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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC 308 Countdown has arrived with a deeper look at the biggest fights taking place on Saturday from Abu Dhabi including the main event where Ilia Topuria puts his featherweight title on the line for the first time against former champion Max Holloway.

Undefeated in his career and coming off a devastating finish over Alexander Volkanovski in February, Topuria looks to add to his resume when he faces one of the best featherweights of all time. Since joining the UFC roster, Topuria has looked almost unstoppable but can he keep his momentum going against somebody like Holloway, who has never been finished with strikes and seemingly has a gas tank days.

Of course, Holloway seeks his second title reign at featherweight after coming up short in three past fights against Volkanovski. He earned this opportunity with a jaw-dropping finish over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 but afterwards his only desire was going back to 145 pounds to reclaim the title he lost.

In the co-main event, former champion Robert Whittaker looks to get back into title contention when he takes on undefeated mauler Khamzat Chimaev. Whittaker has scored back-to-back wins to put himself in this position but he faces a tall task from Chimaev, who might be one of the most hyped prospects in the history of the sport.

Check out the UFC 308 Countdown to get an inside look at these two crucial fights and more.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Daniel Pineda came up short against Darren Elkins at UFC Vegas 99, but hung up his gloves in style Saturday night.

A veteran of 43 professional bouts, Pineda entered the cage looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Alex Caceres and Nathaniel Wood, and put on an absolute war against Darren Elkins in the main card opener at the UFC APEX.

Elkins left victorious with an unanimous 29-28 score to put his first winning streak together in over three years, 12 months after his second-round finish over TJ Brown, while Pineda drops his final three inside the octagon.

“That was my last one, man,” Pineda said after the featherweight clash. “You know, we’re some dogs in here and this is my third [loss] straight. F*ck it, dude, I’m done. I’m done guys. Thank you Elkins for this badass fight.”

Pineda retires with a record of 28-17 and three no-contests, and wins over the likes of Leonard Garcia, Johnny Bedford and Herbert Burns.

Watch his retirement speech below.

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Statement
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Umar vs. Song is not a lock for UFC’s Tampa show in December, according to Yadong’s coach Urijah Faber.

We’re less than two months out from the UFC’s return to Tampa Bay and the card still does not have a locked in main event.

MMAMania.com confirmed reports earlier this week that the promotion had moved on from trying to coax Colby Covington into a home state main event against Ian Garry. Instead, they were looking to lock in Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Song Yadong — a surprising matchup considering Umar was already promised a title shot against new champ Merab Dvalishvili.

Nurmagomedov recently accused Dvalishvili of trying to duck him by making himself unavailable until Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Rather than wait for Merab until spring or summer, Umar said he was willing to fight again in December. That would help fill the hole at the top of Tampa’s ESPN broadcast card, but according to Song Yadong’s coach Urijah Faber, nothing has been signed and the date they like is January for UFC 311 in Los Angeles.

“We don’t have a date for that yet, I don’t think December 14th is the date we’ve talked about,” Faber told Helen Yee in a new interview. “I think January is what we’re looking at. But we like that fight. I think Umar and Song are both guys that people don’t want to fight, so they’re both willing to step up.”

“We’d fight [Sean] O’Malley, we’d fight [Deiveson] Figueiredo, we’d fight any of these guys. We’ve been seing all sorts of stuff being posted about that fight but nothing’s been signed. A date has not been agreed upon. If that fight does happen, it’d most likely happen in January [at UFC 311 in Los Angeles].”

That leaves UFC on ESPN 63 in a bit of a lurch, but it’s not like the UFC is above just promoting a Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas rematch to the main event slot. We’ll keep you updated as the Tampa Bay card coalesces, and who ends up headlining.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Johnny Eblen is the latest fighter to criticize the “Cowboy” comeback.

Longtime UFC veteran Donald Cerrone recently announced he plans to come out of retirement in pursuit of being the first fighter to log 50 in-cage appearances across the UFC and WEC. His return has been met with criticism from several of his peers, especially given that Cerrone has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while out of competition.

Eblen was asked about an existing issue with Cerrone and he explained that he doesn’t approve of Cerrone fighting again.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to retire, take a bunch of steroids and then come back and fight again,” Eblen said, speaking to the media at the PFL Battle of the Giants on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “It’s not a good look. I think Conor [McGregor] paved the way, I think he’s influencing a lot of other people to do it, and I think people are trying to fight past their prime and use all these substances and it’s just not natural, it’s not good.

“Your brain doesn’t heal from steroids. So all that CTE just adds up. I’m very against steroids, I’m very against people fighting past their prime.”

Cerrone turned 41 this past March. It is not yet known if the UFC will accept his request to step into the octagon again, but UFC CEO Dana White shared his opinion on the matter saying, “Love him, hate that.”

As far as Conor McGregor goes, while the former two-division champion has noticeably bulked up at various points during his break from competition dating back to July 2021, he has never officially failed a drug test. After injuring his leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, McGregor was subsequently removed from the drug-testing pool until he began being tested again in October 2023.

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