t interested.
“If I can’t have it, then I just don’t want it,” Cejudo said. “Why I came back — because I felt I could do it again. But now it’s up to me. I go back, I either get it all, or I don’t want it at all. I’m either the best in the world, or I’m not.”
Ahead of his highly-anticipated matchup at UFC 298 this weekend, Ian Garry had some choice words for Sean Strickland.
After months of build-up, ‘The Future’ will finally settle his differences with the dangerous Geoff Neal on February 17. The welterweights were originally scheduled to compete at UFC 292 last year, but the clash was canceled once Neal withdrew.
While sitting down to fulfill his media obligations days before his big fight, Ian Garry got heated when discussing his recent feud with Sean Strickland.
“My wife was called a pedophile by Sean Strickland. No woman ever deserves to be called that,” Garry said. “The people that follow Sean Strickland commented on a couple of my photos at the very start of this hate saying, ‘Is the kid even his?’ I should never have to hear that.”
“Those two things, they emotionally get me. And I’ll get mine back. I’ll tump the f***ing mouth off Sean Strickland one day and there’ll be nothing he can do about it.”
“I’ll talk to him, I’ll dance in his face, I’ll do whatever I want. Because the truth is, when we get locked into that cage one day, he’s never going to be able to deal with me.”
Related: Sean Strickland: ‘I hate f**king Ian Garry so much’
“When you attack people in my circle when they don’t deserve it, that’s out of line. And look, Sean Strickland is not the f***ing voice we should all be listening to.”
“He’s deeply, deeply indebted with trauma and he should just be silent and try to deal with his own personal issues himself.”
Continuing about Strickland, Ian Garry promised that, despite the two being in separate weight classes, the fight would take place one day.
“Yeah, for sure [the matchup will happen]. There’s no f***ing man on the planet that talks about my wife or my family like that and doesn’t get it eventually.”
“The truth is, he’s never going to be relevant again. He’s lost the belt, he’s lost the interest. There’s a point that which I’ll jump in on a short-notice fight and I’ll dance all over him.”
“I’m far too quick, I’m far too talented, and he’ll just be missing.”
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